The Role of Universities in a Knowledge Economy

The knowledge economy incorporates intellectual capital and human knowledge into new technology, information processing and decision support systems, machines, automation and digitalization to generate economic value. Human capital and talents are the drivers of innovations, new superior products and sustainable competitive edge. The roles of educational institutions can be summarized in investing in research and development and training the workforce. It is the partnership between government, businesses and educational leaders for a comprehensive approach to local and a regional economic and job growth model that has resulted in the growth of cities such as Albany, Pittsburgh, Akron, Columbus, Buffalo, Phoenix, Allentown, and many more. Knowledge, innovation, and technology are now recognized as the drivers of productivity and economic growth. The tight clusters of knowledge and diverse talented people in dense places drive economic progress, for instance Silicon Valley that brings billions of dollars in venture capital to San Francisco every year. In a knowledge economy, production is based on knowledge-intensive activities and highly skilled workers with a college degree, high productivity, and consequently high wages. Statistics on the economic characteristics of the cities with the significant role of universities in their recent success in transforming their economy to growth and prosperity will be analyzed. Implications of the study will be to enhance the environment for university-public-private partnerships to bring research, innovation, entrepreneurship, jobs and economic growth to big and small cities

The Effect of Chitosan and Okra Mucilage Edible Coatings on the Physico-chemical Properties of Fried Potato Strips

Introduction Potato strips are one of the most widely consumed products, and due to their high oil content, they have caused public health concerns. Therefore, efforts to reduce oil absorption can alleviate these concerns to some extent. Edible coating is an effective way to reduce oil uptake, because the oil absorption is a surface phenomenon. Edible coatings should adhere well to the surface of the product and provide a uniform and complete coverage for the product. Preventing the migration of oxygen, carbon dioxide, aromas, oils, moisture, improving the appearance of food and mechanical properties. In this study, the possibility of reducing oil absorption in French fries was investigated using okra mucilage and chitosan as edible coatings. Material and Methods The okra was washed and then cut into about 1 cm pieces and poured into containers with lids. Then water in a ratio of 2:1 weight of okra was added to the container and completely covered its surface. The okra were refrigerated for 72 hours until the mucilage was completely extracted. Then the mucilage was smoothed. This solution was considered as 100% mucilage solution. To prepare a 50% solution of okra mucilage, 100% solution was mixed with an equal amount of distilled water and filtered. To produce a solution of 0.75 and 1.5% of chitosan, 7.5 and 15 g of chitosan powder was dissolved in 1000 ml of 1% acetic acid and then adjusted to pH 5. Then 5 g of glycerol was added as a plasticizer. The potato slices were first blanched in 0.5% calcium chloride solution at 90°C for 5 minutes. Then, they were immersed in coating solutions at 60°C for 5 minutes. After coating, the potato strips were fried at 180°C using a fryer and then various characteristics including coating percentage, oil absorption, and moisture content, texture firmness, peroxide value, acid number, color indices and sensory properties were examined. Design Expert 8.0.7.1 software was used to analyze the results and to draw the curves. Results and Discission The results showed that the increasing the amount of chitosan led to better coating formation in comparison with okra. The highest coverage was observed in the concentration of 1.2% chitosan and 0% okra mucilage (2.38%) and the lowest was observed in the control sample (0.11%). It was also observed that with increasing the concentration of chitosan and okra mucilage, the amount of oil absorption decreases. However, the amount of oil absorption in high concentrations of okra mucilage increased slightly. The highest oil uptake in the control sample was 20% and the lowest was observed in the sample of fried strips covered with 41% okra mucilage and 1.5% chitosan at 15.44%. The obtained model of oxidation index was not significant. The effect of okra mucilage and chitosan concentration on the texture of the samples (p <0.05) and the color indices of a* (p<0.01) and L* (p <0.05) were significant. For sensory attributes, the highest and the lowest taste score was observed for samples coated with 100% okra mucilage and 0.75% chitosan and samples coated with 18% okra mucilage and 0% chitosan respectively. Conclusion The aim of this project was to reduce the oil absorption of fried potato strips by coating them with chitosan and okra mucilage. Optimization to minimize the consumption of okra and chitosan mucilage showed that coating with 74% okra and 0.89% chitosan is suitable for coating potato slices. The desirability of this optimization was 71%, which is a reasonable percentage

Public–Private Partnership in Tunisia: Enfidha Airport Assessment of an Infrastructure Achievement

One of the largest recent private-sector investments and the first airport private-sector concession in the Maghreb is Enfidha Airport, a key factor in the success of the Tunisian Government’s public– private partnership (PPP) strategy. However, since Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution, political and social turmoil is sweeping the country and worsening the economic indicators. This article aims to assess this PPP infrastructure, allowing us to determine if it is profitable in the long term and contributes therefore to the economic growth. The case study reveals the key role of the economic, social, and political environment in Tunisia, the dawn of the Arab Spring

Recreational drug use and use of drugs associated with chemsex among HIV-negative and HIV-positive heterosexual men and women attending sexual health and HIV clinics in England

Background: There is little information on the prevalence of recreational drug use among UK heterosexual men and women, in particular on use of drugs associated with ‘chemsex’ within gay communities. The aim of this study was to examine among HIV-negative and HIV-positive heterosexual men and women in England: (i) the prevalence of recreational drug use (including use of drugs associated with chemsex), (ii) socio-economic/lifestyle correlates of drug use, and (iii) the association of drug use with sexual behavior measures and mental health symptoms. Methods: Data are from the AURAH study of HIV-negative individuals attending sexual health clinics across England (2013–2014) and the ASTRA study of HIV-positive individuals attending HIV outpatient clinics in England (2011–2012). Prevalence of recreational drug use (past three months) and associations are presented separately among the four sample groups: HIV-negative (N = 470) and HIV-positive (N = 373) heterosexual men and HIVnegative (N = 676) and HIV-positive (N = 637) women. Results: The age standardized prevalence of any drug use was 22.9%, 17.1%, 15.3%, and 7.1% in the four sample groups respectively. In all groups, cannabis was the drug most commonly used (range from 4.7% to 17.9%) followed by cocaine (1.6% to 8.5%). The prevalence of use of drugs associated with chemsex was very low among HIV-negative participants (1.0% heterosexual men, 0.2% women) and zero among HIV-positive men and women. In age-adjusted analysis, factors linked to drug use overall and/or to cannabis and cocaine use specifically in the four sample groups included Black/mixed Caribbean and white (vs. Black/mixed African) ethnicity, lower level of education , cigarette smoking, and higher risk alcohol consumption. Associations of recreational drug use with measures of condomless sex, depression, and anxiety were observed in the four groups, but were particularly strong/apparent among women. Conclusion: Providers need to be aware of cannabis and cocaine use and its potential link with sexual risk behavior and symptoms of depression and anxiety among heterosexual men and women attending sexual health and HIV clinics

A Cross-Sectional Study on Attitudes to and Understanding of Risk of Acquisition of HIV: Design, Methods and Participant Characteristics

Background: The annual number of new human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections in the United Kingdom among men who have sex with men (MSM) has risen, and remains high among heterosexuals. Increasing HIV transmission among MSM is consistent with evidence of ongoing sexual risk behavior in this group, and targeted prevention strategies are needed for those at risk of acquiring HIV. Objective: The Attitudes to and Understanding of Risk of Acquisition of HIV (AURAH) study was designed to collect information on HIV negative adults at risk of HIV infection in the United Kingdom, based on the following parameters: physical and mental health, lifestyle, patterns of sexual behaviour, and attitudes to sexual risk. Methods: Cross-sectional questionnaire study of HIV negative or undiagnosed sexual health clinic attendees in the United Kingdom from 2013-2014. Results: Of 2630 participants in the AURAH study, 2064 (78%) were in the key subgroups of interest; 580 were black Africans (325 females and 255 males) and 1484 were MSM, with 27 participants belonging to both categories. Conclusions: The results from AURAH will be a significant resource to understand the attitudes and sexual behaviour of those at risk of acquiring HIV within the United Kingdom. AURAH will inform future prevention efforts and targeted health promotion initiatives in the HIV negative population

Relative periodic orbits form the backbone of turbulent pipe flow

The chaotic dynamics of low-dimensional systems, such as Lorenz or Rössler flows, is guided by the infinity of periodic orbits embedded in their strange attractors. Whether this is also the case for the infinite-dimensional dynamics of Navier–Stokes equations has long been speculated, and is a topic of ongoing study. Periodic and relative periodic solutions have been shown to be involved in transitions to turbulence. Their relevance to turbulent dynamics – specifically, whether periodic orbits play the same role in high-dimensional nonlinear systems like the Navier–Stokes equations as they do in lower-dimensional systems – is the focus of the present investigation. We perform here a detailed study of pipe flow relative periodic orbits with energies and mean dissipations close to turbulent values. We outline several approaches to reduction of the translational symmetry of the system. We study pipe flow in a minimal computational cell at , and report a library of invariant solutions found with the aid of the method of slices. Detailed study of the unstable manifolds of a sample of these solutions is consistent with the picture that relative periodic orbits are embedded in the chaotic saddle and that they guide the turbulent dynamics

Partnership and Capacity Building of Local Governance

Partnership is about sharing of power, responsibility and achievements. According to the World Bank Public Private Partnership (PPP) promoting group, ―partnership refer to informal and shortterm engagements of non-governmental organizations, the private sector and/or government agencies that join forces for a shared objective; to more formal, but still short-term private sector engagements for the provision of specific services, for example, annual outsourcing arrangements for janitorial services for a school or operations of the school cafeteria; to more complex contractual arrangements, such as build, operate, transfer regimes, where the private sector takes on considerable risk and remains engaged long term; or to full privatizations‖ (World Bank Group 2014, 29).© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020. This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Partnerships for the Goals. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The final authenticated version is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71067-9_21-1.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Editors’ Introduction: An Overview of the Educational Administration and Leadership Curriculum: Traditions of Islamic Educational Administration and Leadership in Higher Education

This chapter provides an overview of several topics relevant to constructing an approach to teaching educational administration and leadership in Muslim countries. First, it places the topic in the context of the changing nature and critiques of the field that argue for a greater internationalisation to both resist some of the negative aspects of globalisation and to represent countries’ traditions in the professional curriculum. Then, it identifies literature that presents the underlying principles and values of Islamic education that guide curriculum and pedagogy and shape its administration and leadership including the Qur’an and Sunnah and the classical educational literature which focuses on aims, values and goals of education as well as character development upon which a ‘good’ society is built. This is followed by a section on the Islamic administration and leadership traditions that are relevant to education, including the values of educational organisations and how they should be administered, identifying literature on the distinctive Islamic traditions of leadership and administrator education and training as it applies to education from the establishment of Islam and early classical scholars and senior administrators in the medieval period who laid a strong foundation for a highly sophisticated preparation and practice of administration in philosophical writings and the Mirrors of Princes writings, and subsequent authors who have built upon it up to the contemporary period. The final section provides an overview of the chapters in this collection