The Effect of Political Instability and Institutional Weakness on Administrative Corruption

Although there is valuable literature on areas of corruption, such as political and corporate corruption, a limited number of papers have examined the determinants of administrative corruption. To the best of our knowledge, the multivariate impacts of political instability and institutional weakness on administrative corruption, and the interplay between these constructs, have not been examined using the partial least squares structural equation modeling method. The current study attempts to fill this gap by proposing and testing a model. We test a sample of 677 responses that reflect the perspective of the general public in Basra, Iraq. Findings reveal that the political instability and institutional weakness of public organizations positively impact administrative corruption, while political instability leads to institutional weakness. Institutional weakness mediates the effect of political instability on administrative corruption. Therefore, political instability is a crucial factor causing corruption since it has both direct and indirect effects on administrative corruption. The theoretical contributions, managerial implications, limitations, and recommendations for further research are provided

The effect of culture and organisational culture on administrative corruption

Copyright © 2019 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. There is extensive literature on corruption, such as political and corporate corruption, some of which examines factors influencing administrative corruption. However, to the best of our knowledge, the multivariate influences of culture and organisational culture on administrative corruption have not been tested using an integrative approach. This paper attempts to fill the gap by building and testing a comprehensive model. We test a sample of 677 responses that reflect the prospective view of the public in Basra, Iraq, using the partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) approach. Our study finds that corrupt culture and weak organisational culture have direct effects on administrative corruption, while corrupt culture leads to weak organisational culture. The latter mediates the impact of corrupt culture on administrative corruption. The higher level of social class, the lower the impact of corrupt culture on administrative corruption

Strategies of Subtitling Egyptian Idiomatic Expressions and Proverbs into English

Several platforms, such as Netflix, offer subtitles of different works and movies in several languages, including Arabic and English.  In this study, the researchers discuss the strategies used to overcome the challenges subtitlers face when translating Egyptian idiomatic expressions and proverbs into English. A parallel corpus of four movies, namely تيتا رهيبة  My horrible grandma, عسل أسود  Bittersweet, الباشا تلميذ  The Student cop, and عمارة يعقوبيان Yacoubian Building, was compiled from scratch. The idiomatic expressions and proverbs were identified and analyzed according to Baker's taxonomies (Baker, 1992). The translation strategy of "paraphrasing" was the most frequently used in translating proverbs. In rendering idiomatic expressions, the subtitlers mostly resorted to the strategy of "translating by paraphrasing using unrelated words to deal with the non-equivalent expression". "Mistranslation" was detected in some cases, most likely due to the lack of the target culture knowledge and not finding appropriate equivalents. The subtitlers sometimes used literal translation, which distorted the meaning and resulted in unnatural translations. The results also revealed that some expressions that were repeatedly used in the movies were translated differently according to the context. This study can be beneficial to translators and translation students, especially those interested in subtitling movies and translating proverbs and idiomatic expressions

Expected Architects Acceptance of a BIM Tool to Optimize the Building Energetic Performance.

Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Arquitetura, CIAUD, Rua Sá Nogueira, Pólo Universitário, Alto da Ajuda, 1349-055, Lisboa, Portugal - In Advances in Ergonomics in Design - Proceedings of the AHFE 2020 Virtual Conference on Ergonomics in DesignTITULO DO PROJETO: "Ren4EEnIEQ - Ferramenta estendida acoplada ao BIM para a melhoria da eficiência energética e qualidade do ambiente interior na renovação de edifícios", Cham,info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A predictive model of users’ behavior and values of smart energy meters using PLS-SEM

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020. A smart energy metering system is an IoT device that connects several electrical household devices and record, monitor, estimate, control in-house energy consumption in a real-time basis. Although smart energy meters have great capabilities, this technology is still in infancy stages in many developing countries, and little is known about what perceived values are associated with smart meters from residents’ perspectives. Therefore, this research aimed to fill this gap by examining the impact of six different types of perceived values on residents’ intentions to use smart meters in UAE. The study followed a quantitative approach by gathering 266 survey responses which were tested by using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The statistical results genuinely indicated that perceived epistemic values, environmental values, emotional values, and convenience values can significantly impact residents’ intention to use smart meter, whereas social values and monetary values found to have no significant impact on their intentions to use this technology. Theoretical and practical implications are indicated, and directions of future research are specified afterwards

Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection among veterinary staff in Ontario, Canada (2002): Implications for teratogenic risk

BACKGROUND: Toxoplasma gondii infection is embryotoxic in humans. It is mainly transmitted through raw/undercooked meat and ingestion of oocysts in cat feces. There remains controversy about the actual risk of cats transmitting the disease to humans. Our primary objective was to determine the seroprevalence of T. gondii antibody among veterinary staff, to ascertain whether they have an increased risk through occupational exposure. Our secondary objective was to examine their practices regarding cats, toxoplasma infection, and pregnancy. METHODS: Veterinary staff attending the 2002 Annual Ontario Veterinary Medical Association Conference were invited to discuss their toxoplasma seroprevalence. Interested attendees completed a questionnaire and a physician drew blood samples to determine T. gondii titres using the ELISA IgG test. RESULTS: We collected 161 completed questionnaires, and 141 blood samples. There were 20 (14.2%, CI95%:8.4–19.9%) reactive titres among the veterinarian staff (80% females aged 30–45). All were regularly exposed to cats, washed their hands when in contact and few wore gloves routinely. CONCLUSIONS: These findings of low positive rates may be used to reassure veterinary staff that their exposure to cats does not appear to increase their risk of contracting toxoplasma infection and that pregnant women are not at an increased risk by owning a cat

Residents\u27 perceptions of smart energy metres

Smart metres are a form of expert system with performance features beyond energy‐consumption record keeping, to include monitoring, analysing, and estimating metre readings. Although smart metres have great capabilities, this technology is still in its infancy in many developing countries, and little is known about the kinds of risks associated with smart metres from residents\u27 perspectives. This research therefore aims to fill this gap by examining the influence of four different types of perceived risk on residents\u27 intentions to use smart metres in Jordan. By following a quantitative approach, 242 survey responses were tested by using structural equation modelling–partial least squares. The statistical results indicated that perceived security and technical risks have a significant and negative impact on residents\u27 intentions to use smart metres. However, perceived privacy and health risks, surprisingly, were found to have no significant negative influence on intention to use. Theoretical and practical implications are indicated, and directions of future research are subsequently specified

What drives the 'August effect'?: an observational study of the effect of junior doctor changeover on out of hours work

Objective: To investigate whether measurements of junior doctor on-call workload and performance can clarify the mechanisms underlying the increase in morbidity and mortality seen after junior doctor changeover: the ‘August effect’. Design: Quantitative retrospective observational study of routinely collected data on junior doctor workload. Setting: Two large teaching hospitals in England. Participants: Task level data from a wireless out of hours system (n = 29,885 requests) used by medical staff, nurses, and allied health professionals. Main outcome measures: Number and type of tasks requested by nurses, time to completion of tasks by junior doctors. Results: There was no overall change in the number of tasks requested by nurses out of hours around the August changeover (median requests per hour 15 before and 14 after, p = 0.46). However, the number of tasks classified as urgent was greater (p = 0.016) equating to five more urgent tasks per day. After changeover, doctors took less time to complete tasks overall due to a reduction in time taken for routine tasks (median 74 vs. 66 min; p = 3.9 × 10−9). Conclusion: This study suggests that the ‘August effect’ is not due to new junior doctors completing tasks more slowly or having a greater workload. Further studies are required to investigate the causes of the increased number of urgent tasks seen, but likely factors are errors, omissions, and poor prioritization. Thus, improved training and quality control has the potential to address this increased duration of unresolved patient risk. The study also highlights the potential of newer technologies to facilitate quantitative study of clinical activity

How physicians perceive and utilize information from a teratogen information service: The Motherisk Program

BACKGROUND: Teratogen information services have been developed around the world to disseminate information regarding the safety of maternal exposures during pregnancy. The Motherisk Program in Toronto, Canada, fields thousands of these inquiries per year. Our primary objective was to evaluate the perception and utilization of information received from us by physicians. Our secondary objective was to examine their information seeking behavior, in particular regarding teratogen information. METHODS: A one page survey was sent to physicians who had called Motherisk for information concerning pregnancy exposures in the previous 30 days for three months. Among the questions that were asked were demographics, which included gender, years in practice, specialty, information resources, and how they utilized the information received from Motherisk. RESULTS: We received 118/200 completed questionnaires (59% response rate). The mean age of the respondents was: 42 ± 9 years, mean years of practice was: 14 ± 8 years, males: 46(38%) and females 72(62%) and 95(80%) were family physicians. 56(48%) researched their question prior to calling Motherisk, 106(91%) and passed on the information received to their patient verbatim. The top four resources for information were: 1) The CPS (PDR), 2) textbooks, 3) journals and 4) colleagues. Only 8% used the Medline for gathering information. CONCLUSIONS: Physicians feel that a teratogen information service is an important component in the management of women exposed to drugs, chemicals, radiation and infections diseases etc. during pregnancy. Despite the advent of the electronic age, a minority of the physicians in our survey elected to use electronic means to seek information