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Rice processing, an important feature in rice production involving the transformation of harvested paddy into edible rice, is dependent on the type of rice processing techniques used. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the choice of processing techniques among rice processors in Nigeria.

The study was carried out in Nigeria using structured questionnaires among 410 rice processors selected from four states (Ebonyi, Ekiti, Ogun and Nasarawa) from three geo-political zones (Southeast, Southwest and North-central) of Nigeria. Information on socio-economic characteristics (age, sex, household size, marital status and education) and processing characteristics (experience, paddy source, processing activities, processing techniques, credit and distance) were obtained. Data were analyzed with the use of descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regression model at 0.05.

The mean age of processors was 47.8±9.9 years, mean household size was 6.5±4.2 persons and 88.7 percent were married. In total, 73.6 percent had formal education and mean years of experience was 16.4±9.2 years. Main processing activities were parboiling and drying (50.0 percent); milling (40.0 percent); and de-stoning (10.0 percent). In all, 65.7, 20.4 and 13.9 percent used traditional and modern techniques (TMTs), traditional techniques (TTs) and purely modern techniques (PMTs), respectively. The probability of choice of TT relative to TMT reduced by years of education (4.5 percent), paddy source (1.8 percent) and distance to processing center (4.4 percent), while probability of choice of PMT relative to TMT increased for male processors (7.3 percent), membership of association(18.0 percent) and other income sources (6.2 percent).

Level of education of processors and reduction in the distance taken to paddy source reduced choice of TTs.

Other income sources increased the choice of PMTs of rice processing in Nigeria.

Processors with high level of education, who also engage in other income generating activities, were able to choose modern processing techniques.

This research was an original research carried out among rice processors in Nigeria.

The inflation and depreciation assumptions implied within a traditional valuation should be exposed for consideration in an appraisal of a depreciation‐prone investment. Modern warehouses are examples of this type of investment. The all‐risks yield implies judgements concerning a long list of factors which affect the quality of an investment and its comparative appeal against alternatives such as gilt‐edged securities. An analysis for implicit growth is a starting point in an explicit appraisal. However, no account of depreciation is normally taken in the estimation of the growth implications. A combination of explicit growth and depreciation assumptions will enable an appraisal to be based upon a depreciated equated yield, the basis of the appraisal technique presented for consideration below.

The present paper deals with the people and society of a state in India which was known as “the hidden land”. Since Independence, this predominantly tribal society has been in a phase of transition from near isolation to the assimilation of the market economy, giving rise to certain environmental problems. The paper attempts to analyse the linkage between environment and sustainable development in the hilly regions of North East India by considering the case of indigenous shifting cultivation (jhum) techniques practised on a large scale in Arunachal Pradesh. The author feels that a sustainable hill area development requires the blending of traditional and modern techniques and the revival of old tribal beliefs and knowledge regarding the preservation of environment.

The purposes of this paper are to illustrate how the world class manufacturing (WCM) techniques which could be described as outperforming the industry's global best practices have been implemented in the Egyptian manufacturing firms, to identify the critical driving and resisting forces toward WCM techniques implementation in Egyptian manufacturing firms, and to provide guidelines for the successful implementation of WCM by Egyptian manufacturers.

The data analyzed in this study are collected from a mail questionnaire sent to 200 manufacturing firms in Egypt.

The findings of this study indicate that the Egyptian manufacturers are still in the 1970s and 1980s, when compared with world‐class manufacturers. The most important variables that promote the implementation of WCM techniques are “reduced operating costs (marketing and production)” and “global issues (environment‐market).” More importantly, the results of this study indicate that poor planning and lack of knowledge are the most significant barriers to WCM implementation in the Egyptian manufacturing sector.

There is a need to empirically explore the benefits of WCM implementation by the Egyptian manufacturing companies. Furthermore, more research is needed to study how the perceived importance of these drivers and barriers may differ across each industry such as manufacturing equipment, chemical and plastics, telecommunications, hardware equipment, textile industry, home equipment, scientific and medical equipment, management consulting, and software development.

This study hopes to create more awareness among management and employees about the strategic importance of WCM techniques to operations processes in the Egyptian manufacturing firms.

Although the last few years have witnessed phenomenal growth in WCM techniques, the underlying factors driving and inhibiting its diffusion are not well understood specially in the context of less developed countries in general and Egypt in particular. Therefore, this paper presents an empirical research that investigated the factors driving and inhibiting WCM implementation in Egypt and it provides insight into the strategies currently being adopted by Egyptian manufacturers in an effort to meet the challenge of obtaining WCM status.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the approach to embedding entrepreneurship within third level education in Northern Ireland by assessing the perceptions of lecturers and learners and monitoring the effectiveness of teaching methods.

Surveys and focus groups were conducted with lecturers and learners from different disciplines as part of a pilot investigation under the Northern Ireland Centre for Entrepreneurship (NICENT) with a view to establishing a longitudinal study.

Evidence suggests that NICENT has increased interest and positive attitudes towards entrepreneurship in Northern Ireland. E‐learning can meet high demand, intensive programmes are equally effective in improving the skills set. Entrepreneurship education needs sub‐sequential support.

The study provided preliminary findings for entrepreneurship teachings in different disciplines. Further dissecting of lecturer/learner analyses by course/year etc. is possible. Effectiveness could be assessed through graduate behaviours in the future in order to build longitudinal data.

The results prove that lecturers/learners are willing to embrace new subjects (entrepreneurship for scientists) and new teaching methods when blended with traditional approaches. Whilst WebCT environment can facilitate a comfortable action‐learning zone, entrepreneurship education needs personalisation and industry engagement.

The study reports from the developing face within Northern Ireland and provides insightful observations of new subject adoption, the learner's curve and changing cultural attitudes within tertiary education.

The field of strategic management mainly concerns with the achievement and sustainability of competitive advantage since the sustainability of strategic competitive advantage is more challenging. The concept of innovation can also be regarded as a to respond continuously changing environmental conditions and to sustain firm profits. The aim of this paper is to examine the mediating role of organizational innovation for the impact of strategic agility on firm performance and to determine the relationship among variables. Although there is a significant amount of work on organizational innovation, literature is still lacking in the debate on strategic agility and firm performance.

An online questionnaire was administered to 216 firms operating in the Sakarya Organized Industrial Zone (Marmara Region of Turkey) during September–December 2019 and the data were analyzed using structural equation analysis for hypothesis testing.

Results reveal that strategic agility has a positive impact on both firm performance (ß = 0.895) and organizational innovation (ß = 0.854), and organizational innovation (ß = 0.485) plays a partial mediating role on this relationship.

The results of this study improve our understanding of how these factors affect firm performance in the organized industrial zone.

In 1983 the Conservation Unit for Sheffield City Libraries was created within the Archives Section (Sheffield Record office), employing the first qualified (sole) conservator in archive and library material (the Conservator obtained the Society of Archivists Certificate in Archive Conservation). Similar to the position in other institutes, the post of Conservator was a direct development from the position of Document Repairer whose sole objective was to “repair” those books, documents and manuscripts which were damaged.

This paper aims to identify modern construction techniques for affordable housing, such as prefabrication and interlocking systems, that can save time and cost while also providing long-term sustainable benefits that are desperately needed in today's construction industry.

The need for housing is growing worldwide, but traditional construction cannot cater to the demand due to insufficient time. There should be some paradigm shift in the construction industry to supply housing to society. This paper presented a state-of-the-art review of modern construction techniques practiced worldwide and their advantages in affordable housing construction by conducting a systematic literature review and applying the backward snowball technique. The paper reviews modern prefabrication techniques and interlocking systems such as modular construction, formwork systems, light gauge steel/cold form steel construction and sandwich panel construction, which have been globally well practiced. It was understood from the overview that modular construction, including modular steel construction and precast concrete construction, could reduce time and costs efficiently. Further enhancement in the quality was also noticed. Besides, it was observed that light gauge steel construction is a modern phase of steel that eases construction execution efficiently. Modern formwork systems such as Mivan (Aluminium Formwork) have been reported for their minimum construction time, which leads to faster construction than traditional formwork. However, the cost is subjected to the repetitions of the formwork. An interlocking system is an innovative approach to construction that uses bricks made of sustainable materials such as earth that conserve time and cost.

The study finds that the prefabrication techniques and interlocking system have a lot of unique attributes that can enable the modern construction sector to flourish. The study summarizes modern construction techniques that can save time and cost, enhancing the sustainability of construction practices, which is the need of the Indian construction industry in particular.

This study is limited to identifying specific modern construction techniques for time and cost savings, lean concepts and sustainability which are being practiced worldwide.

Modern formwork systems such as Mivan (Aluminium Formwork) have been reported for their minimum construction time which leads to faster construction than traditional formwork.

The need for housing is growing rapidly all over the world, but traditional construction cannot cater to the need due to insufficient time. There should be some paradigm shift in the construction industry to supply housing to society.

This study is unique in identifying specific modern construction techniques for time and cost savings, lean concepts and sustainability which are being practiced worldwide.