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1 – 10 of over 2000Waqar Ahmed and Muhammad Shahid Soroya
The purpose of this study was to explore the number, difference and ratio of professionals and non-professionals heading toward non-academic special libraries (NASL). This study…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to explore the number, difference and ratio of professionals and non-professionals heading toward non-academic special libraries (NASL). This study also explored the difference of provision of services based on educational qualifications.
Design/methodology/approach
Quantitative survey research method and questionnaire as a data collection tool was used to conduct the study. The questionnaire contained four educational levels against the 18 services variables. No list or directory being available, 71 special libraries were assured to be there in Lahore through snowball-sampling technique. Out of 71 questionnaires, 41 were returned and analyzed using Chi-Square test in Statistical Package for Social Sciences.
Findings
Findings indicated that 56 per cent of the libraries were headed by LIS professionals, while rest of 44 per cent of the libraries was headed by persons with no professional education. Chi-Square test’s p value indicated the significant difference in the orientation, reference service and document reservation service. The professionally qualified library managers were found better at providing librarians’ end services.
Originality/value
The present study is the first of its kind in Pakistan, which marked the vacant positions and indicated the differences of services based on level of education. It depicted the electronic, librarians end, and technical knowledge and multi-factor services and measured its variation on the educational grounds.
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Kate Heward, Brendan Gough and Matthew Molineux
The diagnosis of a chronic progressive condition such as multiple sclerosis (MS) can impact on many aspects of daily life. Living with, and caring for, an individual with such a…
Abstract
The diagnosis of a chronic progressive condition such as multiple sclerosis (MS) can impact on many aspects of daily life. Living with, and caring for, an individual with such a condition is likely to have emotional and psychological consequences. We carried out semi‐structured interviews with nine partners and analysed the interview transcripts using grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1998), the phase presented in this article formed part of a larger overall study that explored the impact of living with MS for partners and a family. Our analysis in this phase highlights two core themes centred on identity issues faced by the participants: ‘playing detective’ in order to acquire information and manage the situation; and ‘reshaping identities’ in a shifting context, which reflected the participants' difficulties in reconfiguring important identities (at work and at home). Although previous research has addressed how carers cope, there is a dearth of qualitative literature relating to whether or not partners' identities are affected by taking a central role in caring, including how previous identities are maintained and new ones acquired.
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Analyses where the auditors and regulators went wrong in the attempting to prevent the collapse of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) in 1991; the Bank was…
Abstract
Analyses where the auditors and regulators went wrong in the attempting to prevent the collapse of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) in 1991; the Bank was dogged by rumours of money laundering and dubious practices, and the result was the loss of many jobs and bank deposits. Looks at the roles of Price‐WaterhouseCoopers, who became sole auditors of BCCI in 1988, and of previous auditors Ernst & Young. Criticises the regulatory performance of the Bank of England, in particular the lack of communication between it and Price‐WaterhouseCoopers. Suggests that an independent banking regulator is needed in the UK based on a new statutory regulatory structure, and that the 1987 Banking Act may have prevented the Bank of England achieving effective regulation.
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The author explains research work about urban areas as tourist sources in the framework of research approach to urban recreation. Pressing need for indepth urban recreation…
Abstract
The author explains research work about urban areas as tourist sources in the framework of research approach to urban recreation. Pressing need for indepth urban recreation research exists in consideration of the dynamic “process” of tourism.
Neelima Madugula, Srikanth Allamsetty, Abhinav Sinha, Subhendu Mishra, M.V. Satya Sai Chandra and Dhanya Krishnan
With the current COVID-19 outbreak, the majority of the higher educational institutes (HEI) are conducting online examinations to assess their students, where both teachers and…
Abstract
Purpose
With the current COVID-19 outbreak, the majority of the higher educational institutes (HEI) are conducting online examinations to assess their students, where both teachers and students are facing various constraints. Under these circumstances, it is very important to understand the perspectives of teachers and students towards online examinations in higher education institutions and the factors affecting their perspectives.
Design/methodology/approach
This study has been conducted with the mentioned objective through online survey responses and rigorous statistical analysis of the data. The data analysis has been performed and presented using self-explanatory bar graphs, partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and sentiment analysis.
Findings
While the students responded diversely for items in one of the constructs: scope for malpractice, the teachers agreed with the items, indicating that the online exams are not sufficiently effective in dealing with cheating and malpractice. Few more issues related to Internet connections, short time duration for uploading answer scripts are identified as problems and need attention while framing the rules to conduct the online examinations in future.
Originality/value
A new questionnaire was drafted to measure the effect of different constructs. An attempt is made to understand the perspectives of both the teachers and the students towards online examinations with respect to each of these considered constructs with a rigorous statistical analysis.
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Campbell postulates that: first, the city as source area should be the focus of study in urban recreation research rather than the destination, which is more often selected by…
Abstract
Campbell postulates that: first, the city as source area should be the focus of study in urban recreation research rather than the destination, which is more often selected by researchers; and that, second, concern should also focus on the spatial interaction of the city with the recreational area (Campbell, 1966, 87). He proposes a model to represent these concerns and in this he suggests that the type of movement pursued is related to the recreational experience desired and that the spatial distribution of the tourist industry is similarly associated.
Pooja Rani, Rajneesh Kumar and Anurag Jain
Decision support systems developed using machine learning classifiers have become a valuable tool in predicting various diseases. However, the performance of these systems is…
Abstract
Purpose
Decision support systems developed using machine learning classifiers have become a valuable tool in predicting various diseases. However, the performance of these systems is adversely affected by the missing values in medical datasets. Imputation methods are used to predict these missing values. In this paper, a new imputation method called hybrid imputation optimized by the classifier (HIOC) is proposed to predict missing values efficiently.
Design/methodology/approach
The proposed HIOC is developed by using a classifier to combine multivariate imputation by chained equations (MICE), K nearest neighbor (KNN), mean and mode imputation methods in an optimum way. Performance of HIOC has been compared to MICE, KNN, and mean and mode methods. Four classifiers support vector machine (SVM), naive Bayes (NB), random forest (RF) and decision tree (DT) have been used to evaluate the performance of imputation methods.
Findings
The results show that HIOC performed efficiently even with a high rate of missing values. It had reduced root mean square error (RMSE) up to 17.32% in the heart disease dataset and 34.73% in the breast cancer dataset. Correct prediction of missing values improved the accuracy of the classifiers in predicting diseases. It increased classification accuracy up to 18.61% in the heart disease dataset and 6.20% in the breast cancer dataset.
Originality/value
The proposed HIOC is a new hybrid imputation method that can efficiently predict missing values in any medical dataset.
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Kazi Turin Rahman and Md. Zahir Uddin Arif
The purpose of the study is to dive into various binge-watching habits of Netflix users amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Consumers find themselves amidst the COVID-19 lockdown with…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the study is to dive into various binge-watching habits of Netflix users amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Consumers find themselves amidst the COVID-19 lockdown with more free time to indulge in these viewing habits. This study investigates motivational factors, amount of media consumption and negative attributes associated with binge-watching on Netflix during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Design/methodology/approach
This study has employed an exploratory research design and obtained primary data via an online survey using a semistructured questionnaire. Convenience sampling has been used to choose a sample (n = 105) of Netflix binge-watchers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both sample selection and survey administration have been done through social media messaging services owing to the COVID-19 lockdown measures.
Findings
The results indicate that most of the respondents use smartphones for binge-watching on Netflix. Moreover, they have expressed that a wide range of shows available on Netflix incline them to engage in marathon viewing. However, the respondents spend just over 70 h per month binge-watching on Netflix. Finally, the majority of respondents have flagged “one more episode” syndrome as the most challenging aspect of being marathon viewers on Netflix during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Originality/value
This is one of the few papers to exclusively focus on the impacts of binge-watching on Netflix during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings will originate the value with novelty and important implications to the Netflix consumers, telecom service providers and payment gateways.
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Anushree Karani, Revati Deshpande, Sunita Mall and Mitesh Jayswal
The study investigates the impact of psychological contract breach on employees' innovative behavior and well-being (happiness, work engagement and mental well-being) who are…
Abstract
Purpose
The study investigates the impact of psychological contract breach on employees' innovative behavior and well-being (happiness, work engagement and mental well-being) who are working from home during this COVID-19 pandemic situation. Drawing on social information processing (SIP) and job-demand resource (JD-R) theory, job stress was proposed as a mediator explaining this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected via a structured questionnaire through Google Docs from 258 respondents working at different capacity in Indian organizations. The study includes those respondents who are working from home during COVID-19 pandemic situation. The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling (SEM).
Findings
Psychological contract breach was negatively impacting innovative behavior and well-being. Job stress mediated the relationship between psychological contract breach and innovative behavior as well as well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic situation and especially for those who are working from home only.
Research limitations/implications
The data for the study were collected from the employees working from home during this COVID-19 pandemic situation was cross-sectional. The study implied or spoke about the unmet expectations leading to reduced innovative behavior harming the organization's effectiveness and it also reduces well-being which harms the individual in the era of social and financial uncertainty.
Originality/value
The novel contribution of the study is integrating SIP and JD-R theory during the pandemic situation. The results highlighted meticulous empirical evidence which answers the question that how the unmet expectations cause a detrimental effect on the employees as well as the organizations in this COVID-19 pandemic situation.
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