A study on the relationship between emotional intelligence, organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior

This paper presents a casual structure model between emotional intelligence and organizational citizenship behavior by using organizational commitment as mediator variable. The study is accomplished among 324 employees of united bus company in city of Tehran, Iran. Using structural equation modeling, the study has confirmed that emotional intelligence influenced on organizational citizenship behavior and commitment. The study also confirms that organizational commitment influenced on organizational citizenship behavior. Finally, the study has confirmed that there were significant relationships between emotional intelligence and its dimensions with organizational citizenship behavior and organizational commitment of employees

Time for Addressing Software Security Issues: Prediction Models and Impacting Factors

Finding and fixing software vulnerabilities have become a major struggle for most software development companies. While generally without alternative, such fixing efforts are a major cost factor, which is why companies have a vital interest in focusing their secure software development activities such that they obtain an optimal return on this investment. We investigate, in this paper, quantitatively the major factors that impact the time it takes to fix a given security issue based on data collected automatically within SAP’s secure development process, and we show how the issue fix time could be used to monitor the fixing process. We use three machine learning methods and evaluate their predictive power in predicting the time to fix issues. Interestingly, the models indicate that vulnerability type has less dominant impact on issue fix time than previously believed. The time it takes to fix an issue instead seems much more related to the component in which the potential vulnerability resides, the project related to the issue, the development groups that address the issue, and the closeness of the software release date. This indicates that the software structure, the fixing processes, and the development groups are the dominant factors that impact the time spent to address security issues. SAP can use the models to implement a continuous improvement of its secure software development process and to measure the impact of individual improvements. The development teams at SAP develop different types of software, adopt different internal development processes, use different programming languages and platforms, and are located in different cities and countries. Other organizations, may use the results—with precaution—and be learning organizations

Identifying the Dimensions of the Design-Oriented Approach to Organizational Change Acceptance in Tehran Bus Company

Organizational change does not take place without introduction. The drivers of change usually derive from the organizational environment or market. These drivers include things like competitors' bold moves, new technology with changing government regulations, and manager's inefficiency can be a driver for change in the organization. The purpose of this study is to identify the dimensions of the design-oriented approach to organizational change in Tehran Bus Company. The statistical population of the study is the experts of Tehran Bus Company. The data collection tool was an interview that identified the dimensions of the model using the view of 20experts and the grounded approach. Interviews have been coded using MAXQDA software. The results of open coding of qualitative data collected using interview tool showed that 141 open codes out of 374 concepts were identified. 23 main categories and 24 subcategories are categorized. The central category in this research is the acceptance of organizational change. Causal conditions based on the trust-building of experience of previous changes, environmental requirements, organizational requirements, motivational system, about leaders to strategic change management, selection and appointment of managers and employees, investment in human resources, public relations, organizational communication, monitoring and feedback, executive performance of manager, about background conditions, considerations related to infrastructure and financial resources, considerations related to organizational culture, considerations related to organizational structure, considerations related to organizational climate, intervention conditions, on the support of stakeholders and people outside the organization, characteristics of managers, characteristics of human resources, networking, outcomes and results, on the promotion of social capital, satisfaction resulting from change, has been mentioned

A model of sustainable development based on performance management of the health system

Background: performance management requires evaluation of the economic, environmental and social situations. The purpose of this study is to present one model of the performance management of the organization in the health system. Methods: This was mix method research. Participants of qualitative phase were experts of universities and health system, which were selected through purposive sampling and snowball method (15 people). The data collection method was semi-structured interview. The statistical population of the qualitative phase was the experts of universities and health system. Cochran's formula was used to determine the sample size and 170 people were selected as a sample by simple random sampling. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire with Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.89. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by experts. Data analysis was performed using Spss and Smart Pls software. Qualitative data analysis was performed through content analysis and coding of interviews and quantitative data analysis was performed using Smart PLS software and factor load coefficient test. Result: 26 categories and 5 political, social, environmental, economic and cultural dimensions and 74 indicators were identified. The criteria of total suitability, coefficients of determination and prediction of structural models and measurements are all acceptable and indicated the approval of the model. Conclusion: Paying attention to all the identified dimensions of sustainable development, in addition to the social dimension in the performance management of universities and health system, makes it possible to achieve the goals of sustainable development

Testing and Fretting Fatigue Analysis of Bridge Stay Cable Wires at Saddle Supports

High-strength steel cables are one of the principal components of cable-stayed bridges. In these structures, the cables transfer the gravitational loads at the deck to the bridge tower structures or “pylons”. Reliable anchoring of the cables is a primary design consideration for cable-stayed bridges. Traditionally, the cables were directly anchored to the bridge deck and the pylons. A newer approach, employing so-called saddle systems, has become more popular in recent decades. With this approach, the cables are anchored to the bridge deck on one side of the pylon, go over a radial surface at the pylon, and are finally anchored to the bridge deck on the other side of the pylon. Material and anchoring costs of saddle systems are lower than the traditional approach, as smaller pylons are required for saddle systems and the cables do not require anchoring at the pylons. A primary design consideration of saddle systems is fretting fatigue failure of the cables at the saddle supports. Despite this fact, very limited previous research can be found in the literature on this topic. Also, the existing standards for saddle systems are rather simplistic. These standards require large-scale fatigue tests to evaluate the saddle systems and do not offer a calculation-based design procedure. With this in mind, the main objectives of the current thesis are: to undertake initial efforts to develop a calculation-based framework to evaluate the fretting fatigue behaviour of cables at saddle supports, to explore a possible framework for probabilistic analysis of this problem, and to design a more economical small-scale fretting fatigue test setup and use it to evaluate the fretting fatigue behaviour of typical bridge cable wires. Several parameters affect the fretting fatigue behaviour of cables (e.g., the relative displacement between the cable and saddle, and the contact force between the cable and saddle). In this thesis, closed-form equations for evaluating these critical parameters are first discussed. Then, an FE model is developed to evaluate the accuracy of these equations. The developed FE model is then used to evaluate the effect of wear on these critical parameters. Overall, the results of the FE model are shown to be close to the results obtained by calculation. However, a higher difference is seen between the results at the points where the cable first meets the saddle. Following the determination of the critical parameters, a multiaxial stress approach based on the Smith-Watson-Topper (SWT) parameter is used to evaluate the fretting fatigue life of the cable wires. A set of large-scale tests previously performed at TU Berlin is used as an example. The predictions based on the SWT parameter are shown to be in good agreement (i.e., fatigue lives and overall trends are estimated with reasonable accuracy) with the tests performed at TU Berlin. In order to extend this approach to a probabilistic framework, several practical approaches aimed at limiting the need to perform time-consuming FE analyses are then explored. These approaches include the use of Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) with fretting maps or employing the multiplicative dimensional reduction method (M-DRM). The results of these approaches are then compared, and the challenges and benefits of each approach are presented. The results obtained using both methods are reasonably close to each other. Finally, an analysis is performed to evaluate the sensitivity of the prediction results to the main model parameters. It is shown that the uncertainties in the contact force and fatigue strength coefficients have the highest sensitivity factors. Following the completion of these analytical studies, a small-scale fretting fatigue test setup was designed to evaluate the fretting fatigue behaviour of bridge stay cable wires. Two different bridge cable types, namely: galvanized and bare, were used for these tests. In these tests, the critical parameters affecting fretting fatigue life were varied. It was found that the bare wires have a better fretting fatigue performance in comparison with the galvanized wires. Following the completion of the fretting fatigue tests, plain fatigue tests were performed to evaluate the fatigue performance of the wire material. After the experimental work, a microstructure analysis was performed to evaluate the microhardness of the wires and observe defects at the surface and core of the wires using SEM photography. Irregular microstructures were found at the surface of the galvanized wire. However, the bare wire had a uniform microstructure at the surface. Following the experimental work, the SWT parameter-based approaches were applied to the tests performed at the University of Waterloo. However, these approaches have limitations in that they do not account for wire defects and their influence on the fatigue life predictions. Given the presence of significant defects in the wires, a linear elastic fracture mechanic (LEFM) approach is lastly employed to study possible effects of these defects on the fretting fatigue life of the wires. The LEFM results are shown to be in good agreement with the test results

A Flexible Skewed Link Model for Ordinal Outcomes: An Application to Infertility

BACKGROUND: An important issue in modeling categorical response data is the choice of the links. The commonly used complementary log-log link is inclined to link misspecification due to its positive and fixed skewness parameter. AIM: The objective of this paper is to introduce a flexible skewed link function for modeling ordinal data with some covariates. METHODS: We introduce a flexible skewed link model for the cumulative ordinal regression model based on Chen model. RESULTS: The main advantage suggested by the proposed links is the skewed link provide much more identifiable than the existing skewed links. The propriety of posterior distributions under proper and improper priors is explored in detail. An efficient Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm is developed for sampling from the posterior distribution. CONCLUSION: The proposed methodology is motivated and illustrated by ovary hyperstimulation syndrome data

Pore-Facies as a tool for incorporation of small scale dynamic information in integrated reservoir studies

In this study, the quantification and incorporation of pore geometry, a qualitative parameter, and a source of dynamic information, will be demonstrated in the integrated reservoir studies. To quantify pore geometry, mercury injection capillary pressure (MICP) curves have been exploited. For each MICP curve, 20 parameters were derived and multi-resolution graph-based clustering was applied to classify the curves into nine representative distinct clusters. The number of clusters was determined based on petrography and cluster analysis. The quantified pore geometry in terms of discrete variable has been called pore-facies, and like electro-facies and litho-facies could be used in facies modelling and rock typing phases of an integrated study. The dependence of dynamic reservoir rock properties on pore geometry makes the pore-facies an interesting and powerful approach for incorporation of small-scale dynamic data into a reservoir model. A comparison among various facies definitions proved that neither litho-facies nor electro-facies is capable of characterizing dynamic rock properties, and the best results were achieved by the pore-facies method. Based on this study, it is recommended that for facies analysis in reservoir modelling, methods based on pore characteristics such as pore-facies, introduced in this paper, be used rather than traditional facies that rely on matrix properties. The next generation of the reservoir models which incorporate pore-facies-based rock types will provide a basis for more accurate static and dynamic models, a narrower range of uncertainty in the models, and a better prediction of reservoir performance