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The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between reported sigma levels and actual failure rates (FRs) of gamma-distributed processes. The added complexity of the non-normality behavior of the gamma distribution is analyzed for the case of the cycle time (CT) of a real procurement process from the oil and gas industry. Then, recommendations and guidelines for the application of Six Sigma methodology for the case study are proposed.

Sensitivity analysis is conducted to study the relationship between gamma distribution parameters and FRs considering different quality levels. Then, adjustments for implementing Six Sigma programs for gamma processes are proposed. These adjustments consist of first determining the appropriate probability distribution, the standard CT and the due date, followed by setting performance zones and improvement strategies on target gamma parameters that yield the minimal FR.

For gamma-distributed processes, simply reporting the sigma level is not sufficient to capture the main characteristics of the process. These characteristics include process FR, mean setting, shape, spread and amount of variation reduction (i.e. improvement effort) required. That is why caution must be exercised when dealing with one-sided non-normal quality characteristics such as CT.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time that the Six Sigma performance has been evaluated for gamma processes to analyze the link between Six Sigma FRs and gamma distribution parameters leading to the development of a modified Six Sigma methodology for non-normal processes.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) awareness on the attitudes of Bahraini women consumers in the age group of 18-55 and their buying behavior toward cosmetics products.

Quantitative method is used for focusing on Bahraini women consumers aged between 18-55 years. Primary data comprising consumer’s buying behavior and attitudes were collected through an online questionnaire and analyzed using software like SPSS and Microsoft Office Excel.

The empirical findings revealed that Bahraini women are not aware of CSR. This lack of awareness leads to the exclusion of CSR as a factor in their purchase decisions. However, the awareness of CSR can become a reason for avoiding purchase of specific cosmetics when the consumer discovers that the producer has been involved in socially irresponsible business practices. Moreover, Bahraini women do not seek CSR-related information voluntarily from the cosmetics industry.

This research paper is subject to sample size limitations; it focuses on women of a specific age group using cosmetics and is limited to the Kingdom of Bahrain. Survey method was used as the only primary data collection method.

This research provides a clear picture of how consumers behave in the absence of any or very little awareness of CSR. It can benefit cosmetics companies, both existing and new, for adopting future long-term marketing strategies to create public awareness of CSR.

This research highlights the importance of raising awareness of CSR in the Kingdom of Bahrain and the possible implications of such activities on consumers’ purchases of cosmetics products.

This paper contributes significantly toward information regarding Bahraini consumers’ lack of awareness of CSR and sheds light on consumers’ behavior toward cosmetics products in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

The present paper is an attempt to study Education 4.0 supported by Industry 4.0 tools and techniques. The main purpose of the study is to examine the acceptance and use of one of the internet of things (IoT)-based learning management systems, i.e. videoconferencing application (Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, GoToMeeting, WebEx), by academicians of higher education using the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model.

The study comprises 218 responses of academicians associated with higher education in the Sultanate of Oman. Descriptive and factor analysis of the collected data are employed using SPSS-26. Further, using Amos-21, the fit and validity indices of the measurement model are computed. Various relationships of the UTAUT structural model along with moderation effects of gender and nationality are tested.

The results suggest that performance expectancy, effort expectancy and social influence significantly predict behavioral intention. In turn, behavioral intention and facilitating conditions also significantly predict the use behavior of academicians for videoconferencing in higher education. Finally, gender moderates two out of four UTAUT relations, but nationality does not moderate any of these relations.

A lot of prior studies investigate several models to use technology-enabled pedagogy from educators' or students' perspectives. There are very limited studies that examine IoT-based learning tools within the UTAUT environment. Additionally, no study is available that considers UTAUT relations for the use of videoconferencing in higher education. Also, in the present study, one more moderator, i.e. nationality, is tested.

Although several different learning technologies have been integrated into the face-to-face (F2F) learning approach, the effective implementation of mobile learning (m-learning) is still at an early stage. This may be due to the lack of understanding factors that affect learners' acceptance of m-learning.

Considering the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) as a theoretical background, this research investigates m-learning adoption in Saudi Arabia. The research framework extends the UTAUT by including intrinsic motivation, mobile learning self-efficacy and perceived satisfaction. A total of 200 higher education students voluntarily participated in the research. The application of the partial least square technique indicated that the proposed model can predict m-learning adoption adequately in Saudi Arabia (R² = 0.73.8).

The research outcomes are significant for educational institutions and teachers to implement m-learning effectively. Many recommendations can be suggested to help enhance learners' willingness to adopt m-learning technology: Teachers need to design their courses in an interactive way and provide several different activities to ensure that learners obtain real benefits in their learning outcomes. When learners have positive perceptions about the use of this technology in the learning process, such perceptions should be supported by providing beneficial courses.

This research examines the effectiveness of the extended UTAUT to predict m-learning adoption in Saudi Arabia higher education. This could provide a significant contribution to the existing evidence about the validity of the model in different learning cultures and contexts.

This study aims to identify factors affecting tourists’ intention of using travel apps installed in their smartphones.

A questionnaire was developed largely based on the available scales in the published literature. A total of 389 participants responded to the survey, out of which 343 valid responses were obtained for statistical analysis.

Significant predictors of smartphone app usage intention included performance expectancy, social influence, price saving, perceived risk, perceived trust and prior usage habits. Usage behavior was largely mediated by usage intention, except in the case of habits. Contrary to the expectation, factors such as hedonistic motivation, facilitating conditions or effort expectancy did not impact usage intention or behavior.

The study gives app developers vital cues on tourist expectations from the apps. Oftentimes, developers tend to focus entirely on the material utility of their apps, neglecting every other factor influencing use. One particular implication is that despite tourism being a hedonistic activity, travel app usage behavior is not a hedonistic activity.

This is one of the few studies to examine adoption of smartphone travel apps in an emerging economy context by using extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology framework with additional constructs.

本研究旨在于鉴定游客安装旅游手机APP的影响因素。

本论文采用问卷形式进行采样。在389人的样本中，本研究共获得343有效数据以用于数据分析。

经本研究鉴定，影响游客安装手机旅游APP的因素包括：性能预期、社会影响力、节约成本、感知风险、使用习惯。其中，使用动机为影响因素（使用习惯除外）是作用于使用行为的中间变量。与原本研究预期相左，诸如享乐主义的动机、便利条件、以及努力期望等因素对使用动机和使用行为并没有显著作用。

本研究结果对于APP开发商将如何达到游客期望有着至关重要的启迪。开发商往往会专注于APP的物理性能方面的开发，忽视了其他影响APP使用的因素作用。本论文其中一个重要的实际应用价值在于，虽然旅游业是享乐主义的活动，旅游APP的使用行为却大相径庭。

本研究是少数几篇以新型经济体为背景，采用延伸整合型科技接受模式(UTAUT2)为理论框架，研究旅游APP使用情况的论文。

The level of mental alertness among students who are in need of study in the preparatory year – Imam Abdul Rahman Bin Faisal University. The level of self-competence of female students who are in need of study in the preparatory year – Imam Abdul Rahman Bin Faisal University. To learn about the relationship between mental alertness and self-competence among students who are in need of study in the preparatory year – Imam Abdul Rahman Bin Faisal University.

The researchers used the experimental method by following the experimental design with two measurements, tribal and posterior, for two groups, one experimental and the other control, due to its suitability to the nature of this research. Research sample: the research community included female students stumbling in the scientific path of Rayyan, the second semester of the academic year 2020–2021 AD, where the researchers selected the research sample in a deliberate manner from the stalled students of 25 students and a random sample of 10 female students was withdrawn to conduct the exploratory study. The number of the basic research sample is 15 female students. Reasons for selecting the search sample: all of the sample members are female students stumbling in the scientific path of Al-Rayyan for the academic year 2020–2021 and all sample members agree to apply the research.

The researchers refer to this to the virtual psychological guidance program-specific objectives, as well as the follow-up of the scientific principles and principles and the legalization of the measurement tools used in the research and the diversity of the program within the parts of the program and the training sought to develop the ability to manage pressures and emotions and training in social skills, awareness and self-awareness and the use of exercises relaxation, breathing and modern self-help, as well as the use of different methods and techniques such as the method of dialogue, discussion, awareness of feelings and problem-solving, which led to a change in behavior and personal characteristics, which led to a change in behavior and personal characteristics, leading to the development of behavior and personal characteristics.

The study aims to design a hypothetical psychological counseling program as a method of health care and its effect on the level of mental alertness and the level of self-efficacy of students who have struggled to study at the Deanship of the preparatory year – Imam Abdul Rahman bin Faisal University. The researchers used the experimental approach and applied this study on a sample of 25 students from the students who failed to study at the Deanship of the preparatory year for the second semester of the academic year 2020–2021 AD and the most important results were that the psychological counseling program as a method of health care had a positive effect on improving the level of mental alertness and the level of self-efficacy among the students who had failed to study. There is a positive correlation between the level of mental alertness and self-efficacy of struggling students as a way of health care.

This study analyses the effects of firm efficiency on firm performance and how controlling shareholders moderate the link between the two variables.

This study employs data envelopment analysis to estimate firm efficiency and the panel regression method to assess the hypothesised relationships among 1,295 firm-year observations of publicly listed firms in Malaysia from 2015 to 2019.

The results indicate that firm efficiency (technical efficiency, pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency) has mixed relationships with firm performance (return on assets, market-to-book ratio and operating cash flows), all of which are being moderated by controlling shareholdings.

This study highlights the importance of assessing firm efficiency as the key success factor for improving firm performance. Industrial managers should manage efficiently their resources or operating costs in achieving their corporate financial goals. Moreover, this study notes the presence of controlling shareholders, who can be either self-interested or company goal aligned.

This study suggests becoming efficient in transforming inputs into outputs is a prerequisite before investigating accrual-based and cash-based firm performance measures, and the presence of controlling shareholders matters in these regards.

This paper aims to investigates a novel design of a modular moving magnet linear oscillating actuator (MMM-LOA) with the capability of coupling modules, based on their application and space requirements.

Proposed design comprised of modules, and modules are separated by using nonmagnetic materials. Movable part of the proposed design of LOA is composed of permanent magnets (PMs) having axial magnetization direction and tubular structure. Stator of the proposed design is composed of one coil individually in a module. Dimensions of the design parameters are optimized through parametric analysis using COMSOL Multi Physics software. This design is analyzed up to three modules and their response in term of electromagnetic (EM) force and stroke are presented. Influence of adding modules is analyzed for both directions of direct current (DC) and alternating input loadings.

Proposed LOA shows linear increase in magnitude of EM force by adding modules. Motor constant of the investigated LOA is 264 N/A and EM force per PM mass is 452.389 N/kg, that shows significant improvement. Moreover, proposed LOA operates in feasible region of stroke for compressor application. Furthermore, this design uses axially magnetized PMs which are low cost and available in compact tubular structure.

Proposed LOA shows the influence of adding modules and its effect in term of EM force is analyzed for DC and alternating current (AC). Moreover, overall performance and structural topology is compared with state-of-the-art designs of LOA. Improvement with regard of motor constant and EM force per PM mass shows originality and scope of this paper.

The breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments all over the globe to bring radical changes to all walks of life. Strict lockdowns are not only adversely affecting the social, economic, and psychological wellbeing of individuals but also questioning the sustainability of most businesses. In wake of the current scenario, this study is aimed at exploring how the COVID-19 pandemic is influencing the sustainability of entrepreneurship particularly from a female perspective and further providing insights into the role of Islamic financial institutions in the sustainability of businesses during COVID-19.

This is a qualitative study that takes social constructivism approach to study the underlying phenomenon. Semi-structured interviews are conducted to collect primary data. Secondary data are also utilized in this study to theoretically define various concepts relating to entrepreneurial sustainability. The application of thematic analysis revealed various risks associated with sustainability. The interviews reveal the ground realities and tell us about the hardships being faced by the entrepreneurs due to ongoing crises. The participants of the study also shed light on the role of Islamic financial institutions during the pandemic.

The study results revealed that it may look impossible for women entrepreneurs to halt or avoid the adverse consequences of the pandemic; however, a few female entrepreneurs strived to guard their existing portfolios with the help of Islamic microfinance institutions. Whereas, several women, especially those running home-based businesses, lost their income streams. Despite these rapid challenges, most female entrepreneurs are working on inventive online systems to sustain their business activities during the crisis. Finally, guidelines are suggested which can help achieve sustainability of the entrepreneurial startups.

The outcomes of this study are expedient for funding agencies, government authorities and Islamic financial institutions as well as for non-government institutions to establish sustainable and broader policies for women to become successful entrepreneurs during severe disasters like COVID-19. Moreover, the study is a helpful tool for women entrepreneurs to avert the worst impact of the pandemic with the help of Islamic microfinance institutions. The themes of this study help generate realistic information to appraise the strategies to create facilitating business environments that drive the women to carry out the entrepreneurial activity during any crisis like the COVID-19.

The results of this study provide evidence that crisis can be anticipated up to some extent if entrepreneurs become able to take proactive decisions in case of expected or identifiable threats. The study may also help the women entrepreneurs to comprehend the serious consequences of the pandemic by shifting their mode of financing to Islamic finance. Although this pandemic is a cause of physical discomfort instead this research may encourage the female entrepreneurs not to lose heart, just find the potential opportunities for their home-based and small businesses and manage funding from the Islamic microfinance institutions.

The study adds to the existing literature on entrepreneurial sustainability with a particular focus on the role of Islamic microfinance institutions for women entrepreneurs' sustainability in Pakistan. Secondly, the study employs the entrepreneurial sustainability model (ESM) that, according to the best of our knowledge, has not been used by the researchers earlier to study the given research phenomenon. Thirdly, the study findings are expedient for funding agencies, government authorities and financial institutions as well as for non-government institutions to establish sustainable and broader policies for women to become successful entrepreneurs during disasters like COVID-19.

This paper aims to propose a new boundary condition and a web-spline basis of finite element space approximation to remedy the problems of constraints due to homogeneous and non-homogeneous; Dirichlet boundary conditions. This paper considered the two-dimensional linear elasticity equation of Navier–Lamé with the condition CAB. The latter allows to have a total insertion of the essential boundary condition in the linear system obtained; without using a numerical method as Lagrange multiplier. This study have developed mixed finite element; method using the B-splines Web-spline space. These provide an exact implementation of the homogeneous; Dirichlet boundary conditions, which removes the constraints caused by the standard; conditions. This paper showed the existence and the uniqueness of the weak solution, as well as the convergence of the numerical solution for the quadratic case are proved. The weighted extended B-spline; approach have become a much more workmanlike solution.

In this paper, this study used the implementation of weighted finite element methods to solve the Navier–Lamé system with a new boundary condition CA, B (Koubaiti et al., 2020), that generalises the well-known basis, especially the Dirichlet and the Neumann conditions. The novel proposed boundary condition permits to use a single Matlab code, which summarises all kind of boundary conditions encountered in the system. By using this model is possible to save time and programming recourses while reap several programs in a single directory.

The results have shown that the Web-spline-based quadratic-linear finite elements satisfy the inf–sup condition, which is necessary for existence and uniqueness of the solution. It was demonstrated by the existence of the discrete solution. A full convergence was established using the numerical solution for the quadratic case. Due to limited regularity of the Navier–Lamé problem, it will not change by increasing the degree of the Web-spline. The computed relative errors and their rates indicate that they are of order 1/H. Thus, it was provided their theoretical validity for the numerical solution stability. The advantage of this problem that uses the CA, B boundary condition is associated to reduce Matlab programming complexity.

The mixed finite element method is a robust technique to solve difficult challenges from engineering and physical sciences using the partial differential equations. Some of the important applications include structural mechanics, fluid flow, thermodynamics and electromagnetic fields (Zienkiewicz and Taylor, 2000) that are mainly based on the approximation of Lagrange. However, this type of approximation has experienced a great restriction in the level of domain modelling, especially in the case of complicated boundaries such as that in the form of curvilinear graphs. Recently, the research community tried to develop a new way of approximation based on the so-called B-spline that seems to have superior results in solving the engineering problems.