Abstract: Intellectual capital measurement is a central aspect of knowledge management. The measurement and the evaluation of intangible assets play a key role in allowing an effective management of these assets as sources of competitiveness. For these reasons, managers and practitioners need conceptual and analytical tools taking into account the unique characteristics and economic significance of Intellectual Capital. Following this lead, we propose an efficiency and productivity analysis of Intellectual Capital, as a determinant factor of the company competitive advantage. The analysis is carried out by means of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI). These techniques identify Bests Practice companies that have accomplished competitive advantage implementing successful strategies of Intellectual Capital management, and offer to inefficient companies development paths by means of benchmarking. The proposed methodology is employed on the Biotechnology industry in the period 2007-2010.
Abstract: The study aimed to evaluated the reproductive performance response to short term oestrus synchronization during the transition period. One hundred and sixty-five indigenous multiparous non-lactating goats were subdivided into the following six treatment groups for oestrus synchronization: NT control Group (N= 30), Fe-21d, FGA vaginal sponge for 21days+eCG at 19thd; FPe- 11d, FGA 11d + PGF2α and eCG at 9th d; FPe-10d, FGA 10d+ PGF2α and eCG at 8th d; FPe-9d, FGA 9d +PGF2α and eCG at 7thd; PFe-5d, PGF2α at d0 + FGA 5d + eCG at 5thd. The goats were natural mated (1 male/6 females). Fecundity rates (n. births /n. females treated x 100) were statistically higher (P < 0.05) in short term FPe-9d (157.9%), FPe- 11d (115.4%), FPe-10d (111.1%) and PFe-5d (107.7%) groups compared to the NT control Group (66.7%).
Abstract: The primary purpose of this article is an attempt to
find the implication of globalization on education. Globalization has
an important role as a process in the economical, political, cultural
and technological dimensions in the life of the contemporary human
being and has been affected by it. Education has its effects in this
procedure and while influencing it through educating global citizens
having universal human features and characteristics, has been
influenced by this phenomenon too. Nowadays, the role of education
is not just to develop in the students the knowledge and skills
necessary for the new kinds of jobs. If education wants to help
students be prepared of the new global society, it has to make them
engaged productive and critical citizens for the global era, so that
they can reflect about their roles as key actors in a dynamic often
uneven, matrix of economic and cultural exchanges. If education
wants to reinforce and raise the national identity, the value system
and the children and teenagers, it should make them ready for living
in the global era of this century. The used method in this research is
documentary and analyzing the documents. Studies in this field show
globalization has influences on the processes of the production,
distribution and consuming of knowledge. The happening of this
event in the information era has not only provide the necessary
opportunities for the exchanges of education worldwide but also has
privileges for the developing countries which enables them to
strengthen educational bases of their society and have an important
step toward their future.
Abstract: A learning management system (commonly
abbreviated as LMS) is a software application for the administration,
documentation, tracking, and reporting of training programs,
classroom and online events, e-learning programs, and training
content (Ellis 2009). (Hall 2003) defines an LMS as \"software that
automates the administration of training events. All Learning
Management Systems manage the log-in of registered users, manage
course catalogs, record data from learners, and provide reports to
management\". Evidence of the worldwide spread of e-learning in
recent years is easy to obtain. In April 2003, no fewer than 66,000
fully online courses and 1,200 complete online programs were listed
on the TeleCampus portal from TeleEducation (Paulsen 2003). In the
report \" The US market in the Self-paced eLearning Products and
Services:2010-2015 Forecast and Analysis\" The number of student
taken classes exclusively online will be nearly equal (1% less) to the
number taken classes exclusively in physical campuses. Number of
student taken online course will increase from 1.37 million in 2010 to
3.86 million in 2015 in USA. In another report by The Sloan
Consortium three-quarters of institutions report that the economic
downturn has increased demand for online courses and programs.
Abstract: In rapidly changing market environment, firms are investing a lot of time and resources into new product development (NPD) projects to make profit and to obtain competitive advantage. However, failure rate of NPD projects is becoming high due to various internal and external risks which hinder successful NPD projects. To reduce the failure rate, it is critical that risks have to be managed effectively and efficiently through good strategy, and treated by optimal responses to minimize risk cost. Four strategies are adopted to handle the risks in this study. The optimal responses are characterized by high reduction of risk costs with high efficiency. This study suggests a framework to decide the optimal responses considering the core risks, risk costs, response efficiency and response costs for successful NPD projects. Both binary particles warm optimization (BPSO) and multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) methods are mainly used in the framework. Although several limitations exist in use for real industries, the frame work shows good strength for handling the risks with highly scientific ways through an example.
Abstract: Turkey has 72 % of total world boron reserves on the
basis of B2O3.Borates that is a refined form of boron minerals have a
wide range of applications. Zinc borates can be used as multifunctional
synergistic additives. The most important properties are
low solubility in water and high dehydration temperature. Zinc
borates dehydrate above 290°C and anhydrous zinc borate has
thermal resistance about 400°C. Zinc borates can be synthesized
using several methods such as hydrothermal and solid-state
processes. In this study, the solid-state method was applied between
500 and 800°C using the starting materials of ZnO and H3BO3 with
1:4 mole ratio. The reaction time was determined as 4 hours after
some preliminary experiments. After the synthesis, the crystal
structure and the morphology of the products were examined by XRay
Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy
(FT-IR) and Raman Spectrometer. As a result the form of ZnB4O7
was synthesized with the highest crystal score at 800°C.
Abstract: This paper introduces a framework based on the collaboration of multi agent and hyper-heuristics to find a solution of the real single machine production problem. There are many techniques used to solve this problem. Each of it has its own advantages and disadvantages. By the collaboration of multi agent system and hyper-heuristics, we can get more optimal solution. The hyper-heuristics approach operates on a search space of heuristics rather than directly on a search space of solutions. The proposed framework consists of some agents, i.e. problem agent, trainer agent, algorithm agent (GPHH, GAHH, and SAHH), optimizer agent, and solver agent. Some low level heuristics used in this paper are MRT, SPT, LPT, EDD, LDD, and MON
Abstract: In this paper, the statistical properties of filtered or convolved signals are considered by deriving the resulting density functions as well as the exact mean and variance expressions given a prior knowledge about the statistics of the individual signals in the filtering or convolution process. It is shown that the density function after linear convolution is a mixture density, where the number of density components is equal to the number of observations of the shortest signal. For circular convolution, the observed samples are characterized by a single density function, which is a sum of products.
Abstract: The objective of this research is to calculate the
optimal inventory lot-sizing for each supplier and minimize the total
inventory cost which includes joint purchase cost of the products,
transaction cost for the suppliers, and holding cost for remaining
inventory. Genetic algorithms (GAs) are applied to the multi-product
and multi-period inventory lot-sizing problems with supplier
selection under storage space. Also a maximum storage space for the
decision maker in each period is considered. The decision maker
needs to determine what products to order in what quantities with
which suppliers in which periods. It is assumed that demand of
multiple products is known over a planning horizon. The problem is
formulated as a mixed integer programming and is solved with the
GAs. The detailed computation results are presented.
Abstract: Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with their high mechanical,
electrical, thermal and chemical properties are regarded as promising
materials for many different potential applications. Having unique
properties they can be used in a wide range of fields such as
electronic devices, electrodes, drug delivery systems, hydrogen
storage, textile etc. Catalytic chemical vapor deposition (CCVD) is a
common method for CNT production especially for mass production.
Catalysts impregnated on a suitable substrate are important for
production with chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. Iron
catalyst and MgO substrate is one of most common catalyst-substrate
combination used for CNT. In this study, CNTs were produced by
CCVD of acetylene (C2H2) on magnesium oxide (MgO) powder
substrate impregnated by iron nitrate (Fe(NO3)3•9H2O) solution. The
CNT synthesis conditions were as follows: at synthesis temperatures
of 500 and 800°C multiwall and single wall CNTs were produced
respectively. Iron (Fe) catalysts were prepared by with Fe:MgO ratio
of 1:100, 5:100 and 10:100. The duration of syntheses were 30 and
60 minutes for all temperatures and catalyst percentages. The
synthesized materials were characterized by thermal gravimetric
analysis (TGA), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Raman
spectroscopy.
Abstract: The aim of present experiment was to evaluate the
influence of cultivar to quality parameters of dried potato chips and
sticks produced in microwave-vacuum drier. The potatoes before
drying were blanched in oil and water at 180ºC and at 85ºC
respectively. The moisture content, crispiness, the colour (CIE
L*a*b*), the content of ascorbic acid, total carotenoids and total fat
content of dried potato chips and sticks was determined The highest
ascorbic acid content, high content of carotenoids, low total fat
content, low acrylamide content and good crispiness (low breaking
force) especially for sticks was determined in the samples of Gundega
cultivar.
Abstract: Microcirculation is essential for the proper supply of
oxygen and nutritive substances to the biological tissue and the
removal of waste products of metabolism. The determination of
blood flow in the capillaries is therefore of great interest to clinicians.
A comparison has been carried out using the developed non-invasive,
non-contact and whole field laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI)
based technique and as well as a commercially available laser
Doppler blood flowmeter (LDF) to evaluate blood flow at the finger
tip and elbow and is presented here. The LSCI technique gives more
quantitative information on the velocity of blood when compared to
the perfusion values obtained using the LDF. Measurement of blood
flow in capillaries can be of great interest to clinicians in the
diagnosis of vascular diseases of the upper extremities.
Abstract: In Algeria, liberalization reforms undertaken since the 1990s have resulted in negative effects on the development and management of irrigation schemes, as well as on the conditions of farmers. Reforms have been undertaken to improve the performance of irrigation schemes, such as the national plan of agricultural development (PNDA) in 2000 and the water pricing policy of 2005. However, after implementation of these policies, questions have arisen with regard to irrigation performance and its suitability for agricultural development. Hence, the aim of this paper is to provide insight into the profitability of irrigation during the transition period under current irrigation agricultural policies in Algeria. By using the method of farm crop budget analysis in the East Mitidja irrigation scheme, the returns from using surface water resources based on farm typology were found to vary among crops and farmers- groups within the scheme. Irrigation under the current situation is profitable for all farmers, including both those who benefit from subsidies and those who do not. However, the returns to water were found to be very sensitive to crop price fluctuations, particularly for non-subsidized groups and less so for those whose farming is based on orchards. Moreover, the socio-economic environment of the farmers contributed to less significant impacts of the PNDA policy. In fact, the limiting factor is not only the water, but also the lack of land ownership title. Market access constraints led to less agricultural investment and therefore to low intensification and low water productivity. It is financially feasible to recover the annual O&M costs in the irrigation scheme. By comparing the irrigation water price, returns to water, and O&M costs of water delivery, it is clear that irrigation can be profitable in the future. However, water productivity must be improved by enhancing farmers- income through farming investment, improving assets access, and the allocation of activities and crops which bring high returns to water; this could allow the farmers to pay more for water and allow cost recovery for water systems.
Abstract: carbonylation of methanol in homogenous phase is
one of the major routesfor production of acetic acid. Amongst group
VIII metal catalysts used in this process iridium has displayed the
best capabilities. To investigate effect of operating parameters like:
temperature, pressure, methyl iodide, methyl acetate, iridium,
ruthenium, and water concentrations on the reaction rate,
experimental design for this system based upon central composite
design (CCD) was utilized. Statistical rate equation developed by this
method contained individual, interactions and curvature effects of
parameters on the reaction rate. The model with p-value less than
0.0001 and R2 values greater than 0.9; confirmeda satisfactory fitness
of the experimental and theoretical studies. In other words, the
developed model and experimental data obtained passed all
diagnostic tests establishing this model as a statistically significant.
Abstract: The paper presents a computational tool developed for
the evaluation of technical and economic advantages of an innovative
cleaning and conditioning technology of fluidized bed steam/oxygen
gasifiers outlet product gas. This technology integrates into a single
unit the steam gasification of biomass and the hot gas cleaning and
conditioning system. Both components of the computational tool,
process flowsheet and economic evaluator, have been developed
under IPSEpro software. The economic model provides information
that can help potential users, especially small and medium size
enterprises acting in the regenerable energy field, to decide the
optimal scale of a plant and to better understand both potentiality and
limits of the system when applied to a wide range of conditions.
Abstract: Stable nonzero populations without random deaths
caused by the Verhulst factor (Verhulst-free) are a rarity. Majority
either grow without bounds or die of excessive harmful mutations.
To delay the accumulation of bad genes or diseases, a new
environmental parameter Γ is introduced in the simulation. Current
results demonstrate that stability may be achieved by setting Γ = 0.1.
These steady states approach a maximum size that scales inversely
with reproduction age.
Abstract: In this paper, a benchmarking framework is presented
for the performance assessment of irrigations systems. Firstly, a data
envelopment analysis (DEA) is applied to measure the technical
efficiency of irrigation systems. This method, based on linear
programming, aims to determine a consistent efficiency ranking of
irrigation systems in which known inputs, such as water volume
supplied and total irrigated area, and a given output corresponding to
the total value of irrigation production are taken into account
simultaneously. Secondly, in order to examine the irrigation
efficiency in more detail, a cross – system comparison is elaborated
using a performance indicators set selected by IWMI. The above
methodologies were applied in Thessaloniki plain, located in
Northern Greece while the results of the application are presented and
discussed. The conjunctive use of DEA and performance indicators
seems to be a very useful tool for efficiency assessment and
identification of best practices in irrigation systems management.
Abstract: The principal focus of this study is on the
measurement and analysis of labor learnings in Pakistan. The study
at the aggregate economy level focus on the labor productivity
movements and at large-scale manufacturing level focus on the cost
structure, with isolating the contribution of the learning curve. The
analysis of S-shaped curve suggests that learnings are only below one
half of aggregate learning curve and other half shows the retardation
in learning, hence retardation in productivity movements. The study
implies the existence of learning economies in term of cost reduction
that is input cost per unit produced decreases by 0.51 percent every
time the cumulative production output doubles.
Abstract: The paper deals with quality labels used in the food products market, especially with labels of quality, labels of origin, and labels of organic farming. The aim of the paper is to identify perception of these labels by consumers in the Czech Republic. The first part refers to the definition and specification of food quality labels that are relevant in the Czech Republic. The second part includes the discussion of marketing research results. Data were collected with personal questioning method. Empirical findings on 150 respondents are related to consumer awareness and perception of national and European food quality labels used in the Czech Republic, attitudes to purchases of labelled products, and interest in information regarding the labels. Statistical methods, in the concrete Pearson´s chi-square test of independence, coefficient of contingency, and coefficient of association are used to determinate if significant differences do exist among selected demographic categories of Czech consumers.
Abstract: Road crashes not only claim lives and inflict injuries but also create economic burden to the society due to loss of productivity. The problem of deaths and injuries as a result of road traffic crashes is now acknowledged to be a global phenomenon with authorities in virtually all countries of the world concerned about the growth in the number of people killed and seriously injured on their roads. However, the road crash scenario of a developing country like Bangladesh is much worse comparing with this of developed countries. For developing proper countermeasures it is necessary to identify the factors affecting crash occurrences. The objectives of the study is to examine the effect of district wise road infrastructure, socioeconomic and demographic features on crash occurrence .The unit of analysis will be taken as individual district which has not been explored much in the past. Reported crash data obtained from Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) from the year 2004 to 2010 are utilized to develop negative binomial model. The model result will reveal the effect of road length (both paved and unpaved), road infrastructure and several socio economic characteristics on district level crash frequency in Bangladesh.