Search results for: pure strategy

Authors: Abdulqader Alkhouzaam, Hazim Qiblawey, Majeda Khraisheh

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Membrane treatment for desalination and wastewater treatment is one of the promising solutions to affordable clean water. It is a developing technology throughout the world and considered as the most effective and economical method available. However, the limitations of membranes’ mechanical and chemical properties restrict their industrial applications. Hence, developing novel membranes was the focus of most studies in the water treatment and desalination sector to find new materials that can improve the separation efficiency while reducing membrane fouling, which is the most important challenge in this field. Graphene oxide (GO) is one of the materials that have been recently investigated in the membrane water treatment sector. In this work, ultrafiltration polysulfone (PSF) membranes with high antifouling properties were synthesized by incorporating different loadings of GO. High-oxidation degree GO had been synthesized using a modified Hummers' method. The synthesized GO was characterized using different analytical techniques including elemental analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy - universal attenuated total reflectance sensor (FTIR-UATR), Raman spectroscopy, and CHNSO elemental analysis. CHNSO analysis showed a high oxidation degree of GO represented by its oxygen content (50 wt.%). Then, ultrafiltration PSF membranes incorporating GO were fabricated using the phase inversion technique. The prepared membranes were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) and showed a clear effect of GO on PSF physical structure and morphology. The water contact angle of the membranes was measured and showed better hydrophilicity of GO membranes compared to pure PSF caused by the hydrophilic nature of GO. Separation properties of the prepared membranes were investigated using a cross-flow membrane system. Antifouling properties were studied using bovine serum albumin (BSA) and humic acid (HA) as model foulants. It has been found that GO-based membranes exhibit higher antifouling properties compared to pure PSF. When using BSA, the flux recovery ratio (FRR %) increased from 65.4 ± 0.9 % for pure PSF to 84.0 ± 1.0 % with a loading of 0.05 wt.% GO in PSF. When using HA as model foulant, FRR increased from 87.8 ± 0.6 % to 93.1 ± 1.1 % with 0.02 wt.% of GO in PSF. The pure water permeability (PWP) decreased with loadings of GO from 181.7 L.m⁻².h⁻¹.bar⁻¹ of pure PSF to 181.1, and 157.6 L.m⁻².h⁻¹.bar⁻¹ with 0.02 and 0.05 wt.% GO respectively. It can be concluded from the obtained results that incorporating low loading of GO could enhance the antifouling properties of PSF hence improving its lifetime and reuse.

Keywords: antifouling properties, GO based membranes, hydrophilicity, polysulfone, ultrafiltration

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Authors: Anoff Anim, Lila Mahmound, Maria Katsikogianni, Sanjit Nayak

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Sustained and controlled delivery of antimicrobial drugs have been largely studied recently using metal organic frameworks (MOFs)and different polymers. However, much attention has not been given to combining both MOFs and biodegradable polymers which would be a good strategy in providing a sustained gradual release of the drugs. Herein, we report a comparative study of the sustained and controlled release of widely used antibacterial drugs, cephalexin and metronidazole, from zinc-based MOF-5 incorporated in biodegradable polycaprolactone (PCL) and poly-lactic glycolic acid (PLGA) membranes. Cephalexin and metronidazole were separately incorporated in MOF-5 post-synthetically, followed by their integration into biodegradable PLGA and PCL membranes. The pristine MOF-5 and the loaded MOFs were thoroughly characterized by FT-IR, SEM, TGA and PXRD. Drug release studies were carried out to assess the release rate of the drugs in PBS and distilled water for up to 48 hours using UV-Vis Spectroscopy. Four bacterial strains from both the Gram-positive and Gram-negative types, Staphylococus aureus, Staphylococuss epidermidis, Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter baumanii, were tested against the pristine MOF, pure drugs, loaded MOFs and the drug-loaded MOF-polymer composites. Metronidazole-loaded MOF-5 composite of PLGA (PLGA-Met@MOF-5) was found to show highest efficiency to inhibit the growth of S. epidermidis compared to the other bacteria strains while maintaining a sustained minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). This study demonstrates that the combination of biodegradable MOF-polymer composites can provide an efficient platform for sustained and controlled release of antimicrobial drugs, and can be a potential strategy to integrate them in biomedical devices.

Keywords: antimicrobial resistance, biodegradable polymers, cephalexin, drug release metronidazole, MOF-5, PCL, PLGA

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Authors: Khairi El Battawy, Monika Skalicki

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The present investigation has been done on pure Egyptian Arabian mares that reared in private horse studs. Fifty non-pregnant mares were selected and examined to classify them as either being reproductively healthy or subfertile mares including clinical endometritis, early embryonic death, granulosa cell tumor, repeat breeder (post-breeding endometritis), and anoestrus mares. The purpose of the study was to assess oxidative/antioxidant biochemical metabolites, lipogram, trace elements and reproductive hormones throughout reproductive conditions in mares during regular estrous, anestrum, early pregnancy, granulose cell tumor, ovulation failure, and endometritis. Results showed intensification of the free radical-dependent process in the blood of infertile mare, especially mares with endometritis. Ultrasonography as a diagnostic tool diagnosis of endometritis in mares was an important step as it revealed much information concerning infertility problem.

Keywords: endometritis, ovulation, oxidative, mare

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Authors: Ade Oyedijo

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This paper reports the findings of a study on the strategic and organizational antecedents and effects of two opposing pay patterns used by some manufacturing companies in Lagos Nigeria with particular reference to the behavioural correlates of the pay strategies considered. The assumed relationship between pay strategies and some organizational correlates such as business and corporate strategies and firm size was considered problematic in view of their likely implications for employee motivation and citizenship behaviour and firm performance. The survey research method was used for the study. Structured, close ended questions were used to collect primary data from the respondents. A multipart Likert scale was used to measure the pay orientations of the respondent firms and the job and organizational involvement of the respondent employees. Utilizing hierarchical linear regression method and "t-test" to analyze the data obtained from 48 manufacturing companies of various sizes and strategies, it was found that the dominant pattern of employee compensation in the sampled manufacturing companies. The study also revealed that the choice of a pay strategy was strongly influenced by organizational size as well as the type of business and corporate level strategies adopted by afirm. Firms pursuing a strategy of related and unrelated diversification are more likely to adopt the algorithmic compensation system than single product firms because of their relatively larger size and scope. However; firms that pursue a competitive advantage through a business level strategy of cost efficiency are more likely to use the experiential, variable pay strategy. The study found that an algorithmic compensation strategy is as effective as experiential compensation strategy in the promotion of organizational citizenship behaviour and motivation of employees.

Keywords: compensation, corporate strategy, business strategy, motivation, citizenship behaviour, algorithmic, experiential, organizational commitment, work environment

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Authors: Mohammad Hadi Mahmoodi, Mojtaba Farahani

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The present study aimed at investigating whether reflective thinking differentiates Iranian EFL learners regarding language learning strategy use, beliefs about language learning and teaching, and L2 proficiency. To this end, the researcher adopted a mixed method approach. First, 94 EFL learners were asked to complete Reflective Thinking Questionnaire (Kember et al., 2000), Beliefs about Language Learning and Teaching Inventory (Horwitz, 1985), Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (Oxford, 1990), and Oxford Quick Placement Test. The results of three separate one-way ANOVAs indicated that reflective thinking significantly differentiates Iranian EFL learners concerning: (a)language learning strategy use, (b) beliefs about language learning and teaching, and (c) general language proficiency. Furthermore, to see where the differences lay, three separate post-hoc Tukey tests were run the results of which showed that learners with different levels of reflectivity (high, mid, and low) were significantly different from each other in all three dependent variables. Finally, to increase the validity of the findings thirty of the participants were interviewed and the results were analyzed through template organizing style method (Crabtree & Miller, 1999). The results of the interview analysis supported the results of quantitative data analysis.

Keywords: reflective thinking, language learning strategy use, beliefs toward language learning and teaching

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Authors: Kanokrat Kunasaraphan

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The purpose of the study was to identify whether English language learning strategies commonly used by the first year students at International College, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University include six direct and indirect strategies. The study served to explore whether there was a difference in these students’ use of six direct and indirect English learning strategies between the different levels of their English proficiency. The questionnaire used as a research instrument was comprised of two parts: General information of participants and the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL). The researcher employed descriptive statistics and one-way ANOVA (F-test) to analyze the data. The results of the analysis revealed that English learning strategies commonly used by the first year students include six direct and indirect strategies, including differences in strategy use of the students with different levels of English proficiency. Recommendations for future research include the study of language learning strategy use with other research methods focusing on other languages, specific language skills, and/or the relationship of language learning strategy use and other factors in other programs and/or institutions.

Keywords: English learning strategies, direct strategies, indirect strategies, proficiency level

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Authors: Anastasis D. Petrou

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Innovation and strategy discussions do highlight open innovation as a new paradigm in business. Yet, a number of stumbling blocks in the form of closed innovation principles weaved into the fabric of a traditional business model stand in the way of the new paradigm’s momentum to increase value in various business contexts. The paper argues that businesses considering an engagement with the open innovation paradigm would need to take steps to improve their multiplicative, absorptive and relational capabilities, respectively. The needed improvements would amount to a business model evolutionary transformation and eventually bring about a paradigm overhaul in business. The transformation is worth staging over time to ensure that open innovation is developed across interconnected and partnered areas of strategic importance. This article develops an open innovation strategy (OIS) capabilities model, and employs examples from different industries to briefly discuss OIS’s potential to augment business value in a number of suggested areas for future research.

Keywords: close innovation, open innovation paradigm, open innovation strategy (OIS) paradigm, OIS capabilities model, multiplicative capability, absorptive capability, relational capability

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Authors: Fatima Muhammad Shitu

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This study seeks to investigate the effect of the keyword strategy on lexico–semantic acquisition, recognition, retention and comprehension in an ESL context. The aim of the study is to determine whether the keyword strategy can be used to enhance acquisition. As a quasi- experimental research, the objectives of the study include: To determine the extent to which the scores obtained by the subjects, who were trained on the use of the keyword strategy for acquisition, differ at the pre-tests and the post–tests and also to find out the relationship in the scores obtained at these tests levels. The sample for the study consists of 300 hundred undergraduate ESL Students in the Federal College of Education, Kano. The seventy-five lexical items for acquisition belong to the lexical field category known as register, and they include Medical, Agriculture and Photography registers (MAP). These were divided in the ratio twenty-five (25) lexical items in each lexical field. The testing technique was used to collect the data while the descriptive and inferential statistics were employed for data analysis. For the purpose of testing, the two kinds of tests administered at each test level include the WARRT (Word Acquisition, Recognition, and Retention Test) and the CCPT (Cloze Comprehension Passage Test). The results of the study revealed that there are significant differences in the scores obtained between the pre-tests, and the post–tests and there are no correlations in the scores obtained as well. This implies that the keyword strategy has effectively enhanced the acquisition of the lexical items studied.

Keywords: keyword, lexical, semantics, strategy

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Authors: Eny Syatriana, Ardiansyah

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The purpose of recent study was to develop a learning model on writing, based on the reading texts which will be read by the students using reflection strategy. The strategy would allow the students to read the text and then they would write back the main idea and to develop the text by using their own sentences. So, the writing practice was begun by reading an interesting text, then the students would develop the text which has been read into their writing. The problem questions are (1) what kind of learning model that can develop the students writing ability? (2) what is the achievement of the students of STKIP YPUP through reflection strategy? (3) is the using of the strategy effective to develop students competence In writing? (4) in what level are the students interest toward the using of a strategy In writing subject? This development research consisted of some steps, they are (1) need analysis (2) model design (3) implementation (4) model evaluation. The need analysis was applied through discussion among the writing lecturers to create a learning model for writing subject. To see the effectiveness of the model, an experiment would be delivered for one class. The instrument and learning material would be validated by the experts. In every steps of material development, there was a learning process, where would be validated by an expert. The research used development design. These Principles and procedures or research design and development .This study, researcher would do need analysis, creating prototype, content validation, and limited empiric experiment to the sample. In each steps, there should be an assessment and revision to the drafts before continue to the next steps. The second year, the prototype would be tested empirically to four classes in STKIP YPUP for English department. Implementing the test greatly was done through the action research and followed by evaluation and validation from the experts.

Keywords: learning model, reflection, strategy, reading, writing, development

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Authors: SanXi Wu

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A priori argument is a kind of reductio ad absurdum provided by Colin McGinn on the premise of accepting the basic rules of Dummett. The core part of the theory is to analyze the three joint positions besides realism and make them invalid, thus proving the rationality of the stance of realism. However, this argument strategy is vulnerable to skepticism because it delays the skeptical problem. In addition to McGinn, John Searle offers a linguistic transcendental argument strategy, which regards realism as the comprehensible condition that all normal activities of understanding must assume, while skepticism does not enjoy the same status. However, Searle's transcendental argument does not solve the problem of the relationship between realist presupposition and representational presupposition. Strawson, Hume, Reid, Wittgenstein, and others provide a naturalistic argument for realism. In this argument, realism is either a priori commitment from nature, or our second nature, or even a background belief that is fundamentally immovable. The key to this argument is to provide a quietistic treatment that ultimately invalidates our anti-realist myths. In comparison, the naturalistic argument is a more promising one. In this paper, methods of theoretical analysis and comparative research are used in order to demonstrate that in the face of skepticism, McGinn's a priori strategy and Searle's transcendental strategy are untenable, while Strawson and others' naturalistic strategy may resist the pressure of skepticism and make realism possible.

Keywords: a priori argument, transcendental argument, naturalism, realism, skepticism

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Authors: Dimitrios Dimitriou, Maria Sartzetaki

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In the early days of the of civil aviation, airports are totally state-owned companies under the control of national authorities or regional governmental bodies. From that time the picture has totally changed and airports privatisation and airport business commercialisation are key success factors to stimulate air transport demand, generate revenues and attract investors, linked to reliable and resilience of air transport system. Nowadays, airport's corporate strategy deals with policies and actions, affecting essential the business plans, the financial targets and the economic footprint in a regional economy they serving. Therefore, exploring airport corporate strategy is essential to support the decision in business planning, management efficiency, sustainable development and investment attractiveness on one hand; and define policies towards traffic development, revenues generation, capacity expansion, cost efficiency and corporate social responsibility. This paper explores key outputs in airport corporate strategy for different ownership schemes. The airport corporations are grouped in three major schemes: (a) Public, in which the public airport operator acts as part of the government administration or as a corporised public operator; (b) Mixed scheme, in which the majority of the shares and the corporate strategy is driven by the private or the public sector; and (c) Private, in which the airport strategy is driven by the key aspects of globalisation and liberalisation of the aviation sector. By a systemic approach, the key drivers in corporate strategy for modern airport business structures are defined. Key objectives are to define the key strategic opportunities and challenges and assess the corporate goals and risks towards sustainable business development for each scheme. The analysis based on an extensive cross-sectional dataset for a sample of busy European airports providing results on corporate strategy key priorities, risks and business models. The conventional wisdom is to highlight key messages to authorities, institutes and professionals on airport corporate strategy trends and directions.

Keywords: airport corporate strategy, airport ownership, airports business models, corporate risks

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Authors: Biao Ma, Jikai Liu, Man Chen, Jianpeng Wu, Liyong Wang, Changsong Zheng

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Proposing an appropriate control strategy is an effective and practical way to address the overheat problems of the wet multi-plate clutch in Direct Shift Gearbox under the long-time creeping condition. To do so, the temperature variation of the wet multi-plate clutch is investigated firstly by establishing a thermal resistance model for the gearbox cooling system. To calculate the generated heat flux and predict the clutch temperature precisely, the friction torque model is optimized by introducing an improved friction coefficient, which is related to the pressure, the relative speed and the temperature. After that, the heat transfer model and the reasonable friction torque model are employed by the vehicle powertrain model to construct a comprehensive co-simulation model for the Direct Shift Gearbox (DSG) vehicle. A creeping control strategy is then proposed and, to evaluate the vehicle performance, the safety temperature (250 ℃) is particularly adopted as an important metric. During the creeping process, the temperature of two clutches is always under the safety value (250 ℃), which demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy in avoiding the thermal failures of clutches.

Keywords: creeping control strategy, direct shift gearbox, temperature variation, wet clutch

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Authors: Ayman M. M. Abdelhaleem, Mustafa Gamal Sadek, Kamal Reyad, Montasser M. Dewidar

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The main objective of this research is to study the effect of adding polycarbonate (PC) to pure Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) using the injection moulding process. The PC was mixed mechanically with ABS in 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50% by weight. The mechanical properties of pure ABS reinforced with PC were investigated using tensile, impact, hardness, and wear tests. The results showed that, by adding 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50% wt. of PC to the pure ABS, the ultimate tensile strength increased from 55 N/mm2 for neat ABS to 57 N/mm2 (i.e. 3.63%), 60 N/mm2 (i.e. 9.09%), 63 N/mm2 (i.e. 14.54%), 66 N/mm2 (i.e. 20%), 69 N/mm2 (i.e. 25.45%) respectively. Test results also revealed nearly 5.72% improvement in young's modulus by adding 10% of PC to ABS, 16.74% improvement by adding 20%, 23.34% improvement by adding 30%, 27.75% improvement by adding 40%, and no other increase in case of 50%. The impact test results showed that with the increase of the PC content, first, the impact strength decreased and then increased gradually. The impact strength decreased rapidly when the content of PC was 0% to 10% range. As well as, in the case of 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50% PC, the impact strength is increased. The hardness test results, using the Shore D tester, showed that, as the PC particles contents increased, the hardness increased from 76 for the ABS to 80 for 10% PC, and decreased to 79 for 20% PC, and then increased to 80 in case of 30%, 40%, and 50% PC. Wear test results showed that PC improves the wear resistance of ABS/PC blends. Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy showed that with an increase of PC in ABS/PC blends, a slight decrease in free volume size and an increase in the tensile strength due to good adhesion between PC and ABS matrix, which acted as an advantage in the polymer matrix.

Keywords: ABS, PC, injection molding process, mechanical properties, lifetime spectroscopy

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Authors: Andreas D. Jansson

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The availability of inexpensive, yet competent hardware allows for increased level of automation and self-optimization in the context of Industry 4.0. However, such agents require high quality information about their surroundings along with a robust strategy for collision avoidance, as they may cause expensive damage to equipment or other agents otherwise. Manually defining a strategy to cover all possibilities is both time-consuming and counter-productive given the capabilities of modern hardware. This paper explores the idea of a model-free self-optimizing obstacle avoidance strategy for multiple autonomous agents in a simulated dynamic environment using the Q-learning algorithm.

Keywords: autonomous vehicles, industry 4.0, multi-agent system, obstacle avoidance, Q-learning, simulation

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Authors: M. Zadshakoyan, H. Marassem Bonab, P. M. Keshtiban

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The SPD process widely used to optimize microstructure, strength and mechanical properties of the metals. Processes such as ARB and APB could have a considerable impact on improving the properties of metals. The aluminum material after steel, known as the most used metal, Because of its low strength, there are restrictions on the use of this metal, it is required to spread further studies to increase strength and improve the mechanical properties of this light weight metal. In this study, Annealed aluminum material, with yield strength of 85 MPa and tensile strength of 124 MPa, sliced into 2 sheets with dimensions of 30 and 25 mm and the thickness of 1.5 mm. then the sheets press bonded under 6 cycles, which increased the ultimate strength to 281 MPa. In addition, by adding 0.1%Wt of SiC particles to interface of the sheets, the sheets press bonded by 6 cycles to achieve a homogeneous composite. The same operation using Al2O3 particles and a mixture of SiC+Al2O3 particles was repeated and the amount of strength and elongation of produced composites compared with each other and with pure 6 cycle press bonded Aluminum. The results indicated that the ultimate strength of Al/SiC composite was 2.6 times greater than Annealed aluminum. And Al/Al2O3 and Al/Al2O3+SiC samples were low strength than Al/SiC sample. The pure 6 time press bonded Aluminum had lowest strength by 2.2 times greater than annealed aluminum. Strength of aluminum was increased by making the metal matrix composite. Also, it was found that the hardness of pure Aluminum increased 1.7 times after 6 cycles of APB process, hardness of the composite samples improved further, so that, the hardness of Al/SiC increased up to 2.51 times greater than annealed aluminum.

Keywords: APB, nano composite, nano particles, severe plastic deformation

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Authors: Reza Khani, Ziba Hosseini

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This study was an attempt to investigate the difference between learners of Iranian Kurdish–Persian bilingual language and Persian monolinguals, regarding language strategy use (LLS). The participants of the study were 120 monolingual Persian and 120 bilingual Kurdish studying English as a foreign language (EFL). Data were collected using strategy inventory for language learning SILL. The results show bilingual reported higher use of language learning strategies in all categories of SILL except memory strategies.

Keywords: language learning, memory, monolingual, comparative study

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Authors: Arafat Husain

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The lubricants are one of the most used resource in today’s world. Lot of the superpowers are dependent on the lubricant resource for their country to function. To see that the lubricants are not adulterated we need to develop some efficient ways and to see which fluid has been added to the lubricant. So to observe the these malpractices in the lubricant we need to develop a method. We take a elastic ball and through it at probability circle in the submerged in the lubricant at a fixed force and see the distance of pitching and the point of fall. Then we the ratio of distance of falling to the distance of pitching and if the measured ratio is greater than one the fluid is less viscous and if the ratio is lesser than the lubricant is viscous. We will check the falling point of pure lubricant at fixed force and every pure lubricant would have a fixed falling point. After that we would adulterate the lubricant and note the falling point and if the falling point is less than the standard value then adulterate is solid and if the adulterate is liquid the falling point will be more than the standard value. Hence the comparison with the standard falling point will give the efficiency of the lubricant.

Keywords: falling point of lubricant, falling point ratios, probability circle, octane number

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Authors: Mostafa Jafari

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Religious tourism is the core strategy of shaping Iranian's life-style. Why and How? This paper answers to this question. Theoretical base: From strategic marketing point of view, Life style is pattern of believes values, interests and acts. Strategy can be defined as a set of continuous important decisions. Here, strategy is making decisions about the target place and vehicle of touristic travel due to reform and redefine the self-identity and shaping life style. Methodology: Target society of this research is the selected residents of three provinces at northwest of Iran. The data collection instrument is interview and questionnaire and the collected data analysis by SEM (structural Equation Modeling) and LISREL software. Results: The primary results show that variety of touristic travels play an important role on shaping new life style of Iranian people. The target places of touristic travel (Europe, USA. Japan and etc.) are at the second priority. The number of foreign friends is at the third position. The fourth criteria are the number of travels. Among all kind of touristic travels the religious tourism from competitive point of view plays the main role. Findings: The geometry of Iranian life style are shaping and reshaping through some domestic and international tourism strategies particular religious strategy. During the dynamic trend of identity redefine, so many Iranians put the quantity and quality of their touristic travel on the first priority.

Keywords: religious tourism, core strategy, shaping life style

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Authors: Mona Rashidirad, Hamid Salimian

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Dynamic capabilities, as the most considerable capabilities of firms in the current fast-moving economy may not be sufficient for performance improvement, but their contribution to performance is undeniable. While much of the extant literature investigates the impact of dynamic capabilities on organisational performance, little attention has been devoted to understand whether and how dynamic capabilities create value. Dynamic capabilities as the mirror of competitive strategies should enable firms to search and seize new ideas, integrate and coordinate the firm’s resources and capabilities in order to create value. A careful investigation to the existing knowledge base remains us puzzled regarding the relationship among competitive strategies, dynamic capabilities and value creation. This study thus attempts to fill in this gap by empirically investigating the impact of dynamic capabilities on value creation and the mediating impact of competitive strategy on this relationship. We aim to contribute to dynamic capability view (DCV), in both theoretical and empirical senses, by exploring the impact of dynamic capabilities on firms’ value creation and whether competitive strategy can play any role in strengthening/weakening this relationship. Using a sample of 491 firms in the UK telecommunications market, the results demonstrate that dynamic sensing, learning, integrating and coordinating capabilities play a significant role in firm’s value creation, and competitive strategy mediates the impact of dynamic capabilities on value creation. Adopting DCV, this study investigates whether the value generating from dynamic capabilities depends on firms’ competitive strategy. This study argues a firm’s competitive strategy can mediate its ability to derive value from its dynamic capabilities and it explains the extent a firm’s competitive strategy may influence its value generation. The results of the dynamic capabilities-value relationships support our expectations and justify the non-financial value added of the four dynamic capability processes in a highly turbulent market, such as UK telecommunications. Our analytical findings of the relationship among dynamic capabilities, competitive strategy and value creation provide further evidence of the undeniable role of competitive strategy in deriving value from dynamic capabilities. The results reinforce the argument for the need to consider the mediating impact of organisational contextual factors, such as firm’s competitive strategy to examine how they interact with dynamic capabilities to deliver value. The findings of this study provide significant contributions to theory. Unlike some previous studies which conceptualise dynamic capabilities as a unidimensional construct, this study demonstrates the benefits of understanding the details of the link among the four types of dynamic capabilities, competitive strategy and value creation. In terms of contributions to managerial practices, this research draws attention to the importance of competitive strategy in conjunction with development and deployment of dynamic capabilities to create value. Managers are now equipped with solid empirical evidence which explains why DCV has become essential to firms in today’s business world.

Keywords: dynamic capabilities, resource based theory, value creation, competitive strategy

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Authors: Imelda Atengco Milan

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This research is aimed to assess the effectiveness and status of Islamic branding amongst hypermarkets from respondents perspective in the Kingdom of Bahrain such as Lulu, Geant and Carrefour and It was identified in terms of pure advertisement, religious norms and culture, certified halal product/ brand, consumption barriers and attitude towards other products/ brand. Included here are also the essentials in modern marketing including problems encountered and recommendations which will be revealed through the findings of the study. The methods used are descriptive and quantitative with sample analysis through quite a number of populations. Formulation of Sample questionnaire is done according to the variables and items used to measure reliability of statistics. The measurement of validity on the conduct of the surveys has been done according to Chronbach’s value (greater than 0.7). Pearson correlation was used as part of statistical analysis as well. It must show continuously that the model used is aligned towards factors indicated.

Keywords: pure advertisement, religious norms & culture, certified halal product, attitude towards other brand and consumption barriers

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Authors: Fatemeh Safdari, Amirnaser Shamkhali, Gholamabbas Parsafar

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Carbon nanostructures are of great importance in academic research and industry, which can be mentioned to chemical sensors, catalytic processes, pharmaceutical and environmental issues. Common point in all of these applications is the occurrence of adsorption of molecules on these structures. Important carbon nanostructures in this case are mainly nanotubes and graphene. To modify pure graphene, recently, many experimental and theoretical studies have carried out to investigate of metal adsorption on graphene. In this work, the adsorption of CO molecules on pure graphene and on metal adatom on graphene surface has been simulated based on density functional theory (DFT). All calculations were performed by PBE functional and Troullier-Martins pseudopotentials. Density of states (DOS) for graphene-CO, graphen and CO around the Fermi energy has been moved and very small mixing occured which implies the physisorption of CO on the bare graphen surface. While, the results have showed that CO adsorption on transition-metal adatom on graphene surface is chemisorption.

Keywords: adsorption, density functional theory, graphene, metal adatom

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Authors: Marc Solé, Francesc Giné, Magda Valls, Nina Bijedic

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What people say on social media has turned into a rich source of information to understand social behavior. Specifically, the growing use of Twitter social media for political communication has arisen high opportunities to know the opinion of large numbers of politically active individuals in real time and predict the global political tendencies of a specific country. It has led to an increasing body of research on this topic. The majority of these studies have been focused on polarized political contexts characterized by only two alternatives. Unlike them, this paper tackles the challenge of forecasting Spanish political trends, characterized by multiple political parties, by means of analyzing the Twitters Users political tendency. According to this, a new strategy, named Tweets Analysis Strategy (TAS), is proposed. This is based on analyzing the users tweets by means of discovering its sentiment (positive, negative or neutral) and classifying them according to the political party they support. From this individual political tendency, the global political prediction for each political party is calculated. In order to do this, two different strategies for analyzing the sentiment analysis are proposed: one is based on Positive and Negative words Matching (PNM) and the second one is based on a Neural Networks Strategy (NNS). The complete TAS strategy has been performed in a Big-Data environment. The experimental results presented in this paper reveal that NNS strategy performs much better than PNM strategy to analyze the tweet sentiment. In addition, this research analyzes the viability of the TAS strategy to obtain the global trend in a political context make up by multiple parties with an error lower than 23%.

Keywords: political tendency, prediction, sentiment analysis, Twitter

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Authors: Mahmoud M. Othman, Almoataz Y. Abdelaziz, Yasser G. Hegazy

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This paper presents a load control strategy based on modification of the Big Bang Big Crunch optimization method. The proposed strategy aims to determine the optimal load to be controlled and the corresponding time of control in order to minimize the energy purchased from substation. The presented strategy helps the distribution network operator to rely on the renewable energy sources in supplying the system demand. The renewable energy sources used in the presented study are modeled using the diagonal band Copula method and sequential Monte Carlo method in order to accurately consider the multivariate stochastic dependence between wind power, photovoltaic power and the system demand. The proposed algorithms are implemented in MATLAB environment and tested on the IEEE 37-node feeder. Several case studies are done and the subsequent discussions show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Keywords: big bang big crunch, distributed generation, load control, optimization, planning

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Authors: Avasha Rambiritch, Adelia Carstens

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In especially the context of a writing center, learning takes place during, and as part of, the conversations between the writing center tutor and the student. This interaction or dialogue is an integral part of writing center research and is the focus of this largely qualitative study, employing a politeness lens. While there is some research on positive politeness strategies employed by writing center tutors, there is very little research on specifically praising as a positive politeness strategy. This study attempts to fill this gap by analyzing a corpus of 10 video-recorded consultations to determine how tutors in a writing center utilize the positive politeness strategy of praise. Findings indicate that while tutors exploit a range of politeness strategies, praise is used more often than any other strategy. The research indicates that praise as a politeness strategy is utilized significantly more when commenting on higher-order concerns, as in line with the writing center literature. The benefits of this study include insights into how such analyses can be used to better prepare and equip the tutors (usually postgraduate students appointed as part-time tutors in the writing center) for the work they do on a daily basis.

Keywords: writing center, academic writing, positive politeness, tutor

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Authors: Sanjay Upadhyay, Om Prakash Pandey

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Hydrogen has been promoted as an alternative source of energy, which is renewable, cost-effective, and nature-friendly. Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) can be used for mass production of hydrogen at a very low cost through electrochemical water splitting. An active and efficient electrocatalyst is required to perform this reaction. Till date, platinum (Pt) is a stable and efficient electrocatalyst towards HER. But its high cost and low abundance hiders its large scale uses. Molybdenum carbide having a similar electronic structure to platinum can be a great alternative to costly platinum. In this study, pure phase molybdenum carbide (Mo₂C) has been synthesized in a single step. Synthesis temperature and holding time have been optimized to obtain pure phases of Mo₂C. The surface, structural and morphological properties of as-synthesized compounds have been studied. The HER activity of as-synthesized compounds has been explored in detail.

Keywords: capacitance, hydrogen fuel, molybdenum carbide, nanoparticles

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Authors: Chastiti Mediafira Wulolo, Tri Legionosuko, Suhirwan, Yusuf

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Terrorism and radicalization have become a common threat to every nation in this world. As a part of the asymmetric warfare threat, terrorism and radicalization need a complex strategy as the problem solver. One such way is by collaborating with the international community. The Our Eyes Initiative (OEI), for example, is a cooperation pact in the field of intelligence information exchanges related to terrorism and radicalization initiated by the Indonesian Ministry of Defence. The pact has been signed by Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Thailand, and Singapore. This cooperation mostly engages military acts as a central role, but it still requires the involvement of various parties such as the police, intelligence agencies and other government institutions. This paper will use a qualitative content analysis method to address the opportunity and enhance the optimization of OEI. As the result, it will explain how OEI takes the opportunities as the strategy for counter-terrorism by building it up as the regional cooperation, building the legitimacy of government and creating the legal framework of the information sharing system.

Keywords: our eyes initiative, terrorism, counter-terrorism, ASEAN, cooperation, strategy

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Authors: Ma. Dina Datiles Jimenez

Abstract:

Service strategy and service Innovation has something to do with the success of the foodservice business. The foodservice business nowadays has become more competitive, and technology driven. This study aimed to determine and investigate the service innovation and strategies of the food service industry and the challenges during the pandemic to serve as the basis for a competitive advantage model. The study used mixed methods, including descriptive quantitative and qualitative methods. The Metro Manila foodservice managers were the target population of the study, which consisted of an estimated 1500 respondents from the selected cities. The assessment of service innovation for the following dimensions: product-related dimension; market-related dimension; process-related dimension; and organization-related dimension, when classified according to profile, was very large for age, gender, and educational attainment. When respondents are classified according to profile, the service strategy in terms of customer service strategy, after-sales service strategy, maintenance service strategy, research and development-oriented service strategy, and operational services strategy were all assessed with a very large extent of implementation. There was a significant difference in all four aspects of service innovation when classified based on age. However, for gender, only the market and process dimensions showed significant differences, while the product and organization conveyed no significant differences. Consequently, the evidence was not enough to prove that educational attainment differs from one another on the four aspects of service innovation. There was sufficient evidence to prove that the ages differ from one another in all aspects of service strategies. While gender and educational attainment showed no significant difference in the assessment of service strategies, Training on the trends in the foodservice industry during the pandemic is offered; technical maintenance is evident; the company allotted budget for outsourcing training; the quality control system; and online customer feedback were revealed as major indicators for service strategy. Fear of viruses, limited customers, a minimal work force, and low revenues were identified as challenges faced by the foodservice industry.

Keywords: foodservice industry, service innovation, service strategy, competitive advantage, sustainability, technology

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Authors: Maryam Amiri, Ali Rajabzade, Gholam Reza Goudarzi, Reza Heidari

Abstract:

Growth of technology and environmental changes are so fast and therefore, companies and industries have much tendency to do activities of R&D for active participation in the market and achievement to a competitive advantages. Aviation industry and its subdivisions have high level technology and play a special role in economic and social development of countries. So, in the aviation industry for getting new technologies and competing with other countries aviation industry, there is a requirement for capability in R&D. Considering of appropriate R&D strategy is supportive that day technologies of the world can be achieved. Biofuel technology is one of the newest technologies that has allocated discussion of the world in aviation industry to itself. The purpose of this research has been formulation of R&D strategy of biofuel technology in aviation industry of Iran. After reviewing of the theoretical foundations of the methods and R&D strategies, finally we classified R&D strategies in four main categories as follows: internal R&D, collaboration R&D, out sourcing R&D and in-house R&D. After a review of R&D strategies, a model for formulation of R&D strategy with the aim of developing biofuel technology in aviation industry in Iran was offered. With regard to the requirements and aracteristics of industry and technology in the model, we presented an integrated approach to R&D. Based on the techniques of decision making and analyzing of structured expert opinion, 4 R&D strategies for different scenarios and with the aim of developing biofuel technology in aviation industry in Iran were recommended. In this research, based on the common features of the implementation process of R&D, a logical classification of these methods are presented as R&D strategies. Then, R&D strategies and their characteristics was developed according to the experts. In the end, we introduced a model to consider the role of aviation industry and biofuel technology in R&D strategies. And lastly, for conditions and various scenarios of the aviation industry, we have formulated a specific R&D strategy.

Keywords: aviation industry, biofuel technology, R&D, R&D strategy

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Authors: Jiheon Park, Taekwang Kim, Kwang Ryel Ryu

Abstract:

Electric automated guided vehicles (AGVs) are becoming popular in many automated container terminals nowadays because they are pollution-free and environmentally friendly vehicles for transporting the containers within the terminal. Since efficient operation of AGVs is critical for the productivity of the container terminal, the replacement of batteries of the AGVs must be conducted in a strategic way to minimize undesirable transportation interruptions. While a too frequent replacement may lead to a loss of terminal productivity by delaying container deliveries, missing the right timing of battery replacement can result in a dead AGV that causes a severer productivity loss due to the extra efforts required to finish post treatment. In this paper, we propose a strategy for battery replacement based on a scoring function of multiple criteria taking into account the current battery level, the distances to different battery stations, and the progress of the terminal job operations. The strategy is optimized using a genetic algorithm with the objectives of minimizing the total time spent for battery replacement as well as maximizing the terminal productivity.

Keywords: AGV operation, automated container terminal, battery replacement, electric AGV, strategy optimization

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Authors: Anyia Nduka, Aslan Bin Amad Senin

Abstract:

Environmental degradation and infrastructure abuse in the Niger Delta have received increasing attention over the last two decades in several sectors, like strategic management, societal impacts, etc. Resilience strategy in human capital development and technology has inspired the formulation and implementation of strategies, policies, or activities to mitigate risks while taking advantage of opportunities to respond to crisis management. This research hopes to add to the debate on the resilient strategic model in the Niger Delta region, which is plagued with environmental and infrastructure mismanagement. It further proposes a conceptual framework of robust strategy and open technology model on bibliometric analysis. This article is intended to be a starting point for an in-depth discussion of the factors that lead to these mismanagements. Four factors were discovered for a resilient strategy leading to a more efficient and effective management procedure.

Keywords: resilience strategy, infrastructural mismanagement, human capital development., strategic management

Procedia PDF Downloads 87