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1 – 10 of 358Ahmed Amir Tazibt and Farida Aoughlis
During crises such as accidents or disasters, an enormous volume of information is generated on the Web. Both people and decision-makers often need to identify relevant and timely…
Abstract
Purpose
During crises such as accidents or disasters, an enormous volume of information is generated on the Web. Both people and decision-makers often need to identify relevant and timely content that can help in understanding what happens and take right decisions, as soon it appears online. However, relevant content can be disseminated in document streams. The available information can also contain redundant content published by different sources. Therefore, the need of automatic construction of summaries that aggregate important, non-redundant and non-outdated pieces of information is becoming critical.
Design/methodology/approach
The aim of this paper is to present a new temporal summarization approach based on a popular topic model in the information retrieval field, the Latent Dirichlet Allocation. The approach consists of filtering documents over streams, extracting relevant parts of information and then using topic modeling to reveal their underlying aspects to extract the most relevant and novel pieces of information to be added to the summary.
Findings
The performance evaluation of the proposed temporal summarization approach based on Latent Dirichlet Allocation, performed on the TREC Temporal Summarization 2014 framework, clearly demonstrates its effectiveness to provide short and precise summaries of events.
Originality/value
Unlike most of the state of the art approaches, the proposed method determines the importance of the pieces of information to be added to the summaries solely relying on their representation in the topic space provided by Latent Dirichlet Allocation, without the use of any external source of evidence.
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Farhana Ferdousi, Amir Ahmed and Md Abdul Momen
The purpose of this study is to look at the challenges and successes that the case institution has had in implementing and maintaining quality assurance (QA) processes. The study…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to look at the challenges and successes that the case institution has had in implementing and maintaining quality assurance (QA) processes. The study also looks into the role of QA techniques in improving an institution's performance in a developing country.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is qualitative. Nine significant persons were interviewed, including the institution's top administration, faculty members and related staff. Data were gathered to learn more about the background, incremental changes and numerous internal and external elements that influenced how QA was approached over time.
Findings
The findings revealed the challenges and experiences of the evolution of QA practices in the case institution. The results show the changes in QA practices regarding three aspects, including people, place and program of case institutions under three phases. During phases I and II, the adoption and upgradation of QA practices were very slow; phase III showed significant improvement in all three aspects. In addition, the positive impact of QA practices is evident in improving the performance of students and teaching and nonteaching staff of the case institution.
Practical implications
The findings of this research could aid open and distance learning (ODL) providers in other developing nations in understanding the challenges of such a system. It may also make it easier for other ODL providers to comprehend the QA-led success in stakeholder confidence, employability and reputation.
Originality/value
The research will give insights into how QA procedures are used and valued in ODL in developing nations.
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The purpose of this paper is to draw a map of the general features of epistemological and critical concerns in contemporary Islamic philosophy. This study will not be confined to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to draw a map of the general features of epistemological and critical concerns in contemporary Islamic philosophy. This study will not be confined to the domain of academic philosophy or to those who are professionals in the field of philosophy.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopted the critical rational approach in dealing with contemporary Islamic philosophy in the Arab world. The scope will include scholars from different fields of epistemology who tried to present a “vision” of the attitude that should be adopted in facing the challenges of the age and the problems of the nation on the epistemological level or the political, economic and social levels.
Findings
There is a need for a philosophy of action and progress rather than a philosophy that is based on abstract ideas and theories and of words/rhetoric. The ethics required to accomplish this ought to identify the attributes of the citizen who can reach self-actualization through legitimate means based on a progress agenda with theoretical and philosophical foundations.
Research limitations/implications
Because a critical rational approach can be dealt with from different perspectives, this paper will adopt the classification of the principal intellectual trends: the reformist, secular and liberal.
Practical implications
This paper covers a long time span to determine whether the philosophical projects have been effective.
Originality/value
This paper, which criticizes the philosophic projects that are theoretically unsound and that do not address real social problems (like poverty), argues the need for a philosophy of progress and action. This will lead to devising an agenda that addresses the challenges the society is facing and to finding alternative and creative solutions resulting in development.
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The purpose of this paper is to analyse the legendary decision of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. Apart from this, the author’s aim is to analyse the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the legendary decision of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. Apart from this, the author’s aim is to analyse the constitutional interpretation done by the Higher Judiciary of the Country. Another aim of this note is to simplify the decision of this case for the understanding of the mass people and law students.
Design/methodology/approach
To conclude this paper, both qualitative and analytical methods have been used.
Findings
In this paper, a summarized fact of the case has been presented. In addition to that, decision of the High Court Division in the Writ petition has been simplified with six simple points. Moreover, major arguments submitted by both the Appellant’s and Respondent’s Lawyers have been summarized. Decision of the Appellate Division has been simplified with 12 simple points along with the reasoning behind the judgement.
Research limitations/implications
In this paper, only the case of Secretary, Ministry of Finance vs Md. Masdar Hossain and Others has been studied and analysed in depth.
Practical implications
This paper will mainly help the Law and Social Science students for simply understanding the decision and the reasoning behind the decision of the case. Apart from that, this case noting will help both academics and legal professionals to study this case within a short period.
Social implications
This paper will help mass people who want to study about this case to simply understand the case in depth. In addition to that, people will get known about the procedure hoe the subordinate judiciary of Bangladesh became independent.
Originality/value
This conceptual paper is the original piece of work and is not under review in any other journal. This paper has not been published previously in any other journal.
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The aim of this paper is to analyze the status of independence of the judiciary in Bangladesh. It is recognized worldwide that an independent judiciary is the sin qua non of…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to analyze the status of independence of the judiciary in Bangladesh. It is recognized worldwide that an independent judiciary is the sin qua non of democracy and good governance. However, without separation of the judiciary from other organs of the state absolute independence of judiciary is not possible. An attempt has been made in this paper to sketch the brief historical background of judicial system in Bangladesh through analyzing the meaning and basic principles of judicial independence and to what extent these principles exists in Bangladesh. How did the judiciary finally separate from the executive? After separation of the judiciary, what is the status of executive interference over judiciary in Bangladesh has also been evaluated in this paper.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is qualitative in nature and based on secondary sources of materials like books, journal articles, government rules, newspaper reports, etc. Relevant literature has also been collected through Internet browsing.
Findings
In this study, it has been found that from time immemorial the judicial system of Bangladesh was not completely independent from the interference of the executive branch of the government. It has also been found that from the beginning of the British colonial rule, the question of separation of the judiciary from the executive had been a continuing debate. Presently, even after separation of the judiciary, the interference of the executive over the judiciary is still continuing.
Practical implications
This paper opens a new window for the policy makers and concerned authorities to take necessary steps for overcoming the existing limitations of the status of judicial dependence in Bangladesh.
Originality/value
The paper will be of interest to legal practitioners, policy makers, members of civil society, and those in the field of judicial system in Bangladesh and some other British colonial common law countries.
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The literature argues that human activities are responsible for environmental pollution and world climate change. Africa is the second-largest continent by population and its…
Abstract
Purpose
The literature argues that human activities are responsible for environmental pollution and world climate change. Africa is the second-largest continent by population and its socio-economic conditions are adversely affected by climate change due to environmental pollution. Therefore, this study investigates the relationship between human activities, the environment and the economic growth of 38 African countries from 2000 to 2018.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employs a simultaneous equations model called Seemingly unrelated regression.
Findings
Human capital development (HDI) and environmental health (EH) have a positive and non-linear relationship, while HDI and ecosystem vitality (EV) are negative and non-linear. The relationship between gross domestic product per capita (GDPPC) and EH is negative and non-linear. However, the GDPPC-EV link is insignificant. Trade openness (TO) and EV have a negative and non-linear relationship, but trade significantly improves EH. Urbanisation-EV relationship is positive and non-linear. However, urbanisation significantly reduces EH. Technology has a positive and non-linear relationship with EH and EV. The study also found that EH and EV positively affects the economy.
Originality/value
This is the first study to analyse the most concerned countries in-depth. Thus, it provides appropriate and sound policies that consider the unique characteristics of the nations. Moreover, it uses a robust estimation technique that overcomes the endogeneity problem and offers insight into the relationship between the variables, including the feedback effect of the environment on growth.
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Outlines the key features of the Ohlson (1995) and Feltham and Ohlson (1995, 1996) models, which relate share values to current accounting numbers, and reviews research on their…
Abstract
Outlines the key features of the Ohlson (1995) and Feltham and Ohlson (1995, 1996) models, which relate share values to current accounting numbers, and reviews research on their empirical application. Identifies some inconsistencies in results and directions for future research.
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Ahmed Bouteska and Boutheina Regaieg
The purpose of this paper is to detect quantitatively the existence of anchoring bias among financial analysts on the Tunisian stock market. Both non-parametric and parametric…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to detect quantitatively the existence of anchoring bias among financial analysts on the Tunisian stock market. Both non-parametric and parametric methods are used.
Design/methodology/approach
Two studies have been conducted over the period 2010–2014. A first analysis is non-parametric, based on observations of the sign taking by the surprise of result announcement according to the evolution of earning per share (EPS). A second analysis uses simple and multiple linear regression methods to quantify the anchor bias.
Findings
Non-parametric results show that in the majority of cases, the earning per share variations are followed by unexpected earnings surprises of the same direction, which verify the hypothesis of an anchoring bias of financial analysts to the past benefits. Parametric results confirm these first findings by testing different psychological anchors’ variables. Financial analysts are found to remain anchored to the previous benefits and carry out insufficient adjustments following the announcement of the results by the companies. There is also a tendency for an over/under-reaction in changes in forecasts. Analysts’ behavior is asymmetrical depending on the sign of the forecast changes: an over-reaction for positive prediction changes and a negative reaction for negative prediction changes.
Originality/value
The evidence provided in this paper largely validates the assumptions derived from the behavioral theory particularly the lessons learned by Kaestner (2005) and Amir and Ganzach (1998). The authors conclude that financial analysts on the Tunisian stock market suffer from anchoring, optimism, over and under-reaction biases when announcing the earnings.
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Cherry W.M. Cheung, Caleb Kwong, Humera Manzoor, Mehboob Ur Rashid, Charan Bhattarai and Young-Ah Kim
Although scholars have investigated how social entrepreneurs create and develop social enterprises in the penurious stable environment, how they are created in the penurious…
Abstract
Purpose
Although scholars have investigated how social entrepreneurs create and develop social enterprises in the penurious stable environment, how they are created in the penurious unstable environment has yet been overlooked. The purpose of this paper is to address this research gap by exploring how internally displaced individuals, despite the lack of resources, create and develop a social enterprise to serve the other displaced population in the war and conflict zones.
Design/methodology/approach
Underpinned by a biographical research design, in-depth interviews with internally displaced individuals who have created social enterprises in the war and conflict zones were undertaken. Three social entrepreneurs were chosen for this study from three different social enterprises that are created by internally displaced individuals to serve the other internally displaced people of three different countries, namely, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Syria.
Findings
The single and cross-case analysis found that internally displaced individuals deploy bricolage strategy, for example, reconfiguration of pre-existing resources and competencies (both internal and external), to start up a social venture in the war and conflict zones. They utilise pre-existing internal resources, mainly human capital, and external resources, through a frugal approach towards resources acquisitions. The authors also found that the displaced social entrepreneurs utilise resources of other displaced individuals, for example, networks, volunteers, local knowledge and financial supports mainly from older arrivals, and develop their own enterprise ecosystem within the host location to co-create and co-develop social enterprise and social values for all of them.
Research limitations/implications
The findings show that internally displaced individuals utilise bricolage strategies to create and develop socially entrepreneurial venture to serve other internally displaced individuals in the war and conflict zones. As the findings are based on three case studies, for confirmatory approach, a quantitative study with a large sample size is necessary. Furthermore, as the differences in economic, cultural and linguistic in between the home and host locations can have impact on the creation and the development of a social venture, they should be considered in the future studies.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the limited literature and studies on social entrepreneurship, specifically, to the context of unstable penurious environment. It also contributes to the literature on bricolage by extending its application from penurious stable environment to the penurious unstable environment. By exploring what and how internal and external resources are utilised to create and develop a socially entrepreneurial venture in a war and conflict zones, this study has added value to the literature on not only bricolage but also entrepreneurship in war and conflict zones.
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