Search results for: Central and East European countries (CEEC)

Authors: Hamid Alalwany, Nabeel A. Koshak, Mohammad K. Ibrahim

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Both knowledge economy and sustainable development are considered key dimensions in the policy action lines of many developed and developing countries. In this context, universities and other higher education institutes have a vital role in developing and sustaining wellbeing communities.

In this paper, the authors’ aim is to address the links between the concepts of innovation and entrepreneurial capacity and knowledge economy, and to utilize the approach of intellectual capital development in building a sustainable knowledge economy.

The paper will contribute to two discourses:

1. Developing a common understanding of the intersection aspects between the three concepts: Knowledge economy, Innovation and entrepreneurial system, and sustainable development.
2. Paving the road towards developing an integrated multidimensional framework for sustainable knowledge economy.

Keywords: Innovation and Entrepreneurial Capacity, Intellectual Capital Development, Sustainable Development, Sustainable Knowledge Economy.

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Authors: Fardin Boustani, Mohammah Hosein Hojati, Masoud Hashemi

Abstract:

The Beshar River is one aquatic ecosystem, which is located next to the city of Yasuj in southern Iran. The Beshar river has been contaminated by industrial factories such as effluent of sugar factory, agricultural and other activities in this region such as, Imam Sajjad hospital, drainage from agricultural farms, Yasuj urban surface runoff and effluent of wastewater treatment plants ,specially Yasuj waste water treatment plant. In order to evaluate the effects of these pollutants on the quality of the Beshar river, five monitoring stations were selected along its course. The first station is located upstream of Yasuj near the Dehnow village; stations 2 to 4 are located east, south and west of city; and the 5th station is located downstream of Yasuj. Several water quality parameters were sampled. These include pH, dissolved oxygen, biological oxygen demand (BOD), temperature, conductivity, turbidity, total dissolved solids and discharge or flow measurements. Water samples from the five stations were collected and analyzed to determine the following physicochemical parameters: EC, pH, T.D.S, T.H, No2, DO, BOD5, COD during 2008 to 2010. The study shows that the BOD5 value of station 1 is at a minimum (1.7 ppm) and increases downstream from stations 2 to 4 to a maximum (11.6 ppm), and then decreases at station 5. The DO values of station 1 is a maximum (8.45 ppm), decreases downstream to stations 2 - 4 which are at a minimum (3.1 ppm), before increasing at station 5. The amount of BOD and TDS are highest at the 4th station and the amount of DO is lowest at this station, marking the 4th station as more highly polluted than the other stations .This study shows average amount of the water quality parameters in first year of sampling (2008) have had a better quality relation to third year in 2010 because of recent drought in this region and pollutant increasing .As the Beshar river path after 5th station goes through the mountain area with more slope and flow velocity ,so the physicochemical parameters improve at the 5th station due to pollutant degradation and dilution. Finally the point and nonpoint pollutant sources of Beshar river were determined and compared to the monitoring results.

Keywords: Beshar river, physicochemical parameter, waterpollution, water quality, Yasuj

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Authors: Pinki Sharma, Himanshu Joshi

Abstract:

Distillery spentwash contains high chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD), color, total dissolved solids (TDS) and other contaminants even after biological treatment. The effluent can’t be discharged as such in the surface water bodies or land without further treatment. Reverse osmosis (RO) treatment plants have been installed in many of the distilleries at tertiary level in many of the distilleries in India, but are not properly working due to fouling problem which is caused by the presence of high concentration of organic matter and other contaminants in biologically treated spentwash. In order to make the membrane treatment a proven and reliable technology, proper pre-treatment is mandatory. In the present study, ultra-filtration (UF) for pretreatment of RO at tertiary stage has been performed. Operating parameters namely initial pH (pHo: 2–10), trans-membrane pressure (TMP: 4-20 bars) and temperature (T: 15-43°C) were used for conducting experiments with UF system. Experiments were optimized at different operating parameters in terms of COD, color, TDS and TOC removal by using response surface methodology (RSM) with central composite design. The results showed that removal of COD, color and TDS was 62%, 93.5% and 75.5% respectively, with UF, at optimized conditions with increased permeate flux from 17.5 l/m2/h (RO) to 38 l/m2/h (UF-RO). The performance of the RO system was greatly improved both in term of pollutant removal as well as water recovery.

Keywords: Bio-digested distillery spentwash, reverse osmosis, Response surface methodology, ultra-filtration.

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Authors: T. Niracharapa, W. Angkana

Abstract:

Since information and communication technology (ICT) plays a critical role in enhancing national competitiveness, it is a driving force for social and economic growth and prosperity. The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) will integrate this into ASEAN countries as a new mechanism and a measure that will improve economic performance as a global economy. Government policies may support or impede such harmonization. This study was to investigate, analyze the status of Thai IT entrepreneurs and define key strategies to enhance their competitive advantage. Data were collected based on in-depth interviews, questionnaires, focus groups, seminars and fieldwork on information technology excluding communication. SWOT was used as a tool to analyze the study. The results of this study can be used to enable the government to guide policy, measures and strategies for creating a competitive advantage for Thailand’s IT entrepreneurs in the global market.

Keywords: AEC, ASEAN, competitive advantage, IT entrepreneurs.

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Authors: Ismail Muratoglu, Ahmet Meyveci, Abdurrahman Tuncer, Erkan Demirci

Abstract:

This study is dedicated to the analysis of the problems of occupational safety in Turkey, Italy and Poland. The need analysis was applied to three different countries which are Turkey; 4, Poland; 1, Italy; 1 state. The number of the subjects is 891 in Turkey. The number of the subjects is 26 in Italy and the number of the subjects is 19 in Poland. The total number of samples of study is 936. Four different forms (Job Security Experts Form, Student Form, Teacher Form and Company Form) were applied. Results of experts of job security forms are rate of 7.1%. Then, the students’ forms are rate of 34.3%, teacher or instructor forms are rate of 9.9%. The last corporation forms are rate of 48.7%.

Keywords: Europe, need analysis, occupational safety, Turkey, vocational education.

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Authors: A. Sharma, R. Tewari, S. K. Soni

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Biofuels production has come forth as a future technology to combat the problem of depleting fossil fuels. Bio-based ethanol production from enzymatic lignocellulosic biomass degradation serves an efficient method and catching the eye of scientific community. High cost of the enzyme is the major obstacle in preventing the commercialization of this process. Thus main objective of the present study was to optimize composition of medium components for enhancing cellulase production by newly isolated strain of Bacillus tequilensis. Nineteen factors were taken into account using statistical Plackett-Burman Design. The significant variables influencing the cellulose production were further employed in statistical Response Surface Methodology using Central Composite Design for maximizing cellulase production. The optimum medium composition for cellulase production was: peptone (4.94 g/L), ammonium chloride (4.99 g/L), yeast extract (2.00 g/L), Tween-20 (0.53 g/L), calcium chloride (0.20 g/L) and cobalt chloride (0.60 g/L) with pH 7, agitation speed 150 rpm and 72 h incubation at 37oC. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed high coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.99. Maximum cellulase productivity of 11.5 IU/ml was observed against the model predicted value of 13 IU/ml. This was found to be optimally active at 60oC and pH 5.5.

Keywords: Bacillus tequilensis, CMCase, Submerged Fermentation, Optimization, Plackett-Burman Design, Response Surface Methodology.

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Authors: Levan Sabauri

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The purpose of this article is an examination of the meaning of theoretic aspects of audit in the context of solving of specific problems of the audit. The audit’s aim is the estimation of financial statements by the auditor, i.e. if they are prepared according to the basic requirements of current financial statements. By examination of concrete examples, we can clearly see problems created in an audit and in often cases, those contradictions which can be caused by incompliance of matters regulated by legislation and by reality. An important part of this work is the analysis of reform in the direction of business accounting, statements and audit in Georgia and its comparison with EU countries. In the article, attention is concentrated on the analysis of specific problems of auditing practice and ways of their solving by taking into consideration theoretical aspects of the audit are proposed.

Keywords: Audit, auditor, auditor’s ethic code, auditor’s risk, financial statement, objectivity.

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Authors: Nice Vasconcelos Coimbra, Fábio dos Santos Gonçalves, Marisa Nascimento, Ellen Cristine Giese

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The development of chemical routes for the recovery and separation of rare earth elements (REE) is seen as a priority and strategic action by several countries demanding these elements. Among the possibilities of alternative routes, the biosorption process has been evaluated in our laboratory. In this theme, the present work attempts to assess and fit the solution equilibrium data in Langmuir, Freundlich and DKR isothermal models, based on the biosorption results of the lanthanum and samarium elements by Bacillus subtilis immobilized on calcium alginate gel. It was observed that the preference of adsorption of REE by the immobilized biomass followed the order Sm (III)> La (III). It can be concluded that among the studied isotherms models, the Langmuir model presented better mathematical results than the Freundlich and DKR models.

Keywords: Rare earth elements, biosorption, Bacillus subtilis, adsorption isotherm models.

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Authors: Eneli Kindsiko, Kulno Türk

Abstract:

The purpose of the current article is to reveal misconceptions about ICT occupations that keep females away from the field. The study focuses on the three phases in one’s career life cycle: pre-university, university and workplace with the aim of investigating how to attract more females into an ICT-related career. By studying nearly 300 secondary school graduates, 102 university students and 18 female ICT specialists, the study revealed six myths that influence the decision-making process of young girls in pursuing an ICT-related education and career. Furthermore, discriminating conception of ICT as a primarily man’s world is developed before the university period. Stereotypical barriers should be brought out to the public debate, so that a remarkable proportion of possible employees (women) would not stay away from the tech-related fields. Countries could make a remarkable leap in efficiency, when turning their attention to the gender-related issues in the labour market structure.

Keywords: ICT, women, education, stereotypes, computers.

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Authors: S. Alotaibi, D. Roussinov

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Mobile government services implementation faces several challenges in developing countries. This paper studies some of those challenges in the context of Saudi Arabia. The study aims to investigate factors affecting m-government acceptance in Saudi Arabia, including ease of use, usefulness, service quality, trust, intention to use and users’ satisfaction. Our investigation will help in integrating the m-government services in citizens’ everyday life. We collected and analyzed our data from focus groups. These focus groups are from King Saud University and Imam Muhammed Bin Saud University, so the samples size are five and seven participants, respectively. We found that there are some factors to identifying citizen requirements to Saudi mobile government services. These services should be easy to use and not require too much effort. Also, these services must be fully trusted.

Keywords: E-government, M-government, focus group, Saudi mobile government services.

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Authors: Kazuhisa Koda, Tsutomu Kobayashi

Abstract:

Laura Island, which is located about 50 km away from downtown, is a source of water supply in Majuro atoll, which is the capital of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Low and flat Majuro atoll has neither river nor lake. It is very important for Majuro atoll to ensure the conservation of its water resources. However, upconing, which is the process of partial rising of the freshwater-saltwater boundary near the water-supply well, was caused by the excess pumping from it during the severe drought in 1998. Upconing will make the water usage of the freshwater lens difficult. Thus, appropriate water usage is required to prevent up coning in the freshwater lens because there is no other water source during drought. Numerical simulation of water usage applying SEAWAT model was conducted at the central part of Laura Island, including the water supply well, which was affected by upconing. The freshwater lens was created as a result of infiltration of consistent average rainfall. The lens shape was almost the same as the one in 1985. 0 of monthly rainfall and variable daily pump discharge were used to calculate the sustainable pump discharge from the water supply well. Consequently, the total amount of pump discharge was increased as the daily pump discharge was increased, indicating that it needs more time to recover from upconing. Thus, a pump standard to reduce the pump intensity is being proposed, which is based on numerical simulation concerning the occurrence of the up-coning phenomenon in Laura Island during the drought.

Keywords: Freshwater lens, islands, numerical simulation, sustainable water use.

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Authors: Kenneth M. Oba

Abstract:

This study investigated factors affecting the price of cement in Nigeria, and developed a mathematical model that can predict future cement prices. Cement is key in the Nigerian construction industry. The changes in price caused by certain factors could affect economic and infrastructural development; hence there is need for proper proactive planning. Secondary data were collected from published information on cement between 2014 and 2019. In addition, questionnaires were sent to some domestic cement retailers in Port Harcourt in Nigeria, to obtain the actual prices of cement between the same periods. The study revealed that the most critical factors affecting the price of cement in Nigeria are inflation rate, population growth rate, and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate. With the use of data from United Nations, International Monetary Fund, and Central Bank of Nigeria databases, amongst others, a Multiple Linear Regression model was formulated. The model was used to predict the price of cement for 2020-2025. The model was then tested with 95% confidence level, using a two-tailed t-test and an F-test, resulting in an R² of 0.8428 and R² (adj.) of 0.6069. The results of the tests and the correlation factors confirm the model to be fit and adequate. This study will equip researchers and stakeholders in the construction industry with information for planning, monitoring, and management of present and future construction projects that involve the use of cement.

Keywords: Cement price, multiple linear regression model, Nigerian Construction Industry, price prediction.

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Authors: Nur Shahirah Mior Sharifuddin, Mohd Salehuddin Mohd Zahari, Muaz Aizuddin, Mohd Hafiz Hanafiah

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This paper investigates and compares the community support for tourism development between two groups of minority ethnic descendants in Malacca, Malaysia, namely the Baba-Nyonya and Portuguese. A descriptive research design using a quantitative method with self-reported and self-administered questionnaires through across-sectional approach was applied. Through the descriptive and inferential statistics, some significantly useful insights pertaining to the issue investigated were obtained. The research outcomes indicate that the sense of community is somewhat more effective in small communities in terms of togetherness, closeness and a sense of belonging compared to the slightly bigger minority group. In addition, the sense of community attributes through membership, influence, integration and shared emotional connections contributes to community participation in tourism development regardless of which ethnic group one belongs to.

Keywords: Participation, minority, tourism, development.

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Authors: Kwok Tak Kit

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A smart city is an urban setting which effectively applies technology to enhance the benefits and provides solution to the shortcoming of urbanization for its citizens while the internet of things (loT) is to connect everything embedded with electronics, software, and sensors to the internet so as to enable them to collect and exchange data. Smart city development encompasses the development and application of IoT technology and prepares for the next generation of connectivity. The governments in the major developed cities and countries across the world already started the race to adopt the IoT technology to transform their cities into smart cities in coming few years. The development of smart city definitely can assist to tackle the problems which impede the quality of life of their citizens and the hindrance of the long-term challenges of sustainability and impacts from pollution. This paper is aims to outline the adoption of IoT in different key sectors in the Singapore and describe the revolution of IoT and its adoption in the smart city.

Keywords: Smart city, internet of things, sustainability, innovation.

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Authors: N. Zerzouri, H. Labar, S. Kechida

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During recent years wind turbine technology has undergone rapid developments. Growth in size and the optimization of wind turbines has enabled wind energy to become increasingly competitive with conventional energy sources. As a result today-s wind turbines participate actively in the power production of several countries around the world. These developments raise a number of challenges to be dealt with now and in the future. The penetration of wind energy in the grid raises questions about the compatibility of the wind turbine power production with the grid. In particular, the contribution to grid stability, power quality and behavior during fault situations plays therefore as important a role as the reliability. In the present work, we addressed two fault situations that have shown their influence on the generator and the behavior of the wind over the defects which are briefly discussed based on simulation results.

Keywords: Doubly fed induction generator (DFIG), Wind energy, grid fault

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Authors: Oseni Taiwo Amoo, Bloodless Dzwairo

Abstract:

In this paper, we extend the versatility and usefulness of GIS as a methodology for any river basin hydrologic characteristics analysis (HCA). The Gurara River basin located in North-Central Nigeria is presented in this study. It is an on-going research using spatial Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and Arc-Hydro tools to take inventory of the basin characteristics in order to predict water abstraction quantification on streamflow regime. One of the main concerns of hydrological modelling is the quantification of runoff from rainstorm events. In practice, the soil conservation service curve (SCS) method and the Conventional procedure called rational technique are still generally used these traditional hydrological lumped models convert statistical properties of rainfall in river basin to observed runoff and hydrograph. However, the models give little or no information about spatially dispersed information on rainfall and basin physical characteristics. Therefore, this paper synthesizes morphometric parameters in generating runoff. The expected results of the basin characteristics such as size, area, shape, slope of the watershed and stream distribution network analysis could be useful in estimating streamflow discharge. Water resources managers and irrigation farmers could utilize the tool for determining net return from available scarce water resources, where past data records are sparse for the aspect of land and climate.

Keywords: Hydrological characteristic, land and climate, runoff discharge, streamflow.

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Authors: Anésio de Leles F. Filho, Wesley R. de Oliveira, Jéssica S. G. Pena, Jorge A. C. Angarita

Abstract:

The increase in electric power demand in face of environmental issues has intensified the participation of renewable energy sources such as photovoltaics, in the energy matrix of various countries. Due to their operational characteristics, they can generate time-varying harmonic and inter-harmonic distortions. For this reason, the application of methods of measurement based on traditional Fourier analysis, as proposed by IEC 61000-4-7, can provide inaccurate results. Considering the aspects mentioned herein, came the idea of the development of this work which aims to present the results of a comparative evaluation between a methodology arising from the combination of the Prony method with the Kalman filter and another method based on the IEC 61000-4-30 and IEC 61000-4-7 standards. Employed in this study were synthetic signals and data acquired through measurements in a 50kWp photovoltaic installation.

Keywords: Harmonics, inter-harmonics, IEC61000-4-7, parametric estimators, photovoltaic generation.

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Authors: Monika Dwilinska

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Innovations, especially technological, are considered key-drivers for sustainable economic growth and competitiveness in the globalised world. As such they should also play an important role in the process of economical convergence inside the EU. Unfortunately, the problem of insufficient innovation performance concerns around half of the EU countries. Poland shows that a lack of a consistent high-tech financing system constitutes a serious obstacle for the development of innovative firms. In this article we will evaluate these questions referring to the example of Ammono S.A., a Polish company established to develop and commercialise an original technology for the production of bulk GaN crystals. We will focus on its efforts to accumulate the financial resources necessary at different stages of its development. The purpose of this article is to suggest possible ways to improve the national innovative system, which would make it more competent in generating high-tech leaders.

Keywords: High-tech financing, innovation, national innovative system

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Authors: Glenn M. Calaguas, Carmela S. Dizon

Abstract:

This study aimed to develop and initially validate an instrument that measures social competency among tertiary level faculty members. A review of extant literature on social competence was done. The review of extant literature led to the writing of the items in the initial instrument which was evaluated by 11 Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). The SMEs were either educators or psychologists. The results of the evaluations done by the SMEs served as bases for the creation of the pre-try-out instrument used in the first trial-run. Insights from the first trial-run participants led to the development of the main try-out instrument used in the final test administration. One Hundred Forty-one participants from five private Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the National Capital Region (NCR) and five private HEIs in Central Luzon in the Philippines participated in the final test administration. The reliability of the instrument was evaluated using Cronbach-s Coefficient Alpha formula and had a Cronbach-s Alpha of 0.92. On the other hand, Factor Analysis was used to evaluate the validity of the instrument and six factors were identified. The development of the final instrument was based on the results of the evaluation of the instrument-s reliability and validity. For purposes of recognition, the instrument was named “Social Competency Inventory for Tertiary Level Faculty Members (SCI-TLFM)."

Keywords: development, initial validation, social competency, tertiary level faculty members

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Authors: Dimitris Balios, Stefanos Tantos

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Economic growth and social evolution are connected to trust relationships in a society. The quality of the accounting information, the tax information system and the tax audit mechanism evolve multiple benefits in an economy. Tax evasion, the illegal practice where people and companies do not pay taxes, is a crime because of the negative effect in economy and society. In this paper, we describe a theoretical framework on the characteristics of a fair and efficient tax auditing information system which could be a tool against tax evasion, a tool for an economy to grow, especially in countries that face fluctuations in economic activity. We conclude that a fair and efficient tax auditing information system increases the reliability of tax administration, improves taxpayers’ tax compliance and causes a developmental trajectory for the economy.

Keywords: Auditing information system, auditing mechanism, tax evasion, taxation, quality of accounting information.

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Authors: Huseyin Cetin, Halil Akmese, Sercan Aras, Vahit Aytekin

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Economic crisis, terrorism, global crisis and the relations between countries are the factors affecting tourism industry and tourism industry is vulnerable against these factors. In our study, there are two dimensions about Russian crisis. The crisis between Russia and Ukraine and decreased oil prices in global market have been entailed Russian economic crisis. This crisis has induced that the ruble, Russian currency, has depreciated against American dollars and consequently the purchasing power of Russian has weakened. This is the first dimension of our study. Second dimension is a political crisis between Turkey and Russia owing to the fact that the Russian Warcraft was brought down by Turkish army. The aim of this study is to explain the impact of the consequences of Russian crisis on Turkish tourism industry. The study has been limited only Antalya province.

Keywords: Economic crisis, Turkey-Russian crisis, Turkey's tourism industry, tourism in Turkey.

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Authors: Rajaram Kr. Gupta, Bhupendra Kumar, T. V. K. Gupta, D. S. Ramteke

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Machining of hard materials is a recent technology for direct production of work-pieces. The primary challenge in machining these materials is selection of cutting tool inserts which facilitates an extended tool life and high-precision machining of the component. These materials are widely for making precision parts for the aerospace industry. Nickel-based alloys are typically used in extreme environment applications where a combination of strength, corrosion resistance and oxidation resistance material characteristics are required. The present paper reports the theoretical and experimental investigations carried out to understand the influence of machining parameters on the response parameters. Considering the basic machining parameters (speed, feed and depth of cut) a study has been conducted to observe their influence on material removal rate, surface roughness, cutting forces and corresponding tool wear. Experiments are designed and conducted with the help of Central Composite Rotatable Design technique. The results reveals that for a given range of process parameters, material removal rate is favorable for higher depths of cut and low feed rate for cutting forces. Low feed rates and high values of rotational speeds are suitable for better finish and higher tool life.

Keywords: Speed, feed, depth of cut, roughness, cutting force, flank wear.

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Authors: A. Al-Rashidi, A. El-Hamalawi

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In this paper, a performance study was conducted to investigate single and dual-axis PV systems to generate electricity in five different sites in Kuwait. Relevant data were obtained by using two sources for validation purposes. A commercial software, PVsyst, was used to analyse the data, such as metrological data and other input parameters, and compute the performance parameters such as capacity factor (CF) and final yield (YF). The results indicated that single and dual-axis PV systems would be very beneficial to electricity generation in Kuwait as an alternative source to conventional power plants, especially with the increased demand over time. The ranges were also found to be competitive in comparison to leading countries using similar systems. A significant increase in CF and YF values around 24% and 28.8% was achieved related to the use of single and dual systems, respectively.

Keywords: Single-axis and dual-axis photovoltaic systems, capacity factor, final yield, renewable energy, Kuwait.

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Authors: Shahin Dezdar

Abstract:

Over the past few years, companies in developing countries have implemented enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Regardless of the various benefits of the ERP system, its adoption and implementation have not been without problems. Many companies have assigned considerable organizational resources to their ERP projects, but have encountered unexpected challenges. Neglecting a number of important factors in ERP projects might lead to failure instead of success. User satisfaction is among those factors that has a major influence on ERP implementation success. So, this paper intends to investigate the key factors that create ERP users- satisfaction and to discover whether ERP users- satisfaction varies among different users- profiles. The study was conducted using a survey questionnaire which was distributed to ERP users in Iranian organizations. A total of 384 responses were collected and analyzed. The findings indicated that younger ERP users tend to be more satisfied with ERP systems. Furthermore, ERP users with more experiences in IT and also more educated users have more satisfaction with ERP softwares. However, the study found no satisfaction differences between men and women users.

Keywords: ERP, Enterprise resource planning, User satisfaction, Iran, Developing country

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Authors: Jan Busch, Maurice Schmidt, Peter Nyhuis

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The change of conditions for production companies in high-wage countries is characterized by the globalization of competition and the transition of a supplier´s to a buyer´s market. The companies need to face the challenges of reacting flexibly to these changes. Due to the significant and increasing degree of automation, assembly has become the most expensive production process. Regarding the reduction of production cost, assembly consequently offers a considerable rationalizing potential. Therefore, an aerodynamic feeding system has been developed at the Institute of Production Systems and Logistics (IFA), Leibniz Universitaet Hannover. This system has been enabled to adjust itself by using a genetic algorithm. The longer this genetic algorithm is executed the better is the feeding quality. In this paper, the relation between the system´s setting time and the feeding quality is observed and a function which enables the user to achieve the minimum of the total feeding time is presented.

Keywords: Aerodynamic feeding system, batch size, optimisation, setting time.

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Authors: Prashant Kumar Soori, Parthasarathy L., Masami Okano, Awet Mana

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Off-grid Photovoltaic (PV) systems are empowering technology in underdeveloped countries like Ethiopia where many people live far away from the modern world. Where there is relatively low energy consumption, providing energy from grid systems is not commercially cost-effective. As a result, significant people groups worldwide stay without access to electricity. One remote village in northern Ethiopia was selected by the United Nations for a pilot project to improve its living conditions. As part of this comprehensive project, an intelligent charge controller circuit for Off-grid PV systems was designed for the clinic in that village. In this paper, design aspects of an intelligent charge controller unit and its load driver circuits are discussed for an efficient utilization of PVbased supply systems.

Keywords: Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL), FluorescentLamp, Intelligent Charge Controller Unit (ICCU), Light EmittingDiode (LED), Photovoltaic (PV).

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Authors: K.H. Yang

Abstract:

After the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 in U.S., the container security issue got high attention, especially by U.S. government, which deployed a lot of measures to promote or improve security systems. U.S. government not only enhances its national security system, but allies with other countries against the potential terrorist attacks in the future. For example CSI (Container Security Initiative), it encourages foreign ports outside U.S. to become CSI ports as a part of U.S. anti-terrorism network. Although promotion of the security could partly reach the goal of anti-terrorism, that will influence the efficiency of container supply chain, which is the main concern when implementing the inspection measurements. This paper proposes a quick estimation methodology for an inspection service rate by a berth allocation heuristic such that the inspection activities will not affect the original container supply chain. Theoretical and simulation results show this approach is effective.

Keywords: Berth allocation, Container, Heuristic, Inspection.

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Authors: Giulia Sarego, Lorenzo Olivieri, Andrea Valmorbida, Carlo Bettanini, Giacomo Colombatti, Marco Pertile, Enrico C. Lorenzini

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International guidelines recommend removing any artificial body in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) within 25 years from mission completion. Among disposal strategies, electrodynamic tethers appear to be a promising option for LEO, thanks to the limited storage mass and the minimum interface requirements to the host spacecraft. In particular, recent technological advances make it feasible to deorbit large objects with tether lengths of a few kilometers or less. To further investigate such an innovative passive system, the European Union is currently funding the project E.T.PACK – Electrodynamic Tether Technology for Passive Consumable-less Deorbit Kit in the framework of the H2020 Future Emerging Technologies (FET) Open program. The project focuses on the design of an end of life disposal kit for LEO satellites. This kit aims to deploy a taped tether that can be activated at the spacecraft end of life to perform autonomous deorbit within the international guidelines. In this paper, the orbital performance of the E.T.PACK deorbiting kit is compared to other disposal methods. Besides, the orbital decay prediction is parametrized as a function of spacecraft mass and tether system performance. Different values of length, width, and thickness of the tether will be evaluated for various scenarios (i.e., different initial orbital parameters). The results will be compared to other end-of-life disposal methods with similar allocated resources. The analysis of the more innovative system’s performance with the tape coated with a thermionic material, which has a low work-function (LWT), for which no active component for the cathode is required, will also be briefly discussed. The results show that the electrodynamic tether option can be a competitive and performant solution for satellite disposal compared to other deorbit technologies.

Keywords: Deorbiting performance, H2020, spacecraft disposal, space electrodynamic tethers.

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Authors: Tahmina Akhter

Abstract:

In the present work, we make a study of the repercussions of the pandemic generated by COVID-19 in the real estate market, this disease has affected almost all sectors of the economy across different countries in the world, including the real estate markets. This documentary research, basically focused on the years 2021 and 2022, as we seek to focus on the strongest time of the pandemic. We carried out the study trying to take into account the repercussions throughout the world and that is why the data we analyze take into account information from all possible continents. Particularly in the US, Europe and China, where the COVID-19 impact has been of such proportions that it has fundamentally affected the housing market for middle-class housing. In addition, the pandemic has posed risks to investments in this market, due to the fact that companies in the sector have generated losses in certain cases; in the Chinese case, Evergrande, one of the largest companies in the sector, fell into default.

Keywords: COVID-19, real estate market, statistics of COVID-19, Evergrande Real Estate.

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Authors: Shishir Kumar, Chhaya Gangwal, Seema Raj

Abstract:

Public health informatics (PHI) which has seen successful implementation in the developed world, become the buzzword in the developing countries in providing improved healthcare with enhanced access. In rural areas especially, where a huge gap exists between demand and supply of healthcare facilities, PHI is being seen as a major solution. There are factors such as growing network infrastructure and the technological adoption by the health fraternity which provide support to these claims. Public health informatics has opportunities in healthcare by providing opportunities to diagnose patients, provide intra-operative assistance and consultation from a remote site. It also has certain barriers in the awareness, adaptation, network infrastructure, funding and policy related areas. There are certain medico-legal aspects involving all the stakeholders which need to be standardized to enable a working system. This paper aims to analyze the potential and challenges of Public health informatics services in rural communities.

Keywords: PHI, e-health, Public health.

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