Search results for: internet market

Authors: Jeonghwan Jeon, Mintak Han, Youngjun Kim

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Due to the rapid development of information and communication technology (ICT), a substantial transformation is currently happening in the society. As the range of intelligent technologies and services is continuously expanding, ‘things’ are becoming capable of communicating one another and even with people. However, such “Internet of Things” has the technical weakness so that a great amount of such information transferred in real-time may be widely exposed to the threat of security. User’s personal data are a typical example which is faced with a serious security threat. The threats of security will be diversified and arose more frequently because next generation of unfamiliar technology develops. Moreover, as the society is becoming increasingly complex, security vulnerability will be increased as well. In the existing literature, a considerable number of private and public reports that forecast future society have been published as a precedent step of the selection of future technology and the establishment of strategies for competitiveness. Although there are previous studies that forecast security technology, they have focused only on technical issues and overlooked the interrelationships between security technology and social factors are. Therefore, investigations of security threats in the future and security technology that is able to protect people from various threats are required. In response, this study aims to derive potential security threats associated with the development of technology and to explore the security technology that can protect against them. To do this, first of all, private and public reports that forecast future and online documents from technology-related communities are collected. By analyzing the data, future issues are extracted and categorized in terms of STEEP (Society, Technology, Economy, Environment, and Politics), as well as security. Second, the components of potential security threats are developed based on classified future issues. Then, points that the security threats may occur –for example, mobile payment system based on a finger scan technology– are identified. Lastly, alternatives that prevent potential security threats are proposed by matching security threats with points and investigating related security technologies from patent data. Proposed approach can identify the ICT-related latent security menaces and provide the guidelines in the ‘problem – alternative’ form by linking the threat point with security technologies.

Keywords: future society, information and communication technology, security technology, technology forecasting

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Authors: Ilaha Rzayeva, Emin Alasgarov, Orkhan Karim-Zada

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This study attempts to consider the linkage between management and computer sciences in order to develop the software named “IntelSymb” as a demo application to prove data analysis of non-energy* fields’ diversification, which will positively influence on energy dependency mitigation of countries. Afterward, we analyzed 18 years of economic fields of development (5 sectors) of 13 countries by identifying which patterns mostly prevailed and which can be dominant in the near future. To make our analysis solid and plausible, as a future work, we suggest developing a gateway or interface, which will be connected to all available on-line data bases (WB, UN, OECD, U.S. EIA) for countries’ analysis by fields. Sample data consists of energy (TPES and energy import indicators) and non-energy industries’ (Main Science and Technology Indicator, Internet user index, and Sales and Production indicators) statistics from 13 OECD countries over 18 years (1995-2012). Our results show that the diversification of non-energy industries can have a positive effect on energy sector dependency (energy consumption and import dependence on crude oil) deceleration. These results can provide empirical and practical support for energy and non-energy industries diversification’ policies, such as the promoting of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), services and innovative technologies efficiency and management, in other OECD and non-OECD member states with similar energy utilization patterns and policies. Industries, including the ICT sector, generate around 4 percent of total GHG, but this is much higher — around 14 percent — if indirect energy use is included. The ICT sector itself (excluding the broadcasting sector) contributes approximately 2 percent of global GHG emissions, at just under 1 gigatonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2eq). Ergo, this can be a good example and lesson for countries which are dependent and independent on energy, and mainly emerging oil-based economies, as well as to motivate non-energy industries diversification in order to be ready to energy crisis and to be able to face any economic crisis as well.

Keywords: energy policy, energy diversification, “IntelSymb” software, renewable energy

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Authors: Chen-Ya Juan

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Problem-Based Learning uses vague questions to guide student thinking and enhance their self-learning and collaboration. Most teachers implement PBL in a physical classroom, where teachers can monitor and evaluate students’ learning progress and guide them to search resources for answers. However, the prevalence of the Covid-19 in the world had changed from physical teaching to distance teaching. This instruction used many cases and applied Problem-Based Learning combined on the distance teaching via the internet for college students. This study involved an experimental group with PBL and a control group without PBL. The teacher divided all students in PBL class into eight groups, and 7~8 students in each group. The teacher assigned different cases for each group of the PBL class. Three stages of instruction were developed, including background knowledge of Learning, case analysis, and solving problems for each case. This study used a quantitative research method, a two-sample t-test, to find a significant difference in groups with PBL and without PBL. Findings indicated that PBL incased the average score of special education knowledge. The average score was improved by 20.46% in the PBL group and 15.4% without PBL. Results didn’t show significant differences (0.589>0.05) in special education professional knowledge. However, the feedback of the PBL students implied learning more about the application, problem-solving skills, and critical thinking. PBL students were more likely to apply professional knowledge on the actual case, find questions, resources, and answers. Most of them understood the importance of collaboration, working as a team, and communicating with other team members. The suggestions of this study included that (a) different web-based teaching instruments influenced student’s Learning; (b) it is difficult to monitor online PBL progress; (c) online PBL should be implemented flexible and multi-oriented; (d) although PBL did not show a significant difference on the group with PBL and without PBL, it did increase student’s problem-solving skills and critical thinking.

Keywords: problem-based learning, college students, distance learning, case analysis, problem-solving

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Authors: Chow Fah Yee, Eu Chye Tan

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The main purpose of developing a modern and sophisticated financial system is to mobilize and allocate the country’s resources for productive uses and in the process contribute to economic growth. Financial liberalization introduced in Malaysia in 1978 was said to be a step towards this goal. According to Mc-Kinnon and Shaw, the deregulation of a country’s financial system will create a more efficient and competitive market driven financial sector; with savings being channelled to the most productive users. This paper aims to assess whether financial liberalization resulted in bank credit being allocated to the more productive users, for the case of Malaysia by: firstly, using Chi-square test to if there exists a relationship between financial liberalization and bank lending in Malaysia. Secondly, to analyze on a comparative basis, the share of loans secured by 9 major economic sectors, using data on bank loans from 1975 to 2003. Lastly, present value analysis and rank correlation was used to determine if the recipients of bigger loans are the more efficient users. Chi-square test confirmed the generally observed trend of an increase in bank credit with the adoption of financial liberalization. While the comparative analysis of loans showed that the bulk of credit were allocated to service sectors, consumer loans and property related sectors, at the expense of industry. Results for rank correlation analysis showed that there is no relationship between the more productive users and amount of loans obtained. This implies that the recipients (sectors) that received more loans were not the more efficient sectors.

Keywords: allocation of resources, bank credit, financial liberalization, economics

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Authors: Mona Misfer Alshardan, Djamal Ziani

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Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are the organizations tickets to the global market. With the implementation of ERP, organizations can manage and coordinate all functions, processes, resources and data from different departments by a single software. However, many organizations consider the cost of traditional ERP to be expensive and look for alternative affordable solutions within their budget. One of these alternative solutions is providing ERP over a software as a service (SaaS) model. This alternative could be considered as a cost effective solution compared to the traditional ERP system. A key feature of any SaaS system is the multi-tenancy architecture where multiple customers (tenants) share the system software. However, different organizations have different requirements. Thus, the SaaS developers accommodate each tenant’s unique requirements by allowing tenant-level customization or configuration. While customization requires source code changes and in most cases a programming experience, the configuration process allows users to change many features within a predefined scope in an easy and controlled manner. The literature provides many techniques to accomplish the configuration process in different SaaS systems. However, the nature and complexity of SaaS ERP needs more attention to the details regarding the configuration process which is merely described in previous researches. Thus, this research is built on strong knowledge regarding the configuration in SaaS to define specifically the configuration borders in SaaS ERP and to design a configuration service with the consideration of the different configuration aspects. The proposed architecture will ensure the easiness of the configuration process by using wizard technology. Also, the privacy and performance are guaranteed by adopting the databases isolation technique.

Keywords: configuration, software as a service, multi-tenancy, ERP

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Authors: Pablo Cardozo Herrera

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In a dynamic market of Information Technology (IT) Service and with high quality demands and high performance requirements in decreasing costs, it is imperative that IT companies invest organizational effort in order to increase the effectiveness of their Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) processes through the improvement of ITSM project management and through solid support to the strategic decision-making process of IT directors. In this article, the author presents an analysis of common issues of IT companies around the world, with strategic needs of information unmet that provoke their ITSM processes and projects management that do not achieve the effectiveness and efficiency expected of their results. In response to the issues raised, the author proposes a framework consisting of an innovative theoretical framework model of ITSM management and a technological solution aligned to the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) good practices guidance and ISO/IEC 20000-1 requirements. The article describes a research that proves the proposed framework is able to integrate, manage and coordinate in a holistic way, measurable and auditable, all ITSM processes and projects of IT organization and utilize the effectiveness assessment achieved for their strategic decision-making process increasing the process maturity level and improving the capacity of an efficient management.

Keywords: innovation in IT services, ITSM processes, ITIL and ISO/IEC 20000-1, IT service management, IT service excellence

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Authors: Ahmet Helvaci, Selcuk Dogan

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Reed in especially almost all the lakes in Western Anatolia grows naturally. Due to the abundance of reed, pyrolysis of reed is very economical and practical application. In this study, it is aimed to determine the optimum conditions for the pyrolysis of the reed which is a cheap and abundant raw material and to evaluate pyrolysis products. For this purpose, reed was used obtained from Eber Lake located in the borders of Bolvadin county of Afyonkarahisar. Optimum pyrolysis conditions have been determined by examining the effects of changes in pyrolysis temperature and pyrolysis time. The evaluation of the obtained liquid and solid pyrolysis products has been investigated. Especially evaluability of solid carbon black production of tires has been investigated. Tire samples were prepared with carbon black samples obtained as a result of the pyrolysis process at different temperatures. Then, performance tests were made and compared with reference carbon blacks, used in the market and standards. At the same time, surface area measurement analysis of carbon black samples was made and compared again with reference carbon blacks. In addition, the fuel values of liquid products were also determined by calorimeter. It has been determined that the best surface area (about 370 m²/g) for carbon black samples, for tire production is 40 minutes at 500ᵒC. It was also found that the best result for evaluation studies in tire production was carbon black samples obtained at 450ᵒC pyrolysis temperature. In addition, it was seen that the calorimetry results of the liquid product obtained during 60 minutes of pyrolysis were quite good (around 5500 kcal/kg).

Keywords: evaluation of products, optimization, pyrolysis, reed

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Authors: Peter Adekunle, Clinton Aigbavboa, Matthew Ikuabe, Opeoluwa Akinradewo

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Contemporary building methods typically pay little attention to the built environment's greater economic, environmental, or social impacts or energy efficiency. Green construction aims to sever ties with these conventions. In order to provide better living and working conditions and lessen environmental consequences, green building today combines numerous building design, construction, and operation and maintenance approaches. As one of Sub-Saharan Africa's most industrialized nations, South Africa has a good number of green building projects. Therefore, this study examines the elements impacting the adoption of green buildings and regulations created to encourage the growth of green buildings using South Africa as a case study. The study has a survey-style design. A total of one hundred fifty (150) questionnaires were distributed to professionals in the construction industry in South Africa, of which one hundred and twenty-four (128) were returned and judged appropriate for investigation. The gathered data was examined using percentage, mean item scores, standard deviation, and Kruskal-Wallis. The findings show that cost and market circumstances are the two main elements impacting the adoption of green construction, while leadership advice is the most important policy. The study concluded that in order to encourage the construction of green buildings, additional Sub-Saharan nations should adopt these suggested policies.

Keywords: green building, Sub-Saharan Africa, building design, environmental conditions

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Authors: Anne Mastamet-Mason, Oluwatosin Onakoya, Karla Tissiman

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The COVID-19 pandemic that ravaged the world in 2020 brought about the need for handmade fabric face masks in South Africa and beyond. These masks showcased individuality and environmental responsibility and effectively aided our battle against the virus. These practical masks held significant meaning, representing human creativity, resilience, and commitment to sustainability in adversity. This paper examines how aesthetics, sustainability, and safety were achieved in the Handmade Fabric Face Masks. It analyses how their integration signified human agility and resilience to the pandemic while promoting dignity and environmental welfare. The research conducted a qualitative analysis to choose handmade fabric face masks and assess their aesthetic, sustainable, and safety features. The study involved interviewing a group of mask designers and users who evaluated the masks' efficacy in providing protection, aesthetics, and environmental sustainability. Although the designers demonstrated a high level of knowledge in the design aspects, the results indicated a need for more information regarding the functional safety measures and some environmental factors in mask selection and production. The mask analysis also revealed that the masks available in the market combined aesthetics and environmental protection but had limited safety measures. Despite the lack of balance of aesthetics, sustainability, and safety among the designers and the users of hand-fabric masks, functional aspects of fabrics and sustainability literacy are essential

Keywords: sustainable fashion, fabric mask, aesthetics, safety measures

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Authors: Salisu Gidado Dalibi, Sadiq Gumi Abubakar, JingChun Feng

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Nigeria’s population is about 190 million and is on the increase annually making it the seventh most populated nation in the world and first in Africa. This population growth comes with its prospects, needs, and challenges especially on the existing and future infrastructure. Infrastructure refers to structures, systems, and facilities serving the economy of a country, city, town, businesses, industries, etc. These include roads, railways lines, bridges, tunnels, ports, stadiums, dams and water projects, power generation plants and distribution grids, information, and communication technology (ICT), etc. The Nigerian government embarked on several infrastructural development projects (IDPs) to address the deficit as the present infrastructure cannot cater to the needs nor sustain the country. However, delivering such IDPs have not been smooth; comes with challenges from within and outside the project; frequent delays and abandonment. Thus, affecting all the stakeholders involved. Hence, the aim of this paper is to identify and assess the factors that are hindering the effective delivery of IDPs in Nigeria’s built environment with the view to offer more insight into such factors, and ways to address them. The methodology adopted in this study involves the use of secondary sources of data from several materials (official publications, journals, newspapers, internet, etc.) were reviewed within the IDPs field by laying more emphasis on Nigeria’s cases. The hindrance factors in this regard were identified which forms the backbone of the questionnaire. A pilot survey was used to test its suitability; after which it was randomly administered to various project professionals in Nigeria’s construction industry using a 5-point Likert scale format to ascertain the impact of these hindrances. Cronbach’s Alpha reliability test, mean item score computations, relative importance indices, T-test, Chi-Square statistics were used for data analyses. The results outline the impact of various internal, external and project related factors that are hindering IDPs within Nigeria’s built environment.

Keywords: built environment, development, factors, hindrances, infrastructure, Nigeria, project

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Authors: Z. S. Haidar

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Millions of teeth are removed annually, and dental extraction is one of the most commonly performed surgical procedures globally. Whether due to caries, periodontal disease, or trauma, exodontia and the ensuing wound healing and bone remodeling processes of the resultant socket (hole in the jaw bone) usually result in serious deformities of the residual alveolar osseous ridge and surrounding soft tissues (reduced height/width). Such voluminous changes render the placement of a proper conventional bridge, denture, or even an implant-supported prosthesis extremely challenging. Further, most extractions continue to be performed with no regard for preventing the onset of alveolar osteitis (also known as dry socket, a painful and difficult-to-treat/-manage condition post-exodontia). Hence, such serious resorptive morphological changes often result in significant facial deformities and a negative impact on the overall Quality of Life (QoL) of patients (and oral health-related QoL); alarming, particularly for the geriatric with compromised healing and in light of the thriving longevity statistics. Despite advances in tissue/wound grafting, serious limitations continue to exist, including efficacy and clinical outcome predictability, cost, treatment time, expertise, and risk of immune reactions. For cases of dry socket, specifically, the commercially available and often-prescribed home remedies are highly-lacking. Indeed, most are not recommended for use anymore. Alveogyl is a fine example. Hence, there is a great market demand and need for alternative solutions. Herein, SockGEL/PLUG (patent pending), an innovative, all-natural, drug-free, and injectable thermo-responsive hydrogel, was designed, formulated, characterized, and evaluated as an osteogenic, angiogenic, anti-microbial, and pain-soothing suture-free intra-alveolar dressing, safe and efficacious for use in fresh extraction sockets, immediately post-exodontia. It is composed of FDA-approved, biocompatible and biodegradable polymers, self-assembled electro-statically to formulate a scaffolding matrix to (1) prevent the on-set of alveolar osteitis via securing the fibrin-clot in situ and protecting/sealing the socket from contamination/infection; and (2) endogenously promote/accelerate wound healing and bone remodeling to preserve the volume of the alveolus. The intrinsic properties of the SockGEL/PLUG hydrogel were evaluated physical-chemical-mechanically for safety (cell viability), viscosity, rheology, bio-distribution, and essentially, capacity to induce wound healing and osteogenesis (small defect, in vivo) without any signaling cues from exogenous cells, growth factors or drugs. The proposed animal model of cranial critical-sized and non-vascularized bone defects shall provide new and critical insights into the role and mechanism of the employed natural bio-polymer blend and gel product in endogenous reparative regeneration of soft tissues and bone morphogenesis. Alongside, the fine-tuning of our modified formulation method will further tackle appropriateness, reproducibility, scalability, ease, and speed in producing stable, biodegradable, and sterilizable thermo-sensitive matrices (3-dimensional interpenetrating yet porous polymeric network) suitable for the intra-socket application. Findings are anticipated to provide sufficient evidence to translate into pilot clinical trials and validate the innovation before engaging the market for feasibility, acceptance, and cost-effectiveness studies.

Keywords: hydrogel, nanotechnology, bioengineering, bone regeneration, nanogel, drug delivery

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Authors: S. Doyle, G. A. Aggidis

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Wave energy converter technologies continue to show good progress in worldwide research. One of the most researched technologies, the Oscillating Water Column (OWC), is arguably one of the most popular categories within the converter technologies due to its robustness, simplicity and versatility. However, the versatility of the OWC is still largely untapped with most deployments following similar trends with respect to applications and operating systems. As the competitiveness of the energy market continues to increase, the demand for wave energy technologies to be innovative also increases. For existing wave energy technologies, this requires identifying areas to diversify for lower costs of energy with respect to applications and synergies or integrated systems. This paper provides a review of all OWCs systems integrated into alternative applications in the past and present. The aspects and variation in their design, deployment and system operation are discussed. Particular focus is given to the Multi-OWCs (M-OWCs) and their great potential to increase capture on a larger scale, especially in synergy applications. It is made clear that these steps need to be taken in order to make wave energy a competitive and viable option in the renewable energy mix as progression to date shows that stand alone single function devices are not economical. Findings reveal that the trend of development is moving toward these integrated applications in order to reduce the Levelised Cost of Energy (LCOE) and will ultimately continue in this direction in efforts to make wave energy a competitive option in the renewable energy mix.

Keywords: wave energy converter, oscillating water column, ocean energy, renewable energy

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Authors: Wai Keng Teng, Gek Cheng Ngoh, Rozita Yusoff, Mohamed Kheireddine Aroua

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As a by-product of the biodiesel industries, glycerol has been vastly generated which surpasses the market demand. It is imperative to develop an efficient glycerol valorization processes in minimizing the net energy requirement and intensifying the biodiesel production. In this study, base-catalyzed transesterification of glycerol with dimethyl carbonate using microwave irradiation as heating method to produce glycerol carbonate was conducted by varing grades of glycerol i.e. 70%, 86% and 99% purity that obtained from biodiesel plant. Metal oxide catalysts were used with varying operating parameters including reaction time, DMC/glycerol molar ratio, catalyst weight %, temperature and stirring speed. From the study on the effect of different operating parameters; it was found that the type of catalyst used has the most significant effect on the transesterification reaction. Admist the metal oxide catalysts examined, CaO gave the best performance. This study indicates the feasibility of producing glycerol carbonate using different grade of glycerol in both conventional thermal activation and microwave irradiation with CaO as catalyst. Microwave assisted transesterification (MAT) of glycerol into glycerol carbonate has demostrated itself as an energy efficient route by achieving 94.3% yield of GC at 65°C, 5 minutes reaction time, 1 wt% CaO and DMC/glycerol molar ratio of 2. The advantages of MAT transesterification route has made the direct utilization of bioglycerol from biodiesel production without the need of purification. This has marked a more economical and less-energy intensive glycerol carbonate synthesis route.

Keywords: base-catalyzed transesterification, glycerol, glycerol carbonate, microwave irradiation

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Authors: Tabitha Mberi, Tirus Wanyoike, Joseph Sevilla

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The use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Government is gradually becoming a major requirement to transform delivery of services to its stakeholders by improving quality of service and efficiency. In Kenya, the devolvement of government from local authorities to county governments has resulted in many counties adopting online revenue collection systems which can be easily accessed by its stakeholders. Strathmore Research and Consortium Centre (SRCC) implemented a revenue collection system in Taita Taveta, a County in coastal Kenya. It consisted of two systems that are integrated; an online system dubbed “CountyPro” for processing county services such as Business Permit applications, General Billing, Property Rates Payments and any other revenue streams from the county. The second part was a Point of Sale(PoS) system used by the county revenue collectors to charge for market fees and vehicle parking fees. This study assesses the success and challenges in adoption of the integrated system. Qualitative and quantitative data collection methods were used to collect data on the adoption of the system with the researcher using focus groups, interviews, and questionnaires to collect data from various users of the system An analysis was carried out and revealed that 87% of the county revenue officers who are situated in county offices describe the system as efficient and has made their work easier in terms of processing of transactions for customers.

Keywords: e-government, counties, information technology, online system, point of sale

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Authors: Medina Muñoz Lina Rocio

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The purpose of this paper is to examine the debates related to the harmonization of intellectual property rights on plant material, the corporate governance of the seed market in Colombia and the political economy of seeds defended by indigenous communities. In recent years, the commodification of seeds through genetic engineering and political intellectual property, codified as a result of the implementation of the Free Trade Agreement with the United States, has come into conflict with the traditional production of seeds carried out by small farmers and indigenous populations. Agricultural and food practices. In order to understand the ontological dimension of conflicts over seeds, it is necessary to analyze the conceptions that indigenous communities have about good, which they consider a common element of their social organization and define them as sentient beings. Therefore, through a multiple approach, in which the intellectual property policy, the ecological aspects of seed production and the political ontology of indigenous communities are interwoven, I intend to present the discussions held by the actors involved and present the strategies of small producers to protect their interests. It demonstrates that communities have begun to organize social movements to protect such interests and have questioned the philosophy of GM corporate agriculture as a pro-life movement. Finally, it is argued that the conservation of 'traditional' seeds of the communities is an effective strategy to support their struggles for territory, identity, food sovereignty and self-determination.

Keywords: intellectual property rights, intellectual property, traditional knowledge, food safety

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Authors: Bahareh Mostofian

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Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has long been recognized as a crucial driver of economic growth and development in less-developed countries and their integration into Global Production Networks (GPNs). FDI not only brings capital from the core countries but also technology, innovation, and know-how knowledge that can upgrade the capabilities of host automotive industries. On the other hand, FDI can also have negative impacts on host countries if it leads to significant import dependency. In the case of the Iranian automotive sector, the industry greatly benefited from FDI, with Western carmakers dominating the market. Over time, various types of know-how knowledge, including joint ventures (JVs), trade licenses, and technical assistance, have been provided, helping Iran upgrade its automotive industry. While after the severe geopolitical obstacles imposed by both the EU and the U.S., the industry became over-reliant on the car and spare parts imports, and the lack of emphasis on knowledge transfer further affected the growth and development of the Iranian automotive sector. To address these challenges, current research has adopted a descriptive-analytical methodology to illustrate the gradual changes accrued with foreign suppliers through FDI. The research finding shows that after the two-phase imposed sanctions, the detrimental linkages created by overreliance on the car and spare parts imports without any industrial upgrading negatively affected the growth and development of the national and assembled products of the Iranian automotive sector.

Keywords: less-developed country, FDI, GPNs, automotive industry, Iran

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Authors: Azizah Ismail, Zainab Khalifah, Abbas Mardani

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Sustainable community-based tourism through homestay programme is a growing niche market that has impacted destinations in many countries including Malaysia. With demand predicted to continue increasing, the importance of the homestay product will grow in the tourism industry. This research examines the sustainability criteria for homestay programme in Malaysia covering economic, socio-cultural and environmental dimensions. This research applied a two-stage methodology for data analysis. Specifically, the researcher implements a hybrid method which combines two multi-criteria decision making approaches. In the first stage of the methodology, the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) technique is applied. Then, Analytical Network Process (ANP) is employed for the achievement of the objective of the current research. After factors identification and problem formulation, DEMATEL is used to detect complex relationships and to build a Network Relation Map (NRM). Then ANP is used to prioritize and find the weights of the criteria and sub-criteria of the decision model. The research verifies the framework of multi-criteria for sustainable community-based tourism from the perspective of stakeholders. The result also provides a different perspective on the importance of sustainable criteria from the view of multi-stakeholders. Practically, this research gives the framework model and helps stakeholders to improve and innovate the homestay programme and also promote community-based tourism.

Keywords: community-based tourism, homestay programme, sustainable tourism criteria, sustainable tourism development

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Authors: C. Akhras

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Change is the life blood of business. Dynamic factors inspire change yet may act as barriers, influencing the company’s position in the market and challenging its organizational mission and culture. Today, the business context has globalized with business enterprises in the North and South joint in mergers and the East forges a strategic alliance with the West. Moreover, given that very little remains stable in certain industries, national business goals in the millennial marketplaces might be rapid, accelerated, and differentiated growth while distinctive competitive advantage might mark new qualitative excellence in others. In a new age culture marked by change, organizations, leaders, and followers are impacted; indigenous business leaders seem to have a very important role to play in change management. This case study was carried out on 178 business employees employed in local industry to evaluate perceptions of indigenous business leadership, workplace assessment, and organizational change management in the Middle East and North Africa. Three research questions were posed: (1) In your work context, do you think business leaders are essentially changing agents? (2) In your work context, is workplace change more effective in business leaders perceived as a hierarchical change agent rather than those perceived as an empowering change agent? (3) In your work context, is workplace change more efficient in business leaders perceived as a hierarchical change agent rather than those perceived as an empowering change agent? The results of the study and its limitations imposed by time and space indicate that more comprehensive research is required in this area.

Keywords: catalyst, change management, business enterprise, workplace assessment

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Authors: Charaia Vakhtang

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Global oil prices are seeing new bottoms every day. The prices have already collapsed beneath the psychological verge of 30 USD. This tendency would be fully acceptable for the Georgian consumers, but there is one detail: two our neighboring countries (one friendly and one hostile) largely depend on resources of these hydrocarbons. Namely, the ratio of Azerbaijan in Georgia’s total FDI inflows in 2014 marked 20%. The ratio reached 40% in the January to September 2015. Azerbaijan is Georgia’s leading exports market. Namely, in 2014 Georgia’s exports to Azerbaijan constituted 544 million USD, i.e. 19% in Georgia’s total experts. In the January to November period of 2015, the ratio exceeded 11%. Moreover, Azerbaijan is Georgia’s strategic partner country as part of many regional projects that are designated for long-term perspectives. For example, the Baku-Tbilisi-Karsi railroad, the Black Sea terminal, preferential gas tariffs for Georgia and so on. The Russian economic contribution to the Georgian economy is also considerable, despite the losses the Russian hostile policy has inflicted to our country. Namely, Georgian emigrants are mainly employed in the Russian Federation and this category of Georgian citizens transfers considerable funds to Georgia every year. These transfers account for about 1 billion USD and consequently, these funds previously equalized to total FDI inflows. Moreover, despite the difficulties in the Russian market, Russia still remains a leader in terms of money transfers to Georgia. According to the last reports, money transfers from Russia to Georgia slipped by 276 million USD in 2015 compared to 2014 (-39%). At the same time, the total money transfers to Georgia in 2015 marked 1.08 billion USD, down 25% from 1.44 billion USD in 2014. This signifies the contraction in money transfers is by ¾ dependent on the Russian factor (in this case, contraction in oil prices and the Russian Ruble devaluation directly make negative impact on money transfers to Georgia). As to other countries, it is interesting that money transfers have also slipped from Italy (to 109 million USD from 121 million USD). Nevertheless, the country’s ratio in total money transfers to Georgia has increased to 10% from 8%. Money transfers to Georgia have increased by 22% (+18 million USD) from the USA. Money transfers have halved from Greece to 117 million USD from 205 million USD. As to Turkey, money transfers to Georgia from Turkey have increased by 1% to 69 million USD. Moreover, the problems with the national currencies of Russia and Azerbaijan, along with the above-mentioned developments, outline unfavorable perspectives for the Georgian economy. The depreciation of the national currencies of Azerbaijan and Russia is expected to bring unfavorable results for the Georgian economy. Even more so, the statement released by the Russian Finance Ministry on expected default is in direct relation to the welfare of the whole region and these tendencies will make direct and indirect negative impacts on Georgia’s economic indicators. Amid the economic slowdown in Armenia, Turkey and Ukraine, Georgia should try to enhance economic ties with comparatively stronger and flexible economies such as EU and USA. In other case, the Georgian economy will enter serious turbulent zone. We should make maximum benefit from the EU association agreement. It should be noted that the Russian economy slowdown that causes both regretful and happy moods in Georgia, will make negative impact on the Georgian economy. The same forecasts are made in relation to Azerbaijan. However, Georgia has many partner countries. Enhancement and development of the economic relations with these countries may maximally alleviate negative impacts from the declining economies. First of all, the EU association agreement should be mentioned as a main source for Georgia’s economic stabilization. It is the Georgian government‘s responsibility to successfully fulfill the EU association agreement requirements. In any case the imports must be replaced by domestic products and the exports should be stimulated through government support programs. The Authorities should ensure drawing more foreign investments and money resources, accumulating more tourism revenues and reducing external debts, budget expenditures should be balanced and the National Bank should carry out strict monetary policy. Moreover, the Government should develop a long-term state economic policy and carry out this policy at various Ministries. It is also of crucial importance to carry out constitutive policy and promote perspective directions on the domestic level.

Keywords: oil prices, economic growth, foreign direct investments, international trade

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Authors: Yananda Siraphatthada

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The current study was the succession of a previous study on value added of recycling business management. Its aims are to 1) explore conditions on how to increasing value add of Thai recycling business, and 2) exam the implementation of the 3-staged plan (short, medium, and long term), suggested by the former study, to increase value added of the recycling business as immediate mechanisms to accelerate government operation. Quantitative and qualitative methods were utilized in this research. A qualitative research consisted of in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. Responses were obtained from owners of the waste separation plants, and recycle shops, as well as officers in relevant governmental agencies. They were randomly selected via Quota Sampling. Data was analyzed via content analysis. The sample used for quantitative method consisted of 1,274 licensed recycling operators in eight provinces. The operators were randomly stratified via sampling method. Data were analyzed via descriptive statistics frequency, percentage, average (mean), and standard deviation. The study recommended three-staged plan: short, medium, and long terms. The plan included the development of logistics, the provision of quality market/plants, the amendment of recycling rules/regulation, the restructuring recycling business, the establishment of green-purchasing recycling center, support for the campaigns run by the International Green Purchasing Network (IGPN), conferences/workshops as a public forum to share insights among experts/concern people.

Keywords: strategies, value added, recycle, business

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Authors: Gustavo Menezes De Souza Melo, Arnaud Heitz, Johannes Henrich Schleifenbaum

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Additive manufacturing is a growing market that is taking over in many industries as it offers numerous advantages like new design possibilities, weight-saving solutions, ease of manufacture, and simplification of assemblies. These are all unquestionable technical or financial assets. As to the environmental aspect, additive manufacturing is often discussed whether it is the best solution to decarbonize our industries or if conventional manufacturing remains cleaner. This work presents a life cycle assessment (LCA) comparison based on the technological case of a motorbike swing-arm. We compare the original equipment manufacturer part made with conventional manufacturing (CM) methods to an additive manufacturing (AM) version printed using the laser powder bed fusion process. The AM version has been modified and optimized to achieve better dynamic performance without any regard to weight saving. Lightweight not being a priority in the creation of the 3D printed part brings us a unique perspective in this study. To achieve the LCA, we are using the open-source life cycle, and sustainability software OpenLCA combined with the ReCiPe 2016 at midpoint and endpoint level method. This allows the calculation and the presentation of the results through indicators such as global warming, water use, resource scarcity, etc. The results are then showing the relative impact of the AM version compared to the CM one and give us a key to understand and answer questions about the environmental sustainability of additive manufacturing.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, environmental impact, life cycle assessment, laser powder bed fusion

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Authors: Feijoo E. Colomine Duran, Carlos E. Peñaloza Corredor

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There modeling component selection financial investment (Portfolio) a variety of problems that can be addressed with optimization techniques under evolutionary schemes. For his feature, the problem of selection of investment components of a dichotomous relationship between two elements that are opposed: The Portfolio Performance and Risk presented by choosing it. This relationship was modeled by Markowitz through a media problem (Performance) - variance (risk), ie must Maximize Performance and Minimize Risk. This research included the study and implementation of multi-objective evolutionary techniques to solve these problems, taking as experimental framework financial market equities Colombia Stock Exchange between 2009-2015. Comparisons three multiobjective evolutionary algorithms, namely the Nondominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II), the Strength Pareto Evolutionary Algorithm 2 (SPEA2) and Indicator-Based Selection in Multiobjective Search (IBEA) were performed using two measures well known performance: The Hypervolume indicator and R_2 indicator, also it became a nonparametric statistical analysis and the Wilcoxon rank-sum test. The comparative analysis also includes an evaluation of the financial efficiency of the investment portfolio chosen by the implementation of various algorithms through the Sharpe ratio. It is shown that the portfolio provided by the implementation of the algorithms mentioned above is very well located between the different stock indices provided by the Colombia Stock Exchange.

Keywords: finance, optimization, portfolio, Markowitz, evolutionary algorithms

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Authors: Sandeep Mehmi, Harsh Verma, A. L. Sangal

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Ever since the idea of using computing services as commodity that can be delivered like other utilities e.g. electric and telephone has been floated, the scientific fraternity has diverted their research towards a new area called utility computing. New paradigms like cluster computing and grid computing came into existence while edging closer to utility computing. With the advent of internet the demand of anytime, anywhere access of the resources that could be provisioned dynamically as a service, gave rise to the next generation computing paradigm known as cloud computing. Today, cloud computing has become one of the most aggressively growing computer paradigm, resulting in growing rate of applications in area of IT outsourcing. Besides catering the computational and storage demands, cloud computing has economically benefitted almost all the fields, education, research, entertainment, medical, banking, military operations, weather forecasting, business and finance to name a few. Smart grid is another discipline that direly needs to be benefitted from the cloud computing advantages. Smart grid system is a new technology that has revolutionized the power sector by automating the transmission and distribution system and integration of smart devices. Cloud based smart grid can fulfill the storage requirement of unstructured and uncorrelated data generated by smart sensors as well as computational needs for self-healing, load balancing and demand response features. But, security issues such as confidentiality, integrity, availability, accountability and privacy need to be resolved for the development of smart grid cloud. In recent years, a number of intrusion prevention techniques have been proposed in the cloud, but hackers/intruders still manage to bypass the security of the cloud. Therefore, precise intrusion detection systems need to be developed in order to secure the critical information infrastructure like smart grid cloud. Considering the success of artificial neural networks in building robust intrusion detection, this research proposes an artificial neural network based model for detecting attacks in smart grid cloud.

Keywords: artificial neural networks, cloud computing, intrusion detection systems, security issues, smart grid

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Authors: Somayeh Pashaee

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The ever-increasing growth of the Internet and the development of information and communication technology have prompted the politicians of different countries to use virtual networks as an efficient tool for their foreign policy. The communication of governments and countries, even in the farthest places from each other, through electronic networks, has caused vast changes in the way of statecraft and governance. Importantly, in the meantime, diplomacy, which is always based on information and communication, has been affected by the new prevailing conditions and new technologies more than other areas and has faced greater changes. The emergence of virtual space and the formation of new communication tools in the field of public diplomacy has led to the redefinition of the framework of diplomacy and politics in the international arena and the appearance of a new aspect of diplomacy called digital diplomacy. Digital diplomacy is in the concept of changing relations from a face-to-face and traditional way to a non-face-to-face and new way, and its purpose is to solve foreign policy issues using virtual space. Digital diplomacy, by affecting diplomatic procedures and its change, explains the role of technology in the visualization and implementation of diplomacy in different ways. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the position of digital diplomacy in the public diplomacy of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The paper tries to answer these two questions in a descriptive-analytical way, considering the progress of communication and the role of virtual space in the service of diplomacy, what is the approach of the Islamic Republic of Iran towards digital diplomacy and the use of a new way of establishing foreign relations in public diplomacy? What capacities and damages are facing the country after the use of this type of new diplomacy? In this paper, various theoretical concepts in the field of public diplomacy and modern diplomacy, including Geoff Berridge, Charles Kegley, Hans Tuch and Ronald Peter Barston, as well as the theoretical framework of Marcus Holmes on digital diplomacy, will be used as a conceptual basis to support the analysis. As a result, in order to better achieve the political goals of the country, especially in foreign policy, the approach of the Islamic Republic of Iran to public diplomacy with a focus on digital diplomacy should be strengthened and revised. Today, only emphasizing on advancing diplomacy through traditional methods may weaken Iran's position in the public opinion level from other countries.

Keywords: digital diplomacy, public diplomacy, islamic republic of Iran, foreign policy, opportunities and challenges

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Authors: Maryam Amiri, Ali Rajabzade, Gholam Reza Goudarzi, Reza Heidari

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Growth of technology and environmental changes are so fast and therefore, companies and industries have much tendency to do activities of R&D for active participation in the market and achievement to a competitive advantages. Aviation industry and its subdivisions have high level technology and play a special role in economic and social development of countries. So, in the aviation industry for getting new technologies and competing with other countries aviation industry, there is a requirement for capability in R&D. Considering of appropriate R&D strategy is supportive that day technologies of the world can be achieved. Biofuel technology is one of the newest technologies that has allocated discussion of the world in aviation industry to itself. The purpose of this research has been formulation of R&D strategy of biofuel technology in aviation industry of Iran. After reviewing of the theoretical foundations of the methods and R&D strategies, finally we classified R&D strategies in four main categories as follows: internal R&D, collaboration R&D, out sourcing R&D and in-house R&D. After a review of R&D strategies, a model for formulation of R&D strategy with the aim of developing biofuel technology in aviation industry in Iran was offered. With regard to the requirements and aracteristics of industry and technology in the model, we presented an integrated approach to R&D. Based on the techniques of decision making and analyzing of structured expert opinion, 4 R&D strategies for different scenarios and with the aim of developing biofuel technology in aviation industry in Iran were recommended. In this research, based on the common features of the implementation process of R&D, a logical classification of these methods are presented as R&D strategies. Then, R&D strategies and their characteristics was developed according to the experts. In the end, we introduced a model to consider the role of aviation industry and biofuel technology in R&D strategies. And lastly, for conditions and various scenarios of the aviation industry, we have formulated a specific R&D strategy.

Keywords: aviation industry, biofuel technology, R&D, R&D strategy

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Authors: Hidefumi Kawakatsu, Dong Li, Kosuke Kato

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In Japan, meat-type chickens are mainly classified into three categories: (1) Broilers, (2) Branded chickens, and (3) Jidori (Free-range local traditional pedigree chickens). The Jidori chickens are certified by the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, whilst, for the Branded chickens, there is no regulation with respect to their breed (genotype) or methods for rearing them. It is, therefore, relatively easy for poultry farmers to introduce Branded than Jidori chickens. The Branded chickens are normally fed a low-calorie diet with ingredients such as herbs, which lengthens their breeding period (compared with that of the Broilers) and increases their market value. In the field of inventory management, fast-growing animals such as broilers are categorised as ameliorating items. To the best of our knowledge, there are no previous studies that have explicitly considered smaller sized poultry farmers with limited breeding areas. This study develops an inventory model for a small sized poultry farmer that produces both the Broilers (Product 1) and the Branded chickens (Product 2) with different amelioration rates. The poultry farmer’s total profit per unit of time is formulated as a function of selling prices by using a price-dependent demand function. The existence of a unique optimal selling price for each product, which maximises the total profit, established. It has also been confirmed through numerical examples that, when the breeding area is fixed, the total profit could increase if the poultry farmer reduced the product quantity of Product 1 to introduce Product 2.

Keywords: amelioration, deterioration, small sized poultry farmers, optimal price

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Authors: O. B. Urhibo, D. Imhonopi, T. George

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The global rate of decline in entrepreneurial activities, and the prevalence in Africa, especially Nigeria, is more worrisome. In recent times, these problems, such as the lack of accessibility and utilization of financial incentives needed to promote entrepreneurial activities, have led to a decrease in entrepreneurial activities. The causes of the decline have been evaluated from a different perspective and have further confirmed the relevance and need for the sustainability of the Fashion industry. With the increasing rate of unemployment and poverty in Nigeria and the literature gap in the social context, this study investigated the patterns of sustainable financial incentives utilisation among fashion design entrepreneurs in Nigeria through a qualitative approach. The Eastern part of Nigeria was considered in this study because of the high rate of market activity for textile and clothing firms. Specifically, Delta state was considered in this study. A purposive sampling technique was used to select key informants consisting of twelve (12) executives of the associations (i.e., Fashion Designer & Exhibitors Association, Delta Fashion Designers, and Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria for the interview sessions. Four themes emanate from the thematic analysis -lack of sufficient collateral, difficulties and duration of loan application processes, unacceptable business proposal/plan, and the absence of audited financial accounts were found to be the patterns of sustainable financial incentives utilisation among fashion design entrepreneurs in Nigeria. The promotion of sustainable patterns and supports has been suggested to reduce the challenges of sustainable financial incentives utilisation among fashion design entrepreneurs.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, fashion design, financial incentives, patterns, sustainability, utilisation

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Authors: Amir Reza Asnafi, Masoumeh Kazemizadeh, Najmeh Salemi

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Due to the diversity of information resources in the web0.2 environment, which is increasing in number from time to time, the social tagging system should be used to discuss Internet resources. Studying the relevance of social tags to thematic headings can help enrich resources and make them more accessible to resources. The present research is of applied-theoretical type and research method of content analysis. In this study, using the listing method and content analysis, the level of accurate, approximate, relative, and non-conformity of social labels of books available in the field of information science and bibliography of Kitabrah website with Persian subject headings was determined. The exact matching of subject headings with social tags averaged 22 items, the approximate matching of subject headings with social tags averaged 36 items, the relative matching of thematic headings with social tags averaged 36 social items, and the average matching titles did not match the title. The average is 116. According to the findings, the exact matching of subject headings with social labels is the lowest and the most inconsistent. This study showed that the average non-compliance of subject headings with social labels is even higher than the sum of the three types of exact, relative, and approximate matching. As a result, the relevance of thematic titles to social labels is low. Due to the fact that the subject headings are in the form of static text and users are not allowed to interact and insert new selected words and topics, and on the other hand, in websites based on Web 2 and based on the social classification system, this possibility is available for users. An important point of the present study and the studies that have matched the syntactic and semantic matching of social labels with thematic headings is that the degree of conformity of thematic headings with social labels is low. Therefore, these two methods can complement each other and create a hybrid cataloging that includes subject headings and social tags. The low level of conformity of thematic headings with social tags confirms the results of backgrounds and writings that have compared the social tags of books with the thematic headings of the Library of Congress. It is not enough to match social labels with thematic headings. It can be said that these two methods can be complementary.

Keywords: Web 2/0, social tags, subject headings, hybrid cataloging

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Authors: Lawal Kado

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This paper investigates the perceptions of academic staff at Umaru Musa Yar’adua University regarding the influences of librarians and working colleagues on the awareness and use of electronic databases. The study aims to provide insights into the effectiveness of these influences and suggest strategies to improve the usage of electronic databases. Research aim: The aim of this study is to determine the perceptions of academic staff on the influence of librarians and working colleagues towards the awareness and use of electronic databases in Umaru Musa Yar’adua University, Katsina. Methodology: The study adopts a quantitative method and survey research design. The survey questionnaire is distributed to 110 respondents selected through simple random sampling from a population of 523 academic staff. The collected data is analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23. Findings: The study reveals a high level of general awareness of electronic databases in the university, largely influenced by librarians and colleagues. Librarians have played a crucial role in making academic staff aware of the available databases. The sources of information for awareness include colleagues, social media, e-mails from the library, and internet searching. Theoretical importance: This study contributes to the literature by examining the perceptions of academic staff, which can inform policymakers and stakeholders in developing strategies to maximize the use of electronic databases. Data collection and analysis procedures: The data is collected through a survey questionnaire that utilizes the Likert scaling technique. The closed-ended questions are analyzed using SPSS 23. Question addressed: The paper addresses the question of how librarians and working colleagues influence the awareness and use of electronic databases among academic staff. Conclusion: The study concludes that the influence of librarians and working colleagues significantly contributes to the awareness and use of electronic databases among academic staff. The paper recommends the establishment of dedicated departments or units for marketing library resources to further promote the usage of electronic databases.

Keywords: awareness, electronic databases, academic staff, unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, social influence

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Authors: Frederico Fialho Teixeira, Islam Mashaly, Maryam Shafiei, Jurij Karlovsek

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The ubiquity of data gathering and smart technologies, advancements in virtual technologies, and the development of the internet of things (IoT) have created urgent demands for the development of frameworks and efficient workflows for data collection, visualisation, and analysis. Digital twin, in different scales of the city into the building, allows for bringing together data from different sources to generate fundamental and illuminating insights for the management of current facilities and the lifecycle of amenities as well as improvement of the performance of current and future designs. Over the past two decades, there has been growing interest in the topic of digital twin and their applications in city and building scales. Most such studies look at the urban environment through a homogeneous or generalist lens and lack specificity in particular characteristics or identities, which define an urban university campus. Bridging this knowledge gap, this paper offers a framework for developing a digital twin for a university campus that, with some modifications, could provide insights for any large-scale digital twin settings like towns and cities. It showcases how currently unused data could be purposefully combined, interpolated and visualised for producing analysis-ready data (such as flood or energy simulations or functional and occupancy maps), highlighting the potential applications of such a framework for campus planning and policymaking. The research integrates campus-level data layers into one spatial information repository and casts light on critical data clusters for the digital twin at the campus level. The paper also seeks to raise insightful and directive questions on how digital twin for campus can be extrapolated to city-scale digital twin. The outcomes of the paper, thus, inform future projects for the development of large-scale digital twin as well as urban and architectural researchers on potential applications of digital twin in future design, management, and sustainable planning, to predict problems, calculate risks, decrease management costs, and improve performance.

Keywords: digital twin, smart campus, framework, data collection, point cloud

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