The impact of job stress and job satisfaction on employee performance: The case of the Software Companies in Palestine

Objective: This study aims to investigate the effects of job stress and job satisfaction on employee performance considering emotional intelligence as a mediating variable. The study focuses on the factors that affect job stress and job satisfaction such as interpersonal relationships, management support, the relations between management and employees, the function of the group, and work related to employees. Method: The data were collected using online questionnaires from participants working on software projects in Palestine. Based on a sample of 250 responses with a 62.5% effective response rate, and using partial least squares structural equation modeling. Result: The results confirm that the job satisfaction, job stress, and emotional intelligence is a key enabler of employee performance. Moreover, emotional intelligence mediates the relationship between job stress and employee performance. The results also confirm that job stress and job satisfaction are important factors affecting employee performance and productivity. Conclusion: This study contributes to the literature on performance management by addressing the role of emotional intelligence in improving employee performance and productivity

Investigation of photon, neutron and proton shielding features of H3BO3–ZnO–Na2O–BaO glass system

The current study aims to explore the shielding properties of multi-component borate-based glass series. Seven glass-samples with composition of (80-y)H3BO3–10ZnO–10Na2O–yBaO where (y = 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 mol.%) were synthesized by melt-quench method. Various shielding features for photons, neutrons, and protons were determined for all prepared samples. XCOM, Phy-X program, and SRIM code were performed to determine and explain several shielding properties such as equivalent atomic number, exposure build-up factor, specific gamma-ray constants, effective removal cross-section (SR), neutron scattering and absorption, Mass Stopping Power (MSP) and projected range. The energy ranges for photons and protons were 0.015–15 MeV and 0.01–10 MeV, respectively. The mass attenuation coefficient (µ/?) was also determined experimentally by utilizing two radioactive sources (166Ho and 137Cs). Consistent results were obtained between experimental and XCOM values in determining µ/? of the new glasses. The addition of BaO to the glass matrix led to enhance the µ/? and specific gamma-ray constants of glasses. Whereas the remarkable reductions in SR, MSP, and projected range values were reported with increasing BaO concentrations. The acquired results nominate the use of these glasses in different radiation shielding purposes

Exposure assessment of radon in the drinking water supplies: a descriptive study in Palestine

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Radon gas is considered as a main risk factor for lung cancer and found naturally in rock, soil, and water. The objective of this study was to determine the radon level in the drinking water sources in Nablus city in order to set up a sound policy on water management in Palestine.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This was a descriptive study carried out in two phases with a random sampling technique in the second phase. Primarily, samples were taken from 4 wells and 5 springs that supplied Nablus city residents. For each source, 3 samples were taken and each was analyzed in 4 cycles by RAD 7 device manufactured by Durridge Company. Secondly, from the seven regions of the Nablus city, three samples were taken from the residential tap water of each region. Regarding the old city, ten samples were taken. Finally, the mean radon concentration value for each source was calculated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mean (range) concentration of radon in the main sources were 6.9 (1.5-23.4) Becquerel/liter (Bq/L). Separately, springs and wells' means were 4.6 Bq/L and 9.5 Bq/L; respectively. For the residential tap water in the 7 regions, the results of the mean (range) concentration values were found to be 1.0 (0.9-1.3) Bq/L. For the old city, the mean (range) concentration values were 2.3 (0.9-3.9) Bq/L.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Except for Al-Badan well, radon concentrations in the wells and springs were below the United State Environmental Protection Agency maximum contaminated level (U.S EPA MCL). The level was much lower for tap water. Although the concentration of radon in the tap water of old city were below the MCL, it was higher than other regions in the city. Preventive measures and population awareness on radon's exposure are recommended.</p

Flexibility through Information Sharing : Evidences from the Automotive Industry in Sweden

Research has validated the contribution of information sharing to performance improvement. It has also suggested that flexibility is a highly important competitive priority for those companies where demand is volatile. Several studies argue that flexibility has been recognized as a key enabler for supply chain responsiveness. However, the impact of information sharing on supplier flexibility is still unexplored, especially for the companies that operate in agile business environments such as in the automotive industry where flexibility is a strategic requirement to manage demand uncertainty. In agile supply chains, such as in the automotive industry, information sharing can play an important role in responding to demand variability. In such settings, the demand volumes generally fluctuate, and hence create production-scheduling problems for the upstream suppliers such as first-tier suppliers. Interestingly, the impact of demand fluctuations on suppliers is higher than that of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). The aim of this doctoral thesis is to investigate the role of information sharing between OEMs and first-tier suppliers, in enhancing supplier flexibility. Particularly, the research focuses on exploring the relationship between sharing demand schedules and inventory data, and volume and delivery flexibility. The questions on whether information sharing between OEMs and first-tier suppliers affect supplier flexibility remain unanswered. The following research questions have emerged:  RQ1: How does information sharing between OEMs and first-tier suppliers affect the latter's responsiveness to fluctuating demand? RQ2: What is the relationship between information sharing of OEMsʼ demand forecasts and inventory data, and suppliers’ volume and delivery flexibility? RQ3: What factors should OEMs consider to improve the sharing of demand forecasts with suppliers? The empirical part of this thesis comprises three individual studies that constitute the empirical foundations of the research problem. Each study analyzes one research question using its own methodological approach. Hence, different research methods for collecting and analyzing data were used to address the research questions. Applying different research methods is deemed advantageous because it allows for methodological rigorousness in this doctoral thesis. This thesis contributes to the body of knowledge in three dimensions—theory, method, and context. First, it contributes to the academic field of operations and supply chain management by developing a model to explain how information sharing could affect suppliers’ delivery performance. The model provides a measurement scale to measure the level of information sharing between OEMs and suppliers, and its impact on suppliers’ delivery flexibility. Second, this thesis contributes to the methods by using state-of-the-art techniques, which is partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) including consistent PLS, and applying advanced concepts to empirically test the proposed model. Third, this thesis has a managerial contribution to examine the concept of information sharing and flexibility at the supplier level. Investigating the problem at the supplier level may enable managers to improve short-term decisions, such as production scheduling decisions, internal production, and inventory processes, and evaluate collaboration practices with OEMs. This doctoral thesis is organized in a monograph format comprising five chapters: Introduction, Literature review, Methodology, Empirics, and Conclusion. As an outcome, several scientific articles have emerged from this thesis and have been submitted for consideration for publication in peer-reviewed journals and international conferences in the field of operations and supply chain management. These articles are listed and appended at the end of this dissertation.QC 20160302</p

Application of CR-39 Microfilm for Rapid Discrimination Between Alpha-Particle Sources

This work presents a new technique for discriminating between alpha particles of different energy levels. In a first study, two groups of alpha particles emitted from radium-226 and americium-241 sources were successfully separated using a CR-39 microfilm of appropriate thickness. This thickness was adjusted by chemical etching before and after irradiation so that lower-energy particles were stopped within the detector, while higher-energy particles were revealed on the back side of the detector. The number of tracks on the front side of the microfilm represented all alpha particles incident on that side from the two sources. However, the number of tracks on the back side of the microfilm represented only the long-range alpha particles of higher energy that arrived at that side. Therefore, by subtracting the number of tracks on the back side from the number of tracks on the front side, one could easily determine the number of tracks for the short-range alpha particles of lower energy that remained embedded in the microfilm. Discrimination of the two energy levels is thus achieved in a simple, fast, and reliable process

Twelve Years of Scholary Research: Content and Trend Analysis of the Journal Creativity and Innovation Management

One of the internationally recognized journals that publishes and spreads literature concerning the relation between organizations and innovation and how creativity and imagination is organized is ‘Creativity and Innovation Management’ (CAIM). To date there has been only one attempt to analyze the corpus of publications in this journal from 1992-2000. As no further historical analysis of CAIM has been done after it, the purpose of this paper is to present a content analysis and verify some of the trends within published articles for the last 12 years. This study is conducted by analyzing the content of latest 360 CAIM articles (published from 2000 to 2012). Data collection and analysis are performed by utilizing Publish-or-Perish software and also, Excel statistical analysis tools. This methodology uses a multi-approach to content analysis by interpreting the text in titles and abstracts to evaluate several elements, for instance the authorship characteristics, geographical contributions or the nine themes previously proposed and visible in the CAIM journal. The study outcomes in addition to the descriptive statistics that provide an overview of the research contributions, intend to gain insights in two important aspects. First, this study confirms how the articles categorized in the nine themes have behaved in the last 12 years. Second, the study reveals that some trends in the literature came from emerging markets economies (EME), which has not been raised so far, as the relation of author’s countries and the themes of their publications in the EME context.QC20140523</p

The 4Rs supply chain resilience framework: a capability perspective

During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the demand and supply for many products fluctuated. Thus, many companies around the globe have repurposed their operations and reconfigured their supply chains (SCs) to switch production and produce new products. Literature provided various models and frameworks to explain the concepts of supply chain resilience. However, it remains unclear how companies could quickly and temporarily repurpose their SCs and what are the required capabilities during the COVID-19 crisis. Therefore, this study investigates the role of developing dynamic capabilities such as manufacturing, logistics, production capacity and procurement in facilitating production changeover. Based on 36 semistructured interviews conducted with multinational corporations, the study findings demonstrate four specific capabilities known as the 4Rs: retooling, repurposing, recalibrating and reconfiguring. Hence, the study provides a conceptual framework of operational resilience to understand how production changeover could be achieved. In addition, this 4Rs framework helps decision-makers to improve SC resilience and capabilities when facing a crisis such as COVID-19