Infant and child mortality in Sudan： Case of central region

This paper uses households＇ data from central region of Sudan to examine factors that affect infant and child mortality. The education of mother and father, community variables and household income per adult are used. For this purpose, a household survey was conducted to collect data on the variables of interest from a random sample withdrawn from the study population. 600 questionnaires were distributed to households in one province of the region （out of five） where there are seven localities. The data has been analyzed using different statistical and econometric methods, including ordinary least squares method. The ordinary least squares found that child mortality is inversely associated with household income per adult, community variables and parental education. The effect of mother＇s education is more significant than father＇s education, mother＇s age is also found to be the most important factor that influences child mortality.     

China＇s Higher Education System＂ A Case for Cautious Optimism

Although China＇s unemployment rate for university graduates is quite high and overall satisfaction among students is lower than desired, there are some universities experiencing atypical results. The authors build on previous surveys conducted in 2008 and 2010 by conducting the third survey of students in a university in eastern China. The results are atypical. Student satisfaction is much higher in certain categories than anticipated. Follow-up surveys of faculty members find that they prioritized teaching more than research and this accounts for the difference between the results observed here and those found previously. In short, the faculty at this university disregarded the incentive system and prioritized teaching above what the system was designed for. In turn, students experienced higher levels of satisfaction than the norm for Chinese universities. Faculty acknowledged that they were rewarded for research but prioritized teaching. While it is possible that some might disregard economic incentives for other priorities, it is highly unlikely a majority would. A more compelling explanation is the well-thought-out and highly developed two-fold incentive system this university uses, which can be exported to other Chinese universities seeking similar results.     

Factors that affect training effectiveness at semiconductor wafer fabrication industry in Malaysia

One of the key issues for Malaysian companies is about developing and retaining its resources. This is the fact that rapid changes in the organizations need to develop a more focused and coherent approach to develop and manage people （Kirkpatrick, 1979）. The fast-changing business environment and increasingly intense competitive environment require the ability on the part of human resource （HR） professionals to adapt to more challenging environment. Specifically, the human resource management practice of organizations needs to develop the appropriate role behavior and yet develop the necessary amount of flexibility to respond to change （Schuler, 1989; Hiltrop, Despres ＆ Sparrow, 1995）. The senior management must consider the importance of providing training to the people by understanding and believing that training is one of the important factors in organizational effectiveness. For technological based industry such as in wafer fabrication, the technical training for technical staff is very crucial. Hence, the HR manager must really outline the required training programs that focus to the outcomes as well as measure the effectiveness of the training. Factors that contribute to the training effectiveness must be put into serious consideration so that the amount invested into training is benefited. As such, the objectives of this paper are to review and reveal the factors that affect the training effectiveness. The scope of this research covers the Semiconductor Wafer Fabrication Companies in Malaysia.     

Pedagogical changes in curricula in higher education in Central Asia： A case study in psychology

This paper has three goals. First, to introduce a major pedagogical transition and discuss the challenges faced during the transition. Second, to provide a specific example of course changes that were required to meet this pedagogical transition and the challenges faced in adoption of new teaching techniques. The third goal of this paper is to provide faculty and universities with useful information to enhance their programs and meet the challenges faced during pedagogical transitions.     

Building climate-resilient cities： Examining climate change actions and hazard vulnerability in U.S. coast

The U.S. Gulf of Mexico＇s coastal counties have experienced many serious climate-related coastal hazards. It is important to identify how well local jurisdictions in gulf coast have prepared for climate change. The objective of this study is to exam how well the coastal jurisdictions have been aware of climate change and how well they have taken actions in climate change mitigation and adaptations. This study uses geographic information system （GIS） to identify the spatial variations of seventy-seven gulf coastal jurisdictions＇ climate change actions. The results show that only twelve coastal counties and their incorporated cities have made actions for climate change. The majority of coastal population in Gulf of Mexico are totally not be covered by local climate change initiatives or plans. The logistic regression results find that most of the contextual variables never show any statistical contribution to local climate change actions. The research suggests further coordination and education efforts to enhance local climate change awareness and actions.     

The equalization pattern and process of gender educational inequality in Taiwan： Some evidence for the threshold hypothesis

The existing literature on women＇s educational attainments and gender inequality in education excludes the pattern and process of gender educational equalization. In this research, we review the relevant literature first and then set hypotheses to be tested based on the different expectations of modernization theory and the threshold hypothesis. We have access to the 1990-2001 data files of the Taiwan social change survey and the 1950-2000 data files of the Statistical abstract of national income in Taiwan to obtain the information which is used in this research. We employ the bi-variate logistic regression model to estimate the net effect of gender on the likelihood that the subject completes his or her high school education or earns a degree from a college or a university from 1950 to 2000. Our empirical results show that, when compared with the educational attainments of men, the women＇s relative disadvantage in terms of educational attainment diminishes with economic development, but the extent of such a decline varies with the different levels of economic development and stages of educational expansion. This indicates that the equalization pattern of gender inequality in education is not linear, but rather ladder-like, and is consistent with the assumption of the threshold hypothesis. Furthermore, the equalization process of gender educational inequality differs according to socio-economic backgrounds. A boy with an upper class background is more likely to complete his high school education or obtain a degree from a college or a university than a girl with an upper class background, followed by a lower class male, and a lower class female, respectively.     

A model for adoption of mobile banking services using classification and regression trees

The analysis and improvements of bank performance is a challenging issue for bank managers. Among various banking services, mobile banking is one of the most risky fields that is prone to customer resistance. Mobile banking is a form of banking transaction carried out via a mobile phone. Mobile banking allows bank customers to check their account balances and perform credit card transaction, as well as provide information on the latest transaction made by customers. This paper summarizes experiences and results of productively using knowledge discovery and data mining techniques in a large detail bank data. Data mining is the process of extracting patterns from data. We review prior literature on mobile payments, analyze the various factors that impact mobile payment services markets, and suggest directions for future research in this risk management field. Our research work demonstrates the effectiveness and efficiency of data mining in analysis of retailing bank performance. We use classification and regression tree learning algorithm for proposing a customer adoption model of mobile banking according to some personal characteristics of customers.     

Adoption model to assess the user acceptance of smart card technology

Smart card technology is one of the most recent computer revolutions, making its way world-wide into the hands and wallets of everyone. Today smart cards are used all over the world as personal identification cards for corporate building security systems and personal computer equipment access control. Governments, financial services, transportation, telecommunications, healthcare, education, retail and many other industries are planning to or already using smart cards as a means of providing better security and improved services to its customers and users. Understanding the factors that influence user acceptance of information technology is of interest both to researchers in a variety of fields as well as procurers of technology for large organizations. The purpose of this study is to develop an acceptance model and evaluate the user acceptance of smart card in Iran. A pilot study is conducted and a total of 46 questionnaires were distributed among the master students in field of computer science （information security and software engineering） at University Technology Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. The measurement items in the questionnaire asked about their awareness and acceptance of smart cards, and the initial findings are presented and discussed.     

Internet as a source of information for tourists The case of Croatia

This paper presents the results of empirical research conducted during the summer 2007 on the Dalmatian coast in Croatia about how much tourists used the Internet as a source of information. Precisely, because tourism is an important part of Croatian economy, it is in everyone＇s interest for information about Croatia as a tourist destination to be available to potential guests. A variety of media are used in achieving that aim--starting with conventional speech and conversation amongst friends, through radio, television and the press, and now the Internet. This paper has the aim of exploring the share of Internet usage as a source of information compared to other media and showing some characteristics of tourists who have used the Internet as the main source of information and spent their vacations in Croatia in July and August in 2007. The main hypothesis is the continuing problem of the generation and education gap and that the Internet does not jeopardize direct communication.     

Educational offer,education demand and institutional capacity

The present world is subject to some structural and institutional transformations unprecedented. The education-a public goods, a product and a process at the same time, is not different especially, since late modernization and modernity make education an essential vector of development. The present study insists on the triad educational offer, education demand and institutional capacity. It starts from the imperatives of knowledge society in globalization era and re-defines the educational market in the context of late modernity. Although the approach of the educational supply, the demand of education and competition on the educational market aims at a factorial analysis initially related to the realities in Romania, the issue is extended globally. The demonstration is simple enough, though the potential capacity （and the real one） of any institution of higher education management must be mediated on educational market. To this effect, the study insists on the objectives and aims of educational management. The premise to fundamentally define this type of management is that the intelligent models, the creative models and the strategic models of thought may contribute to the development of institutional （organizational） culture with axiological appliance, giving both identity and openness to diverse education. The study poses the problem of a new type of educational order, an educational order of a society based on knowledge.     

The Prewar School Civic Education Policy in Hong Kong： A Historical Comparative Analysis

The civic education policy at the school level in Hong Kong had emerged before the Second World War, but the Hong Kong Education Department did not really implement this civic education policy. From the statist and colonial perspectives, this phenomenon was due to several factors, such as： （1） how the Hong Kong Government coped with the whole historical period and scenarios; （2） how it implemented the related policy; （3） whether civic education policy really became part of the government agendas; and （4） whether education did clarify some crucial historical questions. This paper wants to make certain about these questions. In fact, the Republic of China adopted modern schooling system which civic education was one of school subject. But it was not the education policy of the colonial Hong Kong Government. Historical reasons about this issue require reconstructive explanation. Under this study, the understanding of misinterpreted history can be amended correctly.     

Educational Leadership＂ What Can China Teach the West About Inclusive Decision-Making Practices

This paper focuses on educational decision-making in a Chinese context, but starts from a critique of distributed leadership educational theory as an instrumentalist and Western device of analysis. It is based upon a 2012 research project which reports on the academic insights of 51 Chinese school leaders who were also students studying ＂Masters of Educational Leadership＂ at an Australian university. The project explored these Chinese school leaders＇ perceptions of decision-making in education settings. It considered who would make decisions and how those decisions would be made in various hypothetical education scenarios. A unique feature of this research is the significant number of female school leaders from China who were in the participant cohort, so this study offers a rare insight into their thinking. Overall, this research offers an important first step in broadening out the theoretical discussions on leadership decision-making into a non-Western education environment. It also shows how educational research in the 21 st century is shifting away from Western---only analysis and instead broadening out to explore what the unique and important trends are in an Asian nation that is a global powerhouse.     

Work Conflict as Predictor of Job Stress＂ The Case of an Italian Public Administration

Job stress is a pervasive problem for workers and employers in today＇s economy and it is a timely and important topic for organizational setting. Negative job stress may adversely affect an employee＇s mental and physical health. The aim of the present research is to explain why job stress in the public administrations is a theme of increasing interest and why many studies have analyzed its functioning and diffusion. The variables influencing job stress are numerous and often analyzed from different perspectives. Despite the influence of a number of different factors, job stress can be studied by looking at several aspects as physical environment or/and psychosocial environment. This preliminary study investigated the role of one psychosocial source, level of perceived work conflict, on job stress. A case study was presented. A survey instrument was used to collect information from a Regional Public Administration of South Italy. Data from 1,127 respondents, representing a 91.63% of response rate, were analyzed. Statistical correlations and hierarchical regression showed that work conflict was a predictive aspect of job stress and has the highest contribution to explain the phenomena. The present research has a multidisciplinary value, by linking business science, psychology, and social science.     

India＇s Look East Policy and north-eastern states： An overview

To become an economic developed country, every country needs to look for its trade and commerce because it is one of the most prominent factors. Hence, the present study is an endeavor to highlight ＂India＇s Look East Policy and its northeastern states＂. The methodology adopted here is mainly based on secondary data and information, the sources of which have been compiled from different national and international journals and related books, etc.. India＇s involvement in the enterprises of ASEAN （Association of South East Asian Nations） for economic corporation was initiated in the year 1991 with the function of ＂Look East Policy＂. ASEAN countries have emerged as significant entities among India＇s most dynamic trade partners. Undoubtedly, north-east India has the potential to become gateway to the east, which can help trade and commerce with ASEAN countries to flourish.     

Intellectual Capital and Public Management： A Bibliometric Analysis

Starting from the premise that public management, in the context from the emergent knowledge society, needs new forms to act and new tools to reach its objectives, this paper aims to find evidence of the adoption of the principles of intellectual capital under the public management, by raising scientific articles about the subjects, and aims to select theoretical referential about intellectual capital and public management, by bibliometric analysis. The processes presented 100 constant articles in the final portfolio, available in the data base Web of Science, Science Direct and Scopus. The bibliometric indicators show that the studies were published as from 1969, released by 15 international periodicals, written by 164 authors, used 241 key words related to the constructs of this study. It is believed that the identification of the main references helps the understanding of the foundations of this research field. Additionally, this paper provides many inputs that contribute to the comprehension of the subject at an international level, and that can be utilised in the development of future works.     

The Relationship Between High Education and Labor Market in Western Balkan Countries

This paper deals with the relationship between high education and labor market in Western Balkan countries. Having in mind that all these countries are in transitional process, suffering from poor economics, poor level of investments, and high unemployment rates, it would be wise that the governments and political elites put the quality of knowledge high on agenda, regarding it as the vital incentive instrument for economic and social development. All social and political subjects should be devoted to procuring good quality of knowledge, which is sensitive to the labor market＇s needs in all fields. This study attempts to find answer on the question why it is not so, making qualitative, quantitative, and empirical research. It analyzes the relationship between high education and labor market＇s needs, identifies main factors which influence this relationship, focusing on main influence of political interests and values. The paper presents rare good cases, as lessons from experience for the future.     

Analysis of the Optimum Currency Area for ASEAN and ASEAN＋3

This paper performs an analysis of the optimum currency area （OCA） for ASEAN （Association of Southeast Asian Nations） and ASEAN＋3 for the period of 2003-2012. The applied method is based on the model developed by Bayoumi and Eichengreen for the European countries. Regarding the two groups of study, the document contents the integration roots as well as some theories and empirical data about the currency areas. The obtained results based on the OCA indexes showed that nearly half of the country members have moved symmetrically, although the effect of the four independent variables was found different in each case. In conclusion, the monetary convergence is significantly influenced by the output disturbances and the trade linkages in both regions; while the size of the economy only becomes significant in ASEAN＋3 and the synchronic advantage is not contributing and even insignificant for ASEAN＋3.     

Information technology and education： Partnership vs. competition

Information technology is coming strong to have influential impact upon what is going on in the formal education sector. During the past ten years, information technology almost became the first job choice among all the new faces finding their jobs. Job opportunity also has its great impact upon what is going on in the k-12 education. Ideally, information technology is to enhance a teacher＇s teaching. However, on-site classroom observations as revealed here, identified several things that we might want to work more to provide better learning environment for the young generation on an individual basis. We have to admit that although memorization of the old day＇s factual knowledge and skill is important, but is going to provide little help for the generation to come. Information technology brings brand new era to human beings, and new format of schooling can take different forms from the ones most of us had been experiencing during our school lives.     

A Common Future and a Common Identity： The Transformation Process of Political and Social Identities in the South Caucasus Countries

In reflecting on the case of the South Caucasus （Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia）, one of the most popular perspectives is its lack of a common identity. The main argument is that it is a culturally diverse region with old-fashioned, ethnically exclusive nationalism. From this point of view, the process of the formation of a European identity in the region acquires particular importance. A European identity could act as a catalyst for bringing the region together. This identity could be considered as based on much more than just political orientation but fundamentally grounded in common values. This comprehensive integration in the South Caucasus can be achieved through the formulation and acceptance of a common political identity based on the political orientations of the South Caucasian States and their citizens. The main question that this study tries to answer is how people in the South Caucasian countries identify themselves in terms of a European identity. A suitable analysis is increasingly important at both the micro and the macro levels. The author examines the people＇s attitudes in the three South Caucasian states toward Western culture, states, and organizations, drawing on opinion polls conducted by the Caucasus Research Resources Center （CRRC）. The author seeks to analyze attitudes toward the West in the South Caucasus on a macro as well as on a micro level. The author seeks also to provide a much-needed analysis for decision making, based on empirical data that help understand public opinion toward the European Union （EU） in the countries of the South Caucasus, and that can contribute to the refinement of integration strategies.     

The Empirical Analysis of Merger Remedies＇ Influence on Prices in Russia

One of the most important instruments of antitrust regulation in Russia becomes behavioral merger remedies. At the same time, price requirements account for an essential part of such remedies. The issuance of remedies is expected to restrict price increase and, simultaneously, protect consumers from the welfare decrease. On the other hand, however, price remedies may produce a negative effect at the price level. This article explores how behavioral merger remedies of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation affect the price level. The main assumption implies that issuance of price remedies by antimonopoly authority may cause downward price rigidity as a result of ratchet effect or tacit collusion. The article includes analysis of 11 mergers with behavioral remedies during the period of 2006-2010 and price dynamics for 14 products. In the course of the research the hypothesis that the issuance of price remedies brought about downward price rigidity was not confirmed.