Search results for: Islamic capital market (ICM)

Authors: Ayedh Alqahtani

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Many construction firms in Saudi Arabia dedicated to building projects agree that the most important factor in the real estate market is the value that they can give to their customer. These firms understand the value of their client in different ways. Value can be defined as the size of the building project in relationship to the cost or the design quality of the materials utilized in finish work or any other features of building rooms such as the bathroom. Value can also be understood as something suitable for the money the client is investing for the new property. A quality tool is required to support companies to achieve a solution for the building project and to understand and manage the customer’s needs. Quality Function Development (QFD) method will be able to play this role since the main difference between QFD and other conventional quality management tools is QFD a valuable and very flexible tool for design and taking into the account the VOC. Currently, organizations and agencies are seeking suitable models able to deal better with uncertainty, and that is flexible and easy to use. The primary aim of this research project is to incorporate customer’s requirements in the conceptual design of construction projects. Towards this goal, QFD is selected due to its capability to integrate the design requirements to meet the customer’s needs. To develop QFD, this research focused upon the contribution of the different (significantly weighted) input factors that represent the main variables influencing QFD and subsequent analysis of the techniques used to measure them. First of all, this research will review the literature to determine the current practice of QFD in construction projects. Then, the researcher will review the literature to define the current customers of residential projects and gather information on customers’ requirements for the design of the residential building. After that, qualitative survey research will be conducted to rank customer’s needs and provide the views of stakeholder practitioners about how these needs can affect their satisfy. Moreover, a qualitative focus group with the members of the design team will be conducted to determine the improvements level and technical details for the design of residential buildings. Finally, the QFD will be developed to establish the degree of significance of the design’s solution.

Keywords: quality function development, construction projects, Saudi Arabia, quality tools

Procedia PDF Downloads 124

Authors: Ahmadi, Iriansyah, Raihana Yahman

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The giant freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii de Man, 1879) is a valuable species for fisheries and aquaculture, especially in Southeast Asia, including Indonesia due to their high market demand and potential for export. The growing demand for prawns is straining the sustainability of the Banjar Regency fishery. To ensure the long-term sustainability and economic viability of the prawn fishing in this region, it is imperative to implement evidence-based management practices. This requires comprehensive data on the Catch per Unit Effort (CPUE), Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) and the current rate of prawn resource exploitation. it analyzed five years of prawn catch data (2019-2023) obtained from South Kalimantan Marine and Fisheries Services. Fishing gears (e.g. hook & line and cast net) were first standardized with Fishing Power Index, and then calculated effort and MSY. The intercept (a) and the slope (b) values of regression curve were used to estimate the catch-maximum sustainable yield (CMSY) and optimal fishing effort (Fopt) levels within the framework of the Surplus Production Model. The estimated rates of resource utilization were then compared to the criteria of The National Commission of Marine Fish Stock Assessment. The findings showed that the CPUE value peaked in 2019 at 33.48 kg/trip, while the lowest value observed in 2022 at 5.12 kg/trip. The CMSY value was estimated to be 17,396 kg/year, corresponding to the Fopt level of 1,636 trips/year. The highest utilization rate was 56.90% recorded in 2020, while the lowest rate was observed in 2021 at 46.16%. The annual utilization rates were classified as “medium”, suggesting that increasing fishing effort by 45% could potentially maximize prawn catches at an optimum level. These findings provide a baseline for sustainable fisheries management in the region.

Keywords: giant prawns, CPUE, fishing power index, sustainable potential, utilization rate

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Authors: Jeremy Ritchey

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Undocumented immigrants in the U.S. face many challenges when looking to progress in society, especially when pursuing post-secondary education. The majority of research done on state-level policy adoption pertaining to undocumented higher-education pursuits, specifically in-state resident tuition and financial aid eligibility policies, have framed the discussion on the potential and actual impacts which implementation can and has achieved. What is missing is a model to view the social, political and demographic landscapes upon which such policies (in their various forms) find a route to legislative enactment. This research looks to address this gap in the field by investigating the correlations and significant state-level variables which can be operationalized to construct a framework for adoption of these specific policies. In the process, analysis will show that past unexamined conceptualizations of how such policies come to fruition may be limited or contradictory when compared to available data. Circling on the principles of Policy Innovation and Policy Diffusion theory, this study looks to use variables collected via Michigan State University’s Correlates of State Policy Project, a collectively and ongoing compiled database project centered around annual variables (1900-2016) collected from all 50 states relevant to policy research. Using established variable groupings (demographic, political, social capital measurements, and educational system measurements) from the time period of 2000 to 2014 (2001 being when such policies began), one can see how this data correlates with the adoption of policies related to undocumented students and in-state college tuition. After regression analysis, the results will illuminate which variables appears significant and to what effect, as to help formulate a model upon which to explain when adoption appears to occur and when it does not. Early results have shown that traditionally held conceptions on conservative and liberal identities of the state, as they relate to the likelihood of such policies being adopted, did not fall in line with the collected data. Democratic and liberally identified states were, overall, less likely to adopt pro-undocumented higher education policies than Republican and conservatively identified states and vis versa. While further analysis is needed as to improve the model’s explanatory power, preliminary findings are showing promise in widening our understanding of policy adoption factors in this realm of policies compared to the gap of such knowledge in the publications of the field as it currently exists. The model also looks to serve as an important tool for policymakers in framing such potential policies in a way that is congruent with the relevant state-level determining factors while being sensitive to the most apparent sources of potential friction. While additional variable groups and individual variables will ultimately need to be added and controlled for, this research has already begun to demonstrate how shallow or unexamined reasoning behind policy adoption in the realm of this topic needs to be addressed or else the risk is erroneous conceptions leaking into the foundation of this growing and ever important field.

Keywords: policy adoption, in-state tuition, higher education, undocumented immigrants

Procedia PDF Downloads 116

Authors: Bruno Nascimento, Cristina Wanzeller, Jorge Silva, João A. Dias, André Barbosa, José Ribeiro

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The increasing complexity of logistics operations stems from evolving business needs, such as the shift from mass production to mass customization, which demands greater efficiency and flexibility. In response, Industry 4.0 and 5.0 technologies provide improved solutions to enhance operational agility and better meet market demands. The management of kitting zones, combined with the use of Autonomous Mobile Robots, faces challenges related to coordination, resource optimization, and rapid response to customer demand fluctuations. Additionally, implementing lean manufacturing practices in this context must be carefully orchestrated by intelligent systems and human operators to maximize efficiency without sacrificing the agility required in an advanced production environment. This paper proposes and implements a microservices-based architecture integrating principles from Industry 4.0 and 5.0 with lean manufacturing practices. The architecture enhances communication and coordination between autonomous vehicles and kitting management systems, allowing more efficient resource utilization and increased scalability. The proposed architecture focuses on the modularity and flexibility of operations, enabling seamless flexibility to change demands and the efficient allocation of resources in realtime. Conducting this approach is expected to significantly improve logistics operations’ efficiency and scalability by reducing waste and optimizing resource use while improving responsiveness to demand changes. The implementation of this architecture provides a robust foundation for the continuous evolution of kitting management and process optimization. It is designed to adapt to dynamic environments marked by rapid shifts in production demands and real-time decision-making. It also ensures seamless integration with automated systems, aligning with Industry 4.0 and 5.0 needs while reinforcing Lean Manufacturing principles.

Keywords: microservices, event-driven, kitting, AMR, lean manufacturing, industry 4.0, industry 5.0

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Authors: Cesar Leines

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The social effects of the pandemic are significant and diverse, most of those effects have widened the gap of economic inequality. Without a doubt, each country faces difficulties associated with the strengths and weaknesses of its own institutions that can address these causes and consequences. Around the world, pricing practices that have no connection to production costs have been used extensively in numerous markets beyond those relating to the supply of essential goods and services, and although it is not unlawful to adjust pricing considering the increased demand of certain products, shortages and disruption of supply chains, illegitimate pricing practices may arise and these tend to transfer wealth from consumers to producers that affect the purchasing power of the former, making people worse off. High prices with no objective justification indicate a poor state of the competitive process in any market and the impact of those underlying competition issues leading to inefficiency is increased when national competition agencies are weak and ineffective in enforcing competition in law and policy. It has been observed that in those countries where competition authorities are perceived as weak or ineffective, price increases of a wide range of products and services were more significant during the pandemic than those price increases observed in countries where the perception of the effectiveness of the competition agency is high. When a perception is created of a highly effective competition authority, one which enforces competition law and its non-enforcement activities result in the fulfillment of its substantive functions of protecting competition as the means to create efficient markets, the price rise observed in markets under its jurisdiction is low. A case study focused on the effectiveness of the national competition agency in Mexico (COFECE) points to institutional weakness as one of the causes leading to excessive pricing. There are many factors that contribute to its low effectiveness and which, in turn, have led to a very significant price hike, potentiated by the pandemic. This paper contributes to the discussion of these factors and proposes different steps that overall help COFECE or any other competition agency to increase the perception of effectiveness for the benefit of the consumers.

Keywords: agency effectiveness, competition, institutional weakness, price gouging

Procedia PDF Downloads 176

Authors: Olaide Ruth Aderibigbe, Oluwatoyin Oluwole

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Pigeon pea is one of the minor leguminous plants; though underutilised, it is used traditionally by farmers to alleviate hunger and malnutrition. Pigeon pea is cultivated in Nigeria by subsistence farmers. It is rich in protein and minerals, however, its utilisation as food is only common among the poor and rural populace who cannot afford expensive sources of protein. One of the factors contributing to its limited use is the high antinutrient content which makes it indigestible, especially when eaten by children. The development of value-added products that can reduce the antinutrient content and make the nutrients more bioavailable will increase the utilisation of the crop and contribute to reduction of malnutrition. This research, therefore, determined the effects of different roasting temperatures (130 0C, 140 0C, and 150 0C) on the proximate, mineral and antinutrient component of a pigeon pea snack. The brown variety of pigeon pea seeds were purchased from a local market- Otto in Lagos, Nigeria. The seeds were cleaned, washed, and soaked in 50 ml of water containing sugar and salt (4:1) for 15 minutes, and thereafter the seeds were roasted at 130 0C, 140 0C, and 150 0C in an electric oven for 10 minutes. Proximate, minerals, phytate, tannin and alkaloid content analyses were carried out in triplicates following standard procedures. The results of the three replicates were polled and expressed as mean±standard deviation; a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the Least Significance Difference (LSD) were carried out. The roasting temperatures significantly (P<0.05) affected the protein, ash, fibre and carbohydrate content of the snack. Ready-to-eat snack prepared by roasting at 150 0C significantly had the highest protein (23.42±0.47%) compared the ones roasted at 130 0C and 140 0C (18.38±1.25% and 20.63±0.45%, respectively). The same trend was observed for the ash content (3.91±0.11 for 150 0C, 2.36±0.15 for 140 0C and 2.26±0.25 for 130 0C), while the fibre and carbohydrate contents were highest at roasting temperature of 130 0C. Iron, zinc, and calcium were not significantly (P<0.5) affected by the different roasting temperatures. Antinutrients decreased with increasing temperature. Phytate levels recorded were 0.02±0.00, 0.06±0.00, and 0.07±0.00 mg/g; tannin levels were 0.50±0.00, 0.57±0.00, and 0.68±0.00 mg/g, while alkaloids levels were 0.51±0.01, 0.78±0.01, and 0.82±0.01 mg/g for 150 0C, 140 0C, and 130 0C, respectively. These results show that roasting at high temperature (150 0C) can be utilised as a processing technique for increasing protein and decreasing antinutrient content of pigeon pea.

Keywords: antinutrients, pigeon pea, protein, roasting, underutilised species

Procedia PDF Downloads 144

Authors: Ahmed Makhoukh

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Quality assurance (QA) has recently become a common practice, which is endorsed by most Higher Education (HE) institutions worldwide, due to the pressure of internal and external forces. One of the aims of this quality movement is to make the contribution of university education to socio-economic development highly significant. This entails that graduates are currently required have a high-quality profile, i.e., to be competent and master the 21st-century skills needed in the labor market. This wave of change, mostly imposed by globalization, has the effect that university education should be learner-centered in order to satisfy the different needs of students and meet the expectations of other stakeholders. Such a shift of focus on the student learning outcomes has led HE institutions to reconsider their strategic planning, their mission, the curriculum, the pedagogical competence of the academic staff, among other elements. To ensure that the overall institutional performance is on the right way, a QA system should be established to assume this task of checking regularly the extent to which the set of standards of evaluation are strictly respected as expected. This operation of QA has the advantage of proving the accountability of the institution, gaining the trust of the public with transparency and enjoying an international recognition. This is the case of Doha Institute (DI) for Graduate Studies, in Qatar, the object of the present study. The significance of this contribution is to show that the conception of quality has changed in this digital age, and the need to integrate a department responsible for QA in every HE institution to ensure educational quality, enhance learners and achieve academic leadership. Thus, to undertake the issue of QA in DI for Graduate Studies, an elite university (in the academic sense) that focuses on a small and selected number of students, a qualitative method will be adopted in the description and analysis of the data (document analysis). In an attempt to investigate the extent to which QA is achieved in Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, three broad indicators will be evaluated (input, process and learning outcomes). This investigation will be carried out in line with the UK Quality Code for Higher Education represented by Quality Assurance Agency (QAA).

Keywords: accreditation, higher education, quality, quality assurance, standards

Procedia PDF Downloads 148

Authors: Thummalapalli CSM Gupta, Banti Sidhiwala

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Mineral oils of naphthenic and paraffinic type have been traditionally been used as insulating liquids in the transformer applications to protect the solid insulation from moisture and ensures effective heat transfer/cooling. The performance of these type of oils have been proven in the field over many decades and the condition monitoring and diagnosis of transformer performance have been successfully monitored through oil properties and dissolved gas analysis methods successfully. Different type of gases representing various types of faults due to components or operating conditions effectively. While large amount of data base has been generated in the industry on dissolved gas analysis for mineral oil based transformer oils and various models for predicting the fault and analysis, oil specifications and standards have also been modified to include stray gassing limits which cover the low temperature faults and becomes an effective preventative maintenance tool that can benefit greatly to know the reasons for the breakdown of electrical insulating materials and related components. Natural esters have seen a rise in popularity in recent years due to their "green" credentials. Some of its benefits include biodegradability, a higher fire point, improvement in load capability of transformer and improved solid insulation life than mineral oils. However, the Stray gases evolution like hydrogen and hydrocarbons like methane (CH4) and ethane (C2H6) show very high values which are much higher than the limits of mineral oil standards. Though the standards for these type esters are yet to be evolved, the higher values of hydrocarbon gases that are available in the market is of concern which might be interpreted as a fault in transformer operation. The current paper focuses on developing a natural ester based transformer oil which shows very levels of stray gassing by standard test methods show much lower values compared to the products available currently and experimental results on various test conditions and the underlying mechanism explained.

Keywords: biodegadability, fire point, dissolved gassing analysis, stray gassing

Procedia PDF Downloads 97

Authors: Pennapa Palapin

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This research sought to study the traditional local wisdom and study the promotion and dissemination of traditional local wisdom in order to find the forms of promotion and dissemination of traditional local wisdom to create occupations among the elderly at Nonmueng Community, Muang Sub-District, Baan Dung District, UdonThani Province. The criterion used to select the research sample group was, being a person having a role involved in the promotion and dissemination of traditional local wisdom to create occupations among the elderly at Nonmueng Community, Muang Sub-District, Baan Dung District, UdonThani Province; being an experienced person whom the residents of Nonmueng Community find trustworthy; and having lived in Nonmueng Community for a long time so as to be able to see the development and change that occurs. A total of 16 people were selected. Data was gathered as a qualitative study, through semi-structured in-depth interviews. The collected data was then summarised and discussed according to the research objectives. Finally, the data was presented in a narrative format. Results found that the identifying traditional local wisdom of the community (which grew from the residents’ experience and beneficial usage in daily life, passed down from generation to generation) was the weaving of cloth and basketry. As for the manner of promotion and dissemination of traditional local wisdom, the skills were passed down through teaching by example to family members, relatives and others in the community. This was done by the elders or elderly members of the community. For the promotion and dissemination of traditional local wisdom to create occupations among the elderly, the traditional local wisdom should be supported in every way through participation of the community members. For example, establish a museum of traditional local wisdom for the collection of traditional local wisdom in various fields, both in the past and at present. This would be a source of pride for the community, in order to make traditional local wisdom widely known and to create income for the community’s elderly. Additional ways include exhibitions of products made by traditional local wisdom, finding both domestic and international markets, as well as building both domestic and international networks aiming to find opportunities to market products made by traditional local wisdom.

Keywords: traditional local wisdom, occupation, elderly, community

Procedia PDF Downloads 304

Authors: Abdul Murad Zainal Abidin, Azahar Mohd, Nor Idayu Arifin, Siti Nor Azila Khalid, Mohd Julzaha Zahari Mohamad Yusof

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A thermoelectric cooler (TEC) is an electronic component that uses ‘peltier’ effect to create a temperature difference by transferring heat between two electrical junctions of two different types of materials. TEC can also be used for heating by reversing the electric current flow and even power generation. A heat flow meter (HFM) is an equipment for measuring thermal conductivity of building materials. During the test, water is used as heat transfer medium to cool the HFM. The existing re-circulating cooler in the market is very costly, and the alternative is to use piped tap water to extract heat from HFM. However, the tap water temperature is insufficiently low to enable heat transfer to take place. The operating temperature for isothermal plates in the HFM is 40°C with the range of ±0.02°C. When the temperature exceeds the operating range, the HFM stops working, and the test cannot be conducted. The aim of the research is to develop a low-cost but energy-efficient TEC prototype that enables heat transfer without compromising the function of the HFM. The objectives of the research are a) to identify potential of TEC as a cooling device by evaluating its cooling rate and b) to determine the amount of water savings using TEC compared to normal tap water. Four (4) peltier sets were used, with two (2) sets used as pre-cooler. The cooling water is re-circulated from the reservoir into HFM using a water pump. The thermal conductivity readings, the water flow rate, and the power consumption were measured while the HFM was operating. The measured data has shown decrease in average cooling temperature difference (ΔTave) of 2.42°C and average cooling rate of 0.031°C/min. The water savings accrued from using the TEC is projected to be 8,332.8 litres/year with the application of water re-circulation. The results suggest the prototype has achieved required objectives. Further research will include comparing the cooling rate of TEC prototype against conventional tap water and to optimize its design and performance in terms of size and portability. The possible application of the prototype could also be expanded to portable storage for medicine and beverages.

Keywords: energy efficiency, thermoelectric cooling, pre-cooling device, heat flow meter, sustainable technology, thermal conductivity

Procedia PDF Downloads 155

Authors: Shivankar Agrawal, Sunil Kumar Deshmukh, Colin Barrow, Alok Adholeya

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A variety of genetic and environmental factors cause various cosmetics and dermatological problems. There are already claimed drugs available in market for treating these problems. However, the challenge remains in finding more potent, environmental friendly, causing minimal side effects and economical cosmeceuticals. This leads to an increased demand for natural cosmeceutical products in the last few decades. Plant derived ingredients are limited because plants either contain toxic metabolites, grow too slow or seasonal harvesting is a problem. To identify new bioactive cosmetics ingredients of marine microbial bioresource, we screened 35 marine fungi isolated from marine samples collected from Andaman Island and west coast of India. Fungal crude extracts were investigated for their antityrosinase, antioxidant and antibacterial activities for the purpose of identifying anti-aging, skin-whitening and anti-acne biomolecule with the potential in cosmetics. In the tyrosinase inhibition and 2, 2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging assays, two fungal extracts, including “P2”, Talaromyces stipitatus and “D4”, Aspergillus terreus showed high inhibitory activity at 1mg/mL for tyrosinase inhibition and 0.5mg/mL for DPPH scavenging. The in vitro antimicrobial activity was investigated by the agar well diffusion method. In the tyrosinase inhibition assay, 8 extracts showed significant antibacterial activity against bacteria causing skin and wound infection in humans. In the course of systematic screening program for bioactive marine fungi, strain “D5” was found to be most potent strain with MIC value of 1mg/mL, which was morphologically identified as Simplicillium lamellicola. The effects of the most active crude extracts against their susceptible test microorganisms were also investigated by SEM analysis. Further investigations will focus on purification and characterization major active components responsible for these activities.

Keywords: antioxidant, antimicrobial activity, tyrosinase, cosmeceuticals, marine fungi

Procedia PDF Downloads 281

Authors: Hyunjoo Park, Taehyun Kim, Taehyun Kim

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Human life, activity, and culture depend on the wider environment. Cities offer economic opportunities for goods and services, but cannot exist in environments without food, energy, and water supply. Technological innovation in energy supply and transport speeds up the expansion of urban areas and the physical separation from agricultural land. As a result, division of urban agricultural areas causes more energy demand for food and goods transport between the regions. As the energy resources are leaking all over the world, the impact on the environment crossing the boundaries of cities is also growing. While advances in energy and other technologies can reduce the environmental impact of consumption, there is still a gap between energy supply and demand by current technology, even in technically advanced countries. Therefore, reducing energy demand is more realistic than relying solely on the development of technology for sustainable development. The purpose of this study is to introduce the application of carbon footprint assessment in fields of urban planning and geography. In urban studies, carbon footprint has been assessed at different geographical scales, such as nation, city, region, household, and individual. Carbon footprint assessment for a nation and a city is available by using national or city level statistics of energy consumption categories. By means of carbon footprint calculation, it is possible to compare the ecological capacity and deficit among nations and cities. Carbon footprint also offers great insight on the geographical distribution of carbon intensity at a regional level in the agricultural field. The study shows the background of carbon footprint applications in urban planning and geography by case studies such as figuring out sustainable land-use measures in urban planning and geography. For micro level, footprint quiz or survey can be adapted to measure household and individual carbon footprint. For example, first case study collected carbon footprint data from the survey measuring home energy use and travel behavior of 2,064 households in eight cities in Gyeonggi-do, Korea. Second case study analyzed the effects of the net and gross population densities on carbon footprint of residents at an intra-urban scale in the capital city of Seoul, Korea. In this study, the individual carbon footprint of residents was calculated by converting the carbon intensities of home and travel fossil fuel use of respondents to the unit of metric ton of carbon dioxide (tCO₂) by multiplying the conversion factors equivalent to the carbon intensities of each energy source, such as electricity, natural gas, and gasoline. Carbon footprint is an important concept not only for reducing climate change but also for sustainable development. As seen in case studies carbon footprint may be measured and applied in various spatial units, including but not limited to countries and regions. These examples may provide new perspectives on carbon footprint application in planning and geography. In addition, additional concerns for consumption of food, goods, and services can be included in carbon footprint calculation in the area of urban planning and geography.

Keywords: carbon footprint, case study, geography, urban planning

Procedia PDF Downloads 289

Authors: Klara Strecker

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During times of globalization, socioeconomic systems have become connected across the world through global supply chains. As a result, consumption and production locations have increasingly become spatially decoupled. This decoupling leads to complex entanglements of systems and sustainability challenges across distances -entanglements which can be conceptualized as telecouplings. Through telecouplings, people and environments across the world have become closely connected, bringing challenges as well as opportunities. Some argue that telecoupling dynamics started taking shape during times of colonization when resources were first traded across the world. An example of such a telecoupling is that of the rose. Every third rose sold in Europe is grown in Kenya and enters the European market through the Dutch flower auction system. Many Kenyan farms are Dutch-owned, closely entangling Kenya and the Netherlands through the trade of roses. Furthermore, the globalization of the flower industry and the resulting shift of production away from the Netherlands and towards Kenya has led to significant changes in the Dutch horticulture sector. However, the sustainability effects of this rose telecoupling is limited neither to the horticulture sector nor to the Netherlands and Kenya. Alongside the flow of roses between these countries come complex financial, knowledge-based, and regulatory flows. The rose telecoupling also creates spillover effects to other countries, such as Ethiopia, and other industries, such as Kenyan tourism. Therefore, telecoupling dynamics create complex entanglements that cut across sectors, environments, communities, and countries, which makes effectively governing and managing telecouplings and their sustainability implications challenging. Indeed, sustainability can no longer be studied in spatial and temporal isolation. This paper aims to map the rose telecoupling’s complex environmental and social interactions to identify points of tension guiding sustainability-targeted interventions. Mapping these interactions will provide a more holistic understanding of the sustainability challenges involved in the Dutch-Kenyan rose trade. This interdisciplinary telecoupling approach reframes and integrates interdisciplinary knowledge about the rose trade between the Netherlands, Kenya, and beyond.

Keywords: Dutch-Kenyan rose trade, globalization, socio-ecological system, sustainability, telecoupling

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Authors: Cristina Gutiérrez Carranza

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Digital nomadism is a trend and lifestyle which combines work and traveling. This tourism tendency is motivated by the desire to have a fixed source of financial income while becoming independent from a specific work location. This study contextualizes Costa Rica and its potential prospects to take advantage of this tourism market niche. It explores the dynamics of digital nomadism in the context of Costa Rica, analyzing the current scenario, challenges, and opportunities related to this global phenomenon. The research covers several areas, including the conceptualization of digital nomadism, its historical background, and contemporary manifestations. The investigation delves into the present state of digital nomadism, evaluating the extent of digitalization in Costa Rica, mobile phone coverage, and fixed internet access. As part of the strategies implemented, as the study develops, mapping the most common destinations of digital nomads is a key factor, bringing a sight on the aspects that make Costa Rica an attractive location for this emerging tourist group. Additionally, the paper draws insights from hosting entrepreneurs and digital nomads with work visas in Costa Rica, offering a comprehensive understanding of the experiences and perspectives from both sides. Hence, the study includes data from a sample of 20 digital nomads holding visas for Costa Rica, offering a detailed analysis of their professional activities, experiences and needs as remote workers in the country. As well it adds in perceptions from 10 entrepreneurs engaged in providing accommodation services to digital nomads contribute to a degree of understanding of the way they have faced this growing movement. This research provides significant insights on the dynamics of digital nomadism in Costa Rica by integrating data from specific sources. Policymakers, entrepreneurs, and other stakeholders are anticipated to gain valuable data from the findings regarding the opportunities and challenges of hosting and accommodating digital nomads, which will ultimately aid in the creation of plans to capitalize on this worldwide trend for the nation's socioeconomic development.

Keywords: digital nomads, tourism, sustainability, digital nomads visa, remote jobs

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Authors: Deog-Gyu Seo, Jin-Soo Ahn

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Objectives: Recently, the development of adhesive primers on stable bonding between zirconia and resin cement has been on the increase. The bond strength of zirconia-resin cement can be effectively increased with the treatment of primer composed of the adhesive monomer that can chemically bond with the oxide layer, which forms on the surface of zirconia. 10-methacryloyloxydecyl dihydrogen phosphate (10-MDP) that contains phosphate ester and acidic monomer 4-methacryloxyethyl trimellitic anhydride(4-META) have been suggested as monomers that can form chemical bond with the surface oxide layer of zirconia. Also, these suggested monomers have proved to be effective zirconia surface treatment for bonding to resin cement. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of primer treatment on the bond strength of Zirconia-resin cement by using three different kinds of primers on the market. Methods: Zirconia blocks were prepared into 60 disk-shaped specimens by using a diamond saw. Specimens were divided into four different groups: first three groups were treated with zirconiaLiner(Sun Medical Co., Ltd., Furutaka-cho, Moriyama, Shiga, Japan), Alloy primer (Kuraray Noritake Dental Inc., Sakaju, Kurashiki, Okayama, Japan), and Universal primer (Tokuyama dental Corp., Taitou, Taitou-ku, Tokyo, Japan) respectively. The last group was the control with no surface treatment. Dual cured resin cement (Biscem, Bisco Inc., Schaumburg, IL, USA) was luted to each group of specimens. And then, shear bond strengths were measured by universal tesing machine. The significance of the result was statistically analyzed by one-way ANOVA and Tukey test. The failure sites in each group were inspected under a magnifier. Results: Mean shear bond strength were 0.60, 1.39, 1.03, 1.38 MPa for control, Zirconia Liner (ZL), Alloy primer (AP), Universal primer (UP), respectively. Groups with application of each of the three primers showed significantly higher shear bond strength compared to the control group (p < 0.05). Among the three groups with the treatment, ZL and UP showed significantly higher shear bond strength than AP (p < 0.05), and there were no significant differences in mean shear bond strength between ZL and UP (p < 0.05). While the most specimens of control groups showed adhesive failure (80%), the most specimens of three primer-treated groups showed cohesive or mixed failure (80%).

Keywords: primer, resin cement, shear bond strength, zirconia

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Authors: Sharda Kumari

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As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to leave its mark on the global business landscape, companies have had to adapt to new realities and find ways to sustain their operations amid social distancing measures, government restrictions, and heightened public health concerns. This unprecedented situation has placed considerable stress on both employees and employers, underscoring the need for innovative approaches to manage the risks associated with Covid-19 transmission in the workplace. In response to these challenges, the pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital technologies, with an increasing preference for remote interactions and virtual collaboration. Customer relationship management (CRM) systems have risen to prominence as a vital resource for organizations navigating the post-pandemic world, providing a range of benefits that include acquiring new customers, generating insightful consumer data, enhancing customer relationships, and growing market share. In the context of pandemic management, CRM systems offer three primary advantages: (1) integration features that streamline operations and reduce the need for multiple, costly software systems; (2) worldwide accessibility from any internet-enabled device, facilitating efficient remote workforce management during a pandemic; and (3) the capacity for rapid adaptation to changing business conditions, given that most CRM platforms boast a wide array of remotely deployable business growth solutions, a critical attribute when dealing with a dispersed workforce in a pandemic-impacted environment. These advantages highlight the pivotal role of CRM systems in helping organizations remain resilient and adaptive in the face of ongoing global challenges.

Keywords: healthcare, CRM, customer relationship management, customer experience, digital transformation, pandemic response, patient monitoring, patient management, healthcare automation, electronic health record, patient billing, healthcare information systems, remote workforce, virtual collaboration, resilience, adaptable business models, integration features, CRM in healthcare, telehealth, pandemic management

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Authors: T. B. Karu Jayasundara

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Regions of low gravity and gravity anomalies both influence heavy mineral concentrations on placer deposits. Economically imported heavy minerals are likely to have higher levels of deposition in low gravity regions of placer deposits. This can be found in coastal regions of Southern Asia, particularly in Sri Lanka and Peninsula India and areas located in the lowest gravity region of the world. The area about 70 kilometers of the east coast of Sri Lanka is covered by a high percentage of ilmenite deposits, and the southwest coast of the island consists of Monazite placer deposit. These deposits are one of the largest placer deposits in the world. In India, the heavy mineral industry has a good market. On the other hand, based on the coastal placer deposits recorded, the high gravity region located around Papua New Guinea, has no such heavy mineral deposits. In low gravity regions, with the help of other depositional environmental factors, the grains have more time and space to float in the sea, this helps bring high concentrations of heavy mineral deposits to the coast. The effect of low and high gravity can be demonstrated by using heavy mineral separation devices.  The Wilfley heavy mineral separating table is one of these; it is extensively used in industries and in laboratories for heavy mineral separation. The horizontally oscillating Wilfley table helps to separate heavy and light mineral grains in to deferent fractions, with the use of water. In this experiment, the low and high angle of the Wilfley table are representing low and high gravity respectively. A sample mixture of grain size <0.85 mm of heavy and light mineral grains has been used for this experiment. The high and low angle of the table was 6⁰ and 2⁰ respectively for this experiment. The separated fractions from the table are again separated into heavy and light minerals, with the use of heavy liquid, which consists of a specific gravity of 2.85. The fractions of separated heavy and light minerals have been used for drawing the two-dimensional graphs. The graphs show that the low gravity stage has a high percentage of heavy minerals collected in the upper area of the table than in the high gravity stage. The results of the experiment can be used for the comparison of regional low gravity and high gravity levels of heavy minerals. If there are any heavy mineral deposits in the high gravity regions, these deposits will take place far away from the coast, within the continental shelf.

Keywords: anomaly, gravity, influence, mineral

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Authors: Bijit Kalita, R. Jayaganthan

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Additive manufacturing (AM) is a novel manufacturing method which provides more freedom in design, manufacturing near-net-shaped parts as per demand, lower cost of production, and expedition in delivery time to market. Among various metals, AM techniques, Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF) is the most prominent one that provides higher accuracy and powder proficiency in comparison to other methods. Particularly, 17-4 PH alloy is martensitic precipitation hardened (PH) stainless steel characterized by resistance to corrosion up to 300°C and tailorable strengthening by copper precipitates. Additively manufactured 17-4 PH stainless steel exhibited a dendritic/cellular solidification microstructure in the as-built condition. It is widely used as a structural material in marine environments, power plants, aerospace, and chemical industries. The excellent weldability of 17-4 PH stainless steel and its ability to be heat treated to improve mechanical properties make it a good material choice for L-PBF. In this study, the microstructures of martensitic stainless steels in the as-built state, as well as the effects of process parameters, building atmosphere, and heat treatments on the microstructures, are reviewed. Mechanical properties of fabricated parts are studied through micro-hardness and tensile tests. Tensile tests are carried out under different strain rates at room temperature. In addition, the effect of process parameters and heat treatment conditions on mechanical properties is critically reviewed. These studies revealed the performance of L-PBF fabricated 17–4 PH stainless-steel parts under cyclic loading, and the results indicated that fatigue properties were more sensitive to the defects generated by L-PBF (e.g., porosity, microcracks), leading to the low fracture strains and stresses under cyclic loading. Rapid melting, solidification, and re-melting of powders during the process and different combinations of processing parameters result in a complex thermal history and heterogeneous microstructure and are necessary to better control the microstructures and properties of L-PBF PH stainless steels through high-efficiency and low-cost heat treatments.

Keywords: 17–4 PH stainless steel, laser powder bed fusion, selective laser melting, microstructure, additive manufacturing

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Authors: Muhammad Ali Siddiquee, Md. Alauddin, Md. Omar Faruque, Zakir Hossain Howlader, Mohammad Asaduzzaman

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Rice bran (RB) and rice bran oil (RBO) are explored as prominent food components worldwide. In this study, fermented rice bran (FRB) was produced by employing edible gram-positive bacteria (Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, and Bifidobacterium bifidum) at 125 x 10⁵ spore g⁻¹ of rice bran, and investigated to evaluate nutritional quality. The crude rice bran oil (CRBO) was extracted from RB, and its quality was also investigated compared to market-available rice bran oil (MRBO) in Bangladesh. We found that fermentation of rice bran with lactic acid bacteria increased total proteins (29.52%), fat (5.38%), ash (48.47%), crude fiber (38.96%), and moisture (61.04%) and reduced the carbohydrate content (36.61%). We also found that essential amino acids (methionine, tryptophan, threonine, valine, leucine, lysine, histidine, and phenylalanine) and non-essential amino acids (alanine, aspartate, glycine, glutamine, proline, serine, and tyrosine) were increased in FRB except methionine and proline. Moreover, total phenolic content, tannin content, flavonoid content, and antioxidant activity were increased in FRB. The RBO analysis showed that γ-oryzanol content (10.00mg/g) was found in CRBO compared to MRBO (ranging from 7.40 to 12.70 mg/g) and Vitamin-E content 0.20% was found higher in CRBO compared to MRBO (ranging 0.097 to 0.12%). The total saturated (25.16%) and total unsaturated fatty acids (74.44%) were found in CRBO, whereas MRBO contained total saturated (22.08 to 24.13%) and total unsaturated fatty acids (71.91 to 83.29%), respectively. The physiochemical parameters were found satisfactory in all samples except acid value and peroxide value higher in CRBO. Finally, animal experiments showed that FRB and CRBO reduce the body weight, glucose, and lipid profile in high-fat diet-induced animal models. Thus, FRB and RBO could be value-added food supplements for human health.

Keywords: fermented rice bran, crude rice bran oil, amino acids, proximate composition, gamma-oryzanol, fatty acids, heavy metals, physiochemical parameters

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Authors: Jessica Peart, Sarim Al Zubaidy

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This paper examines the main dialogic and reformative aspects that have constituted the developing implementation of an English language module in a common pre-sessional program in Oman, the General Foundation Program (GFP), at the new Military Technological College (MTC), in Oman’s capital, muscat. The MTC is the first of its kind in the country to merge military with academic training and has been running programs since September 2013 over five trimesters to date, receiving external validation and accreditation from the University of Portsmouth (UoP), UK. From this starting point, We will provide context on the parameters that necessitated delivery of this common but specially tailored pre-sessional program at the MTC and outline in detail how the English module with integrated key study skills and personal tutoring support was initially conceived before operations commenced and cooperation between all stakeholders took practical shape. This enquiry traces how stakeholders from students to faculty, college boards and collaborative university partners have considered and redefined the in part static and dynamic boundaries of their larger and smaller scale stakes. With regard to the widely held recognition that pre-sessional students require training in transferable study skills in order to succeed at university, we will chart the subsequent and ongoing adjustments made to the generic, pastoral and integrated elements of that program. Driving this concerted effort has been at base the need for a GFP concerned with three criteria for incoming MTC students cadets, namely to develop candidate’s rounded capacity for intellectual, technical and physical skill as both students and cadets, to generate linguistic proficiency and discerning use of appropriate language registers and to allow personal and collective time for adjustment to a multilayered, brand new environment, while also working within a regulated timeline for academic progression to the MTC diploma or degree levels. The English Department teaching staff’s facilitation of the initial program’s methodologies and timeframe for the GFP English module has garnered a keen and diverse sense of the holistic student cadet experience, which a range of alterations to the program demonstrate. These include alterations to the class types and overall program duration as well as greater multiplicity of exposure within learning environments. In surveying the impact of these composite maneuvers and challenges within a proactive and evolving context of teaching and learning, it is finally demonstrated how student cadet levels of productivity and self-reliance on the one hand and retention issues on the other are being gainfully steered towards progression within a framework for inclusive reciprocal dialogue, gathering thereby civilian and military backgrounds toward uniquely united ends.

Keywords: English module transferable skills, faculty dialogue, governance structure, overarching regulatory agencies

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Authors: S. M. Islam, Wasi Uddin, Nazmun Nahar

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Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, faces two contrasting problems; excess of water during monsoon season and scarcity of water during dry season. The first problem occurs due to rapid urbanization and mismanagement of rainwater whereas the second problem is related to climate change and increasing urban population. Inadequate drainage system also worsens the overall water management scenario in Dhaka city. Dhaka has a population density of 115,000 people per square miles. This results in a 2.5 billion liter water demand every day, 87% of which is fulfilled by groundwater. Over dependency on groundwater has resulted in more than 200 feet drop in the last 50 years and continues to decline at a rate of 9 feet per year. Considering the gravity of the problem, it is high time that practitioners, academicians and policymakers consider different water management practices and look into their cumulative impacts at different scales. The present study assesses different rainwater management options for North South University of Bangladesh and recommends the most feasible and sustainable rainwater management measure. North South University currently accommodates over 20,000 students, faculty members, and administrative staffs. To fulfill the water demand, there are two deep tube wells, which bring up approximately 150,000 liter of water every hour. The annual water demand is approximately 103 million liters. Dhaka receives approximately 1800 mm of rainfall every year. For the current study, two academic buildings and one administrative building consist of 4924 square meters of rooftop area was selected as catchment area. Both rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge options were analyzed separately. It was estimated that by rainwater harvesting, annually a total of 7.2 million liters of water can be reused which is approximately 7% of the total annual water usage. In the monsoon, rainwater harvesting fulfills 12.2% of the monthly water demand. The approximate cost of the rainwater harvesting system is estimated to be 940975 bdt (USD 11500). For direct groundwater recharge, a system comprises of one de-siltation tank, two recharge tanks and one siltation tank were designed that requires approximately 532788 bdt (USD 6500). The payback period is approximately 7 years and 4 months for the groundwater recharge system whereas the payback period for rainwater harvesting option is approximately 12 years and 4 months. Based on the cost-benefit analysis, the present study finds the groundwater recharge system to be most suitable for North South University. The present study also demonstrates that if only one institution like North South University can add up a substantial amount of water to the aquifer, bringing other institutions in the network has the potential to create significant cumulative impact on replenishing the declining groundwater level of Dhaka city. As an additional benefit, it also prevents large amount of water being discharged into the storm sewers which results in severe flooding in Dhaka city during monsoon.

Keywords: Dhaka, groundwater, harvesting, rainwater, recharge

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Authors: Jonas Sanon

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The valorization of research is becoming a transversal instrument linking different sectors (academic, public and industrial). The practice of valorization seems to impact innovation techniques within companies where, there is often the implementation of industrial conventions of training through research (CIFRE), continuous training programs for employees, collaborations and partnerships around joint research and R&D laboratories focused on the needs of companies to improve or develop more efficient innovations. Furthermore, many public initiatives to support innovation and technology transfer have been developed at the international, European and national levels, with significant budget allocations. Thus, in the context of this work, we tried to analyze the way in which research transfer structures are evaluated within the Saclay ecosystem. In fact, the University-Paris-Saclay is one of the best French universities; it is made up of 10 university components, more than 275 laboratories and is in partnership with the largest French research centers This work mainly focused on how evaluations affected research transfer structures, how evaluations were conducted, and what the managers of research transfer structures thought about assessments. Thus, with the aid of the conducted interviews, it appears that the evaluations do not have a significant impact on the qualitative aspect of research and innovation, but is rather present a directive aspect to allow the structures to benefit or not from the financial resources to develop certain research work, sometimes directed and influenced by the market, some researchers might try to accentuate their research and experimentation work on themes that are not necessarily their areas of interest, but just to comply with the calls for proposed thematic projects. The field studies also outline the primary indicators used to assess the effectiveness of valorization structures as "the number of start-ups generated, the license agreements signed, the structure's patent portfolio, and the innovations of items developed from public research.". Finally, after mapping the actors, it became clear that the ecosystem of the University of Paris-Saclay benefits from a richness allowing it to better value its research in relation to the three categories of actors it has (internal, external and transversal), united and linked by a relationship of proximity of sharing and endowed with a real opportunity to innovate openly.

Keywords: research valorization, technology transfer, innovation, evaluation, impacts and performances, innovation policy

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Authors: Charles Amoatey, Ebenezer Kumah

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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to assess the effects of implementation of Distributor Management Solution (DMS) on supply chain performance in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry in Ghana. Methodology: A purposive sampling approach was used in selecting the respondents for the study. Data was collected from senior management and field supervisors from sales, distribution and customer service units of the case study firm and its channel members. This study made use of systematic literature review and results of survey data analysis to assess how information system has been used to improve supply chain performance. Findings: Results from the study showed that the critical effect factors from implementation of a DMS include (1) Obtain prompt and reliable feedback from the market; (2) Building the capacity and skills levels of employees as well as 3rd Party Agents; (3) Motivated top management to invest in MIS; and (4) Performance improvement in sales route management. The most critical challenges to an effective and sustainable MIS implementation are lack of enough trained IT employees and high barriers to cultural change especially with distributors. The paper recommends consistent investment in IS infrastructure and development of IT skills. Research limitations/implications: This study contributes to the literature by exploring the effects of distribution management solution implementation and supply chain performance in a developing country context. Considering the fact that this study is based on data from only one case study firm and its channel members, generalization of the results should be treated with caution. Practical implications: The findings have confirmed the benefits of implementing a Management Information System. The result should encourage channel members to allocate adequate resources for building MIS capacity to enhance their supply chain performance. Originality/Value: In this paper, the relationship between DMS/MIS implementation and improvement in supply chain performance, in the Ghanaian context, has been established.

Keywords: distributor management solution, fast-moving consumer goods, supply chain management, information systems, Ghana

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Authors: Vhahangwele Belemu, Isaac Busayo Oluwatayo

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Post-harvest losses pose a serious challenge to smallholder fruit crop farmers, especially in the rural communities of South Africa, affecting their economic livelihoods and food security. This study investigated the post-harvest handling practices and technologies harnessed by smallholder fruit crop farmers in the Vhembe district of Limpopo province, South Africa. Data were collected on a random sample of 224 smallholder fruit crop farmers selected from the four municipalities of the district using a multistage sampling technique. Analytical tools employed include descriptive statistics and the tobit regression model. A descriptive analysis of farmers’ socioeconomic characteristics showed that a sizeable number of these farmers are still in their active working age (mean = 52 years) with more males (63.8%) than their female (36.2%) counterparts. Respondents’ distribution by educational status revealed that only a few of these had no formal education (2.2%), with the majority having secondary education (48.7%). Results of data analysis further revealed that the prominent post-harvest technologies and handling practices harnessed by these farmers include using appropriate harvesting techniques (20.5%), selling at a reduced price (19.6%), transportation consideration (18.3%), cleaning and disinfecting (17.9%), sorting and grading (16.5%), manual cleaning (15.6%) and packaging technique (11.6%) among others. The result of the Tobit regression analysis conducted to examine the determinants of post-harvest technologies and handling practices harnessed showed that age, educational status of respondents, awareness of technology/handling practices, farm size, access to credit, extension contact, and membership of association were the significant factors. The study suggests enhanced awareness creation, access to credit facility and improved access to market as important factors to consider by relevant stakeholders to assist smallholder fruit crop farmers in the study area.

Keywords: fruit crop farmers, handling practices, post harvest losses, smallholder, Vhembe District, South Africa

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Authors: Ferran Paulí Pla, Pere Palacín Farré, Albert Fornells Herrera, Pol Toldrà Fernández

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Poor image acquisition is limiting the promising growth of industrial vision in food control. In recent years, the food industry has witnessed a significant increase in the implementation of automation in quality control through artificial vision, a trend that continues to grow. During the packaging process, some defects may appear, compromising the proper sealing of the products and diminishing their shelf life, sanitary conditions and overall properties. While failure to detect a defective product leads to major losses, food producers also aim to minimize over-rejection to avoid unnecessary waste. Thus, accuracy in the evaluation of the products is crucial, and, given the large production volumes, even small improvements have a significant impact. Recently, efforts have been focused on maximizing the performance of classification neural networks; nevertheless, their performance is limited by the quality of the input data. Monochrome linear backlight systems are most commonly used for online inspections of food packaging thermo-sealing zones. These simple acquisition systems fit the high cadence of the production lines imposed by the market demand. Nevertheless, they provide a limited amount of data, which negatively impacts classification algorithm training. A desired situation would be one where data quality is maximized in terms of obtaining the key information to detect defects while maintaining a fast working pace. This work presents a backlight hyperspectral imaging system designed and implemented replicating an industrial environment to better understand the relationship between visual data quality and spectral illumination range for a variety of packed food products. Furthermore, results led to the identification of advantageous spectral bands that significantly enhance image quality, providing clearer detection of defects.

Keywords: artificial vision, food packaging, hyperspectral imaging, image acquisition, quality control

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Authors: Duishon Shamatov

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This presentation is about Kazakhstan’s PhD students’ experiences with impact-factor publication requirement. Since the break-up of the USSR, Kazakhstan has been attempting to improve its higher education system at undergraduate and graduate levels. From March, 2010 Kazakhstan joined Bologna process and entered European space of higher education. To align with the European system of higher education, three level of preparation of specialists (undergraduate, master and PhD) was adopted to replace the Soviet system. The changes were aimed at promoting high quality higher education that meets the demands of labor market and growing needs of the industrial-innovative development of the country, and meeting the international standards. The shift to the European system has brought many benefits, but there are also some serious challenges. One of those challenges is related to the requirements for the PhD candidates to publish in national and international journals. Thus, a PhD candidate should have 7 publications in total, out of which one has to be in an international impact factor journal. A qualitative research was conducted to explore the PhD students’ views of their experiences with impact-factor publications. With the help of purposeful sampling, 30 PhD students from seven universities across Kazakhstan were selected for individual and focus group interviews. The key findings of the study are as follows. While the Kazakh PhD students have no difficulties in publishing in local journals, they face great challenges in attempting to publish in impact-factor journals for a range of reasons. They include but not limited to lack of research and publication skills, poorer knowledge of academic English, not familiarity with the peer review publication processes and expectations, and very short time to get published due to their PhD programme requirements. This situation is pushing some these young scholars explore alternative ways to get published in impact factor journals and they seek to publish by any means and often by any costs (which means even paying large sum of money for a publication). This in turn, creates a myth in the scholars’ circles in Kazakhstan, that to get published in impact factor journals, one should necessarily pay much money. This paper offers some policy recommendations on how to improve preparation of future PhD candidates in Kazakhstan.

Keywords: Bologna process, impact-factor publications, post-graduate education, Kazakhstan

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Authors: Hanna Kroczak

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In Poland, the system of social and professional reintegration of people at risk of social exclusion is, in fact, based on the activity of social economy enterprises. Playing this significant role these entities have to cope with various problems, related to the necessity of being successful on the open market, location on the peripheral (especially rural) areas or the “socialist heritage” in social and economic relations, which is certainly not favorable for implementing the idea of activation policy. One of the main objectives of the project entitled “Innovation among people. The analysis of the innovations creation and implementation in companies and social economy enterprises operating in Poland”, was to investigate the innovativeness of Polish social economy entities as a possible way for them to be prosperous (the project was funded by the Polish National Science Centre grant on the decision DEC-2013/11/B/HS4/00691). The ethnographic research in this matter was conducted in 2015 in two parts: six three-day studies using participant observation and individual in-depth interview (IDI) techniques (in three social cooperatives and three social integration centres) and two one-month shadowings (in one social cooperative and one social integration centre). Enterprises were selected from various provinces in Poland on the basis of data from previous computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) research, where they declared that innovation management is a central element of their strategy. The ethnographic study revealed that they, indeed, create innovations and the main types of them are social and organisational innovations – but not always and not all the employees are aware of that. Moreover, it turned out that wherever the research was conducted, researchers found some similar opportunities of innovations creating process, like a “charismatic leader”, true passion and commitment not depended on the earned money or building local institutional networks, and similar threats, e.g. under-staffed offices or the great bureaucracy of some institutions. The primary conclusion for the studied entities is that being innovative is not only their challenge and opportunity for well-being at the same time, but even a necessity, something deeply rooted in their specific organisational structures. Explanations and illustrations for the statements above will be presented in the proposed paper.

Keywords: ethnographic research, innovation, Polish social economy, professional reintegration, social economy enterprises, social reintegration

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Authors: Neetika Mahajan, Awanish Shukla

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Entrepreneurship is key a driver to economic development. It opens opportunities for business startups and has potential to expand employment opportunities for many. Entrepreneurship gives ‘Purpose thriving’ approach towards society with new technologies and zeal to develop and compete in the market. There are many more advantages of entrepreneurship like freedom to scope of work and independence in setting own goals. Women contribute to nearly 50 percent of India’s population, constitute nearly 10 percent of a total number of entrepreneurs in India. Women are found to be better risk calculators, more ambitious and less prone to self-confidence. However, It is a hard fact that life has not been easy for women aspiring professional success. Gender parity is the biggest threat faced by female aspirant seeking new businesses. More challenges like socio-cultural barriers, insufficient financial assistance, etc. have been faced by the women of our country. To uplift the status of women in the society, a number of initiatives have been taken up by the Government of India. Initiatives like National Mission for Empowerment of Women by (Ministry of Women And Child Development) and SKILL INDIA aim to increase the technical skills and knowledge of women for tapping employment opportunities and self-confidence. Trade Related Entrepreneurship Assistance and Development (TREAD) Scheme and Mahila Coir Yojana are proposed by the Ministry of MSMEs aiming to facilitate employment opportunities for women and entrepreneurship development. This paper will aim to bring out the gaps and barriers, which are still resisting the potential women come upfront and start a new business irrespective of a number of initiatives being put by government of India. The aim is also to identify focus areas where further intervention is required and proposing suitable interventions. The methodology to take forward this research will include primary and secondary data collection from on ground survey to track various kind of challenges faced by aspirant women entrepreneurs. Insight will be put towards initiations by the government of India towards women empowerment and assistance to entrepreneurship. Scientific quantitative tools will be used to analyze collected information. The final output of the research shall focus on achieving the respective aims and objectives.

Keywords: women entrepreneurship, government programs and schemes, key challenges, economic development

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Authors: Lina Shinhwa Koo

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The Korean Empire, or Daehanjeguk, was proclaimed by King Gojong (1852–1919) in 1897 with the aim of promoting its sovereignty as a nation-state amid the political situation with threats from neighbouring countries, such as Japan and Russia. The Korean Empire period (1897–1910), which lasted until 1910, when Japan annexed Korea, is a pivotal time in the modern history of Korea. It was also during the period when many infrastructures for tourism, including transportation and lodging systems, were established. Throughout the Korean Empire period, tourists from Japan and Euro-American countries popularly visited Korea after it opened its doors relatively recently. The government of the Korean Empire also actively engaged with foreign officials and professionals. Train stations were built to connect Busan, where foreigners first arrived through the port of Jemulpo, with Seoul, the capital of Korea. In addition, hotels were built to accommodate the increasing number of tourists. Shedding new light on the modern architectural history of Korea, this paper discusses buildings that were made for tourism during the Korean Empire period to examine the historical background behind the tourism development in Korea and the concept of travelling related to architecture history. Foreigners came to Korea for varying reasons, from ethnographic research and diplomacy to business and missionary. They also played a key role in the transportation and hotel businesses. For instance, American entrepreneur James R. Morse received a concession to construct a railway between Busan and Seoul in 1896, which was later granted to a Japanese firm. Japanese entrepreneurs came to Korea and built hotels, such as Daebul Hotel in Incheon and Paseonggwan in Seoul. Sontag Hotel, Station Hotel and Hotel du Palais, all located in central areas of Seoul, were owned by German, British and French entrepreneurs, respectively. Each building showed distinctive architectural elements. For example, Sontag Hotel was built in Russian architectural style, whereas Paseonggwan was created with a combination of Japanese and European styles. Such various architectural designs indicated the multicultural urban scenes of the Korean Empire at the time. The existing scholarship has paid more attention to the royal buildings built during the Korean Empire period, such as Seokjojeon of the Duksu Palace. However, it is important to study the tourism-related architecture that reflected the societal situation of the Korean Empire when contrasting ideologies, landscapes, historical narratives and political tensions intertwined and co-existed. Examining both textual and visual resources, such as news articles and photographs, this paper surveys architectural styles and the trajectories of selective examples of hotels and train stations within the discussion of temporality and spatiality in the discipline of social science. In doing so, one can re-assess the history of the Korean Empire as the intersection of modern and traditional, intrinsic and extrinsic and national and international.

Keywords: Korean empire, modern Korean architecture, tourism, hotel, train station

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Authors: Sarif Ullah Patwary, Matthew Heinrich, Brandon Payne

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The ubiquity of web 2.0 platforms, in the form of wikis, social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and online review portals (e.g., Yelp), helps shape today’s apparel consumers’ purchasing decision. Online reviews play important role towards consumers’ apparel purchase decision. Each of the consumer reviews carries a sentiment (positive, negative or neutral) towards products. Commercially, apparel brands and retailers analyze sentiment of this massive amount of consumer review data to update their inventory and bring new products in the market. The purpose of this study is to analyze consumer reviews of selected apparel stores with a view to understand, 1) the difference of sentiment expressed through men’s and woman’s text reviews, 2) the difference of sentiment expressed through men’s and woman’s star-based reviews, and 3) the difference of sentiment between star-based reviews and text-based reviews. A total of 9,363 reviews (1,713 men and 7,650 women) were collected using Yelp Dataset Challenge. Sentiment analysis of collected reviews was carried out in two dimensions: star-based reviews and text-based reviews. Sentiment towards apparel stores expressed through star-based reviews was deemed: 1) positive for 3 or 4 stars 2) negative for 1 or 2 stars and 3) neutral for 3 stars. Sentiment analysis of text-based reviews was carried out using Bing Liu dictionary. The analysis was conducted in IPyhton 5.0. Space. The sentiment analysis results revealed the percentage of positive text reviews by men (80%) and women (80%) were identical. Women reviewers (12%) provided more neutral (e.g., 3 out of 5 stars) star reviews than men (6%). Star-based reviews were more negative than the text-based reviews. In other words, while 80% men and women wrote positive reviews for the stores, less than 70% ended up giving 4 or 5 stars in those reviews. One of the key takeaways of the study is that star reviews provide slightly negative sentiment of the consumer reviews. Therefore, in order to understand sentiment towards apparel products, one might need to combine both star and text aspects of consumer reviews. This study used a specific dataset consisting of selected apparel stores from particular geographical locations (the information was not given for privacy concern). Future studies need to include more data from more stores and locations to generalize the findings of the study.

Keywords: apparel, consumer review, sentiment analysis, gender

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