Search results

The purpose of this paper is to identify salient topic categories and outline their evolution patterns and temporal trends in microblogs on a public health emergency across different stages. Comparisons were also examined to reveal the similarities and differences between those patterns and trends on microblog platforms of different languages and from different nations.

A total of 459,266 microblog entries about the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014 on Twitter and Weibo were collected for nine months after the inception of the outbreak. Topics were detected by the latent Dirichlet allocation model and classified into several categories. The daily tweets were analyzed with the self-organizing map technique and labeled with the most salient topics. The investigated time span was divided into three stages, and the most salient topic categories were identified for each stage.

In total, 14 salient topic categories were identified in microblogs about the Ebola outbreak and were summarized as increasing, decreasing, fluctuating or ephemeral types. The topical evolution patterns of microblogs and temporal trends for topic categories vary on different microblog platforms. Twitter users were keen on the dynamics of the Ebola outbreak, such as status description, secondary events and so forth, while Weibo users focused on background knowledge of Ebola and precautions.

This study revealed evolution patterns and temporal trends of microblog topics on a public health emergency. The findings can help administrators of public health emergencies and microblog communities work together to better satisfy information needs and physical demands by the public when public health emergencies are in progress.

This study aims to investigate the involvement of employees in frauds and forgeries in banking industry of Pakistan and precautions taken against it. This research explored the types of frauds prevailing in Pakistan’s banking industry, and the causes of employee involvement in frauds.

In-depth interviews with the officers working in fraud/compliance/risk department at commercial banks as well as the officials working in the inspection and policymaking departments at the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) were conducted. Research questions were developed under the guidance of experts working in the banking industry, so the research possesses internal validity. Data was analyzed using thematic analysis.

This study revealed that the SBP has devised many policies and guidelines for commercial banks against fraud management, but these are not properly implemented. These policies also include precautionary measures, which are recommended by the SBP to lessen fraud. Besides this, banks are also taking initiatives of their own to control the rising trend of frauds and forgeries. At the end, brief conclusion and effective recommendations are given to the practitioners, policymakers and management.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this area of management has not been explored by researchers in Pakistan; hence, this research provides valuable information to bank managers, risk management departments, risk avoidance policymakers, bank shareholders, depositors, borrowers and government agencies. This study provides deep insights into the prevalence of frauds in the banking industry of Pakistan.

This paper aims to investigate construction site workers’ compliance with various coronavirus (Covid-19) protocols while working on construction sites.

This survey was conducted at the end of the imposed lockdown following Nigeria’s upsurge of the Covid-19 pandemic. The survey research method was adopted for the study using a structured questionnaire administered to 246 construction site workers under strict Covid-19 preventive measures. The data was complemented through personal observations of the study site activities. The results were analysed using frequency tables and a factor analytical approach.

The preventive measures in place on construction sites can be classified into personal protective measures, good etiquette/manners, contact precautions and prompt actions. Although the workers claimed to be aware of the Covid-19 pandemic, their disposition towards the preventive measures on construction sites is worrisome. Hence, their level of compliance with the protocols could mitigate the spread of the virus.

This paper fulfils an identified gap to study the need to promote public health by mitigating the global pandemic’s spread in areas where social distancing cannot be easily observed.

Natural disasters can undermine decades of development and threaten hundreds of lives. Previous research studies highlighted that natural disasters can cripple economic growth of one or many countries. The purpose of this paper is to ask the usefulness of natural disasters governance for macroeconomic performance and countries’ resilience. For that, this research emphasizes on the effects of natural disasters economic damages on the macroeconomic performance.

The used technique is the unbalanced panel data model which allows testing a big cross-section of population despite when one temporal observation for an individual is unavailable. The methodology focuses on testing the effect of natural disasters’ economic damages upon the main macroeconomic aggregates. For the study relevance, various tests were carried out by taking into account the different levels of development. So, two groups have been studied: developing countries (LDCs group) and developed countries (DCs group).

Findings point up that the effects of natural disasters’ economic damages differ from aggregate to another. In spite of the differences according to the development levels, effects are more serious for developing countries.

The originality of paper is justified by the lack of empirical studies that have questioned the links between natural disasters, macroeconomic performance and countries’ resilience. Furthermore, this study can be distinguished by the analysis of the effects for various aggregates at once and, in the same time, by allowing the comparison of these impacts by level of development.

This study aims to understand the impacts of Covid-19 on the progression of digitalization of banks in an emerging market. For this purpose, business model canvas (BMC) is used as a theoretical framework to explore these effects on each business elements of Turkish Banks’ business strategies.

Data are collected through structured interviews with the top managers of seven diversified banks. Interview questions are designed based on BMC.

The results show that the onset of the Covid-19 is a shock that has made digitalization a strategic issue that necessitates an urgent change in many business elements of banks such as customer relationships, communication channels, resource allocation, partnerships and financing. Further, it has stimulated redefining value proposition and collaboration/interaction among all financial institutions through digital platforms.

BMC can be used to explain decision-making and business processes of banks for exploring the effect of recent and/or unexpected developments in the business environment of an emerging economy. The results provide insights and recommendations to managers of financial institutions into the impacts of Covid-19 on banks’ operational and strategic processes. That allows financial institutions, including Fintechs, to use this information for taking precautions and proactive actions against shocks.

This study is an initial attempt to explore the impacts of the Covid-19 on banks in an emerging economy by using BMC. With that, this study contributes to the literature by explaining the effect of progression of digitalization in banking from a strategic business model perspective using a qualitative research method.

A flood disaster at the University of Port Harcourt Library, Nigeria, is reported. The rescue action taken to salvage water damaged materials is described. The problems encountered during the rescue operations are highlighted and the need to prepare disaster rescue plans and make library staff aware of rescue options available is emphasised.

In a recent food case, heard before a local bench (the actual details being of no special interest or importance for our present purpose), the defendant concerned, very naively, and no doubt quite unwittingly, delivered a most profound remark in the course of his statement, throwing an illuminating beam on the dark workings of the minds of those who find themselves up against the law, and one that could well serve as part of a general confession for that too large company who have spent and, we fear, still spend time in attempting, to a greater or lesser extent, its evasion. The individual in question, the owner of a pretty miserable kind of business, said, gesturing defiantly, we imagine, at the local inspectorate in court, that “his shop could make money if he was left alone and not interfered with”. This, of course, is a basic idea in most wrong‐doing, although it is a senti‐ment probably more often thought inwardly than publicly expressed, by anti‐socially minded people from time immemorial, whether honest adulterators of food, sophisticators of drugs, pickpockets, or merely evaders of the just demands of the Inland Revenue.

All supply chains must address waste management since it is a crucial step toward a sustainable world. This article aims to analyze the potential of blockchain technology in waste management by focusing on the textile sector, which is one of the polluting industries. The study's main objective is to realize businesses' waste management practices and sustainability initiatives and then to comprehend how practitioners perceive the implementation of blockchain technology to waste management.

The waste management procedures and actors' perceptions of blockchain technology are examined using a qualitative study approach that adopts an in-depth interview methodology. The collected data is analyzed by a qualitative analysis software (e.g. MAXQDA).

Findings of the study show that blockchain technology is still in its infancy and needs to be communicated to the actors of the sector. The technology has low potential due to the barriers it faces during the development phase. However, it is considered to be an important technological development for the textile sector stakeholders.

This study is important to notice at what stage the waste management practices and how to develop better with modern technologies like blockchain. Blockchain technology has essential potential for supply chains, but sustainability concerns are becoming a major issue to be solved. Waste management is therefore an important subject to be analyzed and provided with innovative solutions that will contribute to sustainability efforts. To the author's best knowledge, this is the first attempt to comprehend the potential of blockchain in the textile industry in terms of waste management.

The inherent linkages between climate and the habitability of the Earth are increasingly well recognized, and a convention could help to ensure that conserving the environment and developing the economy in the future must go hand in hand. Due to growing environmental concern, the United Nations General Assembly has set into motion an international negotiating process for a framework convention on climate change. One of the specific tasks in these negotiations is how to share the duties in reducing climate relevant gases, particularly carbon dioxide, between the industrial and the developing countries. The respective proposals could be among the most far‐reaching ever for socio‐economic development, indeed for global security and survival itself. While the negotiations will be about climate and protection of the atmosphere, they could lead to fundamental changes in energy, forestry, transport and technology policies, and to future development pathways with low greenhouse gas emissions. Addresses some of these aspects of a climate convention and a respective CO⊂2‐agreement, the Houston Protocol.

The aim of the present study is to overcome some of the limitations of the FMEA method by presenting a theoretical base for considering risk evaluation into its assessment methodology and proposing an approach for its implementation.

Fuzzy AHP is used to calculate the weights of the likelihood of occurrence (O), severity (S) and difficulty of detection (D). Additionally, the prospect-theory-based TODIM method was integrated with fuzzy logic. Thus, fuzzy TODIM was employed to calculate the ranking of potential failure modes according to their risk priority numbers (RPNs). In order to verify the results of the study, in-depth interviews were conducted with the participation of industry experts.

The results are very much in line with prospect theory. Therefore, practitioners may apply the proposed method to FMEA. The most crucial failure mode for a firm's attention is furnace failure followed by generator failure, crane failure, tank failure, kettle failure, dryer failure and operator failure, respectively.

The originality of this paper consists in integrating prospect theory with the FMEA method in order to overcome the limitations naturally inherent in the calculation of the FMEA's RPNs.