Desired Impact Research Articles

Ambiguity Preference in Waiting Time: Investigating the Desirability Effect and the Interplay of Temporal Description, Outcome Category, and Evaluation Mode

ABSTRACTPeople often experience uncertain waiting times, like when awaiting job interview decisions. Despite its prevalence, the preference for waiting time‐ambiguity has received limited research attention. Drawing on the information gap theory, which suggests ambiguity avoidance is influenced by the affective response to the missing information caused by uncertainty, this work examined the effect of outcome desirability on ambiguity preference in the context of waiting time. Across five studies in China and the United States, this work observed that people strongly dislike unknown waiting time for undesirable outcomes compared with desirable outcomes. This effect held true in both rating tasks and choice tasks. Furthermore, this study explores factors influencing this desirability effect. Using calendar dates instead of waiting time units and evaluating the options separately rather than jointly, reduced the impact of outcome desirability on ambiguity preference. Additionally, this desirability affect was more pronounced for utilitarian than hedonic outcomes. Altogether, these findings highlight the role of outcome desirability, temporal description, and evaluation mode in shaping individuals' preference for ambiguity in the domain of waiting time.

Implementation of the Small Fishers Empowerment Policy in Tikke Village, Tikke Raya District, Pasangkayu Regency

Fishermen still want to live in poverty because of their own desire to experience life itself. Formulation of the problem in the journal How to Implement the Empowerment Policy for Small Fishermen in Tikke Village, Tikke Raya District, research benefits, theoretical benefits and practical benefits. The type of research used in the research is qualitative research. The results of this research are that policy implementation is a crucial stage in the public policy process. . A policy or program must be implemented to have the desired impact or goal. Policy implementation is seen in a broad sense as a public administration tool where actors, organizations, procedures, related parties and resources are organized together to carry out policies to achieve the desired impact or goal. The conclusion of this research is that based on the research results, it can be concluded that the implementation of the Small Fishers Empowerment Policy in Tikke Village, Tikke Raya District, Pasangkayu Regency was found. This did not work well because 4 aspects, namely Communication, Resources, Disposition and Bureaucratic Structure, were used as tools in Edward III's theory. So it can be concluded that the policy has not worked optimally as expected. Therefore, it is necessary to improve fishing equipment such as rumpong.

When Kinks Come to Life: An Exploration of Paraphilic Behaviors and Underlying Predictors

ABSTRACT Paraphilia is defined as a condition in which sexual excitement relies on fantasizing about and/or participating in unusual sexual behavior. Although recent studies have assessed the concordance between paraphilic interests and paraphilic behaviors, few studies have studied which individual traits and demographics predict engaging in paraphilic behaviors, or the level of concordance between arousal and behavior. The current study replicated and expanded Joyal and Carpentier’s 2022 study. We assessed concordance between paraphilic arousal and behavior. Further, we assessed the impact of Dark Tetrad traits, impulsivity, social desirability and demographic variables on engaging in paraphilic behaviors using self-report questionnaires in a sample from the general population and FetLife. Finally, we were interested in whether these individual differences moderated the concordance between arousal and behavior. Results indicated high concordance between paraphilic arousal and behavior for all paraphilias except pedophilia and hebephilia. Younger, male participants were more likely to engage in various paraphilias than women and older participants. Machiavellianism was linked with lower paraphilic behavior, particularly impulsive or risky ones. Psychopathy predicted engaging in more deviant or illegal paraphilias, whereas sadism only showed an association for engaging in frotteurism and narcissism was not a predictor for engaging in any paraphilia. For several paraphilias, individual traits moderated the effect of arousal on behavior. Implications of these findings and future directions are discussed.

Life fits home: Exploring people's experience with a COVID-19 tracing app in Turkey through a qualitative study

Mobile apps have been developed to manage COVID-19 in many countries. However, for these apps to be truly effective, they need to be widely adopted by society. To date, there has been less qualitative research on user experiences and perspectives on these apps. The goal of this study was to explore how users perceive and use different features of a COVID-19 tracing app provided in Turkey. Semi-structured interviews ( n = 15) were conducted over the phone, audio recorded, and then transcribed verbatim. The transcriptions were analyzed through thematic analysis. The analysis began by categorizing each transcript at the sentence level through open codes, which then grouped into broader themes. In total, 8 male and 7 female participants from 10 different cities took part in the interviews. On average, participants were 32 years ( SD = 6.8) old, and their app usage experience was 9.8 months ( SD = 3.1). Thematic analysis revealed five key themes: long-term adoption and engagement, perception and desired features, privacy concerns, reliability, and emotional and behavioral impact. The main reasons for users to download and use the app were to check the COVID-19 density map in their region and to access personal health codes for security checks. The COVID-19 density map caused many users to change where they usually travel and shop. Most participants felt comfortable sharing their personal data to collectively manage the pandemic. The majority found the app useful, stating that the app allows them to take precautions against the virus and therefore helps them feel good emotionally. Future contact tracing apps need to provide indicators to enable users to evaluate whether app use is making a difference in the pandemic.

Exploiting synergies for high thermoelectric performance in higher manganese silicide-based semiconductors through element Co-doping, energy filtering, and phonon scattering

Higher manganese silicide (HMS) is a promising thermoelectric (TE) semiconductor that operates effectively at medium temperatures. It is characterized by its abundance, environmental friendliness, and desirable impact resistance properties. To enhance the TE properties of HMS, this study employs isoelectronic anion and cation codoping, combined with embedded quantum dot (QD) techniques. The introduction of element doping and nanoinclusions, such as Mn0.96Re0.04(Si0.96Ge0.04)1.79+1.5%Ag2Pt QDs sample, leads to an approximately 85% increase in electrical conductivity. This boost is attributed to the adjustment of the band structure through Re, Ge, and Ag element doping and the charge transfer facilitated by MnSi, Si, and Pt precipitates. Furthermore, the enhanced PF of 1.85 × 10−3 W m−1 K−2 at 773 K is approximately 29% higher than that of pure HMS. Simultaneously, the increase in point defects hampers the improvement of lattice thermal conductivity (κl) by intensively scattering short-wave phonons. This effect is complemented by the precipitation of Si, MnSi, Ag, and Pt nanoparticles, which increases the density of grain boundaries, enhances medium-wave phonon scattering, and substantially reduces κl to 1.45 W m–l K−1 (at 773 K), ∼30% lower than that of pure HMS. The figure of merit of the sample containing 1.5%Ag2Pt QDs at 823 K attains a value of 0.69, which is ∼52% and ∼19% higher than that of pure HMS and Re-Ge-double-doped samples, respectively. The incorporation of isoelectronic codoping, along with the integration of metastable QDs, is demonstrated as an effective strategy for enhancing TE properties.

Impact of Mega-Agricultural Projects, Searching the Silver Lining in Cameroon

Purpose: Large-scale projects have created significant positive impacts in different countries around the world. Such impact is less common in Africa and Cameroon's agricultural sector in particular. This study was designed to investigate such impact due to the renewed interest in such projects, whereas, there is a slow rate of development of the agricultural sector in Cameroon.
 Methodology: We examined the experience of actors in the sector and analysed qualitative responses to a survey examining the possible impact of some completed major large-scale projects in Ngoketunjia of the North West Region and the Noun of the Western Region. A total of 45 experts were interviewed and 400 farmers provided answers to survey questions probing ‘silver linings’ they may have experienced from large-scale projects. We analysed these qualitative responses using a thematic analysis approach.
 Findings: Respondents identified a silver lining under two themes social and economic. Socially, skills and knowledge improvement were observed to have improved while access to social facilities (electricity, health, water, schools), as well as integration and interactions amongst villagers, were less visible. Therefore the claim that large-scale agricultural projects led to social impact might be a faulty one as the silver lining in this dimension cannot be directly attributed to such projects. Under the economic domain silver lining was observed in access to employable opportunities, market, and finance access as well as value added to raw materials. However, no silver lining was observed in income-generating activities and production volume increments.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice, and Policy: Major impact disruptions were linked to project design and delays that affected the budget, supply shortages, and efficiency. To create the desired impact, we recommend that, large-scale projects should proactively focus on impact-driven project components as well as reschedule activities to minimize delays, penalties, and cost overruns.

Research Slices

Educational Design Research (EDeR) methodologists argue that iteration is a core component of EDeR. Iteration is currently defined as a process of gathering more information through actions, such as testing, and using that information to improve the design. In this paper, we seek to tighten the definition of iteration to help EDeR teams conduct iterations more effectively. We argue that EDeR teams should organize their research in slices that deliver small but real value to end users while informing the design research. EDeR should pick slices that are: (a) minimal and focused, (b) deployed in a real context, (c) valuable to the end users, and (d) informative to the research. Slicing helps EDeR teams increase ecological validity when they test because it allows testing which is within real-world educational contexts or with the stakeholders who will use and be impacted by the design. Increasing ecological validity of testing is particularly important because EDeR projects tackle highly complex real-world problems with many unknown elements and relational complexity—this means it is challenging to predict what designs will have the desired impact without real-world deployment. Effective iteration through organizing research in slices helps EDeR teams to better support stakeholder goals, develop more impactful theory, and have greater and earlier impact upon education.

Optimal sliding mode guidance law against maneuvering target with impact angle constraint

In this paper, an optimal sliding mode guidance law with impact angle constraint is proposed against maneuvering targets. Firstly, the impact angle frame for a static target is extended to a maneuvering target. Then, in this impact angle frame, the optimal reaching law of sliding mode is proposed to design an optimal sliding mode guidance law which is robust to target maneuvers and satisfies an impact angle constraint. The optimal sliding mode guidance law with impact angle constraint is also extended to the three-dimensional case. Numerical simulations in different scenarios with a realistic missile model show that the guidance law can intercept a maneuvering target with a desired impact angle, and the control effort is close to the optimal value, which verifies that the proposed optimal sliding mode guidance law has both robustness and optimality.

Impact of social desirability bias on the CoPsoQ-ISTAS 21 psychosocial risk assessment questionnaire.

Self-reported test is one of the main psychosocial risk assessment tools. However, this test it is susceptible to certain sources of error, including social desirability. Since psychosocial risks are emerging, there are not many studies on their assessment. The aim of this work is to analyze the impact of social desirability on the short version of the CopSoq-ISTAS 21 assessment tool. A total of 563 workers (45.10% women and 54.90% men) participated in this study. The short version of the CoPsoQ-Istas21 questionnaire with four Likert scale questions as markers, which correspond to the Eysenck Personality Lie Scale Questionnaire Revised (EPQ-r), were used. The sample was divided into two halves, and both a confirmatory analysis and an exploratory analysis were carried out to find out the factorial structure of the scale and, with it, apply the bias filtering method. The results indicate that 10% of the scale is biased due to social desirability, and that there are significant differences between the group with bias clean scores and the group with scores without bias control. The effects of social desirability on the scale are verified, so it is concluded that in a psychosocial risk assessment is not enough to apply a self-report test and interpret its results, being necessary to minimize the sources of error.

Impact time guidance law for arbitrary lead angle using sliding mode control

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate a novel impact time control guidance (ITCG) law based on the sliding mode control (SMC) for a nonmaneuvering target using the predicted interception point (PIP).Design/methodology/approachTo intercept the target with the minimal miss distance and desired impact time, an estimation of time-to-go is introduced. This estimation results in a precise impact time for multimissiles salvo attack the target at the same time. Even for a large lead angle, the desired impact time is achieved by using the sliding mode and Lyapunov stability theory. The singularity issue of the proposed impact time guidance laws is also analyzed to achieve an arbitrary lead angle with the desired impact time.FindingsNumerical scenarios with desired impact time are presented to illustrate the performance of the proposed ITCG law. Comparison with the state-of-art impact time guidance laws proves that the guidance law in this paper can enable the missile to intercept the target with minimal miss distance and final impact time error. This method enables multiple missiles to attack the target simultaneously with different distances and arbitrary lead angles.Originality/valueAn ITCG law based on sliding mode and Lyapunov stability theory is proposed, and the switching surface is designed based on a novel estimation time-to-go for the missile to intercept the target with minimal miss distance. To intercept the target with initial arbitrary lead angles and desired impact time, the authors analysis the singular issue in SMC to ensure that the missile can intercept the target with arbitrary lead angle. The proposed approach for a nonmaneuvering target using the PIP has simple forms, and therefore, they have the superiority of being implemented easily.

A Sampling-Based Method for Detecting Data Poisoning Attacks in Recommendation Systems

The recommendation algorithm based on collaborative filtering is vulnerable to data poisoning attacks, wherein attackers can manipulate system output by injecting a large volume of fake rating data. To address this issue, it is essential to investigate methods for detecting systematically injected poisoning data within the rating matrix. Since attackers often inject a significant quantity of poisoning data in a short period to achieve their desired impact, these data may exhibit spatial proximity. In other words, poisoning data may be concentrated in adjacent rows of the rating matrix. This paper capitalizes on the proximity characteristics of poisoning data in the rating matrix and introduces a sampling-based method for detecting data poisoning attacks. First, we designed a rating matrix sampling method specifically for detecting poisoning data. By sampling differences obtained from the original rating matrix, it is possible to infer the presence of poisoning attacks and effectively discard poisoning data. Second, we developed a method for pinpointing malicious data based on the distance of rating vectors. Through distance calculations, we can accurately identify the positions of malicious data. After that, we validated the method on three real-world datasets. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of our method in identifying malicious data within the rating matrix.

Construction of superhydrophobic surfaces with different water adhesion on the low-temperature steels by picosecond laser processing

Manufacturing superhydrophobic metallic surfaces with desired water adhesion for intended applications such as anti-icing and microdroplets transportation remains a grand challenge. Herein, we demonstrated the fabrication of the superhydrophobic surfaces with different water adhesion on the low-temperature steels including DH36, EH40 and FH36 steels via combined strategies of picosecond laser processing and room-temperature vacuum processing. The laser processing could regulate the dimension of the micro/nanostructures on the low-temperature steel surfaces and the vacuum processing controlled the surface chemical compositions of the laser-processed surfaces, leading to the transition of wetting behaviors from the superhydrophilic states, then to the superhydrophobic Wenzel's states with strong water adhesion and finally to the superhydrophobic Cassie-Baxter's states with weak water adhesion. The superhydrophobic surfaces with the Wenzel's states showed great potential in non-destructive and selective transportation of water droplets, while those with the Cassie-Baxter's states exhibited promising anti-icing performance as well as desirable corrosion, impact, and erosion resistance. This work provides an effective, pollution-free, and stable route for controlling the superwettability of the low-temperature steel surfaces and could find promising applications in surface modifications of metals and alloys.

The multidimensional role of the principal in post-apartheid-South-Africa

The end of apartheid in 1994 brought about radical changes in the South African education system, especially for school principals to manage their own affairs as promulgated in the South African Schools Act. These developments have changed the principal's position irrevocably. However, these changes did not result in the expected outcome in the majority of schools for a number of reasons. Teachers are frequently unsure whether the anticipated changes will have the desired impact in schools. Moreover, principals and teachers have different views on how these changes will affect schools and their work. This paper adopts a conceptual approach that draws on various theories and concepts from the literature on school leadership and management. Understanding the challenges of the school principal's job after apartheid was the aim of the research. The Standards for School Principalship (2015) provided the theoretical framework and basis for this conceptual paper. It should be noted that principals are the most crucial persons in education since they serve as managers and major delivery agents in the educational system. They are the driving force behind improved educational outcomes in South Africa after apartheid. However, it is increasingly uncommon for principals to carry out their multifaceted tasks alone because of how significantly their positions have altered since 1994. All the parties concerned with running a school should receive training and orientation in this respect. The main findings of this paper are that, since the end of apartheid, principals face various challenges in their role, such as lack of resources, support, autonomy, accountability, collaboration, diversity, equity, quality, innovation, and professionalism.

Achieving sustainable source reduction of marine litter for ocean conservation in West Africa: Insights from single-use plastic consumers in Liberia

Source reduction of marine litter is the most preferred approach to addressing the global problem of the entry of plastics into the environment, including the ocean. Policies to achieve this reduction within the African region have so far had limited success. Studying the behavioural dimension of the use of single-use plastics (SuPs) may provide the knowledge basis for developing sustainable plastic policies for desired impact. This study sought to determine the influence of socio-demographic factors and awareness of environmental impacts of plastics on the use of SuPs in West Africa using Liberia as a case study. The SuPs studied include carrier bags, drinking water sachets and bottles, drink/beverage bottles and expanded polystyrene packs. The results show that different prevailing socio-demographic factors influence the different uses of SuPs. Level of education and income levels of the respondents, for instance, had significantly positive influence on the patronage of bottled water, bottled drinks and expanded polystyrene packs. While on the other hand, rising income level had a significant negative influence on the use of sachet water alone. It also showed that awareness of environmental impacts of SuPs had no significant influence on the use of plastic carrier bags and sachet water but rather increased significantly the use of all other SuPs. The observed patterns of use of the SuPs imply underlying factors that need to be thoughtfully considered in developing SuP reduction policies and SuP management infrastructure as matters of priority. The study recommends that similar studies should be conducted in other parts of Liberia as well as across Africa to provide a basis for the development of effective behaviour intervention programmes. This study also provides a scientific context to apply recommendations of this study to other West African countries with similar issues and challenges with marine litter menace.

Process‐property relationship in polylactic acid composites reinforced by iron microparticles and 3D printed by fused filament fabrication

AbstractPolylactic acid (PLA) is the most widely used material in the fused filament fabrication (FFF) technique, which is a biocompatible thermoplastic. However, PLA's usefulness is limited by its narrow processing window and relatively low mechanical properties. Therefore, PLA composites have been developed to enhance its properties for FFF printing. A key challenge in producing composite parts via this method is to find the correlation between the mechanical properties of the parts and the process parameters. This knowledge is essential for optimizing the printing process to achieve the desired mechanical properties for composite parts industries such as aerospace, automotive, and medical, where high‐performance composite materials are crucial. The ability to control and predict the mechanical properties of FFF‐printed composite parts is critical for their successful integration into these industries. In this study, the effect of nozzle temperature (NT), printing speed (PS), and nominal porosity (POR) on the impact strength and specific impact strength of PLA/iron composites was examined using FFF. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the experimental design. The results revealed that POR had the most significant effect on the impact resistance data, while NT had the least effect. Reducing the POR led to improved impact resistance in the samples. Multi‐objective optimization results showed that the lowest NT (190°C), the lowest POR (30%), and a PS of 50 mm/s were the optimal conditions for multiple objectives. RSM was also utilized to develop mathematical models of impact properties, focusing on varying NT, POR, and PS, which can be used to predict desired impact properties.Highlights Nominal porosity has the most influence on the impact strength of PLA/iron composites. Optimum values were temperature of 190°C, nominal porosity of 30%, and speed of 50 mm/s. RSM was effective in enhancing the mechanical properties of composite materials. RSM models provide a predictive tool for future FFF‐printed composite parts. Maximum impact strength of 4.44 kJ/m2 was achieved.

Sinusoidal Guidance

This work presents a novel three-point guidance strategy that simultaneously achieves a desired impact angle, launch angle, impact time, and maximum lateral acceleration against a stationary target. The guidance strategy uses four sinusoidal harmonics of different amplitudes to construct an interceptor trajectory that satisfies all the mission specifications. A new geometric constant G for sinusoids is proposed, which requires only the interceptor’s line-of-sight angles from the launcher and the target for computation. Correspondingly, a geometric rule is developed—the interceptor follows the desired sinusoidal trajectory by maintaining G=0 throughout the engagement. A trajectory design algorithm to determine the desired sinusoidal trajectory based on the mission specifications is presented. A proportional-derivative controller is applied to implement the proposed geometric rule, and analytical expressions for the controller gains are defined. The efficacy of the guidance strategy is investigated via various simulation scenarios. It is shown that the developed guidance law is robust to the initial heading errors and interceptor dynamics.

The current state of corporate human rights disclosure of the global top 500 business enterprises: Measurement and determinants

This study contributes to the ongoing debate on business and human rights by providing insight into the current state and determinants of corporate human rights disclosures among the top 500 largest business enterprises worldwide. To do so, we use a 13-item human rights disclosure score to evaluate disclosure in two dimensions: scope and quality. Overall, the measured global level of corporate human rights disclosure is low, with business enterprises scoring on average only 3.72 out of 13 points. This indicates a lack of transparency, awareness, and sensitivity regarding corporate responsibility to respect human rights as described in the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. However, there are considerable differences across countries. The higher-scoring business enterprises are predominantly based in Australia and Europe. Multivariate analyses reveal that corporate visibility, sector sensitivity in terms of higher litigation risk, and institutional pressure in the form of soft law are positively associated with corporate human rights disclosure levels. However, we find that current forms of national mandatory regulation do not achieve the desired impact on high-quality corporate human rights disclosure, which suggests more targeted and concrete reporting requirements as well as better enforcement may be necessary to improve corporate human rights disclosures.

Challenges and Emerging Perspectives of Quality Assurance and Teacher Education in Nigerian Universities: A Literature Review

Abstract Education plays a critical role in the effective pursuit and attainment of overall growth and technological advancement of any country. Thus, if Nigeria as a nation is to achieve competitive growth and technological advancement, the quality and type of her educational system must not only be right but also carefully sustained. If an improved quality of education in the country must be attained and sustained, the quality of her teacher education must be equally enhanced. The quest, therefore, for a sustained high-quality teacher education in Nigeria will not yield positive results; there is no corresponding functional and effective quality assurance (QA) and control mechanism in place. It is against this backdrop that this article reviewed QA mechanisms and approaches in place for the delivery of high-quality teacher education in Nigerian universities, the challenges, and emerging perspectives. It noted, however, that their functionality and productivity in terms of yielding the desirable impact were diminished by a myriad of challenges. The article then proposed an overhaul of the existing QA mechanisms while advocating that educational management and Nigerian authorities on teacher education must insist on acceptable standards and monitor performance to guarantee QA.

Environmental concern and purchase intention of pre-loved luxury products: a moderated mediation model

PurposeThis research paper aims to examine consumers' perceptions and behaviours towards “pre-loved luxury fashion products” and focusses on analysing the moderating influence of consumers' attitude strength. Additionally, it investigates the impact of desirability in sustainable luxury experiences (LEs) on consumers' purchase intentions (PIs). The study draws inspiration from the Norm Activation Model theory and operationalises attitude strength using the Elaboration Likelihood Model theory.Design/methodology/approachPurposive sampling technique was employed to collect 317 useable samples from respondents who had previously purchased or intended to purchase pre-loved luxury fashion goods. SPSS and AMOS version 25 was used for data analysis.FindingsThe findings reveal that consumers' environmental concern influences their intention to purchase pre-loved luxury fashion products. Furthermore, sustainable LE acts as a significant mediator in this relationship. The study also demonstrates that the intention to purchase pre-loved luxury fashion products is strengthened when consumers possess a strong attitude towards them.Practical implicationsLuxury marketers can strategise accordingly to motivate consumers to purchase pre-loved luxury fashion products by resonating with their cultural correlates through persuasive advertising to favourably affirm their attitude towards pre-loved luxury fashion products.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature by addressing the unresolved area of PIs for pre-loved luxury fashion products, considering the moderating role of attitude strength in emerging markets. It highlights the significance of advocating and promoting pre-loved luxury fashion products and provides valuable insights for luxury marketers.

Experience of emergency medicine residents toward an implemented modified teaching approach.

Lecturing has always been one of the traditional instructional methods in medical education. It is cost-effective, especially when it comes to conveying a large amount of information to many students at once. However, disadvantages are plenteous, one of which is its passive way of knowledge delivery and learning. Active learning, on the contrary, has better students' engagement and longer retention, and it results in better students' achievement. The emergency medicine residency training program at KAMC-Jeddah has modified the educational activity to become more aligned with the end-of-year assessment in the form of active learning. This study aimed to explore the experience of the residents regarding the implementation of the new educational approach. An exploratory-qualitative study utilizing constructive grounded theory was conducted, collecting our data through an in-depth 1:1 interview using semi-structured open-ended questions. Purposeful sampling was used, and saturation was reached after interviewing 24 residents. The general perception of residents toward the new teaching modes slightly varied, highlighting the positivity of the new educational environment, the desired impact on their learning, the challenges they encountered, and finally their high satisfaction level and support for this new experience. It was asserted that such experience could be permanently implemented to increase the efficacy of teaching and learning.