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The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new data dissemination model in order to improve the performance of transmission in VANET. It proposes a protocol named Epidemic and Transmission-Segment-based Geographic Routing (ETSGR) and outlining the issues due to high mobility of nodes and uncertain physical topologies in the network. The proposed ETSGR is mainly used to analyze the vehicle state, direction, distance, traffic density and link quality of the network.

This research work based on ETSGR protocol mainly uses epidemic algorithm in order to find the vehicle state based on susceptible, infected and recovered (SIR) model. Furthermore, the vehicle position and finding the head node in the network is utilized using the transmission segment protocol based on geographic routing and analyses each node to form the segments and find the destination to transmit the data in timely manner.

The paper provides the enhancement of the performance based on some metrics such as end-to-end delay that obtained 0.62%, data throughput as 32.3%, packet delivery ratio as 67% and one-hop communication as 13%. The proposed ETSGR protocol analyzes the state of the vehicle correctly and each node segmented to transmit the data with the timely manner and obtaining reliable performance even with high mobility of nodes in the network.

The proposed ETSGR protocol may have some limitation when considering the timing which should improve even in increasing many number of vehicles and different road segments.

This paper includes some suggestions for the practical deployment of the approach in which a real-time traffic analysis can be evaluated for taking prior actions during an emergency situation and proper dissemination of data in timely manner can help utilize the guidance of proper planning of roads.

This research fulfills an enhanced protocol to improve the performance of data dissemination.

Nowadays, universities increasingly consider reputation as a key component for improving quality and rankings. A positive reputation opens doors to added value and diverse opportunities. This paper aims to explore Middle Eastern higher education managers' perceptions of university reputation components.

Given the significance of this concept in Middle Eastern universities, a descriptive phenomenological qualitative approach is adopted to identify these key components. The study includes interviews with university managers, and data are collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed thematically.

The findings reveal that, from the perspective of higher education managers, university reputation is influenced by four main components: university management and leadership, quality and performance, identity and image and social responsibility. These components are tailored to the context of Middle Eastern countries.

Practical implications are clearly laid out in the form of four key themes for higher education managers in Middle Eastern countries to manage reputation.

The study’s outcomes can be used as a guide for university managers in developing countries to change the situation in their favor and achieve great success in the competitive condition of universities by planning and making policies in this direction. Also, the managers of higher education in the Middle Eastern countries can take advantage of the components of this study to improve the quality and quantity of their universities and take an important step towards increasing the university’s reputation at the international level.

The results of five experiments on design of work stations are discussed. The first two experiments investigated the effects of work surface height on performance, the third investigated eye‐hand coordination at two heights and directions of movement, the fourth investigated both height and direction of movement, and the fifth studied the effect of angle and direction (in versus out) of movement. It was found that the optimum height is about one inch below the elbow. The effect of angle at a height is important: the best moves for a right‐hand movement are at 45 degrees.

The “welfare reform” narrative of successive Conservative-led UK Government emphasises public spending reductions, individual responsibility and strengthening of benefit conditionality. The purpose of this paper is to cast light on how this narrative is challenged and disrupted by the Scottish Government through their articulation of a social democratic welfare state imaginary.

The study draws together a decentred governance perspective that emphasises ideational tradition for understanding (re)construction of governance (Bevir, 2013, p. 27) with critical discourse analysis to examine how welfare interpretations/representations are carried into the policy and public arena. The Scottish Government documents are deconstructed to interrogate the ideas and form of their emergent discourse and its relation to the independence referendum and welfare governance reform.

Responding to changing socio-economic contexts and welfare governance, the Scottish Government has developed a discourse of modernisation rooted in British and Scandinavian social democratic traditions. Fusing (civic) nationalism with social wage and social investment concepts, they conjure up imaginaries of a prosperous, solidaristic, egalitarian welfare state as a feasible future reality, recuperating “welfare” as a collective endeavour and positioning a maldistribution of power/resources between groups and constituent countries of the UK as the “problem”.

The paper is of value to those interested in how changes to centralised-hierarchical welfare governance can open new spaces for actors at different levels of government to articulate counter-hegemonic discourses and practices. Its originality lies in the analysis of how the Scottish Government has reworked social democratic traditions to weave together a welfare imaginary that directly contests the problem-solution narrative of successive Conservative-led UK Governments.

This study aims to investigate the role of social capital in Iranian agricultural students' acquisition of generic skills. For this purpose, the effect of various social capital dimensions on students' generic skills development was examined.

A survey was conducted among 190 third- and fourth-year undergraduate students in one of the colleges of agriculture and natural resources in Iran. The partial least square method was used to examine the relationships among various social capital dimensions (i.e. social values, social trust, social networks, social cohesion, social participation, social communications and information sharing) with students' generic skills.

The findings showed that social networks and social participation are effective factors in the generic skills development of students. A model designed for the development of students' generic skills based on their social capital level predicted up to 33% of generic skills' variances. Furthermore, the multi-group analysis showed that males and females vary on how various social capital dimensions affect their generic skills. In this respect, the social participation dimension had a significantly greater impact on female students' generic skills, whereas the generic skills of male students were influenced more by the social cohesion dimension.

Developing generic skills through social capital can be considered as an effective strategy in countries that do not have formal programs for developing students' generic skills. Additionally, higher education policymakers should present a more supportive approach for developing generic skills of female students through social participation in the campuses.

So far, no study has examined the relationships among various social capital dimensions and students' generic skills in Iran. The picture is even more unclear when it comes to the differences between male and female students. The results of this study confirmed the importance of social networks and social participation in the universities to support students and to improve their generic skills and, consequently, their employability competencies. Furthermore, it could be inferred that male and female students have similarities and also differences in terms of the effect of social capital on developing generic skills that can provide a path for future studies.

Nowadays, application of biopolymers on geotechnical engineering works is booming to avoid the harsh effects on environment by using conventional methods for soil treatment. In this present study, xanthan gum (XG) is used as a biopolymer to improve dispersive properties of the soils because these soils are easily prone to erosion, which may lead to the damage of many hydraulic structures.

In the present study, attempts are made to reduce the dispersive potential and increase the Strength and erosion resistance by treating the soils with various percentages of XG (0.5%, 1%, 1.5% and 2%). To assess the dispersive potential and erosion resistance of soils, tests such as double hydrometer test, pinhole erosion test, crumb test and cylinder dispersion test were conducted. Further tests were expanded for its geotechnical characteristics such as Atterberg’s limits, standard proctor test, unconfined compressive strength test, one-dimensional consolidation for various curing days. Scanning electron microscopy analysis was also carried out to know the microscopic view towards its particle orientation and bindings. Chemical tests such as sodium absorption ratio, total dissolved solids (TDS) and percentage sodium (PS), electronic conductivity and pH tests were also conducted.

The results revealed that there is a reduction in the dispersive potential of XG treated soils for all the combinations. Addition of XG decreased the PS in the soil as a result dispersivity of soil decreased. Strength and erosion resistance of soil increased with the addition of XG and 1% XG was observed to be the optimum percentage for stabilizing these types of soils.

These results will be very much helpful for engineers when they come across with dispersive soils for better handling and management.

The originality of this study was an attempt towards sustainable development by treating dispersive soils with XG and effects on various geotechnical and dispersive characterizes.

This study proposes a new comprehensive model of entrepreneurial intentions (EIs) that enhances the understanding of the crucial entrepreneurial personality traits. This study also examines how entrepreneurial family history, gender and discipline moderate the relationship between the key entrepreneurial personality traits and EIs of university students.

The study introduces a new combination of important entrepreneurial personality traits, theoretically following the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). The data are collected using an entrepreneurial intention questionnaire and analysed with structural equation modelling (SEM) over a sample of 297 university students from Pakistan.

The findings highlight that one of the notable contributions to assessing EI is the negative impact of foreseeable challenges (FCs), resulting in negative EIs among university students of our sample. The authors also found significant moderating roles of gender, discipline and entrepreneurial family history in strengthening the relationship between entrepreneurial traits and EIs.

The study contributes both to the existing empirical and theoretical literature by examining a key set of entrepreneurial personality traits leading to enhance EIs. The results may also assist academicians to discover new ways for developing entrepreneurial traits among university students.

The purpose of this paper is to validate the self-perceived employability (SPE) scale (Rothwell et al., 2008) and explore its relationship with sociodemographic variables in Spain. The SPE is an employability scale designed to examine undergraduates’ expectations and self-perceptions of employability. The SPE includes internal and external dimensions of employability and has been satisfactorily tested in a variety of contexts.

The sample comprised 1,502 Spanish undergraduate students from a broad range of subject areas. Confirmatory factor analyses and exploratory factor analyses were conducted. Finally, the Spanish-self-perceived employability (S-SPE) was studied in relation to a set of demographic variables.

The results revealed similar findings to those reported by Rothwell et al. (2008), namely, four factors labeled: the external labor market’s demand for people in my subject field, my confidence in my skills and abilities, the status and credibility of my field of study and my engagement with my studies and academic performance. The external and internal employability dimensions were obtained by forcing a two-factor solution. Men scored higher than women in the S-SPE; science students scored higher than arts and humanities undergraduates and students with higher perceived income levels scored higher than those with lower perceived income levels.

The S-SPE can be used with Spanish speaking university students (Spanish being the second most widely spoken language in the world) and allows cross-cultural comparisons of undergraduates’ SPE. The S-SPE may help guide the development of social policies and programs designed to enhance employability. It can be used with undergraduates as a diagnostic instrument in career counseling, and as a self-assessment instrument which will enable undergraduates to acquire a greater degree of self-knowledge in relation to their employability.

The purpose of this study is to validate the psychometric properties of the Self-Perceived Employability Scale in the context of the United Arab Emirates (UAE-SPE) and to verify the model fit of the UAE-SPE and University Commitment Scale (UC) (Rothwell et al., 2008) for undergraduate students.

A cross-sectional survey study was carried out to collect the data using a web-based survey tool (Qualtrics) at a public university in the UAE. The sample was 646 undergraduate students.

As a result of the factor analysis, the study validated three factors of SPE for undergraduate students in the UAE that explain their perceptions of their university reputation, their field of study, the state of the UAE labour market and confidence in their skills. Confirmatory factor analysis verified good model fit indices of UAE-SPE and the UC scale. In addition, the study found a statistically significant positive relationship between the UC scale and the three factors of UAE-SPE.

Currently, there is a scarcity of published research on self-perceived employability amongst undergraduate students in higher education institutions in the UAE and the Arab region. This article not only contributes to research on this topic but also validates two scales, allowing cross-cultural comparisons of SPE and UC of undergraduate students in the Arab region and worldwide.

The purpose of this paper is to carry out erosion wear investigation on high-velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF)-deposited 86WC-10Co4Cr and synergistic Ni/Chromia powder (i.e. 80Ni-20Cr₂O₃) on AISI 316L.

Design of experiments-artificial neural network (DOE-ANN) methodology was adopted to calculate the erosion wear. Taguchi’s orthogonal array L16 (42) was used to perform set-of-erosion experiments followed by lower-the-better rule. The artificial neural network (ANN) model is used on erosion wear data obtained from the experiments.

Experimental results indicate that 86WC-10Co4Cr provided better erosion wear resistance as compared to Ni/Chromia. The erosion wear of 86WC-10Co4Cr and synergistic Ni/Chromia coatings increases with an increase in time duration, solid concentration and time. The magnitude of erosion generated by ashes was comparatively lower than sand. The arithmetic mean roughness (Ra) of finished AISI 316L, 86WC-10Co4Cr and Ni/Chromia coating was found as 0.46 ± 0.13, 6.50 ± 0.16 and 7.04 ± 0.23 µm, respectively. Surface microhardness of AISI 316L, 86WC-10Co4Cr and Ni/Chromia coating was found as 197 ± 18, 1,156 ± 18 and 1,021± 21 HV, respectively.

The present results can be useful for estimation of erosion wear in slurry pumps used in mining industry for the conveying of sand and in thermal power plants for the conveying of ashes to the dyke area.

The erosion wear of HVOF-sprayed 86WC-10Co4Cr and Synergistic Ni/Chromia powders was studied experimentally as well as predicted by the ANN model, and wear mechanisms are well discussed by scanning electron micrographs.