Search results
1 – 10 of 52Mee San Kiu, Kai Wen Lai, Fah Choy Chia and Phui Fung Wong
The digitization of electronic document management (EDM) in the construction industry has become more common in nature with the evolution of technology. However, there are still…
Abstract
Purpose
The digitization of electronic document management (EDM) in the construction industry has become more common in nature with the evolution of technology. However, there are still some limitations in EDM in the common data environment which can be improved with the integration of blockchain technology. The purpose of this paper is to identify the limitations of the current EDM system in the construction industry, to determine the potential of blockchain in improving the EDM system in the construction industry and challenges towards blockchain-based EDM.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine (9) respondents with background from the construction industry and blockchain expertise. Content analysis was used to analyze the primary data.
Findings
Current EDM system in the construction industry possessed limitations such as system maturity, high cost, slow adoption of technology and security concerns. Blockchain is able to make improvements in the current EDM system in terms of data integrity, data tracking, data immutability, data security, data trustability, and data accountability. Several challenges such as costs, blockchain scalability and industry knowledge, industry culture and hardware need to overcome prior blockchain-based EDM systems can be widely applied in the construction industry.
Originality/value
The research findings provide insight on future EDM in the construction industry and aids future research in this field.
Details
Keywords
Denis Scott, Ling Ma and Tim Broyd
Poor cash flow management and lack of profitability have plagued the construction industry for decades. In response, the UK Government published the project bank account (PBA…
Abstract
Purpose
Poor cash flow management and lack of profitability have plagued the construction industry for decades. In response, the UK Government published the project bank account (PBA) payment strategy in 2012 to mitigate main contractors unfairly withholding liabilities. However, PBAs suffer from adoption challenges, such as systems fragmentation and a lack of incentives for main contractors to adopt them effectively. This study aims to investigate how to reduce systems fragmentation in construction by integrating PBA procedures with existing management workflows to increase payment automation, resulting in improved cash liquidity and better incentives for using PBAs.
Design/methodology/approach
A PBA blockchain decentralised application is developed, presented and critically evaluated. Blockchain is the technology used because of its permissionless, license-free, open-source and immutability properties. It is a suitable general-purpose technology layer for building and testing applications without the limitations associated with centralised technologies, such as high proprietary fees, vendor lock and intellectual property restrictions.
Findings
The research demonstrates how a blockchain application can integrate siloed construction workflows such as cash flow scheduling, supply chain management and payment executions, reducing the management workload for implementing PBAs in construction projects. Furthermore, the proposed application is open-source and replicable, and its user interface is available for external testing here: https://console.atra.io/app/bf26f846-7f16-4f80-90a0-c5488ab6edd3.
Originality/value
PBA is a suitable test case because it enforces an auditable, transparent and neutral account, which are inbuilt properties of blockchains; thus, both systems are harmonious to integrate. PBA is mandated in UK public sector construction projects; therefore, the research has a solid practical foundation.
Details
Keywords
Bastian Burger, Dominik K. Kanbach, Sascha Kraus, Matthias Breier and Vincenzo Corvello
The article discusses the current relevance of artificial intelligence (AI) in research and how AI improves various research methods. This article focuses on the practical case…
Abstract
Purpose
The article discusses the current relevance of artificial intelligence (AI) in research and how AI improves various research methods. This article focuses on the practical case study of systematic literature reviews (SLRs) to provide a guideline for employing AI in the process.
Design/methodology/approach
Researchers no longer require technical skills to use AI in their research. The recent discussion about using Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT), a chatbot by OpenAI, has reached the academic world and fueled heated debates about the future of academic research. Nevertheless, as the saying goes, AI will not replace our job; a human being using AI will. This editorial aims to provide an overview of the current state of using AI in research, highlighting recent trends and developments in the field.
Findings
The main result is guidelines for the use of AI in the scientific research process. The guidelines were developed for the literature review case but the authors believe the instructions provided can be adjusted to many fields of research, including but not limited to quantitative research, data qualification, research on unstructured data, qualitative data and even on many support functions and repetitive tasks.
Originality/value
AI already has the potential to make researchers’ work faster, more reliable and more convenient. The authors highlight the advantages and limitations of AI in the current time, which should be present in any research utilizing AI. Advantages include objectivity and repeatability in research processes that currently are subject to human error. The most substantial disadvantages lie in the architecture of current general-purpose models, which understanding is essential for using them in research. The authors will describe the most critical shortcomings without going into technical detail and suggest how to work with the shortcomings daily.
Details
Keywords
Ahmed Elsayed Awad Bakry, Zubir Azhar and K. Kishan
In 2015, Bursa Malaysia Berhad (BMB) issued the first edition of the Sustainability Reporting Guide (SRG 1.0) to aid Malaysian public listed companies (PLCs) in preparing…
Abstract
Purpose
In 2015, Bursa Malaysia Berhad (BMB) issued the first edition of the Sustainability Reporting Guide (SRG 1.0) to aid Malaysian public listed companies (PLCs) in preparing corporate social responsibility reporting (CSRR). After receiving users' commentaries, BMB issued the second edition of SRG (SRG 2.0) in 2018. Given the major amendments in CSRR regulatory guidelines, there is a need to analyze the readability of CSRR in light of the new guide and to investigate the combined effects of SRG 2.0 and the assurance of CSR information on the readability of CSRR.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employs two readability indices to compare the readability of CSRR ex-ante and ex-post the implementation of SRG 2.0 across a sample of Malaysian PLCs that maintained their market capitalization among the top 100 companies.
Findings
The practical findings of the multivariate regression revealed that the readability of CSRR is reduced after the introduction of SRG 2.0. Meanwhile, the readability of CSRR is positively influenced by combining the effect of SRG 2.0 and CSRR assurance.
Practical implications
This study provides empirical evidence that the amendment to CSRR has made CSR reports more challenging to read and thus reduces their communicative value. Therefore, in their quest to mandate more CSRR information from companies, regulators might need to consider advocating that such data is reported in a readable manner. This study also shows the influential role of CSR information assurance in enhancing the readability of CSRR.
Originality/value
This study helps assess the readability of CSRR among Malaysian companies after the adoption of SRG 2.0. It also contributes to the literature on CSRR, as the readability of such reporting within the context of Malaysia has not been widely examined in previous studies.
Details
Keywords
Ahmed Hassan, Mohamed Elmaghrabi, Bruce Burton and Theresa Dunne
The purpose of this study is to provide a detailed descriptive account and analysis of corporate internet reporting (CIR) practices among non-financial companies listed on the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to provide a detailed descriptive account and analysis of corporate internet reporting (CIR) practices among non-financial companies listed on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) at two points in time – December 2010 (pre) and December 2013 (peri) political and social unrest in Egypt.
Design/methodology/approach
The study developed a disclosure index to determine the extent of CIR practices among all non-financial companies listed on the EGX in December 2010 and December 2013. The study uses ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions and isometric log-ratio transformations for compositional independent variables to empirically examine the factors affecting CIR in Egypt using a modern institutional theory lens.
Findings
The findings of this investigation suggest that listed companies in Egypt have started embracing the power of the internet as a disclosure channel, but the extent of these practices increased significantly over the investigated period, with great variations evident among the sampled companies in this regard. Such variations were chiefly dependent on the changing institutional actors over the two time frames. Additionally, the findings show that the time factor is particularly important for a given institutional field to induce a sufficient diffusion of corporate practices, especially in periods with drastic institutional change.
Practical implications
The evidence presented reflects the voluntary nature of CIR practices and the absence of a reinforced regulatory framework for organizing and monitoring such practices, with companies having discretion in terms of the amount and type of information disclosed via their websites. The results should, therefore, provide useful guidelines for regulators and standard-setters in identifying best practices, which, in turn, should allow CIR practices to become more consistent, making them easier to monitor and govern.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that examines CIR practices at two points in time using a comprehensive disclosure index and a modern institutional theory lens.
Details
Keywords
Gautami Jagadhane, Rosy Khan and Anjaneya Reddy N.M.
This study aims to explore browsing extension plugins for searching open scholarly literature and gain an understanding of the various available extensions, their functionalities…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore browsing extension plugins for searching open scholarly literature and gain an understanding of the various available extensions, their functionalities and their benefits.
Design/methodology/approach
Instant retrieval of scholarly literature on the internet is challenging for any researcher due to incredibly accessible free and paid content, including various forms of resources, despite the availability of federated and discovery tools. This paper aimed to explore “Access Broker Browser extensions” available for quick retrieval of open scholarly literature. This paper explicitly explains browser extensions – Google Scholar Button, Open Access Button, Open Access Helper, Core, GetFTR and EndNote Click. Furthermore, the paper elaborated on the extension’s features, functionalities and usability in finding scholarly literature. This study found that the Google Scholar Button and GetFTR extensions seems more user-friendly, effective and easy to use on all internet browsers.
Findings
This paper identifies that the “Google Scholar Button” and “GetFTR” browser extensions are more effective than any other extensions and very user-friendly to use.
Originality/value
This study recommends that libraries should create awareness and provide training on access broker browser extensions for discovering scholarly open literature for learning.
Details
Keywords
An increasing number of images are generated daily, and images are gradually becoming a search target. Content-based image retrieval (CBIR) is helpful for users to express their…
Abstract
Purpose
An increasing number of images are generated daily, and images are gradually becoming a search target. Content-based image retrieval (CBIR) is helpful for users to express their requirements using an image query. Nevertheless, determining whether the retrieval system can provide convenient operation and relevant retrieval results is challenging. A CBIR system based on deep learning features was proposed in this study to effectively search and navigate images in digital articles.
Design/methodology/approach
Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) were used as the feature extractors in the author's experiments. Using pretrained parameters, the training time and retrieval time were reduced. Different CNN features were extracted from the constructed image databases consisting of images taken from the National Palace Museum Journals Archive and were compared in the CBIR system.
Findings
DenseNet201 achieved the best performance, with a top-10 mAP of 89% and a query time of 0.14 s.
Practical implications
The CBIR homepage displayed image categories showing the content of the database and provided the default query images. After retrieval, the result showed the metadata of the retrieved images and links back to the original pages.
Originality/value
With the interface and retrieval demonstration, a novel image-based reading mode can be established via the CBIR and links to the original images and contextual descriptions.
Details
Keywords
Snehal R. Rathi and Yogesh D. Deshpande
Affective states in learning have gained immense attention in education. The precise affective-states prediction can increase the learning gain by adapting targeted interventions…
Abstract
Purpose
Affective states in learning have gained immense attention in education. The precise affective-states prediction can increase the learning gain by adapting targeted interventions that can adjust the changes in individual affective states of students. Several techniques are devised for predicting the affective states considering audio, video and biosensors. Still, the system that relies on analyzing audio and video cannot certify anonymity and is subjected to privacy problems.
Design/methodology/approach
A new strategy, termed rider squirrel search algorithm-based deep long short-term memory (RiderSSA-based deep LSTM) is devised for affective-state prediction. The deep LSTM training is done by the proposed RiderSSA. Here, RiderSSA-based deep LSTM effectively predicts the affective states like confusion, engagement, frustration, anger, happiness, disgust, boredom, surprise and so on. In addition, the learning styles are predicted based on the extracted features using rider neural network (RideNN), for which the Felder–Silverman learning-style model (FSLSM) is considered. Here, the RideNN classifies the learners. Finally, the course ID, student ID, affective state, learning style, exam score and course completion are taken as output data to determine the correlative study.
Findings
The proposed RiderSSA-based deep LSTM provided enhanced efficiency with elevated accuracy of 0.962 and the highest correlation of 0.406.
Originality/value
The proposed method based on affective prediction obtained maximal accuracy and the highest correlation. Thus, the method can be applied to the course recommendation system based on affect prediction.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to discuss changes in the roles of librarians against the backdrop of emerging technologies.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss changes in the roles of librarians against the backdrop of emerging technologies.
Design/methodology/approach
Through reflection on practice drawn from the author’s 30 years in librarianship, this paper explores the evolving role of librarians in the constantly developing technological environment and demonstrates how librarians can combine information resources, technology and research assistance in these constantly changing spaces. It also explores how technology enhances the role of the librarian, with specific reference to ChatGPT.
Findings
The author stressed the need for library courses for credit to allow for feedback, assessment and critical thinking. The need for continuing professional development for librarians was highlighted. Additionally, areas such as Scholarly Publishing, Metrics and Analytics, Academic Integrity and Intellectual Property were identified as areas of focus for the 21st century Librarian.
Research limitations/implications
This study is limited to changes in roles as a result of emerging technologies which impact librarians. It is set in the Caribbean.
Practical implications
This paper is relevant for librarians, regardless of their geographical location, who are also required to be fluid, keep on the cutting edge, adapt and adopt to deliver service in the face of constantly advancing technology.
Originality/value
This paper is a reflection on an original experience from a Caribbean territory. it also explores recent developments in technology, more specifically ChatGPT, and its impact on the roles of librarians. It provides contributions to the ongoing discourse on the evolving role of the librarian from a different perspective.
Details
Keywords
Chen Chen, Liang Zhang, Xi Huang and Xiao Lu
The purpose of this study is to delve into the mechanism of Si3N4 nanowires (NWs) in Sn-based solder, thereby furnishing a theoretical foundation for the expeditious design and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to delve into the mechanism of Si3N4 nanowires (NWs) in Sn-based solder, thereby furnishing a theoretical foundation for the expeditious design and practical implementation of innovative lead-free solder materials in the electronic packaging industry.
Design/methodology/approach
This study investigates the effect of adding Si3N4 NWs to Sn58Bi solder in various mass fractions (0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8 Wt.%) for modifying the solder and joining the Cu substrate. Meanwhile, the melting characteristics and wettability of solder, as well as the microstructure, interfacial intermetallic compound (IMC) and mechanical properties of joint were evaluated.
Findings
The crystal plane spacing and lattice constant of Sn and Bi phase increase slightly. A minor variation in the Sn58Bi solder melting point was caused, while it does not impact its functionality. An appropriate Si3N4 NWs content (0.2∼0.4 Wt.%) significantly improves its wettability, and modifies the microstructure and interfacial IMC layer. The shear strength increases by up to 10.74% when adding 0.4 Wt.% Si3N4 NWs, and the failure mode observed is brittle fracture mainly. However, excessive Si3N4 will cause aggregation at the junction between the solder matrix and IMC layer, this will be detrimental to the joint.
Originality/value
The Si3N4 NWs were first used for the modification of lead-free solder materials. The relative properties of composite solder and joints were evaluated from different aspects, and the optimal ratio was obtained.
Details