Abstract: Technology transfer is a common method for
companies to acquire new technology and presents both challenges
and substantial benefits. In some cases especially in developing
countries, the mere possession of technology does not guarantee a
competitive advantage if the appropriate infrastructure is not in place.
In this paper, we identify the localization factors needed to provide a
better understanding of the conditions necessary for localization in
order to benefit from future technology developments. Our
theoretical and empirical analyses allow us to identify several factors
in the technology transfer process that affect localization and provide
leverage in enhancing capabilities and absorptive capacity.The
impact factors are categorized within different groups of government,
firms, institutes and market, and are verified through the empirical
survey of a technology transfer experience. Moreover, statistical
analysis has allowed a deeper understanding of the importance of
each factor and has enabled each group to prioritize their
organizational policies to effectively localize their technology.
Abstract: The nutrient composition and sensory properties of
poultry-based patties (PBPs) incorporated with various levels of grey
oyster mushroom (Pleurotus sajor-caju, PSC) were studied. The
PBPs were formulated with either 0%, 25% or 50% of fresh ground
PSC. Results show poultry patty formulated with 25% PSC had
protein content of 17.46% lower than the control patty which had
18.13% but it was not significant. Meanwhile, both cooked poultry
patties containing 25% and 50% PSC significantly recorded lower
concentration of fat at 10.67% and 7.15%, respectively. On the other
hand, poultry patty added with 50% ground PSC shows the highest
concentration of total dietary fibre (TDF) of 4.90 g/100g compared to
poultry patty containing 25% of mushroom (3.40 g/100g) and to the
control (1.90g/100g). In addition, patty incorporated with 25% PSC
had moisture content of 57.91% which is significantly lower than
patty formulated with 50% which had moisture of 61.80%. In the
sensory evaluation, there were no differences recorded in all sensory
attributes of PSC-based patties judged by untrained panelists. In
conclusion, the addition of PSC to replace poultry meat can be
recommended for the purpose of lowering production cost, enhancing
nutritional composition and maintaining the acceptability of poultry
patties.
Abstract: Vitamin A deficiency is a public health problem in
Zimbabwe. Addressing vitamin A deficiency has the potential of
enhancing resistance to disease and reducing mortality especially in
children less than 5 years. We implemented and adapted vitamin A
outreach supplementation strategy within the National Immunization
Days and Extended Programme of Immunization in a rural district in
Zimbabwe. Despite usual operational challenges faced this approach
enabled the district to increase delivery of supplementation coverage.
This paper describes the outreach strategy that was implemented in
the remote rural district. The strategy covered 63 outreach sites with
2 sites being covered per day and visited once per month for the
whole year. Coverage reached 71% in an area of previous coverage
rates of around less than 50%. We recommend further exploration of
this strategy by others working in similar circumstances. This
strategy can be a potential way for use by Scaling-Up-Nutrition
member states.
Abstract: Nowadays there is a growing interest in biofuel production in most countries because of the increasing concerns about hydrocarbon fuel shortage and global climate changes, also for enhancing agricultural economy and producing local needs for transportation fuel. Ethanol can be produced from biomass by the hydrolysis and sugar fermentation processes. In this study ethanol was produced without using expensive commercial enzymes from sugarcane bagasse. Alkali pretreatment was used to prepare biomass before enzymatic hydrolysis. The comparison between NaOH, KOH and Ca(OH)2 shows NaOH is more effective on bagasse. The required enzymes for biomass hydrolysis were produced from sugarcane solid state fermentation via two fungi: Trichoderma longibrachiatum and Aspergillus niger. The results show that the produced enzyme solution via A. niger has functioned better than T. longibrachiatum. Ethanol was produced by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) with crude enzyme solution from T. longibrachiatum and Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast. To evaluate this procedure, SSF of pretreated bagasse was also done using Celluclast 1.5L by Novozymes. The yield of ethanol production by commercial enzyme and produced enzyme solution via T. longibrachiatum was 81% and 50% respectively.
Abstract: Food control measures are critical in fostering food safety management of a nation. However, no academic study has been undertaken to assess the food control system of Myanmar up to now. The objective of this research paper was to assess the food control system with in depth examination of five key components using desktop analysis and short survey from related food safety program organizations including regulators and inspectors. Study showed that the existing food control system is conventional, mainly focusing on primary health care approach while relying on reactive measures. The achievements of food control work have been limited to a certain extent due to insufficienttechnical capacity that is needed to upgrade staffs, laboratory equipment and technical assistance etc. associated with various sectors. Assessing food control measures is the first step in the integration of food safety management, this paper could assist policy makers in providing information for enhancing the safety and quality of food produced and consumed in Myanmar.
Abstract: Motivated by Microsoft Co. Academic Program
initiative, the department of Information Technology in King Saud
University has adopted Microsoft products in three courses. The
initiative aimed at enhancing the abilities of the university graduates
and equipping them with skills that would help them in the job
market. A number of methods of collecting assessment data were
used to evaluate the course adoption initiative. Assessment data
indicated that the goal of the course adoption is being achieved and
that the students were much better prepared to design applications
and administrate networks.
Abstract: Bologna process has influenced enhancing studentcentered
learning in Estonian higher education since 2009, but there
is no information about what helps or hinders students to achieve
learning outcomes and how quality of student-centered learning
might be improved. The purpose of this study is to analyze two
questions from outcome-based course evaluation questionnaire which
is used in Estonian Entrepreneurship University of Applied Sciences.
In this qualitative research, 384 students from 22 different courses
described what helped and hindered them to achieve learning
outcomes. The analysis showed that the aspects that hinder students
to achieve learning outcomes are mostly personal: time management,
family and personal matters, motivation and non-academic activities.
The results indicate that students- learning is commonly supported by
school, where teacher, teaching and characteristics of teaching
methods help mostly to achieve learning outcomes, also learning
material, practical assignments and independent study was brought
up as one of the key elements.
Abstract: Recent research has shown that milk proteins can
yield bioactive peptides with opioid, mineral binding,
cytomodulatory, antihypertensive, immunostimulating, antimicrobial
and antioxidative activity in the human body. Bioactive peptides are
encrypted in milk proteins and are only released by enzymatic
hydrolysis in vivo during gastrointestinal digestion, food processing
or by microbial enzymes in fermented products. At present
significant research is being undertaken on the health effects of
bioactive peptides. A variety of naturally formed bioactive peptides
have been found in fermented dairy products, such as yoghurt, sour
milk and cheese. In particular, antihypertensive peptides have been
identified in fermented milks, whey and ripened cheese. Some of
these peptides have been commercialized in the form of fermented
milks. Bioactive peptides have the potential to be used in the
formulation of health-enhancing nutraceuticals, and as potent drugs
with well defined pharmacological effects.
Abstract: In this paper a combination approach of two heuristic-based algorithms: genetic algorithm and tabu search is proposed. It has been developed to obtain the least cost based on the split-pipe design of looped water distribution network. The proposed combination algorithm has been applied to solve the three well-known water distribution networks taken from the literature. The development of the combination of these two heuristic-based algorithms for optimization is aimed at enhancing their strengths and compensating their weaknesses. Tabu search is rather systematic and deterministic that uses adaptive memory in search process, while genetic algorithm is probabilistic and stochastic optimization technique in which the solution space is explored by generating candidate solutions. Split-pipe design may not be realistic in practice but in optimization purpose, optimal solutions are always achieved with split-pipe design. The solutions obtained in this study have proved that the least cost solutions obtained from the split-pipe design are always better than those obtained from the single pipe design. The results obtained from the combination approach show its ability and effectiveness to solve combinatorial optimization problems. The solutions obtained are very satisfactory and high quality in which the solutions of two networks are found to be the lowest-cost solutions yet presented in the literature. The concept of combination approach proposed in this study is expected to contribute some useful benefits in diverse problems.
Abstract: This study was a part of the three-year longitudinal
research on setting up an math learning model for the disadvantaged
students in Taiwan. A target 2nd grade class with 10 regular students
and 6 disadvantaged students at a disadvantaged area in Taipei
participated in this study. Two units of a market basal math textbook
concerning fractions, three-dimensional figures, weight and capacity
were adapted to enhance their math learning motivations, confidences
and effects. The findings were (1) curriculum adaptation was effective
on enhancing students- learning motivations, confidences and effects;
(2) story-type problems and illustrations decreased difficulties on
understanding math language for students from new immigrant
families and students with special needs; (3) “concrete –
semiconcrete – abstract" teaching strategies and hands-on activities
were essential to raise students learning interests and effects; and (4)
curriculum adaptation knowledge and skills needed to be included in
the pre- and in-service teacher training programs.
Abstract: This paper explores the features of political economy in the dynamics of representative politics in India. Politics is seen as enhancing economic benefits through acquiring and maintenance of power in the realm of democratic set up. The system of representation is riddled with competitive populism. Emerging leaders and parties are forced to accommodate their ideologies in coping with competitive politics. Electoral politics and voting behaviour reflect series of influences mooted by the politicians. Voters are accustomed to expect benefits outs of state exchequer. The electoral competitors show a changing phase of investment and return policy. Every elector has to spend and realize his costs in his tenure. In the case of defeated electors, even the cost recovery is not possible directly; there are indirect means to recover their costs. The series of case studies show the method of party funding, campaign financing, electoral expenditure, and cost recovery. Regulations could not restrict the level of spending. Several cases of disproportionate accumulation of wealth by the politicians reveal that money played a major part in electoral process. The political economy of representative politics hitherto ignores how a politician spends and recovers his cost and multiples his wealth. To be sure, the acquiring and maintenance of power is to enhance the wealth of the electors.
Abstract: It is well known that enhancing interfacial adhesion
between inorganic filler and matrix resin in a composite lead to
favorable properties such as excellent mechanical properties, high
thermal resistance, prominent electric insulation, low expansion
coefficient, and so on. But it should be avoided that much excess of
coupling agent is reacted due to a negative impact of their final
composite-s properties. There is no report to achieve classification of
the bonding state excepting investigation of coating layer thickness.
Therefore, the analysis of the bonding state of the coupling agent
reacted with the filler surface such as BN particles with less functional
group and silica particles having much functional group was
performed by thermal gravimetric analysis and pyrolysis GC/MS. The
reacted number of functional groups on the silane-coupling agent was
classified as a result of the analysis. Thus, we succeeded in classifying
the reacted number of the functional groups as a result of this study.
Abstract: The traditional public relations manager is usually responsible for maintaining and enhancing the reputation of the organization among key publics. While the principal focus of this effort is on support publics, it is quite clearly recognized that an organization's image has important effects on its own employees, its donors and volunteers, and its clients. The aim of paper is to define application`s aspects of public relations media and tools by nonprofit organizations in Albanian reality. Actually does used public relations media and tools, like written material, audiovisual material, organizational identity media, news, interviews and speeches, events, web sites by nonprofit organizations to attract donors? If, public relations media and tools are used, does exists a relation between public relation media and fundraising?
Abstract: The task of strategic information technology
management is to focus on adapting technology to ensure
competitiveness. A key factor for success in this sector is awareness
and readiness to deploy new technologies and exploit the services
they offer. Recently, the need for more flexible and dynamic user
interfaces (UIs) has been recognized, especially in mobile
applications. An ongoing research project (MOP), initiated by TUT
in Finland, is looking at how mobile device UIs can be adapted for
different needs and contexts. It focuses on examining the possibilities
to develop adapter software for solving the challenges related to the
UI and its flexibility in mobile devices. This approach has great
potential for enhancing information transfer in mobile devices, and
consequently for improving information management. The
technology presented here could be one of the key emerging
technologies in the information technology sector in relation to
mobile devices and telecommunications.
Abstract: Artificial Immune System is applied as a Heuristic
Algorithm for decades. Nevertheless, many of these applications
took advantage of the benefit of this algorithm but seldom proposed
approaches for enhancing the efficiency. In this paper, a
Self-evolving Artificial Immune System is proposed via developing
the T and B cell in Immune System and built a self-evolving
mechanism for the complexities of different problems. In this
research, it focuses on enhancing the efficiency of Clonal selection
which is responsible for producing Affinities to resist the invading of
Antigens. T and B cell are the main mechanisms for Clonal
Selection to produce different combinations of Antibodies.
Therefore, the development of T and B cell will influence the
efficiency of Clonal Selection for searching better solution.
Furthermore, for better cooperation of the two cells, a co-evolutional
strategy is applied to coordinate for more effective productions of
Antibodies. This work finally adopts Flow-shop scheduling
instances in OR-library to validate the proposed algorithm.
Abstract: In the age of global communications, heterogeneous
networks are seen to be the best choice of strategy to ensure continuous and uninterruptible services. This will allow mobile
terminal to stay in connection even they are migrating into different segment coverage through the handoff process. With the increase of
teletraffic demands in mobile cellular system, hierarchical cellular systems have been adopted extensively for more efficient channel
utilization and better QoS (Quality of Service). This paper presents a
bidirectional call overflow scheme between two layers of microcells and macrocells, where handoffs are decided by the velocity of mobile
making the call. To ensure that handoff calls are given higher priorities, it is assumed that guard channels are assigned in both
macrocells and microcells. A hysteresis value introduced in mobile velocity is used to allow mobile roam in the same cell if its velocity
changes back within the set threshold values. By doing this the number of handoffs is reduced thereby reducing the processing overhead and enhancing the quality of service to the end user.
Abstract: For about two decades scientists have been
developing techniques for enhancing the quality of medical images
using Fourier transform, DWT (Discrete wavelet transform),PDE
model etc., Gabor wavelet on hexagonal sampled grid of the images
is proposed in this work. This method has optimal approximation
theoretic performances, for a good quality image. The computational
cost is considerably low when compared to similar processing in the
rectangular domain. As X-ray images contain light scattered pixels,
instead of unique sigma, the parameter sigma of 0.5 to 3 is found to
satisfy most of the image interpolation requirements in terms of high
Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) , lower Mean Squared Error
(MSE) and better image quality by adopting windowing technique.
Abstract: While the explosive increase in information published
on the Web, researchers have to filter information when searching for
conference related information. To make it easier for users to search
related information, this paper uses Topic Maps and social information
to implement ontology since ontology can provide the formalisms and
knowledge structuring for comprehensive and transportable machine
understanding that digital information requires. Besides enhancing
information in Topic Maps, this paper proposes a method of
constructing research Topic Maps considering social information.
First, extract conference data from the web. Then extract conference
topics and the relationships between them through the proposed
method. Finally visualize it for users to search and browse. This paper
uses ontology, containing abundant of knowledge hierarchy structure,
to facilitate researchers getting useful search results. However, most
previous ontology construction methods didn-t take “people" into
account. So this paper also analyzes the social information which helps
researchers find the possibilities of cooperation/combination as well as
associations between research topics, and tries to offer better results.
Abstract: In this era of globalization, the role of the State in all aspects of development is widely debated. Some scholars contend the 'demise' and diminishing role of the State whilst others claim that the State is still “de facto developmental". Clearly, it is vital to ascertain which of these two contentions are reflective of the role of the State as nations ascend their development trajectories. Based on the findings of this paper, the perception that the Malaysian State plays an active and committed role towards distributing equitable educational opportunities and enhancing employability of Malaysian PWDs is actually a myth and not reality. Thus, in order to fulfill the promise of Vision 2020 to transform Malaysia into a caring and socially-inclusive society; this paper calls for a more interventionist and committed role by the Malaysian State to translate the universal rights of education and employment opportunities for PWDs from mere policy rhetoric into inclusive realities.
Abstract: During 2011 and 2012 seasons, Zaghloul date palms received four sprays of silicon (Si) at 0.05 to 0.1% and selenium (Se) at 0.01 to 0.02%. Growth, nutritional status, yield as well as physical and chemical characteristics of the fruits in response to application of silicon and selenium were investigated. Single and combined applications of silicon at 0.05 to 0.1% and selenium at 0.01 to 0.02% was very effective in enhancing the leaf area, total chlorophylls, percentages of N, P and K in the leaves, yield, bunch weight as well as physical and chemical characteristics of the fruits in relative to the check treatment. Silicon was superior to selenium in this respect. Combined application was favorable than using each alone in this connection. Treating Zaghloul date palms four times with a mixture of silicon at 0.05% + selenium at 0.01% resulted in an economical yield and producing better fruit quality.