Towards sustainable consumption: an examination of environmental knowledge among Malaysians

Environmental problems are mainly attributable to the impact of humans on natural systems. In the case of Malaysia, rapid urbanization and Malaysian consumer’ pursuit of consumption‐oriented lifestyles have intensified the solid‐waste management problem faced by the government. Increasing public environmental awareness is a potential way of addressing this. The objectives of the study described here were to assess the level of environmental knowledge among households in Selangor in Malaysia, examine the sources of their environmental knowledge, determine factors that lead to different levels of knowledge and analyse the relationship between knowledge and environmental attitude, behaviour and participation. The results of the study indicate that, in general, respondents’ basic or general environmental knowledge was high. However, when questioned on various scientific environmental terms, the majority of the respondents were not familiar with most of them. Respondents indicated that their main sources of environmental knowledge and information were newspapers, television and radio. Lower levels of education were reflected in the level of environmental knowledge. Participation in environmental activities had a positive influence on knowledge. The study also found that knowledge correlated positively with environmental attitudes, behaviours and participation.     

A machine-learning method for improving crash injury severity analysis: a case study of work zone crashes in Cairo,Egypt

Abstract

The quality of vehicular collision data is crucial for studying the relationship between injury severity and collision factors. Misclassified injury severity data in the crash dataset, however, may cause inaccurate parameter estimates and consequently lead to biased conclusions and poorly designed countermeasures. This is particularly true for imbalanced data where the number of samples in one class far outnumber the other. To improve the classification performance of the injury severity, the paper presents a robust noise filtering technique to deal with the mislabels in the imbalanced crash dataset using the advanced machine learning algorithms. We examine the state-of-the-art filtering algorithms, including Iterative Noise Filtering based on the Fusion of Classifiers (INFFC), Iterative Partitioning Filter (IPF), and Saturation Filter (SatF). In the case study of Cairo (Egypt), the empirical results show that: (1) the mislabels in crash data significantly influence the injury severity predictions, and (2) the proposed M-IPF filter outperforms its counterparts in terms of the effectiveness and efficiency in eliminating the mislabels in crash data. The test results demonstrate the efficacy of the M-IPF in handling the data noise and mitigating the impacts thereof.     

Application of Relationship Investment Model in Predicting Student Engagement towards HEIs

Using the Relationship Investment Model, this study examines the effects of satisfaction, relationship investment dimensions, and alternative attractiveness on student commitment and, consequently, on student engagement towards higher education institutions (HEIs). This research adopts the positivism, quantitative, and deductive approaches. Data were gathered from a sample of 250 students through the street-intercept systematic sampling and were analyzed using structural equation modelling. The findings reveal that satisfaction and student direct investment significantly affect student commitment, which in turn influences student engagement towards HEIs. While the findings provide guidance to HEIs in designing an effective engagement program that will ensure their relevance in the competitive educational world, this research is limited by several factors, which will require refinement and replication in future research.     

Implementation of enterprise resource planning in China

ERP implementation is a ‘Triple Play’ that combines people, technology, and processes. It embodies a complex implementation process, especially in developing countries like China, often taking several years, huge amount of fund and involving a major business process reengineering exercise. In this paper, an attempt has been made to identify some Chinese-specific difficulties in the implementation process and provide solutions to implement ERP system successfully through questionnaire survey, interviews, and secondary data. On the basis of analysis of questionnaire results, some common difficulties have been explored by authors, such as support of top management, costly and time-consuming, cultural differences, technical complexity, lack of professional personnel, and inner resistance. The difficulties are largely due to the nature of enterprise's ownership and size. Suggested solutions to overcome these difficulties: ERP software packages selection, ERP implementation team, BPR, Training, and Outsourcing-Application Service Provider. These solutions can effectively solve ERP difficulties.     

The Dutch Disease and the Development of the Manufacturing Sector in Nigeria: 1970-85

Abstract: This paper sets out to examine the relevance of the Dutch disease model to the circumstances of Nigeria, and by extension, other African countries, with particular emphasis on the manufacturing sector. The results of the study indicate that, while the model has contributed to our understanding of some of the processes of change, it has left important gaps in our understanding of the dynamics of the Nigerian manufacturing sector. The reasons for this are attributed partly to the inability of the model to take sufficient cognisance of state intervention and market failure, partly to some of its inappropriate assumptions, and partly to the structure of the model. Résumé: Le présent rapport a pour but d'examiner le rapport entre le modèle de la thyllose parasitaire de Porme et les conditions du Nigeria et par extension, d'autres pays africains, en mettant un accent particulier sur le secteur manufacturier. Les résultats de l'etude montrent que si le modèle a contribuéà nous faire comprendre certains des processus de changement, il a laissé des vides importants dans notre compréhension de la dynamique du secteur manufacturier du Nigeria. Les raisons de cette situation sont imputables en partie à Pincapacite du modèle de prendre suffisamment connaissance de l'intervention de l'état et de la défaillance du marché, en partie à certaines de ses hypothèses inappropriées et en partie à la structure du modèle.