Search results for: popular sectors
2401 Review in Role of Geotextile on Soil Improvement
Authors: Sandra Ghavam Shirazi, Mohsen Ramezan Shirazi, Mohammadreza Golhashem
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Nowadays by development of construction in modern world new techniques are introduced to civil engineering. As for geotechnical problems and demands of soil improvement, engineers are searching for decisive methods to ensure the safety of projects. As a popular material Geotextiles are used in almost every aspect of civil engineering. There is a vast variety of geotextiles and each kind has their own unique characteristics therefor to select the proper geotextile for a specific project their properties must be carefully examined. This review gathers and evaluates different parameters of geotextiles that are used in geotechnical field.Keywords: geotextile, soft soils, fabric, stabilization, fiber
Procedia PDF Downloads 4062400 Sports: A Vital Tool for Promotion of Good Health and Prevention of Diseases
Authors: Agburuga Obi, Madumere Akuego Jane
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This paper explores the important role sports can play in the promotion of good health and prevention of diseases. Technological advancements in today’s world has come along with some difficulties to man. This is because work formally done by man has been taken over by machines, thus, man has become sedentary. This has created a lot of health problems to man such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, obesity, and osteoporosis. To nip this ugly situation in the bud, the following recommendations are made: specific measures should be taken to raise the awareness within the government, key sectors and the population of the diverse benefits or physical activity and sports and the risk and costs of inactivity, provision of equipment, facilities for sports and recreational activities in every community, participation in physical activities in sports if not on daily basis at least thrice a week.Keywords: physical activities, sport, good health, prevention, diseases
Procedia PDF Downloads 7692399 Existing Situation on Labour Use, Health Management and Problems of Buffalo Farming in Thailand
Authors: Chonlawit Yuwajitaa, Suttipong Pruangkab
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Existing situation on labour use, health management and problems, and ancillary work done along with buffalo farming in Thailand was studied, There were 52 farms had been interviewed during August to September 2014. The study revealed that 100 percent of labor use was family labors themselves and all of farmers reared their buffaloes and grew rice simultaneously. The farmers valued veterinary service and advice as the most important problem (40.40%) and buffalo farming health problems was found 7.69% of dystocia, retain placenta and abortion. The major problem that should be taken into account was officials involved and buffalo farming should be continually promoted by government sectors to help solving economic problems as a whole.Keywords: buffalo, labor use, health management, Thailand
Procedia PDF Downloads 4602398 Winning Consumers and Influencing Them Using Social Media: A Cross Generational Impact Case Study
Authors: J. Garfield, B. O'Hare, V. Bell
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The use of social media is continuing to grow and is now widely used for product and service advertising. This research investigated the social media usage across all age ranges in the United Kingdom to determine the impact on purchasing habits. A questionnaire was distributed to people of different ages and with different experiences of social media usage. The results showed that Facebook continues to be the most popular social media network. Respondents in the younger age group were more likely to be influenced by brand marketing and advertising, but the study concluded that celebrity endorsements had little or no influence.Keywords: social media advertising, social networking sites, electronic word of mouth, celebrity endorsements
Procedia PDF Downloads 1302397 Implementation of Green Deal Policies and Targets in Energy System Optimization Models: The TEMOA-Europe Case
Authors: Daniele Lerede, Gianvito Colucci, Matteo Nicoli, Laura Savoldi
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The European Green Deal is the first internationally agreed set of measures to contrast climate change and environmental degradation. Besides the main target of reducing emissions by at least 55% by 2030, it sets the target of accompanying European countries through an energy transition to make the European Union into a modern, resource-efficient, and competitive net-zero emissions economy by 2050, decoupling growth from the use of resources and ensuring a fair adaptation of all social categories to the transformation process. While the general purpose to allow the realization of the purposes of the Green Deal already dates back to 2019, strategies and policies keep being developed coping with recent circumstances and achievements. However, general long-term measures like the Circular Economy Action Plan, the proposals to shift from fossil natural gas to renewable and low-carbon gases, in particular biomethane and hydrogen, and to end the sale of gasoline and diesel cars by 2035, will all have significant effects on energy supply and demand evolution across the next decades. The interactions between energy supply and demand over long-term time frames are usually assessed via energy system models to derive useful insights for policymaking and to address technological choices and research and development. TEMOA-Europe is a newly developed energy system optimization model instance based on the minimization of the total cost of the system under analysis, adopting a technologically integrated, detailed, and explicit formulation and considering the evolution of the system in partial equilibrium in competitive markets with perfect foresight. TEMOA-Europe is developed on the TEMOA platform, an open-source modeling framework totally implemented in Python, therefore ensuring third-party verification even on large and complex models. TEMOA-Europe is based on a single-region representation of the European Union and EFTA countries on a time scale between 2005 and 2100, relying on a set of assumptions for socio-economic developments based on projections by the International Energy Outlook and a large technological dataset including 7 sectors: the upstream and power sectors for the production of all energy commodities and the end-use sectors, including industry, transport, residential, commercial and agriculture. TEMOA-Europe also includes an updated hydrogen module considering its production, storage, transportation, and utilization. Besides, it can rely on a wide set of innovative technologies, ranging from nuclear fusion and electricity plants equipped with CCS in the power sector to electrolysis-based steel production processes and steel in the industrial sector – with a techno-economic characterization based on public literature – to produce insightful energy scenarios and especially to cope with the very long analyzed time scale. The aim of this work is to examine in detail the scheme of measures and policies for the realization of the purposes of the Green Deal and to transform them into a set of constraints and new socio-economic development pathways. Based on them, TEMOA-Europe will be used to produce and comparatively analyze scenarios to assess the consequences of Green Deal-related measures on the future evolution of the energy mix over the whole energy system in an economic optimization environment.Keywords: European Green Deal, energy system optimization modeling, scenario analysis, TEMOA-Europe
Procedia PDF Downloads 1052396 Evidence on the Nature and Extent of Fall in Oil Prices on the Financial Performance of Listed Companies: A Ratio Analysis Case Study of the Insurance Sector in the UAE
Authors: Pallavi Kishore, Mariam Aslam
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The sharp decline in oil prices that started in 2014 affected most economies in the world either positively or negatively. In some economies, particularly the oil exporting countries, the effects were felt immediately. The Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC henceforth) countries are oil and gas-dependent with the largest oil reserves in the world. UAE (United Arab Emirates) has been striving to diversify away from oil and expects higher non-oil growth in 2018. These two factors, falling oil prices and the economy strategizing away from oil dependence, make a compelling case to study the financial performance of various sectors in the economy. Among other sectors, the insurance sector is widely recognized as an important indicator of the health of the economy. An expanding population, surge in construction and infrastructure, increased life expectancy, greater expenditure on automobiles and other luxury goods translate to a booming insurance sector. A slow-down of the insurance sector, on the other hand, may indicate a general slow-down in the economy. Therefore, a study on the insurance sector will help understand the general nature of the current economy. This study involves calculations and comparisons of ratios pre and post the fall in oil prices in the insurance sector in the UAE. A sample of 33 companies listed on the official stock exchanges of UAE-Dubai Financial Market and Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange were collected and empirical analysis employed to study the financial performance pre and post fall in oil prices. Ratios were calculated in 5 categories: Profitability, Liquidity, Leverage, Efficiency, and Investment. The means pre- and post-fall are compared to conclude that the profitability ratios including ROSF (Return on Shareholder Funds), ROCE (Return on Capital Employed) and NPM (Net Profit Margin) have all taken a hit. Parametric tests, including paired t-test, concludes that while the fall in profitability ratios is statistically significant, the other ratios have been quite stable in the period. The efficiency, liquidity, gearing and investment ratios have not been severely affected by the fall in oil prices. This may be due to the implementation of stronger regulatory policies and is a testimony to the diversification into the non-oil economy. The regulatory authorities can use the findings of this study to ensure transparency in revealing financial information to the public and employ policies that will help further the health of the economy. The study will also help understand which areas within the sector could benefit from more regulations.Keywords: UAE, insurance sector, ratio analysis, oil price, profitability, liquidity, gearing, investment, efficiency
Procedia PDF Downloads 2442395 Internet as a Marketing Tool for Tourism Promotion
Authors: Emeka Okonkwo
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The Information Technology (IT) has prevailed over all functions of strategic and operational management. The Internet (a product of information technology) has increasingly become a popular medium for marketing. This paper examines the potentials of Internet for tourism marketing. To achieve this, the paper x-rays the characteristics of tourism marketing and examines the application of the Internet in tourism marketing. It is argued that the use of Internet for tourism marketing will not only reach a broad audience and reduce the cost of transaction (by conventional methods used by travel agents in times past), but, will also alleviate the problems of identification, authentication and confirmation of travels/package tours by tourists as well as promotion of tourism industry.Keywords: internet, marketing, tourism, tourism management
Procedia PDF Downloads 4182394 Different Methods of Fe3O4 Nano Particles Synthesis
Authors: Arezoo Hakimi, Afshin Farahbakhsh
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Herein, we comparison synthesized Fe3O4 using, hydrothermal method, Mechanochemical processes and solvent thermal method. The Hydrothermal Technique has been the most popular one, gathering interest from scientists and technologists of different disciplines, particularly in the last fifteen years. In the hydrothermal method Fe3O4 microspheres, in which many nearly monodisperse spherical particles with diameters of about 400nm, in the mechanochemical method regular morphology indicates that the particles are well crystallized and in the solvent thermal method Fe3O4 nanoparticles have good properties of uniform size and good dispersion.Keywords: Fe3O4 nanoparticles, hydrothermal method, mechanochemical processes, solvent thermal method
Procedia PDF Downloads 3512393 A Method of the Semantic on Image Auto-Annotation
Authors: Lin Huo, Xianwei Liu, Jingxiong Zhou
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Recently, due to the existence of semantic gap between image visual features and human concepts, the semantic of image auto-annotation has become an important topic. Firstly, by extract low-level visual features of the image, and the corresponding Hash method, mapping the feature into the corresponding Hash coding, eventually, transformed that into a group of binary string and store it, image auto-annotation by search is a popular method, we can use it to design and implement a method of image semantic auto-annotation. Finally, Through the test based on the Corel image set, and the results show that, this method is effective.Keywords: image auto-annotation, color correlograms, Hash code, image retrieval
Procedia PDF Downloads 4972392 Tourism Related Activities and Floating Garden in Inle Lake, Myanmar
Authors: Thel Phyu Phyu Soe
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Myanmar started its new political movement in 2011, opening up to trade, encouraging foreign investment, deepening its financial sectors. The tourism is one of the key sectors to make reform process from the perspective of green economy and green growth. The Inle Lake, second largest lake, famous for broad diversity of cultural and natural assets, become one of the country’s main tourism destination. In the study area, local livelihoods are based on a combination of farming (mainly floating garden) wage labor, tourism, and small business. But the Inle lake water body or water surface area decreased by 96.44 km² within 20 years, from 67.98 km² in 1990 to 56.63 km² in 2010. Floating garden cultivation (hydro phonic farm) is a distinguished characteristic of Inle Lake. Two adjacent villages (A and B) were selected to compare the relationship between tourism access and agricultural production. Ground truthing, focus group discussion, and in-depth questionnaires with floating gardeners were carried out. In A village, 57% of the respondents relied tourism as their major income sources, while almost all the households in B village relied floating gardens as major livelihood. Both satellite image interpretation and community studies highlighted that around 80% of the floating garden become fallow after severe drought in 2010 and easy income access to tourism related activities. The villagers can get 20-30 US$ for round trip guiding to major tourist attraction places.Even though tourism is the major livelihood options for the A village, the poorest households (less than 1500 US$ per year) are those who didn’t own transportation property for tourism related activities. In B village, more than 70% of the households relied floating gardens as their major income sources and less participated in tourism related activities because they don’t have motorboat stand connected to the major tourist attraction areas. Access to tourism related activities (having boat stand where they can guide tourists by boat and sell local products and souvenirs) have much impacted on changes in local people livelihood options. However, tourism may have impacts that are beneficial for one group of a society, but which are negative for another. Income inequality and negative impacts can only be managed effectively if they have been identified, measured and evaluated. The severe drought in 2010, instability of lake water level, high expenses for agriculture assisted the local people to participate in easy access tourism related activities.Keywords: diminishing, floating garden, livelihood, tourism-related income
Procedia PDF Downloads 1292391 Vocational and Technical Education in Nigeria: Issues and Challenges
Authors: Maikudi Umar
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This paper conceived Vocational and Technical Education as those aspects of educational process, in addition to general education leading to acquisition of practical skills, attitudes as well as basic scientific knowledge as it relates to occupations in various sectors of the economic and social life. The paper therefore viewed Vocational and Technical education as those aspects of educational training designed to provide the recipient with the skills abilities and understanding needed for efficient performance in chosen occupational carrier for self reliance. The paper also examined some major inhibitions to the attainment of self reliance through VTE. The paper also recommended a change of attitudes by governments in Nigeria by providing adequate equipment so as to meet up with the challenges.Keywords: vocational education, technical education, skills and self reliance, issues and challenges
Procedia PDF Downloads 4792390 Strategies to Achieve Deep Decarbonisation in Power Generation: A Review
Authors: Abdullah Alotaiq
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The transition to low-carbon power generation is essential for mitigating climate change and achieving sustainability. This process, however, entails considerable costs, and understanding the factors influencing these costs is critical. This is necessary to cater to the increasing demand for low-carbon electricity across the heating, industry, and transportation sectors. A crucial aspect of this transition is identifying cost-effective and feasible paths for decarbonization, which is integral to global climate mitigation efforts. It is concluded that hybrid solutions, combining different low-carbon technologies, are optimal for minimizing costs and enhancing flexibility. These solutions also address the challenges associated with phasing out existing fossil fuel-based power plants and broadening the spectrum of low-carbon power generation options.Keywords: review, power generation, energy transition, decarbonisation
Procedia PDF Downloads 542389 A Research Analysis on the Source Technology and Convergence Types
Authors: Kwounghee Choi
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Technological convergence between the various sectors is expected to have a very large impact on future industrial and economy. This study attempts to do empirical approach between specific technologies’ classification. For technological convergence classification, it is necessary to set the target technology to be analyzed. This study selected target technology from national research and development plan. At first we found a source technology for analysis. Depending on the weight of source technology, NT-based, BT-based, IT-based, ET-based, CS-based convergence types were classified. This study aims to empirically show the concept of convergence technology and convergence types. If we use the source technology to classify convergence type, it will be useful to make practical strategies of convergence technology.Keywords: technology convergence, source technology, convergence type, R&D strategy, technology classification
Procedia PDF Downloads 4852388 Strategies to Enhance Export Performance of Thai Furniture Industry
Authors: Khomsan Laosillapacharoen
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This research paper was aimed to analyze the current situation of the furniture industry and embark a plan to enhance the export volume of Thai furniture. This is a qualitative research which utilized meta-analysis and focus group. A total of 24 experts in both government and private sectors were interviewed. The findings revealed that Thai furniture had some advantages of access to raw material, high quality of labors, and have a unique skill. However, the threat included a tendency to have more foreign competitors in domestic market. In addition, the strategies to enhance the level of export included increase the standard quality of Thai furniture, offer new and modern designs, use marketing on the internet, use modern technology, and gain tax incentive from the government.Keywords: export, furniture, strategies, marketing
Procedia PDF Downloads 3992387 An Overview and Analysis of ChatGPT 3.5/4.0
Authors: Sarah Mohammed, Huda Allagany, Ayah Barakat, Muna Elyas
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This paper delves into the history and development of ChatGPT, tracing its evolution from its inception by OpenAI to its current state, and emphasizing its design improvements and strategic partnerships. It also explores the performance and applicability of ChatGPT versions 3.5 and 4 in various contexts, examining its capabilities and limitations in producing accurate and relevant responses. Utilizing a quantitative approach, user satisfaction, speed of response, learning capabilities, and overall utility in academic performance were assessed through surveys and analysis tools. Findings indicate that while ChatGPT generally delivers high accuracy and speed in responses, the need for clarification and more specific user instructions persists. The study highlights the tool's increasing integration across different sectors, showcasing its potential in educational and professional settings.Keywords: artificial intelligence, chat GPT, analysis, education
Procedia PDF Downloads 502386 Testing of Canadian Integrated Healthcare and Social Services Initiatives with an Evidence-Based Case Definition for Healthcare and Social Services Integrations
Authors: S. Cheng, C. Catallo
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Introduction: Canada's healthcare and social services systems are failing high risk, vulnerable older adults. Care for vulnerable older Canadians (65 and older) is not optimal in Canada. It does not address the care needs of vulnerable, high risk adults using a holistic approach. Given the growing aging population, and the care needs for seniors with complex conditions is one of the highest in Canada's health care system, there is a sense of urgency to optimize care. Integration of health and social services is an emerging trend in Canada when compared to European countries. There is no common and universal understanding of healthcare and social services integration within the country. Consequently, a clear understanding and definition of integrated health and social services are absent in Canada. Objectives: A study was undertaken to develop a case definition for integrated health and social care initiatives that serve older adults, which was then tested against three Canadian integrated initiatives. Methodology: A limited literature review was undertaken to identify common characteristics of integrated health and social care initiatives that serve older adults, and comprised both scientific and grey literature, in order to develop a case definition. Three Canadian integrated initiatives that are located in the province of Ontario, were identified using an online search and a screening process. They were surveyed to determine if the literature-based integration definition applied to them. Results: The literature showed that there were 24 common healthcare and social services integration characteristics that could be categorized into ten themes: 1) patient-care approach; 2) program goals; 3) measurement; 4) service and care quality; 5) accountability and responsibility; 6) information sharing; 7) Decision-making and problem-solving; 8) culture; 9) leadership; and 10) staff and professional interaction. The three initiatives showed agreement on all the integration characteristics except for those characteristics associated with healthcare and social care professional interaction, collaborative leadership and shared culture. This disagreement may be due to several reasons, including the existing governance divide between the healthcare and social services sectors within the province of Ontario that has created a ripple effect in how professions in the two different sectors interact. In addition, the three initiatives may be at maturing levels of integration, which may explain disagreement on the characteristics associated with leadership and culture. Conclusions: The development of a case definition for healthcare and social services integration that incorporates common integration characteristics can act as a useful instrument in identifying integrated healthcare and social services, particularly given the emerging and evolutionary state of this phenomenon within Canada.Keywords: Canada, case definition, healthcare and social services integration, integration, seniors health, services delivery
Procedia PDF Downloads 1552385 POP Music and Tai Chi – Movement and Stillness Intertwined in The Contemporary World
Authors: Patricia Portugal Marques de Carvalho Lourenço
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Pop Music embodies both the music that is popular with the audiences and the one that is widespread amongst the general public associated with a state of mind and rhythm. Tai Chi epitomises Yin and Yang, two interconnected opposite states of being. Undivided, they are one, a neutral state of consciousness that does not swing to either pole. It remains constant and even minded. Sound flows and vibrations cause movement, a physical response to the tempo. When an excessive movement is reached leads to stillness therefore, extreme Yang leads to Yin. Pop Music and Tai Chi are comparable to state of inner being versus a state of outer being, emotional control versus emotional expression, stillness, and movement; opposites that are independent of one another yet interdependent concepts in motion.Keywords: Pop music, C-Pop, Tai Chi, Ba Gua, communication, entertainment education
Procedia PDF Downloads 2382384 Application of Modulo-2 Arithmetic in Securing Communicated Messages throughout the Globe
Authors: Ejd Garba, Okike Benjamin
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Today, the word encryption has become very popular even among non-computer professionals. There is no doubt that some works have been carried out in this area, but more works need to be done. Presently, most of the works on encryption is concentrated on the sender of the message without paying any attention to the message recipient. However, it is a good practice if any message sent to someone is received by the particular person whom the message is sent to. This work seeks to ensure that at the receiving end of the message, there is a security to ensure that the recipient computes a key that would enable the encrypted message to be accessed. This key would be in form of password. This would make it possible for a given message to be sent to several people at the same time. When this happens, it is only those people who computes the key correctly that would be given the opportunity to access even the encrypted message, which can in turn be decrypted using the appropriate key.Keywords: arithmetic, cyber space, modulo-2, information security
Procedia PDF Downloads 3202383 Integrating Inference, Simulation and Deduction in Molecular Domain Analysis and Synthesis with Peculiar Attention to Drug Discovery
Authors: Diego Liberati
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Standard molecular modeling is traditionally done through Schroedinger equations via the help of powerful tools helping to manage them atom by atom, often needing High Performance Computing. Here, a full portfolio of new tools, conjugating statistical inference in the so called eXplainable Artificial Intelligence framework (in the form of Machine Learning of understandable rules) to the more traditional modeling and simulation control theory of mixed dynamic logic hybrid processes, is offered as quite a general purpose even if making an example to a popular chemical physics set of problems.Keywords: understandable rules ML, k-means, PCA, PieceWise Affine Auto Regression with eXogenous input
Procedia PDF Downloads 292382 Wireless Network and Its Application
Authors: Henok Mezemr Besfat, Haftom Gebreslassie Gebregwergs
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wireless network is one of the most important mediums of transmission of information from one device to another devices. Wireless communication has a broad range of applications, including mobile communications through cell phones and satellites, Internet of Things (IoT) connecting several devices, wireless sensor networks for traffic management and environmental monitoring, satellite communication for weather forecasting and TV without requiring any cable or wire or other electronic conductors, by using electromagnetic waves like IR, RF, satellite, etc. This paper summarizes different wireless network technologies, applications of different wireless technologies and different types of wireless networks. Generally, wireless technology will further enhance operations and experiences across sectors with continued innovation. This paper suggests different strategies that can improve wireless networks and technologies.Keywords: wireless senser, wireless technology, wireless network, internet of things
Procedia PDF Downloads 522381 The Importance of Value Added Services Provided by Science and Technology Parks to Boost Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in Turkey
Authors: Faruk Inaltekin, Imran Gurakan
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This paper will aim to discuss the importance of value-added services provided by Science and Technology Parks for entrepreneurship development in Turkey. Entrepreneurship is vital subject for all countries. It has not only fostered economic development but also promoted innovation at local and international levels. To foster high tech entrepreneurship ecosystem, Technopark (Science and Technology Park/STP) concept was initiated with the establishment of Silicon Valley in the 1950s. The success and rise of Silicon Valley led to the spread of technopark activities. Developed economies have been setting up projects to plan and build STPs since the 1960s and 1970s. To promote the establishment of STPs, necessary legislations were made by Ministry of Science, Industry, and Technology in 2001, Technology Development Zones Law (No. 4691) and it has been revised in 2016 to provide more supports. STPs’ basic aim is to provide customers high-quality office spaces with various 'value added services' such as business development, network connections, cooperation programs, investor/customers meetings and internationalization services. For this aim, STPs should help startups deal with difficulties in the early stages and to support mature companies’ export activities in the foreign market. STPs should support the production, commercialization and more significantly internationalization of technology-intensive business and foster growth of companies. Nowadays within this value-added services, internationalization is very popular subject in the world. Most of STPs design clusters or accelerator programs in order to support their companies in the foreign market penetration. If startups are not ready for international competition, STPs should help them to get ready for foreign market with training and mentoring sessions. These training and mentoring sessions should take a goal based approach to working with companies. Each company has different needs and goals. Therefore the definition of ‘success' varies for each company. For this reason, it is very important to create customized value added services to meet the needs of startups. After local supports, STPs should also be able to support their startups in foreign market. Organizing well defined international accelerator program plays an important role in this mission. Turkey is strategically placed between key markets in Europe, Russia, Central Asia and the Middle East. Its population is young and well educated. So both government agencies and the private sectors endeavor to foster and encourage entrepreneurship ecosystem with many supports. In sum, the task of technoparks with these and similar value added services is very important for developing entrepreneurship ecosystem. The priorities of all value added services are to identify the commercialization and growth obstacles faced by entrepreneurs and get rid of them with the one-to-one customized services. Also, in order to have a healthy startup ecosystem and create sustainable entrepreneurship, stakeholders (technoparks, incubators, accelerators, investors, universities, governmental organizations etc.) should fulfill their roles and/or duties and collaborate with each other. STPs play an important role as bridge for these stakeholders & entrepreneurs. STPs always should benchmark and renew services offered to how to help the start-ups to survive, develop their business and benefit from these stakeholders.Keywords: accelerator, cluster, entrepreneurship, startup, technopark, value added services
Procedia PDF Downloads 1432380 Augmented Reality in Teaching Children with Autism
Authors: Azadeh Afrasyabi, Ali Khaleghi, Aliakbar Alijarahi
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Training at an early age is so important, because of tremendous changes in adolescence, including the formation of character, physical changes and other factors. One of the most sensitive sectors in this field is the children with a disability and are somehow special children who have trouble in communicating with their environment. One of the emerging technologies in the field of education that can be effectively profitable called augmented reality, where the combination of real world and virtual images in real time produces new concepts that can facilitate learning. The purpose of this paper is to propose an effective training method for special and disabled children based on augmented reality. Of course, in particular, the efficiency of augmented reality in teaching children with autism will consider, also examine the various aspect of this disease and different learning methods in this area.Keywords: technology in education, augmented reality, special education, teaching methods
Procedia PDF Downloads 3702379 Impact of Graduates’ Quality of Education and Research on ICT Adoption at Workplace
Authors: Mohammed Kafaji
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This paper aims to investigate the influence of quality of education and quality of research, provided by local educational institutions, on the adoption of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in managing business operations for companies in Saudi market. A model was developed and tested using data collected from 138 CEO’s of foreign companies in diverse business sectors. The data is analysed and managed using multivariate approaches through standard statistical packages. The results showed that educational quality has little contribution to the ICT adoption while research quality seems to play a more prominent role. These results are analysed in terms of business environment and market constraints and further extended to the perceived effectiveness of applied pedagogical approaches in schools and universities.Keywords: quality of education, quality of research, mediation, domestic competition, ICT adoption
Procedia PDF Downloads 4562378 Designing a Socio-Technical System for Groundwater Resources Management, Applying Smart Energy and Water Meter
Authors: S. Mahdi Sadatmansouri, Maryam Khalili
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World, nowadays, encounters serious water scarcity problem. During the past few years, by advent of Smart Energy and Water Meter (SEWM) and its installation at the electro-pumps of the water wells, one had believed that it could be the golden key to address the groundwater resources over-pumping issue. In fact, implementation of these Smart Meters managed to control the water table drawdown for short; but it was not a sustainable approach. SEWM has been considered as law enforcement facility at first; however, for solving a complex socioeconomic problem like shared groundwater resources management, more than just enforcement is required: participation to conserve common resources. The well owners or farmers, as water consumers, are the main and direct stakeholders of this system and other stakeholders could be government sectors, investors, technology providers, privet sectors or ordinary people. Designing a socio-technical system not only defines the role of each stakeholder but also can lubricate the communication to reach the system goals while benefits of each are considered and provided. Farmers, as the key participators for solving groundwater problem, do not trust governments but they would trust a fair system in which responsibilities, privileges and benefits are clear. Technology could help this system remained impartial and productive. Social aspects provide rules, regulations, social objects and etc. for the system and help it to be more human-centered. As the design methodology, Design Thinking provides probable solutions for the challenging problems and ongoing conflicts; it could enlighten the way in which the final system could be designed. Using Human Centered Design approach of IDEO helps to keep farmers in the center of the solution and provides a vision by which stakeholders’ requirements and needs are addressed effectively. Farmers would be considered to trust the system and participate in their groundwater resources management if they find the rules and tools of the system fair and effective. Besides, implementation of the socio-technical system could change farmers’ behavior in order that they concern more about their valuable shared water resources as well as their farm profit. This socio-technical system contains nine main subsystems: 1) Measurement and Monitoring system, 2) Legislation and Governmental system, 3) Information Sharing system, 4) Knowledge based NGOs, 5) Integrated Farm Management system (using IoT), 6) Water Market and Water Banking system, 7) Gamification, 8) Agribusiness ecosystem, 9) Investment system.Keywords: human centered design, participatory management, smart energy and water meter (SEWM), social object, socio-technical system, water table drawdown
Procedia PDF Downloads 2942377 Impact of Sensory Marketing on Consumer Consumption Behaviour in the Hotel Spa Industry
Authors: Li (Claudia) Chen
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With the rapid development of the global economy, the growing prevalence of customer health consciousness has arisen over the last decade. Consumers are considered more healthy lifestyles and wellness routines in their daily life, and likewise, they are inclined to invest disposable incomes in enhancing their health and wellness, beauty, and social identity. Nowadays, visiting spas has become a popular activity; particularly, millennials are increasingly prone to visiting spas. It has now become one of the major places for relaxation, rejuvenation, revitalization, and enjoyment by providing various types of spa services such as hotel and resort spas, destination spas, mineral, and thermal spring spas, medical spas, and so forth. The hotel and resort spa has been becoming increasingly popular among other spas, which is the largest number of spas and revenue over the last five years, and has now surpassed day/salon spas as the industry revenue leader. In the hotel and resort spa industry, sensory experience plays a vital role in the customer journey, and it encompasses all aspects of the sense that can affect the overall experience. Consumers use senses-sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste to gather the information that contributes to the establishment of an experience, and all senses interacting together form the foundation of sensory experiences. Sensory marketing as a marketing strategy engages consumers' senses and affects their behaviour, yet consumers are often unaware of the way senses interact with their day-to-day experiences. Indeed, it is important to understand consumer sensory experience in terms of how it influences consumer consumption behaviour. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the sensory experiences of consumers and the ways that sensory experiences shape consumer behaviour in the hotel and resort spa industry. This paper consists of in-depth interviews, focus groups, and participant-observation methods to collect data from different stakeholders. The findings reveal that multisensory experiences play vital roles in consumer spa experiences and are highly influential in consumer perception, cognition, and behaviour. Moreover, the findings also demonstrate that sensory stimuli bring positive or negative effects on consumer experience in the hotel spa industry. Ultimately, the findings also offer additional insight to managers on sensory marketing strategy to stimulate brand experience that can establish customer loyalty.Keywords: sensory marketing, senses, consumer behaviour, multi-sensory marketing, hotel and resorts spa industry, qualitative research
Procedia PDF Downloads 812376 An Implementation Direct Torque Control Strategy of Induction Machine Using DSPACE TMS 320F2812
Authors: Hamid Chaikhy, Mouna Essaadi, Aziz El Afia
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This paper presents an experimental implementation of a new direct torque control strategy of induction machine called twelve sectors direct torque control strategy (12_DTC) using DSPACE TMS 320F2812.The aim of this work is to give an experimental performance analysis of 12_DTC in term of torque, currents distortions and stator flux, to validate simulation results obtained in previous works.Keywords: 12_DTC, DSPACE TMS 320F2812 torque, stator flux, currents distortions, experimental performance analysis
Procedia PDF Downloads 3932375 Towards Achieving Energy Efficiency in Kazakhstan
Authors: Aigerim Uyzbayeva, Valeriya Tyo, Nurlan Ibrayev
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Kazakhstan is currently one of the dynamically developing states in its region. The stable growth in all sectors of the economy leads to a corresponding increase in energy consumption. Thus, country consumes a significant amount of energy due to the high level of industralisation and the presence of energy-intensive manufacturing such as mining and metallurgy which in turn leads to low energy efficiency. With allowance for this the Government has set several priorities to adopt a transition of Republic of Kazakhstan to a “green economy”. This article provides an overview of Kazakhstan’s energy efficiency situation in for the period of 1991-2014. First, the dynamics of production and consumption of conventional energy resources are given. Second, the potential of renewable energy sources is summarised, followed by the description of GHG emissions trends in the country. Third, Kazakhstan’ national initiatives, policies and locally implemented projects in the field of energy efficiency are described.Keywords: energy efficiency in Kazakhstan, greenhouse gases, renewable energy, sustainable development
Procedia PDF Downloads 5802374 Effect of Adjacent Footings on Elastic Settlement of Shallow Foundations
Authors: Mustafa Aytekin
Abstract:
In this study, impact of adjacent footings is considered on the estimation of elastic settlement of shallow foundations. In the estimation of elastic settlement, the Schmertmann’s method that is a very popular method in the elastic settlement estimation of shallow foundations is employed. In order to consider affect of neighboring footings on elastic settlement of main footing in different configurations, a MATLAB script has been generated. Elastic settlements of the various configurations are estimated by the script and several conclusions have been reached.Keywords: elastic (immediate) settlement, Schmertman Method, adjacent footings, shallow foundations
Procedia PDF Downloads 4672373 The Interaction and Relations Between Civil and Military Logistics
Authors: Cumhur Cansever, Selcuk Er
Abstract:
There is an increasing cooperation and interaction between the military logistic systems and civil organizations operating in today's market. While the scope and functions of civilian logistics have different characteristics, military logistics tries to import some applications that are conducted by private sectors successfully. Also, at this point, the determination of the optimal point of integration and interaction between civilian and military logistics has emerged as a key issue. In this study, the mutual effects between military and civilian logistics and their most common integration areas, (Supply Chain Management (SCM), Integrated Logistics Support (ILS) and Outsourcing) will be examined with risk analysis and determination of basic skills evaluation methods for determining the optimum point in the integration.Keywords: core competency, integrated logistics support, outsourcing, supply chain management
Procedia PDF Downloads 5272372 Understanding How Democratic Governance Influence Resource Allocation and Utilisation in Economies in Transition: The Case of Cameroon
Authors: Terence Maisah Seka
Abstract:
This paper examines democratic governance within the private and public sectors in economies in transition (Cameroon) by exploring how they influence development in terms of resource allocation to priorities that are locally conceptualized. The benefit of this is an improvement in indigenous and the quality of life for the local population. Using an ethnographic approach, this paper suggests that institutional corruption and state bureaucracy has limited the impact of democratic governance in influencing development. This has seen funds for developments being embezzled; local projects are not being done to satisfaction among others. The paper contributes by proposing measures to eliminate corruption to improve democratic governance, which will improve resource allocation and utilization.Keywords: democratic governance, resource allocation, utilisation, Cameroon
Procedia PDF Downloads 188