Search results for: industrial sector

Authors: Agi Sunday, Agih Ukuru Agih

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In Nigeria, the food processing sector is dominated by small and medium enterprises, as well as multinational food companies. Quality standards are usually related to improving the safety of food products suitable for consumption in accordance to specifications by food regulatory bodies. These standards are essential elements for local and international businesses which contribute to economic progress through industrial development and trade. This review takes a critical look on the Nigerian food industry development in terms of quality standards that are necessary to be given consideration in the production of food and also ways of improving food production in Nigeria through the use of Total Quality Management (TQM) technique and the use of computerized systems to produce high quality and high value products while at the same time reducing production time and cost.

Keywords: food industry, quality assurance, Nigeria, TQM, computerized systems

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Authors: K. G. Sorokozherdyev, E. A. Efimov

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The socio-economic development of regions and countries is an important research issue. Today, in the face of many negative events in the global and regional economies, it is especially important to identify those areas that can serve as sources of economic growth and the basis for the well-being of the population. This study aims to identify the most important sectors of the economy of the Arkhangelsk region that can contribute to the socio-economic development of the region as a whole. For research, the Arkhangelsk region was taken as one of the typical Russian regions that do not have significant reserves of hydrocarbons nor there are located any large industrial complexes. In this regard, the question of possible origins of economic growth seems especially relevant. The basis of this study constitutes the distributed lag regression model (ADL model) developed by the authors, which is based on quarterly data on the socio-economic development of the Arkhangelsk region for the period 2004-2016. As a result, we obtained three equations reflecting the dynamics of three indicators of the socio-economic development of the region -the average wage, the regional GRP, and the birth rate. The influencing factors are the shares in GRP of such sectors as agriculture, mining, manufacturing, construction, wholesale and retail trade, hotels and restaurants, as well as the financial sector. The study showed that the greatest influence on the socio-economic development of the region is exerted by such industries as wholesale and retail trade, construction, and industrial sectors. The study can be the basis for forecasting and modeling the socio-economic development of the Arkhangelsk region in the short and medium term. It also can be helpful while analyzing the effectiveness of measures aimed at stimulating those or other industries of the region. The model can be used in developing a regional development strategy.

Keywords: regional economic development, regional sectoral structure, ADL model, Arkhangelsk region

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Authors: Kharina Budiman, Adinda Syifa Azhari, Eleonora Agustine

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Industrial activities get increase in this globalization era, one of the major impacts of industrial activities is a problem to the environment. This can happen because at the industrial production term will bring out pollutant in the shape of solid, liquid or gas. Normally this pollutant came from some dangerous materials for environment. However not every industry produces the same amount of pollutant, every industry produces different kind of pollution. To compare the pollution impact of industrial activities, soil sample has been taken around the animal feed industry and the fertilizer industry. This study applied the rock magnetic method and used Bartington MS2B to measured magnetic susceptibility (χ) as the physical parameter. This study tested soil samples using the value of susceptibility low frequency (χ lf) and Frequency Dependent (χ FD). Samples only taken in the soil surface with 0-5 cm depth and sampling interval was 20 cm. The animal feed factory has susceptibility low frequency (χ lf) = 111,9 – 325,7 and Frequency Dependent (χ FD) = 0,8 – 3,57 %. And the fertilizer factory has susceptibility low frequency (χ lf) = 187,1 – 494,8 and Frequency Dependent (χ FD) = 1,37 – 2,46 %. Based on the results, the highest value of susceptibility low frequency (χ lf) is the fertilizer factory, but the highest value of Frequency Dependent (FD) is the animal feed factory.

Keywords: industrial, pollution, magnetic susceptibility, χlf, χfd, animal feed industry and fertilizer industry

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Authors: Mateusz Mokrogulski, Piotr Śliwka

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The aim of this paper is the identification of periods of excessive credit growth in the Polish banking sector in years 2007-2014 using different methodologies. Due to the lack of precise guidance in CRD IV regarding methods of calculating the credit gap and related deviations from the long-term trends, a few filtering methods are applied, e.g. Hodrick-Prescott and Baxter-King. The solutions based on the switching model are also proposed. The next step represent computations of both the credit gap, and the counter cyclical capital buffer (CCB) rates on a quarterly basis. The calculations are carried out for the entire banking sector in Poland, as well as for its components (commercial and co-operative banks), and different types of loans. The calculations show vividly that in the analysed period there were the times of excessive credit growth. However, the results are different for the above mentioned sub-sectors. Of paramount importance here are mortgage loans, where the outcomes are distorted by high exchange rate fluctuations. The research on the CCB is now going to gain popularity as the buffer will soon become one of the tools of the macro prudential policy under CRD IV. Although the presented method is focused on the Polish banking sector, it can also be applied to other member states. Especially to the Central and Eastern European countries, that are usually characterized by smaller banking sectors compared to EU-15.

Keywords: countercyclical capital buffer, CRD IV, filtering methods, mortgage loans

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Authors: Oscar Vega Camacho, Andrea Vargas Guevara, Ellery Rowina Ariza

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This paper presents the application of finite dynamic programming, specifically the "Markov Chain" model, as part of the decision making process of a company in the cosmetics sector located in the vicinity of Bogota DC. The objective of this process was to decide whether the company should completely reconstruct its wastewater treatment plant or instead optimize the plant through the addition of equipment. The goal of both of these options was to make the required improvements in order to comply with parameters established by national legislation regarding the treatment of waste before it is released into the environment. This technique will allow the company to select the best option and implement a solution for the processing of waste to minimize environmental damage and the acquisition and implementation costs.

Keywords: decision making, Markov chain, optimization, wastewater

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Authors: Hussain Ali Bekhet, Tuan Ab. Rashid Bin Tuan Abdullah, Tahira Yasmin

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The strong relationship between energy consumption and economic growth is widely recognised. Most countries’ energy demand declined during the economic depression known as the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008–2009. The objective of the current study is to investigate the energy consumption and performance of Malaysia’s manufacturing sectors during the GFC. We applied the output multiplier approach, which is based on the input-output model. Two input-output tables of Malaysia covering 2005 and 2010 were used. The results indicate significant changes in the output multipliers of the manufacturing sectors between 2005 and 2010. Moreover, the energy-to-manufacturing sectors’ output multipliers also decreased during the GFC due to a decline in export-oriented industries during the crisis. The increasing importance of the manufacturing sector to the development of Malaysian trade resulted in a noticeable decrease in the consumption of each energy sector’s output, especially the electricity and gas sector. Based on the research findings, the Malaysian government released several policy implementations in the form of stimulus packages to enhance these sectors’ performance and generally improve the Malaysian economy.

Keywords: global financial crisis, input-output model, manufacturing, output multipliers, energy, Malaysia

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Authors: Patrik Jangl, Milan Mikuláštík

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The objective of the paper is to measure and compare market orientation of Swiss and Czech banks, as well as examine statistically the degree of influence it has on competitiveness of the institutions. The analysis of market orientation is based on the collecting, analysis and correct interpretation of the data. Descriptive analysis of market orientation describe current situation. Research of relation of competitiveness and market orientation in the sector of big international banks is suggested with the expectation of existence of a strong relationship. Partially, the work served as reconfirmation of suitability of classic methodologies to measurement of banks’ market orientation. Two types of data were gathered. Firstly, by measuring subjectively perceived market orientation of a company and secondly, by quantifying its competitiveness. All data were collected from a sample of small, mid-sized and large banks. We used numerical secondary character data from the international statistical financial Bureau Van Dijk’s BANKSCOPE database. Statistical analysis led to the following results. Assuming classical market orientation measures to be scientifically justified, Czech banks are statistically less market-oriented than Swiss banks. Secondly, among small Swiss banks, which are not broadly internationally active, small relationship exist between market orientation measures and market share based competitiveness measures. Thirdly, among all Swiss banks, a strong relationship exists between market orientation measures and market share based competitiveness measures. Above results imply existence of a strong relation of this measure in sector of big international banks. A strong statistical relationship has been proven to exist between market orientation measures and equity/total assets ratio in Switzerland.

Keywords: market orientation, competitiveness, marketing strategy, measurement of market orientation, relation between market orientation and competitiveness, banking sector

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Authors: Harish Kuruva, Vedasri Bai Khavala, Tiju Thomas, K. Murugan, B. S. Murty

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Industries are growing day to day to increase the economy of the country. The biggest problem with industries is wastewater treatment. Releasing these wastewater directly into the river is more harmful to human life and a threat to aquatic life. These industrial effluents contain many dissolved solids, organic/inorganic compounds, salts, toxic metals, etc. Phenols, pesticides, dioxins, herbicides, pharmaceuticals, and textile dyes were the types of industrial effluents and more challenging to degrade eco-friendly. So many advanced techniques like electrochemical, oxidation process, and valorization have been applied for industrial wastewater treatment, but these are not cost-effective. Industrial effluent degradation is complicated compared to commercially available pollutants (dyes) like methylene blue, methylene orange, rhodamine B, etc. TiO₂ is one of the widely used photocatalysts which can degrade organic compounds using solar light and moisture available in the environment (organic compounds converted to CO₂ and H₂O). TiO₂ is widely studied in photocatalysis because of its low cost, non-toxic, high availability, and chemically and physically stable in the atmosphere. This study mainly focused on valorizing the mineralogical product TiO₂ (IREL, India). This mineralogical graded TiO₂ was characterized and compared with its structural and photocatalytic properties (industrial effluent degradation) with the commercially available Degussa P-25 TiO₂. It was testified that this mineralogical TiO₂ has the best photocatalytic properties (particle shape - spherical, size - 30±5 nm, surface area - 98.19 m²/g, bandgap - 3.2 eV, phase - 95% anatase, and 5% rutile). The industrial effluent was characterized by TDS (total dissolved solids), ICP-OES (inductively coupled plasma – optical emission spectroscopy), CHNS (Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, and sulfur) analyzer, and FT-IR (fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy). It was observed that it contains high sulfur (S=11.37±0.15%), organic compounds (C=4±0.1%, H=70.25±0.1%, N=10±0.1%), heavy metals, and other dissolved solids (60 g/L). However, the organo-sulfur industrial effluent was degraded by photocatalysis with the industrial mineralogical product TiO₂. In this study, the industrial effluent pH value (2.5 to 10), catalyst concentration (50 to 150 mg) were varied, and effluent concentration (0.5 Abs) and light exposure time (2 h) were maintained constant. The best degradation is about 80% of industrial effluent was achieved at pH 5 with a concentration of 150 mg - TiO₂. The FT-IR results and CHNS analyzer confirmed that the sulfur and organic compounds were degraded.

Keywords: wastewater treatment, industrial mineralogical product TiO₂, photocatalysis, organo-sulfur industrial effluent

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Authors: Asem M. Othman

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The expansion of the hospitality industry is unmistakable. Services, by nature, are intangible. Hence, service quality, in general, is a complicated process to be measured and evaluated. Hotels, as a service sector and part of the hospitality industry, are growing rapidly. This research paper was carried out to identify the quality determinants that may affect hotel guests’ service quality perception. In this research paper, each quality determinant will be discussed, illustrated, and justified thoroughly via a systematic literature review. The purpose of this paper is to set the stage to measure the significant influence of the service quality determinants on guest satisfaction. The knowledge produced from this study will assist practitioners and/or hotel service providers to imply into their policies.

Keywords: service quality, hotel service, quality management, quality determinants

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Authors: Wang Liguang, Zhang Xueqing

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The build-operate-transfer (BOT) project delivery system has provided effective routes to mobilize private sector funds, innovative technologies, management skills and operational efficiencies for public infrastructure development and have been widely used in China during the last 20 years. Many BOT projects in China will be smoothly transferred to the government soon and the transfer stage, which is considered as the last stage, must be studied carefully and handled well to achieve the overall success of BOT projects. There will be many issues faced by both the public sector and private sector in the transfer stage of BOT projects, including project post-assessment, technology and documents transfer, personal training and staff transition, etc. and sometimes additional legislation is needed for future operation and management of facilities. However, most previous studies focused on the bidding, financing, and building and operation stages instead of transfer stage. This research identifies nine key issues in the transfer stage of BOT projects through a comprehensive study on three cases in China, and the expert interview and expert discussion meetings are held to validate the key issues and give detail analysis. A proposed framework of transfer management is prepared based on the experiences derived and lessons drawn from the case studies and expert interview and discussions, which is expected to improve the transfer management of BOT projects in practice.

Keywords: BOT project, key issues, transfer management, transfer stage

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Authors: Saad Bin Nasir

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The research will examine the role of corporate governance (CG) practices on firm’s financial performance. Population of this research will be manufacture sector of Pakistan. For the purposes of measurement of impact of corporate governance practices such as board size, board independence, ceo/chairman duality, will take as independent variables and for the measurement of firm’s performance return on assets and return on equity will take as dependent variables. Panel data regression model will be used to estimate the impact of CG on firm performance.

Keywords: corporate governance, board size, board independence, leadership

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Authors: Eteri Kharaishvili, Marina Chavleishvili, Manana Lobzhanidze, Nino Grigolia

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The article analyzes Georgia's involvement in global migration processes, assessing migration research and policy regulatory documents. The socio-economic situation of young people has been studied in the paper, their employment and unemployment levels are analyzed, reasons for migration of youth are revealed, the impact of migration on the socio-economic development of the country is substantiated. Youth demand on education is also assessed, problems in the education sector are identified, educational migration indicators are analyzed according to the internationalization process of this sector. Based on the analysis of the motivations of young people in Georgia, orientation of values and the aspects conditioning life strategies the factors affecting educational migration are determined and the results of the positive and negative impact of educational migration on the socio-economic development of the country are substantiated. The importance of efficient management of educational migration for Georgia in getting closer to the EU and achieving inclusive economic grow this substantiated. Recommendations for efficient management of the process of Georgian citizens’ learning and acquiring experience, as well as the internationalization of education sector and educational migration, are drawn.

Keywords: educational migration, migration management, migration of youth, socio-economic results of educational migration, youth employment

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Authors: Po-Kun Tsai

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The issue of climate change is essential in the 21st century. State governments have launched types of strategic industrial policies to encourage more widespread R&D in green technology. Research also indicates that technology is an essential tool to mitigate some of extreme situations. However, one could learn from several prominent cases in international trade area that they have been easily argued and disputed by the foreign counterparts. Thus, how to justify the public sector’s R&D measures under the current world trading system and how to promote the transfer of environmentally sound technologies (EST) to developing states are crucial. The study is to undertake a preliminary examination of the current R&D research area in green technology in Taiwan. Through selective interviews and comparative approach, it tries to identify the loopholes under the current legal framework in Taiwan. It would be, as a basis, for further legal and policy recommendations for the benefits of mankind.

Keywords: government, R&D, innovation, environmentally sound technology (EST)

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Authors: Asma Shaheen, Javed Iqbal

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The water resources are depleting due to an intrusion of industrial pollution. There are clusters of industries including leather tanning, textiles, batteries, and chemical causing contamination. These industries use bulk quantity of water and discharge it with toxic effluents. The penetration of heavy metals through irrigation from industrial effluent has toxic effect on soil and groundwater. There was strong positive significant correlation between all the heavy metals in three media of industrial effluent, soil and groundwater (P < 0.001). The metal to the metal association was supported by dendrograms using cluster analysis. The geospatial variability was assessed by using geographically weighted regression (GWR) and pollution model to identify the simulation of carcinogenic elements in soil and groundwater. The principal component analysis identified the metals source, 48.8% variation in factor 1 have significant loading for sodium (Na), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), iron (Fe), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) of tannery effluent-based process. In soil and groundwater, the metals have significant loading in factor 1 representing more than half of the total variation with 51.3 % and 53.6 % respectively which showed that pollutants in soil and water were driven by industrial effluent. The cumulative eigen values for the three media were also found to be greater than 1 representing significant clustering of related heavy metals. The results showed that heavy metals from industrial processes are seeping up toxic trace metals in the soil and groundwater. The poisonous pollutants from heavy metals turned the fresh resources of groundwater into unusable water. The availability of fresh water for irrigation and domestic use is being alarming.

Keywords: groundwater, geostatistical, heavy metals, industrial effluent

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Authors: Mostafa A. Shokshok, Omran Ali Abu Krais

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This paper describes the collection and analysis of data obtained from face-to-face interviews conducted in selected Libyan industrial companies. The objectives of the interviews are to enhance understanding, and generate explanations of current issues in culture and quality management systems in Libyan companies. The method used in analyzing the questions, as well as the main finding of each question are explained. The interviews probed areas identify national and organizational culture, quality management systems, current methods, effects, barriers and other factors affecting the success of quality management implementation. Eleven questions are prepared and been discussed with the interviewees.

Keywords: interviews, quality, culture, Libyan industrial companies

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Authors: Nibedita Pani, Vishnu Tejani, T. S. Anantha Singh

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Water pollution resulting from discharge of partial/not treated textile wastewater containing high carbon and nitrogen pollutants pose a huge threat to the environment, ecosystem, and human health. It is essential to remove carbon- and nitrogen-based organic pollutants more effectively from industrial wastewater before discharging. The present study focuses on removal of carbon-based pollutant in particular COD (chemical oxygen demand) and nitrogen-based pollutants, in particular, ammoniacal nitrogen by Fenton oxidation process using Fe²⁺ and H₂O₂ as reagents. The study was carried out with high strength wastewater containing initial COD 5632 mg/L and NH⁴⁺-N 1372 mg/L. The major operating condition like pH was varied between 1.0 to 4.0. The maximum degradation was obtained at pH 3.0 taking the molar ratio of Fe²⁺/H₂O₂ as 1:1. At this pH, the removal efficiencies of COD and ammoniacal nitrogen were found to be 77.27% and 74.9%, respectively. The Fenton process can be the best alternative for the simultaneous removal of COD and NH4+-N from industrial wastewater.

Keywords: ammoniacal nitrogen, COD, Fenton oxidation, industrial wastewater

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Authors: Christian Lauter, Corin Reuter, Shuang Wu, Thomas Troester

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Lightweight construction became more and more important over the last decades in several applications, e.g. in the automotive or aircraft sector. This is the result of economic and ecological constraints on the one hand and increasing safety and comfort requirements on the other hand. In the field of lightweight design, different approaches are used due to specific requirements towards the technical systems. The use of endless carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) offers the largest weight saving potential of sometimes more than 50% compared to conventional metal-constructions. However, there are very limited industrial applications because of the cost-intensive manufacturing of the fibers and production technologies. Other disadvantages of pure CFRP-structures affect the quality control or the damage resistance. One approach to meet these challenges is hybrid materials. This means CFRP and sheet metal are combined on a material level. Therefore, new opportunities for innovative process routes are realizable. Hybrid lightweight design results in lower costs due to an optimized material utilization and the possibility to integrate the structures in already existing production processes of automobile manufacturers. In recent and current research, the advantages of two-layered hybrid materials have been pointed out, i.e. the possibility to realize structures with tailored mechanical properties or to divide the curing cycle of the epoxy resin into two steps. Current research work at the Chair for Automotive Lightweight Design (LiA) at the Paderborn University focusses on production processes for fiber-metal-laminates. The aim of this work is the development and qualification of a large-scale production process for high-performance fiber-metal-laminates (FML) for industrial applications in the automotive or aircraft sector. Therefore, the prepreg-press-technology is used, in which pre-impregnated carbon fibers and sheet metals are formed and cured in a closed, heated mold. The investigations focus e.g. on the realization of short process chains and cycle times, on the reduction of time-consuming manual process steps, and the reduction of material costs. This paper gives an overview over the considerable steps of the production process in the beginning. Afterwards experimental results are discussed. This part concentrates on the influence of different process parameters on the mechanical properties, the laminate quality and the identification of process limits. Concluding the advantages of this technology compared to conventional FML-production-processes and other lightweight design approaches are carried out.

Keywords: composite material, fiber-metal-laminate, lightweight construction, prepreg-press-technology, large-series production

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Authors: W. Deboucha, M. N. Oudjit, A. Bouzid, L. Belagraa, A.Noui

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The cement manufacturing is the one of the factors that pollutes the atmosphere in the industrial sector. The common way to reduce this pollution is using mineral additions as partial replacement of Portland cement. Particularly, natural pozzolana (NP) is component in which they can be used to decrease the rate of pollution. The main objective of this experimental work is the study of the effect of mineral addition (natural pozzolana) on the capillary water absorption and compressive-flexural strength of cement mortar. The results obtained in the present research showed that the higher dosages of natural pozzolana added could be the principal parameter of such decrease in strength at early and medium term. Further, this increase of incorporated addition has been believed to reduce the capillary water absorption.

Keywords: Natural pozzolana, mortar, strength, capillary absorption

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Authors: H. Malachova, A. Oulehlova, D. Rezac

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Crisis preparedness training is the best possible strategy for identifying weak points, understanding vulnerability, and finding possible strategies for mitigation of blackout consequences. Training represents an effective tool for developing abilities and skills to cope with crisis situations. This article builds on the results of the research carried out in the field of preparation, realization, process, and impacts of training on subjects of energy sector critical infrastructure as a part of crisis preparedness. The research has revealed that the subjects of energy sector critical infrastructure have not realized training and therefore are not prepared for the restoration of the energy supply and black start after blackout regardless of the fact that most subjects state blackout and subsequent black start as key dangers. Training, together with mutual communication and processed crisis documentation, represent a basis for successful solutions for dealing with emergency situations. This text presents the suggested model of SIMEX simulator as a tool which supports managing crisis situations, containing training environment. Training models, possibilities of constructive simulation making use of non-aggregated as well as aggregated entities and tools of communication channels of individual simulator nodes have been introduced by the article.

Keywords: communication, energetic critical infrastructure, training, simulation

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Authors: Monica Plechero

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Many firms belonging to Italian industrial districts faced a crisis starting from 2000 and upsurging during 2008-2014. To remain competitive in the global market, these firms and their local systems need to renovate their traditional competitive advantages, strengthen their link with global flows of knowledge. This may be particularly relevant in sectors such as the mechatronics, that combine traditional knowledge domain with new knowledge domains (e.g. mechanics, electronics, and informatics). This sector is nowadays one of the key sectors within the so-called ‘smart specialization strategy’ that can lead part of the Italian traditional industry towards new economic developmental opportunities. This paper, by investigating the mechatronics district of the Veneto region, wants to shed new light on how firms of a local system can gain from the globalization of innovation and innovation networks. Methodologically, the paper relies on primary data collected through a survey targeting firms of the local system, as well as on a number of qualitative case studies. The relevant role of medium size companies in the district emerges as evident, as they have wider opportunities to be involved in different processes of globalization of innovation. Indeed, with respect to small companies, the size of medium firms allows them to exploit strategically international markets and globally distributed knowledge. Supporting medium firms’ global innovation strategies, and incentivizing their role as district gatekeepers, may strengthen the competitive capability of the local system and provide new opportunities to positively face global competition.

Keywords: global innovation network, industrial district, internationalization, innovation, mechatronics, Veneto region

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Authors: Amin Nazerzadeh, Afsaneh Nouri Houshyar , Azadeh Noori Hoshyar

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With the rapid growing of information technology, the industry and manufacturing systems are becoming more automated. Therefore, achieving the highly accurate automatic systems with reliable security is becoming more critical. Biometrics that refers to identifying individual based on physiological or behavioral traits are unique identifiers provide high reliability and security in different industrial systems. As biometric cannot easily be transferred between individuals or copied, it has been receiving extensive attention. Due to the importance of security applications, this paper provides an overview on biometrics and discuss about background, types and applications of biometric as an effective tool for the industrial applications.

Keywords: Industial and manufacturing applications, intelligence and security, information technology, recognition; security technology; biometrics

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Authors: Xin Chen

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Pre-industrial old-world human cultural diversity and societal complexity exhibits remarkable geographic regularities. Along the latitudinal axis from the equator to the arctic, a descending trend of human ethno-cultural diversity is found to be in coincidence with a descending trend of biological diversity. Along the same latitudinal axis, the pre-industrial human societal complexity shows to peak at the intermediate latitude. It is postulated that human cultural diversity and societal complexity are strongly influenced by collective learning, and that collective learning is positively related to human population size, social interactions, and environmental challenges. Under such postulations the relationship between collective learning and important geographical-environmental factors, including climate and biodiversity/bio-productivity is examined. A hypothesis of intermediate bio-productivity is formulated to account for those latitudinal patterns of pre-industrial human societal complexity.

Keywords: cultural diversity, soetal complexity, latitudinal patterns, biodiversity, bio-productivity, collective learning

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Authors: Nnedum Obiajuru Anthony Ugochukwu, Emmanuel Ezechukwu

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This study was designed to investigate into Nigerian consumers’ preference for foreign products. Studies have discovered that Nigerian consumers like their counterparts in most developing countries have an insatiable preference for foreign products especially those from more technologically advanced countries (Okechukwu & Onyema, 1999; Agbonifoh & Elimimian, 1999). This attitude of the Nigerian consumers has resulted in many problems which challenge the industrial sector in Nigeria – lack of patronage resulting to, non-performing firms, endemic unemployment, underdeveloped industries and general lack of industrial growth. The major objective of this study is to investigate the reasons behind such attitude, and the factors that drive consumer preference for foreign products among Nigerian consumers. The study investigated specifically the psychological dimensions (personal values, self-concept, lifestyle and prestige), and demographic factors (age, gender, level of education, income and occupation) that impact consumers’ preference for imported products in Nigeria. The study was cross-sectional and used survey method to collect data from one hundred and eighty-six respondents among postgraduate and part-time students of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka and consumers from Awka metropolis. The results of the study indicated that all the psychological variables used to measure consumer preference for foreign products were largely positive and significant determinants of consumer preference for foreign products. Demographic variables of age, gender, and income were not significant determinants of preference for foreign products. The results of the study, however, showed that level of education and occupation has the significant effect on consumer preference for foreign products.

Keywords: country of origin, xenocentrism, Nigeria, ethnocentrism, foreign products, consumer preference

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Authors: Saba Arif, Anam Nadeem, Roman Kalvin, Muzaffar Ali, Burhan Ali, Juntakan Taweekun

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Globally transportation sector accounts for around 25% of energy demand and nearly 62% of oil consumed. Therefore, new energy sources are required to introduce for this huge demand replenishment of depleting conventional energy sources. Currently, biofuels such as Jatropha trees as an energy carrier for transportation sector are being utilized effectively round the globe. However, climate conditions at low altitudes with an average annual temperature above 20 degrees Celsius and rainfall of 300-1000mm are considered the most suitable environment for the efficient growth of Jatropha trees. The current study is providing a theoretical survey-based analysis to investigate the effect of rate of cultivation of jatropha trees on the reduction of fuel prices and its environmental benefits. The resulted study shows that jatropha tree’s 100 kg seeds give 80kg oil and the conversion process cost is very small as 890 PKR. Moreover, the extraction of oil from Jatropha tree is tax-free compared to other fuels. The analysis proved very essential for potential assessment of Jatropha regarding future energy fuel for transportation sector at global level. Additionally, it can be very beneficial for increment in the total amount of transportation fuel in Pakistan.

Keywords: jatropha tree, environmental impact, energy contents, theoretical survey

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Authors: Vanessa G. P. Severino, JOÃO Gabriel M. Junqueira, Michelle N. G. do Nascimento, Francisco W. B. Aquino, João B. Fernandes, Ana P. Terezan

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The scientific interest in analyzing VOCs represents a significant modern research field as a result of importance in most branches of the present life and industry. Therefore it is extremely important to investigate, identify and isolate volatile substances, since they can be used in different areas, such as food, medicine, cosmetics, perfumery, aromatherapy, pesticides, repellents and other household products through methods for extracting volatile constituents, such as solid phase microextraction (SPME), hydrodistillation (HD), solvent extraction (SE), Soxhlet extraction, supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), stream distillation (SD) and vacuum distillation (VD). The Chemometrics is an area of chemistry that uses statistical and mathematical tools for the planning and optimization of the experimental conditions, and to extract relevant chemical information multivariate chemical data. In this context, the focus of this work was the study of the chemical VOCs by SPME of the specie X. aromatica, in search of constituents that can be used in the industrial sector as well as in food, cosmetics and perfumery, since these areas industrial has a considerable role. In addition, by chemometric analysis, we sought to maximize the answers of this research, in order to search for the largest number of compounds. The investigation of flowers from X. aromatica in vitro and in alive mode proved consistent, but certain factors supposed influence the composition of metabolites, and the chemometric analysis strengthened the analysis. Thus, the study of the chemical composition of X. aromatica contributed to the VOCs knowledge of the species and a possible application.

Keywords: chemometrics, flowers, HS-SPME, Xylopia aromatica

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Authors: Patrick Nüß

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I estimate management opposition against unions in terms of hiring discrimination by a large scale field experiment in the German labor market. The results show that callback rates for union members decrease significantly in the presence of high sectoral union density and large firm size. I further explore how this effect varies with regional and sectoral labor dispute intensity and find that management opposition is stronger when a sector is exposed to an intense labor dispute. There is evidence that the observed management opposition can be explained by sectoral union threat effects. Sectors with lower hiring discrimination have lower coverage of collective agreements, and in the absence of a collective agreement, they are less likely to follow the collective agreement wage setting.

Keywords: trade unions, Industrial relations, management opposition, union threat, labor disputes, field experiments

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Authors: Pauliasi Tony Fakahau

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This paper provides an overview of the impact of the revenue reform programme on vulnerable communities in the Kingdom of Tonga. Economic turmoil and mismanagement during the late 1990s forced the government to seek technical and financial assistance from the Asian Development Bank to undertake a comprehensive Economic and Public Sector Reform (EPSR) programme. The EPSR is a Western model recommended by donor agencies as the solution to Tonga’s economic challenges. The EPSR programme included public sector reform, private sector growth, and revenue generation. Tax reform was the main tool for revenue generation, which set out to strengthen tax compliance and administration as well as implement a value-added consumption tax. The EPSR is based on Western values and ideology but failed to recognise that Tongan cultural values are important to the local community. Two participant groups were interviewed. Participant group one consisted of 51 people representing vulnerable communities. Participant group two consisted of six people from the government and business sector who were from the elite of Tongan society. The Kakala Research Methodology provided the framework for the research, and the Talanoa Research Method was used to conduct semi-structured interviews in the homes of the first group and in the workplaces of the second group. The research found a heavy burden of the consumption tax on the purchasing power of participant group one (vulnerable participants), having an impact on nearly every financial transaction they made. Participant group ones’ main financial priorities were kavenga fakalotu (obligations to the church), kavenga fakafāmili (obligations to the family) and kavenga fakafonua (obligations to cultural events for the village, nobility, and royalty). The findings identified inequalities of the revenue reform, especially from consumption tax, for vulnerable people and communities compared to the elite of society. The research concluded that government and donor agencies need ameliorating policies to reduce the burden of tax on vulnerable groups more susceptible to the impact of revenue reform.

Keywords: tax reform, tonga vulnerable community revenue, revenue reform, public sector reform

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Authors: İlhami Karahanoglu, Oguz Ceylan

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As its well-known definitions; systemic risk refers to whole economic system down-turn movement even collapse together in very severe cases. In fact, it points out the contagion effects of the defaults. Such a risk is can be depicted with the famous Chinese game of falling domino stones. During and after the Bear & Sterns and Lehman Brothers cases, it was well understood that there is a very strong effect of systemic risk in financial services sector. In this study, we concentrate on the existence of systemic risk in Turkish Banking Sector based upon the Halkbank Case during the end month of 2013; there was a political turmoil in Turkey in which the close relatives of the upper politicians were involved in illegal trading activities. In that operation, the CEO of Halkbank was also arrested and in investigation, Halkbank was considered as part of such illegal actions. That operation had an impact on Halkbanks stock value. The Halkbank stock value during that time interval decreased remarkably, the distributional profile of stock return changed and became more volatile as well as more skewed. In this study, the daily returns of 5 leading banks in Turkish banking sector were used to obtain 48 return distributions (for each month, 90-days-back stock value returns are used) of 5 banks for the period 12/2011-12/2013 (pre operation period) and 12/2013-12/2015 (post operation period). When those distributions are compared with timely manner, interestingly; the distribution of the 5 other leading banks in Turkey, public or private, had also distribution profiles which was different from the past 2011-2013 period just like Halkbank. Those 5 big banks, whose stock values are monitored with sub index in Istanbul stock exchange (BIST) as BN10, had more skewed distribution just following the Halkbank stock return movement during the post operation period, with lover mean value and as well higher volatility. In addition, the correlation between the stock value return distributions of the leading banks after Halkbank case, where the returns are more skewed to the left, increased (which is measured in monthly base before and after the operation). The dependence between those banks was stronger under the case where the stock values were falling compared with the normal market condition. Such distributional effect of stock returns between the leading banks in Turkey, which is valid for down sub-market (financial/banking sector) condition, can be evaluated as an evidence for the existence of contagious effect and systemic risk.

Keywords: financial risk, systemic risk, banking sector, return distribution, dependency structure

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Authors: Prima Fithri, Lusi Susanti, Karin Bestarina

Abstract:

Indonesia's electrification ratio is still around 80.1%, which means that approximately 19.9% of households in Indonesia have not been getting the flow of electrical energy. Household electricity consumptions in Indonesia are generally still dominated by the public urban. In the city of Padang, West Sumatera, Indonesia, about 94.10% are power users of government services (PLN). The most important thing of the issue is human resources efficient energy. Consumer behavior in utilizing electricity becomes significant. Intensive questioner survey, in-depth interview and statistical analysis are carried out to collect scientific evidences of the behavioral based changes instruments to reduce electricity consumption in household sector. The questioner was developed to include five factors assuming affect the electricity consumption pattern in household sector. They are: attitude, energy price, household income, knowledge and other determinants. The survey was carried out in Padang, West Sumatra Province Indonesia. About 210 questioner papers were proportionally distributed to households in 11 districts in Padang. Stratified sampling was used as a method to select respondents. The results show that the household size, income, payment methods and size of house are factors affecting electricity saving behavior in residential sector. Household expenses on electricity are strongly influenced by gender, type of job, level of education, size of house, income, payment method and level of installed power. These results provide a scientific evidence for stakeholders on the potential of controlling electricity consumption and designing energy policy by government in residential sector.

Keywords: electricity, energy saving, household, behavior, policy

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Authors: R. Berrached, H. Ait Mahamed, A. Iddou

Abstract:

Water pollution is nowadays a serious problem, due to the increasing scarcity of water and thus to the impact induced by such pollution on the human health. Various techniques are made use of to deal with water pollution. Among the most used ones, some can be enumerated: the bacterian bed, the activated mud, the Lagunage as biological processes and coagulation-floculation as a physic-chemical process. These processes are very expensive and an treatment efficiency which decreases along with the increase of the initial pollutants’ concentration. This is the reason why research has been reoriented towards the use of a process by adsorption as an alternative solution instead of the other traditional processes. In our study, we have tempted to exploit the characteristics of two metallic hydroxides Al and Fe to purify contaminated water by two industrial dyes SBL blue and SRL-150 orange. Results have shown the efficiency of the two materials on the blue SBL dye.

Keywords: Metallic Hydroxydes, industrial dyes, purification, lagunage

Procedia PDF Downloads 441