Search results for: technological innovations

Authors: Nora Laref, Bettache Guessas

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Preservation of foods mainly depends on delaying or inhibiting the growth of spoilage microorganisms, and antifungal activity of lactic acid bacteria is one of the technological properties researched. The antifungal activity was screened with overlay method of six strains of lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus plantarum LB54, LB52, LB51, LB20, LB24 Lactobacillus farciminis LB53) isolated from silage, camel milk and carrot against Aspergillus sp. Lactobacillus plantarum and farciminis inhibit spore germination and mycelia growth of Aspergillus sp., the production of antifungal compounds by these strains was detectable after 4h of incubation at 30°C and show total inhibition after 24h in liquid media, but in solid media showed a good inhibition after 96h of incubation, these compounds cause malformations in the thalle, conidiophore and conidia. These strains could be used as agents of biopreservation since have the ability to retard Aspergillus sp., growth in apricot juice with and without sugar conserved in refrigerator but not in bread.

Keywords: lactobacillus, antifungal substances, aspergillus, biopreservation

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Authors: Hesham Kozou

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Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) poses a significant challenge due to limited access to the inner ear for therapies. Emerging treatments such as regenerative, genetic, and pharmacotherapies offer hope for addressing this condition. This study aims to highlight the potential of cochlear implants and emerging therapies in managing sensorineural hearing loss by improving access to the inner ear. The study is conducted through a review of relevant literature and research articles in the field of cochlear implants and emerging therapies for hearing loss. It outlines how advancements in cochlear implant technologies, electrodes, and surgical techniques can facilitate the delivery of therapies to the inner ear, potentially revolutionizing the treatment of sensorineural hearing loss. The study underscores the potential of cochlear implants and emerging therapies in revolutionizing the treatment landscape for sensorineural hearing loss, emphasizing the feasibility of curing this condition by leveraging technological advancements.

Keywords: therapies for hearing loss management, future of CI as a cochlear delivery channel, regenerative, genetic and pharmacotherapeutic management of hearing loss

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Authors: Aniekan Peter, ECS Naidu, Edidiong Akang, U. Offor, R. Kalhapure, A. A. Chuturgoon, T. Govender, O. O. Azu

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Introduction: Nano-drugs are novel innovations in the management of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) pandemic, especially resistant strains of the virus in their sanctuary sites: testis and the brain. There are safety concerns to be addressed to achieve the full potential of this new drug delivery system. Aim of study: Our study was designed to investigate toxicity profile of Tenofovir Nanoparticle (TDF-N) synthesized by University of Kwazulu-Natal (UKZN) Nano-team for prevention and treatment of HIV infection. Methodology: Ten adult male Sprague-Dawley rats maintained at the Animal House of the Biomedical Resources Unit UKZN were used for the study. The animals were weighed and divided into two groups of 5 animal each. Control animals (A) were administered with normal saline. Therapeutic dose (4.3 mg/kg) of TDF-N was administered to group B. At the end of four weeks, animals were weighed and sacrificed. Liver and kidney were removed fixed in formal saline, processed and stained using H/E, PAS and MT stains for light microscopy. Serum was obtained for renal function test (RFT), liver function test (LFT) and full blood count (FBC) using appropriate analysers. Cellular measurements were done using ImageJ and Leica software 2.0. Data were analysed using graph pad 6, values < 0.05 were significant. Results: We reported no histological alterations in the liver, kidney, FBC, LFT and RFT between the TDF-N animals and saline control. There were no significant differences in weight, organo-somatic index and histological measurements in the treatment group when compared with saline control. Conclusion/recommendations: TDF-N is not toxic to the liver, kidney and blood cells in our study. More studies using human subjects is recommended.

Keywords: tenofovir nanoparticles, liver, kidney, blood cells

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Authors: Trad Khodja Rafik, Mahtout Amine, Ghoul Rachid, Benbouali Amine, Boulahlib Amine, Hariza Abdelmalik

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Cranioplasty with custom implant realized using 3D printing technology. Cranioplasty is a surgical act that aims restoring cranial bone losses in order to protect the brain from external aggressions and to improve the patient aesthetic appearance. This objective can be achieved with taking advantage of the current technological development in computer science and biomechanics. The objective of this paper it to present an approach for the realization of high precision biocompatible cranial implants using new 3D printing technologies at the lowest cost. The proposed method is to reproduce the missing part of the skull by referring to its healthy contralateral part. Once the model is validated by the neurosurgeons, a mold is 3D printed for the production of a biocompatible implant in Poly-Methyl-Methacrylate (PMMA) acrylic cement. Using this procedure four patients underwent this procedure with excellent aesthetic results.

Keywords: cranioplasty, cranial bone loss, 3D printing technology, custom-made implants, PMMA

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Authors: Mai Anh Pham Ho

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Ao Dai is the traditional dress of Vietnamese women that consists of a long tunic with slits on either side and wide trousers. This is the Vietnamese national costume which most common worn by women in daily life. The Vietnamese men may wear Ao Dai on special occasions like New Year Eve or Wedding Ceremony. Ao Dai is one of the few Vietnamese words that appear in English language dictionaries. Nowadays, there are variations in modern Ao Dai that consist of a short tunic on knee and slim trousers with the other materials like kaki or jeans. This paper aims to apply Pop art pattern on modern Ao Dai through the image of Vietnamese women by modifying the creation process of fashion design. It reflects on how modern culture is involved in Ao Dai and how it affects on fashion design. The research method of this paper is done through surveying the various examples of technological applications to fashion design, then the pop art pattern with the image of Vietnamese women is applied on modern Ao Dai. The results of this paper have shown through the collection of modern Ao Dai with three artworks applied the pop art pattern. In conclusion, the role of fashion technology supports and evolves the traditional value in order to establish the Vietnamese national personality as well as distinguish to other cultural values in the world.

Keywords: pop art pattern, Vietnamese national costume, modern ao dai, fashion design

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Authors: Nidhi Gadura

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To ensure student success in a non majors biology course, a flipped classroom pedagogical approach is developed and implemented. All students are assigned online lectures to listen to before they come to class. A three hour lecture is split into one hour of online component, one hour of in class lecture and one hour of worksheets done by students in the classroom. This deviation from a traditional 3 hour in class lecture has resulted in increased student interest in science as well as better understanding of difficult scientific concepts. A pre and post survey was given to measure the interest rates and grades were used to measure the success rates. While the overall grade average did not change dramatically, students reported a better appreciation of biology. Also, students overwhelmingly like the use of worksheets in class to help them understand the concepts. They liked the fact that they could listen to lectures at their own pace on line and even repeat if needed. The flipped classroom approach turned out to work really well our non science majors and the author is ready to implement this in other classrooms.

Keywords: flipped classroom, non science majors, pedagogy, technological pedagogical model

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Authors: Penn P. Wu

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Recent advances in virtual reality (VR) technologies have made it possible for students to experience a virtual on-the-scene or virtual in-person observation of an educational event. In an experimental class, the author uses VR, particularly 360° videos, to virtually engage students in an event, through a wide spectrum of educational resources, such s a virtual “bystander.” Students were able to observe the event as if they were physically on site, although they could not intervene with the scene. The author will describe the adopted equipment, specification, and cost of building them as well as the quality of VR. The author will discuss (a) feasibility, effectiveness, and efficiency of using VR as a supplemental technology to teach college students and criteria and methodologies used by the authors to evaluate them; (b) barriers and issues of technological implementation; and (c) pedagogical practices learned through this experiment. The author also attempts to explore (a) how VR could provide an interactive virtual in-person learning experience; (b) how VR can possibly change traditional college education and online education; (c) how educators and balance six critical factors: cost, time, technology, quality, result, and content.

Keywords: learning with VR, virtual experience of learning, virtual in-person learning, virtual reality for education

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Authors: Washima Tuleun

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Cybercrime is a global concern, and Nigeria is not immune to its effects. This paper investigates the cybercrimes and significant cyber-attacks that have targeted businesses and institutions in Nigeria, examining their various forms and the financial and economic impacts they have on individuals, businesses, and the nation as a whole. As technological advancements rapidly evolve and online services gain widespread adoption, there has been a corresponding rise in cyber-related attacks. These attacks often target personal data, exploit system vulnerabilities, and result in the theft of sensitive information, leading to financial losses, reputational damage, and broader impacts on organizations. The study conducts a thorough review of existing literature, case studies, and statistical data to provide a comprehensive understanding of Nigeria’s cybercrime landscape. Additionally, it assesses the efforts by both the government and the private sector to address these challenges and offers recommendations for more effective strategies to mitigate and reduce their impact.

Keywords: cybersecurity, telecommunications engineering, information technology, threat intelligence, vulnerability management, computing

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Authors: S. M. Azad, H. Ghodsi Pour, F. Roshannafasa

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In recent years ‘technology management and policymaking’ is one of the most important problems in management science. In this field, different generations of innovation and technology management are presented which the earliest one is Innovation System (IS) approach. In a general classification, innovation systems are divided in to 4 approaches: Technical, sectoral, regional, and national. There are many researches in relation to each of these approaches in different academic fields. Every approach has some benefits. If two or more approaches hybrid, their benefits would be combined. In addition, according to the sectoral structure of the governance model in Iran, in many sectors such as information technology, the combination of three other approaches with sectoral approach is essential. Hence, in this paper, combining two IS approaches (technical and sectoral) and using system dynamics, a generic model is presented for a sample of software industry. As a complimentary point, this article is introducing a new hybrid approach called Techno-Sectoral Innovation System. This TSIS model is accomplished by Changing concepts of the ‘functions’ which came from Technological IS literature and using them into sectoral system as measurable indicators.

Keywords: innovation system, technology, techno-sectoral system, functional indicators, system dynamics

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Authors: Aneri Mehta, Krunal Mehta

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Administration is largely based on two sciences: ‘management science’ and ‘political science’. The approach of new public management is more inclined towards the management science. Era of ‘New Public Management’ has affected the developing countries very immensely. Public management reforms are needed to enhance the development of the countries. This reform mainly includes capacity building, control of corruption, political decentralization, debureaucratization and public empowerment. This gives the opportunity to create self-sustaining change in the governance. This paper includes the link of approach of new public management and their effect on building effective democratization in the country. This approach mainly focuses on rationality and effectiveness of governance system. These need to have deep efforts on technological, organizational, social and cultural fields. Bringing citizen participation in governance is main objective of NPM. The shift from traditional public management to new public management have low success rate of reforms. This research includes case study of RTI which is a big step of government towards citizen centric approach of governance. The aspect of ‘publicness’ in the democratic policy implementation is important for good governance in India.

Keywords: public management, development, public empowerment, governance

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Authors: Denvi Giovanita, Wustari L. H. Mangundjaya

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The pace of globalization and technological development make changes inevitable to organizations. However, organizational change is not easy to implement and is prone to failure. One of the reasons of change failure is due to lack of employees’ commitment to change. There are many variables that can influence employees’ commitment to change. The influencing factors can be sourced from the organization or individuals themselves. This study focuses on the affective form of commitment to change. The objective of this study is to identify the effect of transformational leadership (organizational factor) and employees’ change self-efficacy (individual factor) on affective commitment to change. The respondents of this study were employees who work in organizations that are or have faced organizational change. The data were collected using Affective Commitment to Change, Change Self-Efficacy, and Transformational Leadership Inventory. The data were analyzed using regression. The result showed that both transformational leadership and change self-efficacy have a positive and significant impact on affective commitment to change. The implication of the study can be used for practitioners to enhance the success of organizational change, by developing transformational leadership on the leaders and change self-efficacy on the employees in order to create a high affective commitment to change.

Keywords: affective commitment to change, change self-efficacy, organizational change, transformational leadership

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Authors: Aleksandr A. Gajour, Vladimir G. Merzlikin, Vladimir I. Veselov

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This paper refers to the analysis of the characteristics of industrial and lifestyle facilities heat- energy objects as a part of the thermal envelope of Earth's surface for inclusion in any database of economic forecasting. The idealized model of the Earth's surface is discussed. This model gives the opportunity to obtain the energy equivalent for each element of terrain and world ocean. Energy efficiency criterion of comfortable human existence is introduced. Dynamics of changes of this criterion offers the possibility to simulate the possible technogenic catastrophes with the spontaneous industrial development of the certain Earth areas. Calculated model with the confirmed forecast of the Gulf Stream freezing in the polar regions in 2011 due to the heat-energy balance disturbance for the oceanic subsurface oil polluted layer is given. Two opposing trends of human development under limited and unlimited amount of heat-energy resources are analyzed.

Keywords: Earth's surface, heat-energy consumption, energy criteria, technogenic catastrophes

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Authors: Tomoaki Hashimoto

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Recent technological advance has prompted significant interest in developing the control theory of quantum systems. Following the increasing interest in the control of quantum dynamics, this paper examines the control problem of Schrödinger equation because quantum dynamics is basically governed by Schrödinger equation. From the practical point of view, stochastic disturbances cannot be avoided in the implementation of control method for quantum systems. Thus, we consider here the robust stabilization problem of Schrödinger equation against stochastic disturbances. In this paper, we adopt model predictive control method in which control performance over a finite future is optimized with a performance index that has a moving initial and terminal time. The objective of this study is to derive the stability criterion for model predictive control of Schrödinger equation under stochastic disturbances.

Keywords: optimal control, stochastic systems, quantum systems, stabilization

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Authors: Seyed Mohammadbagher Jafari, Elahe Mahdizadeh, Masomeh Ghahremani

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Nowadays almost all organizations depend on information systems to run their businesses. Investment on information systems and their maintenance to keep them always in best situation to support firm business is one of the main issues for every organization. The new concept of cloud computing was developed as a technical and economic model to address this issue. In cloud computing the computing resources, including networks, applications, hardwares and services are configured as needed and are available at the moment of request. However, migration to cloud is not an easy task and there are many issues that should be taken into account. This study tries to provide a comprehensive model to assess a firm readiness to implement cloud computing. By conducting a systematic literature review, four dimensions of readiness were extracted which include technological, human, organizational and environmental dimensions. Every dimension has various criteria that have been discussed in details. This model provides a framework for cloud computing readiness assessment. Organizations that intend to migrate to cloud can use this model as a tool to assess their firm readiness before making any decision on cloud implementation.

Keywords: cloud computing, human readiness, organizational readiness, readiness assessment model

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Authors: Matthias Haenisch, Marc Godau, Julia Barreiro, Dominik Maxelon

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In times of ubiquitous digitalization and the increasing entanglement of humans and technologies in musical practices in the 21st century, it is to be asked, how popular musicians learn in the (post)digital Age. Against the backdrop of the increasing interest in transferring informal learning practices into formal settings of music education the interdisciplinary research association »MusCoDA – Musical Communities in the (Post)Digital Age« (University of Erfurt/University of Applied Sciences Clara Hoffbauer Potsdam, funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research, pursues the goal to derive an empirical model of collective songwriting practices from the study of informal lelearningf songwriters and bands that can be translated into pedagogical concepts for music education in schools. Drawing on concepts from Community of Musical Practice and Actor Network Theory, lelearnings considered not only as social practice and as participation in online and offline communities, but also as an effect of heterogeneous networks composed of human and non-human actors. Learning is not seen as an individual, cognitive process, but as the formation and transformation of actor networks, i.e., as a practice of assembling and mediating humans and technologies. Based on video stimulated recall interviews and videography of online and offline activities, songwriting practices are followed from the initial idea to different forms of performance and distribution. The data evaluation combines coding and mapping methods of Grounded Theory Methodology and Situational Analysis. This results in network maps in which both the temporality of creative practices and the material and spatial relations of human and technological actors are reconstructed. In addition, positional analyses document the power relations between the participants that structure the learning process of the field. In the area of online informal lelearninginitial key research findings reveal a transformation of the learning subject through the specific technological affordances of TikTok and Instagram and the accompanying changes in the learning practices of the corresponding online communities. Learning is explicitly shaped by the material agency of online tools and features and the social practices entangled with these technologies. Thus, any human online community member can be invited to directly intervene in creative decisions that contribute to the further compositional and structural development of songs. At the same time, participants can provide each other with intimate insights into songwriting processes in progress and have the opportunity to perform together with strangers and idols. Online Lelearnings characterized by an increase in social proximity, distribution of creative agency and informational exchange between participants. While it seems obvious that traditional notions not only of lelearningut also of the learning subject cannot be maintained, the question arises, how exactly the observed informal learning practices and the subject that emerges from the use of social media as online learning technologies can be transferred into contexts of formal learning

Keywords: informal learning, postdigitality, songwriting, actor-network theory, community of musical practice, social media, TikTok, Instagram, apps

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Authors: Iyad Ismail, Fathilatul Abdul Hamid

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This research was mainly investigated to recognize the extent of big data analysis by external auditors. This paper adopts grounded theory as a framework for conducting a series of semi-structured interviews with eighteen external auditors. The research findings comprised the availability extent of big data and big data analysis usage by the external auditors in Palestine, Gaza Strip. Considering the study's outcomes leads to a series of auditing procedures in order to improve the external auditing techniques, which leads to high-quality audit process. Also, this research is crucial for auditing firms by giving an insight into the mechanisms of auditing firms to identify the most important strategies that help in achieving competitive audit quality. These results are aims to instruct the auditing academic and professional institutions in developing techniques for external auditors in order to the big data analysis. This paper provides appropriate information for the decision-making process and a source of future information which affects technological auditing.

Keywords: big data analysis, external auditors, audit reliance, internal audit function

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Authors: Tissa Ravinda Perera

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An open economic policy was introduced by Sri Lanka in 1977, before many other countries in Asia to align her economy to world economic trends and it was affected indigenous businesses since they had to compete with foreign products, processes, technology, innovations and businesses. The year 2010 was a milestone in Sri Lankan history to achieve the developmental goals when Foxbuisness rated Sri Lanka as the best performing global economy. However, Sri Lanka missed her chances of achieving development with the political and social chaos, consequent the regime change in 2015. This paper argues that to support the development of the country, Sri Lanka must develop an entrepreneurial culture. In this endeavor, creativity and innovation will play a pivotal role to achieve the desired level of development. In this study, it was used secondary data from various local and international sources to understand and explore the existing scenario of Sri Lankan economy, state of entrepreneurial culture and innovation, and challenges and competencies for the development of an entrepreneurial culture in Sri Lanka. The data was collected from secondary sources were depicted in tables in this paper in a meaningful manner. Based on the tables many findings were aroused and conclusions were made to support the argument in this paper. This paper revealed that the development of an entrepreneurial culture has to be associated with creativity and innovation to gain a competitive advantage over the development strategies of other countries. It is exposed that an entrepreneurial culture will help minorities, women and underprivileged societies to empower themselves. This product will help to confront and manage youth unrest which has created anarchy in the country from time to time. Throughout this paper, it was highlighted the past, present and future scenario of Sri Lankan economy along with modification to be done to it through the development of an entrepreneur culture in light of innovation and creativity to achieve the desired level of development.

Keywords: economy, industry, creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial culture

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Authors: Zheng Ruoyuan

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With the rapid development of economic globalization and increasingly fierce international competition, multinational companies have carried out investment strategy shifts and innovations, and actively promoted localization strategies. Localization strategies have become the main trend in the development of multinational companies. Large-scale entry of multinational companies China has a history of more than 20 years. With the sustained and steady growth of China's economy and the optimization of the investment environment, multinational companies' investment in China has expanded rapidly, which has also had an important impact on the Chinese economy: promoting employment, foreign exchange reserves, and improving the system. etc., has brought a lot of high-tech and advanced management experience; but it has also brought challenges and survival pressure to China's local enterprises. In recent years, multinational companies have gradually regarded China as an important part of their global strategies and began to invest in China. Actively promote localization strategies, including production, marketing, scientific research and development, etc. Many multinational companies have achieved good results in localized operations in China. Not only have their benefits continued to improve, but they have also established a good corporate image and brand in China. image, which has greatly improved their competitiveness in the international market. However, there are also some multinational companies that have difficulties in localized operations in China. This article will closely follow the background of economic globalization and comprehensively use the theory of multinational companies and strategic management theory and business management theory, using data and facts as the entry point, combined with typical cases of representative significance for analysis, to conduct a systematic study of the localized operations of multinational companies in China. At the same time, for each specific link of the operation of multinational companies, we provide multinational enterprises with some inspirations and references.

Keywords: localization, business management, multinational, marketing

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Authors: A. Gonzalez Aguna, J. M. Santamaria Garcia, J. L. Gomez Gonzalez, R. Barchino Plata, M. Fernandez Batalla, S. Herrero Jaen

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Background: Computer Science is a field that transcends other disciplines of knowledge because it allows to support all kinds of physical and mental tasks. Health centres have a greater number and complexity of technological devices and the population consume and demand services derived from technology. Also, nursing education plans have included competencies related to and, even, courses about new technologies are offered to health professionals. However, nurses still limit their performance to the use and evaluation of products previously built. Objective: Develop a teaching-learning methodology for acquiring skills on designing applications for care. Methodology: Blended learning teaching with a group of graduate nurses through official training within a Master's Degree. The study sample was selected by intentional sampling without exclusion criteria. The study covers from 2015 to 2017. The teaching sessions included a four-hour face-to-face class and between one and three tutorials. The assessment was carried out by written test consisting of the preparation of an IEEE 830 Standard Specification document where the subject chosen by the student had to be a problem in the area of care. Results: The sample is made up of 30 students: 10 men and 20 women. Nine students had a degree in nursing, 20 diploma in nursing and one had a degree in Computer Engineering. Two students had a degree in nursing specialty through residence and two in equivalent recognition by exceptional way. Except for the engineer, no subject had previously received training in this regard. All the sample enrolled in the course received the classroom teaching session, had access to the teaching material through a virtual area and maintained at least one tutoring. The maximum of tutorials were three with an hour in total. Among the material available for consultation was an example of a document drawn up based on the IEEE Standard with an issue not related to care. The test to measure competence was completed by the whole group and evaluated by a multidisciplinary teaching team of two computer engineers and two nurses. Engineers evaluated the correctness of the characteristics of the document and the degree of comprehension in the elaboration of the problem and solution elaborated nurses assessed the relevance of the chosen problem statement, the foundation, originality and correctness of the proposed solution and the validity of the application for clinical practice in care. The results were of an average grade of 8.1 over 10 points, a range between 6 and 10. The selected topic barely coincided among the students. Examples of care areas selected are care plans, family and community health, delivery care, administration and even robotics for care. Conclusion: The applied methodology of learning-teaching for the design of technologies demonstrates the success in the training of nursing professionals. The role of expert is essential to create applications that satisfy the needs of end users. Nursing has the possibility, the competence and the duty to participate in the process of construction of technological tools that are going to impact in care of people, family and community.

Keywords: care, learning, nursing, technology

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Authors: Marie Bountrogianni, Leonora Zefi, Krystle Phirangee, Naza Djafarova

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Faculty development is critical for any institution as it impacts students’ learning experiences and faculty performance with regards to course delivery. With that in mind, The Chang School at Ryerson University embarked on an initiative to develop a comprehensive, relevant faculty development program for online faculty and instructors. Teaching Adult Learners Online (TALO) is a professional development program designed to build capacity among online teaching faculty to enhance communication/facilitation skills for online instruction and establish a Community of Practice to allow for opportunities for online faculty to network and exchange ideas and experiences. TALO is comprised of four online modules and each module provides three hours of learning materials. The topics focus on online teaching and learning experience, principles and practices, opportunities and challenges in online assessments as well as course design and development. TALO offers a unique experience for online instructors who are placed in the role of a student and an instructor through interactivities involving discussions, hands-on assignments, peer mentoring while experimenting with technological tools available for their online teaching. Through exchanges and informal peer mentoring, a small interdisciplinary community of practice has started to take shape. Successful participants have to meet four requirements for completion: i) participate actively in online discussions and activities, ii) develop a communication plan for the course they are teaching, iii) design one learning activity/or media component, iv) design one online learning module. This study adopted a mixed methods exploratory sequential design. For the qualitative phase of this study, a thorough literature review was conducted on what constitutes effective faculty development programs. Based on that review, the design team identified desired competencies for online teaching/facilitation and course design. Once the competencies were identified, a focus group interview with The Chang School teaching community was conducted as a needs assessment and to validate the competencies. In the quantitative phase, questionnaires were distributed to instructors and faculty after the program was launched to continue ongoing evaluation and revisions, in hopes of further improving the program to meet the teaching community’s needs. Four faculty members participated in a one-hour focus group interview. Major findings from the focus group interview revealed that for the training program, faculty wanted i) to better engage students online, ii) to enhance their online teaching with specific strategies, iii) to explore different ways to assess students online. 91 faculty members completed the questionnaire in which findings indicated that: i) the majority of faculty stated that they gained the necessary skills to demonstrate instructor presence through communication and use of technological tools provided, ii) increased faculty confidence with course management strategies, iii) learning from peers is most effective – the Community of Practice is strengthened and valued even more as program alumni become facilitators. Although this professional development program is not mandatory for online instructors, since its launch in Fall 2014, over 152 online instructors have successfully completed the program. A Community of Practice emerged as a result of the program and participants continue to exchange thoughts and ideas about online teaching and learning.

Keywords: community of practice, customized, faculty development, inclusive design

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Authors: Mounir Filali

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Companies use many innovative ways to reach their customers to stay ahead of the competition. Along with the growing demand for innovative business solutions is the demand for new technology. The most noticeable area of demand for business innovations is the mobile application industry. Recently, companies have recognized the growing need to integrate proprietary mobile applications into their suite of services; Companies have realized that developing mobile apps gives them a competitive edge. As a result, many have begun to rapidly develop mobile apps to stay ahead of the competition. Mobile application development helps companies meet the needs of their customers. Mobile apps also help businesses to take advantage of every potential opportunity to generate leads that convert into sales. Mobile app download growth statistics with the recent rise in demand for business-related mobile apps, there has been a similar rise in the range of mobile app solutions being offered. Today, companies can use the traditional route of the software development team to build their own mobile applications. However, there are also many platform-ready "low-code and no-code" mobile apps available to choose from. These mobile app development options have more streamlined business processes. This helps them be more responsive to their customers without having to be coding experts. Companies must have a basic understanding of mobile app architecture to attract and maintain the interest of mobile app users. Mobile application architecture refers to the buildings or structural systems and design elements that make up a mobile application. It also includes the technologies, processes, and components used during application development. The underlying foundation of all applications consists of all elements of the mobile application architecture; developing a good mobile app architecture requires proper planning and strategic design. The technology framework or platform on the back end and user-facing side of a mobile application is part of the mobile architecture of the application. In-application development Software programmers loosely refer to this set of mobile architecture systems and processes as the "technology stack."

Keywords: mobile applications, development, architecture, technology

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Authors: Enrique Claver Cortés, Bartolomé Marco Lajara, Eduardo Sánchez García, Pedro Seva Larrosa, Encarnación Manresa Marhuenda, Lorena Ruiz Fernández, Esther Poveda Pareja

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In recent decades, the analysis of the effects of clustering as an essential factor for the development of innovations and the competitiveness of enterprises has raised great interest in different areas. Nowadays, companies have access to almost all tangible and intangible resources located and/or developed in any country in the world. However, despite the obvious advantages that this situation entails for companies, their geographical location has shown itself, increasingly clearly, to be a fundamental factor that positively influences their innovative performance and competitiveness. Industrial clusters could represent a unique level of analysis, positioned between the individual company and the industry, which makes them an ideal unit of analysis to determine the effects derived from company membership of a cluster. Also, the absorptive capacity (hereinafter 'AC') can mediate the process of innovation development by companies located in a cluster. The transformation and exploitation of knowledge could have a mediating effect between knowledge acquisition and innovative performance. The main objective of this work is to determine the key factors that affect the degree of generation and use of knowledge from the environment by companies and, consequently, their innovative performance and competitiveness. The elements analyzed are the companies' membership of a cluster and the AC. To this end, 30 most relevant papers published on this subject in the "Web of Science" database have been reviewed. Our findings show that, within a cluster, the knowledge coming from the companies' environment can significantly influence their innovative performance and competitiveness, although in this relationship, the degree of access and exploitation of the companies to this knowledge plays a fundamental role, which depends on a series of elements both internal and external to the company.

Keywords: absorptive capacity, clusters, innovation, knowledge

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Authors: Adeleye Johnson Adelagunayeja

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The concept of making cities, communities, and neighborhoods smart, intelligent, and responsive is relatively new to Africa and its urban renewal agencies. Efforts must be made by relevant agencies to begin a holistic review of the implementation of infrastructural facilities and urban renewal methodologies that will revolve around the appreciation and application of artificial intelligence. The propagation of the ideals and benefits of the smart city concept are key factors that can encourage governments of African nations, the African Union, and other regional organizations in Africa to embrace the ideology. The ability of this smart city concept to curb insecurities – armed robbery, assassination, terrorism, and civil disorder – is one major reason, amongst others, why African governments must speedily embrace this contemporary developmental concept whose time has come! The seamlessness to access information and virtually cross-pollinate ideas with people living in already established smart cities, when combined with the great efficiency that the emergence of smart cities brings with it, are other reasons why Africa must come up with action plans that can enable the existing cities to metamorphose into smart cities. Innovations will be required to enable Africa to develop a smart city concept that will be compatible with the basic patterns of livelihood because the essence of the smart city evolution is to make life better for people to co-exist, to be productive and to enjoy standard infrastructural facilities. This research paper enumerates the multifaceted adaptive factors that have the potentials of making the adoption of smartcity concept in Africa seamless. It also proffers solutions to potential bottlenecks capable of undermining the execution of the smart city concept in Africa.

Keywords: smartcity compactibility innovation Africa government evolution, Africa as global village member, evolution in Africa, ways to make Africa adopt smartcity, localizing smartcity concept in Africa, bottleneck to smartcity developmet in Africa

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Authors: Wildan Maulana Wildan, Siti Annisa Rahmayani Icha

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Nowadays advances in information technology are needed by all the inhabitants of the earth for the sake of ease all their work, but it is worth to introduced the technological advances in the world of children. Before the technology is growing rapidly, children busy with various of traditional games and have high socialization. Moreover, after it presence, almost all of children spend more their time for playing gadget, It can affect the education of children and will change the character and personality children. However, children also can not be separated with the technology. Because the technology insight knowledge of children will be more extensive. Because the world can not be separated with advances in technology as well as with children, there should be developed a smartphone operating system that is child-friendly. The operating system is able to filter contents that do not deserve children, even in this system there is a reminder of a time study, prayer time and play time for children and there are interactive contents that will help the development of education and children's character. Children need technology, and there are some ways to introduce it to children. We must look at the characteristics of children in different environments. Thus advances in technology can be beneficial to the world children and their parents, and educators do not have to worry about advances in technology. We should be able to take advantage of advances in technology best possible.

Keywords: information technology, smartphone operating system, education, character

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Authors: Salma I. Dwidar, Amal A. Abdel-Sattar

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The window openings are the key to the relationship between the inside and the outside of any building. It is the eye that sees from, the lunges of the construction, and the ear to hear. The success of the building, as well as the comfort of the uses, depends mainly on this relationship. Usually, windows are affected by human factors like religious, social, political and economic factors as well as environmental factors like climatic, aesthetic and functional factors. In Islamic architecture, the windows were one of the most important elements of physiological and psychological comfort to the users of the buildings. Windows considered one of the main parameters in designing internal and external facade, where the window openings occupied a big part of the formation of the external facade of the buildings. This paper discusses the importance of the window openings and its relationship to residential buildings in the Islamic architecture. It addresses the rules that have been followed in the design of windows in Islamic architecture to achieve privacy and thermal comfort while there are no technological elements within the dwellings. Also, it demonstrates the effects of windows on the building form and identity and how it gives a distinctive fingerprint of the architecture buildings.

Keywords: window openings, thermal comfort, residential buildings, the Islamic architecture, human considerations

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Authors: F. Demir

Abstract:

Innovation is highly critical for every company, especially for technology-based organizations looking to sustain their competitive advantage. However, this is not an easy task. Regardless of the size of the enterprise, market and location, all organizations face numerous challenges. Even though huge barriers to innovation exist in different countries, firm- and industry-specific challenges can be distinguished. This paper examines innovation strategies and obstacles to innovation in research and technology organizations (RTO) of Turkey. From the most important to the least, nine different challenges are ranked according the results of this survey. The findings reveal that to take the lead in innovation, financial constraint is the biggest challenge, which is consistent with the related literature. It ranked number one in this study. Beyond that, based on a sample of 40 RTOs, regional challenges such as underdeveloped regional innovation ecosystem plays a significant role in hampering innovation. Most of the organizations (55%) embrace an incremental approach to innovation, while only few pursue radical shifts. About 40% of the RTOs focus on product innovation, and 27.5% of them concentrate on technological innovation, while a very limited number aim for operational excellence and customer engagement as the focus of their strategic innovation efforts.

Keywords: innovation strategies, innovation challenges, emerging economies, research and technology organizations

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Authors: Anna-Maria Saarela

Abstract:

At the Savonia University of Applied Sciences (UAS), curriculum and studies have been improved by applying an Open Innovation Space approach (OIS). It is based on multidisciplinary action learning. The key elements of OIS-ideology are work-life orientation, and student-centric communal learning. In this approach, every participant can learn from each other and innovations will be created. In this social innovation educational approach, all practices are carried out in close collaboration with enterprises in real-life settings, not in classrooms. As an example, in this paper, Savonia UAS’s Future Food RDI hub (FF) shows how OIS practices are implemented by providing food product development and consumer research services for enterprises in close collaboration with academicians, students and consumers. In particular one example of OIS experimentation in the field is provided by a consumer research carried out utilizing verbal analysis protocol combined with audio-visual observation (VAP-WAVO). In this case, all co-learners were acting together in supermarket settings to collect the relevant data for a product development and the marketing department of a company. The company benefitted from the results obtained, students were more satisfied with their studies, educators and academicians were able to obtain good evidence for further collaboration as well as renewing curriculum contents based on the requirements of working life. In addition, society will benefit over time as young university adults find careers more easily through their OIS related food science studies. Also this knowledge interaction model re-news education practices and brings working-life closer to educational research institutes.

Keywords: collaboration, education, food science, industry, knowledge transfer, RDI, student

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Authors: Wei-Chen Chang, Yu-Cheng Pei

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This research examines wearable interaction design to mediate the design anthropology and participatory design found in technology and fashion. We will discuss the principles of design anthropology and participatory design using a wearable and fashion product process to transmit the ‘people-situation-reason-object’ method and analyze five sense applied examples that provide new thinking for designers engaged in future industry. Design anthropology and Participatory Design attempt to engage physiological and psychological design through technology-function, meaning-form and fashion aesthetics to achieve cognition between user and environment. The wearable interaction provides technological characteristics and semantic ideas transmitted to craft-cultural, collective, cheerful and creative performance. It is more confident and innovative attempt, that is able to achieve a joyful, fundamental interface. This study takes two directions for cultural thinking as the basis to establish a set of life-craft designs with interactive experience objects by users that assist designers in examining the sensual feelings to initiate a new lifestyle value.

Keywords: design anthropology, wearable design, design communication, participatory design

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Authors: Iraklis Argyriou

Abstract:

The transition to net-zero emission urban bus (ZEB) systems is receiving increased attention in research and policymaking throughout the globe. Most studies in this area tend to address techno-economic aspects and the perspectives of a narrow group of stakeholders, while they largely overlook analysis of current bus system dynamics. This offers limited insight into the types of ZEB governance challenges and opportunities that are encountered in real-world contexts, as well as into some of the immediate actions that need to be taken to set off the transition over the longer term. This research offers a multi-stakeholder perspective into both the technical and non-technical factors that influence ZEB transitions within a particular context, the UK. It does so by drawing from a recent transition visioning stakeholder workshop (June 2023) with key public, private and civic actors of the urban bus transportation system. Using NVivo software to qualitatively analyze the workshop discussions, the research examines the key technological and funding aspects, as well as the short-term actions (over the next five years), that need to be addressed for supporting the ZEB transition in UK cities. It finds that ZEB technology has reached a mature stage (i.e., high efficiency of batteries, motors and inverters), but important improvements can be pursued through greater control and integration of ZEB technological components and systems. In this regard, telemetry, predictive maintenance and adaptive control strategies pertinent to the performance and operation of ZEB vehicles have a key role to play in the techno-economic advancement of the transition. Yet, more pressing gaps were identified in the current ZEB funding regime. Whereas the UK central government supports greater ZEB adoption through a series of grants and subsidies, the scale of the funding and its fragmented nature do not match the needs for a UK-wide transition. Funding devolution arrangements (i.e., stable funding settlement deals between the central government and the devolved administrations/local authorities), as well as locally-driven schemes (i.e., congestion charging/workplace parking levy), could then enhance the financial prospects of the transition. As for short-term action, three areas were identified as critical: (1) the creation of whole value chains around the supply, use and recycling of ZEB components; (2) the ZEB retrofitting of existing fleets; and (3) integrated transportation that prioritizes buses as a first-choice, convenient and reliable mode while it simultaneously reduces car dependency in urban areas. Taken together, the findings point to the need for place-based transition approaches that create a viable techno-economic ecosystem for ZEB development but at the same time adopt a broader governance perspective beyond a ‘net-zero’ and ‘bus sectoral’ focus. As such, multi-actor collaborations and the coordination of wider resources and agency, both vertically across institutional scales and horizontally across transport, energy and urban planning, become fundamental features of comprehensive ZEB responses. The lessons from the UK case can inform a broader body of empirical contextual knowledge of ZEB transition governance within domestic political economies of public transportation.

Keywords: net-zero emission transition, stakeholders, transition governance, UK, urban bus transportation

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Authors: Riccardo Bonazzi, Michaël Poli, Abeba Nigussie Turi

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This paper presents an applied research of a new module for the financial administration and management industry, Personalizable and Automated Checklists Integrator, Overseeing Legal Investigations (PACIOLI). It aims at designing the business model of the trust company of the future. By identifying the key stakeholders, we draw a general business process design of the industry. The business model focuses on disintermediating the traditional form of business through the new technological solutions of a software company based in Switzerland and hence creating a new interactive platform. The key stakeholders of this interactive platform are identified as IT experts, legal experts, and the New Edge Trust Company (NATC). The mechanism we design and propose has a great importance in improving the efficiency of the financial business administration and management industry, and it also helps to foster the provision of high value added services in the sector.

Keywords: new edge trust company, business model design, automated checklists, financial technology

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