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Farmers in rural areas are generally not well empowered with knowledge and innovations to solve their agricultural problems in spite of the growing presence of such knowledge resulting from research and innovation activities across the globe. This study aims to document approaches, impact and impediments of using village knowledge centers (VKCs) to transfer agricultural knowledge and innovations.

To achieve the objective of the study, a case study research design was used to investigate the impact of a selected VKC as institutional innovation in agricultural technology outreach and extension in rural Tanzania. Primary data was collected through semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and observation methods. Besides, secondary sources such as reports were used to complement primary data during fieldwork.

The study reveals that various approaches are used by the VKC to transfer knowledge and innovation to farmers. The use of the multi-actor platform (MAP) to run the VKC ensures inclusive knowledge production and sharing among different actors. The findings also suggest that knowledge and innovation co-creation is constructed with various knowledge systems actors to enhance the use of research generated. Accordingly, the findings show that the university efforts are an important catalyst for integrated knowledge, technology and innovation systems in rural settings.

The present study reveals different limitations associated with the use of a single case study design. The single-case design provided researchers with little basis for generalisation of the study findings and conclusions. Aside from that, the use of a cross-sectional design did not help the researchers to validate the findings and conclusions. To address these limitations, the study recommends similar studies that will adopt different types of longitudinal design such as cohort and diary methods. Apart from this, a future study to investigate the tangible impact of VKC on knowledge and innovation transfer is recommended.

Considering the novelty of the MAP approach in Tanzania and the dearth of studies reporting on how the village knowledge center works and how effective it is, the present study provides insights on the approaches, impact and impediments.

The purpose of this paper is to present a biographical sketch of Srinivasan Ramani (1939‐present) whose career as India's pioneer IT researcher and IT educator has spanned over four decades.

Literature review and interviews with the subject.

Ramani has contributed significantly to the development of India's information technology with seminal work in IT networking, IT software and IT education. During his career Ramani has guided several doctoral graduates in computer science and information technology, many of whom have gone on to pursue distinguished careers in education, governmental policy and industry.

The paper gives an account of the historical circumstances that led to Ramani's gradual rise and traces the important milestones in India's information technology development.

This study empirically identifies three strategies for creating shareholder value for firms who venture into Emerging markets (EMs) in search of corporate growth and profitability.

To uncover these value creating strategies, we apply Cluster analysis techniques, analysis of variance as well as survey several qualitative case-studies of firms who have entered EMs worldwide.

Our findings demonstrate how firms can – and do – tap into the potential that EMs offer, despite the inherent riskiness of these markets and/or constraints on corporate resources. Statistically, no single shareholder value creating strategy is more (or less) remunerative than other strategies. Many equally profitable trajectories coexist vis-à-vis corporate growth in EMs.

Our findings are based on stock-markets’ expectations of firm performance; these expectations may not correspond to the actual future firm performance.

The principles we have isolated have a broad appeal because they identify variety of paths that facilitate shareholder value creation via participation in EMs. We expose the inner workings of these trajectories and illustrate particular firm-specific and location-specific combinations associated with profitable EM ventures.

This study seriously challenges the conventional view that value creation is a function of singular positive influences. On the contrary, this study establishes that value creation is multi-dimensional and submits that a more refined way to augment performance is to develop an ability to combine relevant firm-specific and location-specific factors so that they can, if needed, offset the impositions of each other.

The purpose of this paper is to study the performance of coatings for corrosion protection. In this research, different compositions of polyaniline (PANI) were added in a pigmented acrylic polyol-silicone coating. The important performance property is corrosion protection. The coatings must be evaluated under corrosive environment. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is the suitable method to investigate the effect of the addition of PANI in the binder mixture.

The coating resistance, coating capacitance, water uptake and the diffusion coefficient of the coatings were tested for each of the sample. These parameters of the coatings were tested for a period of 60 days of exposure of 3.5 weight per cent solution of sodium chloride salt. EIS results will be further verified by immersion test and salt spray test.

Coating materials developed using 8 and 10 weight per cent of PANI exhibited better coating properties with higher coating resistance for a period 60 days immersion in corrosive environment compared to coatings with lower amount of PANI (2-6 weight per cent). The best coating system obtained the coating resistance value in the range of giga ohms even after the 60th day of exposure. The lowest capacitance value suggested that the coatings have not allowed the electrolyte to permeate to the interface. Water uptake values were found to be in the range of 5 per cent. Salt spray test results showed that the corrosion has initiated at the edges of the scratches only.

The study of the effect of conducting polymers in acrylic polyol/silicone resin hybrid binder will be useful for more exploration in coating science.

The development of protective hybrid coatings using conducting polymer and TiO₂ particles is new. The results show high coating resistance values.

This paper aims to evaluate the inhibition efficiency of norfloxacin on the corrosion of copper in 1.0 M nitric acid and 0.5 M sulfuric acid solutions.

Evaluation was carried out by electrochemical techniques such as electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and potentiodynamic polarization studies. Scanning electron microscopy was used, and it finally confirmed the existence of the adsorbed film.

The electrochemical measurements showed that norfloxacin has good inhibition efficiency on the corrosion of copper in 1.0 M nitric acid and 0.5 M sulfuric acid solutions. The inhibition action of norfloxacin in both of the corrosive media was observed to be of mixed type but with more of cathodic nature. The temperature dependence of the corrosion rate was studied in the temperature range from 35 to 55°C and the activation energy (E_a) was calculated. The adsorption of norfloxacin molecules on copper surface obeyed Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Studies on the potential of zero charge have been carried out to establish the mechanism of adsorption of the inhibitor onto the metal surface. The thermodynamic parameters such as the adsorption equilibrium constant (K_ads) and the free energy of adsorption (ΔG_ads) were calculated. The value of free energy of adsorption very close to −40 kJmol⁻¹ indicates that the adsorption is through electrostatic coulombic attraction and chemisorption. The decrease in value of E_a with the addition of inhibitor also shows the chemisorption of the inhibitor on the metal surface.

This paper indicates that norfloxacin can act as a good inhibitor for the corrosion of copper in both the acid media.

Measurements of the distribution pattern of several nutrients (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and phosphate) and indicators (dissolved oxygen and conductivity) were conducted along the river Coco Solo on the Caribbean coast of Panama. The project investigated the extent to which mangrove forests could act as a vegetative buffer zone between disturbed freshwater sources and coastal water. Upriver freshwater samples were collected in known areas of human disturbance to assess levels of the nutrients near points of origin and exhibited elevated concentrations of nutrients. Samples were taken along the mangrove estuary to study the concentrations of nutrients as they moved through the estuary into the ocean. Expected and observed values were compared to see whether concentration levels of the chemicals exhibited normal dilution patterns. Graphs show that the nutrient levels at the estuary points are significantly lower than expected through normal dilution, indicating the removal of nutrients through another mangrove mediated method. In this way, mangrove forests can act as effective coastal buffers of anthropogenic effects to the ocean environment. Further studies must be done to determine the actual removal mechanisms of nutrients in the mangrove estuarine system.

In India, economic reforms adopted in 1991 in form of LPG (Liberalization-Privatization-Globalization) removed numerous barriers to grow and offered opportunities to improve productivity, particularly, for the manufacturing sector. But the rationale that manufacturing sector acted as main contributor to country's economic growth via GDP growth (called “engine of growth”) for a long time in India has been challenged now a day. The growing significance of the services sector across the world exhibits that at the present time, the services sector could become the new engine of economic growth in developing economies like India. The present study seeks to bring to light whether manufacturing is acting as an “engine of growth” at inter-state level in India or not and the cross section result indicates that potency of manufacturing growth and agricultural growth is gradually slowing down as a conforming part of economic growth and service sector is taking leading position in accelerating engine of growth in India.

Feng found that political institutions (operationalized in terms of political repression, political instability and policy uncertainty) do matter for economic growth by constraining individuals’ decisions in their marketplace (Feng, 2003, p. 296). Political stability is also an important element among the World Governance Indicators developed by Kaufmann et al. as part of the World Bank project to assess good governance in 1996. Economic well-being is also dependent on political stability and consistency in governance policy. Loss of economic and political confidence is therefore accepted as a factor affecting economic well-being of a society. How far these hypotheses are supported or negated by evidence from Northeast region of India that has witnessed insurgency for six decades now is the object of enquiry in this chapter. Alongside pure economic indicators such as Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) and FDI, this article looks at the play of political factors like stability of governments in the representative democratic paradigm sanctioned by the Constitution of India in the Northeastern states of India during the decade 2006–2016.

Gives a bibliographical review of the finite element methods (FEMs) applied for the linear and nonlinear, static and dynamic analyses of basic structural elements from the theoretical as well as practical points of view. The range of applications of FEMs in this area is wide and cannot be presented in a single paper; therefore aims to give the reader an encyclopaedic view on the subject. The bibliography at the end of the paper contains 2,025 references to papers, conference proceedings and theses/dissertations dealing with the analysis of beams, columns, rods, bars, cables, discs, blades, shafts, membranes, plates and shells that were published in 1992‐1995.