Search results for: hybrid entrepreneurship

Authors: Lucia Vodanovic, Bryan Pirolli

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The London College of Communication is one of the only universities in the world to offer a lifestyle journalism master’s degree. A hybrid originally constructed largely out of a generic journalism program crossed with numerous cultural studies approaches, the degree has developed into a leading lifestyle journalism education attracting students worldwide. This research project seeks to present a framework for structuring the degree as well as to understand how students in this emerging field of study value the program. While some researchers have addressed questions about journalism and higher education, none have looked specifically at the increasingly important genre of lifestyle journalism, which Folker Hanusch defines as including notions of consumerism and critique among other identifying traits. Lifestyle journalism, itself poorly researched by scholars, can relate to topics including travel, fitness, and entertainment, and as such, arguably a lifestyle journalism degree should prepare students to engage with these topics. This research uses the existing Masters of Arts and Lifestyle Journalism at the London College of Communications as a case study to examine the school’s approach. Furthering Hanusch’s original definition, this master’s program attempts to characterizes lifestyle journalism by a specific voice or approach, as reflected in the diversity of student’s final projects. This framework echoes the ethos and ideas of the university, which focuses on creativity, design, and experimentation. By analyzing the current degree as well as student feedback, this research aims to assist future educators in pursuing the often neglected field of lifestyle journalism. Through a discovery of the unique mix of practical coursework, theoretical lessons, and broad scope of student work presented in this degree program, researchers strive to develop a framework for lifestyle journalism education, referring to Mark Deuze’s ten questions for journalism education development. While Hanusch began the discussion to legitimize the study of lifestyle journalism, this project strives to go one step further and open up a discussion about teaching of lifestyle journalism at the university level.

Keywords: education, journalism, lifestyle, university

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Authors: McKenna Halverson, Allison Karpyn

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Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic posed unprecedented challenges for families with young children in the United States. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), a federal nutrition assistance program that provides low-income mothers and young children with access to healthy foods (e.g., infant formula, milk, and peanut butter), mitigated some financial challenges for families. However, the U.S. experienced a national infant formula shortage and rising inflation rates during the pandemic, which likely impacted WIC participants’ shopping experiences and well-being. As such, this study aimed to characterize how the COVID-19 pandemic and related events impacted Delaware WIC participants’ in-store benefit redemption experiences and overall well-being. Method: The authors conducted semi-structured interviews with 51 WIC participants in Wilmington, Delaware. Survey measures included demographic questions and open-ended questions regarding participants’ experiences with WIC benefit redemption during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were analyzed using a hybrid inductive and deductive coding approach. Findings: The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted WIC participants’ shopping experiences and well-being. Specifically, participants were forced to alter their shopping behaviors to account for rising food prices (e.g., used coupons, bought less food, used food banks). Additionally, WIC participants experienced significant distress during the national infant formula shortage resulting from difficulty finding formula to feed their children. Participants also struggled with in-store benefit redemption due to inconsistencies in shelf labelling, the WIC app, and low stock of WIC foods. These findings highlight the need to reexamine WIC operations and emergency food response policy in the United States during times of crisis to optimize public health and ensure federal nutrition assistance programs meeting the needs of low-income families with young children.

Keywords: benefit redemption, COVID-19 pandemic, infant formula shortage, inflation, shopping, WIC

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Authors: Maureen Royce, Joshi Jariwala, Sally Kah

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Change is inevitable, but the change process is progressive. Organisational change is the process in which an organisation changes strategies, operational methods, systems, culture, and structure to affect something different in the organisation. This process can be continuous or developed over a period and driven by internal and external factors. Organisational change is essential if organisations are to survive in dynamic and uncertain environments. However, evidence from research shows that many change initiatives fail, leading to severe consequences for organisations and their resources. The complex models of third sector organisations, i.e., social enterprise, compounds the levels of change in these organisations. Interestingly, innovation is associated with a change in social enterprises due to the hybridity of product and service development. Furthermore, the creation of social intervention has offered a new process and outcomes to the lifecycle of change. Therefore, different forms of organisational innovation are developed, i.e., total, evolutionary, expansionary, and developmental, which affect the interventions of social enterprises. This raises both theoretical and business concerns on how the competing hybrid nature of social enterprises change, how change is managed, and the impact on these organisations. These perspectives present critical questions for further investigation. In this study, we investigate the impact of organisational change on employees and organisational development at DaDaFest –a disability arts organisation with a social focus based in Liverpool. The three main objectives are to explore the drivers of change and the implementation process; to examine the impact of organisational change on employees and; to identify barriers to organisation change and development. To address the preceding research objectives, qualitative research design is adopted using semi-structured interviews. Data is analysed using a six-step thematic analysis framework, which enables the study to develop themes depicting the impact of change on employees and organisational development. This study presents theoretical and practical contributions for academics and practitioners. The knowledge contributions encapsulate the evolution of change and the change cycle in a social enterprise. However, practical implications provide critical insights into the change management process and the impact of change on employees and organisational development.

Keywords: organisational change, change management, organisational change system, social enterprise

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Authors: N. Nalini, Bhanu Prakash Gopularam

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The term data security refers to the degree of resistance or protection given to information from unintended or unauthorized access. The core principles of information security are the confidentiality, integrity and availability, also referred as CIA triad. Cloud computing services are classified as SaaS, IaaS and PaaS services. With cloud adoption the confidential enterprise data are moved from organization premises to untrusted public network and due to this the attack surface has increased manifold. Several cloud computing platforms like OpenStack, Eucalyptus, Amazon EC2 offer users to build and configure public, hybrid and private clouds. While the traditional encryption based on PKI infrastructure still works in cloud scenario, the management of public-private keys and trust certificates is difficult. The Identity based Public Key Cryptography (also referred as ID-PKC) overcomes this problem by using publicly identifiable information for generating the keys and works well with decentralized systems. The users can exchange information securely without having to manage any trust information. Another advantage is that access control (role based access control policy) information can be embedded into data unlike in PKI where it is handled by separate component or system. In OpenStack cloud platform the keystone service acts as identity service for authentication and authorization and has support for public key infrastructure for auto services. In this paper, we explain OpenStack security architecture and evaluate the PKI infrastructure piece for data confidentiality. We provide method to integrate ID-PKC schemes for securing data while in transit and stored and explain the key measures for safe guarding data against security attacks. The proposed approach uses JPBC crypto library for key-pair generation based on IEEE P1636.3 standard and secure communication to other cloud services.

Keywords: data confidentiality, identity based cryptography, secure communication, open stack key stone, token scoping

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Authors: Roya Morad, W. Eirik Heintz

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The identity of a neighborhood is inevitably shaped by the architecture and the people of that place. Conventionally the streets within each neighborhood served as a semi-public-private extension of the private living spaces. The street as a design element formed a hybrid condition that was neither totally public nor private, and it encouraged social interactions. Thus through creating a sense of community, one of the most basic human needs of belonging was achieved. Similar to major global cities, Tehran has undergone serious urbanization. Developing into a capital city of high rises has resulted in an increase in urban density. Although allocating more residential units in each neighborhood was a critical response to the population boom and the limited land area of the city, it also created a crisis in terms of social communication and place attachment. District 10 in Tehran is a neighborhood that has undergone the most urban transformation among the other 22 districts in the capital and currently has the highest population density. This paper will explore how the active streets in district 10 have changed into their current condition of high rises with a lack of meaningful social interactions amongst its inhabitants. A residential building can be thought of as a large group of people. One would think that as the number of people increases, the opportunities for social communications would increase as well. However, according to the survey, there is an indirect relationship between the two. As the number of people of a residential building increases, the quality of each acquaintance reduces, and the depth of relationships between people tends to decrease. This comes from the anonymity of being part of a crowd and the lack of social spaces characterized by most high-rise apartment buildings. Without a sense of community, the attachment to a neighborhood is decreased. This paper further explores how the neighborhood participates to fulfill ones need for social interaction and focuses on the qualitative aspects of alternative spaces that can redevelop the sense of place attachment within the community.

Keywords: high density, place attachment, social communication, street life, urban transformation

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Authors: Mohamed dammak

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Great attention has been paid to the design and synthesis of novel organic-inorganic compounds in recent decades because of their structural variety and the large diversity of atomic arrangements. In this work, the structure for the novel dimethyl aminopyridine tetrachlorocobaltate (C₇H₁₁N₂)₂CoCl₄ prepared by the slow evaporation method at room temperature has been successfully discussed. The X-ray diffraction results indicate that the hybrid material has a triclinic structure with a P space group and features a 0D structure containing isolated distorted [CoCl₄]2- tetrahedra interposed between [C7H11N²⁻]+ cations forming planes perpendicular to the c axis at z = 0 and z = ½. The effect of the synthesis conditions and the reactants used, the interactions between the cationic planes, and the isolated [CoCl4]2- tetrahedra are employing N-H...Cl and C-H…Cl hydrogen bonding contacts. The inspection of the Hirshfeld surface analysis helps to discuss the strength of hydrogen bonds and to quantify the inter-contacts. A phase transition was discovered by thermal analysis at 390 K, and comprehensive dielectric research was reported, showing a good agreement with thermal data. Impedance spectroscopy measurements were used to study the electrical and dielectric characteristics over a wide range of frequencies and temperatures, 40 Hz–10 MHz and 313–483 K, respectively. The Nyquist plot (Z" versus Z') from the complex impedance spectrum revealed semicircular arcs described by a Cole-Cole model. An electrical circuit consisting of a link of grain and grain boundary elements is employed. The real and imaginary parts of dielectric permittivity, as well as tg(δ) of (C₇H₁₁N₂)₂CoCl₄ at different frequencies, reveal a distribution of relaxation times. The presence of grain and grain boundaries is confirmed by the modulus investigations. Electric and dielectric analyses highlight the good protonic conduction of this material.

Keywords: organic-inorganic, phase transitions, complex impedance, protonic conduction, dielectric analysis

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Authors: Misra Ayse Adsiz, Selim Selvi

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In today's world, technology is competing with time. In order to catch up with the world's companies and adapt quickly to the changes, it is necessary to speed up the processes and keep pace with the rate of change of the technology. The missile system design processes, which are handled with classical methods, keep behind in this race. Because customer requirements are not clear, and demands are changing again and again in the design process. Therefore, in the system design process, a methodology suitable for the missile system design dynamics has been investigated and the processes used for catching up the era are examined. When commonly used design processes are analyzed, it is seen that any one of them is dynamic enough for today’s conditions. So a hybrid design process is established. After a detailed review of the existing processes, it is decided to focus on the Scrum Framework and Agile Philosophy. Scrum is a process framework. It is focused on to develop software and handling change management with rapid methods. In addition, agile philosophy is intended to respond quickly to changes. In this study, it is aimed to integrate Scrum framework and agile philosophy, which are the most appropriate ways for rapid production and change adaptation, into the missile system design process. With this approach, it is aimed that the design team, involved in the system design processes, is in communication with the customer and provide an iterative approach in change management. These methods, which are currently being used in the software industry, have been integrated with the product design process. A team is created for system design process. The roles of Scrum Team are realized with including the customer. A scrum team consists of the product owner, development team and scrum master. Scrum events, which are short, purposeful and time-limited, are organized to serve for coordination rather than long meetings. Instead of the classic system design methods used in product development studies, a missile design is made with this blended method. With the help of this design approach, it is become easier to anticipate changing customer demands, produce quick solutions to demands and combat uncertainties in the product development process. With the feedback of the customer who included in the process, it is worked towards marketing optimization, design and financial optimization.

Keywords: agile, design, missile, scrum

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Authors: Frazer G. Thompson

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Israel is a nation of cultural and historical diversity, yet the success factors for a modern Bedouin-Arab high-tech entrepreneur seem to be different from those of other Jewish-Israeli citizens. The purpose of this descriptive narrative case study is to explore how an Arab-Israeli all Negev-Bedouin technology company has succeeded in the Israeli high-tech industry by utilizing technology and engineering career opportunities available to Bedouin youth for ‘Sadel Tech,’ at Be’er-Sheva, the Negev, Israel. Methods: The strategy of inquiry seeks to explore real-life contextual understandings, multi-level perspectives, and the cultural influences of personal, community, educational, and entrepreneurial factors. The research methodology includes in-depth one-on-one interviews, focus group sessions, and overt observation to explore the meaning and understanding of the constructs toward determining the effect all or a few of the elements may have on the overall success factors of the company. Results: Study results indicate that the state-run educational system in Israel fails to adequately integrate important aspects of Bedouin culture into the learning environment. However, Bedouin entrepreneurs are finding ways to compensate for these inadequacies by utilizing non-traditional methods of teaching, learning, and doing business. Government incentives for Bedouin start-ups are also recognized as contributors. Employees of Sadel live and work in the Negev, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank, further informing the study that the traditions of tribal etiquette continue to contribute to modern Bedouin-Arab business culture. Conclusion: Bedouin's business success in Israel is a multi-dimensional concept. While cultural acumen plays a prominent and unique role for both Arab-Israelis and Jewish-Israelis in economic and entrepreneurial pursuits, the marginalization of the Bedouin continues to contribute to the lack of educational and professional opportunities for Bedouin in Israel. Although recognized as important at the government level, programs necessary to implement the infrastructure required to support Bedouin entrepreneurship in Israel remain infantile. The Israeli Government is providing opportunities through grants and other incentives for Bedouin entrepreneurial start-ups, indicating that Israel has recognized the impact of this growing demographic. However, although many Bedouin graduates from University each year with advanced degrees, opportunities for Bedouin within the Israeli high-tech sector remain scarce.

Keywords: Bedouin education, Bedouin entrepreneur, economic anthropology, ethnic business opportunities, Israeli tech, Silicon Wadi

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Authors: Seada Hussen, Frie Ayalew

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Integrating different energy resources, like solar PV and hydro, is used to ensure reliable power to rural communities like Hara village in Ethiopia. Hybrid power system offers power supply for rural villages by providing an alternative supply for the intermittent nature of renewable energy resources. The intermittent nature of renewable energy resources is a challenge to electrifying rural communities in a sustainable manner with solar resources. Major rural villages in Ethiopia are suffering from a lack of electrification, that cause our people to suffer deforestation, travel for long distance to fetch water, and lack good services like clinic and school sufficiently. The main objective of this project is to provide a balanced, stable, reliable supply for Hara village, Ethiopia using solar power with a pumped hydro energy storage system. The design of this project starts by collecting data from villages and taking solar irradiance data from NASA. In addition to this, geographical arrangement and location are also taken into consideration. After collecting this, all data analysis and cost estimation or optimal sizing of the system and comparison of solar with pumped hydro and solar with battery storage system is done using Homer Software. And since solar power only works in the daytime and pumped hydro works at night time and also at night and morning, both load will share to cover the load demand; this need controller designed to control multiple switch and scheduling in this project fuzzy logic controller is used to control this scenario. The result of the simulation shows that solar with pumped hydro energy storage system achieves good results than with a battery storage system since the comparison is done considering storage reliability, cost, storage capacity, life span, and efficiency.

Keywords: pumped hydro storage, solar energy, solar PV, battery energy storage, fuzzy logic controller

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Authors: Louis Ngai Yuen Wong, Varun Maruvanchery

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The Bukit Timah Granite, which is a major rock formation in Singapore, encompasses different rock types such as granite, adamellite, and granodiorite with various hybrid rocks. The present study focuses on the Central Singapore Granite found in the Mandai area. Even within this small aerial extent, lithological variations with respect to the composition, texture as well as the grain size have been recognized in this igneous body. Over the years, the research effort on the Bukit Timah Granite has been focused on achieving a better understanding of its engineering properties in association with civil engineering projects. To our best understanding, a few types of research attempted to systematically investigate the influence of grain size, mineral composition, texture etc. on the strength of Bukit Timah Granite rocks in a comprehensive manner. In typical local industry practices, the different lithological varieties are not differentiated, but all are grouped under Bukit Timah Granite during core logging and the subsequent determination of engineering properties. To address such a major gap in the local engineering geological practice, a preliminary study is conducted on the variations of uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) in seven distinctly different lithological varieties found in the Bukit Timah Granite. Other physical properties including Young’s modulus, P-wave velocity and dry density determined from laboratory testing will also be discussed. The study is supplemented by a petrographical thin section examination. In addition, the specimen failure mode is classified and further correlated with the lithological varieties by carefully observing the details of crack initiation, propagation and coalescence processes in the specimens undergoing loading tests using a high-speed camera. The outcome of this research, which is the first of its type in Singapore, will have a direct implication on the sampling and design practices in the field of civil engineering and particularly underground space development in Singapore.

Keywords: Bukit Timah Granite, lithological variety, thin section study, high speed video, failure mode

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Authors: Sumana Kumar, Abha Misra

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Micro-supercapacitors hold great attention as one of the promising energy storage devices satisfying the increasing quest for miniaturized and portable devices. Despite having impressive power density, superior cyclic lifetime, and high charge-discharge rates, micro-supercapacitors still suffer from low energy density, which limits their practical application. The energy density (E=1/2CV²) can be increased either by increasing specific capacitance (C) or voltage range (V). Asymmetric micro-supercapacitors have attracted great attention by using two different electrode materials to expand the voltage window and thus increase the energy density. Currently, versatile fabrication technologies such as inkjet printing, lithography, laser scribing, etc., are used to directly or indirectly pattern the electrode material; these techniques still suffer from scalable production and cost inefficiency. Here, we demonstrate the scalable production of a three-dimensional (3D) carbon foam (CF) based asymmetric micro-supercapacitor by spray printing technique on an array of interdigital electrodes. The solid-state asymmetric micro-supercapacitor comprised of CF-MnO positive electrode and CF-Fe₂O₃ negative electrode achieves a high areal capacitance of 18.4 mF/cm² (2326.8 mF/cm³) at 5 mV/s and a wider potential window of 1.4 V. Consequently, a superior energy density of 5 µWh/cm² is obtained, and high cyclic stability is confirmed with retention of the initial capacitance by 86.1% after 10000 electrochemical cycles. The optimized decoration of pseudocapacitive metal oxides in the 3D carbon network helps in high electrochemical utilization of materials where the 3D interconnected network of carbon provides overall electrical conductivity and structural integrity. The research provides a simple and scalable spray printing method to fabricate an asymmetric micro-supercapacitor using a custom-made mask that can be integrated on a large scale.

Keywords: asymmetric micro-supercapacitors, high energy-density, hybrid materials, three-dimensional carbon-foam

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Authors: Vijay Sodhi, Charanjit Singh, Neelam Sodhi, Puneet P. S. Cheema, Reena Sharma, Mithilesh K. Jha

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The management and secure disposal of the biosludge generated from widely commercialized conventional activated sludge (CAS) treatments become a potential environmental issue. Thus, a sustainable technological upgradation to the CAS for sludge yield minimization has recently been gained serious attention of the scientific community. A number of recently reported studies effectively addressed the remedial technological advancements that in monopoly limited to the municipal wastewater. Moreover, the critical review of the literature signifies side-stream sludge minimization as a complex task to maintain. In this work, therefore, a hybrid moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) configuration (named as AMOMOX process) for in-situ minimization of the excess biosludge generated from high organic strength tannery wastewater has been demonstrated. The AMOMOX collectively stands for anoxic MBBR (as AM), aerobic MBBR (OM) and an oxic CAS (OX). The AMOMOX configuration involved a combined arrangement of an anoxic MBBR and oxic MBBR coupled with the aerobic CAS. The AMOMOX system was run in parallel with an identical CAS reactor. Both system configurations were fed with same influent to judge the real-time operational changes. For the AMOMOX process, the strict maintenance of operational strategies resulted about 95% removal of NH4-N and SCOD from tannery wastewater. Here, the nourishment of filamentous microbiota and purposeful promotion of cell-lysis effectively sustained sludge yield (Yobs) lowering upto 0.51 kgVSS/kgCOD. As a result, the volatile sludge scarcity apparent in the AMOMOX system succeeded upto 47% reduction of the excess biosludge. The corroborated was further supported by FE-SEM imaging and thermogravimetric analysis. However, the detection of microbial strains habitat underlying extended SRT (23-26 days) of the AMOMOX system would be the matter of further research.

Keywords: tannery wastewater, moving bed biofilm reactor, sludhe yield, sludge minimization, solids retention time

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Authors: Yasamin Rahimi, Ali Kamandi, Abbas Hoseini, Hesam Haddad

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Online/offline chat is a convenient approach in the electronic markets of second-hand products in which potential customers would like to have more information about the products to fill the information gap between buyers and sellers. Online peer in peer market is trying to create artificial intelligence-based systems that help customers ask more informative questions in an easier way. In this article, we introduce a method for the question/answer system that we have developed for the top-ranked electronic market in Iran called Divar. When it comes to secondhand products, incomplete product information in a purchase will result in loss to the buyer. One way to balance buyer and seller information of a product is to help the buyer ask more informative questions when purchasing. Also, the short time to start and achieve the desired result of the conversation was one of our main goals, which was achieved according to A/B tests results. In this paper, we propose and evaluate a method for suggesting questions and answers in the messaging platform of the e-commerce website Divar. Creating such systems is to help users gather knowledge about the product easier and faster, All from the Divar database. We collected a dataset of around 2 million messages in Persian colloquial language, and for each category of product, we gathered 500K messages, of which only 2K were Tagged, and semi-supervised methods were used. In order to publish the proposed model to production, it is required to be fast enough to process 10 million messages daily on CPU processors. In order to reach that speed, in many subtasks, faster and simplistic models are preferred over deep neural models. The proposed method, which requires only a small amount of labeled data, is currently used in Divar production on CPU processors, and 15% of buyers and seller’s messages in conversations is directly chosen from our model output, and more than 27% of buyers have used this model suggestions in at least one daily conversation.

Keywords: smart reply, spell checker, information retrieval, intent detection, question answering

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Authors: Berkan Ural, Arif Eser, Sinan Apaydin

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Medical image processing is generally become a challenging task nowadays. Indeed, processing of brain MRI images is one of the difficult parts of this area. This study proposes a hybrid well-defined approach which is consisted from tumor detection, extraction and analyzing steps. This approach is mainly consisted from a computer aided diagnostics system for identifying and detecting the tumor formation in any region of the brain and this system is commonly used for early prediction of brain tumor using advanced image processing and probabilistic neural network methods, respectively. For this approach, generally, some advanced noise removal functions, image processing methods such as automatic segmentation and morphological operations are used to detect the brain tumor boundaries and to obtain the important feature parameters of the tumor region. All stages of the approach are done specifically with using MATLAB software. Generally, for this approach, firstly tumor is successfully detected and the tumor area is contoured with a specific colored circle by the computer aided diagnostics program. Then, the tumor is segmented and some morphological processes are achieved to increase the visibility of the tumor area. Moreover, while this process continues, the tumor area and important shape based features are also calculated. Finally, with using the probabilistic neural network method and with using some advanced classification steps, tumor area and the type of the tumor are clearly obtained. Also, the future aim of this study is to detect the severity of lesions through classes of brain tumor which is achieved through advanced multi classification and neural network stages and creating a user friendly environment using GUI in MATLAB. In the experimental part of the study, generally, 100 images are used to train the diagnostics system and 100 out of sample images are also used to test and to check the whole results. The preliminary results demonstrate the high classification accuracy for the neural network structure. Finally, according to the results, this situation also motivates us to extend this framework to detect and localize the tumors in the other organs.

Keywords: image processing algorithms, magnetic resonance imaging, neural network, pattern recognition

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Authors: Daan F. Oostveen

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‘Religion’ as a term is not native to the Global East. The concept ‘religion’ is both understood in its meaning of ‘religious traditions’, commonly referring to the ‘World Religions’ and in its adjective meaning ‘the religious’ or ‘religiosity’ as a separate domain of human culture, commonly contrasted to the secular. Though neither of these understandings are native to the historical worldviews of East Asia, their development in modern Western scholarship has had an enormous impact on the self-understanding of cultural diversity in the Global East as well. One example is the identification and therefore elevation to the status of World Religion of ‘Buddhism’ which connected formerly dispersed religious practices throughout the Global East and subsumed them under this powerful label. On the other hand, we see how popular religiosity, shamanism and hybrid cultural expressions have become excluded from genuine religion; this had an immense impact on the sense of legitimacy of these practices, which became sometimes labeled as superstition are rejected as magic. Our theoretical frameworks on religion in the Global East do not always consider the complex power dynamics between religious actors, both elites and lay expressions of religion in everyday life, governments and religious studies scholars. In order to get a clear image of how religiosity functions in the context of the Global East, we have to take into account these power dynamics. What is important in particular is the issue of religious identity or absence of religious identity. The self-understanding of religious actors in the Global East is often very different from what scholars of religion observe. Religious practice, from an etic perspective, is often unrelated to religious identification from an emic perspective. But we also witness the rise of Christian churches in the Global East, in which religious identity and belonging does play a pivotal role. Finally, religion in the Global East has since the beginning of the 20th Century been conceptualized as the ‘other’ or republicanism or Marxist-Maoist ideology. It is important not to deny the key role of colonial thinking in the process of religion formation in the Global East. In this paper, it is argued that religious realities constituted emerging as a result from our theory of religion, and that these religious realities in turn inform our theory. Therefore, the relationship between phenomenology of religion and theory of religion can never be disentangled. In fact, we have to acknowledge that our conceptualizations of religious diversity are always already influenced by our valuation of those cultural expressions that we have come to call ‘religious’.

Keywords: global east, religion, religious belonging, secularity

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Authors: Ambra Giovannelli, Coriolano Salvini

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Many efforts have been spent in the design and development of Concentrated Solar Power (CPS) Plants worldwide. Most of them are for on-grid electricity generation and they are large plants which can benefit from the economies of scale. Nevertheless, several potential applications for Small and Medium-Scale CSP plants can be relevant in the industrial sector as well as for off-grid purposes (i.e. in rural contexts). In a wide range of industrial processes, CSP technologies can be used for heat generation replacing conventional primary sources. For such market, proven technologies (usually hybrid solutions) already exist: more than 100 installations, especially in developing countries, are in operation and performance can be verified. On the other hand, concerning off-grid applications, solar technologies are not so mature. Even if the market offers a potential deployment of such systems, especially in countries where the access to grid is strongly limited, optimized solutions have not been developed yet. In this context, steam power plants can be taken into consideration for medium scale installations, due to the recent results achieved with direct steam generation systems based on paraboloidal dish or Fresnel lens solar concentrators. Steam at 4.0-4.5 MPa and 500°C can be produced directly by means of innovative solar receivers (some prototypes already exist). Although it could seem a promising technology, presently, steam turbines commercially available do not cover the required cycle specifications. In particular, while low-pressure turbines already exist on the market, high-pressure groups, necessary for the abovementioned applications, are not available. The present paper deals with the preliminary design of a high-pressure steam turbine group for a medium-scale CSP plant (200-1000 kWe). Such a group is arranged in a single geared package composed of four radial expander wheels. Such wheels have been chosen on the basis of automotive turbocharging technology and then modified to take the new requirements into account. Results related to the preliminary geometry selection and to the analysis of the high-pressure turbine group performance are reported and widely discussed.

Keywords: concentrated solar power (CSP) plants, steam turbine, radial turbine, medium-scale power plants

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Authors: Hans Tjio, Wee Meng Seng

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The interaction of contract and property has always been a concern in corporate and commercial law, where there are internal structures created that may not match the externally perceived image generated by the labels attached to those structures. We will focus, in particular, on the priority structures created by affirmative asset partitioning, which have increasingly come under challenge by those attempting to negotiate around them. The most prominent has been the AT1 bonds issued by Credit Suisse which were wiped out before its equity when the troubled bank was acquired by UBS. However, this should not have come as a surprise to those whose “bonds” had similarly been “redeemed” upon the occurrence of certain reference events in countries like Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan during their Minibond crisis linked to US sub-prime defaults. These were derivatives classified as debentures and sold as such. At the same time, we are again witnessing “liabilities” seemingly ranking higher up the balance sheet ladder, finding themselves lowered in events of default. We will examine the mechanisms holders of perpetual securities or preference shares have tried to use to protect themselves. This is happening against a backdrop that sees a rise in the strength of private credit and inter-creditor conflicts. The restructuring regime of the hybrid scheme in Singapore now, while adopting the absolute priority rule in Chapter 11 as the quid pro quo for creditor cramdown, does not apply to shareholders and so exempts them from cramdown. Complicating the picture further, shareholders are not exempted from cramdown in the Dutch scheme, but it adopts a relative priority rule. At the same time, the important UK Supreme Court decision in BTI 2014 LLC v Sequana [2022] UKSC 25 has held that directors’ duties to take account of creditor interests are activated only when a company is almost insolvent. All this has been complicated by digital assets created by businesses. Investors are quite happy to have them classified as property (like a thing) when it comes to their transferability, but then when the issuer defaults to have them seen as a claim on the business (as a choice in action), that puts them at the level of a creditor. But these hidden interests will not show themselves on an issuer’s balance sheet until it is too late to be considered and yet if accepted, may also prevent any meaningful restructuring.

Keywords: asset partitioning, creditor priority, restructuring, BTI v Sequana, digital assets

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Authors: Ana Bilandzic, Marcus Foth, Greg Hearn

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In a narrow sense, innovation is the invention and commercialisation of a new product or service in the marketplace. The literature suggests places that support knowledge exchange and social interaction, e.g. coffee shops, to nurture innovative ideas. With the widespread success of Internet, interpersonal communication and interaction changed. Online platforms complement physical places for idea exchange and innovation – the rise of hybrid, ‘net localities.’ Further, since its introduction in 2003 by Chesbrough, the concept of open innovation received increased attention as a topic in academic research as well as an innovation strategy applied by companies. Open innovation allows companies to seek and release intellectual property and new ideas from outside of their own company. As a consequence, the innovation process is no longer only managed within the company, but it is pursued in a co-creation process with customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders. Quirky.com (Quirky), a company founded by Ben Kaufman in 2009, recognised the opportunity given by the Internet for knowledge exchange and open innovation. Quirky developed an online platform that makes innovation available to everyone. This paper reports on a study that analysed Quirky’s business process in an extended event-driven process chain (eEPC). The aim was to determine how the platform enabled crowdsourced innovation for physical products on the Internet. The analysis reveals that key elements of the business model are based on open innovation. Quirky is an example of how open innovation can support crowdsourced and crowdfunded product ideation, development and selling. The company opened up various stages in the innovation process to its members to contribute in the product development, e.g. product ideation, design, and market research. Throughout the process, members earn influence through participating in the product development. Based on the influence they receive, shares on the product’s turnover. The outcomes of the study’s analysis highlighted certain benefits of open innovation for product development. The paper concludes with recommendations for future research to look into opportunities of open innovation approaches to be adopted by tertiary institutions as a novel way to commercialise research intellectual property.

Keywords: business process, crowdsourced innovation, open innovation, Quirky

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Authors: Iris Xiaohong Quan

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The global digital health market reached 175 billion U.S. dollars in 2019, and is expected to grow at about 25% CAGR to over 650 billion USD by 2025. Different terms such as digital health, e-health, mHealth, telehealth have been used in the field, which can sometimes cause confusion. The term digital health was originally introduced to refer specifically to the use of interactive media, tools, platforms, applications, and solutions that are connected to the Internet to address health concerns of providers as well as consumers. While mHealth emphasizes the use of mobile phones in healthcare, telehealth means using technology to remotely deliver clinical health services to patients. According to FDA, “the broad scope of digital health includes categories such as mobile health (mHealth), health information technology (IT), wearable devices, telehealth and telemedicine, and personalized medicine.” Some researchers believe that digital health is nothing else but the cultural transformation healthcare has been going through in the 21st century because of digital health technologies that provide data to both patients and medical professionals. As digital health is burgeoning, but research in the area is still inadequate, our paper aims to clear the definition confusion and provide an overall picture of digital health companies. We further investigate how business models are designed and differentiated in the emerging digital health sector. Both quantitative and qualitative methods are adopted in the research. For the quantitative analysis, our research data came from two databases Crunchbase and CBInsights, which are well-recognized information sources for researchers, entrepreneurs, managers, and investors. We searched a few keywords in the Crunchbase database based on companies’ self-description: digital health, e-health, and telehealth. A search of “digital health” returned 941 unique results, “e-health” returned 167 companies, while “telehealth” 427. We also searched the CBInsights database for similar information. After merging and removing duplicate ones and cleaning up the database, we came up with a list of 1464 companies as digital health companies. A qualitative method will be used to complement the quantitative analysis. We will do an in-depth case analysis of three successful unicorn digital health companies to understand how business models evolve and discuss the challenges faced in this sector. Our research returned some interesting findings. For instance, we found that 86% of the digital health startups were founded in the recent decade since 2010. 75% of the digital health companies have less than 50 employees, and almost 50% with less than 10 employees. This shows that digital health companies are relatively young and small in scale. On the business model analysis, while traditional healthcare businesses emphasize the so-called “3P”—patient, physicians, and payer, digital health companies extend to “5p” by adding patents, which is the result of technology requirements (such as the development of artificial intelligence models), and platform, which is an effective value creation approach to bring the stakeholders together. Our case analysis will detail the 5p framework and contribute to the extant knowledge on business models in the healthcare industry.

Keywords: digital health, business models, entrepreneurship opportunities, healthcare

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Authors: Manpreet Kaur, Cheol-Hong Min

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The increasing advancement in the robotics equipped with machine vision sensors applied to precision agriculture is a demanding solution for various problems in the agricultural farms. An important issue related with the machine vision system concerns crop row and weed detection. This paper proposes an automatic furrow detection system based on real-time processing for identifying crop rows in maize fields in the presence of weed. This vision system is designed to be installed on the farming vehicles, that is, submitted to gyros, vibration and other undesired movements. The images are captured under image perspective, being affected by above undesired effects. The goal is to identify crop rows for vehicle navigation which includes weed removal, where weeds are identified as plants outside the crop rows. The images quality is affected by different lighting conditions and gaps along the crop rows due to lack of germination and wrong plantation. The proposed image processing method consists of four different processes. First, image segmentation based on HSV (Hue, Saturation, Value) decision tree. The proposed algorithm used HSV color space to discriminate crops, weeds and soil. The region of interest is defined by filtering each of the HSV channels between maximum and minimum threshold values. Then the noises in the images were eliminated by the means of hybrid median filter. Further, mathematical morphological processes, i.e., erosion to remove smaller objects followed by dilation to gradually enlarge the boundaries of regions of foreground pixels was applied. It enhances the image contrast. To accurately detect the position of crop rows, the region of interest is defined by creating a binary mask. The edge detection and Hough transform were applied to detect lines represented in polar coordinates and furrow directions as accumulations on the angle axis in the Hough space. The experimental results show that the method is effective.

Keywords: furrow detection, morphological, HSV, Hough transform

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Authors: Ahilya Singh, Brad Carte, Ramesh Subramani, William Aalbersberg

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A total of 37 actinomycete strains were purified from 25 Solomon Islands marine sediments using four different types of isolation media. Among them, 54% of the strains had obligate requirement of seawater for growth. The ethyl acetate extract of 100 ml fermentation product of each strain was screened for antimicrobial activity against multidrug resistant human pathogens and cytotoxic activity against brine shrimps. A total of 67% of the ethyl acetate extracts showed antimicrobial and/or cytotoxic activities. A strain F-1915 was selected for isolation and evaluation of bioactive compound(s) based on its bioactive properties and chemical profile analysis using the LC-MS. The strain F-1915 was identified to have 96% sequence similarity to Streptomyces violaceusniger on the basis of 16S rDNA sequences using BLAST analysis. The 16S rDNA revealed that the strain F-1915 is a new member of MAR4 clade of actinomycetes. The MAR4 clade is an interesting clade of actinomycetes known for the production of pharmaceutically important hybrid isoprenoid compounds. The ethyl acetate extract of the fermentation product of this strain was purified by silica gel column chromatography and afforded the isolation of one bioactive pure compound. Based on the 1D and 2D NMR spectral data of compound 1 it was identified as a new mono-brominated phenazinone, Marinophenazimycin A, a structure which has already been studied by external collaborators at Scripps Institution of Oceanography but is yet to be published. Compound 1 displayed significant antimicrobial activity against drug resistant human pathogens. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of compound 1 was against Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was about 1.9 μg/ml and MIC recorded against Amphotericin Resistant Candida albicans (ARCA) was about 0.24 μg/ml. The bioactivity of compound 1 against ARCA was found to be better than the standard antifungal agent amphotericin B. Compound 1 however did not show any cytotoxic activity against brine shrimps.

Keywords: actinomycetes, antimicrobial activity, brominated phenazine, MAR4 clade, marine natural products, multidrug resistent, 1D and 2D NMR

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Authors: Desmond Young

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In building services electrical design, a key element of any project will be assessing the electrical load requirements. This needs to be done early in the design process to allow the selection of infrastructure that would be required to meet the electrical needs of the type of building. The type of building will define the type of assessment made, and the values applied in defining the maximum demand for the building, and ultimately the size of supply or infrastructure required, and the application that needs to be made to the distribution network operator, or alternatively to an independent network operator. The fact that this assessment needs to be undertaken early in the design process provides limits on the type of assessment that can be used, as different methods require different types of information, and sometimes this information is not available until the latter stages of a project. A common method applied in the earlier design stages of a project, typically during stages 1,2 & 3, is the use of benchmarks. It is a possibility that some of the benchmarks applied are excessive in relation to the current loads that exist in a modern installation. This lack of accuracy is based on information which does not correspond to the actual equipment loads that are used. This includes lighting and small power loads, where the use of more efficient equipment and lighting has reduced the maximum demand required. The electrical load can be used as part of the process to assess the heat generated from the equipment, with the heat gains from other sources, this feeds into the sizing of the infrastructure required to cool the building. Any overestimation of the loads would contribute to the increase in the design load for the heating and ventilation systems. Finally, with the new policies driving the industry to decarbonise buildings, a prime example being the recently introduced London Plan, loads are potentially going to increase. In addition, with the advent of the pandemic and changes to working practices, and the adoption of electric heating and vehicles, a better understanding of the loads that should be applied will aid in ensuring that infrastructure is not oversized, as a cost to the client, or undersized to the detriment of the building. In addition, more accurate benchmarks and methods will allow assessments to be made for the incorporation of energy storage and renewable technologies as these technologies become more common in buildings new or refurbished.

Keywords: energy, ADMD, electrical load assessment, energy benchmarks

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Authors: Magdalena Suárez-Ortega, M. Fe. Sánchez-García

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This paper focuses on the analysis of the motivations that lead people to undertake and consolidate their business. It is addressed from the framework of planned behavior theory, which recognizes the importance of the social environment and cultural values, both in the decision to undertake business and in business consolidation. Similarly, it is also based on theories of career development, which emphasize the importance of career management competencies and their connections to other vital aspects of people, including their roles within their families and other personal activities. This connects directly with the impact of entrepreneurship on the career and the professional-personal project of each individual. This study is part of the project titled Career Design and Talent Management (Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain, State Plan 2013-2016 Excellence Ref. EDU2013-45704-P). The aim of the study is to identify and describe entrepreneurial competencies and motivational profiles in a sample of 248 Spanish entrepreneurs, considering the consolidated profile and the profile in transition (n = 248).In order to obtain the information, the Questionnaire of Motivation and conditioners of the entrepreneurial career (MCEC) has been applied. This consists of 67 items and includes four scales (E1-Conflicts in conciliation, E2-Satisfaction in the career path, E3-Motivations to undertake, E4-Guidance Needs). Cluster analysis (mixed method, combining k-means clustering with a hierarchical method) was carried out, characterizing the groups profiles according to the categorical variables (chi square, p = 0.05), and the quantitative variables (ANOVA). The results have allowed us to characterize three motivational profiles relevant to the motivation, the degree of conciliation between personal and professional life, and the degree of conflict in conciliation, levels of career satisfaction and orientation needs (in the entrepreneurial project and life-career). The first profile is formed by extrinsically motivated entrepreneurs, professionally satisfied and without conflict of vital roles. The second profile acts with intrinsic motivation and also associated with family models, and although it shows satisfaction with their professional career, it finds a high conflict in their family and professional life. The third is composed of entrepreneurs with high extrinsic motivation, professional dissatisfaction and at the same time, feel the conflict in their professional life by the effect of personal roles. Ultimately, the analysis has allowed us to line the kinds of entrepreneurs to different levels of motivation, satisfaction, needs and articulation in professional and personal life, showing characterizations associated with the use of time for leisure, and the care of the family. Associations related to gender, age, activity sector, environment (rural, urban, virtual), and the use of time for domestic tasks are not identified. The model obtained and its implications for the design of training actions and orientation to entrepreneurs is also discussed.

Keywords: motivation, entrepreneurial career, guidance needs, life-work balance, job satisfaction, assessment

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Authors: Robertson Freeman

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The prime objective of this research is to examine income inequality and its effects on household livelihoods in Parker Paint. Many researchers failed to address the potential threat of income inequality on diverse household livelihood indicators, including health, food, housing, transport and many others. They examine and generalize the effects of income differentials on household livelihoods by addressing one indicator of livelihood security. This research fills the loopholes of previous research by examining the effects of income inequality and how it affects the livelihoods of households, taking into consideration livelihood indicators including health, food security, and transport. The researcher employed the mixed research method to analyze the distribution of income and solicit opinions of household heads on the effects of their monthly income on their livelihoods. Age and sex structure, household composition, type of employment and educational status influence income inequality. The level of income, Lorenz curve and the Gini coefficient was mutually employed to calculate and determine the level of income inequality. One hundred eighty-two representing 96% of household heads are employed while 8, representing 4%, are unemployed. However, out of a total number of 182 employed, representing 96%, 27 people representing 14%, are employed in the formal private sector, while 110, representing 58%, are employed in the private informal sector. Monthly average income, savings, investments and unexpected circumstances affect the livelihood of households. Infrastructural development and wellbeing should be pursued by reducing expenditure earmarked in other sectors and channeling the funds towards the provision of household needs. One of the potent tools for consolidating household livelihoods is to initiate livelihood empowerment programs. Government and private sector agencies should establish more health insurance schemes, providing mosquito nets, immunization services, public transport, as well as embarking on feeding programs, especially in the remote areas of Parker paint. To climax the research findings, self-employment, entrepreneurship and the general private sector employment is a transparent double-edged sword. If employed in the private sector, there is the likelihood to increase one’s income. However, this also induces the income gap between the rich and poor since many people are exploited by affluence, thereby relegating the poor from the wealth hierarchy. Age and sex structure, as well as type of employment, should not be overlooked since they all play fundamental roles in influencing income inequality. Savings and investments seem to play a positive role in reducing income inequality. However, savings and investment in this research affect livelihoods negatively. It behooves mankind to strive and work hard to the best of ability in earning sufficient income and embracing measures to retain his financial strength. In so doing, people will be able to provide basic household needs, celebrate the reduction in unemployment and dependence and finally ensure sustainable livelihoods.

Keywords: income, inequality, livelihood, pakerpaint

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Authors: Tania Ali Soomro

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In 1839, the British, after the annexation of the port city of Karachi, established a new urban centre consisting of various quarters and introduced new settlements there. These quarters were out of the boundaries of fortified native old area and now contain much of the oldest parts of the city and signify the colonial history of Karachi, in particular the Saddar Bazaar and the neighboring areas of Kharadar and Mithadar. These quarters bestow a mix of functional typology built in a hybrid form of construction - an adaptation of the western architectural attributes to regional requirements and characteristics. This approach is referred to as the Anglo Vernacular, Colonial or the Domestic Gothic architectural form. This research paper investigates the historical and architectural value of one such property: the Empress Market designed by then Municipal Architect, Ar. James Strachan in 1889 as a commemorative monument for the jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen Victoria; Empress of British India, at that time. This paper presents information on the present conservation status of the market building and highlights its role as a catalyst to the community interconnection. This building has survived to present day and functioned well, despite undergoing numerous transformations. A detailed analysis of the bio-degradation (Natural-Chemical dissolution of material) and the bio-deterioration (Manmade-Negative state change of the material) of the building, based on the examination of the prevailing causes of these bio-alterations is carried out, and is presented in form of a damage atlas containing both the categories of bio-alteration/ changes occurred to the building over the time. The research methodology followed in this paper starts with the available archival analysis, physical observation, photographic documentation, the statistics review and the interviews with the direct and indirect stakeholders. The results and findings of this research portray that these bio-alterations and changes are the essential part of the life cycle of Empress Market building which illustrate the historic development of the premise and therefore ought to be given due importance (depending upon their condition) while developing the conservation plan for the building.

Keywords: British colonial architecture, bio-alteration, bio-degradation, bio-deterioration, domestic gothic architectural form

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Authors: Adedolapo Taiwo Adeyemi, Success Ayodeji Fasanmi

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The emergence of the coronavirus pandemic and the rate of the spread affected a lot of activities across the world. This led to the introduction of online learning modes in several countries after institutions were shut down. Unfortunately, most public universities in Nigeria could not switch to the online mode because they were not prepared for it, as they do not have the technological capacity to support a full online learning mode. This study examines the readiness of university and the attitude of undergraduates towards online learning mode in Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife. It investigated the skills and competencies of students for online learning as well as the university’s readiness towards online learning mode; the effort was made to identify challenges of online teaching and learning in the study area, and suggested solutions were advanced. OAU was selected because it is adjudged to be the leading Information and Communication Technology (ICT) driven institution in Nigeria. The descriptive survey research design was used for the study. A total of 256 academic staff and 1503 undergraduates were selected across six faculties out of the thirteen faculties in the University. Two set of questionnaires were used to get responses from the selected respondents. The result showed that students have the skills and competence to operate e-learning facilities but are faced with challenges such as high data cost, erratic power supply, and lack of gadgets, among others. The study found out that the university was not prepared for online learning mode as it lacks basic technological facilities to support it. The study equally showed that while lecturers possess certain skills in using some e-learning applications, they were limited by the unavailability of online support gadgets, poor internet connectivity, and unstable power supply. Furthermore, the assessment of student attitude towards online learning mode shows that the students found the online learning mode very challenging as they had to bear the huge cost of data. Lecturers also faced the same challenge as they had to pay a lot to buy data, and the networks were sometimes unstable. The study recommended that adequate funding needs to be provided to public universities by the government while the management of institutions must build technological capacities to support online learning mode in the hybrid form and on a full basis in case of future emergencies.

Keywords: universities, online learning, undergraduates, attitude

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Authors: Md Maruf Hossain Koli

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The issue of child labor is enormous and cannot be ignored in Bangladesh. The problem of child exploitation is a socio-economic reality of Bangladesh. This paper will indicate the causes, consequences, and possibilities of using microfinance as remedies of hazardous child labor in Bangladesh. Poverty is one of the main reasons for children to become child laborers. It is an indication of economic vulnerability, inadequate law, and enforcement system and cultural and social inequities along with the inaccessible and low-quality educational system. An attempt will be made in this paper to explore and analyze child labor scenario in Bangladesh and will explain holistic intervention of BRAC, the largest nongovernmental organization in the world to address child labor through promoting incubation support to youth-led enterprises. A combination of research methods were used to write this paper. These include non-reactive observation in the form of literature review, desk studies as well as reactive observation like site visits and, semi-structured interviews. Hazardous Child labor is a multi-dimensional and complex issue. This paper was guided by the answer following research questions to better understand the current context of hazardous child labor in Bangladesh, especially in Dhaka city. The author attempted to figure out why child labor should be considered as a development issue? Further, it also encountered why child labor in Bangladesh is not being reduced at an expected pace? And finally what could be a sustainable solution to eradicate this situation. One of the most challenging characteristics of child labor is that it interrupts a child’s education and cognitive development hence limiting the building of human capital and fostering intergenerational reproduction of poverty and social exclusion. Children who are working full-time and do not attend school, cannot develop the necessary skills. This leads them and their future generation to remain in poor socio-economic condition as they do not get a better paying job. The vicious cycle of poverty will be reproduced and will slow down sustainable development. The outcome of the research suggests that most of the parents send their children to work to help them to increase family income. In addition, most of the youth engaged in hazardous work want to get training, mentoring and easy access to finance to start their own business. The intervention of BRAC that includes classroom and on the job training, tailored mentoring, health support, access to microfinance and insurance help them to establish startup. This intervention is working in developing business and management capacity through public-private partnerships and technical consulting. Supporting entrepreneurs, improving working conditions with micro, small and medium enterprises and strengthening value chains focusing on youth and children engaged with hazardous child labor.

Keywords: child labour, enterprise development, microfinance, youth entrepreneurship

Procedia PDF Downloads 101

Authors: Vineeta Sirohi

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The development of critical skills and competencies becomes imperative for young people to cope with the unpredicted challenges of the time and prepare for work and life. Recognizing that education has a critical role in reaching sustainability goals as emphasized by 2030 agenda for sustainability development, educating youth in global competence, meta-cognitive competencies, and skills from the initial stages of formal education are vital. Further, educating for global competence would help in developing work readiness and boost employability. Vocational education and training in India as envisaged in various policy documents remain marginalized in practice as compared to general education. The country is still far away from the national policy goal of tracking 25% of the secondary students at grade eleven and twelve under the vocational stream. In recent years, the importance of skill development has been recognized in the present context of globalization and change in the demographic structure of the Indian population. As a result, it has become a national policy priority and taken up with renewed focus by the government, which has set the target of skilling 500 million people by 2022. This paper provides an overview of the policies, practices, and current status of vocational education and training in India supported by statistics from the National Sample Survey, the official statistics of India. The national policy documents and annual reports of the organizations actively involved in vocational education and training have also been examined to capture relevant data and information. It has also highlighted major initiatives taken by the government to promote skill development. The data indicates that in the age group 15-59 years, only 2.2 percent reported having received formal vocational training, and 8.6 percent have received non-formal vocational training, whereas 88.3 percent did not receive any vocational training. At present, the coverage of vocational education is abysmal as less than 5 percent of the students are covered by the vocational education programme. Besides, launching various schemes to address the mismatch of skills supply and demand, the government through its National Policy on Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015 proposes to bring about inclusivity by bridging the gender, social and sectoral divide, ensuring that the skilling needs of socially disadvantaged and marginalized groups are appropriately addressed. It is fundamental that the curriculum is aligned with the demands of the labor market, incorporating more of the entrepreneur skills. Creating nonfarm employment opportunities for educated youth will be a challenge for the country in the near future. Hence, there is a need to formulate specific skill development programs for this sector and also programs for upgrading their skills to enhance their employability. There is a need to promote female participation in work and in non-traditional courses. Moreover, rigorous research and development of a robust information base for skills are required to inform policy decisions on vocational education and training.

Keywords: policy, skill, training, vocational education

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Authors: Idowu Olugbenga Adewumi, Foluke Iyabo Oluwatoyinbo

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Presently, there are several discussions on the food security with increase in yield of arable crop throughout the world. This article, briefly present research efforts to create digital interfaces to nature, in particular to area of crop production in agriculture with increase in yield with interest on pervasive computing. The approach goes beyond the use of sensor networks for environmental monitoring but also by emphasizing the development of a system architecture that detect intruder (Intrusion Process) which reduce the yield of the farmer at the end of the planting/harvesting period. The objective of the work is to set a model for setting up the hand held or portable device for increasing the quality and quantity of arable crop. This process incorporates the use of infrared motion image sensor with security alarm system which can send a noise signal to intruder on the farm. This model of the portable image sensing device in monitoring or scaring human, rodent, birds and even pests activities will reduce post harvest loss which will increase the yield on farm. The nano intelligence technology was proposed to combat and minimize intrusion process that usually leads to low quality and quantity of produce from farm. Intranet system will be in place with wireless radio (WLAN), router, server, and client computer system or hand held device e.g PDAs or mobile phone. This approach enables the development of hybrid systems which will be effective as a security measure on farm. Since, precision agriculture has developed with the computerization of agricultural production systems and the networking of computerized control systems. In the intelligent plant production system of controlled greenhouses, information on plant responses, measured by sensors, is used to optimize the system. Further work must be carry out on modeling using pervasive computing environment to solve problems of agriculture, as the use of electronics in agriculture will attracts more youth involvement in the industry.

Keywords: pervasive computing, intrusion detection, precision agriculture, security, arable crop

Procedia PDF Downloads 382

Authors: Anishur Rahman, Maria Areias, Diogo Simões, Ana Figeuiredo, Filipa Figueiredo, João Nunes

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The circular economy (CE) has gained increased awareness among academics, businesses, and decision-makers as it stimulates resource circularity in the production and consumption systems. A large epistemological study has explored the principles of CE, but scant attention eagerly focused on analysing how CE is evaluated, consented to, and enforced using economic metabolism data and business intelligent framework. Economic metabolism involves the ongoing exchange of materials and energy within and across socio-economic systems and requires the assessment of vast amounts of data to provide quantitative analysis related to effective resource management. Limited concern, the present work has focused on the regional flows pilot region from Portugal. By addressing this gap, this study aims to promote eco-innovation and sustainability in the regions of Intermunicipal Communities Região de Coimbra, Viseu Dão Lafões and Beiras e Serra da Estrela, using this data to find precise synergies in terms of material flows and give companies a competitive advantage in form of valuable waste destinations, access to new resources and new markets, cost reduction and risk sharing benefits. In our work, emphasis on applying artificial intelligence (AI) and, more specifically, on implementing state-of-the-art deep learning algorithms is placed, contributing to construction a business intelligent approach. With the emergence of new approaches generally highlighted under the sub-heading of AI and machine learning (ML), the methods for statistical analysis of complex and uncertain production systems are facing significant changes. Therefore, various definitions of AI and its differences from traditional statistics are presented, and furthermore, ML is introduced to identify its place in data science and the differences in topics such as big data analytics and in production problems that using AI and ML are identified. A lifecycle-based approach is then taken to analyse the use of different methods in each phase to identify the most useful technologies and unifying attributes of AI in manufacturing. Most of macroeconomic metabolisms models are mainly direct to contexts of large metropolis, neglecting rural territories, so within this project, a dynamic decision support model coupled with artificial intelligence tools and information platforms will be developed, focused on the reality of these transition zones between the rural and urban. Thus, a real decision support tool is under development, which will surpass the scientific developments carried out to date and will allow to overcome imitations related to the availability and reliability of data.

Keywords: circular economy, artificial intelligence, economic metabolisms, machine learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 45