Contingent factors of Strategic Management Accounting

This study aiming at examining the relationship between selected contingent factors (e.g. Market orientation and, environment uncertainty) and the extent of strategic management accounting usage in context of Jordanian   companies by applying selection fit method, the quantitative data obtain from top management of companies listed on Amman Stock Exchange, provide some evidences supporting the effect of contingent factors on the extent of strategic management accounting usage. The results of the current study drew conclusions regarding the extent of strategic management accounting information usage in context of Jordanian companies. Academics and practitioners should be aware to the importance of such strategic management accounting information and its role in the strategic decisions. Keywords: Strategic Management Accounting, Contingency  theor

Strategic Management Accounting Usage, Environmental Uncertainty and Organizational Performance

This paper is concerned with an empirical investigation into the relations among Strategic Management Accounting (SMA), perceived environmental uncertainty (PEU) and organizational performance. It was motivated by the scarcity of the empirical attention given to the subject despite the claimed importance placed by SMA promoters. The study follows a standard contingency type interaction fit to propose that PEU moderate the direct relationship between management accounting and control systems and organizational performance.  The results indicated that (1) the level of SMA usage positively affect organizational performance, and (2) Perceived Environmental uncertainty moderate the relationship. These results contribute to the strategic management accounting literature by providing empirical evidence that the relationship between SMA usage and organizational performance is moderated by a perceived environmental uncertainty. Keywords: Strategic Management Accounting, Perceived Environmental Uncertainty, Organizational Performance, Contingency Theory

THE EVERYDAY LIVES OF PHYSICALLY DISABLED YOUNG PEOPLE IN OMAN: BARRIERS TO SOCIAL INCLUSION

This thesis investigates factors that might lead to the limited inclusion of disabled young people in Omani society. The key assumption which underlies this study is that there is a need to ensure the full citizenship of these young people. Realising the concept of citizenship requires practical steps from society to ensure equality of opportunity. Moreover, it proposes the need to move the perception of disability and the suggested solutions away from the traditional individualistic approaches towards those founded in a social model. The proposed change is closely related to a shift in disability research paradigms and methods; in other words, a move from quantifying the numbers of impaired people to qualitative research which seeks to comprehend the perceptions and experiences of disabled young people and their families. Semi-structured individual interviews were carried out with 26 physically disabled young people. These explored their everyday lives in their families. their experiences in the wider community, the quality of services they are provided with, their relationships with the public and professionals, and their own views of themselves. Four focus groups, composed of eight to twelve mothers in each, were purposefully selected from four administrative regions In Oman. These groups explored the mothers' perceptions of their disabled children's daily lives and the barriers to their inclusion. Twelve professionals working in health, social services and education were interviewed to gain their views. The disabled young people experienced considerable difficulties in their daily lives. A key finding was that the disabled young people attributed their disabilities to factors related to society rather than to their impairments. They were deeply concerned about the inaccessibility of physical and social environments that restricted their opportunities for education and relationships outside their families.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Numerical investigation for the enhancement of the aerodynamic characteristics of an aerofoil by using a gurney flap

Numerical investigation was carried out to determine the effect of a Gurney Flap on NACA 0012 aerofoil performance with emphasis on Unmanned Air Vehicles applications. The study examined different configurations of Gurney Flaps at high Reynolds number of 3.6×105 in order to determinethe optimal configuration. The Gurney flap was tested at different heights, locations and mounting angles. Compared to the clean aerofoil, the study found that adding the Gurney Flap increased the maximum lift coefficient by19%, 22%, 28%, 40% and 45% for the Gurney Flap height of 1%C, 1.5%C, 2%C, 3%C and 4%C respectively, C represents the chord of the aerofoil. However, it was also found that increasing the height of the gurney beyond 2%C leads to a decrease in the overall performance of the aerofoil due to the significant increase in drag penalty. Thus, the optimal height of the Gurney flap for the NACA 0012 aerofoil was found to be 2%C as it improves the overall performance of the aerofoil by 21%. As for the location, it was found that the lifting-enhanced effect of the gurney flap decreases as it is shifted towards the leading edge. Thus the optimal location of the Gurney Flap mounting was found to be at the trailing edge or at distances smaller than 10%C. The Gurney flap was also tested at different mounting angles of -45, 90 and +45 degrees and it was found that the Gurney flap at +45 mounting angle leads to the optimal performance of the aerofoil

Historical Analysis of Income Statement – A Case Study Salalah Mills Company Oman

Purpose of the study: The objectives of the study were to critically analyse the financial performance of Salalah Mills Company (SMC), to examine the income statement position of the company and to study the profitability position and improvements of Salalah Mills Company. Design/Methodology/Approach: The secondary data was obtained from the annual reports of Salalah Mills Company through the income statement for the period 2015 to 2019. The collected data was analysed using financial ratios involving excel and SPSS, to evaluate the Salalah Mills Company (SMC) profitability. Findings: The study revealed that the reducing in company's gross profit (profit margin), pre-tax margin was due to the increase in cost of goods sold, administrative expenses, the cost of materials consumed, the selling and distribution expenses and the labour cost. Research Implications: The study suggested that the company should reduce the cost of sales and administrative expenses to achieve increased gross profit margin. It was also suggested that the company should focus more towards marketing. Practical Implications: The study suggested that the company should look for alternative for the raw materials such as buying wheat from the local farmers. It was also suggested that the company should work on finding ways and means to achieve good profits so as to satisfy the shareholders. Originality/value:  This research work is of its first own kind as the study focuses on the accounting perspectives of the food company in the Sultanate of Oman

Modeling the impact of the oil sector on the economy of sultanate of Oman

This study constructs and analyses a simple macroeconomic model that specifically tailored to model the impact of oil sector on the economy of Sultanate of Oman. The constructed model of the study measures the impact of oil sector on the Oman economy for the last three decades and also provides some forecasting for the major macroeconomics indicators related to the Oman economy. Model simulations indicate that the oil sector has large and positive impact on Oman gross domestic product and its influence spills over to all other non-oil sectors of Oman economy. The study found that largest influence of oil was on the gas sector and the least economic sector influenced by oil was agricultural sector. The findings of the study suggest that Oman economy is far from being diversified and that the proposed model helps the policy makers in Oman to identify and forecast the impact of oil on other components of the Oman economy

Techniques for broadband power line communications: impulsive noise mitigation and adaptive modulation

The development of power line communication systems for broadband multimedia applications requires a comprehensive knowledge of the channel characteristics and the main peculiarities that may influence the communication over this channel. PLC has the potential to become the preferred connectivity solution to homes and offices. Additionally, indoor power line networks can serve as local area networks offering high-speed data, audio, video and multimedia applications. The PLC technology eliminates the need for new wires by using an already-existing infrastructure that is much more pervasive than any other wired system. Power line networks, however, present a hostile channel for communication signals. Noise, multipath, selective fading and attenuation are well-known peculiarities of power line grids and. Particularly, random impulsive noise characterized with short durations and very high amplitudes is identified as one of the major impairments that degrade the performance of PLC systems. Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is the technique of choice for broadband PLC systems. OFDM minimizes the effects of multipath and provides high robustness against selective fading. It is also powerful in impulsive noise environments and performs better than single-carrier modulation methods. If an OFDM symbol is affected by impulsive noise, the effect is spread over multiple subcarriers due to the discrete Fourier transform at the receiver. In order to achieve reliable outcomes, suitable channel and noise models must be used in the investigations. In this thesis, the power line channel transfer function is modelled using a multipath model that was proposed by Zimmermann and Dostert [1], [2]. This model describes the signal propagation scenario and attenuation effects in power line networks. To represent the actual noise scenario in power networks, the noise is classified into two main classes: background noise and impulsive noise. To reduce the effect of impulsive noise, conventional time domain nonlinearities are examined in this thesis under PLC environments. An adaptive-threshold selection method based on minimum bit-error rate (BER) is proposed. At the cost of additional complexity, the effect of impulsive noise is further mitigated using a novel joint time-domain/frequency-domain suppression technique. Since channel coding is essential for most telecommunication systems, we examine convolutional codes combined with interleaving in a PLC channel impaired with AWGN and impulsive noise. The results show substantial performance gains especially in heavily-disturbed environments, where signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) gains of more than 15 dB can be achieved with a code rate of 1/3. Bit-interleaved convolutionally-coded OFDM completely eliminates the effect of impulsive noise in weakly-disturbed noise environments, while a negligible effect may remain in medium-disturbed environments. A new power-loading algorithm that minimizes the transmission power for target BER and data rate constraints is introduced in later chapters of the thesis. Results indicate that the algorithm achieves performance gains of more than 4 dB SNR over conventional OFDM systems. Furthermore, a novel minimum-complexity bit-loading algorithm that maximizes the data rate given BER and power level constraints is proposed in chapter 6. Results show that this bit-loading algorithm achieves almost identical performance as the incremental algorithm but with much lower complexity

End-Stage Kidney Failure in Oman: An Analysis of Registry Data with an Emphasis on Congenital and Inherited Renal Diseases

\ua9 2017 Intisar Al Alawi et al. Globally, end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) is a huge burden on health care systems. The aims of this study were to perform a comprehensive epidemiological and etiological report of ESKD patients commencing RRT in Oman with an emphasis on genetic causes and inherited kidney disease. All newly registered Omani patients with ESKD commencing RRT from 2001 until 2015 (n=2,922) were analysed using the RRT register in Oman. All potentially genetic or inherited causes of ESKD were reviewed. In Oman, ESKD is more prevalent in males (57.1%) than females (42.9%) with a median age of incident ESKD of 53 years. Diabetic nephropathy was the most prevalent cause of ESKD (46%), followed by hypertensive nephropathy (19%), glomerulonephritis (15%), and inherited kidney disease (5%). For patients less than 20 years of age inherited kidney disease accounted for 32.5% of cases. Of this cohort with inherited renal disease, 40.3% had autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, 11.5% had congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract, 9.4% had Alport syndrome, and 7.2% had autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease. This study represents a comprehensive population-based epidemiological and etiological report of ESKD patients in Oman commencing RRT. Inherited kidney disease was the leading cause of paediatric ESKD