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The purpose of this study is to analyze the crowd dynamics of the visitors at Al-Masjid al-Nabawi during the most oversaturated period to characterize the most critical conditions and suggest technical solutions to accommodate visitors and provide them safe passage.

In this study, the time of entrance from the Al-Salam Gate to the tomb and from the tomb to the exit from the Al-Baqi’ Gate has been collected in the most oversaturated period. To be precise and to model the worst case, important crowd measures of effectiveness data are collected in the two holiest times considered by Muslims, during the holy month of Ramadan and the month of Dhul-Hijjah and during the busiest hours of the day to consider safety factors while proposing future solutions. The conventional manual head-counting method has been adopted to determine the crowd density and to carry out actual counting of the visitors from the recorded videos and photos captured by the legitimate authority.

The analyses revealed that the crowd dynamics in the month of Ramadan (peak) are statistically different from those for other times (off peak). In general, the crowd dynamics at all times on days other than Ramadan are almost identical.

The results of crowd characterization from this study are expected to help optimize crowd management in the Masjid at the most critical location and time. The data collected in this study could be used for future research to simulate similar crowd scenes or for even different crowd management scenarios in case of emergencies such as fire hazards or evacuation process.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of Total Quality Management (TQM) practices on the performance of employees working in higher education institutions (HEIs). It also examines the mechanism through which TQM practices affect the performance of employees.

Data for the current study were obtained from both public and private sector HEIs of Pakistan. In total, 400 questionnaires were distributed among the administrative and academic staff of 3 universities and 240 usable questionnaires were received. Data were analyzed through regression analysis using SPSS.

The results show that the TQM positively and significantly determines employee performance, and the mediating variables of job satisfaction and affective commitment. Both the mediating variables show a mediating role in the TQM/employee performance relationship.

The study has practical implications for universities’ top management to focus on TQM practices that help in building and enhancing satisfaction, commitment, as well as performance of the employees that could ultimately result in better performance of the universities.

This research is an addition to the current literature and the first attempt in this area to the best of authors’ knowledge. This study will help in identifying how important and beneficial it would be for the services organizations to implement the TQM practices and identifying the impact of TQM practices on employee’s job performance.

Few studies have explored the work challenges and career barriers faced by women in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Drawing on Institutional Theory, the purpose of this paper is to explore the experiences of employed Saudi women through in-depth interviews.

The paper employs a phenomenological qualitative approach drawing on 12 in-depth semi-structured interviews with Saudi women.

The findings reveal a significant number of prominent societal and organizational structural and attitudinal barriers to the advancement of Saudi women in paid employment. Among others, these barriers include a lack of mobility; the salience of gender stereotypes; gender discrimination in the workplace; limited opportunities for growth, development, and career advancement; excessive workload caused by a lack of family-work balance; and gender-based challenges related to dealing with pregnancy.

Despite the contributions of this study, it also has limitations, particularly the convenience sampling approach and the focus on the KSA. The small sample size means that the findings cannot be generalized to all women employed in Saudi Arabia and should be generalized within Saudi Arabia and other Arab societies only with caution.

The paper contributes to the understanding of work challenges and barriers of Saudi women in the workforce. It provides fresh insights to the issues surrounding women in Saudi Arabia and the need to address them in order to provide support for their career advancement.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of work engagement (vigor and dedication) between personal resources (self-efficacy and Big Five model) and job performance (task and contextual) rated by supervisor.

A sample of 364 nurses and their supervisors was used. Structural equation modeling with Amos-17 was used to obtain model fit with path significance of work engagement as mediator between personal resources and job performance.

The results found support for the proposed conceptual claim and confirm that work engagement with the two-factor model (vigor and dedication) mediates the relationship between personal resources (self-efficacy and Big five model) and with multidimensional construct of job performance (task and contextual performance) rated by the supervisor.

Past researches have never tested the two-factor model of work engagement (vigor and dedication) as mediating variable between personal resources (self-efficacy and big five model) and job performance rated by the supervisor.

The purpose of this paper is to understand emerging future orientations, women’s effective leadership and further examine its impact on government support in the context of higher education institutions.

A cross-sectional survey with 500 full-time women employees, working in Saudi Arabia Public University, was selected using a quantitative approach and analysed on the proposed hypotheses.

The initial prediction was that future orientations is significant on women’s leadership effectiveness as well as on government support, to the extent that it is associated with women’s leadership effectiveness where it tends to have a stronger relationship. Surprisingly, the indirect effect of government support on the relationship between future orientations on women’s leadership effectiveness was not significant.

Academic scholars/leaders in higher education should realize that the development of women leadership has a positive effect on future orientations. Policymakers and leaders of higher education institutions should focus on women leaders to improve their leadership effectiveness.

From the perspective of emerging nations, this paper extends the knowledge regarding the complexity leadership theory which explains the development of women’s leadership effectiveness and provides empirical evidence.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of work engagement (vigor and dedication) between job resources (job characteristics, supervisor and co-worker support, participation in decision making and job security) and job performance (task and contextual) rated by the supervisor.

A sample of 364 nurses and their supervisors was used. Structural equation modeling with Amos 17 was used to obtain a model fit with path significance of work engagement as the mediator between job resources and job performance.

The results found support for the proposed conceptual claim and confirm that work engagement with a two-factor model (vigor and dedication) mediates the relationship between job resources (job characteristics, supervisor and co-worker support, participation in decision making and job security) and with a multidimensional construct of job performance (task and contextual performance) rated by the supervisor.

The findings of this research will help human resource managers and professionals to further develop the working environment, provide job security and opportunities for employees to participate in decision making in a way that enhances employee work engagement, which, ultimately, improves employee job performance.

Past studies have not previously tested the two-factor model of work engagement (vigor and dedication) as the mediating variable between job resources (job characteristics, supervisor and co-worker support, participation in decision making and job security) and job performance rated by the supervisor.

Corrosion is a major concern for many industries that use metals as structural or functional materials, and the use of corrosion inhibitors is a widely accepted strategy to protect metals from deterioration in corrosive environments. Moreover, the toxic nature, non-biodegradability and price of most conventional corrosion inhibitors have encouraged the application of greener and more sustainable options, with natural and synthetic drugs being major actors. Hence, this paper aims to stress the capability of natural and synthetic drugs as manageable and sustainable, environmentally friendly solutions to the problem of metal corrosion.

In this review, the recent developments in the use of natural and synthetic drugs as corrosion inhibitors are explored in detail to highlight the key advancements and drawbacks towards the advantageous utilization of drugs as corrosion inhibitors.

Corrosion is a critical issue in numerous modern applications, and conventional strategies of corrosion inhibition include the use of toxic and environmentally harmful chemicals. As greener alternatives, natural compounds like plant extracts, essential oils and biopolymers, as well as synthetic drugs, are highlighted in this review. In addition, the advantages and disadvantages of these compounds, as well as their effectiveness in preventing corrosion, are discussed in the review.

This survey stresses on the most recent abilities of natural and synthetic drugs as viable and sustainable, environmentally friendly solutions to the problem of metal corrosion, thus expanding the general knowledge of green corrosion inhibitors.

This research assesses the present condition of Circular Economy (CE) practices in green hotels situated in two leading Middle Eastern nations, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Furthermore, it investigates the crucial impact of Industry 4.0 innovations in facilitating the relationship between the adoption of CE initiatives and hotel performance (HP).

Data from 59 green hotels in Saudi Arabia and 76 in Egypt were collected online, resulting in 400 complete forms, providing a diverse sample size suitable for PLS-SEM analysis using JASP software as a leading machine learning application.

The results demonstrate a notable correlation between CE strategies, including redesign, production, reuse and recovery in hotels and HP. Additionally, the impact of Industry 4.0 performance on the relationship between CE and HP is facilitated by four distinct CE loops.

This study offers practical insights into implementing CE practices in the hotel industry, aiding policymakers and establishments in enhancing sustainability and performance. Key stakeholders can use these findings to develop strategies that integrate CE initiatives, improve operational outcomes and align marketing efforts with sustainable practices.

This study is groundbreaking in its exploration of the relationship between CE and the transition to Industry 4.0 in the MENA region, analyzing the specific CE practices that contribute to high HP. The tested model expands on the Natural Resource-Based View and stakeholder theory by incorporating the critical role of Industry 4.0 innovations in the CE–HP nexus.

In the existing era, international trade is boosted by maritime freight movement. The academicians and Government are concerned about environmental contamination caused by maritime goods that transit global growth and development. Digital technologies like blockchain help the maritime freight business to stay competitive in the digital age. This study aims to illuminate blockchain technology (BCT) adoption aspects to alleviate early industry adoption restrictions.

This study adopts a two-stage approach comprising of structural equation modeling (SEM) with artificial neural networks (ANN) to analyze critical factors influencing the adoption of BCT in the sustainable maritime freight industry.

The SEM findings from this study illustrate that social, organizational, technological and infrastructual and institutional factors affect BCT execution. Furthermore, the ANN technique uses the SEM data to determine that sustainability enabled digital freight training (S3), initial investment cost (O5) and trust over digital technology (G1) are the most essential blockchain deployment factors.

The hybrid approach aims to help decision-makers and policymakers examine their organizational blockchain adoption goals to construct sustainable, efficient and effective maritime freight transportation.

This paper seeks to assess the capabilities and maturity of supply chain planning and product quality management systems implemented by the dairy industries in three different countries: Russia, Kazakhstan, and Lithuania.

Through a systematic analysis of statistical information, the descriptors of the logistics supply chain efficiency were identified. Directions for dairy supply chain management improvement were also highlighted. The study uses secondary statistics from open sources as a basis for the comparative analysis across a range of indicators, including the Logistics Performance Index (LPI), the dairy products quantity, the production volume of milk and dairy products, and other indicators characterizing the dairy industry.

The results of this study suggest the inconsistency and narrowness of single indexes and ranking, which are traditionally used to evaluate the logistics system. LPI values confirmed that the internal efficiency of the Lithuanian logistics system exceeds similar systems in Russia and Kazakhstan.

In this paper, ways to improve supply chain management of dairy products in the context of globalization have been determined, the prerequisites for the formation of the perishable goods market according to the balance of supply and demand and the institutional mechanism of this process, which represents important information for all interested economic agents, have been analyzed.

The proposed approach points to the importance of having detailed information on the supply chain infrastructure and the need to introduce a single information space based on modern information and communication technologies.