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The purpose of this paper is to compare the predictive capability of three methods of truck cycle time estimation in open‐pit mining: computer simulation, artificial neural networks (NNs), and multiple regressions (MRs). The aim is to determine the best method. The most common method currently used is computer simulation.

Truck cycle times at a large open pit mine are estimated using computer simulation, artificial NNs, and MRs. The estimated cycle times by each method are in turn compared to the actual cycle times recorded by a computerized mine monitoring system at the same mine. The errors associated with each method relative to the actual cycle times are documented and form the basis for comparing the three methods.

The paper clearly indicates that computer simulation methods used in predicting truck cycle times in open‐pit mining underestimate and overestimate the results for short and long hauls, respectively. It appears that both NN and regression models are superior in their predictive abilities compared to computer simulations.

The cycle time prediction models developed apply to a specific mine site and one has to be careful not to directly apply these models to other operations.

The paper describes the implementation of regression and NN modelling. An opportunity exists for mines to utilise the large volumes of data generated to predict truck haulage cycle times more accurately and hence, improve the quality of mine planning.

The paper addresses an area of need in the mining industry. Accurate prediction of cycle times is critical to mine planners as it impacts on production targets and hence, the budgets.

The significant impact of innovation in stimulating economic growth cannot be overemphasized, more importantly from policy perspective. For this reason, the relationship between innovation and economic growth in developing economies such as the ones in Africa has remained topical. Yet, innovation as a concept is multi-dimensional and cannot be measured by just one single variable. With hindsight of the traditional measures of innovation in literature, we augment it with the number of scientific journals published in the region to enrich this discourse.

We focus on an approach that explores innovation policy qualitatively from various policy documents of selected countries in the region from three policy perspectives (i.e. institutional framework, financing and diffusion and interaction). We further investigate whether innovation as perceived differently is important for economic growth in 25 economies in sub-Saharan Africa over the period 1990–2016. Instrumental variable estimation of a threshold regression is used to capture the contributions of innovation as a multi-dimensional concept on economic growth, while dealing with endogeneity between the regressors and error term.

The results from both traditional panel regressions and IV panel threshold regressions show a positive relationship between innovation and economic growth, although the impact seems negligible. Institutional quality dampens innovation among low-regime economies, and the relation is persistent regardless of when the focus is on aggregate or decomposed institutional factors. The impact of innovation on economic growth in most regressions is robust to different dimensions of innovation. Yet, the coefficients of the innovation variables in the two regimes are quite dissimilar. While most countries in the region have offered financial support in the form of budgetary allocations to strengthen institutions, barriers to the design and implementation of innovation policies may be responsible for the sluggish contribution of innovation to the growth pattern of the region.

Segregating economies of Africa into two distinct regimes based on a threshold of investment in education as a share of GDP in order to understand the relationship between innovation and economic growth is quite novel. This lends credence to the fact that innovation as a multifaceted concept does not take place by chance – it is carefully planned. We have enriched the discourse of innovation and thus helped in deepening understanding on this contentious subject.

The purpose of this study is to determine the type of information Library and Information Science professionals share in the WhatsApp groups in Nigeria.

The study adopted a quantitative content analysis research design. With a total of 739 participants, 1,385 posts of six different WhatsApp groups of Library and Information Science professionals for three months were analyzed.

The study found that the most shared information among the Library and Information Science professionals in Nigeria is post on professional information. This demonstrates that librarians are determined to share professional information among them to promote the profession. This was followed by political information basically on the Nigerian Library Association national executives’ election, and job advertisements related to the library. Although a few members violate the rules by posting the kind of information not required in the WhatsApp group, the erring members are quickly called to order and warned by the WhatsApp group administrator.

Professional ties can grow among information specialists and library practitioners through participation in virtual communities such as WhatsApp group. The implication of this work is in showing that social media especially WhatsApp groups can be used as a knowledge sharing mechanism to share timely, current and relevant information among professionals in different occupations.

Findings on the use of WhatsApp group in sharing professional information will inform several other Library and Information Science professionals in other countries of the need to adopt this channel to disseminate timely information related to up-coming conferences, training opportunities, workshops, call for papers and so on among the professionals. The results of this paper are valuable for anyone interested in an avenue to share or receive much quicker and pertinent information that saves the time of professionals in any occupation.

This study aims to explore individual perceptions about how the government, as the main architect of policies and regulations, discharges strategic accountability in Ghana’s oil and gas sector and, in so doing, promotes resource sustainability.

The study reports on a series of interviews with key actors using institutional theory as a lens for discussion and interpretation of results. This approach forms the basis for a number of specific contributions to knowledge regarding strategic accountability around natural resource discoveries.

Whilst many deeply-set problems appear to persist, the paper reports some favourable movement in public perceptions regarding institutional accountability that has not been identified previously. The empirical findings demonstrate how the three elements of institutional theory work together in an emerging country’s natural resource industry to drive a potentially holistic strategic institutional legitimacy, contrary to the existing pervasive picture of detrimental regulative, normative and cognitive institutionalism found within the region.

The findings suggest that, contrary to existing regional evidence regarding institutional financial accountability practices around natural resources, Ghana has made favourable strides in terms of strategic accountability discharge. This discovery implies that with persistence and commitment, a meaningful degree of intelligent strategic accountability can be achieved and, with appropriate empirical methodology, identified and rationalised.

The persistent coercive pressure from the Ghanaian society that caused the government to listen to overtime and take positive steps in the institutionalisation of their strategic accountability process which translated into a holistic institutional legitimacy that has eluded the sub-region for decades, is a glimmer of hope for other societies within the sub-Saharan region that all is not lost.

The paper suggests an empirically driven approach to understanding the institutionalisation of strategic accountability practices and their impact on sustainability around natural resources in sub-Saharan Africa. The focus on the strategic aspect of accountability – rather than the financial as in most prior work – and the consideration of opinions at more than a single point in time permits the identification of novel evidence regarding accountability in emerging economies.

This study explores Ghanaian views about accountability discharge by firms and government in the context of the nation's newly discovered oil and gas resources. The research focusses on a range of issues relating to stakeholder interaction, communication flows and the impact of decision-making on Ghanaian lives, as perceived by individuals on the ground.

The paper adapts elements of legitimacy theory to interpret the outcome of a series of semi-structured interviews with members of key accountee and accountor groups including citizens and representatives of the state and private firms in the oil and gas industry in Ghana.

The results indicate that rather than attempting to effect substantive accountability discharge, Ghana's government and oil and gas firms employ a wide range of legitimation strategies despite the apparently complete absence of the accountee power normally seen as driving the need for social contract repair.

The findings suggest that accountability discharge in Ghana is cursory at best, with several legitimising strategies in evidence. The representatives from state institutions appear to share some of the concerns, suggesting that the problems are entrenched and will require robust enforcement of a strengthened regulatory approach to effect meaningful change.

This paper contributes to the literature on the discharge of institutional accountability by building on earlier conceptualisations of legitimacy theory to explore perceptions around a recent natural resource discovery. The analysis highlights grave concerns regarding the behaviour of state and corporate actors, one that runs counter to sub-Saharan African tradition.

The main objective of this study is to investigate the factors that influence the adoption intention of cloud computing services among individual users using the extended theory of planned behavior.

A purposive sampling technique was used to collect a total of 339 data points, which were analyzed using SmartPLS to derive variance-based structural equation modeling and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA).

The results obtained from PLS-SEM indicate that attitude towards cloud computing, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, perceived security, cost-effectiveness, and performance expectancy all have a positive and significant impact on the adoption intention of cloud computing services among individual users. On the other hand, the findings from fsQCA provide a clear interpretation and deeper insights into the adoption intention of individual users of cloud computing services by revealing the complex relationships between multiple combinations of antecedents. This helps to understand the reasons for individual users' adoption intention in emerging countries.

This study offers valuable insights to cloud service providers and cyber entrepreneurs on how to promote cloud computing services to individual users in developing countries. It helps these organizations understand their priorities for encouraging cloud computing adoption among individual users from emerging countries. Additionally, policymakers can also understand their role in creating a comfortable and flexible cloud computing access environment for individual users.

This study has contributed to the increasingly growing empirical literature on cloud computing adoption and demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed theoretical framework in identifying the potential reasons for the slow growth of cloud computing services adoption in the developing world.

Despite the significant investment in research on corporate social responsibility (CSR), there still exists a lack of clarity in terms of how different types of CSR activities lead to the outcomes a firm desires with their investment in CSR. The purpose of this paper is to provide greater insight on the relationship between types of CSR activities and brand equity (BE). The authors develop and test a conceptual framework, which examines the unique relationship between each CSR dimension and BE, as well as the interaction of product-related CSR activities and employee-related CSR activities with CSR activities across the other dimensions.

The authors collected data from multiple secondary sources, including Kinder, Lydenberg and Domini (KLD) Research and Analytics Inc., Interbrand, Compustat and CMR. The authors used random-effect estimations to estimate panel regressions of BE as a function of the different dimensions of a firm’s CSR, interaction terms between CSR dimensions and product quality and interaction terms between employee relations and other CSR dimensions, as well as a set of control variables and Year dummy variables.

Based upon a large-scale panel data set including 78 firms for the period of 2000–2014, the results show that diversity- and governance-related CSR have a positive effect on BE, employee-related CSR has a negative effect on BE and both product and employee dimensions play important roles in the relationships between other CSR dimensions and BE. These results have important implications for both theory and practice.

This study makes several contributions to extant literature on CSR and brand strength. First, this study examines the impact of CSR on BE vs alternative measures of brand-related outcomes. This study uses the KLD database to determine scores for firm CSR activity. It is the first to use the extensive KLD database to examine the relationship between types of CSR activities and BE. Last, this study seeks to better understand some of the organizational factors which influence the success of CSR outcomes. Specifically, the research will examine the interaction of product-related and employee-related CSR activities with CSR activities across the other dimensions.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the prejudice and discrimination constructs through the lens of a transcendent knowledge concept.

The paper seeks to demonstrate that Spiritism or Spiritist Doctrine (SD) – regarded here as a source of transcendent knowledge – offers compelling arguments and provides suitable explanations (i.e. transcendent ontology) in relation to the issue of discrimination

Overall, this paper contributes to a better understanding of diversity and inclusive perspectives by examining the antecedents and consequences of discrimination through the insightful lens of SD tenets. In this sense, the findings suggest that the discriminators and prejudiced people may ironically pass through – as a result of the law of cause and effect – the same hard situations (i.e. ordeals or nightmares) – even though in their future lives – that they impose in their current victims to forcefully open their minds, support universal values, enhance their own feelings and spiritual intelligence.

Evidence presented here (although conceptually in nature) could be somewhat integrated into training sections of diversity management. At a minimum, it may encourage the shift of attitudes, revision of embedded values and reflections about the spiritual consequences to the perpetrators of discrimination against minorities.

Taken as a whole, the SD tenets prompt us to understand that the acts of prejudice, stereotyping and discrimination engender suffering for their perpetrators, even in their future lives (i.e. reincarnations). Broadly speaking, the SD principles compel us to consider transcendent knowledge even in the context of organizational life.