Search results for: food and beverage industry

Authors: Aidaoui Ahleme, Hasseine Abdelmalek

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Acetic acid is one of the simplest and most widely used carboxylic acids having many important chemical and industrial applications. Total worldwide production of acetic acid is about 6.5 million tonnes per year. A great deal of efforts has been made in developing feasible and economic method for recovery of carboxylic acids. Among them, Liquid-liquid extraction using aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS) has been demonstrated to be a highly efficient separation technique. The study of efficiently separating and recovering Acetic acid from aqueous solutions is an important significance on industry and environmentally sustainable development. Many research groups in different countries are working in this field and some methods are proposed in the literature. In this work, effect of sodium chloride with different content (5%, 10% and 20%) on the liquid-liquid equilibrium data of (water+ acetic acid+ DCM) system is investigated. The addition of the salt in an aqueous solution introduces ionic forces which affect liquid-liquid equilibrium and which influence directly the distribution coefficient of the solute. From the experimental results, it can be concluded that when the percentage of salt increases in the aqueous solution, the equilibrium between phases is modified in favor of the extracted phase.

Keywords: acetic acid recovery, aqueous solution, salting-effect, sodium chloride

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Authors: Waranya Pongpaiboon, Warangkana Srichamnong, Supat Chaiyakul

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Enzymatic modification of rice flour can produce highly functional derivatives use in food industries. This study aimed to evaluate the physical properties and resistant starch content of rice flour residues hydrolyzed by α-amylase. Rice flour hydrolyzed by α-amylase (60 and 300 u/g) for 1, 24 and 48 hours were investigated. Increasing enzyme concentration and hydrolysis time resulted in decreased rice flour residue’s lightness (L*) but increased redness (a*) and yellowness (b*) of rice flour residues. The resistant starch content and peak viscosity increased when hydrolysis time increased. Pasting temperature, trough viscosity, breakdown, final viscosity, setback and peak time of the hydrolyzed flours were not significantly different (p>0.05). The morphology of native flour was smooth without observable pores and polygonal with sharp angles and edges. However, after hydrolysis, granules with a slightly rough and porous surface were observed and a rough and porous surface was increased with increasing hydrolyzed time. The X-ray diffraction patterns of native flour showed A-type configuration, which hydrolyzed flour showed almost 0% crystallinity indicated that both amorphous and crystalline structures of starch were simultaneously hydrolyzed by α-amylase.

Keywords: α-Amylase, enzymatic hydrolysis, pasting properties, resistant starch

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Authors: M. Zafar-ul Islam

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The Arabian Ostrich Struthio camelus syriacus is a distinct subspecies that became extinct in the wild during the mid-20th century, due to over-hunting and commercial exploitation. The extant of S. c. camelus, a red-necked form that occurs in Northeastern Africa and is considered the most closely related, and possibly the same subspecies as the extinct Arabian form has been chosen for the reintroduction in 1988-89 by obtaining red-necked ostrich from Sudan from a private collection. Few birds were translocated to Mahazat as-Sayd protected area in 25 ha fenced enclosure in 1994. Until now a total of 96 red-necked ostrich have been released in fenced Mahazat as-Sayd, and the estimated population is between 125 to 150 individuals. Since captive flock of ostriches were translocated to Mahazat, their survival rate increased (>41%) by the end of 2000. On an average 22-30 chicks are hatched annually. A total of 137 ostriches recorded dead over the period of 13 years during the drought period. One of the key questions is what proportion of birds makes use of the supplementary food and water provisions, and what happens to those birds that do not use it? Captive-bred and wild-born adult and young ostriches died of starvation and thirst, despite being provisioned with alfalfa and water in several years. The present population of ostrich in Mahazat is more than 300.

Keywords: red-necked ostrich, Struthio camelus camelus, reintroduction, Saudi Arabia, drought

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Authors: Scott Caizley

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Widening participation amongst state schooled and British and Minority Ethnic (BME) students in UK conservatoires throughout the past years has persisted to remain at an all time low despite major efforts to increase access for those from underrepresented backgrounds. In the academic year of 2017/18, two of the UK’s leading music conservatoires recruited less state school students than Oxbridge. Whilst conservatories face further public stigmatisation and heavy financial penalties for failing to meet government benchmarks; there appears to be a more costly outcome to this crisis. This of course, is the lack of sociocultural diversity, which is perpetuated both within the conservatoire sector and the classical music industry. This research investigates the lived experiences of former state-schooled students who attended a UK music conservatoire. Given the participant’s underrepresented status, the research seeks to answer whether or not the students are fitting in or standing out within the conservatoire environment. The research will explore the findings through a Bourdieusian contextual framework with hope of generating a wealth of new practises to the field of Higher Music Education. It is through illuminating the underrepresented voices within these elite spaces, which could aid future research and policy to help tackle the diversity dilemma and give classical music the social and cultural renewal it so desperately needs.

Keywords: classical music, lived experiences, higher music education, Bourdieusian

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Authors: Raihan Zahirah Mauludy Ridwan, Frisca Devi Choirina

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Indonesia with its former presidents has enhanced the bilateral cooperation also multilateral cooperation in terms of economy but the result was not significant towards eradicating poverty, unemployment, income inequality, and economic growth. To eradicate these problems, President Joko Widodo through his several points of Nawacita wants to boost Indonesia’s economic relationship and cooperation which manifested in “Economic Diplomacy” as one of Indonesia’s foreign policy priority and he pitches it in international forums. The economic diplomacy does not only attracts prospective countries but also attracts the foreign businessman and investors. The economic diplomacy includes four sectors which are vital for economic growth, one of them is investment. This paper would like to answer how economic diplomacy can have significant impact towards social welfare, equity and economic growth especially in Indonesia. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of economic diplomacy and its impact toward Indonesia’s welfare, equity, and economic growth. This paper uses the theory of economic diplomacy to link the current international political economic sphere and the impact of economic diplomacy for Indonesia through case study method. The paper affirms that economic diplomacy in investment sector does have significant impact, especially in the development of infrastructures, foreign direct investment in several sectors, and food security.

Keywords: economic diplomacy, economic growth, equity, Indonesia, Joko Widodo, social welfare

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Authors: Yosr Ghozzi

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The Cyber-Physical Systems terminology has been well received by the industrial community and specifically appropriated in educational settings. Indeed, our latest educational activities are based on the development of experimental platforms on an industrial scale. In fact, we built a collaborative learning model because of an international market study that led us to place ourselves at the heart of this technology. To align with these findings, a competency-based approach study was conducted, and program content was revised by reflecting the projectbased approach. Thus, this article deals with the development of educational devices according to a generated curriculum and specific educational activities while respecting the repository of skills adopted from what constitutes the educational cyber-physical production systems and the laboratories that are compliant and adapted to them. The implementation of these platforms was systematically carried out in the school's workshops spaces. The objective has been twofold, both research and teaching for the students in mechatronics and logistics of the electromechanical department. We act as trainers and industrial experts to involve students in the implementation of possible extension systems around multidisciplinary projects and reconnect with industrial projects for better professional integration.

Keywords: education 4.0, competency-based learning, teaching factory, project-based learning, cyber-physical systems, industry 4.0

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Authors: Mohammad H. Ruhipour, Mahdi Goharrokhi, Mahsa Ghasemi, Artadokht Ostadsarayi

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In this paper, we are aiming to study the consequences of chlorine gas leak in direct chlorine gas injection compared to using bleach (sodium hypochlorite), studying the negative effects both on the environment and individuals. This study was performed in the cooling towers of a natural fractioning unit of Bandar-e-IMAM petrochemical plant. Considering that chlorine gas is highly toxic and based on the health regulation, its release into the surrounding environment can be very dangerous for people and even fatal for individuals. We studied performing quantitative studies in the worst cases of event incidence. In addition, studying alternative methods with a lower risk was also on the agenda to select the least likely possible option causing an accident. In this paper chlorine gas release consequences have been evaluated by using PHAST software. Reaching to 10 ppm of chlorine gas concentration was basis of hazardous area determination. The results show that the full chlorine gas line rupture scenario in Pasquill category F, were worst case, and many people could be harmed around cooling towers area because of chlorine gas inhalation.

Keywords: chlorine gas, consequence modeling, cooling towers, direct chlorination, risk assessment, system failure

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Authors: Alireza Changizi, Arash Rezaei, Jamal Muhammad, Jyrki Latokartano, Minna Lanz

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Offline programming (OLP) is a new method in robot programming which is used widely in the industry nowadays which is a simulation base method that can produce the robot codes for motion according to virtual world in the simulation software. In this project Delmia v5 is used as simulation software. First the work cell component was modelled by Catia v5 and all of them was imported to a process file in Delmia and placed roughly to form the virtual work cell. Then robot was added to the work cell from the Delmia library. Work cell was calibrated corresponding to real world work cell to have accurate code. Tool calibration is the first step of calibration scheme and then work cell equipment can be calibrated using 6 point calibration method. Finally generated code needs to be reformed to match related controller code instruction. At the last stage IO were set to accomplish robots cooperation and make their motion synchronized. The pros and cons also will be discussed to clarify the presented results show the feasibility of the method and its effect on production line efficiency. Finally the positive and negative points of the implementation will be discussed.

Keywords: robotic, automated, production, offline programming, CAD

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Authors: Abdulai Afolabi Ahmed

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The research was undertaken to examine the influence of sports facilities, equipment, and nutrition on athletes' performance in West-Africa Universities Games (WAUG) with the objectives of finding the areas of success and failure. Relevant literatures were reviewed. The survey research design was adopted for the study. Availability of facilities, equipment and nutrition questionnaire (AFENQ) was administered on hundred (n-100) participants - athletes from five Nigerian Universities from South-West, Nigeria which included Federal University of Technology, Akure, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Lagos State University, Oyo, Olabisi Onabanjo University Ago-Awoye and Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti. Nigeria. The tests re-test reliability value obtained from the instrument using Pearson Product Moment Correlation co-efficient of 0.86 was used to analyze the result. While the questionnaire collected was subjected to influential descriptive statistics of multiple regression to analyse the data. The results of the data showed that facilities, equipment, and nutrition variables when taken together effectively predict the performance of the athletes during WAUG competitions. The implication is that sports organizers should provide sports resources for the improved performance of the athletes, and that, university managers should employ nutritionist to plan and prepare food for the university athletes before and after major competitions.

Keywords: athletes, equipment, extramural, influence, nutrition, performance

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Authors: Rosdyana Mangir Irawan Kusuma, Wei-Chun Kao, Ho-Thi Trang, Yu-Yen Ou, Kai-Lung Hua

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Stock market prediction is still a challenging problem because there are many factors that affect the stock market price such as company news and performance, industry performance, investor sentiment, social media sentiment, and economic factors. This work explores the predictability in the stock market using deep convolutional network and candlestick charts. The outcome is utilized to design a decision support framework that can be used by traders to provide suggested indications of future stock price direction. We perform this work using various types of neural networks like convolutional neural network, residual network and visual geometry group network. From stock market historical data, we converted it to candlestick charts. Finally, these candlestick charts will be feed as input for training a convolutional neural network model. This convolutional neural network model will help us to analyze the patterns inside the candlestick chart and predict the future movements of the stock market. The effectiveness of our method is evaluated in stock market prediction with promising results; 92.2% and 92.1 % accuracy for Taiwan and Indonesian stock market dataset respectively.

Keywords: candlestick chart, deep learning, neural network, stock market prediction

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Authors: Tomasz L. Nawrocki, Danuta Szwajca

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The growing importance of reputation in building enterprise value and achieving long-term competitive advantage creates the need for its measurement and evaluation for the management purposes (effective reputation and its risk management). The paper presents practical application of self-developed corporate reputation assessment model from the viewpoint of stock market investors. The model has a pioneer character and example analysis performed for selected industry is a form of specific test for this tool. In the proposed solution, three aspects - informational, financial and development, as well as social ones - were considered. It was also assumed that the individual sub-criteria will be based on public sources of information, and as the calculation apparatus, capable of obtaining synthetic final assessment, fuzzy logic will be used. The main reason for developing this model was to fulfill the gap in the scope of synthetic measure of corporate reputation that would provide higher degree of objectivity by relying on "hard" (not from surveys) and publicly available data. It should be also noted that results obtained on the basis of proposed corporate reputation assessment method give possibilities of various internal as well as inter-branch comparisons and analysis of corporate reputation impact.

Keywords: corporate reputation, fuzzy logic, fuzzy model, stock market investors

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Authors: Bhrugesh Radadiya, Jaydeep Shah

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In Indian foundry industry, there is a need of defect free casting with minimum production cost in short lead time. Casting defect is a very large issue in foundry shop which increases the rejection rate of casting and wastage of materials. The various parameters influences on casting process such as mold machine related parameters, green sand related parameters, cast metal related parameters, mold related parameters and shake out related parameters. The mold related parameters are most influences on casting defects in sand casting process. This paper review the casting produced by foundry with shrinkage and blow holes as a major defects was analyzed and identified that mold related parameters such as mold temperature, pouring temperature and runner size were not properly set in sand casting process. These parameters were optimized using different optimization techniques such as Taguchi method, Response surface methodology, Genetic algorithm and Teaching-learning based optimization algorithm. Finally, concluded that a Teaching-learning based optimization algorithm give better result than other optimization techniques.

Keywords: casting defects, genetic algorithm, parametric optimization, Taguchi method, TLBO algorithm

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Authors: Atheer Al-Maqbali, Mohammed Al-Rizeiqi, Pankaj Pathare

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There is an ever-increased demand for the consumption of banana products in Oman and elsewhere in the region due to the nutritional value and the decent taste of the product. There are approximately 3,751 acres of land designated for banana cultivation in the Sultanate of Oman, which produces approximately 18,447 tons of banana product. The fresh banana product is extremely perishable, resulting in a significant post-harvest economic loss. Since the product has high sensory acceptability, the drying method is a common method for processing fresh banana products. This study aims to use the drying technology in the production of dried bananas to preserve the largest amount of natural color and delicious taste for the consumer. The study also aimed to assess the shelf stability of both water activity (aw) and color (L*, a*, b*) for fresh and finished dried bananas by using a Conventional Air Drying System. Water activity aw, color characteristic L a b, and product’s hardness were analyzed for 3mm, 5mm, and7 mm thickness at different temperaturesoC. All data were analyzed statistically using STATA 13.0, and α ≤ 0.05 was considered for the significance level. The study is useful to banana farmers to improve cultivation, food processors to optimize producer’s output and policy makers in the optimization of banana processing and post-harvest management of the products.

Keywords: banana, drying, oman, quality, thickness, hardness, color

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Authors: C. C. Igwe

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Several parts of Neem tree (Azadirachta indica) are used in traditional medicine in many West African countries for the treatment of various human diseases. The leaf, stem - bark and seed were air dried for 8, 5 and 7 days, respectively. The shells were carfully separated from the seeds, each powdered sample obtained with mechanical miller and 250 mm sieve. The neem samples were individually subjected to extraction with acetone, n-hexane for 48hr and 72 hr, respectively. Physico-chemical and antibacterial evaluation were carried out using standard methods. Results of physico - chemical analyses of the extracted oil from the seed shows that it has a brownish colour, with a smell similar to garlic while the moisture content, refractive index are 0.76% and 1.47 respectively. Other vital chemical results obtained from the neem oil such as saponification value (234.62), acid value (10.84 %), free fatty acid (5.84 %) and peroxide value (10.52%) indicated the oil extracted satisfied standard oils parameters for quality soap and cosmetics production. The antibacterial screening by disc diffusion revealed the oil demonstrated high activity against Staphylococcus aureus. Both the physio-chemical and antibacterial of samples have been certified by National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control. The preliminary results of this study may validate the medicinal value of the plant. Further studies are in progress to clarify the in vivo potentials of neem extracts in the management of human communicable diseases and this is a subject of investigation in our group.

Keywords: anti-bacterial, neem extract, physico-chemical analyses, staphylococcus aureus

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Authors: Maricon E. Gepolani, Edna A. Aguilar, Pearl B. Sanchez, Enrico P. Supangco

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Intercropping farming system and biofertilizer application are sustainable agricultural practices that increase farm productivity by improving the yield performance of the components involved in the production system. Thus, this on-farm trial determined the yield and forage quality of corn and cowpea with and without biofertilizer application when intercropped with ratooned sugarcane. Intercropping corn and cowpea without biofertilizer application had no negative effect on the vegetative growth of sugarcane. However, application of biofertilizer on intercrops decreased tiller production at 117 days after stubble shaving (DASS), consequently reducing the estimated tonnage yield of sugarcane. The yield of intercrops and forage production of Cp3 cowpea variety increased when intercropped to ratooned sugarcane. In contrast, intercropping PSB 97-92 corn variety to ratooned sugarcane reduced its forage production, but when biofertilizer was applied to intercropped Cp5 cowpea variety, the forage production increased. Profitability (income equivalent ratio) of intercropping for both corn and cowpea are higher than monocropping and are thus suitable intercrops to ratooned sugarcane. Unaffected tiller count (a determinant of sugarcane tonnage yield) when biofertilizer was not applied to intercrops and a reduced tiller count with biofertilizer application to intercrops implies the need to develop a nutrient management practices specific for intercropping systems.

Keywords: biofertilizer, corn, cowpea, intercropping system, ratooned sugarcane

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Authors: B. M. Arthur-Aidoo, C. O. Aigbavboa, W. D. Thwala

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The performance of construction employees cannot be underestimated if the success of construction projects are to be achieved. This is because the construction industry has been characterised as labour oriented sector, which most of its activities being executed by labour. In the construction sector, employees are driven by incentive schemes which perform encourage and motivate workers for higher efficiency and higher output. The construction sector, however, depends mainly on its labour. In view of the sector's high dependency on its employees, that there must be a significant incentive scheme which must be established to act as a stimulus to drive high performance from employees among the various known incentive packages. This study, therefore, seeks to appraise the incentive packages adopted by construction SMEs. To establish reliable findings that will contribute to knowledge, the study utilised an exploratory approach via semi-structured interviews among sampled construction professionals with the requisite expertise on employees' incentive schemes. The study further established that although incentive schemes are classified in various ways and mediums that act as stimuli to encourage high performance among employees, some are more influential and impacts performance than others. Additionally, the study concludes that medical allowance, holiday with pay, free working tools, and training for employees were ranked the most influential incentives that promote high outputs by workers within the construction SME sector.

Keywords: appraisal, construction, employees, incentive, small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs

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Authors: Elisa Bertagna

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A frame analysis of the work done by various energy multinational companies concerning diversity issues and gender equality is presented. Documents of four multinational companies - two from Finland and two from Italy - have been studied. The array of companies’ documents includes data from their websites, policies and so on. The Finnish and Italian contexts have been chosen as a sample of North and South Europe, of 'advanced' and 'less advanced'. The aim of the analysis is to understand if and how human resource and diversity management in Finnish and Italian multinational energy companies communicate their activity towards the employees. Attention is given on how employees are reacting in their role and on the consequences of its social positioning. The findings of this essay are crucially important. They show how the companies in object tend to focus on the HR and DM positive actions towards female employees’ struggles since the industry is characterized by multinationals with male-dominated employees. In this way, other categories, which are also depicted as sensitive such as young and elderly people or foreigners, do not receive the same amount of attention. Consequently, power hierarchies can be found: 'women' as a social category are given more importance and space in the companies’ data than others. Consequently, the present work analysis reflects on possible struggles that such companies might be facing concerning gender biases and further diverse issues.

Keywords: energy, diversity, gender, multinationals, power hierarchies

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Authors: Lenka Hurtalová, Eva Tillová, Mária Chalupová, Juraj Belan, Milan Uhríčik

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The secondary alloy A226 is used for many automotive casting produced by mould casting and high pressure die-casting. This alloy has excellent castability, good mechanical properties and cost-effectiveness. Production of primary aluminium alloys belong to heavy source fouling of life environs. The European Union calls for the emission reduction and reduction in energy consumption, therefore, increase production of recycled (secondary) aluminium cast alloys. The contribution is deal with influence of recycling on the quality of the casting made from A226 in automotive industry. The properties of the casting made from secondary aluminium alloys were compared with the required properties of primary aluminium alloys. The effect of recycling on microstructure was observed using combination different analytical techniques (light microscopy upon black-white etching, scanning electron microscopy-SEM upon deep etching and energy dispersive X-ray analysis-EDX). These techniques were used for the identification of the various structure parameters, which was used to compare secondary alloy microstructure with primary alloy microstructure.

Keywords: A226 secondary aluminium alloy, deep etching, mechanical properties, recycling foundry aluminium alloy

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Authors: Dequn Teng, Tianshuo Yang, Mingrui Wang, Qiuyu Chen, Xiao Wang, Katie Atkinson

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Currently, many students are kind of at a loss in the university due to the complex environment within the campus, where every information within the campus is isolated with fewer interactions with each other. However, if the on-campus resources are gathered and combined with the artificial intelligence modelling techniques, there will be a bridge for not only students in understanding themselves, and the teachers will understand students in providing a much efficient approach in education. The objective of this paper is to provide a competency level analysis method, apparatus, electronic equipment, and storage medium. It uses a user’s target competency level analysis model from a plurality of predefined candidate competency level analysis models by obtaining a user’s promotion target parameters, promotion target parameters including at least one of the following parameters: target profession, target industry, and the target company, according to the promotion target parameters. According to the parameters, the model analyzes the user’s ability level, determines the user’s ability level, realizes the quantitative and personalized analysis of the user’s ability level, and helps the user to objectively position his ability level.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, model, university, education, recommendation system, evaluation, job hunting

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Authors: V. Krishna, Shashikumar

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Edible Bananas (Musa spp.) are the major staple food for rural and urban consumers in India and an important source of rural income. The cultivar Musa paradisiaca cv. Karibale Monthan is an endemic cultivar of Malnad region of Karnataka and used as a glomolueroprotective neutraceutical to solve kidney problems. The protocol for mass multiplication of plantlets for this indigenous banana cultivar Karibale Monthan has not yet been standardized so far. In the present study, an attempt has been made to develop high frequency in vitro regeneration protocol and evaluation of morphoagronomic characteristics in the farmyard. The high frequency shoot initiation (93.33 %) was recorded at the synergetic effect of BAP (2 to 8mg/L), TDZ (0.1 to 1.2mg/L) and coconut water (0.1 to 1.2ml/L). It was optimized at the concentration 5 mg/l BAP, 0.5 mg/l TDZ and 0.5 ml/l coconut water with 15.90 ± 1.66 frequency of shoots per propagule. Supplementation of 1.0 mg/l IBA induces 5.33 ± 1.21 numbers of roots with a mean root length of 7.50 ± 1.87 roots. 99% of plantlets with distinct roots and shoots were successfully acclimatized in the green house and transferred to the field to evaluate the agro-morphological variations. The micropropagated plants showed significantly higher morphometric values for height of the plant (16.80±2.17), number of leaves (12.40±1.14), length of the bunch (56.20±2.17), weight of the bunch (13.60±1.14), number of hands in a bunch (11.40±1.14) and girth of the pseudostem (49.80±1.48) when compared with in vivo plants.

Keywords: banana cv. Karibale Monthan, neutraceutical, high-frequency regeneration, morphometric evaluation

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Authors: Muhammad Suhail Ibrahim, Muhammad Nadeem, Waseem Khalid, Ammara Ainee, Taleeha Roheen, Sadaf Javaria, Aftab Ahmed, Hira Fatima, Mian Nadeem Riaz, Muhammad Zubair Khalid, Isam A. Mohamed Ahmed J, Moneera O. Aljobair

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This study was executed to explore the efficacy of ultrasound-assisted extraction of dietary fiber from oat cultivar S2000. Extraction (variables time, temperature and amplitude) was optimized by using response surface methodology (RSM) conducted by Box Behnken Design (BBD). The effect of time, temperature and amplitude were studied at three levels. It was observed that time and temperature exerted more impact on extraction efficiency as compared to amplitude. The highest yield of total dietary fiber (TDF), soluble dietary fiber (SDF) and In-soluble dietary fiber (IDF) fractions were observed under ultrasound processing for 20 min at 40 ◦C with 80% amplitude. Characterization of extracted dietary fiber showed that it had better crystallinity, thermal properties and good fibrous structure. It also showed better functional properties as compared to traditionally extracted dietary fiber. Furthermore, dietary fibers from oats may offer high-value utilization and the expansion of comprehensive utilization in functional food and nutraceutical development.

Keywords: extraction, ultrasonication, response surface methodology, box behnken design

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Authors: Wen-Hsiang Lai

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Except for the internal aspects of entrepreneurship (i.e. motivation, opportunity perspective and alertness), there are external aspects that affecting entrepreneurship (i.e. the industrial cluster). By comparing the machinery companies located inside and outside the industrial district, this study aims to explore the cluster effects on the entrepreneurship of companies in Taiwan machinery clusters (TMC). In this study, three factors affecting the entrepreneurship in TMC are conducted as “competition”, “embedded-ness” and “specialized knowledge”. The “competition” in the industrial cluster is defined as the competitive advantages that companies gain in form of demand effects and diversified strategies; the “embedded-ness” refers to the quality of company relations (relational embedded-ness) and ranges (structural embedded-ness) with the industry components (universities, customers and complementary) that affecting knowledge transfer and knowledge generations; the “specialized knowledge” shares the internal knowledge within industrial clusters. This study finds that when comparing to the companies which are outside the cluster, the industrial cluster has positive influence on the entrepreneurship. Additionally, the factor of “relational embedded-ness” has significant impact on the entrepreneurship and affects the adaptation ability of companies in TMC. Finally, the factor of “competition” reveals partial influence on the entrepreneurship.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, industrial cluster, industrial district, economies of agglomerations, Taiwan Machinery Cluster (TMC)

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Authors: Chariton Christou, David Cornwell

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Production Sharing Contract (PSC) is the type of contract that is being used widely in our time. The financial crisis made the governments tightfisted and they do not have the resources to participate in a development of a field. Therefore, more and more countries introduce the PSC. The companies have the power and the money to develop the field with their own way. The main problem is the transparency of oil and gas companies especially in the PSC and how this can be achieved. Many discussions have been made especially in the U.K. What we are suggesting is a dynamic financial simulation with the help of a flow meter. The flow meter will count the production of each field every day (it will be installed in a pipeline). The production will be the basic input of the simulation. It will count the profit, the costs and more according to the information of the flow meter. In addition it will include the terms of the contract and the costs that have been paid. By all these parameters the simulation will be able to present in real time the information of a field (taxes, employees, R-factor). By this simulation the company will share some information with the government but not all of them. The government will know the taxes that should be paid and what is the sharing percentage of it. All of the other information could be confidential for the company. Furthermore, oil company could control the R-factor by changing the production each day to maximize its sharing percentages and as a result of this the profit. This idea aims to change the way that governments 'control' oil companies and bring a transparency evolution in the industry. With the help of a simulation every country could be next to the company and have a better collaboration.

Keywords: production sharing contracts, transparency, simulation

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Authors: Temitope M. Ojo, Titilayo A. Benson

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This study investigated street begging and its psychosocial effect in Ibadan Metropolis, Oyo State, Nigeria. In carrying out this study, four research questions were used. The instrument used for data collection was a face-to-face and self-developed questionnaire. The results revealed there is high awareness level on the causes of street begging among the respondents, who also mentioned several factors contributing to street begging. However, respondents disagreed that lack of education is a factor contributing to street begging in Nigeria. The psycho-social effects of street begging, as identified by the respondents, are development of inferiority complex, lack of social interaction, loss of self-respect and dignity, increased mindset of poverty and loss of self-confident. Solution to street begging as identified by the respondents also includes provision of rehabilitation centers, provision of food for students in Islamic schools and monthly survival allowance. Specific policies and other legislative frameworks are needed in terms of age, sex, disability, and family-related issues, to effectively address the begging problem. Therefore, it is recommended that policy planners must adopt multi-faceted, multi-targeted, and multi-tiered approaches if they are to have any impact on the lives of street beggars in all four categories. In this regard, both preventative and responsive interventions are needed instead of rehabilitative solutions for each category of street beggars.

Keywords: beggars, begging, psycho-social effect, respondents, street begging

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Authors: Kishor Bhagwat, Gayatri Vyas

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Construction industry is earmarked with complex processes depending on the nature and scope of the project. In recent years, developments in this sector are remarkable and have resulted in both positive and negative impacts on the environment and human being. Sustainable construction can be looked upon as one of the solution to overcome the negative impacts since sustainable construction is a vast concept, which includes many parameters, and sometimes the use of multi-criteria decision making [MCDM] tools becomes necessary. The main objective of this study is to determine the weightage of sustainable building parameters with the help of MCDM tools. Questionnaire survey was conducted to examine the perspective of respondents on the importance of weights of the criterion, and the respondents were architects, green building consultants, and civil engineers. This paper presents an overview of research related to Indian and international green building rating systems and MCDM. The results depict that economy, environmental health, and safety, site selection, climatic condition, etc., are important parameters in sustainable construction.

Keywords: green building, sustainability, multi-criteria decision making method [MCDM], analytical hierarchy process [AHP], technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution [TOPSIS], entropy

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Authors: Saira Khalid, Imran Hashmi

Abstract:

Agrochemical industries produce huge amount of wastewater containing pesticides and other harmful residues. Environmental regulations make it compulsory to bring pesticides to a minimum level before releasing wastewater from industrial units.The present study was designed with the objective to investigate biodegradation of CP in real wastewater using bacterial cells immobilized in calcium alginate. Bacterial strain identified as Acromobacter xylosoxidans SRK5 (KT013092) using 16S rRNA nucleotide sequence analysis was used. SRK5 was immobilized in calcium alginate to make calcium alginate microspheres (CAMs). Real wastewater from industry having 50 mg L⁻¹ of CP was inoculated with free cells or CAMs and incubated for 96 h at 37˚C. CP removal efficiency with CAMs was 98% after 72 h of incubation, and no lag phase was observed. With free cells, 12h of lag phase was observed. After 96 h of incubation 87% of CP removal was observed when inoculated with free cells. No adsorption was observed on vacant CAMs. Phytotoxicity assay demonstrated considerable loss in toxicity. Almost complete COD removal was achieved at 96 h with CAMs. Study suggests the use of immobilized cells of SRK5 for bioaugmentation of industrial wastewater for CP degradation instead of free cells.

Keywords: biodegradation, chlorpyrifos, immobilization, wastewater

Procedia PDF Downloads 178

Authors: Ben Chater, Jingbang Pan, Mark Evernden, Jie Wang

Abstract:

Traditional structural steel manufacturing routes normally produce prismatic members with flat plate elements. In these members, plate instability in the lowest buckling mode often dominates failure. It is proposed in the current study to use a new technology of metal 3D printing to print steel-plated elements with predefined imperfection patterns that can lead to higher modes of failure with increased buckling resistances. To this end, a numerical modeling program is carried out to explore various combinations of predefined buckling waves with different amplitudes in stainless steel square hollow section stub columns. Their stiffness, strength, and material consumption against the traditional structural steel members with the same nominal dimensions are assessed. It is found that depending on the slenderness of the plate elements; it is possible for an ‘imperfect’ steel member to achieve up to a 30% increase in strength with just a 3% increase in the material consumption. The obtained results shed some light on the significant potential of the new metal 3D printing technology in achieving unprecedented material efficiency and economical design in the future steel construction industry.

Keywords: 3D printing, additive manufacturing, buckling resistance, steel plate buckling, structural optimisation

Procedia PDF Downloads 144

Authors: Fatima Chaudhary, Rehan Ul Haq

Abstract:

Spatial and anthropogenic factors influencing nest-site selection in birds need to be identified for effective conservative practices. Environmental attributes such as food availability, predator density, previous reproductive success, etc., provide information regarding the site's quality. An artificial nest box experiment was carried out to evaluate the effect of various factors on nest-site selection, as it is hard to assess the natural cavities. The experiment was conducted whereby half of the boxes were filled with old nest material. Artificial nest boxes created with different materials and different sizes and colors were installed at different heights. A total of 14 out of 60 nest boxes were occupied and four of them faced predation. The birds explored a total of 32 out of 60 nests, whereas anthropogenic factors destroyed 25 out of 60 nests. Birds chose empty nest boxes at higher rates however, there was no obvious avoidance of sites having high ectoparasites load due to old nest material. It is also possible that the preference towards the artificial nest boxes may differ from year to year because of several climatic factors and the age of old nest material affecting the parasite's survival. These variables may fluctuate from one season to another. Considering these factors, nest-site selection experiments concerning the effectiveness of artificial nest boxes should be carried out over several successive seasons. This topic may stimulate further studies, which could lead to a fully understanding the birds' evolutionary ecology. Precise information on these factors influencing nest-site selection can be essential from an economic point of view as well.

Keywords: artificial nesting, nest box, old nest material, birds

Procedia PDF Downloads 94

Authors: Vinti Davar

Abstract:

India is one among the many countries where child malnutrition is severe and also a major underlying cause of child mortality. The Mid Day Meal (MDM) program was launched to improve the nutritional status of children, attendance, and retention in schools. It was based on one meal provided to the children, who are attending elementary school (primary school). The objective of present study was to evaluate the impact of mid-day meal on the nutritional status of primary school children in Haryana, India. The present work was carried out on 1200 children between 6-11years of age, studying in primary schools in Haryana, India. Out of these 960 students as, the experimental group was selected from schools where mid-day meal is supplied by the government, and 240 students as control group where mid-day meal is not supplied. The mean height, weight, and BMI of children of both the groups were found to be significantly low as compared to NCHS standards. Stunting was found in 56.40% MDMB (Mid-day meal beneficiaries) and 62.50 % NMDMC (non- mid-day meal children).The weight of almost all subjects were low according to age indicating thinness. Anemia was more prevalent in MDMB as compared to NMDMC may be because school meals did not include vegetables. The consumption of energy, proteins, fat, calcium, iron, vitamins was significantly low (P ≤ .01) in both groups especially in girls of NMDM. The consumption of various food groups except vegetables was better in MDMB compared to NMDMC. It is concluded that with certain improvements, mid-meal can be beneficial in meeting everyday requirements of school going children.

Keywords: foods, meals, nutritional status, school going children

Procedia PDF Downloads 307

Authors: P. Sindhumole, K. Soumya, R. Renjimol

Abstract:

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the major staple food crop over the world. It is prone to a number of biotic and abiotic stresses, out of which Bacterial Leaf Blight (BLB), caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae, is the most rampant. Management of this disease through chemicals or any other means is very difficult. The best way to control BLB is by the development of Host Plant Resistance. BLB resistance is not an activity of a single gene but it involves a cluster of more than thirty genes reported. Among these, Xa5 and Xa13 genes are two important ones, which can be diagnosed through marker assisted selection using closely linked molecular markers. During 2014, the first phase of field screening using forty traditional rice genotypes was carried out and twenty resistant symptomless genotypes were identified. Molecular characterisation of these genotypes using RM 122 SSR marker revealed the presence of Xa5 gene in thirteen genotypes. Forty-two traditional rice genotypes were used for the second phase of field screening for BLB resistance. Among these, sixteen resistant genotypes were identified. These genotypes, along with two susceptible check genotypes, were subjected to marker assisted selection for Xa13 gene, using the linked STS marker RG-136. During this process, presence of Xa13 gene could be detected in ten resistant genotypes. In future, these selected genotypes can be directly utilised as donors in Marker assisted breeding programmes for BLB resistance in rice.

Keywords: oryza sativa, SSR, STS, marker, disease, breeding

Procedia PDF Downloads 395