The study aimed at identifying the quality of change management in Jordan Football Association from point view at referees, the study was conducted on a sample of (155). A measure was developed for the quality of change management in Jordan Football Association, the most important results were that the decision maker does not have creativity in the actual reality of Jordan Football Association, the most important recommendation were the need to convince decision makers and employees in the Football association of the importance of adopting change management and overcoming the concept of resistance to change.

Executive compensation is a major strategy being employed by deposit money banks to achieve steady growth in their customer acquisition efforts. The banks face series of challenges including inability to achieve consistent service excellence which had negatively impacted on new customer acquisition. The study examined the effect of executive compensation package on customer acquisition of selected deposit money banks in Lagos State, Nigeria. The study employed cross sectional survey research design where four hundred and twenty-nine copies of the research instruments were administered to purposively selected respondents who were senior and executive staff of the selected banks. The result of multiple regression analysis revealed that base salary (B = 0.217, p = 0.000) and recognition (B = 0.123, p = 0.012) have positive and significant effect on customer acquisition while supplementary benefits (B = 0.017, p = 0.568) and executive bonus (B = 0.044, p = 0.175) have positive, but insignificant effect on customer acquisition. The study concluded that executive compensation has positive effect on customer of selected deposit money banks in Lagos State, Nigeria. It was recommended that attractive compensation management should be instituted to ensure that executive staff are adequately remunerated to facilitate their performance with less distractions.

In early 60s and 70s, agriculture is one of the key sectors of the Nigerian’s economy. The decline in agricultural production is attributed to the drudgery nature of traditional farming system mostly practice by farmers in the country and the influence of rural farmers on career choice of their children. The study therefore aims to assess the influence of head of farm families in career choice for their children using a descriptive statistics. Simple random sampling technique was used in selecting 120 rural farmers from Oyo State in Nigeria. Results show that 50% of the respondents were in their active age, 86.7% were married, 61.7% of the respondents had a household size of 3-6 family members, and 45.8% of the respondents had no formal education. The results of the Chi-square analysis further reveal that variables such as age, marital status, and household size, level of education, secondary occupation and membership of social organisation were statistically significant at 1% signifying that all the socio-economic variables have a significant relationship with the choice of career for the farmer’s children. To unlock farmers’ perspective on career choice ambition choosing for their children, the study suggests that more attention should be paid to improve traditional farming systems by several stakeholders and government, by providing farm equipment such as tractor and other farm implements which can make farming less rigorous, profitable and enjoyable to the rural youths in the rural communities.

The purpose of this study are firstly, to find out what is the history of the batik (a traditional textile originating from the island of Java) in Pekalongan City, Indonesia and what cultural values are contained in the batik design of the archipelago exhibited in the batik museum in Pekalongan. Secondly, to find out how the cultural values contained in batik are communicated to the community. Thirdly, how the museum made an efforts in helping preserve batik as a product of cultural heritage to strengthen the city image of Pekalongan City as the World’s City of Batik. The results of this study indicate that the cultural values contained in batik patterns are strongly influenced by the culture of migrants who arrived in the city of Pekalongan. Pekalongan as a coastal city on the north coast of Java is very easily accessed by migrants from various ethnic groups such as Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and even Dutch. They came to Pekalongan with the aim to trade, religion propaganda, even to war. Batik Museum in Pekalongan also plays an active role in socializing the history and values contained in each batik displayed by considering the arrangement of display space and organizing events such as fashion shows or short course to make batik for teenagers.

Feasibility analysis of tuber flour production business aims to determine its profitability. The study used a quantitative approach with a sample of SME UD. Berkah, Semarang. The variables include investment costs, working capital, and profits. Data were analyzed using Cost & Benefit Ratios, Payback Period, Net Present Value, and International Rate of Return. The results show that to produce 4,000 kg/month of tuber into flour requires an investment cost of IDR. 120,800,000. With depreciation of IDR. 671,083,- per year, the income of IDR. 9,150,000 per month can be earned or 23.8% per year. The payback period is estimated to be 1.1 years with an internal rate of return of 84.28%. Hence, it can be concluded that the business of producing mocaf flour, cassava starch, cassava, purple yam flour and yams is feasible. Flour producers should increase the production capacity by building business networks ranging from tuber farmers to the users.

The objective of the study was to assess the effect of risk assessment on fraud prevention in banking industry in Kenya. The study involved all banks in Kenya. Descriptive and correlational research designs were used in this study. Factor analysis was undertaken to reduce the factors and remain with factors that had higher loading which was determined through the use of Eigen values. Correlation analysis was applied to determine the strength and direction of relationship between variables and regression analysis based on structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the hypothesis. The descriptive analysis showed that the respondents strongly agreed that the parameters put in place are capable of preventing fraud in banks. The hypothesis testing showed that risk assessment has significant effect on fraud prevention in banking industry in Kenya. From the results of tests, it was concluded that the risk assessment mechanisms put in place to assess the risks have significant effect in fraud prevention and as such they should be enhanced to completely prevent fraud in banking sector.

This research aims to examine the factors influencing mobile marketing acceptance in three generation cohorts in Jakarta, Indonesia, and to confirm the influence of risk acceptance and personal attachment as antecedent factors toward mobile marketing acceptance with the support of marketing-related mobile activities. This study employs Cronbach’s alpha to test reliability and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to test the validity of the questionnaire. Furthermore, this study used simple and multiple regression analysis and mediating analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA) to examine whether there are any significant differences between three generation cohorts towards risk acceptance, personal attachment, and mobile marketing acceptance. The results show that risk acceptance and personal acceptance significantly affect mobile marketing-related activities, and mobile marketing-related activity has a significant influence toward mobile marketing acceptance. However, among all the variables, only mobile activity related to accessing content significantly mediates personal attachment to mobile marketing acceptance.

The aim of this study was to identify the physical activity level and some physical and coordinative abilities among studnts in the age group (12) years depending on the gender. Additionally, the relationship between the physical activity level and these abilities was explred. To achieve this, the researchers used the descriptive approach on a sample consisting of (115) students in the model school at Yarmouk University, with (75) male students and (40) female students, who were selected randomly. The researchers used some of the German motor test (DMT) battery items, which included some physical abilities (20 meters), flexion the trunk downwards from the stand position, amended sit-up for 40 seconds, walking and running and some coordinative abilities (back dynamic balance , Jump aside for 15s). For data processing, the researchers used the (SPSS) to calculate the mean, standard deviations, frequency and percentage, test (t) and Pearson correlation coefficient. The results of the study showed that there were statistically significant differences at (a > 0.05) in all physical abilities according to gender variable and for males, and astatistically significant differences at (a <0.05) in all coordinative abilities according to gender variable and for famles. The results of the study also showed a positive correlation between the physical activity level and the physical and coordinative abilities level among the study sample.

Flamenco is a living art that excites and awakens the senses of those who witness such a dance, singing and guitar show. It is a way of expressing feelings. Flamenco was considered a world intangible heritage of humanity by UNESCO and is a part of the identity and culture of Andalucía, place where it originated. Flamenco is a symbol of Spanish culture around the world. In addition, it has been discovered that there is a typology of flamenco tourists whose motivation is related to the search of experience and authenticity in the tourist destination. A search of published scientific articles on emotional tourism, motivation and flamenco has been conducted using three databases: Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar. Flamenco is an art that transmits passion in each of its three components: song, dance and music. Therefore, tourism management of the sites where flamenco is part of its identity must bet on its development and potential as a motivating factor to travel, bringing the emotion to the tourist, which consists not only in perceiving it, but also in experiencing it, living it. We conclude that Flamenco as a living art forms an essential part of Spain’s cultural heritage and becomes an important tourist factor to cover the experiential needs of tourists.

This article assessed security architecture for counter-insurgency against Boko Haram in the Lake Chad Basin (LCB). The paper diagnosed the impact of conflicting national interests of contributing nations on the performance of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) as a regional security architecture in the LCB. Some scholars and analysts cite corruption, historical contradictions among LCB members, poor funding, and complex nature of the insurgency, as factors responsible for failure of counter-insurgency operations in the LCB. Others contend that resource geopolitics, linguistic differences, and hegemonic politics have impacted negatively on the capacity of the MNJTF to decimate terrorists in the region. This is a qualitative study that draws from the Fund for Peace, International Crisis Group (ICG), Lake Chad Basin Commission, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), and research literature dealing with national interest and military alliances, while using content analysis to argue that conflicts in national interests, more than any other factor, have hampered the collaborative efforts of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) and weakened the capacity of the MNJTF to engage in robust counterinsurgency against Boko Haram in the LCB.

In this study, we examined the effect of liquidity management on the performance of banks in Nigeria. Our sample comprised 18 banks included in the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) from 2011 to 2017. Thus, the firm-year sample constitutes 90 (18 banks × 5 years) financial statements. We found that liquidity management positively and significantly affected banks’ profitability. Capital adequacy significantly affected return on assets, return on equity, and return on capital employed. Similarly, we found a significant positive effect of asset quality on the performance indicators. The analyses also showed that the liquidity ratio effect is positive and significant on the performance indicators. This result shows that banks with proper liquidity management will increase their profitability over time. This suggests that to increase the overall networth of shareholders, banks should place a strong emphasis on liquidity management. Thus, liquidity should be managed to minimise potential default risks.

The study identified constraints faced in a livestock development programme and their determinants. The study utilised a questionnaire, administered purposively on farmer field days in November, 2017, through a cross sectional survey of KyD scheme participants from KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa, with a purposive sample of 164 respondents from 3 locations. The data was analysed through descriptive statistics, Likert scale and binary logistic regression. The results show that the constraints faced include lack of sense of ownership, information, extension commitment and lack of leadership. Furthermore, lack of sense of ownership was determined by access to veterinary services, experience in rearing cattle, land tenure and the decision maker. Determinants of commitment of extension worker constraint were gender of household-head as well as the decision maker, whilst for lack of information were monthly off-farm income, land tenure, decision maker as well as source of income. Conclusions reached include overreliance on scheme services, and complexities in decision making having bearing on the constraints faced in the KyD scheme. The study recommends incorporating indigenous knowledge systems which have tier effect of increasing access to services, farmer’s participation and decision making, also taking advantage of the relationships with extension services to enhance effective information dissemination.

This study aimed to identify the effect of the reciprocal style on the performance skills of forward rolling and leap, performed by the faculty of physical education female students on the balance beam. The sample consisted of (58) students distributed over two equal groups. The first experimental group students were taught by the traditional teaching style, whereas the second experimental group students were taught by the reciprocal teaching style, during the second semester of the academic year 2017/2018. The means, standard deviations, and T-test were calculated to determine the differences between the groups. The results showed statistically significant differences at (a=0.05) level between the post measurements of the two groups in the skill performance level in favor of the experimental group. The researcher recommended the use of reciprocal teaching style in teaching skills as well as use modern teaching methods on the different activities.

This paper aims to focus on research configuration and to create a conceptual framework on the influence of salience oforganizational justice (OJ) dimension and salience of positive organizational behavior (POB) based on 5.530 articles from the Digital library. The method used in this study is a systematic review covering OJ and POB publications from the 2011up to 2019. This is the first paper to jointly analyze the influence of OJ and POB using systematic review method, which may enrich academic discussion. Findings: Distributive and procedural justice has the most weighted of evidence in influencing the salience of positive organizational behavior, followed by interpersonal and informational justice. While the highest sequences of salient outcome include organizational commitment, OCB, job satisfaction, organizational trust, job performance, and pay satisfaction. Interpersonal justice does not affect pay satisfaction, and informational justice only has salient outcome towards OCB, job performance, and pay satisfaction.

This study aims at explore the construction of hoax circulation discourse that causes anxiety and emotions for individuals and community groups. This study was a qualitative analysis method that produced description data in the form of words, sentences, and ideas about nature, circumstances, symptoms, and motivations that arose from certain objects. Data sources for this research were news circulated online: (1) Artificial eggs from China, (2) A Mysterious lecturer in Yogyakarta, and (3) ‘Jengkol’ (Archidendron pauciflorum) is as an anticancer medicine. The study of hoax discourse construction is important to be conducted so that people do not easily believe in news related to sources and the validity that cannot be accounted for. This research found out that hoax created by: 1) using sensational and provocative titles, 2) using visual elements as an attraction, 3) using unpopular scientific diction, 4) sometimes threatening, 5) quoting invalid/credible sources, 6) not only sourced from blogs, but from official sites, but circulated in the readers’ column, 7) following the latest issues in the community.

Entrepreneurship has become a tool for uplifting nations and improving their socio-economic development for the benefit of all citizens. This has worked for Western capitalist economies and the newly industrialized countries (NICs). In Africa there is less reliance on entrepreneurship as an engine of economic growth and development which has led to unemployment pervasive poverty and underdevelopment. The paper examined how entrepreneurship can help to speed up socio-economic development in Nigeria and reduce reliance on unsuccessful Western backed neo-liberal development strategies. The data of the study were sourced from array of both published and unpublished materials such as textbook, journal papers, newspapers, magazines, conference papers and seminar papers and internet material. The paper argues that Nigeria cannot develop without utilizing entrepreneurship as the cornerstone of its development strategy. Furthermore, the paper sees entrepreneurship as crucial to developing indigenous capacity in technology, manufacturing and export trade. It recommends development and implementation of local solutions to developmental problems, effective implementation of development policies, and credit provision to local entrepreneurs and creation an enabling environment for production and trade, and capacity development of Nigerian youth through technical and vocational training.

Assessment is a crucial aspect of teaching and learning; it includes various means of assessing what learners could reproduce as product of learning. Annual National Assessment (ANA) is a large scale assessment with the sole aim of measuring learners’ achievement, growth and progress. Since the introduction and implementation of ANA in 2010, the analysis of the results from 2011 to 2014 has shown very little improvement in learner performance. This qualitative study sought to ascertain how stakeholders supported standardised testing to overcome its limitations, and can be used to improve teaching and learning in South African schools. The theoretical framework that underpins this study is the Hard Accountability Model. Themes were generated from the collected data from ten English teachers, ten Mathematics and ten Heads of Departments from ten grade six primary schools in King Cethswayo district, Kwa-Zulu Natal Province of South Africa. Findings revealed that stakeholders did not support adequately ANA to fulfil its purpose in schools. The study also indicated inadequate teacher development programmes to regularly capacitate teachers on how to improve ANA results. The study therefore recommended that the Department of Basic Education should ensure that teacher developmental programmes are conducted while curriculum advisors and School Management Teams should strengthen their supervision and monitoring in schools.

Myriad of studies have been undertaken to evaluate contribution of agricultural research and development to improved rural livelihoods. Whether be it through influencing farm productivity, rural household income, employment creation and consumer welfare, agriculture research and development has been idealised to have a significant impact on livelihoods. This paper reviews past studies that have been undertaken in relation to agricultural research and development expenditure, factor input productivity and adoption by the rural poor in different agricultural aspects. The study identifies that there are some consistencies in reported findings of research and development expenditure having impact on improving agricultural output. Equally so, findings have also been consistent of agricultural productivity increasing at the instigation of research and development as well as the existence of an array of socio-economic factors having major influences on research and development innovation adoption. Despite the existence of spatial as well as temporal variations however, there do appear loopholes within the literature. Expenditure influences on output have appeared aggregated, with few studies, mainly from global research institutes, trying to subdivide how project specific expenditure has tended to influence the specified projects. Furthermore, studies on productivity measures of research and development despite being aggregated, have concentrated on how output has changed vis-à-vis changes in inputs utilised induced by research and development. A short fall however are studies based on the dynamism of the inputs relative to changes in output that they do instigate. Even the socio-economic variables tending to influence research and development output adoption appear to vary from technology to technology, in some instance having a positive influence and in other instances otherwise. Each project is thus unique and no array of diversification of socio-economic variables can be prescribed even though commonality could be identified.

In-service professional development of teachers plays prominent roles in determining quality education in any country. Professional development of teachers has become fundamental to education system in developing African countries. This study evaluated the use of clusters system as one of the in-service professional development approaches for teachers in South African high school. Andragogy theory was used as theoretical framework to underpin the study. Questionnaire was administered with 40 teachers; 3 Heads of Departments were engaged in semi-structured individual interviews while 5 teachers were engaged in a focus group interview. Findings revealed that clusters system existed among the various subject-teachers, and these clusters were beneficial to teachers; classroom practices were enhanced, and teachers could be supported by experienced colleagues. However, findings revealed that contents of these meeting were not relevant to the teachers, there was no proper monitoring or follow-up on the teachers’ activities there. The study therefore recommends that clusters system should be well structured to attend to classroom needs of the teachers, while proper follow-up mechanisms should be put in place.

Maize is an important staple crop for poverty reduction and global food security in Sub Saharan Africa. Food insecurity can be combated through adoption of productivity improving technologies, which include improved maize varieties. In that endeavour, South Africa has promoted various improved maize varieties which include open pollinated varieties (OPVs), hybrids, and genetically modified (GM) varieties. Despite this, the traditional landrace varieties have also been dominating in the country. However, the household food insecurity problem in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa may signify a mis-match between maize varieties being promoted amongst smallholder farmers’ and their needs. It therefore necessitates a scrutiny of the food security status among users of different maize varieties, and the determinants of such food security. A cross sectional survey was conducted in Port St Johns, Mqanduli and Flagstaff in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Data was purposively collected from a sample of 650 smallholder farmers using a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, Household Food Insecurity Access Score and ordinal logistic regression model were employed to characterize, examine the household food insecurity status and the determinants, respectively. Fifty-six percent of the respondents were utilizing land race maize varieties, whilst 29% GMs, 10% combining GMs and landrace, 4% improved OPVs and 1% convectional hybrids. The average land area under maize was 1.09 hectares with average yields (t/ha) of 1.9, 0.5, 1.7 and 1.6 for GM, landrace, conventional hybrids and improved OPVs respectively. Fifty-five percent of households utilizing GM varieties and 61% of those combining maize varieties were food secure. The regression model showed that maize variety had significant influence on food security. The study found that GM maize, improved OPV, white maize and combination effects of GM maize was associated with reduction of household food insecurity. From the study, it can be put into perspective that use of white and improved maize varieties reduces household food insecurity. Therefore, to address household food insecurity, the study recommended targeting white maize varieties, especially GM white maize varieties which are highly productive and a positive influence on household food security.

The "Belt and Road" initiative (BRI) has built a bridge linking China with countries along the belt and road. BRI related issues are no longer an abstract debate, as many projects have been implementing or even have been completed in recent years. Pakistan, as a traditional friendly neighbor of China, has actively participated in the initiative, providing new opportunities for bilateral economic cooperation. With its China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Pakistan plays a vital pivot. It becomes a lynchpin of BRI as CPEC connects important sea routes to western China, which is surrounded by land. This article, therefore, is an analysis of Pakistan’s role in the Chinese initiative, including geo-economic and geopolitical importance of Pakistan for China, and the importance of Gwadar port for China and projects of CPEC in Pakistan. Unlike current debates which usually conceptualized BRI in a hegemonic, mercantilism, or economic starcrafts context, this study finds the importance of geography and economic security concepts for both Pakistan and China as influential factors along with other factors.

This paper examines the creation of anthropomorphism through a point of view focusing on visual structure in the "Hunters and Hunted"(2009) documentary. One of the criticisms of wildlife films is the anthropomorphism of animal behavior and relationships in ecosystems in these documentaries, as it can lead to distortions of animal behavior in ecosystems. One of the aims of this article is to indicate the part of anthropomorphism that is created through the point of view and through the visual form of the work, so in order to avoid anthropomorphism in films, more attention should be paid to the form of aesthetic. Point-of-view analysis shows that subjective point of view (P.O.V) shots leads to anthropomorphism from the perspective of non-human beings. With this in mind, the different perspectives were explored in "Hunters and Hunted" from the “life” (2009) series. Surveys show that from 475 shots of this documentary, 14 shots are from the first person’s point of view from an animal perspective to advance the narrative. The structure of the P.O.V created in these shots shows that the shot / reverse angle shot pattern was used to create the subjective point of view and the image composition and also editing played a key role in creating the P.O.V shots in this documentary.

The development of several social demographic and economic trends have created the interest among financial analysts and the general population in planning for retirement. By the year 2021 the number of South Africans past retirement age will be an estimated 4.4 million which should account for approximately 7.3% of the country’s population (currently 3.8 million or 6.8% of the population) (Statistics South Africa, 2016). The increase in South Africa’s population at large and longer retirement periods have raised questions about financial preparedness for retirement. Economic issues such as corporate downsizing, capped employer retirement contributions, changing of jobs for greater remuneration and increased daily living costs have shifted the responsibility for retirement financial well-being from employers to individuals. Adequate retirement provision does not necessarily only affect the retiree but also the family unit of the retiree as a whole, as the vast majority of households in developing countries such as South Africa rely solely on one breadwinner. A global financial planning survey “was conducted by the FPI in 2015. The survey shows that only 38% of South Africans are confident that they will achieve their financial life goals, with 55% indicating that they do not know where to start with financial planning Financial Planning Institute of South Africa (2015), Gustman et al. (1995), as sited in Greninger et al. (2000) reported that, “there is no consensus in literature regarding the definition of retirement. If we do not understand the meaning of retirement, is it possible to judge whether a population is financially prepared?” This question underlines the importance of gathering informative qualitative data such as goals and risk tolerances and quantitative data, in order to develop a capital needs analysis to establish how clients can successfully meet their retirement goals. This paper aims to explore the role of the Financial Planner in the retirement planning process.

Society’s reliance on financial planners, to provide a holistic overview on retirement, needs to be supported by unbiased fact. Greninger et al. (2000), found consensus between experts among a panel of 188 financial planners and educators. Consensus was found and there was agreement on the guidelines for planning assumptions and meeting family needs. Nine-tenths of the experts agreed that families should have achieved 50-60% of retirement savings goals by age 50 and 90% by age 60%. Although the consensus level was indeed high, there were noted differences between gender and occupation. Overall, there were more males (55%) than females (45%). Financial planners were predominantly male (77%) with educators predominantly female (59%) creating a significant relationship between occupation and gender in the sample. The study also revealed a significant difference in the educational level of the two occupational subgroups. As expected, most planners possessed bachelor degrees whereas most educators possessed postgraduate degrees up to a doctoral level. On the guidelines where there was a high level of agreement, it would be useful to know how the advice was influenced by varying demographic and educational backgrounds. This study is to determine what differences of opinion might exist between educational and demographic subgroups of financial planners.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the various factors which contribute to learner migration in South African schools and to suggest ways in which learner migration can be addressed. A qualitative research approach was used for the study and data was collected by means of individual – and group interviews. The sample of the study consists of one Expert Management Information System (EMIS) member and one principal from a secondary school in each of the nine provinces as well as four parents and four learners from four of the nine provinces. The final sample were 50 participants (n=50). Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with the 9 EMIS-members and 9 principals, while focus group interviews were conducted with the 16 parents and 16 learners. The findings of the study correspond with the reasons for learner migration in terms of Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological theory model. This model is firmly grounded in reality, thereby allowing the researchers to determine how stakeholders are influenced in terms of learner migration. The findings of the study indicate that learners are migrating to other schools due to, inter alia, the new legislative framework, school management and leadership practices of principals, school effectiveness issues, infra structure of schools as well as socio-economic factors. The study underscores the need for structuring the South African learner migration system that is guided by a coherent system of policies that enables principals to manage learner migration effectively.

Intention to create legal relations is one of the essential elements of a valid contract. It is a critical factor in validating a contract alongside offer, acceptance and consideration. Even when an agreement fulfills these three basic elements, failure to prove intent to be legally bound nullifies the contract and justifies the refusal of the justice system to enforce it. It has been argued on one hand that as far as an agreement has met the basic elements of offer, acceptance and consideration necessitating a separate test of intention to create legal relations is inordinate. On the other hand, it has also been submitted that the doctrine should be retained. Through an analytical approach, this paper examines both sides of the contention and resolves in favour of retaining the doctrine. This will enhance commerce; guaranty contracting parties’ uninhibited right and freedom to enter into a contract and ensure certainty and stability in the realm of contract in a manner consistent with the requirements of modern global era.

Automation, and new technologies, have become well-known terms over the last few decades but with this new "fame" a few negative aspects as well. Automation has always carried a particular shadow of fear wherever it went. This fear includes the anxiety of replacement, the fear of unemployment, the fear of conflict between employees and employers and the fear of losing valuable relationships at work if it were to be implemented. In South Africa, seeing as though South Africa is still a developing country, employees have not yet experienced the full impact of automation as in developed countries such as America, China and England. Automation has only been implemented on a small scale in some companies. Nevertheless, these small scale implementations still caused a negative ripple throughout the business sector of the country. Employees perceived automation as being a problem that will only lead to an employee being replaced or losing his or her work. The phenomenological study was done using qualitative research by interviewing low-level employees and their managers/employers. The interviews focused on how employees perceived the various factors of automation. The primary objective of this study was to identify the perceptions that employees had of automation and how they feel automation will affect their world of work. The researcher examined various ways that automation influenced the labour market regarding employees, especially low skilled workers. The results of the study showed that even though automation is still relatively new in South Africa, employees always feared its presence.

The present study aimed to identify the training needs of teachers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and the identification of their relationship to some variables. The study sample consisted of (42) teachers, of both sexes, of children with autism spectrum disorder chosen deliberately from (5) private centers and institutions that provide educational services for those children in Amman, Jordan. The researcher used an instrument of (48) items distributed over two sub-domains: Theoretical training needs and practical skills training needs, after obtaining good validity and reliability of the scale. The results of the study indicated that the training needs importance to the respondents was of moderate level in each of the domains: Theoretical and practical skills needs. There were no statistically significant differences in teachers’ assessment of their needs that could be attributed to the variables of gender and teaching experience of the teacher. The study recommends a continuous assessment of the needs of teachers of children with autism spectrum disorder, and focuses on the preparation of specialized training programs for teachers to satisfy these needs.

SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) have a significant role in developing countries, especially in Indonesia. In Indonesia, SMEs can absorb a lot of workforces, thereby reducing unemployment. This study aims to examine the effect of organizational creativity, artistic orientation, entrepreneurial orientation, and financial literacy on entrepreneurial performance. The research object is creative MSMEs in Yogyakarta. The respondents of this study were 139 creative SME’s owners or managers. This research uses multiple linear regression analysis to prove the hypothesis. This research is the development of some previous findings by testing the effect of organizational creativity with the entrepreneurial performance that has never been studied before. The results showed there was an influence between organizational creativity, entrepreneurial orientation on entrepreneurial performance. This research has implications for SME owners to improve creativity if they want to achieve optimal entrepreneurial performance.

The paper presented the current situation of forecasting the number of children and students attending school in Ca Mau Province, Vietnam. A random survey of 89 primary school teachers in Ca Mau province with a questionnaire about the situation of the work of forecasting the number of children and students attending to school in Ca Mau Province showed that: The mean score of forecasting the number of children and students attending to school is 3.93 - corresponding to often level; the average point of the quality of the task of forecasting the number of children and students attending to school is 3.96 - at a fair level; the ensuring the development of education based on the results of forecasting the number of children and students attending to school with the mean of 2.92 - at a sometimes level. There is no correlation between forecasting the number of children and students attending school and ensuring conditions for education development based on the results of forecasting the number of children and students attending school.

The rapid development in the telecommunication industry has raised a question about the organizational assets and strategic positioning in a rapidly changing environment. The telecommunication industry is continuing to change and mounting a lot of pressure towards the fitness of organizational assets and strategic positioning. The demand for efficiency in the telecommunication industry has enabled exploration of organizational assets that guarantee desired strategic positioning. The fast changing environment has led the industry to focus on developing organizational assets which guarantee them future success in meeting the fast changing expectations and that which position them well in the dynamic market. The study was carried out in the four mobile and network operators licensed by Communication Authority of Kenya. These were Safaricom limited, Airtel Kenya, Orange Kenya and Equitel Kenya. Descriptive statistics such as mean scores, standard deviation, frequency distributions and percentages were used in this study. The study used Pearson Correlation to measure strength of linear relationship between variables. The research adopted multiple regression analysis in testing of variables. A Census method was used on strategic planning managers and C.E.O’s from 188 customer care centers from the four mobile and network operators. Primary data were collected using semi-structured questionnaires and secondary data were corrected using interview schedule. The questionnaires were administered to all Strategic planning Managers at customer care centers or C.E.O’s at headquarter offices for four companies in 47 counties. The findings on this objective revealed that organizational assets positively influence the strategic positioning of telecommunication industry in Kenya. The study concluded that assets components were all statistically significant to enhancing strategic positioning in the telecommunication industry. It is recommended that the strategic managers of the telecommunication industries should ensure the right use of assets. CAK and Ministry of ICT should make it a requirement that telecommunication industries should be submitting reports regularly of the assets they have.

Corporate rescue in South Africa has been bedevilled by many challenges. The new South African Companies Act 71 of 2008 (hereafter referred to as “the Act”), which came into effect in May 2011 contains a new chapter titled “Business rescue and Compromise with Creditors”. Post commencement finance (PCF) is finance or credit approved for a company in business rescue, which is regulated by section 135 of the South African Companies Act. The Act provides for companies to secure PCF as turnaround investment to secure its financial well-being. However, it is difficult for a distressed business to access PCF as it is challenging to operate on a cash basis when they face the likelihood of insolvency or forced sale of their assets to remain sustainable. This was evident during the recent global financial crises when obstacles to accessing PCF were identified as the chief deterrent for businesses that require rescue or reorganization (Pretorius and Du Preez, 2013). A review was performed to assess what the impact was, of a distress company obtaining PCF in KZN. Empirical research includes a qualitative research design engaged to explore the impact of PCF on the success of business rescue efforts for distressed companies in KZN. Insights and understandings were drawn from the participation of business rescue practitioners in Kwa Zulu Natal. This included addressing the challenges of obtaining PCF and what finance is available. The findings from the literature review confirm that the barriers to obtaining PCF are the most limiting factors in rescuing businesses in distress in KZN and the challenges include the time frame within the business rescue plan and that financial institutions are not prepared to support a business rescue without collateral.

Corporate rescue in South Africa has been bedevilled by many challenges. The new South African Companies Act 71 of 2008 (hereafter referred to as “the Act”), which came into effect in May 2011 contains a new chapter titled “Business rescue and Compromise with Creditors”. Post commencement finance (PCF) is finance or credit approved for a company in business rescue, which is regulated by section 135 of the South African Companies Act. The Act provides for companies to secure PCF as turnaround investment to secure its financial well-being. However, it is difficult for a distressed business to access PCF as it is challenging to operate on a cash basis when they face the likelihood of insolvency or forced sale of their assets to remain sustainable. This was evident during the recent global financial crises when obstacles to accessing PCF were identified as the chief deterrent for businesses that require rescue or reorganization (Pretorius and Du Preez, 2013). A review was performed to assess what the impact was, of a distress company obtaining PCF in KZN. Empirical research includes a qualitative research design engaged to explore the impact of PCF on the success of business rescue efforts for distressed companies in KZN. Insights and understandings were drawn from the participation of business rescue practitioners in Kwa Zulu Natal. This included addressing the challenges of obtaining PCF and what finance is available. The findings from the literature review confirm that the barriers to obtaining PCF are the most limiting factors in rescuing businesses in distress in KZN and the challenges include the time frame within the business rescue plan and that financial institutions are not prepared to support a business rescue without collateral.

Currently, divorce rate in most big cities of Indonesia display an alarming trajectory that warrants close examination of the factors leading to it. With Islamic religious courts presiding over most of the divorce cases, which account for the largest portion of all legal cases in the country, this study examines the causal factors of divorce particularly in Bajarmasin city in South Kalimantan province. The study uses a qualitative research method. Data was collected through interviews, observations, and documentation study techniques. Findings indicate that there is little and sometimes no public awareness and understanding of the legal procedure of settling marriage deputes as many skip other available services like the Marriage and Divorce Advisory Board and directly seek divorce rulings from religious courts. It has also been established that domestic violence, secret marriages (Siri), early marriages and infidelity among other factors, are the main causes of the divorce. It has been established most of the couples seeking divorce ignore or are either ignorant about the roles and existence of the Marriage and Divorce Advisory Board which is formality tasked with the role counseling marriages couples with varying disputes and grievances. It is concluded that public awareness of proper channels and procedures of settling marriage disputes, women empowerment, increasing and promoting girl child education, strengthening family incomes, legal counseling on marriage law and a brief orientation on the dangers / impacts of secretary and early marriages could in the long-run curb the rampant divorce rates in the country and of course in Banjarmasin.

The telecommunication industry is continuing to change and mounting a lot of pressure towards efficiency in the business world enabling exploration of new opportunities in the rapidly widening digital environment. The fast changing environment has led the industry to focus on developing organization learning which guarantees future success in meeting the fast changing telecommunication market. The study focused on organizational learning on strategic positioning in telecommunication industry. This study adopted a descriptive design. The target population for this study comprised of 188 strategic planning managers at customer care centers and Chief Executive Officers at the head offices of the four mobile and fixed network operators in Kenya namely; Safaricom Limited, Airtel Kenya, Telkom Kenya and Equitel Kenya. The study used Census to collect the data from the four mobile operators. Primary and Secondary data was used in this study. Primary data was collected using a questionnaire administered to respondents through drop and pick method. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics was used in this study. The study established that continuous learning had influence on strategic positioning of telecommunications industries in Kenya. The results confirmed that telecommunications industries that practiced continuous learning based on innovation had strategic positioning advantage than those organizations that do not. This means that improvement on continuous learning led to strategic positioning in telecommunication industry in Kenya. This study concludes that organizational learning was statistically significant. The study recommends that the communication authority should lobby for application of the most recent technology by its members for use by the research and development department in conjunction with the ICT ministry.

The major intendment of this study was to discover the interactive relationship between productivity and social performance, in which the productivity measured as a ratio of number of active borrowers to number of staff, the social performance is measured through the breadth of outreach and the depth of outreach. This research used the panel data regression method with research data from thirty-six selected CFIs in Vietnam from 2013 to 2018. The study results discovered that the debt-to-equity ratio, equity growth rate, breadth of outreach and return on equity had positive relationships with productivity and that the depth of outreach, loan-to-deposit ratio, non-performing loans ratio and return on assets had negative relationships with productivity. The age of CFIs, debt-to-equity ratio, breadth of outreach had positive relationships with the depth of outreach; the productivity and financial sustainability had negative impacts on the depth of outreach. The depth of outreach, productivity and non-performing loans ratio had positive relationships with the breadth of outreach; the deposit growth ratio had a negative impact on the breadth of outreach. The research had determined the bidirectional interactions and relationship between productivity and social performance. Based on the findings the study offers policy implication and further emphasizes optimal policies to CFIs management that helps the policy makers, CFIs managers and executives in improving the overall productivity and increasing the social performance of CFIs in Vietnam.

Marriage has been defined as a voluntary union between a man and a woman or women (in the case of customary marriage) for life to the exclusion of any other. In other words, it is a legal union which exists between a man and a wife(s). The practice is acceptable world over and it is usually legally recognized. In Nigeria, though there exist a statutory marriage which is monogamous in nature but most prevalent is the customary marriage. This marriage is practiced among all the tribes in Nigeria despite the fact that there exist statutory marriages. One thing that is pertinent here is that the practice of customary marriage in Nigeria has violated the human rights of the couple especially the women. The women in Nigeria have not enjoyed their human rights in their customary marriage. This is due to certain customs and traditions that do not allow for such. Among the few are undue reliance on consent of their parents. Before a marriage can be contracted female genital mutilation, the corresponding rights to bring an action for dissolution of marriage if the other party commits adultery, etc. As a result of the above (and many others) Nigerian woman is deprived of her rights. This work seeks to examine these practices which stand as hindrances to the rights of a married woman in Nigeria and therefore suggests that Nigerian women should be allowed to enjoy her basic human rights (even as a married woman) just like her husband, also that the practices in other climes where women enjoy their human rights should be imbibed in Nigeria.

Organisations’ customers are the greatest asset they have to remain sustained and to retain these customers, effective sales promotion is required to push company’s products and services to various customers at satisfaction with view of making profit. However, some organisations especially those in consumable goods pay little attention to customers’ satisfaction by not imbibing effective sales promotion leading to poor sales performance and customers’ turnover. This study examines the effect of sales promotion on customer retention of selected food and beverages companies in Lagos, Nigeria. Survey research design was adopted for this study. The population of the study comprised of customers of Foods and Beverages (FandB) Companies estimated at 4,209,483 from the selected five local governments in Lagos State, Nigeria. Sample size of 1019 was derived via Krejcie and Morgan method and through simple random sampling technique. Data were elucidated from the respondents via research instrument. The Cronbach’s Alpha reliability co-efficient as well as the Kaiser-Meyer-Oklin (KMO) was established for both reliability and validity of the research instrument. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were adopted for analysis and the hypothesis was tested with simple linear regression. Result indicated that sales promotion had positive effect on customer retention of selected Foods and Beverages Companies in Lagos State Nigeria (R2=.367; t = 22.595; P<0.05). The study concludes that sales promotion has significant effect on customer retention and recommended that adequate promotional budget incentives should be considered by the F&B companies’ management to encourage effective sales promotion especially at special periods to boost sales and enhance customer retention. Quality food processing and safety measures should be enforced by the government through regulating agencies like National Foods and Drug Administration Council (NAFDAC), the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON), and the Ministry of Health.

This study aimed to analyze the mediating effect of job satisfaction in affecting charismatic leadership and work motivation on employee performance.Sampling in this study was 35% of the existing population of 151 employees, so there were 53 samples of employees in the Regional Secretariat of South Buru Regency.The data were analyzed by path analysis. The results showed that job satisfaction mediated the effect of charismatic leadership and motivation on performance.

Customer satisfaction towards microfinance services is a measure of how microfinance services supplied by a microfinance institution meet or surpass customer expectation. The use of microfinance services plays a very important role in the socioeconomic development and contributes significantly to the development of microfinance sector in one nation. This study aims at measuring the customer satisfaction towards microfinance services they are using. This study uses the five broad dimension theory of service quality, data will be collected from the way of survey from microfinance institutions (MFIs) customers and later on will be analyzed by statistical technique and tools like descriptive statistics, and correlation method. The descriptive statistics are conducted to show out some specific areas in which MFIs need to pay more attention. The correlation analysis is to find out the relationship between each independent variable and the dependent variable. Finally, the conclusion and recommendation will summarize the key findings of the research and give suggestions to MFIs in Vietnam.

To improve the image of public transportation and encourage citizen to use it, the transportation infrastructure in Jakarta has been modernized by developing an integrated transportation system with MRT as the center of the integration. With the history of high preference to private vehicle use and the growing popularity of sharing ride, it is interesting to see whether the usage of public transportation will increase. Although the transportation system is being integrated, users of public transportation still need to exchange modes of transportation within the system and outside the system to finish the trip. This study aims to identify factors that can influence the intention to reuse public transportation routes involving transfer. The integration of Theory Planned Behavior (TPB) and other factors such as values, images and self-efficacy are investigated on the intentions to reuse routes involving transfers. The data is collected using questionnaires distributed in Jakarta MRT transit-oriented development and analyzed using PLS-SEM. Image and Attitude are proven not affecting the intention to reuse public transport routes involving transfer. The intention is influenced by perceived behavioral control (PBC) which is driven by self-efficacy and perceived controllability and subjective norms. This result to some extent is not consistent with the previous research about public transportation and has given another perspective about public transportation routes involving transfers especially in the early stage of integrated transportation system development.

The study aims to analyze the effect of participatory group communication and the economic empowerment of female household towards economic independence. The female head of a family in the city of Batang, central Java, Indonesia has a condition of economic limitations. Therefore, the Pekka group paid attention to women heads of households to be empowered. The respondents were 229 female heads of household, consisting of nine single, married 150, widowed 70 Pekka. The research found a real influence between participatory communication between groups and economic empowerment on Pekka’s economic independence. The results show that the direction of problem-solving communication has the most contribution in forming participatory communication groups, and access to capital has the most contribution in forming economic empowerment in realizing Pekka’s economic independence.

This research aims to analyze the perception, motivation and behavior of tourists attending the Fiesta de los Patios in the city of Córdoba (Spain), declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) by UNESCO in 2012. This research has categorized tourists based on two different models: the model developed by Poria et al. (2003) and the one developed by McKercher (2002). Four different tourist groups were obtained: alternative, cultural, emotional and heritage. The main result of this research is that the behavior of different types of tourists can be determined depending on the perception that the ICH tourist has. The main practical application of this research is to provide public administration and management companies with tourism tools that allow sustainable management of this ICH event.

Lampung is a multicultural region where various ethnic groups in Indonesia can be found and settle in this region, and among them is The Balinese. The Balinese community migrated to Lampung through the transmigration process in 1963 due to the eruption of Mount Agung. One of the Bali migrant communities lives in Bali Sadhar village in Way Kanan Regency of Lampung Province. This Balinese (Bali Sadhar) Community in Lampung lives side by side with other communities that have very different cultural values, such as Lampung, Semende, Ogan, Javanese, and Sundanese. Balinese communities have a strong Hindu cultural identity which can cause them to often conflict with other ethnic groups around, but the Balinese community (Bali Sadhar) in Way Kanan can actually live in harmony with the surrounding communities. This article explains how identity politics is carried out by the Bali Sadhar community in Lampung. The success of identity politics of the Bali Sadhar community is done by redefining the cultural values (Hinduism) they have in accordance with their environmental conditions. As the result, these people are still able to realize their cultural identity and also able to coexist in harmony with the other communities.

This study aims at investigating the relationship between the board of directors’ characteristics, such as (the board of directors’ size, board of directors’ meetings, board of directors’ independency, and the academic qualification for its members), and the timeliness of issuance of annual financial reports in Jordanian banks. The study adopted descriptive analytical approach whereas the population of the study in overall Jordanian banks achieved 16 banks during the study period between 2010-2017 i.e. this study lasted eight years while the number of viewers reached 128 viewer. A number of statistical methods for data analysis were used such as descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, maximum values and minimum values), and logistic regression analysis was used in testing study hypothesis. The findings revealed the compliance of Jordanian banks within the required timetable Securities Commission was intermediate. Also, there is a positive relationship between the board of directors’ size, the board of directors’ independency and the timeliness of issuance of annual financial reports. In addition, there is no relationship between the board of directors’ independency, the academic qualification for its members, and the timeliness of issuance of annual financial reports.

It has been found out that some female leaders exercise certain behavioural traits in the workplace that are discriminatory towards other females. This behaviour is referred to as the Queen Bee Syndrome. To shed light on the syndrome, this paper aims to discover the perceptions of final year female Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) students in a South African private university about their opinions on female leadership and to discover the prevalence of the Queen Bee Syndrome. Qualitative interviews were conducted on final year female students in a South African private university in Pietermaritzburg. The sample was obtained using snowball sampling method. The information gathered was analysed using content analysis. The key discoveries made were that the female students generally would prefer to work with a male manger due to the negative characteristics of competitiveness, emotionality and jealousy that was associated with the female leaders they have worked with. Respondents were also of the opinion that the Queen Bee Syndrome exists and that it is a resultant of society norms spilling over into the workplace. It is believed that social norms contribute to this problem, hence it is crucial that discriminatory behaviour in society be alleviated to strengthen and support the current women movement fighting for equality.

This paper is motivated by the spirit of judicial reform in Indonesia in the reformation era. The right to access information on judicial institutions is an integral part of the constitutional rights that guaranteed by the Indonesian Constitution and must be fulfilled. The question proposed in this paper is how far the court decisions publication and judicial reform based on electronic courts implicated to increase public trust to judicial institutions in Indonesia? On the one hand, public information disclosure is a demand for democracy, transparency, and accountability of judicial institutions to gain the public trust. On the other hand, the level of public trust to the judicial institution is still low. The research objective is to provide a general description the judicial information system services based on electronic court through the Supreme Court Decisions Directory and its implication to increase the public trust to the judicial institutions in Indonesia. The results of this study indicate that the public can now easily access all court information ranging from case administration service procedures to issuing court decisions, which also has implications to increase the public trust to the judicial institutions itself. The evidence can be seen in the decision-making filing program in the last ten years, in which the Indonesian Supreme Court has also succeeded in publishing 4,661,021 court decisions, consisting of 4,403,428 at first-level court decisions, 123,995 at appellate court decisions, 100,863 at verdict decisions, and 32,735 at reconsi¬deration decisions.

This study was designed to develop and validate an instrument that can enable researchers and scholars to measure the attitudes of teachers towards learners with disabilities in an inclusive classroom. The study was grounded on the three-components theory of attitude. A series of steps were followed to ascertain the face and content validity of the instrument. Based on the data collected from 532 respondents, preliminary screening was performed, items with weak or high correlation to others were dropped or retained. The construct validity and dimensionality of the instrument was evaluated using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), following the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) extraction, with a varimax rotation based on Eigenvalues greater than one. The results yielded a three-factor solution after suppressing loadings less than .40. These factors were labelled carefully based on the statements of the leading items loading. Cronbach alpha was employed in evaluating the reliability of the instrument, with values ranging from .849 to .938, indicating that the instrument is internally consistent. Consequently, the proposed 36 items instrument was reduced to 30 items. The procedures followed, coupled with the removal of dysfunctional items, resulted in an instrument with appropriate psychometric properties and high reliability for measurement.

In the wave of internationalization, many companies use strategic alliance like an approach to expand and strengthen their businesses. Strategic alliance is also considered to be a highly intelligent approach in green logistics for environment and e-commerce growing quickly and effectively because this is the critical concern worldwide to balance the economic development with the environmental protection. However, a suitable methodology to evaluate and analyze performance of partners is a critical and significant issue for top managers to have effective decisions making for business strategy including alliance strategy in the future. This will improve business performance and reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions among the hot trend of development of green logistics providers. Over past to future forecasting, this paper tries to propose a new approach of data envelopment analysis (DEA) based on grey forecasting and neural network, helping the target company – CSX Corporation make a well-considered decision to select the best strategic alliance candidates. The results indicate that Hub Group Inc. and Con-way Freight are the very best candidates for CSX to have strategic alliances. This combination is suggested not only good for the target company but also beneficial for the partners as well. This is a new studying method in both academic research studies and practical applications by combining Grey theory, neural network and DEA model which probably gives a better “past-present-future” insights into evaluation performance of an industry.

The study aimed to identify the leadership style and its role in raising the level of motivation among the leaders working in the Football Association in Jordan. The researcher used a special measure to ensure validity and stability of the procedure. The study sample included (54) administrative individuals in the association and after conducting the appropriate statistical analysis, it was found that there is a strong (correlation) between the democratic style and the application of an incentive system in the Football Association in Jordan. One of the most prominent recommendations is the need to provide all that is necessary for the establishment of internal regulations through which a system of incentives can be easily applied and provide fair opportunities to employees in this context.

Nigeria is a perfect example of a plural society, characterized by divergent sociocultural groups. Unfortunately, divergent groups also imply divergent interests. As a result, conflicts have featured prominently in the country, as each group struggles to project its own interests. This makes national unity a pressing need, to guarantee that against popular views, Nigeria will not disintegrate, even in the face of the diversities characterizing it. To achieve unity in Nigeria, several strategies have been adopted, but women education has hardly been given a consideration as a mean to achieving this all important need in the country. Therefore, taking cognizance of women’s peculiar roles in society, this paper analyses the need to harness their capacities in such roles via education, to facilitate the achievement unity within the entity called Nigeria.

The study aims to explain the important role of Minangkabau ulamas in the Islamization of the Bugis kingdoms in South Sulawesi. The historical approach was used in this study where the Heuristic activities were carried out to collect the main data. Document analysis of books, papers, journals and other relevant writings and interviews with customary figures were done. The results of the study found that the three ulamas came from Minangkabau and expertise in their respective fields and spread Islam. Datuk ri Bandang, who lived in Gowa had expertised in the field of jurisprudence, taught and propagated Islam by using Islamic sharia as its core teaching. Datuk ri Patimang, who lived in Luwu, had expertise in the field of tawhid, spread Islam by prioritizing the teachings of tawhid. Datuk ri Tiro, who lived in Tiro, had expertise in the field of Sufism, taught and developed Islam with Sufism teachings. It is recommended that the involvement of the three ulamas in Islamization in Gowa and Tallo can be seen in the diversity of the Bugis and Makassar communities.

This article aims to re-examine the link between income inequality and economic growth in Egypt between 2004 and 2015. Income inequality and economic growth are controversial issues. There are many views that inequality negatively affects economic growth. In contrast, some hybrid scientists argue that moderate-income inequalities positively affect economic growth. In the period 2004-2015, Egypt experienced an unstable growth rate and had many incidents during this period such as the Arab Spring. Income inequality has been considered as one of the causes of the Arab Spring revolution. The regression results of the test model in this paper show the correlation between income inequality and economic growth and several other factors in 2004 – 2015 in Egypt.

The growing influence of America in the global economy coupled with her protectionist policies in the recent time have put pressure to comity of transitional states especially African and Middle East. The invasion of Iraq by America is the driven factor of former’s oil deposits that had been a source of interest to America. Meanwhile, Americans had over the years accused Iraq of harboring Weapons of Mass Destruction, an antic for her imperialist expedition. However, it is against this backdrop that the study geared toward appreciating co-factor variables of imperialism that had influenced American’s interest on Iraq and the attendant implication to the economies of two actors. The paper utilized mixed method approach and analyzed using analytic induction. The theoretical framework of analysis was anchored on the economic radical theory, a strand of Marxian theory of economic structuralism. The finding of the study reveals that despite the established Westphalia Treaty of 1648 on the sovereignty of nation states, Americans had devoid odds and invaded, plundered the economy of Iraq. The paper strongly recommends among others; sanctioning of America for neglecting the world standing order on sovereignty of states. Also, Iraq needs to be compensated by America through reconstruction and rehabilitation.

This research aimed to investigate factors affecting the quality of life (QOL) among people involved in community-based tourism (CBT). Data were collected based on the populations residing in the tourism-community areas in each region of Thailand totaling 200 subjects to complete data analysis using multiple regression analysis. The result found that factors influencing the QOL in CBT are found in various elements of Thailand. Furthermore, the main priority is public administration that is considered the most influencing factor concerning QOL among people in CBT followed by economic factors, technological and external actors, in ranked order. The implication of this study was to motivate the community to obtain QOL because managing public administration requires the government to integrate strategic planning and implement policies to resolve the existing inequality in communities. Additionally, the government’s administrative structure in each area would be improved and made more appropriate in the context of the area in each community. Economic aspects in the community comprise creating work, increasing income for people and accessing several funding sources. In the technology section, public and private sectors are considered possessing the capability to establish technological access for the community. The aspect of external actors must be managed through regulations and laws created by the community generating awareness for community members including regulations and compliance to achieve sustainable QOL in the community.

The study investigated the effect of bibliotherapy on the truant behaviour of schooling adolescents in North West Nigeria. Two research questions were posed to guide the study. The study adopted a Quasi-experimental design. The population for the study comprised of 824 identified SSII schooling adolescents with truancy behavioural problems drawn from the four selected schools in the North West Nigeria. The sample size used for the study was 296 SS II schooling adolescents with truant behaviour. The study adopted a structured questionnaire which was developed by the researchers for data collection. The instrument was validated by three experts drawn from Department of Educational Foundations (Special Education Unit), University of Nigeria, Nsukka; Department of Educational Psychology and Counselling, Aminu Kano College of Islamic and Legal Studies, Kano State and Department of Psychology, Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, Nigeria. The reliability of the instruments was subjected to Cronbach Alpha Statistics and reliability coefficient of 0.91 was obtained. Mean score and standard deviation were used to analyze the data. The findings of the study revealed that school location is not a significant factor in the mean truancy behaviour of schooling adolescents; though urban schooling adolescents had a reduced mean truancy behaviour compared to their rural counterpart. The findings of the study with respect to the interaction effect of treatments and gender on schooling adolescents’ truancy behaviours revealed no significant interaction effect of treatments and gender. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that special educators, guidance counsellors, educational psychologists, and curriculum planners should plan a programme of intervention based on the bibliotherapy techniques for schooling adolescents.

This paper introduces the hybrid UTAUT model to explore pre-school children’s actual interaction experience with video puzzle using tablets. For the past 10 years, there is much debate on the factors affecting children’s actual interaction experience with interactive edutainment using tablet and there is a general agreement that children need access to tablet for learning activities and cognitive development. However, little research was carried out to evaluate the actual interaction motivation that determines the learning experience of pre-school children in their interaction with video puzzle using tablet. In Malaysia, the use of tablet in pre-school has been increasing rapidly, therefore, research to understand actual children video puzzle interaction using tablet to meaningfully support children’s learning activities is much demanded. The main constructs of UTAUT had been maintained by integrating two new constructs, namely, Playability and Self-Efficacy into a hybrid model. The moderating variables in UTAUT model were removed as the respondents are homogeneous in their demography characteristics. The findings indicated that Social Influence have a negative relationship on actual interaction experience with video puzzle using tablet among pre-school children in Malaysia. This can be attributed to pre-school children having a smaller and limited social cycle and the facts that pre-school children will mainly refer to their parents and teachers for advices on the adoption of new innovation.

The practice of any school curriculum entails the embracing of every available resource that can enhance teaching and learning effectively. Social Studies Education by its nature of having contact with the physical, social and economic environment stands a better opportunity of tapping into the resources found around schools and their immediate communities. Be that as it may, it has been observed that this quest has not been fully actualized by those concerned thereby, contributing to the failure of meeting set goals in this area of study. This study however, takes a look at the role of community resources in teaching and learning and the underlying challenges in the effective application of these community resources in the development of Social Studies curriculum. For a better description of how these community resources can enhance effective understanding of Social Studies curriculum content, the work also gives illustrations on how these community resources can be incorporated in the teaching and learning of Social Studies concepts.

The debilitating impact of body image dissatisfaction has been well-documented, leading to attempts to propose ways to alleviate the dissatisfaction. These proposals are drawn primarily from findings from studies on female youth. The current study extends this work, and contributes to an emerging initiative to attempt to reduce body image dissatisfaction in homosexual male youth. Past empirical findings have identified these adolescents to be particularly prone to body image dissatisfaction. With the formal operational stage of cognitive development, adolescents are particularly self-conscious and scrutinize their body image more critically, leading to body image dissatisfaction. The aim of the current study was to identify a potential protective factor that might help reduce the impact of body scrutinization in Thai homosexual male adolescents. These participants were selected due to the relative lack of published research on body image in Asian homosexual males. Additionally, despite its orientation toward the collectivistic fulfillment of social roles and obligations, Thai culture is quite accepting of sexual minorities. Homosexual male body image ideals are portrayed in the media with relatively high frequency. For this reason, internalization of media influence was selected as a potential mediator of the relationship between body scrutinization and body image dissatisfaction. Data were collected from 114 Thai homosexual male youths who responded to online questionnaires measuring body scrutinization, media internalization, and body image dissatisfaction. As hypothesized, findings demonstrated that body scrutinization significantly predicted both body image dissatisfaction and media internalization. Media internalization significantly but partially mediated the relationship between body scrutinization and body image dissatisfaction. Implications were discussed in terms of the preventative and therapeutic potentials for reducing media influence on body image dissatisfaction when the scrutinization was engaged.

The practice of any school curriculum entails the embracing of every available resource that can enhance teaching and learning effectively. Social Studies Education by its nature of having contact with the physical, social and economic environment stands a better opportunity of tapping into the resources found around schools and their immediate communities. Be that as it may, it has been observed that this quest has not been fully actualized by those concerned thereby, contributing to the failure of meeting set goals in this area of study. This study however, takes a look at the role of community resources in teaching and learning and the underlying challenges in the effective application of these community resources in the development of Social Studies curriculum. For a better description of how these community resources can enhance effective understanding of Social Studies curriculum content, the work also gives illustrations on how these community resources can be incorporated in the teaching and learning of Social Studies concepts.

Maritime piracy is a global problem affecting the entire world, particularly, world maritime, which contributes a huge percentage of the logistics in world economy. Being a worldwide problem, it is necessary to develop a counter piracy law for Nigeria, gearing towards both domestic and regional jurisdictions for effective application and enforcement. Sea navigation through ships is the major means of movement of finished goods and raw materials globally. The sea being the heritage of mankind, any activity that negatively affects sea transportation affects the world economy, nay, Nigerian economy. Maritime pirates over the ages have been considered as enemies of humanity. Piracy has been a major problem in all major sea routes worldwide, including the gulf of Guinea. Notwithstanding all the criminal activities of maritime pirates in and around the gulf of Guinea including Nigerian coastal waters, there is no legal framework formulated to accost and punish pirates to curtail their activities. It is quite unfortunate that the international Convention developed by the UNCLOS, 1982, to fight piracy and armed robbery at sea is yet to be domesticated as part of Nigerian municipal law. The various agreements and guidelines churned out by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), on this subject are yet to become part of Nigerian policy as recommended to member states of IMO. This article recommends that Section 12 of the Nigerian 1999 Constitution should domesticate these conventions and guidelines as counter piracy law for the country to make the fight against maritime piracy and armed robbery successful.

The isolation of the United States (US) from the International Criminal Court (ICC) treaty has dealt a heavy blow on the potency of the Court. By making efforts to frustrate the ICC’s activities and withholding support for United Nations (UN) peacekeeping unless United States (US) citizens are exempted from international enforcement arising out of such operations; and mandating other countries to sign treaties such as the "bilateral immunity agreements" that exempts the US citizens from Court proceedings as a criteria for rendering assistance or giving aids, the US makes it more difficult to enforce the laws prohibiting genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The recent decision by the US to deny officials of the ICC access to its territory, even to the UN headquarters places a further strain on the Court’s efforts to achieve international justice. This paper highlights the implications of the US antagonism to the ICC on international criminal justice.

Nigerian maritime cabotage laws evolved to add efficiency to the country’s maritime industry, especially in the area of indigenous fleet expansion, ship building and human capacity development. The aim was to curtail foreign dominance and unequal competition by non-Nigerian operators. Since the enactment of the Cabotage Act, attempt at successful and beneficial implementation could not be achieved due to regulatory inadequacies. What is obtainable now includes foreign dominance, unfair competition, policy failure, institutional ineffectiveness, absent of stable local capacity, regulatory problems, fiscal deficiencies, lack of political will by the government. In view of these inadequacies, appropriate remedial regulatory measures need be considered. These include regulatory overhaul or ample review of all extant maritime laws which are no more relevant in a cabotage regime. There is need for institutional reforms which will engender adequate and effective monitoring and enforcement. Fiscal and financial legal framework needs to be put in place to strengthen this inadequate and weak policy. This article submits that, cabotage laws which are supposed to be the framework of transformation from foreign to indigenous dominance of coastal shipping, have fallen short of the intended objectives. It therefore requires proper and adequate review to cure the obvious defects.

This paper focuses on the decline and death of indigenous languages with special reference to sampled languages used by indigenous communities in Kaski district, arguing that the indigenous language communities should be supported by the government for giving official status to their native languages, focused on formulation and implementation of education policies, and encouraged to insist on speaking their native languages. Together, the indigenous language communities need to collaborate with the government to curb all the issues related to preserving and promoting linguistic diversity in Nepal. Based on the findings and discussion of the study, the following recommendations have been made to preserve and promote linguistic diversity in Nepal: 1) The findings of the study concluded that documentation is one of the most important ways to preserve and promote indigenous languages; 2) The findings of this study concluded that both formal and informal languages classes can be effective to cover all types of age group indigenous language speakers; 3) It is recommended that language teachers should be provided with appropriate trainings to be good indigenous language teachers; 4) It is recommended that indigenous language groups should put pressure on the government for policy development and political advocacy for the preservation of indigenous languages; 5) The study suggested that indigenous language groups should be given language awareness programs occasionally in order to motivate them to use their native languages and then to preserve the linguistic diversity in Nepal; and 6) The study suggested that indigenous language communities need to get help of language researchers to address the issues related to indigenous language revitalization strategies.

In an attempt to curtail examination malpractice, the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has been generating different paper types with a different order of test items in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). However, the permutation of test items may compromise students’ performance unintentionally because constructive suggestions in theory and practice recommend that test items be sequenced in ascending order of difficulty. This study used data collected from a random sample of 1,226 SSIII students to ascertain whether the permutation of test items has any effect on the performance of students in two different subjects (Use of English and Mathematics). The study adopted the Equivalent Groups Quasi-Experimental Research Design with three independent groups. Findings emerged, amongst others, that there is a significant difference in the performance scores of prospective university students’ in use of English and Mathematics examintaions arranged in three different orders (ED, DE, R). There are no significant gender differences in the performance of students in Use of English and Mathematics based on test item permutation. However female students perform better than male students when test items are arranged in ascending order of difficulty while males perform better when test items are arranged in descending order of difficulty. It was concluded that the permutation of test items in UTME examination tends to affect the performance of students in Use of English and Mathematics. This finding has implications for the future conduct of UTME examinations and enrolment into higher education as the randomization of UTME test items changes the difficulty order of different paper types. It was recommended that other measures of curtailing examination malpractices that would not affect students’ academic performance should be adopted.

This research is based on the results of previous research experts who have proven that performance can be influenced by more than one variable. Based on this starting point, researchers see a gap in thinking to examine the integration of the influence of organizational climate variables, interpersonal communication and organizational commitment to performance in one research model. The researcher’s argument is that employee performance must be understood holistically, as a response to various aspects of work both arising from the person (personal) and due to social interaction. Some experts assert that it is difficult to find the fact that human attitudes are only influenced by a set of aspects of the self without regard to the influence and involvement of social aspects. The research objective is intended to obtain data and information about the integration model of the influence of organizational climate variables, interpersonal communication, and organizational commitment to the performance of employees in XYZ District, West Jakarta, Indonesia. In this study the hypothesis test was carried out with SEM (Structural Equation Modeling). The results showed that the relationship between organizational climate variables and organizational commitment to employee performance was significant, compared to the relationship between interpersonal communication variables on employee performance. Furthermore, based on the theoretical model tested it is known that organizational climate variables have a significant effect on employee performance variables compared toward interpersonal communication and on organizational commitment. The organization commitment variable does not have a significant influence on interpersonal communication, compared to the influence of interpersonal communication on organizational commitment.

Nigeria is a complex society with a rapid growing population of roughly 200 million people. The country has around 500 different languages and 250 distinct ethnic groups. Thus, uniting these complex groups into one unified political entity since the amalgamation of the country in 1914 proved difficult. Comparatively, Nigeria is one of the secured and peaceful nations in the West African sub-region; however, contemporarily, this endowed nation suddenly plunged into waves of kidnapping and other heinous crimes such as armed robbery and banditry. The phenomenon has escalated and led to numerous lives lost, which also crippled socio-economic activities. Generally, as enshrined in chapter 2, section 14(2b) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, the security of lives and property is one of the primary responsibility of the state. This study aims to identify the causes of kidnapping in Nigeria and offer some strategic solution to the problem. The study adopted a Qualitative method and also adopt both Marxian and strain theories of crime. The study`s findings through descriptive and historical method shows that abject poverty, corruption and fraud, political influence, joblessness, terrorism, lack of capital punishment by the government, the changing value system and quick-money syndrome are the major causes of kidnapping in Nigeria. Finally, the study went further to profound remedies that will stop the ugly menace of kidnapping in Nigeria, such as job creation, New policy adaptation and implementation, public awareness and empowerment programs, Sim cards registrations, quitting ransom payment, re-modified community policing and stoppage of small and light arms proliferation in the country. Considerably, by adopting such measures, we hope that the menace will perish in Nigeria for a better and productive society.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the existence of the mediatory role of self-leadership strategies on the self-efficacy of people participating in physical activities, and individual differences in gender- and form of physical activity-related self-efficacy. One hundred and seventy-one undergraduate students from a Greek university participated. All participants participated in physical activities (competitive and recreational). They filled out validated Greek versions of the Revised Self-leadership Questionnaire (RSLQ) and General Self-Efficacy (GSE). Results revealed that self-leadership strategies (self-goal setting, self-reward, self-punishment and nature reward) predicted general self-efficacy, and they supported that gender affects general self-efficacy.

Indeed, Islamic worships encourage the spiritual and ethical domains of human life. The main objective of Islamic worship is the attainment of the state of righteousness (taqwa) to become closer to Allah Almighty. The human being, with overall nature and inbuilt system, invariably needs refurbishing of thoughts and renewal of behavioral strengths. For that matter, the Creator, the Sustainer, the Provider, the Controller of the universe, Allah Almighty has prescribed, among other worships, the entire month of Ramadan as that of fasting to achieve the goal. Ramadan offers opportunities for those who fast to get closer to Allah, beseech Him earnestly, internalize the messages of the Qur’an, develop themselves intellectually, accustomed to looking at the things critically, seek His forgiveness, orientate themselves morally, treat the beloved ones with love and compassion, and remember those in the society who were left behind in the material competition. With this training availed in the fasting month, humankind can hardly stumble in any dimensions of life, including moral, devotional, social, familial, political, and economical in the remaining eleven months of the year. The methodology applied in the discussion over these issues related to Ramadan is rational and analytical, rather than traditional. The conclusion reached in the discussion is that Ramadan is the month of the all-inclusive mentoring of humankind. Overall, the study reflects upon the soul-searching and ethical-mentoring activities in the month of Ramadan for the growth of the entire Muslim Ummah.

This study aimed to know the impact of managerial accounting on the quality of decision-making, including the actual impact on the strength of competition with companies, The study also aimed to clarify the importance of the decision-making process and clarify the factors affecting it, whether internal or external, and to indicate the existence of information that helps in decision-making processes in circumstances of uncertainty and clarify the effect of using the management accounting information necessary to analyze the data and conditions accompanying the decision-making process and explain the importance of the information Accounting that helps the organization and consistent with its circumstances and capabilities so that it reflects on the facility profits and its financial position positively, It also aims to identify the extent to which industrial companies use management accounting methods, and to achieve these descriptive goals analysis and inductive analysis approach that followed for specialized industrial companies. The study sample included (40) companies, and the study concluded a number of results, most notably: that the decision-making process is the fundamental essence of the success of management operations in industrial companies, where the decision is based on practical experience and on scientific knowledge and essential studied within an organized framework, and that the decision-making process in industrial companies is affected by internal and external factors.

The study examined the problem of re-disclosure of grants and government assistance to developing countries, which represent a large proportion of the state’s general revenues from the state’s general budget in 2020 in light of Covid -19 Pandemic, where the international standard No. 20 was reviewed and it was found that it did not clarify how to re-disclose these numbers The regulations and instructions represented in the financial and accounting policies were also examined and it was also found that they did not clarifying such treatments the examination of the donor organizations and countries was reviewed and it was found that they would not make any suggestion or help regarding this problem, A set of results was reached of which International standards of various kinds did not clarify the treatment by re-disclosure of those grants under unusual circumstances. And that the regulations and instructions represent in the financial and accounting policies that did not address the treatment of this problem because the pandemic is unique. A set of recommendations was also reached, including: finding other internal financial alternatives that cover up to 75% of those grants and aid provided, because the outside world is predominantly exposed to the pandemic of Covid-19, and dedicating global efforts, especially international standards, that contribute to helping countries re-disclosure numbers of grants and assistance and how to re-estimate them.

This Study aimed to determine the possibility of using Balance Scorecard (BSC) in evaluating the performance of internal control in Jordanian Commercial Banks, The BSC considered one of the modern tools in banks management to improve banks performance and diversity of services provided by banks. The present research investigates possibility of using BSC in evaluating the performance of internal control in selected JCB. In order to achieve the objectives of the study and the testing of hypotheses, the researcher designed a questionnaire; this questionnaire distributed to managers, internal managers and employees in Jordanian Commercial Banks, Out of the 450 questionnaires distributed, 370 were recovered with an adoption to be valid for statistical analysis purposes (345) at a rate of 77%. The findings revealed that balanced scorecard approach has a significant impact on the organizational performance of banks under study and there is a possibility of using BSC in evaluating the performance of internal control in JCB.

All forms of message production are inseparable from the interests of the owners of capital and political power around them. Information conveyed to audiences is a reality that has been selected and arranged according to the ideological considerations of media institutions through editorial decisions. Media have different visions and missions as well as interests and policies of the owner, because of that the angle of news coverage will be different. In this research, researchers analyze the pattern of news coverage media online due to peaceful movement committed by a group of Muslims on 4th November, 2016, the biggest movement throughout the year 2016 by engaging millions of people from several Islamic organizations in Indonesia. This research uses a qualitative research method, with a case study approach. The purpose of this research is to analyze the pattern of framing coverage of government portal as well as the private-owned portal in reporting on the peaceful movement on 4th November, 2016, based on Robert Entman framing model. The research results showed that government portal put forward news updates and show facts to the public that to be addressed. Meanwhile, the portal of the private-owned more emphasis the news based on the interests of the owners of capital.

The performance of small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) plays a key role in the growth and development of any economy. Competitive Aggressiveness (CA) has been identified as instrumental to enhancing the control of sizable market share. However, lack of adoption of this important tool has been a challenge for these SMEs leading to decline in performances. The study hence, examined the effect of competitive aggressiveness on the market share of SMEs in Lagos, Nigeria. The study adopted cross-sectional survey research design. The population comprised 8,396 owner/managers of SMEs. The Research Advisors table was used to determine a sample size of 481. A validated questionnaire was administered to 481 respondents for data collection purpose but 430 came back correctly and were used for the study. The Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficients of the constructs ranged from 0.71 to 0.84. The response rate was 89%. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings revealed that Competitive aggressiveness does not have a significant effect on the market share of selected small and medium scale enterprises in Lagos state (ß = 0.009, R = 0.015 R2, = 0.000, F(1, 428) = 0.100, p >0.05). The study concluded that Competitive aggressiveness does not have a significant effect on market share of small and medium scale enterprises in Lagos State, Nigeria. The study recommended that firms should intensify aggressive competitive effort by working smart, carrying employees along, effective bench marketing, and proper monitoring of operational activities by regulatory bodies. These activities if well executed will increase level of market share of the SMEs in Lagos State, Nigeria.

Scientific literacy is important for elementary students, especially for disaster preparedness issues. The research purpose was to analyze the effect of Problem Based Learning models and students’ academic abilities on scientific literacy in attitudes, contexts, competencies, and knowledge. The research method used a quasi-experimental with the matching only pretest-posttest control group design. The populations were 4 elementary schools with a disaster preparedness program. Samples were taken by cluster random sampling. The homogeneity test based on the average scores from odd semester 2018/2019 in fourth-grade elementary school for subjects such as civic education, mathematics, Indonesian language, science, and social sciences. The independent variable was thematic with PBL learning model. The moderator variable was a student’s academic ability and the dependent variable was scientific literacy which includes attitude, context, knowledge, and competence. Instruments in this study were attitude questionnaire, context and knowledge test, and science competency observation. Quantitative data were analyzed with IBM SPSS Statistics 25. The research experiments show that (1) PBL model has a significant influence on the student in scientific literacy aspects such as attitudes, contexts, knowledge, and competencies; (2) academic ability does not significantly influence the scientific literacy aspects. School principals, teachers, and future researchers suggested to download the information and make learning resources about earthquake disaster preparedness education on the www.wartabencana.com to foster earthquake safety culture for students optimally.

Previous studies have documented numerous benefits of using Virtual Labs (VLs) in promoting effective teaching of science subjects. The low level of teachers’ awareness, accessibility, and utilization of VLs in schools is also known. To the researchers’ knowledge, what is yet to be known is the extent of administrators’ awareness, procurement, and management of VLs in schools which have implications on teachers’ accessibility and utilization of VLs. This study adopted a descriptive survey design. A questionnaire (AAPMVLQ), with Cronbach alpha (a = .83), was administered to a sample of 662 secondary school principals and vice-principals drawn from 271 public schools in Cross River State Nigeria. Findings revealed that the level of administrators’ awareness, procurement, and management of VLs in secondary schools is very low. The low level of awareness was attributed to the poor supply of modern facilities to schools in the area of study. While the low levels of procurement and management were attributed to the low level of awareness of administrators. The conclusion and implications of these findings are that the teaching of science subjects at the secondary school level is witnessing a major setback and will continue if immediate actions are not taken to redress this issue. The poor academic performance of students in science subjects could also be liberated in the future if lessons are made more experiential by providing modern teaching aids such as VLs.

Around 20% of total greenhouse gas emissions occur in transportation, 85% of which takes place in road traffics. Environmentally friendly vehicles are a transport type which has less environment impacts compared to existing internal combustion engine vehicles. Among them hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) have increased steadily in South Korea. This paper analyzes the sales of YF SONATA HEV and K5 HEV, which account for 85% of the domestic HEV market, compared to gasoline engine versions of the same models from Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) viewpoint. The relationship between the vehicle’s TCO and HEV sales share were analyzed as well as the consumer’s perception about the value associated with purchasing HEVs. This research conducts a quantitative study on the necessary government incentives on HEV sales for the expansion of HEV market in Korea. This work could contribute to the design of government policy to promote environmentally friendly vehicles. Additionally, this work can serve to analyze the effect of such incentive policies on environmental conservation and reduction of social expenses.

The objectives of this action research were to explore the conditions of promotion, to develop guidelines for promotion, to examine the results of the operational promotion of Islamic learning, and to propose application of the results for policymaking. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, brainstorming and critique meeting with early-elderly Muslims, Muslim leaders and Muslim academics. The data were analyzed with content analysis after experiments were conducted with the target groups. T-test and one-way ANOVA using the R program were performed. The results were as follows. 1) The elderly Muslims in the two areas had problems in Islamic learning, needed Islamic learning, had methods for Islam studies, received Islamic learning promotion, and had the same factors of Islamic learning. 2) A suitable guideline for promoting Islamic learning was group study activities or “Halaqah Activities Program”. 3) After the operational experiment, all the four groups of elderly Muslims had higher performance results on all the three aspects. 4) Heads of families, community leaders and local organizations should encourage the use of Halaqah activities to promote Islamic learning among all age groups.

Shushtar as one of the most important cities of Khuzestan in safavid era was inhabited by some officials and rulers mostly due to its specific geographical, strategic and military situation during the rule of Safavid dynasty. The establishment of new villages in Shushtar and its surroundings areas by the local rulers caused this city to grow and develop more. In the same regard, due to the entering of many different clans and tribes to Shushtar in the Safavid period, extensive ethnic conflicts emerged in this city. Turk Qizilbash (Shamlus, Rumlus, Afshars, Ustodjlus, Turkmens, and Dulghadirs), Chagatai family, Circassia, Georgians, great religious scholars from Jabal Amel region, Jazayeri and Kalantar Sadats were among the tribes and clans entering Shushtar in the Safavid period. At the end of this period, natural disasters such as flood influenced Shushtar status both socially and politically to a great extent. The current study attempts to describe the political and social conditions of Shushtar during the Safavid period, aiming to answer this question: Why was Shushtar under the spotlight by the Safavid rulers and inhabited by most governmental rulers and authorities? It is hypothesized in this study that due to the geographical and military situation, Shushtar have always been considered as a defensive barrier by the Safavids against Mushashaiyah central bases in the South of Khuzestan, and Ranshis bases in the North of Khuzestan and also against Bakhtiyari Khans. Unquestionably, taking into consideration the topics such as ethnic origin, tribal interests, occupation state, religious and social values, and changing or modification of each case can give provide us with some useful information about the social and political life of Shushtar in the Safavid period.

After the World War-II, human rights education has become an increasingly visible feature of the educational policies, debates and foundations at international level. Steps have been taken by various nations to incorporate human rights education in their school curriculum. In India, a few studies have been conducted in the context of incorporating human rights education in school curriculum in general and in secondary school curriculum in particular. In the present study, an attempt was made to study the attitude of the students, teachers and educational administrators for incorporating human rights education in secondary school curriculum. The study mainly focused to compare the attitude of the students, teachers and educational administrators for incorporating human rights education in secondary school curriculum, and to identify certain basic content areas of human rights education that may/should have a place in secondary school curriculum. The study was considered under descriptive survey-cum-content analysis research. The participants of the study included 640 students, 256 teachers and 88 educational administrators under secondary schools of Bihar, India. A self-developed attitude scale titled ‘Attitude scale for studying the attitude for incorporating human rights education in secondary school curriculum’ was used for collecting data from participants for the study. Both the quantitative and qualitative methods of data analysis were employed for analyzing the collected data of the study. The study mainly revealed that among the entire sample studied, the students possessed better attitude than teachers and educational administrators for incorporating human rights education in secondary school curriculum. Further, the study helped to identify certain basic content areas of human rights education that may/should have a place in secondary school curriculum.

This study aims to investigate career readiness among graduates of vocational colleges in Malaysia. Past research shows that graduates from technical and vocational institutions faced problems in choosing a career. In Malaysia, competency based learning adopted by vocational colleges to create opportunities for student personalized their own learning regardless of time, place and pace of learning. This ex post facto research design is intended to identify the level of career readiness of vocational college graduates, and to examine the effect of the CBL approaches implemented in vocational colleges on graduates’ level of career readiness. The total of 330 graduates from fifteen vocational colleges in Malaysia were randomly selected as respondents in this study. Finding shows that the graduate career readiness is at lower level whereas the one-way ANOVA analysis shows that the CBL approaches do not have a significant effect on the level of career readiness among vocational college graduates.

From long time ago up to now, and in the trend of the human’s thought development, question about identity and the essence of self has been always an attractive matter for thinking. Searching for a lost soul mate, that can be supposed as a reflection of ourselves has been a great challenge for human beings, as well. The present research focuses on a type of psychoanalytic criticism which is based on ideas developed by Jacques Lacan in regard to Orhan Pamuk’s The Black Book. Lacan as a psychologist with a post-structuralist viewpoint believes that the unconscious is structured like a language. He states that language, the signifying chain with a perpetual sliding of the signified under the signifier, never provides "ultimate meaning" or a "transcendental signified". Accordingly, this study represents a Lacanian reading of Orhan Pamuk?s The Black Book with emphasis on the main roles of the "other", and language in forming of the unconscious and individual identity. Galip, the protagonist of the novel, apparently is in search of his lost wife "Rüya". But in fact, following this lack, he starts his search for knowing himself through a chain of signifiers. However, this search does not lead him to reach to a complete ultimate meaning of his "self". His bewildered subject cannot anchor at a fix point of integrated and wholeness of the "self".

Background: The attitudes of many undergraduates towards practicum exercise is declining in each passing year, affecting the quality of educational leaders produced from higher education. Studies in the past, have documented that there is no significant difference in the attitudes of students with or without practicum experience towards academic activities in higher education. Little or nothing seems to be known at the moment regarding the reasons why there is an indifference in the attitudes of students after completing a practicum course. In response to this gap, we designed this study to assess principals leadership variables as the presumed cause of undergraduates declining attitudes towards practicum exercise in secondary schools. Methods: A census study was carried out in Cross River State, where the entire 667 secondary school administrators (271 principals and 396 vice principals) were studied. Principals Leadership Variables and Undergraduates Attitudes Towards Practicum Exercise Questionnaire (PLVUATPEQ) designed by the researchers, was used in data collection. Data collected were analysed using simple linear regression analysis. Results: We find amongst others, that principals’ leadership styles, communication patterns, decision-making and supervisory approaches significantly predict undergraduates attitudes towards practicum exercise relatively. Each of these independent variables accounts differently for the variance in the dependent variable based on their unique coefficient of determination. Conclusion: It was concluded generally, that principals leadership variables significantly predict undergraduates attitudes towards practicum exercise. The attitudes of undergraduates towards practicum exercise increases as the leadership styles, communication patterns, decision-making skills, and supervisory approaches of principals improve. The implications of this study are discussed for policy and educational reforms.

Small and Medium Enterprises are the major engine room for growth of every nation.In recent times, studies have shown that business processes have become complex and these have affected the sustainability of SMEs. Changes in business processes require organizations to be dynamic and exploit opportunities perceived to influence performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The study examined the effect of financial reengineering on the growth in performance of SMEs in Nigeria. The study employed survey research design. The sampled population was 11,663 SMEs in Lagos State,the business heartbeat of Nigeria. Using Taro Yamane formula, Sample size was 387. The owners/managers of these SMEs were selected through a multi-stage sampling technique involving stratified and proportionate sampling method. 387 copies of structured questionnaire were administered with a retrieval rate of 100%. Cronbach alpha coefficient ranged from 0.707 to 0.832. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. The findings revealed that financial re-engineering has significant effect on sales growth of SMEs.........

This study aimed at identifying the political reform and its impact on representing the political associations in the elections of the Bahraini House of representatives (2002-2018). The study used the analytical descriptive approach in order to describe the political reform that took place in Bahrain, describe the elections of the Bahraini House of representatives and analyze the amount of representing the political associations in the Bahraini House of representatives. The study results showed that the role of political reform that took place in Bahrain resulted in positive outcomes during the issuance of the most important law for the political associations, law No. (26) for the year 2005, which was later amended by issuing the law No. (34) for the year 2014. The results also revealed that the amount of representing the Bahraini political associations in the elections of 2002 was high; however, after those elections, the Bahraini political associations began gaining less seats in the elections of 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018. The study recommended that the Bahraini political associations should promote themselves under the regulations of law that organizes its work in order to communicate its vision and plans to all the categories of the Bahraini population. The study also recommended the necessity of attracting all the age categories in the Bahraini community to become members in the Bahraini political associations, particularly those whose ages range between (20-30) years old.

The objective of this qualitative study was to find out guidelines for accommodation designs to promote community-based tourism in Takua Pa Old Town, Phang-nga Province. Data were collected from seven informants consisting of owners of old residential buildings who lived in the community and members of organizations involved in old town conservation through in-depth interviews and non-participant observations. For data analysis, the data were categorized, interpreted and concluded using descriptive analysis. The results of the study were that designing accommodations for Takua Pa Old Town began from investigating the conditions, architecture and uses of old buildings. After that the results of the investigations were used in designing an accommodation in the category of “hometel” with two storeys based on the old architectural style in the area. Thus, the hometel was designed to have a space for doing activities, recreation and get togethers. This design of accommodation in the community would promote tourists to learn and understand the community’s way of life and this type of accommodation could be used as guidelines for development and promotion of another way for making income in the community.

The objectives of the study were to investigate conditions of Islamic ethics promotion and to develop learning activities to promote Islamic ethics for Muslim youth in the three Southern border provinces. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, brainstorming and critique meetings with four groups of informants: Muslim youth, parents and guardians, Muslim leaders, and Muslim academics. The data were analyzed using content analysis and presented using descriptive analysis. The results were as follows. 1) Islamic ethics promotion faced the problems of lacking experts or knowledgeable persons to carry out Islamic ethics promotion, and family did not give importance to Islamic ethics promotion. As a result, Islamic ethics promotion was not successful, Muslim youth did not receive enough Islamic ethics promotion and some of them behaved against Islamic ethical principles and neglected Islamic practice. Even though Islamic ethics promotion is needed for Muslim youth to live their lives consistent with Islamic principles, some of them wanted to have group learning activities and Islamic ethics training camps to be organized regularly so that they could appropriately apply them in their everyday life. 2) There were seven types of learning activities to promote Islamic ethics among Muslim youth that the community could apply according to the needs of the target group and community context. They were group study activities, mind-resting activities and nighttime Islamic activities, Islamic ethics training camps, Anasyid activities (singing and chanting activities to raise awareness), social reflection plays, volunteering activities, and meet the Muslim youth of new generation activities.

The study examined teachers’ professional ethics and classroom management as a correlate of students’ academic performance in public secondary schools in Abia State, Nigeria. Two research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted a Correlational Research Design. The population of the study consisted of 9,200 Secondary School Students in Public Secondary Schools. The study sampled 920 students representing 10% of the populations using Stratified Random Sampling Technique. The instrument for data collection was structured questionnaire titled: “Teachers’ Professional Ethics and Classroom Management of Students Academic performance (TPECMSAP)”. The instrument was validated by three experts. The instrument was tested using t-test method and calculated with Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation which yielded an index of 0.71 for teachers’ professional ethics and 0.89 for classroom management. Data collected was analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions. Pearson’s r, R2 (coefficient of determination) and multiple regression analysis was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 levels of significance. The findings of the study revealed that there is a significant relationship between teachers’ professional ethics, classroom management and students academic performance. The findings of the study revealed that employment of qualified teachers and other professionals’ demands for practices to ensure high academic performance. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that government and the school administrators should organize seminars, workshops and conferences to create more awareness on teachers’ ethics and classroom managements on academic performance of students in Nigeria.

Social behavior can be troubled by the constant concern of crime. Research on the relationship between traditional media crime exposure, social media crime videos, and fear about the crime is scarce. The present study is designed to investigate whether social media exposure, TV news crime viewing, crime drama exposure is directly or indirectly associated to fear about crime. The theoretical framework of the study is based on the mediated fear model and cultivation theory. A sample of 371 university students was selected through a convenience sampling technique. SPSS 25 was used to analyze the data and Model 4 of Process Macro was used to examine the mediating role of the cognitive component of fear of crime (perceived seriousness, perceived risk, and perceived control). The results show that television news crime viewing, crime drama, and social media crime video exposure is positively associated with fear about crime. Moreover, three cognitive components of fear of crime played a mediatory role between traditional media exposure and fear of crime. In addition to this, the relationship between social media crime video exposure and fear about crime was mediated by the cognitive component of fear of crime.

Physicians’ stories of their illness attempt to bridge the divide between a professional doctor and a patient’s narrative by combining both the versions. This research paper undertakes a narratological analysis of latest illness narrative written by a physician-turned-patient Paul Kalanithi in his When Breath Becomes Air. The present study also finds out the role reversal happening between a clinician, patient and writer. It further aims to analyze Paul Kalanithi’s autobiographical memoir as a literary narrative of his last stage fatal lung cancer. The paper highlights the link between literature and the medical world and in this way generates a better understanding of the present interdisciplinary relation of both the disciplines i.e. literature and medicine. This research is qualitative and descriptive while textual analysis has been used as a research method. This study ends with the findings and recommendations for further research.

Technological innovations and its implementation in different organizations has been one of the prime interest of academicians as well as practitioners. The diffusion and implementation of information systems invited researchers to check effectiveness of the systems. The current study is using the Delone and Mclean as theoretical framework in context of media organizations. Sample data has been collected from top 15 news channels employees who are using news management software. A sample of 1000 was selected from these channels with the help of stratified sampling technique. Data were analysed by using the structural equation modelling. The results show that employees perceive that service quality, system quality and information quality are significant contributor to news flow and individual performance. Moreover, news flow is directly and indirectly affecting the individual performance. In addition to this, individual performance is significant predictor of process performance, satisfaction and organizational performance. The result strongly supports the integration of news flow and satisfaction in Delone and Mclean model. The results also support the mediating role of news flow, process performance and satisfaction. The paper offers a snapshot that how quality indicators and user satisfaction from news management system can increase the effectiveness of media organization. The research would be a great value to practitioners and media organizations.

Grounded on the social exchange model, the authors theorized the intermediating part of job satisfaction and trust in supervisors by linking it with justice and OCB in service sector, especially Hospital industry of Pakistan. Structual equation modeling is performed to analysze the data collected from 346 health care workers in Pakistan. Results revealed that procedural, distributive, and interactional justice are positively related to citizenship behavior. Furthermore, trust in supervisor and job satisfaction mediates the relationship between justice and citizenship behavior. The future research and theoratical implications of these findings are discussed.

One of the features of films compared to other cultural products is the possibility of their use for advertising and information activities and influence on the formation of needs and audience preferences, as well as different patterns of consumer behavior. The urgency of this scientific problem is that the sale of cinema products today is impossible without a marketing system. The applications of different marketing strategies depending on the specific tasks allows a differentiated approach to each project and achieve the goals both from the standpoint of contribution to the development of culture, and in terms of obtaining economic effects from the film industry. The main purpose of the study is to substantiate and determine the features of the use of marketing tools in the film industry. The study of marketing services for film production was carried out in accordance with the logical structure of the concept of "7P" (product, promotion, location, price, staff, physical environment and the process of providing services). Recommendations for the marketing of services in the film industry: first, the choice of methods for watching movies depends on the type of media environment (traditional, digital), secondly, the choice of ways to obtain movies depending on their genre and subject, thirdly, in order to effective promotion of content and perception of the film identified the basic requirements for its trailer. The article proves that the marketing of services in the film industry is aimed not only at meeting the socio-cultural needs of the population, but also at the commercialization of the industry, ensuring audience access to films, as well as creating market conditions for its sustainable development. The research materials are the basis for further research on current issues of modern film practice, integration of film production and film consumption.

The study examined security awareness as a panacea for effective management of safe school Initiative and students’ academic achievement in unity schools in Nigeria. Three research questions guided the study. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The population of the study comprises 104 principals of unity schools in Nigeria. There was no sampling technique adopted since the entire population was manageable. The instrument for data collection was structured questions developed by the researchers titled: “Safe School Initiative Questionnaire (SSIQ)”. The instrument was validated by three experts, two from the Department of Educational Foundations and one in the Department of Science Education (Measurement and Evaluation Unit), all from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The reliability yielded a co-efficient of 0.83 using Cronbach Alpha techniques. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions. The findings of the study revealed that the rationale for launching safe school initiative was to protect Nigeria students in school from being attacks, to reduce the dropout rate, to enable the students to be conscious of security situation in schools, prevent future attacks on schools, and general protection of education sector in Nigeria. The findings of the study also revealed that school based management strategies can be adopted for safe school initiative implementation in unity schools in Nigeria. Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendation were made, among other that, federal government should provide safety facilities especially perimeter fencing in unity school in Nigeria.

The purpose of this study is to establish the influence of the political environment on the performance of the Business Process Outsourcing Sector in Kenya. The study covered all the 118 registered business process outsourcing companies in Kenya. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used in this study. The descriptive results indicate that the political climate in Kenya has not been conducive to the business process outsourcing sector. The inferential results indicated that the political environment had a statistically significant influence on the performance of the business process outsourcing sector in Kenya. The study, therefore, concludes that a conducive political environment is vital for the business process outsourcing sector to thrive. The study suggests that the government ought to consider developing and implementing measures and policies that will ensure a conducive political environment to enable BPO companies to thrive.

This study aimed at investigating the integrative cross-cultural perspective of negative career thoughts by comparing college students’ data from Pakistan and Korea. Data obtained from 200 Pakistani college students were compared to the data obtained from 200 Korean college students. Results show a significantly higher score on negative career thoughts when compared to Korean students. Findings indicate cross-cultural differences in negative career thoughts reflective of context-based differences in policy and career guidance systems. Findings provide support to Systems Theory Framework. However, the similarities in the construct manifestation provide a theoretical basis for career guidance in the collectivist and Asian contexts. Findings suggest the importance of comparative data, indigenization of assessment tool to assess negative career thoughts, and further exploration of negative career thoughts while considering cultural dimensions.

Comic books are not only designed to entertain the readers but they also become a medium to communicate something between the lines. Comic books are a popular medium in western countries. This paper investigated the depiction of terrorist incidents allegedly involving Muslims in English comic books. The study aimed to analyze the treatment that was given to the Muslim and non-Muslim characters especially as a part of terrorist organizations while showing real-life terrorism based incidents. It was also intended to explore how they induced fear appeal in their stories regarding particular characters. Through purposive sampling, two comic books have been selected to know how the Muslim characters in the comic book were portrayed in a derogatory manner and to know how they have recaptured the incident of September 11, 2001. Liberality for All and Holy Terror are the two books that were selected and analyzed by using the method of content analysis. Drawing upon the theoretical perspective of Agenda Setting (and Framing), it is assumed that the comic books were prepared deliberately to depict Muslims in a deprecating approach. The results ask the orientalist scholars to raise their eyebrows toward the depiction of Muslims in comic books whose audience is relatively younger and the particular portrayal in such manner can have a profound and longer effect on the young minds regarding Muslims.

This article identifies the determinants of labor productivity of Malian firms using 2007-2015 panel data. These data were collected by the World Bank in 2016 from industrial companies and services. The Hausman test made it possible to choose the composite error panel model for the estimation. The results indicate that there is a positive correlation between capital intensity, commodity imports and labor productivity. Labor productivity decreases with the number of years the manager has spent at the head of the company, the use of new information and communication technologies, and the purchase of fixed assets. We also find that formal firms seem to have higher productivity when confronted with stronger local informal competition. Overall, 79.5 percent of companies reported power outages. Power outages have a negative impact on labor productivity.

Social media, in the new millennium, has become a very effective tool of communication, information, and propagation regarding all social, religious, and political discourses that further lead towards ideological divisions. In the contemporary democratic world, the role of social media for political opinion building is obvious which is done by opinion leaders through political information and debates. The purpose of this study is to explore the social media use and political polarization among social media users. The survey research method was used to examine social media use for political engagement and political polarization. Private university students were selected as participants (n=350). The result was found positive which means that social media use is responsible for political polarization. Moreover, social media use is also a significant predictor of political engagement. In addition to this, the results show that political engagement is a mediator between the relationship between social media use and political polarization. The practical implications of the study have been discussed.

The present study aims to access the role of maternal health care knowledge and practices in developing postpartum depressive symptoms among Pakistani women. The data was collected from 400 rural mothers, having a child up to one year of age in four rural towns of Faisalabad. An interview schedule approach was used for collection of data. Results showed that lack of education, income, maternal health care knowledge and health care practices were the most important predictors of postpartum depression. The values of chi-square (26.419) and (59.734) showed a highly significant association (P = 0.000) between lack of health care knowledge and postpartum depressive symptoms and health care practices as well as postpartum depressive symptoms, respectively. Additionally, the compulsion of social taboos (eat specific food, not allow to go outside home, infant care, spouse attachment) in the antenatal/postpartum period increased the level of emotional distress such as low mood, anxiety, poor concentration and stress. The study suggested that women’s consultancy with a health care professional to obtain postpartum instructions is beneficial for healthy mothers and their child.

The Power is a 2016 science fiction novel by British writer Naomi Alderman. Its basic principle is that women develop the ability to release electric shocks from their fingers, causing them to become the dominant gender. This study tried to find the concepts of gender and power in this novel and analyze them. The Power describes how gender relations would be affected, how society would evolve if women developed the ability to deliver electric shocks. This speculative fiction explores the form of power in patriarchy by using a singular principle according to which the women of the planet obtain as an evolutionary accident a new organ in the clavicle - the skein - producing electric shocks. Obtaining this power allows women to challenge the power dynamics of patriarchy.

The world has accomplished progress in human right and child education under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); the goal that comprises end modern slavery and human trafficking and secures the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labor, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labor in all its forms, nevertheless, child labor issues are continuing to spread to many countries in the world. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to address the issue of child labor and factor that help to eliminate child labor issues in Malaysia. Data were collected through an online survey; the participants included twenty-nine (29) Malaysian civil services. The finding of this research indicated that, although the cost for hiring the children is low compare to the adult as highlighted in supply and demand side, few factors preventing community to use the child as a laborer like religion, awareness/knowledge, humanity, ethic, and culture, therefore, there must be a child labor policy that eliminates all forms of child labor in Malaysia. This research is carried values to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in enhancing the policy to end child labor, reduce poverty and hunger, and improves the quality of education; thus, this research carries values to the minister of labor and social affairs in enhancing the policy on human resources development.

Vehicle operating cost is the cost that haulers incur in rendering freight services. This cost is influenced by operational, economic, fixed asset, and institutional factors. Haulage firms must take the right decision on these factors to minimize the vehicle operating cost and increase their profit. This study examines the factors determining the vehicle operating costs of haulage firms in Nigeria. The data for this study was obtained through the administration of structured questionnaires randomly on 337 respondents out of 2154 staff in the 8 selected registered haulage firms having their headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria. The questionnaire was used to collect information on components of truck operation influencing vehicle operating costs. The result of the OLS multiple regression model shows that all the factors were significant and predict vehicle operating costs but to a varying extent. The coefficients of significant factors were wages (ß = 0.324; p = 0.01), empty running (ß = 0.297; p = 0.01), fleet size (ß = 0.264; p = 0.01), training (ß = -0.201; p = 0.01), weight of freight (ß = 0.145; p = 0.01), drivers experience (ß = 0.132; p = 0.01), vehicle age (ß = 0.111; p = 0.05), administrative fee (ß = 0.100; p = 0.05) and maintenance (ß = 0.096; p = 0.05) influence vehicle operating costs of haulage firms respectively. The study concluded that driver’s wages, empty running, fleet size, and training were important factors influencing the vehicle operating costs of the haulage firms. The study recommends useful policy decisions to improve the performance of haulage businesses in the study area.

Even though China extracts oil more than any other country in the Asia-Pacific region, the country is still hugely dependent on imports, and this dependence increases with each passing year. In recent years, the need for import of oil in China had risen from 35% in 2000 to 70% in 2017. Today, the People’s Republic of China mainly buys crude oil in the Middle East and political change in the region directly influence on Chinese foreign policy. In this study, we examined four critical factors that influence china’s oil diplomacy in the Middle East. Accordingly, Arab spring events, OPEC, China foreign policies and strategies, and influence of the U.S. in the region have direct or indirect effects on china’s oil diplomacy. China’s historical reaction to these factors is remarkable and made its energy security strategies in the Middle east. This study shows that the events of the Arab Spring hurt China’s oil diplomacy with the middle East countries. The developments taking place in the Middle East from the beginning of the Arab Spring have led to an increase in world oil prices. For China, this meant higher import bills and a reduction in the trade surplus, as well as slower economic growth, as the contribution of net exports decreased. OPEC market controlling strategies let China thinks to other oil producers, and oil exports from the Middle East reduced in front of increasing imports from other regions. U.S. as hegemon of the area somehow made steady pressure on China alliance, especially after making sanctions on Iran due to its nuclear programs. During the trade war between the two countries, the influence of the U.S. on China oil diplomacy more appeared.

Nurturing talented workforce is becoming of increasing importance to both public and private sector organizations, as it is easier for an organization with a talented and well-managed workforce to achieve its short and long term aims and objectives than an organization without it. The thrust of this study is to examine the effects of talent management on performance in the public sector, using the resource-based theory (RBT) that clearly states how a valuable, non-substitutable, rare and difficult to imitate employee adds to the competitive advantage of an organization. This kind of employee helps position the organization for short and long-term successes. The survey design was used and data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The stated hypotheses were tested using Pearson Moment Correlation Coefficient. Findings revealed that adequate talent management strategy is needed to enhance performance in public sector organizations as it will help in the maintenance of core competencies, employees’ retention, commitment, increase productivity, as well as lower recruitment costs. The study concludes that no matter the quality and quantity of resources spent on skills sharpening, career support, innovation, training, etc. if adequate strategies are not developed to manage talents within an organization, more resources will be spent on talent acquisition regularly without corresponding results. The study recommends that the process of having a talented workforce should begin from the acquisition (hiring) stage and should flow through the compensation and retention stages. Thus, public organizations should, at all times, identify areas that talent replacements are needed at present, as well as develop the skills and competencies of the employees to take up leadership roles in the future or when the need arises. With this, the organization will have suitable hands to fill in top managerial positions when a senior staff retires, dies, or whenever the need arises.

The main thrust of this study was to examine principals’ resources management and goal attainment in public secondary schools. Three null hypotheses were formulated following the specific purposes of the study. This study was tailored to follow the ex-post facto research design. The population of this study consisted of 681 secondary school administrators (227 principals and 454 vice principals) distributed across 227 public secondary schools situated in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Census technique was adopted in studying the entire population. A self-structured and administered questionnaire titled, “Principals’ Resources Management and Goal Attainment Questionnaire (PRMEAQ)” was used as data collection instrument. The null hypotheses of the study were all tested at. 05 level of significance using the Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Analysis. Findings of the study indicated that financial management, management of school libraries and school records management all have a partial significant relationship with goal attainment in secondary schools. In line with this finding, relevant policy implications were discussed. It is recommended, among others, that secondary school principals should effectively and prudently utilize available material resources as well as internally generated funds for judicious purposes.

The study evaluates passengers’ satisfaction with the service quality of international airlines at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, Nigeria. The study randomly selects 4 out of 27 international airlines operating at the airport for the survey. A purposive sampling technique was employed to select 100 respondents in each of the airlines since the study population could not be ascertained. A structured questionnaire was administered on the passengers when waiting to board the aircraft to elicit information on their travel characteristics and perceived satisfaction with the services rendered by the airlines using a five-point Likert scale. The data collected on passengers’ satisfaction with the airline’s service quality was analyzed using the servqual model while multiple regression model was used to predict the effect of service quality dimensions on passengers’ satisfaction with the airlines. The result of the servqual model shows that the passenger satisfaction rating of reliability dimension (0.66) is the highest followed by responsiveness (0.52), empathy (0.52), tangible (0.41), and assurance (0.36) has the least rating. Similarly, the result of regression model reveals that the coefficients of four dimensions reliability (ß = 0.683; p = 0.01), empathy (ß = 0.656; p = 0.01), responsiveness (ß = 0.409; p = 0.01) and tangible (ß = 0.364; p = 0.01) had statistically significant influence on passengers’ satisfaction of the airlines. The study concludes that service quality influences passengers’ satisfaction with international airline operations in Nigeria. The study recommends useful policy actions aimed at improving service quality to allow airlines to enjoy continuous loyalty and patronage by the passengers.

Communication of military organizations outside the battlefield in the Indonesian National Military (TNI) organization is manifested through TNI social communication. Implemented through Military Operations Other Than War (OMSP). The Indonesian Army formed the Citarum Harum task force after the Citarum River problem became an international concern. This study aims: 1) Model to analyze the communication of the Indonesian Army in building public awareness to restore the sustainability of the Citarum River; 2) Revealing the communication of the Indonesian Army Armed Forces to the public so that the Citarum Harum program can be achieved; 3) Revealing the form of cooperation between the Indonesian Army and the mass media in the Citarum Harum program. Research is based on the philosophy of post-positivism. Type of qualitative research. The nature of descriptive research. Case study research method. The technique of studying data is through data triangulation. Checking the correctness of data or information obtained by researchers from various points of view. The results of the study: 1) Military communication skills for regional officials are needed; 2) To create an understanding with the community, it is necessary to focus on listening to the aspirations of the community by living in people’s homes and providing examples of working to protect the environment; 3) Collaborating with journalists to always actively publish in mass media and online media. Conclusion: 1) Organizational organization, internal communication organization is very important to support organizational activities. 2) TNI social communication functions to take a persuasion approach and increase public understanding of military organizations. 3) The communication strategy carried out by the Siliwangi Military Regional Command provides information and publication of the Citarum Harum Program every day to the mass media and facilitates to facilitate the coverage process.

The association between diet, age, gender, socioeconomic status, ethnicity and hypertension are well recognized among developing countries. However, the main factors causing hypertension in Pakistan are still not clear. Hypertension is complex and multi factorial. The current article summarizes some of the known factors responsible for hypertension within populated cities of Pakistan. This review was focused on ethnic group of people living within country. Random or multistage screening, socioeconomic status or hypertensive condition was considered during selection of subjects. The dietary patterns in relation with hypertension and other health problems were studied. Studies showed a prominent occurrence among urban adults, particularly women. The Diet transition towards the DASH Diet has been attributed to lower blood pressures. This review highlights the fact that dietary pattern, socioeconomic status, gender, age and obesity is associated with hypertension.

Preference for male children is a global phenomenon. However, it is more seriously practiced in highly traditional societies of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. The practice is particularly widespread in Nigeria, where for cultural and familial justifications families express subtle and sometimes outright preference for male children over females. Unfortunately, this leads to unintended consequences, not only for the families involved but also for the larger society. Against this backdrop, therefore, this paper attempts to articulate the rationale for male child preference, the extent of the practice, as well as some of its damaging consequences and the attendant implications for the Nigerian society in particular. Whereas in the quest for male children, the focus is usually on the seeming gains, which constitute the motivators for families that would stop at nothing to have them. However, attention is drawn in this paper to the other side of the coin, and emphasis is laid on the need for the practice to be checkmated using appropriate institutional tools.

The analysis and the comparison of poverty between regions and countries are important topics in social sciences, which have relevant demands of many national (Cáritas, Intermón Oxfam, Cruz Roja, etc) and international (UN, World Bank, OECD, Eurostat, IMF, etc) agencies and organizations. One of the most common poverty indicators in practice is the headcount index, which analyzes the proportion of individuals considered as poor in a population. In this paper, we first analyze the impact on the headcount index when different sampling designs are considered. Note that this study is based on real data sets taken from different countries of the European Union, and the empirical measures for comparisons are based on different Monte Carlo simulation studies. For instance, we observe that stratified sampling has the best performance in comparison to alternative sampling designs. Post-stratification performs similar to simple random sampling without replacement, and the use of auxiliary information provides similar results to ones derived from stratified sampling. Second, we also analyze the empirical performance of different variance estimators under the commented sampling designs. We conclude that they have a similar empirical performance, and they provide, in general, confidence intervals with desirable coverage rates.

The study stands on investigating the Media content of the official Jordanian broadcasting, in light of the Corona pandemic and the method used to employ the media instruments to deal with the Jordanian and global health and economical situation. Also the characteristics of its media discourse. The study relied on the descriptive and documentary analysis method to explore the Media content, guided by the systematic analysis approach about the input and output of media discourse, and the feedback to manage the media scene. The study concluded that Jordanian Media discourse characterizes by the participatory, integrative, and interactive approach within the two main parties of the crisis represented in the government and the public recipient, where the health and economic media releases its Media agenda which enabled it to employ its previous experiences and gain new experiences that could be added to the national Media experiences in the other world countries.

The Corona virus or also known as COVID-19 has raged the world with a devastating number of lives that were lost. During the lockdown and in the times of chaos, many have relied on the media for information to keep abreast with the updates of this angry virus. The objective of this study was to find out the differences of news coverage concerning the Covid-19 pandemic between mainstream and alternative media in New York City, where it hit the worst. The New York Times and Vice News were chosen to represent the mainstream and alternative news stations, respectively. The methodology used was a qualitative content analysis to organize, extract and understand the large data sets and derive conclusions. Conclusively, this analysis is based on four criteria’s: headlines, sources, language, and visual images. A summary of the headline regarding the alternative resultantly informs us that Vice incorporates a majority of vague, misleading titles while contrastingly, the New York Times incorporates accurate and informative titles. Dissimilarities also occur with sources where a majority of citations are composed of sole informants for Vice News and multiple sources for the New York Times; authoritative and non-authoritative.

Sound liquidity management is integral for any financial institution’s stability and profitability, since deteriorating liquidity management is the most frequent cause of poor financial performance. As with any financial institution, the biggest risk in microfinance sector is lending money and not getting it back leading to liquidity problems as most of them have no access to lender of the last resort which is the Central Bank of Kenya. The study sought to investigate the effect of liquidity management on financial performance of microfinance institutions in Kenya. The target population of the study was all the twenty-six microfinance in Kenya that are members of Association of Microfinance Institutions and were licensed by the Central Bank of Kenya as at 2017. A census of all the twenty-six 26 Microfinance Institutions in Kenya was conducted for five years from 2012 to 2016. Secondary data on the study variables was gathered from the audited financial statements of the Microfinance Institutions. The study employed random effect model on a 5-year panel data from 2012 to 2016 on all the 26 Microfinance Institutions in Kenya. The study found a positive relationship between capital adequacy and financial performance and a negative relationship between asset quality, maturity gap and financial performance. The study would help Microfinance Institutions as they would use the research findings to develop liquidity management strategies to enable Microfinance Institutions improve on their financial performance.

In any institution, success is majorly determined by the procurement practices adopted and how well these procurement practices are implemented. The study sought to establish the effect of procurement practices on the supply chain performance of selected public Universities in Kenya. The study adopted a cross-sectional descriptive survey research design and the target population was all public Universities in Counties in the Eastern and Central Region of Kenya. The sample size comprised of 66 staff members. The study used multiple regression analysis to determine the significance of the relationship between the dependent variable and all the independent variables pooled together. Principle component analysis was used to obtain the regression models. Kaiser Meyer Olkin (KMO) sample adequacy and Bartlett’s sphericity tests were used to identify whether the output from the principal component analysis were suitable for regression. The results indicated strategic partnerships ranked first, followed by inventory management, procurement planning, and finally financial resource management in terms of significance influence on supply chain performance. The policy implication is that Universities should embark on training of supply chain players to equip them with relevant knowledge. The research findings will be of help to both public and private entities in improving on their supply chains.

The aim of this study is to investigate the performance measurement of the business process outsourcing sector in Kenya using the balanced scorecard approach. The components of the approach include financial, internal processes, customers, learning and growth. The study was carried out in all the registered business process outsourcing companies in Kenya and questionnaires administered to the marketing managers of the respective companies. To analyze data, descriptive statistics and Kruskal Wallis Test were used. Descriptive statistics was used to ascertain the view of the performance of the sector by use of means and standard deviations. Kruskal Wallis Test was used to obtain the perception of the respondents on the use of the four balanced scorecard perspectives in their companies. The study established that the business process outsourcing sector in Kenya used the balanced scorecard that included both financial and non- financial measures. However, they tended to lean more on the use of financial measures. This paper, therefore, recommends the use of non- financial measures to measure performance too.

This article aims to find the foundations of the administrative contract. lts similarities and differences, where it would be an institution of similar functions, in essence, pursuing the same goals. Specifically, it discusses the bases of the administrative management contract in Cuba and Mexico, taking into account both countries have initiated the process of the legal system development in the same way, however, at present, the administrative contract in each country is lead differently. The study shows that the administrative contract in Cuba is considered to be derived from the Spanish colony, while, in the Mexican law, there is a greater deepening and study of the French classic doctrine. However, in both cases, there is a strong influence of tradition brought by the colonization.

Scholarly opinions have clearly identified governance deficits, Islamization agenda, power contestations among the elite class, heterogeneous character of African states, dysfunctional socio-economic system and external conspiracy as factors fueling and sustaining the recent wave of terrorism in Northeast Nigeria. Although these varied perspectives have been relied on by most scholars to explain the phenomenon of Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria, they have increasingly appeared insufficient in understanding the evolution, dynamics and seemingly intractable character of the conflict. The present study therefore explores the neoliberal economic link which provides the grand perspective and heuristically excellent foundation for explaining the intensification and seeming intractability of Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria. Using the theory of dialectics, the study argues that the neoliberal economy foisted a failed system which could not provide social safety nets, qualitative education and affordable healthcare delivery to the people. Indeed, the ensuing condition of hopelessness generated by the withdrawal of the state in providing essential services to the citizens undoubtedly provided a fertile ground for the birth of Boko Haram insurgency. The study among other things, recommends an economic reform that prioritizes the development of the productive forces in consonance with the autochthonous development conditions of the polity.

This study examines the representation of international conflicts and diplomatic tensions in International Newspapers in 2019. It x-rayed the pattern of representation of international conflicts and diplomatic tensions if they were more negative and guided by national and economic interests than humanitarian. It investigated the degree of prominence comparatively accorded the reportage of the issues in developed nations and Africa; and further ascertained the direction of reportage of the issues. The study reviewed the Agenda Setting theory which flows from the functional theories as appropriate to explain the work and adopts the Content Analysis method with an expected population consisting of 120 editions of the two selected newspapers, The Guardian of the UK and New York Times of the US from the deluge of global newspapers. The sample size was drawn from the population using the Taro Yamane formula to arrive at 24 editions. However, 22 editions of the newspaper had stories on international conflicts and diplomatic tensions, with over 31 stories. The contents were quantitatively analyzed with tables. From the findings, the study concluded that international newspapers though reported significantly international conflicts and diplomatic tensions, their representations were more guided by aligned interests of some world powers and laced around economy rather than humanitarian or global peace. The study recommended advocacy representation of international conflicts and diplomatic tensions by being responsible and fair to all people, race and nations in the international newspapers and de-emphasis economic interest.

Value innovation is the cornerstone of blue ocean strategy. Value innovation strategy aims at making competition irrelevant. The concept of value innovation strategy is founded on the belief that a business can make its competitors irrelevant in its decision making while at the same time emerging an industry leader. The purpose of this study is to establish the influence of Value Innovation Strategy on the financial performance of manufacturing firms in Kenya. The target population was 488 manufacturing firms drawn from the 12 categories of the sector in Kenya. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used in this study. The descriptive results indicate that the manufacturing firms in Kenya have implemented value innovation strategies that positively contribute to the financial performance of the firms. The inferential results also affirm that value innovation strategy significantly affects the performance of manufacturing firms in Kenya attributing up to 14.9% of its variation in performance. The study concludes that value innovation strategies boost the financial performance of a firm. Managers of manufacturing firms should therefore implement value innovation strategies in order to improve financial performance.

Today, the great economists and industrialists assume that the world is on the brink of another industrial revolution, referred to as the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). The digital transformation is more profound in the manufacturing sector, hence the reference to Industries 4.0 or Industry 4.0. Industry 4.0 is taken seriously at the national and organizational levels as well as at the global arena. Recognizing the urgency in aligning the Malaysian agenda with digital transformation, the Malaysian government has launched the National Industry 4WRD Strategy in 2019. This macro strategy aims to defend the national economy from a disruption in the aftermath of Industry 4.0. The Malaysian Technology Development Corporation, an agency under the Ministry of International Trade & Industry, has aligned several national policies relating to Industry 4WRD. This way, the organization will better promote local technopreneurs’ growth and sustainability according to Industry 4.0 standards. This paper’s objectives are twofold: 1) to gauge the outlook of management towards Industry 4.0 through interviews and; 2) to evaluate the core management competencies in the Industry 4.0 domain. A qualitative approach is utilized in analyzing the interviews with senior and middle-level managers. The paper highlights the importance of specific management skills in setting the agenda for skills growth to reposition Industry 4.0.