Search results for: successful/unsuccessful technology commercialization

Authors: Rajiv Kumar, Amit Sachan, Arindam Mukherjee

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Despite the transparency and benefits of e-government, and its potential to serve citizens better, there is low diffusion and adoption of e-government services in India. Limited access to computer and internet, lack of computer and internet skills, low trust in technology, and risk associated in using e-government services are major hindrances in e-government adoption in India. Despite a large number of citizens belonging to the non-adopter category, the government has made some services mandatory to be accessed online where citizens have no other choice. Also despite the digital divide, a large number of citizens prefer online access to government services. In such cases intermediaries like common service centers, internet café and services agents’ roles are significant for accessing e-government services. Hence research is needed to explore this. The study aims to investigate the role of intermediaries in online access to public services by citizens. Qualitative research methodology using semi-structured interview was used. The results show that intermediaries play an important role in bridging the digital divide. The study also highlights on what circumstances citizens are taking help of these intermediaries. The study then highlights its limitations and discusses scope for future study.

Keywords: adoption, digital divide, e-government, India, intermediaries

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Authors: Elena Selezneva

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Over the last two decades, an unprecedented growth in uncertainty and volatility in all aspects of the business environment has caused major global supply chain disruptions and malfunctions. The effects of one failed company in a supply chain can ripple up and down the chain, causing a number of entities or an entire supply chain to collapse. The complicating factor is that an increasingly unstable and unpredictable business environment fuels the growing complexity of global supply chain networks. That makes supply chain operations extremely unpredictable and hard to manage with the established methods and strategies. It has caused the premature demise of many companies around the globe as they could not withstand or adapt to the storm of change. Solutions to this problem are not easy to come by. There is a lack of new empirically tested theories and practically viable supply chain resilience strategies. The mainstream organizational approach to managing supply chain resilience is rooted in well-established theories developed in the 1960-1980s. However, their effectiveness is questionable in currently extremely volatile business environments. The systems thinking approach offers an alternative view of supply chain resilience. Still, it is very much in the development stage. The aim of this explorative research is to investigate supply chain management strategies that are successful in taming complexity in volatile business environments and creating resilience in supply chains. The design of this research methodology was guided by an interpretivist paradigm. A literature review informed the selection of the systems thinking approach to supply chain resilience. Therefore, an explorative single case study of Ventilator Challenge UK was selected as a case study for its extremely resilient performance of its supply chain during a period of national crisis. Ventilator Challenge UK is intensive care ventilators supply project for the NHS. It ran for 3.5 months and finished in 2020. The participants moved on with their lives, and most of them are not employed by the same organizations anymore. Therefore, the study data includes documents, historical interviews, live interviews with participants, and social media postings. The data analysis was accomplished in two stages. First, data were thematically analyzed. In the second stage, pattern matching and pattern identification were used to identify themes that formed the findings of the research. The findings from the Ventilator Challenge UK case study supply management practices demonstrated all the features of an adaptive dynamic system. They cover all the elements of supply chain and employ an entire arsenal of adaptive dynamic system strategies enabling supply chain resilience. Also, it is not a simple sum of parts and strategies. Bonding elements and connections between the components of a supply chain and its environment enabled the amplification of resilience in the form of systemic emergence. Enablers are categorized into three subsystems: supply chain central strategy, supply chain operations, and supply chain communications. Together, these subsystems and their interconnections form the resilient supply chain system framework conceptualized by the author.

Keywords: enablers of supply chain resilience, supply chain resilience strategies, systemic approach in supply chain management, resilient supply chain system framework, ventilator challenge UK

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Authors: M. Tazky, R. Hela, P. Novosad, L. Osuska

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This paper deals with the possibility of safe incorporation fluidised bed combustion fly ash (waste material) into cement matrix together with next commonly used secondary raw material, which is high-temperature fly ash. Both of these materials have a very high pozzolanic ability, and the right combination could bring important improvements in both the physico-mechanical properties and the better durability of a cement composite. This paper tries to determine the correct methodology for designing green concrete by using modern methods measuring rheology of fresh concrete and following hydration processes. The use of fluidised bed combustion fly ash in cement composite production as an admixture is not currently common, but there are some real possibilities for its potential. The most striking negative aspect is its chemical composition which supports the development of new product formation, influencing the durability of the composite. Another disadvantage is the morphology of grains, which have a negative effect on consistency. This raises the question of how this waste can be used in concrete production to emphasize its positive properties and eliminate negatives. The focal point of the experiment carried out on cement pastes was particularly on the progress of hydration processes, aiming for the possible acceleration of pozzolanic reactions of both types of fly ash.

Keywords: high temperature fly ash, fluidized bed combustion fly ash, pozzolan, CaO (calcium oxide), rheology

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Authors: Tzong-Shing Cheng, Chen Pei Chen, Shu-Wei Chen

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The purpose of this research is to apply Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model to investigate the factors that influence elementary school teacher’s behavior of using e-books. Based on the literature review, a questionnaire was modified and used to test the elementary school teachers in Changhua. A total of 420 questionnaires were administered and 364 of them were returned, including 328 valid and 36 invalid questionnaires. The effective response rate is 78%. The methods of data analysis include descriptive statistics, factor analysis, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and simple regression analysis. The results show that: 1. There were significant difference in the Elementary school teachers’ “Performance Expectancy”, “Effort Expectancy”, “Social Influence”, and “Facilitating Conditions” depending on their different “Demographic Variables”. 2. “Performance Expectancy” and “Behavioral Intention to Use” are positively correlated. 3. “Effort Expectancy” and “Behavioral Intention to Use” are positively correlated. 4. There was no significant relationship between “Social Influence” and “Behavioral Intention to Use”. 5. There was significant relationship between “Facilitating Conditions” and “Use Behavior”.

Keywords: e-books, UTAUT, elementary school teacher, behavioral intention to use

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Authors: Ye Wei, Sitalakshmi Venkatraman, Fahri Benli, Fiona Wahr

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The present digital world poses many challenges to various stakeholders in the education sector. In particular, lecturers of higher education (HE) are faced with the problem of ensuring that students are able to achieve the required learning outcomes despite rapid changes taking place worldwide. Different strategies are adopted to retain student engagement and commitment in classrooms to address the differences in learning habits, preferences, and styles of the digital generation of students recently. Further, the onset of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in online teaching being mandatory. These changes have compounded the problems in the learning engagement and short attention span of HE students. New agile methodologies that have been successfully employed to manage projects in different fields are gaining prominence in the education domain. In this paper, we present the application of Scrum as an agile methodology to enhance student learning and engagement in an online smart classroom environment. We demonstrate the use of our proposed approach using a case study to teach key topics in information technology that require students to gain technical and business-related data analytics skills.

Keywords: agile methodology, Scrum, online learning, smart classroom environment, student engagement, active learning

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Authors: Amine Benmoussa, Mohamed Bouanini, Mebrouk Rebhi

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Stirring is one of the unifying processes which form part of the mechanical unit operations in process technology such chemical, biotechnological, pharmaceutical, petrochemical, cosmetic, and food processing. Therefore determining the level of mixing and overall behavior and performance of the mixing tanks are crucial from the product quality and process economics point of views. The most fundamental needs for the analysis of these processes from both a theoretical and industrial perspective are the knowledge of the hydrodynamic behavior and the flow structure in such tanks. Depending on the purpose of the operation carried out in mixer, the best choice for geometry of the tank and agitator type can vary widely. Initially, a local and global study namely the velocity and power number on a typical agitation system agitated by a mobile-type two-blade straight (d/D=0.5) allowed us to test the reliability of the CFD, the result were compared with those of experimental literature, a very good concordance was observed. The stream function, the velocity profile, the velocity fields and power number are analyzed. It was shown that the hydrodynamics is modified by the curvature of the mobile which plays a key role.

Keywords: agitated vessels, curved blade agitator, laminar flow, finite volume method

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Authors: Michael Saad Thabet Azrek

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The advanced facts era is becoming a vital element within the improvement of financial offerings enterprise, in particular, the banking enterprise. It has introduced new approaches to delivering banking to the patron, including Internet Banking. Banks started to observe digital banking (e-banking) as a means to update a number of their conventional branch features using the net as a brand-new distribution channel. A few purchasers have, as a minimum, a couple of accounts across banks and get the right of entry to these accounts using e-banking offerings. To study the contemporary net really worth role, clients ought to log in to each of their debts and get the info and paintings on consolidation. This not simplest takes enough time, but it's also a repetitive hobby at a specific frequency. To cope with this point, an account aggregation idea is introduced as an answer. E-banking account aggregation, as one of the e-banking types, appeared to construct a more potent dating with clients. Account Aggregation provider usually refers to a provider that permits clients to manage their financial institution debts maintained in distinct establishments through a not unusual net banking operating a platform, with an excessive situation to protection and privateness. This paper gives an outline of an e-banking account aggregation method as a new provider in the e-banking field.

Keywords: compatibility, complexity, mobile banking, observation, risk banking technology, internet banks, modernization of banks, banks, account aggregation, security, enterprise development

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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: Talip Turkmen

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From the moment the first beats, the first step into the world mankind finds him in a struggle to survive. Most important case to win this fight is power. Power is one of the most common concepts which we encounter in our life. Mainly power is ability to reach desired results on someone else or ability to penetrate into the behavior of others. Throughout history merging technology and changing political trade-offs caused the change of concept of power. Receiving a state of multipolar new world order in the 21st century and increasing impacts of media have narrowed the limits of military power. With increasing globalization and peaceful diplomacy this gap, left by military power, has filled by soft power which has ability to persuade and attract. As concepts of power soft power also has not compromised yet. For that reason it is important to specify, sources of soft power, soft power strategies and limits of soft power. The purpose of this study was to analyze concept of soft power and importance of soft power in foreign relations. This project focuses on power, hard power and soft power relations, sources of soft power and strategies to gain soft power. Datas in this project was acquired from other studies on soft power and foreign relations. This paper was prepared in terms of concept and research techniques. As a result of data gained in this study the one of important topics in international relations is balance between soft power.

Keywords: soft power, foreign policy, national power, hard power

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Authors: Z. Herceg, V. Stulic, T. Vukusic, A. Rezek Jambrak

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Gas phase plasma treatment is a new nonthermal technology used for food and water decontamination. In this study, we have investigated influence of the gas phase plasma treatment on yeast cells of S. cerevisiae. Sample was composed of 10 mL of yeast suspension and 190 mL of 0.01 M NaNO₃ with a medium conductivity of 100 µS/cm. Samples were treated in a glass reactor with a point- to-plate electrode configuration (high voltage electrode-titanium wire in the gas phase and grounded electrode in the liquid phase). Air or argon were injected into the headspace of the reactor at the gas flow of 5 L/min. Frequency of 60, 90 and 120 Hz, time of 5 and 10 min and positive polarity were defined parameters. Inactivation was higher with the applied higher frequency, longer treatment time and injected argon. Inactivation was not complete which resulted in complete recovery. Cellular leakage (260 nm and 280 nm) was higher with a longer treatment time and higher frequency. Leakage at 280 nm which defines a leakage of proteins was higher than leakage at 260 nm which defines a leakage of nucleic acids. The authors would like to acknowledge the support by Croatian Science Foundation and research project 'Application of electrical discharge plasma for preservation of liquid foods'.

Keywords: Saccharomyces cerevisiae, inactivation, gas-phase plasma treatment, cellular leakage

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Authors: Xueying Zhao, Ke Ma, Hui Li, Yu Cao, Fan Yang, Qingwen Xu, Wenbin Liu

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Massively parallel sequencing (MPS) technologies allow high-throughput sequencing analyses with a relatively affordable price and have gradually been applied to forensic casework. MPS technology identifies short tandem repeat (STR) loci based on sequence so that repeat motif variation within STRs can be detected, which may help one to infer the origin of the mutation in some cases. Here, we report on one case with one three-step mismatch (D18S51) in family trios based on both capillary electrophoresis (CE) and MPS typing. The alleles of the alleged father (AF) are [AGAA]₁₇AGAG[AGAA]₃ and [AGAA]₁₅. The mother’s alleles are [AGAA]₁₉ and [AGAA]₉AGGA[AGAA]₃. The questioned child’s (QC) alleles are [AGAA]₁₉ and [AGAA]₁₂. Given that the sequence variants in repeat regions of AF and mother are not observed in QC’s alleles, the QC’s allele [AGAA]₁₂ was likely inherited from the AF’s allele [AGAA]₁₅ by loss of three repeat [AGAA]. Besides, two new alleles of D18S51 in this study, [AGAA]₁₇AGAG[AGAA]₃ and [AGAA]₉AGGA[AGAA]₃, have not been reported before. All the results in this study were verified using Sanger-type sequencing. In summary, the MPS typing method can offer valuable information for forensic genetics research and play a promising role in paternity testing.

Keywords: family trios analysis, forensic casework, ion torrent personal genome machine (PGM), massively parallel sequencing (MPS)

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Authors: Kathy Mwende Kiema, Remember Samu, Murat Fahrioglu

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Despite the implementation of a Feed in Tariff (FiT) for solar power plants in Kenya, the uptake and subsequent development of utility scale power plants has been slow. This paper, therefore, proposes a Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plant configuration that can supply both power to the grid and operate a sea water desalination plant, thus providing an economically viable alternative to Independent Power Producers (IPPs). The largest city on the coast, Mombasa, has a chronic water shortage and authorities are looking to employ desalination plants to supply a deficit of up to 100 million cubic meters of fresh water per day. In this study the desalination plant technology was selected based on an analysis of operational costs in $/m3 of plants that are already running. The output of the proposed CSP plant, Net Present Value (NPV), plant capacity factor, thermal efficiency and quantity of CO2 emission avoided were simulated using Greenius software (Green energy system analysis tool) developed by the institute of solar research at the German Aerospace Center (DLR). Data on solar irradiance were derived from the Solar and Wind Energy Resource Assessment (SWERA) for Kenya.

Keywords: desalination, feed in tariff, independent power producer, solar CSP

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Authors: E. Loffi Borghese

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In this comprehensive study, we delve into the intricate dynamics of the big tech oligopoly, focusing particularly on Apple as a case study. The core objective is to scrutinize the evolving relationship between a firm's commitment to positive social impact as its primary purpose and its resilience in the face of disruptive innovations within the big tech market. Our exploration begins with a theoretical framework, emphasizing the significance of distinguishing between corporate social responsibility and social impact as a primary purpose. Drawing on insights from Drumwright and Bartkus and Glassman, we underscore the transformative potential when a firm aligns its core business with a social mission, transcending mere side activities. Examining successful firms, such as Apple, we adopt Sinek's perspective on inspirational leadership and the "golden circle." This framework sheds light on why some organizations, like Apple, succeed in making positive social impact their primary purpose. Apple's early-stage life cycle is dissected, revealing a profound commitment to challenging the status quo and promoting simpler alternatives that resonate with its users' lives. The study then navigates through industry life cycles, drawing on Klepper's stages and Christensen's disruptive innovations. Apple's dominance in the big tech oligopoly is contrasted with companies like Harley Davidson and Polaroid, illustrating the consequences of failing to adapt to disruptive innovations. The data and methods employed encompass a qualitative approach, leveraging sources like ECB, Forbes, World in Data, and scientific articles. A secondary data analysis probes Apple's market evolution within the big tech oligopoly, emphasizing the shifts in market context and innovation trends that demand strategic adaptations. The subsequent sections scrutinize Apple's present innovation strategies, highlighting its diversified product portfolio and intensified focus on big data. We examine the implications of these shifts on Apple's capacity to maintain positive social impact as its primary purpose, pondering potential consequences on its brand perception. The study culminates in a reflection on the broader implications of the big tech oligopoly's dominance. It contemplates the diminishing competitiveness in the market and the potential sidelining of positive social impact as a competitive advantage. The expansion of tech firms into diverse sectors raises concerns about negative societal impacts, prompting a call for increased regulatory attention and awareness. In conclusion, this research serves as a catalyst for heightened awareness and discussion on the intricate interplay between firms' social impact goals, disruptive innovations, and the broader societal implications within the evolving landscape of the big tech oligopoly. Despite limitations, this study aims to stimulate further research, urging a conscious and responsible approach to shaping the future economic system.

Keywords: innovation trends, market dynamics, social impact, tech oligopoly

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Authors: Alaa El-Din Rezk

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In Egypt, management of crops still away from what is being used today by utilizing the advances of mechanical design capabilities, sensing and electronics technology. These technologies have been introduced in many places and recorm, for Straight Path, Curved Path, Sine Wave ded high accuracy in different field operations. So, an autonomous robotic platform based on machine vision has been developed and constructed to be implemented in Egyptian conditions as self-propelled mobile vehicle for carrying tools for inter/intra-row crop management based on different control modules. The experiments were carried out at plant protection research institute (PPRI) during 2014-2015 to optimize the accuracy of agricultural robotic platform control using machine vision in term of the autonomous navigation and performance of the robot’s guidance system. Results showed that the robotic platform' guidance system with machine vision was able to adequately distinguish the path and resisted image noise and did better than human operators for getting less lateral offset error. The average error of autonomous was 2.75, 19.33, 21.22, 34.18, and 16.69 mm. while the human operator was 32.70, 4.85, 7.85, 38.35 and 14.75 mm Path, Offset Discontinuity and Angle Discontinuity respectively.

Keywords: autonomous robotic, Hough transform, image processing, machine vision

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Authors: Roshani Gusain, Deep Sinha, Karan Nayal, Anmol Kumar Mishra, Manav Singh

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In this research paper, we introduce "Mind Care Assistant - Companion App", which is a Flutter and Firebase-based mental health monitor. The app wants to improve and monitor the mental health of its users, it uses noninvasive ways to check for a change in their emotional state. By responding to questions, the app will provide individualized suggestions ᅳ tasks and mindfulness exercises ᅳ for users who are depressed or anxious. The app features a chat-bot that incorporates cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) principles and combines natural language processing with machine learning to develop personalised responses. The feature of the app that makes it easy for us to choose between iOS and Android is cross-platform, which allows users from both mobile systems to experience almost no changes in their interfaces. With Firebase integration synchronized and real-time data storage, security is easily possible. The paper covers the architecture of the app, how it was developed and some important features. The primary research result presents the promise of a "Mind Care Assistant" in mental health care using new wait-for-health technology, proposing a full stack application to be able to manage depression/anxiety and overall Mental well-being very effectively.

Keywords: mental health, mobile application, flutter, firebase, Depression, Anxiety

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Authors: Surbhi Mathur, J. M. Vyas

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Although the rapid development of forensic speaker recognition technology has been conducted, there are still many problems to be solved. The biggest problem arises when the cases involving disguised voice samples come across for the purpose of examination and identification. Such type of voice samples of anonymous callers is frequently encountered in crimes involving kidnapping, blackmailing, hoax extortion and many more, where the speaker makes a deliberate effort to manipulate their natural voice in order to conceal their identity due to the fear of being caught. Voice disguise causes serious damage to the natural vocal parameters of the speakers and thus complicates the process of identification. The sole objective of this doctoral project is to find out the possibility of rendering definite opinions in cases involving disguised speech by experimentally determining the effects of different disguise forms on personal identification and percentage rate of speaker recognition for various voice disguise techniques such as raised pitch, lower pitch, increased nasality, covering the mouth, constricting tract, obstacle in mouth etc by analyzing and comparing the amount of phonetic and acoustic variation in of artificial (disguised) and natural sample of an individual, by auditory as well as spectrographic analysis.

Keywords: forensic, speaker recognition, voice, speech, disguise, identification

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Authors: M. A. Rahman, A. O. Enikuomehin

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Sharing commitment to reach a common goal in research by harnessing available resources from two or more parties can simply be referred to as collaborative research. Asides from avoiding duplication of research, the benefits often accrued from such research alliances include time economy as well as expenses reduction in completing such studies. Likewise, it provides an avenue to produce a wider horizon of scientific knowledge sequel to gathering of skills, knowledge and resources. In institutions of higher learning and research institutes, it often gives scholars an opportunity to strengthen the teaching and research capacity of their various institutions. Between industries and institutions, collaborative research breeds promising relationship that could be geared towards addressing different research problems such as producing and enhancing industrial-based products and services, including technological transfer. For Nigeria to take advantage of this collaboration, different issues like licensing of technology, intellectual property right, confidentiality, and funding among others, which could arise during this collaborative research programme, are identified in this paper. An important tool required to achieve this height in developing economy is the use of appropriate computer model. The paper highlights the costs of the collaborations and likewise stresses the need for evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of such collaborative research activities and proposes an appropriate computer model to assist in this regard.

Keywords: collaborative research, developing country, computerization, model

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Authors: Marie Guittonny-LarchevêQue

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In boreal Canada, industrial activities such as forestry, peat extraction and metal mines often occur nearby. At closure, mine waste storage facilities have to be reclaimed. On tailings storage facilities, tree plantations can achieve rapid restoration of forested landscapes. However, trees poorly grow in mine tailings and organic amendments like peat are required to improve tailings’ structure and nutrients. Canada is a well-known producer of horticultural quality peat, but some lower quality peats coming from areas adjacent to the reclaimed mines could allow successful revegetation. In particular, hemic peat coming from the bottom of peat-bogs is more decomposed than fibric peat and is less valued for horticulture. Moreover, forest peat is sometimes excavated and piled by the forest industry after cuttings to stimulate tree regeneration on the exposed mineral soil. The objective of this project was to compare the ability of peats of differing quality and origin to improve tailings structure, nutrients and tree development. A greenhouse experiment was conducted along one growing season in 2016 with a complete randomized block design combining 8 repetitions (blocks) x 2 tree species (Populus tremuloides and Pinus banksiana) x 6 substrates (tailings, commercial horticultural peat, and mixtures of tailings with commercial peat, forest peat, local fibric peat, or local hemic peat) x 2 fertilization levels (with or without mineral fertilization). The used tailings came from a gold mine and were low in sulfur and trace metals. The commercial peat had a slightly acidic pH (around 6) while other peats had a clearly acidic pH (around 3). However, mixing peat with slightly alkaline tailings resulted in a pH close to 7 whatever the tested peats. The macroporosity of mixtures was intermediate between the low values of tailings (4%) and the high values of commercial peat alone (34%). Seedling survival was lower on tailings for poplar compared to all other treatments, with or without fertilization. Survival and growth were similar among all treatments for pine. Fertilization had no impact on the maximal height and diameter of poplar seedlings but changed the relative performance of the substrates. When not fertilized, poplar seedlings grown in commercial peat were the highest and largest, and the smallest and slenderest in tailings, with intermediate values in mixtures. When fertilized, poplar seedlings grown in commercial peat were smaller and slender compared to all other substrates. However for this species, foliar, shoot, and root biomass production was the greatest in commercial peat and the lowest in tailings compared to all mixtures, whether fertilized or not. The mixture with local fibric peat provided the seedlings with the lowest foliar N concentrations compared to all other substrates whatever the species or the fertilization treatment. At the short-term, the performance of all the tested peats were close when mixed to tailings, showing that peats of lower quality could be valorized instead of using horticultural peat. These results demonstrate that intersectorial synergies in accordance with the principles of circular economy may be developed in boreal Canada between local industries around the reclamation of mine waste dumps.

Keywords: boreal trees, mine spoil, mine revegetation, intersectorial synergies

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Authors: Nirere Martine

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Purpose –The purpose of this study aims to understand the intention of customers to adopt sustainable packaging and the impact of sustainable packaging on customers’ willingness to buy a product using sustainable packaging. Design/methodology/approach – A new research model based on the technology acceptance model (TAM) and structural equation modeling are used to examine causality and test relationship based on the data collected from 251 Rwanda samples. Findings – The findings indicated that perceived ease of use positively affects perceived usefulness. However, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use positively affect the intention to adopt sustainable packaging. However, perceived risk and perceived cost negatively affect the intention to adopt sustainable packaging. The intention to adopt sustainable packaging positively affects the willingness to buy a product using sustainable packaging. Originality/value – Many researchers have investigated the issue of a consumers’ behavior to purchase a product. In particular, they have examined whether customers are willing to pay extra for a packaging product. There has been no study that has examined the impact of sustainable packaging on customers’ willingness to buy. The results of this study can help manufacturers form a better understanding of customers’ willingness to purchase a product using sustainable packaging.

Keywords: consumers’ behavioral, sustainable packaging, TAM, Rwanda

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Authors: Maria Ledinskaya

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This paper is part case study and part literature review. It seeks to introduce Agile, Lean, and Hybrid project management concepts from business, software development, and manufacturing fields to museum conservation by looking at their practical application on a recent conservation project at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts. The author outlines the advantages of leaner and more agile conservation practices in today’s faster, less certain, and more budget-conscious museum climate where traditional project structures are no longer as relevant or effective. The Morris Collection Conservation Project was carried out in 2019-2021 in Norwich, UK, and concerned the remedial conservation of around 150 Abstract Constructivist artworks bequeathed to the Sainsbury Centre by private collectors Michael and Joyce Morris. It was a medium-sized conservation project of moderate complexity, planned and delivered in an environment with multiple known unknowns – unresearched collection, unknown conditions and materials, unconfirmed budget. The project was later impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, introducing indeterminate lockdowns, budget cuts, staff changes, and the need to accommodate social distancing and remote communications. The author, then a staff conservator at the Sainsbury Centre who acted as project manager on the Morris Project, presents an incremental, iterative, and value-based approach to managing a conservation project in an uncertain environment. The paper examines the project from the point of view of Traditional, Agile, Lean, and Hybrid project management. The author argues that most academic writing on project management in conservation has focussed on a Traditional plan-driven approach – also known as Waterfall project management – which has significant drawbacks in today’s museum environment due to its over-reliance on prediction-based planning and its low tolerance to change. In the last 20 years, alternative Agile, Lean and Hybrid approaches to project management have been widely adopted in software development, manufacturing, and other industries, although their recognition in the museum sector has been slow. Using examples from the Morris Project, the author introduces key principles and tools of Agile, Lean, and Hybrid project management and presents a series of arguments on the effectiveness of these alternative methodologies in museum conservation, including the ethical and practical challenges to their implementation. These project management approaches are discussed in the context of consequentialist, relativist, and utilitarian developments in contemporary conservation ethics. Although not intentionally planned as such, the Morris Project had a number of Agile and Lean features which were instrumental to its successful delivery. These key features are identified as distributed decision-making, a co-located cross-disciplinary team, servant leadership, focus on value-added work, flexible planning done in shorter sprint cycles, light documentation, and emphasis on reducing procedural, financial, and logistical waste. Overall, the author’s findings point in favour of a hybrid model, which combines traditional and alternative project processes and tools to suit the specific needs of the project.

Keywords: agile project management, conservation, hybrid project management, lean project management, waterfall project management

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Authors: Aileen F. Wang

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Mammography has been one of the most reliable methods for early detection and diagnosis of breast cancer. However, mammography misses about 17% and up to 30% of breast cancers due to the subtle and unstable appearances of breast cancer in their early stages. Recent computer-aided diagnosis (CADx) technology using Zernike moments has improved detection accuracy. However, it has several drawbacks: it uses manual segmentation, Zernike moments are not robust, and it still has a relatively high false negative rate (FNR)–17.6%. This project will focus on the development of a novel breast cancer detection algorithm to automatically segment the breast mass and further reduce FNR. The algorithm consists of automatic segmentation of a single breast mass using Point Region Growing Segmentation, reconstruction of the segmented breast mass using Pseudo-Zernike moments, and classification of the breast mass using the root mean square (RMS). A comparative study among the various algorithms on the segmentation and reconstruction of breast masses was performed on randomly selected mammographic images. The results demonstrated that the newly developed algorithm is the best in terms of accuracy and cost effectiveness. More importantly, the new classifier RMS has the lowest FNR–6%.

Keywords: computer aided diagnosis, mammography, point region growing segmentation, pseudo-zernike moments, root mean square

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Authors: Ayse Collins

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The Agenda 2030 puts Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the situation where they should emphasize ways to promote sustainability accordingly. However, it is still unclear: a) how sustainability is understood, and b) which actions have been taken in both discourse and practice by HEIs regarding the three pillars of sustainability, society, environment, and economy. There are models of sustainable universities developed by different authors from different countries; For Example, The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) methodology which offers a variety of indicators to diagnose performance. However, these models have never been developed for universities in particular. Any model, in this sense, cannot be completed adequately without defining the appropriate tools to measure, analyze and control the performance of initiatives. There is a need to conduct researches in different universities from different countries to understand where we stand in terms of sustainable higher education. Therefore, this study aims at exploring the actions taken by a university in Ankara, Turkey, since Agenda 2030 should consider localizing its objectives and targets according to a certain geography. This university just announced 2021-2022 as “Sustainability Year.” Therefore, this research is a multi-methodology longitudinal study and uses the theoretical framework of the organization and transition management (TM). It is designed to examine the activities as being strategic, tactical, operational, and reflexive in nature and covers the six main aspects: academic community, administrative staff, operations and services, teaching, research, and extension. The preliminary research will answer the role of the top university governance, perception of the stakeholders (students, instructors, administrative and support staff) regarding sustainability, and the level of achievement at the mid-evaluation and final, end of year evaluation. TM Theory is a multi-scale, multi-actor, process-oriented approach with the analytical framework to explore and promote change in social systems. Therefore, the stages and respective methodology for collecting data in this research is: Pre-development Stage: a) semi-structured interviews with university governance, c) open-ended survey with faculty, students, and administrative staff d) Semi-structured interviews with support staff, and e) analysis of current secondary data for sustainability. Take-off Stage: a) semi-structured interviews with university governance, faculty, students, administrative and support staff, b) analysis of secondary data. Breakthrough stabilization a) survey with all stakeholders at the university, b) secondary data analysis by using selected indicators for the first sustainability report for universities The findings from the predevelopment stage highlight how stakeholders, coming from different faculties, different disciplines with different identities and characteristics, face the sustainability challenge differently. Though similar sustainable development goals ((social, environmental, and economic) are set in the institution, there are differences across disciplines and among different stakeholders, which need to be considered to reach the optimum goal. It is believed that the results will help changes in HEIs organizational culture to embed sustainability values in their strategic planning, academic and managerial work by putting enough time and resources to be successful in coping with sustainability.

Keywords: higher education, sustainability, sustainability auditing, transition management

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Authors: Hoda Manafian, Stephen Holland

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Problem statement: Rural areas in Iran are one of the most popular tourism destinations. Abyaneh Village is one of them with a long history behind it (more than 1500 years) which is a national heritage site and also is nominated as a world heritage site in UNESCO tentative list from 2007. There is a considerable foundation of religious-cultural heritage and also agricultural history and activities. However, this heritage site suffers from mass tourism which is beyond its social and physical carrying capacity, since the annual number of tourists exceed 500,000. While there are four adjacent villages around Abyaneh which can benefit from advantages of tourism. Local managers also can at the same time prorate the tourists’ flux of Abyaneh on those other villages especially in high-season. The other villages have some cultural and natural tourism attractions as well. Goal: The main goal of this study is to identify a feasible development strategy according to the current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of rural tourism in this area (Abyaneh Village and four adjacent villages). This development strategy can lead to sustainable management of these destinations. Method: To this end, we used SWOT analysis as a well-established tool for conducting a situational analysis to define a sustainable development strategy. The procedures included following steps: 1) Extracting variables of SWOT chart based on interviewing tourism experts (n=13), local elites (n=17) and personal observations of researcher. 2) Ranking the extracted variables from 1-5 by 13 tourism experts in Isfahan Cultural Heritage, Handcrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHTO). 3) Assigning weights to the ranked variables using Expert Choice Software and the method of Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP). 4) Defining the Total Weighted Score (TWS) for each part of SWOT chart. 5) Identifying the strategic position according to the TWS 6) Selecting the best development strategy based on the defined position using the Strategic Position and Action Evaluation (SPACE) matrix. 7) Assessing the Probability of Strategic Success (PSS) for the preferred strategy using relevant formulas. 8) Defining two feasible alternatives for sustainable development. Results and recommendations: Cultural heritage attractions were first-ranked variable in strength chart and also lack of sufficient amenities for one-day tourists (catering, restrooms, parking, and accommodation) was firs-ranked weakness. The strategic position was in ST (Strength-Threat) quadrant which is a maxi-mini position. According this position we would suggest ‘Competitive Strategy’ as a development strategy which means relying on strengths in order to neutralization threats. The result of Probability of Strategic Success assessment which was 0.6 shows that this strategy could be successful. The preferred approach for competitive strategy could be rebranding the market of tourism in this area. Rebranding the market can be achieved by two main alternatives which are based on the current strengths and threats: 1) Defining a ‘Heritage Corridor’ from first adjacent village to Abyaneh as a final destination. 2) Focus on ‘educational tourism’ versus mass tourism and also green tourism by developing agritourism in that corridor.

Keywords: Abyaneh village, rural tourism, SWOT analysis, sustainable strategies

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Authors: Somruedee Pongsena

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The purpose of this study is to follow up on the graduated students of Bachelor of Science in Applied Statistics from Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University (SSRU) during the 1999 – 2012 academic years and to provide the fundamental guideline for developing the current curriculum according to Thai Qualifications Framework for Higher Education (TQF: HEd). The sample was collected from 75 graduates by interview and online questionnaire. The content covered 5 subjects: ethics and moral, knowledge, cognitive skills, interpersonal skills and responsibility, numerical analysis as well as communication and information technology skills. Data were analyzed by using statistical methods as percentiles, means, standard deviation, t-tests, and F-tests. The findings showed that samples were mostly females younger than 26 years old. The majority of graduates had income in the range of 10,001-20,000 Baht and their experience range was 2-5 years. In addition, overall opinions from receiving knowledge to apply to work were at agree; mean score was 3.97 and standard deviation was 0.40. In terms of opinion difference, the hypothesis' testing results indicate gender only had different opinion at a significant level of 0.05.

Keywords: follow-up, graduates, knowledge, opinion, work performance.

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Authors: Ali Reza Sattarzadeh, Ronny J. Kutadinata, Pubudu N. Pathirana, Van Thanh Huynh

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Traffic congestion has become a severe worldwide problem, affecting everyday life, fuel consumption, time, and air pollution. The primary causes of these issues are inadequate transportation infrastructure, poor traffic signal management, and rising population. Traffic flow forecasting is one of the essential and effective methods in urban congestion and traffic management, which has attracted the attention of researchers. With the development of technology, undeniable progress has been achieved in existing methods. However, there is a possibility of improvement in the extraction of temporal and spatial features to determine the importance of traffic flow sequences and extraction features. In the proposed model, we implement the convolutional neural network (CNN) and long short-term memory (LSTM) deep learning models for mining nonlinear correlations and their effectiveness in increasing the accuracy of traffic flow prediction in the real dataset. According to the experiments, the results indicate that implementing Conv-LSTM networks increases the productivity and accuracy of deep learning models for traffic flow prediction.

Keywords: deep learning algorithms, intelligent transportation systems, spatiotemporal features, traffic flow prediction

Procedia PDF Downloads 171

Authors: Abbas Hani

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In recent decades with the development of technology and lack of food sources, sewage sludge in production of human foods is inevitable. Various sources of municipal and industrial sewage sludge that is produced can provide the requirement of plant nutrients. Soils in arid, semi-arid climate of central Iran that most affected by water drainage, iron and zinc deficiencies, using of sewage sludge is helpful. Therefore, the aim of this study is investigation of sewage sludge and manure application on Ni and Zn uptake by Savory. An experiment in a randomized complete block design with three replications was performed. Sewage sludge treatments consisted of four levels, control, 15, 30, 80 tons per hectares, the manure was used in four levels of control, 20, 40 and 80 tons per hectare. Results showed that the wet and dry weights was not affected by sewage sludge using, while, manure has significant effect on them. The effect of sewage sludge on the cadmium and lead concentrations were significant. Interactions of sewage sludge and manure on dry weight values were not significant. Compare mean analysis showed that increasing the amount of sewage sludge had no significant effect on cadmium concentration and it reduced when sewage sludge usage increased. This is probably due to increased plant growth and reduced concentrations of these elements in the plant.

Keywords: savory, lead, cadmium, sewage sludge, manure

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Authors: Raed Hanandeh

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This empirical study examines how knowledge sharing behaviors mediate the effect Technology-driven strategy on virtual organization success in Jordanian tourism sector firms. The results reveal that Social network ties are positively related to web knowledge seeking, web knowledge contributing and interactive system, but negatively related to accidental knowledge leakage. Furthermore, all types of knowledge sharing behavior are positively related to virtual organization success. Data collected from 23 firms. The total number of questionnaires mailed, 250 questionnaires were delivered. 214 were considered valid out of 241 Responses were received. The findings provide evidence that knowledge sharing behavior play a mediating role between Social network ties and virtual organization success and show that, web knowledge seeking, web knowledge contributing and interactive system playing an important impact on virtual organization success through knowledge sharing behaviors.

Keywords: social network ties, virtual organization success, knowledge sharing behaviors, web knowledge

Procedia PDF Downloads 273

Authors: Jaqueline Nichi, Leila Da Costa Ferreira, Fabiana Barbi Seleguim, Gabriela Marques Di Giulio, Mariana Barbieri

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The transport sector is responsible for approximately 55% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, in addition to pollution and other negative externalities, such as road accidents and congestion, that impact the routine of those who live in large cities. The objective of this article is to discuss the application and use of distinct mobility technologies such as climate adaptation and mitigation measures in the context of smart cities in the Global South. The documentary analysis is associated with 22 semi structured interviews with managers who work with mobility technologies in the public and private sectors and in civil society organizations to explore solutions in multilevel governance for smart and low-carbon mobility based on the case study from the city of São Paulo, Brazil. The hypothesis that innovation and technology to mitigate and adapt to climate impacts are not yet sufficient to make mobility more sustainable has been confirmed. The results indicate four relevant aspects for advancing a climate agenda in smart cities: integrated planning, coproduction of knowledge, experiments in governance, and new means of financing to guarantee the sustainable sociotechnical transition of the sector.

Keywords: urban mobility, climate change, smart cities, multilevel governance

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Authors: Ekrem Canli, Thomas Glade

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The precise prediction of rainfall in space and time is a key element to most landslide early warning systems. Unfortunately, the spatial variability of rainfall in many early warning applications is often disregarded. A common simplification is to use uniformly distributed rainfall to characterize aerial rainfall intensity. With spatially differentiated rainfall information, real-time comparison with rainfall thresholds or the implementation in process-based approaches might form the basis for improved landslide warnings. This study suggests an automated workflow from the hourly, web-based collection of rain gauge data to the generation of spatially differentiated rainfall predictions based on kriging. Because the application of kriging is usually a labor intensive task, a simplified and consequently automated variogram modeling procedure was applied to up-to-date rainfall data. The entire workflow was carried out purely with open source technology. Validation results, albeit promising, pointed out the challenges that are involved in pure distance based, automated geostatistical interpolation techniques for ever-changing environmental phenomena over short temporal and spatial extent.

Keywords: kriging, landslide early warning system, spatial rainfall prediction, variogram modelling, web scraping

Procedia PDF Downloads 280

Authors: Surangrat Srisurapanon, Chatchawal Wongjitrat, Navin Horthongkham, Ruengpung Sutthent

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HBV infection causes a potential serious public health problem. The ability to detect the HBV DNA concentration is of the importance and improved continuously. By using quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR), several factors in standardized; source of material, calibration standard curve and PCR efficiency are inconsistent. Digital PCR (dPCR) is an alternative PCR-based technique for absolute quantification using Poisson's statistics without requiring a standard curve. Therefore, the aim of this study is to compare the data set of HBV DNA generated between dPCR and qPCR methods. All samples were quantified by Abbott’s real time PCR and 54 samples with 2 -6 log10 HBV DNA were selected for comparison with dPCR. Of these 54 samples, there were two outlier samples defined as negative by dPCR. Of these two, samples were defined as negative by dPCR, whereas 52 samples were positive by both the tests. The difference between the two assays was less than 0.25 log IU/mL in 24/52 samples (46%) of paired samples; less than 0.5 log IU/mL in 46/52 samples (88%) and less than 1 log in 50/52 samples (96%). The correlation coefficient was r=0.788 and P-value <0.0001. Comparison to qPCR, data generated by dPCR tend to be the overestimation in the sample with low HBV DNA concentration and underestimated in the sample with high viral load. The variation in DNA by dPCR measurement might be due to the pre-amplification bias, template. Moreover, a minor drawback of dPCR is the large quantity of DNA had to be used when compare to the qPCR. Since the technology is relatively new, the limitations of this assay will be improved.

Keywords: hepatitis B virus, real time PCR, digital PCR, DNA quantification

Procedia PDF Downloads 481