Search results for: Dietary Practices

Authors: Iman Ali Ahmed Al-Rashed

Abstract:

This paper directs attention to the limitations of the teacher-centered strategy in teaching. The aim of this study is to draw more educational attention to learner-centered strategy in order to shift the emphasis from the traditional concept of teaching to a new concept in teaching. To begin bridging the traditional concept of teaching and the new concept, the study will explore the new concept of teaching to support teaching in Arab World generally and in Iraq specifically. A qualitative case study orientation was used to collect data in the form of classroom observations, interviews and field notes. The teaching practices used by three university instructors are investigated and according to the findings, some explanations and recommendations are made.

Keywords: Case study, learner-centered strategy, qualitative study, teacher-centered strategy, traditional teaching.

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Authors: K. Sheehy, R. Ferguson, G. Clough

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This paper examines ethical and social issues which have proved important when initiating and creating educational spaces within a virtual environment. It focuses on one project, identifying the key decisions made, the barriers to new practice encountered and the impact these had on the project. It demonstrates the importance of the 'backstage' ethical and social issues involved in the creation of a virtual education community and offers conclusions, and questions, which will inform future research and practice in this area. These ethical issues are considered using Knobel-s framework of front-end, in-process and back-end concerns, and include establishing social practices for the islands, allocating access rights, considering personal safety and supporting researchers appropriately within this context.

Keywords: distance education, ethics, virtual environments.

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Authors: Vilma Zydziunaite, Vaida Jurgile, Roman Balandiuk

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Good, great, and leading teachers are expected to be the role models for students, society, professional community. Their role model includes expertise, trustworthiness, originality, facilitating, cooperation and communication. Teachers demonstrate their professional passion through their professionalism and professional attitudes. Usually, we call them teacher(s) leaders by integrating three notions such as good, great, and leading in a one-teacher leader. Here are described essences of three concepts: ‘good teacher,’ ‘great teacher,’ ‘and teacher leader’ as they are inseparable in teaching practices, teacher’s professional life, and educational interactions with students, fellow teachers, school administration, students’ families and school communities.

Keywords: Great teacher, good teacher, leading teacher, school, student.

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Authors: Khaled N. El-Hashmi, Omar K.Gnieber

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The clinical laboratory has received considerable recognition globally due to the rapid development of advanced technology, economic demands and its role in a patient’s treatment cycle. Although various cross-domain experiments and practices with respect to clinical laboratory projects are ready for the full swing, the customer needs are still ambiguous and debatable. The purpose of this study is to apply Kano’s model and customer satisfaction matrix to categorize service quality attributes in order to see how well these attributes are able to satisfy customer needs. The result reveals that ten of the 26 service quality attributes have greater impacts on highly increasing customer’s satisfaction and should be taken in consideration firstly.

Keywords: Clinical laboratory, Customer satisfaction matrix, Kano’s Model, Quality Attributes, Voice of Customer.

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Authors: Malte Brettel, Niklas Friederichsen, Michael Keller, Marius Rosenberg

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The German manufacturing industry has to withstand an increasing global competition on product quality and production costs. As labor costs are high, several industries have suffered severely under the relocation of production facilities towards aspiring countries, which have managed to close the productivity and quality gap substantially. Established manufacturing companies have recognized that customers are not willing to pay large price premiums for incremental quality improvements. As a consequence, many companies from the German manufacturing industry adjust their production focusing on customized products and fast time to market. Leveraging the advantages of novel production strategies such as Agile Manufacturing and Mass Customization, manufacturing companies transform into integrated networks, in which companies unite their core competencies. Hereby, virtualization of the process- and supply-chain ensures smooth inter-company operations providing real-time access to relevant product and production information for all participating entities. Boundaries of companies deteriorate, as autonomous systems exchange data, gained by embedded systems throughout the entire value chain. By including Cyber-Physical-Systems, advanced communication between machines is tantamount to their dialogue with humans. The increasing utilization of information and communication technology allows digital engineering of products and production processes alike. Modular simulation and modeling techniques allow decentralized units to flexibly alter products and thereby enable rapid product innovation. The present article describes the developments of Industry 4.0 within the literature and reviews the associated research streams. Hereby, we analyze eight scientific journals with regards to the following research fields: Individualized production, end-to-end engineering in a virtual process chain and production networks. We employ cluster analysis to assign sub-topics into the respective research field. To assess the practical implications, we conducted face-to-face interviews with managers from the industry as well as from the consulting business using a structured interview guideline. The results reveal reasons for the adaption and refusal of Industry 4.0 practices from a managerial point of view. Our findings contribute to the upcoming research stream of Industry 4.0 and support decision-makers to assess their need for transformation towards Industry 4.0 practices. 

Keywords: Industry 4.0., Mass Customization, Production networks, Virtual Process-Chain.

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Authors: Sundus Ayyaz, Saad Rehman, Usman Qamar

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Software Architecture is the basic structure of software that states the development and advancement of a software system. Software architecture is also considered as a significant tool for the construction of high quality software systems. A clean design leads to the control, value and beauty of software resulting in its longer life while a bad design is the cause of architectural erosion where a software evolution completely fails. This paper discusses the occurrence of software architecture erosion and presents a set of methods for the detection, declaration and prevention of architecture erosion. The causes and symptoms of architecture erosion are observed with the examples of prescriptive and descriptive architectures and the practices used to stop this erosion are also discussed by considering different types of software erosion and their affects. Consequently finding and devising the most suitable approach for fighting software architecture erosion and in some way reducing its affect is evaluated and tested on different scenarios.

Keywords: Software Architecture, Architecture Erosion, Prescriptive Architecture, Descriptive Architecture.

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Authors: James K. Ho

Abstract:

We present a prototype interactive (hyper) map of strategic, tactical, and logistic options for Supply Chain Management. The map comprises an anthology of options, broadly classified within the strategic spectrum of efficiency versus responsiveness, and according to logistic and cross-functional drivers. They are exemplified by cases in diverse industries. We seek to get all these information and ideas organized to help supply chain managers identify effective choices for specific business environments. The key and innovative linkage we introduce is the configuration of competitive forces. Instead of going through seemingly endless and isolated cases and wondering how one can borrow from them, we aim to provide a guide by force comparisons. The premise is that best practices in a different industry facing similar forces may be a most productive resource in supply chain design and planning. A prototype template is demonstrated.

Keywords: Competitive forces, strategic innovation, supplychain management.

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Authors: A. Maruf Aytekin

Abstract:

We present our approach on using continuous delivery pattern for release management. One of the key practices of agile and lean teams is the continuous delivery of new features to stakeholders. The main benefits of this approach lie in the ability to release new applications rapidly which has real strategic impact on the competitive advantage of an organization. Organizations that successfully implement Continuous Delivery have the ability to evolve rapidly to support innovation, provide stable and reliable software in more efficient ways, decrease the amount of resources need for maintenance, and lower the software delivery time and costs. One of the objectives of this paper is to elaborate a case study where IT division of Central Securities Depository Institution (MKK) of Turkey apply Continuous Delivery pattern to improve release management process.

Keywords: Automation, continuous delivery, deployment, release management.

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Authors: Mahadevan Supramaniam, Mudiarasan Kuppusamy

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In order to survive in a rapidly changing business environment, Malaysian business firms must improve their own business practices and procedures. This paper describes the impact of Critical Success Factors (CSFs) during the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system implementations using the responses from 151 organizations that completed or are in the process of completing an ERP implementation and identifying the key benefits of ERP implementation in the firm. The importance of these factors was investigated within Malaysian companies using questionnaire survey method. Our results provide advice to management on how best to utilize their limited resources to choose those CSFs that are most likely to have an impact upon the implementation of the ERP system.

Keywords: Critical Success Factors (CSFs), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), system, vendor.

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Authors: Khaled M. Alhawiti

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This paper aims to analyze the role of natural language processing (NLP). The paper will discuss the role in the context of automated data retrieval, automated question answer, and text structuring. NLP techniques are gaining wider acceptance in real life applications and industrial concerns. There are various complexities involved in processing the text of natural language that could satisfy the need of decision makers. This paper begins with the description of the qualities of NLP practices. The paper then focuses on the challenges in natural language processing. The paper also discusses major techniques of NLP. The last section describes opportunities and challenges for future research.

Keywords: Data Retrieval, Information retrieval, Natural Language Processing, Text Structuring.

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Authors: Sofia Douklia

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The present context paper aims to present the important role of ‘student voice’ and the music teacher in the classroom, which contributes to more student-centered music education. The aim is to focus on the functions of the student voice through the music spectrum, which has been born in the music classroom, and the teacher’s methodologies and techniques used in the music classroom. The music curriculum, the principles of student-centered music education, and the role of students and teachers as music ambassadors have been considered the major music parameters of student voice. The student- voice is a worth-mentioning aspect of a student-centered education, and all teachers should consider and promote its existence in their classroom.

Keywords: Student’s voice, student-centered education, music ambassadors, music teachers.

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Authors: J. Ruso, M. Krsmanovic, A. Trajkovic, Z. Rakicevic

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Since the late 1970s, quality management has become an important tool for achieving a high quality of public e-administration services in many countries. Very important part of quality management in e-administration is measurement of quality indicators related to this sector. Therefore, this paper gives a description of e-administration, including statistics about it and other examples from many countries worldwide, as well as the explanation of quality management in public e-administration. The paper also gives a list and description of quality indicators relevant to e-administration, as part of quality management within the e-administration. Through a literature review and best practices, the paper aims to analyze quality indicators measurement and other parts of good quality management when it comes to the public e-administration and consequently to show the usefulness of quality management in public e-administration in order to provide services of high quality.

Keywords: e-Administration, quality indicators, quality management.

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Authors: Mucip Tapan, Ali Ozvan, Ismail Akkaya

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This study investigated how the concrete confinement strength and axial load carrying capacity of reinforced concrete columns are affected by corrosion damage to the stirrups. A total of small-scale 12 test specimens were cast for evaluating the effect of stirrup corrosion on confinement strength of concrete. The results of this study show that the stirrup corrosion alone dramatically decreases the axial load carrying capacity of corroded reinforced concrete columns. Recommendations were presented for improved inspection practices which will allow estimating concrete confinement strength of corrosion-damaged reinforced concrete bridge columns.

Keywords: Bridge, column, concrete, corrosion, inspection, stirrup reinforcement.

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Authors: Jenan Shakoor

Abstract:

Obesity prevalence is increasing worldwide. University life is a challenging period especially for students who have to leave their familiar surroundings and settle in a new environment. The current study aimed to assess the diet and exercise habits and their association with body mass index (BMI) among nursing college students living at Kirkuk University residence. This was a descriptive study. A non-probability (purposive) sample of 101 students living in Kirkuk University residence was recruited during the period from the 15^th November 2015 to the 5^th May 2016. A questionnaire was constructed for the purpose of the study which consisted of four parts: the demographic characteristics of the study sample, eating habits, eating at college and healthy habits. The data were collected by interviewing the study sample and the weight and height were measured by a trained researcher at the college. Descriptive statistical analysis was undertaken. Data were prepared, organized and entered into the computer file; the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS 20) was used for data analysis. A p value≤ 0.05 was accepted as statistical significant. A total of 63 (62.4%) of the sample were aged20-21with a mean age of 22.1 (SD±0.653). A third of the sample 38 (37.6%) were from level four at college, 67 (66.3%) were female and 46 45.5% of participants were from a middle socio-economic status. 14 (13.9%) of the study sample were overweight (BMI =25-29.9kg/m²) and 6 (5.9%) were obese (BMI≥30kg/m²) compared to 73 (72.3%) were of normal weight (BMI =18.5-24.9kg/m²). With regard to eating habits and exercise, 42 (41.6%) of the students rarely ate breakfast, 79 (78.2%) eat lunch at university residence, 77 (78.2%) of the students reported rarely doing exercise and 62 (61.4%) of them were sleeping for less than eight hours. No significant association was found between the variables age, sex, level of college and socio-economic status and BMI, while there was a significant association between eating lunch at university and BMI (p =0.03). No significant association was found between eating habits, healthy habits and BMI. The prevalence of overweight and obesity among the study sample was 19.8% with female students being more obese than males. Further studies are needed to identify BMI among residence students in other colleges and increasing the awareness of undergraduate students to healthy food habits.

Keywords: Body mass index, diet, obesity, university residence.

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Authors: Nidhi Gadura

Abstract:

Given the increase in the number of students and administrators asking for online courses the author developed two partially online courses. One was a biology majors at genetics course while the other was a non-majors at biology course. The student body at Queensborough Community College is generally underprepared and has work and family obligations. As an educator, one has to be mindful about changing the pedagogical approach, therefore, special care was taken when designing the course material. Despite the initial concerns, both of these partially online courses were received really well by students. Lessons learnt were that student engagement is the key to success in an online course. Good practices to run a successful online course for underprepared students are discussed in this paper. Also discussed are the lessons learnt for making the eLearning environment better for all the students in the class, overachievers and underachievers alike.

Keywords: Partially online course, pedagogy, student engagement, community college.

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Authors: Narat Susilaworn, Nuttawuth Muenjohn

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The study applied a combination of organisational learning models (Senge, 1994: Pedler, Burgoyne and Boydell, 1991) and later adopted fifteen organisational learning principles with one of the biggest energy providers in South East Asia. The purposes of the current study were to: a) investigate the company-s practices on fifteen organisational learning principles; b) explore the perceptions and expectations of its employees in relations to the principles; and c) compare the perceptions and expectations between management and non-management staff toward the fifteen factors. One hundred and ten employees responded on a designed questionnaire and the results indicated that the company was practicing activities that associated with organisational learning principles. Also, according to the T-test results, significant differences between management and non-management respondents were found. Research implications are also provided.

Keywords: Organisational learning, employee perception, organisational performance.

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Authors: Justin D. Olmanson, Katrina S. Kennett, Bill Cope

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In educational technology, the idea of innovation is usually tethered to contemporary technological inventions and emerging technologies. Yet, using long-known technologies in ways that are pedagogically or experimentially new can reposition them as emerging educational technologies. In this study we explore how a subtle pivot in pedagogical thinking led to an innovative education technology. We describe the design and implementation of an online writing tool that scaffolds students in the evaluation of their own informational texts. We think about how pathways to innovation can emerge from pivots, namely a leveraging of longstanding practices in novel ways has the potential to cultivate new opportunities for learning. We first unpack Infowriter in terms of its design, then we describe some results of a study in which we implemented an intervention which included our designed application.

Keywords: Design, innovation, learning, technology, writing.

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Authors: Frederick Wedzerai Nyakudya

Abstract:

In this paper, we examine the relationship between human capital, personal wealth and social capital to explain the differences in start-up rates between female and male entrepreneurs. Since our dependent variable is dichotomous, we examine the determinants of these using a maximum likelihood logit estimator. We used the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor database covering the period 2006 to 2009 with 421 usable cases drawn from the Lower Layer Super Output Areas in East Midlands in the United Kingdom. We found evidence indicating that a female positively moderates the positive relationships between indicators of human capital and personal wealth with start-up activity. The findings have implications for programs, policies, and practices to encourage more females to engage in start-up activity.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, gender gap, women's entrepreneurship.

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Authors: Saima Ayaz, Zakir Hussain, Maqbool Hussain Sial

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The study identified the sources of production inefficiency of the farming sector in district Faisalabad in the Punjab province of Pakistan. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) technique was utilized at farm level survey data of 300 farmers for the year 2009. The overall mean efficiency score was 0.78 indicating 22 percent inefficiency of the sample farmers. Computed efficiency scores were then regressed on farm specific variables using Tobit regression analysis. Farming experience, education, access to farming credit, herd size and number of cultivation practices showed constructive and significant effect on the farmer-s technical efficiency.

Keywords: Agricultural credit, DEA, Technical efficiency, Tobit analysis

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Authors: Daria Topousis, Keri Murphy, Jeanne Holm

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Following the loss of NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003, it was determined that problems in the agency's organization created an environment that led to the accident. One component of the proposed solution resulted in the formation of the NASA Engineering Network (NEN), a suite of information retrieval and knowledge-sharing tools. This paper describes the implementation of communities of practice, which are formed along engineering disciplines. Communities of practice enable engineers to leverage their knowledge and best practices to collaborate and take information learning back to their jobs and embed it into the procedures of the agency. This case study offers insight into using traditional engineering disciplines for virtual collaboration, including lessons learned during the creation and establishment of NASA-s communities.

Keywords: Collaboration, communities of practice, knowledge management, virtual teams.

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Authors: Abdul H, Jamil A, Imran U

Abstract:

Conflicts identification among non-functional requirements is often identified intuitively which impairs conflict analysis practices. This paper proposes a new model to identify conflicts among non-functional requirements. The proposed model uses the matrix mechanism to identify the quality based conflicts among non-functional requirements. The potential conflicts are identified through the mapping of low level conflicting quality attributes to low level functionalities using the matrices. The proposed model achieves the identification of conflicts among product and process requirements, identifies false conflicts, decreases the documentation overhead, and maintains transparency of identified conflicts. The attributes are not concomitantly taken into account by current models in practice.

Keywords: Conflict Identification, Matrix Maps, Non-functional Requirements, Requirements Analysis, Software Engineering

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Authors: J. Luché-Thayer, C. Perronne, C. Meseko

Abstract:

We reviewed how certain institutional policies and practices, as well as questionable research, are creating obstacles to care and informed consent for Lyme and relapsing fever Borreliosis patients. The interference is denying access to treatments that meet the internationally accepted standards as set by the Institute of Medicine. This obstruction to care contributes to significant human suffering, disability and negative economic effect across many nations and in many regions of the world. We note how evidence based medicine emphasizes the importance of clinical experience and patient-centered care and how these patients benefit significantly when their rights to choose among treatment options are upheld.  

Keywords: Conflicts of interest, obstacles to healthcare accessibility, patient-centered care, the right to informed consent.

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Authors: V. Anastasov, I.Khamis

Abstract:

The paper presents an overview of environmental issues that may be expected with nuclear desalination. The analysis of coupling nuclear power with desalination plants indicates that adverse marine impacts can be mitigated with alternative intake designs or cooling systems. The atmospheric impact of desalination may be greatly reduced through the coupling with nuclear power, while maximizing the socio-economic benefit for both processes. The potential for tritium contamination of the desalinated water was reviewed. Experience with the systems and practices related to the radiological quality of the product water, shows no examples of cross-contamination. Furthermore, the indicators for the public acceptance of nuclear desalination, as one of the most important sustainability aspects of any such large project, show a positive trend. From the data collected, a conclusion is made that nuclear desalination should be supported by decision-makers.

Keywords: Environmental impacts, nuclear desalination, publicacceptance, tritium.

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Authors: Osama Abufanas

Abstract:

This paper aims to build an Arabic learning language tool using Flash CS4 professional software with action script 3.0 programming language, based on the Computer Aided Language Learning (CALL) material. An extra intention is to provide a primary tool and focus on learning Arabic as a second language to adults. It contains letters, words and sentences at the first stage. This includes interactive practices, which evaluates learners’ comprehension of the Arabic language. The system was examined and it was found that the language structure was correct and learners were satisfied regarding the system tools. The learners found the system tools efficient and simple to use. The paper's main conclusion illustrates that CALL can be applied without any hesitation to second language learners

Keywords: Arabic Language, Computer Aided Language Learning (CALL), Learner, Material.

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Authors: A. K. M. De Paula, R. Tenorio

Abstract:

The 20th century has brought much development to the practice of Architecture worldwide, and technology has bridged inhabitation limits in many regions of the world with high levels of comfort and conveniences, most times at high costs to the environment. Throughout the globe, the tropical countries are being urbanized at an unprecedented rate and housing has become a major issue worldwide, in light of increased demand and lack of appropriate infra-structure and planning. Buildings and urban spaces designed in tropical cities have mainly adopted external concepts that in most cases do not fit the needs of the inhabitants living in such harsh climatic environment, and when they do, do so at high financial, environmental and cultural costs. Traditional architectural practices can provide valuable understanding on how self-reliance and autonomy of construction can be reinforced in rural-urban tropical environments. From traditional housing knowledge, it is possible to derive lessons for the development of new construction materials that are affordable, environmentally friendly, culturally acceptable and accesible to all.Specifically to the urban context, such solutions are of outmost importance, given the needs to a more democratic society, where access to housing is considered high in the agenda for development. Traditional or rural constructions are also ongoing through extensive changes eventhough they have mostly adopted climate-responsive building practices relying on local resources (with minimum embodied energy) and energy (for comfort and quality of life). It is important to note that many of these buildings can actually be called zero-energy, and hold potential answers to enable transition from high energy, high cost, low comfort urban habitations to zero/low energy habitations with high quality urban livelihood. Increasing access to modern urban lifestyels have also an effect on the aspirations from people in terms of performance, comfort and convenience in terms of their housing and the way it is produced and used. These aspirations are resulting in transitions from localresource dependent habitations- to non-local resource based highenergy urban style habitations. And such transitions are resulting in the habitations becoming increasingly unsuited to the local climatic conditions with increasing discomfort, ill-health, and increased CO2 emissions and local environmental disruption. This research studies one specific transition group in the context of 'water communities' in tropical-equatorial regions: Ribeirinhos housing typology (Amazonas, Brazil). The paper presents the results of a qualitative sustainability assessment of the housing typologies under transition, found at the Ribeirinhos communities.

Keywords: Vernacuilar and Tropical Architecture, SustainableHousing Design, Urban-rural Housing, Living Transitions

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Authors: Kalsom Abd Wahab, Khalid Hassan Abdesamed

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to examine the financing practices of SMEs in Libya in two different phases of business life cycle: start-up and matured stages. Moreover, SMEs- accessing bank loan issues is also identified. The study was conducted by taking into account the aspect of demand. The findings are based on a sample of 76 SMEs in Libya through the adoption of questionnaires. The results have pinpointed several things- evidently, SMEs use informal financing sources which prefer personal savings; SME owners are willing to apply for bank loan, that the most pressing problem has been identified, not to apply bank loan is loan with interest (religion factor).

Keywords: SMEs, Formal Finance (loan from bank), Informal Finance, Loan with interest (religion factor), Libya.

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Authors: Andrzej Przemyslaw Kusnierczak

Abstract:

Advances in technology (e.g. the internet, telecommunication) and political changes (fewer trade barriers and an enlarged European Union, ASEAN, NAFTA and other organizations) have led to develop international competition and expand into new markets. Companies in Thailand, Asia and around the globe are increasingly being pressured on price and for faster time to enter the market. At the same time, new markets are appearing and many companies are looking for changes and shifts in their domestic markets. These factors have enabled the rapid growth for companies and globalizing many different business activities during the product development process from research and development (R&D) to production. This research will show and clarify methods how to develop global product. Also, it will show how important is a global product impact into Thai Economy development.

Keywords: Development, global, management, product.

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Authors: F.B. Georgise, K. D. Thoben, M. Seifert

Abstract:

This paper presents a research agenda on the SCOR model adaptation. SCOR model is designated to measure supply chain performance and logistics impact across the boundaries of individual organizations. It is at its growing stage of its life cycle and is enjoying the leverage of becoming the industry standard. The SCOR model has been developed and used widely in developed countries context. This research focuses on the SCOR model adaptation for the manufacturing industry in developing countries. With a necessary understanding of the characteristics, difficulties and problems of the manufacturing industry in developing countries- supply chain; consequently, we will try to designs an adapted model with its building blocks: business process model, performance measures and best practices.

Keywords: developing countries, manufacturing industry, SCOR model adaptation

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Authors: Bijaya Krushna Mangaraj, Deepak Kumar Das

Abstract:

Sustainability in rural production system can only be achieved if it can suitably satisfy the local requirement as well as the outside demand with the changing time. With the increased pressure from the food sector in a globalised world, the agrarian economy needs to re-organise its cultivable land system to be compatible with new management practices as well as the multiple needs of various stakeholders and the changing resource scenario. An attempt has been made to transform this problem into a multi-objective decisionmaking problem considering various objectives, resource constraints and conditional constraints. An interactive fuzzy multi-objective programming approach has been used for such a purpose taking a case study in Indian context to demonstrate the validity of the method.

Keywords: Land re-organisation, Crop planning, Multiobjective Decision-Making, Fuzzy Goal Programming.

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Authors: Jay D. Gatrell, Robert Q. Hanham, Jeff Worsham, Maureen McDorman

Abstract:

This paper examines two policy spaces–the ARC and TVA–and their spatialized politics. The research observes that the regional concept informs public policy and can contribute to the formation of stable policy initiatives. Using the subsystem framework to understand the political viability of policy regimes, the authors conclude policy geographies that appeal to traditional definitions of regions are more stable over time. In contrast, geographies that fail to reflect pre-existing representations of space are engaged in more competitive subsystem politics. The paper demonstrates that the spatial practices of policy regions and their directional politics influence the political viability of programs. The paper concludes that policy spaces should institutionalize pre-existing geographies–not manufacture new ones.

Keywords: Agenda setting, politics, region.

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