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The purpose of this paper is to tackle the problem of technology addiction by investigating the differences between the antecedences of addictive (problematic technology usage) and high-engagement behavior (non-problematic technology usage). The case of social networking site usage (SNS, e.g. Facebook, Instagram or Twitter) is taken as the case out of the reason of prevalent user population.

It is revealed that people tend to use SNS not only for building a relationship, but also for communicating. In other words, there are inner needs of adopting the SNS technology. However, no clear definitions can be followed for determining the problematic SNS usage, addictive behavior and the high-engagement behavior. Therefore, this study adopts the notion of uses and gratification theory (U&G theory) for investigating the SNS usage behavior. Also, the social anxiety is also first introduced to integrate into the research for an empirical study.

Results reveal that gratification sought and relationship maintenance are associated with the addictive behavior, whereas the relationship maintenance is significantly related to high-engagement behavior.

First, the selected data represents a sample of SNW users in the Asian Pacific region and mainly from the group of young college users. Therefore, caution must be taken when generalizing the findings to other SNW users or groups. Second, the time aspect related to social media dependence may need to be considered in future studies. Third, the authors found marginal support for the influence of intentions of high engagement¸ and future studies may consider applying other theories that could better explain these types of behavior.

The results of this study provide strong evidence that inner anxiety perceived by users should not be neglected while tackling the problematic internet use due to SNW addiction because it can strengthen the force for depending on SNW for seeking social support. Apart from the value of perceived enjoyment as asserted in previous studies, this study opens up a new opportunity to tackle SNW dependence.

The key implication of this research is that the impact of the mental health of users on SNW problematic should not be overlooked . The higher the level of anxiety perceived, the more likely is the SNW dependence. Therefore, the online behavior depending on psychological health should be addressed because it may be a critical point for assisting users to adopt SNW wisely.

This study confirms that social anxiety people experience in real (offline) life has impacts on online behavior of SNS usage (online). It suggests that the difference between users as the perceived level of social anxiety can trigger different levels of SNS usage. Second, U&G theory is proven valid in understanding SNS addiction. Third, relationship maintenance through the use of SNS reveals its dissimilar effects on SNS addiction and high engagement.

In the next few years, the cost of the distribution function is likely to rise from its 1979 figure of 16% of sales value to something like 17.5% in 1984. This sounds like a relatively small increase but in fact it represents a gigantic sum; to give some indication, the writer of this article suggests that the achievement of a 10% saving in our national handling bill (about £2,500m) would equal the discovery and development of another Brent oil field. In this special feature, Tony Lee looks at how the technique of distribution planning can be applied, and especially at the important part played by PDM in controlling stock and relating it to purchasing policy, manufacturing, and to sales and service.

The objective of this study is to investigate how country risk, different political actions from the government and bureaucratic behavior influence the activities in industry supply chains (SCs) in emerging markets. The main objective of this study is to investigate the influence of these external stakeholders’ elements to the demand-side and supply-side drivers and barriers for improving competitiveness of Ready-Made Garment (RMG) industry in the way of analyzing supply chain. Considering the phenomenon of recent change in the RMG business environment and the competitiveness issues this study uses the principles of stakeholder and resource dependence theory and aims to find out some factors which influence to make an efficient supply chain for improving competitiveness. The RMG industry of Bangladesh is the case application of this study. Following a positivist paradigm, this study adopts a two phase sequential mixed-method research design consisting of qualitative and quantitative approaches. A tentative research model is developed first based on extensive literature review. Qualitative field study is then carried out to fine tune the initial research model. Findings from the qualitative method are also used to develop measures and instruments for the next phase of quantitative method. A survey is carried out with sample of top and middle level executives of different garment companies of Dhaka city in Bangladesh and the collected quantitative data are analyzed by partial least square-based structural equation modeling. The findings support eight hypotheses. From the analysis the external stakeholders’ elements like bureaucratic behavior and country risk have significant influence to the barriers. From the internal stakeholders’ point of view the manufacturers’ and buyers’ drivers have significant influence on the competitiveness. Therefore, stakeholders need to take proper action to reduce the barriers and increase the drivers, as the drivers have positive influence to improve competitiveness.

This study has both theoretical and practical contributions. This study represents an important contribution to the theory by integrating two theoretical perceptions to identify factors of the RMG industry’s SC that affect the competitiveness of the RMG industry. This research study contributes to the understanding of both external and internal stakeholders of national and international perspectives in the RMG (textile and clothing) business. It combines the insights of stakeholder and resource dependence theories along with the concept of the SC in improving effectiveness. In a practical sense, this study certainly contributes to the Bangladeshi RMG industry. In accordance with the desire of the RMG manufacturers, the research has shown that some influential constructs of the RMG industry’s SC affect the competitiveness of the RMG industry. The outcome of the study is useful for various stakeholders of the Bangladeshi RMG industry sector ranging from the government to various private organizations. The applications of this study are extendable through further adaptation in other industries and various geographic contexts.

Growing awareness of the effects of pollution upon people and the environment, and legislation being brought into curb pollution have rapidly promoted environmental considerations up the list of factors to be considered when planning any industrial process. This is particularly true for many processes using volatile organic compounds (VOC's) exhausting to atmosphere which will be subject to new regulations. Because automobile paintshops exhaust significant quantities of VOC's into the atmosphere, there are important environmental considerations in the planning of a new paintshop. A new automobile paintshop is a huge capital investment with a probable lifespan in excess of 15–20 years. Unplanned modfications can be difficult to implement and costly. Therefore when planning for environmental protection it is important to think ahead and look for trends in legislation and new technology for combating pollution.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the social impact, i.e. the estimated return to the Australian community, of Australian Federal Police (AFP) drug law enforcement effort in general and the relative success of specific policy initiatives.

Benefit‐cost analysis (BCA) was employed in the assessment of 2,716 drug investigations that took place between 2000 and 2005. Costs associated with the Australian Customs Service, the legal process and prisons were included. Benefits related to the economic estimate of reduced harm in terms of death and injury, crime, reduced productivity, and pain and suffering associated with the use of illicit drugs.

The results suggest that the Australian community receives $5.80 of benefit in terms of potential harm avoided for every dollar invested in drug law enforcement. Specific policy initiatives were found to result in higher than average returns: investigations involving domestic and international partners ($6.00 and $9.20 respectively), an emphasis on serious and complex crime ($9.20), and intelligence‐led policing ($7.90).

The estimation of economic benefits is the most contentious area of the study. The AFP is undertaking a review of its estimation of benefits.

The results suggest that AFP drug law enforcement provides a positive contribution to the wellbeing of the Australian community. Furthermore, the findings indicate that specific drug law enforcement initiatives enhance the relative effectiveness of drug law enforcement in Australia. The study also provides an example to other public sector agencies of the use of BCA to determine the social impact of their policies.

The purpose of this paper is to present a novel localization scheme using infrared identification (IRID) fused with encoder information.

IRID emitters are mounted on the ceiling in order to divide the floor workspace into sectors. Encoding the IRID signal then allows the mobile robot to identify which sector it is in. The sector information is fused with the dead‐reckoning results for estimation of the robot configuration based on the fact that IRID has highly deterministic characteristics.

Fusing the dead‐reckoning result and the IRID information bounds and in some cases reduces the size of the uncertainty. This enables one to more accurately estimate the robot's configuration.

A new artificial landmark, IRID is developed for mobile robot localization. This paper also demonstrates a framework that fuses the IRID information (deterministic) and dead‐reckoning result (stochastic).

During recent years, various hydantoin based heterocyclic glycidyl amine resins have been developed. In these resins the presence of nitrogen containing heterocycle provides extensive variation in polarity, viscosity and hydrophobicity by the choice of alkyl groups. Most of these resins have low viscosity, high polarity and long pot life ensuring easy wetting and good adhesion. These resins can provide useful properties for casting, fibrous reinforcement, adhesives and coatings. In the present work, two resins, 1‐glycidyl‐ 3‐glycidyloxymethyl‐5, 5‐dimethylhydantoin and 1‐glycidyl‐3‐(2‐glycidyloxybutyl)‐5, 5‐dimethylhydantoin have been prepared using 5, 5‐dimethylhydantoin as the starting raw material. The resins have also been characterised for their various physical and chemical properties.