bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
What Motivates the Crowd?
Authors: Amrollahi Alireza , Ahmadi Mohammad Hasan
Published: July 2018

The main objective of the chapter is to provide an insight into the motivation mechanisms for the crowd to participate in crowdsourcing projects. For this to happen, the authors investigate the factors which have been suggested in the literature as influencing the motivation of the crowd and the task type in each study in the related literature and contrasted the motivation factors in various contexts. The systematic literature review method has been used for the purpose of this study. This involved a comprehensive search in five scientific databases which resulted in 575 papers. This initial pool of studies has been refined in various rounds and ended in identification of 37 studies which directly targeted the topic of motivation in crowdsourcing. The study introduces various categories of motivations and investigates the factors which have been utilized in each context. Finally, possible implications for practice and potential research gaps are discussed.
Data Analytics Supporting Knowledge Acquisition
Authors: Sedkaoui Soraya
Published: July 2018

This chapter aims to make the case that analytics methods must respond to the significant changes that big data challenges are bringing to operationalizing the production of information and knowledge. More specifically it discusses the analytics dimension of big data challenges and its contribution for value creation. It shows that data analytics tools and methods offer strong support in knowledge acquisition and discovery. This suggests that the effectiveness of an analytics method must be measured based on how it promotes and enhances knowledge, how it improves patterns and understanding of the decision makers, and thereby how it improves their decision making and hence organization performance. This chapter explores the synergies between big data analytics and knowledge discovery by identifying challenges and opportunities in data analytics applications for knowledge acquisition.
Crowd Computing
Authors: Pramanik Pijush Kanti Dutta , Pal Saurabh , Pareek Gaurav , Dutta Shubhendu , Choudhury Prasenjit
Published: July 2018

The power of crowd always has brought wonders. The same applies to the computing as well. The accumulated idle CPU cycles of millions of personally owned devices are capable of producing huge computing capacity. We have termed it as crowd computing. Though this very concept has been nurtured in the past through grid computing, in the age of powerful smartphones and tablets, it deserves to have a fresh look. In this chapter, the authors aim to present crowd computing in a modern approach. Readers will be able to gain a fair comprehension of the various aspects of crowd computing and have an insight of the ecosystem of this computing paradigm. The characteristics, benefits, issues, implementational challenges, applications, and examples of crowd computing are portrayed elaborately. To clear the air, crowd computing has been distinguishably compared to other analogous computing systems such as P2P computing, cloud computing, supercomputing, and crowdsourcing. The business values of crowd computing as well as the scope of offering crowd computing as a service have also been explored.
A Tri-Variate Nexus of Microfinance-Growth-Inequality
Authors: Mukherjee Sovik , Karmakar Asim Kumar
Published: July 2018

Policymakers throughout the world have actively been in pursuit of improvements of financial markets in the developing regions, but often with disappointing results. In this background, this chapter claims that microfinance can play a significant role in financial development, and that by concentrating on microfinance, development policy can consolidate the links between financial development, growth, and thus inequality reduction. The inequality computation used is based on the generalized entropy index (standard assumption of weight equal to 2 is applicable). Panel cointegration and panel causality are the techniques that have been applied in a vector error correction mechanism (VECM) set-up using panel data for fifteen years across seven South-Asian nations (i.e., Bhutan, India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka). The findings validate the existence of a cointegrated relation coupled with a tri-variate causality linking the focus variables in this model in the way that microfinance initiatives, their outreach is beneficial for the reduction of inequality but that inequality reduction does not promote economic growth per se.
Microfinance and Gender Discrimination
Authors: Brahmachary Avijit
Published: July 2018

Gender bias retards economic growth. In India women face gender discrimination, specifically male bias, both within the household and in the workplace. It is widely assumed that microfinance will have a positive impact on women's income, employment, self-worth through self-help group. Further, it has a strong positive effect on women empowerment and thereby reduces gender discrimination prevailing in the society. In this chapter, the extent of vulnerability between male and female SHG members have examined using vulnerability index, which is constructed considering different quantitative and subjective issues. For this, the micro level data have been collected from the state of West Bengal (India). The index value in the study shows that female is 56% more vulnerable than male even after joining in SHG and, therefore, requires large policy attention and intervention from different agencies to minimize such discrimination.
Improving the Retailer Industry Performance Through RFID Technology
Authors: Ali Omar , Hingst Ray
Published: July 2018

This study focuses on RFID and its implementation at two retail chains, Wal-Mart in United States (U.S.) and Metro Group in Europe, who have successfully implemented this technology. It identifies the impact of RFID on improving supply chain performance in the retail industry. The researchers have concentrated on both explorative and indicative studies in an effort to understand the impact that the adoption of RFID technology will have on improving the performance of the supply chain by comparing two different case studies. This research study has found that coordination and integration operations are important for inventory management and related operations, and they are also important factors that contribute to performance improvement in both case studies. In addition, this research study has found that RFID's information-sharing support for buyers in the supply chain has promoted the accuracy of purchasing forecasts. Finally, it is found that RFID has provided increased flexibility of operations, using smart shelves and reducing the cost of inventory management.
Relationship Between ISO 9001 Quality Management System and Productivity Improvement
Authors: Prada Ricardo
Published: July 2018

The objective of this case is to verify, through the construction of an explanatory model, the possible connection between ISO 9001:2015 quality management system and productivity improvement on a representative sample of companies in the auto parts sector based on different aspects considered in the implementation. The auto parts sector of the automotive industry, supported mainly by its large and medium-sized companies, produces the necessary parts and pieces to support this market. The research analyzed 110 auto parts companies, proportionally distributed in terms of size (large, medium, and small). The results of the empirical study confirm the existence of positive relations between the ISO 9001:2015 quality management system and the improvement of productivity. This chapter focuses on analyzing the relationship between the ISO quality management system and the improvement of productivity as business renewal strategies, for which it explores the Colombian auto parts sector.
Leadership Development Initiatives of a Japanese Transnational Company Through Blended Mode
Authors: Gera Shikha
Published: July 2018

The intent of the current case study of a Japanese multinational company is to document and understand the process of developing a transformational (quantum change producing) leadership style in its fast-track leaders in the South West Asia region. The researcher got an opportunity to observe the process of leadership development training that was delivered over a period both through virtual and face-to- ace mode. In the current case study, no instruments were used and therefore no objective data were available to gauge the impact of the training program. However, training partners had identified some of the training outcomes on participants such as 1) participants displayed initiatives to introduce change and persisted that change throughout the completion of the vision with positivity, 2) they examined self-strengths and weaknesses and demonstrated the ability to improve through feedback, and 3) they identified the business, financial, leadership, entrepreneurial, and other challenges at hand and designed the robust plans to overcome those. In short, the researcher can conclude with a reasonable confidence that the training program delivered online could be a success, particularly when it is blended with a FTF experience at some point.
Cost of Poor Quality Management on Organizational Performance in Educational Settings
Authors: Khumalo Shuti Steph
Published: July 2018

The purpose of this case study was to explore teacher absenteeism in both primary and secondary schools administered by the Department of Basic Education (DoBE) in South Africa. Further, the chapter focuses on how this phenomenon of teacher absenteeism is managed in schools and by the departmental authorities and its implications on the organization. This chapter proposes a number of quality improvement strategies that can be employed to mediate teacher absenteeism and enhance quality management of the problem.
Role of Organizational Culture in Quality Management
Authors: Nayak Sushma , Behl Abhishek
Published: July 2018

In this intensely competitive world, an organization can survive in business only as long as it is consistently able to deliver quality products and services. The impulse for higher quality has brought about far-reaching changes in the way business is conducted. Likewise, studies in recent years are attempting to establish the interrelationship between organizational culture and total quality management. An organization is likely to attain a set of core managerial standards, norms, and practices that distinctively identifies the way it runs business; such standards give rise to a culture that may confer the organization a persistent competitive advantage, particularly if it is nifty, atypical, and imperfectly replicable. The present study explores the case of Bhagini Nivedita Sahakari Bank Ltd., Pune, functioning in the state of Maharashtra in India. The bank serves as a classic example of business excellence through continuous quality improvement; it has a unique organizational culture realized by the adoption of a customer-centric business model.
Bringing the Shine Back
Authors: Singh Virender
Published: July 2018

This case traces the quality movement throughout NIIT that was supported by Phil Crosby Associates, one of the leading quality companies at the time. Along with this, a personal quality initiative (PQI) was also unleashed throughout the company to ensure that not only the organizational processes improved but individuals' performances also improved. PQI was propounded by Harry V. Roberts, professor at the Graduate School of Business, Chicago University and also the author of the book, Quality is Personal. All these initiatives not only helped NIIT reduce its price of nonconformance (PONC), which is the price a company pays for not doing things right the first time, but also helped create and establish system and processes to sustain the organization through its journey of more than 35 years.
Sport and Antitrust Law
Authors: Redkina Alena , Ponkin Igor , Shevchenko Olga
Published: July 2018

This chapter explores the relationship between sports and different types of competition, legal and actual possibility to apply competition, particularly antitrust, laws to sports, primarily to the sphere of professional sports and sports industry. The commercial and non-commercial components, yet linked to the interests of profit, in modern professional sports entails certain applicability of competition law to the field of sports. However, excessively strict application of antitrust laws can lead to devastating consequences for all types of sports or sports in general. Therefore, it is important to take into account specific characteristics of the sport sphere (more than any other sphere of activity). This is important when deciding on the application of competition law to this sphere or withdrawal of this sector from the application of competition law. Nature and inherent specific features of professional sports activities and sports in general have a significant impact on the application of competition law. Economic competition in the field of sport is atypical. The authors give their definitions of “sport,” “competitiveness in the sport,” “commercial competition in the field of professional sports,” “autonomy of sports,” “sports monopsony,” “sports monopoly,” and “sports oligopoly.”
International Sport Business and Global Sport Governance
Authors: Chatzigianni Efthalia
Published: July 2018

The purpose of this chapter is to introduce some fundamental concepts and principles that are associated with modern sport business in the framework of international organization and global governance. In the opening section, a discussion on terms related to the international organization and governance of sport and sport business will be presented along with relevant issues that have emerged in the modern international sport context. Then, an overview of sport business activity in the field of global sport will take place, followed by a brief presentation of several aspects of contemporary sport business in order to demonstrate the diversity and importance of international sport business stakeholders to contemporary global sport. Topics include corporate sponsorship, media and social media, and information and communication technology. The chapter will conclude with a discussion about the impact of modern sport business on global sport governance as the main goal of this chapter is to convey the message and highlight aspects of the significant impact of international sport business activity on the global governance of sport.
E-Sports at the Olympic Games
Authors: Ntelia Renata E.
Published: July 2018

The chapter follows a comparison between e-sports and physical sports in terms of their formal properties as games. Through this approach, it is argued that e-sports differ essentially from physical games due to their spatiality. Specifically, it addresses how the virtual space of e-sports undergoes a different process of production from that of physical space in the sense that it does not adhere to social rules and the power of the hegemony, but rather to the code of the machine. This results to a negation of the physical body of the player, which is in dialectical antithesis to the spirit of the Olympic Games unlike any physical game.
“Body Culture”
Authors: Gongaki Konstantina
Published: July 2018

“Body culture,” a modern term in Western Europe, owes its philosophical content to ancient Greece and especially to Olympia. Altis turned out to be a creative place for presence and mixture of cultural elements of a set of people that through this exchange of ideas gradually conquered its first characteristics as a nation. Philosophically, the ideology that was cultivated formed the reflection of the deepest background position which the classical culture identified with coexistence of the opposites. The physical perfection of the Olympic model was reflected in art as the symmetry of Kouros, with a transcendent and spiritual dimension, idealizing the human body. The Olympic athlete reflects harmony and symmetry, the most complete form of the perfect citizen, the concept of moral beauty, as it is defined by Plato and Aristotle. But sport that is provided by the school in Greece today, instead of being an integral part of mainstream education, as it was in antiquity, represents a compressed and therefore inadequate education tool. Sport in Greek schools operates within an oppressive organization framework that is basically imposed because of competition. As a result, the final aim of sports “education” is to teach discipline and physical efficiency with the view to ultimately promoting an organized performance industry. But this obsession, about wanting to be first, in addition to being a source of personal stress, only achieves is to develop the student's personality with competition as the prevailing principle. Moreover, this pursuit of personal affirmation through sports ranking depreciates personal value and the individual as a whole, whilst breeding insecurity and the need for personal recognition through unsafe means. What's more important, instead of being the best tool for bearing social life and reducing egocentric subjectivity, it inflates egocentrism and creates human beings susceptible to individualism. In this way, a type of “one-dimensional man” is cultivated, which Marcuse describes as the most dangerous of all because it destroys society's cohesion by deconstructing man's perception of coexistence.
Legal, Ethical, and Integrity Issues in Sports Industry
Authors: Ponkin Igor , Shevchenko Olga , Redkina Alena
Published: July 2018

This chapter focuses on the issues of the sports industry. Since sport, in addition to its other aspects, is a fast-growing industry, the chapter considers the importance of sports industry for the sector as a whole. The chapter shows the basic elements of sports industry structure, together with the peculiarities of Russian sports industry legal support in general and in some particular directions. The authors give definitions of “sports industry,” “sports product,” “sports entertainment product,” “professional sports,” “professional athlete,” “sports ethics,” and “sports integrity.” Being a good basis for sports business development, the legislation of the Russian Federation in the sphere of legal services for business and commercial activities within the sports industry takes into account sports-specific features and its principal functions enabling professional sports sector to provide benefits to economy and society. However, there is still space for further development.
Problems of the Fight Against Doping in Professional Sports
Authors: Peskov Anatoly
Published: July 2018

Doping became, as many experts note, not only more diverse, highly specialized, and efficient, but also dangerous for the health of athletes. One of the main factors that allows athletes to escape responsibility is corruption. The author pays particular attention to research and new technologies in the field of sports medicine, including generating new kinds of doping. The chapter also examines the practice of international standard on granting exceptions on therapeutic use of drugs. The author suggests reconstructing the existing system of criminal and administrative law to develop new enforcement mechanisms in the fight against doping to impose a ban on the testing of new drugs on professional athletes.
Test and Evaluation for Weapon Systems
Authors: Eriskin Levent , Gunal Murat M.
Published: July 2018

Defense systems are complex and expensive and decision makers acquiring these systems aspire better value for money. As part of a procurement decision, test and evaluation (T&E) is conducted to assess if the system is meeting desired requirements. This chapter reviews the concepts in T&E for weapon systems in the navy and presents the process for its implementation. The authors point out the role of modeling and simulation and how to use them to support T&E. The review reveals that developmental and operational T&E can examine weapon systems requirements before their deployment, T&E process can effectively be implemented in six steps, and mission/capacity requirements must be decomposed into predefined evaluation criteria.
Obsolescence Management for Sustainment-Dominated Military Systems
Authors: Özkan Barış Egemen , Bulkan Serol
Published: July 2018

As more and more Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) parts are being used in sustainment-dominated systems where average product lifecycle is above 25 years, obsolescence management becomes a greater concern for program managers. The lack of management and poor planning for obsolescence cause companies, governments, and military organizations to spend progressively more to deal with aging systems. For a successful obsolescence management, program managers should consider both the cost-effectiveness and system availability issues simultaneously and should implement appropriate solution approaches. In this chapter, the authors first define the obsolescence management in sustainment-dominated systems and then give a brief summary of the related literature. They finally discuss and propose multiple criteria decision-making methodologies and evolutionary algorithms to tackle the management problem.
European Agriculture in 2020
Authors: Cristache Silvia Elena , Rotaru Florica Georgeta , Rotaru Elena Cristina
Published: July 2018

The chapter is structured in two parts: the first part presents the agricultural policy of the European Union in accordance with the Treaty of Lisbon and the Europe 2020 Strategy. At the same time, the National Rural Development Program of Romania is presented. In the second part of the chapter an econometric analysis of the agricultural sector is made. The linear multifactorial regression model presented in the second part of the chapter was based on data provided by Eurostat: surface cultivated with pesticides, GDP/capita, net investment in agriculture. The model proposed in this chapter explains and highlights the existence of a positive, linear, and significant relationship between the variables included in the model. The multiple linear regression model indicates that, with the increase of one million euros per GDP, the value of the surface cultivated with pesticides in Romania will grow by an average of 132.08 hectares.
Technology Scouting and Inventions Patenting With Impact on the Agrifood Future
Authors: Paul Andreea
Published: July 2018

This chapter is the sketch of a possible pattern of the future world in which any kind of business will be developed in a completely new human, technological, agricultural, and commercial context, heavily and quickly changed from the one we live in now. The first objective of this chapter is to scout for the mega-technology trends that will reshape completely the future business and jobs, focusing on the agrifood industry. The second objective is to tackle the main challenges to patent inventions in terms of costs and timing in Romania, relative to other countries, and raise pragmatic recommendations. The third objective is to describe the institutional innovation called INACO (the Initiative for Competitiveness), a think-tank dedicated to tackle the challenges and opportunities of the future economy and how can a country such as Romania stay competitive in a more and more competitive world.
Leveraging Models of Human Reasoning to Identify EEG Electrodes in Images With Neural Networks
Authors: Joshi Alark , Luu Phan , Tucker Don M. , Shofner Steven Duane
Published: July 2018

Humans have very little trouble recognizing discrete objects within a scene, but performing the same tasks using classical computer vision techniques can be counterintuitive. Humans, equipped with a visual cortex, perform much of this work below the level of consciousness, and by the time a human is conscious of a visual stimulus, the signal has already been processed by lower order brain regions and segmented into semantic regions. Convolutional neural networks are modeled loosely on the structure of the human visual cortex and when trained with data produced by human actors are capable of emulating its performance. By black-boxing the low-level image analysis tasks in this way, the authors model solutions to problems in terms of the workflows of expert human operators, leveraging both the work performed pre-consciously and the higher-order algorithmic solutions employed to solve problems.
Object-Oriented Logic Programming of Intelligent Visual Surveillance for Human Anomalous Behavior Detection
Authors: Morozov Alexei Alexandrovich , Sushkova Olga Sergeevna , Polupanov Alexander Fedorovich
Published: July 2018

The idea of the logic programming-based approach to the intelligent visual surveillance is in usage of logical rules for description and analysis of people behavior. New prospects in logic programming of the intelligent visual surveillance are connected with the usage of 3D machine vision methods and adaptation of the multi-agent approach to the intelligent visual surveillance. The main advantage of usage of 3D vision instead of the conventional 2D vision is that the first one can provide essentially more complete information about the video scene. The availability of exact information about the coordinates of the parts of the body and scene geometry provided by means of 3D vision is a key to the automation of behavior analysis, recognition, and understanding. This chapter supplies the first systematic and complete description of the method of object-oriented logic programming of the intelligent visual surveillance, special software implementing this method, and new trends in the research area linked with the usage of novel 3D data acquisition equipment.
Application of Computer Vision Technology to Structural Health Monitoring of Engineering Structures
Authors: Ye X. W. , Jin T. , Chen P. Y.
Published: July 2018

The computer vision technology has gained great advances and applied in a variety of industry fields. It has some unique advantages over the traditional technologies such as high speed, high accuracy, low noise, anti-electromagnetic interference, etc. In the last decade, the technology of computer vision has been widely employed in the field of structure health monitoring (SHM). Many specific hardware and algorithms have been developed to meet different kinds of monitoring demands. This chapter presents three application scenarios of computer vision technology for health monitoring of engineering structures, including bridge inspection and evaluation with unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), recognition and surveillance of foreign object intrusion for railway system, and identification and tracking of concrete cracking. The principles and procedures of three application scenarios are addressed following with the experimental study, and the possibilities and ideas for the application of computer vision technology to other monitoring items are also discussed.
Methods and Algorithms for Technical Vision in Radar Introscopy
Authors: Sytnik Oleg , Kartashov Vladimir
Published: July 2018

Optimization of technical characteristics of radio vision systems is considered in the radars with ultra-wideband sounding signals. Highly noisy conditions, in which such systems operate, determine the requirements that should be met by the signals being studied. The presence of the multiplicative noise makes it difficult to design optimal algorithms of echo-signal processing. Consideration is being given to the problem of discriminating objects hidden under upper layers of the ground at depths comparable to the probing pulse duration. Based upon the cepstrum and textural analysis, a subsurface radar signal processing technique has been suggested. It is shown that, however the shape of the probing signal spectrum might be, the responses from point targets in the cepstrum images of subsurface ground layers make up the texture whose distinctive features enable objects to be detected and identified.
Is Sustaniable Tourism a Leverage FOR Economic Development?
Authors: Sezerel Hakan , Kaymaz Cihan
Published: July 2018

Does development mean employment and social welfare, or the natural environment, ecosystem, and biodiversity? The answer to this question is sought worldwide while trying to solve the dichotomy between ecological sustainability and the development sustainability. The authors observe a series of pursuits under the names of ecological tourism, environmentally friendly tourism, and socially responsible tourism that emerge in order to overcome this dichotomy in the tourism discipline. They all merge around the common idea of offering a framework that examines economic activities for this dilemma. Meanwhile, this chapter examines the pursuits within the scope of sustainable tourism based on the assumptions of principal ecological approaches (e.g., environment protection, shallow ecology, deep ecology, and social ecology) and determines the position of sustainable tourism within these ecological approaches. It is deduced that sustainable tourism is actually sustainable at very low levels from the perspective of ecological sustainability.
A Scale of Relative Institutional Challenge During MNC Global Expansion
Authors: Derayati Ehsan , Molz Rick , Edwards Gwyneth
Published: July 2018

This chapter develops a reliable and valid scale of relative institutional challenge between 40 country pairs by drawing on three measures of institutional uniqueness. The single measure can be used by researchers and practitioners to assess the relative institutional challenge that a multinational corporation (MNC) may face in the internationalization process between their home and potential host country. The value of this single scale includes (1) a more comprehensive and broad scale than three separate scales, (2) demonstrated reliability and validity, (3) a standardized measure of institutional challenge that can be used by different researchers in different research settings, and (4) a tool for practitioners that is easily applied and robust when considering alternative off-shore investment opportunities.
Challenges in Creating and Sustaining an Entrepreneurial Business in Milwaukee
Authors: Plunkett Garfield A. , Shen Libi
Published: July 2018

Small business entrepreneurs have made important contributions to economic activities in the U.S. In recent years, there were decline and high entrepreneurial failure rates for entrepreneurs throughout the country. Specifically, the continuous challenges faced by entrepreneurs in the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin have negatively affected job creation and the entrepreneurial process. What are the challenges faced by Milwaukee's entrepreneurs in creating and sustaining their businesses? How have the entrepreneurial challenges affected Milwaukee entrepreneurs' experiences in creating and sustaining their businesses? What specific support might be effective in overcoming the challenges? The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of 20 entrepreneurs, specifically the challenges they encountered while sustaining an entrepreneurial enterprise in the city of Milwaukee. This chapter identifies the barriers and challenges that entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial small businesses must overcome. Recommendations for government leaders, entrepreneurs, and future researchers are provided.
Determinants of Access and Utilization of Climate Services Among Vulnerable Communities
Authors: Onwuemele Andrew
Published: July 2018

Changes in climate have caused impacts on natural and human systems. These impacts affect poor people's lives through impacts on livelihoods and the destruction of homes. In Delta State, Nigeria, the impacts of climate change are real. Adaptation has been identified as the key to reducing the impacts of climate change. However, successful adaptation depends on use of climate services. While climate services are essential to adaptation, the services do not always reach the users who need it most. This chapter analyzes factors influencing access and utilization of climate services in Delta State. The chapter utilizes the survey research while data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings show a low utilization of climate service. The determinants of access and utilization of climate services include income, educational attainments, access to ICT facilities, extension agents, and the level of local climate variability. The chapter calls for awareness creation on the importance of climate services.
Essence of International Environmental Law to Address the Effects of Climate Change
Authors: Chowdhury Md. Mahfuzar Rahman
Published: July 2018

Environmental problems are enormous around the world and threaten the global environment. In most cases, these problems are caused by rapid growth of population and poverty. Climate change and sustainable development are inter-linked and are priority issues in the development continuum. Any adverse impact on the environment and biodiversity can cause the restriction of resources and limit available options. Concerted efforts of all the states can bring positive result to address the effects of climate change. Compliance with the treaty provision and sharing of resources and actions among the states can ensure proper utilization of resources and sustainable development.
The Dragon's Footprints
Authors: Chung Mona , Mascitelli Bruno
Published: July 2018

This chapter examines Chinese migration and investment into Europe and explores models of migration and investment by identifying the gap between the two. The chapter highlights the major characteristics of Chinese investment and migration into Europe by identifying and separating the investment from Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and that of private individuals. This triangulation provides scholars and policy makers with a unique scenario. The migration and investment literature has been conducted as two separate and parallel topics. A small number of studies investigate the relationship of the two as one inter-connected relationship. There is even less focus on Chinese migration and investment due to the fact that over the past decade it has been a fast-moving phenomenon because of the speed of Chinese economic development. In addition, China's different political and economic system and its unique state structure adds another layer of complexity for scholars.
Residents' Attitudes in Punta del Este (Uruguay)
Authors: Sánchez-Fernández María Dolores , Bassi Daniel Álvarez , Cardona José Ramón
Published: July 2018

Homogeneity studies in recent decades have segmented residents according to their attitudes. The aim of this work is to segment the residents of Punta del Este according to their attitudes toward tourism. Recently, there have been some segmentations of residents in diver's tourist destinations in the world. Resident segmentation has been performed with a cluster analysis using the K-mean algorithm, generating three groups: enthusiastic supporters (33.1%), supporters with nuanced opinion (45.2%), and people without a formed opinion (21.7%). The profile of the groups generated is quite similar and no groups with a clear opposition to tourism have been detected. The overall assessment of the residents surveyed in this research is positive.
Welfare Programs as a Strategy of Promoting Employees' Economic Growth and Work Productivity
Authors: Patro Chandra Sekhar
Published: July 2018

Many organizations apply the notion of employee welfare programs as a strategy of improving employee productivity, since work-related exertions could lead to deprived quality of work life for employees and a decline in performance. Welfare schemes promote economic development by increasing the efficiency and productivity with the underlying principle being making workers bestow their loyal services ungrudgingly in genuine spirit of cooperation. The welfare schemes improve the organizational relations and also enhance the productivity of the employees. The main aim of implementing the welfare measures in any organization is to secure the labor force by providing proper working conditions and minimizing its hazardous effect on the life of the employees and their family members. The chapter articulates the various employee welfare programs put into practice by the industrial and service organizations and its influence on the employees' economic growth and productivity, in both public and private sectors.
Original Teaching Materials and School Activities With E-Books Containing Media Overlays
Authors: Ikuta Shigeru , Nagano Saki , Sato Eri Tanaka , Kasai Mikiko , Ezoe Takahide , Mori Kyoko , Kaneko Chikako
Published: July 2018

Original e-book teaching materials containing media overlays were created for use in teaching students with reading disabilities. FUSEe developed by FUSE network, Japan was used to create EPUB 3 e-books, where an audio was replayed with synchronized highlighting of the corresponding text. SMIL language or JavaScript package for iOS, ibooks.js was used to replay the audio reproduction. These EPUB 3 e-books were read effectively with an EPUB 3 reader (for example, iBooks for iOS, and Sony and Kobo Readers for Android). E-books created with special needs school, general school, and Japanese Foreign Language Institute schoolteachers were implemented at many schools for students with reading disabilities and dyslexia. Some assessments of the reading activities were performed to clarify the e-books containing media overlays. Basic information regarding the creation of these e-books and their use in schools is presented in this chapter.
Development of Teaching Materials to Support Learning of Children With Cerebral Palsy in the Japanese Curriculum
Authors: Okawara Hisashi , Koyama Takahito , Shiraishi Toshio , Ishida Shuko , Shingu Chihiro , Okawara Atsushi
Published: July 2018

In addition to bodily dysfunction, about 30 to 50 percent of children with cerebral palsy have various problems in terms of sight and cognitive aspects. For example, sentences that they speak or write are redundant and cannot be summarized. Finding a coherent word or sentence is sometimes difficult for them. It is also difficult to draw a solid on a plane; to recognize the ground from the figure; to capture things while maintaining objective and panoramic viewpoints; to think on the other side. Causes for these difficulties have not yet been elucidated. Teachers are working on effective teaching methods and materials and development for these children's phenomena every day. This study summarizes the practical examples of the teaching materials developed at the school site in Japan and their effects and usefulness.
Hands-On Activities to Keep Students With Disabilities Engaged in K-12 Classrooms
Authors: Khazanchi Pankaj , Khazanchi Rashmi
Published: July 2018

The central aim of this chapter is to identify the best practices in hands-on activities to keep students with disabilities engaged in K-12 classrooms. With diversity being a key component in today's classroom, teachers struggle in devising strategies to keep students with disabilities stay engaged. Improving student's learning by keeping them engaged is vital for our nation's competitiveness. Studies have shown the role of hands-on activities in improving engagement of students with disabilities. This chapter will define student engagement and will highlight some of the causes of student disengagement in classroom, relationship between hands-on activities and student engagement, need of hands-on activities/project-based learning in 21st century classrooms, creative ways to implement hands-on activities, connecting hands-on activities with the real-world situations, creating hands-on activities for students with disabilities in self-contained and inclusion classrooms, and matching students' interest and learning styles when developing hands-on activities.
Supporting Affective Development of Children With Disabilities Through Moral Dilemmas
Authors: Ferguson Britt Tatman
Published: July 2018

Children and youth with disabilities are challenged in many ways, including in the social and affective domains. The author provides a relatively simple and easily constructed intervention, involving a combination of concepts from social-emotional learning, values clarification, cooperative learning, bibliotherapeutic interventions, and character education to address areas of need within the social and affective domains for very young children with or without disabilities. Stories created by teachers and presented during reading readiness, addressing authentic dilemmas that children may face in their daily lives, can promote positive social interaction, facilitate identification and clarification of values, and cultivate social-emotional and character development. A lesson template and sample lesson are provided, as well as suggestions for adapting to meet the needs of individual children.
Virtual Mediums Used as a Conduit for Soft-Skill Development
Authors: Gallup Jenn , Kocaoz Onur E. , Serianni Barbara
Published: July 2018

The purpose of this chapter is to elucidate the potential of online mediums such as massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) and other virtual immersive mediums that hold the potential to build social connections for individuals with autism and related disabilities. Further, this chapter will relate the skills used in the context of the virtual environments to essential soft-skill development and generalization to participation within inclusive STEM classes and postsecondary education.
Visual Gesture-Based Character Recognition Systems for Design of Assistive Technologies for People With Special Necessities
Authors: Choudhury Ananya , Sarma Kandarpa Kumar
Published: July 2018

In the present scenario, around 15% of the world's population experience some form of disability. So, there has been an enormous increase in the demand for assistive techniques for overcoming the restraints faced by people with physical impairments. More recently, gesture-based character recognition (GBCR) has emerged as an assistive tool of immense importance, especially for facilitating the needs of persons with special necessities. Such GBCR systems serve as a powerful mediator for communication among people having hearing and speech impairments. They can also serve as a rehabilitative aid for people with motor disabilities who cannot write with pen on paper, or face difficulty in using common human-machine interactive (HMI) devices. This chapter provides a glimpse of disability prevalence around the globe and particularly in India, emphasizes the importance of learning-based GBCR systems in practical education of differently-abled children, and highlights the novel research contributions made in this field.
Some Aspects of Reliability Evaluation of Multi Service Multi-Functional SOAP Based Web Services
Authors: Bora Abhijit , Bezboruah Tulshi
Published: July 2018

Reliability evaluation of multi service multi-functional SOAP based web services for high load of users is important from the perspective of operational quality of the service, users and developers. In this article, the authors have emphasized on developing a novel methodology for evaluating the reliability of web service for high load. A prototype research medical web service is considered to predict the reliability of the service by using this methodology. The authors called the service as PMedWS (Prototype Medical Web Service). They performed stress and load testing on the web service using Mercury Load Runner to study the reliability aspects against massive users. The experimental results and the statistical analysis demonstrate the applicability and effectiveness of our methodology.
Comparing Spark with MapReduce
Authors: Miryala Goutham , Ludwig Simone A.
Published: July 2018

Glowworm swarm optimization (GSO) is one of the optimization techniques, which need to be parallelized in order to evaluate large problems with high-dimensional function spaces. There are various issues involved in the parallelization of any algorithm such as efficient communication among nodes in a cluster, load balancing, automatic node failure recovery, and scalability of nodes at runtime. In this article, the authors have implemented the GSO algorithm with the Apache Spark framework. Even though we need to address how to distribute the data in the cluster to improve the efficiency of algorithm, the Spark framework is designed in such a way that one does not need to deal with any actual underlying parallelization details. For the experimentation, two multimodal benchmark functions were used to evaluate the Spark-GSO algorithm with various sizes of dimensionality. The authors evaluate the optimization results of the two evaluation functions as well as they will compare the Spark results with the ones obtained using a previously implemented MapReduce-based GSO algorithm.
Condições de saúde e risco de adoecimento dos catadores de materiais recicláveis: Revisão Integrativa/ Health conditions and illness risk of recyclable material collectors: an Integrative Review
Authors: Coelho Alexa Pupiara Flores , Beck Carmem Lúcia Colomé , Silva Rosângela Marion da
Published: July 2018

Este estudo objetivou descrever as evidências científicas acerca das condições de saúde e risco de adoecimento dos catadores de materiais recicláveis. Consiste em uma revisão integrativa de literatura. As buscas foram realizadas nas bases de dados Literatura Latino-Americana de Ciências da Saúde, PubMed, Scopus e Web of Science em janeiro de 2017, sem recorte temporal. Foram analisadas 34 artigos científicos originais. Evidenciou-se que a produção na temática é recente. O Brasil destacou-se como o país que mais publicou e produziu pesquisas na temática. Os artigos destacaram as precárias condições de vida e trabalho dos catadores, agravadas pelo desconhecimento dos riscos por parte destes trabalhadores. Há evidências relacionadas a um conjunto de doenças comuns a catadores de diferentes realidades, possivelmente relacionadas a precárias condições de vida e trabalho. A isso, soma-se o precário acesso ou pouco uso dos serviços de saúde, podendo-se supor que isso represente o agravamento da vulnerabilidade dos mesmos. Este estudo fornece informações que podem ser úteis no planejamento de políticas públicas, ações educativas e projetos assistenciais e de extensão direcionados a este grupo.
Percepção de enfermeiros e médicos sobre o atendimento à pessoa com transtorno mental na atenção básica / Perception of nurses and doctors on the service provided to people with mental disorders in primary care
Authors: Montemezo Helen , Silva Francielle das Dores Da , Muramatsu Caio Koiti , Amorin Isabela Roberta , Buriola Aline Aparecida , Cazañas Eduardo Fuzetto
Published: July 2018

Transtornos mentais compõem uma parcela significativa das causas de óbito no mundo, com investimentos crescentes por parte das autoridades, principalmente após os avanços conquistados pela Reforma Psiquiátrica. Para que esse processo ocorra de maneira eficaz é essencial que médicos e enfermeiros estejam tecnicamente bem preparados para suprir essa demanda. O objetivo do estudo foi identificar a percepção de enfermeiros e médicos sobre o atendimento à pessoa com transtorno mental ofertado pela Estratégia Saúde da Família (ESF). Pesquisa descritiva e exploratória, com abordagem qualitativa. Os dados foram coletados entre agosto e setembro de 2016, junto a profissionais atuantes em ESF, no Oeste Paulista. Foram selecionados um enfermeiro e um médico de dez ESF, totalizando 20 participantes. O instrumento de coleta de dados foi um roteiro de entrevista semiestruturado. Os dados foram analisados por análise de conteúdo, modalidade temática. Emergiram evidências de que a equipe tem fragilidades conceituais sobre as atribuições da ESF na saúde mental e sentimento de impotência no atendimento motivado por insegurança profissional e sobrecarga de trabalho. Conclui-se que a implementação de ações que visem oferecer melhor preparo técnico aos profissionais e menor sobrecarga de trabalho possam gerar melhorias na qualidade do cuidado em saúde mental.