European Online Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (ES)
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Urban Facade Geometry on Outdoor Comfort Conditions: A Review
Get PDFDesigning urban facades is considered as a major factor influencing issues such as natural ventilation of buildings and urban areas, radiations in the urban canyon for designing low-energy buildings, cooling demand for buildings in urban area, and thermal comfort in urban streets. However, so far, most studies on urban topics have been focused on flat facades without details of urban layouts. Hence, the effect of urban facades with details such as the balcony and corbelling on thermal comfort conditions and air flow behavior are discussed in this literature review. This study was carried out to investigate the effective factors of urban facades, including the effects of building configuration, geometry and urban canyon’s orientation. According to the results, the air flow behavior is affected by a wide range of factors such as wind conditions, urban geometry and wind direction. Urban façade geometry can change outdoor air flow pattern, thermal comfort and solar access. In particular, the geometry of the facade, such as indentation and protrusion, have a significant effect on the air flow and thermal behavior in urban facades and can enhance outdoor comfort conditions. Also, Alternation in façade geometry can affect pedestrians' comfort and buildings energy demands
An Investigation of Xenoglossophobia among Chinese Postgraduates
Get PDFThe learners of English language frequently convey the feeling of anxiety, nervousness and edginess. The realization of EFL (English as a Foreign language), ESL (English as a Second language) or TL (target language) anxiety among university postgraduates is essential. Once understood, the factors causing anxiety, nervousness and jumpiness can be mitigated and desired aims and goals of communicating in EFL and ESL can be attained. This study sets out to examine the English language anxiety or Xenoglossophobia among Chinese postgraduates. The participants were selected from department of foreign languages of two well-reputed Chinese universities in Wuhan. Besides, students’ three demographic variables have been used to investigate the English language anxiety i.e. age, gender and time span or years spent in learning English language. Apart from that, three pivotal features of FL or SL, namely communication apprehension (CA), fear of negative evaluation (FNA) and general feeling of anxiety (GFA) derived from Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety scale (FLCAS) devised by Horwitz were also a part of this investigation which was modified to English Language Anxiety Scale (ELAS) as the focal point of this investigation is on L2 or EL. The quantitative research technique was employed for collecting data from 116 Chinese postgraduates majoring in English, both male and female whose ages vary from 20 to 26. The results obtained were analyzed utilizing diverse statistical analysis i.e. Pearson correlation, descriptive statistics, and Multiple Regression. The findings revealed that Chinese learners of English majors experience moderate level of anxiety and no significant correlation was found between English language anxiety and demographic factors. Eventually, Chinese postgraduates were found experiencing mainly “GFA” through Multiple Regression analysis in English as a foreign language
Empirical Investigation of Relationship between Kaizen Philosophy and Organizational Performance: A Case of Ethiopian Manufacturing Industries
Get PDFThe purpose of this research is empirically investigating the effect of Kaizen on organizational performance in Ethiopian manufacturing industries. Developing research framework, experimental analysis of the empirical study and developing new model are the research approaches used in this study. Moreover, the primary data was collected through self-administered questionnaire and was analyzed using statistical package for social science (SPSS) 20. The findings were triangulated to relate with the existing literature. Based on this, the findings discovered that Kaizen practices relating social and technical factors have a highly positive effect on organizational performance. It was also found that people, process and partnership factors were apparent as the foremost Kaizen practices in achieving organizational performance. However, strategy does not have significant impact on achieving society results. The study showed that effective implementation of Kaizen philosophy results in enhancing organizational performance. The study was limited with small number of companies in Ethiopia with little respondents on each company and it may not be adequate to generalize the results for the entire Ethiopian manufacturing companies. The findings of this study emphasized that Kaizen philosophy with 2 social and 4 technical factors as a total of 36 items practice holistically rather than on a piecemeal basis able to get the full potential of the identified Kaizen practices with improving the operational and financial performance of companies. Since there is lack of literature on Kaizen empirical evidence, the study has contributed to the Kaizen philosophy literature with a better understanding of its practices and their association with performance measures that will provide valuable knowledge to Ethiopian manufacturing company managers, academicians, practitioners and Ethiopian Kaizen Institute on improving Kaizen philosophy current practices
Economic Impact of Tourism in Kerala, India
Get PDFKerala is one of the prominent tourist destinations of India with backwaters, hill stations, beaches, Ayurvedic tourism and tropical greenery. National Geographic's Traveller magazine listed Kerala in the 'Ten Paradises of the World' and '50 must visit places of a lifetime'. Tourism is one of the few sectors where Kerala has clear competitive advantages as Kerala is considered as nature magic ranging from the Western Ghats covered with dense forests to the backwaters to the Arabian Sea. Its ancient rich culture including traditional dance forms and the strong presence of alternative systems of medicine add to its allure. Sustainable tourism is the mission. This can be achieved by integrating tourism with other parts of the economy like medical and health hubs which will attract more stable tourists over a longer period of time and with higher spending capacity. Infrastructure development is crucial to achieve this goal. This paper is an over view on the economic impact of tourism in Kerala. The findings of the paper revealed that the economic impact of tourism in Kerala is very significant
Impact of Liquidity on Profitability: A Case of Comparison in Textile Sector in Pakistan between 2014 and 2015
Get PDFThe impact of liquidity has been studied on profitability in textile sector in Pakistan. The simple regression has been run in Stata 12 and the results show that CR has positive and significant impact on ROCE and ROE in 2014 but in 2015 the results show that CR has positive but insignificant impact on ROCE and ROE. The policy makers must realize the importance of absolute opposite variations in the results
Revisiting Indian Ocean as a Zone of Peace during the Cold War
Get PDFThe Indian Ocean appeared large within the context of superpower rivalry in the Indian Ocean during the Cold War, especially after Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and its entry into the warm waters of Indian Ocean. The prophecy of Alfred Thayer Mahan an American naval strategist becoming a reality, “Whoever controls the Indian Ocean dominates the Asia. In the 21st century the destiny of world will be decided on waters”. The European powers, after Second World War gradually gave up most of their territories in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). Even though, Britain and France maintained a modest but notable colonial presence in the Indian Ocean. Whereas with the coming up of Cold War between U.S. and Soviet Union, new comers on the scene, gradually appeared with their naval forces and imposed their geopolitical, geostrategic and geo-economic weight on littoral powers in the Indian Ocean. It is in the context of binary division of cold war the present paper purports to examine the history of the zone of peace process within the Indian Ocean, as it relates to the interests of regional littoral states and extra regional powers entry in the Indian Ocean. Further the paper also tries to examine the role and response from these regional and extra regional powers in the formation of Indian Ocean as a zone of peace
Conflict Management Strategies Used by Public Secondary School Teachers in Lahore
Get PDFThe study aimed to investigate conflict management strategies used by Public secondary school teachers. The study employed a descriptive survey design where quantitative approach was used to collect and analyze data. Random sampling technique was used to select sample. The study targeted 300 teachers from 12 sampled secondary schools in Lahore in which 100 male and 200 female teachers were included. The study sought to find out the major type of conflicts common in secondary schools, identify conflict management methods that are effective in managing conflicts and explore the gender, age and experience difference among teachers. A pre-designed questionnaire used and pilot tested by schools which were not included in the sampled schools and the reliability of the pilot study was 0.7 which was enough to continue research work. Then further 250 questionnaires were filled up by the public secondary school teachers from the age group 20 to 60. Descriptive Statistics was used to analyze obtained quantitative data. Collected data had been coded and statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the data. Mean and standard deviation was then computed and then demographics were shown through percentage of the participants involved. Independent sample t-test was applied to judge gender difference while One-Way ANOVA was used to compute the age and experience difference later post hoc was applied on the results of ANOVA with significant difference. The results of data analysis were presented in frequency tables, means and percentages. Relevant interpretation, discussion and recommendations were drawn from the analyzed data. The result showed that the most used conflict management strategy was collaborating while the least used strategy was compromising. Where competing and accommodating were most used by the female teachers while avoiding, collaborating and compromising were most used by the male teachers
International Public Sector Accounting Standards and Quality of Financial Reporting in the Public Sector of Pakistan: Moderating Role of Accounting Information System
Get PDFStrengthening governmental accountability is a crucial consequence of governmental policies which could enhance the quality of reporting. International public sector accounting standards have been perceived as a step towards enhancing quality reporting of state owned entities. The study investigated the impact of transparency, financial statement disclosure and comparability on the quality of financial reporting in state owned administration in Pakistan. Also, the study employed the use of accounting information system as a moderator to assess the moderating effect of AIS. The research methodology is based on a questionnaire sent to state owned entities. Regression Analysis was employed to determine the relationship among the variables. The results indicate that comparability, financial statement disclosure and transparency are all positively and significantly associated with the quality of financial reporting, providing evidence of the impact of explanatory variables on the quality of reporting in Pakistan. The moderation results indicate that AIS positively and significantly moderates the relationship among transparency and quality of reporting and comparability and quality of reporting. Notwithstanding, AIS was found to have an insignificant moderating effect on the relationship of financial statement disclosure and quality of reporting. The finding of the study implies that government of Pakistan needs to adopt a more robust approach to improve quality of financial reporting
Exam anxiety: A Comparative Study of Normal and Impaired Individuals
Get PDFStress and anxiety play a significant role in the grades of students and accounts for their negative psychological and mental behavior. This study aims at comparing exam anxiety among normal and special children. The result of the comparison explains the reasons for anxiety. The paper also gives some recommendations to overcome the problem of anxiety. This study is qualitatively cross-sectional. The data was randomly selected from the private and governmental educational sector of Sargodha, Pakistan from the 5th of October to the 19th of October 2017. As a methodology, 20 individuals of matric level were selected randomly from private and governmental sectors of both special and normal individuals. 10 individuals were special, and 10 individuals were normal individuals. Anxiety among these individuals was measured by the help of the state-trait anxiety inventory instrument. The findings of the results concluded that student’s self-created fears play a significant role in triggering anxiety among learners. The ratio of special children under the effect of anxiety was higher in terms of confidence, controlling of nerves, exam hall ease and nausea before the exam as compared to normal individuals. Normal individuals lacked concentration, and their overthinking of getting fail was the reason for exam anxiety. Self- created fears were found to be the sole cause of anxiety among normal individuals as compared to impaired individuals where the natural deficiency emotionally destabilizes them and causes loss of their confidence. Dodson’s law has been found to overcome anxiety disorders among both types of individuals
Application of Water Poverty Index (WPI) in Special Analysis of Water Stress in Kurdistan Region-Iraq
Get PDFKurdistan region-Iraq can be considered the richest area in the MENA for water availability per capita. However, water management, economic situation, sustainability, and utilisation of water are controversial. Water Poverty Index (WPI) is a holistic tool to find the link between, socio-economic development, livelihood, water availability, and water management. In addition, it is an effective method for comparison between different regions and countries. In this work, depending on available data of Kurdistan region-Iraq, and literature review, 14 elements (indicators) have been used to extract WPI score of the study area. The WPI has been used to find water utilisation, and water stress level in Kurdistan region. Then, the result of this work has been compared with WPI scores in some countries in the MENA. The work has shown that the WPI score of the study area is 52. The work has found that, although water availability per person/year in Kurdistan region is more than all countries in the MENA, the WPI score of the study area is lower than its neighbours like Iran, and Turkey. The low scores of Kurdistan region regarding WPI are because of many factors like variation of water income, mismanagement of water resources, and water use