Unexploited Area Research Articles

Influence of Leaders Risk Taking and the Sustainability of Savings and Credit Co-Operatives in Kenya

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to explore the influence of risk taking by leaders on the sustainability of SACCOs in Kenya. The study sought to provide insights on the key focus areas, which contribute towards the sustainability of SACCOs in Kenya. The study was confined to SACCOs within 5 Counties of Nairobi, Kiambu, Machakos, Muranga and Kajiado A sample size of 174 SACCOs was taken. Methodology: Descriptive research design was adopted for this study. The use of objective and quantifiable data enabled the researcher to generalize the results of the study to the entire population. The correlation coefficient between SACCO sustainability and risk taking is 0.488 with a p-value of 0.000 for a 5% 2-tail test. Findings: The study concludes that leaders risk taking positively influence sustainability of SACCOs in Kenya.The results of the study also imply that if the SACCOs leaders take risk and venture into unexploited area, they are swift to abandon unprofitable products and also are experienced in risk management; they will be able to guarantee sustainability of their SACCOs. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: From the findings of the study, it can be noted that government regulations moderates the variable resulting to possibility of the sustainability of such SACCO. The study has important implications on the appropriate conceptualization of sustainable business models in the context of SACCOs. This study encourages management committees, to take risk by venturing into new areas, take credit to introduce new products and abandon those products that are unprofitable for their SACCO sustainability.

Pain Mechanosensitivity in Individuals With and Without a History of Lateral Ankle Sprain: A Critically Appraised Topic

Clinical Scenario: Pain is a common symptom experienced by individuals who sustain an acute lateral ankle sprain and can continue to persist among those who develop chronic ankle instability. Most rehabilitation protocols for individuals with acute ankle sprains or chronic ankle instability focus on restoring physical impairments and have largely omitted any pain-relieving therapies. This impairment-based focus has led pain to be an understudied symptom among individuals with an ankle sprain history. Overlooking the role of pain has also left clinicians with little insight into whether pain experienced after an ankle sprain is local (i.e., peripheral sensitization) or widespread (i.e., central sensitization). Understanding the pain profiles for those with an ankle sprain history may represent an unexploited area for clinicians and future research to improve health outcomes for this patient population. Clinical Question: Is there evidence to suggest that pain mechanosensitivity levels are different between those with and without a history of lateral ankle sprain? Summary of Key Findings: The literature was systematically searched for Level 4 evidence or higher. The search yielded two cross-sectional case-control studies and one cross-sectional study that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Based on the available evidence, pain mechanosensitivity levels are lower across ligamentous stabilizers immediately after an acute ankle sprain and over lower extremity neuromuscular structures among individuals with chronic ankle instability. Clinical Bottom Line: There is weak evidence to support an ankle sprain history can affect local pain mechanosensitivity levels of structures surrounding the ankle but not at distant locations. Strength of Recommendation: Level 4 evidence is available according to the Center for Evidence-Based Medicine.

Historic distribution of Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds (PAC) in a Skagerrak fjord, Swedish west coast as reflected in a high-resolution sediment record and compared to the Environmental Quality Standards (EQS)

We present the historic distribution of Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds (PAC) in a Skagerrak fjord, a relatively unexploited area, on the Swedish west coast. PACs encompass various compounds, including PAHs, alkyl-PAHs, nitro-PAHs, and oxy-PAHs. These compounds, have environmental implications due to their harmful properties. Using a high-resolution sediment record, PAC variations including standard PAHs, nitro-PAHs and oxy-PAHs were investigated over the last approximately 170 years, comparing them with other European records. The sediment record reveals a significant increase in PAC levels during the 1940s–1950s, followed by peaks in the 1960s and 1970s, and a subsequent decrease in the 1980s. These trends align with industrial growth and evolving stronger environmental regulations in the region. The highest recorded concentration of PACs (1950–1970) reached levels comparable to present-day polluted urban environments. The study also compared PAH levels with EQS values. Results indicated that PAH levels exceeded EQS standards, potentially posing risks to sediment-dwelling organisms.

Ground displacement analysis in the Sarulla geothermal field using Persistent Scatterer Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (PS-InSAR) method

The Sarulla geothermal field is aggressively developed in Indonesia, reaching 330 MW in two consecutive years. Furthermore, the field is situated along the active Great Sumatra Fault. This condition has the potential to induce surface deformation phenomena attributed to exploitation activities, tectonic activities, or a combination of both. The Persistent Scatterer-Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (PS-InSAR) method is a multi-temporal Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image processing technique employed to detect surface deformations with millimeter-level accuracy. PS-InSAR has been applied in this paper over the Sarulla geothermal field, which comprises two exploited prospects (Silangkitang and Namora-I-Langit) and two unexploited prospects (Donotasik and Sibualbuali). The objective of this paper is to analyze the characteristics of ground displacement over the exploited and unexploited geothermal areas. Multi-temporal images of SENTINEL-1A with ascending and descending orbital modes from 2017 to 2021 were processed using PS-InSAR method. A series of interferograms from the selected primary image were paired with secondary images using SNAP program and Python-based program snap2stamps. The generated interferograms were used as input for the StaMPS program to obtain the persistent scatterers as the best coherent points. Ground displacement towards the satellite line of sight was observed within those two exploited geothermal areas adjacent to the production and injection zones. The descending images resulted in more significant PS points than ascending images. The exploited geothermal area shows a clustered pattern of PS points with a significant rate of ground displacement, whereas the unexploited area suggests a wide dispersion of PS points with a slight amount of displacement rate. Additionally, the detected ground displacement that occurred adjacent to the Great Sumatran Fault may indicate the active movement of the fault.

1930년대 중후반 강원도 개발계획과 삼척지역의 식민지 공업화

This study deals with the development process, its characteristics and limitations of Gangwon-do focusing on the Samcheok area from the mid-late 1930s to the early 1940s. Until the first half of the 1930s, Gangwon-do had ample room for development in forestry, fishery, and mining, but was recognized as an unexploited space due to transportation and geographical limitations. Then, after the mid-1930s, the possibility of development in Gangwon-do expanded in the policy of promoting agriculture and industry by the Japanese Government-General of Korea along with improving transportation infrastructure. At the same time, the Gangwon-do Development Committee was held in 1937, when Japan Empire demanded resource development and productivity expansion after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War. The Gangwon-do Development Committee was a meeting where it was declared that Gangwon-do could no longer remain an unexploited area, and it was a space where various interests of the people who would promote development overlapped.
 Samcheok was the area where Gangwon-do’s development plan was most symbolically revealed. With the promotion of anthracite mining, chemical and cement industries, the industrialization of the Samcheok area was accelerated. However, the development and industrialization of the Gangwon region, centered on Samcheok, was a development from above centered on the empire and capital, revealing the limits of development that did not consider the lives of local residents.

Vegetation changes in coal mining areas: Naturally or anthropogenically Driven?

Vegetation fractional coverage is an important indicator for the ecological environment quality in the mining area. The relationship between vegetation fractional coverage and topographical and climatic factors has been studied intensively. However, in coal mining areas, anthropogenic factors are closely linked to vegetation cover for the frequent production activities, and should be accounted into the driving factors. In this study, we analyzed the spatio-temporal changes of vegetation fractional coverage in Yangquan Mining Area, China. To explore the dominant factors affecting vegetation fractional coverage, geographical weighted regression models combining four natural factors (temperature [T], precipitation [P], elevation [DEM], and slope [Slope]), two anthropogenic factors (population density [Pop] and GDP density [GDP]), three distance factors (distance from roads [D-road], towns [D-town] and water sources [D-water]) were established. We analyzed the model results of four periods (2000, 2005, 2010, 2015) in three parts (exploited area, unexploited area, Yangquan Mining Area overall), respectively. The results indicated that the vegetation fractional coverage demonstrated an overall increasing trend. The vegetation fractional coverage was higher in the unexploited than that in the exploited areas, and the differences increased over time. The impact intensity of nine factors in descending order was Pop > GDP > P > T > D-road > D-town > DEM > D-water > Slope. T, P, DEM, D-road, and D-town were positive factors, whereas Pop and GDP were negative factors. Between 2000 and 2010, the vegetation fractional coverage trends were mainly influenced by anthropogenic factors, whereas in 2015, natural factors exceeded anthropogenic factors as the dominant factors. Present study concluded that anthropogenic factors had a non-negligible negative impact on vegetation cover in mining areas. However, the impact of anthropogenic factors on vegetation presented a decreasing trend. Natural factors have exceeded anthropogenic factors as the dominant factors in recent years. This study provides a theoretical support for future ecological protection and restoration in the Yangquan Mining Area.

The inter-individual variance can provide additional information for the ecotoxicologists beside the mean

The hypothesis that the inter-individual parameter variability is an unexploited area of ecotoxicology was proposed several decades ago. Although some illustrative examples were presented to support this hypothesis in the last decades, it has never been tested on an extensive, coherent database. In this study, variance changes of 105 dose-response curves were analysed. All data originated from the same experiment, where the effects of the insecticide Trebon EC were investigated in a dose-response manner on 15 traits of the collembolan Folsomia candida in four subsequent generations and two types of insecticide treatments. A consistent relationship between inter-individual variance and insecticide application was found in 2 (first clutch size and growth-reproduction trade-off) out of the 15 of the parameters. Contrary to the mean, the variance of the first clutch size showed consistent differences compared to the control. Furthermore, the variance of the growth-reproduction trade-off was consistently different from the control except in one case (F3 generation of the transgenerational treatment). Higher first clutch size variances were found in F1 and a lower one in the F2 and F3 generations than in that of the control. This overall pattern of the variance changes of the first clutch size and the trade-off seems to be a quick response to the insecticide application. In the short term, we have found that variance increased with insecticide treatment (P and F1 generation), because phenotypic variance generally increases due to environmental stress. Disruptive selection could be another mechanism between the more detoxification less reproduction strategy and the more reproduction less detoxification strategy. However, in the later generations (F2-F3) the variance decreases compared to the control, which could be because on short term selection stronger on the viability parameters and in long-term selection on reproduction becomes stronger. According to our results, analysis of the variance changes of some parameters may give information about the effects of the pesticide even when the mean does not predict any impact. Testing variance changes are important in ecotoxicology because variance change can signalise toxicant impact even when the mean does not change in certain cases.

Analysis of mining-induced variation of the water table and potential benefits for ecological vegetation: a case study of Jinjitan coal mine in Yushenfu mining area, China

The impact of high-intensity coal mining on water resources has drastically affected the local environment in the Yushenfu mining area, Northwest China. Many studies have ascertained that coal mining has caused reduction of the phreatic water level and vegetation death, which has deteriorated the fragile arid and semiarid ecosystems. However, at Jinjitan coal mine, it has been observed that the phreatic water level rose due to coal mining, which has been beneficial for the local ecology, especially the vegetation. In this study, the variation of the phreatic water table and its ecological effects were investigated by in-situ tests and remote sensing. The results suggest that the recovery of the permeability of the loess aquitard controls the vertical leakage of phreatic water, whereas horizontal recharge is controlled by land subsidence. An ecological impact evaluation, using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), demonstrates that the vegetation is being gradually improved. Compared to a small improvement of ~9.7% in the unexploited area, a ~23.3% improvement occurred in the exploited area where low-density shrubs transformed to high-density shrubs and herbs. Emergence of phreatic water at the land surface in low-lying areas of the working faces may induce the formation of an oasis and wetland system in arid and semiarid areas. These findings could change the conventional negative impression around mining and improve ecological restoration practices.

Effects of mining on the molybdenum absorption and translocation of plants in the Luanchuan molybdenum mine.

BackgroundThere is a critical need to examine whether mining of molybdenum (Mo) ore will affect Mo absorption and translocation by plants at a community level.MethodsIndigenous plants and their rhizospheric soil (0–20 cm) growing in two different areas including the mining and the unexploited areas were collected from the Luanchuan Mo mine—one of the largest Mo mines in Asia. The concentrations of Mo and other heavy metals of plants or soil were measured by ICP-AES. Mo absorption and translocation in plants growing in two areas were investigated and compared. Heavy metal pollution in soil was also evaluated by the potential ecological hazard index method.ResultsMo concentration in mining soils was higher with the changes from 108.13 to 268.13 mg kg−1 compared to unexploited area. Mo concentrations in shoots and roots of plants growing in the mining area were also significant higher than those growing in the unexploited area with 2.59 and 2.99 times, respectively. The Mo translocation factor of plants growing in the unexploited area was 1.61, which reached 1.69 times that of plants growing in the mining area. Mo was the main heavy metal pollutant in the soil of both the mining and the unexploited areas.ConclusionMining of Mo had changed not only the Mo concentration in soil but also Mo absorption and translocation in plants. Plants growing in the mining area absorbed more Mo from the soil but translocated relatively less to shoots than plants of the unexploited area. However, the mechanisms of Mo absorption and translocation of plants in mining area should be further studied in the future.

The impact of genotype and harvesting day on qualitative attributes, postharvest performance and bioactive content of loquat fruit

Due to scalar on-tree ripening, harvest of loquat fruit is successive, spanning for several weeks, depending on the cultivar considered and the cultivation practices applied. Notably, early harvested fruit receive appreciably high prices on the market. The aim of the current study was to dissect the effect of harvesting day on mechanical properties, postharvest performance and phytochemical attributes (free and bound phenolic compounds and antioxidant capacity) of the predominant loquat cultivars grown in Cyprus (cvs. ‘Karantoki’ and ‘Morphitiki’). Determination of the aforementioned attributes at harvest (H) and after additional maintenance at room temperature for 3 days (H+3) for four successive harvesting dates (H1-4) were determined. Flesh firmness was slightly higher in early-harvested compared to late-harvested fruit, while slight or no differences after shelf life period for both cultivars were monitored. ‘Karantoki’ fruits manifested higher values of ripening index (SSC/TA) than ‘Morphitiki’; such values were higher with the progress of harvest date due to a significant decrease of titratable acidity. ‘Morphitiki’ fruits were generally characterized by higher phenolic content, along with higher antioxidant capacity. No evident differences were registered between the harvest date and the shelf life period for both cultivars regarding free phenolic content. This study also highlights the significance of bound phenolics that contribute to the phenolic fraction of loquat fruit by 21.6–37.5%, depending on the cultivar and storage condition applied. Overall, the current study sheds light in the unexploited area of phytochemical properties of loquat fruits derived from successive harvesting dates.

Insect gut as a bioresource for potential enzymes - an unexploited area for industrial biotechnology

Abstract Recently, insect gut protease has gained great interest in the field of food and industrial biotechnology due to their invisible characteristics and also their ability to act as an alternative source for microbial protease. The insect gut proteases are produced either by themselves or by gut symbiotic microbes, that utilize it for their metabolism. In this review, the importance of insect gut proteases was highlighted in terms of general physio-chemical properties (pH, temperature and metal) and their compatibility with detergents and resistance to solvents with broad applications in various industries such as laundry detergents, bio-medical, food industry and bio-ethanol production. The production of insect gut protease can be increased through emerging biotechnological techniques to meet out the demand for protease in future.

The performance of thermodynamic cycles based on the properties of working fluids

With the increase of global energy demand, themodynamic cycles, such as Rankine cycle, refrigeration or heat pump, have been widely employed to generate work or transfer heat. Since these cycles generally consist of a linked sequence of state points with physical properties variables, the physical properties of working fluid are essential to the cycle analysis. They directly determine the design of components, the cycle performance, the cycle stability and safety. However, in the thermodynamic analysis, the determination of cycle performance and the calculation of required physical properties are usually seperated. The thermodynamic peroperties of working fluids are often obtained from the complex experimental equations, so that the relationship between the cycle performance and the working fluids has not been established yet. What′s more, due to the fact that Carnot efficiency doesn′t contain detailed information on the properties of working fluids, a nature idea emerges how to derive the efficiency limit under the constraint of working fluids. Thus, in this work, the influences of thermodynamic properties on power cycles are investigated and the limiting efficiencys are proposed. In order to derive the cycle performances from the physical properties of working fluids, a general cubic equation of state is employed to obtain the residual properties, such as residual enthalpy, residual entropy and residual internal energy. Thereafter, on the basis of the properties of ideal gas, thermodynamic parameters of working fluids at any state are determined. According to the thermodynamic general relationships, the required heat is obtained for four classical processes, namely isochoric, isobaric, isothermal and isentropic processes. Based on the derived expressions, the output work and cycle efficiency are obtained for power cycles including Carnot cycle, Rankine cycle, Brayton cycle and Sterling cycle. The relationship between the cycle performance and the temperature, the properties of working fluids is developed. As a theoretical upper bound of cycle efficiency, Carnot efficiency is only determined by temperatures of heat source and sink. While the output work of Carnot cycle is a function of temperatures and the properties of working fluids. For other power cycles, it can be concluded that the thermodynamic performances are related with temperatures and working fluids, based on the derived expressions from cubic equation of state. Furthermore, compared with the Carnot efficiency under the same heat source and sink, the thermodynamic perfections of cycles are very low in practical engineering. Therefore, performance limits of thermodynamic cycles are investigated on the basis of the characteristics of working fluids in this paper. Limiting performance is derived from the equation of state and the temperature-entropy diagram of working fluids. For Rankine cycle and Brayton cycle, a maximum isobaric slope in the temperature-entropy diagram is employed to cut out the unexploited area from the enclosed area of Carnot cycle, so that the limiting work and efficiency can be obtained from the cycle areas. For Sterling cycle, when the used working fluid is ideal gas, the cycle efficiency is equal to Carnot efficiency. Although the proposed limiting performance can not be achieved by practical cycles, it can provide some theoretical guidance for the operating condition and the optimal design of thermodynamic cycles.

The response of soil bacterial communities to mining subsidence in the west China aeolian sand area

Soil bacteria play a vital role in terrestrial ecosystems and are very sensitive to changes in the environment. Land subsidence due to underground coal mining could affect soil properties, but the extent of this effect on the soil bacterial community remains unclear. Here, we investigated the effect of land subsidence on soil bacterial communities and their response to changes in the soil environment in a control area and a land subsidence area in the West China Aeolian Sand Area. The results showed that electrical conductivity (EC), total carbon, (TC), total nitrogen (TN), available potassium (AK) and soil organic matter (SOM) at a soil depth of 20cm were significantly decreased in the land subsidence area compared to the unexploited area, and Illumina MiSeq sequencing data revealed that the bacterial community at a soil depth of 0–180cm was dominated by Pseudomonas, Gp4, Gp6, Sphingomonas, Gemmatimonas, Arthrobacter, Aciditerrimonas and Gaiella. Land subsidence decreased soil microbial richness and diversity. In addition, there was a significant decrease in the relative abundance of some core genera in the topsoil, such as Sphingomonas, Nocardioides and Saccharibacteria_genera_incertae_sedis, indicating that the dominant bacteria had strong anti-interference abilities and played important roles in the nutrient-poor soils of the mining area. Redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that the main factors driving the changes in the bacterial community structure were EC, water content (WC) and soil depth. The vertical leakage of water and nutrients was caused by subsidence and cracks in the ground, leading to decreased soil microbial richness and diversity. These results suggested that the soil nutrients and soil microbial community has yet to recover by self-healing after two years of land subsidence; thus, artificial restoration might be required.

Pathogenesis of calcium oxalate urinary stone disease: species comparison of humans, dogs, and cats

Idiopathic calcium oxalate nephrolithiasis is a highly recurrent disease that is increasing in prevalence. Decades of research have not identified effective methods to consistently prevent the formation of nephroliths or induce medical dissolution. Idiopathic calcium oxalate nephroliths form in association with renal papillary subepithelial calcium phosphate deposits called Randall's plaques (RPs). Rodent models are commonly used to experimentally induce calcium oxalate crystal and stone formation, but a rodent model that conclusively forms RPs has not been identified. Both dogs and cats form calcium oxalate uroliths that can be recurrent, but the etiopathologic mechanisms of stone formation, especially renal pathologic findings, are a relatively unexploited area of study. A large animal model that shares a similar environment to humans, along with a shorter lifespan and thus shorter time to recurrence, might provide an excellent means to study preventative and therapeutic measures, along with enhancing the concepts of the one health initiative. This review article summarizes and compares important known features of idiopathic calcium oxalate stone disease in humans, dogs, and cats, and emphasizes important knowledge gaps and areas for future study in the quest to discover a naturally occurring animal model of idiopathic calcium oxalate stone disease.

Surface engineering tumor cells with adjuvant-loaded particles for use as cancer vaccines

Cell surface engineering is an expanding field and whilst extensive research has been performed decorating cell surfaces with biomolecules, the engineering of cell surfaces with particles has been a largely unexploited area. This study reports on the assembly of cell-particle hybrids where irradiated tumor cells were surface engineered with adjuvant-loaded, biodegradable, biocompatible, polymeric particles, with the aim of generating a construct capable of functioning as a therapeutic cancer vaccine. Successfully assembled cell-particle hybrids presented here comprised either melanoma cells or prostate cancer cells stably adorned with Toll-like receptor-9 ligand-loaded particles using streptavidin–biotin cross-linking. Both cell-particle assemblies were tested in vivo for their potential as therapeutic cancer vaccines yielding promising therapeutic results for the prostate cancer model. The ramifications of results obtained for both tumor models are openly discussed.

Text and Image in Translation

Abstract The primary objective of the following paper is the analysis of selected issues related to the translation of comic books. The paper aims at investigating the relationships between the text and the image and their implications in the process of translation. It reflects on the status of the translation of comics/graphic novels - a still largely unexploited area within Translation Studies and briefly presents a definition and specificity of the genre. Moreover, it discusses Jakobson’s (1971) tripartite distinction into interlinguistic, intralinguistic and intersemiotic translation. The paper concludes with the analysis of certain issues associated with the Polish translation of V like Vendetta by Alan Moore, a text that is copious with intertextual and cultural references.

Device-to-device communications with social awareness [Guest Editorial

High data rate applications have recently become more and more popular in cellular networks (e.g. video calls, interactive gaming, and mobile social networking). To efficiently facilitate more high data rate services among nearby users and devices, device-to-device (D2D) communication has been proposed, and has attracted significant attention in both academia and industry. Since mobile devices are typically carried by people, it is critical to study the impact of social networks on D2D communications. D2D communication with social awareness is an interesting but largely unexploited area that requires intensive research efforts.

Mitochondrial Quality Control as a Therapeutic Target.

In addition to oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS), mitochondria perform other functions such as heme biosynthesis and oxygen sensing and mediate calcium homeostasis, cell growth, and cell death. They participate in cell communication and regulation of inflammation and are important considerations in aging, drug toxicity, and pathogenesis. The cell's capacity to maintain its mitochondria involves intramitochondrial processes, such as heme and protein turnover, and those involving entire organelles, such as fusion, fission, selective mitochondrial macroautophagy (mitophagy), and mitochondrial biogenesis. The integration of these processes exemplifies mitochondrial quality control (QC), which is also important in cellular disorders ranging from primary mitochondrial genetic diseases to those that involve mitochondria secondarily, such as neurodegenerative, cardiovascular, inflammatory, and metabolic syndromes. Consequently, mitochondrial biology represents a potentially useful, but relatively unexploited area of therapeutic innovation. In patients with genetic OXPHOS disorders, the largest group of inborn errors of metabolism, effective therapies, apart from symptomatic and nutritional measures, are largely lacking. Moreover, the genetic and biochemical heterogeneity of these states is remarkably similar to those of certain acquired diseases characterized by metabolic and oxidative stress and displaying wide variability. This biologic variability reflects cell-specific and repair processes that complicate rational pharmacological approaches to both primary and secondary mitochondrial disorders. However, emerging concepts of mitochondrial turnover and dynamics along with new mitochondrial disease models are providing opportunities to develop and evaluate mitochondrial QC-based therapies. The goals of such therapies extend beyond amelioration of energy insufficiency and tissue loss and entail cell repair, cell replacement, and the prevention of fibrosis. This review summarizes current concepts of mitochondria as disease elements and outlines novel strategies to address mitochondrial dysfunction through the stimulation of mitochondrial biogenesis and quality control.

From functional prototypes to industrial products

Nowadays, engineering programs with Problem Based Learning methodologies, develop functional prototypes for demonstration purposes. Most of these ideas, many of them promising, are left behind once the academic term is over. Only a slight percentage of them are followed by an industrialization process, which is not formalized and it is based on third-party experiences. Even if well-known product design methodologies include some methods and activities oriented to evolve the product along its life cycle, they are not suitable for academic projects or they leave out some aspects of the local context. This has been an unexploited area, with high potential as there is no transcendence with academic projects; especially after all the time, effort, and creativity employed into a potentially profitable idea. In this way, the authors propose a methodology intended to allow the transition from academic functional prototype to a product ready to be industrialized according to the capabilities of the local context. Emerging economies, where industrial capabilities may be limited. The development of the methodology has been applied in a case study of an individual electric vehicle. This vehicle was developed with students and researchers within the Design Engineering Research Group (GRID) and it is intended to transport the persons responsible to distribute mail, and packages internally in the University campus. The object of such a case is to study the feasibility to promote this vehicle from functional prototype to a product ready to be industrialized under local industrial constraints.

Indoor Positioning Using Combination of Wi-Fi Fingerprint and Inertial Positioning

Indoor positioning via mobile device is one of the unexploited research area. With the popularity of Wi-Fiaccess points inside buildings, Wi-Fi localization becomes one of the feasible method to assist the indoor positioning. However, due to the complication of indoor environment, indoor positioning merely depending on Wi-Filocalization is not robust against interference of electromagnetism and structure of the building. Thus, with the assistance of inertial positioning technique, we present a robust indoor positioning technique and it gains good performance on energy consumption and localization accuracy.