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The purpose of this paper is to explore not only the academic measures such as grade point average of success of college-to-university transfer programs (Pathway Programs), but also the social-cultural facilitators and barriers throughout the students’ Pathway experience.

The experience of students and academic advisors moving between Queensdale College and North Star University (NSU) (pseudonyms) were analyzed using a mixed-methods approach including analysis of data from online surveys, secondary data (course performance), and focus group interviews.

Students who are able to enter the Pathway Programs at NSU perform on average better than their four-year traditional program peers. There remain a number of social-cultural barrier which need to be addressed to improve the overall experience of these transfer students.

The results from this study will assist the administrative decision makers in designing Pathways and their associated communication plans in order to meet the needs of the students with tools and supports that are both perceived by the students as valuable and are improving their Pathway experience and ultimately their academic performance.

The move to develop Pathway Programs in Ontario is a new phenomenon, even in provinces where this is more common, few studies exist which consider the social-cultural aspects of the student journey between the two institutions. This study moves beyond the standard academic performance data and provides insight into the critical role played by the social aspects in higher education experiences.

Complexity is the main challenge for present and future manufacturers. Assembly complexity heavily affects a product’s final quality in the fully automated assembly system. This paper aims to propose a new method to assess the complexity of modern automated assembly system at the assembly design stage with respect to the characteristics of both manufacturing system and each single component to be mounted. Aiming at validating the predictive model, a regression model is additionally presented to estimate the statistic relationship between the real assembly defect rate and predicted complexity of the fully automated assembly system.

The research herein extends the S. N. Samy and H. A. ElMaraghy’s model and seeks to redefine the predictive model using fuzzy evaluation against a fully automated assembly process at the assembly design stages. As the evaluation based on the deterministic scale with accurate crisp number can hardly reflect the uncertainty of the judgement, fuzzy linguistic variables are used to measure the interaction among influence factors. A dependency matrix is proposed to estimate the assembly complexity with respect to the interactions between mechanic design, electric design and process factors and main functions of assembly system. Furthermore, a complexity attributes matrix of single part is presented, to map the relationship between all individual parts to be mounted and three major factors mentioned in the dependency matrix.

The new proposed model presents a formal quantification to predict assembly complexity. It clarifies that how the attributes of assembly system and product components complicate the assembly process and in turn influence the manufacturing performance. A center bolt valve in the camshaft of continue variable valve timing is used to demonstrate the application of the developed methodology in this study.

This paper presents a developed method, which can be used to improve the design solution of assembly concept and optimize the process flow with the least complexity.

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a layer-by-layer technique that helps to create physical objects from a three-dimensional data set. Fused deposition modeling is a widely used material extrusion (MEX)-based AM technique that melts thermoplastic filaments and selectively deposits them over a build platform. Despite its simplicity and affordability, it suffers from various printing defects, with partial warping being a prevalent issue. Warpage is a physical deformation caused by thermal strain incompatibility that results in the bending of the printed part away from the build platform. This study aims to investigate the warpage characteristics of printed parts based on geometrical parameters and build orientations to reduce the warpage extent.

Cuboidal samples of thermoplastic acrylonitrile butadiene styrene ranging from 5 to 80 mm were printed using a commercial MEX system. A Taguchi method-based design of experiment trial was performed to optimize the placement and orientation of the part for minimal warpage.

It was found that a lower value of the “in-plane” aspect ratio and a more prominent part thickness are favorable for minimal warpage. The part should always be placed near the region with the highest temperature (least thermal gradient) to minimize the warpage.

A novel dimensionless parameter (Y) is proposed that should be set to a minimum value to achieve minimal warpage. The results of this study can help improve the design and part placement for the MEX technique, thus elevating the print quality.

Identifying negative attitudes toward mental illness among students on nursing undergraduate degrees can help to design teaching strategies able to reduce the stigma attached to this condition. This study aims to assess attitudes toward mental health and intentions regarding future behavior in university nursing students initiating their training in the treatment of mental health problems (MHPs).

A descriptive, observational and cross-sectional study was designed. A sample of 162 nursing students completed scales to assess their attitudes toward mental health, stigma, predicted behavior and social desirability. Simple and a multiple linear regression was performed adjusted for the social desirability scale result.

Nursing students with previous experience of MHPs presented positive attitudes and behavioral intentions toward mental illness. Those who had no such experience before their training in mental health nursing presented certain stigmatizing attitudes. Attitudes toward MHPs may be affected by stigma and also by social desirability bias. The training in mental health care given to nursing students should aim to reduce its influence to help them carry out their future duties efficiently and compassionately.

This study demonstrates the relevance of university teaching plans, which should place special emphasis on promoting knowledge and developing skills and attitudes in nursing students undergoing training in mental health care to ensure optimal levels of performance in their future careers.

The overall goal of this chapter is to critique the purported business case for corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability, which persists as a major contentious force in convincing companies to become more sustainable. Extant literature on sustainability, CSR and Socially Responsible Investments (SRIs) generally tends to focus on company perspectives decision-making and approaches. This chapter considers an alternative and under-developed perspective and examines CSR from a consumer/public perspective situated in a German context.

This chapter builds a comprehensive literature review and employs a research philosophical point of view underpinned by a social constructionist stance. It examines indicators and attitudes towards sustainability and sustainable consumption together with socially responsible investments and considers whether the buying patterns of German consumers may serve as a rationalisation for a potential business case for CSR and sustainability.

While the awareness of consumers of CSR in Germany towards sustainability tends to be generally relatively prima facie high, it is nevertheless noticeable that German consumers are predominately reluctant to pay a price premium for product possessing a superior sustainability performance. From the alternative lens of SRIs, rather than being a replete and widespread phenomenon, they are still largely a niche market. For these reasons, the potential for the existence of a business case for sustainability, CSR and SRIs tends in reality to be low, in spite of some populist or survey reports and perceptions.

The chapter links a consumer perspective with the business case for CSR. Moreover, it focuses on the German context which tends to be underrepresented in international research.

The study aims at reviewing a synthesis of disclosure, transparency, and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) implementation in an attempt to provide directions for future research. Prior research overwhelmingly supports that the IFRS adoption or effective implementation of IFRS will enhance high-quality financial reporting, transparency, enhance the country’s investment environment, and foreign direct investment (FDI) (Dayanandan, Donker, Ivanof, & Karahan, 2016; Gláserová, 2013; Muniandy & Ali, 2012). However, some researchers provide conflicting evidence that developing countries implementing IFRS are probably not going to encounter higher FDI inflows (Gheorghe, 2009; Lasmin, 2012). It has also been argued that the IFRS adoption decreases the management earnings in countries with high levels of financial disclosure. In general, the study indicates that the adoption of IFRS has improved the financial reporting quality. The common law countries have strong rules to protect investors, strict legal enforcement, and high levels of transparency of financial information. From the extensive structured review of literature using the Scopus database tool, the study reviewed 105 articles, and in particular, the topic-related 94 articles were analysed. All 94 articles were retrieved from a range of 59 journals. Most of the articles (77 of 94) were published 2010–2018. The top five journals based on the citations are Journal of Accounting Research (187 citations), Abacus (125 citations), European Accounting Review (107 citations), Journal of Accounting and Economics (78 citations), and Accounting and Business Research (66 citations). The most-cited authors are Daske, Hail, Leuz, and Verdi (2013); Daske and Gebhardt (2006); and Brüggemann, Hitz, and Sellhorn (2013). Surprisingly, 65 of 94 articles did not utilise the theory. In particular, four theories have been used frequently: agency theory (15), economic theory (5), signalling theory (2), and accounting theory (2). The study calls for future research on the theoretical implications and policy-related research on disclosure and transparency which may inform the local and international standard setters.

This study investigated the moderating role of democracy in the relationship between corruption and foreign direct investment. The purpose of this study is to understand whether corruption has different effects on the location decisions of multinational enterprises (MNEs) depending on the regime type.

This study explored how institutional context influenced the impacts of corruption on the location decisions of MNEs, specifically using a sample of Chinese cross-border mergers and acquisitions between 2000 and 2020.

This study assessed the role of democracy in the relationship between corruption and the location decisions of Chinese MNEs. In general, this study found that Chinese MNEs were hindered by host country corruption, but that these detrimental effects were weaker in the presence of more effective democratic institutions.

This study contributes to the literature on institutional factors in international business through its simultaneous investigation of the effects of both democracy and corruption on the location decisions of MNEs. Moreover, there is a prevailing view that Chinese MNEs are willing to enter countries with high corruption, but the results of this study indicate that they are risk-averse in ways similar to their Western counterparts.

This paper focuses on the competencies and skills needed in preparing graduates of urban planning schools to meet the real-world challenges of professional practices. The present work explores the gap between skills and knowledge required to excel in the urban planning discipline and professional practices.

This research utilises a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods. This study depends on collecting data from descriptive and statistical analysis based on two streams. The first comes from a survey launched among students of urban planning. The second is interviews scheduled with academics that are also practitioners.

The results outline the missing correlation between what Egyptian students learn in schools of urban planning and professional practices. The findings show that academics, students, and graduates share the same experiences about the education system. Academics agreed that graduates need to be more skilful rather than knowledgeable. The discussion shows that the undefined role of the planner in Egypt influenced the mismatching between the current demand and supply of competencies and skills offered by planning schools. The concluded remarks mentioned that communication skills and negotiation skills are the most crucial skills for graduates, in addition to information finding and data-processing skills.

This research has particular advantages in presenting a model of competencies as results of scanning the expectations of Egyptian students and new graduates vs professional practices. The contribution is in answering the question of what skills students of the urban planning programs should learn in order to meet the continued changes in professional practices.

Religious tendencies have increased in post-Arab Spring countries, raising the question of whether this geopolitical event has affected consumers' orientations towards foreign products, including those that have positive country-of-origin image. This paper investigates the effect of Islamic religiosity on the relationship between consumer ethnocentrism and buying intention towards products from a developed country (France) in an Arab Spring country (Tunisia).

A survey questionnaire was lunched and data was collected from 492 Tunisian consumers living in both rural and urban areas. Research hypotheses were tested using a Partial Least Square- Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) method.

Tunisian consumers do not associate their ethnocentric feelings towards French products with their Islamic religiosity. Results show that both highly and moderately religious Tunisians trust French products because of their high country-of-origin image and their potential social connotations.

The results of this paper contribute to the literature that focuses on understanding consumption behaviours in developing countries in the aftermath of geopolitical events such as the Arab Spring.