Search results for: business incubation centers

Authors: Ayla Roberta Galaco, Juliana Fonseca De Lima, Osvaldo Antonio Serra

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Coordination polymers, also known as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) or lanthanoide organic frameworks (LOFs) have been reported due of their promising applications in gas storage, separation, catalysis, luminescence, magnetism, drug delivery, and so on. As a type of organic–inorganic hybrid materials, the properties of coordination polymers could be chosen by deliberately selecting the organic and inorganic components. LOFs have received considerable attention because of their properties such as porosity, luminescence, and magnetism. Methods such as solvothermal synthesis are important as a strategy to control the structural and morphological properties as well as the composition of the target compounds. In this work the first solvothermal synthesis was employed to obtain the compound [Y0.4,Yb0.4,Er0.2(dmf)(for)(H2O)(tft)], by using terephthalic acid (tft) and oxalic acid, decomposed in formate (for), as ligands; Yttrium, Ytterbium and, Erbium as metal centers, in DMF and water for 4 days under 160 °C. The semi-rigid terephthalic acid (dicarboxylic) coordinates with Ln3+ ions and also is possible to form a polyfunctional bridge. On the other hand, oxalate anion has no high-energy vibrational groups, which benefits the excitation of Yb3+ in upconversion process. It was observed that the compounds with water molecules in the coordination sphere of the lanthanoide ions cause lower crystalline properties and change the structure of the LOF (1D, 2D, 3D). In the FTIR, the bands at 1589 and 1500 cm-1 correspond to the asymmetric stretching vibration of –COO. The band at 1383 cm-1 is assigned to the symmetric stretching vibration of –COO. Single crystal X-ray diffraction study reveals an infinite 3D coordination framework that crystalizes in space group P21/c. The other three products, [TR(chel)(ofd)0,5(H2O)2], where TR= Eu3+, Y3, and Yb3+/Er3+ were obtained by using 1, 2-phenylenedioxydiacetic acid (ofd) and chelidonic acid (chel) as organic ligands. Thermal analysis shows that the lanthanoide organic frameworks do not collapse at temperatures below 250 °C. By the polycrystalline X-ray diffraction patterns (PXRD) it was observed that the compounds with Eu3+, Y3+, and Yb3+/Er3+ ions are isostructural. From PXRD patterns, high crystallinity can be noticed for the complexes. The final products were characterized by single X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The X-ray diffraction (XRD) is an effective method to investigate crystalline properties of synthesized materials. The solid crystal obtained in the synthesis show peaks at 2θ < 10°, indicating the MOF formation. The chemical composition of LOFs was also confirmed by EDS.

Keywords: isostructural, lanthanoids, lanthanoids organic frameworks (LOFs), metal organic frameworks (MOFs), thermogravimetry, X-Ray diffraction

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Authors: Romi Dey

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Introduction: One of the most important criteria for technology to sustain and grow is through it’s elaborate and intuitive design methodology and design thinking. Designing for enterprise applications that cater to Just in Time Technology is one of the most challenging and detailed processes any User Experience Designer would come across. Description: The basic principles of Design, when applied to tailor to these technologies, creates an immense challenge and that’s how a set of redefined and revised design principles that can be applied to designing any Just In Time manufacturing solution. Findings: The thorough process of understanding the end user, their existing pain points which they’ve faced in the real world, their responsibilities and expectations, the core needs and last but not the least the demands, creates havoc nurturing of the design methodologies for the Just in Time solutions. With respect to the business aspect, design and design principles play a strong role in any form of innovation. Conclusion: Innovation and knowledge about the latest technologies are the keywords in the manufacturing industry. It becomes crucial for the product development team to be precise in their understanding of the technology and being sure of end users expectation.

Keywords: design thinking, enterprise application, Just in Time, user experience design

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Authors: Maziyar Nouraee

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Electronic markets in recent decades contribute remarkably in business transactions. Many organizations consider traditional ways of trade non-economical and therefore they do trade only through electronic markets. There are different categorizations of electronic markets functions. In one classification, functions of electronic markets are categorized into classes as information, transactions, and value added. In the present paper, effects of the three classes on the two major elements of the supply chain management are measured. The two elements are decrease in the product unit cost and reduction in response time to the customer. The results of the current research show that among nine minor elements related to the three classes of electronic markets functions, six factors and three factors influence on reduction of the product unit cost and reduction of response time to the customer, respectively.

Keywords: electronic commerce, electronic market, B2B trade, supply chain management

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Authors: Ankush Agrawal, Nadia Bhuiyan

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The new product development (NPD) literature emphasizes the importance of introducing new products on the market for continuing business success. New products are responsible for employment, economic growth, technological progress, and high standards of living. Therefore, the study of NPD and the processes through which they emerge is important. The goal of our research is to propose a framework of critical success factors, metrics, and tools and techniques for implementing metrics for each stage of the new product development (NPD) process. An extensive literature review was undertaken to investigate decades of studies on NPD success and how it can be achieved. These studies were scanned for common factors for firms that enjoyed success of new products on the market. The paper summarizes NPD success factors, suggests metrics that should be used to measure these factors, and proposes tools and techniques to make use of these metrics. This was done for each stage of the NPD process, and brought together in a framework that the authors propose should be followed for complex NPD projects. While many studies have been conducted on critical success factors for NPD, these studies tend to be fragmented and focus on one or a few phases of the NPD process.

Keywords: new product development, performance, critical success factors, framework

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Authors: Zeynep Busra Velioglu, Deniz Pulat, Beril Demirbakan, Burak Ozcan, Ece Bayrak, Cevat Erisken

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Bone tissue has the ability to perform a wide array of functions including providing posture, load-bearing capacity, protection for the internal organs, initiating hematopoiesis, and maintaining the homeostasis of key electrolytes via calcium/phosphate ion storage. The most common cause for bone defects is extensive trauma and subsequent infection. Bone tissue has the self-healing capability without a scar tissue formation for the majority of the injuries. However, some may result with delayed union or fracture non-union. Such cases include reconstruction of large bone defects or cases of compromised regenerative process as a result of avascular necrosis and osteoporosis. Several surgical methods exist to treat bone defects, including Ilizarov method, Masquelete technique, growth factor stimulation, and bone replacement. Unfortunately, these are technically demanding and come with noteworthy disadvantages such as lengthy treatment duration, adverse effects on the patient’s psychology, repeated surgical procedures, and often long hospitalization times. These limitations associated with surgical techniques make bone substitutes an attractive alternative. Here, it was hypothesized that a 3D printed scaffold will mimic trabecular bone in terms of biomechanical properties and that such scaffolds will support cell attachment and survival. To test this hypothesis, this study aimed at fabricating poly(lactic acid), PLA, structures using 3D printing technology for trabecular bone defects, characterizing the scaffolds and comparing with bovine trabecular bone. Capacity of scaffolds on human bone marrow stem cell (hBMSC) attachment and survival was also evaluated. Cubes with a volume of 1 cm³ having pore sizes of 0.50, 1.00 and 1.25 mm were printed. The scaffolds/grafts were characterized in terms of porosity, contact angle, compressive mechanical properties as well cell response. Porosities of the 3D printed scaffolds were calculated based on apparent densities. For contact angles, 50 µl distilled water was dropped over the surface of scaffolds, and contact angles were measured using ‘Image J’ software. Mechanical characterization under compression was performed on scaffolds and native trabecular bone (bovine, 15 months) specimens using a universal testing machine at a rate of 0.5mm/min. hBMSCs were seeded onto the 3D printed scaffolds. After 3 days of incubation with fully supplemented Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium, the cells were fixed using 2% formaldehyde and glutaraldehyde mixture. The specimens were then imaged under scanning electron microscopy. Cell proliferation was determined by using EZQuant dsDNA Quantitation kit. Fluorescence was measured using microplate reader Spectramax M2 at the excitation and emission wavelengths of 485nm and 535nm, respectively. Findings suggested that porosity of scaffolds with pore dimensions of 0.5mm, 1.0mm and 1.25mm were not affected by pore size, while contact angle and compressive modulus decreased with increasing pore size. Biomechanical characterization of trabecular bone yielded higher modulus values as compared to scaffolds with all pore sizes studied. Cells attached and survived in all surfaces, demonstrating higher proliferation on scaffolds with 1.25mm pores as compared with those of 1mm. Collectively, given lower mechanical properties of scaffolds as compared to native bone, and biocompatibility of the scaffolds, the 3D printed PLA scaffolds of this study appear as candidate substitutes for bone repair and regeneration.

Keywords: 3D printing, biomechanics, bone repair, stem cell

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Authors: Kartina Sury Kariman

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Brand-to-customer (B2C) engagement has been well established through the traditional platform such as direct sales, advertising, customer service center, customer hotline as well as brand usage experiences. Increasingly, interest to B2C has evolved to include customer-to-customer (C2C) interaction analysis aligned with the vast growth of web 2.0. Hence, discussion on C2C interaction and brand strategy have captured social media as it enables brands and C2C interaction to be connected in various ways, providing opportunities for marketers to shape their brand engagement strategy while reaching C2C as the targeted outcomes. The objective here is to provide a preliminary review of C2C interaction consisting the antecedents and consequences while highlighting areas of research interest within the context from marketers perspective and the business outcomes. This paper discusses how C2C interaction defines marketers’ brand and communication strategy and how social media trend shapes the strategy when promoting the awareness of life insurance industry and educating the target market.

Keywords: social media, brand engagement, customer interaction, customer engagement, brand strategy, life insurance

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Authors: Benjamin Blat Belmonte, Stephan Rinderknecht

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The transition to electric vehicles (EVs) stands at the forefront of innovative strategies designed to address environmental concerns and reduce fossil fuel dependency. As the number of EVs on the roads increases, so too does the potential for their integration into energy markets. This research dives deep into the transformative possibilities of using electric vehicle fleets, specifically electric bus fleets, not just as consumers but as active participants in the energy market. This paper investigates the feasibility and grid effects of electric vehicle fleet operators in the energy market. Our objective centers around a comprehensive exploration of the sector coupling domain, with an emphasis on the economic potential in both electricity and balancing markets. Methodologically, our approach combines data mining techniques with thorough pre-processing, pulling from a rich repository of electricity and balancing market data. Our findings are grounded in the actual operational realities of the bus fleet operator in Darmstadt, Germany. We employ a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) approach, with the bulk of the computations being processed on the High-Performance Computing (HPC) platform ‘Lichtenbergcluster’. Our findings underscore the compelling economic potential of EV fleets in the energy market. With electric buses becoming more prevalent, the considerable size of these fleets, paired with their substantial battery capacity, opens up new horizons for energy market participation. Notably, our research reveals that economic viability is not the sole advantage. Participating actively in the energy market also translates into pronounced positive effects on grid stabilization. Essentially, EV fleet operators can serve a dual purpose: facilitating transport while simultaneously playing an instrumental role in enhancing grid reliability and resilience. This research highlights the symbiotic relationship between the growth of EV fleets and the stabilization of the energy grid. Such systems could lead to both commercial and ecological advantages, reinforcing the value of electric bus fleets in the broader landscape of sustainable energy solutions. In conclusion, the electrification of transport offers more than just a means to reduce local greenhouse gas emissions. By positioning electric vehicle fleet operators as active participants in the energy market, there lies a powerful opportunity to drive forward the energy transition. This study serves as a testament to the synergistic potential of EV fleets in bolstering both economic viability and grid stabilization, signaling a promising trajectory for future sector coupling endeavors.

Keywords: electric vehicle fleet, sector coupling, optimization, electricity market, balancing market

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Authors: Angie Al Habib, Khalid Al Siyabi

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To measure or asses any government’s efficiency we need to measure the performance of this government in regards to the quality of the service it provides. Using a technological platform in service provision became a trend and a public demand. It is also a public need to make sure these services are aligned to values and to the whole government’s strategy, vision and goals as well. Providing services using technology tools and channels can enhance the internal business process and also help establish many essential values to government services like transparency and excellence, since in order to establish e-services many standards and policies must be put in place to enable the handing over of decision making to a mature system oriented mechanism. There was no doubt that the Sultanate of Oman wanted to enhance its services and move it towards automation and establishes a smart government as well as links its services to life events. Measuring government efficiency is very essential in achieving social security and economic growth, since it can provide a clear dashboard of all projects and improvements. Based on this data we can improve the strategies and align the country goals to them.

Keywords: government, maturity, Oman, performance, service

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Authors: Ying-Jung Hsieh, Angela S. Huang, Chu-Ming Chiu, Yu-Min Chou, Chin-Hui Yang

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Background and Objectives: Hepatitis A is primarily acquired by the fecal-oral route through person-to-person contact or ingestion of contaminated food or water. During 2010 to 2014, an average of 83 cases of locally-acquired disease was reported to Taiwan’s notifiable disease system. Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (TCDC) identified an outbreak of acute hepatitis A which began in June 2015. Of the 126 cases reported in 2015, 103 (82%) cases were reported during June–December and 95 cases (92%) of them were male. The average age of all male cases was 31 years (median, 29 years; range, 15–76 years). Among the 95 male cases, 49 (52%) were also infected with HIV, and all reported to have had sex with other men. To control this outbreak, TCDC launched a free hepatitis A vaccination program in January 2016 for close contacts of confirmed hepatitis A cases, including family members, sexual partners, and household contacts. Effect of the vaccination program was evaluated. Methods: All cases of hepatitis A reported to the National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System were included. A case of hepatitis A was defined as a locally-acquired disease in a person who had acute clinical symptoms include fever, malaise, loss of appetite, nausea or abdominal discomfort compatible with hepatitis, and tested positive for anti-HAV IgM during June 2015 to June 2016 in Taiwan. The rate of case accumulation was calculated using a simple regression model. Results: During January–June 2016, there were 466 cases of hepatitis A reported; of the 243 (52%) who were also infected with HIV, 232 (95%) had a history of having sex with men. Of the 346 cases that were followed up, 259 (75%) provided information on contacts but only 14 (5%) of them provided the name of their sexual partners. Among the 602 contacts reported, 349 (58%) were family members, 14 (2%) were sexual partners, and 239 (40%) were other household contacts. Among the 602 contacts eligible for free hepatitis A vaccination, 440 (73%) received the vaccine. There were 87 (25%) cases that refused to disclose their close contacts. The average case accumulation rate during January–June 2016 was 21.7 cases per month, which was 6.8 times compared to the average case accumulation rate during June–December 2015 of 3.2 cases per month. Conclusions: Despite vaccination program aimed to provide free hepatitis A vaccine to close contacts of hepatitis A patients, the outbreak continued and even gained momentum in transmission. Refusal by hepatitis A patients to provide names of their close contacts and rejection of contacts to take the hepatitis A vaccine may have contributed to the poor effect of the program. Targeted vaccination efforts of all MSM may be needed to control the outbreak among this population in the short term. In the long term, universal vaccination program is needed to prevent the infection of hepatitis A.

Keywords: hepatitis A, HIV, men who have sex with men, vaccination

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Authors: Malcolm Richardson, Gabriele Richardson

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This paper illustrates how historical problems can be studied successfully using GIS even in cases in which data, in the modern sense, is fragmentary. The overall problem under investigation is how early (1300-1500) English schools of Common Law moved from apprenticeship training in random individual London inns run in part by clerks of the royal chancery to become what is widely called 'the Third University of England,' a recognized system of independent but connected legal inns. This paper focuses on the preparatory legal inns, called the Inns of Chancery, rather than the senior (and still existing) Inns of Court. The immediate problem studied in this paper is how the junior legal inns were organized, staffed, and located from 1292 to about 1500, and what maps tell us about the role of the chancery clerks as managers of legal inns. The authors first uncovered the names of all chancery clerks of the period, most of them unrecorded in histories, from archival sources in the National Archives, Kew. Then they matched the names with London property leases. Using ArcGIS, the legal inns and their owners were plotted on a series of maps covering the period 1292 to 1500. The results show a distinct pattern of ownership of the legal inns and suggest a narrative that would help explain why the Inns of Chancery became serious centers of learning during the fifteenth century. In brief, lower-ranking chancery clerks, always looking for sources of income, discovered by 1370 that legal inns could be a source of income. Since chancery clerks were intimately involved with writs and other legal forms, and since the chancery itself had a long-standing training system, these clerks opened their own legal inns to train fledgling lawyers, estate managers, and scriveners. The maps clearly show growth patterns of ownership by the chancery clerks for both legal inns and other London properties in the areas of Holborn and The Strand between 1450 and 1417. However, the maps also show that a royal ordinance of 1417 forbidding chancery clerks to live with lawyers, law students, and other non-chancery personnel had an immediate effect, and properties in that area of London leased by chancery clerks simply stop after 1417. The long-term importance of the patterns shown in the maps is that while the presence of chancery clerks in the legal inns likely created a more coherent education system, their removal forced the legal profession, suddenly without a hostelry managerial class, to professionalize the inns and legal education themselves. Given the number and social status of members of the legal inns, the effect on English education was to free legal education from the limits of chancery clerk education (the clerks were not practicing common lawyers) and to enable it to become broader in theory and practice, in fact, a kind of 'finishing school' for the governing (if not noble) class.

Keywords: GIS, law, London, education

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Authors: Sabeeh Lafta Farhan, Ihsan Abbass Jasim, Sohaib Kareem Al-Mamoori

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This study addresses the subject of transformation of urban structures and how does this transformation affect the character of traditional cities, which represents the research issue. Hence, the research has aimed at studying and learning about the urban structure characteristics and morphological transformation features in the traditional cities centers, and to look for means and methods to preserve the character of those cities. Cities are not merely locations inhabited by a large number of people, they are political and legal entities, in addition to economic activities that distinguish these cities, thus, they are a complex set of institutions, and the transformation in urban environment cannot be recognized without understanding these relationships. The research presumes an existing impact of urbanization on the properties of traditional structure of the Holy City of Najaf. The research has defined urbanization as restructuring and re-planning of urban areas that have lost their functions and bringing them into social and cultural life in the city, to be able to serve economy in order to better respond to the needs of users. Sacred Cities provide the organic connection between acts of worship and dealings and reveal the mechanisms and reasons behind the regulatory nature of the sacred shrine and their role in achieving organizational assimilation of urban morphology. The research has reached a theoretical framework of the particulars of urbanization. This framework has been applied to the historic center of the old city of Najaf, where the most important findings of the research were that the visual and structural dominant presence of holy shrine of Imam Ali (peace be upon him) remains to emphasize the visual particularity, and the main role of the city, which hosts one of the most important Muslim shrines in the world, in addition to the visible golden dome rising above the skyline, and the Imam Ali Mosque the hub and the center for religious activities. Thus, in view of being a place of main importance and a symbol of religious and Islamic culture, it is very important to have the shrine of Imam Ali (AS) prevailing on all zones of re-development in the old city. Consequently, the research underlined that the distinctive and unique character of the city of Najaf did not proceed from nothing, but was achieved through the unrivaled characteristics and features possessed by the city of Najaf alone, which allowed it and enabled it to occupy this status among the Arab and Muslim cities. That is why the activities arising from the development have to enhance the historical role of the city in order to have this development as clear support, strength and further addition to the city assets and its cultural heritage, and not seeing the developmental activities crushing the city urban traditional fabric, cultural heritage and its historical specificity.

Keywords: Iraq, the city of Najaf, heritage, traditional cities, morphological transformation

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Authors: Rafael do Amaral Teodoro, Leandro Augusto da Silva

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Originated from graphite, graphene is a two-dimensional (2D) material that promises to revolutionize technology in many different areas, such as energy, telecommunications, civil construction, aviation, textile, and medicine. This is possible because its structure, formed by carbon bonds, provides desirable optical, thermal, and mechanical characteristics that are interesting to multiple areas of the market. Thus, several research and development centers are studying different manufacturing methods and material applications of graphene, which are often compromised by the scarcity of more agile and accurate methodologies to characterize the material – that is to determine its composition, shape, size, and the number of layers and crystals. To engage in this search, this study proposes a computational methodology that applies deep learning to identify graphene oxide crystals in order to characterize samples by crystal sizes. To achieve this, a fully convolutional neural network called U-net has been trained to segment SEM graphene oxide images. The segmentation generated by the U-net is fine-tuned with a standard deviation technique by classes, which allows crystals to be distinguished with different labels through an object delimitation algorithm. As a next step, the characteristics of the position, area, perimeter, and lateral measures of each detected crystal are extracted from the images. This information generates a database with the dimensions of the crystals that compose the samples. Finally, graphs are automatically created showing the frequency distributions by area size and perimeter of the crystals. This methodological process resulted in a high capacity of segmentation of graphene oxide crystals, presenting accuracy and F-score equal to 95% and 94%, respectively, over the test set. Such performance demonstrates a high generalization capacity of the method in crystal segmentation, since its performance considers significant changes in image extraction quality. The measurement of non-overlapping crystals presented an average error of 6% for the different measurement metrics, thus suggesting that the model provides a high-performance measurement for non-overlapping segmentations. For overlapping crystals, however, a limitation of the model was identified. To overcome this limitation, it is important to ensure that the samples to be analyzed are properly prepared. This will minimize crystal overlap in the SEM image acquisition and guarantee a lower error in the measurements without greater efforts for data handling. All in all, the method developed is a time optimizer with a high measurement value, considering that it is capable of measuring hundreds of graphene oxide crystals in seconds, saving weeks of manual work.

Keywords: characterization, graphene oxide, nanomaterials, U-net, deep learning

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Authors: Yael Dubinsky, Orit Hazzan

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There is a constant need for hi-tech innovation to be decentralized to peripheral regions. This work describes how we applied design science research (DSR) principles to define what we refer to as the Sea of Galilee (SoG) method. The goal of the SoG method is to harness existing and new technological initiatives in peripheral regions to create a socio-technological network that can initiate and maintain hi-tech activities. The SoG method consists of a set of principles, a stakeholder network, and actual hi-tech business initiatives, including their infrastructure and practices. The three cycles of DSR, the Relevance, Design, and Rigor cycles, layout a research framework to sharpen the requirements, collect data from case studies, and iteratively refine the SoG method based on the existing knowledge base. We propose that the SoG method can be deployed by regional authorities that wish to be considered smart regions (an extension of the notion of smart cities).

Keywords: design science research, socio-technological initiatives, Sea of Galilee method, periphery stakeholder network, hi-tech initiatieves

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Authors: Adrian O'Hagan, Robert McLoughlin

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Considerable focus in the world of insurance risk quantification is placed on modeling loss values from lines of business (LOBs) that possess upper tail dependence. Copulas such as the Joe, Gumbel and Student-t copula may be used for this purpose. The copula structure imparts a desired level of tail dependence on the joint distribution of claims from the different LOBs. Alternatively, practitioners may possess historical or simulated data that already exhibit upper tail dependence, through the impact of catastrophe events such as hurricanes or earthquakes. In these circumstances, it is not desirable to induce additional upper tail dependence when modeling the joint distribution of the loss values from the individual LOBs. Instead, it is of interest to accurately assess the degree of tail dependence already present in the data. The empirical copula and its associated upper tail dependence coefficient are presented in this paper as robust, efficient means of achieving this goal.

Keywords: empirical copula, extreme events, insurance loss reserving, upper tail dependence coefficient

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Authors: Georges Bou Ghantous

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This research delves into the transformative impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on Infrastructure as Code (IaaC) practices, specifically focusing on the redefinition of infrastructure orchestration. By harnessing AI technologies such as machine learning algorithms and predictive analytics, organizations can achieve unprecedented levels of efficiency and optimization in managing their infrastructure resources. AI-driven IaaC introduces proactive decision-making through predictive insights, enabling organizations to anticipate and address potential issues before they arise. Dynamic resource scaling, facilitated by AI, ensures that infrastructure resources can seamlessly adapt to fluctuating workloads and changing business requirements. Through case studies and best practices, this paper sheds light on the tangible benefits and challenges associated with AI-driven IaaC transformation, providing valuable insights for organizations navigating the evolving landscape of digital infrastructure management.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, infrastructure as code, efficiency optimization, predictive insights, dynamic resource scaling, proactive decision-making

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Authors: Eko Budi Santoso

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There is a growing interest in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) issues in developing countries such as Indonesia. Firms disclose their CSR activities, and some provide assurance to gain recognition as socially responsible firms. However, several of those socially responsible firms involve in tax scandals and raise a question of whether CSR disclosure is used to disguise firm misconduct or as a reflection of socially responsible firms. Specifically, whether firms engage in CSR disclosure and its assurance also responsible for their tax matters. This study examines the association between CSR disclosure and tax aggressiveness and the role of sustainability reporting assurance to the association. This research develops a modified index according to global reporting initiatives to measure CSR disclosure and various measurement for tax aggressiveness. Using a sample of Indonesian go public companies issued CSR disclosure, the empirical result shows that there is an association between CSR disclosure and tax aggressiveness. In addition, results also indicate sustainability reporting assurance moderate those association. The findings suggest that stakeholder in developing countries should examine carefully firms with active CSR disclosure before label it as socially responsible firms. JEL Classification: M14

Keywords: CSR disclosure, tax aggressiveness, assurance, business ethics

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Authors: Fouad Mrad, Viviane Zaccour

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The accelerated developments in the political, economic, environmental, security, health, and social folders are exhausting planners across the world, especially in Arab countries. The impact of the tension is multifaceted and has resulted in conflicts, wars, migration, and human insecurity. The potential cross-cutting role that science, innovation and technology can play in supporting Arab societies to address these pressing challenges is a serious, unique chance for the people of the region. This opportunity is based on the existing capacity of educated youth and inaccessible talents in the local universities and research centers. It has been accepted that Arab countries have achieved major advancements in the economy, education and social wellbeing since the 70s of the 20th Century. Mainly direct outcome of the oil and other natural resources. The UN Secretary-General, during the Education Summit in Sep 2022, stressed that “Learning continues to underplay skills, including problem-solving, critical thinking and empathy.” Stars of Science by Qatar Foundation was launched in 2009 and has been sustained through 2023. Consistent mission from the start: To mobilize a new generation of Pan-Arab innovators and problem solvers by encouraging youth participation and interest in Science, Technology and Entrepreneurship throughout the Arab world via the program and its social media activities. To make science accessible and attractive to mass audiences by de-mystifying the process of innovation. Harnessing best practices within reality TV to show that science, engineering, and innovation are important in everyday life and can be fun.” Thousands of Participants learned unforgettable lessons; winners changed their lives forever as they learned and earned seed capital; they became drivers of change in their countries and families; millions of viewers were exposed to an innovative experimental process, and culturally, several relevant national institutions adopted the SOS track in their national initiatives. The program exhibited experientially youth self-efficacy as the most distinct core property of human agency, which is an individual's belief in his or her capacity to execute behaviors necessary to produce specific performance attainments. In addition, the program proved that innovations are performed by networks of people with different sets of technological, useful knowledge, skills and competencies introduced by socially shared technological knowledge as a main determinant of economic activities in any economy.

Keywords: science, invention, innovation, Qatar foundation, QSTP, prototyping

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Authors: Wildan Maulana, M. Machfudz Sa'idi

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Special Region of Yogyakarta (DIY) has more than one hundred campuses of State Universities, and private sector amounted to 137, of course, is not a small amount, from 137 universities in the province there are hundreds of thousands of students, therefore, many kinds of businesses and business opportunities can provide support facilities supporting the needs of students ranging from life support classes or students who come from various regions in Indonesia and Abroad can be fulfilled during his education in DI Yogyakarta including the need for primary and secondary needs. KedaiKampus present to facilitate the needs of students in providing secondary needs such as clothing Students and merchandise or trinkets typical college respectively, but the difference with the other, KedaiKampus is to provide distinctive products and clothing and merchandise every college respectively. One goal KedaiKampus presence is to create a culture of confidence in every student who is proud of the college with the products of KedaiKampus because not a few students who are not accepted at State Universities have not been able to forget. In producing a wide range of products, we work with young entrepreneurs engaged in creative services and souvenirs. In addition, we are also working with various designers reliable to make the best design.

Keywords: markedplace, sociopreneur, merchandise, creative services

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Authors: Teresita Lopez Joy, Jose A. Acevedo Suarez, Martha I. Gomez Acosta, Ana Julia Acevedo Urquiaga

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Current trends in business competitiveness indicate the need to manage businesses as supply chains and not in isolation. The use of strategies aimed at maximum satisfaction of customers in a network and based on inter-company cooperation; contribute to obtaining successful joint results. In the Cuban economic context, the development of productive linkages to achieve integrated management of supply chains is considering a key aspect. In order to achieve this jump, it is necessary to develop acting capabilities in the entities that make up the chains through a systematic procedure that allows arriving at a management model in consonance with the environment. The objective of the research focuses on: designing a model and procedure for the development of integrated management of supply chains in economic entities. The results obtained are: the Model and the Procedure for the Development of the Supply Chains Integrated Management (MP-SCIM). The Model is based on the development of logistics in the network actors, the joint work between companies, collaborative planning and the monitoring of a main indicator according to the end customers. The application Procedure starts from the well-founded need for development in a supply chain and focuses on training entrepreneurs as doers. The characterization and diagnosis is done to later define the design of the network and the relationships between the companies. It takes into account the feedback as a method of updating the conditions and way to focus the objectives according to the final customers. The MP-SCIM is the result of systematic work with a supply chain approach in companies that have consolidated as coordinators of their network. The cases of the edible oil chain and explosives for construction sector reflect results of more remarkable advances since they have applied this approach for more than 5 years and maintain it as a general strategy of successful development. The edible oil trading company experienced a jump in sales. In 2006, the company started the analysis in order to define the supply chain, apply diagnosis techniques, define problems and implement solutions. The involvement of the management and the progressive formation of performance capacities in the personnel allowed the application of tools according to the context. The company that coordinates the explosives chain for construction sector shows adequate training with independence and opportunity in the face of different situations and variations of their business environment. The appropriation of tools and techniques for the analysis and implementation of proposals is a characteristic feature of this case. The coordinating entity applies integrated supply chain management to its decisions based on the timely training of the necessary action capabilities for each situation. Other cases of study and application that validate these tools are also detailed in this paper, and they highlight the results of generalization in the quantitative and qualitative improvement according to the final clients. These cases are: teaching literature in universities, agricultural products of local scope and medicine supply chains.

Keywords: integrated management, logistic system, supply chain management, tactical-operative planning

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Authors: Celine Davis

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The novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2, which has detrimental respiratory, cardiovascular, and neurological effects impacting over one million lives in the United States. New researches has emerged indicating long-term neurologic consequences in those who survive COVID-19 infections, including more than seven million Americans and another 27 million people worldwide. These consequences include attentional deficits, memory impairments, executive function deficits and aphasia-like symptoms which fall within the purview of speech-language pathology. The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) is a comprehensive annual survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), a branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States. The NHIS is one of the most significant sources of health-related data in the country and has been conducted since 1957. The longitudinal nature of the study allows for analysis of trends in various variables over the years, which can be essential for understanding societal changes and making treatment recommendations. This current study will utilize NHIS data from 2020-2022 which contained interview questions specifically related to COVID-19. Adult cases of individuals between the ages of 18-50 diagnosed with COVID-19 in the United States during 2020-2022 will be identified using the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). Multiple regression analysis of self-reported data confirming COVID-19 infection status and challenges with concentration, communication, and memory will be performed. Latent class analysis will be utilized to identify subgroups in the population to indicate whether certain demographic groups have higher susceptibility to cognitive-linguistic deficits associated with COVID-19. Completion of this study will reveal whether there is an association between confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis and heightened incidence of cognitive deficits and subsequent implications, if any, on activities of daily living. This study is distinct in its aim to utilize national survey data to explore the relationship between confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis and the prevalence of cognitive-communication deficits with a secondary focus on resulting activity limitations. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this will be the first large-scale epidemiological study investigating the associations between cognitive-linguistic deficits, COVID-19 and implications on activities of daily living in the United States population. These findings will highlight the need for targeted interventions and support services to address the cognitive-communication needs of individuals recovering from COVID-19, thereby enhancing their overall well-being and functional outcomes.

Keywords: cognition, COVID-19, language, limitations, memory, NHIS

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Authors: Adedayo Jeremiah Adeyekun, Samuel Oluwagbemiga Ishola

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This research paper focuses on the study of the master plan of rural Farrukhnagar, a town in Gurugram with an aim to proffer solutions to the problems associated with the planning of the town. The commercial zone has been selected for the case study. The findings from the case studies will reveal problems that will require a proposed design of a new ultra-modern market to position traders selling along the road in well-deserved stalls, waste disposal/incinerator system for proper management of waste and cleanliness within the market square, design of stormwater drainage to avoid flood during the rainy season and the design of car/auto – tricycle parks to create more space in the existing market cycle and thereby avoiding congestion. The research proposes urban and architectural solutions to improve the rural commercial service settings in Farrukhnagar which is a study area in Gurugram, Haryana, India.

Keywords: management, commercial, service, planning, congestion

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Authors: Ugbor Raphael Oluchukwu

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The survey research design was adopted to examine whether liquidity and cash management practices of owner-managed firms in South East Nigeria influence their profitability, growth and survival. Four independent variables (accounting systems, working capital management, budgetary control, and managerial planning) were used in the evaluation which was restricted to eight small firms. Results indicate that one variable, working capital management alone dominate the liquidity perception of owner managers. As a result, owner managers find it difficult to meet maturing business obligations as growth sets in. The study also reveals that the four independent variables have significant impact on the profitability, growth and survival of owner managed firms. Owner managers are therefore advised to undertake regular entrepreneurship training in order to upgrade their liquidity and cash management knowledge and practices to enhance their overall performance.

Keywords: liquidity management, owner-managed firm, profitability, survival

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Authors: Nguyen Thi Hoang Hieu

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Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) activities have increasingly become popular in both developed and developing countries. It is also an attractive topic for researchers to exploit in various sectors such as business, economies or finance. However, activities of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in M&A activities for a long time have not been sufficiently studied to provide the complete picture of what has been really, particularly in the developing market like Vietnam. The study employs semi-structured in-depth interviews with experts who have worked for years in the M&A sector to explore the participation motivation of both buy side and sell side of M&A activities. In addition, through the interviews, the study attempts to explain how firms finance their M&A deals. The collected data then will be content-analyzed to reflect the study's expectations based on the theories and practices reviews. In addition, limitations and recommendations are given in the hope that the M&A performance in Vietnam can be improved in the future.

Keywords: mergers and acquisitions, Vietnam, small and medium enterprises, content-analysis, semi-structure in-depth interview

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Authors: Patsara Sirikamonsin

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The purposes of this study were I) to study development guidelines of community product which was basket handicraft-bag of Ang Thong province; II) to study consumer demand for the community of basket handicraft-bag products of Ang Thong province. Data were collected via group interview of the community of basket handicraft-bag and consumer in order to obtain information related to product development guidelines in line with consumer demand. The study revealed that development guidelines of community product which was basket handicraft-bag of Ang Thong province caused by the demand of consumers changed by the era which made community of basket handicraft-bag products of Ang Thong province might develop community products to be novel, stylish and accessible. The consumer demand for the product came from the need to consume goods that are like local symbols. Most of them were foreigners and tourists. The advantage of this research was that it would lead to policy implementation and lead to the development of basket handicraft-bag community products of Ang Thong to meet the needs of consumers.

Keywords: community product, product development, basket handicraft-bag, business research

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Authors: Dominik Krimpmann

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Information technology and information systems are currently at a tipping point. The digital age fundamentally transforms a large number of industries in the ways they work. Lines between business and technology blur. Researchers have acknowledged that this is the time in which the IT/IS organisation needs to re-strategise itself. In this paper, the author provides a structured review of the IS and organisation design literature addressing the question of how the digital age changes the design categories of an IT/IS organisation design. The findings show that most papers just analyse single aspects of either IT/IS relevant information or generic organisation design elements but miss a holistic ‘big-picture’ onto an IT/IS organisation design. This paper creates a holistic IT/IS organisation design framework bringing together the IS research strand, the digital strand and the generic organisation design strand. The research identified four IT/IS organisation design categories (strategy, structure, processes and people) and discusses the importance of two additional categories (sourcing and governance). The authors findings point to a first anchor point from which further research needs to be conducted to develop a holistic IT/IS organisation design framework.

Keywords: IT/IS strategy, IT/IS organisation design, digital age, organisational effectiveness, literature review

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Authors: Fatemeh Khalili Varnamkhasti

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In recent times, there has been a notable shift in the application of Total Quality Management (TQM) from manufacturing to service organizations, prompting numerous studies on the subject. TQM has firmly established itself across various sectors, emerging as an approach to process improvement, waste reduction, business optimization, and quality performance. Many researchers and academics have recognized the relevance of TQM for sustainable competitive advantage, particularly in service organizations. In light of this, the purpose of this research study is to explore the applicability of TQM within the service framework. The study delves into existing literature on TQM in service organizations and examines the reasons for its occasional shortcomings. Ultimately, the paper provides systematic guidelines for the effective implementation of TQM in service organizations. The findings of this study offer a much-improved understanding of TQM and its practices, shedding light on the evolution of service organizations. Additionally, the study highlights key insights from recent research on TQM in service organizations and proposes a ten-step approach for the successful implementation of TQM in the service sector. This framework aims to provide service managers and professionals with a comprehensive understanding of TQM fundamentals and encourages a deeper exploration of TQM theory.

Keywords: quality, control, service, management, teamwork

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Authors: Muhammad Atif, M. Samsul Alam

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The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of board room gender diversity on firm sustainable investment. We test the extent to which sustainable investment is affected by the presence of female directors on U.S. corporate boards. Using data of S&P 1500 indexed firms collected from Bloomberg covering the period 2004-2016, we estimate the baseline model to investigate the effects of board room gender diversity on firm sustainable investment. We find a positive relationship between board gender diversity and sustainable investment. We also find that boards with two or more women have a pronounced impact on sustainable investment, consistent with the critical mass theory. Female independent directors have a stronger impact on sustainable investment than female executive directors. Our findings are robust to different identification and estimation techniques. The study offers another perspective of the ongoing debate in the social responsibility literature about the accountability relationships between business and society.

Keywords: sustainable investment, gender diversity, environmental proctection, social responsibility

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Authors: Wannee Sutthachaidee

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The study of the production process of coconut-shell product in Amphawa, Samutsongkram Province is objected to study the pattern of the process of coconut-shell product by focusing in the 3 main processes which are inbound logistics process, production process and outbound process. The result of the research: There were 4 main results from the study. Firstly, most of the manufacturer of coconut-shell product is usually owned by a single owner and the quantity of the finished product is quite low and the main labor group is local people. Secondly, the production process can be divided into 4 stages which are pre-production process, production process, packaging process and distribution process. Thirdly, each 3 of the logistics process of coconut shell will find process which may cause the problem to the business but the process which finds the most problem is the production process because the production process needs the skilled labor and the quantity of the labor does not match with the demand from the customers. Lastly, the factors which affect the production process of the coconut shell can be founded in almost every process of the process such as production design, packaging design, sourcing supply and distribution management.

Keywords: production process, coconut-shell product, Amphawa District, inbound logistics process

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Authors: Meng Xu, Alexis K. H. Lau, Ming Xu, Bill Barron, Narges Shahraki

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As an emerging unconventional energy, shale gas has been an economically viable step towards a cleaner energy future in U.S. China also has shale resources that are estimated to be potentially the largest in the world. In addition, China has enormous unmet for a clean alternative to substitute coal. Nonetheless, the geological complexity of China’s shale basins and issues of water scarcity potentially impose serious constraints on shale gas development in China. Further, even if China could replicate to a significant degree the U.S. shale gas boom, China faces the problem of transporting the gas efficiently overland with its limited pipeline network throughput capacity and coverage. The aim of this study is to identify the potential bottlenecks in China’s gas transmission network, as well as to examine the shale gas development affecting particular supply locations and demand centers. We examine this through application of three scenarios with projecting domestic shale gas supply by 2020: optimistic, medium and conservative shale gas supply, taking references from the International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) projections and China’s shale gas development plans. Separately we project the gas demand at provincial level, since shale gas will have more significant impact regionally than nationally. To quantitatively assess each shale gas development scenario, we formulated a gas pipeline optimization model. We used ArcGIS to generate the connectivity parameters and pipeline segment length. Other parameters are collected from provincial “twelfth-five year” plans and “China Oil and Gas Pipeline Atlas”. The multi-objective optimization model uses GAMs and Matlab. It aims to minimize the demands that are unable to be met, while simultaneously seeking to minimize total gas supply and transmission costs. The results indicate that, even if the primary objective is to meet the projected gas demand rather than cost minimization, there’s a shortfall of 9% in meeting total demand under the medium scenario. Comparing the results between the optimistic and medium supply of shale gas scenarios, almost half of the shale gas produced in Sichuan province and Chongqing won’t be able to be transmitted out by pipeline. On the demand side, the Henan province and Shanghai gas demand gap could be filled as much as 82% and 39% respectively, with increased shale gas supply. To conclude, the pipeline network in China is currently not sufficient in meeting the projected natural gas demand in 2020 under medium and optimistic scenarios, indicating the need for substantial pipeline capacity expansion for some of the existing network, and the importance of constructing new pipelines from particular supply to demand sites. If the pipeline constraint is overcame, Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Henan’s gas demand gap could potentially be filled, and China could thereby reduce almost 25% its dependency on LNG imports under the optimistic scenario.

Keywords: energy policy, energy systematic analysis, scenario analysis, shale gas in China

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Authors: Ronald Orth, Johanna Haunschild, Sara Tsog

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The bioeconomy is an inter- and cross-disciplinary field covering a large number and wide scope of existing and emerging technologies. It has a great potential to contribute to the transformation process of industry landscape and ultimately drive the economy towards sustainability. However, bioeconomy per se is not necessarily sustainable and technology should be seen as an enabler rather than panacea to all our ecological, social and economic issues. Therefore, to draw and maximize benefits from bioeconomy in terms of sustainability, we propose that innovative activities should encompass not only novel technologies and bio-based new materials but also multifocal innovations. For multifocal innovation endeavors, innovation management plays a substantial role, as any innovation emerges in a complex iterative process where communication and knowledge exchange among relevant stake holders has a pivotal role. The knowledge generation and innovation are although at the core of transition towards a more sustainable bio-based economy, to date, there is a significant lack of concepts and models that approach bioeconomy from the innovation management approach. The aim of this paper is therefore two-fold. First, it inspects the role of transformative approach in the adaptation of bioeconomy that contributes to the environmental, ecological, social and economic sustainability. Second, it elaborates the importance of technology and innovation management as a tool for smooth, prompt and effective transition of firms to the bioeconomy. We conduct a qualitative literature study on the sustainability challenges that bioeconomy entails thus far using Science Citation Index and based on grey literature, as major economies e.g. EU, USA, China and Brazil have pledged to adopt bioeconomy and have released extensive publications on the topic. We will draw an example on the forest based business sector that is transforming towards the new green economy more rapidly as expected, although this sector has a long-established conventional business culture with consolidated and fully fledged industry. Based on our analysis we found that a successful transition to sustainable bioeconomy is conditioned on heterogenous and contested factors in terms of stakeholders , activities and modes of innovation. In addition, multifocal innovations occur when actors from interdisciplinary fields engage in intensive and continuous interaction where the focus of innovation is allocated to a field of mutually evolving socio-technical practices that correspond to the aims of the novel paradigm of transformative innovation policy. By adopting an integrated and systems approach as well as tapping into various innovation networks and joining global innovation clusters, firms have better chance of creating an entire new chain of value added products and services. This requires professionals that have certain capabilities and skills such as: foresight for future markets, ability to deal with complex issues, ability to guide responsible R&D, ability of strategic decision making, manage in-depth innovation systems analysis including value chain analysis. Policy makers, on the other hand, need to acknowledge the essential role of firms in the transformative innovation policy paradigm.

Keywords: bioeconomy, innovation and technology management, multifocal innovation, sustainability, transformative innovation policy

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