6,764 research outputs found
An empirical investigation of the relationship between integration, dynamic capabilities and performance in supply chains
This research aimed to develop an empirical understanding of the relationships between integration,
dynamic capabilities and performance in the supply chain domain, based on which, two conceptual
frameworks were constructed to advance the field. The core motivation for the research was that, at
the stage of writing the thesis, the combined relationship between the three concepts had not yet
been examined, although their interrelationships have been studied individually.
To achieve this aim, deductive and inductive reasoning logics were utilised to guide the qualitative
study, which was undertaken via multiple case studies to investigate lines of enquiry that would
address the research questions formulated. This is consistent with the authorâs philosophical
adoption of the ontology of relativism and the epistemology of constructionism, which was considered
appropriate to address the research questions. Empirical data and evidence were collected, and
various triangulation techniques were employed to ensure their credibility. Some key features of
grounded theory coding techniques were drawn upon for data coding and analysis, generating two
levels of findings. These revealed that whilst integration and dynamic capabilities were crucial in
improving performance, the performance also informed the former. This reflects a cyclical and
iterative approach rather than one purely based on linearity. Adopting a holistic approach towards
the relationship was key in producing complementary strategies that can deliver sustainable supply
chain performance.
The research makes theoretical, methodological and practical contributions to the field of supply
chain management. The theoretical contribution includes the development of two emerging
conceptual frameworks at the micro and macro levels. The former provides greater specificity, as it
allows meta-analytic evaluation of the three concepts and their dimensions, providing a detailed
insight into their correlations. The latter gives a holistic view of their relationships and how they are
connected, reflecting a middle-range theory that bridges theory and practice. The methodological
contribution lies in presenting models that address gaps associated with the inconsistent use of
terminologies in philosophical assumptions, and lack of rigor in deploying case study research
methods. In terms of its practical contribution, this research offers insights that practitioners could
adopt to enhance their performance. They can do so without necessarily having to forgo certain
desired outcomes using targeted integrative strategies and drawing on their dynamic capabilities
WHY DO REGIONAL SOCIAL POLICIES FAIL? Gendered Institutions and the Maputo Plan of Action
In 2005, the African Union (AU) developed a regional policy on sexual reproductive health (SRH) and rights aimed at improving member statesâ SRH delivery, the Maputo Plan of Action (MPoA). It initially ran from 2006 to 2015 and was then extended to 2016 to 2030. However, the MPoAâs implementation has been slow and largely ineffective. This thesis explores the factors behind this ineffectiveness despite the apparent commitment to improving SRH delivery on the part of the AU member states as demonstrated by their collective development and adoption of the policy.
The thesis addresses reproductive health policy from a social policy perspective and begins its investigation by exploring existing regionalism literature that provides insights into why regionally integrated social policies oftentimes fail. The thesis finds that existing literature highlights specific institutional structures and path dependencies as factors that undermine regionalismâs efforts in social policy. In this thesis, I argue that these explanations, while relevant, offer only part of the story, because they do not consider the gendered character of regional organisations and the impact of this on policy formulation and implementation processes. I address this gap by exploring the role of gendered institutions in the design and delivery of regional social policies using the MPoA as a case study.
To develop this analysis, I use Feminist Institutionalism (FI) to study the gendered factors behind the ineffectiveness of the MPoA. Overall, I argue that the design, development and implementation processes of the MPoA are shaped by the gendered institutions of its host organisation, the AU, which undermine its priority setting, strategy development and resource allocation processes by undervaluing and trivialising the needs of women and girls, contributing to weak delivery. These gendered institutions are indicated by the exclusion of women in the AU structure, gendered sharing of roles and responsibilities and unequal opportunities to participate and influence AU processes. The thesis therefore concludes that the MPoA fails to deliver on SRH for women and girls due to the underlying gendered institutions of the AU that shaped the policy and drives in implementation in gendered ways. More broadly, the thesis concludes that regionally integrated social policies oftentimes fail because of the gendered character of regional organisations, which undermines policy formulation and implementation processes
Religion, Education, and the âEastâ. Addressing Orientalism and Interculturality in Religious Education Through Japanese and East Asian Religions
This work addresses the theme of Japanese religions in order to rethink theories and practices pertaining to the field of Religious Education. Through an interdisciplinary framework that combines the study of religions, didactics and intercultural education, this book puts the case study of Religious Education in England in front of two âchallengesâ in order to reveal hidden spots, tackle unquestioned assumptions and highlight problematic areas. These âchallengesâ, while focusing primarily on Japanese religions, are addressed within the wider contexts of other East Asian traditions and of the modern historical exchanges with the Euro-American societies. As result, a model for teaching Japanese and other East Asian religions is discussed and proposed in order to fruitfully engage issues such as orientalism, occidentalism, interculturality and critical thinking
2023-2024 Boise State University Undergraduate Catalog
This catalog is primarily for and directed at students. However, it serves many audiences, such as high school counselors, academic advisors, and the public. In this catalog you will find an overview of Boise State University and information on admission, registration, grades, tuition and fees, financial aid, housing, student services, and other important policies and procedures. However, most of this catalog is devoted to describing the various programs and courses offered at Boise State
Cyberbullying in educational context
Kustenmacher and Seiwert (2004) explain a manâs inclination to resort to technology in his interaction with the environment and society. Thus, the solution to the negative consequences of Cyberbullying in a technologically dominated society is represented by technology as part of the technological paradox (Tugui, 2009), in which man has a dual role, both slave and master, in the interaction with it. In this respect, it is noted that, notably after 2010, there have been many attempts to involve artificial intelligence (AI) to recognize, identify, limit or avoid the manifestation of aggressive behaviours of the CBB type. For an overview of the use of artificial intelligence in solving various problems related to CBB, we extracted works from the Scopus database that respond to the criterion of the existence of the words âcyberbullyingâ and âartificial intelligenceâ in the Title, Keywords and Abstract. These articles were the subject of the content analysis of the title and, subsequently, only those that are identified as a solution in the process of recognizing, identifying, limiting or avoiding the manifestation of CBB were kept in the following Table where we have these data synthesized and organized by years
Language assessment in multilingual settings
This volume explores and addresses questions related to equitable access for assessment. It seeks to initiate a conversation among scholars about inclusive practices in language assessments. Whether the student is a second language learner, a heritage language learner, a multilingual language speaker, a community member, the authors in the present volume provide examples of assessment that do not follow a single universal or standardized design but an applicable one based on the needs and context of a given community. The contributors in this volume are scholars from different disciplines and contexts in Higher Education. They have created and proposed multiple lower-stakes assignments and accommodated learning by being flexible and open without assuming that learners know how to do specific tasks. Each chapter provides different examples on Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) assessment practices based on observation, examination, and integrative notions of diverse language scenarios. It may be of interest to researchers and practitioners in the fields of curriculum and instruction, language learning, and applied linguistics as well as those in the field of language teaching in general. Thus this volume broadens the scope of research in the area of multilingual assessment
Real-time generation and adaptation of social companion robot behaviors
Social robots will be part of our future homes.
They will assist us in everyday tasks, entertain us, and provide helpful advice.
However, the technology still faces challenges that must be overcome to equip the machine with social competencies and make it a socially intelligent and accepted housemate.
An essential skill of every social robot is verbal and non-verbal communication.
In contrast to voice assistants, smartphones, and smart home technology, which are already part of many people's lives today, social robots have an embodiment that raises expectations towards the machine.
Their anthropomorphic or zoomorphic appearance suggests they can communicate naturally with speech, gestures, or facial expressions and understand corresponding human behaviors.
In addition, robots also need to consider individual users' preferences: everybody is shaped by their culture, social norms, and life experiences, resulting in different expectations towards communication with a robot.
However, robots do not have human intuition - they must be equipped with the corresponding algorithmic solutions to these problems.
This thesis investigates the use of reinforcement learning to adapt the robot's verbal and non-verbal communication to the user's needs and preferences.
Such non-functional adaptation of the robot's behaviors primarily aims to improve the user experience and the robot's perceived social intelligence.
The literature has not yet provided a holistic view of the overall challenge: real-time adaptation requires control over the robot's multimodal behavior generation, an understanding of human feedback, and an algorithmic basis for machine learning.
Thus, this thesis develops a conceptual framework for designing real-time non-functional social robot behavior adaptation with reinforcement learning.
It provides a higher-level view from the system designer's perspective and guidance from the start to the end.
It illustrates the process of modeling, simulating, and evaluating such adaptation processes.
Specifically, it guides the integration of human feedback and social signals to equip the machine with social awareness.
The conceptual framework is put into practice for several use cases, resulting in technical proofs of concept and research prototypes.
They are evaluated in the lab and in in-situ studies.
These approaches address typical activities in domestic environments, focussing on the robot's expression of personality, persona, politeness, and humor.
Within this scope, the robot adapts its spoken utterances, prosody, and animations based on human explicit or implicit feedback.Soziale Roboter werden Teil unseres zukĂŒnftigen Zuhauses sein.
Sie werden uns bei alltĂ€glichen Aufgaben unterstĂŒtzen, uns unterhalten und uns mit hilfreichen RatschlĂ€gen versorgen.
Noch gibt es allerdings technische Herausforderungen, die zunĂ€chst ĂŒberwunden werden mĂŒssen, um die Maschine mit sozialen Kompetenzen auszustatten und zu einem sozial intelligenten und akzeptierten Mitbewohner zu machen.
Eine wesentliche FĂ€higkeit eines jeden sozialen Roboters ist die verbale und nonverbale Kommunikation.
Im Gegensatz zu Sprachassistenten, Smartphones und Smart-Home-Technologien, die bereits heute Teil des Lebens vieler Menschen sind, haben soziale Roboter eine Verkörperung, die Erwartungen an die Maschine weckt.
Ihr anthropomorphes oder zoomorphes Aussehen legt nahe, dass sie in der Lage sind, auf natĂŒrliche Weise mit Sprache, Gestik oder Mimik zu kommunizieren, aber auch entsprechende menschliche Kommunikation zu verstehen.
DarĂŒber hinaus mĂŒssen Roboter auch die individuellen Vorlieben der Benutzer berĂŒcksichtigen.
So ist jeder Mensch von seiner Kultur, sozialen Normen und eigenen Lebenserfahrungen geprĂ€gt, was zu unterschiedlichen Erwartungen an die Kommunikation mit einem Roboter fĂŒhrt.
Roboter haben jedoch keine menschliche Intuition - sie mĂŒssen mit entsprechenden Algorithmen fĂŒr diese Probleme ausgestattet werden.
In dieser Arbeit wird der Einsatz von bestĂ€rkendem Lernen untersucht, um die verbale und nonverbale Kommunikation des Roboters an die BedĂŒrfnisse und Vorlieben des Benutzers anzupassen.
Eine solche nicht-funktionale Anpassung des Roboterverhaltens zielt in erster Linie darauf ab, das Benutzererlebnis und die wahrgenommene soziale Intelligenz des Roboters zu verbessern.
Die Literatur bietet bisher keine ganzheitliche Sicht auf diese Herausforderung: Echtzeitanpassung erfordert die Kontrolle ĂŒber die multimodale Verhaltenserzeugung des Roboters, ein VerstĂ€ndnis des menschlichen Feedbacks und eine algorithmische Basis fĂŒr maschinelles Lernen.
Daher wird in dieser Arbeit ein konzeptioneller Rahmen fĂŒr die Gestaltung von nicht-funktionaler Anpassung der Kommunikation sozialer Roboter mit bestĂ€rkendem Lernen entwickelt.
Er bietet eine ĂŒbergeordnete Sichtweise aus der Perspektive des Systemdesigners und eine Anleitung vom Anfang bis zum Ende.
Er veranschaulicht den Prozess der Modellierung, Simulation und Evaluierung solcher Anpassungsprozesse.
Insbesondere wird auf die Integration von menschlichem Feedback und sozialen Signalen eingegangen, um die Maschine mit sozialem Bewusstsein auszustatten.
Der konzeptionelle Rahmen wird fĂŒr mehrere AnwendungsfĂ€lle in die Praxis umgesetzt, was zu technischen Konzeptnachweisen und Forschungsprototypen fĂŒhrt, die in Labor- und In-situ-Studien evaluiert werden.
Diese AnsÀtze befassen sich mit typischen AktivitÀten in hÀuslichen Umgebungen, wobei der Schwerpunkt auf dem Ausdruck der Persönlichkeit, dem Persona, der Höflichkeit und dem Humor des Roboters liegt.
In diesem Rahmen passt der Roboter seine Sprache, Prosodie, und Animationen auf Basis expliziten oder impliziten menschlichen Feedbacks an
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The Role of Interactive Web Broadcasts in Fostering Distance Learning Studentsâ Engagement with Practical Lab and Fieldwork
Practical work in science and technology disciplines is crucial for studentsâ understanding and mastery. For educators who teach those disciplines at a distance and for students who learn remotely, this endeavour may be challenging.
The study presented in this thesis investigates the use of Interactive Web Broadcasts (IWBs) in five undergraduate practical science and technology modules at The Open University. The study examines the reasons for using IWBs, as well as the strategies and types of interactions that staff and students use to engage and interact with one another. The study gathered perspectives from academics (n=18); associate lecturers (n=10); technical production team (n=3); students (n=88), and an external guest expert about the purposes, strategies and motivations of participating in IWBs. The study used a qualitatively mixed-methods design. An adapted protocol of Flandersâs Interaction Analysis Categories was used to analyse the interaction patterns in the web broadcast transcripts and text-chat logs, and a discourse analysis coding scheme was applied to analyse the text-chat. Student online questionnaires were administered towards the end of the modules to capture the student perceptions of IWBs. Student interviews and staff focus groups were also conducted to gain a fuller picture of experiences of using and engaging with IWBs.
Findings show that the purposes and aims of using IWBs are to facilitate student engagement, foster a sense of community, and demonstrate an authentic practice of the sciences in real-world contexts. The communicative strategies were primarily affective and met studentsâ interests and expectations. The IWBs mitigated feelings of isolation that are common in distance education environments. IWBs had positive impacts on professional teaching practices and fostered collegiality and collaboration among staff. The findings are relevant to other distance and traditional campus-based universities that teach practical science and technology, those who teach online using synchronous technology-mediated systems, and those who are interested in student engagement and practical work
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