Critical success factors for corporate social responsibility adoption in the Malaysian construction sector: a delphi study

The fact that construction sector was plagued with a broad variety of unethical practices has called for the urgent need to promote an ethical business philosophy in line with the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR). However, understanding the concept of CSR in this sector and how to practice it, is limited. This study aims to explore the critical success factors (CSFs) for CSR adoption in the Malaysian construction sector. Two research approaches were adopted including a Delphi technique and a case study. A threeround Delphi technique was used to identify and rank the top most CSFs. A panel of sixteen construction sector experts was formed to participate in the study. A list of twelve potential factors was extracted from literature and included in Delphi Round 1 questionnaire. In Delphi Round 1 brainstorming process, eleven factors have achieved consensus as selected for more than 50% by the experts. In addition, four new factors suggested by the experts were accepted. As a result, fifteen factors emerged from this round were included in Delphi Round 2 questionnaire. In the ranking process of Delphi Round 2, consensus as measured by Kendall’s W value was found to be 0.398, indicated a weak agreement among experts and the need for another Delphi round. In Delphi Round 3 controlled feedback process, Kendall’s W value increased to 0.784 which implied a strong consensus was reached. The results showed that successful adoption of CSR depends on eight CSFs: financial resources, top management support, managerial or internal CSR skills, national economic growth, employees’ education and training on CSR, the participation of key stakeholders in CSR process, effective CSR communication, and organisational structure. Level of readiness of the Malaysian construction firms to adopt CSR was measured against the validated CSFs. A series of interviews was conducted with five respondents from five local construction firms concerning their current CSR practice. It was noticed that the firms had already entirely or partially practiced the eight CSFs. It would be safe to conclude that the Malaysian construction firms are ready to adopt CSR into practice. Nonetheless, they need to improve their practice on the established CSFs to gain maximum results from CSR adoption. This study highlighted that CSR framework could be useful as the platform for advanced mitigation strategies to improve the construction sector’s image and also as a strategic competitive tool for the firms to remain sustainable in business. Finally, policymakers could also consider the findings when promoting CSR agenda or development programs in the Malaysian construction sectors

Database System Acceleration on FPGAs

Relational database systems provide various services and applications with an efficient means for storing, processing, and retrieving their data. The performance of these systems has a direct impact on the quality of service of the applications that rely on them. Therefore, it is crucial that database systems are able to adapt and grow in tandem with the demands of these applications, ensuring that their performance scales accordingly. In the past, Moore's law and algorithmic advancements have been sufficient to meet these demands. However, with the slowdown of Moore's law, researchers have begun exploring alternative methods, such as application-specific technologies, to satisfy the more challenging performance requirements. One such technology is field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), which provide ideal platforms for developing and running custom architectures for accelerating database systems. The goal of this thesis is to develop a domain-specific architecture that can enhance the performance of in-memory database systems when executing analytical queries. Our research is guided by a combination of academic and industrial requirements that seek to strike a balance between generality and performance. The former ensures that our platform can be used to process a diverse range of workloads, while the latter makes it an attractive solution for high-performance use cases. Throughout this thesis, we present the development of a system-on-chip for database system acceleration that meets our requirements. The resulting architecture, called CbMSMK, is capable of processing the projection, sort, aggregation, and equi-join database operators and can also run some complex TPC-H queries. CbMSMK employs a shared sort-merge pipeline for executing all these operators, which results in an efficient use of FPGA resources. This approach enables the instantiation of multiple acceleration cores on the FPGA, allowing it to serve multiple clients simultaneously. CbMSMK can process both arbitrarily deep and wide tables efficiently. The former is achieved through the use of the sort-merge algorithm which utilizes the FPGA RAM for buffering intermediate sort results. The latter is achieved through the use of KeRRaS, a novel variant of the forward radix sort algorithm introduced in this thesis. KeRRaS allows CbMSMK to process a table a few columns at a time, incrementally generating the final result through multiple iterations. Given that acceleration is a key objective of our work, CbMSMK benefits from many performance optimizations. For instance, multi-way merging is employed to reduce the number of merge passes required for the execution of the sort-merge algorithm, thus improving the performance of all our pipeline-breaking operators. Another example is our in-depth analysis of early aggregation, which led to the development of a novel cache-based algorithm that significantly enhances aggregation performance. Our experiments demonstrate that CbMSMK performs on average 5 times faster than the state-of-the-art CPU-based database management system MonetDB.:I Database Systems & FPGAs 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Databases & the Importance of Performance 1.2 Accelerators & FPGAs 1.3 Requirements 1.4 Outline & Summary of Contributions 2 BACKGROUND ON DATABASE SYSTEMS 2.1 Databases 2.1.1 Storage Model 2.1.2 Storage Medium 2.2 Database Operators 2.2.1 Projection 2.2.2 Filter 2.2.3 Sort 2.2.4 Aggregation 2.2.5 Join 2.2.6 Operator Classification 2.3 Database Queries 2.4 Impact of Acceleration 3 BACKGROUND ON FPGAS 3.1 FPGA 3.1.1 Logic Element 3.1.2 Block RAM (BRAM) 3.1.3 Digital Signal Processor (DSP) 3.1.4 IO Element 3.1.5 Programmable Interconnect 3.2 FPGADesignFlow 3.2.1 Specifications 3.2.2 RTL Description 3.2.3 Verification 3.2.4 Synthesis, Mapping, Placement, and Routing 3.2.5 TimingAnalysis 3.2.6 Bitstream Generation and FPGA Programming 3.3 Implementation Quality Metrics 3.4 FPGA Cards 3.5 Benefits of Using FPGAs 3.6 Challenges of Using FPGAs 4 RELATED WORK 4.1 Summary of Related Work 4.2 Platform Type 4.2.1 Accelerator Card 4.2.2 Coprocessor 4.2.3 Smart Storage 4.2.4 Network Processor 4.3 Implementation 4.3.1 Loop-based implementation 4.3.2 Sort-based Implementation 4.3.3 Hash-based Implementation 4.3.4 Mixed Implementation 4.4 A Note on Quantitative Performance Comparisons II Cache-Based Morphing Sort-Merge with KeRRaS (CbMSMK) 5 OBJECTIVES AND ARCHITECTURE OVERVIEW 5.1 From Requirements to Objectives 5.2 Architecture Overview 5.3 Outlineof Part II 6 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF OPENCL AND RTL FOR SORT-MERGE PRIMITIVES ON FPGAS 6.1 Programming FPGAs 6.2 RelatedWork 6.3 Architecture 6.3.1 Global Architecture 6.3.2 Sorter Architecture 6.3.3 Merger Architecture 6.3.4 Scalability and Resource Adaptability 6.4 Experiments 6.4.1 OpenCL Sort-Merge Implementation 6.4.2 RTLSorters 6.4.3 RTLMergers 6.4.4 Hybrid OpenCL-RTL Sort-Merge Implementation 6.5 Summary & Discussion 7 RESOURCE-EFFICIENT ACCELERATION OF PIPELINE-BREAKING DATABASE OPERATORS ON FPGAS 7.1 The Case for Resource Efficiency 7.2 Related Work 7.3 Architecture 7.3.1 Sorters 7.3.2 Sort-Network 7.3.3 X:Y Mergers 7.3.4 Merge-Network 7.3.5 Join Materialiser (JoinMat) 7.4 Experiments 7.4.1 Experimental Setup 7.4.2 Implementation Description & Tuning 7.4.3 Sort Benchmarks 7.4.4 Aggregation Benchmarks 7.4.5 Join Benchmarks 7. Summary 8 KERRAS: COLUMN-ORIENTED WIDE TABLE PROCESSING ON FPGAS 8.1 The Scope of Database System Accelerators 8.2 Related Work 8.3 Key-Reduce Radix Sort(KeRRaS) 8.3.1 Time Complexity 8.3.2 Space Complexity (Memory Utilization) 8.3.3 Discussion and Optimizations 8.4 Architecture 8.4.1 MSM 8.4.2 MSMK: Extending MSM with KeRRaS 8.4.3 Payload, Aggregation and Join Processing 8.4.4 Limitations 8.5 Experiments 8.5.1 Experimental Setup 8.5.2 Datasets 8.5.3 MSMK vs. MSM 8.5.4 Payload-Less Benchmarks 8.5.5 Payload-Based Benchmarks 8.5.6 Flexibility 8.6 Summary 9 A STUDY OF EARLY AGGREGATION IN DATABASE QUERY PROCESSING ON FPGAS 9.1 Early Aggregation 9.2 Background & Related Work 9.2.1 Sort-Based Early Aggregation 9.2.2 Cache-Based Early Aggregation 9.3 Simulations 9.3.1 Datasets 9.3.2 Metrics 9.3.3 Sort-Based Versus Cache-Based Early Aggregation 9.3.4 Comparison of Set-Associative Caches 9.3.5 Comparison of Cache Structures 9.3.6 Comparison of Replacement Policies 9.3.7 Cache Selection Methodology 9.4 Cache System Architecture 9.4.1 Window Aggregator 9.4.2 Compressor & Hasher 9.4.3 Collision Detector 9.4.4 Collision Resolver 9.4.5 Cache 9.5 Experiments 9.5.1 Experimental Setup 9.5.2 Resource Utilization and Parameter Tuning 9.5.3 Datasets 9.5.4 Benchmarks on Synthetic Data 9.5.5 Benchmarks on Real Data 9.6 Summary 10 THE FULL PICTURE 10.1 System Architecture 10.2 Benchmarks 10.3 Meeting the Objectives III Conclusion 11 SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK ON FUTURE RESEARCH 11.1 Summary 11.2 Future Work BIBLIOGRAPHY LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF TABLE

Nuclear Fusion Programme: Annual Report of the Association Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)/EURATOM ; January 2010 - December 2010 (KIT Scientific Reports ; 7592)

The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is working in the framework of the European Fusion Programme on key technologies in the areas of superconducting magnets, microwave heating systems (Electron-Cyclotron-Resonance-Heating, ECRH), the deuterium-tritium fuel cycle, He-cooled breeding blankets, a He-cooled divertor and structural materials, as well as refractory metals for high heat flux applications including a major participation in the preparation of the international IFMIF project

Démarche, modèles et outils multi-agents pour l'ingénierie des collectifs cyber-physiques

We call a Collective Cyber-Physical System (CCPS), a system consisting of numerous autonomous execution units achieving tasks of control, communication, data processing or acquisition. These nodes are autonomous in decision making and they can cooperate to overcome gaps of knowledge or individual skills in goal achievement.There are many challenges in the design of these collective systems. This Habilitation thesis discusses various aspects of such a system engineering modeled according to a multi-agent approach.First, a complete CCPS design method is proposed. Its special features are discussed regarding the challenges mentioned above. Agent models and collective models suitable to constrained communications and changing environments are then proposed to facilitate the design of CCPS. Finally, a tool that enables the simulation and the deployment of hw/sw mixed collective systems is presented.These contributions have been used in several academic and industrial projects whose experience feedbacks are discussed.Nous appelons "collectif cyber-physique" un système embarqué en réseau dans lequel les nœuds ont une autonomie de décision et coopèrent spontanément afin de participer à l'accomplissement d'objectifs du système global ou de pallier des manques de connaissances ou de compétences individuelles. Ces objectifs portent notamment sur l'état de leur environnement physique. La conception de ces collectifs présente de nombreux défis. Ce mémoire d'Habilitation propose une discussion des différents aspects de l'ingénierie de ces systèmes que nous modélisons en utilisant le paradigme multi-agent. Tout d'abord, une méthode complète d'analyse et de conception est proposée. Ses différentes particularités sont discutées au regard des différents défis précédemment évoqués. Des modèles d'agent et de collectifs adaptés aux communications contraintes et aux environnements changeants sont alors proposés. Ils permettent de simplifier la conception des collectifs cyber-physiques. Enfin, un outil qui permet la simulation et le déploiement de systèmes collectifs mixtes logiciels/matériels est introduit.Ces contributions ont été éprouvées dans des projets académiques et industriels dont les retours d'expériences sont exploités dans les différentes discussions

Knowledge and Management Models for Sustainable Growth

In the last years sustainability has become a topic of global concern and a key issue in the strategic agenda of both business organizations and public authorities and organisations. Significant changes in business landscape, the emergence of new technology, including social media, the pressure of new social concerns, have called into question established conceptualizations of competitiveness, wealth creation and growth. New and unaddressed set of issues regarding how private and public organisations manage and invest their resources to create sustainable value have brought to light. In particular the increasing focus on environmental and social themes has suggested new dimensions to be taken into account in the value creation dynamics, both at organisations and communities level. For companies the need of integrating corporate social and environmental responsibility issues into strategy and daily business operations, pose profound challenges, which, in turn, involve numerous processes and complex decisions influenced by many stakeholders. Facing these challenges calls for the creation, use and exploitation of new knowledge as well as the development of proper management models, approaches and tools aimed to contribute to the development and realization of environmentally and socially sustainable business strategies and practices

The Impact of the COVID-19 Emergency on the Quality of Life of the General Population

COVID-19 is a pandemic that has forced many states to declare restrictive measures in order to prevent its wider spread. These measures are necessary to protect the health of adults, children, and people with disabilities. Long quarantine periods could cause an increase in anxiety crises, fear of contagion, and post-traumatic stress disorder (frustration, boredom, isolation, fear, insomnia, difficulty concentrating). Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a condition that can develop in subjects who have been or have witnessed a traumatic, catastrophic, or violent event, or who have become aware of a traumatic experience that happened to a loved one. In fact, from current cases, it emerges that the prevalence of PTSD varies from 1% to 9% in the general population and can reach 50%–60% in subgroups of subjects exposed to traumas considered particularly serious. PTSD develops as a consequence of one or more physical or psychological traumatic events, such as exposure to natural disasters such as earthquakes, fires, floods, hurricanes, tsunamis; wars, torture, death threats; road accidents, robbery, air accidents; diseases with unfavorable prognoses; complicated or traumatic mourning; physical and sexual abuse and abuse during childhood; victimization and discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity. It can also develop following changes in lifestyle habits caused by the COVID-19 epidemic

The Impact of the COVID-19 Emergency on the Quality of Life of the General Population

COVID-19 is a pandemic that has forced many states to declare restrictive measures in order to prevent its wider spread. These measures are necessary to protect the health of adults, children, and people with disabilities.Long quarantine periods could cause an increase in anxiety crises, fear of contagion, and post-traumatic stress disorder (frustration, boredom, isolation, fear, insomnia, and difficulty concentrating).Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a condition that can develop in subjects who have witnessed a traumatic, catastrophic, or violent event, or who have become aware of a traumatic experience that happened to a loved one.In fact, from current cases, it emerges that the prevalence of PTSD varies from 1% to 9% in the general population and can reach 50%–60% in subgroups of subjects exposed to traumas considered particularly serious. PTSD develops as a consequence of one or more physical or psychological traumatic events, such as exposure to natural disasters such as earthquakes, fires, floods, hurricanes, tsunamis; wars, torture, death threats; road accidents, robbery, air accidents; diseases with unfavorable prognoses; complicated or traumatic mourning; physical and sexual abuse and abuse during childhood; or victimization and discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, or gender identity. It can also develop following changes in lifestyle habits caused by the COVID-19 epidemic.Thank you for reading the manuscripts in this Special Issue, "The Impact of the COVID-19 Emergency on the Quality of Life of the General Population"