Search results for: contemporary art market

Authors: Asma Ameur, Dhafer Malouche

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Hotel competitiveness research is an essential phase of the marketing strategy for any hotel. Certainly, knowing the hotels' competitors helps the hotelier to grasp its position in the market and the citizen to make the right choice in picking a hotel. Thus, competitiveness is an important indicator that can be influenced by various factors. In fact, the issue of competitiveness, this ability to cope with competition, remains a difficult and complex concept to define and to exploit. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to make an exploratory study to calculate a competitiveness indicator for hotels. Further on, this paper makes it possible to determine the criteria of direct or indirect effect on the image and the perception of a hotel. The actual research is used to look into the right model for hotel ‘competitiveness. For this reason, we exploit different theoretical contributions in the field of machine learning. Thus, we use some statistical techniques such as the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to reduce the dimensions, as well as other techniques of statistical modeling. This paper presents a survey covering of the techniques and methods in hotel competitiveness research. Furthermore, this study allows us to deduct the significant variables that influence the determination of hotel’s competitors. Lastly, the discussed experiences in this article found that the hotel competitors are influenced by several factors with different rates.

Keywords: competitiveness, e-reputation, hotels' competitors, online hotel’ review, principal component analysis, statistical modeling

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Authors: Lisandy A. Suryana, Lidia Mayangsari, Santi Novani

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Creative industry in Indonesia become an important aspect of the economy. One of the sectors of creative industry which give the highest contribution toward Indonesia’s GDP is fashion sector. In line with the target of Indonesia in 2020 to be the qibla’ of moeslem fashion of the world, all of the stakeholders of the business ecosystem should collaborate. Rather than focus on the internal aspects of producer, external aspects such as customers, government, community, etc. become important to be involved in the ecosystem to support the development and sustainability of those fashion sector. Unfortunately, although Indonesia has the biggest moeslem population, the number of hijab business penetration only 10%. Therefore, this research aims to analyze and develop the virtual co-creation platform for hijab creative industry as the strategy to achieve sustainability and increase the market share. This preliminary research describes the main stakeholders in the hijab creative industry based on business model approach. This business model is adapted by considering the service science context, and the data is collected by using the qualitative approach especially in-depth interview. This business model shows the relationship between resource integration, value co-creation, the value proposition of the company, and also the financial aspect of the business.

Keywords: value co-creation, Hijab Fashion Industry, creative industry, service business model, business model canvas

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Authors: Salah Alrabeei, Mohammad Yousuf

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The goal of option pricing theory is to help the investors to manage their money, enhance returns and control their financial future by theoretically valuing their options. Modeling option pricing by Black-School models with jumps guarantees to consider the market movement. However, only numerical methods can solve this model. Furthermore, not all the numerical methods are efficient to solve these models because they have nonsmoothing payoffs or discontinuous derivatives at the exercise price. In this paper, the exponential time differencing (ETD) method is applied for solving partial integrodifferential equations arising in pricing European options under Merton’s and Kou’s jump-diffusion models. Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm is used as a matrix-vector multiplication solver, which reduces the complexity from O(M2) into O(M logM). A partial fraction form of Pad`e schemes is used to overcome the complexity of inverting polynomial of matrices. These two tools guarantee to get efficient and accurate numerical solutions. We construct a parallel and easy to implement a version of the numerical scheme. Numerical experiments are given to show how fast and accurate is our scheme.

Keywords: Integral differential equations, , L-stable methods, pricing European options, Jump–diffusion model

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Authors: German Hernandez-Alonso, Antonio Lazcano, Arturo Becerra

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Until today, viruses remain controversial and poorly understood; about their origin, this problem represents an enigma and one of the great challenges for the contemporary biology. Three main theories have tried to explain the origin of viruses: regressive evolution, escaped host gene, and pre-cellular origin. Under the perspective of the escaped host gene theory, it can be assumed a cellular origin of viral components, like protein RNA-binding domains. These universal distributed RNA-binding domains are related to the RNA metabolism processes, including transcription, processing, and modification of transcripts, translation, RNA degradation and its regulation. In the case of viruses, these domains are present in important viral proteins like helicases, nucleases, polymerases, capsid proteins or regulation factors. Therefore, they are implicated in the replicative cycle and parasitic processes of viruses. That is why it is possible to think that those domains present low levels of divergence due to selective pressures. For these reasons, the main goal for this project is to create a catalogue of the RNA-binding domains found in all the available viral proteomes, using bioinformatics tools in order to analyze its evolutionary process, and thus shed light on the general virus evolution. ProDom database was used to obtain larger than six thousand RNA-binding domain families that belong to the three cellular domains of life and some viral groups. From the sequences of these families, protein profiles were created using HMMER 3.1 tools in order to find distant homologous within greater than four thousand viral proteomes available in GenBank. Once accomplished the analysis, almost three thousand hits were obtained in the viral proteomes. The homologous sequences were found in proteomes of the principal Baltimore viral groups, showing interesting distribution patterns that can contribute to understand the evolution of viruses and their host-virus interactions. Presence of cellular RNA-binding domains within virus proteomes seem to be explained by closed interactions between viruses and their hosts. Recruitment of these domains is advantageous for the viral fitness, allowing viruses to be adapted to the host cellular environment.

Keywords: bioinformatics tools, distant homology, RNA-binding domains, viral evolution

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Authors: Laszlo Szerb, Zsofia Voros

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In this article, we seek to answer why many attempts to empirically link entrepreneurial self-efficacy to growth expectations have failed. While doing so, we reconcile the literature on entrepreneurial self-efficacy and overconfidence. By analyzing GEM APS (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Adult Population Survey) data, we show that early-stage entrepreneurs’ self-efficacy statements are systematically inflated. Our results also indicate that entrepreneurial overconfidence is fading and its form changes as business owners learn and gather experience. In addition, by using Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior (2006) as a modeling framework, we illustrate that early stage business owners’ overconfidence results in overly high firm growth expectations. However, the changes in the form of overconfidence and the adjustments of expectations on market conditions as a venture ages alter the relationship between overconfidence and growth expectations across the business life-cycle stages. Overall, our study empirically links young entrepreneurs’ overconfidence to their growth expectations at the firm level. This link is important to establish as expected growth was linked to realized growth both on micro and macro levels. Moreover, we detected several moderators of this relationship providing a potential answer to why many studies failed to link entrepreneurial self-efficacy to growth expectations.

Keywords: self-efficacy, overconfidence, entrepreneurship, expected growth

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Authors: Wilfred Jeyatheese Jeyaraj

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Considering the current digital age, Library Marketing, in its entirety, has evolved to elucidate the importance of falling back to the roots of searching for tangible and intangible resources, traversing through pages and references to acquire the required knowledge needs with proper guidance. With the turn of the century, the present generation has deeply entrenched their virtual presence, browsing via search engines for all their information needs. Not fully realizing the adverse effects of the materials available digitally, the authenticity of such resources cannot be verified. So a user might be led to believe false misdirected data. This paper tends to elucidate the prominent strategies to market Sri Lankan libraries in a proper manner so as to captivate a large user base making them aware that all resources and materials that they access without guidance outside the libraries are also available within the libraries with added guidance towards accessing the right data. The main contemplation here is to focus on getting more users to visit libraries in person to copiously apprehend the importance of browsing for materials with the proper direction. The current library marketing strategies in Sri Lankan libraries need to be streamlined to align with the best interest of acquiring the present generations to visit libraries in person to reap its benefits.

Keywords: accessibility, librarianship, marketing, Sri Lanka

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Authors: Sanja Jovanovic, Aleksandar Simic, Ognjan Skrobic, Dragan Masulovic, Aleksandra Djuric-Stefanovic

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Introduction: Achalasia is an idiopathic primary esophageal motility disorder characterized by esophageal peristalsis and impaired swallow-induced relaxation of the lower esophageal sphincter (LES). It is a rare disease that affects both genders with an incidence of 1/100.000 and a prevalence rate of 10/100,000 per year. Objective: Laparoscopic Heller myotomy (LHM) represents a therapy of choice for patients with achalasia, providing excellent outcomes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the significance of computed tomography (CT) in analyzing achalasia subtypes and timed barium esophagogram (TBE) in evaluation of LHM success, as a part of standardized diagnostic protocol. Method: Fifty-one patients with achalasia, confirmed by manometric studies, in addition to standardized diagnostic methods, underwent CT and TBE. CT was done with multiplanar reconstruction, measuring the wall thickness above the esophago-gastric junction in the axial plane. TBE was performed preoperatively and two days postoperatively swallowing low-density barium sulfate, and plane upright frontal films were performed 1, 2 and 5 minutes after the ingestion. In all patients, LHM was done, and pre and postoperative height and weight of the barium column were compared. Results: According to CT findings we divided patients into 3 subtypes of achalasia according to wall thickness: < 4mm as subtype one, between 4 - 9mm as II, and > 10 mm as subtype 3. Correlation of manometric results, as a reference values, and CT findings indicated CT sensitivity of 90% and specificity of 70 % in establishing subtypes of achalasia. The preoperative values of TBE at 1, 2 and 5 minutes were: median barium column height 17.4 ± 7.4, 15.9 ± 6.2 and 13.9 ± 6.2 cm; median column width 5 ± 1.5, 4.7 ± 1.6 and 4.5 ± 1.8 cm respectively. LHM significantly reduced these values (height 7 ± 4.6, 5.8 ± 4.2, 3.7 ± 3.4 cm; width 2.9 ± 1.3, 2.6 ± 1.3 and 2.4 ± 1.4 cm), indicating the quantitative estimates of emptying as excellent (p value < 0.01). Conclusion: CT has high sensitivity and specificity in evaluation of achalasia subtypes, and can be introduced as an additional method for standardized evaluation of these patients. The quantitative assessment of TBE based on measurements of the barium column is an accurate and beneficial method, which adequately estimates esophageal emptying success of LHM.

Keywords: achalasia, computed tomography, esophagography, myotomy

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Authors: Raweyah Al-Sedairawi

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While high-rise housing detained massive negative connotations on several societies and well-being, this typology did deliver housing demand efficiently. Despite its adverse reference due to declining precedents, high-rise housing is still in global demand. Yet the suitability of this typology is still questioned. In this research, the suitability of high-rise housing as a socio-culturally sustainable solution to meet housing demands will be examined. By questioning what is the potential of high-rise housing as a socio-culturally sustainable solution for housing demands, the research will examine some high-rise housing practices. Through reviewing the literature on the origins of high-rise housing, how and why they were developed, some unsuccessful cases, and some successful cases, with the identification of factors for successful high-rise living. Thus, the research groundings will materialize from existing patterns of housing demands. Whilst most of the literature covers the housing market from an economic, real estate, and political perspective, there is less amount that discloses occupants’ reactions towards this typology and its appropriateness for the reason that income controls individuals’ choices. To bridge the gap, the prospect of implementing the study would be effective. This will be applied through a mixture of a qualitative and a quantitative methodology by conducting questionnaires and focus groups on existing cases of high-net-worth residential towers.

Keywords: architecture, behaviors, high-rise, socio-cultural, sustainability

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Authors: Dorota Kobus-Ostrowska

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Work for everyone, especially for person with disability is a condition in independence; it secures basic needs and develops manual and intellectual capabilities. The work is a source of income, and it builds and strengthens of self-esteem and competence. The purpose of this article is to identify work as an important factor in everyone’s life, despite Polish disabled persons rarely having the chance to undertake a job. In order to achieve this purpose, two methods were used: comparative and qualitative. The theoretical part of this article is based on studies of a wide range of Polish and foreign literature devoted to the issue of the occupational development of people with disabilities. The article was also enriched with the institutional and legal analysis types of support for people with disabilities in Poland. Currently, a Polish person with disability who wants to enter or return to the labor market is under a special protection. Those entities employing workers with disabilities may obtain a subsidy for the salary of a person with disabilities. Unfortunately, people with disability in Poland rarely participate in the workforce. The factors that contribute to this include the difficulty in obtaining work, the uncertainty of keeping it, and the low salary offered. Despite that domestic and foreign literature highlight the important role of disabled people as a workforce, very few people with disability in Poland are economically active.

Keywords: disabled person, employer, rehabilitation, work

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Authors: Hsing-Hua Stella Chang, Mong-Ching Lin, Cher-Min Fong

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There has recently been a notable rise in the number of emerging-market industrial small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have managed to upgrade their operations. Evolving from original equipment manufacturing (OEM) into value-added original or own brand manufacturing (OBM) in such firms represents a specific process of internationalization. The OEM-OBM upgrade requires development of a firm’s own brand. In this respect, the extant literature points out that emerging-market industrial marketers (latecomers) have developed some marketing capabilities, of which branding has been identified as one of the most important. In specific, an industrial non-brand marketer (OEM) marks the division of labor between manufacturing and branding (as part of marketing). In light of this discussion, this research argues that branding capability plays a critical role in supporting the evolution of manufacture upgrade. This is because a smooth transformation from OEM to OBM entails the establishment of strong brands through which branding capability is developed. Accordingly, branding capability can be exemplified as a series of processes and practices in relation to mobilizing branding resources and orchestrating branding activities, which will result in the establishment of business relationships, greater acceptance of business partners (channels, suppliers), and increased industrial brand equity in the firm as key resource advantages). For the study purpose, Taiwan was chosen as the research context, representing a typical case that exemplifies the industrial development path of more-established emerging markets, namely, transformation from OEM to OBM. This research adopted a two-phase research design comprising exploratory (a qualitative study) and confirmatory approaches (a survey study) The findings show that: Country-specific advantage is positively related to branding capability for internationalizing SMEs. Firm-specific advantage is positively related to branding capability for internationalizing SMEs. Hsing-Hua Stella Chang is Assistant Professor with National Taichung University of Education, International Master of Business Administration, (Yingcai Campus) No.227, Minsheng Rd., West Dist., Taichung City 40359, Taiwan, R.O.C. (phone: 886-22183612; e-mail: [email protected]). Mong-Ching Lin is PhD candidate with National Sun Yat-Sen University, Department of Business Management, 70 Lien-hai Rd., Kaohsiung 804, Taiwan, R.O.C. (e-mail: [email protected]). Cher-Min Fong is Full Professor with National Sun Yat-Sen University, Department of Business Management, 70 Lien-hai Rd., Kaohsiung 804, Taiwan, R.O.C. (e-mail: [email protected]). Branding capability is positively related to international performance for internationalizing SMEs. This study presents a pioneering effort to distinguish industrial brand marketers from non-brand marketers in exploring the role of branding capability in the internationalizing small and medium-sized industrial brand marketers from emerging markets. Specifically, when industrial non-brand marketers (OEMs) enter into a more advanced stage of internationalization (i.e., OBM), they must overcome disadvantages (liabilities of smallness, foreignness, outsidership) that do not apply in the case of incumbent developed-country MNEs with leading brands. Such critical differences mark the urgency and significance of distinguishing industrial brand marketers from non-brand marketers on issues relating to their value-adding branding and marketing practices in international markets. This research thus makes important contributions to the international marketing, industrial branding, and SME internationalization literature.

Keywords: brand marketers, branding capability, emerging markets, SME internationalization

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Authors: Wogu Ikedinachi Ayodele Power, Agbude Godwyns, Eniayekon Eugenia, Nchekwube Excellence-Oluye, Abasilim Ugochukwu David

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Contemporary ethicists and writers on leadership, in their quest to address the problem of leadership crisis in Nigeria, have identified the absence of practical prudence -which manifests in variables such as corruption, ethnicity and greed- as one of the major factors which breeds leadership crises. These variables are further fuelled by the lack of a consistent theory of leadership among scholars that could guide the pertinent actions of political leaders, hence the rising cases of leadership crises in the country. The theoretical framework that guides this study emanates from Aristotle’s notion of prudence as contained in the Nicomachean Ethics, which states that prudence is a central moral resource for political leaders. The method of conceptual analysis shall be used to clarify the concepts of virtue, prudence and leadership. The traditional method of critical analysis and the reconstructive method of ideas in philosophy are used to conceptually and contextually analyze all relevant texts and archival materials in the subject areas of this study. The study identifies a high degree of ideological bias and logical inconsistencies inherent in the theories of leadership proposed by the realist and the moralist schools of thought. The conflicting ideologies regarding what political leadership should be among scholars of leadership is identified as one of the major factors militating against ascertaining a practicable theory of leadership, which has the capacity to guide the pertinent actions of political leaders all over the world. This paper therefore identifies the absence of practical prudence, ‘wisdom’, as the major factor associated with leadership crises in Nigeria. We therefore argue that only prudent leaders will have the capacity to identify salient aspects of political situations which leaders have obligations to consider before making political decisions. Seven frameworks were prescribed from Aristotle’s Notion of prudence to strengthen this position, they include: Disciplined reason and openness to experience; Foresight and attention to the long term, among others. We submit that leadership devoid of crisis can be attained through the application of the virtue of prudence. Where this theory is adopted, it should eliminate further leadership crises in Nigeria.

Keywords: Aristotle, leadership crisis, political leadership, prudence

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Authors: Akeel Noori Al-Mulla Hwaish

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The environmental impact, economics, social and cultural factors, and the processes by which people define history and meaning had influenced the dynamic shape and character of the traditional Islamic Arabic city. Therefore, in regard to the period when Islam was at its peak (7th- 13th Centuries), Islamic city wasn’t the highly dynamited at the scale of buildings and city planning that demonstrates a distinguished city as an ‘Islamic’ as appeared after centuries when the function of the buildings and their particular arrangement and planning scheme in relation to one another that defined an Islamic city character. The architectural features of the urban fabric of the traditional Arabic Islamic city are a ‎reflection of the spiritual, social, and cultural characteristics of the people. It is a ‎combination of Islamic values ‘Din’ and life needs ‘Dunia’ as Prophet Muhammad built the first Mosque in ‎Madinah in the 1st year of his migration to it, then the Suq or market on 2nd of Hijrah, attached to ‎the mosque to signify the birth of a new Muslims community which considers both, ‎‎’Din’ and ‘Dunia’ and initiated nucleus for what which called after that as an ‘Islamic’ city. This research will discuss the main characteristics and components of the traditional Arab cities and demonstrate the impact of the Islamic values on shaping the planning layout and general built environment features of the early traditional Arab cities.

Keywords: urban, Islamic, Arabic, city

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Authors: Gargi S. Kumar, Mrinmoyi Kulkarni

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Food choice behavior is complex and determined by biological, psychological, socio-cultural, and economic factors. The past two decades, have seen dramatic changes in food consumption patterns among urban Indian consumers. The objective of the current study was to evaluate perceptions about changes with respect to food choice behavior. Ten participants [urban men and women] ranging in age from 40 to 65 were selected and in-depth interviews were conducted with a set of open ended questions. The recorded interviews were transcribed and thematically analyzed using inductive, open and axial coding. The results identified themes that act as drivers and consequences of change in food choice behavior. Drivers such as globalization [sub themes of urbanization, education, income, and work environment], media and advertising, changing gender roles, women in the workforce, and change in family structure have influenced food choice, both at an individual and national level. The consequences of changes in food choice were health implications, processed food consumption, food decisions driven by children and eating out among others. The study reveals that, over time, food choices change and evolve. However it is interesting to note how market forces and culture interact to influence individual behavior and the overall food environment which subsequently affects food choice and the health of the people.

Keywords: change, consequences, drivers, food choice, globalization

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Authors: Hasna Elalaoui Elabdallaoui, Abdelaziz Elfazziki, Mohamed Sadgal

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Outlines: The social economy is a moral approach to solidarity applied to the projects’ development. To reconcile economic activity and social equity, crowdfunding is as an alternative means of financing social projects. Several collaborative blockchain platforms exist. It eliminates the need for a central authority or an inconsiderate middleman. Also, the costs for a successful crowdfunding campaign are reduced, since there is no commission to be paid to the intermediary. It improves the transparency of record keeping and delegates authority to authorities who may be prone to corruption. Objectives: The objectives are: to define a software infrastructure for projects’ participatory financing within a social and solidarity economy, allowing transparent, secure, and fair management and to have a financial mechanism that improves financial inclusion. Methodology: The proposed methodology is: crowdfunding platforms literature review, financing mechanisms literature review, requirements analysis and project definition, a business plan, Platform development process and implementation technology, and testing an MVP. Contributions: The solution consists of proposing a new approach to crowdfunding based on Islamic financing, which is the principle of Mousharaka inspired by Islamic financing, which presents a financial innovation that integrates ethics and the social dimension into contemporary banking practices. Conclusion: Crowdfunding platforms need to secure projects and allow only quality projects but also offer a wide range of options to funders. Thus, a framework based on blockchain technology and Islamic financing is proposed to manage this arbitration between quality and quantity of options. The proposed financing system, "Musharaka", is a mode of financing that prohibits interests and uncertainties. The implementation is offered on the secure Ethereum platform as investors sign and initiate transactions for contributions using their digital signature wallet managed by a cryptography algorithm and smart contracts. Our proposal is illustrated by a crop irrigation project in the Marrakech region.

Keywords: social economy, Musharaka, blockchain, smart contract, crowdfunding

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Authors: Juan Eduardo Rolon Rios, Fredy Alejandro Orjuela, Alexander Garcia Mariaca

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For banana and potato wastes, their peels are processed in order to make animal food with the condition that those wastes must not have started the decomposition process. One alternative to taking advantage of those wastes is to obtain a bioplastic based on starch from banana and potato shells. These products are 100% biodegradables, and researchers have been studying them for different applications, helping in the reduction of organic wastes and ordinary plastic wastes. Without petroleum affecting the prices of bioplastics, bioplastics market has a growing tendency and it is seen that it can keep this tendency in the medium term up to 350%. In this work, it will be shown the results for elasticity module and percent elongation for bioplastics obtained from a mixture of starch of bananas and potatoes peels, with glycerol as plasticizer. The experimental variables were the plasticizer percentage and the mixture between banana starch and potato starch. The results show that the bioplastics obtained can be used in different applications such as plastic bags or sorbets, verifying their admissible degradation percentages for each one of these applications. The results also show that they agree with the data found in the literature due to the fact that mixtures with a major amount of potato starch had the best mechanical properties because of the potato starch characteristics.

Keywords: bioplastics, fruit waste, mechanical testing, mechanical properties

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Authors: Rodrigo Buaiz Boabaid

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Tokenization of Blue Bonds is an emerging Green Finance tool that has the potential to scale Blue Carbon Projects to fight climate change. This innovative solution has a huge potential to democratize the green finance market and catalyze innovations in the climate change finance sector. Switzerland has emerged as a leader in the Green Finance space and is well-positioned to drive the adoption of Tokenization of Blue & Green Bonds. This unique approach has the potential to unlock new sources of capital and enable global investors to participate in the financing of sustainable blue carbon projects. By leveraging the power of blockchain technology, Tokenization of Blue Bonds can provide greater transparency, efficiency, and security in the investment process, while also reducing transaction costs. Investments are in line with the highest regulations and designed according to the stringent legal framework and compliance standards set by Switzerland. The potential benefits of Tokenization of Blue Bonds are significant and could transform the way that sustainable projects are financed. By unlocking new sources of capital, this approach has the potential to accelerate the deployment of Blue Carbon projects and create new opportunities for investors to participate in the fight against climate change.

Keywords: blue carbon, blue bonds, green finance, Tokenization, blockchain solutions

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Authors: Anupam Purwar

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In conventional consumer product industry, stockouts are taken care by carrying buffer stock to check underserving caused by changes in customer demand, incorrect forecast or variability in lead times. But, for food outlets, the alternate of carrying buffer stock is unviable because of indispensable need to serve freshly cooked meals. Besides, the food outlet being the sole provider has no incentives to reduce stockouts, as they have no fear of losing revenue, gross profit, customers and market share. Hence, innovative, easy to implement and practical ways of addressing the twin problem of long queues and poor customer experience needs to be investigated. Current work analyses the demand pattern of 11 different food items across a routine day. Based on this optimum resource allocation for all food items has been carried out by solving a linear programming problem with cost minimization as the objective. Concurrently, recommendations have been devised to address this demand and supply side problem keeping in mind their practicability. Currently, the recommendations are being discussed and implemented at ISB (Indian School of Business) Hyderabad campus.

Keywords: F&B industry, resource allocation, demand management, linear programming, LP, queuing analysis

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Authors: Nazim Uddin, Yohiko Nakaura, Kazutaka Yamamoto

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Compote (fruit in syrup) of pineapple (Ananas comosus L. Merrill) is expected to have a high market potential as one of convenient ready-to-eat (RTE) foods worldwide. High hydrostatic pressure (HHP) in combination with low temperature (LT) was applied to the processing of pineapple compote as well as medium HHP (MHHP) in combination with medium-high temperature (MHT) since both processes can enhance liquid impregnation and inactivate microbes. MHHP+MHT (55 or 65 °C) process, as well as the HHP+LT process, has successfully inactivated the microbes in the compote to a non-detectable level. Although the compotes processed by MHHP+MHT or HHP+LT have lost the fresh texture as in a similar manner as those processed solely by heat, it was indicated that the texture degradations by heat were suppressed under MHHP. Degassing process reduced the hardness, while calcium (Ca) contributed to be retained hardness in MHT and MHHP+MHT processes. Electrical impedance measurement supported the damage due to degassing and heat. The color, Brix, and appearance were not affected by the processing methods significantly. MHHP+MHT and HHP+LT processes may be applicable to produce high-quality, safe RTE pineapple compotes. Further studies on the optimization of packaging and storage condition will be indispensable for commercialization.

Keywords: compote of pineapple, RTE, medium high hydrostatic pressure, postharvest loss, texture

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Authors: B. Hamidu, A. Abdulhamid, S. Mohammed, S. Idi

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This study examined the household expenditure pattern on animal products in Bauchi metropolis. A cross-sectional data were collected from 157 households using systematic sampling technique. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation and regression models. The results reveal that the mean age, mean household size, mean monthly income and mean total expenditure on animal products were found to be 39 years, 7 persons, N28,749 and N1,740 respectively. It was also found that household monthly income, number of children and educational level of the household heads (P<0.01) significantly influence the level of household expenditure on animal products. Similarly, income was found to be the most important factor determining the proportion of total expenditure on animal products (20.91%). Income elasticity was found to be 0.66 indicating that for every 1% increase in income, expenditure on animal products would increase by 0.66%. Furthermore, beef was found to be the most preferred (54.83%) and most regularly consumed (61.84%) animal products. However, it was discovered that the major constraints affecting the consumption of animal products were low-income level of the households (29.85%), high cost of animal products (15.82%) and increase in prices of necessities (15.82%). Therefore to improve household expenditure on animal products per capita real income of the households should be improved through creation of employment opportunities. Also stabilization of market prices of animal products and other foods items of necessities through increased production are recommended.

Keywords: animal products, economics, expenditure, households

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Authors: Haroon Mahmood, Christopher Gan, Cuong Nguyen

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Maturity transformation risk is highlighted as one of the major causes of recent global financial crisis. Basel III has proposed new liquidity regulations for transformation function of banks and hence to monitor this risk. Specifically, net stable funding ratio (NSFR) is introduced to enhance medium- and long-term resilience against liquidity shocks. Islamic banking is widely accepted in many parts of the world and contributes to a significant portion of the financial sector in many countries. Using a dataset of 68 fully fledged Islamic banks from 11 different countries, over a period from 2005 – 2014, this study has attempted to analyze various factors that may significantly affect the maturity transformation risk in these banks. We utilize 2-step system GMM estimation technique on unbalanced panel and find bank capital, credit risk, financing, size and market power are most significant among the bank specific factors. Also, gross domestic product and inflation are the significant macro-economic factors influencing this risk. However, bank profitability, asset efficiency, and income diversity are found insignificant in determining the maturity transformation risk in Islamic banking model.

Keywords: Basel III, Islamic banking, maturity transformation risk, net stable funding ratio

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Authors: Juliana Brandao, Holly Gibbs, Lisa Naughton, Lisa Rausch

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The Brazilian Amazon continues to be plagued by modern day slave labor, specifically within the cattle production industry. In response to this issue, modern day anti-slavery activists have implemented additional regulations designed to combat slave labor associated with cattle. These regulations have been incorporated into existing agreements designed to control deforestation. The goal of these rules is to prevent the trade of beef contaminated with modern slave labor between supplier farms and slaughterhouses. In this study, we identify farms that make use of modern slave labor, and we use cattle transaction data to track the sale of cattle between farms and slaughterhouses. Our analysis reveals that slaughterhouses, which have signed cattle agreements that include requirements to refuse cattle associated with modern slave labor, have avoided buying cattle from suppliers that were on the dirty list. This trend is especially evident when the "dirty lists" that identify modern-day slave labor users are made publicly accessible online. We conclude that the "dirty list" of modern-day slave labor users should be maintained on publicly available websites to allow slaughterhouses, retailers, and consumers to send powerful market signals that discourage the use of modern-day slave labor.

Keywords: cattle ranchers, modern slave labor, deforestation, brazilian amazon

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Authors: Benlakhdar Mohamed Larbi, Yagoub Asma

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Purpose: This study aims at highlighting the significance and importance of utilizing marketing information system (MKIS) on decision-making, by clarifying the need for quick and efficient decision-making due to time saving and preventing of duplication of work. Design, methodology, approach: The study shows the roles of each part of MKIS for developing marketing strategy, which present a real challenge to individuals and institutions in an era characterized by uncertainty and clarifying the importance of each part separately, depending on decision type and the nature of the situation. The empirical research method was evaluated by specialized experts, conducted by means of questionnaires. Correlation analysis was employed to test the validity of the procedure. Results: The empirical study findings confirmed positive relationships between the level of utilizing and adopting ‘decision support system and marketing intelligence’ and the success of an organizational decision-making, and provide the organization with a competitive advantage as it allows the organization to solve problems. Originality/value: The study offer better understanding of performance- increasing market share as an organizational decision making based on marketing information system.

Keywords: database, marketing research, marketing intelligence, decision support system, decision-making

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Authors: Ava Simone Arteaga

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This research explores the portrayal of drug use in U.K. digital news media, a topic of critical importance due to its influence on addiction treatment, recovery efforts, and public perceptions. Substance use disorder (SUD) as one of the most stigmatized health conditions globally, with media representations playing a crucial role in shaping societal attitudes. Despite the impact of media portrayals, there has been no comprehensive analysis of drug-related representations in U.K. digital news media for over thirteen years. This study aims to fill this gap by analyzing contemporary digital news depictions of drug use, focusing on how these portrayals influence public perception and contribute to stigma. This research will examine tabloid, national, and regional East Midlands press sites to understand current trends in drug-related reporting. The study will build on previous research, such as the 2010 UKDPC study, which revealed that drug users were often vilified, and that coverage was predominantly focused on criminal justice rather than recovery. Given the rise in drug-related deaths in the U.K. and the exacerbation of the drug crisis post-Brexit, this analysis is timely and crucial. The findings are expected to reveal how digital media continues to perpetuate stigma and misinformation about drug use. By comparing these findings with U.S. studies, the research will contribute to a better understanding of cross-cultural differences in drug-related media representations and inform policy discussions. The U.K. Government's ten-year plan to combat illegal drugs, which emphasizes reducing stigma, will benefit from this research by highlighting the need for improved media representations. Additionally, the study will engage with recent U.K. and international research on media stigma towards SUD to provide a broader context and comparative perspective. Ultimately, this study aims to drive changes in media reporting and contribute to the development of more effective public policies and interventions. By addressing current gaps in research and providing evidence-based recommendations, this work seeks to support the U.K. Government’s objectives and improve the media’s role in addressing drug-related issues.

Keywords: addiction, UK news media, media representations, depiction of drug use

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Authors: Oladapo Tolulope Ibitoye

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It has become imperative to harmonize energy poverty alleviation and carbon footprint reduction. This is geared towards embracing independent power generation at local levels to reduce the popular ambiguity in the transmission of generated power. Also, it will contribute towards the total adoption of electric vehicles and direct current (DC) appliances that are currently flooding the global market. Solar power system is gaining momentum as it is now an affordable and less complex alternative to fossil fuel-based power generation. Although, there are many issues associated with solar power system, which resulted in deprivation of optimum working capacity. One of the key problems is inadequate monitoring of the energy pool from solar irradiance, which can then serve as a foundation for informed energy usage decisions and appropriate solar system control for effective energy pooling. The proposed technique utilized Internet of Things (IoT) in developing a system to automate solar irradiance pooling by controlling solar photovoltaic panels autonomously for optimal usage. The technique is potent with better solar irradiance exposure which results into 30% voltage pooling capacity than a system with static solar panels. The evaluation of the system show that the developed system possesses higher voltage pooling capacity than a system of static positioning of solar panel.

Keywords: solar system, internet of things, renewable energy, power monitoring

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Authors: Jefferson Hernandez, Juan Padilla

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Estimation of price elasticity of demand is a valuable tool for the task of price settling. Given its relevance, it is an active field for microeconomic and statistical research. Price elasticity in the industry of oil and gas, in particular for fuels sold in gas stations, has shown to be a challenging topic given the market and state restrictions, and underlying correlations structures between the types of fuels sold by the same gas station. This paper explores the Lotka-Volterra model for the problem for price elasticity estimation in the context of fuels; in addition, it is introduced multivariate random effects with the purpose of dealing with errors, e.g., measurement or missing data errors. In order to model the underlying correlation structures, the Inverse-Wishart, Hierarchical Half-t and LKJ distributions are studied. Here, the Bayesian paradigm through Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms for model estimation is considered. Simulation studies covering a wide range of situations were performed in order to evaluate parameter recovery for the proposed models and algorithms. Results revealed that the proposed algorithms recovered quite well all model parameters. Also, a real data set analysis was performed in order to illustrate the proposed approach.

Keywords: price elasticity, volume, correlation structures, Bayesian models

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Authors: Rana Muhammad Ayyub, Muhammad Bilal, Tahir Mahmood

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In multicultural societies, food preferences are taking dimensions in both minorities as well as majority ethnic groups. The food consumption behavior of minority ethnic groups has been studied adequately; however, this paper intends to study the consumer behavioral dimensions of majority ethnic groups regarding Halal foods (a minority-related food) in the USA. In this quantitative study, the online questionnaire survey (n=223) was collected through surveymonkey.com from non-Muslims living in various cities in the USA through random sampling. The theory of consumer animosity was a theoretical underpinning. The validated scales were adopted and adapted for all constructs. AMOS 24 was used to apply structural equation modelling (SEM) to the data. Among the majority of ethnic groups, it was found that consumer racism (β= -25) and consumer animosity (β= - 27) negatively affect intention to choose Halal foods, whereas food neophobia has a positive effect (β=36) on this intention. This study will prove instrumental in removing the blame of “Marketing Myopia” from marketing academics and will highlight the importance of prevalent market realities for one of the fastest growing ethnic food markets, i.e., Halal of the world. It has practical implications for Halal food marketers in particular and other ethnic food marketers in general.

Keywords: consumer racism, animosity, Halal foods, ethnic consumption, food neophobia

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Authors: Suddhasil Siddhanta, Debasish Nandy

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Child sex ratios pattern in the Asian Population is highly masculine mainly due to birth masculinity and gender bias in child mortality. The vast and the growing literature of female deficit in world population points out the diffusion of child sex ratio pattern in many Asian as well as neighboring European countries. However, little attention has been given to understand the common factors in different demographics in explaining child sex ratio pattern. Such a scholarship is extremely important as level of gender inequity is different in different country set up. Our paper tries to explain the major structural commonalities in the child masculinity pattern in two demographic billionaires - India and China. The analysis reveals that apart from geographical diffusion of sex selection technology, patrilocal social structure, as proxied by households with more than one generation in China and proportion of population aged 65 years and above in India, can explain significant variation of missing girl child in these two countries. Even after controlling for individual capacity building factors like educational attainment, or work force participation, the measure of social stratification is coming out to be the major determinant of child sex ratio variation. Other socio economic factors that perform much well are the agency building factors of the females, like changing pattern of marriage customs which is proxied by divorce and remarriage ratio for china and percentage of female marrying at or after the age of 20 years in India and the female workforce participation. Proportion of minorities in socio-religious composition of the population and gender bias in scholastic attainment in both these counties are also found to be significant in modeling child sex ratio variations. All these significant common factors associated with child sex ratio point toward the one single most important factor: the historical evolution of patriarchy and its contemporary perpetuation in both the countries. It seems that prohibition of sex selection might not be sufficient to combat the peculiar skewness of excessive maleness in child population in both these countries. Demand sided policies is therefore utmost important to root out the gender bias in child sex ratios.

Keywords: child sex ratios, gender bias, structural factors, prosperity, patrilocality

Procedia PDF Downloads 157

Authors: Magdalena Kuleta

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Ponta de Piedade (37º05 ' N, 08º40 ' W) is an area located in the southern part of the Lagos municipality, which include an abrasive and accumulative type of coastline. It is the one of the main touristic destinations of the city. The dynamic development of the attractiveness of the coast, is related with the expansion of the new tourism infrastructure and urban tourism products. These products are: transportation, sightseeing and entertainment in the form of the boat trips. Each type of excursion refers to the different product. This progress brings also many risks associated primarily with landslides cliffs. Natural conditions affecting the coast, create a huge impact on the evolution of urban tourism management. Based on observation, statistical analysis and survey method, author compare the period of six years from 2012 to 2016 in terms of the number of tourists, number and diversity of attractions, most frequently dialled products and infrastructure changes in the city. Carried methodology is based on data belonging to Turismo Portugal and the tourist company Days of Adventure. Main result, is to indicate the essence of the income from coastal tourism into the city development and how does it influence on the marketing and promoting of urban tourism in Lagos.

Keywords: geomorphology of the coast in Lagos, market and promotion, quality of tourism service, urban tourism products

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Authors: Vikram Chowdhary, Marek Vins

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The profitability of the pharmaceutical drug business has attracted considerable interest, but it also faces significant challenges. Counterfeiters take advantage of the industry's vulnerabilities, which are further exacerbated by the globalization of the market, online trading, and complex supply chains. Governments and organizations worldwide are dedicated to creating a secure environment that ensures a consistent and genuine supply of pharmaceutical products. In 2019, the European authorities implemented regulation EU 2016/161 to strengthen traceability and transparency throughout the entire drug supply chain. This regulation requires the addition of enhanced security features, such as serializing items to the saleable unit level or individual packs. Despite these efforts, the incidents of pharmaceutical counterfeiting continue to rise globally, with regulated territories being particularly affected. This paper examines the effectiveness of the drug serialization system implemented by European authorities. By conducting a systematic literature review, we assess the implementation of drug serialization and explore the potential benefits of integrating emerging digital technologies, such as RFID and Blockchain, to improve traceability and management. The objective is to fortify pharmaceutical supply chains against counterfeiters and manipulators and ensure their security.

Keywords: blockchain, counterfeit drugs, EU drug serialization, pharmaceutical industry, RFID

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Authors: Antaram Sarve, Mahesh Varma, Shriram Sonawane

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Conventional route of producing biodiesel with alcohol produces glycerol as side product which leads to oversupply and devaluation in the world market. Supercritical methyl acetate (SCMA) has been proven to convert triglycerides into fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) and triacetin, which is a valuable biodiesel additive as side product rather than glycerol. However, due to the low reactivity of supercritical methyl acetate on triglycerides, high reaction conditions are required to obtained maximum yields. The present study describes the renewable approach for the production of biodiesel from low-cost, high acid value mahua oil under supercritical methyl acetate condition using carbon dioxide (CO2) as a co-solvent. CO2 was employed to decrease high reaction conditions required for supercritical methyl acetate transesterification. The influence of process parameters such as temperature, oil to methyl acetate molar ratio, reaction time, and the CO2 pressure was evaluated. The properties of biodiesel produced were found to be superior compared to conventional biodiesel method. Furthermore, SCMA has a high tolerance towards free fatty acids (FFAs) which is crucial to allow the utilization of inexpensive waste oils as a biodiesel feedstock.

Keywords: supercritical methyl acetate, CO2, biodiesel, fuel properties

Procedia PDF Downloads 563