Abstract: In association with path dependence, researchers often
talk of institutional “lock-in", thereby indicating that far-reaching
path deviation or path departure are to be regarded as exceptional
cases. This article submits the alleged general inclination for stability
of path-dependent processes to a critical review. The different
reasons for path dependence found in the literature indicate that
different continuity-ensuring mechanisms are at work when people
talk about path dependence (“increasing returns", complementarity,
sequences etc.). As these mechanisms are susceptible to fundamental
change in different ways and to different degrees, the path
dependence concept alone is of only limited explanatory value. It is
therefore indispensable to identify the underlying continuity-ensuring
mechanism as well if a statement-s empirical value is to go beyond
the trivial, always true “history matters".
Abstract: Based on assumptions of neo-classical economics and
rational choice / public choice theory, this paper investigates the
regulation of industrial land use in Taiwan by homeowners
associations (HOAs) as opposed to traditional government
administration. The comparison, which applies the transaction cost
theory and a polynomial regression analysis, manifested that HOAs
are superior to conventional government administration in terms of
transaction costs and overall efficiency. A case study that compares
Taiwan-s commonhold industrial park, NangKang Software Park, to
traditional government counterparts using limited data on the costs
and returns was analyzed. This empirical study on the relative
efficiency of governmental and private institutions justified the
important theoretical proposition. Numerical results prove the
efficiency of the established model.
Abstract: This research explores the links between physical
development and transportation infrastructure around Kumasi,
Ghana. It utilizes census data as well as fieldwork and interviews
carried out during July and December 2005. The results suggest that
there is a weak association between transportation investments and
physical development, and that recent housing has generally occurred
in poorly accessible locations. Road investments have generally
followed physical expansion rather than the reverse. Hence policies
designed to manage the fast growth now occurring around Ghanaian
cities should not focus exclusively on improving transportation
infrastructure but also strengthening the underlying the traditional
land management structures and the official land administrative
institutions that operate within those structures.
Abstract: This paper aims at identifying and analyzing the
knowledge transmission channels in textile and clothing clusters
located in Brazil and in Europe. Primary data was obtained through
interviews with key individuals. The collection of primary data was
carried out based on a questionnaire with ten categories of indicators
of knowledge transmission. Secondary data was also collected
through a literature review and through international organizations
sites. Similarities related to the use of the main transmission channels
of knowledge are observed in all cases. The main similarities are:
influence of suppliers of machinery, equipment and raw materials;
imitation of products and best practices; training promoted by
technical institutions and businesses; and cluster companies being
open to acquire new knowledge. The main differences lie in the
relationship between companies, where in Europe the intensity of this
relationship is bigger when compared to Brazil. The differences also
occur in importance and frequency of the relationship with the
government, with the cultural environment, and with the activities of
research and development. It is also found factors that reduce the
importance of geographical proximity in transmission of knowledge,
and in generating trust and the establishment of collaborative
behavior.
Abstract: Sub-prime mortgage crisis which began in the US is
regarded as the most economic crisis since the Great Depression in the
early 20th century. Especially, hidden problems on efficient operation
of a business were disclosed at a time and many financial institutions
went bankrupt and filed for court receivership. The collapses of
physical market lead to bankruptcy of manufacturing and construction
businesses. This study is to analyze dynamic efficiency of construction
businesses during the five years at the turn of the global financial
crisis. By discovering the trend and stability of efficiency of a
construction business, this study-s objective is to improve
management efficiency of a construction business in the
ever-changing construction market. Variables were selected by
analyzing corporate information on top 20 construction businesses in
Korea and analyzed for static efficiency in 2008 and dynamic
efficiency between 2006 and 2010. Unlike other studies, this study
succeeded in deducing efficiency trend and stability of a construction
business for five years by using the DEA/Window model. Using the
analysis result, efficient and inefficient companies could be figured
out. In addition, relative efficiency among DMU was measured by
comparing the relationship between input and output variables of
construction businesses. This study can be used as a literature to
improve management efficiency for companies with low efficiency
based on efficiency analysis of construction businesses.
Abstract: Distance education program is a dimension of contemporary and new education technologies. Concepts and applications in this field are the results of a series of educational demands and developments in various communication and education technologies. Distance education applications have some conceptual bases. These are creating new education opportunities, realizing work-education unity, getting democratic in education, lifelong education, tendency to individual matters, effective use of institutions, integration of technology and education, tendency to individual and social needs, taking three dimensional integration as the main principle (publishing, printed materials and face to face education), reaching maximum mass, individual and mass education integrity and education demand and financial matters balance. Economics, Business Administration and Open Education faculties, which have been giving education within Anadolu University since 1982 in Turkey, are carrying on education with nearly 1.000.000 students. The aim of this study is to determine organizational commitment levels of students who have been studying at Anadolu University Economics, Business Administration and Open Education faculties in the scope of affective, continuance and nominative commitment in Allen&Meyer model. In the study, organizational commitment of the Economics, Business Administration and Open Education faculty students, who are receiving education by means of distance education, to their faculties is dealt after introducing Anadolu University Distance Education system which gives higher education via distance education method in Turkey. In order to increase the success level of faculties it is required for students to have high level of organizational commitment to their faculties. A questionnaire has been applied by using “Organizational Commitment Scale", developed by Meyer&Allen to determine organizational commitments of Economics, Business Administration and Open Education students. Organizational commitment is dealt with as affective, continuance and nominative commitment. The questionnaire was applied face to face to randomly chosen 500 students living in Eskişehir and the data was downloaded to the computer by using SPSS program and the results were analyzed in terms of demographic features (gender, age, marital status, years of study, work and income level) of students by using frequency test, ttest and ANOVA test. As a result of these analyses, when the comments of Open Education Faculty students on levels of affective, continuance and nominative commitment to their faculties were examined, it has been revealed that continuance commitment level has the highest rate. Among the female participants; continuance commitment is high in the age range of 30-40, for normative commitment it is 17-22. However no dominant age range was defined for affective commitment. Regarding the marital status; continuance commitment average is higher among married participants; but nominative affective commitment average is higher among single participants. As to the years of study, affective and continuance commitment is higher among senior students while normative commitment is higher among junior students. Moreover; in terms of continuance, affective and normative commitment, those who do not work and have low income have higher level of all there commitment types than those who work and have relatively high income.
Abstract: Argument over the use of particular method in interlanguage pragmatics has increased recently. Researchers argued the advantages and disadvantages of each method either natural or elicited. Findings of different studies indicated that the use of one method may not provide enough data to answer all its questions. The current study investigated the validity of using multimethod approach in interlanguage pragmatics to understand the development of requests in Arabic as a second language (Arabic L2). To this end, the study adopted two methods belong to two types of data sources: the institutional discourse (natural data), and the role play (elicited data). Participants were 117 learners of Arabic L2 at the university level, representing four levels (beginners, low-intermediate, highintermediate, and advanced). Results showed that using two or more methods in interlanguage pragmatics affect the size and nature of data.
Abstract: Technical laboratories are typically considered as
highly hazardous places in the polytechnic institution when
addressing the problems of high incidences and fatality rates. In
conjunction with several topics covered in the technical curricular,
safety and health precaution should be highlighted in order to
connect to few key ideas of being safe. Therefore the assessment of
safety awareness in terms of safety and health about hazardous and
risks at laboratories is needed and has to be incorporated with
technical education and other training programmes. The purpose of
this study was to determine the efficacy of technical laboratory safety
in one of the polytechnics in northern region. The study examined
three related issues that were; the availability of safety material and
equipment, safety practice adopted by technical teachers and
administrator-s safety attitudes in enforcing safety to the students. A
model of efficacy technical laboratory was developed to test the
linear relationship between existing safety material and equipment,
teachers- safety practice and administrators- attitude in enforcing
safety and to identify which of technical laboratory safety issues was
the most pertinent factor to realize safety in technical laboratory.
This was done by analyzing survey-based data sets particularly those
obtained from samples of 210 students in the polytechnic. The
Pearson Correlation was used to measure the association between the
variables and to test the research hypotheses. The result of the study
has found that there was a significant correlation between existing
safety material and equipment, safety practice adopted by teacher
and administrator-s attitude. There was also a significant relationship
between technical laboratory safety and safety practice adopted by
teacher and between technical laboratory safety and administrator
attitude. Hence, safety practice adopted by teacher and administrator
attitude is vital in realizing technical laboratory safety.
Abstract: In this paper, an overview is made on the educational and research activities in the field of physical medicine and rehabilitation in Libya, including development in rehabilitation science, research, training, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and physiatrist, which are mainly concerned with the patients in Libya[3] [13].
Abstract: Fast development of technologies, economic globalization and many other external circumstances stimulate company’s competitiveness. One of the major trends in today’s business is the shift to the exploitation of the Internet and electronic environment for entrepreneurial needs. Latest researches confirm that e-environment provides a range of possibilities and opportunities for companies, especially for micro-, small- and medium-sized companies, which have limited resources. The usage of e-tools raises the effectiveness and the profitability of an organization, as well as its competitiveness.
In the electronic market, as in the classic one, there are factors, such as globalization, development of new technology, price sensitive consumers, Internet, new distribution and communication channels that influence entrepreneurship. As a result of eenvironment development, e-commerce and e-marketing grow as well.
Objective of the paper: To describe and identify factors influencing company’s competitiveness in e-environment.
Research methodology: The authors employ well-established quantitative and qualitative methods of research: grouping, analysis, statistics method, factor analysis in SPSS 20 environment, etc. The theoretical and methodological background of the research is formed by using scientific researches and publications, such as that from mass media and professional literature; statistical information from legal institutions as well as information collected by the authors during the surveying process.
Research result: The authors detected and classified factors influencing competitiveness in e-environment.
In this paper, the authors presented their findings based on theoretical, scientific, and field research. Authors have conducted a research on e-environment utilization among Latvian enterprises.
Abstract: Today the social marketing was constituted as a tool
of significant value in what he refers to the promotion of changes of
behaviors, attitudes end practices. With the objective of analyzing the
benefits that the social marketing can bring for the organizations that
use it the research was of the exploratory and descriptive. In the
present study the comparative method was used, through a qualitative
approach, to analyze the activities developed by three institutions:
the Recovery Center Rosa de Saron, the House of Recovery for
addicts and Teen Challenge Institute Children's Cancer of the
Wasteland (ICIA), kindred of pointing out the benefits of the social
marketing in organizations that don-t seek the profit.
Abstract: Implementing quality assurance in higher education establishments is the main focus of the reform process currently undertaken by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The reform agenda has involved attempts to improve academic quality and management processes in universities, technical institutions and colleges. The central challenge for the reform process is to produce change in higher education in a region where administration is described as centralized and bureaucratic. To make these changes, there should be a well-designed plans and follow up processes in order to monitor progress and develop responses to obstacles. Lack of skills, resources, political dilemmas, poor motivation, and readiness to face the consequences of change are factors which will determine the success of the reform process.
Abstract: E-government projects have potential for greater efficiency and effectiveness of government operations. For this reason, many developing countries governments have invested heavily in this agenda and an increasing number of e-government projects are being implemented. However, there is a lack of clear case material, which describes the potentialities and consequence experienced by organizations trying to manage with this change. The Ministry of State for Administrative Development (MSAD) is the organization responsible for the e-Government program in Egypt since early 2004. This paper presents a case study of the process of admission to public universities and institutions in Egypt which is led by MSAD. Underlining the key benefits resulting from the initiative, explaining the strategies and the development steps used to implement it, and highlighting the main obstacles encountered and how they were overcome will help repeat the experience in other useful e-government projects.
Abstract: This paper examines whether or not immigration has a positive influence on the duration of unemployment, in a macroeconomic perspective. We analyse also whether the degree of labor market integration can influence migration. The integration of immigrants into the labor market is a recurrence theme in the work on the economic consequences of immigration. However, to our knowledge, no researchers have studied the impact of immigration on unemployment duration, and vice versa. With two methodology of research (panel estimations (OLS and 2SLS) and panel cointegration techniques), we show that migration seems to influence positively the short-term unemployment and negatively long-term unemployment, for 14 OECD destination countries. In addition, immigration seems to be conditioned by the structural and institutional characteristics of the labour market.
Abstract: The institutions seek to improve their performance
and quality of service, so that their patients are satisfied. This
research project aims, conduct a time study program in the area of
gynecological surgery, to determine the current level of capacity and
optimize the programming time in order to adequately respond to
demand. The system is analyzed by waiting lines and uses the
simulation using ARENA to evaluate proposals for improvement and
optimization programming time each of the surgeries.
Abstract: Nothing that an effective cure for infertility happens
when we can find a unique solution, a great deal of study has been
done in this field and this is a hot research subject for to days study.
So we could analyze the men-s seaman and find out about fertility
and infertility and from this find a true cure for this, since this will be
a non invasive and low risk procedure, it will be greatly welcomed.
In this research, the procedure has been based on few Algorithms
enhancement and segmentation of images which has been done on
the images taken from microscope in different fertility institution and
have obtained a suitable result from the computer images which in
turn help us to distinguish these sperms from fluids and its
surroundings.
Abstract: The purpose of this research is the analysis of the
impact of ICT-related training in the adoption of a learning
management systems (LMS) for teaching practicesby faculties in a
higher education institution. Based on comparative analyses the
impact will be obtained by the number of LMS courses created and
managed by participants in ICT for teaching workshops and those
who have not attended to any workshops. Involving near 1320 LMS
courses and 265 faculties, the results evidence that(i) faculties who
have not attend any workshop present a larger distribution of empty
courses and (ii) faculties who have attended three or more workshops
managed a higher distribution of courses with a considerable level of
use intensity, when compared to the others groups. These findings
supportthe idea that faculty training is a crucial factor in the process
of LMS integration in higher education institutions and that faculties
who have been enrolled in three or more workshops develop a higher
level of technical and pedagogical proficiency in LMS.
Abstract: This paper deals with the combination of OSGi and
cloud computing. Both technologies are mainly placed in the field of
distributed computing. Therefore, it is discussed how different
approaches from different institutions work. In addition, the
approaches are compared to each other.
Abstract: The dramatic effect of information technology on
society is undeniable. In education, it is evident in the use of terms
like active learning, blended learning, electronic learning and mobile
learning (ubiquitous learning). This study explores the perceptions of
54 learners in a higher education institution regarding the use of
mobile devices in a third year module. Using semi-structured
interviews, it was found that mobile devices had a positive impact on
learner motivation, engagement and enjoyment. It also improved the
consistency of learning material, and the convenience and flexibility
(anywhere, anytime) of learning. User-interfacelimitation, bandwidth
and cognitive overload, however, were of concern. The use of cloud
based resources like Youtube and Google Docs, through mobile
devices, positively influenced learner perceptions, making them
prosumers (both consumers and producers) of education content.
Abstract: South Africa is facing a crisis with not being able to produce enough graduates in the scarce skills areas to sustain economic growth. The crisis is fuelled by a school system that does not produce enough potential students with Mathematics, Accounting and Science. Since the introduction of the new school curriculum in 2008, there is no longer an option to take pure maths on a standard grade level. Instead, only two mathematical subjects are offered: pure maths (which is on par with higher grade maths) and mathematical literacy. It is compulsory to take one or the other. As a result, lees student finishes Grade 12 with pure mathematics every year. This national problem needs urgent attention if South Africa is to make any headway in critical skills development as mathematics is a gateway to scarce skills professions. Higher education institutions initiated several initiatives in an attempt to address the above, including preparatory courses, bridging programmes and extended curricula with foundation provisions. In view of the above, and government policy directives to broaden access in the scarce skills areas to increase student throughput, foundation provision was introduced for Commerce and Information Technology programmes at the Vaal Triangle Campus (VTC) of North-West University (NWU) in 2010. Students enrolling for extended programmes do not comply with the minimum prerequisites for the normal programmes. The question then arises as to whether these programmes have the intended impact? This paper reports the results of a two year longitudinal study, tracking the first year academic achievement of the two cohorts of enrolments since 2010. The results provide valuable insight into the structuring of an extended programme and its potential impact.