Hasil untuk "Economics"

J. Galbraith

Tatjana Kozjek, Uroška Zorec Klemenčič, Lan Umek

Volunteer firefighters play an important role in the provision of emergency services in Slovenia, where most of firefighters work on a voluntary basis. In many countries, however, volunteering is in decline due to demographic, social and organisational constraints. To maintain this important function, it is important to understand the motivations that drive individuals to join and stay in the volunteer fire service. This study examines the motivational factors that influence Slovenian volunteer firefighters, with a particular focus on fire service support, leadership practices and demographic differences. A quantitative survey was conducted among 244 volunteer firefighters from 22 fire brigades. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics, <i>t</i>-tests, Spearman’s rank correlation and binary logistic regression. The results show that many volunteer firefighters are motivated by the challenge of working under stress and in situations of controlled risk. However, this motivation decreases with age, as older members show less interest in adrenaline-driven tasks. Men show a greater preference for action-oriented tasks, including emergency response, equipment handling and physical engagement. In contrast, women place slightly more emphasis on social connections within the brigade. Volunteers who feel included in decision-making processes and experience cooperative, participative leadership are more likely to remain engaged. Those who are motivated by physical activity are more likely to stay, while those who are primarily motivated by social recognition or status are more likely to leave. These findings contribute to the literature on volunteering in high-risk contexts. Tailored recruitment and retention strategies that take into account age, gender and leadership dynamics can help fire services build more engaged and sustainable volunteer teams.

Sidrah Khalil, Sarah Mansour, Marwa Shibl Biltagy

Materialism, characterized by prioritizing material possessions over intrinsic values, has been shown to negatively impact well-being, social behavior, and economic activities. However, limited research addresses interventions to reduce materialism in non-WEIRD societies, particularly in the Middle East. This study examines the effectiveness of behavioral interventions in lowering personal materialism among Egyptian youth, a demographic displaying significant materialistic tendencies. Utilizing a survey experiment with 296 participants from Egypt’s 25 governorates, the study employed Richins and Dawson’s Material Values Scale (1992) to measure materialism. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three interventions: boosting self-esteem, fostering gratitude, or promoting empathy, in addition to a control group. Results indicate that interventions targeting self-esteem and empathy significantly reduced materialism overall score (p < 0.05) and (p < .01), respectively, and materialism score was associated with centrality, while self-esteem, gratitude, and empathy notably lower materialism in dimensions associated with success. However, no significant impact was observed on materialism's score. These findings highlight the potential of governance measures and behaviorally-informed policies in addressing materialism and suggest tailored interventions to promote intrinsic values among youth.

Kun Li, Yingqian Wang, Qiang Ling et al.

Hyperspectral anomaly detection (HAD) is challenging especially when anomalies are presented in sub-pixel form.The spectral signatures of anomalies in mixed pixels are mixed with those of background, making anomalies difficult to be distinguished from background. Most existing methods detect sub-pixel targets in abundance space by spectral unmixing. However, since abundance feature extraction and anomaly detection are decoupled, the learned features are not well-suitable for the subsequent detection. Moreover, these methods neglect the negative effect of anomalies on spectral unmixing, which leads to degradation of detection performance. To tackle these problems, we propose a cascaded autoencoder (AE) unmixing network for HAD. First, based on anomalies have larger spectral reconstruction errors than background, a background estimation approach is proposed to alleviate the negative effect of anomalies on spectral unmixing. Second, a cascaded AE is designed to achieve spectral unmixing from the estimated background to simultaneously obtain the endmembers and abundance vectors. Third, a deep Gaussian mixture model is leveraged to estimate the density distributions of spectral features since anomalies usually lie in the low-density areas. In this way, spectral unmixing and detection are jointly optimized to construct a unified detection framework. Experimental results demonstrate that our method achieves superior detection performance to existing state-of-the-art HAD methods.

Melik Onur Güzel, Eşref Ay, Ozan Çatir

Uzungöl is a popular natural route and a major tourist attraction in Turkey, but recently overtourism has become a major problem. With the increase in the number of visitors, rapid construction, concreting and various forms of pollution have had a negative impact on the destination of Uzungöl and its environment. The aim of this study is to reveal the evidence for the existence of overtourism in Uzungöl through visitors’ reviews on online platforms and to determine in which areas overtourism is effective. In this study, which was conducted using an exploratory approach, it was observed that many visitors reviewed on overtourism in Uzungöl using TripAdvisor. These reviews were analysed using content analysis. As a result of the analysis, it was found that visitors’ reviews focused on three themes related to overtourism in Uzungöl. These are environmental, economic, and socio-cultural themes. As a result of the study, it was determined that environmental concerns are more prominent in terms of overtourism. In addition, it was understood that tourists visiting the region have a negative image in terms of overbuilding, concretisation, and unplanned urbanisation.

Nofi Tri Wijayanti, Rifda Nabila

This research adopts a quantitative research type in analyzing the influence of integrated marketing communication, Islamic service quality and complaint handling on customer loyalty with customer satisfaction as an intervening variable. The population in this study were all customers of the State Savings Bank (BTN) Syariah KCP Ungaran. In determining the sample, the researcher used purposive sampling techniques and the Lemeshow formula to determine the sample size so that 100 respondents were obtained.  In testing the hypothesis, this research applies multiple linear regression analysis and path analysis using SPSS 23 software. Based on the results of the hypothesis test, integrated marketing communication has a negative effect on customer loyalty. Islamic service quality has no effect on customer loyalty. Complaint handling has a positive effect on customer loyalty. Integrated marketing communication has no effect on customer satisfaction. Islamic service quality has a positive effect on customer satisfaction. Complaint handling has a positive and significant effect on customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction has a positive effect on customer loyalty. Customer satisfaction is unable to mediate the influence of integrated marketing communication on customer loyalty. Customer satisfaction is able to mediate the influence of Islamic service quality on customer loyalty. Customer satisfaction is unable to mediate the influence of integrated marketing communication on customer loyalty.

Balint Bicski, Adrian Pekar

This paper presents a comprehensive study on the identification and analysis of Service Degradation (SD) events within a university dormitory network, leveraging LAN data to develop a robust methodology applicable to diverse networking environments. Employing statistical techniques, such as Interquartile Range (IQR) and Z-score analyses, we detect significant deviations in network performance&#x2014;specifically, extreme delays and jitter&#x2014;that indicate potential SD. The methodology was rigorously validated in various settings, demonstrating minimal deviations in results and reinforcing the approach&#x2019;s consistency and reliability. Initial tests conducted in a university dormitory environment suggest the model&#x2019;s potential applicability in both residential and enterprise networks, thus broadening its utility. By refining the detection and understanding of SD indicators, this research contributes systematic methodological applications and a valuable annotated dataset to the field. This groundwork enables network administrators to enhance service quality preemptively, offering significant implications for future research and practical applications in network management.

Ehsan Rhikhtegar, Behrouz Fathi

Dear Editor-in-Chief On January 28, the city of Khoy (the northwest of Iran) was struck by a strong earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 on the Richter scale at 21:44:44 and a depth of 7 km, X: 45.01 and Y: 38.05 (1). This earthquake occurred 117 kilometers from Urmia, the capital of the West Azerbaijan Province. Over 370,000 people were affected by this earthquake, which resulted in three deaths and more than 1,750 injuries. More than 70 villages in the area and the cities of Khoy and Firouraq were damaged to varying degrees (2). A few days before the earthquake, a rumor circulated on the internet that there would be a strong earthquake on Saturday January 29th, followed by a magnitude 9 earthquake on February 16th. After the earthquake, many of affected people left their homes in the early hours and went to the cities of Salmas, Urmia, and Tabriz. In the quake-hit area, people took shelter in makeshift camps or tents near the destroyed homes. Humanitarian aid arrived from all over the country and neighboring provinces to the affected area. Government organizations, military, religious bodies, associations, unions, and non-governmental organizations provided the basic needs and equipment needed by the people of the earthquake-affected area. However, the distribution of food and equipment among people affected by the earthquake was inappropriate. For instance, some donors were providing aid directly, essential drugs were not adequately supplied. Despite the large amount of aid sent, a distribution aid was concentrated in some areas and neglected in other areas, and some people did not yet manage to receive essential items such as food, blankets, tent heating equipment (3). In Urmia, adequate services were provided in the camps established in the mosques. Health teams had a daily presence in the mosques, providing free medical and health services. The mosques were run by the Basij (volunteer mobilization force), or Mosque Council, with most help coming from donors and official and unofficial communications from the council. One notable thing was that earthquake victims tended to receive more than actually need medical and pharmaceutical services, as well as other services. Some people were unwilling to leave their homes and settled in the makeshift camps for reasons such as fear of possible theft of their property from damaged houses. Due to rumors of a stronger earthquake on February 16th, those shelter in nearby cities did not want to return to the disaster area. Iran is located on the earthquake fault line (4), and several faults in the northwest of the country activated in the past and caused devastating earthquakes such as the earthquakes with a magnitude of 5.4 on the Richter scale that occurred in the cities of Khoy and Salmas in 1900 and 1930 (5,6). Therefore, the occurrence of similar or stronger earthquakes in this area can be expected in the region in future (6,7). In general, observations show that the scale of destruction and damage does not exceed national and even provincial capabilities. However, one thing that is evident, despite the formation of numerous crisis preparedness committees before the earthquake, the lack of complete coordination in the calculation, as well as supply and distribution of the real basic needs among stakeholders in the crisis management scene is one of the main challenges. Considering the occurrence of similar problems during similar natural disasters in the northwest region, it is suggested that policy makers focus more on the community context in disaster management. A model that can align the participation of government organizations, unions, and social groups can lead to more coordination in the proper distribution of aid and meeting the needs of the victims in the early days.

Yusuf Avşar, Ozan Özdemir

Islamic (participation) banks in Turkey are required to apply international accounting standards in their accounting and reporting practices, while their counterparts in Bahrain apply the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) standards. The main objective of this paper is to reveal the relation between Islamic and international accounting standards, discussed in previous studies, by comparing the compliance to AAOIFI accounting standards by Islamic banks in both Turkey and Bahrain. The source of information in this study is secondary data provided in the annual reports of the Islamic banks in Turkey and Bahrain for the year 2017. In order to measure compliance, an unweighted disclosure index was used. The outcomes of this study show that, since AAOIFI accounting standards are compulsory in Bahrain, the level of compliance with AAOIFI standards in relation to general presentation and disclosure in the financial statements of Islamic banks in Turkey is lower than the compliance achieved by their counterparts in Bahrain. Due to the average compliance level achieved by Islamic banks (using the unweighted disclosure index) in Turkey (54.6%), and since all banks in Turkey apply international financial reporting standards and international accounting standards, it is found that there is a relation between AAOIFI and International Accounting Standards Board standards even though they are different. Surprisingly, in the case of Bahrain’s Islamic banks, the standard deviation of the total compliance score is 8.66, which indicates an important difference among the Islamic banks in Bahrain in this regard. It is also found that the current practices of participation banks in Turkey do not adequately meet the financial statements and disclosure standards in accordance with the AAOIFI.

E. Hoover, F. Giarratani

A. B. Atkinson

K. Mäler

T. Scitovszky

Rahil Hosseinifar, Gholamreza Rafiee, Ahmadali Pourbabaei

The Bio-Floc has more efficacies compared to fixed Bio-film for removing the nitrogen compounds in water recirculating fish culture system. In this trial, a completely randomized experimental design was run to evaluate the roles of three different ratios of carbon to nitrogen (C:N) including 10 (treatment 10 = T10), 15 (T15) and 20 (T20), into the carp culture systems on growth and water quality. The mean individual weight was significantly higher in T20 compared to the other treatments. At the end of the experiment, the fish attained from 70 to 552.8, 704.7 and 708.8 g in T10, T15 and T20, respectively. The FCR, ammonia and nitrate concentrations were significantly higher in T10 compared to the other treatments (p<0.05). Concentration of ammonia in T10, T15 and T20 were 78, 29.9 and 29.9 mg/L, respectively.  A depletion trend was recorded in pH in all treatments during the experimental period. The electrical conductivity (EC) and Bio-Floc formation rate increased in all treatments and was significantly higher in T20. The EC of water were 1327.5, 1419.83 and 1419.83 mmos/cm in T10, T15 and T20, respectively. The rates of Bio-Floc reached to 71, 143, 163 mL/L in T10, T15 and T20, respectively. The results of this experiment indicated that using molasses to adjust C:N ratio of water at 20, enhances formation of Bio-Floc, carp growth rate and water quality in a zero-exchange water system.

W. Ziemba, S. Schaible

CĂRUNTU GENU ALEXANDRU

The choice of how to finance the operating activity is determined by its cost, by the financial structure of the own resources available, as well as under conditions of risk reduction, because a possible insufficiency of the financial resources influences the solvency, liquidity and profitability of the activity carried out by the company, the results of the activity and implicitly the returns expected by investors depending on the financing policy. Not always an optimal financial structure must have a minimum cost of capital, but rather a reduction of the weighted average cost of capital so as to lead to an increase in the firm's value, an increase in the security of the assets. The capital of the company is considered the sources of financing used in a permanent and sustainable way, to finance the fixed assets, and the determination of the optimal size of the capital is a problem of the top management of the company having a maximum importance in the financial management of the company.

Prokhorova Victoria V. , Mushnykova Svitlana A.

The aim of the article is the theoretical justification of the relationship of safety development culture – communication culture as the basis for intellectualization of the management process. It is determined that the main source of any culture including the culture of enterprise management is human activity, which acquires meaning in close relations with society, its habits, foundations, traditions. Moreover, social behavior of a human is not in his/her nature, but is formed by individual society, depending on many spatial and temporal features including those of enterprise activity. The basic elements of culture comprise material and spiritual values that characterize the organization of activities and management of an enterprise including the interaction of its members. It is determined and proved that the communication culture at each particular enterprise is the basis for forming the culture of management of its development safety, built on fundamental principles, namely: spirituality, education and upbringing, with the safety culture and development culture being the constituent elements of the culture of development safety management. Based on this, the term “culture of enterprise development safety” is defined as a set of relevant characteristics, rules, norms, and characteristics of enterprise activity, taking into account the psychological behavior and professional skills of individuals responsible for making managerial decisions, in accordance with their priority and significance. Based on the results of the study, there proposed communication dimensions to rely upon in the management process, namely: adaptation; coordinated management of value or rules; rhetoric; constructivism; social categories and circumstances; or conflict. The choice of the dimension of the communication culture and orientation towards it will provide an opportunity to determine qualitative aspects of the selected culture of management of enterprise development safety and increase the level of intellectualization in managerial decision-making.

M. Mcpherson, R. Posner

Aleksandra Jevtović

Facilities intended for tourist accommodation and dining are an integral part of the tourism system. In addition to the role of providing certain services, architectural objects can also have the status of cultural attractions of a particular destination. The architectural objects of the famous artists are part of the cultural heritage, and according to their stylistic characteristics, they can be viewed as part of the worlds or national cultural heritage. Architect Aleksandar Đokić was famous Serbian architect and one of the most productive creators of his time. In his rich opus, numerous facilities are intended for use within the tourism system framework. Regarding author’s unique expression, which was created under the impact of various influences, we distinguish holders of international and national stylistic characteristics within his works. The aim of this study is to illustrate interdependence of the architecture of the tourist facilities and the ruling ideology, as well as their consequences on tourism, through the case study of four selected Đokić’s projects.