Exchange-Repairs: Managing Inconsistency in Data Exchange

In a data exchange setting with target constraints, it is often the case that a given source instance has no solutions. In such cases, the semantics of target queries trivialize. The aim of this paper is to introduce and explore a new framework that gives meaningful semantics in such cases by using the notion of exchange-repairs. Informally, an exchange-repair of a source instance is another source instance that differs minimally from the first, but has a solution. Exchange-repairs give rise to a natural notion of exchange-repair certain answers (XR-certain answers) for target queries. We show that for schema mappings specified by source-to-target GAV dependencies and target equality-generating dependencies (egds), the XR-certain answers of a target conjunctive query can be rewritten as the consistent answers (in the sense of standard database repairs) of a union of conjunctive queries over the source schema with respect to a set of egds over the source schema, making it possible to use a consistent query-answering system to compute XR-certain answers in data exchange. We then examine the general case of schema mappings specified by source-to-target GLAV constraints, a weakly acyclic set of target tgds and a set of target egds. The main result asserts that, for such settings, the XR-certain answers of conjunctive queries can be rewritten as the certain answers of a union of conjunctive queries with respect to the stable models of a disjunctive logic program over a suitable expansion of the source schema.Comment: 29 pages, 13 figures, submitted to the Journal on Data Semantic

Assessing Patients’ Perception of Health Care Service Quality Offered by COHSASA-Accredited Hospitals in Nigeria

Service quality in health care institutions is an emerging phenomenon, and many hospitals are concerned about providing quality service to their patients based on information obtained by the patient’s perceptions of service quality. First, we aimed to determine patients’ perception of service quality offered at Council for Health Service Accreditation of Southern Africa (COHSASA)–accredited private hospitals in Nigeria. And that included reexamining the dimensionality of SERVQUAL (the test tool) based on our sample data. Second, we aimed to find out whether there are any existing gaps between patients’ expectation and perception of the service quality. Third, this research is an attempt to test the perceived quality effects on patients’ satisfaction and repurchase intentions toward health services. Quantitative research was conducted via self-administered questionnaires to patients who attended a randomly selected COHSASA-accredited private hospital in Nigeria and analyze their data using a variety of quantitative procedures including structural equation modeling, factor analyses, and paired-samples t tests. A systematic sampling method was used, and a total of 228 questionnaires were used for the final analyses. SERVQUAL was found to be a three-factor variate comprising the following: tangibility, reliability, and sensitivity. Our results concluded that perceived quality was significantly lower than expected quality despite being accompanied with positive levels of satisfaction and repurchase intentions. Finally, patient’s satisfaction was found to fully transmit the indirect effects of two of the three factors, quality sensitivity and reliability, onto repurchase intentions, whereas tangibility does not exert indirect significant influences over repurchase intentions via patient satisfaction

No one is safe! But who’s more susceptible? Locus of control moderates pandemic perceptions’ effects on job insecurity and psychosocial factors amongst MENA hospitality frontliners: a PLS-SEM approach

Background The research aimed to formulate and test a model concerning COVID-19 perceptions effects on job insecurity and a set of psychosocial factors comprising anxiety, depression, job burnout and job alienation in the Middle East and North African (hereafter, MENA) regional context. Also, the study attempted to examine whether locus of control can moderate these hypothesised linkages amongst customer service employees working in MENA hospitality organisations. Methods The study is based on a sample of 885 responses to an online survey and Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). Results The main findings show the existence of a significant correlation between COVID perceptions and job insecurity and all psychosocial factors, i.e., more intense COVID-19 perceptions accompany higher levels of job insecurity, anxiety, depression, job burnout and job alienation. Furthermore, our results revealed that, in pandemic time, hospitality customer service employees with external locus of control are more likely to suffer higher alienation, anxiety and depression than those with internal locus of control. Conclusions The research originality centres on the establishment that COVID-19 has a severe negative impact within the hospitality customer service labour force (in the MENA region). These effects were more profound for participants who claimed external locus of control than those with internal locus of control

Total Quality Management Boosters and Blockers in a Humanitarian Setting: An Exploratory Investigation

Utilizing qualitative techniques, this research is aimed at investigating total quality management (TQM) implementation practices within a humanitarian setting. The extensive survey instrument of professionals working for the United Nations (UN) organizations operating in the Middle East is used to reveal TQM use within international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) that provide humanitarian relief. With the goal of helping organizations to address anticipated difficulties in implementing TQM practices that improve performance of humanitarian interventions, this study identifies and examines the boosters and blockers of successful implementation of the TQM practices. The most prominent themes that were identified relate to availability of funding, management commitment to quality, partnerships and communication channels, and knowledge sharing

Locus of control as a moderator of the effects of COVID-19 perceptions on job insecurity, psychosocial, organisational and job outcomes for MENA region hospitality employees

We develop and test an integrated model to understand how individual differences based on internal or external locus of control influence the effects of COVID-19 perceptions on job insecurity, anxiety, alienation, job satisfaction, customer orientation, organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB), and turnover intention among customer service employees within hospitality organisations in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region. The investigation utilises variance-based structural equation modelling to evaluate a sample of 847 subject responses. We found that externally controlled employees are more likely to develop negative emotions resulting from pandemic-triggered job insecurity as well as poorer customer orientation and engagement in OCB due to worsened job satisfaction than those internally controlled. Wholistically, COVID-19 perceptions tend to indirectly hit externally controlled employees’ anxiety, customer orientation, and OCB more intensely than those with internal locus of control

Automated goal operationalisation based on interpolation and SAT solving

Goal oriented methods have been successfully employed for eliciting and elaborating software requirements. When goals are assigned to an agent, they have to be operationalised: the agent’s operations have to be refined, by equipping them with appropriate enabling and triggering conditions, so that the goals are fulfilled. Goal operationalisation generally demands a significant effort of the engineer. Although there exist approaches that tackle this problem, they are either in-formal or at most semi automated, requiring the engineer to assist in the process. In this paper, we present an approach for goal operationalisation that automatically computes required preconditions and required triggering conditions for operations, so that the resulting operations establish the goals. The process is iterative, is able to deal with safety goals and particular kinds of liveness goals, and is based on the use of interpolation and SAT solving

Developing and validating a new multi‐dimensional scale for anti‐social behavior in a higher education setting

Abstract: The purpose of this research is to construct and validate a multi-dimensional scale of Anti-social Behaviour (hereafter ASB) in a Western higher education context (i.e. USA). To achieve this, four studies, each with a different sample, were performed. Study 1 (n = 150) followed an exploratory design to generate a pool of potential items measuring ASB. Study 2 (n = 254) explored the dimensionality of the items produced in Study 1 using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and reliability measures. Study 3 (n = 654) confirmed the factorial structure from Study 2 and assessed the measurement model invariance using structural equation modelling (SEM). Finally, Study 4 (n = 287) assessed the predictive validity of the ASB measure through testing a hypothetical path model linking ASB to narcissism and Machiavellianism via an SEM procedure. In total, our research findings conclude that the ASB measurement model is a two-factor multi-dimensional structure comprising: Interpersonal Antagonistic Behaviour (six items) as well as Indirect Distractive Behaviour (four items). The research and practical implications for universities are thereafter discussed

Prioritized Repairing and Consistent Query Answering in Relational Databases

A consistent query answer in an inconsistent database is an answer obtained in every (minimal) repair. The repairs are obtained by resolving all conflicts in all possible ways. Often, however, the user is able to provide a preference on how conflicts should be resolved. We investigate here the framework of preferred consistent query answers, in which user preferences are used to narrow down the set of repairs to a set of preferred repairs. We axiomatize desirable properties of preferred repairs. We present three different families of preferred repairs and study their mutual relationships. Finally, we investigate the complexity of preferred repairing and computing preferred consistent query answers.Comment: Accepted to the special SUM'08 issue of AMA

Pandemic pains to Instagram gains! COVID-19 perceptions effects on behaviours towards fashion brands on Instagram in Sub-Saharan Africa: Tech-native vs non-native generations

This study represents a novel attempt to investigate the cascading effects of COVID-19 perceptions onto behavioural patterns towards fashion brands on Instagram and across two generations tech-native vs tech non-native) in a Sub-Saharan African context. We drew our study on a sample of 338 Instagram users that experienced fashion brands on Instagram in two Sub-Saharan African countries: Uganda and Nigeria. We used partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to test the hypothetical model. We found that COVID-19 perception positively predicted enjoyment and usefulness, leading to more satisfaction with fashion brand accounts on Instagram and hence greater intention to follow and recommend those accounts. Finally, running a multigroup analysis (MGA), we found the effects of COVID-19 perceptions pronounced into both intentions to follow and intention to recommend via the sequence of mediators: enjoyment and satisfaction were only valid amongst the tech-native generational cohort. Our research suggested a new generational categorisation based on technology nativity – offering a new direction of generational studies in digital marketing communications

The dark side of artificial intelligence in retail innovation

Many academic scholars argue that the goal of using artificial intelligence (hereafter, AI) in business has been to serve humans in performing their jobs. Nevertheless, some scholars refute such arguments and warn against potential threats of AI to humankind in the future. AI or machine intelligence comprises three main aspects, i.e., learning, reasoning and self-correction, which aggregate to conjure up the artificial mind. In retailing, the employment of AI is progressively becoming a major theme of innovation and retailers are rapidly increasing the use of machine intelligence to efficiently simulate human intelligence and become more competitive through cutting costs and improving customer journeys. However, such benefits can be catastrophic in the long run. As a result of this, this chapter represents an attempt to produce a synthesis of current research on the use of AI in retailing and identify the possible benefits or ramifications on the ‘human’ pillars of the retail process (i.e., the employers, employees and customers). Finally, this chapter aims to reflect on relevant literature to conclude future research and industrial implications