Search results for: supply chain innovation

Authors: Daniel J. Patricio Jiménez

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The term 'total compensation’ refers to salary, training, innovation, and development, and of course, motivation; total compensation is an open and flexible system which must facilitate personal and family conciliation and therefore cannot be isolated from social reality. Today, the challenge for any company that wants to have a future is to be sustainable, and women play a ‘special’ role in this. Spain, in its statutory and conventional development, has not given sufficient response to new phenomena such as ‘bonuses’, ‘stock options’ or ‘fringe benefits’ (constructed dogmatically and by court decisions), the new digital reality, where cryptocurrency, new collaborative models and service provision -such as remote work-, are always ahead of the law. To talk about compensation is to talk about the gender gap, and with the entry into force of RD.902 /2020 on 14 April 2021, certain measures are necessary under the principle of salary transparency; the valuation of jobs, the pay register (Rd. 6/2019) and the pay audit, are an example of this. Analyzing the methodologies, and in particular the determination and weight of the factors -so that the system itself is not discriminatory- is essential. The wage gap in Spain is smaller than in Europe, but the sources do not reflect the reality, and since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been a clear stagnation. A living wage is not the minimum wage; it is identified with rights and needs; it is that which, based on internal equity, reflects the competitiveness of the company in terms of human capital. Spain has lost and has not recovered the relative weight of its wages; this is having a direct impact on our competitiveness, consequently on the precariousness of employment and undoubtedly on the levels of extreme poverty. Training is becoming more than ever a strategic factor; the new digital reality requires that each component of the system is connected, the transversality is imposed on us, this forces us to redefine content, to give answers to the new demands that the new normality requires because technology and robotization are changing the concept of employability. The presence of women in this context is necessary, and there is a long way to go. The so-called emotional compensation becomes particularly relevant at a time when pandemics, silence, and disruption, are leaving after-effects; technostress (in all its manifestations) is just one of them. Talking about motivation today makes no sense without first being aware that mental health is a priority, that it must be treated and communicated in an inclusive way because it increases satisfaction, productivity, and engagement. There is a clear conclusion to all this: compensation systems do not respond to the ‘new normality’: diversity, and in particular women, cannot be invisible in human resources policies if the company wants to be sustainable.

Keywords: diversity, gender gap, human resources, sustainability.

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Authors: Kalyan Sundar Som, Ghanshyam Prasad Jhariya

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Population growth is an important pervasive phenomenon in the world. Its survival depends upon many daily needs and food is one of them. Population factors play a decisive role in the human endeavor to attain food. Nutrition and health status compose integral part of human development and progress of a society. Therefore, the neglect any one of these components may leads to the deterioration of the quality of life. Food is also intimately related with economic growth and social progress as well as with political stability and peace. It refers to the availability of food and its access to it. It can be observed from global to local level. Food scarcity has emerged as a matter of great concern all over the world due to uncontrolled and unregulated growth of population .For this purpose this study try to find out the deficit or surplus production of food availability in terms of their total population in the study area. It also ascertains the population pressure, demand and supply of food stuff and demarcation of insecure areas.The data base of the study under discussion includes government published data regarding agriculture production, yield and cropped area in 2005-06 to 2011-12 available at commissioner land record Madhya Pradesh, Gwalior. It also includes the census of India for population data. For measuring food security or insecurity regions is based on the consumption of net food available in terms caloric value minus the consumption by the weighted total population. This approach has been adopted because the direct estimate of production and consumption is the only reliable way to ascertain food security in a unit area and to compare one area with another (Noor Mohammad, dec. 2002). The scenario in 2005-06 is 57.78 percent district has food insufficient in terms of their population. On the other hand after 5 years, there are only 22 % districts are deficit in term of food availability where Burhanpur is the most deficit (56 percent) district. While 20% district are highly surplus district in the state where Harda and Hoshangabad districts are very high surplus district (5 times and 3.95 times) in term of food availability(2011). The drastic change (agriculture transformation) is happen due government good intervention in the agricultural sector.

Keywords: agriculture transformation, caloric value method, deficit or surplus region, population pressure

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Authors: Guanyu Jiang, Donghai Xu, Huanteng Liu

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After the Fukushima-Daiichi accident, the development of accident tolerant fuel cladding materials to improve reactor safety has become a hot topic in the field of nuclear industry. ZrO₂ has a satisfactory neutron economy and can guarantee the fission chain reaction process, which enables it to be a promising coating for zirconium alloy cladding. Maintaining a good corrosion resistance in primary coolant loop during normal operations of Pressurized Water Reactors is a prerequisite for ZrO₂ as a protective coating on zirconium alloy cladding. Research on the corrosion performance of ZrO₂ coating in nuclear water chemistry is relatively scarce, and existing reports failed to provide an in-depth explanation for the failure causes of ZrO₂ coating. Herein, a detailed corrosion process of ZrO₂ coating in lithiated water at 360 °C and 18.5 MPa was proposed based on experimental research and molecular dynamics simulation. Lithiated water with different LiOH solutions in the present work was deaerated and had a dissolved oxygen concentration of < 10 ppb. The concentration of Li (as LiOH) was determined to be 2.3 ppm, 70 ppm, and 500 ppm, respectively. Corrosion tests were conducted in a static autoclave. Modeling and corresponding calculations were operated on Materials Studio software. The calculation of adsorption energy and dynamics parameters were undertaken by the Energy task and Dynamics task of the Forcite module, respectively. The protective effect and failure mechanism of ZrO₂ coating on Zry-4 under varied LiOH concentrations was further revealed by comparison with the coating corrosion performance in pure water (namely 0 ppm Li). ZrO₂ coating provided a favorable corrosion protection with the occurrence of localized corrosion at low LiOH concentrations. Factors influencing corrosion resistance mainly include pitting corrosion extension, enhanced Li+ permeation, short-circuit diffusion of O²⁻ and ZrO₂ phase transformation. In highly-concentrated LiOH solutions, intergranular corrosion, internal oxidation, and perforation resulted in coating failure. Zr ions were released to coating surface to form flocculent ZrO₂ and ZrO₂ clusters due to the strong diffusion and dissolution tendency of α-Zr in the Zry-4 substrate. Considering that primary water of Pressurized Water Reactors usually includes 2.3 ppm Li, the stability of ZrO₂ make itself a candidate fuel cladding coating material. Under unfavorable conditions with high Li concentrations, more boric acid should be added to alleviate caustic corrosion of ZrO₂ coating once it is used. This work can provide some references to understand the service behavior of nuclear coatings under variable water chemistry conditions and promote the in-pile application of ZrO₂ coating.

Keywords: ZrO₂ coating, Zry-4, corrosion behavior, failure mechanism, LiOH concentration

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Authors: Markus Bredel, Sindhu Nair, Hoa Q. Trummell, Rajani Rajbhandari, Christopher D. Willey, Lewis Z. Shi, Zhuo Zhang, William J. Placzek, James A. Bonner

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Purpose: EGFR-targeted monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) provide clinical benefit in some patients with H&N squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), but others progress with minimal response. Missense mutations in the EGFR ectodomain (ECD) can be acquired under mAb therapy by mimicking the effect of large deletions on receptor untethering and activation. Little is known about the contribution of EGFR ECD mutations to EGFR activation and anti-EGFR response in HNSCC. Methods: We selected patient-derived HNSCC cells (UM-SCC-1) for resistance to mAb Cetuximab (CTX) by repeated, stepwise exposure to mimic what may occur clinically and identified two concurrent EGFR ECD mutations (UM-SCC-1R). We examined the competence of the mutants to bind EGF ligand or CTX. We assessed the potential impact of the mutations through visual analysis of space-filling models of the native sidechains in the original structures vs. their respective side-chain mutations. We performed CRISPR in combination with site-directed mutagenesis to test for the effect of the mutants on ligand-independent EGFR activation and sorting. We determined the effects on receptor internalization, endocytosis, downstream signaling, and radiation sensitivity. Results: UM-SCC-1R cells carried two non-synonymous missense mutations (G33S and N56K) mapping to domain I in or near the EGF binding pocket of the EGFR ECD. Structural modeling predicted that these mutants restrict the adoption of a tethered, inactive EGFR conformation while not permitting association of EGFR with the EGF ligand or CTX. Binding studies confirmed that the mutant, untethered receptor displayed a reduced affinity for both EGF and CTX but demonstrated sustained activation and presence at the cell surface with diminished internalization and sorting for endosomal degradation. Single and double-mutant models demonstrated that the G33S mutant is dominant over the N56K mutant in its effect on EGFR activation and EGF binding. CTX-resistant UM-SCC-1R cells demonstrated cross-resistance to mAb Panitumuab but, paradoxically, remained sensitive to the reversible receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor Erlotinib. Conclusions: HNSCC cells can select for EGFR ECD mutations under EGFR mAb exposure that converge to trap the receptor in an open, constitutively activated state. These mutants impede the receptor’s competence to bind mAbs and EGF ligand and alter its endosomal trafficking, possibly explaining certain cases of clinical mAb and radiation resistance.

Keywords: head and neck cancer, EGFR mutation, resistance, cetuximab

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Authors: Robin Turner

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In the context of the strengthening conservative movements such as “Brexit” and the election of US President Donald Trump, the global political stage was shaken up by the election of Emmanuel Macron to the French presidency, defeating the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen. The election itself was a first for the Fifth Republic in which neither final candidate was from the traditional two major political parties: the left Parti Socialiste (PS) and the right Les Républicains (LR). Macron, who served as the Minister of Finance under his predecessor, founded the centrist liberal political party En Marche! in April 2016 before resigning from his post in August to launch his bid for the presidency. Between the time of the party’s creation to the first round of elections a year later, Emmanuel Macron and En Marche! had garnered enough support to make it to the run-off election, finishing far ahead of many seasoned national political figures. Now months into his presidency, the youngest President of the Republic shows no sign of losing fuel anytime soon. His unprecedented success raises a lot of questions with respect to international relations, economics, and the evolving relationship between the French government and its citizens. The effectiveness of Macron’s campaign, of course, relies on many factors, one of which is his manner of communicating his platform to French voters. Using data from oral discourse and primary material from Macron and En Marche! in sources such as party publications and Twitter, the study categorizes linguistic instruments – address, lexicon, tone, register, and syntax – to identify prevailing patterns of speech and communication. The linguistic analysis in this project is two-fold. In addition to these findings’ stand-alone value, these discourse patterns are contextualized by comparable discourse of other 2017 presidential candidates with high emphasis on that of Marine Le Pen. Secondly, to provide an alternative approach, the study contextualizes Macron’s discourse using those of two immediate predecessors representing the traditional stronghold political parties, François Hollande (PS) and Nicolas Sarkozy (LR). These comparative methods produce an analysis that gives insight to not only a contributing factor to Macron’s successful 2017 campaign but also provides insight into how Macron’s platform presents itself differently to previous presidential platforms. Furthermore, this study extends analysis to supply data that contributes to a wider analysis of the defeat of “traditional” French political parties by the “start-up” movement En Marche!.

Keywords: Emmanuel Macron, French, discourse analysis, political discourse

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Authors: Joanna Błach, Anna Doś, Maria Gorczyńska, Monika Wieczorek-Kosmala

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Financial innovations can be regarded as the cause and the effect of the evolution of the financial system. Most of financial innovations are created by various financial institutions for their own purposes and needs. However, due to their diversity, financial innovations can be also applied by various business entities (other than financial institutions). This paper focuses on the potential application of financial innovations by non-financial companies. It is assumed that financial innovations may be effectively applied in all fields of corporate financial decisions integrating financial management with the risk management process. Appropriate application of financial innovations may enhance the development of the company and increase its value by improving its financial situation and reducing the level of risk. On the other hand, misused financial innovations may become the source of extra risk for the company threatening its further operation. The main objective of the paper is to identify the major types of financial innovations offered to non-financial companies by the banking system in Poland. It also aims at identifying the main factors determining the creation of financial innovations in the banking system in Poland and indicating future directions of their development. This paper consists of conceptual and empirical part. Conceptual part based on theoretical study is focused on the determinants of the process of financial innovations and their application by the non-financial companies. Theoretical study is followed by the empirical research based on the analysis of the actual offer of the 20 biggest banks operating in Poland with regard to financial innovations offered to SMEs and large corporations. These innovations are classified according to the main functions of the integrated financial management, such as: Financing, investment, working capital management and risk management. Empirical study has proved that the biggest banks operating in the Polish market offer to their business customers many types and classes of financial innovations. This offer appears vast and adequate to the needs and purposes of the Polish non-financial companies. It was observed that financial innovations pertained to financing decisions dominate in the banks’ offer. However, due to high diversification of the offered financial innovations, business customers may effectively apply them in all fields and areas of integrated financial management. It should be underlined, that the banks’ offer is highly dispersed, which may limit the implementation of financial innovations in the corporate finance. It would be also recommended for the banks operating in the Polish market to intensify the education campaign aiming at increasing knowledge about financial innovations among business customers.

Keywords: banking products and services, banking sector in Poland, corporate financial management, financial innovations, theory of innovation

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Authors: Yakup Ulusu, Numan Eczacıoğlu, İsa Gökçe, Helen Waller, Jeremy H. Lakey

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Besides having the appropriate amino acid sequence to perform the function of proteins, it is important to have correct conformation after this sequence to process. To consist of this conformation depends on the amino acid sequence at the primary structure, hydrophobic interaction, chaperones and enzymes in charge of folding etc. Misfolded proteins are not functional and tend to be aggregated. Cysteine originating disulfide cross-links make stable this conformation of functional proteins. When two of the cysteine amino acids come side by side, disulfide bond is established that forms a cystine bridge. Due to this feature cysteine plays an important role on the formation of three-dimensional structure of many proteins. There are two cysteine amino acids (C44, C69) in the Tol-A-III protein. Unlike protein disulfide bonds from within his own, any non-specific cystine bridge causes a change in the three dimensional structure of the protein. Proteins can be expressed in various host cells as directly or fusion (chimeric). As a result of overproduction of the recombinant proteins, aggregation of insoluble proteins in the host cell can occur by forming a crystal structure called inclusion body. In general fusion proteins are produced for provide affinity tags to make proteins more soluble and production of some toxic proteins via fusion protein expression system like pTolT. Proteins can be modified by using a site-directed mutagenesis. By this way, creation of non-specific disulfide crosslinks can be prevented at fusion protein expression system via the present cysteine replaced by another amino acid such as serine, glycine or etc. To do this, we need; a DNA molecule that contains the gene that encodes for the target protein, required primers for mutation to be designed according to site directed mutagenesis reaction. This study was aimed to be replaced cysteine encoding codon TGT with serine encoding codon AGT. For this sense and reverse primers designed (given below) and used site-directed mutagenesis reaction. Several new copy of the template plasmid DNA has been formed with above mentioned mutagenic primers via polymerase chain reaction (PCR). PCR product consists of both the master template DNA (wild type) and the new DNA sequences containing mutations. Dpn-l endonuclease restriction enzyme which is specific for methylated DNA and cuts them to the elimination of the master template DNA. E. coli cells obtained after transformation were incubated LB medium with antibiotic. After purification of plasmid DNA from E. coli, the presence of the mutation was determined by DNA sequence analysis. Developed this new plasmid is called PtolT-δ.

Keywords: site directed mutagenesis, Escherichia coli, pTolT, protein expression

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Authors: C. J. Tien, C. S. Chen, S. F. Huang, Z. X. Wang

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Algae in soil ecosystems can produce organic matters and oxygen by photosynthesis. Heterocyst-forming cyanobacteria can fix nitrogen to increase soil nitrogen contents. Secretion of mucilage by some algae increases the soil water content and soil aggregation. These actions will improve soil quality and fertility, and further increase abundance and diversity of soil microorganisms. In addition, some mixotrophic and heterotrophic algae are able to degrade petroleum hydrocarbons. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to analyze the effects of algal addition on the degradation of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH), diversity and activity of bacteria and algae in the diesel-contaminated soil under different nutrient contents and frequency of plowing and irrigation in order to assess the potential bioremediation technique using edaphic algae. The known amount of diesel was added into the farmland soil. This diesel-contaminated soil was subject to five settings, experiment-1 with algal addition by plowing and irrigation every two weeks, experiment-2 with algal addition by plowing and irrigation every four weeks, experiment-3 with algal and nutrient addition by plowing and irrigation every two weeks, experiment-4 with algal and nutrient addition by plowing and irrigation every four weeks, and the control without algal addition. Soil samples were taken every two weeks to analyze TPH concentrations, diversity of bacteria and algae, and catabolic genes encoding functional degrading enzymes. The results show that the TPH removal rates of five settings after the two-month experimental period were in the order: experiment-2 > expermient-4 > experiment-3 > experiment-1 > control. It indicated that algal addition enhanced the degradation of TPH in the diesel-contaminated soil, but not for nutrient addition. Plowing and irrigation every four weeks resulted in more TPH removal than that every two weeks. The banding patterns of denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) revealed an increase in diversity of bacteria and algae after algal addition. Three petroleum hydrocarbon-degrading algae (Anabaena sp., Oscillatoria sp. and Nostoc sp.) and two added algal strains (Leptolyngbya sp. and Synechococcus sp.) were sequenced from DGGE prominent bands. The four hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria Gordonia sp., Mycobacterium sp., Rodococcus sp. and Alcanivorax sp. were abundant in the treated soils. These results suggested that growth of indigenous bacteria and algae were improved after adding edaphic algae. Real-time polymerase chain reaction results showed that relative amounts of four catabolic genes encoding catechol 2, 3-dioxygenase, toluene monooxygenase, xylene monooxygenase and phenol monooxygenase were appeared and expressed in the treated soil. The addition of algae increased the expression of these genes at the end of experiments to biodegrade petroleum hydrocarbons. This study demonstrated that edaphic algae were suitable biomaterials for bioremediating diesel-contaminated soils with plowing and irrigation every four weeks.

Keywords: catabolic gene, diesel, diversity, edaphic algae

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Authors: Jingyi Li, Laurence Stamford, Alejandro Gallego-Schmid

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Renewable electricity has become an indispensable contributor to achieving net-zero by the mid-century to tackle climate change. Unlike solar, wind, or hydro, geothermal was stagnant in its electricity production development for decades. However, with the significant breakthrough made in recent years, especially the implementation of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) in various regions globally, geothermal electricity could play a pivotal role in alleviating greenhouse gas emissions. Life cycle assessment has been applied to analyze specific geothermal power generation technologies, which proposed suggestions to optimize its environmental performance. For instance, selecting a high heat gradient region enables a higher flow rate from the production well and extends the technical lifespan. Although such process-level improvements have been made, the significance of geothermal power generation technologies so far has not explicitly displayed its competitiveness on a broader horizon. Therefore, this review-based study integrates a circular economy framework into life cycle assessment, clarifying the underlying added values for geothermal power plants to complete the sustainability profile. The derived results have provided an enlarged platform to discuss geothermal power generation technologies: (i) recover the heat and electricity from the process to reduce the fossil fuel requirements; (ii) recycle the construction materials, such as copper, steel, and aluminum for future projects; (iii) extract the lithium ions from geothermal brine and make geothermal reservoir become a potential supplier of the lithium battery industry; (iv) repurpose the abandoned oil and gas wells to build geothermal power plants; (v) integrate geothermal energy with other available renewable energies (e.g., solar and wind) to provide heat and electricity as a hybrid system at different weather; (vi) rethink the fluids used in stimulation process (EGS only), replace water with CO2 to achieve negative emissions from the system. These results provided a new perspective to the researchers, investors, and policymakers to rethink the role of geothermal in the energy supply network.

Keywords: climate, renewable energy, R strategies, sustainability

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Authors: Sraman Sree Mattananda

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This present article is an analytical research on ‘Buddhism and Innovative Sustainable Development.' The main purpose of researching is to the better understanding of many social science theories both in politics and in economics. And the understanding of both Buddhism and science is complementary in order to enable any individual to live a full and meaningful human life. How people can avoid conflict, socially, economically, politically and spiritually using Buddhist teachings for a sustainable development. The aim of studying is also to comprehend every human to be aware that peoples’ happiness and sorrow depends on the choices that they had taken to do what was perceptional right and wrong. Everything that happens does have a reason. This study will be supported by the supply of environmental knowledge, philosophy, and experience. Within the domestic and international cultures, this knowledge might provide a significant basis for the contemporary and the future world. Happiness and unsatisfactoriness of mind depend on the consequences of what we had already done. This is to give deep sense to adjust the nature of all that exists and desire not to attach to them and to liberate oneself leaving the reality as it is. An implicit of references will be drawn from the primary sources, secondary sources, internet sources, and other Scholar’s diamond writings, to prove the investigation of philosophical and theoretical analysis. After the investigation of philosophical and theoretical analysis, the article will demonstrate about, what Buddha advised the follows to stop over-exploitation and how to eradicate conflicts to gain a peaceful society. This will be a lively awareness in the approach to the understanding of the Buddhist view of reality and adopt with middle path. The last part of the article will concern with the Buddhist Challenge of sustaining the society and how Buddhist contemporary scholars interpret sustainable development issues. Mahatma Gandhi’s emphasize to use Buddhist Non-Violence will be demonstrating to gain peace, freedom, and security. Twelve things that concern us when we want to explore the issues of sustainability, demonstrated by A Little Book of Hope will be cleared. How individual hearts can implicate to the contemporary globe will be demonstrated to obtain healthy and practical environment. Finally, generating new awareness and care by minimizing the negative impact on earth resources will reduce the degradation of the planet which would pose a challenge to sustain Development.

Keywords: Buddhism, economic, sustainable development, Buddhist ethics

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Authors: Monika Konieczyńska, Joanna Fajfer, Olga Lipińska

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In Poland works related to the exploration and prospection of unconventional hydrocarbons (natural gas accumulated in the Silurian shale formations) started in 2007, based on the experience of the other countries that have created new possibilities for the use of existing hydrocarbons resources. The highly water-consuming process of hydraulic fracturing is required for the exploitation of shale gas which implies a need to ensure large volume of water available. As a result considerable amount of mining waste is generated, particularly liquid waste, i.e. flowback fluid with variable chemical composition. The chemical composition of the flowback fluid depends on the composition of the fracturing fluid and the chemistry of the fractured geological formations. Typically, flowback fluid is highly salinated, can be enriched in heavy metals, including rare earth elements, naturally occurring radioactive materials and organic compounds. The generated fluids considered as the extractive waste should be properly managed in the recovery or disposal facility. Problematic issue is both high hydration of waste as well as their variable chemical composition. Also the limited capacity of currently operating facilities is a growing problem. Based on the estimates, currently operating facilities will not be sufficient for the need of waste disposal when extraction of unconventional hydrocarbons starts. Further more, the content of metals in flowback fluids including rare earth elements is a considerable incentive to develop technology of metals recovery. Also recycling is a key factor in terms of selection of treatment process, which should provide that the thresholds required for reuse are met. The paper will present the study of the flowback fluids chemical composition, based on samples from hydraulic fracturing processes performed in Poland. The scheme of flowback fluid cleaning and recovering technology will be reviewed along with a discussion of the results and an assessment of environmental impact, including all generated by-products. The presented technology is innovative due to the metal recovery, as well as purified water supply for hydraulic fracturing process, which is significant contribution to reducing water consumption.

Keywords: environmental impact, flowback fluid, management of special waste streams, metals recovery, shale gas

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Authors: George Hanna Abdelmelek Henien

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Quality and safety issues are common in Ethiopia's food processing industry, which can negatively impact consumers' health and livelihoods. The country is known for its various agricultural products that are important to the economy. However, food quality and safety policies and management practices in the food processing industry have led to many health problems, foodborne illnesses and economic losses. This article aims to show the causes and consequences of food safety and quality problems in the food processing industry in Ethiopia and discuss possible solutions to solve them. One of the main reasons for food quality and safety in Ethiopia's food processing industry is the lack of adequate regulation and enforcement mechanisms. Inadequate food safety and quality policies have led to inefficiencies in food production. Additionally, the failure to monitor and enforce existing regulations has created a good opportunity for unscrupulous companies to engage in harmful practices that endanger the lives of citizens. The impact on food quality and safety is significant due to loss of life, high medical costs, and loss of consumer confidence in the food processing industry. Foodborne diseases such as diarrhoea, typhoid and cholera are common in Ethiopia, and food quality and safety play an important role in . Additionally, food recalls due to contamination or contamination often cause significant economic losses in the food processing industry. To solve these problems, the Ethiopian government began taking measures to improve food quality and safety in the food processing industry. One of the most prominent initiatives is the Ethiopian Food and Drug Administration (EFDA), which was established in 2010 to monitor and control the quality and safety of food and beverage products in the country. EFDA has implemented many measures to improve food safety, such as carrying out routine inspections, monitoring the import of food products and implementing labeling requirements. Another solution that can improve food quality and safety in the food processing industry in Ethiopia is the implementation of food safety management system (FSMS). FSMS is a set of procedures and policies designed to identify, assess and control food safety risks during food processing. Implementing a FSMS can help companies in the food processing industry identify and address potential risks before they harm consumers. Additionally, implementing an FSMS can help companies comply with current safety and security regulations. Consequently, improving food safety policy and management system in Ethiopia's food processing industry is important to protect people's health and improve the country's economy. . Addressing the root causes of food quality and safety and implementing practical solutions that can help improve the overall food safety and quality in the country, such as establishing regulatory bodies and implementing food management systems.

Keywords: food quality, food safety, policy, management system, food processing industry food traceability, industry 4.0, internet of things, block chain, best worst method, marcos

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Authors: Sadao Araki, Daisuke Gondo, Satoshi Imasaka, Hideki Yamamoto

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The separation of organic compounds from aqueous solutions is a key technology for recycling valuable organic compounds and for the treatment of wastewater. The wastewater from chemical plants often contains organic compounds such as ethyl acetate (EA), methylethyl ketone (MEK) and isopropyl alcohol (IPA). In this study, we prepared hydrophobic silica membranes by a sol-gel method. We used phenyltrimethoxysilane (PhTMS), ethyltrimethoxysilan (ETMS), Propyltrimethoxysilane (PrTMS), N-butyltrimethoxysilane (BTMS), N-Hexyltrimethoxysilane (HTMS) as silica sources to introduce each functional groups on the membrane surface. Cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) was used as a molecular template to create suitable pore that enable the permeation of organic compounds. These membranes with five different functional groups were characterized by SEM, FT-IR, and permporometry. Thicknesses and pore diameters of silica layer for all membrane were about 1.0 μm and about 1 nm, respectively. In other words, functional groups had an insignificant effect on the membrane thicknesses and the formation of the pore by CTAB. We confirmed the effect of functional groups on the flux and separation factor for ethyl acetate (EA), methyl ethyl ketone, acetone and 1-butanol (1-BtOH) /water mixtures. All membranes showed a high flux for ethyl acetate compared with other compounds. In particular, the hydrophobic silica membrane prepared by using BTMS showed 0.75 kg m-2 h-1 of flux for EA. For all membranes, the fluxes of organic compounds showed the large values in the order corresponding to EA > MEK > acetone > 1-BtOH. On the other hand, carbon chain length of functional groups among ETMS, PrTMS, BTMS, PrTMS and HTMS did not have a major effect on the organic flux. Although we confirmed the relationship between organic fluxes and organic molecular diameters or fugacity of organic compounds, these factors had a low correlation with organic fluxes. It is considered that these factors affect the diffusivity. Generally, permeation through membranes is based on the diffusivity and solubility. Therefore, it is deemed that organic fluxes through these hydrophobic membranes are strongly influenced by solubility. We tried to estimate the organic fluxes by Hansen solubility parameter (HSP). HSP, which is based on the cohesion energy per molar volume and is composed of dispersion forces (δd), intermolecular dipole interactions (δp), and hydrogen-bonding interactions (δh), has recently attracted attention as a means for evaluating the resolution and aggregation behavior. Evaluation of solubility for two substances can be represented by using the Ra [(MPa)1/2] value, meaning the distance of HSPs for both of substances. A smaller Ra value means a higher solubility for each substance. On the other hand, it can be estimated that the substances with large Ra value show low solubility. We established the correlation equation, which was based on Ra, of organic flux at low concentrations of organic compounds and at 295-325 K.

Keywords: hydrophobic, membrane, Hansen solubility parameter, functional group

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Authors: Jaehyung An, Sungjoo Lee

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Patent documents constitute an up-to-date and reliable source of knowledge for reflecting technological advance, so patent analysis has been widely used for identification of technological trends and formulation of technology strategies. But, identifying technological information from patent data entails some limitations such as, high cost, complexity, and inconsistency because it rely on the expert’ knowledge. To overcome these limitations, researchers have applied to a quantitative analysis based on the keyword technique. By using this method, you can include a technological implication, particularly patent documents, or extract a keyword that indicates the important contents. However, it only uses the simple-counting method by keyword frequency, so it cannot take into account the sematic relationship with the keywords and sematic information such as, how the technologies are used in their technology area and how the technologies affect the other technologies. To automatically analyze unstructured technological information in patents to extract the semantic information, it should be transformed into an abstracted form that includes the technological key concepts. Specific sentence structure ‘SAO’ (subject, action, object) is newly emerged by representing ‘key concepts’ and can be extracted by NLP (Natural language processor). An SAO structure can be organized in a problem-solution format if the action-object (AO) states that the problem and subject (S) form the solution. In this paper, we propose the new methodology that can extract the SAO structure through technical elements extracting rules. Although sentence structures in the patents text have a unique format, prior studies have depended on general NLP (Natural language processor) applied to the common documents such as newspaper, research paper, and twitter mentions, so it cannot take into account the specific sentence structure types of the patent documents. To overcome this limitation, we identified a unique form of the patent sentences and defined the SAO structures in the patents text data. There are four types of technical elements that consist of technology adoption purpose, application area, tool for technology, and technical components. These four types of sentence structures from patents have their own specific word structure by location or sequence of the part of speech at each sentence. Finally, we developed algorithms for extracting SAOs and this result offer insight for the technology innovation process by providing different perspectives of technology.

Keywords: NLP, patent analysis, SAO, semantic-analysis

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Authors: Aaron Herve Mbwe Mbissik, Lotfi Khiari, Otmane Raji, Abdellatif Elghali, Abdelkarim Lajili, Muhammad Ouabid, Martin Jemo, Jean-Louis Bodinier

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Potassium (K) is an essential macronutrient for plant growth, helping to regulate several physiological and metabolic processes. Evaporite-related potash salts, mainly sylvite minerals (K chloride or KCl), are the principal source of K for the fertilizer industry. However, due to the high potash-supply risk associated with its considerable price fluctuations and uneven geographic distribution for most agriculture-based developing countries, the development of alternative sources of fertilizer K is imperative to maintain adequate crop yield, reduce yield gaps, and food security. Alkaline Igneous rocks containing significant K-rich silicate minerals such as K feldspar are increasingly seen as the best alternative available. However, these rocks may require to be hydrothermally treatment to enhance the release of potassium. In this study, we evaluate the fertilizing capacity of raw and hydrothermally treated K-bearing silicate rocks from different areas in Morocco. The effectiveness of rock powders was tested in a greenhouse experiment using ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) by comparing them to a control (no K added) and to a conventional fertilizer (muriate of potash: MOP or KCl). The trial was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications, and plants were grown on K-depleted soils for three growing cycles. To achieve our objective, in addition to the analysis of the muriate response curve and the different biomasses, we also examined three necessary coefficients, namely: the K uptake, then apparent K recovery (AKR), and the relative K efficiency (RKE). The results showed that based on the optimum economic rate of MOP (230 kg.K.ha⁻¹) and the optimum yield (44 000 kg.K.ha⁻¹), the efficiency of K silicate rocks was as high as that of MOP. Although the plants took up only half of the K supplied by the powdered rock, the hydrothermal material was found to be satisfactory, with a biomass value reaching the optimum economic limit until the second crop cycle. In comparison, the AKR of the MOP (98.6%) and its RKE in the 1st cycle were higher than our materials: 39% and 38%, respectively. Therefore, the raw and hydrothermal materials mixture could be an appropriate solution for long-term agronomic use based on the obtained results.

Keywords: K-uptake, AKR, RKE, K-bearing silicate rock, MOP

Procedia PDF Downloads 91

Authors: Jasmal A. Syamsu, Muhammad Yusuf, Hikmah M. Ali, Mawardi A. Asja, Zulkharnaim

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This study was conducted and aimed in identifying and mapping the pasture as an ecological base of beef cattle. A survey was carried out during a period of April to June 2016, in Suppa, Mattirobulu, the district of Pinrang, South Sulawesi province. The mapping process of grazing area was conducted in several stages; inputting and tracking of data points into Google Earth Pro (version 7.1.4.1529), affirmation and confirmation of tracking line visualized by satellite with a variety of records at the point, a certain point and tracking input data into ArcMap Application (ArcGIS version 10.1), data processing DEM/SRTM (S04E119) with respect to the location of the grazing areas, creation of a contour map (a distance of 5 m) and mapping tilt (slope) of land and land cover map-making. Analysis of land cover, particularly the state of the vegetation was done through the identification procedure NDVI (Normalized Differences Vegetation Index). This procedure was performed by making use of the Landsat-8. The results showed that the topography of the grazing areas of hills and some sloping surfaces and flat with elevation vary from 74 to 145 above sea level (asl), while the requirements for growing superior grass and legume is an altitude of up to 143-159 asl. Slope varied between 0 - > 40% and was dominated by a slope of 0-15%, according to the slope/topography pasture maximum of 15%. The range of NDVI values for pasture image analysis results was between 0.1 and 0.27. Characteristics of vegetation cover of pasture land in the category of vegetation density were low, 70% of the land was the land for cattle grazing, while the remaining approximately 30% was a grove and forest included plant water where the place for shelter of the cattle during the heat and drinking water supply. There are seven types of graminae and 5 types of legume that was dominant in the region. Proportionally, graminae class dominated up 75.6% and legume crops up to 22.1% and the remaining 2.3% was another plant trees that grow in the region. The dominant weed species in the region were Cromolaenaodorata and Lantana camara, besides that there were 6 types of floor plant that did not include as forage fodder.

Keywords: pastoral, ecology, mapping, beef cattle

Procedia PDF Downloads 354

Authors: Richa Raje, Anumol Antony

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Playing is the foremost stepping stone for childhood development. Play is an essential aspect of a child’s development and learning because it creates meaningful enduring environmental connections and increases children’s performance. The children’s proficiencies are ever varying in their course of growth. There is innovation in the activities, as it kindles the senses, surges the love for exploration, overcomes linguistic barriers and physiological development, which in turn allows them to find their own caliber, spontaneity, curiosity, cognitive skills, and creativity while learning during play. This paper aims to comprehend the learning in play which is the most essential underpinning aspect of the outdoor play area. It also assesses the trend of playgrounds design that is merely hammered with equipment's. It attempts to derive a relation between the natural environment and children’s activities and the emotions/senses that can be evoked in the process. One of the major concerns with our outdoor play is that it is limited to an area with a similar kind of equipment, thus making the play highly regimented and monotonous. This problem is often lead by the strict timetables of our education system that hardly accommodates play. Due to these reasons, the play areas remain neglected both in terms of design that allows learning and wellbeing. Poorly designed spaces fail to inspire the physical, emotional, social and psychological development of the young ones. Currently, the play space has been condensed to an enclosed playground, driveway or backyard which confines the children’s capability to leap the boundaries set for him. The paper emphasizes on study related to kids ranging from 5 to 11 years where the behaviors during their interactions in a playground are mapped and analyzed. The theory of affordance is applied to various outdoor play areas, in order to study and understand the children’s environment and how variedly they perceive and use them. A higher degree of affordance shall form the basis for designing the activities suitable in play spaces. It was observed during their play that, they choose certain spaces of interest majority being natural over other artificial equipment. The activities like rolling on the ground, jumping from a height, molding earth, hiding behind tree, etc. suggest that despite equipment they have an affinity towards nature. Therefore, we as designers need to take a cue from their behavior and practices to be able to design meaningful spaces for them, so the child gets the freedom to test their precincts.

Keywords: children, landscape design, learning environment, nature and play, outdoor play

Procedia PDF Downloads 124

Authors: Mohammad R. Jafari, Francois G. Bernardeau

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With its arid climate, Qatar experiences low annual rainfall, intense storms, and high evaporation rates. However, the fast-paced rate of infrastructure development in the capital city of Doha has led to recurring instances of surface water flooding as well as rising groundwater levels. Public Work Authority (PWA/ASHGHAL) has implemented an approach to collect and discharge the flood water into a) positive gravity systems; b) Emergency Flooding Area (EFA) – Evaporation, Infiltration or Storage off-site using tankers; and c) Discharge to deep injection wells. As part of the flood prevention scheme, 21 deep injection wells have been constructed to discharge the collected surface and groundwater table in Doha city. These injection wells function as an alternative in localities that do not possess either positive gravity systems or downstream networks that can accommodate additional loads. These injection wells are 400-m deep and are constructed in a complex karstic subsurface condition with large cavities. The injection well system will discharge collected groundwater and storm surface runoff into the permeable Umm Er Radhuma Formation, which is an aquifer present throughout the Persian Gulf Region. The Umm Er Radhuma formation contains saline water that is not being used for water supply. The injection zone is separated by an impervious gypsum formation which acts as a barrier between upper and lower aquifer. State of the art drilling, grouting, and geophysical techniques have been implemented in construction of the wells to assure that the shallow aquifer would not be contaminated and impacted by injected water. Injection and pumping tests were performed to evaluate injection well functionality (injectability). The results of these tests indicated that majority of the wells can accept injection rate of 200 to 300 m³ /h (56 to 83 l/s) under gravity with average value of 250 m³ /h (70 l/s) compared to design value of 50 l/s. This paper presents design and construction process and issues associated with these injection wells, performing injection/pumping tests to determine capacity and effectiveness of the injection wells, the detailed design of collection system and conveying system into the injection wells, and the operation and maintenance process. This system is completed now and is under operation, and therefore, construction of injection wells is an effective option for flood control.

Keywords: deep injection well, flood prevention scheme, geophysical tests, pumping and injection tests, wellhead assembly

Procedia PDF Downloads 119

Authors: Henry Ataburo, Dominic Essuman, Emmanuel Kwabena Anin

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Recent trends of catastrophic events, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the Suez Canal blockage, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Israel-Hamas conflict, and the climate change crisis, continue to devastate supply chains and the broader society. Prior authors have advocated for a simultaneous pursuit of resilience and sustainability as crucial for navigating these challenges. Nevertheless, the relationship between resilience and sustainability is a rather complex one: resilience and sustainability are considered unrelated, substitutes, or complements. Scholars also suggest that different firms prioritize resilience and sustainability differently for varied strategic reasons. However, we know little about whether, how, and when these choices produce different typologies of firms to explain differences in financial and market performance outcomes. This research draws inferences from the systems configuration approach to organizational fit to contend that a taxonomy of firms may emerge based on how firms configure resilience and environmental sustainability. The study further examines the effects of these taxonomies on financial and market performance in differing transportation disruption conditions. Resilience is operationalized as a firm’s ability to adjust current operations, structure, knowledge, and resources in response to disruptions, whereas environmental sustainability is operationalized as the extent to which a firm deploys resources judiciously and keeps the ecological impact of its operations to the barest minimum. Using primary data from 199 firms in Ghana and cluster analysis as an analytical tool, the study identifies four clusters of firms based on how they prioritize resilience and sustainability: Cluster 1 - "strong, moderate resilience, high sustainability firms," Cluster 2 - "sigh resilience, high sustainability firms," Cluster 3 - "high resilience, strong, moderate sustainability firms," and Cluster 4 - "weak, moderate resilience, strong, moderate sustainability firms". In addition, ANOVA and regression analysis revealed the following findings: Only clusters 1 and 2 were significantly associated with both market and financial performance. Under high transportation disruption conditions, cluster 1 firms excel better in market performance, whereas cluster 2 firms excel better in financial performance. Conversely, under low transportation disruption conditions, cluster 1 firms excel better in financial performance, whereas cluster 2 firms excel better in market performance. The study provides theoretical and empirical evidence of how resilience and environmental sustainability can be configured to achieve specific performance objectives under different disruption conditions.

Keywords: resilience, environmental sustainability, developing economy, transportation disruption

Procedia PDF Downloads 68

Authors: Ammar Y. Alqahtani

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In order to minimize the negative impact on the environment, it is essential to manage the waste that generated from the premature disposal of end-of-life (EOL) products properly. Consequently, government and international organizations introduced new policies and regulations to minimize the amount of waste being sent to landfills. Moreover, the consumers’ awareness regards environment has forced original equipment manufacturers to consider being more environmentally conscious. Therefore, manufacturers have thought of different ways to deal with waste generated from EOL products viz., remanufacturing, reusing, recycling, or disposing of EOL products. The rate of depletion of virgin natural resources and their dependency on the natural resources can be reduced by manufacturers when EOL products are treated as remanufactured, reused, or recycled, as well as this will cut on the amount of harmful waste sent to landfills. However, disposal of EOL products contributes to the problem and therefore is used as a last option. Number of EOL need to be estimated in order to fulfill the components demand. Then, disassembly process needs to be performed to extract individual components and subassemblies. Smart products, built with sensors embedded and network connectivity to enable the collection and exchange of data, utilize sensors that are implanted into products during production. These sensors are used for remanufacturers to predict an optimal warranty policy and time period that should be offered to customers who purchase remanufactured components and products. Sensor-provided data can help to evaluate the overall condition of a product, as well as the remaining lives of product components, prior to perform a disassembly process. In this paper, a multi-period disassembly-to-order (DTO) model is developed that takes into consideration the different system uncertainties. The DTO model is solved using Nonlinear Programming (NLP) in multiple periods. A DTO system is considered where a variety of EOL products are purchased for disassembly. The model’s main objective is to determine the best combination of EOL products to be purchased from every supplier in each period which maximized the total profit of the system while satisfying the demand. This paper also addressed the impact of sensor embedded products on the cost of warranties. Lastly, this paper presented and analyzed a case study involving various simulation conditions to illustrate the applicability of the model.

Keywords: closed-loop supply chains, environmentally conscious manufacturing, product recovery, reverse logistics

Procedia PDF Downloads 137

Authors: Sidharth Talan, Sanjay Kumar Sharma, Eoin Joseph Wallace, Nikita Agrawal

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Underground mining is at the core of rapidly evolving metals and minerals sector due to the increasing mineral consumption globally. Even though the surface mines are still more abundant on earth, the scales of industry are slowly tipping towards underground mining due to rising depth and complexities of orebodies. Thus, the efficient and productive functioning of underground operations depends significantly on the synchronized performance of key elements such as operating site, mining equipment, manpower and mine services. Production drilling is the process of conducting long hole drilling for the purpose of charging and blasting these holes for the production of ore in underground metal mines. Thus, production drilling is the crucial segment in the underground metal mining value chain. This paper presents the process mapping tool to evaluate the production drilling process in the underground metal mining operation by dividing the given process into three segments namely Input, Process and Output. The three segments are further segregated into factors and sub-factors. As per the study, the major input factors crucial for the efficient functioning of production drilling process are power, drilling water, geotechnical support of the drilling site, skilled drilling operators, services installation crew, oils and drill accessories for drilling machine, survey markings at drill site, proper housekeeping, regular maintenance of drill machine, suitable transportation for reaching the drilling site and finally proper ventilation. The major outputs for the production drilling process are ore, waste as a result of dilution, timely reporting and investigation of unsafe practices, optimized process time and finally well fragmented blasted material within specifications set by the mining company. The paper also exhibits the drilling loss matrix, which is utilized to appraise the loss in planned production meters per day in a mine on account of availability loss in the machine due to breakdowns, underutilization of the machine and productivity loss in the machine measured in drilling meters per unit of percussion hour with respect to its planned productivity for the day. The given three losses would be essential to detect the bottlenecks in the process map of production drilling operation so as to instigate the action plan to suppress or prevent the causes leading to the operational performance deficiency. The given tool is beneficial to mine management to focus on the critical factors negatively impacting the production drilling operation and design necessary operational and maintenance strategies to mitigate them. 

Keywords: process map, drilling loss matrix, SIPOC, productivity, percussion rate

Procedia PDF Downloads 215

Authors: Dalita G. S. M. Cavalcante, Elton A. P. dos Reis, Andressa S. Gomes, Caroline S. Danna, Leandra Ernest Kerche-Silva, Eidi Yoshihara, Aldo E. Job

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In order to minimize environmental impacts, a composite was developed from mixture of leather shavings (LE) with natural rubber (NR), which patent is already deposited. The new material created can be used in applications such as floors e heels for shoes. Besides these applications, the aim is to use this new material for the production of products for the textile industry, such as boots, gloves and bags. But the question arises, as to biocompatibility of this new material. This is justified because the structure of the leather shavings has chrome. The trivalent chromium is usually not toxic, but the hexavalent chromium can be highly toxic and genotoxic for living beings, causing damage to the DNA molecule and contributing to the formation of cancer. Based on this, the objective of this study is evaluate the possible genotoxic effects of the new composite, using as system - test two cell lines (MRC-5 and CHO-K1) by comet assay. For this, the production of the composite was performed in three proportions: for every 100 grams of NR was added 40 (E40), 50 (E50) or 60 (E60) grams of LE. The latex was collected from the rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis). For vulcanization of the NR, activators and accelerators were used. The two cell lines were exposed to the new composite in its three proportions using elution method, that is, cells exposed to liquid extracts obtained from the composite for 24 hours. For obtaining the liquid extract, each sample of the composite was crushed into pieces and mixed with an extraction solution. The quantification of total chromium and hexavalent chromium in the extracts were performed by Optical Emission Spectrometry by Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP-OES). The levels of DNA damage in cells exposed to both extracts were monitored by alkaline version of the comet assay. The results of the quantification of metals in ICP-OES indicated the presence of total chromium in different extracts, but were not detected presence of hexavalent chromium in any extract. Through the comet assay were not found DNA damage of the CHO-K1 cells exposed to both extracts. As for MRC-5, was found a significant increase in DNA damage in cells exposed to E50 and E60. Based on the above data, it can be asserted that the extracts obtained from the composite were highly genotoxic for MRC-5 cells. These biological responses do not appear to be related to chromium metal, since there was a predominance of trivalent chromium in the extracts, indicating that during the production process of the new composite, there was no formation of hexavalent chromium. In conclusion it can infer that the leather shavings containing chromium can be reused, thereby reducing the environmental impacts of this waste. Already on the composite indicates to its incorporation in applications that do not aim at direct contact with the human skin, and it is suggested the chain of composite production be studied, in an attempt to make it biocompatible so that it may be safely used by the textile industry.

Keywords: cell line, chrome, genotoxicity, leather, natural rubber

Procedia PDF Downloads 196

Authors: Vanessa Kummer, Maik Meusel

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Real estate demand estimates are typically derived from transaction data. However, in regions with excess demand, transactions are driven by supply and therefore do not indicate what people are actually looking for. To estimate the demand for housing in Switzerland, search subscriptions from all important Swiss real estate platforms are used. These data do, however, suffer from missing information—for example, many users do not specify how many rooms they would like or what price they would be willing to pay. In economic analyses, it is often the case that only complete data is used. Usually, however, the proportion of complete data is rather small which leads to most information being neglected. Also, the data might have a strong distortion if it is complete. In addition, the reason that data is missing might itself also contain information, which is however ignored with that approach. An interesting issue is, therefore, if for economic analyses such as the one at hand, there is an added value by using the whole data set with the imputed missing values compared to using the usually small percentage of complete data (baseline). Also, it is interesting to see how different algorithms affect that result. The imputation of the missing data is done using unsupervised learning. Out of the numerous unsupervised learning approaches, the most common ones, such as clustering, principal component analysis, or neural networks techniques are applied. By training the model iteratively on the imputed data and, thereby, including the information of all data into the model, the distortion of the first training set—the complete data—vanishes. In a next step, the performances of the algorithms are measured. This is done by randomly creating missing values in subsets of the data, estimating those values with the relevant algorithms and several parameter combinations, and comparing the estimates to the actual data. After having found the optimal parameter set for each algorithm, the missing values are being imputed. Using the resulting data sets, the next step is to estimate the willingness to pay for real estate. This is done by fitting price distributions for real estate properties with certain characteristics, such as the region or the number of rooms. Based on these distributions, survival functions are computed to obtain the functional relationship between characteristics and selling probabilities. Comparing the survival functions shows that estimates which are based on imputed data sets do not differ significantly from each other; however, the demand estimate that is derived from the baseline data does. This indicates that the baseline data set does not include all available information and is therefore not representative for the entire sample. Also, demand estimates derived from the whole data set are much more accurate than the baseline estimation. Thus, in order to obtain optimal results, it is important to make use of all available data, even though it involves additional procedures such as data imputation.

Keywords: demand estimate, missing-data imputation, real estate, unsupervised learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 285

Authors: Xiaohong Li, Wenfan Yan

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Background: While it is widely considered that the university library plays a critical role in fulfilling the institution's mission and providing students’ learning experience beyond the classrooms, how the technology-enhanced library reform changed college students’ learning experience hasn’t been thoroughly investigated. The purpose of this study is to explore how technology-enhanced library reform affects students’ learning experience and career readiness and further identify the factors and effective conditions that enable the quality learning outcome of Chinese college students. Methodologies: This study selected the qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) method to explore the effects of technology-enhanced university library reform on college students’ learning experience and career readiness. QCA is unique in explaining the complex relationship between multiple factors from a holistic perspective. Compared with the traditional quantitative and qualitative analysis, QCA not only adds some quantitative logic but also inherits the characteristics of qualitative research focusing on the heterogeneity and complexity of samples. Shenyang Normal University (SNU) selected a sample of the typical comprehensive university in China that focuses on students’ learning and application of professional knowledge and trains professionals to different levels of expertise. A total of 22 current university students and 30 graduates who joined the Library Readers Association of SNU from 2011 to 2019 were selected for semi-structured interviews. Based on the data collected from these participating students, qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), including univariate necessity analysis and the multi-configuration analysis, was conducted. Findings and Discussion: QCA analysis results indicated that the influence of technology-enhanced university library restructures and reorganization on student learning experience and career readiness is the result of multiple factors. Technology-enhanced library equipment and other hardware restructured to meet the college students learning needs and have played an important role in improving the student learning experience and learning persistence. More importantly, the soft characteristics of technology-enhanced library reform, such as library service innovation space and culture space, have a positive impact on student’s career readiness and development. Technology-enhanced university library reform is not only the change in the building's appearance and facilities but also in library service quality and capability. The study also provides suggestions for policy, practice, and future research.

Keywords: career readiness, college student learning experience, qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), technology-enhanced library reform

Procedia PDF Downloads 79

Authors: B. T. Naveen Kumar, Anuj Tyagi, Niraj Kumar Singh, Visanu Boonyawiwat, A. H. Shanthanagouda, Orawan Boodde, K. M. Shankar, Prakash Patil, Shubhkaramjeet Kaur

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Early mortality syndrome (EMS)/Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Disease (AHPND) has emerged as a major obstacle for the shrimp farming around the world. It is caused by a strain of Vibrio parahaemolyticus. The possible preventive and control measure is, early and rapid detection of the pathogen in the broodstock, post-larvae and monitoring the shrimp during the culture period. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based early detection methods are good, but they are costly, time taking and requires a sophisticated laboratory. The present study was conducted to develop a simple, sensitive and rapid diagnostic farmer level kit for the reliable detection of AHPND in shrimp. A panel of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) were raised against the recombinant Pir B protein (rPirB). First, an immunodot was developed by using MAbs G3B8 and Mab G3H2 which showed specific reactivity to purified r-PirB protein with no cross-reactivity to other shrimp bacterial pathogens (AHPND free Vibrio parahaemolyticus (Indian strains), V. anguillarum, WSSV, Aeromonas hydrophila, and Aphanomyces invadans). Immunodot developed using Mab G3B8 is more sensitive than that with the Mab G3H2. However, immunodot takes almost 2.5 hours to complete with several hands-on steps. Therefore, the flow-through assay (FTA) was developed by using a plastic cassette containing the nitrocellulose membrane with absorbing pads below. The sample was dotted in the test zone on the nitrocellulose membrane followed by continuos addition of five solutions in the order of i) blocking buffer (BSA) ii) primary antibody (MAb) iii) washing Solution iv) secondary antibody and v) chromogen substrate (TMB) clear purple dots against a white background were considered as positive reactions. The FTA developed using MAbG3B8 is more sensitive than that with MAb G3H2. In FTA the two MAbs showed specific reactivity to purified r-PirB protein and not to other shrimp bacterial pathogens. The FTA is simple to farmer/field level, sensitive and rapid requiring only 8-10 min for completion. Tests can be developed to kits, which will be ideal for use in biosecurity, for the first line of screening (at the port or pond site) and during monitoring and surveillance programmes overall for the good management practices to reduce the risk of the disease.

Keywords: acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease, AHPND, flow-through assay, FTA, farmer level, immunodot, pond site, shrimp

Procedia PDF Downloads 175

Authors: A. M. Tarola, R. Preti, A. M. Girelli, P. Campana

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Goat dairy products are gaining popularity worldwide. In developing countries, but also in many marginal regions of the Mediterranean area, goats represent a great part of the economy and ensure food security. In fact, these small ruminants are able to convert efficiently poor weedy plants and small trees into traditional products of high nutritional quality, showing great resilience to different climatic and environmental conditions. In developed countries, goat milk is appreciated for the presence of health-promoting compounds, bioactive compounds such as conjugated linoleic acids, oligosaccharides, sphingolipids and polyammines. This paper focuses on the recent advances in literature on the nutritional properties of goat milk and on innovative techniques to improve its quality as to become a promising functional food. The environmental sustainability of different methodologies of production has also been examined. Goat milk is valued today as a food of high nutritional value and functional properties as well as small environmental footprint. It is widely consumed in many countries due to high nutritional value, lower allergenic potential, and better digestibility when compared to bovine milk, that makes this product suitable for infants, elderly or sensitive patients. The main differences in chemical composition between a cow and goat milk rely on fat globules that in goat milk are smaller and in fatty acids that present a smaller chain length, while protein, fat, and lactose concentration are comparable. Milk nutritional properties have demonstrated to be strongly influenced by animal diet, genotype, and welfare, but also by season and production systems. Furthermore, there is a growing interest in the dairy industry in goat milk for its relatively high concentration of prebiotics and a good amount of probiotics, which have recently gained importance for their therapeutic potential. Therefore, goat milk is studied as a promising matrix to develop innovative functional foods. In addition to the economic and nutritional value, goat milk is considered a sustainable product for its small environmental footprint, as they require relatively little water and land, and less medical treatments, compared to cow, these characteristics make its production naturally vocated to organic farming. Organic goat milk production has becoming more and more interesting both for farmers and consumers as it can answer to several concerns like environment protection, animal welfare and economical sustainment of rural populations living in marginal lands. These evidences make goat milk an ancient food with novel properties and advantages to be valorized and exploited.

Keywords: goat milk, nutritional quality, bioactive compounds, sustainable production, animal welfare

Procedia PDF Downloads 150

Authors: Carolina Silva Ansélmo

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Airports are demand-generating poles that affect the flow of traffic around them. The airport access system must be fast, convenient, and adequately planned, considering its potential users. An airport with good ground access conditions can provide the user with a more satisfactory access experience. When several transport options are available, service providers must understand users' preferences and the expected quality of service. The present study focuses on airport access in a comparative scenario between bus, private vehicle, subway, taxi and urban mobility transport applications to São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport. The objectives are (i) to identify the factors that influence the choice, (ii) to measure Willingness to Pay (WTP), and (iii) to estimate the market share for each modal. The applied method was Adaptive Choice-based Conjoint Analysis (ACBC) technique using Sawtooth Software. Conjoint analysis, rooted in Utility Theory, is a survey technique that quantifies the customer's perceived utility when choosing alternatives. Assessing user preferences provides insights into their priorities for product or service attributes. An additional advantage of conjoint analysis is its requirement for a smaller sample size compared to other methods. Furthermore, ACBC provides valuable insights into consumers' preferences, willingness to pay, and market dynamics, aiding strategic decision-making to provide a better customer experience, pricing, and market segmentation. In the present research, the ACBC questionnaire had the following variables: (i) access time to the boarding point, (ii) comfort in the vehicle, (iii) number of travelers together, (iv) price, (v) supply power, and (vi) type of vehicle. The case study questionnaire reached 213 valid responses considering the scenario of access from the São Paulo city center to São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport. As a result, the price and the number of travelers are the most relevant attributes for the sample when choosing airport access. The market share of the selection is mainly urban mobility transport applications, followed by buses, private vehicles, taxis and subways.

Keywords: adaptive choice-based conjoint analysis, ground access to airport, market share, willingness to pay

Procedia PDF Downloads 78

Authors: Rajendra Chetty

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The paper aims to address two aspects of postgraduate studies: interdisciplinary research and creative models of supervision. Interdisciplinary research can be viewed as a key imperative to solve complex problems. While excellent research requires a context of disciplinary strength, the cutting edge is often found at the intersection between disciplines. Interdisciplinary research foregrounds a team approach and information, methodologies, designs, and theories from different disciplines are integrated to advance fundamental understanding or to solve problems whose solutions are beyond the scope of a single discipline. Our aim should also be to generate research that transcends the original disciplines i.e. transdisciplinary research. Complexity is characteristic of the knowledge economy, hence, postgraduate research and engaged scholarship should be viewed by universities as primary vehicles through which knowledge can be generated to have a meaningful impact on society. There are far too many ‘ordinary’ studies that fall into the realm of credentialism and certification as opposed to significant studies that generate new knowledge and provide a trajectory for further academic discourse. Secondly, the paper will look at models of supervision that are different to the dominant ‘apprentice’ or individual approach. A reflective practitioner approach would be used to discuss a range of supervision models that resonate well with the principles of interdisciplinarity, growth in the postgraduate sector and a commitment to engaged scholarship. The global demand for postgraduate education has resulted in increased intake and new demands to limited supervision capacity at institutions. Team supervision lodged within large-scale research projects, working with a cohort of students within a research theme, the journal article route of doctoral studies and the professional PhD are some of the models that provide an alternative to the traditional approach. International cooperation should be encouraged in the production of high-impact research and institutions should be committed to stimulating international linkages which would result in co-supervision and mobility of postgraduate students and global significance of postgraduate research. International linkages are also valuable in increasing the capacity for supervision at new and developing universities. Innovative co-supervision and joint-degree options with global partners should be explored within strategic planning for innovative postgraduate programmes. Co-supervision of PhD students is probably the strongest driver (besides funding) for collaborative research as it provides the glue of shared interest, advantage and commitment between supervisors. The students’ field serves and informs the co-supervisors own research agendas and helps to shape over-arching research themes through shared research findings.

Keywords: interdisciplinarity, internationalisation, postgraduate, supervision

Procedia PDF Downloads 238

Authors: Ardita Malaj, Ahmad R. Alsaber, Bedour Alboloushi, Anwaar Alkandari

Abstract:

Organizations worldwide, particularly in Kuwait, are concerned with implementing a progressive workplace culture and fostering social innovation behaviours. The main aim of this research is to examine and establish a thorough comprehension of the relationship between an inventive organizational culture, employee intrapreneurial behaviour, authentic leadership, employee job satisfaction, and employee job commitment in the manufacturing sector of Kuwait, which is a developed economy. Literature reviews analyse the core concepts and their related areas by scrutinizing their definitions, dimensions, and importance to uncover any deficiencies in existing research. The examination of relevant research uncovered major gaps in understanding. This study examines the reliability and validity of a newly developed questionnaire designed to identify the appropriate applications for a large-scale investigation. A preliminary investigation was carried out, determining a sample size of 36 respondents selected randomly from a pool of 223 samples. SPSS was utilized to calculate the percentages of the demographic characteristics for the participants, assess the credibility of the measurements, evaluate the internal consistency, validate all agreements, and determine Pearson's correlation. The study's results indicated that the majority of participants were male (66.7%), aged between 35 and 44 (38.9%), and possessed a bachelor's degree (58.3%). Approximately 94.4% of the participants were employed full-time. 72.2% of the participants are employed in the electrical, computer, and ICT sector, whilst 8.3% work in the metal industry. Out of all the departments, the human resource department had the highest level of engagement, making up 13.9% of the total. Most participants (36.1%) possessed intermediate or advanced levels of experience, whilst 21% were classified as entry-level. Furthermore, 8.3% of individuals were categorized as first-level management, 22.2% were categorized as middle management, and 16.7% were categorized as executive or senior management. Around 19.4% of the participants have over a decade of professional experience. The Pearson's correlation coefficient for all 5 components varies between 0.4009 to 0.7183. The results indicate that all elements of the questionnaire were effectively verified, with a Cronbach alpha factor predominantly exceeding 0.6, which is the criterion commonly accepted by researchers. Therefore, the work on the larger scope of testing and analysis could continue.

Keywords: pilot study, ESIB, innovative organizational culture, Kuwait, validation

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Authors: Marziye Hadian, Alireza Jabbari

Abstract:

Background: The World Health Organization has identified COVID-19 as a public health emergency and is urging governments to stop the virus transmission by adopting appropriate policies. In this regard, authorities have taken different approaches to cut the chain or controlling the spread of the disease. Now, the questions we are facing include what these approaches are? What tools should be used to implement each preventive protocol? In addition, what is the impact of each approach? Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the approaches to biological epidemics and related prevention tools with an emphasis on COVID-19 disease. Data sources: Databases including ISI web of science, PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, Ovid, and ProQuest were employed for data extraction. Furthermore, authentic sources such as the WHO website, the published reports of relevant countries, as well as the Worldometer website were evaluated for gray studies. The time-frame of the study was from 1 December 2019 to 30 May 2020. Methods: The present study was a systematic study of publications related to the prevention strategies for the COVID-19 disease. The study was carried out based on the PRISMA guidelines and CASP for articles and AACODS for grey literature. Results: The study findings showed that in order to confront the COVID-19 epidemic, in general, there are three approaches of "mitigation", "active control" and "suppression" and four strategies of "quarantine", "isolation", "social distance" and "lockdown" in both individual and social dimensions to deal with epidemics. Selection and implementation of each approach requires specific strategies and has different effects when it comes to controlling and inhibiting the disease. Key finding: One possible approach to control the disease is to change individual behavior and lifestyle. In addition to prevention strategies, use of masks, observance of personal hygiene principles such as regular hand washing and non-contact of contaminated hands with the face, as well as an observance of public health principles such as sneezing and coughing etiquettes, safe extermination of personal protective equipment, must be strictly observed. Have not been included in the category of prevention tools. However, it has a great impact on controlling the epidemic, especially the new coronavirus epidemic. Conclusion: Although the use of different approaches to control and inhibit biological epidemics depends on numerous variables, however, despite these requirements, global experience suggests that some of these approaches are ineffective. The use of previous experiences in the world, along with the current experiences of countries, can be very helpful in choosing the accurate approach for each country in accordance with the characteristics of that country and lead to the reduction of possible costs at the national and international levels.

Keywords: novel corona virus, COVID-19, approaches, prevention tools, prevention strategies

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