Search results

Time of flight (ToF) imaging is a promising emerging technology for the purposes of crop identification. This paper aim to presents localization system for identifying and localizing asparagus in the field based on point clouds from ToF imaging. Since the semantics are not included in the point cloud, it contains the geometric information of other objects such as stones and weeds other than asparagus spears. An approach is required for extracting the spear information so that a robotic system can be used for harvesting.

A real-time convolutional neural network (CNN)-based method is used for filtering the point cloud generated by a ToF camera, allowing subsequent processing methods to operate over smaller and more information-dense data sets, resulting in reduced processing time. The segmented point cloud can then be split into clusters of points representing each individual spear. Geometric filters are developed to eliminate the non-asparagus points in each cluster so that each spear can be modelled and localized. The spear information can then be used for harvesting decisions.

The localization system is integrated into a robotic harvesting prototype system. Several field trials have been conducted with satisfactory performance. The identification of a spear from the point cloud is the key to successful localization. Segmentation and clustering points into individual spears are two major failures for future improvements.

Most crop localizations in agricultural robotic applications using ToF imaging technology are implemented in a very controlled environment, such as a greenhouse. The target crop and the robotic system are stationary during the localization process. The novel proposed method for asparagus localization has been tested in outdoor farms and integrated with a robotic harvesting platform. Asparagus detection and localization are achieved in real time on a continuously moving robotic platform in a cluttered and unstructured environment.

This study attempts to examine the relationship between board characteristics and dividend payout decisions of conventional and Islamic banks.

This study employed unbalanced panel data of both Indonesian conventional and Islamic banks over the period 2008–2021, estimated using tobit and logit models. Dividend payout decisions were measured using the dividend payout ratio and probability to pay dividends. Meanwhile, board characteristics were represented by board size, board independence, board gender diversity, board meeting, board chairman tenure and board chairman tenure.

The results show that, in the context of conventional banks, board meetings, board chairman tenure and board chairman tenure are correlated with higher dividend payout decisions, while board gender diversity indicates lower dividend payout decisions. On the other hand, in the context of Islamic banks, board size and board meetings are associated with higher dividend payout decisions, while board independence and board chairman tenure are related to lower dividend payout decisions.

This study fills the gaps in the literature on bank dividend policy. It also provides additional insights regarding the relationship between board characteristics and dividend payout decisions in the context of conventional and Islamic banks. In addition, this study gives essential contributions to regulators and investors of both banks, especially in a developing country, Indonesia.

This study is one of the first to provide empirical results regarding the relationship between board characteristics and dividend payout decisions of conventional and Islamic banks. Board characteristics are indicated as one of the fundamental factors that determine dividend payout decisions of both conventional and Islamic banks in Indonesia.

In this chapter, we present a critical engagement with the methodology that each research team presenting a case study in this book from England, Arab Israel, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago and the United States adopted.

Education is a cultural project that consists of history, narrative and faith. The Black, Asian Minority Ethnicity (BAME) and senior leaders representing marginalised groups that we talked to in this research all stated that their faith, and religion was central to their service as an educational leader. The faiths represented in our research are Islam, Christianity, Sikhism and no faith where a humanitarian approach is taken. The chapter presents the scientific significance of what values underpin these leaders’ behaviours, and to understand how their values align with legislation, education policy and the values found in Education Governance Systems.

A constructivist comparative analysis approach was adopted to address four research questions. First, how do the senior-level leaders describe and understand how school governance systems and school commissioners empower them to develop school communities as societal innovators for equity and renewal for peace in our time? Second, how do they describe and understand the role mentors, and/or advocates play to support their navigation through the governance systems? Third, to what extent do they believe a cultural change is required to empower them in school communities to Empower Young Societal Innovators for Equity and Renewal for peace in our time? Finally, how can the findings be theorised to generate a theory of knowledge to action through impact strategies within an international comparative analysis framework?

Each of the five international cases collected the narrative biographies of up to 15 superintendents, or chief executive officers of multi-academy trusts of colour. In the Northern Ireland case, eight religiously divided key agents of change were selected as an equivalence for the governance structures in the other five case studies. The total number of senior-level leaders participating in the five case studies was 40.

Each author read their findings through Gross’ (2014) Turbulence Theory and typology to categorise the level and the impact of the challenges the key agents of change need to navigate as they mediate between the governance systems. Gross (2014, p. 248) theory of turbulence is used as a metaphor and states that ‘turbulence can be described as “light” with little or no movement of the craft. “Moderate” with very noticeable waves. “Severe” with strong gusts that threaten control of the aircraft. “Extreme” with forces so great that control is lost and structure damage to the craft occurs’. The chapter identifies the findings were read through the theory of turbulence to reveal the state of the Education Governance Systems and their impact on empowering cosmopolitan citizens to participate fully and freely in societal interactions and cooperation between diverse groups. The authors’ chapters are subject to a comparative analysis that took place at the European Conference for Educational Research Annual Conference in two large seminars (Taysum et al., 2017) in Denmark, further developed by the editors and committed to peer-review.

This study aims to examine whether CEO duality affects the association between board gender composition, dividend policy and cost of debt (COD).

The S&P 1500 firms’ data for this study were collected from the Bloomberg professional service terminal for the period 2010-2015.

The results show that board gender composition positively impacts both a firm’s propensity to pay dividends and the level of payouts. However, this positive association is only present in firms with CEO duality. The authors find no significant association between board gender composition and COD, but when the authors split the sample into firms with and without CEO duality, the authors find a negative association in firms without CEO duality.

The empirical results highlight important issues for policymakers, managers and investors. The study provides positive feedback on corporate governance rejuvenation efforts that seek to engender and advocate the appointments of female directors to corporate boards. Market participants, such as financial analysts and lenders, could recognize the empirical specifics related to the influence of board gender composition on firms’ dividend policy and COD in the context of CEO duality.

This study fills an important gap in the literature on the relationship between board gender composition and its relation with dividend policy and COD.

This paper describes an architecture for the usage of Instructional Design (ID) knowledge in intelligent instructional systems. In contrast with other architectures, ontologies are used to represent ID knowledge about both what to teach and how to teach. Moreover, set‐theoretic reasoning is used for the provision of inferential services. In particular, the paper shows how set‐theoretic deductions can be applied (i) to support the modelling of ID knowledge bases, (ii) to retrieve suitable teaching methods from them, and (iii) to detect errors in a training design. The intelligent knowledge management environment CONCEPTOOL is used to demonstrate the benefits of the proposed architecture.

This study aims to investigate the role of board gender diversity (BGD) in dividend payout decisions of politically embedded firms (PEFs) including government-linked firms (GLFs) and non-GLFs in comparison to non-PEFs from the perspective of an emerging market, China.

The study uses the fixed-effect regression to examine the relationship between BGD and dividend payout decisions of PEFs including GLFs and non-GLFs in comparison to non-PEFs for a sample of Chinese publicly listed firms over the period 2010–2018.

The paper presents robust evidence that BGD is associated with higher dividend payments in PEFs than non-PEFs. Similarly, female directors on GLFs' boards are more likely to pay higher dividends than non-GLFs. Moreover, findings also reveal that the female directors' impact on dividend payout decisions is more pronounced in high corporate social responsibility (CSR) PEFs compared to low CSR peers, regardless of the nature of political ties.

The major limitation of this research that it is restricted to Chinese firms that operate under distinctive economic, social, and political environments. However, the study findings are generalizable to other emerging economies which have similar institutional settings and corporate environments with high government intervention like China.

The findings will enable policymakers to design policies targeted at the inclusion of female directors on PEFs' boards to reduce information asymmetry and agency conflicts. However, considering the heterogeneity of female directors' role in dividend payout decisions of GLFs and non-GLFs, the policymakers should be cautious while establishing the female quota in these firms.

The role of BGD in dividend policy decisions of politically connected firms remained unexplored. This study is the first to unveil the role of female directors in dividend payout decisions of PEFs and non- PEFs. In addition, this research further contributes to the literature by exploring the BGD-dividend policy link in PEFs with high- and low-CSR engagements.

In international business, the customers' perception is vital for marketing and strategic planning. This study is designed to address the perceptions of managers in Kuwait of the national environments of Japan, Germany, and the U.S. and the prospect of global leadership for each nation. Sixty‐four major Kuwaiti firms participated. The results indicate that Japan is perceived to offer the most conducive business environment for effective global competition. In addition, participants believe that Japan will surpass the U.S. economically and technologically in the near future. Nevertheless, the results show that U.S. based firms are perceived to be more adaptable to changing world conditions and that they do a better job of attracting the best human resources than German or Japanese based firms.

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the quality and reliability of websites’ content can be assessed through the lens of “wisdom of the crowds”. In particular as a case study the authors examine the information supplied over time on several prominent Israeli real estate websites.

The Israeli real estate market was selected for the study, since there are many large, popular and dynamic real estate websites that feature hundreds of thousands of ads, representing most of the supply of real estate properties in the country. The authors built an automatic, ontology-based system that downloaded advertisements from three selected websites every two weeks for a number of months and checked for changes in these advertisements over time. The authors conjecture that wisdom of the crowds is mostly reflected by the information changes on the websites, since they indicate the anticipated market trends. Hence the authors developed a number of statistical measures to comparatively analyse trends of information changes on these websites, and assess their reliability compared to the actual market data and tendencies.

The primary results suggest similar information change trends amongst all the websites. Surprisingly, although some properties did not sell over time, sellers generally did not lower their asking price and were willing to wait. Sellers even raised their asking price, apparently in anticipation of future price increases. Comparison of recurring trends among the websites with the trends of the real market during the same time period and a few months after reveals that wisdom of the crowds is only partially effective as an indicator and predictor of website content quality: it correctly reflects the fluctuation in demand, but not in the prices.

This study was conducted over a limited time period of five months, and only in several cities in Israel. Additionally, since buyers are not explicitly represented in these sites, their information behaviour was not analysed, although it undoubtedly influences information changes performed by the sellers.

The practical contribution of this study is the ontology of the real estate world. Its assimilation by real estate websites would promote the development of their sites and user services. It would also enable ad sharing amongst the various websites and enable efficient searches by search engines. In addition the tools and measures that the authors developed will allow continued monitoring and analysis of user information change patterns.

To the best of the knowledge this is the first study to examine and compare real estate websites’ quality and evaluate their information reliability as wisdom of the crowds.

This study aims to define the main characteristics and possibilities of ontological approaches to research in architecture by considering content, methodologies and subject position in this type of research and questions if there is a future for this type of research or not.

The primary data collection method of this research is based on the ethos of the author who has taught research courses for many years. This research has also been questioned through the discussions made within a related PhD course.

Results of this research reveal that the spontaneous ideology of architecture might have influenced the neglection of the ontological approaches in academic research in architecture.

Architecture has an interesting position towards reductionism because architectural thinking has ontological characteristics. The ontological approaches to academic research seems to be more applicable to architecture. However, research in architecture does not necessarily have this ontological character.

The “ontological approach to academic research” covers a larger set of research than the method of ontology, which is used to discuss the categories, limitations in research. Thinking on ontological approaches to research is needed because there is a considerable increase in the use of mixed research methods, which combine qualitative and quantitative research. The second reason for this is the criticisms about the unethical reductionism directed towards contemporary science by philosophers. However, there is no sufficient literature on the ontological approaches to research. This is true also for the academic research in architecture.