This study examines the dynamic relationship between Green Human Resource Management (Green HRM), Environmental Performance (EP), Green Employee Behavior (GEB), and Environmental Knowledge and Awareness (EKAW) within the Egyptian hospitality sector context. Using Pearson correlation coefficients and regression analyses on a sample of 400 staff members from hotels and tourist villages in Egypt, the study examines Green HRM practices’ influence on EP, mediated by GEB and moderated by EKAW. The findings reveal significant positive correlations between Green HRM practices and these mediators, indicating that comprehensive environmental strategies and incentive management are pivotal in promoting eco-friendly practices among employees. The study further confirms GEB and EKAW’s substantial mediating role in enhancing EP. The results also suggest that while EKAW and GEB independently contribute to EP, their interaction and the role of environmental awareness as a potential moderator warrant further examination. This research contributes to the literature on sustainable business practices by underscoring human resource strategies’ integral role in achieving environmental sustainability goals, highlighting the importance of incentivizing green practices, and cultivating an organizational culture that prioritizes EKAW. These insights are particularly valuable for organizations seeking to enhance their ecological footprint through effective Green HRM practices.

This study empirically analyzes the effectiveness of resource optimization utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) within cloud computing environments. It compares systems that have been transitioned from a Monolithic structure to Microservices Architecture (MSA) with those adopting a simple Rehost strategy, to validate the operational efficiency of two systems whose resource efficiency has been enhanced compared to traditional legacy systems. The research is based on systems that determined resource efficiency post-cloud migration using APM tools. It points out the limitations of traditional heuristic operation methods in resource optimization, which lead to issues such as application performance degradation, resource over-allocation, and increased operational costs. This study aims to overcome the conventional resource optimization standards that depended on the average peak usage of CPU and memory infrastructure, by introducing AI-based optimization tools, and applying on-premise standards to cloud and container environments to achieve resource optimization. The paper emphasizes the importance of resource optimization through AI-based automation tools, exploring the possibilities of resolving real-world application performance issues in cloud environments, reducing unnecessary resource usage costs, and cutting down on labor risks and operational expenses. Through this, it presents strategic directions on how AI technology can offer financial and operational advantages in managing cloud resources.

This work focuses on forced combustion with regards to the relationship between vent mixer models and several injection locations in unheated supersonic flow. A plasma jet torch was used to ignite the hydrogen–air mixture in a laboratory-scaled combustor duct. The flow field of the combustion was visualized with pressure and gas-sampling measurements. The vent mixers indicate good dispersion characteristics of the mixture for both parallel and normal 1 injections. However, forced combustion is dominantly governed by the injection rate toward the plasma jet (hot source) because the combustible region is restricted under the cold main flow. For this reason, the parallel injection, which provides the hydrogen–air mixture directly toward the plasma jet, shows good combustion performance. The normal 1 injection interacted with the vent mixers and shows slightly good combustion performance. Lastly, the normal 2 injection is little affected by the vent mixers and has poor combustion performance.

This study analyses some of the leading technologies for the construction and configuration of IT infrastructures to provide services to users. For modern applications, guaranteeing service continuity even in very high computational load or network problems is essential. Our configuration has among the main objectives of being highly available (HA) and horizontally scalable, that is, able to increase the computational resources that can be delivered when needed and reduce them when they are no longer necessary. Various architectural possibilities are analysed, and the central schemes used to tackle problems of this type are also described in terms of disaster recovery. The benefits offered by virtualisation technologies are highlighted and are bought with modern techniques for managing Docker containers that will be used to build the back-end of a sample infrastructure related to a use-case we have developed. In addition to this, an in-depth analysis is reported on the central autoscaling policies that can help manage high loads of requests from users to the services provided by the infrastructure. The results we have presented show an average response time of 21.7 milliseconds with a standard deviation of 76.3 milliseconds showing excellent responsiveness. Some peaks are associated with high-stress events for the infrastructure, but the response time does not exceed 2 seconds even in this case. The results of the considered use case studied for nine months are presented and discussed. In the study period, we improved the back-end configuration and defined the main metrics to deploy the web application efficiently.

Instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) training is critical in clinical practice of occupational therapy (OT) for stroke patients. In the conventional approaches, the therapists simulate various occupational tasks in their healthcare settings or reach their nearby real circumstances for the training. As an alternative technology, immersive virtual reality (IVR) has been used widely in stroke rehabilitation for years; however, limited research has compared occupational performances between virtual and real environments. Our team has established a novel IVR shopping training system for stroke rehabilitation. We recruited 10 stroke patients from our department to test the system. All patients attempted to implement shopping tasks in the virtual and real environments respectively. The Wilcoxon test showed no significant differences between virtual and real environments in memory capacity and time-consuming for implementing tasks, and memory capacities in virtual and real environments presented excellent correlations with the IADL assessment. This study suggests that IVR shopping tasks can be used as an alternative approach in rehabilitation when there is limited resource for implementing shopping training in a real environment, while the psychometric property, clinical effect and the effect transferred to the real environment induced by virtual training require further study.

The paper deals with the design of a systematic procedure for implementing strategy changes into internal business processes for a project-oriented production type of organization. In the first part of the contribution, a summary of the theoretical starting points for the field of strategic management and change management is presented. In the second part, the contribution deals with the analysis of the current situation in the area of the impact of the change of strategy on the management of business processes. In the last part, the proposal of the procedure for implementing strategy changes into internal business processes and the verification results are presented. The proposed procedure includes steps where the selection and verification of key performance indicators at individual levels of management plus the quantification of the impact of the change in strategy on the processes takes place. The management can thus monitor and evaluate the chosen processes in accordance with the fulfilment of the chosen strategy of the company. The last chapter presents the verification of the proposal for the systematic introduction of changes into the processes.

Interest on psychosocial predictors of doping has been increasing as a way of finding new approaches to reduce use of performance-enhancing drugs. This investigation aimed to test the psychometric properties of an instrument to asses doping attitudes in Brazilian athletes. The PEAS was validated to Brazilian sports through a process of translation, back-translation and content validity assessment, presenting satisfactory evidences based on its content (CVC>0.80). Then, 994 athletes, from different sexes, types of sports and competitive levels, answered to the Brazilian version of the PEAS. Results showed satisfactory evidences of validity based on its response process, internal structure [X2/df = 2.04; RMSEA = 0.032 (0.026-0.038); CFI = 0.96; TLI = 0.95] and reliability (Cronbach’s α, McDonald’s ω, and CR > 0.70). Network analysis was also used to further explore PEAS’s internal structure. Overall results provide support for the adoption of the PEAS for Brazilian athletes and possibly other Portuguese-speaking countries.

Recent progress in deep learning has led to accurate and efficient generic object detection networks. Training of highly reliable models depends on large datasets with highly textured and rich images. However, in real-world scenarios, the performance of the generic object detection system decreases when (i) occlusions hide the objects, (ii) objects are present in low-light images, or (iii) they are merged with background information. In this paper, we refer to all these situations as challenging environments. With the recent rapid development in generic object detection algorithms, notable progress has been observed in the field of object detection in challenging environments. However, there is no consolidated reference to cover state-of-the-art in this domain. To the best of our knowledge, this paper presents the first comprehensive overview, covering recent approaches that have tackled the problem of object detection in challenging environments. Furthermore, we present the quantitative and qualitative performance analysis of these approaches and discuss the currently available challenging datasets. Moreover, this paper investigates the performance of current state-of-the-art generic object detection algorithms by benchmarking results on the three well-known challenging datasets. Finally, we highlight several current shortcomings and outline future directions.

This paper formulates the performance evaluation of cloud services as a multicriteria group decision making problem, and presents a fuzzy multicriteria group decision making method for evaluating the performance of cloud services. Interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy numbers are used to model the inherent subjectiveness and imprecision of the performance evaluation process. An effective algorithm is developed based on the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution method and the Choquet integral operator for adequately solving the performance evaluation problem. An example is presented to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed fuzzy multicriteria group decision making method for solving the multicriteria group decision making problem in real world situations.

Performance appraisal is a fundamental indicator in public accountability to achieve the good governance principles. Hence, this study aims to analyze the performance measurement that can improve performance on government agencies in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. The study was conducted in qualitative approach. The research found that non-integrated models of performance measurement in South Sulawesi are inefficient and ineffective. Inefficiency happens because it uses time and cost resources separately, while being ineffective is because both models focuses on each goal instead on performance goals and the process is not supported by the actual management.

Risk management strategies protect the company as a whole as well as employees from unforeseen financial impacts. As in the case of personal finance, preparing for certain scenarios helps to face any difficulties that the company may encounter and allows it to get out of this impasse.For any project to be successful, the way the project executing agency will deal with potential risks must be determined so that it can identify, mitigate or avoid problems when it needs to do so. Successful project managers realize that risk management is important, because the achievement of project objectives depends on planning, preparation, results and evaluation that contribute to the achievement of strategic goals, especially the sustainable development of societies.Risk management strategies work to protect the company as a whole as well as employees from unexpected financial effects, and as is the case in personal finance, preparing for certain scenarios helps to face any difficulties that the company may face and allows it to get out of this impasse.To ensure the success of your project, determine how you will handle potential risks so that you can identify, mitigate or avoid problems when you need to do so. Successful project managers understand that risk management is important, because the achievement of project objectives depends on planning, preparation, results, and evaluation that contribute to the achievement of strategic objectives.

Capital structure decision plays an imperative role in firm’s performance. Recognizing the importance, there has been many studies inspected the rapport of capital structure with performance of firms and findings of those studies are inconclusive. In addition, there is relative deficiency of empirical studies examining the link of capital structure with performance of banks in Bangladesh. This paper attempted to fill this gap. Using panel data of 22 banks for the period of 2005-2014, this study empirically examined the impacts of capital structure on the performance of Bangladeshi banks assessed by return on equity, return on assets and earnings per share. Results from pooled ordinary least square analysis show that there are inverse impacts of capital structure on bank’s performance. Empirical findings of this study is of greater significance for the developing countries like Bangladesh because it will call upon concentration of the bank management and policy makers to pursue such policies to reduce reliance on debt and to accomplish optimal level capital structure. This research also contributes to empirical literatures by reconfirming (or otherwise) findings of previous studies.

This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the performance of the hormone treatment protocols, determine the factors associated with pregnancy success after hormone treatment, and compare the cost-efficiencies of two types of hormone treatment among cyclic and noncyclic anestrous dairy cows. The clinical records of 279 anestrous cows who received hormone treatment for artificial insemination (AI) from 64 herds in the western region of Thailand were obtained from Kasetsart University Veterinary Teaching Hospital from January to August 2017. The performance of the hormone treatment protocols, fixed-time AI (TAI) and estrus detection before AI (EAI), showed that the pregnancy risk for the TAI protocol was higher than for the EAI protocol, but pregnancy per AI did not differ significantly between the two protocols in cyclic and noncyclic cows. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that cows receiving the TAI protocol were more likely to be pregnant compared to those treated with the EAI protocol. Cows with a 3.00 body condition score (BCS) <3.75 after treatment and loose-housing cows were more likely to become pregnant. Treatment during winter showed higher pregnancy success than in the summer and rainy seasons. The cost-efficiency analysis showed that the TAI protocol was the most cost-efficient option for noncyclic cows, whereas the EAI protocol was the most cost-efficient option for cyclic cows.

Most of the municipalities in the Gulf region are facing performance related issues in their municipal solid waste management (MSWM) systems. They lack to possess a deliberate inter-municipality benchmarking processes. Instead of identifying the performance gaps for their key components (e.g., personnel productivity, operational reliability, etc.) and adopt proactive measures, the municipalities primarily rely on an efficient emergency response. A novel hierarchical modeling framework, based on deductive reasoning, is developed for performance assessment of MSWM systems. Fuzzy rule based modeling using Simulink-MATLAB was used for performance inferencing at different levels, i.e., component, sub-components, etc. The model is capable of handling the inherent uncertainties due to limited data and imprecise knowledge base. The model’s outcomes can exclusively assist the managers working at different levels of organizational hierarchy for effective decision-making. Performance of the key component, assists the senior management to assess the overall compliance level of performance objectives. Subsequently, operation management can hone in the sub-components to acquire useful information for intra-municipality performance management. While, individual indicators are useful for inter-municipality benchmarking. The model has been implemented on two municipalities operating in Qassim Region, Saudi Arabia. The results demonstrate the model’s pragmatism for continuous performance improvement of MSWM systems in the country and elsewhere.

Telemedicine and remote survey of physiological parameters may significantly increase the health and safety of people working in extreme environmental conditions, like firefighters, maintain rescuers, soldiers, and others. We highlight this problem and give an overview of the historical development and the actual status of systems available. Ruggedized systems, as small, lightweight, and flexible as possible, are needed to optimize the goal of increasing occupational health and safety of persons at risk and maximizing their performance during missions.

The work aims to improve the battery performance in hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) by reducing the vehicle speed. We develop a specific protocol for managing battery use and optimizing the energy consumption rate to achieve this goal. The protocol automatically controls the driving operation, avoiding incompatible driving patterns with energy-saving mode and performance improvement. The protocol is submitted to a simulation process to predict the energy rate lowering and battery performance enhancement. The proposed protocol applies to any hybrid electric vehicle type and route conditions since it uses vehicle mass, drag and rolling coefficients, and road slope as variable parameters to determine the minimum energy consumption rate. We run experimental tests to validate the simulation data and the proposed protocol. Furthermore, the protocol applies to variable starting vehicle speeds, from 10 to 50 km/h, corresponding to the current driving patterns, sport, normal, and eco, set up by car manufacturers. A reduction of 10% in vehicle speed in urban and peripheral routes achieves a minimum energy rate, enhancing battery management. Current vehicle speed shows a deviation from optimum management of 18% while applying the vehicle speed reduction limits the deviation to 0.2%. Experimental results show a good agreement with simulation data with 94% accuracy. We tested the protocol for urban and peripheral routes with maximum vehicle speed limits of 60 and 90 km/h.

Owners and managers of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have changed their perspective on risk management due to the current global negative threats in the business environment. If they want to be successful and ensure the financial performance of their business, they must accept a proactive approach to reducing strategic risks in connection with operational risks. The aim of the article is to identify and quantify the differences in operational risk management and its effect on the financial management of SMEs between four Central European countries. The statistical sample of SMEs consisted of 1,090 owners and top managers. Data collection was carried out through a questionnaire in the period December 2022-January 2023. Statistical hypotheses were evaluated with the application of correlation analysis and linear regression modelling. Empirical findings have confirmed that operational risk management has a significant positive impact on improving the profitability of the enterprise; on reducing the enterprise's indebtedness as well as in the context of reducing the enterprise's inability to pay its obligations. However, there are disparities in the perception of this influence between owners/managers with regard to the country in which they carry out their business activities. The findings are important for both national and multinational organizations and entities dealing with risk management in the business environment of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Cloud computing refers to applications delivered as services over the Internet. Cloud systems employ policies that are inherently dynamic in nature and that depend on temporal conditions defined in terms of external events, such as the measurement of bandwidth, use of hosts, intrusion detection or specific time events. In this paper, we investigate an optimized resource management scheme named v-Mapper. The basic premise of v-Mapper is to exploit application-awareness concepts using software-defined networking (SDN) features. This paper makes three key contributions to the field: (1) We propose a virtual machine (VM) placement scheme that can effectively mitigate the VM placement issues for data-intensive applications; (2) We propose a validation scheme that will ensure that a service is entertained only if there are sufficient resources available for its execution and (3) We present a scheduling policy that aims to eliminate network load constraints. An evaluation was carried out with various benchmarks and demonstrated that v-Mapper shows improved performance over other state-of-the-art approaches in terms of average task completion time, service delay time and bandwidth utilization. Given the growing importance of supporting large-scale data processing and analysis in datacentres, the v-Mapper system has the potential to make a positive impact in improving datacentre performance in the future.

Indonesia has emerged as one of the leading producers and exporters of palm oil, as supported by data from the Central Bureau of Statistics in 2021, which indicate that Indonesian palm oil exports reached an impressive value of US$ 18.44 billion, or IDR 258 trillion, in 2020, marking an 18.43 percent growth compared to the previous year. Furthermore, the domestic market for palm oil and palm kernel oil remains substantial, despite improvements in export quantities. Various industries, including cooking oil refineries, specialty fats, shortening, margarine, bath soaps, and oleochemicals, present potential markets for palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel oil (PKO). The palm oil industry encompasses four related sub-sectors, namely growers, millers, refiners, and oleochemicals, forming an integrated value chain from upstream to downstream. The current focus on environmental, economic, and social sustainability is driving companies to adopt internal green activities and expand their efforts into sustainability supply chain management (SSCM). Implementing SSCM practices is often seen as economically beneficial, as research has demonstrated their positive impact on firm performance from a resource perspective. Within the palm oil industry, a wide range of green management applications are being utilized. This study aims to examine and highlight the existing sustainable management practices across the entire palm oil supply chain, with a particular emphasis on producing high-quality palm oil. To achieve this objective, the paper utilizes a systematic review methodology, The number of papers analyzed were 62 articles published which involves an extensive review of relevant literature to identify research trends, gaps, and issues. The study seeks to contribute to the body of knowledge by expanding the theory of organizational readiness in preparing globally competitive palm oil products. The research findings hold practical significance for practitioners and academics, providing a comprehensive roadmap for implementing green management applications at the organizational level in the palm oil industry's upstream-to-downstream chain.

Previous research has either neglected to consider misbehaviour or misconduct in the virtual workplace during the current COVID-19 pandemic or highlighted some challenges encountered with remote working or work from home but in isolation, e.g., misbehaviours or ethical concerns associated with improper use of technology when accessing clients’ confidential information, without understanding their aetiology and context in a holistic manner. This has impacted the ability of existing research in providing recommendations organisations can practically implement to improve the sustainability and productivity of the virtual workplace, especially as they seek to navigate the current pandemic and prepare for the global business environment in the next decade. Instead, this study, for the first time, proposes a novel holistic methodology to identify the aetiologies of ethical and performance challenges with focus to the Information Technology consulting sector, as well as developing a set of recommendations companies can adopt to manage such behavioural and productivity challenges. Thus, this study illustrates the key issues associated with remote working implemented to respond to the current COVID-19 pandemic, which mine not only the individual performance in an organisation but also its overall productivity, as well as suggests the main performance and reward management strategies that can be leveraged to mitigate them. Tailored strategies are described and discussed as referred to this industry to help in navigating a more unstable yet competitive market to manage the virtual employees’ misbehaviours in the workplace and drive growth for individuals and organisations alike.

The main aim of this study is to examine the effects of Total Quality Management (TQM) practices (leadership of management, decision making, continuous improvement, customer focus, employee involvement, process management and relations with suppliers) on the financial and operational performance of hospitals in service industry. The data of the study were collected by the questionnaire prepared in the light of published studies and the suggestions of medical and administrative staff. Medical and administrative staff were chosen as target participants that reflect perspectives of hospitals. 1069 questionnaires were answered in 6 private and 26 public hospitals in the Marmara region in Turkey. The results claim that “customer focus” affects both operational performance as well as the financial performance of hospitals more than other TQM practices. While “process management” and “customer focus” explain the variance of financial performance significantly. “Process management” does not explain variance of operational performance.

This study aimed to assess the differences in the importance and performance of health awareness in Korean middle school students according to the types of online physical education classes they attended during the coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic. Overall, 583 participants were selected using a convenience sampling method; the data were obtained through an online survey using Google forms. Frequency analysis, reliability analysis, independent sample t-test, and importance-performance analysis were performed. First, the differences between importance and performance were found to be the most for sleep and physical activity management, and the least for disease and hygiene management. In addition, both the groups demonstrated higher importance and performance for hygiene and disease management. There were significant differences in the importance and performance of all the sub-factors. Second, hygiene, disease management, and mental health management were found in quadrant I in both the groups, while physical activity, sleep, and dietary habit management were in quadrant III. No factors were in quadrant II and IV.

The main purpose of the study was to study the effects of a specific rowing ergometer training program on the athletic performance of young adolescents (n=56; 11.73 ± 1.4 years old) com-pared to a workout based on general strength training. Eight-week training program was im-plemented, with four sessions per week and two-hours per session. Sample was divided in two groups: a control group (CG) that performed circuit training with exercises aimed at building general strength and an experimental group (EG) who focused on specifically training on a rowing ergometer (rowing machine). The data obtained in a rowing meter test over the compe-tition distance were analyzed to obtain the average power attained (W) at the beginning of the training, at the middle (4 weeks), at the end of the training (8 weeks) and one year after the ex-perimentation. The results show that, although both forms of training improve the average W obtained in both categories, the EG subjects (+29.94W) obtained better averages in all phases of the study compared to the CG (+5.88W). Furthermore, this increase was greater in male rowers (+ 34.06W) than in female rowers (+24.54W). These results reveal that a specific rower rowing ergometer training program has a significant effect than a general strength program and these effects can even be observed a year after the intervention.

In this article, management control has been studied from the perspective of intention towards sustainable development of companies. The main idea focuses on the analysis of relations between sustainable management control and the system of performance appraisal using as a reference the resource-based theory. These relations have been assessed both theoretically by reviewing literature in the field, and empirically based on data collected in a questionnaire from top management, as well as data from Annual Reports from the main segment of Bucharest Stock Exchange. The authors have shown that financial performance has a significant influence on management control, and the return on capital employed is one of the most recommended indicators. The sustainable nature attributed to management control is the result of institutional theory evolution, provisions of Directive 2014/95/EU and Guide of Global Management Accounting Principles (2015) using stewardship. Consequently, profits are not the main element any more in the assessment of financial „health” of a company. To ensure the sustainable success, sustainable balanced scorecard is one of real measures for managing financial and non-financial performance.

Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN) enable a growing number of Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications with large geographical coverage, low bit-rate, and long lifetime requirements. LoRa (Long Range) is a well-known LPWAN technology that uses a proprietary Chirp Spread Spectrum (CSS) physical layer, while the upper layers are defined by an open standard - LoRaWAN. In this paper, we propose a simple yet effective method to improve the Quality-of-Service (QoS) of LoRa networks by fine-tuning specific radio parameters. Through a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) problem formulation, we find optimal settings for the Spreading Factor (SF) and Carrier Frequency (CF) radio parameters, considering the network traffic specifications as a whole, to improve the Data Extraction Rate (DER) and to reduce the packet collision rate and the energy consumption in LoRa networks. The effectiveness of the optimization procedure is demonstrated by simulations, using LoRaSim for different network scales. In relation to the traditional LoRa radio parameter assignment policies, our solution leads to an average increase of 6% in DER, and a number of collisions 13 times smaller. In comparison to networks with dynamic radio parameter assignment policies, there is an increase of 5%, 2.8%, and 2% of DER, and a number of collisions 11, 7.8 and 2.5 times smaller than equal-distribution, Tiurlikova's (SoTa), and random distribution, respectively. Regarding the network energy consumption metric, the proposed optimization obtained an average consumption similar to Tiurlikova's, and 2.8 times lower than the equal-distribution and random dynamic allocation policies. Furthermore, we approach the practical aspects of how to implement and integrate the optimization mechanism proposed in LoRa, guaranteeing backward compatibility with the standard protocol.

A supply chain management (SCM) system is a strategic cooperative that organically integrates all supply chains to improve the performance of a company. The greatest critical success factor of SCM is partnership. Without cooperation between companies, SCM performance is limited. Does this imply, therefore, that companies within the supply chain can achieve mutual transactions equally? If the power between companies is unequal, how does this affect their partnership? The focus of this study is to assess whether power types enhance SCM performance through partnerships. We categorize power types as mediated and non-mediated. Mediated power is categorized based on coercion, reward, and legitimate, while non-mediated power is categorized based on information, expert, and reference. Therefore, this study examines how power types form a causal partnership relationship within the supply chain, and performs an empirical investigation on how the partnerships influence SCM performance.

: The purpose of this research was to verify the importance and performance of crisis management in Korean fitness center using Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA). For this study, 304 fitness center executives and managers in Seoul and Gyeonggi region were selected as from March 21 to May 17, 2020. Frequency analysis was performed using SPSS 24.0 and exploratory factor analysis was conducted to verify the validity and reliability. Priority analysis and IPA analysis were performed to compare the mean values, and the following results were obtained. First, in the first quadrant, there were 6 attributes besides keep social distancing between employees and customers. Second, in the second quadrant, there were four attributes in addition to regular disinfection of the gymnasium. Third, in the third quadrant, there were 6 attributes besides maintain furniture clean. Third, there were 6 attributes other than maintaining furniture clean in the third quadrant. Fourth, in the fourth quadrant, there are three attributes in addition to the restriction of face-to-face meetings. The conclusion is as follows. First, equip supplies for prevention of covid19, keep social distance, and check government support policies. Second, analyze of economic support policies, and research on their application methods. Third, Prepare various non-face-to-face communication methods and Untact(non-contact) marketing strategies. Fourth, make a checklist for factors with relatively little importance.

Based on the Organizational Support Theory, this study examines the relationship between human resource management practices and service performance of sharing workers by demonstrating the mediation role of work engagement. We tested this theoretical model using an in-person interview questionnaire survey of 318 downwind drivers. Results showed that: (1) the main effect of human resource management practices of sharing workers on service performance was significant; (2) work engagement played a prominent mediation role between human resource management practices and service performance of sharing workers; (3) the mediation role of employee vigor between the platform incentives and the performance of employee services was significant; (4) employee dedication had an obvious and indirectly positive mediating effect between sharing workers' dimensions of human resource management practice and their service performance; (5) employee absorption on the mediation role between the various dimensions of the sharing human resources management practices (platform support, platform incentives and platform constraints) and employee service performance was significant. This study has important value for the study on human resource management practices in the context of sharing economy, and provides practical enlightenment for employee management of the sharing economy platform.

This study examines the effects of working capital management strategies on firm’s financial performance of Indian cement companies using 11-year (2010-2020) financial data of 31 companies listed in Bombay Stock Exchange. It is intended to find out whether the strategies made by finance managers with respect to the components of working capital such as average receivable period, inventory conversion period, average payment period and cash conversion cycle, etc. affects the firm’s performances individually and in total. The results of Pearson’s correlation coefficient and random effect regression model shows that there exists a negative relationship between financial performance measured in terms of return on assets (ROA) and inventory turnover period (ITP) as well as accounts payable period (APP), whereas firm’s performance is not significantly affected by accounts receivable period (ARP) and cash conversion cycle (CCC). Similarly, it has been observed that the liquidity measures such as current ratio (CR) and quick ratio (QR) have a significant positive association with ROA. Moreover, the size of the firms and leverage are inversely related to ROA but the age of the firms is not significantly affecting their financial performances. Hence, it can be concluded that how an organisation designs its working capital strategy do have an impact on its performances.

In this digital world, organisations are facing global competition as well as manpower pressures leading towards knowledge economy, which heavily impacts on their local and international businesses. The trend is to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing to cope with these problems. With the advancement of technologies and social engineering that can connect people in virtual world across time and distance, several organisations are embarking on knowledge management (KM) systems, implementing community of practice (CoP) approach. However, virtual communities are relatively new paradigms, and there are several challenges to their successful implementation from an organisation’s point of interest. There is lack of CoP implementation framework that can cater to today’s dynamic business and sustainability requirements. To fill the gap in literature, this paper develops a practical framework for a CoP implementation with a view to align KM strategy with business strategy of an organization. It explores the different steps of building, sharing and using tacit and explicit knowledge in CoPs by applying Wiig KM cycle. It proposes a practical CoP implementation framework that adopts the Benefits-Tools-Organisation-People-Process (BTOPP) model in addressing the key questions surrounding each of the BTOPP elements with a structured approach. Finally, it identifies key challenges such as organizational culture and performance measurements, and provides practical recommendations to overcome them for a successful CoP implementation.

Lithium batteries and an increasing focus on CO₂ reduction have become an integral part of daily life and business for many people. Boron and boron compounds have been widely studied together in the history and development of lithium batteries. With a broad examination of battery components and systems but a boron-centric approach to raw materials, this review seeks to summarize past and recent studies on the following: which boron compounds are studied in lithium battery, in which parts of lithium batteries, what improvements are offered for battery performance, and what improvement mechanisms can be explained. The uniqueness of boron and its extensive application beyond batteries contextualizes the interesting similarity with studies on batteries. The paper predominantly focuses on lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) but also mentions other lithium batteries. At the end, the article aims to predict prospective trends for future studies that may lead to the successful and extensive use of boron compounds on a commercial scale.

Is it true that the nuclear technology applied to electric energy generation offers a clean, safe, reliable and affordable i.e. sustainable alternative? Yes it is, but its impact on the environment strongly depends on the implementation bearing residual risks due to a human factor, technical failures or natural catastrophes. A full response is therefore difficult and can first be given when the wicked multi-disciplinary problems get well formulated and “solved”. These problems have multi-dimensional nature lying at the interface between: necessary R&D effort, the industrial deployment and the technology impact in view of the environmental sustainability including the management of produced hazardous waste. This enormous complexity indicates that just a description of the problem might represent a problem. The paper proposes a holistic approach to assess the nuclear energy systems potential with respect to sustainable performance applying Multi-criteria decision analysis with a suitable objective tree and a multi-level criteria structure and examines the trading-off techniques for ranking of the alternatives. The framework proposes a multi-criteria and multi-stakeholders treatment which can be used as a pre-decisional support towards an implementation of nuclear fuel cycles adapted to national preferences and priorities. Proposed approach addresses some aspects of the environmental footprint of nuclear energy systems. Advanced nuclear fuel cycles, previously investigated by the NEA/OECD expert group WASTEMAN, are analyzed as a case study. Sustainability facets of waste management, resource utilization and economics are in focus.

Green supply chain management (GSCM) is fundamentally growing as a key component of sustainability, owing to its ability to improve supply chain competitiveness and performance within firms. The body of literature on GSCM within the manufacturing sector in developing countries such as South Africa is still limited. The study examined the relationships between GSCM practices, dynamic capabilities, and supply chain performance in the South African manufacturing sector. The study was quantitative, involving a sample of 402 supply chain professionals drawn from the manufacturing sector across the four provinces of the country. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling based on the SMART PLS technique. Eco-design Green distribution and green training impacted positively on dynamic capabilities, the latter of which in turn is linked to improved agility, reliability, and reduced supply chain costs. The study validates the importance of GSCM as a driver of dynamic capabilities and performance in manufacturing environments within developing countries such as South Africa.

Banking sector is generally taken out of sample while the sustainability performance, and the financial performance are compared with each other. The core aim of this study is to analyze the effect of the declarations made in the cope of sustainability reports on the financial performance in the banking sector. Seven banks were included in the study which were placed at least one time in BIST Sustainability Index in between 2010-2017 years. Environment, human resources, product liability and community involvement were determined as sustainability criteria and return on assets, return on equity and net interest margin were determined as financial performance criteria. Non-Parametric Statistic Tests and Panel Data Analysis were used for analysis and types, and the sizes of banks were selected as dummy variables. As a result, it is found that the declarations of sustainability reports have a significant effect only on return on assets and have no significant effect on return on equity and net interest margin. And also, when we analyzed the relationship of sustainability criteria and return on assets, we found that the declarations about environment and human resources have negative effects on return on assets.

Abstruct Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) has emerged as an essential strategy for achieving environmental sustainability within organizations. However, there remains a significant gap in understanding its direct impact on sustainable performance. This study seeks to address these gaps by investigating the relationship between GHRM and sustainable performance, with a focus on the mediating role of green innovation and the moderating influence of transformational leadership. A cross-sectional study was conducted among Malaysian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to explore the interrelationships between Green HRM, green process and product innovation, sustainability, and the role of sustainable leadership. The study's findings reveal a positive and significant relationship between green HRM practices and sustainability, encompassing environmental, economic, and social aspects. The findings suggest that management support for environmental initiatives is a critical factor in enhancing the effectiveness and spread of green innovations, emphasizing the importance of GHM in the broader context of organizational change and sustainability. In addition, the study underscores the critical role of transformative leadership in fostering sustainable practices, particularly the significant moderator role of responsible leadership in driving sustainable business practices. In summary, this study provides a roadmap for businesses, particularly SMEs, to leverage HGRM as a strategic tool in their pursuit of sustainability.

This study assessed the relationship between body posture displacements and cardiopulmonary function test (CPET) and skill related physical fitness tests. One hundred male (60%) and female collegiate athletes (22.2 ± 4yrs) with a normal body mass index (BMI up to 24.9) were assessed via the PostureScreen Mobile app to quantify postural displacements as head, thorax and pelvis rotations and translations. CPET and physical performance tests including the agility T-test, the vertical jump test, the stork static balance test (SSBT) and the dynamic Y-balance test (YBT) were performed. Spearman correlation (r) and p-values are reported. Postural parameters were found to have moderate-to-high associations with CPET and the agility test, moderate correlations with the vertical jump test and the SSBT (head and pelvic postures only), and weak correlations with the YBT. As postural parameters were more asymmetric, both CPET and performance skills scores were worse. For examples: 1) a medium positive correlation was found between cranio-vertebral angle (CVA) and vertical jump test (r = 0.54; p-value < 0.001) and SSBT (r = 0.57; p-value < 0.001), while a strong negative correlation was found between CVA and agility test (r = -0.86; p-value < 0.001). 2) A strong positive correlation was found between CVA and oxygen uptake efficiency slope, load watts VO2 at VT, VO2 / kg, load watts at respiratory compensation point (RCP), (r = 0.65 and r = 0.71; p < 0.001). Conversely, a significant negative correlation was found between CVA and VE / VO2 at VT (r = -0.61; p < 0.001). Postural rotations and translations of the head, thorax and pelvis were statistically correlated with physical performance skills and CPET in young collegiate athletes. There were moderate-to-high associations with cardiopulmonary functions and agility tests, moderate correlations with the vertical jump test, and weak correlations with the YBT. Postural alignment may be important for optimal physical performance and optimal cardiopulmonary function. Further research is necessary to elucidate reasons for these correlations as found in our sample of young and healthy athletes.

The cultivation of Hevea brasiliensis, the primary commercial source of natural rubber, is strongly impacted by South American Leaf Blight (SALB) disease, caused by the fungus Pseudocercospora ulei. Various management strategies have been implemented, including the selection of resistant genotypes and the identification of escape zones. This study evaluated the growth, early yield, and resistance to SALB of nine Colombian elite genotypes from the ECC-100 series and IAN 873 clone (control) in a large-scale clone trial in a low SALB pressure zone in the Colombian Amazon, 2017 - 2020. Favorable early performance was evident, although there was a significant increase in the severity and sporulation of P. ulei over time, especially in the ECC 35, ECC 60, and IAN 873 genotypes. However, these scores represented a low susceptibility. Genotypes with higher resistance to SALB demonstrated greater growth and early yield compared to higher susceptible genotypes. The ECC 64, ECC 73, ECC 90, ECC 25, and ECC 29 genotypes were more desirable in low SALB pressure zones due to their higher resistance and early performance. It is important to highlight that this research contributes to the selection of new SALB-resistant Colombian genotypes of H. brasiliensis in the growth stage. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate their productivity in the mature stage and long-term resistance to SALB, before recommending and promoting their commercial adoption in the Colombian Amazon.

The Inefficient water use, varying and low productivity in Kenya public irrigation schemes is a major concern. It is therefore necessary to periodically monitor and evaluate the performance of public irrigation schemes. The performance of public irrigation in western Kenya was assessed by combining benchmarking methodology and principal component analysis. The aim was to quantify and rank the performance of pumped public irrigation schemes in Kenya. Eleven benchmarking indicators were computed for the period from 2012 to 2016 and compared to global benchmark values. The indicators used fall under agricultural productivity, water supply and financial performance categories. The computed agricultural productivity was 36%–51% in Ahero, 23%–42% in West Kano and 26%–50% Bunyala irrigation scheme. Water supply performance in Ahero, West Kano and Bunyala irrigation schemes varied from 24% to 58%, 3% to 49% and 19% to 43% respectively. Financial performance varied from 46% to 54% in Ahero, 25% to 32% in West Kano and 54%–56% in Bunyala irrigation scheme. An average overall performance efficiency of 46%, 39% and 31% was obtained in Ahero, Bunyala and West Kano irrigation schemes respectively. The performance of the irrigation schemes is very poor and measures on improving performance are needed.

The purpose of this study is to examine the match-related performance (scores and penalties) of the athletes in the Junior EJC (European Judo Championship) and U23 EJC categories before and immediately after the Covid-19 quarantine, according to gender and weight category groups. Our sample was based on the junior and U23, male and females, 2019-2020 Junior European Judo Championships and 2019-2020 U23 European Judo Championships. A total of 1431 matches in these tournaments were analyzed: male (n=812) and female (n=619). The main findings of this study showed that most matches in both the male and female categories resulted in ippon (2019-2020 average: 64,35% for Junior male, 70,55% for U23 male and 69,3% for Junior female, 64,4% for U23 female). No significant differences (p > 0.05) were observed between gender and age groups concerning the match scores. In the formation phase of the technique, considerations of high- and low-intensity actions, and analysis of the speed of athletes during matches in official competitions can help to better understand the dynamics of the variability of movements in judo matches. In addition, suggestions are presented to be applied to athletes in different age categories who are on the way to become Olympic athletes.

This study aimed to conduct importance-performance analyses (IPAs) based on the perception of Korean middle-school students toward health management awareness during the post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) era. Data were collected from 867 Korean middle-school students via online and offline surveys between May and June 2023. A frequency analysis, a reliability analysis, an IPA based on the entire target students, and an IPA depending on sex were carried out with the collected data, and they revealed the following. First, the IPA results regardless of sex indicated that four factors of the mental health were located in the third quadrant with one factor of the same variable in the fourth quadrant. The three factors of the disease management were located in the third quadrant. As for physical activity, two factors were located in the first quadrant, one in the second quadrant, and one in the third quadrant. As for sleep management, two factors were located in the second quadrant, one in the third quadrant, and one in the first quadrant. As for the eating management, two factors were located in the third quadrant, and one in the fourth quadrant. As for the social distancing variable, all four factors were located in the third quadrant. As for the hygiene management, two factors were located in the first quadrant, one in the third quadrant, and one in the fourth quadrant. Furthermore, the IPA results indicated gender differences in regular sports and vigorous movement activities associated with the physical activity. Additionally, a gender difference was observed in regular diet associated with the eating management. This study proposed possible measures for encouraging adolescents to recognize the importance of health and increase their health-related performance during the COVID-19 endemic phase.

Ice and snow on roads in winter endanger traffic safety. The existing methods of snow and ice removal have various drawbacks, which need further research. Aiming at solving limitations about high labor intensity, low efficiency, serious environmental pollution of traditional snow and ice removal methods, the anti-icing coating technology of high-voltage conductors is used for reference, and in view of the characteristics of asphalt pavement deicing, an ice-suppressing material that can effectively reduce the adhesion between snow, ice and pavement is successfully developed. As there is no perfect evaluation index and method for ice-suppressing materials at present, this paper further evaluates the performance of ice-suppressing materials from the aspects of deicing performance, durability, adhesion and the impact of ice-suppressing materials on pavement performance. The test results show that the ice-suppressing material can effectively reduce the adhesion between the ice layer and the specimen, making it easier to remove. The ice-suppression material has good slow-release performance, and the specimens still have good deicing performance after 7 cycles of tests.

Asphalt binder is a temperature sensitive material, whose performance is greatly affected by the climate change of the environment. Improper selection of asphalt will cause a lot of damage and affect the durability of the road. The establishment of asphalt pavement performance zoning in Xinjiang, a vast area with great temperature difference, will provide reference for the selection of asphalt suitability, the refinement of pavement design and the sustainable development of road engineering. In this study, 11 years of temperature data in Xinjiang region were collected and analyzed, and 98% reliability of pavement design temperature was used to draw a performance grading map of asphalt pavement in Xinjiang region based on ArcGIS platform. Finally, Xinjiang region was divided into 9 performance zones. At the same time, the performance grade (PG) of five kinds of asphalt binders in Karamay were explored. The result shows that there is little difference in continuous PG span between different matrix asphalt binders, the lower penetration grade, the better high temperature performance, the worse low temperature performance. After adding SBS modifier, the continuous PG span can be higher than the matrix asphalt in 20 ℃. All these provide the basis for reasonable selection of asphalt binders in different areas of Xinjiang.

In the current study, we assessed the effects of conventional and Ultra High Dose Rate (UHDR) irradiation on behavioral and cognitive performance one month following exposure and assessed whether these effects were associated with alterations in the number of immune cells in the hippocampus using flow cytometry. Conventional- and UHDR-irradiated mice showed impaired novel object recognition. During fear learning, conventional- and UHDR-irradiated mice moved less during the inter-stimulus-interval (ISI) and UHDR-irradiated mice also moved less during the baseline period (prior to the first tone). In irradiated mice, reduced activity levels were also seen in the home cage; conventional- and UHDR-irradiated mice moved less during the light period and UHDR-irradiated mice moved less during the dark period. Following behavioral and cognitive testing, infiltrating immune cells in the hippocampus were analyzed by flow cytometry. The percent Ly6G+ CD45+ cells in the hippocampus was lower in conventional- and UHDR-irradiated than sham-irradiated mice, suggesting that neutrophils might be particularly sensitive to radiation. The percent of Ly6G+ CD45+ cells in the hippocampus was positively correlated with the time spent exploring the novel object in the object recognition test, suggesting that the reduced percent Ly6G+ CD45+ cells in the hippocampus might mediate some of the detrimental radiation-induced cognitive effects.

This paper presents preliminary operational performance results of a pilot grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) system designed and installed on the rooftop of the Ministry of Petroleum, Energy and Mining headquarter in Nouakchott (latitude of 18.1°N and the longitude of 16.0°W), Mauritania. The aim is for the government to demonstrate the relevance of using solar energy and to encourage the uptake of solar PV technology for commercial and residential building applications in Mauritania.. In this study, the grid-connected PV system has a peak power of 48 kW and the performance monitoring was carried out during one year, with a system that allow to measure DC power, inverter and system conversion efficiency, energy generated by the PV arrays, solar radiation in the inclination plane of panels, ambient temperature and module temperature. During this period, the PV plant was found to supply 65,668 kWh to the grid. The final yield ranged from 3.91 to 5.09 kWh/kWp/day. The performance ratio was found to vary from 69.69% to 89.35% and the annual capacity factor was found to be 19%. Finally, performance parameters were compared with other PV plants installed in the same region of Northern Africa. The outcome of this work is deemed important in assisting accurate PV system design and decision-making.

We are in the era where various processes need to be online. However, data from digital learning platforms are still underutilised in higher education, yet, they contain student learning patterns, whose awareness would contribute to educational development. This limits development of adaptive teaching and learning mechanisms. In this paper, a model for data exploitation to dynamically study students progress is proposed. Variables to determine current students progress are defined and are used to group students into different clusters. K-means clustering is performed on real data consisting of students from a South African tertiary institution. Cluster migration is analysed and the corresponding learning patterns are revealed.

Background: This practice guideline was developed by the Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) Task Force, which was composed of clinical and methodological experts. The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health and its Health Holding Company commissioned this guideline project to support the realization of the Vision 2030's healthcare transformation pillar. Methods: The guideline synthesis was guided by the GRADE-ADOLOPMENT methodology. Results: The final adoloped guideline addressed 12 clinical questions on blood pressure management in patients with CKD through a set of recommendations and performance measures. The recommendations included antihypertensive agents in children, non-renin angiotensin system inhibition (Non-RASi) vs RASi in adults, intensive vs standard blood pressure targets, early vs late assessment for kidney replacement therapy (KRT), late vs early preparation strategy for KRT, CKD symptoms during assessment for KRT or conservative management, initiation of KRT in patients with deteriorating CKD, choice of KRT modality or conservative management in certain CKD patient groups, changing or discontinuing KRT modalities, review frequency for KRT or conservative management, and Information, education and support. Conclusions: These conditional recommendations were based on low to very low certainty of evidence that highlights the need for high-quality randomized trials comparing different antihypertensive agents in patients with CKD.

An investigation was carried out to study the effects of television and internet on academic performance of senior secondary schools students in Rigachukun Inspectorate of Kaduna state. A well structured and designed questionnaire was adopted in eliciting information from the respondents. The respondents were sampled from schools within Kaduna state. The information obtained showed that the percentage of senior secondary school students who made use of internet for academic purpose was as much as those who could not operate a computer or even browse the internet. Good number of students applied internet mostly through phones and computer with internet access in solving their assignment. A larger percentage of students devoted their time to watching non-educative programs on television, even though it was discovered that some of them also watch educative programs. Positive impacts of television and internet are however obscuring and not glaring. Investigation carried out revealed that students in senior secondary schools need to be sensitized and oriented on how they can derive the best from internet and television. Schools should be encouraged in using television and internet as an instrument of learning and teaching.

The importance of this study may be defined by using the smart techniques to earned value indicators of residential buildings projects in Republic of Iraq, only one development intelligent forecasting model was presented to predict Schedule Performance Index (SPI), Cost Performance Index (CPI), and To Complete Cost Performance Indicator (TCPI) are defined as the dependent. The approach is principally influenced by the determining numerous factors which effect on the earned value management, that involves Iraqi historical data. In addition, six independent variables (F1: BAC, Budget at Completion., F2: AC, Actual Cost., F3, A%, Actual Percentage., F4: EV, Earned Value. F5: P%, Planning Percentage., and F6: PV, Planning Value) were arbitrarily designated and satisfactorily described for per construction project. It was found that ANN has the capability to envisage the dust storm with a great accuracy. The correlation coefficient (R) has been 90.00%, and typical accuracy percentage has been 89.00%.

The medical sector is of the utmost importance in every country for well-known reasons such as their economic development, national security, quality of life, and so on. Many researchers were dedicated to this topic, however, in Romania there are limited studies on this subject. One reason is that most of the businesses in this sector are individual enterprises or small family businesses. In our research paper we deploy several analysis methods to see the financial sustainability of companies operating in the medical industry. By analyzing a sample of 23931 companies and we have concluded that their performance has increase in the peak of the pandemic and that the financial stability is high. Our results are in line with other similar studies that were conducted in other regions.

Top performance in team sports attracts the attention from the general public. In particular, the best players became incredibly skilled and physically powerful, a fact that potentiates to deliver a product considered attractive, exciting and competitive. Not surprisingly, this is a very valuable product from an economic and social standpoint, thus, all sports professionals are extremely interested in developing new procedures to improve sports performance. Besides, the great interests of the various stakeholders (owners, CEO-s, agents, fans, media, coaches, players, families and friends) are one of the main reasons for this development of sports science umbrella and the accompanying sports industry. all their personal performances should be coordinated and put into function by the sports team. In this scientific and applied manuscript, we will deal primarily with the individual treatment of players in order to improve their personal performance and, consequently, team sport performance.

There is a paucity of data on the progression of track cycling sprinters, and the evolution of training and performance over a training cycle. Following prior research showing relationships between sprint cycling power and endurance cycling power, we compared these relations over a 3-month period. Our hypothesis is large improvements in power would come from training either for sprint power or sprint capacity, and this would be reflected in the data. A total of publicly available 25 datasets. These data were plotted against the line of best fit for 30-s and 2-min power to assess if training towards the line led to better 30-s power. We observe the best performances came from riders who start below the 30-s vs 2-min power line of best fit, with greater capacity and ability to ride fast over a sprint series, and progressing towards focusing on specific power in the final block leading into a competition. These results support the hypothesis of combined capacity and power training based on rider-specific relationship to the line of best fit between these measures versus a strictly maximal power training focus.

In this paper, it is defined that how the IPOs are affected by the underwriter reputation. What will happen to IPOs who are backed by reputed underwriter and who is not? And evaluate the IPOs short-run and long-run performance. Also try to explain the relationship between IPOs and underwriter. Also tried to compare some of the international return and Pakistani returns. Also determine the relation of the investor to the underwriter. There is a set of investors who have there own relationship with the underwriters how they will affect on the IPOs in the market.

Background: Manoeuvres esbarrada and volta sobre patas are fundamental movements in equestrian activities, yet their kinematics remain largely unexplored. Objectives: This observational study aimed to kinematically describe the movements of esbarrada and volta sobre patas in Criollo breed horses. Methods: Kinematic analysis was conducted on 31 Criollo horses executing esbarrada and volta sobre patas manoeuvres. Results: The esbarrada maneuver covered a distance of 4.28 ± 0.99m in 1.15 ± 0.11s at a velocity of 3.77 ± 0.55m/s. Angular kinematic variables revealed specific joint angles during the maneuver. In volta sobre patas, significant differences were found in spin duration and thoracic limb suspension between the first and second spins. Conclusions: Volta sobre patas demonstrated prolonged spinning duration and increased thoracic limb suspension in the second spin. Additionally, static conformation did not correlate with limb protraction angles during esbarrada.

Leadership performance by village leaders is essential to promote sustainable life among rural communities, especially fisheries community who living along coastal villages. Otherwise, previous studies found that performance issues among village’s leaders remain as serious problems, and need to find the best solution. This study was conducted to profile the job performance among village leaders based on demographic factors such as educational level, age and experiences as village leader. The data of this cross-sectional survey were collected by questionnaires on 300 respondents consist of members of village organization through stratified sampling’s technique, while the data was analysed by SPSS using items of mean, standard deviation, independent-sample t-test and anova. The finding shown that there were differences in job performance among village leaders on educational level, age and experiences. Interestingly, the finding told the best on job performance among village leaders are (i) the age between 41 to 50 years old; (iii) the experience between 11 to 20 years; and (iii) the higher educational level the higher job performance among them. This result can be using by government or any responsible parties to improve job performance among village leaders, especially for recruitment selection and for in-service training.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant training disruptions during the 2020-21 season due to lockdowns, quarantines, and strict adherence to pandemic protocols. The main purpose of this study was to determine how pandemic training restrictions affected training volume and performance in one collegiate swim team. Cumulative training volume data, across a 28-week season, were compared between a pandemic (2020-2021) versus non-pandemic (2019-2020) season. Swimmers were categorized into three groups (Sprinters, Mid-Distance, and Long-Distance) based on training group. Performance times in 25 swimmers who competed in Regional Championships, during both the non-pandemic and pandemic year, were compared via 1-way ANOVA. 26 male and 22 female swimmers commenced the 2020-21 (pandemic) season, with 23% of swimmers voluntarily opting out. Three COVID-19 cases were confirmed (2%) by the medical staff with no long-term effects. Significant reductions in average swim volume were verified in Sprinters (32,867±10,135 vs.14,800±7,995yards;p<0.001), Mid-Distance (26,457±10,692 vs.17,054±9.923yards;p<0.001), and Long-Distance (37,600±14,430 vs.22,254±14,418yards;p<0.001) swimmers (non-pandemic vs. pandemic season, respectively). In the Regional performance analyses, the Sprinters swam faster (n=8;-0.5±0.6secs), while Mid-Distance (n=10;0.17±2.1secs) and Long-Distance (n=7;6.0±4.9secs) swimmers swam slower (F=11.76;p=0.0003;r²=0.52). Thus, the pandemic caused significant reductions in swim training volume, with Sprinters performing better and Long-Distance swimmers performing worse at Regional Championships.

Acceleration parameters in sit-to-stand (STS) movements are useful for measuring lower-limb function in older adults. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between acceleration in STS movements and physical function and the test-retest reliability of acceleration parameters in older adults. We performed cross-sectional analyses on 244 older adults including 107 men (mean age:77.4±4.7) and 137 women (mean age: 75.6±5.3). Four acceleration parameters were measured in STS movements: maximum acceleration (MA), maximum velocity (MV), maximum power (MP), and stand-up time (ST). Good intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC>0.70) were observed for all parameters. For the acceleration parameters, MA, MV, and MP were relatively strongly associated with the 5-time STS test (men: r=-0.36~-0.47; women: r=-0.37~-0.45) and the Timed up and Go test (men: r=-0.39~0.47, women: r=-0.43~-0.51): MP was also strongly associated with grip strength (men: r=0.48, women: r=0.43). All acceleration parameters were poorer in participants reporting mobility limitations than in those reporting no mobility limitations. These findings support the usefulness of sensor-based STS measurement. The system is expected to be useful in various settings where care prevention is addressed.

Simulator training for image-guided surgical interventions may benefit from artificial intelligence systems that control the evolution of task skills in terms of time and precision of a trainee's performance on the basis of fully automatic feed-back systems. At the earliest stages of training, novice trainees frequently focus on getting faster at the task, and may thereby compromise the optimal evolution of the precision of their performance. For automatically guiding them towards attaining an optimal speed-accuracy trade-off, an effective control system for the reinforcement/correction of strategies must be able to exploit the right individual performance criteria in the right way, reliably detect individual performance trends at any given moment in time, and alert the trainee, as early as necessary, when to slow down and focus on precision, or when to focus on getting faster. This article addresses several aspects of this challenge for speed-accuracy controlled simulator training before any training on specific surgical tasks or clinical models should be envisaged. Analyses of individual learning curves from the simulator training sessions of novices and benchmark performance data of one expert surgeon, who had no specific training in the simulator task, validate the suggested approach.

In recent years, with the increasing prominence of environmental and social issues, investors have been paying more attention to the ESG performance of enterprises, highlighting the importance of ESG factors in the financial field. This study is based on the theories of banking business models, stakeholder theory, risk management theory, and ESG investment theory. It uses the financial data and ESG scores of Chinese listed banks to deeply analyze the ESG factors and explore their impact on the liquidity risk of commercial banks. The research found that (1) good ESG performance can reduce the liquidity risk commercial banks face by improving bank value and financial performance. (2) ESG factors can also enhance the liquidity management level of commercial banks through standardization and sustainable business principles, thereby reducing the occurrence and impact of liquidity risk. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the liquidity risk of banks and promote the sustainable development of commercial banks from four aspects: ESG performance and management, bank value, financial performance, and policy regulation.

The study aimed to investigate the impact of incorporating deep learning strategies in mathematics instruction on students' problem-solving abilities, critical thinking skills, academic achievement, and mathematical skills development. The study population consisted of 280 students, with a sample size of 162 participants. Employing a purely quantitative approach, data collection utilized questionnaires and achievement tests as instruments. Data analysis involved simple linear regression, descriptive analysis, and Pearson correlation. The results of the study revealed that there was no significant enhancement observed in students' problem-solving abilities and critical thinking skills when deep learning strategies were incorporated into mathematics instruction. Additionally, students' attitudes towards deep learning activities in mathematics showed no effect on their academic achievement. Furthermore, students' engagement levels in deep learning activities did not impact their development of mathematical skills. Lastly, the frequency of deep learning activities in the mathematics classroom did not show a significant relationship with students' academic performance. These findings suggest that the implementation of deep learning strategies in mathematics instruction did not yield notable improvements in the specified areas based on the study outcomes.

In this age of global warming, academics and policymakers are increasingly concerned about firm environmental sustainability success. Therefore, this study aims to investigate whether Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance impacts sustainability performance through the mediating effect of firm innovation. To this end, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was deployed to analyze data collected from the employees of manufacturing industries in an emerging economy like Bangladesh. The results revealed that ESG performance significantly enhances the innovation and sustainability performance of manufacturing industries, indicating that the higher the ESG performance of a firm, the greater its innovation and sustainability performance. Furthermore, the results confirmed that firm innovation performance fully mediates the relationship between ESG initiatives and sustainability performance. The findings of this study provide policymakers and industry authorities with valuable insight into the role of ESG and innovation performance in improving sustainability performance. Specifically, the study sheds knowledge on how firm ESG initiatives and innovation performance impact sustainability performance in the manufacturing sector of an emerging economy like Bangladesh.

The study examines how the South African construction industry can nurture an entrepreneur and a large successful entrepreneurial construction company, even though the founder had no formal education and the company was founded during the Apartheid era. The question of whether entrepreneurs are born or are made is based on the age-old question of nurture and nature. The paper presents the narratives of a successful entrepreneur Mr. Sam Lubbe. The narratives presented are collected through a case study research approach. The data collected suggests that although Sam does not have any formal education, he succeeded based on nurturing given to him when he had the opportunity to work for a large South African construction company, his innate characteristics of self-confidence, task-result orientation, originality, future direction, and a unique business model which also helped him access international construction work opportunities.

French academies almost all implement reactivity drills and small-sided games (SSG) the day preceding a match (MD-1). The present study aimed to determine the physical impact of different training durations on MD-1 on the subsequent matchday performance (MD). Eleven elite U19 academy soccer players con-ducted three typical training sessions lasting 45min (TS45), 60min (TS60), and 75min (TS75) on MD-1. Dur-ing TS60, warm-up, reactivity and SSG were 10, 15, and 24min, respectively, plus coaches' feedback or wa-ter breaks. Durations decreased and increased by 25% for TS45 and TS75, respectively. Tests were con-ducted on MD-4 (CONTROL) and MD before the match (TEST). Tests consisted of a counter movement jump (CMJ), 20m sprint, Illinois agility test (IAT), and Hooper questionnaire. CONTROL values were simi-lar over the three experimental conditions. TEST on MD revealed greater CMJ for TS45 (42.7 ± 5.1cm) compared to TS60 (40.5 ± 5.5cm, p=0.032) and TS75 (40.9 ± 5.7cm, p=0.037). 20m time was lower for TS45 (3.07 ± 0.10s, p<0.001) and TS60 (3.13 ± 0.10s, p=0.017) compared to TS75 (3.20 ± 0.10s). IAT time was lower on TS45 (14.82 ± 0.49s) compared to TS60 (15.43 ± 0.29s, p<0.001) and TS75 (15.24 ± 0.33s, p=0.006). Further-more, the Hooper index was lower at TEST for TS45 (7.64 ± 1.50) compared to TS60 (11.00 ± 3.49, p=0.014) and TS75 (9.73 ± 2.41, p=0.045) indicating a better readiness level. We concluded that as training session duration increases, performance decreases on MD. A 45min training session including reactivity and SSG exercises is therefore recommended on MD-1.

Background.Nurse gives professional nursing service to patients according to competence owned. Based on these services in the end of every year, nurses are given incentives for medical services as financial incentive. Purpose. To analyze the impact of competence training and incentives medical services’ distribution upon the achievement of nurse’s performances in General Hospital of W. Z. Johannes Kupang. Matterial and method. Observational survey research with cross sectional design. Population. Nurses in General Hospital of W. Z. Johannes Kupang. Technique. Total sampling technique with number of samples 183 respondents. Inclusive criteria of samples are willing to be interviewed, nurse’s status, permanent offices without limitation from particular working unit or poly in hospital. Independent variable: (1) competence training; (2) Incentives for medical services. Dependent variable; Nurse’s performance achievement. Variables are measured by using Lickert scale. Information are recorded through questionnaire. Analyzes using linier regression. Result. There are impacts of competence training (α=.000;ß=.489)and distribution of incentives for medical services(α=.012; ß=.152)upon nurse’s performances achievement in General Hospital of Prof.W. Z. Johannes Kupang. Conclusion.The training of nursing service status that could increase competences among nurses with affair incentives for medical services’ distribution simultaneously end up in the increasing of nurse’s performances achievement in a hospital

Little information is available in the literature on the use of cactus pear meal in poultry diets being important to evaluate diets that provide excellent performance and lower production costs. Our objective was to study the use of cactus pear meal in diets of laying hens. In the first study, two diets for male and female chicks were used - 1: 80% reference diet + 20% Miúda cactus pear meal (CPM) and 2: 80% reference diet + 20% Gigante cactus pear meal. The variety Miúda provid-ed better use of metabolizable energy, digestibility coefficient of dry matter, protein, and min-eral matter. In the second study, a control diet was compared to three diets with different levels of CPM for laying hens, in the proportions of 3%, 6% and 9%. No significant differences were found in productive performance. However, there were significant differences in egg quality, texture and color profile of the cooked yolk, egg composition, fatty acids and cholesterol in the yolk. It is possible to use 9% of CPM in the diet of laying hens in semi-intensive system not compromising performance and egg quality, and using 3% of CPM provides higher economic return.

Conventional monitoring relies on "in vivo" (non-destructive) measurements of aboveground organ traits (such as stems, branches, and leaves) to analyze plantation growth trends and assess the effectiveness of management practices like watering and fertilization. This study reveals the necessity of “ex vivo” (destructive) approaches, post-excavation, to ensure fully reliable monitoring of plantation performance, including belowground organ growth and development trends. We showcase the effectiveness of dendrometric analysis, which measures the annual ring width in the secondary xylem (wood) of the taproot and stem. Monitoring above- and belowground organ growth trends allow for the exploration of similarities and differences in how different tree organs respond to internal and external factors. Such monitoring is especially crucial for assessing plantation performance in challenging climates, such as those found in arid and semi-arid lands.

Life Cycle Cost Analysis is a method used to assess long-term economic efficiency among equivalent competing processes or products. The purpose of the paper is to investigate the nature and level of costs for an organic orchard located in Southern Romania, using a complex approach covering the entire chain of production, through the life span. The research results, based on a dynamic analysis and an integrated evaluation of the orchard's performance, have been ranked on investment and operational costs, broken down on three categories (establishment and production, post-harvest and transport costs). The highest cost, representing 151726 euros/ha/20 years, about 52.72% of the total operational costs and 50.4% of the total farm costs/ha/20 years, was recorded in exploitation stage. The scenarios for the sensitivity analysis considered different levels of average yield (40, and, respectively 60 tons/ha) with different rate of sold production (85%, optimistic scenario; 70%, pessimistic scenario). The hotpoints identified at the production stage were use of agricultural machinery, several pesticides, the costs of seedlings, anti-hail net, plastic boxes and labor cost, while at the post-harvest stage, were those related to labor and energy consumption. The transport stage has had important costs with tractor operation and the track.

The study of the effect of corporate entrepreneurship(CE) which is a key indicator of success in corporate innovation performance(IP) is a central research topic. However, an empirical study on whether various types of government support(GS) have a moderating effect between these two variables is of new interest. This study empirically analyzed the effects of CE on IP and analyzed the indirect effects of GS on CE and IP based on 4000 Korean manufacturing firms. The results showed that all five factors of CE (innovativeness, risk-taking, proactiveness, autonomy, and competitive aggressiveness) had a positive effect on IP. In addition, the moderating effect of GS on the relationship between CE and IP was validated in seven categories: taxation, subsidies, financial support, human resources, technology, certification, and procurement. The results showed that five types of GS, other than financial support and technical support, strengthened the effect of CE on IP. This study provides a basis for establishing a strategy for strengthening organizational entrepreneurship and for selecting and focusing on various types of GS. It can be concluded that for more effective government support policies, direct government financial support or technical support should be more elaborately implemented.

High-Intensity Functional Training (HIFT) is a novel exercise intervention that may test body systems in a balanced and integrated fashion by challenging individuals’ abilities to complete mechanical work. However, research has not previously determined if physical work capacity is unique to traditional physiologic measures of fitness. Twenty-five healthy men and women completed a six-week HIFT intervention with physical work capacity and various physiologic measures of fitness assessed pre- and post-intervention. At baseline, these physiologic measures of fitness (e.g., aerobic capacity) were significantly associated with physical work capacity and this relationship was even stronger at post-intervention assessment. Further, there were significant improvements across these physiologic measures in response to the delivered intervention. However, the change in these physiologic measures failed to predict the change in physical work capacity induced via HIFT. These findings point to the potential utility of HIFT as a unique challenge to individuals’ physiology beyond traditional resistance or aerobic training. Elucidating the translational impact of increasing work capacity via HIFT may be of great interest to health and fitness practitioners ranging from strength/conditioning coaches to physical therapists.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the number one cause of death worldwide. This condition resulted in huge research on CVD increasing the need for animal models suitable for the in vivo research. Daphnia and Zebrafish are good animal models for cardiovascular research due to their relative body transparency and easy culture property. Several methods have been developed to conduct cardiac performance measurement in Daphnia and Zebrafish. However, most of the methods only able to obtain heartbeat rate. The other important cardiac endpoints like stroke volume, ejection fraction, fraction shortening, cardiac output and heartbeat regularity must use other programs for measurement. To overcome this limitation, in this study, we successfully developed a one-stop ImageJ-based method using kymograph macros language that able to obtain multiple cardiac performance endpoints simultaneously for the first time. To validate its utility, we incubate Daphnia magna at different ambient temperatures and exposed zebrafish with astemizole to detect the corresponding cardiac performance alterations. In summary, the kymograph method reported in this study provides a new, easy to use, and inexpensive one-stop method on obtaining multiple cardiac performance endpoints with high accuracy and convenience.

This study aimed to analyze the effect of a flow training program based on mindfulness applied to young and adult elite handball athletes. A quantitative, quasi-experimental, descriptive data analysis approach was carried out. The sample included 105 athletes (51 female and 54 male). The athletes were divided into two groups: i) experimental (n = 53) and ii) control (n = 52). The results of the repeated ANOVA indicated that the experimental group achieved significant improvements compared to the control group in decision making (n2p=.086), mental well-being (n2p=.045), dispositional flow state (n2p=.103), non-judgment (n2p=.040), refocusing (n2p=.052) and mindful trait in daily life (n2p=.058). In the linear regression test, the factor non-judgment was identified as a predictor of decision making (F(103)=7.99, p=.006) and the predictor for the mental well-being were dispositional flow state (F(102)=29.2, p

Artificial sweeteners are widely used food ingredients in beverages and drinks to lower calorie intake which in turn prevent lifestyle diseases such as obesity. Epidemiological evidences suggest that an overdose of artificial sweeteners could result to adverse effects after consumption. Thus, our study aims to systematically explore the potential adverse effects of eight commercial artificial sweeteners, including acesulfame-K, alitame, aspartame, sodium cyclamate, dulcin, neotame, saccharin and sucralose on cardiac performances of zebrafish (Danio rerio) and Daphnia as model animals. Embryonic zebrafish and Daphnia were exposed to eight artificial sweeteners at 100 ppb concentrations and their cardiac performance (heart rate, ejection fraction, fractional shortening, stroke volume, cardiac output and heartbeat regularity) were measured and compared. Saccharin significantly increased the heart rate of zebrafish larvae while a significant decrease was observed in Daphnia. Significant increase was also noted in zebrafish heart rate variability after incubation in acesulfame K, dulcin, sodium cyclamate, and sucralose. However, a significant increase in Daphnia was only observed after incubation in dulcin. Based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and hierarchical clustering results, several artificial sweetener samples were species-specific to zebrafish and Daphnia. Our study demonstrates the potential adverse physiological effects of artificial sweeteners in cardiovascular systems of zebrafish larvae and Daphnia.

The aim of the present trial was to evaluate the growth performance of buffalo calves fed diets characterized by different forage/concentrate ratio with or without the Saccharomyces Cerevisiae supplementation (CBS 493.94, Yea-Sacc®). Twenty-four male buffalo calves (mean age 145.1 ± 16.1 days; mean weight 108.0 ± 18.7) were assigned randomly to 4 groups, homogeneous for age, fed four different diets: diet 1 F:C ratio 50:50; diet 2 F:C ratio 30:70; diet 3 F:C ratio 50:50 + Yea-Sacc® and diet 4 F:C ratio 30:70 + Yea-Sacc®. Buffalo calves were individually weighted before the start of the experiment and the data were used as a covariate, monthly until the end of the trial. Dry matter intake (DMI), daily weight gain (DWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were calculated. The differences in diets’ composition significantly (p

Covid-19 is a disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, which has spread worldwide since the beginning of 2020. Several pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical strategies were proposed to contain the virus dissemination, including vaccination and lockdowns. One of the consequences of the pandemic was the denial or delay of access to convenient health care services, but also potentially the increase of adverse events within those services, like the number of hospital infections. Therefore, the main question here is: What happened to the performance and sustainability of hospitals? The main goal of this work was to test if the Portuguese public hospitals' performance has been affected by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. We used the Benefit-of-Doubt method integrated with the Malmquist Index to analyze the performance evolution over time. Then, we employed a multiple regression model to test whether some pandemic-related variables could explain the performance results. We considered a database of 40 Portuguese public hospitals evaluated from January 2017 to May 2022. The period 2017 to 2019 corresponds to the baseline (pre-pandemic), against which the remaining period will be compared (during the pandemic). We also considered fourteen variables characterizing hospital quality, divided into three main performance definitions (efficiency and productivity; access; safety and care appropriateness). As potential explanatory variables, we consider seven dimensions, including vaccination rate and the need for intensive care for Covid-19 infected people. Results suggest that Covid-19 pandemic features help explain the drop on access after 2020, but not the evolution of safety and appropriateness of care, which surpris-ingly increased the whole time.

The importance of enzymes in the poultry industry is ever increasing because they help to extract as many nutrients as possible from the raw material available and reduce environmental impacts. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to examine the effect of a natural enzyme complex (ASC) on diets low in AME, Ca and P. Ross 308 broilers (n = 900) were fed one of four diets: (1) positive control (PC) with no enzyme added (AME 12.55 MJ/kg, AVPhos 4.8 g/kg and AVCal 9.6 g/kg); (2) negative control (NC) with no enzyme added and down-specified for AME, Ca and P (AME 12.18 MJ/kg, AVPhos 3.3 g/kg, AVCal 8.1 g/kg); (3) negative control plus ASC at 200 g/t; and (4) negative control plus ASC at 400 g/t. Broiler performance, digesta viscosity, tibia mineralization and mineral content were analyzed at d 21. Between d 18 and 20, excreted DM, GE, total nitrogen, Ca, and P were analyzed. ASC at 200 g/t and 400 g/t improved the FCR (p = 0.0014) significantly when compared with that of the NC. There were no significant differences in BW or FI between the treatments. Birds fed ASC at 200 g/t and 400 g/t had significantly improved digesta viscosity (p &lt; 0.0001) compared with that of the PC and NC and had significantly higher excreted DM digestibility (p &lt; 0.01) than the NC and the PC with 400 g/t ASC. ASC inclusion significantly improved P retention (p &lt; 0.0001) compared with that in the PC. Ca retention was significantly increased by 400 g/t ASC compared with that in the PC and NC (p &lt; 0.001). AME was significantly higher (p &lt; 0.0001) for all treatments compared with that in the NC. There were no significant differences between treatments for any of the bone measurements. This study showed that feeding ASC can support the performance of broilers when fed a specification reduced in Ca, P and AME, with the greatest results being seen with the higher inclusion level of ASC.

This paper examines the relationship between the ratio of independent board member to the financial performance of the company under the mediation of the three pillars of environment, society, and governance (ESG) in Taiwan. The study addresses a research gap between independent directors and corporate financial performance, an issue that is rarely discussed today. The author develops the hypotheses and tests them by applying panel data regression to the data tables taken from the Thomson Reuters Eikon database to analyze data on 173 Taiwanese companies that reported ESG from 2009 to 2021. The results show that the relationship between the ratio of independent directors and financial performance has a positive relationship. At the same time, the 3 pillars of ESG also clearly show the intermediary role in this relationship. Finally, this study provides additional insights into the relationship between the ratio of independent directors and financial performance in the Taiwan context.

Judo is a popular Japanese martial art and an Olympic sport. Recently, an increasing interest has been observed in the application of judo as a multicomponent exercise, with a growing body of evidence showing that multicomponent exercise improves physical and cognitive performance in older adults. Therefore, this review highlights the benefits of judo training in preventing physical and cognitive decline in older adults. Specifically, first, this review outlines the basic characteristics of judo (philosophy, match, and training). Next, previous studies investigating the effects of judo training on physical and cognitive aspects of older adults are reviewed. Thereafter, the brain mechanisms underlying the effects of judo training in improving physical and cognitive performance are discussed. Throughout this review, judo training demonstrated some positive effects on physical (gait and balance, among others) and cognitive (memory and executive function) function in older adults. These positive effects are attributed to a variety of changes in the brain (e.g., increased neurotrophic factor expression and increased cerebral blood flow, among others), that affect different brain regions and networks both functionally and structurally. From these findings, this review concludes that judo training can be an effective way to maintain and prevent physical and cognitive decline in older adults.

Studies have demonstrated the positive effects of acupuncture on athletic performance. The aim of this study was to determine the acute effects of acupuncture on heart rate, the perceived exertion scale and lactate levels in recreational athletes. Fifteen competitive males engaged in HIIT. The characteristic was 29.86±2.51 years old, heart rate reserve 59.00±3.33, lactate 3.17±0.50 mM/DL. The subjects were submitted to two exercise sessions. Both training sessions consisted of 10 burpees, 12 thrusters and 14 box jumps (75 cm high) for 12 minutes. Activity intensity was between 85 and 95% of maximum heart rate. Acupuncture points: ST36, L3, LI11. The student’s t-test was adopted, Shapiro-Wilk test was applied for normality, and Pearson correlation. There was a positive correlation of r = 0.69 between lactate levels and heart rate. Lactate: Lac1 15.00±1.18 – Lac2 19.59± 1.46 p= 0.0001*; Heart 1rate: HRF 163.71±7.27 – HRF2 177.60±6.99 p=0.0001*; Blood pressure: SBP1 174.86±1.57 – SBP2 180.86±1.77 p= 0.0001*; PES1: 19.4±1.14; PES2 16.8±0.84 p= 0.0001*; weight1 – 182,57±12,05; weight 2 206,43±11,39 p=0.0325*. Acupuncture increased lactate accumulation, heart rate and blood pressure, suggesting that the exertion reached after acupuncture is higher than without acupuncture. The acupuncture technics improved the athlete performance.

In order to remain competitive in the highly competitive construction industry, it is crucial for construction organizations to continually improve their overall performance, as project performance is a key determinant of their relevance. Despite the industry's competitiveness and risk, it has been reported that the construction industry has the lowest return margins compared to other industries (Jackson, 1999), suggesting that the project performance of construction organizations in the industry has not been up to par. This issue can be attributed to several factors, with motivation being the primary factor. Unfortunately, motivation is often disregarded in the construction industry due to the short duration of many construction projects and the high rate of employee turnover. The impact of employee dissatisfaction and related work attitudinal problems on performance in the construction industry is a matter of concern, particularly in developing countries where working conditions may be unappealing. The severity of this issue cannot be overstated.The objective of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of motivational techniques in enhancing project performance in Nigeria. The study employed a survey research design and targeted the management staff of construction firms in Lagos State, Nigeria. The questionnaire was used to collect data, and the respondents were purposively selected from the population. Data analysis was conducted using percentage, mean ranking, and chi-square. The findings reveal that the opportunity to learn new skills, with a mean score of 0.85, and wage increment, with a mean score of 0.82, were the most widely adopted motivational techniques for management staff and skilled labor, respectively, in construction firms. Additionally, the study found that most of the motivational schemes tested did not produce statistically significant results, indicating low adoption and limited effectiveness in enhancing project performance. As a result, it is suggested that construction companies in Nigeria should implement and enforce financial and non-financial incentives to enhance the performance of their employees and consequently, improve project performance.

This study investigated the impact of sustainability reporting on financial performance, with a focus on companies in the Turkish food, beverage and tobacco and textile, wearing apparel and leather sectors. The sustainability reports of 48 companies listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange for 2022 were studied, and the quality of sustainability practices was determined by using a general index (Sustainability Reporting Disclosure Quality Index (SRDQI)) and three partial indices (Environmental Disclosure Quality Index, Social Disclosure Quality Index, and Corporate Governance Disclosure Quality Index (CGDQI)). To analyze the relationships between financial performance and sustainability practices two types of regression models were developed, based on which eight models were directly examined. The results indicate the complete absence of a statistically significant impact of SRDQI on all financial performance measures used. Among the partial indices, only CGDQI has a significant positive effect on the Assets Turnover Ratio. An analysis of the influence of control variables shows a multidirectional dependence of individual financial performance measures on the size of companies, their age, industry affiliation, as well as on the structure of capital used. Finally, this study provides directions for improving the institutional environment of sustainability reporting for Turkish companies.

Clustering is an important task in data mining that has become more challenging due to the ever-increasing size of available datasets. To cope with these big data scenarios, a high-performance clustering approach is required. Sparse grid clustering is a density-based clustering method that uses a sparse grid density estimation as its central building block. The underlying density estimation approach enables the detection of clusters with non-convex shapes and without a predetermined number of clusters. In this work, we introduce a new distributed and performance-portable variant of the sparse grid clustering algorithm that is suited for big data settings. Our compute kernels were implemented in OpenCL to enable portability across a wide range of architectures. For distributed environments, we added a manager-worker scheme that was implemented using MPI. In experiments on two supercomputers, Piz Daint and Hazel Hen, with up to 100 million data points in a 10-dimensional dataset, we show the performance and scalability of our approach. The dataset with 100 million data points was clustered in 1198s using 128 nodes of Piz Daint. This translates to an overall performance of 352TFLOPS. On the node-level, we provide results for two GPUs, Nvidia's Tesla P100 and the AMD FirePro W8100, and one processor-based platform that uses Intel Xeon E5-2680v3 processors. In these experiments, we achieved between 43% and 66% of the peak performance across all compute kernels and devices, demonstrating the performance portability of our approach.

The goal of classroom English instruction is to educate students on how to use the English language effectively for communication in any scenario. It is identified by presenting various teaching tactics and speaking activities to encourage students to participate more actively in conversations. The study intended to identify the problems in the speaking performance of Grade 8 Jade in Tagum City National High School. The study was conducted using a quantitative non-experimental descriptive survey method. Results revealed that the problems in speaking performance have garnered a mean of 3.20 (moderate) as descriptive equivalent and it was found out that the prevailing speaking problem is anxiety with a mean of 3.84, interpreted as high. Thus, an intervention program is designed to address the problems in the speaking performance of the respondents. This program is divided into two: Overcoming Speaking Anxiety Seminar-Workshop and Speaking Enhancement Activities.

The monitoring of river discharge is vital for the correct management of water resources. A worldwide facility used for measuring discharge are flat-V gauging weirs. These structures consist of a small weir, with a triangular cross-section and a flat “V”-shaped notch. Their extensive use is a consequence of their utility in the measurement of both low and high flow conditions. However, depending on their size, local morphology and river discharge can act as full or partial hydraulic barriers to fish migration. To give answer to this question, the present work studies fish passage performance over flat-V weirs considering their hydraulic performance. For this, radio-tracking and video monitoring observations were combined with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models in two flat-V weirs, using Iberian barbel (Luciobarbus bocagei) as target species. Results show that fish passage is conditioned by both hydraulic and behavioral processes, providing evidences about the scenarios where flat-V weirs may act as full or partial barriers to upstream movements. For the studied flat-V weirs, a discharge range of 0.27-8 m3/s, with a water drop difference between upstream and downstream water levels lower than 0.7 m and a depth downstream the weir higher than 0.30 m can be considered as an effective passage situation for barbels. These findings are of interest to quantify flat-V weir impacts, for engineering applications and to establish managing or retrofitting actions when required.

The importance of various markers such as sclerostin, Dickkopf-1 (DKK-1), Irisin, receptor activator of NF-kB ligand (RANKL), and Vitamin D have been well studied in bone metabolism. Additionally, inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and Interleukine-6 (IL-6) have been identified to hinder muscle protein synthesis, leading to the loss of muscle and strength. However, a research gap exists in the understanding their role in muscle function and physical activity. Therefore, this study aims to explore the serum levels of sclerostin, DKK-1, irisin, IL-6, RANKL, Vitamin D, and TNF-α and assess their relationships with upper and lower body strength in young adults. In this study, 38 college-aged students 18-23 years participated and completed the protocols. The participants’ lower and upper body strength were assessed by the vertical jump test (Just Jump, Probotic, AL) with a Tendo FitroDyne (Tendo Sports Machines, Trencin, Slovak Republic) and handgrip (HG) dynamometry (Takei Scientific Instruments, Yashiroda, Japan), respectively. Fasting morning blood samples were analyzed for serum levels of the biomarkers by ELISA. The results indicate significant sex differences in sclerostin, DKK-1, irisin, and vitamin D levels (p<0.05). Furthermore, a positive association was observed between sclerostin, DKK-1, and vitamin D, with lower body muscle performance variables (p<0.05). Conversely, a significant negative correlation was observed between TNF-α and upper-body muscle performance variables (p<0.05). The results suggest that these markers may have a distinct effect on muscle performance, underscoring the need for further investigation to elucidate the concept of muscle-bone crosstalk.

Background: Interventions with the performance of sessions with sprints in different intensity manipulations, can be a great alternative to improve physical performance. Objective: To verify the influence of different break times between sprints on the performance of amateur futsal athletes Methods: 10 individuals, men, amateur futsal athletes (Age: 21.5 ± 1.6; Weight: 72.4 ± 6.88; Height: 1.72 ± 0.05; BMI: 24.3 ± 1.2; Fat%: 13.7 ± 3.3, VO2peak: 49.1 ± 10.5) participated in the study. For the intervention, individuals were randomly selected to perform sessions with sprints (10 sets 20 meters) with different pause times, being 15 (S15), 30 (S30) and 60 (S60) seconds. For performance analysis, the speed (km / h) applied to each sprint was used, monitored by a device with a photocell (CEFISE Biotecnologia Esportiva®, Nova Odessa, São Paulo) and the statistical treatment of all data was through the software Statistica 7.0 (Statsoft ™, Tulsa, OK, USA) using a significance level of p≤0.05. Results: There was an interaction between speed and interval time (p = 0.000). For condition S15, a greater reduction in performance was observed (p≤0.05), while for S30 and S60, no significant reduction in performance was observed (p> 0.05). The data for the area under the curve showed a significant difference (p = 0.000), where the interval of 60 seconds (S60) was longer compared to the values of 30 (S30) (p = 0.000) and 15 seconds (S15) (p = 0.000). However, there were no significant differences between the 30 and 15 second data (p = 0.248). Conclusion: Shorter time (15 seconds) of interval between repeated sprints can significantly affect performance when compared to longer breaks (30 and 60 seconds). But, all the conditions tested here, can be positive for the improvement of the performance, mainly in sports that demand fast and efficient motor actions, as for example, futsal.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of an Athletic Performance Program, performed in addition to teams’ regular training routines, on match performance variables in professional football players. Twenty-nine professional football players (age=27.21±4.95 years; body mass=79.56±5.21 kg) of the Spanish First Division (LaLiga) underwent a 10-week training program focused on the development of mobility, stability, strength, and multidirectional running skills. The APP included 5 indoor sessions per week and on-field micro-dosing stimulus in addition to regular training practices. Match performance variables obtained with GPS devices during official matches and jump performance were measured before and after the APP. The APP increased peak running speed (31.1±1.4 vs 32.1±1.0 km/h, P < 0.001, d=1.88), the number of sprints (0.14±0.03 vs 0.16±0.03 sprint/min, P< 0.001, d=1.44) and the sprint distance (6.45±1.43 vs 8.35±1.22 m/min P< 0.001, d=2.49) during the matches. The intervention also increased countermovement jump height (34.1±2.7vs 35.8±2.5 cm, P< 0.001, d=2.20). The APP was effective to improve intense actions during competitive match play in professional football players. Strength and conditioning coaches may consider the use of multicomponent physical training programs included in the usual training week to enhance players’ match running at high intensity.

This study focuses on a sample of Chinese listed companies from 2019 to 2020 to explore the relationships among corporate social responsibility, financial constraints, and financial performance. In addition, we discuss five factors affecting financial constraints. We also analyze the types of enterprises that can improve their financial performance by implementing corporate social responsibility keeping in mind the factors that lead to a high degree of financial constraint. The results indicate that: 1. The degree of financial constraints has a negative and significant impact on financial performance; 2. There is a reverse relationship between the degree of financial constraints and the effectiveness of corporate social responsibility measures; 3. Enterprises with high financial constraints (due to lower financial slack and revenue growth rates) can significantly improve their financial performance through the implementation of effective corporate social responsibility programs. 4. Enterprises with high financial constraints, caused by financial slack and revenue growth rate, can significantly improve their financial performance by implementing corporate social responsibility programs.

This study analyzed the relationship between anthropometric measures, cardiorespiratory capacity, strength, power and local muscle endurance with performance in the CrossFit® Open 2020. For this, 17 volunteers (6 women) (29.0 ± 7.2 years; 70.5 ± 9.8 kg) completed, on separate weeks, body composition (dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry), maximal oxygen consumption (2km row test), muscle strength (1RM back and front squat, isometric peak torque), and muscle power (1RM snatch and clean &amp; jerk), and muscle endurance (Tibana test), which were compared with performance during the CrossFit® Open 2020. Multiple linear regression showed that for the CrossFit Open 2020.1 and 2020.2 workouts, the score in the Tibana test was the only variable that explained the outcomes (Beta = -0.78, p &lt; 0.01 for 2020.1 workout and Beta = 0.82, p &lt; 0.01 for 2020.2 workout). Performance in the CrossFit Open 2020.3 and 2020.4 workouts were explained through the relative strength (Beta = 0.58, p = 0.02 for 2020.3 workout and Beta = 0.50, p = 0.04 for 2020.4 workout). Lastly, Tibana test had the greatest influence on CrossFit Open 2020.5 workout (Beta = -0.75, p &lt; 0.01). A local muscle endurance and muscle strength may be used to predict CrossFit® open workout performance.

Injuries of repetitive efforts constitute one of the prime causes of absenteeism in the workplace, have bear a considerable cost for the public health system and can cast doubt on the sustainability of a company. The objective of this paper is to build, in the researchers, the needed knowledge to choose a set of relevant scientific articles about repetitive strain injuries in the poultry meat industry, aiming identify characteristics in those scientific publications that have the potential to contribute on the topic of this paper. The research is characterized as exploratory-descriptive, draws on primary and secondary data sources. The study involves the application of a method for selection and analysis of the selected articles. To this end, the method utilized was the Knowledge Development Process – Constructivist (Proknow-C) as theoretical intervention instrument. Within the process development, it was obtained a portfolio of 16 articles aligned to the research and scientifically recognized with the main periodicals, papers, authors and keywords. The ProKnow-C process allowed identify opportunities in the literature about injuries in the poultry meat industry and showed opportunities for research future. This paper, under the constructivist perspective, presents a structured process to build, in the researcher, the necessary knowledge to identification, selection and analysis of relevant scientific articles relating to research context and, for these articles, find prominences and opportunities for a research theme without similar publications.

The recent market and pandemic, with their complex nature and unpredictable developments, have had a great impact on coffee chains. The recovery factor in today's fiercely competitive coffee market is also derived from customer satisfaction, and the product's perceived value and ever with businesses' capabilities and recovery strategies. The research is based on the Customer and Service Recovery Performance model. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the impact of the Customer Satisfaction premise on the service recovery of the coffee chain and some other effects. After collecting surveys from 300 customers who have used beverages at famous coffee chains in Vietnam and performing data analysis via SEM-PLS, the results show that customer satisfaction positively influences customer loyalty. Customer loyalty mediates between customer satisfaction, and price fairness affects the resilience of the coffee chain. In addition, the two factors, Flexibility, and Adoption, also positively affect service recovery performance. Therefore, for coffee chains, customers are an important factor, and they need to maintain customer loyalty. In addition, seek ways to increase flexibility and apply technology at stores so that the company has enough experience and capacity to respond promptly to difficult market conditions, natural disasters and epidemics. This study presents insights into how coffee chains can adapt to the dynamic business environment during the current difficult business environment.

Emotional instability and stress are main disturbances that condition the learning process, affecting both teachers and students. The main objective of this review is to analyze the influence of stress and emotions (as part of stress) on the learning process. The quality and intensity of emotions will not depend exclusively on a particular situation, but also on the subjective evaluation that the person makes of the situation in terms of a set of assessment dimensions. Emotions lead to sentimental, cognitive, behavioral and physiological changes, which will have a strong influence on intellectual performance. Stress is a physiological mechanism that the organism develops to adapt and survive in external and internal environments. Although it seems that it is a general pattern of response to emotions, it could be assumed that each emotion seems to have its own pattern of physiological reaction. In conclusion, extreme stress situations can generate anxiety and frustration in students. The activation of coping strategies constitutes a key mechanism for dealing positively with problems and challenges, generating positive emotions essential for the self-regulation of learning.

One key area where animal welfare may relate to productivity is through reproductive performance. Welfare was assessed on 25 extensively managed pastoral New Zealand beef farms and the relationship between welfare and reproductive performance was explored. Relationships between welfare measures and key reproductive performance indicators (pregnancy rate, weaning rate, mating period and bull: cow ratio) were investigated using an exploratory Principal Components Analysis and linear regression model. Seven welfare measures (thinness, poor rumen fill, dirtiness, blindness, mortality, health checks of pregnant cows and yarding frequency/year) showed potential influence on reproductive performance, and lameness was retained individually as a potential measure. Mean pregnancy rates in both 2018 (PD18) and 2017 (PD17) were ~91% and mean weaning rate was 84%. Of the welfare measures, only lameness had a direct association with pregnancy rate, as well as confounding effect on the association between mating period and pregnancy rate. The bull: cow ration (mean 1:31) and reproductive conditions (dystocia, abortion, vaginal prolapse) did not influence pregnancy and weaning rates. In the study population there was no clear association between welfare and reproductive performance, except for the confounding effects of lameness.

The exposure to extreme temperatures in workplaces involves physical hazards for workers. A poorly acclimated worker may have lower performance and vigilance and may therefore be more exposed to accidents and injuries. Due to the incompatibility of the existing standards implemented in some workplaces and the lack of thermoregulation in many protective equipment, thermal stress remains one of the most frequent physical hazards in many work sectors. However, many of these problems can be overcome with the use of smart textile technologies that enable intelligent thermoregulation in personal protective equipment. Smart textiles can detect, react and adapt to many external stimuli. Interconnected sensors and actuators that interact and react to existing risks can provide the wearer with increased safety, protection and comfort. Thus, the skills of smart protective equipment can contribute to the reduction of errors and the number and severity of accidents in the workplace, and thus promote improved performance, efficiency and productivity.This review provides an overview and opinions of authors on the current state of knowledge on these types of technologies by reviewing and discussing the state of the art of commercially available systems and the advances made in previous research works.

Non-compliant (NC) structures are often encountered in building construction in developing countries. This is a condition whereby erected buildings do not follow regulatory standards, especially in the provision of reinforcements. Therefore, under an earthquake load, the structures do not have sufficient resistance against such load. The structural elements of the building, which often have NC conditions, are the beam-column joints because they do not contain adequate shear reinforcements due to installation difficulty. This study aims to determine the structural performance of the reinforced concrete (RC) frame, which has a reinforcement deficiency in the beam-column joints. Numerical simulation was conducted on the Kakaletsis structure model by modifying the reinforcement details at the joints to represent the NC conditions. The non-linear modeling and analysis of the structural model were carried out using ATENA software. The analysis showed that the reduction in shear reinforcements in the NC model joint caused a decrease in load-carrying capacity by about 26.04%. A shift was also observed in the collapse pattern, i.e., from the beam to the end of the column, causing global failure and reducing the undamaged but increasing more severely damaged condition. This showed that the NC structure, due to the non-conformance of reinforcement, significantly reduced the structure's performance.

This study offers a concise summary of the research that has been done on alternative methods of HRM. A survey of 47 articles on the topic of creative human resource management uncovered three primary schools of thinking. At its core, innovation in HRM entails nothing more than that. One such topic worthy of investigation is the way human resource management approaches new situations. Third, research on inventiveness in the business world has given rise to the concept of "innovative HRM." Each of these three approaches, as well as the theoretical underpinnings of each, will be covered in this article. The note wraps up with a discussion of the significance of the findings for next research as well as clinical practice.

The authors propose in this study to evaluate financial performance applications for stock prices of the Indonesian Stock Exchange in manufacturing companies. The method of research used here is a quantitative descriptive method. In that statement, Indonesian Stock Exchange manufacturing companies between 2016 and 2018 are the population use in this research, using the sampling technique Purpose Sampling. This research uses secondary data from 2016 to 2018, the financial reports of Indonesian Stock Exchange manufacturing companies. The Indonesian stock exchange web site has been provided with all data sources at https://www.idx.co.id, and searching for www.google.id. Our analysis shows that book value prices and the net profit margin affect stock prices. The value of financial performance at the Indonesian Stock Bourses manufacturing companies' cost amounts to 64.5 percent, while other factors not listed in this study account for 35.4 percent.

The present study aimed to develop a mathematical model to estimate the performance of an indoor rowing event of 6000m through an 500 m all out test in junior athletes. We selected141 subjects from the Brazilian rowing confederation database (15.9 ± 1.0 years), subsequently randomised the sample to the development (~70%) and cross-validation (~30%) groups of the mathematical model. Performance data for 500m and 6000m were collected (there was a 48h washout between one test and anoth-er).Subsequently, the mathematical model: Time(min) 6000m = { [( Time(s) 500-m * 6) * 2] / 60} + 1.3, was developed by arithmetic modeling using machine learning and Regression analysis, being tested by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), Concordance correlation coefficient (CCC), Validity (Cb ), preci-sion (ρ) and bland-Altman plotting. The prediction of the result of 6000m through the mathematical model utilizando apenas o desempenho de 500m “all-out” test showed a significant reliability in de-velopment group (r2 = 0.730, ICC = 0.753; CCC = 0.895, Cb = 0.879, ρ: 0.957, pure error: 0.2 secounds (1.0% estimative error)); and in cross-validation group (r2 = 0.710, ICC = 0.747; CCC = 0.888, Cb = 0.875, ρ: 0.903, pure error: 0.3 secounds (1.4% estimative error)). When comparing the estimated re-sults of the 6000m performance by the mathematical model with the real performance of 6000m per-formed in indoor rowing, no statistical differences were observed. In addition, the mathematical model did not present a significant proportion bias in relation to the 6000 m performance in both groups. The mathematical model for predicting 6000m performance through a 500m fast test was significant for national level junior rowing athletes.

The purpose of this study was to see how dietary supplementation with phenylpyruvate affected broiler chicken growth, slaughter performance, gut health microbiota, and immunity. A total of 288 day old broiler chickens were randomly assigned to one of four groups (6 replicates each with 12 chicken). NC (basal diet), PC (basal diet plus antibiotic virginiamycin 15ppm), LCP and HCP (basal diet plus phenylpyruvate 1kg/t and 2kg/t, respectively). Results showed that PC had higher ADFI during the first 21 days, and better FCR than the NC, the LCP and HCP also improved broilers’ FCR 0.001 and 0.037% in relation to NC respectively. HCP has a higher all-eviscerated ratio than NC and less abdominal fat than LCP. HCP has increased villus length and crypt depth in the ileum compared to the NC. Bursa was lower in HCP and thymus was lower in LCP and PC. In contrast HCP have lower pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-1, as well as lower TLR4. The phenylpyruvate improved family Selenomonadaceae, genus Megamonas Bacteroides species that are known for beneficial effects like for maintenance of the cell surface structure, regulating aromatic amino acids and C. jejuni-suppressive treatment respectively. Finally, phenylpyruvate feed supplement can be utilized to improve growth performance and positively modulate gut microbiota, however this is less efficient than antibiotics in improving growth performance, although more efficient in improving productive performance and gut morphology. Moreover, high dose of phenylpyruvate is more effective than low dose

Despite the increase in popularity of Zero Waste (ZW) concept, the successful implementation of this concept in waste management is still facing many challenges. The plastic recycling rate in Australia is currently only about 9.4%, which could leave up to 90.6% of plastic consumption being sent to landfills. The state of Victoria (in Australia) has proposed an ambitious plan to upgrade its waste and recycling system and to divert about 80% of waste from landfills by 2030. The aim of this research is to study Victoria’s current waste management plan and to develop a simulation model to assess the feasibility of it achieving zero plastic waste by 2035. In this direction, a fundamental knowledge of global ZW implementation needs to be acquired in order to understand the challenges, obstacles, and uncertainties in achieving ZW target. A simulation model is established using a method called double baselines. This method was developed as an improvisation to address the limitation of data availability for the model development. The model will run on 4 scenarios including one from Victoria’s current plan. Outcomes from the model are produced in comparative charts covering 6 key considerations including the rates of plastic consumption, waste to landfill, diversion, recycling, relative accumulative cost and effort. The findings of this study pointed out that Victoria’s current plan are feasible for its goal and presented with opportunities for improvement especially towards zero plastic waste. Besides, study results also reveal that the Victoria’s current plan to achieve 80% diversion rate by 2030 is possible but the zero plastic waste target by 2035 is less likely to happen.

This research hypothesised that the use of Virtual Reality (VR) applications can be used to train people in the ability to acquire targets faster, with greater accuracy when using motion controllers than compared with a traditional pointing device (mouse) on a 2D display. User performance was defined and measured using Reaction Time and Accuracy. The research findings suggests that the use of motion controllers in VR improved Reaction Time but not Accuracy when compared against the traditional pointing device and 2D display. This suggests that VR can be used specifically in training scenarios where Reaction Times are more important than Accuracy. It is recommended that further research is conducted using a wider range of hardware and software configurations with a stratified sample that takes into account age and gender to expand the collective understanding of factors that impact on VR aiming and target acquisition in VR.

Background: Restorative materials might significantly affect load transmission at peri-implant bone. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the shock absorption capacity of two different polymeric materials to be used as frameworks for implant-supported prostheses. Methods: A masticatory robot was used to compare the shock absorption capacity of polyether-ketoneketone (PEKK) Pekkton®ivory (Cendres+Mètaux) and glass fiber-reinforced composite (GFRC) TRINIATM (Bicon). Five identical sample crowns for each of the materials was tested un-der the same conditions described in previously published papers (Menini et al. 2013). Forces transmitted at the simulated periimplant bone were recorded and statistically analysed. Results: The statistical analysis of forces transmitted at the simulated dental implant revealed significant differences between all the materials tested and significant differences with the mate-rials tested in a previously published paper (Menini et al. 2013: zirconia, glass ceramic, composite resin, acrylic resin). Only differences between PEKK and veneered PEKK and between PEKK and one of the previously tested composite resins were not statistically significant. PEKK samples demonstrated significantly greater shock absorption capacity compared to GFRC. Conclusions: PEKK revealed optimal shock absorption capacity. Further studies are needed to evaluate its efficacy in case of long span prostheses with reduced prosthetic volume.