Social Responsibility, Business Strategy and Development: The Case of Grameen-Danone Foods Limited

The aim of this paper is to study the phenomenon of Social Business Enterprises (SBEs) and gain an understanding of their nature, operations, objectives and implications by using Grameen Danone Foods Limited (GDFL) as an illustration. Within this context, some questions that this paper seeks to explore are: is the concept of Social Businesses just another ‘fashionable business marketing fad’ that will fade and wither with time, or does it offer a real workable solution to cure the ills of global poverty? The paper seeks to investigate, with Grameen Danone’s case, if, how and to what extent such social businesses help towards social and economic uplift of the poor by simultaneously being both suppliers and consumers of their services. The case of GDFL is evaluated critically and compared analytically with similar social businesses in the dairy business sector, in order to gauge its impact on local communities, especially on the target market – malnourished children. Finally, project sustainability is discussed along with consequences of a possible commercial scale-up in operations

Application and Extension of Weighted Quantile Sum Regression for the Development of a Clinical Risk Prediction Tool

In clinical settings, the diagnosis of medical conditions is often aided by measurement of various serum biomarkers through the use of laboratory tests. These biomarkers provide information about different aspects of a patient’s health and the overall function of different organs. In this dissertation, we develop and validate a weighted composite index that aggregates the information from a variety of health biomarkers covering multiple organ systems. The index can be used for predicting all-cause mortality and could also be used as a holistic measure of overall physiological health status. We refer to it as the Health Status Metric (HSM). Validation analysis shows that the HSM is predictive of long-term mortality risk and exhibits a robust association with concurrent chronic conditions, recent hospital utilization, and self-rated health. We develop the HSM using Weighted Quantile Sum (WQS) regression (Gennings et al., 2013; Carrico, 2013), a novel penalized regression technique that imposes nonnegativity and unit-sum constraints on the coefficients used to weight index components. In this dissertation, we develop a number of extensions to the WQS regression technique and apply them to the construction of the HSM. We introduce a new guided approach for the standardization of index components which accounts for potential nonlinear relationships with the outcome of interest. An extended version of the WQS that accommodates interaction effects among index components is also developed and implemented. In addition, we demonstrate that ensemble learning methods borrowed from the field of machine learning can be used to improve the predictive power of the WQS index. Specifically, we show that the use of techniques such as weighted bagging, the random subspace method and stacked generalization in conjunction with the WQS model can produce an index with substantially enhanced predictive accuracy. Finally, practical applications of the HSM are explored. A comparative study is performed to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of a number of ‘real-time’ imputation strategies in potential software applications for computing the HSM. In addition, the efficacy of the HSM as a predictor of hospital readmission is assessed in a cohort of emergency department patients

KONTRIBUSI POWER LENGAN DAN FLEKSIBILITAS SENDI BAHU TERHADAP KECEPATAN LEMPARAN PITCHING DALAM CABANG OLAHRAGA BASEBALL : Studi Deskriptif pada Atlet Pelatcab Baseball Kabupaten Bandung

Dalam cabang olahraga baseball, melakukan teknik gerakan lemparan pitching perlu ditunjang oleh komponen kondisi fisik yang mendukung terhadap teknik lemparan pitching diantaranya power lengan dan fleksibilitas sendi bahu. Memahami tentang keterkaitan variabel tersebut akan berdampak kepada pemahaman yang lebih baik dalam upaya memperbaiki teknik lemparan pitching dan variabel yang mempengaruhinya. Rumusan masalah dalam penelitian ini adalah apakah terdapat kontribusi yang positif dari power lengan dan fleksibilitas sendi bahu baik secara parsial maupun secara bersama-sama terhadap hasil lemparan pitching pada cabang olahraga baseball. Populasi dalam penelitian ini adalah atlet pelatcab baseball Kabupaten Bandung dengan populasi 20 orang dan sampel 12 orang. Teknik pengambilan data menggunakan teknik total sampling. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode deskriptif dengan istrumen penelitian menggunakan SKLZ sports radar untuk mengukur kecepatan lemparan, medicine ball throw untuk mengukur power lengan dan shoulder elevation untuk mengukur fleksibilitas sendi bahu. Hasil penelitian dengan menggunakan uji parametrik power lengan dan fleksibilitas sendi bahu dengan kecepatan lemparan pitching menjukan bahwa kontribusi atau dukungan yang diberikan oleh power lengan terhadap kecepatan lemparan pitching sebesar 62,38%, fleksibilitas sendi bahu terhadap kecepatan lemparan pitching adalah sebesar 60,24%, sedangkan gabungan dari keduanya power lengan dan fleksibilitas sendi bahu memberikan kontribusi terhadap kecepatan lemparan pitching adalah 77,36%, sedangkan sisanya sebesar 22,64% adalah kontribusi yang diberikan oleh aspek lain terhadap kecepatan lemparan yang tidak diteliti oleh penulis. Kesimpulan dari penelitian ini adalah power lengan dan fleksibilitas sendi bahu memberikan kontribusi yang positif terhadap kecepatan lemparan pitching dalam cabang olahraga baseball

Damage and repair identification in reinforced concrete beams modelled with various damage scenarios using vibration data

This research aims at developing a novel vibration-based damage identification technique that can efficiently be applied to real-time large data for detection, classification, localisation and quantification of the potential structural damage

CHINA’S EMERGENCE AS A POTENTIAL SUPERPOWER AND THE WORLD ORDER

In the endemic world, the emergence of China as a potential superpower is surfacing. It has been a long evolutionary process from the coarse period to the age of prosperity that pushes China to an upward trajectory with its reform model for domestic and worldwide growth. Its economic and strategic directions are reaping fruits in the Belt and Road Initiative. Beijing’s goodwill has been endorsed by different countries of the world who wish to learn from the ascendancy of China on the world stage. However, with the rise of China, it is feared that it would have implications for the predominant world order. This paper, therefore, highlights the country’s political, economic, military, and social reforms by its distinctive Soft Power approach. China is becoming an influential power that cannot be ignored on the global horizon.   Bibliography Entry Almotairi, Sager Ghalib. 2021. "China’s Emergence as a Potential Superpower and the World Order." Margalla Papers 25 (2): 35-46

The Impact of Internal environment elements on organizational commitment applied study in Social Security Corporation in KSA

The study aimed at verifying the effect the internal environment elements (organizational structure and culture) have on organizational commitment at the Social Security corporation in KSA,  a questionnaire was developed and distributed to a stratified random sample consists of 291 employees. the study reached the following outcomes, the existence of an acceptable level of organizational commitment among public enterprise workers, and showed that emotional commitment (Affective) is the most powerful in the organization, followed by the ongoing commitment (Continuous), while there is no acceptable level of normative commitment (Normative). There is no relationship between personal variables (gender, age, educational level, job position and practical experience) and the organizational commitment.. Keywords: Internal environment, organizational commitment, organizational culture, social insurance employee, and attitudes