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Article
Publication date: 30 September 2020

Ali Mostafaeipour, Mojtaba Qolipour, Mostafa Rezaei, Mehdi Jahangiri, Alireza Goli and Ahmad Sedaghat

Every day, the sun provides by far more energy than the amount necessary to meet the whole world’s energy demand. Solar energy, unlike fossil fuels, does not suffer from depleting…

Abstract

Purpose

Every day, the sun provides by far more energy than the amount necessary to meet the whole world’s energy demand. Solar energy, unlike fossil fuels, does not suffer from depleting resource and also releases no greenhouse gas emissions when being used. Hence, using solar irradiance to produce electricity via photovoltaic (PV) systems has significant benefits which can lead to a sustainable and clean future. In this regard, the purpose of this study is first to assess the technical and economic viability of solar power generation sites in the capitals of the states of Canada. Then, a novel integrated technique is developed to prioritize all the alternatives.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, ten provinces in Canada are evaluated for the construction of solar power plants. The new hybrid approach composed of data envelopment analysis (DEA), balanced scorecard (BSC) and game theory (GT) is implemented to rank the nominated locations from techno-economic-environmental efficiency aspects. The input data are obtained using HOMER software.

Findings

Applying the proposed hybrid approach, the order of high to low efficiency locations was found as Winnipeg, Victoria, Edmonton, Quebec, Halifax, St John’s, Ottawa, Regina, Charlottetown and Toronto. Construction of ten solar plants in the ten studied locations was assessed and it was ascertained that usage of solar energy in Winnipeg, Victoria and Edmonton would be economically and environmentally justified.

Originality/value

As to novelty, it should be clarified that the authors propose an effective hybrid method combining DEA, BSC and GT for prioritizing all available scenarios concerned with the construction of a solar power plant.

Details

Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology , vol. 19 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1726-0531

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 May 2019

Ali Mostafaeipour, Hossein Goudarzi, Ahmad Sedaghat, Mehdi Jahangiri, Hengameh Hadian, Mostafa Rezaei, Amir-Mohammad Golmohammadi and Parniyan Karimi

In hot and dry climates, air conditioning accounts for a large portion of total energy consumption; therefore, this paper aims to investigate the impact of sol-air temperature and…

Abstract

Purpose

In hot and dry climates, air conditioning accounts for a large portion of total energy consumption; therefore, this paper aims to investigate the impact of sol-air temperature and ground temperature on the loss of cooling energy in hot and dry regions of Iran.

Design/methodology/approach

In line with this objective, the values of sol-air temperature along different directions and ground temperature at different depths were assessed with respect to climatic data of Yazd City. The impact of sol-air temperature and ground temperature on the rate of heat loss was investigated. So, energy loss of the walls aligned to four primary directions was calculated. This process was repeated for a 36 m2 building with three different shape factors. All analyses were conducted for the period from May to September, during which buildings need to be cooled by air conditioners.

Findings

Numerical analyses conducted for hot and dry climate show that sol-air temperature leads to a 41-17 per cent increase in the wall’s energy loss compared with ambient temperature. Meanwhile, building the wall below the surface leads to a significant reduction in energy loss. For example, building the wall 400 cm below the surface leads to about 74.8-79.2 per cent energy saving compared with above ground design. The results also show that increasing the direct contact between soil and building envelope decreases the energy loss, so energy loss of a building that is built 400 cm below the surface is 53.7-55.3 per cent lower than that of a building built above the surface.

Originality/value

The impact of sol-air temperature and ground temperature on the cooling energy loss of a building in hot and dry climate was investigated. Numerical analysis shows that solar radiation increases heat loss from building envelope. Soil temperature fluctuations decrease with depth. Heat loss from building envelope in an underground building is lower than that from building envelope in a building built above the ground. Three different shape factors showed that sol-air temperature has the maximum impact on square-shaped plan and minimal impact on buildings with east-west orientation.

Details

Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology, vol. 17 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1726-0531

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 May 2019

Talah S. Arabiyat, Metri Mdanat, Mohamed Haffar, Ahmad Ghoneim and Omar Arabiyat

The purpose of this paper is to improve understanding of how different aspects of the national institutional environment may influence the extent of innovative entrepreneurial…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to improve understanding of how different aspects of the national institutional environment may influence the extent of innovative entrepreneurial activities across countries. Several institutional and conductive factors affecting a country’s capacity to support innovative entrepreneurship are explored.

Design/methodology/approach

Institutional theory is used to examine the national regulatory, normative, cognitive and conducive aspects that measure a country’s ability to support innovative entrepreneurship. A cross-national institutional profile is constructed to validate an entrepreneurial innovation model. The impacts of country-level national institutions on innovative entrepreneurial activity as measured by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data are assessed through structural equation modeling.

Findings

Knowledge about the influence of specific institutional aspects on innovative entrepreneurship, and hence of institutional structures within and across countries, is enhanced. For new innovative enterprises, conductive and regulatory aspects seem to matter most. All conductive factors have a significant and positive impact on entrepreneurial activity rates.

Research limitations/implications

Results could support policy makers and practitioners in evaluating government policies’ effects on innovative entrepreneurship. Interventions should target both individual attributes and context. Future research could include longitudinal designs to measure the direction of causality.

Practical implications

Aspects such as regulatory institutions, and conductive factors such as information communication technology use and technology adoption, are important for innovation entrepreneurship development.

Originality/value

The literature on institutional theory and innovative entrepreneurship is highly limited. This study complements growing interest in empirical analysis of the effects of national institutions on innovative entrepreneurial activities and substantiates previous empirical work.

Details

Journal of Enterprise Information Management, vol. 32 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-0398

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 March 2021

Ahmad Heidary-Sharifabad, Mohsen Sardari Zarchi, Sima Emadi and Gholamreza Zarei

This paper proposes a novel deep learning based method towards the identification of a pistachio tree cultivar from its image.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper proposes a novel deep learning based method towards the identification of a pistachio tree cultivar from its image.

Design/methodology/approach

The investigated scope of this study includes Iranian commercial pistachios (Jumbo, Long, Round and Super long) trees. Effective use of high-resolution images with standard deep models is addressed in this study. A novel image patches extraction method is also used to boost the number of samples and dataset augmentation. In the proposed method, handcrafted ORB features are used to detect and extract patches which may contain identifiable information. An innovative algorithm is proposed for searching and extracting these patches. After extracting patches from initial images, a Convolutional Neural Network, named EfficientNet-B1, was fine-tuned on it. In the testing phase, several patches were extracted from the prompted image using the ORB-based method, and the results of their prediction were consolidated. In this method, patch prediction scores were in descending order, sorted by the highest score in a list, and finally, the average of a few list tops was calculated and the final decision was made.

Findings

Examining the proposed method on the test images led to an achievement of a recognition rate of 97.2% accuracy. Investigation of decision-making in the test dataset could reveal that this method outperformed human experts.

Originality/value

Cultivar identification using deep learning methods, due to their high recognition speed, lack of specialist requirement, and independence from human decision-making error is considered as a breakthrough in horticultural science. Variety cultivars of pistachio trees possess variant characteristics or traits, accordingly recognising cultivars is crucial to reduce the costs, prevent damages and harvest the optimal yields.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 123 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 October 2019

Mohammad Olfat, Azadeh Rezvani, Pouria Khosravi, Sajjad Shokouhyar and Atieh Sedaghat

Although online social networks (SNs) (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram) have been used by employees for various work- or non-work-related motives, there has been lack of…

Abstract

Purpose

Although online social networks (SNs) (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram) have been used by employees for various work- or non-work-related motives, there has been lack of research on the use of such networks in the workplace. The purpose of this paper is to draw on commitment theory and the tricomponent attitude model to explain the role organisational commitment plays in predicting the work-related use of online SNs and the mediating role a constructive employee voice may have in this relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

The research was conducted among the employees of seven different companies within seven different industries. The validity of the measures and structural models was evaluated using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).

Findings

The results indicated that organisational commitment promotes employees’ work-related use of online SNs directly and also indirectly via the mediating role of a constructive voice.

Originality/value

This study is among the few studies which have used the tricomponent attitude model to investigate employees’ behaviour in the workplace, in particular work-related use of online SNs. In terms of theory, this study contributes to expanding the boundaries of knowledge as SNs are considered a challenge in contemporary organisations. Organisations can convert this challenge from a potential threat to an actual opportunity by reinforcing “organisational commitment”.

Book part
Publication date: 11 June 2021

Stephen Hunt

This chapter uses discourse analysis to explain why entrepreneurship has become a primary response to Africa’s youth employment challenge. It analyses almost 20 years of academic…

Abstract

This chapter uses discourse analysis to explain why entrepreneurship has become a primary response to Africa’s youth employment challenge. It analyses almost 20 years of academic literature and publications from one of the world’s foremost authorities on entrepreneurship: the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). The study found that youth were positioned within a discourse of entrepreneurial essentialism; where entrepreneurship was narrativised as the only option for youth employment; and youth were framed as entrepreneurship being the natural solution for them. Youth were concurrently framed within numerous contradictory entrepreneurial discourses which were used to elevate and legitimise entrepreneurship as the key pathway for addressing Africa’s youth employment challenge. An important finding in this study was that the dominant model of entrepreneurship being promoted by GEM to address the challenge is a mainly skills-based pathway to self-employment and low-growth microenterprise development. This is concerning for two reasons: firstly, global evidence does not demonstrate much support for such an approach, and secondly, it undermines other responses to youth unemployment, particularly those which seek to address more structural, demand-side barriers to employment.

Details

Enterprise and Economic Development in Africa
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80071-323-9

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 May 2020

Mehdi Jahangiri, Ahmad Haghani, Shahram Heidarian, Ali Mostafaeipour, Heidar Ali Raiesi and Akbar Alidadi Shamsabadi

Rural areas are one of the effective regions in economy and self-sufficiency field especially in agricultural and livestock section. Planning in the rural section and the effort…

Abstract

Purpose

Rural areas are one of the effective regions in economy and self-sufficiency field especially in agricultural and livestock section. Planning in the rural section and the effort in solving the problems of farmers lead to increase their interest in farming and manufacturing in the villages and decrease their migration to the cities and metropolitans. Therefore, the present study aimed at feasibility of electricity to a rural household in Iran using off-grid solar-based hybrid system.

Design/methodology/approach

In renewable energy projects, a successful evaluation requires suitable criteria so that one can properly analyze the operational behavior of all feasible scenarios. In the present paper, HOMER software has been used for this purpose for a village with no access to electricity grid (Bar Aftab-e Jalaleh, Iran). Due to drastic fluctuation of fossil fuel prices and varied solar radiations in various years because of climate change, sensitivity analysis has been performed using HOMER.

Findings

In the optimum status economically, 70% of needed energy is provided by solar cells at the price 0.792 $/kWh. The comparison between the optimum condition economically and the condition that only use fossil fuels revealed that the return on investment will occur after less than 2 years and have remained profitable over 23 years.

Social implications

The authors hope that the results of this study can be used in planning of the authorities to realize the interests of people in this village.

Originality/value

According to the surveys, despite Iran being the first country in terms of providing solar power to the villages, so far no socio-economic-environmental assessment has been done for a solar cell-based micro-grid in an off-grid mode for a remote village that is deprived of electricity from a national electricity grid. In addition, for the first time in Iran, the effect of the fuel price and solar radiation parameters variability on the performance of system have been investigated.

Details

Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology , vol. 18 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1726-0531

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 March 2017

Kriti Priya Gupta, Preeti Bhaskar and Swati Singh

Government employees have various challenges of adopting e-government which include administrative problems, technological challenges, infrastructural problems, lack of trust on…

Abstract

Purpose

Government employees have various challenges of adopting e-government which include administrative problems, technological challenges, infrastructural problems, lack of trust on computer applications, security concerns and the digital divide. The purpose of this paper is to identify the most salient factors that influence the employee adoption of e-government in India as perceived by government employees involved in e-government service delivery.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper first identifies different factors influencing the employee adoption of e-government on the basis of literature review and then finds their relative importance by prioritizing them using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The AHP is a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) tool which combines all the factors into a hierarchical model and quantitatively measures their importance through pair-wise comparisons (Saaty, 1980). Eleven influencing factors of employee adoption of e-government have been identified, which are categorized under four main factors, namely, “employee’s personal characteristics”, “technical factors”, “organizational factors” and “trust”. The data pertaining to pair-wise comparisons of various factors and sub-factors related to the study is collected from ten senior government employees working with different departments and bodies of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi.

Findings

Based on the results obtained, the findings reveal that “organizational factors” and “technical factors” are the two most important factors which influence the intention of government employees to adopt e-government. Moreover, “training”, “technical infrastructure”, “access speed”, “technical support” and “trust” in infrastructure are the top five sub-factors which are considered to be important for the employee adoption of e-government.

Research limitations/implications

One of the limitations regarding the methodology used in the study is that the rating scale used in the AHP is conceptual. There are chances of biasing while making pair-wise comparisons of different factors. Therefore, due care should be taken while deciding relative scores to different factors. Also, some factors and sub-factors selected, for the model may have interrelationships such as educational level and training; computer skills and trust; etc., and these interrelationships are not considered by the AHP, which is a limitation of the present study. In that case, the analytic network process (ANP) can be a better option. Therefore, this study can be further extended by considering some other factors responsible for e-government adoption by employees and applying the ANP in the revised model.

Practical implications

The results of the study may help government organizations, to evaluate critical factors of employee adoption of e-government. This may help them in achieving cost-effective implementation of e-government applications by efficiently managing their resources. Briefly, the findings of the study imply that government departments should provide sufficient training and support to their employees for enhancing their technical skills so that they can use the e-government applications comfortably. Moreover, the government departments should also ensure fast access speed of the e-government applications so that the employees can carry out their tasks efficiently.

Originality/value

Most of the existing literature on e-government is focused on citizens’ point of view, and very few studies have focused on employee adoption of e-government (Alshibly and Chiong, 2015). Moreover, these studies have majorly used generic technology adoption models which are generally applicable to situations where technology adoption is voluntary. As employee adoption of e-government is not voluntary, the present study proposes a hierarchy of influencing factors and sub-factors of employee adoption of e-government, which is more relevant to the situations where technology adoption is mandatory. Also, most of the previous studies have used statistical methods such as multiple regression analysis or structural equation modelling for examining the significant factors influencing the e-government adoption. The present study contributes to this area by formulating the problem as an MCDM problem and by using the AHP as the methodology to determine the weights of various factors influencing adoption of e-government by employees.

Details

Journal of Systems and Information Technology, vol. 19 no. 1/2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1328-7265

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 August 2021

Zahid Hussain Hulio, Jiang Wei and Ghulam Mujtaba Khan

The purpose of this paper is to assess the wind resource and energy potential of the Sanghar site for minimizing the dependence on fossil fuels and improving the environment.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to assess the wind resource and energy potential of the Sanghar site for minimizing the dependence on fossil fuels and improving the environment.

Design/methodology/approach

The Sanghar site wind shear coefficient and turbulence intensity factor are investigated for a period of a year. The two-parameter k and c Weibull distribution function is used to analyze the wind speed of the Sanghar site. The standard deviation, coefficient of variation, wind power density and energy density; and capacity factor was assessed for a period of a year. The economic assessment of energy/kWh is investigated for the selection of appropriate wind turbines.

Findings

The mean wind shear of the Sanghar site was found to be 0.2509. The mean wind speed was found to be 4.766, 5.534 and 6.121 at 20, 40 and 60 m above the ground level. The mean value of the k parameter was observed to be 2.433, 2.777 and 2.862 at 20, 40 and 60 m for a period of a year. The Weibull c m/s parameter was found to be 5.377, 6.245 and 6.906 m/s at 20, 40 and 60 m. The major portion of values of standard deviation was found to be in between 0.1 to 2.00 at 20, 40 and 60 m. The mean wind power density values were observed to be 88.33, 93.5 and 110.16 W/m2 at 20, 40 and 60 m; respectively, for a period of a year. The mean coefficient of variation was found to be 0.1478, 0.1205 and 0.1033 at 20, 40 and 60 m; respectively. The mean energy density was found to be 476.75, 683.08 and 866.33 kWh/m2 at 20, 40 and 60 m; respectively. The mean capacity factor for different wind turbines was ranged between 18 to 24.83 for a period of a year. The economic assessment showed that wind turbine B has the minimum cost (US$) 0.0484/kWh.

Practical implications

The assessment provides the solution to sustainable energy generation which reduces the consumption of fuel and the effect of fluctuating price of fuel in the world market on local consumers.

Social implications

Wind energy may have social implications including environmentally friendly, consistent supply of energy during the peak summer season, less unit per cost, etc.

Originality/value

The Sanghar site is new and assessed for the first time in this research work. The Sanghar site is suitable for installing utility wind turbines for energy generation at the lowest cost.

Article
Publication date: 11 November 2019

Amir Reza Moravejolahkami, Zamzam Paknahad and Ahmad Chitsaz

Dietary fiber and energy intakes seem to be related to disability and anthropometric indices in multiple sclerosis (MS), a chronic inflammatory disorder of the central nervous…

Abstract

Purpose

Dietary fiber and energy intakes seem to be related to disability and anthropometric indices in multiple sclerosis (MS), a chronic inflammatory disorder of the central nervous system. So, this study was designed to investigate the association between dietary fiber and energy intakes with systemic inflammation, disease severity and anthropometric measurements in MS subjects.

Design/methodology/approach

Four subtypes of 261 MS volunteers were recruited (female = 210, male = 51; mean age 38.9 ± 8.3). A 168-item food frequency questionnaire and nutritionist IV software were used to estimate the amounts of dietary, insoluble, soluble, crude fiber and energy intakes. Serum hs-CRP, extended disability status scale (EDSS), height, weight and Deurenberg equation were also used to evaluate systemic inflammation, disease severity, body mass index (BMI) and percentage body fat, respectively.

Findings

Mean differences among the three hs-CRP and EDSS subgroups for dietary fibers and energy intake were significant (p <0.001). Dietary fiber intake (M = 19.9 ± 4.3 g/day) was a good predictor for EDSS (B = −0.196, p =0.012), and insoluble fiber intake was introduced as the best predictor of hs-CRP (B = −3.293, p <0.001). Energy intake predicted both BMI (B = 0.007, p <0.001) and percentage body fat (B = 0.015, p <0.001).

Originality/value

Hypocaloric and high prebiotic fiber diet may suppress systemic inflammation and thereby modulate disease severity, as well as control anthropometric indices.

Details

Nutrition & Food Science , vol. 49 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0034-6659

Keywords

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