Investigating the Role of Accounting Information in Investment Decisions and Supply Chain Management

Today, competition between organizations and companies has become a global competition. Because of the creation and expansion of this global competition among different businesses and companies, many organizations are looking for ways to gain competitive advantage. One of the ways to gain competitive advantage is to focus on the supply chain and improve it. By providing timely, accurate and credible information, information technology improves the performance of the company and its partners in the supply chain. The use of IT tools has affected the supply chain capabilities and subsequently, the supply chain performance is also affected. For this reason, this study examines the impact of information technology on supply chain management. Based on the results of the research, it was determined that the use of information technology in supply chain management increases the quality, reliability and accuracy of information, operational efficiency and improving performance, coherence and collaboration, reducing costs and differentiating products or services

The Effectiveness of an Instructional Program based on SCAMPER Strategy in Improving English Speaking Skills among and Vocabulary Fifth-Grade Students in Jordan

Abstract: This quasi-experimental study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of an instructional program based on SCAMPER strategy in improving speaking skills and vocabulary among fifth-grade students. The participants of the study were chosen from Al-Marwa elementary school in First Educational Directorate of Zarqa district, which was selected purposefully.Sixty-two participants were distributed randomly into an experimental group (n=32) and control group (n=30). The experimental group received the SCAMPER strategy for eight weeks during the first semester of the academic year 2019-2020, while the control group was taught using the conventional method.Pre-post speaking test was applied to both groups to collect the data. The results of this study showed that there were statistically significant differences at (α=0.05) between the mean scores of the two groups in the speaking test in favor of the experimental group. Therefore, the researcher recommended training teachers to use SCAMPER strategy in teaching English skills

Optical Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access for Visible Light Communication

The proliferation of mobile Internet and connected devices, offering a variety of services at different levels of performance, represents a major challenge for the fifth generation wireless networks and beyond. This requires a paradigm shift towards the development of key enabling techniques for the next generation wireless networks. In this respect, visible light communication (VLC) has recently emerged as a new communication paradigm that is capable of providing ubiquitous connectivity by complementing radio frequency communications. One of the main challenges of VLC systems, however, is the low modulation bandwidth of the light-emitting-diodes, which is in the megahertz range. This article presents a promising technology, referred to as "optical- non-orthogonal multiple access (O-NOMA)", which is envisioned to address the key challenges in the next generation of wireless networks. We provide a detailed overview and analysis of the state-of-the-art integration of O-NOMA in VLC networks. Furthermore, we provide insights on the potential opportunities and challenges as well as some open research problems that are envisioned to pave the way for the future design and implementation of O-NOMA in VLC systems

The Effect of Application of Planned Budget and Supply Chain Management on the Implementation of Applied Studies

Budgeting and supply chain management is in principle the allocation of resources and requires selection and prioritization. In this research, the factors affecting the implementation of the activity-based costing method in the budgeting of the various governmental organizations, has been investigated. The current study is an applied research and this research is a cross-sectional and descriptive-analytic study that utilizes a questionnaire to collect information. The statistical population of the study consisted of governmental organizations that had some kind of state budget in 2016. The results of the research indicate that in 60 governmental organizations, other than the ability to evaluate performance, other requirements are not required to implement the activity-based costing method in the operational budgeting, including employee empowerment, technical feasibility, legitimacy (legal, procedural and organizational legitimacy), and acceptability (political acceptability, management, and consistency of incentives). Based on the findings of the present study, in the governmental organizations studied, the effective factors necessary for performance-based costing in operational budgeting are not yet available. However, without using the new methods of costing in the operational budgeting, talking about reforms in the budgeting system, and shifting from program to operational budget is a difficult task

Student’s characteristics and fast food consumption

BACKGROUND: Fast food consumption is one of the risk factors for human health. The present study was conducted with the objective to investigate how students’ characteristics (attitude, control beliefs, and normative beliefs) motivate the consumption of fast food.METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, a total number of 401 students of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran, were randomly selected and studied in 2015. A questionnaire was administered to collect information about student’s demographic characteristics as well as their attitudes and beliefs towards using fast food. Correlation analysis and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) followed by univariate ANOVA were used to interpret the results.RESULTS: The mean age of participants was 21.20 ± 2.80 years and 254 (67.20%) of them were female. Furthermore, 60.54% of the students were found with tendency to use fast food. The MANOVA analysis showed that the effect of gender on students’ characteristics was significant (P = 0.005), however the effect of grade was marginally insignificant (P = 0.053). Post-hoc univariate ANOVA showed that the gender was highly associated with control beliefs (P = 0.030) and normative beliefs (P = 0.004). No significant association was found between gender and student’s attitude (P = 0.610).CONCLUSION: A training program for medical students in Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences is recommended to encourage students to reduce the consumption of fast food

Resident-Aware Green Home

The amount of energy the world uses doubles every 20 years. Green homes play an important role in reducing the residential energy demand. This paper presents a platform that is intended to learn the behavior of home residents and build a profile about their habits and actions. The proposed resident aware home controller intervenes in the operation of home appliances in order to save energy without compromising the convenience of the residents. The presented platform can be used to simulate the actions and movements happening inside a home. The paper includes several optimization techniques that are meant to save energy in the home. In addition, several test scenarios are presented that show how the controller works. Moreover, this paper shows the computed actual savings when each of the presented techniques is implemented in a typical home. The test scenarios have validated that the techniques developed are capable of effectively saving energy at homes

Resident-Aware Green Home

The amount of energy the world uses doubles every 20 years. Green homes play an important role in reducing the residential energy demand. This paper presents a platform that is intended to learn the behavior of home residents and build a profile about their habits and actions. The proposed resident aware home controller intervenes in the operation of home appliances in order to save energy without compromising the convenience of the residents. The presented platform can be used to simulate the actions and movements happening inside a home. The paper includes several optimization techniques that are meant to save energy in the home. In addition, several test scenarios are presented that show how the controller works. Moreover, this paper shows the computed actual savings when each of the presented techniques is implemented in a typical home. The test scenarios have validated that the techniques developed are capable of effectively saving energy at homes

Resident-Aware Green Home

The amount of energy the world uses doubles every 20 years. Green homes play an important role in reducing the residential energy demand. This paper presents a platform that is intended to learn the behavior of home residents and build a profile about their habits and actions. The proposed resident aware home controller intervenes in the operation of home appliances in order to save energy without compromising the convenience of the residents. The presented platform can be used to simulate the actions and movements happening inside a home. The paper includes several optimization techniques that are meant to save energy in the home. In addition, several test scenarios are presented that show how the controller works. Moreover, this paper shows the computed actual savings when each of the presented techniques is implemented in a typical home. The test scenarios have validated that the techniques developed are capable of effectively saving energy at homes

Evaluation of the validity of the pre-marriage mean corpuscular volume value as a predictive test for b-thalassemia carrier status

Background: The national mandatory premarital screening test is based on mean corpuscular volume (MCV) > 80 fL value for the detection of b-thalassemia to provide acceptance for marriage. The objective of this study is to assess the efficacy of MCV as a screening test for b-thalassemia trait in the present population. Methods: This study was conducted on 418 blood samples collected from adult individuals. The diagnosis of b-thalassemia carrier was given to those having HbA2 values equal to or above 3.5%. The diagnostic reliability of different RBC indices and formulas in discriminating cases of b-thalassemia trait were evaluated. Finally, a new index called "Momani" was determined based on MCV, RDW and RBC count. Results: b-thalassemia trait was identified in 10% of the cases. The measured MCV value was significantly lower in b-thalassemia carrier group compared to non-carrier group (p = <0.001). MCV value and RBC count showed a higher diagnostic reliability than other RBC indices. We found that MCV ≤ 74.45 fL is more suitable cutoff value of MCV with 86.2% specificity, 71.4% sensitivity, 36.6% positive predictive value, and 96.4% negative predictive value. Finally, our index "Momani" was found to be useful in predicting carrier and paralleled the performance of Sirdah, Mentzer, and Ehsani indices. Conclusions: MCV<80 is a useful but not a perfect cutoff point for the screening of b-thalassemia carriers from noncarriers. The diagnostic accuracy of MCV can be improved by selecting a new cutoff value. Moreover, "Momani" index shows good discrimination ability in diagnosing b-thalassemia carrier in our population