Search results
1 – 10 of 32Mohamed Turki, Ines Zarrad, Michéle Quéneudec and Jamel Bouaziz
The purpose of this paper is to focus on compressive strength modelling of cementitious mixtures like mortar and Roller-compacted concrete (RCC) containing rubber aggregates from…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to focus on compressive strength modelling of cementitious mixtures like mortar and Roller-compacted concrete (RCC) containing rubber aggregates from shredded worn tires and filler using adaptive neuro fuzzy inference systems (ANFIS).
Design/methodology/approach
The volume substitution contains a ratio of rubber aggregates vs sand in mortar and with crushed sand in RCC and ranges from 0 to 50 per cent. As for the filler, they are substituted with sand by 5 per cent in mortar mixture. The methodology consists of optimizing the percentage of substitution in cementitious mixtures to ensure better mechanical properties of materials like compressive strength. The prediction of compressive strength and the optimization of cementitious mixtures encourage their uses in such construction pavements, in area games or in other special constructions. These cementitious materials are considered as friendly to the environment by focussing on their improved deformability.
Findings
The results of this paper show that the performance of the constructed fuzzy method was measured by correlation of experimental and model results of mortar and RCC mixtures containing both rubber aggregates and filler. The comparison between elaborated models through the error and the accuracy calculations confirms the reliability of the ANFIS method.
Originality/value
The purpose of this paper is to assess the performance of the constructed fuzzy model by the ANFIS method for two types of cementitious materials like mortar and RCC containing rubber aggregates and filler. The fuzzy method could predict the compressive strength based on the limited measurement values in the mechanical experiment. Furthermore, the comparison between the elaborated models confirms the reliability of the ANFIS method through the error and the accuracy calculations for the best cementitious material mixtures.
Details
Keywords
Mariam Ben Hassen, Mohamed Turki and Faiez Gargouri
This paper introduces the problematic of the SBP modeling. Our objective is to provide a conceptual analysis related to the concept of SBP. This facilitates, on the one hand…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper introduces the problematic of the SBP modeling. Our objective is to provide a conceptual analysis related to the concept of SBP. This facilitates, on the one hand, easier understanding by business analysts and end-users, and one the other hand, the integration of the new specific concepts relating to the SBP/BPM-KM domains into the BPMN meta-model (OMG, 2013).
Design/methodology/approach
We propose a rigorous characterization of SBP (Sensitive Business Processes) (which distinguishes it from classic, structured and conventional BPs). Secondly, we propose a multidimensional classification of SBP modeling aspects and requirements to develop expressive, comprehensive and rigorous models. Besides, we present an in-depth study of the different modeling approaches and languages, in order to analyze their expressiveness and their abil-ity to perfectly and explicitly represent the new specific requirements of SBP modeling. In this study, we choose the better one positioned nowadays, BPMN 2.0, as the best suited standard for SBP representation. Finally, we propose a semantically rich conceptualization of a SBP organized in core ontology.
Findings
We defined a rigorous conceptual specification for this type of BP, organized in a multi-perspective formal ontology, the Core Ontology of Sensitive Business Processes (COSBP). This reference ontology will be used to define a generic BP meta-model (BPM4KI) further specifying SBPs. The objective is to obtain an enriched consensus modeling covering all generic concepts, semantic relationships and properties needed for the exploitation of SBPs, known as core modeling.
Originality/value
This paper introduces the problem of conceptual analysis of SBPs for (crucial) knowledge identification and management. These processes are highly complex and knowledge-intensive. The originality of this contribution lies in the multi-dimensional approach we have adopted for SBP modeling as well as the definition of a Core Ontology of Sensitive Business Processes (COSBP) which is very useful to extend the BPMN notation for knowledge management.
Details
Keywords
Mohamed Turki, Hamden Zahrani, Meriem Ayadi, Monem Kallel and Jalel Bouzid
The purpose of this study is to focus on Tunisian tannery sector that causes a considerable damage to the environment and consequently leads to serious health problems due to the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to focus on Tunisian tannery sector that causes a considerable damage to the environment and consequently leads to serious health problems due to the untreated effluents generated from the various leather processing stages.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper discusses a voluntary initiative taken by the top managers of tannery enterprise to prevent pollution and disseminate the concept of eco-industrial activities between employees and stakeholders. In addition, this research assesses the performance of such treatment that characterizes the chemical parameters of generated pollutants. It also aims at optimizing the industrial process for cleaner production. Coagulation–flocculation process is investigated in this study. Moreover, oxidation phase by ozone is taking into account before and after coagulation–flocculation process to measure the effectiveness of the combined method for reducing the main pollutant concentrations.
Findings
The unhairing and chrome (Cr) tanning steps are considered the most polluting steps. Therefore, the application of various treatment techniques, including chemical and physicochemical processes, is realized to reduce the toxicity of the effluents. The correlation between experimental and modeling results, using artificial neural network (ANN) method, was investigated in this research. The results of the constructed ANN model are measured by the correlation of experimental and model results during coagulation–flocculation and oxidation stages. The validation of the elaborated model through the error calculation (MSE) and the correlation coefficient (R) confirm the reliability of ANN method.
Originality/value
Eventually, the establishment of ANN model for performance prediction of wastewater parameters is investigated due to different measurements of physical effluent outputs, such as: pH, turbidity, TSS, DS, COD, fat, TSS, S2- and Cr. This study uses predictive modeling, a machine learning technique to tackle the problem of accurately predicting the behavior of unseen configuration.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of the paper is to showcase the significant achievements of Egypt's scientists in the 20th century across various fields of study such as medicine, physics, chemistry…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to showcase the significant achievements of Egypt's scientists in the 20th century across various fields of study such as medicine, physics, chemistry, biology, math, geology, astronomy and engineering. The paper highlights the struggles and successes of these scientists, as well as the cultural, social and political factors that influenced their lives and work. The aim is to inspire young people to pursue careers in science and make their own contributions to society by presenting these scientists as role models for hard work and dedication. Ultimately, the paper seeks to promote the importance of science and its impact on society.
Design/methodology/approach
The purpose of this review is to present the scientific biographies of Egypt's most distinguished scientists, primarily in the field of Natural Sciences, in a balanced and comprehensive manner. The work is objective, honest and abstract, avoiding any bias or exaggeration. The author provides a clear and concise methodology, including a brief introduction to the scientist and their field of study, an explanation of their major contributions, the impact of their work on society, any challenges or obstacles faced during their career and their lasting legacy. The aim is to showcase the important achievements of these scientists, their impact on their respective fields and to inspire future generations to pursue scientific careers.
Findings
The group of outstanding scientists in 20th century Egypt were shaped by various factors, including familial upbringing, education, society, political and cultural atmosphere and state support for scientific research. These scientists made significant contributions to various academic disciplines, including medicine, physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics and engineering. Their impact on their communities and cultures has received international acclaim, making them role models for future generations of scientists and researchers. The history of these scientists highlights the importance of educational investments and supporting scientific research to foster innovation and social progress. The encyclopedia serves as a useful tool for students, instructors and education professionals, preserving Egypt's scientific heritage and honouring the scientists' outstanding accomplishments.
Research limitations/implications
The encyclopedia preserves Egypt's scientific heritage, which has been overlooked for political or other reasons. It is a useful tool for a variety of readers, including students, instructors and education professionals, and it offers insights into universally relevant scientific success factors as well as scientific research methodologies. The encyclopedia honours the outstanding scientific accomplishments of Egyptian researchers and their contributions to the world's scientific community.
Practical implications
The practical implications of this paper are several. First, it highlights the importance of education, family upbringing and societal support for scientific research in fostering innovation and social progress. Second, it underscores the need for continued funding and support for scientific research to maintain and build upon the accomplishments of past generations of scientists. Third, it encourages young people to pursue scientific careers and make their own contributions to society. Fourth, it preserves the scientific heritage of Egypt and honors the contributions of its outstanding scientists. Finally, it serves as a useful tool for students, instructors and education professionals seeking to understand the factors underlying scientific success and research methodologies.
Social implications
The social implications of the paper include promoting national pride and cultural identity, raising awareness of the importance of education and scientific research in driving social progress, inspiring future generations of scientists and researchers, reducing socioeconomic disparities and emphasizing the role of society, politics and culture in shaping scientific researchers' personalities and interests.
Originality/value
The paper's originality/value lies in its comprehensive documentation of the scientific biographies of Egypt's most prominent scientists in the 20th century, providing unique insights into the factors that contributed to their development and their impact across various academic disciplines. It preserves Egypt's scientific heritage and inspires future generations of scientists and researchers through the promotion of educational investments and scientific research. The encyclopedia serves as a useful tool for education professionals seeking to understand scientific success factors and research methodologies, emphasizing the importance of supportive and inclusive environments for scientific development.
Details
Keywords
Haifa Chtourou and Mohamed Triki
The purpose of this study is to measure the impact of commitment in corporate social responsibility (CSR) in its various forms (CSR philanthropy/ altruism, CSR integration and CSR…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to measure the impact of commitment in corporate social responsibility (CSR) in its various forms (CSR philanthropy/ altruism, CSR integration and CSR innovation) on the financial performance as measured by certain ratios.
Design/methodology/approach
Thus, on the basis of a theoretically constructed questionnaire administered to 82 responsibles (general managers, human resources managers and CSR responsibles) operating in four business areas, the authors have developed the extent of the overall CSR commitment and the extent of commitment by CSR action type.
Findings
The examination of the impact of the CSR commitment on the financial performance has partially approved the social impact assumption. Indeed, only the positive effect of CSR philanthropy is demonstrated. Otherwise, for integrated and innovative actions, the low involvement in these actions in relation to philanthropic ones could explain the lack of significant association. But this result is also important, as it marks the lack of any negative effects. Even if they do not result in a better financial performance, these commitments do not bring harm to the firm. As for the strategic approach predominance on the altruistic approach, this hypothesis is checked only in the case of firms operating in the chemical sector.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation of the study is the limited size of the total sample and the sample by industry, so the authors expect a larger sample might be able to provide more meaningful results.
Practical implications
Then, the study suggests the importance of implementing real CSR strategies for firms that often find doubt and ambiguity when they decide to undertake social actions. However, these results do not mean that companies must refrain from driving altruistic or philanthropic activities but are encouraged to seek a social performance that suits a certain level of integration and innovation.
Social implications
The most important of all the above is that the negative impact of social actions is not verified in any way, allowing to state that the social actions do not exert a negative effect on the financial performance. So, participation in social problems do not bring harm to the firm.
Originality/value
The originality of this work comes from: the measure of CSR commitment, and the use of a classification typology of CSR actions in terms of their interaction with the core of the firm’s business as developed by Halme (2009). In fact, based on a theoretically constructed questionnaire, the authors have developed two measures of responsible commitment (level of commitment and intensity of commitment) of some industrial Tunisian firms.
Details
Keywords
Eman Hanye Mohamed Nasr and Mohamed Ali Mohamed Khalil
Oman has a rich built heritage due to its strategic location, making its history full of events, which resulted in remarkable cultural and social heritage. The government works on…
Abstract
Purpose
Oman has a rich built heritage due to its strategic location, making its history full of events, which resulted in remarkable cultural and social heritage. The government works on preserving the built environment through the adaptive reuse strategy of abandoned buildings or sites, which is considered a comprehensive approach to sustainability. The adaptive reuse process often involves complex factors especially through decision-making, which influence the success of the generated project. The research aims at proposing an assessment strategy that offers guidelines that can help to achieve comprehensive adaptive reuse.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper analyzes and assesses adaptive reuse interventions of selected five heritage projects in Oman. The assessment was conducted based on semi-structured interviews with stakeholders and local community representatives, as well as onsite observations, documentation and relevant data analyses.
Findings
The results display that a comprehensive sustainable management plan for adaptive reuse projects is essential to ensure the success of the new uses in promoting the local economy, enhancing social values, preserving the cultural identity and adapting to the local environment.
Originality/value
This contribution proposes a comprehensive strategy for assessing the adaptive reuse projects' performance that can be used as a checklist for achieving more social, cultural, environmental and economic benefits. This strategy can be further developed by extending to include more categories.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this article is twofold: to identify the characteristics of research on organisation and management in Arab countries and to find out whether research results…
Abstract
The purpose of this article is twofold: to identify the characteristics of research on organisation and management in Arab countries and to find out whether research results support the culture‐free hypothesis or not. A thorough search of sixteen journals, research monographs, books and theses produced only 35 empirical studies. Most of these studies were exploratory, descriptive, and used small convenient samples. Although some findings supported the culture‐bound hypothesis, major conceptual and methodological weaknesses in these studies throw doubt upon the validity of their results.
Turki Alolah, Rodney Anthony Stewart, Kriengsak Panuwatwanich and Sherif Mohamed
– The purpose of this paper is to empirically develop a safety performance (SP) framework for evaluating the various leading and lagging indicators of SP in Saudi public schools.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to empirically develop a safety performance (SP) framework for evaluating the various leading and lagging indicators of SP in Saudi public schools.
Design/methodology/approach
A comprehensive review of the safety and performance evaluation literature enabled the formulation of the constructs, factors and items that underpinned a conceptual SP evaluation framework. The research method involved a conceptual framework review and refinement process with 18 experts, followed by a questionnaire survey of 200 respondents from Saudi public schools. The final form of the SP evaluation framework was determined through a rigorous statistical analysis process, including exploratory factor analysis to uncover the underlying framework architecture from a relatively large set of items, and then the application of the partial least squares method to confirm framework adequacy and to assign loading coefficients.
Findings
The developed SP evaluation framework for Saudi schools included five constructs, namely, safety management and leadership, safety learning and training, safety policy, procedures, and processes, workforce safety culture and SP.
Practical implications
The developed SP evaluation framework is proposed for implementation by the Saudi Ministry of Education to better monitor and manage school safety in the future.
Originality/value
This SP evaluation framework is one of the first to holistically evaluate SP in schools, particularly in the Saudi Arabian context.
Details
Keywords
Saad Zafir Alshehri, Jenny Byrne and Marcus Grace
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how and why Saudi Arabian students engage in specific health risk behaviours (HRBs), and if there are gender differences.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how and why Saudi Arabian students engage in specific health risk behaviours (HRBs), and if there are gender differences.
Design/methodology/approach
In order to find out the situation regarding university students in Saudi Arabia, quantitative data were collected by administering questionnaires to 722 respondents, and qualitative data were collected using a series of interviews with 17 students.
Findings
The findings of this mixed methods sequential explanatory study suggest that lifestyle and personal factors, as well as economic, social, policy and other aspects of the environment played a significant role in influencing students’ HRBs. Recommendations for mitigating HRBs among these students and other youth in the Saudi Arabian context are provided.
Originality/value
This paper addresses an important gap in the research on HRBs among university students from the perspectives of students.
Details
Keywords
Youcef Mameche and Abdullah Masood
The present paper seeks to investigate the impact of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption on the foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Gulf Cooperation…
Abstract
Purpose
The present paper seeks to investigate the impact of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption on the foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region for the period 1980–2017. This study relies on the information asymmetry theory, according to which IFRS adoption, as a positive signal for investors, should attract more FDI. This research is crucial and presents an interesting framework for providing a major motivation for empirical insights since the macroeconomic evidence on the impact of IFRS adoption on FDI is still unclear in the GCC region and no empirical evidence has been provided in the existing related literature.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis was conducted based on panel data from GCC countries over the period 1980–2017 and using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) modeling approach and the pooled mean group (PMG) estimation method.
Findings
The findings indicate that the decision of adopting IFRS in GCC countries has a positive impact of 3% on FDI inflows in the short run. However, the adoption of IFRS in the region leads to a decrease of 10.4 % in FDI inflows in the long run.
Practical implications
These findings should be of a major interest to regulators and policymakers in GCC countries, practitioners and academic researchers, international investors, managers and any other interested groups about the accounting environment in GCC countries and other developing countries having an interest in the economic consequences of IFRS adoption, as a driver of FDI, in developing countries.
Originality/value
This investigation provides original empirical evidence on the effect of IFRS adoption on FDI inflows within the context of the GCC area. In fact, the current international literature is lacking empirical evidence on the effect of IFRS adoption on FDI inflows for the GCC countries as a whole. Furthermore, this study offers an original methodological contribution to the macroeconomic impact of IFRS adoption literature by using the PMG estimator since there has been no research works to date that has used this method of estimation.
Details