Technology Innovation for SME Growth: A Perception for the Emerging Economies

Globalization and technological transformations have triggered novel changes in both the developed and developing countries. Technology and entrepreneurship are vital tools used for national economies towards 21st century requirement and growth. Technology based enterprises are specifically smart to policy-makers because of their higher prospective for job creation and wealth-generation through business development as well as their lower disappearance rates compared to non-technology based firms. New technologies are often developed in R&D institutions. This initiative of providing incubation facilities to transfer these new technologies to the market is adopted by all growing institutions. A comprehensive review of the literature on the Technology innovation and SME’s are carried out. This study specifically examines the drivers of technology adoption in SMEs and their impact on SMEs’ performance - profit, growth and market share. In the developed countries technology development drives the incubator movement. Keywords: Technology business incubators, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME’s), Emerging economies

Towards a New Vision for Sustainability of Incubator Best Practices Model in the Years to Come

Incubators are internationally recognized as a premier 21st century location for technology and technology-based economic development. The purpose of this paper is to identify the similarities and differences of business incubation programs worldwide. The study focuses on six key success indicators and points out proposed incubators model in the years to come. The approach to the design methodology is based on survey and interviews implanted on 100 selected incubators. The research findings indicate the similarities of incubators programs that are 1) Creating jobs, 2) Enhancing community’s entrepreneurial climate, and 3) Tangible services and the differences are 1) Incubators type, 2) Finical status, and 3) Incubators age. The research adds value to current literature on new visions for sustainability of incubators best practice models for the coming year. Finally, it provides useful guidelines for implementation to both academies and practitioners involved with incubators worldwide. Keywords: Technology incubators, innovation, entrepreneurship, job creation, economic development

Molecular characteristics and zoonotic potential of enteric protists in domestic dogs and cats in Egypt

Introduction: Domestic dogs and cats can be a source of human infection by a wide diversity of zoonotic pathogens including parasites. Genotyping and subtyping tools are useful in assessing the true public health relevance of canine and feline infections by these pathogens. This study investigated the occurrence, genetic diversity, and zoonotic potential of common diarrhea-causing enteric protist parasites in household dogs and cats in Egypt, a country where this information is particularly scarce. Methods: In this prospective, cross-sectional study a total of 352 individual fecal samples were collected from dogs (n = 218) and cats (n = 134) in three Egyptian governorates (Dakahlia, Gharbeya, and Giza) during July-December 2021. Detection and identification of Cryptosporidium spp., Giardia duodenalis, Enterocytozoon bieneusi, and Blastocystis sp. were carried out by PCR and Sanger sequencing. Basic epidemiological variables (geographical origin, sex, age, and breed) were examined for association with occurrence of infection by enteric protists. Results and discussion: The overall prevalence rates of Cryptosporidium spp. and G. duodenalis were 1.8% (95% CI: 0.5-4.6) and 38.5% (95% CI: 32.0-45.3), respectively, in dogs, and 6.0% (95% CI: 2.6-11.4) and 32.1% (95% CI: 24.3-40.7), respectively, in cats. All canine and feline fecal samples analyzed tested negative for E. bieneusi and Blastocystis sp. Dogs from Giza governorate and cats from Dakahlia governorate were at higher risk of infection by Cryptosporidium spp. (p = 0.0006) and G. duodenalis (p = 0.00001), respectively. Sequence analyses identified host-adapted Cryptosporidium canis (n = 4, one of them belonging to novel subtype XXe2) and G. duodenalis assemblages C (n = 1) and D (n = 3) in dogs. In cats the zoonotic C. parvum (n = 5) was more prevalent than host-adapted C. felis (n = 1). Household dogs had a limited (but not negligible) role as source of human giardiasis and cryptosporidiosis, but the unexpected high frequency of zoonotic C. parvum in domestic cats might be a public health concern. This is the first molecular-based description of Cryptosporidium spp. infections in cats in the African continent to date. Molecular epidemiological data provided here can assist health authorities and policy makers in designing and implementing effective campaigns to minimize the transmission of enteric protists in Egypt.This study was partially funded by the Health Institute Carlos III (ISCIII), Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under project PI19CIII/00029. This study was supported by Researchers Supporting Project number (RSPD2023R655), King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaS

Identification of Pavement Distress Types and Pavement Condition Evaluation Based on Network Level Inspection for Jazan City Road Network

The first step in establishing a pavement management system (PMS) is road network identification. An important feature of a PMS is the ability to determine the current condition of a road network and predict its future condition. Pavement condition evaluation may involve structure, roughness, surface distress, and safety evaluation. In this study, a pavement distress condition rating procedure was used to achieve the objectives of this study. The main objectives of this study were to identify the common types of distress that exist on the Jazan road network (JRN), either on main roads or secondary roads, and to evaluate the pavement condition based on network level inspection. The study was conducted by collecting pavement distress types from 227 sample units on main roads and 500 sample units from secondary roads. Data were examined through analysis of common types of distress identified in both main and secondary roads. Through these data, pavement condition index (PCI) for each sample unit was then calculated. Through these calculations, average PCIs for the main and secondary roads were determined. Results indicated that the most common pavement distress types on main roads were patching and utility cut patching, longitudinal and transverse cracking, polished aggregate, weathering and raveling, and alligator cracking. The most common pavement distress types on secondary roads were weathering and raveling, patching and utility cut patching, longitudinal and transverse cracking, potholes, and alligator cracking. The results also indicated that 65% of Jazan's main road network has an average pavement condition rating of very good while only 30% of Jazan's secondary roads network has an average pavement condition

Surface Waves on a Coated Homogeneous Half-Space under the Effects of External Forces

The present study focuses on the examination of the propagation of plane surface waves on a coated half-space, which is accompanied by the magnetic field force, and the normal mechanical loading, due to Winkler’s elastic foundation. The study is based upon the application of the analytical and asymptotic integration procedures to acquire and further analyze the aspiring secular equation. Asymptotically, the influence of the coating layer is suppressed by deploying apposite effective boundary conditions that are ingrained on a long-wave approximation condition, to obtain the resulting pseudo-differential operator of the reduced equation of surface motion. In fact, the comparison between the two approaches yielded considerable agreement through the dependency plots, featuring the scaled velocity v/vR versus the dimensionless wavenumber K. Moreover, certain well-known results in the literature are obtained as liming circumstances of the present examination. Additionally, an insightful finding about the vanishing possibility of the coating layer is illustratively highlighted

Surface Wave Propagation in a Rotating Doubly Coated Nonhomogeneous Half Space with Application

The current study examines the propagation of surface waves in an asymmetric rotating doubly coated nonhomogeneous half space. The coating layers are assumed to be made of different homogeneous isotropic materials, while the overlaying nonhomogeneous half space layer is considered to be of exponentially varying material properties. The consequential exact vibrational displacements and dispersion relation are determined analytically, in addition to the approximate validation of the dispersion relation via the application of an asymptotic procedure within the long wave limit. Two cases of unloaded and loaded end surface scenarios are analyzed by examining the posed fundamental modes. More precisely, an elastic Winkler foundation was considered in the case of a mechanically loaded end surface condition and was found to proliferate the transition between having a fundamental mode over the frequency axis to the wave number axis as the angular velocity increased. Moreover, the rotational effect was found to have a direct impact on the surface wave propagation with a long wave and low frequency. Aside from that, an increase in the nonhomogeneity parameter resulted in propagation with a relatively long frequency

Modeling the dispersion of waves on a loaded bi-elastic cylindrical tube with variable material constituents

The present study analyzes the propagation of surface waves on a strongly inhomogeneous loaded bi-elastic cylindrical tube with variable material constituents. More precisely, due to the number of related physical applications, the exerted load is considered to be in favor of the Winkler elastic foundation. Further, analytical and approximation procedures of solution are beseeched to examine the model. The revealed results by two approaches are then graphically portrayed, which are then found to possess a high level of conformity. Finally, both the external load due to Winkler foundation d, and the internal material property b are found to oppose the propagation of surface waves in the media. In fact, the opposition deteriorates when both the dimensionless parameters d and b are greater than 0.5

Comparison of laboratory performance of asphalt mixes containing different proportions of RAS and RAP

Despite environmental and economic advantages associated with incorporating recycled asphalt shingles (RAS) and reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) in hot-mix asphalt (HMA), concerns focus on fatigue and low-temperature cracking potential of pavements containing RAS and RAP. This study was undertaken to identify the areas in need for research through conducting a national survey among departments of transportation and to evaluate the effects of RAS and RAP on fatigue, low-temperature cracking and stiffness of HMA. National survey results indicated that while the fatigue cracking is the major concern when RAS and/or RAP are used in mixes, no specific test is recommended for fatigue evaluation of these mixes at the mix design stage. It was found that, fatigue life of mixes with a non-polymer-modified binder containing a blend of 5% RAS and 5% RAP led to the maximum increase in fatigue life. However, incorporation of 6% RAS decreased the fatigue life of mixes, when compared with virgin mix. Also, it was found that addition of RAS and/or RAP to asphalt mixes increased their dynamic moduli which may result in a better rutting performance. From creep compliance test results it was concluded that use of RAS and/or RAP may lead to a higher low-temperature cracking potential when compared with the virgin mixes. Findings of this study can be used to develop/update guidelines/special provisions for design of HMA containing RAS and RAP. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd