Search results for: marketing culture

Authors: Eva Čáslavová, Andrej Višněvský

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This research focused on the dimensions of brand personality of the Ice Hockey World Championship sporting event. The authors compared the elements in relation to different demographic groups including gender, age, level of education and student status of the population of Prague. Moreover, the differences of opinions of respondents who had experience of visiting a sports event and those who had not were assessed. In the research, the modified brand personality scale was used. This modified scale consists of five dimensions: responsibility, activity, toughness, individuality and emotionality, none of which was previously tested. The authors had an intentional sample of 291 respondents from Prague available, ranging in age from 18 years to 75 years, with either a high school or university education. The respondents rated the characteristic features in a seven-point Likert Scale and the data was collected in November 2012. The results suggest that the Ice Hockey World Championship is most identified with these dimensions: responsibility, emotionality and activity. Men had higher mean scores (4.93) on the Likert Scale in the emotionality dimension, while women had higher mean scores (4.91) in the activity dimension. Those respondents with experience visiting an Ice Hockey World Championship match had the highest mean score (5.10) in the emotionality dimension. This research had expected to show more pronounced mean values (above six) on the Likert scale in the emotionality and activity dimensions that more strongly characterize the brand personality of the Ice Hockey World Championship, however this expectation was not confirmed.

Keywords: dimensions, brand personality, ice hockey, international sports event, marketing

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Authors: Prachi Abhishek Dave, Manisha Singh

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Purpose: The purpose is to study the microbiological profile, prognostic factors, and outcomes of surgery for microbial keratitis (MK) associated endophthalmitis. Methods: It is a retrospective analysis of 39 MK associated endophthalmitis cases which underwent combined PKP with VR surgery. Results: The majority (84.6%) of patients had a history of previous ocular surgery, cataract surgery being the most common (51.2%). Six patients had a history of trauma and 8 patients had corneal graft infection. The culture positivity rate was 92.3%. Organisms isolated were Streptococcal sp (20.5%), Pseudomonas (15.3%), Staphylococcal sp (12.8%) and Fungus (35.8%). Final visual acuities ranged from NPL to 20/120. Poor anatomic success was seen in 15(38.46%) eyes (9-phthisis, 6-eviscerated). Fungal cases had a poor success rate (P-0.02). Conclusion: MK associated endophthalmitis is a sight threatening ocular condition. Fungal etiology carries a poorer prognosis. Timely surgical intervention can achieve favourable anatomical and functional results.

Keywords: endophthalmitis, microbial keratitis, penetrating keratoplasty, vitreo retinal surgery

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Authors: Jutamas Wisansing, Thanakarn Vongvisitsin, Udom Hongchatikul

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Food could be used to open up a dialogue about local heritage. Contributing to the world sustainable consumption mission, this research aims to explore the linkages between agriculture, senses of place and performing arts. Thailand and its destination marketing ‘Discover Thainess’ was selected as a working principle, enabling a case example of how the three elements could be conceptualized. The model offered an integrated institutional arrangement where diverse entities could be formed to design how Thainess (local heritage) could be interpreted and embedded into an art of food. Using case study research approach, three areas (Chiangmai, Samutsongkram and Ban Rai Gong King) representing 3 different scales of tourism development were selected. Based on a theoretical analysis, a working model was formulated. An action research was then designed to experiment how the model could be materialized. Brainstorming elicitation and in-depth interview were employed to reflect on how each element could be integrated. The result of this study offered an innovation on how food tourism could be profoundly interpreted and how tourism development could enhance value creation for agricultural based community. The outcomes of the research present co-creative multi-stakeholder model and the value creation method through the whole supply chain of Thai gastronomy. The findings have been eventually incorporated into ‘gastro-diplomacy’ strategy for Thai tourism.

Keywords: community-based tourism, gastro-diplomacy, gastronomy tourism, sustainable tourism development

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Authors: Asimina Paparrigopoulou, John Pavlopoulos, Maria Konstantinidou

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Dating papyri accurately is crucial not only to editing their texts but also for our understanding of palaeography and the history of writing, ancient scholarship, material culture, networks in antiquity, etc. Most ancient manuscripts offer little evidence regarding the time of their production, forcing papyrologists to date them on palaeographical grounds, a method often criticized for its subjectivity. By experimenting with data obtained from the Collaborative Database of Dateable Greek Bookhands and the PapPal online collections of objectively dated Greek papyri, this study shows that deep learning dating models, pre-trained on generic images, can achieve accurate chronological estimates for a test subset (67,97% accuracy for book hands and 55,25% for documents). To compare the estimates of these models with those of humans, experts were asked to complete a questionnaire with samples of literary and documentary hands that had to be sorted chronologically by century. The same samples were dated by the models in question. The results are presented and analysed.

Keywords: image classification, papyri images, dating

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Authors: Catharina O. Vianna Dias da Silva, Amanda F. Batista, Ana Clara C. Burgos Lessa, Carolina S. Lucchesi Ramacciotti, Maria Clara B. de Andrade, Roberto de B. Silva

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This article aims to analyze the bioethical aspects related to the historical practices of experiments on humans that occurred in Nazi Germany during the period of World War II (1939-1945). The method was based on the bibliographic review of articles published in databases such as SciELO and Pubmed. In the discussion, historical and humanistic aspects that contributed to the construction of a genocidal culture practiced during this period were analyzed. Additionally, an ethical question arises: should the information acquired during this dark period be used by science? After analysis, it was found that these Nazi experiments went over medical and ethical principles, being a deplorable milestone in history. It was also concluded that, although they generated potentially 'useful' results in the scientific field, they should be discarded as an ethical question of principle, of never daring to validate such a deplorable way of obtaining knowledge.

Keywords: Nazism, bioethics, human experimentation, human rights, genocide, torture, medicine

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Authors: Edward C. Smith

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Historical narration in literature and film is an act that necessarily develops and deforms history, whether consciously or unconsciously. Such “translation” suffers or thrives depending on its historical context and on the ability of the artist/artists to make choices that enhance or diminish social and political reality. This “translation” and its challenges is examined from within the historical and political context of the 1930 Berlin film premiere of “All Quiet on the Western Front,” a film based on Erich Maria Remarque’s 1928 best-selling novel. Both the film and the novel appeared during a period in which the “aestheticization” of reality predominated. This was an era in early 20th-century European society in which life was conceived of as innately artistic and structured like an art form. The emergence of this modern consciousness, one in which memory and history surrendered their former authority, enabled conservative propaganda of the period to denounce all art that did not adhere conceptually to its political tenets, with “All Quiet” becoming yet another of its “victims.”

Keywords: documentary and propaganda film, film and TV audiences, international literature in film studies, popular culture and film

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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: Claudio Lamilla, Misael Riquelme, Victoria Saez, Fernanda Sepulveda, Monica Pavez, Leticia Barrientos

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Biosurfactants are compounds synthesized by microorganisms that show various chemical structures, including glycolipids, lipopeptides, polysaccharide-protein complex, phospholipids, and fatty acids. These molecules have attracted attention in recent years due to the amphipathic nature of these compounds, which allows their application in various activities related to emulsification, foaming, detergency, wetting, dispersion and solubilization of hydrophobic compounds. Microorganisms that produce biosurfactants are ubiquitous, not only present in water, soil, and sediments but in extreme conditions of pH, salinity or temperature such as those present in Antarctic ecosystems. Due to this, it is of interest to study biosurfactants producing bacterial strains isolated from Antarctic environments, with the potential to be used in various biotechnological processes. The objective of this research was to characterize biosurfactants produced by bacterial strains isolated from Antarctic environments, with potential use in biotechnological processes for the cleaning of sites contaminated with hydrocarbons. The samples were collected from soils and sediments in the South Shetland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula, during the Antarctic Research Expedition INACH 2016, from both pristine and human occupied areas (influenced). The bacteria isolation was performed from solid R2A, M1 and LB media. The selection of strains producing biosurfactants was done by hemolysis test on blood agar plates (5%) and blue agar (CTAB). From 280 isolates, it was determined that 10 bacterial strains produced biosurfactants after stimulation with different carbon sources. 16S rDNA taxonomic markers, using the universal primers 27F-1492R, were used to identify these bacterias. Biosurfactants production was carried out in 250 ml flasks using Bushnell Hass liquid culture medium enriched with different carbon sources (olive oil, glucose, glycerol, and hexadecane) during seven days under constant stirring at 20°C. Each cell-free supernatant was characterized by physicochemical parameters including drop collapse, emulsification and oil displacement, as well as stability at different temperatures, salinity, and pH. In addition, the surface tension of each supernatant was quantified using a tensiometer. The strains with the highest activity were selected, and the production of biosurfactants was stimulated in six liters of culture medium. Biosurfactants were extracted from the supernatants with chloroform methanol (2:1). These biosurfactants were tested against crude oil and motor oil, to evaluate their displacement activity (detergency). The characterization by physicochemical properties of 10 supernatants showed that 80% of them produced the drop collapse, 60% had stability at different temperatures, and 90% had detergency activity in motor and olive oil. The biosurfactants obtained from two bacterial strains showed a high activity of dispersion of crude oil and motor oil with halos superior to 10 cm. We can conclude that bacteria isolated from Antarctic soils and sediments provide biological material of high quality for the production of biosurfactants, with potential applications in the biotechnological industry, especially in hydrocarbons -contaminated areas such as petroleum.

Keywords: antarctic, bacteria, biosurfactants, hydrocarbons

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Authors: Z. Hormozi Moghaddam, M. Mokhtari-Dizaji, M. Movahedin, M. E. Ravari

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Mechanical index (MI) is used for quantifying acoustic cavitation and the relationship between acoustic pressure and the frequency. In this study, modeling of the MI was applied to provide treatment protocol and to understand the effective physical processes on reproducibility of stem cells. The acoustic pressure and MI equations are modeled and solved to estimate optimal MI for 28, 40, 150 kHz and 1 MHz frequencies. Radial and axial acoustic pressure distribution was extracted. To validate the results of the modeling, the acoustic pressure in the water and near field depth was measured by a piston hydrophone. Results of modeling and experiments show that the model is consistent well to experimental results with 0.91 and 0.90 correlation of coefficient (p<0.05) for 1 MHz and 40 kHz. Low intensity ultrasound with 0.40 MI is more effective on the proliferation rate of the spermatogonial stem cells during the seven days of culture, in contrast, high MI has a harmful effect on the spermatogonial stem cells. This model provides proper treatment planning in vitro and in vivo by estimating the cavitation phenomenon.

Keywords: ultrasound, mechanical index, modeling, stem cell

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Authors: Amir Masoud Dabagh, Mahsa Khaleghi

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The world has entered a new phase of cultural, social, economic, and so on in the last two centuries. Apart from its positive benefits and achievements to the world, it has also incurred many costs, most of which can be mentioned as destroying or at least diminishing the role of the costumes, traditions and authentic culture of the past communities. Understanding what lasts in traditional arts is vital and worthy of study because receiving it and embracing art and forms of art using that last the artistic creation removes the age-old color and smell of its face, making it immortal and persistent in all ages. This paper attempts to present traditional art concepts and solutions for interior design with the approach of handicrafts recreation as a symbol and manifestation of national identity and proof of ancient civilizations, which is at the center of tourists' attention today. The research method is a descriptive-analytical one that first explores the theoretical foundations of research, which are the concepts of recreation and traditional arts, and analyzes the process of recreation that conceals the recollection of past experiences as well as the dynamics and creativity.

Keywords: recreation, handicrafts, interior design, concept, traditional arts

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Authors: Irfan Khairi

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It is arguable that today's social media has dramatically redefined human contact, and chiefly because the platforms enable communication opportunities unprecedented. Without question, billions of individuals globally engage in the media, a reality by no means lost on businesses and social entrepreneurs desirous of generating interest in a cause, movement, or other social effort. If, however, the opportunities are immense, so too is the competition. Private persons and entrepreneurial concerns alike virtually saturate the popular sites of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and most are intent on capturing as much external interest as possible. At the same time, however, the social entrepreneur possesses an advantage over the individual concerned only the social aspects of the sites, as they express interests in, and measures applicable to, important causes of which the public at large may be unaware. There is, unfortunately, no single means of assuring success in using the media outlets to generate interest. Nonetheless, a general awareness of how social media sites function, as well as the psychological elements relevant to the functioning, is necessary. It is as important to comprehend basic realities of the platforms and approaches that fail as it is to develop strategy, for the latter relies on knowledge of the former. This awareness in place, the social entrepreneur is then better enabled to determine strategy, in terms of which sites to focus upon and how to most effectively convey their message. What is required is familiarity with the online communities, with attention to the specific advantages each provides. Ultimately, today's social entrepreneur may establish a highly effective platform of promotion and engagement, provided they fully comprehend the social investment necessary for success.

Keywords: social media, marketing, e-commerce, internet business

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Authors: Simone Leonardi, Luca Ardito

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Micro-influencers are effective elements in the marketing strategies of companies and institutions because of their capability to create an hyper-engaged audience around a specific topic of interest. In recent years, many scientific approaches and commercial tools have handled the task of detecting this type of social media users. These strategies adopt solutions ranging from rule based machine learning models to deep neural networks and graph analysis on text, images, and account information. This work compares the existing solutions and proposes an ensemble method to generalize them with different input data and social media platforms. The deployed solution combines deep learning models on unstructured data with statistical machine learning models on structured data. We retrieve both social media accounts information and multimedia posts on Twitter and Instagram. These data are mapped into feature vectors for an eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) classifier. Sixty different topics have been analyzed to build a rule based gold standard dataset and to compare the performances of our approach against baseline classifiers. We prove the effectiveness of our work by comparing the accuracy, precision, recall, and f1 score of our model with different configurations and architectures. We obtained an accuracy of 0.91 with our best performing model.

Keywords: deep learning, gradient boosting, image processing, micro-influencers, NLP, social media

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Authors: T. Bettaieb, S. Soufi, S. Arbaoui

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Stevia rebaudiana Bert. is a natural sweet plant. The leaves contain diterpene glycosides stevioside, rebaudiosides A-F, steviolbioside and dulcoside, which are responsible for its sweet taste and have commercial value all over the world as sugar substitute in foods and medicines. Stevia rebaudiana Bert. is sensitive temperature lower than 9°C. The possibility of its outdoor culture in Tunisian conditions demand genotypes tolerant to low temperatures. In order to evaluate the low temperature tolerance of eight genotypes of Stevia rebaudiana, the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and catalases (CAT) were measured. Before carrying out the analyses, three genotypes of Stevia were exposed for 1 month at a temperature regime of 18°C during the day and 7°C at night similar to winter conditions in Tunisia. In response to the stress generated by low temperature, antioxidant enzymes activity revealed on native gel and quantified by spectrophotometry showed variable levels according to their degree of tolerance to low temperatures.

Keywords: chilling tolerance, enzymatic activity, stevia rebaudiana bert, low thermal stress

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Authors: Juliana Bastos dos Santos, Francisca Dantas Mendes, Abdul Jabbar Mohammad Khatri, Adam Abdul Jabbar Khatri

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This research aims to describe the experimentation of color extraction from household waste, for the application of the natural vegetable dyeing technique, as a more sustainable option for the upcycling process. Based on the research of the case study, this article intends to record the process of collecting the materials, extracting the colors and their applicability. The study aims to deepen the knowledge about possible alternatives that generate less impact on the environment throughout the process of plant stamping and, also, to spread the concepts of sustainability in fashion. Therefore, this content becomes relevant for valuing an artisanal production process, reconnecting with ancestral knowledge. This article also intends to serve as a record of ancestral artisanal processes, based on the indigenous and African matrices that are pillars of Brazilian culture.

Keywords: natural dyeing, sustainability, organic residue, fashion, reuse

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Authors: Qian Jin

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Museums have been using interactive technology to spark visitor interest and improve understanding. These technologies can play a crucial role in helping visitors understand more about an exhibition site by using multimedia to provide information. Google Arts and Culture and Smartify are two very successful digital heritage products. They used mobile augmented reality to visualise the museum's 3D models and heritage images but did not include 3D models of the collection and audio information. In this research, service-oriented mobile augmented reality application was developed for users to access collections from multiple museums(including V and A, the British Museum, and British Library). The third-party API (Application Programming Interface) is requested to collect metadata (including images, 3D models, videos, and text) of three museums' collections. The acquired content is then visualized in AR environments. This product will help users who cannot visit the museum offline due to various reasons (inconvenience of transportation, physical disability, time schedule).

Keywords: digital heritage, argument reality, museum, flutter, ARcore

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Authors: Dorota Rucińska

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This theoretical paper combines the academic discourse regarding a specific part of dark tourism. Based on the literature analysis, distinction of natural disasters in thanatourism was investigated, which is connected with dynamic geographical conditions. Natural disasters used to play an important role in social life by their appearance in myths and religions. Nowadays, tourists pursuing natural hazards can be divided into three groups: Those interested in natural hazards themselves; those interested in landscape deformation and experiencing emotions shortly after extreme events - natural disasters - occur; and finally those interested in historic places log after an extreme event takes place. An important element of the natural disaster tourism is quick access to information on the location of a disaster and the destination of a potential excursion. Natural disaster tourism suits alternative tourism, yet it is opposed culture tourism, and sustainable tourism. The paper compares types and groups of tourists. It also considers the contradictions that describe dualism, which exists in dark tourism.

Keywords: dark tourism, dualism, natural disasters, natural hazards, thanatoursim

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Authors: Diego Renan G. Tudela, Veruska C. Dutra, Mary Lucia Gomes Silveira de Senna, Afonso R. Aquino

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Tourism in the present is the largest industry in the world, being an important global activity that has grown a lot in recent times. In this context, the activity of cultural tourism is growing, being seen as an important source of knowledge and information enjoyed by visitors. This article aims to discuss the cultural tourism, archaeological records and indigenous communities and the importance of preserving these invaluable sources of information, focusing on the records of the first peoples inhabiting the South American and North American lands. The study was based on discussions, theoretical studies, bibliographical research. Archaeological records are an important source of knowledge and information. Indigenous ethnic tourism represents a rescue of the authenticity of indigenous traditional cultures and their relation to the natural habitat. Cultural and indigenous tourism activity requires long-term planning to make it a sustainable activity.

Keywords: tourism, culture, preservation, discussions

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Authors: Marcin Adamczak

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The growth of Chinese film market and its dynamic incomparable to any other historical phenomenon has already made China the second world market and potential future leader in 2-3 years period. The growing power of Chines box-office and its future prospects is then the crucial and potentially disturbing factor for persistence of global Hollywood reality. The paper is based on market statistical data. The main findings of the analysis are defining of essential obstacles for the development of Chinese market and its foreign expansion. However, the new strategies employed by the industry (acquisitions of cinema chains abroad, blockbuster made with the involvement of figures from Hollywood star system, coproduction ties within Pacific basin) could be a successful remedy for current shortcomings. The main factor for development will be wider economical framework and maintenance of growth pace. The future state of Chinese film market will be one of the main factors shaping global film culture and film market in following decades of XXI century.

Keywords: production studies, film market, Chinese film market, distribution

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Authors: May George

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Native speakers can play a significant role in improving second language learners speaking skills through weekly interaction. Speaking is one of the important skills that second language learners need to practice in order to be able to communicate the language. This study will examine Talkaboard as an important tool to achieve better outcomes in speaking a language. The subject of the study will be 16 advanced Arabic language learners at the college level. There will be a pre-test and post-test to examine the conversation outcomes using the Talkaborad tool. The students will be asked to write a summary and talk about their weekly conversation experience with the native speaker in class. The teacher will use a check list to determine the progress made in speaking the Arabic language. The results of this study will provide language teachers with information related to the native speakers’ role in language and the progress the second language learners made after interacting with native speakers.

Keywords: speaking, language, interaction, culture

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Authors: A. Kourou, A. Ioakeimidou, S. Hadjiefthymiades, V. Abramea

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During the last decades, the task of engaging governments, communities and citizens to reduce risk and vulnerability of the populations has made variable progress. Experience has demonstrated that lack of awareness, education and preparedness may result in significant material and other losses both on the onset of the disaster. Schools play a vital role in the community and are important elements of values and culture of the society. A proper school education not only teaches children, but also is a key factor in the promotion of a safety culture into the wider community. In Greece School Earthquake Safety Initiative has been undertaken by Earthquake Planning and Protection Ogranization with specific actions (seminars, lectures, guidelines, educational material, campaigns, national or EU projects, drills etc.). The objective of this initiative is to develop disaster-resilient school communities through awareness, self-help, cooperation and education. School preparedness requires the participation of Principals, teachers, students, parents, and competent authorities. Preparation and earthquake readiness involves: a) learning what should be done before, during, and after earthquake; b) doing or preparing to do these things now, before the next earthquake; and c) developing teachers’ and students’ skills to cope efficiently in case of an earthquake. In the above given framework this paper presents the results of a survey aimed to identify the level of education and preparedness of school community in Greece. More specifically, the survey questionnaire investigates issues regarding earthquake protection actions, appropriate attitudes and behaviors during an earthquake and existence of contingency plans at elementary and secondary schools. The questionnaires were administered to Principals and teachers from different regions of the country that attend the EPPO national training project 'Earthquake Safety at Schools'. A closed-form questionnaire was developed for the survey, which contained questions regarding the following: a) knowledge of self protective actions b) existence of emergency planning at home and c) existence of emergency planning at school (hazard mitigation actions, evacuation plan, and performance of drills). Survey results revealed that a high percentage of teachers have taken the appropriate preparedness measures concerning non-structural hazards at schools, emergency school plan and simulation drills every year. In order to improve the action-planning for ongoing school disaster risk reduction, the implementation of earthquake drills, the involvement of students with disabilities and the evaluation of school emergency plans, EPPO participates in E-PreS project. The main objective of this project is to create smart tools which define, simulate and evaluate all hazards emergency steps customized to the unique district and school. The project comes up with a holistic methodology using real-time evaluation involving different categories of actors, districts, steps and metrics. The project is supported by EU Civil Protection Financial Instrument with a duration of two years. Coordinator is the Kapodistrian University of Athens and partners are from four countries; Greece, Italy, Romania and Bulgaria.

Keywords: drills, earthquake, emergency plans, E-PreS project

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Authors: Charles Amoatey

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The issue of risk in the mining industry is a global phenomenon and the Ghanaian mining industry is not exempted. The main purpose of this study is to identify the critical risk factors affecting the mining industry. The study takes an integrated view of the mining industry by examining the contribution of various risk factors to mining project failure in Ghana. A questionnaire survey was conducted to solicit the critical risk factors from key mining practitioners. About 80 respondents from 11 mining firms participated in the survey. The study identified 22 risk factors contributing to mining project failure in Ghana. The five most critical risk factors based on both probability of occurrence and impact were: (1) unstable commodity prices, (2) inflation/exchange rate, (3) land degradation, (4) high cost of living and (5) government bureaucracy for obtaining licenses. Furthermore, the study found that risk assessment in the mining sector has a direct link with mining project sustainability. Mitigation measures for addressing the identified risk factors were discussed. The key findings emphasize the need for a comprehensive risk management culture in the entire mining industry.

Keywords: risk, assessment, mining, Ghana

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Authors: H. Boulahyaoui, S. Alaoui Amine, C. Loutfi, H. El Annaz, N. Touil, El M. El Fahim, S. Mrani

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Three Moroccan children fully vaccinated with Rotarix™ have been hospitalized for Rotavirus Gastroenteritis (RVGE) in the pediatric division of the Farabi Hospital, Oujda. Rotavirus G/P genotypes could not be typed because of their delayed crossing threshold (Ct) resolute with a group A rotavirus (RVA) real time RT-PCR. These strains were adapted to cell culture. All viruses replicated and caused extensive cytopathic effects after four or five passages in MA104 cell lines. Significant improvements have been obtained in the amount of viral particles. Each virus multiplied to a high titer (7.5 TCID50/ml). VP7 and VP4 partial gene sequencing revealed distinct genotypes compared to the Rotarix(®) vaccine strain. Two strains were of G2P[4] genotype whereas the third was G9P[8] genotype. Virus isolation while labor intensive, is recommended as a second test, especially when higher sensitivity for conventional RVA genotyping RT-PCR is needed. VP7 antigenic similarities between these strains and Rotarix were determined.

Keywords: esacpe-vaccine, Morocco, Rotarix, G2P[4], G9P[8]

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Authors: F. Halladj, H. Amellal, S. Benamara

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Current consumer trends go towards natural products defined as the products obtained by a traditional manufacturing method. Vinegar is one of those products marketed; it may be industrially obtained by a submerged (fast) or traditional (slow) processes. The latter exhibited a high quality because of its complex microbiological transformations (or two-stage fermentation) by the native must flora. Moreover, although that Acetic acid bacteria have traditionally been considered to play the leading role in vinegar production, some studies have recently highlighted that also yeasts metabolism can affect traditional vinegar chemical properties in a remarkable way. Thus, the aim of this study was to monitor a traditional slow process of vinegar as applied in the south of Algeria using date with hard texture (Degla-Beida variety) to isolate and identify the involved yeasts in order to select them as starter culture. Phenotypic and molecular analysis show that the non-Saccharomyces were the main yeasts species isolated throughout the alcoholic spontaneous fermentation and they included Hanseniaspora guilliermondii and Torulaspora delbrueckii.

Keywords: date vinegar, traditional production, yeasts, Phenotypic, Algeria

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Authors: Yuliana Wahyu, Ambros Leonangung Edu

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The learning praxis that is proposed by 2013 Curriculum (K-13) is no longer school-oriented as a supply-driven, but now a demand-driven provider. This vision is connected with Jokowi-Kalla Nawacita program to create a competitive nation in the global era. Competition is a social fact that must be faced. Therefore the curriculum will design a process to be the innovators and entrepreneurs.To get this goal, K-13 implements the character education. This aims at creating the innovators and entrepreneurs from an early age (primary school). One part of strengthening it is literacy formations (reading, numeracy, science, ICT, finance, and culture). Thus, science literacy is an integral part of character education. The above outputs are only formed through the innovative process through intra-curricular (blended learning), co-curriculer (hands-on learning) and extra-curricular (personalized learning). Unlike the curriculums before that child cram with the theories dominating the intellectual process, new breakthroughs make natural, social, and cultural phenomena as learning sources. For example, Science in primary schoolsplaceBiology as the platform. And Science places natural, social, and cultural phenomena as a learning field so that students can learn, discover, solve concrete problems, and the prospects of development and application in their everyday lives. Science education not only learns about facts collection or natural phenomena but also methods and scientific attitudes. In turn, Science will form the science literacy. Science literacy have critical, creative, logical, and initiative competences in responding to the issues of culture, science and technology. This is linked with science nature which includes hands-on and minds-on. To sustain the effectiveness of science learning, K-13 opens a new way of viewing a contextual learning model in which facts or natural phenomena are drawn closer to the child's learning environment to be studied and analyzed scientifically. Thus, the topic of elementary science discussion is the practical and contextual things that students encounter. This research is about to contextualize Science in primary schools at Manggarai, NTT, by placing local wisdom as a learning source and media to form the science literacy. Explicitly, this study discovers the concept of science and mathematics in Mbaru Niang. Mbaru Niang is a forgotten potentials of the centralistic-theoretical mainstream curriculum so far. In fact, the traditional Manggarai community stores and inherits much of the science-mathematical indigenous sciences. In the traditional house structures are full of science and mathematics knowledge. Every details have style, sound and mathematical symbols. Learning this, students are able to collaborate and synergize the content and learning resources in student learning activities. This is constructivist contextual learning that will be applied in meaningful learning. Meaningful learning allows students to learn by doing. Students then connect topics to the context, and science literacy is constructed from their factual experiences. The research location will be conducted in Manggarai through observation, interview, and literature study.

Keywords: indigenous science, Mbaru Niang, science literacy, science

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Authors: Carlos Alberto Santamaria Velasco

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The study object of this chapter analyzes the case of the Centro Regional para la Calidad Empresarial (CreCE) starting from an analysis of the theoretical discussion about the universities as actors of the development and generation of enterprises. As well as the promotion of the entrepreneurial culture that they carry out in their environment of influence as part of the linkage and extension actions that have as one of their substantive functions, in addition to teaching and research. The objective is to know the theoretical discussion and the state of art about the entrepreneurial universities from the institutional theory of Douglas North, carrying out a theoretical analysis of the formal and informal factors from the universities linking the specific case of the CReCE. A literature review was carried out in the main journals in the topic of entrepreneurship, about the factors that influence the creation and development of entrepreneurial universities, complementing research in the study of a particular case, CreCE, and how this affects in the transformation of the CUVALLES(Centro Universitario de los Valles) in its way towards an entrepreneurial university.

Keywords: entrepreneurial university, institutional theory, university, entrepreneurial universities

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Authors: N. Moazami, R. Ranjbar, A. Ashori

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Out of hundreds of microalgal strains reported, only very few of them are capable for production of high content of lipid. Therefore, the key technical challenges include identifying the strains with the highest growth rates and oil contents with adequate composition, which were the main aims of this work. From 147 microalgae screened for high biomass and oil productivity, the Nannochloropsis sp. PTCC 6016, which attained 52% lipid content, was selected for large scale cultivation in Persian Gulf Knowledge Island. Nannochloropsis strain PTCC 6016 belongs to Eustigmatophyceae (Phylum heterokontophyta) isolated from Mangrove forest area of Qheshm Island and Persian Gulf (Iran) in 2008. The strain PTCC 6016 had an average biomass productivity of 2.83 g/L/day and 52% lipid content. The biomass productivity and the oil production potential could be projected to be more than 200 tons biomass and 100000 L oil per hectare per year, in an outdoor algal culture (300 day/year) in the Persian Gulf climate.

Keywords: biofuels, microalgae, Nannochloropsis, raceway open pond, bio-jet

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Authors: M. Khallaf, R. Khalil, H. Ghetas

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In the present study, V. harveyi and V. alginolyticus were isolated from cultured seabass and seabream at Damietta Governorate, Egypt, during summer season. Isolates were biochemically and molecularly identified using primers for Vhh and Collagenase genes. The most prominent clinical observations of diseased fish were exophthalmia, abdominal distension, and multifocal cutaneous hemorrhagic ulceration on the dorsal musculature and caudal peduncle. Physicochemical characteristics of water samples indicated that the unionized ammonia, nitrate, and hydrogen sulphate concentrations were higher than the acceptable limits. Heavy metals concentrations in water samples exhibited higher concentrations than the permissible levels for fish culture, which was considered as chemical stressors that increase the prevalence of these bacterial diseases. Immune parameters were lower in diseased seabass and seabream than apparently healthy fish. Lesions of different fish organs were identified histopathologically.

Keywords: seabass, seabream, Vibrio alginolyticus, Vibrio harveyi

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Authors: Sandra Hartl, Meena Chavan

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This paper presents the outcome of a four year Ph.D. research on cross-cultural conflict management in transnational business relationships. An important and complex problem about managing conflicts that arise across cultures in business relationships is investigated, and conflict resolution strategies are identified. This paper particularly focuses on transnational relationships within a Chinese, German and Middle Eastern framework. Unlike many papers on this issue which have been built on experiments with international MBA students, this research provides real-life cases of cross-cultural conflicts which are not easy to capture. Its uniqueness is underpinned as the real case data was gathered by interviewing top executives at management positions in large multinational corporations through a qualitative case study method approach. This paper makes a valuable contribution to the theory of cross-cultural conflicts, and despite the sensitivity, this research primarily presents real-time business data about breaches of contracts between two counterparties engaged in transnational operating organizations. The overarching aim of this research is to identify the degree of significance for the cultural factors and the communication factors embedded in cross-cultural business conflicts. It questions from a cultural perspective what factors lead to the conflicts in each of the cases, what the causes are and the role of culture in identifying effective strategies for resolving international disputes in an increasingly globalized business world. The results of 20 face to face interviews are outlined, which were conducted, recorded, transcribed and then analyzed using the NVIVO qualitative data analysis system. The outcomes make evident that the factors leading to conflicts are broadly organized under seven themes, which are communication, cultural difference, environmental issues, work structures, knowledge and skills, cultural anxiety and personal characteristics. When evaluating the causes of the conflict it is to notice that these are rather multidimensional. Irrespective of the conflict types (relationship or task-based conflict or due to individual personal differences), relationships are almost always an element of all conflicts. Cultural differences, which are a critical factor for conflicts, result from different cultures placing different levels of importance on relationships. Communication issues which are another cause of conflict also reflect different relationships styles favored by different cultures. In identifying effective strategies for solving cross-cultural business conflicts this research identifies that solutions need to consider the national cultures (country specific characteristics), organizational cultures and individual culture, of the persons engaged in the conflict and how these are interlinked to each other. Outcomes identify practical dispute resolution strategies to resolve cross-cultural business conflicts in reference to communication, empathy and training to improve cultural understanding and cultural competence, through the use of mediation. To conclude, the findings of this research will not only add value to academic knowledge of cross-cultural conflict management across transnational businesses but will also add value to numerous cross-border business relationships worldwide. Above all it identifies the influence of cultures and communication and cross-cultural competence in reducing cross-cultural business conflicts in transnational business.

Keywords: business conflict, conflict management, cross-cultural communication, dispute resolution

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Authors: Irina-Emily Hansen, Ola Jon Mork

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The European economic growth strategy and supporting it framework for research and innovation highlight the importance of nurturing new open innovation in order to strengthen Europe’s competitiveness. One of the main approaches to enhance innovation in European society is the Triple Helix model that centres on science- industry collaboration where the universities are assigned the managerial role. In spite of the defined collaboration strategy, the collaboration between academics and in-dustry in Europe has still many challenges. Many of them are explained by culture difference: academic culture aims towards scientific knowledge, while businesses are oriented towards pro-duction and profitable results; also execution of collaborative projects is seen differently by part-ners involved. That proves that traditional management strategies applied to collaboration between researchers and businesses are not effective. There is a need for dynamic strategies that can support the interaction between researchers and industry intensifying knowledge co-creation and contributing to development of national innovation system (NIS) by incorporating individual, organizational and inter-organizational learning. In order to find a good subject to follow, the researchers of a given paper have investigated one of the most rapidly developing knowledge-based, innovation society, Singapore. Singapore does not dispose much land- or sea- resources that normally provide income for any country. Therefore, Singapore was forced to think differently and build society on resources that are available: talented people and knowledge. Singapore has during the last twenty years developed attracting high rated university camps, research institutions and leading industrial companies from all over the world. This article elucidates and elaborates Singapore’s national innovation strategies from Knowledge Management perspective. The research is done on the variety of organizations that enable and support knowledge development in this state: governmental research and development (R&D) centers in universities, private talent incubators for entrepreneurs, and industrial companies with own R&D departments. The research methods are based on presentations, documents, and visits at a number of universities, research institutes, innovation parks, governmental institutions, industrial companies and innovation exhibitions in Singapore. In addition, a literature review of science articles is made regarding the topic. The first finding is that objectives of collaboration between researchers, entrepreneurs and industry in Singapore correspond primary goals of the state: knowledge- and economy growth. There are common objectives for all stakeholders on all national levels. The second finding is that Singapore has enabled system on a national level that supports innovation the entire way from fostering or capturing the new knowledge, providing knowledge exchange and co-creation to application of it in real-life. The conclusion is that innovation means not only new idea, but also the enabling mechanism for its execution and the marked-oriented approach in order that new knowledge can be absorbed in society. The future research can be done with regards to application of Singapore knowledge management strategy in innovation to European countries.

Keywords: knowledge management strategy, national innovation system, research industry and business collaboration, knowledge enabling

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Authors: Narges Nejati

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Nowadays as science hasten toward technology, only quantity of construction noticed and there is a little attention toward quality of construction and there is no usage for element which was prevalent in traditional architecture. This is the cause of this issue that nowadays we see building that most of them just keep you from heat and cold of outside environment and there is no trace of any culture of their country or nation in it. And although we know that man is a creature that adores beauty by his nature, but this spiritual need of him is ignored. And designers by taking an enormous price instead of planning (spiritual designing) to release peace, they attend to planning which make a human soul bothered and ill. The present research is trying to illustrate price of concepts and principles of water usage as one of the elements of nature and also shows the water application in some of the Iranian constructions and the results show the motif of using water in constructions and also some benefits of using it in constructions. And also this matter can causes a reconnection between nature and constructing of a beautiful environment which is consonant and proportional with man’ physical, spiritual and cultural needs. And causes peace and comfort of men. A construction which man feels a friendly atmosphere in them which he has a sense of belonging to them not a construction which arouses feeling of weariness and fatigue.

Keywords: water usage, belonging, sustainable architecture, urban design

Procedia PDF Downloads 384