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E-court systems automate court processes and provide better case administration with more effective and efficient justice delivery. This paper aims to present the e-court system in the Sulaimaniyah Appellate Court in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq as a case study. It identifies significant improvements after adopting the system.

This study used a qualitative approach with an exploratory case study design. Data collected from a triangulation of three sources through structured expert interviews with 30 stakeholders, personal observations by two of the authors, supported by analyzing current relevant literature. R package for Qualitative Data Analysis was the analysis tool.

Findings showed 10 improvements that enhanced court efficiency and effectiveness concerning better case administration, a more transparent process and increased court case security.

This research is limited to improvements after adopting an e-court system.

This research provides a foundation for practitioners who are on the way to implement the e-court system and serves the decision-makers in the Kurdistan Regional Government to plan future expansion in the region.

This research focuses on the e-court system in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It is implemented as a first e-service to be a pilot for a broader plan to integrate all appellate courts in other cities in the Kurdistan of Iraq, hence, stepping toward the implementation of e-government.

The aim of this paper is to develop a framework to enhance building maintainability through facilitating early suppliers’ involvement (ESI) in the design process.

A research methodology consisting of literature review, case studies and survey questionnaire was designed to achieve the above-mentioned aim. Firstly, literature review was used to examine the concepts of building maintenance, maintainability, the design process and ESI. Secondly, three case studies were presented and analysed to investigate the role of ESI towards enhancing building maintainability during the design process. Thirdly, a survey questionnaire was carried out with a representative sample of architectural design firms (ADFs) in Egypt to investigate their perception and application of ESI towards enhancing building maintainability during the design process. Finally, the research developed a framework to facilitate ESI in the design process in ADFs in Egypt.

Through literature review, the research highlighted the relationship between ESI and enhancing building maintainability and identified the roles, benefits, challenges and that encounter ESI in ADFs, factors for suppliers selection and levels of involvement. Results of the data analysis showed that “Difficulty of trusting external parties and sharing information with transparency” was ranked the highest challenge of ESI in ADFs in Egypt, followed by “Legal competitive advantage restrictions”. Moreover, “Better estimation for operation and maintenance costs” was ranked the highest contributions of ESI towards enhancing building maintainability, followed by “Reduce the number of operation and maintenance problems or reworks”. Finally, respondents stated that “Innovation, technical expertise, and competence” was ranked the highest supplier’s selection criteria, while “paying consultation fees for offering advice and recommendations to the design team” was ranked the highest form of supplier’s remuneration.

The proposed framework contributes to the body of knowledge through proposing five functions that aimed to facilitate ESI in the design process, a research area that received scant attention in construction research. In addition, because of the conceptual nature of the framework, it has to be validated to ensure its capability to overcome the challenges of ESI as an approach for enhancing building maintainability during the design process.

This research presents a practical solution that bridges the gap between theory and practice through overcoming the challenges that obstruct suppliers from being involved in the design process as an approach for enhancing building maintainability.

This research discussed the relationship between ESI and enhancing building maintainability as well as the roles, benefits and challenges that encounter ESI in ADFs. In addition, the research investigated the levels of suppliers’ involvement, selection criteria and forms of payment. Moreover, it investigated the perception and application of ESI in ADFs in Egypt towards improving building maintainability. The research proposed a framework to facilitate the integration of suppliers in the early stages of the project life cycle. It represents a synthesis that is novel and creative in thought and adds value to the knowledge in a manner that has not previously occurred.

In weaker institutions, lack of corporate social responsibility (CSR) constituencies causes organizations to naturally incline toward corporate socially irresponsible actions. Grounded in the institutional theory, this paper aims to explore the nature of corporate social irresponsibility (CSIR) in the weaker institution and its effect on legitimacy and reputation. The presence of corporate ability moderates the impact of CSIR on legitimacy and reputation.

A list of manager’s contact information was generated from an online database. In total, 1,500 employees in 560 Pakistani organizations received the self-reported survey. In total, 203 managers working in 110 Pakistani organizations responded with the completed questionnaire that provided empirical support to the hypotheses.

Institutional drivers were positively significant to CSIR and negatively associated with the manager’s CSR attitudes. CSIR was negatively significant to legitimacy and reputation. Group differences between high and low corporate ability indicated that corporate ability played a vital role between CSIR and reputation.

These results have important implications for leaders, business-to-business and human resource (HR) managers in weaker institutions highlighting that organization’s supply chain partners consider adopting CSR practices. This can help the organization avoid undesirable and detrimental impact on its legitimacy and reputation, which are linked to irresponsible behaviors. HR managers should build CSR cognition in employees to bring effective change in the organization.

Lack of investigation into corporate ability and CSIR has raised questions about the organization’s efforts in the weaker institution that are sensitive to institutionalized corruption. This research adds to the literature by exploring how the organizations develop legitimacy and reputation while still acting irresponsibly in a weaker institution, presenting a paradox.

This paper aims to consolidate empirical studies between 2013 and 2022 to investigate the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education. It aims to examine published research characteristics and provide insights into the promises and challenges of AI integration in academia.

A systematic literature review was conducted, encompassing 44 empirical studies published as peer-reviewed journal papers. The review focused on identifying trends, categorizing research types and analysing the evidence-based applications of AI in higher education.

The review indicates a recent surge in publications concerning AI in higher education. However, a significant proportion of these publications primarily propose theoretical and conceptual AI interventions. Areas with empirical evidence supporting AI applications in academia are delineated.

The prevalence of theoretical proposals may limit generalizability. Further research is encouraged to validate and expand upon the identified empirical applications of AI in higher education.

This review outlines imperative implications for future research and the implementation of evidence-based AI interventions in higher education, facilitating informed decision-making for academia and stakeholders.

This paper contributes a comprehensive synthesis of empirical studies, highlighting the evolving landscape of AI integration in higher education and emphasizing the need for evidence-based approaches.

The COVID-19 pandemic and its related economic meltdown and social unrest severely challenged most countries, their societies, economies, organizations, and individual citizens. Focusing on both more and less successful country-specific initiatives to fight the pandemic and its multitude of related consequences, this chapter explores implications for leadership and effective action at the individual, organizational, and societal levels. As international management scholars and consultants, the authors document actions taken and their wide-ranging consequences in a diverse set of countries, including countries that have been more or less successful in fighting the pandemic, are geographically larger and smaller, are located in each region of the world, are economically advanced and economically developing, and that chose unique strategies versus strategies more similar to those of their neighbors. Cultural influences on leadership, strategy, and outcomes are described for 19 countries. Informed by a cross-cultural lens, the authors explore such urgent questions as: What is most important for leaders, scholars, and organizations to learn from critical, life-threatening, society-encompassing crises and grand challenges? How do leaders build and maintain trust? What types of communication are most effective at various stages of a crisis? How can we accelerate learning processes globally? How does cultural resilience emerge within rapidly changing environments of fear, shifting cultural norms, and profound challenges to core identity and meaning? This chapter invites readers and authors alike to learn from each other and to begin to discover novel and more successful approaches to tackling grand challenges. It is not definitive; we are all still learning.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the mediating effect of service quality (SQ) in the relationship between relational capital (RC) and organizational performance (OP) within the Egyptian mobile telecommunication setting.

A valid research instrument was utilized to conduct a survey of 384 top- middle- and supervisory- level managers from three Egyptian mobile telecommunications companies. The hypothesized direct relationships were tested through multiple linear regression, and the mediating effect was tested using a structural equation modeling technique.

The results revealed that the firm's “customer and supplier relations” and “marketing capability” positively affect both OP and SQ, “customer knowledge” positively affects SQ only, while “strategic alliances, licensing and agreements” do not have an association with SQ or OP. Moreover, SQ was found fully mediating the effect of RC on OP.

This is an empirical research applied in the Egyptian telecommunication setting. Its results need further investigation in other settings and countries. Also, traditional limitations of a cross-sectional study apply with respect to the attribution of causality and the time lag effects.

The optimal procedure for the Egyptian telecommunications companies is to focus their efforts on leveraging all four components of RC in order to improve SQ and consequently enhance their OP. The telecommunications companies must do all they can to connect the unconnected. As the current COVID-19 pandemic crisis has shown, connectivity is a public good.

This is the first research that merges the concepts of RC, SQ and OP in an integrated model, and tests this model empirically in the Egyptian mobile telecommunications setting.

Pipelines are subject to pits, holes and cracks after staying in service for a while, especially in harsh environments. To repair the pipelines, composite materials are used, due to composite materials' low cost, high-corrosion resistance and easy handling. This study aims to investigate the reliability of the blister test for evaluating the bonding strength of multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) on woven carbon-reinforced epoxy.

Flexural, hardness and Izod impact tests were used to evaluate MWCNT effect on the epoxy by adding different amounts, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1 wt. %, of MWCNT, to be compared with pure epoxy.

The results showed that 0.8 wt.% gives the highest strength. The experimental results of 0.8 wt.% MWCNT reinforced carbon composite was compared with the finite element model under blister test, and the results showed high similarities.

Evaluation of the reliability and the advantages of MWCNT considering the high aspect ratio and high tensile strength, which is more than 15 times compared to steel, MWCNT enhances the strength, stiffness and toughness of epoxy used as a matrix in repairing pipelines, which leads to an increase in the resistance of composite materials against oil internal pressure before delamination.

The objective of this research is to propose an immersive framework that integrates virtual reality (VR) technology with directives international safety training certification bodies to enhance construction safety training, which eventually leads to safer construction sites.

The adopted methodology combines expert insights and experimentation to maximize the effectiveness of construction safety training. The first step was identifying key considerations for VR models such as motion sickness prevention and adult learning theories. The second step was developing a game-like VR model for safety training, with multiple hazards and scenarios based on the considerations of the previous step. After that, safety experts evaluated the model and provided valuable feedback on its alignment with international safety training practices. Finally, the developed model is tested by senior students, where the testing format followed the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) working safely exam structure.

An advanced immersive VR safety training model was developed based on extensive lessons learned from the literature, previous work and psychology-informed adult learning theories. Model testing – through focus groups and hands-on experimentation – demonstrated significant benefit of VR in upgrading and complementing traditional training methods.

The findings presented in this paper make a significant contribution to the field of safety training within the construction industry and the broader context of immersive learning experiences. It also fosters further exploration into immersive learning experiences across educational and professional contexts.