This study aims to explore the interrelationships between Green Open Spaces, Ecological Patterns, the Ecological Supply Chain, and Environmental Sustainability in urban ecosystems. A quantitative research approach employing a cross-sectional design was utilized. Data were collected through surveys and field observations from urban residents with access to green spaces. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with Smart PLS was used for data analysis. The findings indicate significant impacts of Green Open Spaces and Ecological Patterns on both the Ecological Supply Chain and Environmental Sustainability. Moreover, the Ecological Supply Chain mediates the relationship between Green Open Spaces/Ecological Patterns and Environmental Sustainability. Limitations include the focus on a specific geographical area and potential biases in self-reported data. This study contributes to ecological theory by emphasizing the interconnectedness between ecological elements and their influence on Environmental Sustainability. Practically, it provides insights for urban planning and conservation efforts, highlighting the importance of preserving natural habitats within urban environments. The findings also underscore the need for holistic approaches to ecosystem management and sustainability. The novel aspect of this study lies in its examination of the mediating role of the Ecological Supply Chain in the relationship between ecological elements and Environmental Sustainability, offering new insights into the mechanisms driving ecosystem dynamics in urban settings.

This study aimed to develop a conceptual model of the role of organizational commitment in mediating the influence of work environment and spiritual motivation on employee performance. The population was 305 employees of the Islamic Rural Bank Bhakti Sumekar—with a sample of 122 employees. The data were processed using Structural Equation Modeling Partial Least Square (SEM PLS). The findings in this study are that work environment and spiritual motivation have a positive influence on employee performance, organizational commitment plays a mediating role on the influence of work environment and spiritual motivation on employee performance, the most effective pathway in improving employee performance is the mediating pathway of organizational commitment on the influence of spiritual motivation on employee performance.

This study aimed to develop a conceptual model of the role of organizational support in moderating the effect of competence and organizational commitment on management performance. The population was 150 managers of the National Sports Committee of Indonesia in the city, regency and province of Riau. The entire population was sampled and the data was processed using Structural Equation Modeling Partial Least Square (SEM PLS). The study found that competence and organizational commitment have no effect on management performance and organizational support acts as the moderator of the effect of competence and organizational commitment on management performance. Organizational support is a pure moderator that amplifies the effect of organizational commitment on management performance.

Maintenance philosophies and their activities have always been a major concern in industry. So, every industrial complex needs a clear and comprehensive maintenance plan to keep its equipment reliable and available. In this study, we proposed an AHP model combined with the BOCR method to select the most reliable maintenance strategy for a combined cycle power plant (GTG-HRSG). Five well-known maintenance alternatives including root cause analysis, condition-based maintenance, reliability-centered maintenance, run-to-failure and preventive maintenance are chosen to be evaluated by several experts from various departments of operation, planning and maintenance via three priorities of economic, technical and operation and 30 sub criteria and controls. Then, five different BOCR synthesize methods have been utilized to rank maintenance alternatives. The final result shows that four out of five synthesize methods have ranked RCA as the top maintenance strategy and RCM as second. In one other method, the rank of these two strategies is vice versa.

New Product Development Process (NPD) is a key aspect of launching new and innovative products in the market. Many products fail in the market because of technical risks, financial risks and product development time risks. It is very important to understand the overall risk factors associated with different stages of product development so that risks can be mitigated effectively. This paper presents a methodology to understand the risk associated with the initial stages of NPD. Design flexibility is higher in initial design stages requiring minimum redesign efforts and costs. It is a great opportunity to deal with risk factors and uncertainties in initial design stages than the later design stages. Product development costs in initial stages are around 5 to 10 percent but impact is 70 to 80 percent so exploration assessment in initial stages of NPD can be hugely beneficial. Stage-wise risk assessment will also provide the details of risk associated with each stage, which will be helpful in implementing appropriate mitigation strategies. Since transition from one stage to another stage of NPD is independent of the previous stage, different NPD stages can be easily expressed by the transition state of the Markov process. In this paper, the Markov process has been used for the risk assessment of initial stages of NPD, keeping mitigation strategies in mind. The three initial stages of NPD considered in this study include the concept design, detailed design and integration & testing stages. This paper also explores a method by integration of quality function deployment (QFD) and Markov process, to understand risk patterns associated with several complete design solutions (CFDs). By using QFD, the mapping between customer requirements can be reflected into risk assessment of complete design solutions (CFDs). This methodology has been demonstrated by a case study on Coffee Maker.

This study investigates the impact of spiritual leadership on the decision-making process in Kuwaiti ministries. Also, this study adopted a quantitative analytical, and descriptive approach. The study relies on the strategy of a comprehensive survey of the study population, and it depends on the questionnaire as a main tool in collecting primary data. The survey is conducted on 322 employees in the Kuwaiti ministries. The data analysis uses the SPSS version 26. The results show that spiritual leadership dimensions, vision, altruistic love, calling, hope, and membership, have a significant impact on the decision-making process in the Kuwaiti ministries.

The purpose of the loop layout problem is to determine the optimal sequence for operations by giving a cyclical arrangement of the machines along a given route. Calculating the initial cost of processes is critical in general. Additionally, these expenses can be reduced by proposing an alternate flow for the system's components. It has been observed that machines at gyms are utilized in accordance with a certain program, and so they require the optimal arrangement to accommodate these programs. In this study, the best cyclical arrangement of the machines in a gym was determined using an intuitive method. Customers enrolled in various training programs will be required to change machines in accordance with the sequence of the machines in their training program. The purpose of this study is to determine the optimal layout of these machines in order to alleviate gym traffic congestion and provide a more intuitive movement plan for consumers. The purpose is to build a layout plan that minimizes backward movement using an objective function created from the positions of the machines in the training programs, the number of customers who use these programs, and the frequency with which the machines appear in multiple programs. For the first time in gyms, an effective solution to the machine layout problem has been proposed using an optimization approach.

Self-service technologies (SSTs) are systems that enable customers to independently access banking services at a time and place of their choosing. Such technologies have been widely incorporated into banking logistical systems to increase the geographical coverage, reduce labor costs and provide customers with a better service, thereby enhancing their satisfaction and loyalty. The fundamental aim of this research is to propose and examine a conceptual model that best explains the key factors influencing Jordanian customers' intentions and usage of SST banking channels: Internet banking, Mobile banking, and Telebanking. The conceptual model proposed was based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2). This was extended by adding perceived risk as an external factor. A quantitative approach was selected and data gathered from 348 bank customers was analyzed through Structural equation modelling (SEM) was conducted using AMOS 21. The results show that behavioral intention is significantly influenced by performance expectancy, hedonic motivation, price value and perceived risk; however, social influences do not have a significant influence on behavioral intention. This study makes an important contribution by applying UTAUT2 to examine new technology (SSTs) in a new context (Jordan).

The paper proposes an improved design of a shock absorber used in drilling deep oil and gas and geothermal wells with polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) bits. The proposed innovations successfully combat the dangerous phenomenon of self-excited vibrations, which can lead to malfunctions such as stick-slip and whirling of the drilling tool. Most conventional drill shock absorbers are designed to only absorb longitudinal vibrations, which was sufficient when using roller cutter bits for the drilling process. However, the design features of PDC bits and the phenomenon of interaction of their cutters with interlayered rocks during deep drilling impose new requirements on the properties of the drill shock absorber. To protect the downhole tool from abnormal torque values and torque oscillations, it is proposed to equip the shock absorber with a special torque transmission unit in the form of a fourteen-thread self-releasing screw pair. This unit is capable of transforming increases in external torque into increases in the force that loads the elastic element of the shock absorber. The numerical and analytical models of the mechanism of transferring external axial load and torque to the elastic element of the drill shock absorber are constructed. The distribution of contact pressures on the interacting surfaces of the screw pair and the distribution of equivalent stresses in the screw pair parts are analysed. The strength of the proposed drill shock absorber assembly was evaluated using the Huber-von Mises energy criterion. The dependence of the load transmitted to the elastic element of the shock absorber on changes in the external torque and external axial force is investigated. In general, it is determined that the external load is distributed evenly between all turns of the screw pair, and the limit state of the parts of the proposed assembly is not reached even under high-torque operating load. The obtained analytical dependencies will allow to effectively determine the required strength and stiffness of the elastic element of the drill shock absorber at the design stage. The obtained analytical results were verified using a finite element model.

Nowadays, the selection and management of the optimal portfolio are the most primary fields of financial decision-making. Thereby, selecting a portfolio capable of providing the highest efficiency and, at the same time, the lowest investment risk has been turned into one of the most critical concerns among financial activists. However, in this selection, the two factors above are not the only determining ones. Various factors are affecting financial markets' behavior under different possible scenarios, which should be identified. In this paper, we examine the high sensitivity of the Iranian capital market to the exchange rate fluctuations in the different scenarios due to the lack of a unified view of the value of that rate among experts as one of the mentioned factors and obtain its value using Dempster–Shafer theory (DST). Then, a portfolio selection model that prefers stocks with higher ranks is proposed. Representative results of the real-life case study reveal that the submitted approach is productive and practically applicable.