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1 – 10 of over 2000
Article
Publication date: 10 May 2013

Philip M. Osano, Mohammed Y. Said, Jan de Leeuw, Stephen S. Moiko, Dickson Ole Kaelo, Sarah Schomers, Regina Birner and Joseph O. Ogutu

The purpose of this paper is to assess the potential for pastoral communities inhabiting Kenyan Masailand to adapt to climate change using conservancies and payments for ecosystem…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to assess the potential for pastoral communities inhabiting Kenyan Masailand to adapt to climate change using conservancies and payments for ecosystem services.

Design/methodology/approach

Multiple methods and data sources were used, comprising: a socio‐economic survey of 295 households; informal interviews with pastoralists, conservancy managers, and tourism investors; focus group discussions; a stakeholder workshop. Monthly rainfall data was used to analyse drought frequency and intensity. A framework of the interactions between pastoralists' drought coping and risk mitigation strategies and the conservancy effects was developed, and used to qualitatively assess some interactions across the three study sites. Changes in household livestock holdings and sources of cash income are calculated in relation to the 2008‐09 drought.

Findings

The frequency and intensity of droughts are increasing but are localised across the three study sites. The proportion of households with per capita livestock holdings below the 4.5 TLU poverty vulnerability threshold increased by 34 per cent in Kitengela and 5 per cent in the Mara site, mainly due to the drought in 2008‐2009. Payment for ecosystem services was found to buffer households from fluctuating livestock income, but also generates synergies and/or trade‐offs depending on land use restrictions.

Originality/value

The contribution of conservancies to drought coping and risk mitigation strategies of pastoralists is analyzed as a basis for evaluating the potential for ecosystem‐based adaptation.

Details

International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management, vol. 5 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-8692

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 28 September 2015

Md Shah Azam

Information and communications technology (ICT) offers enormous opportunities for individuals, businesses and society. The application of ICT is equally important to economic and…

Abstract

Information and communications technology (ICT) offers enormous opportunities for individuals, businesses and society. The application of ICT is equally important to economic and non-economic activities. Researchers have increasingly focused on the adoption and use of ICT by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as the economic development of a country is largely dependent on them. Following the success of ICT utilisation in SMEs in developed countries, many developing countries are looking to utilise the potential of the technology to develop SMEs. Past studies have shown that the contribution of ICT to the performance of SMEs is not clear and certain. Thus, it is crucial to determine the effectiveness of ICT in generating firm performance since this has implications for SMEs’ expenditure on the technology. This research examines the diffusion of ICT among SMEs with respect to the typical stages from innovation adoption to post-adoption, by analysing the actual usage of ICT and value creation. The mediating effects of integration and utilisation on SME performance are also studied. Grounded in the innovation diffusion literature, institutional theory and resource-based theory, this study has developed a comprehensive integrated research model focused on the research objectives. Following a positivist research paradigm, this study employs a mixed-method research approach. A preliminary conceptual framework is developed through an extensive literature review and is refined by results from an in-depth field study. During the field study, a total of 11 SME owners or decision-makers were interviewed. The recorded interviews were transcribed and analysed using NVivo 10 to refine the model to develop the research hypotheses. The final research model is composed of 30 first-order and five higher-order constructs which involve both reflective and formative measures. Partial least squares-based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) is employed to test the theoretical model with a cross-sectional data set of 282 SMEs in Bangladesh. Survey data were collected using a structured questionnaire issued to SMEs selected by applying a stratified random sampling technique. The structural equation modelling utilises a two-step procedure of data analysis. Prior to estimating the structural model, the measurement model is examined for construct validity of the study variables (i.e. convergent and discriminant validity).

The estimates show cognitive evaluation as an important antecedent for expectation which is shaped primarily by the entrepreneurs’ beliefs (perception) and also influenced by the owners’ innovativeness and culture. Culture further influences expectation. The study finds that facilitating condition, environmental pressure and country readiness are important antecedents of expectation and ICT use. The results also reveal that integration and the degree of ICT utilisation significantly affect SMEs’ performance. Surprisingly, the findings do not reveal any significant impact of ICT usage on performance which apparently suggests the possibility of the ICT productivity paradox. However, the analysis finally proves the non-existence of the paradox by demonstrating the mediating role of ICT integration and degree of utilisation explain the influence of information technology (IT) usage on firm performance which is consistent with the resource-based theory. The results suggest that the use of ICT can enhance SMEs’ performance if the technology is integrated and properly utilised. SME owners or managers, interested stakeholders and policy makers may follow the study’s outcomes and focus on ICT integration and degree of utilisation with a view to attaining superior organisational performance.

This study urges concerned business enterprises and government to look at the environmental and cultural factors with a view to achieving ICT usage success in terms of enhanced firm performance. In particular, improving organisational practices and procedures by eliminating the traditional power distance inside organisations and implementing necessary rules and regulations are important actions for managing environmental and cultural uncertainties. The application of a Bengali user interface may help to ensure the productivity of ICT use by SMEs in Bangladesh. Establishing a favourable national technology infrastructure and legal environment may contribute positively to improving the overall situation. This study also suggests some changes and modifications in the country’s existing policies and strategies. The government and policy makers should undertake mass promotional programs to disseminate information about the various uses of computers and their contribution in developing better organisational performance. Organising specialised training programs for SME capacity building may succeed in attaining the motivation for SMEs to use ICT. Ensuring easy access to the technology by providing loans, grants and subsidies is important. Various stakeholders, partners and related organisations should come forward to support government policies and priorities in order to ensure the productive use of ICT among SMEs which finally will help to foster Bangladesh’s economic development.

Details

E-Services Adoption: Processes by Firms in Developing Nations
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78560-325-9

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 1984

“Consumerism”, for want of a better description, is given to the mass of statutory control (which shows no sign of declining) of standards, trading justice to the consumer, means…

Abstract

“Consumerism”, for want of a better description, is given to the mass of statutory control (which shows no sign of declining) of standards, trading justice to the consumer, means of redress to those who have been misled and defrauded, advice to those in doubt; and to the widespread movement, mostly in the Western world, to achieve these ends.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 86 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Article
Publication date: 1 April 1991

SAID T. GOMAA, MOHAMMED H. BALUCH, HAMDY H. ABDEL‐RAHMAN and AMMAR K. MOHAMMED

A finite element formulation for flexure of isotropic plates based on a recent refined theory is developed. The refined theory incorporates effects of transverse shear, transverse…

Abstract

A finite element formulation for flexure of isotropic plates based on a recent refined theory is developed. The refined theory incorporates effects of transverse shear, transverse normal stress and transverse normal strain. The Galerkin finite element method was used to develop the finite element equations for both plate bending and inplane problems. The performance of the proposed finite element model was evaluated by solving problems of uniformly loaded thick plates with different support conditions. The results of the present formulation are compared with Mindlin/Reissner and elasticity solutions.

Details

Engineering Computations, vol. 8 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-4401

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 1983

The more recent history of the National Health Service, especially the Hospital Service, has been in the nature of a lumbering from one crisis to another. From the moment of its…

Abstract

The more recent history of the National Health Service, especially the Hospital Service, has been in the nature of a lumbering from one crisis to another. From the moment of its inception it has proved far more costly than estimated and over‐administered, but in the early years, it had great promise and was efficient at ward level, which continued until more recent times. As costs increased and administration grew and grew, much of it serving no useful purpose, there appeared to be a need for reorganisation. In 1974, a three‐tier structure was introduced by the establishment of new area health authorities, the primary object of which was to facilitate — and cheapen — decision making; to give the district bodies and personnel easier access to “management”. It coincided with reorganisation of Local Government, which included the transfer of all the personal health services and abolition of the office of medical officer of health. At the time and in looking back, there was very little need for this and reviewing the progress and advances made in local government, medical officers of health who had advocated the transfer, mainly for reasons of their own status, would have achieved this and more by remainining in the local government service; the majority of health visitors appear to have reached the same conclusion. They constitute a profession within themselves and in truth do not have all that much in common with day‐to‐day nursing. The basic training and nursing qualification is most essential, however. It has been said that a person is only as good a health visitor as she is a nurse.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 85 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Article
Publication date: 14 December 2021

Abubakar Sani Halilu, Arunava Majumder, Mohammed Yusuf Waziri, Kabiru Ahmed and Aliyu Muhammed Awwal

The purpose of this research is to propose a new choice of nonnegative parameter t in Dai–Liao conjugate gradient method.

58

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to propose a new choice of nonnegative parameter t in Dai–Liao conjugate gradient method.

Design/methodology/approach

Conjugate gradient algorithms are used to solve both constrained monotone and general systems of nonlinear equations. This is made possible by combining the conjugate gradient method with the Newton method approach via acceleration parameter in order to present a derivative-free method.

Findings

A conjugate gradient method is presented by proposing a new Dai–Liao nonnegative parameter. Furthermore the proposed method is successfully applied to handle the application in motion control of the two joint planar robotic manipulators.

Originality/value

The proposed algorithm is a new approach that will not either submitted or publish somewhere.

Article
Publication date: 28 June 2021

Virginia Bodolica, Martin Spraggon and Nada Khaddage-Soboh

Extant crisis response literature focuses on the survival and adaptation efforts of organizations, leaving the opportunity of deploying more proactive market-shaping strategies…

1793

Abstract

Purpose

Extant crisis response literature focuses on the survival and adaptation efforts of organizations, leaving the opportunity of deploying more proactive market-shaping strategies unexplored. This paper aims to examine the early strategic responses deployed by air-travel services players for navigating through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on a qualitative case study and grounded theory methods, this research analyzes how DUBZ – a purposefully selected company operating in the air-travel services sector in the emirate of Dubai (UAE) – responded to the coronavirus disruption.

Findings

Using this unique case as a basis for grounded theorizing, a framework was developed for understanding how air-travel service providers can effectively navigate through the crisis – the guard-potentiate-shape model. The advanced model suggests that in times of disruption, industry players should adopt several strategies to: guard against failure; potentiate innovative change; and shape the future design of air-travel services. An outcome of forward-looking shaping strategies that may define the new post-pandemic normal in the air-travel services sector constitutes the idea of “scattered/diffused airports” with a modified design of airport services architecture.

Originality/value

The insights from the grounded theoretical framework contribute to both the empirical research on crisis management and the nascent literature on market-shaping strategies. Air-travel services organizations may learn how to increase their resilience and build new industry normalcy in the post-disruption period.

迈向后COVID-19时代航空旅游服务行业的常态:用于危机导航的GPS(超前部署)模型

目的

先前的危机应对研究集中于组织的生存和适应性工作, 留下开发出部署更积极的市场塑造策略尚未探索的机会。本文的目的是研究空中旅游服务公司为应对COVID-19大流行而采取的早期战略应对措施。

设计/方法/诉求

利用定性的案例研究方法, 本研究分析了在迪拜酋长国(UAE)的航空旅游服务行业中特定的公司如何应对冠状病毒的破坏。

发现

使用这个独特的案例作为理论基础, 开发了一个扎根的理论框架, 用于理解航空旅行服务业者如何有效地渡过危机-GPS(超前部署)模型。先进的模型表明, 在混乱时期, 业者应采取多种策略, 以(1)预防失败, (2)加强创新变革以及(3)塑造航空旅游服务的未来设计。前瞻性塑造策略的结果可能定义了航空旅游服务领域后疫情时代的新常态, 构成了“零散的机场”的概念, 并修改了机场服务体系结构的设计。

创意/价值

来自先进框架的见解有助于进行危机管理的实证研究以及有关战略市场塑造的新兴文献。更广泛地讲, 航空旅行服务组织可能会学习如何在灾后时期提高抵御力并建立新的行业常态。

La industria de los servicios de viajes aéreos posterior al COVID-19: El modelo GPS (Proteger-Potenciar-Modelar) para la navegación en situaciones de crisis

Propósito

La investigación previa de respuesta a crisis se ha centrado en los esfuerzos de supervivencia y adaptación de las organizaciones, dejando sin explorar la oportunidad de implementar estrategias más proactivas para modelar el mercado. Este documento tiene como objetivo examinar las primeras respuestas estratégicas desplegadas por los actores de los servicios de viajes aéreos para navegar a través de la pandemia de COVID-19.

Diseño/metodología/enfoque

Basándose en una metodología de estudio de caso cualitativo, esta investigación analiza cómo una empresa seleccionada a propósito, que opera en el sector de servicios de viajes aéreos en el emirato de Dubai (EAU), respondió a la disrupción del coronavirus.

Resultados

Utilizando este caso único como base para la teorización, se desarrolló un marco teórico fundamentado para comprender cómo los proveedores de servicios de viajes aéreos pueden navegar eficazmente a través de una crisis: el modelo GPS (Proteger-Potenciar-Modelar). El modelo avanzado sugiere que, en tiempos de disrupción, los actores de la industria deben adoptar una serie de estrategias para (1) protegerse contra fallas, (2) potenciar un cambio innovador y (3) modelar el diseño futuro de los servicios de viajes aéreos. Un resultado de las estrategias de formación prospectivas que pueden definir la nueva normalidad pos-pandémica en el sector de los servicios de viajes aéreos constituye la idea de "aeropuertos dispersos" con un diseño modificado de la arquitectura de los servicios aeroportuarios.

Originalidad/valor

Los conocimientos del marco avanzado contribuyen tanto a la investigación empírica sobre la gestión de crisis como a la literatura incipiente sobre la modelación estratégica del mercado. En términos más generales, las organizaciones de servicios de viajes aéreos pueden aprender cómo aumentar su resiliencia y construir una nueva normalidad en la industria en el período posterior a la disrupción.

Article
Publication date: 14 July 2023

Tif Said Suhail Al Mazroui, Mohammed Muneerali Thottoli, Maathir Mohammed Saud Al Alawi, Noor Talal Hamed Al Shukaili and Duaa Suleiman Amur Al Hoqani

This study aims to compare recent topics on value-added tax (VAT) in the European Union (EU) and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), understand the differences in VAT discourses…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to compare recent topics on value-added tax (VAT) in the European Union (EU) and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), understand the differences in VAT discourses between the two regions and explore the connection between research agendas, institutional legacies and semantic output in the field of VAT in each territory.

Design/methodology/approach

A bibliometric study was conducted using R programming. The data were gathered from the Scopus database, which contains 99 English-language publications with publication dates ranging from 1996 to 2022 (87 of which are from the EU and 12 from the GCC). Information about publications, journals, authors and citations is gathered, validated, cross-referenced and analyzed using bibliometric metrics.

Findings

The results highlight two ideal research contexts for studying VAT: the EU countries approach VAT research with a centralized, pluralistic and quantitative focus, while the GCC countries adopt a centralized, qualitative and practically oriented approach, highlighting distinct research goals, collaboration styles and institutional legacies. The authors extend their result findings to broader discussions on competing knowledge systems in VAT, the significance of the state and the level of autonomy within tax governance after identifying the most popular issues among scholars working in GCC and EU countries.

Research limitations/implications

Although the focus of this analysis is restricted to the GCC and EU, it includes theoretical recommendations for broadening its application to other nations. Researchers from the GCC and the EU may benefit from this study by gaining more about VAT and being encouraged to share their research with young researchers. The study’s findings are relevant and important for comprehending the comparative state of research on VAT in GCC and EU countries, tax fields, publications and institutions.

Originality/value

This study analyzes the VAT systems of the GCC and the EU while identifying the intellectual structure of the field from each author’s point of view, revealing the scientometrics and informetrics intellectual structures in detail.

Details

International Journal of Law and Management, vol. 65 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1754-243X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 1968

The Commission appointed jointly by the World Health Organization and the Food and Agricultural Organization continues to plod its weary way towards the establishment of Codex…

Abstract

The Commission appointed jointly by the World Health Organization and the Food and Agricultural Organization continues to plod its weary way towards the establishment of Codex standards for all foods, which it is hoped will eventually be adopted by all countries, to end the increasing chaos of present national standards. We have to go back to 1953, when the Sixth World Health Assembly showed signs of a stirring of international conscience at trends in food industry; and particularly expressed “the view that the increasing use of various chemical substances had … , created a new public health problem”. Joint WHO/FAO Conferences which followed initiated inter alia international consultations and the setting up of the Joint FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 70 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Article
Publication date: 8 October 2019

Korti Mohammed Choukri, Korti Abdel Illah Nabil and Abboudi Said

High-pressure die casting is one of the manufacturing techniques used for the rational mass production of metal parts. Due to the high velocity of the molten metal during the…

113

Abstract

Purpose

High-pressure die casting is one of the manufacturing techniques used for the rational mass production of metal parts. Due to the high velocity of the molten metal during the injection phase, the die casting of aluminum is so complex and it is almost impossible to calculate these exact performances. Numerical simulation is an effective way to optimize the injection phase and minimize air entrapment that causes porosity defects in the metal. Generally, the filling phase of the molten metal in the shot sleeve is neglected in most scientific work. This phase is followed by a rest period to allow the escape of the resident air bubbles (gravity effect). The paper aims to discuss these issue.

Design/methodology/approach

It is relatively clear that the model described poses a great challenge for numerical implementation, especially for 3D geometries. The governing transport equations are solved numerically using the commercial CFD solver Fluent and the equations are discretized using a pressure-based finite volume method. The coupling pressure–velocity was solved by the PISO algorithm. The PISO algorithm takes relatively more CPU time per solver iteration, but it significantly decreases the number of iterations required for the convergence of the transient flow problems. Laminar flow inside air and molten metal was assumed. In order to describe the behavior of the molten metal, a VOF model has been activated. The model makes it possible to account for the moving boundary due to the variation of the shot sleeve volume caused by the plunger displacement. The scheme used in the discretization of momentum equation was the first-order upwind scheme, and the scheme used for the pressure was the PRESTO. The profile of the plunger velocity, boundary conditions change with time and the physical properties change with liquid fraction were used by implementation of a user-defined function. For the discretization of the domain, an unstructured mesh with triangular elements is used. After conducting mesh sensitivity study, a mesh having 53,813 triangular elements has been chosen for the present study. The convergence criterion was set equal to 10–4 for all parameters.

Findings

The results show that the rest and global filling times increase by 2.5 and 8.57 percent with decreasing the pouring velocity by 10 percent. In addition, the rest and global filling times decrease by 5.77 and 8.12 percent with increasing the pouring velocity by 10 percent.

Originality/value

After the filling phase, it is necessary to offer a rest period before the injection phase. However, the rest and global filling times increase by 2.5 and 8.57 percent with decreasing the pouring velocity by 10 percent. In addition, the rest and global filling times decrease by 5.77 and 8.12 percent with increasing the pouring velocity by 10 percent. Increasing the pouring velocity by 10 percent leads increasing of the molten metal velocity in the shot sleeve and requires a delay of time of the beginning of the faster plunger movement by 7–10.5 percent. On the other hand, Figure 12 shows that increasing the pouring velocity requires increasing of the plunger velocity during the injection phase, thus increasing the pouring velocity. In order to overcome this problem, it is necessary to reduce the injection velocity and prolong the period of the slower plunger movement.

Details

Multidiscipline Modeling in Materials and Structures, vol. 15 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1573-6105

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 2000