Abstract: In addition to the fact that mental health bears great significance to a particular individual, it can also be regarded as an organizational, community and societal resource. Within the Szeged Health Promotion Research Group, we conducted mental health surveys on two levels: The inhabitants of a medium-sized Hungarian town and students of a Hungarian university with a relatively big headcount were requested to participate in surveys whose goals were to define local government priorities and organization-level health promotion programmes, respectively. To facilitate professional decision-making, we defined three, pragmatically relevant, groups of the target population: the mentally healthy, the vulnerable and the endangered. In order to determine which group a person actually belongs to, we designed a simple and quick measurement tool, which could even be utilised as a smoothing method, the Mental State Questionnaire validity of the above three categories was verified by analysis of variance against psychological quality of life variables. We demonstrate the pragmatic significance of our method via the analyses of the scores of our two mental health surveys. On town level, during our representative survey in Hódmezővásárhely (N=1839), we found that 38.7% of the participants was mentally healthy, 35.3% was vulnerable, while 16.3% was considered as endangered. We were able to identify groups that were in a dramatic state in terms of mental health. For example, such a group consisted of men aged 45 to 64 with only primary education qualification and the ratios of the mentally healthy, vulnerable and endangered were 4.5, 45.5 and 50%, respectively. It was also astonishing to see to what a little extent qualification prevailed as a protective factor in the case of women. Based on our data, the female group aged 18 to 44 with primary education—of whom 20.3% was mentally healthy, 42.4% vulnerable and 37.3% was endangered—as well as the female group aged 45 to 64 with university or college degree—of whom 25% was mentally healthy, 51.3 vulnerable and 23.8% endangered—are to be handled as priority intervention target groups in a similarly difficult position. On organizational level, our survey involving the students of the University of Szeged, N=1565, provided data to prepare a strategy of mental health promotion for a university with a headcount exceeding 20,000. When developing an organizational strategy, it was important to gather information to estimate the proportions of target groups in which mental health promotion methods; for example, life management skills development, detection, psychological consultancy, psychotherapy, would be applied. Our scores show that 46.8% of the student participants were mentally healthy, 42.1% were vulnerable and 11.1% were endangered. These data convey relevant information as to the allocation of organizational resources within a university with a considerable headcount. In conclusion, The Mental State Questionnaire, as a valid smoothing method, is adequate to describe a community in a plain and informative way in the terms of mental health. The application of the method can promote the preparation, design and implementation of mental health promotion interventions.
Abstract: Generation Y individuals or Millennials are known for their unique views, work values and motivational needs which implies that, in order to attract and retain those individuals, activities in the area of career management should be given special attention by HRM managers. After a theoretical background on Millennials’ life and work attitudes, an empirical research on career preferences of Millennials in Croatia was described. Empirical research was conducted among 249 members of generation Y. The data analysis revealed that respondents generally perceive promotion opportunities as the most important career aspect; however, job security and work-life balance are almost as important. Furthermore, it was shown that Generation Y is not necessarily a homogenous group. More precisely, women assign greater importance than men to work-life balance and job security. Therefore, HRM managers should adapt career planning activities not only with respect to generational preferences, but individual characteristics as well.
Abstract: This research investigates the impact of Brand Loyalty on the product performance and the factors those are considered more important in brand reputation. Variables selected for this research are Brand quality, Brand Equity, Brand Reputation to explore the impact of these variables on Product performance. For this purpose, primary research has been conducted. The questionnaire survey for this research study was administered among the population mainly at the shopping malls. For this research study, a sample size of 250 respondents has been taken into consideration. Customers from the shopping malls and university students constitute the sample for this research study using random sampling (non-probabilistic) used as a sampling technique for conducting the research survey. According to the results obtained from the collected data, it is interpreted that product performance shares a direct relationship with brand quality, brand quality, and brand reputation. Result also showed that brand quality and brand equity has a significant effect on product performance, whereas brand reputation has an insignificant effect on product performance.
Abstract: This study discusses a simple solution for the problem of shortage in learning resources for kindergarten teachers. Occasionally, kindergarten teachers cannot access proper resources by usual search methods as libraries or search engines. Furthermore, these methods require a long time and efforts for preparing. The study is expected to facilitate accessing learning resources. Moreover, it suggests a potential direction for using QR code inside the classroom. The present work proposes that QR code can be used for digitizing kindergarten curriculums and accessing various learning resources. It investigates using QR code for saving information related to the concepts which kindergarten teachers use in the current educational situation. The researchers have established a guide for kindergarten teachers based on the Egyptian official curriculum. The guide provides different learning resources for each scientific and mathematical concept in the curriculum, and each learning resource is represented as a QR code image that contains its URL. Therefore, kindergarten teachers can use smartphone applications for reading QR codes and displaying the related learning resources for students immediately. The guide has been provided to a group of 108 teachers for using inside their classrooms. The results showed that the teachers approved the guide, and gave a good response.
Abstract: One of the major developments in machine learning in the past decade is the ensemble method, which finds highly accurate classifier by combining many moderately accurate component classifiers. In this research work, new ensemble classification methods are proposed with homogeneous ensemble classifier using bagging and heterogeneous ensemble classifier using arcing and their performances are analyzed in terms of accuracy. A Classifier ensemble is designed using Radial Basis Function (RBF) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) as base classifiers. The feasibility and the benefits of the proposed approaches are demonstrated by the means of standard datasets of intrusion detection. The main originality of the proposed approach is based on three main parts: preprocessing phase, classification phase, and combining phase. A wide range of comparative experiments is conducted for standard datasets of intrusion detection. The performance of the proposed homogeneous and heterogeneous ensemble classifiers are compared to the performance of other standard homogeneous and heterogeneous ensemble methods. The standard homogeneous ensemble methods include Error correcting output codes, Dagging and heterogeneous ensemble methods include majority voting, stacking. The proposed ensemble methods provide significant improvement of accuracy compared to individual classifiers and the proposed bagged RBF and SVM performs significantly better than ECOC and Dagging and the proposed hybrid RBF-SVM performs significantly better than voting and stacking. Also heterogeneous models exhibit better results than homogeneous models for standard datasets of intrusion detection.
Abstract: Superstructures like offshore platforms, tall buildings, transition towers, skyscrapers and bridges are normally designed to resist compression, uplift and lateral forces from wind waves, negative skin friction, ship impact and other applied loads. Better understanding and the precise simulation of the response of batter piles under the action of independent uplift loads is a vital topic and an area of active research in the field of geotechnical engineering. This paper investigates the use of finite element code (FEC) to examine the behaviour of model batter piles penetrated in dense sand, subjected to pull-out pressure by means of numerical modelling. The concept of the Winkler Model (beam on elastic foundation) has been used in which the interaction between the pile embedded depth and adjacent soil in the bearing zone is simulated by nonlinear p-y curves. The analysis was conducted on different pile slenderness ratios (lc⁄d) ranging from 7.5, 15.22 and 30 respectively. In addition, the optimum batter angle for a model steel pile penetrated in dense sand has been chosen to be 20° as this is the best angle for this simulation as demonstrated by other researcher published in literature. In this numerical analysis, the soil response is idealized as elasto-plastic and the model piles are described as elastic materials for the purpose of simulation. The results revealed that the applied loads affect the pullout pile capacity as well as the lateral pile response for dense sand together with varying shear strength parameters linked to the pile critical depth. Furthermore, the pile pull-out capacity increases with increasing the pile aspect ratios.
Abstract: The advanced concepts of strategic and innovation management in the sphere of company dynamic and innovation capabilities, and achieving their mutual alignment and a synergy effect, are important elements in business today. This paper analyses the theory and empirically investigates the influence of a company’s dynamic capabilities on its innovation capabilities. A new multidimensional model of dynamic capabilities is presented, consisting of five factors appropriate to real time requirements, while innovation capabilities are considered pursuant to the official OECD and Eurostat standards. After examination of dynamic and innovation capabilities indicated their theoretical links, the empirical study testing the model and examining the influence of a company’s dynamic capabilities on its innovation capabilities showed significant results. In the study, a research model was posed to relate company dynamic and innovation capabilities. One side of the model features the variables that are the determinants of dynamic capabilities defined through their factors, while the other side features the determinants of innovation capabilities pursuant to the official standards. With regard to the research model, five hypotheses were set. The study was performed in late 2014 on a representative sample of large and very large Croatian enterprises with a minimum of 250 employees. The research instrument was a questionnaire administered to company top management. For both variables, the position of the company was tested in comparison to industry competitors, on a fivepoint scale. In order to test the hypotheses, correlation tests were performed to determine whether there is a correlation between each individual factor of company dynamic capabilities with the existence of its innovation capabilities, in line with the research model. The results indicate a strong correlation between a company’s possession of dynamic capabilities in terms of their factors, due to the new multi-dimensional model presented in this paper, with its possession of innovation capabilities. Based on the results, all five hypotheses were accepted. Ultimately, it was concluded that there is a strong association between the dynamic and innovation capabilities of a company.
Abstract: This research provides a systematic way to study and
better understand double nano-tubular structure of alunina (Al2O3) and
titania (TiO2). The TiO2 NT was prepared by immersing Al2O3
template in 0.02 M titanium fluoride (TiF4) solution (pH=3) at 25 °C
for 120 min, followed by annealing at 450 °C for 1 h to obtain anatase
TiO2 NT in the Al2O3 template. Large-scale development of film for
nanotube-based CO2 capture and conversion can potentially result in
more efficient energy harvesting. In addition, the production process
will be relatively environmentally friendly. The knowledge generated
by this research will significantly advance research in the area of
Al2O3, TiO2, CaO, and Ca2O3 nano-structure film fabrication and
applications for CO2 capture and conversion. This green energy source
will potentially reduce reliance on carbon-based energy resources and
increase interest in science and engineering careers.
Abstract: Study of the effects of climate change on Norway
Spruce (Picea abies) forests has mainly focused on the diversity of
tree species diversity of tree species as a result of the ability of
species to tolerate temperature and moisture changes as well as some
effects of disturbance regime changes. The tree species’ diversity
changes in spruce forests due to climate change have been analyzed
via gap model. Forest gap model is a dynamic model for calculation
basic characteristics of individual forest trees. Input ecological data
for model calculations have been taken from the permanent research
plots located in primeval forests in mountainous regions in Slovakia.
The results of regional scenarios of the climatic change for the
territory of Slovakia have been used, from which the values are
according to the CGCM3.1 (global) model, KNMI and MPI
(regional) models. Model results for conditions of the climate change
scenarios suggest a shift of the upper forest limit to the region of the
present subalpine zone, in supramontane zone. N. spruce
representation will decrease at the expense of beech and precious
broadleaved species (Acer sp., Sorbus sp., Fraxinus sp.). The most
significant tree species diversity changes have been identified for the
upper tree line and current belt of dwarf pine (Pinus mugo)
occurrence. The results have been also discussed in relation to most
important disturbances (wind storms, snow and ice storms) and
phenological changes which consequences are little known. Special
discussion is focused on biomass production changes in relation to
carbon storage diversity in different carbon pools.
Abstract: Social entrepreneurship is a new and exciting topic
that holds a great promise in helping alleviate the social problems of
the world. As a new subject, the meaning of the term is too broad and
this is counterproductive in trying to build understanding around the
concept. The purpose of this study is to identify and compare the
elements of social entrepreneurship as defined by seven international
organizations leading social entrepreneurship projects: Ashoka
Foundation, Skoll Foundation, Schwab Foundation and Yunus
Center; as well as from three other institutions fostering social
entrepreneurship: Global Social Benefit Institute, BRAC University,
and Socialab. The study used document analysis from Skoll
Foundation, Schwab Foundation, Yunus Center and Ashoka
Foundation; and open ended interview to experts from the Global
Social Benefit Institute at Santa Clara University in United States,
BRAC University from Bangladesh, and Socialab from Argentina.
The study identified three clearly differentiated schools of thought,
based on their views on revenue, scalability, replicability and
geographic location. While this study is by no means exhaustive, it
provides an indication of the patterns of ideas fostered by important
players in the field. By clearly identifying the similarities and
differences in the concept of social entrepreneurship, research and
practitioners are better equipped to build on the subject, and to
promote more adequate and accurate social policies to foster the
development of social entrepreneurship.
Abstract: In this study, natural bentonite was used as natural
clay material and samples were taken from the Kalecik district in
Ankara. In this research, bentonite is the subject of an analysis from
standpoint of assessing the basic properties of engineered barriers
with respect to the buffer material. Bentonite and sand mixtures were
prepared for tests. Some of clay minerals give relatively higher
hydraulic conductivity and lower swelling pressure. Generally,
hydraulic conductivity of these type clays is lower than
Abstract: Within Vietnam's system of higher education, its
schools of business play a vital role in supporting the country’s
economic objectives. However, the crucial contribution of soft skills
for maximal success within the business sector has to date not been
adequately recognized by its business schools. This being so, the
development of the business school curriculum in Vietnam has not
been able to 'catch up', so to say, with the burgeoning need of
students for a comprehensive soft skills program designed to meet the
national and global business objectives of their potential employers.
The burden of the present paper is first to reveal the results of our
survey in Vietnam which make explicit the extent to which major
Vietnamese industrial employers’ value the potential role that soft
skill competencies can play in maximizing business success. Our
final task will be to determine which soft skills employers discern as
best serving to maximize the economic interests of Vietnam within
the global marketplace. Semi-structured telephone interviews have
been conducted with the 15 representative Head Employers of
Vietnam's reputedly largest and most successful of the diverse
business enterprises across Vietnam. The findings of the study
indicate that all respondents highly value the increasing importance
of soft skills in business success. Our critical analysis of respondent
data reveals that 19 essential soft skills are deemed by employers as
integral to business workplace efficacy and should thus be integrated
into the formal business curriculum. We are confident that our study
represents the first comprehensive and specific survey yet undertaken
within the business sector in Vietnam which accesses and analyses
the opinions of representative employers from major companies
across the country in regard to the growing importance of 19 specific
soft skills essential for maximizing overall business success. Our
research findings also reveal that the integration into business school
curriculums nationwide of the soft skills we have identified is of
paramount importance to advance the national and global economic
interests of Vietnam.
Abstract: Connected vehicles are equipped with wireless sensors
that aid in Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle to Infrastructure
(V2I) communication. These vehicles will in the near future
provide road safety, improve transport efficiency, and reduce traffic
congestion. One of the challenges for connected vehicles is how
to ensure that information sent across the network is secure. If
security of the network is not guaranteed, several attacks can occur,
thereby compromising the robustness, reliability, and efficiency of
the network. This paper discusses existing security mechanisms and
unique properties of connected vehicles. The methodology employed
in this work is exploratory. The paper reviews existing security
solutions for connected vehicles. More concretely, it discusses
various cryptographic mechanisms available, and suggests areas
of improvement. The study proposes a combination of symmetric
key encryption and public key cryptography to improve security.
The study further proposes message aggregation as a technique to
overcome message redundancy. This paper offers a comprehensive
overview of connected vehicles technology, its applications, its
security mechanisms, open challenges, and potential areas of future
research.
Abstract: The main purposes of this study are to develop a scale
that reflects emerging theoretical understandings of new media
credibility, based on the evolution of credibility studies in western
researches, identification of the determinants of credibility in the
media and its components by comparing traditional and new media
credibility scales and building accumulative scale to test new media
credibility. This approach was built on western researches using
conceptualizations of media credibility, which focuses on four
principal components: Source (journalist), message (article), medium
(newspaper, radio, TV, web, etc.), and organization (owner of the
medium), and adding user and cultural context as key components to
assess new media credibility in particular. This study’s value lies in
its contribution to the conceptualization and development of new
media credibility through the creation of a theoretical measurement
tool. Future studies should explore this scale to test new media
credibility, which represents a promising new approach in the efforts
to define and measure credibility of all media types.
Abstract: The aim of the paper is to investigate the effect of
corporate social responsibility (CSR) CSR on the National
Commercial Bank (NCB) in Saudi Arabia. In order to achieve this, a
case study was made of the CSR activities of this bank from the
perspective of its branch managers. The NCB was chosen as it was
one of the first Saudi banks to engage in CSR and currently has a
wide range of CSR initiatives. A qualitative research method was
used. Open-ended questionnaires were administered to eighty branch
managers of the NCB, with fifty-five usable questionnaires returned
and twenty managers were interviewed as part of the primary
research. Data from both questionnaires and interviews were
analysed using qualitative content analysis. Six themes emerged from
the questionnaire findings were used to develop the interview
questions. These themes are the following: Awareness of employees
about CSR in the NCB; CSR activities as a type of investment;
Government and media support; Increased employee loyalty in the
NCB; Prestige and profit to the NCB; and View of CSR in Islam.
This paper makes a theoretical contribution in that it investigates and
increases understanding of the effect of CSR on the NCB in Saudi
Arabia. In addition, it makes a practical contribution by making
recommendations which can support the development of CSR in the
NCB. A limitation of the paper is that it is a case study of only one
bank. It is therefore recommended that future research could be
conducted with other banks in Saudi Arabia, or indeed, with a range
of other types of firm within the financial services area in Saudi
Arabia. In this way, the same issues could be explored but with a
greater potential generalisability of findings of CSR within the Saudi
Arabian financial services industry. In addition, this paper takes a
qualitative approach and it is suggested that future research be carried
out using mixed methods, which could provide a greater depth of
analysis.
Abstract: Discrimination against women and girls impairs progress in all domains of development articulated either in the framework of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) or in the Post-2015 Development Agenda. Paper aspires to create greater awareness among researchers and policy makers of the challenges posed by gender gaps and the opportunities created by reducing them within the Arab region. The study reveals how Arab countries are closing in on gender-oriented targets of the third and fifth MDGs. While some countries can claim remarkable achievements particularly in girls’ equality in education, there is still a long way to go to keep Arab’s commitments to current and future generations in other countries and subregions especially in the economic participation or in the political empowerment of women. No country has closed or even expected to close the economic participation gap or the political empowerment gap. This should provide the incentive to keep moving forward in the Post-2015 Agenda. Findings of the study prove that while Arab states have uneven achievements in reducing maternal mortality, Arab women remain at a disadvantage in the labour market. For Arab region especially LDCs, improving maternal health is part of the unmet agenda for the post-2015 period and still calls for intensified efforts and procedures. While antenatal care coverage is improving across the Arab region, progress is marginal in LDCs. To achieve proper realization of gender equality and empowerment of women in the Arab region in the post-2015 agenda, the study presents critical key challenges to be addressed. These challenges include: Negative cultural norms and stereotypes; violence against women and girls; early marriage and child labour; women’s limited control over their own bodies; limited ability of women to generate their own income and control assets and property; gender-based discrimination in law and in practice; women’s unequal participation in private and public decision making autonomy; and limitations in data. However, in all Arab states, gender equality must be integrated as a goal across all issues, particularly those that affect the future of a country.
Abstract: This paper empirically investigates the relationship between Sabah state core tourism products and its destination image. Through a descriptive design using a quantitative method with a self-reported and self-administered questionnaire, this research surveyed the individual international tourists who had visited Sabah and experienced the state’s core tourism products. The research findings clearly indicate that Sabah, one of the states in Malaysia has a lot of valuable resources in the eyes of the international tourists. Interestingly, it was found that Sabah’s core tourism products namely unique marine resources, various nature attractions and cultural diversities have undoubtedly contributed to the state’s tourism image. Good feedbacks and the promising insights from the international tourists’ point of view offer varying consequences, repercussion, and implication to the state government and the relevant authorities. Collaboration and cooperation between all responsible authorities are therefore crucial in strengthening the “total tourism experience” among the international tourists in this state.
Abstract: Lightweight construction became more and more important over the last decades in several applications, e.g. in the automotive or aircraft sector. This is the result of economic and ecological constraints on the one hand and increasing safety and comfort requirements on the other hand. In the field of lightweight design, different approaches are used due to specific requirements towards the technical systems. The use of endless carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) offers the largest weight saving potential of sometimes more than 50% compared to conventional metal-constructions. However, there are very limited industrial applications because of the cost-intensive manufacturing of the fibers and production technologies. Other disadvantages of pure CFRP-structures affect the quality control or the damage resistance. One approach to meet these challenges is hybrid materials. This means CFRP and sheet metal are combined on a material level. Therefore, new opportunities for innovative process routes are realizable. Hybrid lightweight design results in lower costs due to an optimized material utilization and the possibility to integrate the structures in already existing production processes of automobile manufacturers. In recent and current research, the advantages of two-layered hybrid materials have been pointed out, i.e. the possibility to realize structures with tailored mechanical properties or to divide the curing cycle of the epoxy resin into two steps. Current research work at the Chair for Automotive Lightweight Design (LiA) at the Paderborn University focusses on production processes for fiber-metal-laminates. The aim of this work is the development and qualification of a large-scale production process for high-performance fiber-metal-laminates (FML) for industrial applications in the automotive or aircraft sector. Therefore, the prepreg-press-technology is used, in which pre-impregnated carbon fibers and sheet metals are formed and cured in a closed, heated mold. The investigations focus e.g. on the realization of short process chains and cycle times, on the reduction of time-consuming manual process steps, and the reduction of material costs. This paper gives an overview over the considerable steps of the production process in the beginning. Afterwards experimental results are discussed. This part concentrates on the influence of different process parameters on the mechanical properties, the laminate quality and the identification of process limits. Concluding the advantages of this technology compared to conventional FML-production-processes and other lightweight design approaches are carried out.
Abstract: Operators of vessel traffic service (VTS) center provides three different types of services; namely information service, navigational assistance and traffic organization to vessels. To provide these services, operators monitor vessel traffic through computer interface and provide navigational advice based on the information integrated from multiple sources, including automatic identification system (AIS), radar system, and closed circuit television (CCTV) system. Therefore, this information is crucial in VTS operation. However, what information the VTS operator actually need to efficiently and properly offer services is unclear. The aim of this study is to investigate into information requirements for VTS operation. To achieve this aim, field observation was carried out to elicit the information requirements for VTS operation. The study revealed that the most frequent and important tasks were handling arrival vessel report, potential conflict control and abeam vessel report. Current location and vessel name were used in all tasks. Hazard cargo information was particularly required when operators handle arrival vessel report. The speed, the course, and the distance of two or several vessels were only used in potential conflict control. The information requirements identified in this study can be utilized in designing a human-computer interface that takes into consideration what and when information should be displayed, and might be further used to build the foundation of a decision support system for VTS.
Abstract: An online advertisement system and its implementation
for the Yioop open source search engine are presented. This system
supports both selling advertisements and displaying them within
search results. The selling of advertisements is done using a system
to auction off daily impressions for keyword searches. This is an
open, ascending price auction system in which all accepted bids will
receive a fraction of the auctioned day’s impressions. New bids in
our system are required to be at least one half of the sum of all
previous bids ensuring the number of accepted bids is logarithmic
in the total ad spend on a keyword for a day. The mechanics of
creating an advertisement, attaching keywords to it, and adding it
to an advertisement inventory are described. The algorithm used to
go from accepted bids for a keyword to which ads are displayed at
search time is also presented. We discuss properties of our system
and compare it to existing auction systems and systems for selling
online advertisements.