Corporate social responsibility, corporate reputation and employee engagement

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been outlined as voluntarily additional legal duties of organization to serve environment and community. This voluntarily actions of corporate help them to develop reputation which can shape favorable attitude of employees towards work. Employee engagement is an attitude of commitment and involvement of employee towards their work and organization. Researchers have proved that engaged employees are more productive, more likely to achieve corporate goals and are customer centered. Although literature provides many researches that focus on corporate social responsibility, corporate reputation and employee engagement, less work can be seen that integrates all these variables. This study bridges this gap by investigating the influence of CSR and corporate reputation on employee engagement. This study is based on primary data collected from various organizations of Pakistan. Structural equation model technique is adopted to analyze data and test hypotheses. The study confirms the significant relationships between CSR and corporate reputation, CSR and employee engagement and corporate reputation and employee engagement. The implications and applications of this research are also discussed in detail.Corporate social responsibility, corporate reputation, employee engagement

Demystifying the Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake

The Eastern Massasauga rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus), Ontario’s only extant venomous snake, has suffered from the overall negative image of snakes created by centuries of traditional storytelling and more recently, mainstream media. Snakes in such media have often been portrayed as evil and dangerous creatures. This paper will examine whether non-fictional visual storytelling can be and should be used as a way of dismantling the misconceptions people might have of rattlesnakes, particularly the Eastern Massasauga rattlesnake (EMR). The Toronto Zoo conducts annual EMR workshops, a traditional form of environmental education, in hopes of trying to dispel the myths, stories and legends that have surrounded these rattlesnakes for decades. Alongside Toronto Zoo’s Adopt-A-Pond wetland conservation programme, we produced a short non-fictional educational film on the EMR and are now incorporating this film into the workshops in hopes to further the conservation messaging. This is the case study for this paper, as my research is concerned with the urgency of integrating visual storytelling to benefit wildlife conservation messaging, especially focusing on the Eastern Massasauga rattlesnake found in Ontario, Canada. This paper will contribute to our understanding of popular media depictions of snakes, as well as add to the existing literature about Disney animated films influence on our imaginations. This paper explores how the portrayal of snakes has been shaped by popular mass media, particularly through present-day Disney animated films and how conservation-based communities should respond in reducing such misconceptions that have risen in our modern societies, especially in children, over the years. My research will conclude by emphasizing on how art & digital media should be used as an educational tool for conservation concerns, causes and organizations such as the Toronto Zoo’s Adopt-A-Pond wetland conservation programme

The role of sound offsets in auditory temporal processing and perception

Sound-offset responses are distinct to sound onsets in their underlying neural mechanisms, temporal processing pathways and roles in auditory perception following recent neurobiological studies. In this work, I investigate the role of sound offsets and the effect of reduced sensitivity to offsets on auditory perception in humans. The implications of a 'sound-offset deficit' for speech-in-noise perception are investigated, based on a mathematical model with biological significance and independent channels for onset and offset detection. Sound offsets are important in recognising, distinguishing and grouping sounds. They are also likely to play a role in perceiving consonants that lie in the troughs of amplitude fluctuations in speech. The offset influence on the discriminability of model outputs for 48 non-sense vowel-consonant-vowel (VCV) speech stimuli in varying levels of multi-talker babble noise (-12, -6, 0, 6, 12 dB SNR) was assessed, and led to predictions that correspond to known phonetic categories. This work therefore suggests that variability in the offset salience alone can explain the rank order of consonants most affected in noisy situations. A novel psychophysical test battery for offset sensitivity was devised and assessed, followed by a study to find an electrophysiological correlate. The findings suggest that individual differences in sound-offset sensitivity may be a factor contributing to inter-subject variation in speech-in-noise discrimination ability. The promising measures from these results can be used to test between-population differences in offset sensitivity, with more support for objective than psychophysical measures. In the electrophysiological study, offset responses in a duration discrimination paradigm were found to be modulated by attention compared to onset responses. Overall, this thesis shows for the first time that the onset-offset dichotomy in the auditory system, previously explored in physiological studies, is also evident in human studies for both simple and complex speech sounds

Prohibition of Child Labour Leading To Delinquent Behavior in the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan 1973

The most common problem in the developing countries is child labour mainly due to poor socioeconomic environment. It came to light during the nineteenth century, when the industrial revolution and factory system were at its peak. The basic motive of this study is to explore the prohibition of child labour leading to delinquent behaviour in the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973. Qualitative method of investigation was applied in this study. Through content analysis, purposive sampling was used in selection of only those documents that were associated to constitutional initiatives regarding child labour. The main ground of child labour and delinquent behaviour stems were poverty, no better avenues of employment and lack of education and health facilities. In Pakistan Article 11 (3) of the constitution of 1973, prohibits service of children below the age of 14 years in hazardous employment. The research is limited to exploring various causes of child labour leading to delinquent behaviour prohibition under the constitution of Pakistan. The findings of this study are useful for law enforcing agencies, civil society and policy makers in order to recognise the reality of this phenomenon

The interplay of job stress and post-traumatic stress disorder in the context of terrorism, and its effects on employee outcomes : the roles of individual and organisational resources : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Management at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand

Terrorism is a scourge which has now spread across the globe. The events of the last few years in London, Paris, and other cities around the world highlight the fact that acts of terrorism cause deep trauma to those exposed to them. However, for some countries such as Pakistan, terrorism is an everyday reality. Living under on-going terrorism can be extremely stressful for employees, in that they have to deal with continuous risk in addition to the common stressors of professional and personal life. To date, however, there has been scant research into this phenomenon. This study was thus undertaken with two main objectives: 1) to understand the interplay between work stress and that caused by terrorism and its implications for employee outcomes; and 2) to determine whether personal and organisational resources such as psychological capital and perceived organisational support could help explain the influences of these stressors. Pakistan was the setting for this research, as it has suffered from on-going terrorism for more than a decade, with nearly 50,000 civilians killed between 2003-2014 .I have personally experienced on-going terrorism and its associated loss of life. The drive to understand the effects of this context was thus deeply felt and meaningful on a personal level. This research was challenging in many aspects, and I faced obstacles different to those presented by general management research, including conducting a study in a country where danger to life from terrorism was a real possibility. Aside from being emotionally taxing, the investigation involved ethical issues around the additional stress and trauma that could arise from the inquiry. Notwithstanding this, gaps in the literature and the practical need for the study could not be ignored. Drawing on conservation of resources theory, a theoretical framework was developed. This suggested that if employees are stressed, they are likely to feel resource depletion. The source of stress could be caused by their job and/or terrorism. The constant nature of terrorism, however, would likely further hinder employees from gaining psychological strength. For job stress, a challenge and hindrance stressors framework was used, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was used as a lens through which to understand terrorism stress. Next, using positive psychology and organisational support theory, it was argued that viewing/ approaching/ utilising psychological capital as a psychological resource, and perceived organisational support as an organisation-based support resource may help to reduce the toll of the stressors on employees. This thesis comprises three studies and three data sets. First, it explored through a qualitative study the stressors of a job and terrorism, and their influence on employee outcomes, and determined the roles of personal and organisational resources. Next, a quantitative study was conducted to test some of these relationships. The first study had highlighted that there was a need to develop a contextual measure which required testing before conducting the final study. Study One was based on the limited existing literature, and involved semi- structured interviews with 15 human resources (HR)/line managers. It aimed to gain knowledge about the influence of job and terrorism stress on employee outcomes, and the role of resources in helping reduce/explain the detrimental consequences. Thematic analyses highlighted several themes which were highly embedded in the context of on-going terrorism. The main themes concerned job stress, terrorism stress, organisational support in the context of terrorism, and employee outcomes of stressors of job and terrorism. Study One pointed out that the population at large was exposed to terrorist incidents, had suffered losses, and was likely to be traumatized. It also indicated that the organisational support needed by employees in the context of on-going terrorism was distinctly different than that which is conventionally observed in the literature as perceived organisational support (POS). For example, employees in the terrorism context wanted organisations to provide physical security such as armed guards with bullet proof jackets. There was no existing instrument that could be used to specifically measure this. The second study was informed by the first and focused on developing a measure for the contextual POS; I called it Security-POS. This study had a sample of 146 Pakistani employees and used factor analysis. It confirmed that Security-POS is distinct from POS. Mediation analysis confirmed that Security-POS enhances POS, which in turn positively influences employee outcomes and well-being. Drawing on the findings of the two studies, the third and final study was developed. The survey for this study was based on 416 Pakistani employees. The studies conjointly found that job stressors and PTSD collectively had more dire effects on employee behaviours than did each stressor separately. PTSD itself was higher than any other comparable samples such as those from post 9/11 or Israeli populations. In contrast to the majority of extant research findings, challenge stressors were often not recognised as a challenge, and consequently became another burden for employees. More importantly, hindrance stressors were identified as being the most detrimental of all the stressors. Both POS and Security-related contextual POS helped in moderating the adverse effects of the stressor. Psychological capital also mediated and reduced the harmful effects of the stressors and PTSD. This is constructed in the form of a ‘By Publication’ thesis wherein the most significant part of the thesis is presented in the form of stand-alone, but linked journal articles. Chapters 1 and 2 introduce the study and review the literature respectively, while Chapter 3 outlines the overall methodology of the research. Chapters 4 to 8 contain the five research articles (manuscripts). These chapters present one article or manuscript each as a complete, stand-alone piece, but collectively, are linked and based on the overall study. A brief outline of these five journal articles or manuscripts can be found below. Chapter 9 then provides an overall discussion of the study, its limitations, contributions and implications, and finally, a concluding section. This study contributes in general to the literature of management science, and in particular to the areas of job stress and trauma, and even more specifically, to the development of conservation of resources theory, positive psychology, and organisational support theory. It was conducted in areas that were far flung and hard hit by terrorism. It presented voices which are otherwise not heard, and has implications for the well-being of the individual employees working in, and for organisations located in, the terrorism- afflicted area. However, beyond Pakistan and other terrorism-afflicted countries, this study has wider implications for international organisations and communities. According to the United Nations (2016), the number of international migrants has grown faster than the world’s population, reaching 244 million in 2015, a 41% increase since 2000. A large number of people continue to flee unsafe environments, not only as refugees, but also as expatriates, students and skilled migrants. These individuals may not always be aware of the burdens of the stress and trauma that accompanies them, and nor may their new employment organisations and host countries. For the well-being of the workforce in various settings, it is thus critical that the effects of terrorism on employees and their organisations become better understood

Country Reputation and Corporate Reputation in e-Government Context: A Mixed Method Study of UAE

The academic study of country reputation is still relatively limited and new. This doctoral research investigates the impact of country reputation and corporate reputation in the e-government context in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The transformational approach adopted by the UAE government and their leadership specifies the future directions through their vision and strategic objectives to assure the country’s competitiveness among other countries around the world. The ultimate vision and goal of the country is to leverage the well-being and happiness of its citizens through government services in different government fields including e-government services. Thus, this research investigates the effect of country and corporate reputation on customer loyalty, customer happiness and overall happiness thorough the quality of the e-government services provided. A mixed method approach was used in this research starting with an exploratory study using qualitative methodology (Phase 1) by conducting interviews and a focus group. This was followed by a quantitative study (Phase 2) using structural equation modeling for the data collected through questionnaires. In phase 1 of the research design, the sample consisted of twelve decision makers in government organizations (including ministries and managers). In addition, seven customers who used e-government services were asked about their perceptions about country and corporate reputation and customers’ outcomes

GENERATING SYNTHETIC SATELLITE IMAGES OF MARS DUST STORMS BASED ON RADIATIVE TRANSFER MODELS, AS A FOLLOW-ON APPLICATION OF MARSWRF DUST CYCLE SIMULATIONS

Dust is a fundamental component of the Martian atmosphere; it plays a vital role in the planet\u27s climate system and atmospheric variability. For these reasons, it is considered one of the essential keys to understanding the Martian atmosphere\u27s behavior. The dust events on Mars range from local/regional dust storms that occur every Martian year to global dust storms that have only been observed, on average, once every 3-4 Martian years. The large regional and global dust storms have strong thermal and dynamic effects on the atmosphere. MarsWRF is a Mars version of the terrestrial numerical weather and climate model WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting Model) and part of the PlanetWRF models for planetary atmosphere research. This project aims to convert MarsWRF output data into synthetic satellite images of Mars dust storms of different sizes by using the radiative transfer model DISORT. The imagery is generated by passing selected variables from the MarsWRF output through the DISORT model, which is used to compute the top-of-the-atmosphere reflectance for a given band. The main results are synthetic satellite images plotted in 670 nm with a grid resolution of 2°× 2° of different dust events during one year of the MarsWRF model run. The obtained results of this project are consistent with the real cases of satellite images of Mars dust storms

Parental Communication Style And Adolescent Intrapersonal Variables: Associations With Academic Achievement

The current study was an exploration of the role of the microsystem predictor of parental communication style as well as various intrapersonal factors on academic achievement. Previous research has not extensively explored the variable of parental communication style nor has it extensively studied the influence of this combination of variables on high school student’s academic achievement. Participants in this study were 226 high school students. The students were from schools in the mid-west. Goal orientation, parental communication style, and autonomy support emerged as factors, which significantly explained variance in student academic achievement. The demographic variables of school, ethnicity, and grade also emerged as factors, which did so. These findings are discussed, along with their implications

MATHEMATICAL MODELING OF THE IMPORTED MALARIA IN THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Although the UAE was certified to be free of local malaria transmission cases in 2007, the increased number of imported malaria cases in recent years required the attention of the public health professionals. The aim of this work is to study, via mathematical modeling, the impact of imported malaria cases on the population of the UAE. The nature of the health policies in the UAE imposes on us a model that classifies the living population of the UAE in two categories. The local population, who represent the permanent residents that do not have any health requirement for their residency, and the nonlocal population, which are required to have certain health conditions to maintain their residency status in the country. Basic reproduction number was computed and stability analysis and local sensitivity analysis were performed to understand the epidemiological features of imported malaria in the UAE. The simulation showed that when an infection is established in the country, it will not be affected by reducing the burden of the endemic on the locals. Also, the local sensitivity presented the most influential parameter for the infected compartments which will assist in the control measures. My model helped to show the possible outcomes of such epidemic on both human subpopulation and the control strategy to maintain lower epidemic size in the UAE

Preparation and characterization of new hybrid organic/inorganic systems derived from calcium (aminoalkyl)-phosphonates and -phosphonocarboxylates

We have studied the phenomenon of calcium complexation by lab synthesized amphiphilic (α-aminoalkyl)-phosphonocarboxylic or -phosphonic acids. The electrical conductivity of aqueous solutions of sodium salts of all these acids was measured versus the volume of a calcium salt solution added. It appeared that calcium complexes are formed in a Ca/P atomic ratio close to 1. Calcium phosphonocarboxylates and calcium phosphonates were also precipitated by mixing aqueous solutions of disodium salts of phosphorus amphiphiles and calcium nitrate solutions. Before chemical analysis, these complexes were calcined to remove the organic part. In the mineralized products, calcium and phosphate were assayed: the Ca/P atomic ratio was equal to 1. X-ray diffraction and IR spectroscopy showed that they are made entirely of β pyrophosphate (Ca2P2O7), a result in agreement with previous chemical analysis. The chemical formula of the starting calcium complexes could be written as CaL·2H2O (L= ligand). The SEM micrographs of these complexes show plate-like structures. XRD patterns are characteristic of layered structures. These facts suggest that calcium complexes are composed of alternating bimolecular layers of calcium alkylphosphonocarboxylates or calcium alkylphosphonates, the chains being tilted and partially interdigitated