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The years 2011, 2012, and 2013 witnessed both significant developments and setbacks in global polio eradication efforts. On the positive side, January 13, 2012, marked a full year since India had detected a case of wild poliovirus. On the negative side, polio continued to be endemic in three countries-Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria-and in those countries the goal of eliminating polio seemed more challenging than ever. Between December 2012 and January 2013, sixteen polio workers were killed in Pakistan, and in February 2013, nine women vaccinating children against polio in Kano, Nigeria, were shot dead by gunmen suspected of belonging to a radical Islamist sect. In addition, after a 95 percent decline in polio cases in 2010, the number of cases in Nigeria rebounded in 2011. Recognizing that polio was unlikely to be eliminated in these countries in the near term, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative moved its target date for eradication from 2013 to 2018.

These setbacks sparked a debate about the appropriate strategy for global eradication of polio. Indeed, some experts believed that recent setbacks were not caused by poor management but were instead the result of epidemiological characteristics and preconditions that might render polio eradication unachievable. These experts argued that global health efforts should focus on the control or elimination of polio rather than on the eradication of the disease.

This case presents an overview of polio and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and recounts the successful effort to eradicate smallpox. The case enables a rich discussion of the current global strategy to eradicate polio, as well as the issue of whether eradication is the appropriate global public health objective. More generally, the case provides a concrete example of a particular type of global public good, namely infectious disease eradication.

After analyzing and discussing the case, students will be able to:

• Understand the nature of a global public good

• Perform a back-of-the-envelope benefit-cost analysis of polio eradication

• Discuss the appropriate strategy for eradicating an infectious disease

• Apply game theory to analyzing which countries would be likely to contribute funds toward global polio eradication

• Discuss the role of private organizations in the provision of global public goods

Understand the nature of a global public good

Perform a back-of-the-envelope benefit-cost analysis of polio eradication

Discuss the appropriate strategy for eradicating an infectious disease

Apply game theory to analyzing which countries would be likely to contribute funds toward global polio eradication

Discuss the role of private organizations in the provision of global public goods

This paper breaks through the limitations of the research on bullwhip effect in the traditional supply chain, extends the research perspective to digital supply chain and discusses the weakening effect of digital supply chain on bullwhip effect by comparing the overall performance of the two.

This paper starts with the weakening mechanism of supply chain digitization on bullwhip effect, builds bullwhip effect models of traditional supply chain and digital supply chain, respectively, simulates the influence of supply chain digitization transformation on bullwhip effect by using Matlab software and analyzes the causes of bullwhip effect in supply chain led by T company and the digitization process.

Firstly, digitization can reduce bullwhip effect in multi-level supply chain by reducing information feedback deviation. Second, digital transformation is conducive to improving the overall performance of the supply chain. Third, government incentives can promote the digital transformation of supply chain and inhibit bullwhip effect.

Although the study considers the heterogeneous subject -- the government's incentive effect on digital transformation and information sharing – it does not include the influence of the end node in the supply chain, that is the consumer. In addition, this paper only analyzes and discusses the bullwhip effect on the amplification of demand, without considering the situation that the market contraction will lead to the reduction of demand.

This paper considers the distortion degree and delay degree of information feedback, carries out quantitative analysis of bullwhip effect, builds the bullwhip effect model of traditional supply chain and digital supply chain, uses Matlab software to analyze the difference of the influence of supply chain digital transformation on bullwhip effect suppression and puts forward the corresponding control strategy.

The research shows that digital transformation can reduce the bullwhip effect in multi-layer supply chain by reducing the information feedback deviation, which is conducive to improving the overall supply chain performance, and government support can accelerate the digital transformation of supply chain to a certain extent.

First, break through the limitations of traditional supply chain research, expand the research perspective to digital supply chain and discuss the weakening effect of digital supply chain on bullwhip effect by comparing the overall performance of the two. Second, quantify the bullwhip effect through information feedback bias and provide an analysis method for the weakening of the bullwhip effect. Third, the driving role of the government in the digital transformation of the supply chain is considered in the study, so that the model is more close to the actual situation of enterprise operation.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of workplace incivility on innovation, organizational citizenship behaviors, organizational commitment and performance in travel agencies. The study also aims at exploring the mediating roles of innovation, organizational citizenship behaviors and organizational commitment in the relationship between workplace incivility and performance.

The questionnaire was used to collect study data from the sample, which consisted of employees in Egyptian travel agencies, category (A), in Cairo Governorate. The questionnaire link was sent to 854 employees in travel agencies, with 644 obtained responses. Only 586 responses were suitable for analysis.

The results depicted that there is a significant and negative effect of workplace incivility on innovation, organizational citizenship behaviors, organizational commitment and performance. The results also revealed a significant and positive effect of innovation, organizational citizenship behaviors and organizational commitment on performance. Moreover, the results indicated that innovation, organizational citizenship behaviors and organizational commitment play partial mediating roles in the link between workplace incivility and performance.

The current study attempts to measure the mediating role of innovation, organizational citizenship behaviors and organizational commitment in the link between workplace incivility and performance. Managerial implications, limitations and future research are also presented.

本研究的主要目的是评估工作场所不文明行为对旅行社创新、组织公民行为、组织承诺和绩效的影响。 该研究还旨在探讨创新、组织公民行为和组织承诺在工作场所不文明行为与绩效之间关系中的中介作用。

调查问卷用于从样本中收集研究数据, 样本包括开罗省埃及旅行社（A）类的员工。 问卷链接发送给854名旅行社员工, 收到644份回复。 只有 586 个回复适合分析。

结果表明, 工作场所的不文明行为对创新、组织公民行为、组织承诺和绩效产生显着的负面影响。 结果还揭示了创新、组织公民行为、组织承诺对绩效的显着和积极影响。 此外, 结果表明, 创新、组织公民行为和组织承诺在工作场所不文明行为和绩效之间的联系中发挥部分中介作用。

当前的研究试图衡量创新、组织公民行为和组织承诺在工作场所不文明行为和绩效之间的中介作用。 还介绍了管理意义、局限性和未来研究。

El objetivo principal del estudio es evaluar el impacto de la falta de civismo en el lugar de trabajo sobre la innovación, los comportamientos de ciudadanía organizativa, el compromiso de la organización y el rendimiento en las agencias de viajes. El estudio también pretende explorar los papeles mediadores de la innovación, las conductas de ciudadanía organizativa y el compromiso de la organización en la relación entre la incivilidad en el lugar de trabajo y el rendimiento.

Se utilizó el cuestionario para recopilar los datos del estudio de la muestra, que estaba formada por empleados de agencias de viajes egipcias, categoría (A), de la gobernación de El Cairo. El enlace del cuestionario se envió a 854 empleados de agencias de viajes, de los que se obtuvieron 644 respuestas. Sólo 586 respuestas fueron aptas para el análisis.

Los resultados revelaron que existe un efecto significativo y negativo de la falta de civismo en el lugar de trabajo sobre la innovación, las conductas de ciudadanía organizativa, el compromiso de la organización y el rendimiento. Los resultados también revelaron un efecto significativo y positivo de la innovación, los comportamientos de ciudadanía organizativa, el compromiso de la organización sobre el rendimiento. Además, los resultados indicaron que la innovación, las conductas de ciudadanía organizativa y el compromiso de la organización desempeñan papeles mediadores parciales en el vínculo entre la falta de civismo en el lugar de trabajo y el rendimiento.

El presente estudio trata de medir el papel mediador de la innovación, las conductas de ciudadanía organizativa y el compromiso de la organización en el vínculo entre la falta de civismo en el lugar de trabajo y el rendimiento. También se presentan las implicaciones para la gestión, las limitaciones y las investigaciones futuras.

Donald Trump entered the presidency in 2017 with an electoral mandate to reduce US military involvement around the world and to abandon the trade and investment treaties that empowered global corporations. Yet he mostly continued the foreign policies adopted by previous administrations. In recent decades, those policies have increasingly served particularistic elite interests at the expense of the US ruling class as a whole, and they have also been unsuccessful in stemming the decline of US imperial power. This chapter explores the factors that explain this continuity of policy. In analyzing the reasons for policy stasis, it offers an analytical basis to evaluate what might change under President Biden. It also assesses what strategies might be most effective for those who hope to resist US militarism and to undermine the US capacity to enforce a hegemony based on rapacious capitalism.

A series of sulfate-based Gemini anionic surfactants were synthesized via etherification, ring opening and sulfation reactions using epichlorohydrin, fatty alcohol, ethylene glycol and chlorosulfonic acid as the main raw materials. Orthogonal experiments for 1,8-bisalkoxymethylene-3,6-dioxin-1,8-octane disulfate were performed on the sulfation reaction to determine the optimal reaction conditions.

A series of sulfate-based Gemini anionic surfactants were synthesized via etherification, ring opening and sulfation reactions using epichlorohydrin, fatty alcohol, ethylene glycol and chlorosulfonic acid as the main raw materials. Orthogonal experiments for 1,8-bisalkoxymethylene-3,6-dioxin-1,8-octane disulfate were performed on the sulfation reaction to determine the optimal reaction conditions. The structures of the intermediate and final products were characterized by FT-IR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis), ¹H-NMR (proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy) methods. The thermal performance of surfactants was analyzed using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The thermogravimetric results showed that the sulfate-based Gemini surfactants had good heat resistance (the thermal decomposition temperature of which was in the range of 140∼170?). The Krafft point, surface tension, foaming, Hydrophile–Lipophile Balance Number (HLB), emulsifying, wetting, and lime-soap dispersing performance were measured by visual observation, hanging drop method, aqueous surfactant solution method and Borghetti–Bergman method, respectively. The results have shown that all the sulfate-based Gemini surfactants had good water solubility and lime-soap dispersing ability. When spacer group was -(CH2)2-, with the increase of the carbon chain length from C12 to C14, the micellar concentration critical micelle concentration and surface tension (CMC) gradually increased from 8.25 × 10^–4 mol/L to 8.75 × 10^–4 mol/L and 27.5 mN/m to 30.9 mN/m, respectively. Also, the sulfate-based Gemini surfactants with the different length of the spacer group had a different effect on their performance on foaming properties and foam properties, HLB and emulsifying ability and wetting ability.

In view of the important role of the spacer group and the general use of anionic surfactants in oil fields, this article considers the preparation of a series of sulfate-based Gemini surfactants by changing the spacer group and the chain length of the hydrophobic group and evaluating their surface activity, and finally its Kraffi, on the foam properties, HLB value, emulsifying performance, lime soap dispersing ability etc.

Sulfate-based Gemini surfactants have broad application prospects in the fields of oil and gas exploitation, environmental protection, chemistry and daily chemical industry and so on.

This paper aims to examine the mismatch between multidimensional deprivation and monetary poverty in identifying the poor in Egypt and investigates their determinants empirically.

The paper uses the Alkire-Foster multidimensional poverty measurement method using data from Egypt’s 2017/2018 Household Income, Expenditure and Consumption Survey (HIECS 2017/2018). Using a logistic regression model, the paper assesses the empirical relationship between multidimensional and monetary poverty and their determinants at the aggregate level and by dimension.

The paper demonstrates a significant mismatch between multidimensional and monetary poverty measures, underscoring their complementary nature. Statistics indicate that both measures overlap in classifying 35.81% of Egyptians, whereas monetary poverty ignores 63.12% of multidimensionally poor in at least one dimension. Regression estimates show a significant moderate negative association between expenditure per capita and multidimensional poverty and its dimensions. Moreover, they show that household head’s gender, age, education attainment, marital status, job proficiency, household size and location affect poverty mismatch and match in Egypt.

This paper offers Egyptian policymakers the multidimensional poverty index that enables more efficient designing and targeting of poverty alleviation programs and assessing current poverty alleviation programs to modify them if needed.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the mismatch between both poverty measures in Egypt, using the recent full data set of HIECS 2017/2018. This paper confirms that depending only on monetary measures can send inaccurate insights for crafting effective social policies. Also, it offers policymakers a comprehensive insight into the country’s poverty landscape, which enable more efficient design, targeting of poverty alleviation programs and monitoring their effectiveness.

Over a short interval of time (i.e. 2011-2014), Egypt has experienced tectonic political shifts, including the toppling of a long-entrenched dictator, two presidential elections, and a military coup. The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of the impact of such events on the country’s equity market behaviour, both in terms of returns and volatility.

The data set is composed of daily stock index closing prices for the overall market and top eight most actively traded sectors. To assess the impact of the considered events on the market and sector returns, an event study approach is applied. On the other hand, a univariate VAR-EGARCH model is employed to explore whether, and to what extent, volatilities at the market and sector levels respond to such events.

The results suggest that political uncertainty has a profound impact on the risk-return profiles of almost all market sectors, with different degrees of intensity. By and large, the price and volatility effects are most pronounced in banks, financial services excluding banks and chemicals sectors, whilst food and beverages as well as construction and materials sectors are found to be the least responsive to these events. The 2013 military coup turns out to be the most pervasive event impinging on the market and sector-specific indices.

The results have a number of practical implications that could be of interest to many parties involved. More specifically, with political dysfunction overshadowing business and investment activities in Egypt, genuine democratic reforms, which entail proper regard for human rights and the rule of law, must have the highest priority of policymakers, in order to secure a positive investment climate and to foster investor confidence. Furthermore, in tandem with considering other relevant factors, multinational companies need to have a thorough assessment of Egypt’s future political course and to develop more robust contingency plans to effectively combat potential threats generated by political vicissitudes.

To the author’s best knowledge, this study is the first attempt to empirically examine the price and volatility effects of the recent presidential events in Egypt, thereby contributing to the relevant literature in this area.

The Nigerian construction industry is bedeviled with poor project performance and outcomes which value management (VM) could address if applied. The application of VM on Nigerian construction projects is very minimal due to certain obstacles, namely, lack of VM experts, paucity of knowledge on the techniques, etc., which inhibits the adoption into the construction industry. Therefore, this study aims to develop a conceptual framework of the adoption of VM on construction projects in a typical developing economy.

This study engaged 15 selected VM experts in two rounds of Delphi survey to develop a conceptual framework of VM adoption. The method of data analysis includes mean score, standard deviation, Kendall’s coefficient of concordance, chi-square (χ²) test, interrater agreement analysis and significant level analysis. The developed conceptual framework was sent to a team of local and international VM experts for validation.

This study reveals that the adoption of VM requires the collective effort of relevant stakeholders in the construction industry. The framework developed presents individual and collective activities to be undertaken by the stakeholders. The activities include training, legislation, government-funded research, etc. Thus, the adoption of innovative management methodology like VM requires the collaboration of academics, construction professional bodies and government parastatals. This will assist in the judicious use of limited construction resources and boost the relevance of the Nigerian construction industry among developing nations and in the global construction market.

This study used the opinions of few construction professionals that can be regarded as VM experts in Nigeria, as against engaging a pool of construction professionals who may not be knowledgeable in VM process. Engaging the few VM experts in the Nigerian construction industry is important to have a valid basis for drawing conclusion, as large questionnaire survey could be possibly filled by inexperienced or unqualified respondents if stringent criteria are not considered at the outset of this study.

Algorithms, artificial intelligence (AI), machines, and all emerging digital technologies disrupt traditional auditing, raising many questions and debates. One of the central issues of this debate is the human-algorithms complex duality, which focuses on this investigation. This study aims to investigate the algorithms’ penetration in auditing activities, with a specific focus of a future scenario on the human-algorithms interaction in performing audits as intelligent teams.

The research uses a qualitative reflexive thematic analysis, taking into consideration the academic literature, as well as professional reports and websites of the “Big Four” audit firms and internationally recognized accounting bodies.

The results debate the complex duality between algorithms and human-based actions in the institutional settings of auditing activities by highlighting the actual stage of algorithms, machines and AI emergence in audit and providing real-life examples of their use in the audit. Furthermore, they emphasize the strengths and weaknesses of algorithms compared to human beings. Based on the results, a discussion on the human-algorithms interaction from the lens of the Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) approach concludes that the Auditor-Governing-the-Loop may be a possible scenario for the future of the auditing profession.

This study is exploratory, investigating academia and practitioners’ written debates, analyzes and reports, limiting its applicability. Nonetheless, the paper adds to the ongoing discussion on emerging technologies and auditing research. Finally, the authors address some potential biases associated with the extended use of algorithms and discuss future research implications. Future research should empirically test how the human-algorithms tandem is working and how AI and other emerging technologies will affect auditing activities and the auditing profession.

The study provides valuable insights for audit firms, auditors, professional organizations and standard-setters, and regulators revealing the implication of algorithms’ penetration in auditing activities from the human-algorithms complex duality perspective. Moreover, the academic education and research implications are highlighted, in terms of updating the educational curriculum by including the new technologies issues, as well as the need for further research investigations concerning the human-algorithms interactions issues as, for example, trust, legal restrictions, ethical concerns, security and responsibility.

The research uses HITL as a novel paradigm for responsible AI development in auditing. The study points to the strategic value of a HITL pattern for organizational reflexivity that, according to the study, ensures that the algorithm’s output meets the audit organization’s requirements and changes in the environment.

We provide straightforward new nonparametric methods for testing conditional independence using local polynomial quantile regression, allowing weakly dependent data. Inspired by Hausman's (1978) specification testing ideas, our methods essentially compare two collections of estimators that converge to the same limits under correct specification (conditional independence) and that diverge under the alternative. To establish the properties of our estimators, we generalize the existing nonparametric quantile literature not only by allowing for dependent heterogeneous data but also by establishing a weak consistency rate for the local Bahadur representation that is uniform in both the conditioning variables and the quantile index. We also show that, despite our nonparametric approach, our tests can detect local alternatives to conditional independence that decay to zero at the parametric rate. Our approach gives the first nonparametric tests for time-series conditional independence that can detect local alternatives at the parametric rate. Monte Carlo simulations suggest that our tests perform well in finite samples. We apply our test to test for a key identifying assumption in the literature on nonparametric, nonseparable models by studying the returns to schooling.