Search results for: company’s balance sheet

Authors: Jéssica Ferreira Rodrigues, Júlio Silvio De Sousa Bueno Filho, Vanessa Rios De Souza, Ana Carla Marques Pinheiro

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This study aimed to evaluate the implications of the block size and testing order on efficiency and precision of preference estimation for Dulce de leche samples. Efficiency was defined as the inverse of the average variance of pairwise comparisons among treatments. Precision was defined as the inverse of the variance of treatment means (or effects) estimates. The experiment was originally designed to test 16 treatments as a series of 8 Sudoku 16x16 designs being 4 randomized independently and 4 others in the reverse order, to yield balance in testing order. Linear mixed models were assigned to the whole experiment with 112 testers and all their grades, as well as their partially balanced subgroups, namely: a) experiment with the four initial EU; b) experiment with EU 5 to 8; c) experiment with EU 9 to 12; and b) experiment with EU 13 to 16. To record responses we used a nine-point hedonic scale, it was assumed a mixed linear model analysis with random tester and treatments effects and with fixed test order effect. Analysis of a cumulative random effects probit link model was very similar, with essentially no different conclusions and for simplicity, we present the results using Gaussian assumption. R-CRAN library lme4 and its function lmer (Fit Linear Mixed-Effects Models) was used for the mixed models and libraries Bayesthresh (default Gaussian threshold function) and ordinal with the function clmm (Cumulative Link Mixed Model) was used to check Bayesian analysis of threshold models and cumulative link probit models. It was noted that the number of samples tested in the same session can influence the acceptance level, underestimating the acceptance. However, proving a large number of samples can help to improve the samples discrimination.

Keywords: acceptance, block size, mixed linear model, testing order, testing order

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Authors: Mengjia Zhi, Xingmei Wei, Xiang Gao, Shiyang Liu, Zhiran Huang, Li Yang, Jing Sun

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Background: To understand the consumption trend of opioid analgesics and the consumption adequacy of opioid analgesic treatment for moderate to severe pain in China, as well as the pain control level of China with international perspective. Importance: To author’s best knowledge, this is the first study in China to measure the adequacy of opioid analgesic treatment for moderate to severe pain considering disease pattern and with the standardized pain treatment guideline. Methods: A retrospective analysis was carried out to show the consumption frequency (daily defined doses, DDDs) of opioid analgesics and its trend in China from 2006 to 2016. Adequacy of consumption measure (ACM) was used to measure the number of needed morphine equivalents and the overall adequacy of opioid analgesic treatment of moderate to severe pain in China, and compared with international data. Results: The consumption frequency of opioid analgesics (DDDs) in China increased from 13,200,000 DDDs in 2006 to 44,200,000 DDDs in 2016, and showed an increasing trend. The growth rate was faster at first, especially in 2013, then slowed down, decreased slightly in 2015. The ACM of China increased from 0.0032 in 2006 to 0.0074 in 2016, with an overall trend of growth. The ACM level of China has been always a very poor level during 2006-2016. Conclusion: The consumption of opioid analgesics for the treatment of moderate to severe pain in China has always been inadequate. There is a huge gap between China and the international level. There are many reasons behind this problem, which lie in different aspects, including medical staff, patients and the public, health systems and social & cultural aspects. It is necessary to strengthen the training and education of medical staff and the patients, to use mass media to disseminate scientific knowledge of pain management, to encourage communications between doctors and patients, to improve regulatory system for the controlled medicines and the overall health systems, and to balance the regulatory goal for avoidance of abuse, and the social goal of meeting the increasing needs of the people for better life.

Keywords: opioid analgesics, adequate consumption measure, pain control, China

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Authors: Saidulu Gadari, Manoj Kumar Yadav, V. K. Satheesh, Debasis Bhattacharyya, S. S. V. Ramakumar, Subhajit Sarkar

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Most Fluid Catalytic Cracking Units (FCCUs) are big profit makers and hence, always operated with several constraints. It is the primary source for production of gasoline, light olefins as petrochemical feedstocks, feedstock for alkylate & oxygenates, LPG, etc. in a refinery. Increasing unit capacity and improving product yields as well as qualities such as gasoline RON have dramatic impact on the refinery economics. FCCUs are often debottlenecked significantly beyond their original design capacities. Depending upon the unit configuration, operating conditions, and feedstock quality, the FCC unit can have a variety of bottlenecks. While some of these are aimed to increase the feed rate, improve the conversion, etc., the others are aimed to improve the reliability of the equipment or overall unit. Apart from investment cost, the other factors considered generally while evaluating the debottlenecking options are shutdown days, faster payback, risk on investment, etc. A low-cost solution such as replacement of feed injectors, air distributor, steam distributors, spent catalyst distributor, efficient cyclone system, etc. are the preferred way of upgrading FCCU. It also has lower lead time from idea inception to implementation. This paper discusses various bottlenecks generally encountered in FCCU and presents a case study on improvement of performance of one of the FCCUs in IndianOil through implementation of cost-effective technical solution including use of improved internals in Reactor-Regeneration (R-R) section. After implementation reduction in regenerator air, gas superficial velocity in regenerator and cyclone velocities by about 10% and improvement of CLO yield from 10 to 6 wt% have been achieved. By ensuring proper pressure balance and optimum immersion of cyclone dipleg in the standpipe, frequent formation of perforations in regenerator cyclones could be addressed which in turn improved the unit on-stream factor.

Keywords: FCC, low-cost, revamp, debottleneck, internals, distributors, cyclone, dipleg

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Authors: Kailas L. Wasewar

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Biobutanol has been considered as a potential and alternative biofuel relative to the most popular biodiesel and bioethanol. End product toxicity is the major problems in commercialization of fermentation based process which can be reduce to some possible extent by removing biobutanol simultaneously. Several techniques have been investigated for removing butanol from fermentation broth such as stripping, adsorption, liquid–liquid extraction, pervaporation, and membrane solvent extraction. Liquid–liquid extraction can be performed with high selectivity and is possible to carry out inside the fermenter. Conventional solvents have few drawbacks including toxicity, loss of solvent, high cost etc. Hence alternative solvents must be explored for the same. Room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) composed entirely of ions are liquid at room temperature having negligible vapor pressure, non-flammability, and tunable physiochemical properties for a particular application which term them as “designer solvents”. Ionic liquids (ILs) have recently gained much attention as alternatives for organic solvents in many processes. In particular, ILs have been used as alternative solvents for liquid–liquid extraction. Their negligible vapor pressure allows the extracted products to be separated from ILs by conventional low pressure distillation with the potential for saving energy. Morpholinium, imidazolium, ammonium, phosphonium etc. based ionic liquids have been employed for the separation biobutanol. In present chapter, basic concepts of ionic liquids and application in separation have been presented. Further, type of ionic liquids including, conventional, functionalized, polymeric, supported membrane, and other ionic liquids have been explored. Also the effect of various performance parameters on separation of biobutanol by ionic liquids have been discussed and compared for different cation and anion based ionic liquids. The typical methodology for investigation have been adopted such as contacting the equal amount of biobutanol and ionic liquids for a specific time say, 30 minutes to confirm the equilibrium. Further, biobutanol phase were analyzed using GC to know the concentration of biobutanol and material balance were used to find the concentration in ionic liquid.

Keywords: biobutanol, separation, ionic liquids, sustainability, biorefinery, waste biomass

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Authors: S. N. Susenburger, D. Boecker

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In the age of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity (VUCA), where digital transformation is challenging long standing traditional hardware and manufacturing companies, innovation needs a different methodology, strategy, mindset, and culture. What used to be a mindset of scaling per quantity is now shifting to orchestrating ecosystems, platform business models and service bundles. While large corporations are trying to mimic the nimbleness and versatile mindset of startups in the core of their digital strategies, they’re at the frontier of facing one of the largest organizational and cultural changes in history. This paper elaborates on how a manufacturing giant transformed its Corporate Information Technology (IT) to enable digital and Internet of Things (IoT) business while establishing the mindset and the approaches of the Innovation Inside-Out/Outside-In Strategy. It gives insights into the core elements of an innovation culture and the tactics and methodologies leveraged to support the cultural shift and transformation into an IoT company. This paper also outlines the core elements for an innovation culture and how the persona 'Connected Engineer' thrives in the digital innovation environment. Further, it explores how tapping domain-focused ecosystems in vibrant innovative cities can be used as a part of the strategy to facilitate partner co-innovation. Therefore, findings from several use cases, observations and surveys led to conclusion for the strategy tandem of Innovation Inside-Out/Outside-In. The findings indicate that it's crucial in which phases and maturity level the Innovation Inside-Out/Outside-In Strategy is activated: cultural aspects of the business and the regional ecosystem need to be considered, as well as cultural readiness from management and active contributors. The 'not invented here syndrome' is a barrier of large corporations that need to be addressed and managed to successfully drive partnerships, as well as embracing co-innovation and a mindset shifting away from physical products toward new business models, services, and IoT platforms. This paper elaborates on various methodologies and approaches tested in different countries and cultures, including the U.S., Brazil, Mexico, and Germany.

Keywords: innovation management, innovation culture, innovation methodologies, digital transformation

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Authors: Anderson S. Fonseca, Italo F. S. Da Silva, Robert D. A. Santos, Mayara G. Da Silva, Pedro H. C. Vieira, Antonio M. S. Sobrinho, Victor H. B. Lemos, Petterson S. Diniz, Anselmo C. Paiva, Eliana M. G. Monteiro

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In Brazil, the National Electric Energy Agency (ANEEL) establishes that electrical energy companies are responsible for measuring and billing their customers. Among these regulations, it’s defined that a company must bill your customers within 27-33 days. If a relocation or a change of period is required, the consumer must be notified in writing, in advance of a billing period. To make it easier to organize a workday’s measurements, these companies create a reading plan. These plans consist of grouping customers into reading groups, which are visited by an employee responsible for measuring consumption and billing. The creation process of a plan efficiently and optimally is a capacitated clustering problem with constraints related to homogeneity and compactness, that is, the employee’s working load and the geographical position of the consuming unit. This process is a work done manually by several experts who have experience in the geographic formation of the region, which takes a large number of days to complete the final planning, and because it’s human activity, there is no guarantee of finding the best optimization for planning. In this paper, the GBKMeans method presents a technique based on K-Means and genetic algorithms for creating a capacitated cluster that respects the constraints established in an efficient and balanced manner, that minimizes the cost of relocating consumer units and the time required for final planning creation. The results obtained by the presented method are compared with the current planning of a real city, showing an improvement of 54.71% in the standard deviation of working load and 11.97% in the compactness of the groups.

Keywords: capacitated clustering, k-means, genetic algorithm, districting problems

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Authors: Silvia Alaimo

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This lecture brings to our attention the theme of spirituality within Gestalt therapy’s theoretical and clinical perspectives and which is closely connected to the fertile emptiness and creative indifference’ experiences. First of all, the premise that must be done is the overcoming traditional western culture’s philosophical and religious misunderstandings, such as the dicotomy between spirituality and pratical/material daily life, as well as the widespread secular perspective of classic psychology. Even fullness and emptiness have traditionally been associated with the concepts of being and not being. "There is only one way through which we can contact the deepest layers of our existence, rejuvenate our thinking and reach intuition (the harmony of thought and being): inner silence" (Perls) *. Therefore, "fertile void" doesn't mean empty in itself, but rather an useful condition of every creative and responsible act, making room for a deeper dimension close to spirituality. Spirituality concerns questions about the meaning of existence, which lays beyond the concrete and literal dimension, looking for the essence of things, and looking at the value of personal experience. Looking at fundamentals of Gestalt epistemology, phenomenology, aesthetics, and the relationship, we can reach the heart of a therapeutic work that takes spiritual contours and which are based on an embodied (incarnate size), through the relational aesthetic knowledge (Spagnuolo Lobb ), the deep contact with each other, the role of compassion and responsibility, as the patient's recognition criteria (Orange, 2013) rooted in the body. The aesthetic dimension, like the spiritual dimension to which it is often associated, is a subtle dimension: it is the dimension of the essence of things, of their "soul." In clinical practice, it implies that the relationship between therapist and patient is "in the absence of judgment," also called "zero point of creative indifference," expressed by ‘therapeutic mentality’. It consists in following with interest and authentic curiosity where the patient wants to go and support him in his intentionality of contact. It’s a condition of pure and simple awareness, of the full acceptance of "what is," a moment of detachment from one's own life in which one does not take oneself too seriously, a starting point for finding a center of balance and integration that brings to the creative act, to growth, and, as Perls would say, to the excitement and adventure of living.

Keywords: spirituality, bodily, embodied aesthetics, phenomenology, relationship

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Authors: Sinan Bilgen, Bekir Ozer Ay, Nilay Sezer Uzol

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After decades of conventional shapes, irregular forms with complex geometries are getting more popular for form generation of tall buildings all over the world. This trend has recently brought out diverse building forms such as twisting tall buildings. This study investigates both the aerodynamic and design features of twisting tall buildings through comparative analyses. Since twisting a tall building give rise to additional complexities related with the form and structural system, lateral load effects become of greater importance on these buildings. The aim of this study is to analyze the inherent characteristics of these iconic forms by comparing the wind loads on twisting tall buildings with those on their prismatic twins. Through a case study research, aerodynamic analyses of an existing twisting tall building and its prismatic counterpart were performed and the results have been compared. The prismatic twin of the original building were generated by removing the progressive rotation of its floors with the same plan area and story height. Performance-based measures under investigation have been evaluated in conjunction with the architectural design. Aerodynamic effects have been analyzed by both wind tunnel tests and computational methods. High frequency base balance tests and pressure measurements on 3D models were performed to evaluate wind load effects on a global and local scale. Comparisons of flat and real surface models were conducted to further evaluate the effects of the twisting form without façade texture contribution. Comparisons highlighted that, the twisting form under investigation shows better aerodynamic behavior both for along wind but particularly for across wind direction. Compared to the prismatic counterpart; twisting model is superior on reducing vortex-shedding dynamic response by disorganizing the wind vortices. Consequently, despite the difficulties arisen from inherent complexity of twisted forms, they could still be feasible and viable with their attractive images in the realm of tall buildings.

Keywords: aerodynamic tests, motivation for twisting, tall buildings, twisted forms, wind excitation

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Authors: Y. Fandja, O. Colot, M. Croquet

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Small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) face difficulties in accessing bank credit. Bank credit is actually the main source of external financing for SMEs. In general, SMEs are risky businesses because of the potential opacity maintained by the leader in the management of affairs, the agency conflicts between business owners and third-party funders and the potential opportunism of the leader due to the incompleteness of the contracts. These elements accentuate the problems of information asymmetries between SMEs and bankers leading to capital rationing. Moreover, the last economic crisis reinforced this rationing of capital. However, a long-term relationship between SMEs and their bank would enable the latter to accumulate a set of relevant information allowing the reduction of information asymmetry and, consequently, the reduction of credit rationing. The objective of this research is to investigate the lived experience of SMEs loan officers in their relationships with their clients in order to understand how these relationships can affect the financing structure of these SMEs. To carry out this research, an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis is implemented. This approach is part of the constructivist paradigm and refers to the subjective narratives of the individual rather than to an objective description of the facts. The role of the researcher is to explore the lived experience of the interviewees and to try to understand the meaning they give to this experience. Currently, several sixty-minute semi-structured interviews with loan officers for SMEs have been conducted. The analysis of the content of these interviews brought out three main themes. First, the relationship between the credit officer and the company manager is complex because the credit officer is not aware of establishing a personal relationship with his client. Second; the emotional involvement in the bank financing decision is present and third, the trust in the relationship between the credit officer and his client is very important. The originality of this research is to use the interpretative phenomenological analysis more specific to psychology and sociology in order to approach in a different way the problem of the financing of SMEs through their particular relations with the bankers.

Keywords: financing structure, interpretative phenomenological analysis, relationship financing, SME

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Authors: Kharisma Utomo Mulyodinoto, Suwarno, Ahmed Abu-Siada

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Transformer insulating oil is a key component that can be utilized to detect incipient faults within operating transformers without taking them out of service. Dissolved gas-in-oil analysis has been widely accepted as a powerful technique to detect such incipient faults. While the measurement of dissolved gases within transformer oil samples has been standardized over the past two decades, analysis of the results is not always straightforward as it depends on personnel expertise more than mathematical formulas. In analyzing such data, the generation rate of each dissolved gas is of more concern than the absolute value of the gas. As such, history of dissolved gases within a particular transformer should be archived for future comparison. Lack of such history may lead to misinterpretation of the obtained results. IEEE C57.104-2008 standards have classified the health condition of the transformer based on the absolute value of individual dissolved gases along with the total dissolved combustible gas (TDCG) within transformer oil into 4 conditions. While the technique is easy to implement, it is considered as a very conservative technique and is not widely accepted as a reliable interpretation tool. Moreover, measured gases for the same oil sample can be within various conditions limits and hence, misinterpretation of the data is expected. To overcome this limitation, this paper introduces a fuzzy logic approach to predict the health condition of the transformer oil based on IEEE C57.104-2008 standards along with Roger ratio and IEC ratio-based methods. DGA results of 31 chosen oil samples from 469 transformer oil samples of normal transformers and pre-known fault-type transformers that were collected from Indonesia Electrical Utility Company, PT. PLN (Persero), from different voltage rating: 500/150 kV, 150/20 kV, and 70/20 kV; different capacity: 500 MVA, 60 MVA, 50 MVA, 30 MVA, 20 MVA, 15 MVA, and 10 MVA; and different lifespan, are used to test and establish the fuzzy logic model. Results show that the proposed approach is of good accuracy and can be considered as a platform toward the standardization of the dissolved gas interpretation process.

Keywords: dissolved gas analysis, fuzzy logic, health index, IEEE C57.104-2008, IEC ratio method, Roger ratio method

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Authors: Rhodine Hickman, Craig Wylie, Michael G. McCaul

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Introduction: The World Health Organisation has called on governments around the world to recognise emergency conditions as a global public health problem and respond with appropriate steps for effective preventative strategies. However, to understand the magnitude of the problem, good quality epidemiological data is required. This is especially challenging in low and middle-income countries, where routine data is scarce, specifically within the prehospital setting. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional study of a national prehospital private sector EMS database. The database being the property of ER24 (private Emergency Medical Services (EMS) company in South Africa) contains claims submitted by the majority of ambulance services in South Africa during the period between 1 January 2008 to 28 March 2017. We used descriptive statistics and control charts to describe the data using STATA 14. Results: 299,257 calls were included in the analysis. The top clinical conditions requiring ambulance transport were transport accidents (10% of total call volume) and ischaemic heart disease (4.4%). The number of transport accidents consistently increased between 2009 and 2014 and reached beyond the limit for normal variation in 2015. Victims of transport accidents required basic life support services 60% of the time with 80% of injuries being minor to moderate. The frequency of ischaemic heart disease had a steady incline from 2011 to 2016. Advanced life support services were required about 50% of the time, with 60% of patients needing urgent care. Conclusion: Transport accidents, followed by ischaemic heart disease, are the most prevalent conditions in South African private EMS. There is a potential to address these conditions by developing the capacity of low and mid-level providers in trauma and advanced EMS providers in ischaemic heart disease.

Keywords: emergency care, emergency medicine, prehospital providers, South Africa

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Authors: Assabo Mohamed, Bile Mohamed, Ali Farah, Isman Souleiman, Olga Alos Ramos, Marie Cadet

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The life of a nuclear power plant is regularly punctuated by short or long period outages to carry out maintenance operations and/or nuclear fuel reloading. During these stops periods, it is essential to conserve all the secondary circuit equipment to avoid corrosion priming. This kind of circuit is one of the main components of a nuclear reactor. Indeed, the conservation materials on shutdown of a nuclear unit improve circuit performance and reduce the maintenance cost considerably. This study is a part of the optimization of the dry preservation of equipment from the water station of the nuclear reactor. The main objective is to provide tools to guide Electricity Production Nuclear Centre (EPNC) in order to achieve the criteria required by the chemical specifications of conservation materials. A theoretical model of drying exchangers of water station is developed by the software Engineering Equation Solver (EES). It used to size requirements and air quality needed for dry conservation of equipment. This model is based on heat transfer and mass transfer governing the drying operation. A parametric study is conducted to know the influence of aerothermal factor taking part in the drying operation. The results show that the success of dry conservation of equipment of the secondary circuit of nuclear reactor depends strongly on the draining, the quality of drying air and the flow of air injecting in the secondary circuit. Finally, theoretical case study performed on EES highlights the importance of mastering the entire system to balance the air system to provide each exchanger optimum flow depending on its characteristics. From these results, recommendations to nuclear power plants can be formulated to optimize drying practices and achieve good performance in the conservation of material from the water at the stop position.

Keywords: dry conservation, optimization, sizing, water station

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Authors: Maisa Sales Gama Tobias, Humberto de Paiva Junior, Luciano Silva Brito, Rui António Rodrigues Ramos

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Waterway transport in the Amazon was the first means of access and occupation in the region. For the economic and social matter of high importance, still nowadays one of the main transport modes to several places in the region. To some places, still the only transport mode. With the advent of the pandemic, transport companies that already faced management challenges began to experience unprecedented structural changes and trends in trade and global supply chains. Thus, companies need operational reorganization to maintain the sustainability of the service under the penalty of loss of demand. Allied to this fact, it was observed that the demand presented behavior changes to adapt to this new moment. However, the lack of information about these changes makes it difficult to find solutions to maintain the quality of service. This work aimed to characterize the changes in the demand of waterway passengers through an empirical study with field research involving interviews with users and crew, on-board journeys, and visits to the waterway service company. The case study is the route Belém-Camara, on Marajó Island, in the state of Pará. This line is traditionally the only means of transport for this route, besides air transport on a much smaller scale. The collected data had a descriptive and analytical statistical treatment presented in this work. As the main result, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant changes, mainly in trip time and motives and, in the perception itself on service quality by part of the demand, with the increase of trip time and the feeling of insecurity. In conclusion, the service operator must review cost management and business survival strategies and tactics. The viability of the service and the social guarantee of transport proved to be threatened, putting at risk the service to the riverside populations.

Keywords: demand of waterway transport passengers, data analysis, COVID-19, amazonia

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Authors: Lynette Sheridan Burns, Benjamin J. Matthews

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The context of post-industrial journalism is one in which the material circumstances of mechanical publication have been displaced by digital technologies, increasing the distance between the orthodoxy of the newsroom and the culture of journalistic writing. Content is, with growing frequency, created for delivery via the internet, publication on web-based ‘platforms’ and consumption on screen media. In this environment, the question is not ‘who is a journalist?’ but ‘what is journalism?’ today. The changes bring into sharp relief new distinctions between journalistic work and journalistic labor, providing a key insight into the current transition between the industrial journalism of the 20^th century, and the post-industrial journalism of the present. In the 20^th century, the work of journalists and journalistic labor went hand-in-hand as most journalists were employees of news organizations, whilst in the 21^st century evidence of a decoupling of ‘acts of journalism’ (work) and journalistic employment (labor) is beginning to appear. This 'decoupling' of the work and labor that underpins journalism practice is far reaching in its implications, not least for institutional structures. Under these conditions we are witnessing the emergence of expanded ‘entrepreneurial’ journalism, based on smaller, more independent and agile - if less stable - enterprise constructs that are a feature of creative industries. Entrepreneurial journalism is realized in a range of organizational forms from social enterprise, through to profit driven start-ups and hybrids of the two. In all instances, however, the primary motif of the organization is an ideological definition of journalism. An example is the Scoop Foundation for Public Interest Journalism in New Zealand, which owns and operates Scoop Publishing Limited, a not for profit company and social enterprise that publishes an independent news site that claims to have over 500,000 monthly users. Our paper demonstrates that this journalistic work meets the ideological definition of journalism; conducted within the creative industries using an innovative organizational structure that offers a new, viable post-industrial future for journalism.

Keywords: creative industries, digital communication, journalism, post industrial

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Authors: Awais Ahmed, Javed Iqbal

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Pakistan has been for many years facing extreme challenges in energy deficit due to the shortage of power generation compared to increasing demand. A part of this energy deficit is also contributed by the power lost in transmission and distribution network. Unfortunately, distribution companies are not equipped with modern technologies and methods to identify and eliminate these losses. According to estimate, total energy lost in early 2000 was between 20 to 26 percent. To address this issue the present research study was designed with the objectives of developing a standalone GIS application for distribution companies having the capability of loss calculation as well as identification of overloaded transformers. For this purpose, Hilal Road feeder in Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO) was selected as study area. An extensive GPS survey was conducted to identify each consumer, linking it to the secondary pole of the transformer, geo-referencing equipment and documenting conductor sizes. To identify overloaded transformer, accumulative kWH reading of consumer on transformer was compared with threshold kWH. Technical losses of 11kV and 220V lines were calculated using the data from substation and resistance of the network calculated from the geo-database. To automate the process a standalone GIS application was developed using ArcObjects with engineering analysis capabilities. The application uses GIS database developed for 11kV and 220V lines to display and query spatial data and present results in the form of graphs. The result shows that about 14% of the technical loss on both high tension (HT) and low tension (LT) network while about 4 out of 15 general duty transformers were found overloaded. The study shows that GIS can be a very effective tool for distribution companies in management and planning of their distribution network.

Keywords: geographical information system, GIS, power distribution, distribution transformers, technical losses, GPS, SDSS, spatial decision support system

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Authors: K. Sakthivel

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With the continuous increase in population worldwide, stress increased among agricultural peoples, so it is necessary to increase the yield of agro-products. But it is not possible to meet fully with the traditionally adopted ways of using pesticides and herbicides. Today, agriculture and horticulture has realized the need of tomorrow and opting for various technologies to get higher overall yield, quality agro-products. Most of today’s synthetic polymers are produced from petrochemical bi-products and are not biodegradable. Persistent polymers generate significant sources of environmental pollution, harming wildlife when they are disposed in nature. The disposal of non degradable plastic bags adversely affects human and wild life. Moreover incineration of plastic waste presents environmental issues as well, since it yields toxic emissions. Material incineration is also limited due to the difficulties to find accurate and economically viable outlets. In addition plastic recycling shows a negative eco balance due to the necessity in nearly all cases to wash the plastic waste as well as the energy consumption during the recycling process phases. As plastics represent a large part of the waste collection at the local regional and national levels institutions are aware of the significant savings that compostable or biodegradable materials would generate. Polylactic acid (PLA), which is one of the most important biocompatible polyesters that are derived from annually renewable biomass such as corn and wheat, has attracted much attention for automotive parts and also can be applied in agro textiles. The manufacturing method of PLA is the ring-opening polymerization of the dimeric cyclic ester of lactic acid, lactide. For the stereo complex PLA, we developed by the four unit processes, fermentation, separation, lactide conversion, and polymerization. Then the polymer is converted into mulching film and applied in agriculture field. PLA agro textiles have better tensile strength, tearing strength and with stand from UV rays than polyester agro textile and polypropylene-based products.

Keywords: biodegradation, environment, mulching film, PLA, technical textiles

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Authors: Anka Gorgiev, Chris Martin, Nikolaos Dimitriadis, Dimitrios V. Nikolaidis

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This paper is part of a doctoral research study aimed to identify behavioral indicators for the existence of the new marketing paradigm. Neuromarketing is becoming a growing trend in the marketing industry worldwide and it is capturing a lot of interest among the members of academia and the practitioner community. However, it is still not very clear how big of an impact neuromarketing might have in the following years. In an effort to get closer to an answer, this study investigates behavioral intentions and willingness to adopt neuromarketing and its practices by the marketing professionals, including academics, practitioners, students, researchers, experts and journal editors. The participants in the study include marketing professionals at different levels of neuromarketing fluency with residency in the United States of America and the South East Europe. The total of 19 participants participated in the interviews, all of whom belong to more than one group of marketing professionals. The authors use qualitative research approach and open-ended interview questions specifically developed to assess ideas, beliefs and opinions that marketing professionals hold towards neuromarketing. In constructing the interview questions, the authors have used the theory of planned behavior, the prototype willingness model and the technology acceptance model as a theoretical framework. Previous studies have not explicitly investigated the behavioral intentions of marketing professionals to engage in neuromarketing behavior, which is described here as a tendency to apply neuromarketing assumptions and tools in usual marketing practices. This study suggests that the marketing professionals believe that neuromarketing can contribute to the business in a positive way and outlines the main advantages and disadvantages of adopting neuromarketing as identified by the participants. In addition, the study reveals an emerging image of an exemplar company that is perceived to be using neuromarketing, including the most common characteristics and attributes. These findings are believed to be crucial in facilitating a way for neuromarketing field to have a broader impact than it currently does by recognizing and understanding the limitations that such exemplars imply and how that has an effect on the decision-making of marketing professionals.

Keywords: behavioral intentions, marketing paradigm, neuromarketing adoption, theory of planned behavior

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Authors: Salim Al Harthy, Alexandre A. Bachkirov

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This study delves into the complexities of competitive aggressiveness in the oil and gas industry, focusing on the characteristics of the identified competitive actions. The current quantitative research on competitive aggressiveness lacks agreement on the connection between antecedents and outcomes, prompting a qualitative investigation. To address this gap, the research utilizes qualitative interviews with CEOs from Oman's oil and gas service industry to explore the dynamics of competitive aggressiveness. Using Noklenain's typology, the study categorizes and analyzes identified actions, shedding light on the spectrum of competitive behaviors within the industry. Notably, actions predominantly fall under the "Bring about" and "Preserve" elements, with a notable absence in the "Forebear" and "Destroy" categories, possibly linked to the study's focus on service-oriented businesses. The study also explores the detectability of actions, revealing that "Bring about" actions are detectable, while those in "Preserve" and "Suppress" are not. This challenges conventional definitions of competitive aggressiveness, suggesting that not all actions are readily detectable despite being considered competitive. The presence of non-detectable actions introduces complexity to measurement methods reliant on visible empirical data. Moreover, the study contends that companies can adopt an aggressive competitive approach without directly challenging rivals. This challenges traditional views and emphasizes the innovative and entrepreneurial aspects of actions not explicitly aimed at competitors. By not revealing strategic intentions, such actions put rivals at a disadvantage, underscoring the need for a nuanced understanding of competitive aggressiveness. In summary, the lack of consensus in existing literature regarding the relationship between antecedents and outcomes in competitive aggressiveness is addressed. The study reveals a spectrum of detectable and undetectable actions, posing challenges in measurement and emphasizing the need for alternative methods to assess undetectable actions in competitive behavior. This research contributes to a more nuanced understanding of competitive aggressiveness, acknowledging the diverse actions shaping a company's strategic positioning in dynamic business environments.

Keywords: competitive aggressiveness, qualitative exploration, noklenain's typology, oil and gas industry

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Authors: Jing Zhang, Yvonne Reinwald, Nick Poulson, Alicia El Haj, Chung See, Mike Somekh, Melissa Mather

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Biomedical imaging of native tissue using light offers the potential to obtain excellent structural and functional information in a non-invasive manner with good temporal resolution. Image contrast can be derived from intrinsic absorption, fluorescence, or scatter, or through the use of extrinsic contrast. A major challenge in applying optical microscopy to in vivo tissue imaging is the effects of light attenuation which limits light penetration depth and achievable imaging resolution. Recently Selective Plane Illumination Microscopy (SPIM) has been used to map the 3D distribution of fluorophores dispersed in biological structures. In this approach, a focused sheet of light is used to illuminate the sample from the side to excite fluorophores within the sample of interest. Images are formed based on detection of fluorescence emission orthogonal to the illumination axis. By scanning the sample along the detection axis and acquiring a stack of images, 3D volumes can be obtained. The combination of rapid image acquisition speeds with the low photon dose to samples optical sectioning provides SPIM is an attractive approach for imaging biological samples in 3D. To date all implementations of SPIM rely on the use of fluorescence reporters be that endogenous or exogenous. This approach has the disadvantage that in the case of exogenous probes the specimens are altered from their native stage rendering them unsuitable for in vivo studies and in general fluorescence emission is weak and transient. Here we present for the first time to our knowledge a label-free implementation of SPIM that has downstream applications in the clinical setting. The experimental set up used in this work incorporates both label-free and fluorescent illumination arms in addition to a high specification camera that can be partitioned for simultaneous imaging of both fluorescent emission and scattered light from intrinsic sources of optical contrast in the sample being studied. This work first involved calibration of the imaging system and validation of the label-free method with well characterised fluorescent microbeads embedded in agarose gel. 3D constructs of mammalian cells cultured in agarose gel with varying cell concentrations were then imaged. A time course study to track cell proliferation in the 3D construct was also carried out and finally a native tissue sample was imaged. For each sample multiple images were obtained by scanning the sample along the axis of detection and 3D maps reconstructed. The results obtained validated label-free SPIM as a viable approach for imaging cells in a 3D gel construct and native tissue. This technique has the potential use in a near-patient environment that can provide results quickly and be implemented in an easy to use manner to provide more information with improved spatial resolution and depth penetration than current approaches.

Keywords: bioimaging, optics, selective plane illumination microscopy, tissue imaging

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Authors: Cosmas Pandit Pagwiwoko, Ammar Khaled Abdelaziz Abdelsamia

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Flutter as a phenomenon of flow-induced and self-excited vibration has to be recognized considering its harmful effect on the structure especially in a stage of aircraft design. This phenomenon is also important for a wind energy harvester based on the fluttering surface due to its effective operational velocity range. This multi-physics occurrence can be presented by two governing equations in both fluid and structure simultaneously in respecting certain boundary conditions on the surface of the body. In this work, the equations are resolved separately by two distinct solvers, one-time step of each domain. The modelling and simulation of this flow-structure interaction in ANSYS show the effectiveness of this loosely coupled method in representing flutter phenomenon however the process is time-consuming for design purposes. Therefore, another technique using the same weak coupled aero-structure is proposed by using system dynamics approach. In this technique, the aerodynamic forces were calculated using singularity function for a range of frequencies and certain natural mode shapes are transformed into time domain by employing an approximation model of fraction rational function in Laplace variable. The representation of structure in a multi-degree-of-freedom coupled with a transfer function of aerodynamic forces can then be simulated in time domain on a block-diagram platform such as Simulink MATLAB. The dynamic response of flutter at certain velocity can be evaluated with another established flutter calculation in frequency domain k-method. In this method, a parameter of artificial structural damping is inserted in the equation of motion to assure the energy balance of flow and vibrating structure. The simulation in time domain is particularly interested as it enables to apply the structural non-linear factors accurately. Experimental tests on a fluttering airfoil in the wind tunnel are also conducted to validate the method.

Keywords: flutter, flow-induced vibration, flow-structure interaction, non-linear structure

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Authors: Ahmet Erdoğan, Şahin Kesici, Mustafa Baloğlu

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Information technologies have lead to changes in the areas of communication, learning, and teaching. Besides offering many opportunities to the learners, these technologies have changed the teaching methods and beliefs of teachers. What the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) means to the teachers is considerably important to integrate technology successfully into teaching processes. It is necessary to understand how to plan and apply teacher training programs in order to balance students’ pedagogical and technological knowledge. Because of many inefficient teacher training programs, teachers have difficulties in relating technology, pedagogy and content knowledge each other. While providing an efficient training supported with technology, understanding the three main components (technology, pedagogy and content knowledge) and their relationship are very crucial. The purpose of this study is to determine whether motivational beliefs and self-regulated learning strategies are significant predictors of mathematics teacher candidates' TPACK perceptions. A hundred seventy five Turkish mathematics teachers candidates responded to the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) and the Technological Pedagogical And Content Knowledge (TPACK) Scale. Of the group, 129 (73.7%) were women and 46 (26.3%) were men. Participants' ages ranged from 20 to 31 years with a mean of 23.04 years (SD = 2.001). In this study, a multiple linear regression analysis was used. In multiple linear regression analysis, the relationship between the predictor variables, mathematics teacher candidates' motivational beliefs, and self-regulated learning strategies, and the dependent variable, TPACK perceptions, were tested. It was determined that self-efficacy for learning and performance and intrinsic goal orientation are significant predictors of mathematics teacher candidates' TPACK perceptions. Additionally, mathematics teacher candidates' critical thinking, metacognitive self-regulation, organisation, time and study environment management, and help-seeking were found to be significant predictors for their TPACK perceptions.

Keywords: candidate mathematics teachers, motivational beliefs, self-regulated learning strategies, technological and pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge

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Authors: Viviana Letelier, Ester Tarela, Bianca Lopez, Pedro Muñoz, Giacomo Moriconi

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The environmental impact has become a global concern during the last decades. Several alternatives have been proposed and studied to minimize this impact in different areas. The reuse of aggregates from old concretes to manufacture new ones not only can reduce this impact but is also a way to optimize the resource management. The effect of the origin of the reused aggregates from two different origin materials in recycled concrete pavement is studied here. Using the dosing applied by a pavement company, coarse aggregates in the 6.3-25 mm fraction are replaced by recycled aggregates with two different origins: old concrete pavements with similar origin strength to the one of the control concrete, and precast concrete pipes with smaller strengths than the one of the control concrete. The replacement percentages tested are 30%, 40% and 50% in both cases. The compressive strength tests are performed after 7, 14, 28 and 90 curing days, the flexural strength tests and the elasticity modulus tests after 28 and 90 curing days. Results show that the influence of the quality of the origin concrete in the mechanical properties of recycled concretes is not despicable. Concretes with up to a 50% of recycled aggregates from the concrete pavement have similar compressive strengths to the ones of the control concrete and slightly smaller flexural strengths that, however, in all cases exceed the minimum of 5MPa after 28 curing days stablished by the Chilean regulation for pavement concretes. On the other hand, concretes with recycled aggregates from precast concrete pipes show significantly lower compressive strengths after 28 curing days. The differences with the compressive strength of the control concrete increase with the percentage of replacement, reaching a 13% reduction when 50% of the aggregates are replaced. The flexural strength also suffers significant reductions that increase with the percentage of replacement, only obeying the Chilean regulation when 30% of the aggregates are recycled after 28 curing days. Nevertheless, after 90 curing days, all series obey the regulation requirements. Results show, not only the importance of the quality of the origin concrete, but also the significance of the curing days, that may allow the use of less quality recycled material without important strength losses.

Keywords: flexural strength of recycled concrete., mechanical properties of recycled concrete, recycled aggregates, recycled concrete pavements

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Authors: Sohaib Raza, Parvez Mantry

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Frailty is a multi-system impairment associated with stressors such as age, disease, and invasive surgical procedures. This multi-system impairment can lead to increased post-transplant mortality and functional decline. Additionally, the prevalence and/or severity of frailty increases when patient pre-habilitation is unsatisfactory or lacking. We conducted a retrospective study to examine whether the COVID-19 Pandemic, and subsequent lack of patient access to pre-habilitation and physical therapy resources, led to an increase in the prevalence and severity of frailty, sarcopenia, and other comorbidities including diabetes, hypertension, and COPD. Secondarily, we examined the correlation between patient survival rate and liver frailty index as well as muscle wasting/sarcopenia. Data were analyzed in order to correlate variables associated with these parameters. Three hundred sixty-nine liver transplant candidates at Methodist Dallas Medical Center were administered pre-transplant frailty assessments, which consisted of chair stands, grip strength, and position balance time. A frailty score less than 3.2 indicated a robust condition, a score from 3.3 to 4.4 indicated a pre-frail condition, and a score greater than 4.5 indicated a frail condition. Greater than 50 percent of patients were found to have muscle wasting in the COVID-19 period (March 13, 2020 to February 28, 2022), an increase of 16.5 percent from the pre-COVID period (April 1st, 2018 to March 12, 2020). Additionally, sarcopenia was associated with a two-fold increase in patient mortality rate. Furthermore, high liver frailty index scores were associated with increased patient mortality. However, there was no significant difference in liver frailty index or number of comorbidities between patients in the two cohorts. Conclusion: The COVID-19 Pandemic exacerbated sarcopenia-related muscle wasting in liver transplant candidates, and patient survival rate was directly correlated with liver frailty index score and the presence of sarcopenia.

Keywords: frailty, sarcopenia, covid-19, patient mortality, pre-habilitation, liver transplant candidates

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Authors: Yanqing Yi, Maria Cristina Lavagnolo, Alessandro Manzardo

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Construction and demolition waste (C&DW) is a major challenge in the European Union, emphasizing the urgent need for appropriate waste management processes. Selecting these solutions is challenging, as it requires identifying efficient C&DW management techniques that balance acceptable practices, regulatory compliance, resource conservation, economic viability, and environmental concerns. Techniques for analyzing many kinds of criteria allow for the use of multi-criteria analysis in life cycle assessment (LCA). Although LCA is commonly used to analyze environmental effects, the economic factor has not been fully integrated into the LCA approach in C&DW management. The life cycle costing (LCC) approach was designed to assess economic performance in the C&DW management process. The choice of an effective multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) technique is critical for the C&DW system. This study seeks to propose a model that employs MCDM by considering LCA and LCC results, thereby augmenting both environmental and economic sustainability. A widely used compensatory MCDM technique, TOPSIS, has been chosen to identify the most effective C&DW management scheme by comparing and ranking various scenarios. Four waste management alternatives were examined in the Lombardy region of Italy, namely, (i) landfill; (ii) recycling for concrete production and road construction, incineration with energy recovery; (iii) recycling for road construction; (iv) recycling for concrete production and road construction. We determine that, with the implementation of various scenarios, the most suitable scenario emerges to be recycled for concrete production and road construction, with a score of 0.711/1; recycling for road construction, with a final score of 0.291/1, ranks second; recycling for concrete production and road construction, incineration with energy recovery scores 0.002/1, ranks third; and landfill (scores: 0/1) is the worst choice, indicating it has the highest environmental impact. Finally, suggestions were developed to improve the system's environmental performance.

Keywords: life cycle assessment, life cycle costing, construction and demolition waste, multi-criteria decision making

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Authors: Singh Deepeshwar, N. K. Manjunath, M. Avinash

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Meditation is a self-regulated conscious process associated with improved awareness, perception, attention and overall performance. Different traditional origin of meditation technique may have different effects on autonomic activity and brain functions. Based on this quest, the present study evaluated the effect of Tai-Chi Chuan (TCC, a Chines movement based meditation technique) and Cyclic Meditation (CM, an Indian traditional based stimulation and relaxation meditation technique) on the hemodynamic responses of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and autonomic functions (such as R-R interval of heart rate variability and respiration). These two meditation practices were compared with simple walking. Employing 64 channel near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), we measured hemoglobin concentration change (i.e., Oxyhemoglobin [ΔHbO], Deoxyhemoglobin [ΔHbR] and Total hemoglobin change [ΔTHC]) in the bilateral PFC before and after TCC, CM and Walking in young college students (n=25; average mean age ± SD; 23.4 ± 3.1 years). We observed the left PFC activity predominantly modulates sympathetic activity effects during the Tai-Chi whereas CM showed changes on right PFC with vagal dominance. However, the changes in oxyhemoglobin and total blood volume change after Tai-Chi was significant higher (p < 0.05, spam t-maps) on the left hemisphere, whereas after CM, there was a significant increase in oxyhemoglobin (p < 0.01) with a decrease in deoxyhemoglobin (p < 0.05) on right PFC. The normal walking showed decrease in Oxyhemoglobin with an increase in deoxyhemoglobin on left PFC. The autonomic functions result showed a significant increase in RR- interval (p < 0.05) along with significant reductions in HR (p < 0.05) in CM, whereas Tai-chi session showed significant increase in HR (p < 0.05) when compared to walking session. Within a group analysis showed a significant reduction in RR-I and significant increase in HR both in Tai-chi and walking sessions. The CM showed there were a significant improvement in the RR - interval of HRV (p < 0.01) with the reduction of heart rate and breath rate (p < 0.05). The result suggested that Tai-Chi and CM both have a positive effect on left and right prefrontal cortex and increase sympathovagal balance (alertful rest) in autonomic nervous system activity.

Keywords: brain, hemodynamic responses, yoga, meditation, Tai-Chi Chuan (TCC), walking, heart rate variability (HRV)

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Authors: Giang Ngo Tinh Nguyen

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Agriculture plays an important role in the economy of Vietnam and coffee is one of most crucial agricultural commodities for exporting but the current farming methods and processing infrastructure could not keep up with the development of the sector. There are many catastrophic impacts on the environment such as deforestation; soil degradation that leads to a decrease in the quality of coffee beans. Therefore, improving supply chain to develop the cultivation of sustainable coffee is one of the most important strategies to boost the coffee industry and create a competitive advantage for Vietnamese coffee in the worldwide market. If all stakeholders in the supply chain network unite together; the sustainable production of coffee will be scaled up and the future of coffee industry will be firmly secured. Buon Ma Thuot city, Dak Lak province is the principal growing region for Vietnamese coffee which accounted for a third of total coffee area in Vietnam. It plays a strategically crucial role in the development of sustainable Vietnamese coffee. Thus, the research is to improve the supply chain of sustainable Vietnamese coffee production in Buon Ma Thuot city, Dak Lak province, Vietnam for the purpose of increasing the yields and export availability as well as helping coffee farmers to be more flexible in an ever-changing market situation. It will help to affirm Vietnamese coffee brand when entering international market; improve the livelihood of farmers and conserve the environment of this area. Besides, after analyzing the data, a logistic regression model is established to explain the relationship between the dependent variable and independent variables to help sustainable coffee organizations forecast the probability of farmer will be having a sustainable certificate with their current situation and help them choose promising candidates to develop sustainable programs. It investigates opinions of local farmers through quantitative surveys. Qualitative interviews are also used to interview local collectors and staff of Trung Nguyen manufacturing company to have an overview of the situation.

Keywords: supply chain management, sustainable agricultural development, sustainable coffee, Vietnamese coffee

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Authors: Muhammad Adeel Arshad, Shaukat Ali Bhatti, Faiz-ul Hassan

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Manipulating microbial ecosystem in the rumen is considered as an important strategy to optimize production efficiency in ruminants. In the past, antibiotics and synthetic chemical compounds have been used for the manipulation of rumen fermentation. However, since the non-therapeutic use of antibiotics has been banned, efforts are being focused to search out safe alternative products. In tropics, crop residues and forage grazing are major dietary sources for ruminants. Poor digestibility and utilization of these feedstuffs by animals is a limiting factor to exploit the full potential of ruminants in this area. Hence, there is a need to enhance the utilization of these available feeding resources. One of the potential strategies in this regard is the use of direct-fed microbes. Bacteria and fungi are mostly used as direct-fed microbes to improve animal health and productivity. Commonly used bacterial species include lactic acid-producing and utilizing bacteria (Lactobacillus, Streptococcus, Enterococcus, Bifidobacterium, and Bacillus) and fungal species of yeast are Saccharomyces and Aspergillus. Direct-fed microbes modulate microbial balance in the gastrointestinal tract through the competitive exclusion of pathogenic species and favoring beneficial microbes. Improvement in weight gain and feed efficiency has been observed as a result of feeding direct-fed bacteria. The use of fungi as a direct-fed microbe may prevent excessive production of lactate and harmful oxygen in the rumen leading to better feed digestibility. However, the mechanistic mode of action for bacterial or fungal direct-fed microbes has not been established yet. Various reports have confirmed an increase in dry matter intake, milk yield, and milk contents in response to the administration of direct-fed microbes. However, the application of a direct-fed microbe has shown variable responses mainly attributed to dosages and strains of microbes. Nonetheless, it is concluded that the inclusion of direct-fed microbes may mediate the rumen ecosystem to manage lactic acid production and utilization in both clinical and sub-acute rumen acidosis.

Keywords: microbes, roughages, rumen, feed efficiency, production, fermentation

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Authors: Arefeh Hesaraki

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The application of photovoltaic-thermal hybrids (PVT), which delivers both electricity and heat simultaneously from the same system, has become more popular during the past few years. This study addresses techno-economic and environmental impacts assessment of photovoltaic/thermal systems combined with a ground-source heat pump (GSHP) for three single-family houses located in Stockholm, Sweden. Three case studies were: (1) A renovated building built in 1936, (2) A renovated building built in 1973, and (3) A new building built-in 2013. Two simulation programs of SimaPro 9.1 and IDA Indoor Climate and Energy 4.8 (IDA ICE) were applied to analyze environmental impacts and energy usage, respectively. The cost-effectiveness of the system was evaluated using net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR), and discounted payback time (DPBT) methods. In addition to cost payback time, the studied PVT system was evaluated using the energy payback time (EPBT) method. EPBT presents the time that is needed for the installed system to generate the same amount of energy which was utilized during the whole lifecycle (fabrication, installation, transportation, and end-of-life) of the system itself. Energy calculation by IDA ICE showed that a 5 m² PVT was sufficient to create a balance between the maximum heat production and the domestic hot water consumption during the summer months for all three case studies. The techno-economic analysis revealed that combining a 5 m² PVT with GSHP in the second case study possess the smallest DPBT and the highest NPV and IRR among the three case studies. It means that DPBTs (IRR) were 10.8 years (6%), 12.6 years (4%), and 13.8 years (3%) for the second, first, and the third case study, respectively. Moreover, environmental assessment of embodied energy during cradle- to- grave life cycle of the studied PVT, including fabrication, delivery of energy and raw materials, manufacture process, installation, transportation, operation phase, and end of life, revealed approximately two years of EPBT in all cases.

Keywords: life-cycle cost, life-cycle assessment, photovoltaic/thermal, IDA ICE, net present value

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Authors: Viktor Müller, Ulman Lindenberger

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Neurophysiological evidence suggests that the physiological states of the system are characterized by specific network structures and network topology dynamics, demonstrating a robust interplay between network topology and function. It is also evident that interpersonal action coordination or social interaction (e.g., playing music in duets or groups) requires strong intra- and interbrain synchronization resulting in a specific hyper brain network activity across two or more brains to support such coordination or interaction. Such complex hyper brain networks can be described as multiplex or multilayer networks that have a specific multidimensional or multilayer network organization characteristic for superordinate systems and their constituents. The aim of the study was to describe multilayer hyper brain networks and synchronization patterns of guitarists playing guitar in a quartet by using electroencephalography (EEG) hyper scanning (simultaneous EEG recording from multiple brains) and following time-frequency decomposition and multilayer network construction, where within-frequency coupling (WFC) represents communication within different layers, and cross-frequency coupling (CFC) depicts communication between these layers. Results indicate that communication or coupling dynamics, both within and between the layers across the brains of the guitarists, play an essential role in action coordination and are particularly enhanced during periods of high demands on musical coordination. Moreover, multilayer hyper brain network topology and dynamical structure of guitar sounds showed specific guitar-guitar, brain-brain, and guitar-brain causal associations, indicating multilevel dynamics with upward and downward causation, contributing to the superordinate system dynamics and hyper brain functioning. It is concluded that the neuronal dynamics during interpersonal interaction are brain-wide and frequency-specific with the fine-tuned balance between WFC and CFC and can best be described in terms of multilayer multi-brain networks with specific network topology and connectivity strengths. Further sophisticated research is needed to deepen our understanding of these highly interesting and complex phenomena.

Keywords: EEG hyper scanning, intra- and interbrain coupling, multilayer hyper brain networks, social interaction, within- and cross-frequency coupling

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Authors: Amir M. Shikhli, Refaat H. Abdel-Razek, Salaheddine Bendak

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Innovation is considered to be one of the key factors that influence long-term success of any company. The problem of many organizations in developing countries is trying to implement innovation without a strong basis within the organizational culture to support it. The objective of this study is to assess the effects of organizational culture on innovation in one of the biggest information technology organizations in UAE, Injazat Data System. First, an Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) was used as a survey and Competing Value Framework as a model to analyze the existing culture within the organization and determine its characteristics. Following that, a modified version of the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) was used to determine innovation types introduced by the organization. Then multiple linear regression analysis was used to find out the effects of existing organizational culture on innovation. Results show that existing organizational culture is composed of a combination of Hierarchy (29.4%), Clan (25.8%), Market (24.9%) and Adhocracy (19.9%). Results of the second survey show that the organization focuses on organizational innovation (26.8%) followed by market and product innovations (25.6%) and finally process innovation (22.0%). Regression analysis results reveal that for each innovation type there is a recommended combination of the four culture types. For product innovation, the combination is 47.4% Clan, 17.9% Adhocracy, 1.0% Market and 33.3% Hierarchy; for process innovation it is 19.7% Clan, 45.2% Adhocracy, 32.0% Market and 3.1% Hierarchy; for organizational innovation the combination is 5.4% Clan, 32.7% Adhocracy, 6.0% Market and 55.9% Hierarchy; and for market innovation it is 25.5% Clan, 42.6% Adhocracy, 32.6% Market and 8.4% Hierarchy. Based on these recommended combinations, this study suggests two ways to enhance the innovation culture in the organization. First, if the management decides on the innovation type to be enhanced, a comparison between the existing culture and the recommended combination of selected innovation types will lead to difference in percentages of each culture type. Then further analysis should show how to modify the existing culture to match the recommended combination. Second, if the innovation type is not selected, but the management wants to enhance innovation culture in the organization, the difference in percentages of each culture type will lead to finding out the recommended combination of culture types that gives the narrowest gap between existing culture and recommended combination.

Keywords: developing countries, organizational culture, innovation types, product innovation, process innovation, organizational innovation, marketing innovation

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