Search results for: circular economy (CE)

Authors: Isabel Lopez-Oliva, Akshay Paropkari, Shweta Saraswat, Stefan Serban, Paola de Pablo, Karim Raza, Andrew Filer, Iain Chapple, Thomas Dietrich, Melissa Grant, Purnima Kumar

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Objective: We aimed to explicate the role of the subgingival microbiome in the causal link between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and periodontitis (PD). Methods: Subjects with/without RA and with/without PD were randomized for treatment with scaling and root planing (SRP) or oral hygiene instructions. Subgingival biofilm, gingival crevicular fluid, and serum were collected at baseline and at 3- and 6-months post-operatively. Correlations were generated between 72 million 16S rDNA sequences, immuno-inflammatory mediators, circulating antibodies to oral microbial antigens, serum inflammatory molecules, and clinical metrics of RA. The dynamics of inter-microbial and host-microbial interactions were modeled using differential network analysis. Results: RA superseded periodontitis as a determinant of microbial composition, and DAS28 score superseded the severity of periodontitis as a driver of microbial assemblages (p=0.001, ANOSIM). RA subjects evidenced higher serum anti-PPAD (p=0.0013), anti-Pg-enolase (p=0.0031), anti-RPP3, anti- Pg-OMP and anti- Pi-OMP (p=0.001) antibodies than non-RA controls (with and without periodontitis). Following SRP, bacterial networks anchored by IL-1b, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL-13, MIP-1b, and PDGF-b underwent ≥5-fold higher rewiring; and serum antibodies to microbial antigens decreased significantly. Conclusions: Our data suggest a circular relationship between RA and PD, beginning with an RA-influenced dysbiosis within the healthy subgingival microbiome that leads to exaggerated local inflammation in periodontitis and circulating antibodies to periodontal pathogens and positive correlation between severity of periodontitis and RA activity. Periodontal therapy restores host-microbial homeostasis, reduces local inflammation, and decreases circulating microbial antigens. Our data highlights the importance of integrating periodontal care into the management of RA patients.

Keywords: rheumatoid arthritis, periodontal, subgingival, DNA sequence analysis, oral microbiome

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Authors: Runlin Liu, Shilong Li

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China is a mountainous country, with two-thirds of its territory covered by plateaus, hills, and mountains, and nearly half of the cities and towns are distributed in mountainous areas. Compared with the environmental constraints in the development path of cities and towns in the plains, there are heterogeneities in aspects such as spatial characteristics, growth mode, and ecological protection and so on for mountain village and townlets, and the development path of mountain village and townlets has a bidirectional relationship between mountain space and economic growth. Based on classical growth theory, this article explores the two-dimensional coupling relation between space and economy in mountain village and townlets under background of rural rejuvenation. GIS technology is adopted in the study to analyze spatial trends and patterns, economical spatial differentiation characteristics of village and townlets. This powerful tool can also help differentiate and analyze limiting factors and assessment systems in the economic growth of village and townlets under spatial dimension of mountainous space. To make the research more specific, this article selects mountain village and townlets in Southwest China as the object of study; this provides good cases for analyzing parallel coupling mechanism of the duality structure system between economic growth and spatial expansion and discussing the path selection of spatial economic growth of mountain village and towns with multiple constraints. The research results can provide quantitative references for the spatial and economic development paths of mountain villages and towns, which is helpful in realizing efficient and high-quality development mode with equal emphasis on spatial and economic benefits for these type of towns.

Keywords: coupling mechanism, geographic information technology, mountainous town, synergetic development, spatial economy

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Authors: Kyoung Lee

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Numerous aerobic bacteria have the ability to form multicellular communities on the surface layer of the air-liquid (A-L) interface as a biofilm called a pellicle. Pellicles occupied at the A-L interface will benefit from the utilization of oxygen from air and nutrient from liquid. Buoyancy of cells can be obtained by high surface tension at the A-L interface. Thus, formation of pellicles is an adaptive advantage in utilization of excess nutrients in the standing culture where oxygen depletion is easily set up due to rapid cell growth. In natural environments, pellicles are commonly observed on the surface of lake or pond contaminated with pollutants. Previously, we have shown that when cultured in standing LB media an alkylphenol-degrading bacteria Pseudomonas alkylphenolia KL28 forms pellicles in a diameter of 0.3-0.5 mm with a thickness of ca 40 µm. The pellicles have unique features for possessing flatness and unusual rigidity. In this study, the biogenesis of the circular pellicles has been investigated by observing the cell organization at early stages of pellicle formation and cell arrangements in pellicle, providing a clue for highly organized cellular arrangement to be adapted to the air-liquid niche. Here, we first monitored developmental patterns of pellicle from monolayer to multicellular organization. Pellicles were shaped by controlled growth of constituent cells which accumulate extracellular polymeric substance. The initial two-dimensional growth was transited to multilayers by a constraint force of accumulated self-produced extracellular polymeric substance. Experiments showed that pellicles are formed by clonal growth and even with knock-out of genes for flagella and pilus formation. In contrast, the mutants in the epm gene cluster for alginate-like polymer biosynthesis were incompetent in cell alignment for initial two-dimensional growth of pellicles. Electron microscopic and confocal laser scanning microscopic studies showed that the fully matured structures are highly packed by matrix-encased cells which have special arrangements. The cells on the surface of the pellicle lie relatively flat and inside longitudinally cross packed. HPLC analysis of the extrapolysaccharide (EPS) hydrolysate from the colonies from LB agar showed a composition with L-fucose, L-rhamnose, D-galactosamine, D-glucosamine, D-galactose, D-glucose, D-mannose. However, that from pellicles showed similar neutral and amino sugar profile but missing galactose. Furthermore, uronic acid analysis of EPS hydrolysates by HPLC showed that mannuronic acid was detected from pellicles not from colonies, indicating the epm-derived polymer is critical for pellicle formation as proved by the epm mutants. This study verified that for the circular pellicle architecture P. alkylphenolica KL28 cells utilized EPS building blocks different from that used for colony construction. These results indicate that P. alkylphenolica KL28 is a clever architect that dictates unique cell arrangements with selected EPS matrix material to construct sophisticated building, circular biofilm pellicles.

Keywords: biofilm, matrix, pellicle, pseudomonas

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Authors: E. A. Tkachenko, E. M. Rogova, A. S. Osipenko

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The problems of technological development for the Russian Federation take on special significance in the context of modernization of the production base. The complexity of the position of the Russian economy is that it cannot be attributed fully to developing ones. Russia is a strong industrial power that has gone through the processes of destructive de-industrialization in the conditions of changing its economic and political structure. The need to find ways for re-industrialization is not a unique task for the economies of industrially developed countries. Under the influence of production outsourcing for 20 years, the industrial potential of leading economies of the world was regressed against the backdrop of the ascent of China, a new industrial giant. Therefore, methods, tools, and techniques utilized for industrial renaissance in EU may be used to achieve a technological leap in the Russian Federation, especially since the temporary gap of 5-7 years makes it possible to analyze best practices and use those technological transfer tools that have shown the greatest efficiency. In this article, methods of technological transfer are analyzed, the role of technological audit is justified, and factors are analyzed that influence the successful process of commercialization of technologies.

Keywords: technological transfer, productivity, technological audit, commercialization of technologies

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Authors: George Lin

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This study examines a practice in which Chinese municipal governments actively pursue momentary and spectacular urbanism through the hosting of mega-events as an instrument to reproduce urban space for the enhancement of place competitiveness and advancement of political career. Practicing event-driven spectacular urbanism is found to have a short-term impact upon the economy and an effect upon the career advancement of the party secretary more than the mayor. Hosting mega-events has been used as a means to create “a harmonious society” and unified social space whereby grievance and discontents are grossed over, ignored, excluded and marginalized. Geographically, a new urban space has been created for the central city to reassert/consolidate its leading competitive position in the regional and national economy at the expense of the disadvantaged and marginalized. Findings of this research call for a critical re-evaluation of the sophisticated state-space inter-relations in the ongoing processes of planetary urbanization and global urban revolution in which China has taken an important part.

Keywords: Chinese cities, mega events, urbanism, urbanization

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Authors: Adji Achmad Rinaldo Fernandes

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Path analysis is an analytical technique to study the causal relationship between independent and dependent variables. In this study, the integration of Clusters in the Ward Linkage method was used in a variety of clusters with path analysis. The variables used are character (x₁), capacity (x₂), capital (x₃), collateral (x₄), and condition of economy (x₄) to on time pay (y₂) through the variable willingness to pay (y₁). The purpose of this study was to compare the Ward Linkage method cluster integration in various clusters with path analysis to classify willingness to pay (y₁). The data used are primary data from questionnaires filled out by customers of Bank X, using purposive sampling. The measurement method used is the average score method. The results showed that the Ward linkage method cluster integration with path analysis on 2 clusters is the best method, by comparing the coefficient of determination. Variable character (x₁), capacity (x₂), capital (x₃), collateral (x₄), and condition of economy (x₅) to on time pay (y₂) through willingness to pay (y₁) can be explained by 58.3%, while the remaining 41.7% is explained by variables outside the model.

Keywords: cluster integration, linkage, path analysis, compliant paying behavior

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Authors: D. Tappi

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In the past decades, the idea of innovation moved from being considered the result of development to being seen as its means. Innovation and its diffusion are indeed keys to the development and economic catch-up of a country. However, the process of diffusing existing innovation in low income countries has demonstrated dependent on inadequate infrastructures and institutions. The paper examines the role of disruptive innovation in bridging the technology gap between high- and low-income countries, overcoming the lack in infrastructures and institutions. In particular, the focus of this paper goes to the role of disruptive innovation in people transportation in Nigeria. Uber, Taxify, and Smartcab are covering a small and interesting market that was underserved, between the high-end private driver markets, the personal car owners and the low-priced traditional cab and the Keke (tricycle). Indeed the small Nigerian middle class and international community have found in the sharing people transportation market a safe, reasonably priced means of transportation in Nigerian big cities. This study uses mainly qualitative data collection methods in the form of semi-structured interviews with major players and users and quantitative data analysis in the form of a survey among users in order to assess the role of these new transportation modes in shaping the market and even creating a new niche. This paper shows how the new sharing economy in people transportation is creating new solutions to old problems as well as creating new challenges for both the existing market players and institutions. By doing so, the paper shows how disruptive innovations applied to low income countries, not only can overcome the lacking infrastructure problem but could also help bridge the technology gap between those and high income countries. This contribution proves that it is indeed exactly because the market presents these obstacles that disruptive innovations can succeed in countries such as Nigeria.

Keywords: development, disruptive innovation, sharing economy, technology gap

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Authors: Inês Boticas, Diana P. Ferreira, Ana Eusébio, Carlos Silva, Pedro Magalhães, Ricardo Silva, Raul Fangueiro

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Since the beginning of the 20^th century, sportswear has a major contribution to the impact of fashion on our lives. Nowadays, the embracing of sportswear fashion/looks is undoubtedly noticeable, as the modern consumer searches for high comfort and linear aesthetics for its clothes. This compromise lead to the arise of the athleisure trend. Athleisure surges as a new style area that combines both wearability and fashion sense, differentiated from the archetypal sportswear, usually associated to “gym clothes”. Additionally, the possibility to functionalize and implement new technologies have shifted and progressively empowers the connection between the concepts of physical activities practice and well-being, allowing clothing to be more interactive and responsive with its surroundings. In this study, a design inspired in retro and urban lifestyle was envisioned, engineering textile structures that can respond to external stimuli. These structures are enhanced to be responsive to heat, water vapor and humidity, integrating shape memory polymers (SMP) to improve the breathability and heat-responsive behavior of the textiles and zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) to heighten the surface hydrophobic properties. The best results for hydrophobic exhibited superhydrophobic behavior with water contact angle (WAC) of more than 150 degrees. For the breathability and heat-response properties, SMP-coated samples showed an increase in water vapour permeability values of about 50% when compared with non SMP-coated samples. These innovative technological approaches were endorsed to design innovative clothing, in line with circular economy and eco-design principles, by assigning a substantial degree of mutability and versatility to the clothing. The development of a coat and shirt, in which different parts can be purchased separately to create multiple products, aims to combine the technicality of both the fabrics used and the making of the garments. This concept translates itself into a real constructive mechanism through the symbiosis of high-tech functionalities and the timeless design that follows the athleisure aesthetics.

Keywords: breathability, sportswear and casual clothing, sustainable design, superhydrophobicity

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Authors: Goksen Capar, Levent Dogankaya

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According to the circular economy model, resource productivity should be maximized and wastes should be reduced. Since earth’s natural resources are continuously depleted, resource recovery has gained great interest in recent years. As part of our research study on the recovery and reuse of silk wastes, this paper focuses on the utilization of silkworm pupae as fishmeal replacement, which would replace the original fishmeal raw material, namely the fish itself. This, in turn, would contribute to sustainable management of wild fish resources. Silk fibre is secreted by the silkworm Bombyx mori in order to construct a 'room' for itself during its transformation process from pupae to an adult moth. When the cocoons are boiled in hot water, silk fibre becomes loose and the silk yarn is produced by combining thin silk fibres. The remaining wastes are 1) sericin protein, which is dissolved in water, 2) remaining part of cocoon, including the dead body of B. mori pupae. In this study, an eight weeks trial was carried out to determine the growth performance of common carp juveniles fed with waste silkworm pupae meal (SWPM) as a replacement for fishmeal (FM). Four isonitrogenous diets (40% CP) were prepared replacing 0%, 33%, 50%, and 100% of the dietary FM with non-defatted silkworm pupae meal as a dietary protein source for experiments in C. carpio. Triplicate groups comprising of 20 fish (0.92±0.29 g) were fed twice/day with one of the four diets. Over a period of 8 weeks, results showed that the diet containing 50% of its protein from SWPM had significantly higher (p ≤ 0.05) growth rates in all groups. The increasing levels of SWPM were resulted in a decrease in growth performance and significantly lower growth (p ≤ 0.05) was observed with diets having 100% SWPM. The study demonstrates that it is practical to replace 50% of the FM protein with SWPM with a significantly better utilization of the diet but higher SWPM levels are not recommended for juvenile carp. Further experiments are under study to have more detailed results on the possible effects of this alternative diet on the growth performance of juvenile carp.

Keywords: Bombyx mori, Cyprinus carpio, fish meal, silk, waste pupae

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Authors: Md. Samsuddin Ansari, Ashish Arora

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Every year 10 million people fall ill with one of the oldest diseases known as tuberculosis, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The success of M. tuberculosis as a pathogen is because of its ability to persist in host tissues. Multidrug resistance (MDR) mycobacteria cases increase every day, which is associated with efflux pumps controlled at the level of transcription. The transcription regulators of MDR transporters in bacteria belong to one of the following four regulatory protein families: AraC, MarR, MerR, and TetR. Phenolic acid decarboxylase repressor (PadR), like a family of transcription regulators, is closely related to the MarR family. Phenolic acid decarboxylase repressor (PadR) was first identified as a transcription factor involved in the regulation of phenolic acid stress response in various microorganisms (including Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv). Recently research has shown that the PadR family transcription factors are global, multifunction transcription regulators. Rv0047c is a PadR subfamily-1 protein. We are exploring the biophysical and structural characterization of Rv0047c. The Rv0047 gene was amplified by PCR using the primers containing EcoRI and HindIII restriction enzyme sites cloned in pET-NH6 vector and overexpressed in DH5α and BL21 (λDE3) cells of E. coli following purification with Ni2+-NTA column and size exclusion chromatography. We did DSC to know the thermal stability; the Tm (transition temperature) of protein is 55.29ºC, and ΔH (enthalpy change) of 6.92 kcal/mol. Circular dichroism to know the secondary structure and conformation and fluorescence spectroscopy for tertiary structure study of protein. To understand the effect of pH on the structure, function, and stability of Rv0047c we employed spectroscopy techniques such as circular dichroism, fluorescence, and absorbance measurements in a wide range of pH (from pH-2.0 to pH-12). At low and high pH, it shows drastic changes in the secondary and tertiary structure of the protein. EMSA studies showed the specific binding of Rv0047c with its own 30-bp promoter region. To determine the effect of complex formation on the secondary structure of Rv0047c, we examined the CD spectra of the complex of Rv0047c with promoter DNA of rv0047. The functional role of Rv0047c was characterized by over-expressing the Rv0047c gene under the control of hsp60 promoter in Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv. We have predicted the three-dimensional structure of Rv0047c using the Swiss Model and Modeller, with validity checked by the Ramachandra plot. We did molecular docking of Rv0047c with dnaA, through PatchDock following refinement through FireDock. Through this, it is possible to easily identify the binding hot-stop of the receptor molecule with that of the ligand, the nature of the interface itself, and the conformational change undergone by the protein pattern. We are using X-crystallography to unravel the structure of Rv0047c. Overall the studies show that Rv0047c may have transcription regulation along with providing an insight into the activity of Rv0047c in the pH range of subcellular environment and helps to understand the protein-protein interaction, a novel target to kill dormant bacteria and potential strategy for tuberculosis control.

Keywords: mycobacterium tuberculosis, phenolic acid decarboxylase repressor, Rv0047c, Circular dichroism, fluorescence spectroscopy, docking, protein-protein interaction

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Authors: Dieter Veldsman, Theo Heyns Veldsman

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The knowledge economy demands an organisation that is flexible, adaptable and able to navigate the ever-changing environment. This fast-paced environment has however resulted in an organizational landscape that battles to engage employees, retain top talent and create meaningful work for its members. In the knowledge economy, the concept of organizational identity has become an important consideration as organisations aim to create a compelling and inviting narrative for all stakeholders across the business value chain. Values are often seen as the behavioural framework that informs organisational culture, yet often values are perceived to be inauthentic and misaligned with the true character or identity of the organisation and how it is perceived by different role players. This paper focuses on exploring the relationship between organisational identity and value systems by focusing on a case study within a multi-national organisation within South Africa. The paper evaluates the implementation of mixed methods OD approach that gathered collaborative inputs of more than 4500 employees who participated in crafting the newly established values system post a retrenchment process. The paper will evaluate the relationship between the newly crafted value system and the identity of the organisation as described by various internal and external stakeholders in order to explore potential alignment, dissonance and key insights into understanding the relationship between organisational identity and values. The case study will be reported from the perspective of an OD consultant who supported the transformation process over a period of 8 months and aims to provide key insights into values and identity alignment within knowledge economy organisations. From a practical perspective, the paper provides insights into how values are created, perceived and lived within organisations and the impact on employee engagement and culture.

Keywords: culture, organisational development, organisational identity, values

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Authors: Adewale Tolulope Irewale, Elias Emeka Elemike, Christian O. Dimkpa, Emeka Emmanuel Oguzie

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As the global population steadily approaches the 10billion mark, the world is currently faced with two major challenges among others – accessing sustainable and clean energy, and food security. Accessing cleaner and sustainable energy sources to drive global economy and technological advancement, and feeding the teeming human population require sustainable, innovative, and smart solutions. To solve the food production problem, producers have relied on fertilizers as a way of improving crop productivity. Commercial inorganic fertilizers, which is employed to boost agricultural food production, however, pose significant ecological sustainability and economic problems including soil and water pollution, reduced input efficiency, development of highly resistant weeds, micronutrient deficiency, soil degradation, and increased soil toxicity. These ecological and sustainability concerns have raised uncertainties about the continued effectiveness of conventional fertilizers. With the application of nanotechnology, plant biomass upcycling offers several advantages in greener energy production and sustainable agriculture through reduction of environmental pollution, increasing soil microbial activity, recycling carbon thereby reducing GHG emission, and so forth. This innovative technology has the potential for a circular economy and creating a sustainable agricultural practice. Nanomaterials have the potential to greatly enhance the quality and nutrient composition of organic biomass which in turn, allows for the conversion of biomass into nanofertilizers that are potentially more efficient. Water hyacinth plant harvested from an inland water at Warri, Delta State Nigeria were air-dried and milled into powder form. The dry biomass were used to prepare biochar at a pre-determined temperature in an oxygen deficient atmosphere. Physicochemical analysis of the resulting biochar was carried out to determine its porosity and general morphology using the Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM). The functional groups (-COOH, -OH, -NH2, -CN, -C=O) were assessed using the Fourier Transform InfraRed Spectroscopy (FTIR) while the heavy metals (Cr, Cu, Fe, Pb, Mg, Mn) were analyzed using Inductively Coupled Plasma – Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES). Impregnation of the biochar with nanonutrients were achieved under varied conditions of pH, temperature, nanonutrient concentrations and resident time to achieve optimum adsorption. Adsorption and desorption studies were carried out on the resulting nanofertilizer to determine kinetics for the potential nutrients’ bio-availability to plants when used as green fertilizers. Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) which is an aggressively invasive aquatic plant known for its rapid growth and profusion is being examined in this research to harness its biomass as a sustainable feedstock to formulate functionalized nano-biochar fertilizers, offering various benefits including water hyacinth biomass upcycling, improved nutrient delivery to crops and aquatic ecosystem remediation. Altogether, this work aims to create output values in the three dimensions of environmental, economic, and social benefits.

Keywords: biochar-based nanofertilizers, eichhornia crassipes, greener agriculture, sustainable ecosystem, water hyacinth

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Authors: Samuel A. Muyiwa

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Religious chauvinism has attained an alarming status in Contemporary Nigerian society. Arguably, Nigeria is the largest economy and most populous nation in Africa with over 182 million people, the advantages offer by vibrant economy and high population have been sacrificed on the altar of religion. Tolerance, sacrifice, humility, compassion, love, justice, trustworthiness, dedication to the well-being of others, and unity are the universal spiritual principles that lie at the heart of any religion either Christianity or Islam even traditional. Whereas traditional religious practices foreground the beliefs, norms and ritual that are related to the sacred being God because of its quick and immediate consequence of its effect, the new-found religious sentiments have deviated from the norms, thus undermining cosmic harmony in Nigeria because of its long-time consequence of its effect. Religion, which is expected to accelerate growth and motivate people to develop spiritual nuances for the betterment of their communities, has, however occasioned conflict and violence in Nigeria socio-political cosmo. Therefore, this study examines the content of religion in the promotion of peace and unity and its contextual missing link in the promotion of conflict and violence in Nigeria.

Keywords: religion chauvinism, Nigeria, conflict, conflict resolution

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Authors: Joy Olayemi Gbala, Fatai Olatokunbo, Philip Cloud

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Catastrophic dictatorship has been discovered to be the major leadership challenge that orchestrates stagnated and contrasted economy with dysfunctional democracy in Africa through willful misappropriation of resources and egregious subversion of the rule of law. Almost invariably, most African leaders inexplicably often become power drunk and addicted which usually leads to abuse of state power, abdication of constitutional duties, unjustly withdrawal of business license of operation, human right violation, election malpractices, financial corruption, disruptions of policies of democratic government transition, annulment of free and fair election, and disruptions of legal electoral procedures and unachievable dividends of democracy and many more. Owing to this, most African nations have gone and still go through political unrest and insurgencies leading to loss of lives and property, violent protests, detention of detractors and political activists and massive human displacement. This research work is concerned with, and investigates the causes, menace, consequences and impacts of subverting the rule of law in Africa on the economy and the development of the continent with a suggested practical solution to the plights.

Keywords: corruption, law, leadership, violation

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Authors: Joanna Konstantinou

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The study is about the challenges faced by entrepreneurs in a crisis context and in turbulent economies. The scope is to determine which factors, if any, are related to the success of a new business venture, such as innovation, access to funding and capital, enhanced digital skills, employment relations and organizational culture as well as a company’s strategic orientation towards international markets. The crisis context has been recorded to have affected the number of SMEs in the Greek economy, the number of people employed as well as the volume of the output produced. Although not all SMEs have been equally impacted by the crisis, which has been identified to affect certain sectors more than others, and although research is not exhaustive in that end, employment relations and patterns, firm’s age, and innovation practices in relation to employees’ learning curve seem to have a positive correlation with the successful survival and resilience of the firm. The aim is to identify important factors that can contribute positively to the success of a startup business, and that will allow businesses to acquire resilience and survive economic adversities, and it will focus on businesses of the Greek economy, the country with the longer lasting economic crisis and the findings will be lessons to learn for other economies.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, innovation, crisis, challenges

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Authors: A. El Hamdouni, J. Zbitou, A. Tajmouati, L. El Abdellaoui, A. Errkik, A. Tribak, M. Latrach

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This paper presents a novel fractal antenna structure proposed for UWB (Ultra – Wideband) applications. The frequency band 3.1-10.6 GHz released by FCC (Federal Communication Commission) as the commercial operation of UWB has been chosen as frequency range for this antenna based on coplanar waveguide (CPW) feed and circular shapes fulfilled according to fractal geometry. The proposed antenna is validated and designed by using an FR4 substrate with overall area of 34 x 43 mm2. The simulated results performed by CST-Microwave Studio and compared by ADS (Advanced Design System) show good matching input impedance with return loss less than -10 dB between 2.9 GHz and 11 GHz.

Keywords: Fractal antenna, Fractal Geometry, CPW Feed, UWB, FCC

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Authors: Jayakrishnan U.

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A concept of adding two strokes to a four stroke Otto or Diesel engine cycle presented here for the waste heat recovery in a four stroke internal combustion engine. Four stroke Diesel cycle and Otto cycle engines have very low thermal efficiency due to high amount of energy loss in exhaust and also on the cooling of the engine. It is estimated about 35 percent of fuel energy is lost in exhaust of engine and 30 percent in cooling of engine. So by modifying a four-stroke Otto or Diesel engine by adding two-stroke heat recovery steam cycle is presented here. Water injection is used to get an additional power stroke by partial compression of the exhaust gases at the end of third stroke in a four stroke I.C.Engine. It is the conversion of a four-stroke cycle to a six-stroke cycle. By taking a four stroke petrol engine of known dimensions, an ideal thermodynamic model is used to analyse and calculate the events of exhaust gas compression and following two strokes of water injection. By changing the exhaust valve closing timing during exhaust stroke and analysing it on various points, an optimum amount of exhaust gas re-compression and amount of water injection can be found for maximizing efficiency and fuel economy. It is achieved by changing the exhaust valve timing and finding an optimum amount of exhaust re-compression, maximizing the net mean effective pressure of the steam expansion stroke (MEPsteam). Specific fuel consumption of the engine also decreases increasing the fuel economy. The valve closing timings for maximum MEPsteam is limited by either 1 bar or dew point temperature of expansion gas or moisture mixture to avoid moisture formation. By modifying the four-stroke Otto or Diesel cycle by adding two water injection stroke has the potential to significantly increase the engine efficiency and fuel economy.

Keywords: internal combustion engine, engine efficiency, six-stroke cycle, water injection, specific fuel consumption

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Authors: Gunnar Oskarsson, Gudjon Helgi Egilsson

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Due to globalization, small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) increasingly offer their products and services in foreign markets. The main reasons are either to compensate for a decreased market share in their home market or to exploit opportunities in foreign markets, which are becoming less distant and better accessible than before. International markets are particularly important for companies located in a small economy and offering specialized products. Although more accessible, entering international markets is both expensive and difficult. In order to select the most appropriate markets, it is, therefore, important to gain an insight into the factors that have an impact on success, or potential failure. Although there has been a reasonable volume of research into the theory of internationalization, there is still a need to gain further understanding of the decision-making process of SMEs in small economies and the most important characteristics that distinguish between success and failure. The main objective of this research is to enhance knowledge on the internationalization of SMEs, including the drivers for the decision to internationalize, and the most important factors contributing to success in their internationalization activities. A qualitative approach was found to be most appropriate for this kind of research, with the objective of gaining a deeper understanding and discovering factors which impact a company’s decision-making and potential success. In-depth interviews were conducted with 14 companies in different industries located in Iceland, a country extensively dependent on export revenues. The interviews revealed several factors as drivers of internationalization and, not surprisingly, the most frequently mentioned source of motivation was that the local market is inadequate to maintain a sustainable operation. Good networking relationships were seen as a particular priority for potential success, searching for new markets was mainly carried out through the internet, although sales exhibitions and sales trips were also considered important. When it comes to the final decision as to whether a market should be considered for further analysis, economy, labor cost, legal environment, and cultural barriers were the most common factors to be weighted. The ultimate answer to successful internationalization, however, is largely dependent on a coordinated and experienced management team. The main contribution of this research is offering an insight into factors affecting decision-making in the internationalization process of SMEs, based on the opinion and experience of managers of SMEs in a small economy.

Keywords: internationalization, success factors, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), drivers, decision making

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Authors: A. Bahar Ganiyeva, M. Sabuhi Tanriverdiyev

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The article analyzes state support and policy mechanisms aimed at driving tourism as one of the vibrant and rapidly developing economies. State programs and long-range strategic roadmaps and previous programs execution, results and their impact on the particular countries economy have been raised during the research. This theme provides a useful framework for discussions with a wider range of stakeholders as the implications arising are of importance both for academics and practitioners engaged in hospitality and tourism development and research. The impact that tourism has on sustainable regional development in emerging markets is highly substantial. For Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia, and Russia, with their rich natural resources and cultural heritage, tourism can be an important basis for economic expansion, and a way to form an acceptable image of the countries as safe, open, hospitable, and complex.

Keywords: Sustainable tourism, hospitality, destination, strategic roadmap, tourism, economy, growth, state support, mechanism, policy formation, state program

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Authors: Sabry A. El Azazy

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Tourism plays an essential role in supporting the National Economy. Egypt was ranked as one of the most attractive touristic destinations worldwide. Tourism as a service sector affects political events and unstable conditions. Within the revolution of January 25th, 2011, tourism became below standards, and the archeological heritage sites were subject to threat. Because of the political tension and social instability, Egypt's tourism sector has drastically dropped. Currently, Egypt is working on overcoming the crisis caused by political unrest. However, it is expected to take a long time to get back to where it was, especially in terms of regaining the confidence of travelers in the country's ability to guarantee and maintain security and stability. Recently, many great projects have been done, such as; New Administrative Cairo Capital, New Suez Canal logistic project, New City of Al Alamin, New Grand Egyptian Museum, as well as other great projects that reflect positively on the tourism industry and archaeological heritage development in Egypt.

Keywords: archaeology, archaeological heritage, attractions, national economy, political events, touristic destinations, tourism industry

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Authors: Daniele Lerede, Gianvito Colucci, Matteo Nicoli, Laura Savoldi

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The European Green Deal is the first internationally agreed set of measures to contrast climate change and environmental degradation. Besides the main target of reducing emissions by at least 55% by 2030, it sets the target of accompanying European countries through an energy transition to make the European Union into a modern, resource-efficient, and competitive net-zero emissions economy by 2050, decoupling growth from the use of resources and ensuring a fair adaptation of all social categories to the transformation process. While the general purpose to allow the realization of the purposes of the Green Deal already dates back to 2019, strategies and policies keep being developed coping with recent circumstances and achievements. However, general long-term measures like the Circular Economy Action Plan, the proposals to shift from fossil natural gas to renewable and low-carbon gases, in particular biomethane and hydrogen, and to end the sale of gasoline and diesel cars by 2035, will all have significant effects on energy supply and demand evolution across the next decades. The interactions between energy supply and demand over long-term time frames are usually assessed via energy system models to derive useful insights for policymaking and to address technological choices and research and development. TEMOA-Europe is a newly developed energy system optimization model instance based on the minimization of the total cost of the system under analysis, adopting a technologically integrated, detailed, and explicit formulation and considering the evolution of the system in partial equilibrium in competitive markets with perfect foresight. TEMOA-Europe is developed on the TEMOA platform, an open-source modeling framework totally implemented in Python, therefore ensuring third-party verification even on large and complex models. TEMOA-Europe is based on a single-region representation of the European Union and EFTA countries on a time scale between 2005 and 2100, relying on a set of assumptions for socio-economic developments based on projections by the International Energy Outlook and a large technological dataset including 7 sectors: the upstream and power sectors for the production of all energy commodities and the end-use sectors, including industry, transport, residential, commercial and agriculture. TEMOA-Europe also includes an updated hydrogen module considering its production, storage, transportation, and utilization. Besides, it can rely on a wide set of innovative technologies, ranging from nuclear fusion and electricity plants equipped with CCS in the power sector to electrolysis-based steel production processes and steel in the industrial sector – with a techno-economic characterization based on public literature – to produce insightful energy scenarios and especially to cope with the very long analyzed time scale. The aim of this work is to examine in detail the scheme of measures and policies for the realization of the purposes of the Green Deal and to transform them into a set of constraints and new socio-economic development pathways. Based on them, TEMOA-Europe will be used to produce and comparatively analyze scenarios to assess the consequences of Green Deal-related measures on the future evolution of the energy mix over the whole energy system in an economic optimization environment.

Keywords: European Green Deal, energy system optimization modeling, scenario analysis, TEMOA-Europe

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Authors: Varsha Rainson

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Artificial intelligence (AI) has great potential and can be used as a powerful tool of application in various domains and sectors. But with the application of AI, there comes a wide spectrum of concerns around bias, accountability, transparency, and privacy. Hence, there is a need for responsible AI, which can uphold ethical and accountable practices to ensure that things are transparent and fair. The paper is a combination of AI and cultural heritage preservation, with a greater focus on India because of the rich cultural legacy that it holds. India’s cultural heritage in itself contributes to its identity and the economy. In this paper, along with discussing the impact culture holds on the Indian economy, we will discuss the threats that the cultural heritage is exposed to due to pollution, climate change and urbanization. Furthermore, the paper reviews some of the exciting applications of AI in cultural heritage preservation, such as 3-D scanning, photogrammetry, and other techniques which have led to the reconstruction of cultural artifacts and sites. The paper eventually moves into the potential risks and challenges that AI poses in cultural heritage preservation. These include ethical, legal, and social issues which are to be addressed by organizations and government authorities. Overall, the paper strongly argues the need for responsible AI and the important role it can play in preserving India’s cultural heritage while holding importance to value and diversity.

Keywords: responsible AI, cultural heritage, artificial intelligence, biases, transparency

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Authors: Ferry Kurniawan

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In this paper, we nowcast quarterly output growth in Indonesia by exploiting higher frequency data (monthly indicators) using a mixed-frequency factor model and exploiting both quarterly and monthly data. Nowcasting quarterly GDP in Indonesia is particularly relevant for the central bank of Indonesia which set the policy rate in the monthly Board of Governors Meeting; whereby one of the important step is the assessment of the current state of the economy. Thus, having an accurate and up-to-date quarterly GDP nowcast every time new monthly information becomes available would clearly be of interest for central bank of Indonesia, for example, as the initial assessment of the current state of the economy -including nowcast- will be used as input for longer term forecast. We consider a small scale mixed-frequency factor model to produce nowcasts. In particular, we specify variables as year-on-year growth rates thus the relation between quarterly and monthly data is expressed in year-on-year growth rates. To assess the performance of the model, we compare the nowcasts with two other approaches: autoregressive model –which is often difficult when forecasting output growth- and Mixed Data Sampling (MIDAS) regression. In particular, both mixed frequency factor model and MIDAS nowcasts are produced by exploiting the same set of monthly indicators. Hence, we compare the nowcasts performance of the two approaches directly. To preview the results, we find that by exploiting monthly indicators using mixed-frequency factor model and MIDAS regression we improve the nowcast accuracy over a benchmark simple autoregressive model that uses only quarterly frequency data. However, it is not clear whether the MIDAS or mixed-frequency factor model is better. Neither set of nowcasts encompasses the other; suggesting that both nowcasts are valuable in nowcasting GDP but neither is sufficient. By combining the two individual nowcasts, we find that the nowcast combination not only increases the accuracy - relative to individual nowcasts- but also lowers the risk of the worst performance of the individual nowcasts.

Keywords: nowcasting, mixed-frequency data, factor model, nowcasts combination

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Authors: Wincharles Coker

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This study troubles the role the state as the chief sponsor of higher education plays in shaping communication training in Ghana. Using a public university as a case study, it explores how the government of Ghana, through its regimes of control, exercises its authority over the means of production in the academy. Based on Wenger’s community of practice theory and critical theory, the research analyzes the political economy within which higher education in the country operates, focusing on the mandates of two of its bodies: the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) and the National Accreditation Board (NAB). Results show that communication training in Ghana is shaped by three basic strategies of control: developmentalism, bureaucratization, and corporatization. This governmentality, the research reveals nonetheless, largely constrains the agency and practices of the community of communication faculty and administrators, and thus presents a major challenge to the exercise of intellectual freedom, and the self-critical nature of the academy. The study bears implications for further research in the political economy of communication studies, the administration of higher education, and critical/cultural studies in education.

Keywords: communication, developmentalism, educattion, governmentality

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Authors: Priyadarshini Alok

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The present situation in India envisages that because of the surge in population and the economy, cities are expected to spill over to hinterland areas. The consumption-led factors such as land, labor, etc. will be boosted. Hence, the need for regional connectivity becomes obligatory. But, there is enormous pressure upon the land; proving itself through rising traffic congestion, roads, and railway accidents. Air transport is practical, but due to decreasing availability of land, this will not be a wise solution. What with the introduction of seaplanes in the country which was once the vital asset in the world prior to Second World War. Maldives has proved it. Seaplanes offer natural landing site and are time and cost-efficient. Seaplanes in accordance with UDAN can prove to be the solution in linking various regions with other states. This research paper aims to offer the feasibility analysis along with site justification of the potential areas in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India; for the operation of seaplanes. The standards are taken from the US Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration for the analysis. The conflation of Seaplanes with UDAN will offer an alternate mode of air connectivity, strengthen the transport network by simulation of connectivity to unserved and under-served areas and boost the nation's economy.

Keywords: connectivity, seaplanes, transport, UDAN

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Authors: A. Gilewska, J. Masternak, K. Kazimierczuk, L. Turlej, J. Wietrzyk, B. Barszcz

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Platinum-based drugs are now widely used as chemotherapeutic agents. However the platinum complexes show the toxic side-effects: i) the development of platinum resistance; ii) the occurrence of severe side effects, such as nephro-, neuro- and ototoxicity; iii) the high toxicity towards human fibroblast. Therefore the development of new anticancer drugs containing different transition-metal ions, for example, ruthenium, rhodium, iridium is a valid strategy in cancer treatment. In this paper, we reported the synthesis, spectroscopic, structural and biological properties of complexes of ruthenium, rhodium, and iridium containing N,N-chelating ligand (2,2’-bisimidazole). These complexes were characterized by elemental analysis, UV-Vis and IR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis. These complexes exhibit a typical pseudotetrahedral three-legged piano-stool geometry, in which the aromatic arene ring forms the seat of the piano-stool, while the bidentate 2,2’-bisimidazole (ligand) and the one chlorido ligand form the three legs of the stool. The spectroscopy data (IR, UV-Vis) and elemental analysis correlate very well with molecular structures. Moreover, the cytotoxic activity of the complexes was carried out on human cancer cell lines: LoVo (colorectal adenoma), MV-4-11 (myelomonocytic leukaemia), MCF-7 (breast adenocarcinoma) and normal healthy mouse fibroblast BALB/3T3 cell lines. To predict a binding mode, a potential interaction of metal complexes with calf thymus DNA (CT-DNA) and protein (BSA) has been explored using UV absorption and circular dichroism (CD). It is interesting to note that the investigated complexes show no cytotoxic effect towards the normal BALB/3T3 cell line, compared to cisplatin, which IC₅₀ values was determined as 2.20 µM. Importantly, Ru(II) displayed the highest activity against HL-60 (IC₅₀ 4.35 µM). The biological studies (UV-Vis and circular dichroism) suggest that arene-complexes could interact with calf thymus DNA probably via an outside binding mode and interact with protein (BSA).

Keywords: ruthenium(II) complex, rhodium(III) complex, iridium(III) complex, biological activity

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Authors: Audie Daniel Wood

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In the spring of 2020, the country and the economy came to a halt due to an outbreak of the novel coronavirus, SARS-2, virus known as COVID-19. One of the hardest hit sectors of the economy was the gig-sector, which includes Lyft, Uber, Door-Dash, and other services. In this study, we examined the effects of the independent contractor status of laborers in this field to see how a near-complete economic shut-down affected the lives of laborers who are denied access to health-care and unemployment benefits due to their status as independent contractors. What the study found was there was no 'life-altering' change to the lives of the workers who used gig-work as supplementary income during the economic shut-down, but those who relied on Lyft and Uber, etc. as their sole source of income were more heavily impacted by the economic shut-down than part-time workers. The second significant finding of the study was that across all genders and races, the idea of having to seek unemployment or help was something that none of the workers wanted. They all felt as if unemployment and social-insurance were for those who could not work. While the findings are not generalizable due to this being a small qualitative study consisting of 27 participants, the findings suggest that the economic and social impact of COVID-19 on those that work in the gig-industry warrants further discussion and research.

Keywords: gig-work, Covid-19, independent contractor, Uber

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Authors: A. González-Caro, A. M. Merino-Lechuga, D. Suescum-Morales, E. Fernández-Ledesma, J. R. Jiménez, J. M. Fernández-Rodríguez

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Climate change is one of the most significant issues today. Since the 19th century, the rise in temperature has not only been due to natural change, but also to human activities, which have been the main cause of climate change, mainly due to the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas. The boom in the construction sector in recent years is also one of the main contributors to CO₂ emissions into the atmosphere; for example, for every tonne of cement produced, 1 tonne of CO₂ is emitted into the atmosphere. Most of the research being carried out in this sector is focused on reducing the large environmental impact generated during the manufacturing process of building materials. In detail, this research focuses on the recovery of waste from olive oil mills. Spain is the world's largest producer of olive oil, and this sector generates a large amount of waste and by-products such as olive pits, “alpechín” or “alpeorujo”. This olive stone by means of a pyrosilisis process gives rise to the production of active carbon. The process causes the carbon to develop many internal spaces. This study is based on the manufacture of porous mortars with Portland cement and natural limestone sand, with an addition of 5% and 10% of activated carbon. Two curing environments were used: i) dry chamber, with a humidity of 65 ± 10% and temperature of 21 ± 2 ºC and an atmospheric CO₂ concentration (approximately 0.04%); ii) accelerated carbonation chamber, with a humidity of 65 ± 10% and temperature of 21 ± 2 ºC and an atmospheric CO₂ concentration of 5%. In addition to eliminating waste from an industry, the aim of this study is to reduce atmospheric CO₂. For this purpose, first, a physicochemical and mineralogical characterisation of all raw materials was carried out, using techniques such as fluorescence and X-ray diffraction. The particle size and specific surface area of the activated carbon were determined. Subsequently, tests were carried out on the hardened mortar, such as thermogravimetric analysis (to determine the percentage of CO₂ capture), as well as mechanical properties, density, porosity, and water absorption. It was concluded that the activated carbon acts as a sink for CO₂, causing it to be trapped inside the voids. This increases CO₂ capture by 300% with the addition of 10% activated carbon at 7 days of curing. There was an increase in compressive strength of 17.5% with the CO₂ chamber after 7 days of curing using 10% activated carbon compared to the dry chamber.

Keywords: olive stone, activated carbon, porous mortar, CO₂ capture, economy circular

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Authors: Muluken Biadgelegn Wollele, Mebratu Assaye Mengistu

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Nanotechnology has created new opportunities for improving industrial efficiency and performance. One of the proposed approaches to improving the effectiveness of temperature exchangers is the use of nanofluids to improve heat transfer performance. The thermal conductivity of nanoparticles, as well as their size, diameter, and volume concentration, all played a role in influencing the rate of heat transfer. Nanofluids are commonly used in automobiles, energy storage, electronic component cooling, solar absorbers, and nuclear reactors. Convective heat transfer must be improved when designing thermal systems in order to reduce heat exchanger size, weight, and cost. Using roughened surfaces to promote heat transfer has been tried several times. Thus, both active and passive heat transfer methods show potential in terms of heat transfer improvement. There will be an added advantage of enhanced heat transfer due to the two methods adopted; however, pressure drop must be considered during flow. Thus, the current research aims to increase heat transfer by adding a twisted tap insert in a plain tube using a working fluid hybrid nanofluid (Al₂O₃-Cu) with a base fluid of water. A circular duct with inserts, a tube length of 3 meters, a hydraulic diameter of 0.01 meters, and tube walls with a constant heat flux of 20 kW/m² and a twist ratio of 125 was used to investigate Al₂O₃-Cu/H₂O hybrid nanofluid with inserts. The temperature distribution is better than with conventional tube designs due to stronger tangential contact and swirls in the twisted tape. The Nusselt number values of plain twisted tape tubes are 1.5–2.0 percent higher than those of plain tubes. When twisted tape is used instead of plain tube, performance evaluation criteria improve by 1.01 times. A heat exchanger that is useful for a number of heat exchanger applications can be built utilizing a mixed flow of analysis that incorporates passive and active methodologies.

Keywords: nanofluids, active method, passive method, Nusselt number, performance evaluation criteria

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Authors: Pham Quang Huy

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State budget is considered as an effective tool for controlling, adjusting and regulating the market economy of any countries. To ensure that the activities of the state in the fields of politics, economy and society has been efficiency, it requires major sources of certain budget. These financial funds are formed from tax revenues and tax revenues beyond. Therefore, the Governments need to have an accounting regime to manage the receipt, expenditure which are suitable for recording a full range of items. From that, it can help to increase the transparency and accountability in budget system. One of the main requirements in Vietnamese policies is to improve that accounting system of revenues and expenditures which can provide many reports to meet the information required of government and users, as well as directions to the trends of international standards requirements. By using quantitative research methods and analytical models to exploring factors, the main purpose of this article is to identify the factors affecting budget accounting and providing some direction for Vietnamese public sector in the future. The results indicated that Vietnam budget accounting has been impacted by seven factors and aims to implement three main orientations in the public sector units.

Keywords: state budget, accounting, IPSAS, budget management, government, public sector

Procedia PDF Downloads 251