Total Quality Management in Research and Development Sections of Different Sectors: A Social Responsibility

While Total Quality Management has proven to be an effective process for improving organizational functioning, its value can only be assured through a comprehensive and well¬ thought¬ out implementation process. The purpose of this paper is to outline key aspects of implementation of large-scale organizational change, which may enable a practitioner to more thoughtfully and successfully implement TQM. The three different sectorsMNCs, defence and Academics have been discussed with emphasis on MNCs as a social responsibility . DOI: 10.17762/ijritcc2321-8169.15024

Electronic Waste: Time to Wake Up

The volume of electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) being generated in the world due to exponential growth in electrical and electronic appliances and equipment, production and consumption worldwide, is reaching to unmanageable limits. The latest estimates indicate that in 2020 almost 90 – 100 million tons of e-waste will be generated globally. E-waste is today the fastest growing waste stream (about 8% a year). However, increasing quantities of e-waste and its mismanagement represents a major concern across the world due to the presence of hazardous substances such as lead, mercury, PCB, asbestos and CFC’s. Uncontrolled dumping in the third world countries and inappropriate recycling processes generate negative impacts on the environment and pose risks to human health. On the other hand, e-waste contains valuable materials such as gold, silver, copper, platinum, palladium, iron, aluminium, indium, gallium and rare earth metals that may be recovered thus contributing to sustainable resource management

Teachers’ Perceptions of Emergency Remote Teaching During COVID-19 at Sultan Qaboos University, Oman

The uncertain situation emerging from COVID-19 led to an unprecedented suspension of face-to-face classes and the adoption of emergency remote teaching (ERT) in higher education institutions (HEIs). However, ERT required specific skills on the part of the teachers. As higher education systems gradually revert to normalcy, it is vital to reflect on ERT practices. Hence, this study investigates, in retrospect, the experiences of the General Foundation Programme (GFP) teachers at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) in Oman in conducting and adapting to ERT. The exploratory study uses an online questionnaire and the analysis is based on 102 teacher responses. The results of the quantitative data were analyzed and complemented with an extensive literature review. The findings can be grouped into six themes: teachers’ awareness of ERT and online teaching, readiness to deliver ERT, course management, students’ readiness, emotions in ERT, and effectiveness and future potential of remote teaching. The study suggests ways for HEIs to adapt to emergency teaching and learning and prepare for the effective implementation of online teaching. The paper provides insights into the challenges and opportunities associated with the emerging modalities of online teaching and informs decision and policy makers to develop a framework for their implementation. These findings have important implications for crisis management and the effective implementation of online teaching and learning in tertiary education. This study fills a gap in online teaching and learning research of the understudied context of a GFP in the Arab Gulf context

Selection principles and covering properties in bitopological spaces

[EN] Our main focus in this paper is to introduce and study various selection principles in bitopological spaces. In particular, Menger type, and Hurewicz type covering properties like: Almost p-Menger, star p-Menger, strongly star p-Menger, weakly p-Hurewicz, almost p-Hurewicz, star p-Hurewicz and strongly star p-Hurewicz spaces are defined and corresponding properties are investigated. Relations between some of these spaces are established.Khan, MUD.; Sabah, A. (2020). Selection principles and covering properties in bitopological spaces. Applied General Topology. 21(1):159-169. https://doi.org/10.4995/agt.2020.12238OJS159169211O. T. Alas, L. R. Junqueira and R. G. Wilson, Countability and star covering properties, Topology Appl. 158 (2011), 620-626. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.topol.2010.12.012B. P. Dvalishvili, Bitopological spaces: theory, relations with generalized algebraic structures, and applications, North-Holand Math. Stud. (2005).W. Hurewicz, Über die verallgemeinerung des borelschen theorems, Math. Z. 24 (1925), 401-425. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01216792J. C. Kelly Bitopological spaces, Proc. London Math. Soc. 13, no. 3 (1963), 71-89. https://doi.org/10.1112/plms/s3-13.1.71D. Kocev, Almost Menger and related spaces, Mat. Vesnik 61 (2009), 173-180.Lj. D. R. Kocinac , Star-Menger and related spaces, Publ. Math. Debrecen 55 (1999), 421-431.Lj. D. R. Kocinac, Star-Menger and related spaces II, Filomat 13 (1999), 129-140.Lj. D. R. Kocinac and S. Ozcag, Versions of separability in bitopological spaces, Topology Appl. 158 (2011), 1471-1477. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.topol.2011.05.019Lj. D. R. Kocinac and S. Ozcag, Bitopological spaces and selection principles, Proceedings ICTA2011, Cambridge Scientific Publishers, (2012), 243-255.M. V. Matveev, A survey on star covering properties, Topology Atlas, preprint No. 330 (1998).S. Ozcag and A. E. Eysen, Almost Menger property in bitopological spaces, Ukranian Math. J. 68, no. 6 (2016), 950-958. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11253-016-1268-4F. Rothberger, Eine Ver schörfung der Eigenschaftc, Fundamenta Mathematicae 30 (1938), 50-55. https://doi.org/10.4064/fm-30-1-50-5

Do Mobile Addicts have Poor Sleep Quality?

Background: The dawn of technology in form of smartphones has brought about an epidemic but in addition to the beneficial use of mobile phone its causing the sleep loss and disturbance in the circadian rhythms of the body.  Objective: The objective of this study is to determine the association between the mobile phone addiction with sleep quality among medical students as this association can have long-term consequences on the life of the students.  Materials and methods: It was a descriptive study conducted on students of  Wah Medical College. The questionnaires comprising of three parts: the demographic profile, the Pittsburgh sleep quality index for sleep quality and Mobile Phone Use Scale for mobile phone addiction were distributed among all the students after informed consent. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 21. Chi-square test was applied to find the association between Mobile Phone addiction and Sleep quality at α-value of 0.05.  Results: The sleep quality index score showed that 130(38.6%) students had a good quality of sleep and 162(48.1%) were addicted to mobile phone use. A significant association was found between mobile phone addiction and sleep quality among medical students with a p-value of 0.001. Conclusion: Mobile phone addiction is an important health problem in our medical college and because of this addiction there is poor sleep quality among the students. Health education sessions on a frequent basis should be conducted for all to disseminate the adverse effects of addictive mobile use

Home Chaos and Self-Regulation: Moderating Role of Gender between Home Chaos and Effortful Control

Objective: To explore the relationship between home chaos and Self-regulation (effortful control) among young children including other dimensions of temperament (Surgency and Negative affect). Place and Duration of the Study: The study was conducted from January 2015 to September 2016 in Rawalpindi. Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive correlational study. The sample consisted of 100 children (3-7 years) and their mothers. The sample was selected from different private and government schools. For children who were less than 4 years, the mothers were contacted at their homes directly. A purposive sampling technique was used to collect data. To assess temperament and home chaos Children’s Behavior Questionnaire Very Short Form (CBQ) and Confusion, Hubbub, and Order Scale (CHAOS)-Urdu Version were used respectively. To collect demographic information for sample selection according to sampling criteria the forms were sent to parents through children. Results: The results showed significant negative association between home chaos and children’s effortful control (ꞅ = -.21*, p<.05), non-significant positive association between home chaos, negative affect(ꞅ = .06, p>.05)  and surgency (ꞅ = -.16, p>.05).. Home chaos was also found to be a significant predictor of effort among children. In addition, it was found that gender moderated the relation between home chaos and effortful control. Boys get affected more than girls and show poor effortful control in chaotic homes [t (96) = 2.39, p<.05]. Conclusion: Home chaos is a significant predictor of effortful control, one dimension of temperament among young children. Boys showed fewer self-regulation skills in chaotic homes as compared to their counterparts

On the Role of Hash-Based Signatures in Quantum-Safe Internet of Things:Current Solutions and Future Directions

The Internet of Things (IoT) is gaining ground as a pervasive presence around us by enabling miniaturized things with computation and communication capabilities to collect, process, analyze, and interpret information. Consequently, trustworthy data act as fuel for applications that rely on the data generated by these things, for critical decision-making processes, data debugging, risk assessment, forensic analysis, and performance tuning. Currently, secure and reliable data communication in IoT is based on public-key cryptosystems such as Elliptic Curve Cryptosystem (ECC). Nevertheless, reliance on the security of de-facto cryptographic primitives is at risk of being broken by the impending quantum computers. Therefore, the transition from classical primitives to quantum-safe primitives is indispensable to ensure the overall security of data en route. In this paper, we investigate applications of one of the post-quantum signatures called Hash-Based Signature (HBS) schemes for the security of IoT devices in the quantum era. We give a succinct overview of the evolution of HBS schemes with emphasis on their construction parameters and associated strengths and weaknesses. Then, we outline the striking features of HBS schemes and their significance for the IoT security in the quantum era. We investigate the optimal selection of HBS in the IoT networks with respect to their performance-constrained requirements, resource-constrained nature, and design optimization objectives. In addition to ongoing standardization efforts, we also highlight current and future research and deployment challenges along with possible solutions. Finally, we outline the essential measures and recommendations that must be adopted by the IoT ecosystem while preparing for the quantum world.Comment: 18 pages, 7 tables, 7 figure

Orchestrating product provenance story:When IOTA ecosystem meets electronics supply chain space

"Trustworthy data" is the fuel for ensuring transparent traceability, precise decision-making, and cogent coordination in the supply chain (SC) space. However, the disparate data silos act as a trade barrier in orchestrating the provenance of product story starting from the transformation of raw materials into the circuit board to the assembling of electronic components into end products available on the store shelf for customers. Therefore, to bridge the fragmented siloed information across global supply chain partners, the diffusion of blockchain (BC) as one of the advanced distributed ledger technology (DLT) takeover the on-premise legacy systems. Nevertheless, the challenging constraints of blockchain including scalability, accessing off-line data, fee-less microtransactions and many more lead to the third wave of blockchain called IOTA. In this paper, we propose a framework for supporting provenance in the electronic supply chain (ECS) by using permissioned IOTA ledger. Realizing the crucial requirement of trustworthy data, we use Masked Authenticated Messaging (MAM) channel provided by IOTA that allows the SC players to procure distributed information while keeping confidential trade flows, tamper-proof data, and fine-grained accessibility rights. To identify operational disruption, we devise a transparent product ledger through transaction data and consignment information to keep track of the complete product journey at each intermediary step during SC processes. Furthermore, we evaluate the secure provenance data construction time for varying payload size.Comment: 47 pages, 18 figure