Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology

Examining government officials’ perceived risk management and internal control in combating fraud in the public sector

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This study aims to examine the perception of risk management and internal control in the public sector, specifically concerning preventing fraud. Specifically, this study examines the various aspects of fraud prevention among employees in the public sector, including goal formulation, internal environment, and communication of information, risk response, monitoring, risk assessment, and control actions. A total of 537 individuals working in the procurement and finance departments of federal ministries participated in a questionnaire survey conducted using the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations framework and focused on fraud prevention. This study shows that risk assessment, control actions, and information and communication exert a favorable influence on the prevention of fraudulent activities. This study revealed that risk assessment, control actions, and information and communication exert a favorable influence on the prevention of fraudulent activities. This study can contribute to the government's efforts in improving risk management, addressing corruption, and advancing the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12 and 16 initiatives.

Sentiment analysis of the awareness of environmental sustainability

Kunyanuth Kularbphettong, Pattarapan Roonrakwit, Chongrag Boonseng — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This study examines the sentiment analysis of awareness of environmental sustainability. Environmental sustainability is the responsible management and utilization of Earth's natural resources to meet the needs of the present generation and ensure that future generations will access those resources. The awareness of environmental sustainability has been growing globally as people, businesses, and governments recognize the importance of preserving the planet for current and future generations. Sentiment analysis of environmental sustainability involves evaluating opinions, attitudes, and emotions expressed in texts related to environmental sustainability, and analyzing sentiment can provide insights into public perception, awareness, and engagement with environmental issues. This exploratory study's primary goal is to conduct social media opinion mining in the context of Thai people's environmental sustainability. The paper presented how to build a model of sentiment analysis with linguistic analysis, including data preprocessing steps, feature extraction, and model constructions. The techniques used in this research include Logistic Regression, Random Forests, Support Vector Machine, Word Segmentation and Bag of Words. The result shows that the model is able to categorize sentiment analysis opinions in the sustainability context primarily in positive terms. The positive sentiments suggest a sustained, long-term shift in awareness, or they might be influenced by specific events or trends. However, positive sentiment analysis results are expressed towards environmental sustainability initiatives, such as renewable energy projects, waste reduction efforts, or conservation programs. Moreover, public awareness plays a crucial role in influencing individual behavior, corporate practices, and government policies towards a more sustainable and environmentally conscious future.

Initial factors impacting vertical displacement, stresses, and propagation of cracks in three-layered steel fiber concrete beams

Thanh Quang Khai Lam — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The main aim of the study is to examine the input parameters of three-layered steel fiber concrete beams. Bending RC beams is studied by many different scientists. Multilayer RC beams using SF concrete are one way. In high compressive and tensile stress zones, this method improves beam load strength and reduces cracks. The main goal is to decrease beam stress. Repairing broken three-layered SF-reinforced concrete beams by adding more concrete on top or below the current layer is a benefit. Modifying input parameters during three-layered beam design greatly affects beam efficacy. In this paper, the authors conducted a study using ANSYS simulation and nonlinear material analysis. The objective was to investigate the behavior of three-layered bending RC beams subjected to two concentrated loads. Specifically, the study examined the impact of varying the content of SF in the RC, as well as the effects of stirrup at the ends of the beams. Furthermore, the study explored the influence of changes in the quantity and size of steel bars in the region of tensile strength, along with the effect of varying the SF concrete layer's thickness. The survey results on three-layered beams were used to create diagrams that depict the relationship between load and vertical displacement and load and stress area. These diagrams also help determine the initiation and progression of cracks in three-layered beams, starting from the application of load until the beams become damaged. Ultimately, this information allowed us to identify the specific load level that caused the beams to crack and become damaged.

Corporate governance and Indonesian state-owned companies’ performance: Agency and institutional perspectives

Nathan Junino Jahja, Nor Farizal Mohammed, Norziana Lokman — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between corporate governance practices and Indonesia’s SOEs' performance. State-owned enterprises (SOEs) are often criticized for underperformance and political manipulation, raising doubts about the efficiency of implemented corporate governance mechanisms. Additionally, this research examines the moderating role of board diversity on the relationship between good corporate governance (GCG) and performance. This study adopted a quantitative method to analyze secondary data from SOE’s financial statements from 2012 to 2019. The key independent variable is the GCG score, while return on assets is the dependent variable. The regression model incorporates managerial diversion variables and control variables. Surprisingly, the results found that corporate governance practices adversely affect the performance of Indonesian SOEs, particularly when board members have political affiliations. Institutional theory explains the negative relationship between the implementation of GCG and the performance of state-owned companies from coercive and mimetic perspectives. The phenomenon often happens in a developing country when a new system is adopted without fully understanding its mission. Additionally, the significant role of the Board of Commissioners' political connection as a moderating variable supports the conjecture of the managerial diversion perspective. This research contributes empirical insights for SOE stakeholders about corporate governance implementation and the performance of Indonesia's SOEs from the perspective of an emerging economy. The paper contributes novel views to agency and institutional theory for developing countries.

SMEs in Indonesia: How do market and entrepreneurial approaches shape dynamic capabilities and performance?

Mon, 22 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This study delves into the impact of market orientation and entrepreneurship on dynamic capabilities and SME performance within the Culinary SME sector of West Java Province, Indonesia. The study utilized a quantitative-causal research methodology to gather data from a sample of 420 Culinary (SMEs) that had been operating for a minimum of 5 years. The acquired data was then subjected to analysis using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The findings indicate significant potential for market orientation and entrepreneurship to bolster dynamic capabilities and subsequently enhance SME performance. Furthermore, the study found that dynamic capabilities positively influence SME performance. Importantly, the study identifies an indirect pathway through which market orientation and entrepreneurship can augment SME performance by leveraging dynamic capabilities as a mediator. Practical implications emphasize the critical importance for Culinary SMEs to cultivate robust market orientation, harness entrepreneurial potential for strategic risk-taking and innovation, and fortify dynamic capabilities. Strengthening these facets enables SMEs to effectively translate market insights into actionable strategies, thereby fostering sustainable growth in a competitive business landscape. In essence, this research provides valuable insights into the interplay of market orientation, entrepreneurship, dynamic capabilities, and SME performance, offering actionable guidance for Culinary SMEs in West Java Province and beyond to navigate challenges and capitalize on opportunities for sustainable development and competitiveness.

Optimization of ultrasound-assisted extraction conditions for active components and anti-alzheimer activities from mentha cordifolia

Chanyapat Sangsuwon, Kunyanuth Kularbphettong, Jaruwan Chutrtong — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Mentha cordifolia .(Lamiaceae) or Mint, is distributed all over the world. Essential oils found are menthol, menthone, 1,8-cineole, pinene, myrcene, and borneol. M. cordifolia. most popular herb, is widely used in cooking, cosmetics, complementary therapy, and pharmaceuticals for anti-carcinogen, gastro protective, antimicrobial, and antivirus purposes. The manufactory extracted essential oil method used steam distillation and hydro-distillation, which decomposed the components. The aim of this work was to study the innovative technologies of chemical constituents’ extraction by ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) that include high yields, short-extraction times, and energy savings. The extraction of Mentha cordifolia was carried out at 20 KHz ultrasonic frequencies. Sonicated times were 1.5 h. Antioxidant studies of essential oils by UAE extraction were 2, 2-diphenyl-1-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2-azino-bis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS), and pharmacological activity was anti-Alzheimer (Ellman^’s method). The UAE method used hexane, ethyl acetate, and ethanol as solvents and set the time to 1.0 h; in the second experiment, it set the time to 1.5h in the same system. Crude hexane (F1) extracted gave terpene and essential oils; crude ethyl acetate (F2) extracted gave flavonoids; and crude ethanol (F3) extracted gave phenolic compounds. The UAE method gave fractions F1, F2, and F3, which showed the DPPH activity was IC50 259, 229, and 74 mg/mL; ABTS radical scavenging was IC50 129, 103, and 127 mg/mL; and anti-acetylcholinesterase was IC50 128, 126, and 137mg/mL, respectively. The antioxidants tested were treated by applying multivariate statistical analysis.

Organized leader election consensus protocol and a supportive blockchain model for ambient assisted living

Basem Assiri — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Blockchain enhances the development of other technologies and systems by providing more transparency, sharing, decentralization, security, and privacy. Blockchain has many applications that enable integration and application in many areas, such as the field of ambient assisted living (AAL). However, blockchain includes many processes for data proposing, validating, and approving, which result in high latency. Such latency negatively influences AAL systems, which require real-time responses in many cases. In addition, blockchain processes are processed based on consensus. This challenges specialized decisions that should be taken only by specialized members within the blockchain network. Therefore, this work introduces an organized leader election consensus protocol with a blockchain model that is applicable for AAL. The proposed protocol and model are able to solve the issue of latency as well as consider specialized decisions. Solving the issue of latency enables AAL to perform real-time processes in the needed cases. While considering the matter of specialization gives more credibility to the blockchain’s decisions, which is necessary for AAL. Indeed, it classifies the blocks into special-sensitive, time-sensitive, and non-sensitive classes, where each class has a suitable procedure. In addition, to manage the organized leader election consensus protocol, we manage the blockchain feature and rewarding strategy. This enhances the miners’ participation in a way that supports blockchain and AAL simultaneously. The experimental results show that our model reduces the execution time by about 51% in comparison to the original blockchain model.

The impact of environmental, social, and governance performance on financial performance: Evidence from Japanese companies

Aida Maria Ismail, Khairul Bariah Binti Azman — Thu, 02 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This study examines the impact of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance on the financial performance of companies using the Stakeholder Theory. Sustainability is recognized as one of the most significant concepts for all nations and organizations worldwide. The Japanese government, its corporations, and its culture are not exempt from delivering their nation's sustainability goal with the utmost support. Their initiatives taken towards sustainability include introducing Society 5.0, the 'improved society' concept Japan has contemplated before the rest of the world. Society 5.0 for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which originated in Japan, is an aspiring concept that views changes and challenges as opportunities and proceeds to associate them with medium-to long-term development, which leads to the resolution of global challenges. Financial performance focuses on accounting performance through the Return on Equity (ROE). The ESG scores and financial data of 351 listed companies in Japan from 2018 to 2022 were collected from the Thomson Reuters Eikon data stream to study its impact. The regression analysis shows that all environmental performance (EP), social performance (SP), and governance performance (GP) positively and significantly affect profitability, or the Return of Equity (ROE). Meanwhile, the control variable, firm size (SIZE), does not support the study. The findings also found that all ESG performances positively correlate with each other. These results highlight the importance of ESG policy adoption by companies to improve their financial performance. The study’s contributions add value to Japan’s industry practitioners and stakeholders and highlight the importance of ESG to their nation.