Suchergebnisse

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce and identify the basic components, tasks and application areas of expert systems (ESs) as a decision support system that has been increasingly used in the business world lately and explore its potential for improving the effectiveness of administrative decisions in the public sector. Empirically, the paper explains the role of ESs in fostering decision-making processes at the Ministry of Investment and International Cooperation (MIIC) in Egypt.


Design/methodology/approach
The design of this research is descriptive in the theoretical section and quantitative in the empirical one. Theoretically, the study adopted both the analytical approach and systems approach to demonstrate main concepts and relationships, while it conducted an empirical study to investigate the correlations in practice.


Findings
The research concluded that the usage of ESs is deemed to be on the top of the technical solutions that might help public organizations develop their management quality and maintain competitive strength. In addition, the results proved that ESs contribute to administrative decisions at MIIC.


Practical implications
The paper provides profitable findings and recommendations which can be applied by Egyptian public executives, in an attempt to ensure high quality and successful decisions using modern technology.


Originality/value
This study has valuable implications for theory and practice together, as it offers numerous contributions to literature in the area of concern.

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to explore the dynamics of using strategic human resource management (SHRM) practices in the public sector. More specifically, this paper tries to point out some main aspects of SHRM, which strongly influence the decision of employees to stay. The empirical study here tends to reveal greater insights into the SHRM-retention relationship and its validation at the National Bank of Egypt (NBE).Design/methodology/approachThis research is co-relational in nature with cause and effect approach. The design of the study is both descriptive in the theoretical part and quantitative in the applied one. Theoretically, this paper adopted the analytical approach to define the main concepts, aside from an empirical study to investigate correlations in practice.FindingsThis paper concludes that the employment of best HRM practices is deemed a remarkable strategic tool in the retention of core public employees. Also, the results of analysis provide evidence that SHRM contributes to employee retention at NBE.Practical implicationsThe findings and recommendations of this research can practically guide management to devise effective policies to improve employee retention using appropriate SHRM activities, particularly in the Egyptian public organizations.Originality/valueThis research has valuable implications for both theory and practice, as it offers several contributions to literature in the field of study, as well as the practical contribution.

This dissertation titled "The Policies of Authoritarian Regimes towards PoliticalIslam: A Case Study on Soeharto's and Anwar Sadat's Regimes" attempts to answer thisquestion: what policies towards Political Islam were adopted by Soeharto's and Sadat'sregimes and what are the similarities and differences between both of them as well astheir underlying factors? This dissertation is a library research with qualitative datausing descriptive, interpretative, and analytical approaches based on the theory of policy. The policies of both regimes are classified into two broad strategies, namely: first,the subjugation of Political Islam's power (through two modes: a. violence andmarginalization; and b. propaganda and image politics); second, the accommodation ofPolitical Islam (through two modes: social and religious appeasement; and legislativepolicy appeasement). Those policies are significantly of similar style and aim butdifferent in terms of order and tactic of implementation. In general, those policies areequally pragmatic and realistic for maximizing the regime's strength and gains andoutrivaling all powers of Political Islam with view of achieving the state's politicalstability and avoiding the emergence of legitimacy crisis owing to domestic situations.Therefore, the researcher refers to such policies as hegemonic regime's domesticpolitical stability strategy.

This paper investigates the effect of temperature on the sensitivity of a thin-film Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) based SAW humidity sensor. A PVA coated 433.92 MHz SAW resonator-based humidity sensor was fabricated and tested with different levels of humidity (0.5 to 95% RH) at different operating temperatures (10°C to 70°C). The sensor response was recorded through in-house developed data acquisition software and it was observed that PVA thin film coated SAW sensor shows the maximum sensitivity for trace level moisture detection at a lower temperature (≤10 °C). The sensor sensitivity has been recorded >400Hz/% RH for trace level detection (0.5–30% RH). It has been observed that sensor sensitivity deteriorates when temperature increased to 40 °C from 10 °C. The sensor has a fast response (~1s) and recovery time (<3s) for trace level humidity detection. The proposed sensor can be used in many applications, including fabrication of electronic devices, IC fabrication, pharmaceutical, textile industries, food processing, semiconductor device fabrication, and packaging.

Recognizing that the political environment that once fostered a global culture of top down, conditionality-driven aid delivery is no longer in place, this theoretically informed study provides insight into the emerging 'aid and/or development effectiveness' narrative. By exploring a case study of Bangladesh, it offers a nuanced analytical perspective on the role of donor agencies in managing development partnership at the country level. It interweaves a critical review of the concept of country ownership, the historical role of three major European donors, namely FCDO, DANIDA, and GIZ, and the conversation with select stakeholders to illuminate the ineptness of the 'development effectiveness' narrative in guiding our efforts aimed at creating a new aid architecture. In particular, our research findings call into question the assumption that donors are committed to the principles of country ownership. Contrary to the claims of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC), our study observes that the new language of development effectiveness and/or country ownership did not create a positive space for Bangladesh to manage its own development agenda. Instead of demonstrating their desire to promote self-reliant development, donor agencies and countries appear to have leveraged the development effectiveness rhetoric for advancing their own sociopolitical interests.

The presence of Islamism in Muslimistan necessitates a secular age, as only in a secular age does it become possible to be for or against Islam due to the decentering of Islam as the default organizing premise of Muslim societies. Within this fundamental de-Islamization or secularization of Muslim societies, further de-Islamization is made possible by secular power's ability to dictate and even produce Islam, which continues to perpetually shift the meanings of secularism and Islamism in accordance with the European Enlightenment's notion of progress. The banality and universality of secularism, and markedness and provinciality of Islam(ism), ensure that only the (perceived) absence of secularism and (perceived) presence of Islamism are felt – never the other way around. Bangladesh's recent authoritarian turn, its social engineering during secular authoritarianism, and the recent calls for democratization – all point towards the secularist politics of de-Islamization which invents Islam(ism) in de-Islamization, and which then explains the failings of secularism through the regime and Bangladesh's "Islamist character". The implications include a never-ending de-Islamization process, spelling the end of the post-Islamism thesis, as post-Islamism becomes an impossible state. Secular power invents in post-Islamism a new Islamism, delaying the post-Islamist moment ad infinitum.

The ready-made garments (RMG) sector of Bangladesh has developed immensely under the broad radar of the export market, and its size is beyond imagination. Unfortunately, there has been no study that explores the whole universe of the RMG sector of Bangladesh rather the story of the RMG sector often involves the export market only. The discussion of this paper intends to explore the methodology of unboxing the whole universe of the RMG sector of Bangladesh that includes small and medium-sized manufacturing and processing units that are often involved with subcontracting for other factories (producing for the export market as well as domestic market), are suppliers of the domestic market, are producers of accessories, and are providing backward linkages and associated services. The discussion addresses that along with export-oriented RMG factories there exists an unexplored and unboxed universe of manufacturing and processing units associated with the RMG sector of Bangladesh that contributes to investment, employment, trade, export, and the economy as a whole, all of which remains unaccounted for.

Abstract
Quality of Work Life (QWL) is a multi-dimensional concept that covers employees' feelings about various dimensions of work. The current study focused on QWL that can contribute to the mental health status and Organisation-Based Self-Esteem (OBSE) of employees in context of sport organisation in Iran. In this descriptive–correlative study, data was collected using three standard questionnaires: Goldberg's (1978) General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), Pierce, Gardner, Cummings and Dunham's (1989) OBSE scale, and Walton's (1975) QWL questionnaire. The statistical sample of the study consisted of 67 (53 male, 14 female) employees of sport and youth organisations of the Northern Khorasan Province of Iran. The alpha value for mental health, OBSE and QWL questionnaires were, respectively, 0.82, 0.80, 0.79. QWL was significantly correlated with mental health status and self-esteem of employees. Thus, it can be concluded that mental health and self-esteem of employees depend on how these employees perceive QWL in organisations. Among QWL subscales, fair and adequate pay along with growth opportunities were the strongest predictors of mental health; growth opportunities along with development of human capabilities were the strongest predictors of self-esteem of employees. Our study adds to the growing body of research on mental health status in relation to factors such as QWL. In view of our findings, we hope that improving work environment as a means of improving one's mental health status will be more emphasized by organisation managers.