There is a growing interest in the assessment of tangible skills and competence. Specifically, there is an increase in the offerings of competency-based assessments, and some academic institutions are offering college credits for individuals who can demonstrate adequate level of competency on such assessments. An increased interest has been placed on competency-based computer simulations that can assist learners to gain tangible skills. While computer simulations and competency-based projects, in general and particularly in management, have demonstrated great value, there are still limited empirical results on their benefits to e-learners. Thus, we have developed a quasi-experimental research, using a survey instrument on pre- and post-tests, to collect the set of 12 management skills from e-learners attending courses that included both competency-based computer simulations and those that didn’t. Our data included a total of 253 participants. Results show that all 12 management skills measures demonstrated very high reliability. Our results also indicate that all 12 skills of the competency-based computer simulations had higher increase than those that didn’t. Analyses on the mean increases indicated an overall statistically significant difference for six of the 12 management skills enhancements between the experimental and control groups. Our findings demonstrate that overall computer simulations and competency-based projects do provide added value in the context of e-learning when it comes to management skills.

Objective: Evaluate the effectiveness of distance learning courses for the purpose of interdisciplinary continuing education in Speech Pathology and Dentistry. Methods: The online course was made available on the Moodle platform. A total of 30 undergraduates participated in the study (15 from the Dentistry course and 15 from the Speech Pathology course). Their knowledge was evaluated before and after the course, in addition to the user satisfaction by means of specific questionnaires. The course was evaluated by 6 specialists on the following aspects: presentation and quality of the content, audio-visual quality, adequacy to the target public, and information made available. To compare the obtained results in the pre- and post-course questionnaires, the test Wilcoxon was carried out, with a 5% significance level. Results: the teaching/learning process, including the theoretical/practical application for the interdisciplinary training, proved to be effective as there was a statistically significant difference between the pre- and post- course evaluations (p<0.001), the users’ satisfaction degree was favorable and the specialists evaluated the material as adequate regarding the target public, the audio-visual information quality and the strategies of content availability. Conclusion: The suggested distance-learning course proved to be effective for the purpose of Speech Pathology and Dentistry interdisciplinary education.

Teaching object-oriented programming to students in an in-classroom environment demands well-thought didactic and pedagogical strategies in order to guarantee a good level of apprenticeship. To teach it on a completely distance learning environment (e-learning) imposes possibly other strategies, besides those that the e-learning model of Open University of Portugal dictates. This article analyses the behavior of the students of the 1st cycle in Computer Science while interacting with the object-oriented programming (OOP) discipline available to them on the Moodle platform. Through the evaluation of the level of interaction achieved in a group of relevant selected actions by the students, it is possible to identify their relevancy to the success of the programming learning process. Data was extracted from Moodle, numerically analyzed, and, with the use of some charts, behavior patterns of students were identified. This paper points out potential new approaches to be considered in e-learning in order to enhance programming learning results, besides confirming a high level of drop-out and a low level of interaction, thus finding no clear correlation between students’ success and the number of online actions (especially in forums), which reveals a possible failure of the main pillar on which the e-learning model relies.

Campus discovery is an important feature of a university student induction process. Approaches towards campus discovery differ from course to course and can comprise guided tours that are often lengthy and uninspiring, or self-guided tours that run the risk of students failing to complete them. This paper describes a campus self-discovery induction game (Geospatial Crypto Reconnaissance) which aims to make students aware of campus resources and facilities, whilst at the same time allowing students to make friends and complete the game in an enthusing and exciting way. In this paper we describe the game construct, which comprises of a location, message, and artefact, and also the gameplay. Geospatial Crypto Reconnaissance requires students to identify a series of photographs from around the campus, to capture the GPS coordinates of the location of the photograph, to decipher a ciphered message and then to return both the GPS coordinates and the message for each photograph, proving that the student has attended the location. The game had a very high satisfaction score and we present an analysis of student feedback on the game and also provide guidance on how the game can be adopted for less technical cohorts of students.

Creative computing is one of the rapidly growing educational trends around the world. Previous studies have shown that creative computing can empower disadvantaged children and youth. At-risk youth tend to hold a negative view of self and perceive their abilities as inferior compared to “normative” pupils. The Implicit Theories of Intelligence approach (ITI; Dweck, 1999, 2008) suggests a way of changing beliefs regarding one’s abilities. This paper reports findings from an experiment that explores the impact of a short intervention among at-risk youth and “normative” high-school students on (1) changing ITI from being perceived as fixed (entity view of intelligence) to more flexible (incremental view of intelligence) and (2) the quality of digital self-representations programmed though a creative computing app. The participants were 117 Israeli youth aged 14-17, half of whom were at-risk youth. The participants were randomly assigned to the experimental and control conditions. The experimental group watched a video of a lecture regarding brain plasticity that emphasized flexibility and the potential of human intelligence to be cultivated. The control group watched a neutral lecture about brain-functioning and creativity. Following the intervention, all of the participants watched screencasts of basic training for the Scratch programming app, designed artifacts that digitally represented themselves five years later and reported their ITI. The results showed more incremental ITI in the experimental group compared to the control group and among normative students compared to at-risk youth. In contrast to the research hypothesis, the Scratch projects of the at-risk youth, especially in the experimental condition, were rated by neutral judges as being more creative, more aesthetically designed, and more clearly conveying their message. The results suggest that creative computing combined with the ITI intervention is a way of developing creativity, especially among at-risk youth. Increasing the number of youths who hold incremental views of intelligence and developing computational thinking may contribute to their empowerment and well-being, improve learning and promote creativity.

As a result of the rapid development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and the growing interest in Internet-based tools for language classroom, it has become a pressing need for educators to locate, evaluate and select the most appropriate language-learning digital resources that foster more communicative and meaningful learning processes. Hence, this paper describes a mixed research project that, on the first hand, aimed at proposing a Checklist for evaluating language websites built on the principles of the Communicative Approach, and on the second hand, sought to strengthen the teachers’ Knowing-how-to-do skill as part of their digital competence. To achieve these goals, a four-phase research procedure was followed that included reviewing relevant literature and administering qualitative and quantitative research methods to participants (i.e., language teachers, an expert in the Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) field and a college professor) in order to gain insights into problematic issues and, thereafter, to contribute to the creation and validation of the Checklist model and the Study Guide. The findings revealed that: (a) evaluating language websites leads to the enhancement of the teachers’ practical skills and their knowledge of the technological language; and (b) having an assessment instrument allows educators to choose the materials that best meet their communicative teaching purposes.

Aim/Purpose: The increasingly growing number of virtual high schools around the world has engendered new modes for teaching and learning and a promising area of re-search. While research in this emerging field has mostly taken a comparative lens that highlights differences between traditional modes of teaching and online teaching, research on high school students’ and teachers’ perspectives has remained dearth. Background: This study identifies students’ and teachers’ perceptions of their learning and teaching advanced level mathematics and/or physics in the first Israeli virtual high school (VHS), which was launched five years ago. Methodology: A survey of 41 questions was disseminated to the first graduating cohort of 86 Grade-12 students as well as to 22 VHS teachers. Additional data sources include students’ essays on what it means to be a student in a VHS and field notes from a pedagogical development day. Contribution: The purpose of this study is to highlight the workings of the Israeli VHS and in particular its important building blocks that include a teacher-tutor model, an ongoing gauging of students’ work through a Learning Management System (LMS), and a continual teacher-developer interaction for the purpose of developing cutting-edge, technology-based course content. Findings: Given the unique features of the Israeli VHS, both teachers and students report on feelings of unit pride, motivation, and investment in teaching and learning in the VHS. Recommendations for Practitioners: The Israeli VHS uses a combination of a teacher-tutor format, together with tools for gauging students’ work and ongoing interaction between the teachers and the course content designers. Such a context creates new, fertile ground for technology-based, fully online teaching and learning of school mathematics and physics that may contribute to alleviating the problem of decreasing numbers of learners who are interested in taking advanced-level courses. Recommendation for Researchers: Further exploration of aspects for improvement in the teaching model of the VHS, its design, and its support system and for finding out factors that impact attrition lay down important research trajectories that have not yet been trodden. Impact on Society: Issues of equity and the democratization of learning of advanced STEM subjects are now possible to be seriously considered in a principled manner within the context of the VHS. Future Research: Future research may focus on the affordances, possibilities, and limitations of learning within a VHS to ensure a more robust process that will allow more students to learn advanced mathematics and physics.

Aim/Purpose: Students face many challenges improving their soft skills such as critical thinking. This paper offers one possible solution to this problem. Background: This paper considers one method of enhancing critical thinking through a problem-solving game called the Coffee Shop. Problem-solving is a key component to critical thinking, and game-playing is one method of enhancing this through an interactive teaching method. Methodology: Three classes of Vietnamese high school students engaged in the Coffee Shop game. The method seeks outcome measurements through the use of analysis of multiple surveys to assess and interpret if critical thinking may have been improved. Contribution: The study may help to understand the importance of problem-solving in the context of an entrepreneurial setting and add to the variation of methods used to deliver the lesson to students in the classroom. Findings: The findings show that practicing problem-solving scenarios with a focus on critical thinking in a time limited setting results in a measured improvement of this skill. Recommendations for Practitioners: The findings suggest that educators could use games more as tools for problem-solving to contribute to their students’ learning outcomes around developing critical thinking. Recommendation for Researchers: More research could be devoted to developing problem-solving and critical thinking skills through game-play models. Impact on Society: Improved critical thinking skills in individuals could make a greater contribution to society. Future Research A comparative study between different high school grades and genders as well as between different countries or cultures.

Aim/Purpose: This study examines the influence of Performance Expectancy (PE), Effort Expectancy (EE), and Facilitating Conditions (FC) on the use of smart phones for mobile learning by postgraduate students in University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Background: Due to the low level of mobile learning adoption by students in Nigeria, three base constructs of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model were used as factors to determine smart phone use for mobile learning by the postgraduate students in the University of Ibadan. Methodology: The study adopted a descriptive survey research design of the correlational type, the two-stage random sampling technique was used to select a sample size of 217 respondents, and a questionnaire was used to collect data. Descriptive statistics (frequency counts, percentages, mean, and standard deviation), test of norm, and inferential statistics (correlation and regression analysis) were used to analyze the data collected. Contribution: The study empirically validated the UTAUT model as a model useful in predicting smart phone use for mobile learning by postgraduate students in developing countries. Findings: The study revealed that a significant number of postgraduate students used their smart phones for mobile learning on a weekly basis. Findings also revealed a moderate level of Performance Expectancy (???? =16.97), Effort Expectancy (???? =12.57) and Facilitating Conditions (???? =15.39) towards the use of smart phones for mobile learning. Results showed a significant positive relationship between all the independent variables and use of smart phones for mobile learning (PE, r=.527*; EE, r=.724*; and FCs, r=.514*). Out of the independent variables, PE was the strongest predictor of smart phone use for mobile learning (β =.189). Recommendations for Practitioners: Librarians in the university library should organize periodic workshops for postgraduate students in order to expose them to the various ways of using their smart phones to access electronic databases. Recommendation for Researchers: There is a need for extensive studies on the factors influencing mobile technologies adoption and use in learning in developing countries. Impact on Society: Nowadays, mobile learning is increasingly being adopted over conventional learning systems due to its numerous benefits. Thus, this study provides an insight into the issues influencing the use of smart phones for mobile learning by postgraduate students from developing countries. Future Research: This study utilized the base constructs of the UTAUT model to determine smart phone use for mobile learning by postgraduate students in a Nigerian university. Subsequent research should focus on other theories to ascertain factors influencing Information Technology adoption and usage by students in developing countries.

Aim/Purpose: The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of faculty and student perceptions of the importance of resource, interpersonal, information, systems, and technology management competencies in the hospitality industry Background: The increasing complexity and technological dependency of the diverse hospitality and tourism sector raises the skill requirements needed, and expected, of new hires making education and competency development a strategic priority. Identifying the skills needed for hospitality graduates to succeed in a sector that is continuously being impacted by digitalization and globalization must be a continual process predicated on the desire to meet ever-changing industry needs. This study seeks to update and further explore an investigation started a decade ago that examined the skills and competencies valued by hiring managers in the hospitality industry. Methodology: The Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS), comprised of representatives from business, labor, education, and government, developed the framework, of workplace competencies and foundation skills used in this study. This research used a survey methodology for data collection and descriptive and inferential statistical methods during the analyses. The data for this study were collected from faculty, staff, hospitality industry stakeholders, and students of a Department of Hospitality & Tourism Management located at a small eastern Historically Black University (HBU). An electronic survey was sent to169 respondents and a total of 100 completed surveys were received for an overall return rate of 59%. Contribution: This study provides research on a population (first-generation minority college students) that is expanding in numbers in higher education and that the literature, reports as being under-prepared for academic success. This paper is timely and relevant and can be used to inform hospitality educators so that they can best meet the needs of their students and the companies looking to hire skilled graduates. Findings: The findings of this study indicate there is inconsistent agreement among academicians and students regarding the importance of SCANS-specific competencies in hospitality graduates. At the same time, there is no argument that industry skills will be critical in the future of hospitality graduates. Overwhelmingly, participating students and faculty found all of the SCANS competencies important with the highest ranked competencies being interpersonal skills, which, given the importance of teamwork, customer service skills, leadership, and working with cultural diversity in the hospitality industry, was expected. Additionally, participating students indicated their strong agreement that internships are effective at building professional skills. Finally, the hospitality students included in this study who were enrolled in a skill-based curriculum were confident that their program is preparing them with the necessary skills and competencies that they will need for their future careers. Recommendations for Practitioners: Higher education hospitality programs should be exploring the skills valued by industry, teaching faculty, and the students to see if they are being satisfied. Recommendation for Researchers: This research should be expanded to additional institutions across the United States as well as abroad. This particular research protocol is easily replicated and can be duplicated at both minority and majority serving institutions enabling greater comparisons across groups. Impact on Society: Several reports identify gaps in the 21st century skills required for the workplace and the effectiveness of higher education in preparing graduates for the workforce. This study helps to propel this discussion forward with relevant findings and a research methodology that is easily replicable. Future Research: A follow-up study of employers is currently being conducted.

The privacy of personal information is an important area of focus in today’s electronic world, where information can so easily be captured, stored, and shared. In recent years it has regularly featured as a topic in news media and has become the target of legislation around the world. Multidisciplinary privacy research has been conducted for decades, yet privacy remains a complex subject that still provides fertile ground for further investigation. This article provides a narrative overview of the nature of information privacy, describing the complexities and challenges that consumers and organizations face when making decisions about it, in order to demonstrate its importance to both groups. Based on this work, we present a transdisciplinary view of information privacy research linking the consumer and organization. It illustrates areas of concern for consumers and organizations together with the factors that influence the decisions they make about information privacy. By providing such a view we hope to encourage further cross-disciplinary research into this highly pertinent area.

The all-pervasive Internet has created serious problems, such as Internet overuse, which has triggered considerable debate over its relationship with addiction. To further explore its genetic susceptibilities and alternative explanations for Internet overuse, we proposed and evaluated four hypotheses, each based on existing knowledge of the biological bases of addiction, inattention, novelty-seeking, and harm-avoidance. Four genetic loci including DRD4 VNTR, DRD2 Taq1A, COMT Val158Met and 5-HTTLPR length polymorphisms were screened from seventy-three individuals. Our results showed that the DRD4 4R/4R individuals scored significantly higher than the 2R or 7R carriers in Internet Addiction Test (IAT). The 5-HTTLPR short/short males scored significantly higher in IAT than the long variant carriers. Bayesian analysis showed the most compatible hypothesis with the observed genetic results was based on attention (69.8%), whereas hypotheses based harm-avoidance (21.6%), novelty-seeking (7.8%) and addiction (0.9%) received little support. Our study suggests that carriers of alleles (DRD4 2R and 7R, 5-HTTLPR long) associated with inattentiveness are more likely to experience disrupted patterns and reduced durations of Internet use, protecting them from Internet overuse. Furthermore, our study suggests that Internet overuse should be categorized differently from addiction due to the lack of shared genetic contributions.

Aim/Purpose: This study aims to provide a better understanding of individual acceptance of enterprise resource (ERP) systems. Based on the uses and gratifications theory (UGT) and informing science theory, the study developed and empirically tested a research model to explain the effects of ERP characteristics (specifically, informativeness and enjoyment) on ERP acceptance and use. Background: Individual acceptance of ERP systems is crucial for achieving the benefits associated with ERP systems. Unfortunately, little research has focused on acceptance of ERP systems at the individual level. This study attempts to fill this void. Methodology: A survey questionnaire was distributed to ERP users to collect data to empiri-cally test the research model developed in this study. In addition to demographic and background information question, the survey contained instruments to measure the study variables. Contribution: The empirical results show that UGT provides a sound theoretical framework for explaining users’ gratifications, attitudes, and behavioral intentions toward adopting and using an ERP. These results support the view that subsumes information systems and other fields that endeavor to inform their audience. Findings: Individuals’ perceptions of the informativeness and entertainment of ERP systems demonstrated strong direct effects on attitude toward using and satisfaction with ERP systems. In turn, satisfaction with ERP systems showed a direct significant impact on intention to use an ERP system. Recommendations for Practitioners: Maintaining a favorable environment and designing training workshops that highlight the information and enjoyment aspects of an ERP can boost users’ perceptions of ERP informativeness and enjoyment and, eventually, improve their attitude and satisfaction with an ERP. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers should test the proposed research model with other types of ERP systems and in different environments to enhance the generalizability of the results to other systems and settings. Impact on Society: The results of is study can be used as a foundation on which to develop plans and design strategies to enhance individual acceptance of ERP systems and realize the benefits associated with these systems. Future Research: Future research should extend the research model by integrating other personal and technology variables to provide further insights into what influences individuals to accept or reject an ERP system.

Aim/Purpose : An important objective of any firm is escalation of its performance and the achievement of competitive advantages. Supply chain agility plays a prominent role to enhance the level of firm’s performance. Moreover, information technology (IT) plays a foundational role in supply chain management practices. Hence, this study proposes the relationship between IT integration as the competency of IT and firm’s market performance both directly and through mediating role of supply chain agility. Background: Many studies have been done to date on the impact of supply chain agility on overall firm’s performance. However, the effect of an agile supply chain on firm’s market performance per se needs to be studied. Furthermore, there is a gap in the literature about the effect of IT competency such as IT integration on firm’s market performance both directly and through mediating role of supply chain agility. Recommendation for Researchers: The first direction this study gives to researchers is to consider the different factors which have significant effect on the agility of supply chain, particularly the IT related ones. The second direction is about the study on the effect of IT competencies and supply chain agility on each category of firm’s performance separately instead of considering it as a one construct. Impact on Society : Although this is a conceptual study, it can highlight the importance of IT competency not only in our daily life, but also in our businesses and industries. Future Research: This study only proposes some relationships based on theory and literature. Future researchers can test these proposed relationships in different contexts and compare the results. Furthermore, this study proposes the relationships for large manufacturing sector in developing countries. The model could be tested for SMEs as well. In addition, the proposed theoretical model in this study might be tested in both developing as well as developed countries to compare the results which will be contributed to the body of knowledge.

Aim/Purpose: Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) has been envisaged as a crucial tool for the growing creative class of knowledge workers, but adequate technological solutions have not been forthcoming. Background: Based on former affordance-related publications (primarily concerned with communication, community-building, collaboration, and social knowledge sharing), the common and differing narratives in relation to PKM are investigated in order to suggest further PKM capabilities and affordances in need to be conferred. Methodology: The paper follows up on a series of the author’s PKM-related publications, firmly rooted in design science research (DSR) methods and aimed at creating an innovative PKM concept and prototype system. Contribution: The affordances presented offer PKM system users the means to retain and build upon knowledge acquired in order to sustain personal growth and facilitate productive collaborations between fellow learners and/or professional acquaintances. Findings: The results call for an extension of Nonaka’s SECI model and ‘ba’ concept and provide arguments for and evidence supporting the claims that the PKM concept and system is able to facilitate better knowledge traceability and KM practices. Recommendations and Impact on Society: Together with the prior publications, the paper points to current KM shortcomings and presents a novel trans-disciplinary approach offering appealing opportunities for stakeholders engaged in the context of curation, education, research, development, business, and entrepreneurship. Its potential to tackle opportunity divides has been addressed via a PKM for Development (PKM4D) Framework. Future DSR Activities: After completing the test phase of the prototype, its transformation into a viable PKM system and cloud-based server based on a rapid development platform and a noSQL-database is estimated to take 12 months.

Aim/Purpose: With information almost effortlessly created and spontaneously available, current progress in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has led to the complication that information must be scrutinized for trustworthiness and provenance. Information systems must become provenance-aware to be satisfactory in accountability, reproducibility, and trustworthiness of data. Background: Multiple models for abstract representation of provenance have been proposed to describe entities, people, and activities involved in producing a piece of data, including the Open Provenance Model (OPM) and the World Wide Web Consortium. These models lack certain concepts necessary for specifying workflows and encoding the provenance of data products used and generated. Methodology: Without loss of generality, the focus of this paper is on OPM depiction of provenance in terms of a directed graph. We have redrawn several case studies in the framework of our proposed model in order to compare and evaluate it against OPM for representing these cases. Contribution: This paper offers an alternative flow-based diagrammatic language that can form a foundation for modeling of provenance. The model described here provides an (abstract) machine-like representation of provenance. Findings: The results suggest a viable alternative in the area of diagrammatic representation for provenance applications. Future Research: Future work will seek to achieve more accurate comparisons with current models in the field.

Aim/Purpose: This paper examines the impact of the transformational, servant, and paternalistic leadership styles on employee performance at the middle and senior levels. Background: Transdisciplinary research promotes the integration and development of various sciences. It provides more choices for leaders to adopt ways and practical activities to promote enterprise development. Complexity leadership theory emphasizes that effectively functioning organizations need distinct forms of leadership to work together. Leaders rely on different leadership practices in an emergent collaborative context, and finding an optimal balance is challenging. Many scholars have attempted to explore which leadership styles have a more significant impact on employees by distinguishing and defining types of leadership styles and explaining the process by which they influence employee behavior and performance. Various scholars have further explored and empirically demonstrated the impact of these three types of leadership styles (transformational, servant, paternalistic)on employee performance. While transformational and servant leadership have their roots in the West, paternalistic leadership has roots in China. Few scholars have conducted comparative studies on their positive impact on employee performance. How do these three leadership styles affect employee performance at the middle and senior levels in the Chinese context? Which combination of middle and senior leadership styles performs best? These are the second area that this paper will attempt to explore. Methodology: This study constructs a three-tier model at the senior, middle, and grassroots levels. A questionnaire survey was used to collect data. SPSS 22.0 and Amos were used for data analysis. Contribution: Through its construction of a three-tier model (senior, middle, and grassroots levels), the paper explores the combined effect of three leadership styles (transformational, servant, and paternalistic) on grassroots employees. It explores the impact of senior leaders across levels on grassroots employee performance, which is expected to provide a valuable addition to theories on leadership styles. It is also instructive to examine which leadership style performs better and what middle and senior leadership configurations are more conducive to driving beneficial employee behavior and, ultimately, corporate growth. Findings: The transformational, servant, and paternalistic leadership styles, both at the top and middle levels, have a significant positive relationship with employee performance; the middle leadership style plays a positive mediating role between the top leadership style and employee performance. In terms of impact on employee performance, transformational leadership shows the best results at both the top and middle levels, with paternalistic leadership second and servant leadership at the same level. Regarding which middle and senior leadership style pairing is the best, the sample is relatively small, and the gap between various pairing combinations is not evident from the data. If the sample size is enlarged, the coefficient will likely expand year-on-year. Therefore, we can assume that the pairing effect of top servant leadership and middle transformational leadership is the best, top paternalistic leadership and middle transformational leadership is the second-best, and the combination of top paternalistic leadership and middle-level servant leadership leaders is the weakest. Recommendation for Researchers: This paper extends the study of top and middle leadership’s combined effect on employee performance as a positive response to the call for multi-layer or cross-layer analysis in leadership research. The findings further enrich the literature on leadership style-related theories. The middle leadership style plays a positive mediating role between the top leadership style and employee performance. The trickle-down effect is further verified, i.e., the top leadership will have a permeating influence on employees through the middle leadership, and the top’s influence on the middle is generally more significant than the influence on grassroots employees. However, the difference between the influence of the middle leadership on the grassroots and that of the top on the grassroots is not apparent, which is inconsistent with the trickle-down effect that the middle leadership communicates more with the grassroots and has more influence on the grassroots, and further verification is needed. All three types of leaders positively affected employee performance, with the best being transformational leadership, paternalistic leadership, and servant leadership. This finding is consistent with some scholars and inconsistent with some scholars. The interested scholars can do further research. The better performance of diverse pairings in middle and senior leadership combinations is consistent with previous research suggesting that leadership styles have their own strengths and can be complementary. This paper further provides a comparative study of multiple leadership styles to validate the recognition and adaptability of leadership styles and further explain the complex relationship between leadership styles and employee job performance. Scholars can conduct comparative research on other leadership styles, and there may be different results. Future Research: Because of the cross-sectional data taken, the findings’ generalizability still needs further validation. There are many types of leadership styles, and there are other types of leadership styles that can be explored comparatively, perhaps leading to different findings. From another point of view, various leaders have their strengths, and they are not mutually hindering. More research is needed on team formation in a variety of contexts. Organic organizational structure enables knowledge creation and integration through the process of organizational learning through deep and continuous social interaction or dialogue. So we can further examine the influence process of leaders on employees from how to give full play to their advantages, such as improving shared leadership and shared communication.

Aim/Purpose This paper aims to illustrate, through an exploratory ideographic case study, how a Complex Thinking framework can inform the design of scientific events and the facilitation of scientific Inter and Transdisciplinary groups towards positive emergent outcomes, both at the level of the functioning of the group and the collective complexity of their thinking. Moreover, it aims to show how the choice of facilitation strategies can contribute to positive emergent outcomes in the context of a fully online event, with its inherent constraints. Finally, this study aims to conduct an exploratory qualitative evaluation of the participants’ experiences during School, with a focus on the processes and how they relate to the aims of the School and the goals of the facilitation. Background Science needs to embrace modes of knowing capable of generating more complex (differentiated, integrated, recursively organized, emergent), ecologically fit, and creative responses, to meet the complexity of the world’s challenges. New formats and strategies are required that attend to the facilitation of Inter and Transdisciplinary scientific events and meetings, towards creative and complex outcomes. A Complex Thinking framework provides suggestions for the facilitation of Inter and Transdisciplinary meetings and events through targeting key properties which may lead to the emergence of complex and creative outcomes. Methodology We adopt an ideographic case study approach to illustrate how a complex systems approach, in particular a Complex Thinking framework, grounded in an enactive view of cognition, guided the design choices and the facilitation strategies of an online Inter and Transdisciplinary Advanced Training School (Winter School). We aim to illustrate how the facilitation strategies were selected and used to promote deep and creative interactions within the constraints of an online environment. We adopt an exploratory qualitative approach to investigate the participants’ reports of their experiences of the School, in light of the principles and goals that guided its design and facilitation. Contribution This paper opens a new area of theoretical and applied research, under the scope of a Complex Thinking framework, focused on the facilitation of Inter and Transdisciplinarity at scientific events, meetings, and discussions towards complex and creative outcomes. Findings The results of the exploratory qualitative analysis of the participants’ experiences regarding the event suggest a critical role of its methodology in fostering rich, deep, and constructive interactions, in leading to the emergence of a collective group experience, to the integration of ideas, and in facilitating transformative personal experiences, under the effects of the emergent group processes. It suggests that the strategies employed were successful, anticipating and overcoming the particular constraints of an online event. Recommendations for Practitioners This case study suggests that a Complex Thinking framework can fruitfully guide the design of facilitation strategies and activities for scientific events and meetings, activating a number of key relational processes that contribute to or boost the emergence of positive group experiences and the production and integration of novel ideas. Recommendations for Researchers This study calls for action-oriented and applied research focused on the developmental evaluation of innovations, regarding the facilitation of scientific creativity and integration, within the scope of a Complex Thinking approach. Impact on Society This paper calls for new modes of organization and formats of scientific activities, suggesting that Inter and Transdisciplinary events and meetings may benefit from intentional management and facilitation of interactions between participants to produce transformative impacts. It demonstrates the importance of the organizational principles used to plan and run events that engage multiple and various societal agents, from academics to practitioners and social activists, towards enhancing their richness and relevance to complex real-world challenges. Future Research This study highlights the need for process-focused systematic case study research using complex systems-informed designs to explore how and which facilitation strategies may promote which (interaction of) properties of Complex Thinking and associated processes and how, and under which conditions, these lead to more complex and creative outcomes.

Aim/Purpose: The aim of this study is to examine the role of psychological ownership for safety in boosting employee performance and the impact of Perceived Organizational Support for Safety (POSS) on workers’ well-being, considering the psychological aspects associated with workplace safety and exploring the mediating effect of employees’ commitment. Background: It is widely recognized that promoting workplace safety goes beyond purely physical measures and must also consider the psychological aspects associated with safety management. However, while some studies have shown the direct effect of POSS and Safety Ownership on safety outcomes, very few studies have explored the underlying mediating mechanism, as well as their impact on distal outcomes, such as well-being and performance. Methodology: The cross-sectional study was conducted on a convenience sample of a metal mechanic enterprise’s employees through an online self-assessment questionnaire. Contribution: This study contributes to understanding the mechanisms through which psychological ownership for safety, organizational support for safety, and psychological factors related to safety collectively influence organizational outcomes. Findings: Two indirect significant effects are described. The first is between POSS and well-being, and the second significant relation is between psychological ownership for safety and job performance. When employees perceive that their organization cares about safety, they will experience a stronger sense of commitment and, in turn, they will be more satisfied in the work context, and they will improve their job performance. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers should take a transdisciplinary approach to enable the integration of knowledge and perspectives from different fields that are essential to understanding the full range of implications and applications of safety management. Future Research: It could be interesting to investigate a different point of view on safety (e.g., top management or health and safety officers) and explore concerns about how to successfully communicate and transfer safety climate during remote working activities.

Aim/Purpose: With a focus on promoting sustainable career paths, this article investigates the intricate relationship between age diversity management and techno-complexity, emphasizing the pivotal role of a supportive work environment. Background: In the modern workplace, the dynamics of age diversity emerge as a crucial element influencing the well-being and productivity of employees, particularly amidst the swiftly evolving digital landscape. This becomes especially pertinent when considering workers’ unique challenges adapting to technological advancements. Methodology: Utilizing a cross-sectional design, data were collected from 160 employees in an Italian multinational company within the metalworking sector. Contribution: This study provides valuable insights into the complex dynamics between the aging climate, colleagues’ support, and techno-complexity. It emphasized the importance of considering the direct effects of organizational factors and their in-direct influences through social dynamics and support structures within the workplace. Findings: The results revealed the mediating role of colleagues’ support in the relationship between the aging climate and techno-complexity. These findings highlight the importance of a supportive work environment in the context of sustainable career development, contributing to a comprehensive understanding of diversity management within the modern digital era. Recommendation for Researchers: Our results open to a series of implications and future directions. First, the unexpected finding regarding the direct relationship between the aging climate and technostress calls for a deeper exploration of the intricacies involved. Future studies could delve into specific organizational contexts, technological demands, and individual differences that may modulate this relationship. Future Research: Future studies could delve into specific organizational contexts, technological demands, and individual differences that may modulate this relationship.

Aim/Purpose: The paper discusses various factors contributing to disagreements, such as differing experiences, perspectives, and historical narratives, leading to disagreements within families and societies. It explores how beliefs, values, and biases feed into disagreements, with confirmation bias affecting decision-making and the media. Cultural values also play a role, showcasing conflicts between meritocracy and inclusivity in ethical decision-making. Haidt's Moral Foundations Theory highlights differences in value priorities between Western and Eastern societies. The impact of Western values like rationalism, freedom, and tolerance, under threat from Marxist illiberalism on campuses, is dis-cussed. The text also delves into disinformation, emotions in warfare, and the use of fake information and images for propaganda purposes. The need for diligent reporting to avoid spreading disinformation is emphasized, given its potential to create misconceptions and harm diplomatic relations.

This work demonstrates a hybrid deep learning (DL) model for lung cancer (LC) detection using CT images. Firstly, the input image is passed to the pre-processing stage, where the input image is filtered using a BF and the obtained filtered image is subjected to lung lobe segmentation, where segmentation is done using squeeze U-SegNet. Feature extraction is performed, where features including entropy with fuzzy local binary patterns (EFLBP), local optimal oriented pattern (LOOP), and grey level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) features are mined. After completing the extracting of features, LC is detected utilising the hybrid efficient-ShuffleNet (HES-Net) method, wherein the HES-Net is established by the incorporation of EfficientNet and ShuffleNet. The presented HES-Net for LC detection is investigated for its performance concerning TNR, and TPR, and accuracy is established to have acquired values of 92.1%, 93.1%, and 91.3%.

Shuoyan LIU,Chao LI,Yuxin LIU,Yanqiu WANG, Vol.E107-D, No.11, pp.1468-1471
Escalators are an indispensable facility in public places. While they can provide convenience to people, abnormal accidents can lead to serious consequences. Yolo is a function that detects human behavior in real time. However, the model exhibits low accuracy and a high miss rate for small targets. To this end, this paper proposes the Small Target High Performance YOLO (SH-YOLO) model to detect abnormal behavior in escalators. The SH-YOLO model first enhances the backbone network through attention mechanisms. Subsequently, a small target detection layer is incorporated in order to enhance detection of key points for small objects. Finally, the conv and the SPPF are replaced with a Region Dynamic Perception Depth Separable Conv (DR-DP-Conv) and Atrous Spatial Pyramid Pooling (ASPP), respectively. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model is capable of accurately and robustly detecting anomalies in the real-world escalator scene.
Publication Date: 2024/11/01

Zhigang WU,Yaohui ZHU, Vol.E107-D, No.11, pp.1385-1395
This article focuses on improving the BiSeNet v2 bilateral branch image segmentation network structure, enhancing its learning ability for spatial details and overall image segmentation accuracy. A modified network called “BiconvNet” is proposed. Firstly, to extract shallow spatial details more effectively, a parallel concatenated strip and dilated (PCSD) convolution module is proposed and used to extract local features and surrounding contextual features in the detail branch. Continuing on, the semantic branch is reconstructed using the lightweight capability of depth separable convolution and high performance of ConvNet, in order to enable more efficient learning of deep advanced semantic features. Finally, fine-tuning is performed on the bilateral guidance aggregation layer of BiSeNet v2, enabling better fusion of the feature maps output by the detail branch and semantic branch. The experimental part discusses the contribution of stripe convolution and different sizes of empty convolution to image segmentation accuracy, and compares them with common convolutions such as Conv2d convolution, CG convolution and CCA convolution. The experiment proves that the PCSD convolution module proposed in this paper has the highest segmentation accuracy in all categories of the Cityscapes dataset compared with common convolutions. BiConvNet achieved a 9.39% accuracy improvement over the BiSeNet v2 network, with only a slight increase of 1.18M in model parameters. A mIoU accuracy of 68.75% was achieved on the validation set. Furthermore, through comparative experiments with commonly used autonomous driving image segmentation algorithms in recent years, BiConvNet demonstrates strong competitive advantages in segmentation accuracy on the Cityscapes and BDD100K datasets.
Publication Date: 2024/11/01

Product innovation has become a crucial part of the sustainability of the coconut agro-industry in Indonesia, covering upstream and downstream sides. To overcome this challenge, it is necessary to create several model stages using a hybrid method that combines machine learning based on multiple criteria decision making and mass balance analysis. The research case study was conducted in Tembilahan district, Riau province, Indonesia, one of the primary coconut producers in Indonesia. The analysis results showed that potential products for domestic customers included coconut milk, coconut cooking oil, coconut chips, coconut jelly, coconut sugar, and virgin coconut oil. Furthermore, considering the experts, the most potential product to be developed was coconut sugar with a weight of 0.26. Prediction of coconut sugar demand reached 13,996,607 tons/year, requiring coconut sap as a raw material up to 97,976,249.

In Italy, the reimbursement provided to healthcare organisations for medical and surgical procedures is based on the diagnosis related group weight (DRGW), which is an increasing function of the complexity of the procedures. This makes the reimbursement an upper unlimited function. This model does not include the relation of the volume with the complexity. The paper proposes a mathematical model for the optimisation of the reimbursement by determining the optimal mix of volume/procedure, considering the relation volume/complexity and DRGW/complexity. The decreasing, linear, and increasing returns to scale have been defined, and the optimal solution found. The comparison of the model with the traditional approach shows that the proposed model helps the healthcare system to discern the quantity of the reimbursement to provide to health organisations, while the traditional approach, neglecting the relation between the volume and the complexity, can result in an overestimation of the reimbursement.

Background and Objective: In response to the challenges of poor mapping outcomes and susceptibility to obstacles encountered by indoor mobile vehicles relying solely on pure cameras or pure LiDAR during their movements, this paper proposes an obstacle avoidance method for indoor mobile vehicles that integrates image and LiDAR data, thus achieving obstacle avoidance for mobile vehicles. Materials and Methods: This method combines data from a depth camera and LiDAR, employing the Gmapping SLAM algorithm for environmental mapping, along with the A* algorithm and TEB algorithm for local path planning. In addition, this approach incorporates gesture functionality, which can be used to control the vehicle in certain special scenarios where “pseudo-obstacles” exist. The method utilizes the YOLO V3 algorithm for gesture recognition. Results: This paper merges the maps generated by the depth camera and LiDAR, resulting in a three-dimensional map that is more enriched and better aligned with real-world conditions. Combined with the A* algorithm and TEB algorithm, an optimal route is planned, enabling the mobile vehicles to effectively obtain obstacle information and thus achieve obstacle avoidance. Additionally, the introduced gesture recognition feature, which has been validated, also effectively controls the forward and backward movements of the mobile vehicles, facilitating obstacle avoidance. Conclusion: The experimental platform for the mobile vehicles, which integrates depth camera and LiDAR, built in this study has been validated for real-time obstacle avoidance through path planning in indoor environments. The introduced gesture recognition also effectively enables obstacle avoidance for the mobile vehicles.

A new paper describing a system integrating a GDPR Ontology with blockchain to support checking data operations for compliance.

The post paper: Automating GDPR Compliance using Policy Integrated Blockchain appeared first on UMBC ebiquity.

Social exchange theory is a broad theory that has been used to explain trust as an outcome of various exchange relationships, and research commonly presumes trust exists between exchange partners that have prior relationships. In this paper, we contribute to social exchange theory by isolating the trust outcomes of interorganizational exchanges from other outcomes emphasized by learning and knowledge-based perspectives, and by specifying important boundary conditions for the emergence of trust in interorganizational exchanges. We make such a theoretical contribution within the domain of strategic alliances by investigating the effects of previous alliance agreements, or prior ties, between the partnering firms. We find that prior ties generally lead to learning about a partner's anticipated behavioral patterns, which helps a firm predict when self-interested behavior may occur and know how to interact with the partner during the coordination and execution of the alliance tasks. By contrast, it is evident that the kind of trust emphasized in social exchange theory is not generally rooted in prior ties and only emerges from prior relationships under certain conditions. We discuss the implications of these findings for research on social exchange theory and for delineating the theory's domain of applicability.