Search results for: SMEs survival

Authors: Lorena Munoz

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Since the 1990s cities in the global south have implemented revanchist neoliberal urban regeneration policies that cater to urban elites based on “recovering” public space for capital accumulation purposes. These policies often work to reify street vending as survival strategies of ‘last resort’ for marginalized people and as an unorganized, unsystematic economic activities that needs to be disciplined, incorporated and institutionalized into the formal economy. This paper suggests, that by moving away from frameworks that reify formal/informal spheres of the economy, we are able to disrupt and rethink normative understandings of economic practices categorized as ‘informal’. Through queering economies, informal workers center their own understandings of self-value and legitimacy informing their economic lives and contributions to urban life. As such, queering the economy opens up possibilities of rethinking urban redevelopment policies that incorporate rather than remove street vendors, as their economic practices are incorporated into the everyday fabric and aesthetic of urban life.

Keywords: queering economies, street vendors, immigrant economies, race and nationality

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Authors: Suchao Donpudsa, Suwattana Visetnan, Anchalee Tassanakajon, Vichien Rimphanitchayakit

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The Single Wap Domain (SWD) is a type III crustin antimicrobial peptide whose function is to defense the host animal against the bacterial infection by means of antimicrobial and antiproteinase activities. A study of LvSWD from Litopenaeus vannamei is reported herein about its activities and function against bacteria, particularly the Vibrio parahaemolyticus AHPND (VPAHPND) that causes acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease. The over-expressed mature recombinant (r)LvSWD exhibits antimicrobial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, especially VPAHPND. With four times the MIC of rLvSWD, the treated post larval shrimp infected by VPAHPND is able to survive longer with the 50% survival rate as long as 78 h as compared to 36 h of the infected shrimp without rLvSWD. To a certain extent, we have demonstrated that the rLvSWD can be applied to protect the post larval shrimp.

Keywords: crustin, Litopenaeus vannamei, Vibrio parahaemolyticus AHPND, antimicrobial activity

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Authors: Muhammad Alhada Fuadilah Habib, Ayla Karina Budita, Cut Rizka Al Usrah, Mukhammad Fatkhullah, Kanita Khoirun Nisa, Siti Muslihatul Mukaromah

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In this contemporary era, the term of development often emphasised merely on the economic growth aspect. Development of a program often considered as superior by the government, in fact, it often raises various problems. The problems occur because the development policies determined by the government tend to favor private entrepreneurs and impose on the oppression toward the community. The development promised to prosper the community's life, turn out in fact of harming the community, threatening the survival of the community and damaging the ecosystem of nature where the community hangs their life to it. Nowadays many natural resources should be used for the community’s life prosperity. However, the prosperity is conquered by the private entrepreneurs that are regulated through the free market mechanism and wrapped in democratization. This condition actually is a form of neoliberalism that builds new administration order system which is far from the meaning of the word democracy. The government should play more role in protecting community's life and prosperity, but in fact, the government sides with the private entrepreneurs for the sake of the economic benefits regardless of other aspects of the community’s life. This unjustified condition presents a wide range of social movements from the community in response to the neoliberalis policy that actually eliminates the doctrine of community sovereignty. Social movements performed by Yogyakarta south coastal area community, as the focus of the discussion in this paper, is one of the community’s response toward the government policies related to the construction of the ferruginous sand quarry which is tend to favor on private entrepreneurs and highly prejudicing or even threatening the survival of Yogyakarta south coastal area community. The data collection in this study uses qualitative research methods with in-depth interview data collection techniques and purposive informant determination techniques. This method was chosen in order to obtain the insightful data and detailed information to uncover the injustice policies committed by the government-private entrepreneurs toward Yogyakarta south coastal area community. The brief results of this study show that the conflicts between the community and government-private entrepreneurs occurred because of the differences of interests and paradigm of natural resource management. The resistance movements done by the community to fight back the government-private entrepreneurs was conducted by forming an organization called Paguyupan Petani Lahan Pantai Kulon Progo (PPLP-KP). This organization do the resistances through two ways; firstly, quiet action done through various actions such as; refusing against the socialization, performing discussion to deliberate their argument with the government-private entrepreneurs, complaining the problems to the central government, creating banners or billboards which contain the writing of rejection, performing pray rituals to invoke the justice from the God, as well as instill the resistance ideology to their young generation. Secondly, the rough action also is done through various actions such as; doing roadblocks, conducting rallies, as well as doing clash with the government apparatus. In case the resistances done by the community are seen from the pattern. Actually, the resistances are reaction toward the aggression carried out by the government-private entrepreneurs.

Keywords: community resistance, conflict, ferruginous sand quarry construction, social movement

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Authors: Angel Mabudusha

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The impression created by the high volume of foreign nationals being deported by the South African Home Affairs and the police departments is that all undocumented foreign nationals insist on staying in South Africa and voluntary repatriation is open for every person. However, those foreign nationals whose request for deportation has been rejected are often not reported on especially their everyday survival as undocumented immigrant women and their encounter with the police on the street. As a result, this paper aims at exploring the everyday experiences of these women on the street and on why the number of undocumented immigrant women in this country will remain a challenge to the police department. The research was conducted in two cities in South Africa, namely: Johannesburg and Pretoria where the police, the undocumented immigrant women, the human rights lawyers and NGO officials were interviewed on this matter. Based on the idea that voluntary repatriation is open for every immigrant, this study has found that some women’ request for voluntary repatriation remain a dream that never came true. Furthermore, this article proposes more humanitarian ways of dealing with undocumented immigrant women.

Keywords: repatriation, refugee status, undocumented foreign nationals, humanitarian

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Authors: Sharifah Insyirah, Noraliza A.

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Eucalyptus pellita is a popular species of plantation tree in many nations and regions because of its fast growth and excellent timber qualities. Moreover, Eucalyptus leaves are known as forest harvesting waste with the potential to generate essential oils. Eucalyptus is one of the plants utilized in the pulp and paper industry. This study aims to investigate the impact of two parameters, which are types of fertilizer and polybags (black polybags and transparent polybags), on Eucalyptus growth performance in the nursery. The present investigation was carried out at Main Nursery, Forestry Research Institute Malaysia under agro-climatic and irrigation conditions of the nursery. Twenty seedlings were prepared for this study consisting of two treatments of eco-friendly soil conditioner and NPK (ratio of NPK 8:8:8). Survival and height measurements were collected accordingly. Seedlings without any treatment showed better growth than treatment with soil conditioner or NPK. Seedlings as in C1, shows consistently fastest growth compared to T1 (B) and T2 (SC), and the mortality rates were 0%, 15% and 5%, respectively. The results demonstrated that fertilizer and soil conditioner applied at a younger age of seedlings had less effect on growth performance.

Keywords: eucalyptus pellita, potting media, high quality planting materials, nursery

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Authors: Mahesh Pal, Tripti Mishra, Chandana Rao, Dalip Upreti

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Cancer has been considered to be a very dreadful disease. Holmskioldia sanguinea is a large climbing shrub found in the Himalayas at an altitude of 5,000 ft and preliminary investigation showed the excellent yield of andrographolide and subjected for the anticancer activity. Protective effect of Holmskioldia sanguinea leaf ethanolic extract has been investigated against Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) and Daltons ascites lymphoma (DAL) in Swiss albino mice to evaluate the possible mechanism of action. The enzymatic antioxidant status was studied on tumor bearing mice, which shows the potential of the compound to possess significant free radical scavenging property and revealed significant tumor regression and prolonged survival time. The isolated bioactive molecule andrographolide from Holmskioldia sanguinea yields (2.5%) in subject to HPTLC/HPLC analysis. The cellular defense system constituting the superoxide dismutase, catalyses was enhanced whereby the lipid peroxidation content was restricted to a larger extent. The Holmskioldia sanguinea is a new source of andrographolide and demonstrated the potency in treatment of cancer.

Keywords: Holmskioldia sanguinea, tumor, mice, andrographolide

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Authors: Edidiong Ekefre

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The Nigerian civil war was one of the foremost postcolonial conflicts in West Africa that attracted a serious humanitarian problem due to an unprecedented refugee crisis that affected the Biafran region. Due to its geographical location, the Nigerian government used blockades and starvation as a weapon of war against the Biafran. Faced with strong opposition from the Nigerian government, most humanitarian organizations withdrew their support from Biafra, whose death toll was rapidly growing daily due to starvation, malnutrition, and chronic ailment. Thus, the Catholic Church, a major Christian denomination in Biafra, had to see it as its religious obligation to support the humanitarian needs of the Biafrans. Thus, applying oral history methods with archival research, this paper examines the humanitarian activities of the Catholic Church in the Nigerian civil war. It contends that the Catholic Church was a key player in the humanitarian aspect of the Nigerian civil war. The paper concludes that faith-based humanitarian intervention in the Biafran refugee crisis was essential for the survival of the Biafran war-stricken women and children.

Keywords: refugee crisis, humanitarian intervention, Caritas International, blockades, airlifts, starvation

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Authors: Shu-Jun Li, Cheng-Cao Sun, De-Jia Li

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Recently, long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been emerged as crucial regulators of human diseases and prognostic markers in numerous of cancers, including colorectal carcinoma (CRC). Here, we identified an oncogenetic lncRNA HULC, which may promote colorectal tumorigenesis. HULC has been found to be up-regulated and acts as oncogene in gastric cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma, but its expression pattern, biological function and underlying mechanism in CRC is still undetermined. Here, we reported that HULC expression is also over-expressed in CRC, and its increased level is associated with poor prognosis and shorter survival. Knockdown of HULC impaired CRC cells proliferation, migration and invasion, facilitated cell apoptosis in vitro, and inhibited tumorigenicity of CRC cells in vivo. Mechanistically, RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) and RNA pull-down experiment demonstrated that HULC could simultaneously interact with EZH2 to repress underlying targets NKD2 transcription. In addition, rescue experiments determined that HULC oncogenic function is partly dependent on repressing NKD2. Taken together, our findings expound how HULC over-expression endows an oncogenic function in CRC.

Keywords: long noncoding RNA, HULC, NKD2, colorectal carcinoma, proliferation, apoptosis

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Authors: P. Chihomvu, P. Stegmann, M. Pillay

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Pollution of the Klip River has caused microorganisms inhabiting it to develop protective survival mechanisms. This study isolated and characterized the heavy metal resistant bacteria in the Klip River. Water and sediment samples were collected from six sites along the course of the river. The pH, turbidity, salinity, temperature and dissolved oxygen were measured in-situ. The concentrations of six heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, and Zn) of the water samples were determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Biochemical and antibiotic profiles of the isolates were assessed using the API 20E® and Kirby Bauer Method. Growth studies were carried out using spectrophotometric methods. The isolates were identified using 16SrDNA sequencing. The uppermost part of the Klip River with the lowest pH had the highest levels of heavy metals. Turbidity, salinity and specific conductivity increased measurably at Site 4 (Henley on Klip Weir). MIC tests showed that 16 isolates exhibited high iron and lead resistance. Antibiotic susceptibility tests revealed that the isolates exhibited multi-tolerances to drugs such as tetracycline, ampicillin, and amoxicillin.

Keywords: Klip River, heavy metals, resistance, 16SrDNA

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Authors: Mercy Itohan Aruya

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This paper focuses on Usen, a speech form enclaved by the Edo communities in Ovia South West Local Government Area of Edo State, Nigeria. Usen lies at the border between Edo and the Osun state in Nigeria and has a population size of about a hundred and eighty thousand native speakers (2006 population census of Nigeria). Usen, as it is spoken today is highly endangered and it is serious struggling for survival. The aim, therefore, is to ascertain the linguistics status of Usen using a lexicostatical approach. Lexicostatics is a linguistic technique employed in accessing the degree of linguistic divergence or relatedness between two or more languages based on the proportion of cognates. Data for this study were collected from competent native speakers whose ages fall within the range of 40-65. The instrument for this study is the Ibadan 400 word-list of basic items which are collected with of a digital voice recorder. Our major finding in this paper reveals and establishes the facts that Usen speech form is not a dialect but a language of its own. However, Usen is more related to Yoruba than Edo as the degree of relatedness between Usen and Yoruba is 56.14% while that between Usen and Edo is about 21.4% as shown in this research effort.

Keywords: Usen, lexicostatistics, cognate words, language status

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Authors: Ayman A. Swelum, Abdullah N. Al-Owaimer, Mohamed A. Abouheif

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This study aimed to evaluate the effects of sheep breed and the number of embryos transferred on the success of multiple ovulation and embryo transfer (MOET). Sixteen Najdi and Naeimi ewes were used as donors. Multiple ovulation was achieved using equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG). Thirty-five recipient ewes were divided into four groups: Najdi or Naeimi ewes that received either one or two embryos. After lambing, the gestation length, litter size, and sex of the lambs were recorded. The rates of pregnancy, lambing, and embryo survival were lower in the recipient Najdi than Naeimi ewes when two embryos were transferred. In contrast, the Naeimi ewes that received one embryo had a significantly lower embryo transfer success. In conclusion, the response of ewes to multiple ovulation stimulation using eCG was significantly high in Naeimi ewes (9.8±1.17). Moreover, transferring one embryo resulted in a significantly high pregnancy rate in the Najdi sheep (60%).

Keywords: embryo transfer, multiple ovulation, Najdi, Naeimi, sheep

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Authors: Małgorzata Smolarek

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One of the barriers to the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) are difficulties connected with management of human resources. The first part of article defines the specifics of staff management in small and medium enterprises. The practical part presents results of own studies in the area of diagnosis of the state of the human resources management in small and medium-sized enterprises in Poland. It takes into account its impact on the functioning of SME in a variable environment. This part presents findings of empirical studies, which enabled verification of the hypotheses and formulation of conclusions. The findings presented in this paper were obtained during the implementation of the project entitled 'Tendencies and challenges in strategic managing SME in Silesian Voivodeship.' The aim of the studies was to diagnose the state of strategic management and human resources management taking into account its impact on the functioning of small and medium enterprises operating in Silesian Voivodeship in Poland and to indicate improvement areas of the model under diagnosis. One of the specific objectives of the studies was to diagnose the state of the process of strategic management of human resources and to identify fundamental problems. In this area, the main hypothesis was formulated: The enterprises analysed do not have comprehensive strategies for management of human resources. The survey was conducted by questionnaire. Main Research Results: Human resource management in SMEs is characterized by simplicity of procedures, and the lack of sophisticated tools and its specificity depends on the size of the company. The process of human resources management in SME has to be adjusted to the structure of an organisation, result from its objectives, so that an organisation can fully implement its strategic plans and achieve success and competitive advantage on the market. A guarantee of success is an accurately developed policy of human resources management based on earlier analyses of the existing procedures and possessed human resources.

Keywords: human resources management, human resources policy, personnel strategy, small and medium enterprises

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Authors: Ghulam Hassan Abbasi, Moazzam Jamil, Ghazala Akhtar, M.Anwar-ul-Haq

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Heavy metals are significant pollutants in environment and their toxicity is a problem for survival of living things while salicylic acid (SA) is signaling and ubiquitous bioactive molecule that regulates cellular mechanism in plants under stress condition. Therefore, exogenous application of salicylic acid (SA) under chromium stress in two chickpea varieties were investigated in hydroponic experiment with five treatments comprising of control, 5 µM Cr + 5 mM SA, 5µM Cr + 10 mM SA, 10µM Cr + 5 mM SA, and 10µM Cr + 10 mM SA. Results revealed that treatments of plants with 10 mM SA application under both 5 µM Cr and 10 µM Cr stress resulted in maximum improvement in plant morphological attributes (root and shoot length, root and shoot fresh and dry weight, membrane stability index and relative water contents) relative to 5 mM SA application in both chickpea varieties. Results regarding Cr concentration showed that Cr was more retained in roots followed by shoots and maximum reduction in Cr uptake was observed at 10 mM SA application. Chickpea variety BRC-61 showed maximum growth and least concentration of Cr in root and shoot relative to BRC-390 variety.

Keywords: chromium, Chickpea, salicylic acid, growth

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Authors: Ayoub Ali Maulana

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“The success and sustainability of an Islamic finance system depends on the ability to establish a comprehensive legal and regulatory framework that supports synergy amongst the components in the system”. Numbers of banks have introduced Islamic banking windows claiming that their products follow Islamic banking values without any compromise. National Bank of Commerce Limited, Stanbic Bank Limited, Kenya Commercial Bank, The Peoples Bank of Zanzibar and Amana Bank Limited are some of the banks which offer Islamic banking products in Tanzania. To date, there is no single provision in Tanzanian laws that speak of Islamic banking activities in the country. Despite the fact that consultancy commissioned to International Monetary Fund (IMF) to research on the best laws to govern Islamic banking industry in the country, the speed is not encouraging in making sure that the same is introduced as soon as possible. This paper highlights the trend of the banking services in Tanzania and examines the application of Islamic banking system in the Tanzanian conventional banking environment. In particular the paper considers whether the Islamic banking services in Tanzania can survive without an appropriate legal framework that accommodates it.

Keywords: islamic banks, interest, islamic windows, Tanzania

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Authors: D. Pranav

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Pesticides are a class of Biocide, whose use in agriculture has led to a momentous increase in the yield of crops, fruits and vegetables all over the word and its effective use has also been the pillars of success for the Green Revolution. However, the incessant use of pesticides has now reached alarming levels. In 2007 alone, the world used an estimated 2.4 million tons of pesticides. Despite its tremendous benefits for agriculture, pesticide has been one of the major reasons for degradation of the natural environment and undesirable effects on human beings. It has not only caused damage to human health, but has also threatened the survival of few birds and animal species. In India, the sale and usage of banned pesticide, increased usage of pesticides and its inadequate labeling has caused Bio magnification, which is causing deleterious effects on child development, resulting in stunted mental and physical growth. This paper aims to bring to shed light on major loopholes in the current pesticide regulations such as the Insecticide Act of 1968. It further discusses loopholes in the yet to be tabled Pesticides Management Bill of 2008. It discusses and arrives at potential amendments to the laws and regulations concerning pesticides; that cannot only be applied to the Indian subcontinent but other developing countries as well.

Keywords: pesticides, India, human health, environment, regulations, reform

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Authors: Franziska Mais, Till Gramberg

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The paper presents the development of a sustainable business model for a platform-based application tailored for sawing companies in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The focus is on the integration of sustainability principles into the design of the business model to ensure a technologically advanced, legally sound, and economically efficient solution. Easy2IoT is a research project that aims to enable companies in the prefabrication sheet metal and sheet metal processing industry to enter the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) with a low-threshold and cost-effective approach. The methodological approach of Easy2IoT includes an in-depth requirements analysis and customer interviews with stakeholders along the value chain. Based on these insights, actions, requirements, and potential solutions for smart services are derived. The structuring of the business ecosystem within the application plays a central role, whereby the roles of the partners, the management of the IT infrastructure and services, as well as the design of a sustainable operator model are considered. The business model is developed using the value proposition canvas, whereby a detailed analysis of the requirements for the business model is carried out, taking sustainability into account. This includes coordination with the business model patterns, according to Gassmann, and integration into a business model canvas for the Easy2IoT product. Potential obstacles and problems are identified and evaluated in order to formulate a comprehensive and sustainable business model. In addition, sustainable payment models and distribution channels are developed. In summary, the article offers a well-founded insight into the systematic development of a sustainable business model for platform-based applications in SME sawmills, with a particular focus on the synergy of ecological responsibility and economic efficiency.

Keywords: business model, sustainable business model, IIoT, IIoT-platform, industrie 4.0, big data

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Authors: Marko Kolakovic, Mihaela Mikic, Martina Taborin

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Women entrepreneurship is often regarded as the unused economical potential in many countries, including Republic of Croatia. Although women represent a majority in the population, they are still a minority in the field of entrepreneurship and face many challenges in fulfilling their entrepreneurship potential. The reasons are often hided in historical distorted perceptions about value, credibility, competitiveness, responsibility and knowledge which women have, or can have. This is significant for at least two reasons. First, in terms of global economic crisis, the economy needs more quality, more skilled and educated people willing to face entrepreneurial challenges and create new jobs, new opportunities and higher living standards. Second, in the entrepreneurial activity, women finally have a chance to highlight their own abilities, such as knowledge, relentless work, organizational skills, communication and negotiation skills, responsibility, flexibility, etc., in order to insure their economic independence, for a better social position, and to increase confidence and faith in their own abilities. This paper empirically analyses characteristics of women entrepreneurship in Croatia and conducted policies for it improvement. An empirical research was conducted with the goal of discovering real life experiences and attitudes of Croatian women entrepreneurs. Results show that Croatian women entrepreneurs are usually highly educated, have previous work experience and operate in service sector, due to lower need for start-up capital. The biggest obstacle on their entrepreneurial path represents government bureaucracy. Although the number of women entrepreneurs is rising today and the gap between male and women entrepreneurs in Croatia, as well as women entrepreneurship levels lower than the European average, we believe that there is still a long way to reach potential and successful women entrepreneurship development. Research showed that by breaking down the barriers as access to finance, education investments, knowledge, skills and confidence development, women will be able to accomplish more significant and more efficient entrepreneurial outcome.

Keywords: Croatia, policy, SMEs, women entrepreneurial strategy, women entrepreneurship

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Authors: Ghulam Hasan Abbasi, Moazzam Jamil, M. Anwar-Ul-Haq

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Heavy metals are significant pollutants in environment and their toxicity is a problem for survival of living things while Silicon (Si) is one of the most ubiquitous macroelements, performing an essential function in healing plants in response to environmental stresses. A hydroponic experiment was conducted to investigate the role of exogenous application of silicon under cadmium stress in six different maize hybrids with five treatments comprising of control, 7.5 µM Cd + 5 mM Si, 7.5 µM Cd + 10 mM Si, 15 µM Cd + 5 mM Si and 15 µM Cd + 10 mM Si. Results revealed that treatments of plants with 10mM Si application under both 7.5µM Cd and 15 µM Cd stress resulted in maximum improvement in plant morphological attributes (root and shoot length, root and shoot fresh and dry weight, leaf area and relative water contents) and antioxidant enzymes (POD and CAT) relative to 5 mM Si application in all maize hybrids. Results regarding Cd concentrations showed that Cd was more retained in roots followed by shoots and then leaves and maximum reduction in Cd uptake was observed at 10mM Si application. Maize hybrid 6525 showed maximum growth and least concentration of Cd whereas maize hybrid 1543 showed the minimum growth and maximum Cd concentration among all maize hybrids.

Keywords: antioxidant, cadmium, maize, silicon

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Authors: Inga Balarjishvili, Ia Natsvlishvili

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Article aims to discuss the controversial character of the institutional preferences of elites and society in modern Georgia. Desktop research method is used to formulate the findings and analyze the outcomes. It is accepted that transformation process in Post-Soviet Georgia went with the prevalence of elites’ institutional preferences over the needs of the society that induced voluntarism in the process of formation of institutions. Hypothesis of 'quasi-inclusion trap' is put forward in the article as an effect of authoritarian modernization that is proved by instable paces of wealth and economic growth in the post-authoritarian period. On the one hand, monopolization of institutional choice by the elites, blocking formation of inclusive political and economic institutions for fear of losing status-quo worsen perspectives for achieving free availability regime. On the other hand, consciousness of the society is dominated by informal institutions, judicial nihilism and orientation on 'self-survival values.' This hinders its consolidation as a 'collective principal' against 'institutional utilitarianism,' result of which is hindered economic development.

Keywords: elites, hypothesis of 'quasi-inclusion trap', institutional preferences, post-Soviet Georgia

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Authors: Najah Kalifah Almazmomi

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In the time of artificial intelligence (AI), there is a need to know the determinants of success in business management, which are taking on a new dimension. This research purports to scrutinize the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) that drive and ignite the fire of success to help uncover the subtle and profound dynamics that might be operative in organizations. By means of a systematic literature review and a number of empirical methods, the paper is aimed at determining and assessing the key aspects of CSFs, putting emphasis on their role and meaning in the context of AI technology adoption. Some central features such as leadership ways, innovation models, strategic thinking methodologies, organizational culture transformations, and human resource management approaches are compared and contrasted with the AI-driven revolution. Additionally, this research will explore the interactive effects of these factors and their joint impact on the success, survival, and flexibility of a business in the current environment, which is changing due to AI development. Through the use of different qualitative and quantitative methodologies, the research concludes that the findings are significant in understanding the relative roles of individual CSFs and in studying the interactions between them in such an AI-enabled business environment.

Keywords: critical success factors, business and management, artificial intelligence, leadership strategies

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Authors: Manjinder Singh, Anish Sachdeva

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Research on total quality management (TQM), total productive maintenance (TPM), international organization for standardization (ISO) and six sigma generally investigate the implementation and impact of these programs in isolation. However, none of these quality improvement programs is self-sufficient and they may not be powerful enough to deliver the improvements and innovations that are required nowadays to ensure the survival and growth of a firm. They are not mutually exclusive and inconsistent. On the contrary, they need complementary support and may reinforce mutually to make use of their complementarity, inducement of side-effects in favor of other quality improvement program, mutual simulation and exploitation of shared values. In this paper, first of all, the various management activities were identified which are normally under focus when any quality improvement program is implemented in any organization. Then TOPSIS methodology was applied to establish the ranking of various quality improvement programs (total quality management, total productive maintenance, ISO and six sigma which were brought to the corporate boardroom to improve the quality) with respect to different management activities (operations related activities, quality related activities, maintenance related activities, organizational related activities, human related activities and finance related activities).

Keywords: total productive maintenance (TPM), total quality management (TQM), TOPSIS, international organization for standardization (ISO)

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Authors: Abdelkarim Mahdhi, Fdhila Kais, Faouzi Lamari, Zeineb Hmila, Fathi Kamoun, Maria Ángeles Esteban, Amina Bakhrouf

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Pathogenic bacteria are considered to be responsible for several infectious diseases in aquaculture. To overcome diseases in fish culture, the use of antimicrobial drugs as strategy, have been adopted. The use of probiotic was a promising approach to avoid the risk associated to pathogenic bacteria. To find a biological control treatment against pathogens, we undertook this investigation to study the maintain of the probiotic properties of Bacillus sp., such as viability, adhesive ability to abiotic surface, antibacterial activity and pathogenicity/toxicity, under marine starvation conditions. Our data revealed that the tested strains maintained their capacity to inhibit pathogens in vivo and in vitro conditions. These strains maintain their adhesive capacity to polystyrene and do not demonstrate the pathogenic or toxic effect to the host. The obtained results give insight about the effect of starvation conditions on the physiological responses of these Bacillus strains that can be considered as a potential candidate’s probiotic.

Keywords: bacillus, probiotic, cell viability, starvation conditions

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Authors: Anna Dabrowska

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Taking Daniel Goleman’s (1994) belief that success in life depends on IQ in 20% and in 80% on emotional intelligence, and that it is worth considering emotional intelligence as an important factor in human performance and development potential, the aim of the paper is to explore the range of emotions experienced by university students who represent Society 5.0. This quantitative and qualitative study is meant to explore not only the list of the most and least experienced emotions by the students, but also the main reasons behind these feelings. The database of the study consists of 115 respondents out of 129 students of the 1st and 5th year of Applied Linguistics at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, which constitutes 89% of those being surveyed. The data is extracted from the anonymous questionnaire, which comprises young people’s answers and discourse concerning the causes of their most experienced emotions. Following Robert Plutchik’s theory of eight primary emotions, i.e. anger, fear, sadness, disgust, surprise, anticipation, trust, and joy, we adopt his argument for the primacy of these emotions by showing each to be the trigger of behaviour with high survival value. In fact, all other emotions are mixed or derivative states; that is, they occur as combinations, mixtures, or compounds of the primary emotions. Accordingly, the eight primary emotions, and their mixed states, are checked in the study on the students.

Keywords: emotions, intelligence, students, discourse study, emotional intelligence

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Authors: Prem Kumar, Anuj Tyagi, Harsh Panwar, Vaneet Inder Kaur

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Though aquaculture started as an occupation for poor and weak farmers for livelihood, it has now acquired the shape of one of the biggest industry to grow live protein in the form of aquatic organisms. Industrialization of the aquaculture sector has led to intensification resulting in stress on aquatic organisms and frequent disease outbreaks leading to huge economic impacts. Indiscriminate use of antibiotics as growth promoter and prophylactic agent in aquaculture has resulted in rapid emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance in bacterial pathogens. Over the past few years, use of probiotics (as an alternative of antibiotics) in aquaculture has gained attention due to their immunostimulant and growth promoting properties. It has now well known that after administration, a probiotic bacterium has to compete and establish itself against native microbiota to show its eventual beneficial properties. Due to their non-fish origin, commercial probiotics sometimes may display poor probiotic functionalities and antagonistic effects. Thus, isolation and characterization of probiotic bacteria from same fish host is very much necessary. In this study, attempts were made to isolate potent probiotic lactic acid bacteria (LAB) from intestinal microflora of rohu fish. Twenty-five experimental rohu fishes (mean weight 400 ± 20gm, mean standard length 20 ± 3cm) were used in the study to collect fish gut after dissection in a sterile condition. A total of 150 tentative LAB isolates from selective agar media (de Man-Rogosa-Sharpe (MRS)) were screened for their antimicrobial activity against Aeromonas hydrophila and Microccocus leuteus. A total of 17 isolates, identified as Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactococcus lactis, identified by biochemical tests and PCR amplification and sequencing of 16S rRNA gene fragment, displayed promising antimicrobial activity against both the pathogens. Two isolates from each species (FLB1, FLB2 from L. plantarum; and FLC1, FLC2 from L. lactis) were subjected to downstream probiotic potential characterization. These isolates were compared in vitro for their hemolytic activity, acid and bile tolerance for growth kinetics, auto-aggregation, cell-surface hydrophobicity against xylene, and chloroform, tolerance to phenol, cell adhesion, and safety parameters (by intraperitoneal and intramuscular injections). None of the tested isolates showed any hemolytic activity indicating their potential safety. Moreover, these isolates were tolerant to 0.3% bile (75-82% survival), phenol stress (96-99% survival) with 100% viability at pH 3 over a period of 3 h. Antibiotic sensitivity test revealed that all the tested LAB isolates were resistant to vancomycin, gentamicin, streptomycin, and erythromycin and sensitive to Erythromycin, Chloramphenicol, Ampicillin, Trimethoprim, and Nitrofurantoin. Tetracycline resistance was found in L. plantarum (FLB1 and FLB2 isolates), whereas L. lactis were susceptible to it. Intramuscular and intraperitoneal challenges to fingerlings of rohu fish (5 ± 1gm weight) with FLB1 showed no pathogenicity and occurrence of disease symptoms in fishes over an observation period of 7 days. The results revealed FLB1 as a potential probiotic candidate for aquaculture application among other isolates.

Keywords: aquaculture, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactococcus lactis, probiotics

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Authors: Juan Wang, Xiuxiu Wang, Di Wang

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Engineers are an important force supporting the economic and social development of a country. As China has the largest scale of engineering education in the world, the career choice of engineering students will affect the contribution of human capital to national scientific and technological progress and economic development. A questionnaire survey shows the following: on the whole, the students surveyed were willing to engage in an engineering career, but their willingness needed to be enhanced, and their willingness was affected by such factors as their understanding of the value of the engineering career; the resources from individual benefits, resources from career and individual strengths. Also, based on in-depth interviews with some engineering students, it is found that engineering students’ career choice behaviors totally based on survival rationality, economic rationality, social rationality and other combinations. Based on this, policy support should be given to the enrollment, training, employment and other aspects of engineering education; improve the professional status and treatment of engineers through multiple measures; ensure a smooth career path to enhance the willingness of engineering students to choose careers.

Keywords: engineering students, career choice, engineer, human capital

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Authors: N. Ikasari, T. Sumransat, U. Eko, R. Kusumastuti

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Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are regarded as the engine for economic development, notwithstanding their continuous financing conundrum. In the case of developing countries, access to finance is a reflection of the effectiveness of government policy. The widely accepted perspective to assess small businesses’ access to finance is that of economic view. The existing body of literature presents access to finance in three dimensions; they are accessibility, eligibility and affordability. Within this perspective, the role of socio-cultural has not explored. This study is aimed at investigating the existence of any socio-cultural factors within access to finance issue in Asian countries where governance is enriched by countries’ values and beliefs. The significance of this study is the instigation of supplementary dimension to assess access to finance that eventually contributes to the development of micro-finance policy. Indonesia and Thailand are selected as cases in point, where distinction is drawn on the level of cultural diversity and micro-finance policy in respective country. A questionnaire is used to collect information related to the three dimensions of access to finance as well as to explore alternative financing reasoning to elaborate the issue from the demand side. Questionnaires are distributed to 60 small business owners operating in Indonesia and the same number in Thailand. In order to present a complete understanding on the matter at hand, interviews with banks are conducted to capture the perspective as presented by the supply side. Research findings show that small business owners and banks in Indonesia and Thailand are in agreement that access to finance is not deemed as an issue. However, trust issue that exists mutually between financing users and providers leads small business owners in Indonesia to look for alternative financing other than banks. The findings contribute to the refinement of micro-financing policy in Indonesia and Thailand.

Keywords: access to finance, Indonesia, small and medium enterprises, Thailand

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Authors: Ehsan Ahmadifar, Mohammad Ali Yousefi, Zahra Roohi

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In this study, the effects of different levels of Ergosan (control group (0), 2, 4 and 6 gr Ergosan per Kg diet) as a nutritional supplement were investigated on growth indices and stress in Zebrafish for 3 months. Larvae (4-day-old after hatching) were fed with experimental diet from the beginning of feeding until adult (adolescence) (average weight: 69.3 g, length: 5.1 cm). Different levels of Ergosan had no significant effect on rate survival (P < 0.05). The results showed that diet containing 6 gr Ergosan significantly caused the best FCR in Zebrafish (P < 0.05). By increasing the Ergosan diet, specific growth rate increased. Body weight gain and condition factor had significant differences (P < 0.05) as the highest and the lowest were observed in treatment 3 gr of Ergosan and control, respectively. The results showed that fish fed with experimental diet, had the highest resistance to environmental stresses compared to control, and the test temperature, oxygen, salinity and alkalinity samples containing 6 gr/kg, was significantly more resistance compared to the other treatments (P < 0.05). Overall, to achieve high resistance to environmental stress and increase final biomass using 6 gr/kg Ergosan in diet fish Zebrafish.

Keywords: Ergosan, stress, growth performance, Danio rerio

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Authors: A. Kolendo

Abstract:

Pacific Islands are one of the most vulnerable areas to climate change. Sea level rise and accelerating storm surge continuously threaten the communities' habitats on low-lying atolls. With scientific predictions of encroaching tides on their land, the Islanders have been informed about the need for future relocation planning. However, some communities oppose such retreat strategies through the reasoning that comprehends current climatic changes through the lenses of the biblical ark of Noah. This parable states God's promise never to flood the Earth again and never deprive people of their land and habitats. Several interpretations of this parable emerged in Oceania, prompting either climate action or denial. Resistance to relocation planning expressed through Christian thoughts led religion to be perceived as a barrier to dialogue between the Islanders and scientists. Since climate change concerns natural processes, the attitudes towards environmental stewardship prompt the communities' responses to it; some Christian teachings indicate humanity's responsibility over the environment, whereas others ascertain the people's dominion, which prompts resistance and sometimes denial. With church denominations and their various environmental standpoints, competing responses to climate change emerged in Oceania. Before miss-ionization, traditional knowledge had guided the environmental sphere, influencing current Christian teachings. Each atoll characterizes a distinctive manner of traditional knowledge; however, the unique relationship with nature unites all islands. The interconnectedness between the land, sea and people indicates the integrity between the communities and their environments. Such a factor influences the comprehension of Noah's story in the context of climate change that threatens their habitats. Pacific Islanders experience climate change through the slow disappearance of their homelands. However, the Western world perceives it as a global issue that will affect the population in the long-term perspective. Therefore, the Islanders seek to comprehend this global phenomenon in a local context that reads climate change as the Great Deluge. Accordingly, the safety measures that this parable promotes compensate for the danger of climate change. The rainbow covenant gives hope in God's promise never to flood the Earth again. At the same time, Noah's survival relates to the Islanders' current situation. Since these communities have the lowest carbon emissions rate, their contribution to anthropogenic climate change is scarce. Therefore, the lack of environmental sin would contextualize them as contemporary Noah with the ultimate survival of sea level rise. This study aims to defy religion constituting a barrier through secondary data analysis from a risk compensation perspective. Instead, religion is portrayed as a source of knowledge that enables comprehension of the communities' situation. By demonstrating that the Pacific Islanders utilize Noah's story as a vessel for coping with the danger of climate change, the study argues that religion provides safety measures that compensate for the future projections of land's disappearance. The purpose is to build a bridge between religious communities and scientific bodies and ultimately bring an understanding of two diverse perspectives. By addressing the practical challenges of interdisciplinary research with faith-based systems, this study uplifts the voices of communities and portrays their experiences expressed through Christian thoughts.

Keywords: Christianity, climate change, existential threat, Pacific Islands, story of Noah

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Authors: Yong Geun Yun, Jong Hui kim, Sang Ho Baik

Abstract:

This study was carried out to develop a fermented dandelion (Tarazacum officinale) beverage using lactic acid bacteria with cinnamoyl esterase (CE) activity isolated from human feces. Lactic acid bacteria were screened based on bacterial survival ability in dandelion extract and CE activity. Dandelion extract fermented by Lactobacillus acidophilus F-46 (LA-F46) maintained approximately 105-106 log CFU/mL over an 8 days period. After fermented dandelion beverage (FDB) with LA-46 for 8 days at 37oC the pH was decreased from pH 7.0 to 3.5. Antioxidant activity by using DPPH radical scavenging activity of the prepared FDB was significantly increased compared to that of non-fermented dandelion beverage (NFDB). Moreover, CE activity was significantly enhanced during fermentation and showed the approximately 4.3 times increased concentration of caffeic acid up to 9.91 mg/100 mL after 8 days of incubation compared to NFDB. Therefore, it concluded that dandelion can be a good source for preparing a functional beverage and fermentation by LA-F46 enhanced the food functionality with enhanced caffeic acids.

Keywords: cinnamoyl esterase, dandelion, fermented beverage, lactic acid bacteria

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Authors: K. A. Adeleke

Abstract:

Often in epidemiological research, introducing stratified Cox model can account for the existence of interactions of some inherent factors with some major/noticeable factors. This research work aimed at modelling correlated variables in infant mortality with the existence of some inherent factors affecting the infant survival function. An alternative semiparametric Stratified Cox model is proposed with a view to take care of multilevel factors that have interactions with others. This, however, was used as a tool to model infant mortality data from Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) with some multilevel factors (Tetanus, Polio, and Breastfeeding) having correlation with main factors (Sex, Size, and Mode of Delivery). Asymptotic properties of the estimators are also studied via simulation. The tested model via data showed good fit and performed differently depending on the levels of the interaction of the strata variable Z*. An evidence that the baseline hazard functions and regression coefficients are not the same from stratum to stratum provides a gain in information as against the usage of Cox model. Simulation result showed that the present method produced better estimates in terms of bias, lower standard errors, and or mean square errors.

Keywords: stratified Cox, semiparametric model, infant mortality, multilevel factors, cofounding variables

Procedia PDF Downloads 557