Survey Deals Research Articles

Comparative analysis of export capabilities of the metalworking industry in Zlatibor region and the rest of Serbia

Exporting is very important activity for companies settled in developing countries, while manufacturing industry is the most important section of the EU economy that drives its growth and propels its technological and innovation development, so it is expected that export in that sector is extremely important activity from national economy point of view. Accordingly, the topic of this survey deals with export possibilities of metalworking industry and compares Zlatibor region export capabilities to export capabilities of the rest of Serbian metalworking companies to EU. There aren't many significant distinctions in export capabilities of Zlatibor region and the rest of Serbia, and they are mainly related to knowledge of regulations. Namely, a significant number of companies is not familiar with new approach directives, as well as with procedures for conformity assessment. Recommendation is more careful choice of suppliers that satisfy necessary requirements, too.

A survey of retrial queueing systems

Retrial queueing systems have been extensively studied because of their applications in telephone systems, call centers, telecommunication networks, computer systems, and in daily life. This survey deals with various retrial queueing models. The main focus of this survey is to show analytic results for queue length distributions, waiting time distributions, and tail asymptotics for the queue length and waiting time distributions. This survey also considers the stability analysis of retrial queueing models.

A SURVEY OF IMPLEMENTATION OF OPPORTUNISTIC SPECTRUM ACCESS ATTACK WITH ITS PREVENTIVE SENSING PROTOCOLS IN COGNITIVE RADIO NETWORKS

Recently, the expansive growth of wireless services, regulated by governmental agencies assigning spectrum to licensed users, has led to a shortage of radio spectrum. Since the FCC (Federal Communications Commissions) approved unlicensed users to access the unused channels of the reserved spectrum, new research areas seeped in, to develop Cognitive Radio Networks (CRN), in order to improve spectrum efficiency and to exploit this feature by enabling secondary users to gain from the spectrum in an opportunistic manner via optimally distributed traffic demands over the spectrum, so as to reduce the risk for monetary loss, from the unused channels. However, Cognitive Radio Networks become vulnerable to various classes of threats that decrease the bandwidth and spectrum usage efficiency. Hence, this survey deals with defining and demonstrating framework of one such attack called the Primary User Emulation Attack and suggests preventive Sensing Protocols to counteract the same. It presents a scenario of the attack and its prevention using Network Simulator-2 for the attack performances and gives an outlook on the various techniques defined to curb the anomaly.

HOW TO SELECT APPROPRIATE HUMAN RESOURCE CONTROLLING INDICATORS

Human resource controlling represents a company’s strategic method to support its role is planning, checking, and managing—including information supplement for human resources department. Human resource controlling helps with optimization and transformation of human resource functions and with general human resource management. Our survey deals with the implementation of human resource controlling in information technology companies. The selection of appropriate human resource controlling tools is the most important part of implementation. This article deals with the problem of human resource indicators selection as the most frequently used human resource controlling tool. Many international authors have solved the problem of performance appraisal measurement, and there are numerous demonstrations on how to choose key performance indicators. Our motivation to draft the complex methodology of human resource indicators selection is based on non-existing solution among the authors. To solve the problem and find appropriate methodology, we use the methods comparison, abstraction, and concretization. The result is a creation of the right human resource indicators selection in line with human resource controlling aim. We use the Balanced Scorecard, Deloitte human resource strategy framework, and partial solution of Kleinhempel (2010). These results constitute the basis for our future research and for drafting the whole methodology of human resource controlling implementation in information technology companies.

The key players’ perception on the role of Islamic microfinance in poverty alleviation

Purpose– This study aims to know the present structure and move of the Islamic banks of Pakistan as well as current issues and challenges for Islamic microfinance. However, this is based on perceptions of the Islamic bankers, regulators and micro-entrepreneurs and petty traders, as they are the key players in the credit market.Design/methodology/approach– The study gathered relevant information through conducting field survey. Two questionnaires were designed for the survey. One questionnaire was administered to survey 270 micro-entrepreneurs and petty traders in three major cities of Pakistan. Another survey deals with the perceptions of Islamic bankers. In total, 100 people from middle and top management were surveyed from five full-fledged Islamic banks of Pakistan. The SPSS software, version 16, was used for questionnaire reliability and descriptive analysis to analyse the data.Findings– In general, the study found the strong opinions of the respondents speak in favour of Islamic microfinance under a system of profit and loss sharing. Conversely, the majority of the clients also feel that Islamic banks do not encourage lower-income micro-entrepreneurs. In addition, the study found that Islamic microfinance is constrained by lack of knowledge, experience and professionalism of the supporting staff; however, Islamic bankers have shown great consensus that Islamic banks should offer Islamic microfinance products and instruments to respond to the needs of the poor for poverty alleviation.Research limitations/implications– The first limitation of the study is the meagre interest of micro-entrepreneurs and petty traders to participate in the survey. The second limitation of this work concerns the extremely busy schedule of top management and administrative impediment to approach and fix an appointment. Despite these limitations, the findings of this study provide insights to Islamic banks in diversifying their products by offering Islamic microfinance to the low-income entrepreneurs but with proper guidelines and policies.Practical implications– There is a need to educate the community towards the merits of Islamic banking system by developing a good information system using good visuals and professionally presented seminars, banners and arranging regular sessions with the business community. The growth and development of Islamic banking in the country largely depend on its customers’ enhanced knowledge and awareness about its products and services.Social implications– It is the responsibility of the community as well as of government to change the mindset of the poor that banks are meant to serve the interest of everybody, regardless of social, economic and political status.Originality/value– Theoretically, this study contributes to the existing body of knowledge in the area of Islamic microfinance by examining the perceptions of Islamic bankers and micro-entrepreneurs. This can help Islamic banks of Pakistan to design and formulate new administrative as well as operational procedures to serve the interest of the poor with commitment towards Islamic values.

The Relation between Anger and Emotional Synchronization in Children from Divorced Families

Affective life is extremely important. Emotions determine well-being, satisfaction and fulfillment. The regulatory process of affectivity reflects the relationships between individuals in subjective experiences.Family is the first healthy environment where a child must satisfy his need for love, acceptance, emotional synchronization and full emotional tank.Anger often occurs, altering interpersonal relationships. Poor anger management is closely related with child's current and future problems such as school abandonment, failure, poor human relationships, resulting in a rejection of his family values.Our survey deals with the child-adult relationships management. A divorced family generates poor attachments and grief in children. Parents should support and help children to satisfy their affective needs and overcome the divorce trauma more easily. A play-centered parental action is proposed.

RESPONSABILIDAD POR INSOLVENCIA EN LOS GRUPOS EMPRESARIALES: UNA APROXIMACIÓN A LA TEORÍA DEL ADMINISTRADOR DE HECHO EN EL DERECHO CHILENO

The present survey deals with the current situation of Chilean law on civil liability of the controller of a corporate group, by the insolvency of a dominate...

Exploring Consumer Behavior: Use of Association Rules

This paper focuses on problematic of use of association rules in exploring consumer behavior and presents selected results of applied data analyses on data collected via questionnaire survey on a sample of 1127 Czech respondents with structure close to representative sample of population the Czech Republic. The questionnaire survey deals with problematic of shopping for meat products. The objective was to explore possibilities of less frequently used data-mining techniques in processing of customer preference. For the data analyses, two methods for generating association rules are used: Apriori algorithm and FP-grow algorithm. Both of them were executed in Weka software. The Apriori algorithm seemed to be a better tool, because it has provided finer data, due to the fact that FP-growth algorithm needed reduction of preference scale to only two extreme values, because the input data must be binary. For consumer preferences we also calculated their means. This paper explores the different preferences and expectations of what customers’ favorite outlet should provide, and offer. Customers based on the type of their outlet loyalty were divided into five segments and further explored in more detail. Some of the found best association rules suggest similar patterns across the whole sample, e.g. the results suggest that the respondents for whom a quality of merchandise is a very important factor typically also base their outlet selection on freshness of products. This finding applies to all types of retail loyalty categores. Other rules seem to indicate a behavior more specific for a particular segment of customers. The results suggest that application of association rules in customer research can provide more insight and can be a good supplementary analysis for consumer data exploration when Likert scales were used.

Calculation of involved energies in thermal plasma at the opening of high voltage breakers

U sually, calculations of involved energies in thermal plasma at the opening of high voltage breakers are led by using dimensional type models (1D, 2D and 3D) founded on assumptions sufficiently precise. This survey deals with the determination of temperature and thermal transfers of arc plasma quenching in a high voltage breaker by coupling a 0D (time dependent) arc model with the heat equation. This approach enabled to refine the thermal balance and to evidence the particular importance of the thermal radiation. Also, investigations are focused on the influence of the deionisation constant of the extinguisher gas on the plasma conductance and temperature variations which are checking parameters of the extinction. The obtained results are in good agreement with measurements performed by other authors.

Melatonin in Mediterranean diet, a new perspective.

The health-promoting properties of the Mediterranean diet have been attributed, at least in part, to the chemical diversity of plant foods. Among phytochemicals, polyphenols represent the paradigm of the relationship between healthy foods and reduced risk of chronic-degenerative diseases, although, in the past few years, a new element has enriched this scenario. Melatonin, and possibly other indoleamines recently discovered in some relevant Mediterranean foods, may represent a new factor contributing to the elucidation of the protective effects of diets rich in plant products. Therefore, in synergy with polyphenols and other bioactive phytochemicals (e.g. carotenoids and glucosinolates), melatonin may contribute to maximizing the benefits of healthy dietary styles. This brief survey deals with the occurrence of melatonin in the Mediterranean diet, with an emphasis on grape products, and focuses on the biological significance of dietary melatonin, an emerging and exciting topic in the field of nutritional sciences.

Physical activities of boys and girls at primary schools in Central Slovakia

Our survey deals with the major issues affecting young people, which is the active leisure. We explore the most risky age – boys and girls attending primary school at age 13 to 15 years. By using questionnaire we detect and analyze differences of opinion on the use of physical activities in the leisure time among 808 boys and 797 girls. We found that there are significant differences between boys and girls only in the use of the leisure time pool. From our perspective, the most alarming fact is that 63.5% of all respondents (58.7% boys and 68.2% girls) in this age devoted to physical activity in leisure time up to 2 hours per week, what represents only 5% of leisure time pool per week! This confirms the tendency of reducing young people's interest in movement, which may with the combination with puberty lead to serious health disorders or the orientation to unwanted sociopathic phenomena.

Antecedents of Health Information Privacy Concerns

Abstract Due to demographic changes, health information technologies comprising electronic health records (EHR), electronic medical records (EMR), personal health records (PHR), remote patient monitoring (RPM) and other healthcare related websites are gaining significant relevance. They constitute a great opportunity for efficiency gains and further benefits. One of the major barriers to their successful adoption involves individual health information privacy concerns. In order to understand their nature and better mitigate them, this narrative literature survey deals with the antecedents of these concerns. In particular, this study identifies type of information, health status, recipient of information, knowledge of health information technology, experience of privacy invasions, age, gender, and education as highly important characteristics.

Coordination modes of α-dioximes in uranyl complexes

α-Dioximes are well-known analytical reagents that comprise two oxime groups. Such ligands have been widely used in the recovery and separation and in analytical determination of d-transition elements. This survey deals with uranyl complexes with α-dioximes, which constitute a new class of uranium(VI) coordination compounds and are distinguished from the other transition-metal glyoximates by unusual coordination modes of the ligand to the central atom.

Second Chechen War: Causes, Dynamics and Termination - A Civil War between Risk and Opportunity?

The present survey deals with the causes, dynamics and termination of the Second Chechen war. At a preliminary stage, it offers a brief overview of the main theories applied for explaining the emergence of internal conflicts. Then, it deals with the formal outbreak of the Second Chechen war and examines whether the Second Chechen war does prima facie constitute a civil war. Afterwards, it focuses on the main causes that led to this conflict. In this respect, factors such as previous wars, fragile institutions as well as activities and interests of so-called entrepreneurs of violence are briefly discussed. Hereafter, it examines the financial and organizational opportunities of the Second Chechen war. The ideological transformation of the conflict is followed by the analysis of its dynamics and termination. In this context, issues concerning its weakening, the course to normality as well as the recourse to terrorist methods are to be examined.

Chitosan-induced antiviral activity and innate immunity in plants.

Immunity represents a trait common to all living organisms, and animals and plants share some similarities. Therefore, in susceptible host plants, complex defence machinery may be stimulated by elicitors. Among these, chitosan deserves particular attention because of its proved efficacy. This survey deals with the antiviral activity of chitosan, focusing on its perception by the plant cell and mechanism of action. Emphasis has been paid to benefits and limitations of this strategy in crop protection, as well as to the potential of chitosan as a promising agent in virus disease control.

Understanding Nanocalcification: A Role Suggested for Crystal Ghosts

The present survey deals with the initial stage of the calcification process in bone and other hard tissues, with special reference to the organic-inorganic relationship and the transformation that the early inorganic particles undergo as the process moves towards completion. Electron microscope studies clearly exclude the possibility that these particles might be crystalline structures, as often believed, by showing that they are, instead, organic-inorganic hybrids, each comprising a filamentous organic component (the crystal ghost) made up of acidic proteins. The hypothesis is suggested that the crystal ghosts bind and stabilize amorphous calcium phosphate and that their subsequent degradation allows the calcium phosphate, once released, to acquire a hydroxyapatite, crystal-like organization. A conclusive view of the mechanism of biological calcification cannot yet be proposed; even so, however, the role of crystal ghosts as a template of the structures usually called “crystallites” is a concept that has gathered increasing support and can no longer be disregarded.

Survey on cooperative strategies for wireless relay channels

ABSTRACTCooperative communication has the potential of providing better throughput and reliability to wireless systems when compared with direct communication. To realise the potential gain, it is important to design cooperative strategies for some representative scenarios. This survey deals with three basic wireless relay channels, namely, the parallel relay channel, the multiple‐access relay channel and the broadcast relay channel. For the first channel, which models a single unicast connection, various forwarding strategies are studied. For the second and third channels, which model, respectively, the uplink and downlink scenarios with multiple unicast connections; network codes that exploit the possibility of coding among the connections are studied. The common aim pertaining to the studies of all these three channels is to use the limited radio resource in the most efficient way. Beside the aforementioned conventional works, studies that have state‐of‐the‐art assumptions for relay networks, including outdated channel state information at the transmitter, full duplex relay and practical rateless‐coded cooperation, are also extensively reviewed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Morrey spaces, their duals and preduals

This survey deals with Morrey spaces, their duals and preduals in the framework of tempered distributions on Euclidean spaces. We concentrate on basic assertions (including density and non-separability), duality, embeddings (including relations to distinguished Besov spaces) and applications to Calderon–Zygmund operators.

Josef Hlouch a Katolická akce

This survey deals with Josef Hlouch's contribution to Catholic Action. In the first part, it provides insight into the context of the founding and development of Catholic Action from 1922 and the consequent introduction of Catholic Action in Czechoslovakia after 1927. In the second part, it relates the details of the beginnings of Catholic Action in the Archdiocese at Olomouc in the 1930s and provides insight into Josef Hlouch's contribution to the course about Catholic Action for priests in 1936. In conclusion, the survey ranks Hlouch among those clergymen who were inclined to a more intense pastoral activity as a way of solving religious questions. He is also introduced as a theologian shaped by the ideas of the Catholic Church.

MATCHING WITH COUPLES: A MULTIDISCIPLINARY SURVEY

This survey deals with two-sided matching markets where one set of agents (workers/residents) has to be matched with another set of agents (firms/hospitals). We first give a short overview of a selection of classical results. Then, we review recent contributions to a complex and representative case of matching with complementarities, namely matching markets with couples. We discuss contributions from computer scientists, economists, and game theorists.