bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Modeling of vacuum drying of loquat fruit
Authors: Saberian Hamed , Amooi Mojtaba , Hamidi-Esfahani Zohreh 
Published: January 2014

Purpose
– The aim of the present research was to study and model drying of loquat fruit under vacuum conditions at three temperatures to select the best mathematical model for predicting drying rate of loquat during times which is used in designing of vacuum dryer. The dried product may be used in the preparation of soups, jam, premixed foods, snacks, etc.

Design/methodology/approach
– Loquat samples were dried by vacuum oven (52 cm Hg) at three temperatures, 60, 70 and 80°C. First, moisture content was plotted against time for each treatment and after that moisture ratio curves were plotted. These curves were fitted with nine well-known models to select the best model.

Findings
– Regression analysis of different models and values of RMSE and χ2 showed that page model had the best fitness due to highest R2 and lowest RMSE and χ2. Moisture diffusivity of loquat samples at 60, 70 and 80°C was calculated to be 6.87×10−10, 9.17×10−10 and 1.29×10−9 m2/s, respectively, which increased with temperature.

Originality/value
– This paper is believed to be the only one which investigates and models drying loquat under vacuum conditions to select the best mathematical model for predicting drying rate of loquat.
Effect of type and concentration of solvent on chemical properties of saffron edible extract
Authors: Mohamadi Sani Ali , Mohseni Sharare 
Published: January 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this study was to find a suitable solvent to produce saffron edible extract with improved chemical properties.

Design/methodology/approach
– Dried and pulverized stigmas of Crocus sativus L. (10 g) was extracted with 300 ml of solvents including distillated water (DW), ethanol/DW, methanol/DW, propylene glycol/DW, heptan/DW and hexan/DW, for three days at 25°C and then centrifuged at 3,000 rpm. Then, the extracts were evaporated using rotary evaporator at 40°C. The fiber and solvent-free extracts were then analyzed by UV spectrophotometer to detect saffron quality parameters including crocin, picrocrocin and safranal.

Findings
– Distilled water/ethanol mixture as the extraction solvent caused larger amounts of the plant constituents to diffuse out to the extract compared to other treatments and also control. Polar solvents including distilled water, ethanol and propylene glycol (except methanol) were more effective in extracting crocin, picrocrocin and safranal than non-polar solvents.

Originality/value
– No research had been done on production of saffron edible extract using the solvent studied in this survey. The novelty of this research is high and the results can be used industrially.
Commercial awareness in real estate courses
Authors: Poon Joanna 
Published: January 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to evaluate how and to what extent commercial awareness is embedded within the curriculum of the UK Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)-accredited real estate courses. It also discusses the development of commercial awareness taxonomy.

Design/methodology/approach
– This paper presents the research findings of questionnaire survey and interviews with RICS-accredited real estate course providers in the UK. The questionnaire aimed to gather course directors’ views on the definitions and components of commercial awareness and identify what skills and attributes are required for its development. It also evaluated how commercial awareness has been embedded in the real estate courses. The aim of the interview was to gain deeper insight on how components of commercial awareness are embedded in real estate courses and nine interviews were conducted. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and coded to identify similar themes. The frequency of the answer in the questionnaire and comments from interviewees is presented.

Findings
– The UK real estate academics agreed the most important definition of commercial awareness as that of a “person's ability on understanding of the economics of business”. They agreed that “strategic” is the most important component for commercial awareness, followed with “financial” and “process”. However, the “financial” component is embedded the most in the curriculum. The most important skill and attribute for commercial awareness development are “ability to define and solve problems” and “ability and willingness to update professional knowledge”, respectively. Commercial awareness was embedded in the overall curriculum and the key element for developing it is through having “practical experience”.

Originality/value
– This project is the first to conduct an in-depth analysis of commercial awareness in real estate education. It also develops the pioneer commercial awareness taxonomy.
Private partner's risk response in PPP low-cost housing projects
Authors: Trangkanont Surangkana , Charoenngam Chotchai 
Published: January 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to identify the salient risks borne by private firms and to investigate their effective risk response strategies in public-private partnership (PPP) low-cost housing (LCH) projects in Thailand.

Design/methodology/approach
– The paper employs grounded theory and case study methodologies to extensively analyze ten private firms’ risks and their strategic risk mitigation. As a result, the matrix of imperative risks’ root causes and the area of the project life cycle most exposed to their impacts were proposed. This included the framework of the risk response strategy application.

Findings
– The private firm's risk mitigation strategies depended on the salient risks’ impact and the private firms’ predictability and controllability of the risk outcome. This included the private firm's participating objectives and core business, decision maker's risk attitude, risk perception, experience of risk, and risk assessment skill, and the project life cycle phase of risk occurrence.

Practical implications
– Under the same characteristics of the immature PPP market in developing countries, the contractors’ effective risk management framework can be used as a guideline to complement the contractors’ decision making on risk response strategy selection and resource allocation in the PPP project life cycle.

Originality/value
– Despite working under the familiar environment of construction risk and generous payment method in PPP-LCH projects, only few contractors were successful. The examination of risks borne and effectively responded by the private sector increases the likelihood of the project success.
An explanation of capital structure of China's listed property firms
Authors: Liang Jian , Fang Li Liu , Song Han-Suck 
Published: January 2014

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of the capital structure of listed property firms in China.Design/methodology/approach– The study is based on quantitative methods such as dynamic panel data models and a panel data set containing financial and accounting data for all listed property companies from 2006 to 2010 in China.Findings– The findings confirm that the state-own shares, the fixed asset values, the total size of assets and profitability have a positive and significant impact on the leverage ratio of listed property firms in China. The negative impact of the tax shields and the currency ratio, and significant impact of state-own shares on capital structure cannot be explained by existing capital structure theory but the unique property market regulation environment and market conditions in China.Research limitations/implications– The findings confirm the applicability of trade-off theory (except for the correlation between leverage and the tax shield) on property companies in China. They also highlight the importance of government policies and special market conditions in explaining the financing behaviour of property companies in transaction countries like China.Practical implications– Complimentary policies should be established along with property market restriction policies to offset their unequal negative effect on property companies with less state-owned shares. Furthermore, government should invest efforts to eliminate the discrimination credit treatment of banks against property companies with non-existent or few state-owned shares.Originality/value– The special financial behaviour of China's property firms and the unique financial and property market conditions highlight the necessity of researching the capital structure of listed property firms in China. However, most of the existing literature focuses on the company financial behaviour in developed countries, and very few studies have been done concerning property firms’ financing behaviour in emerging economies such as China, and this research prospects to fill this blank.
The state of value creation in the real-estate sector – lessons from lean thinking
Authors: Jylhä Tuuli , Junnila Seppo 
Published: January 2014

Purpose– Although great emphasis has been given to the added value of real estate, the current studies miss the phase when the actual value is created, i.e., the production phase of real-estate services. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate the current state of value creation of the commercial real-estate services from a lean thinking perspective.Design/methodology/approach– Value creation is studied in four Finnish cases through 122 interviews and eight workshops.Findings– Cross-case analysis identified six sources of waste resulting as poor value creation: sub-process optimisation instead of optimising the entire process, the price minimisation instead of cost minimisation, difficulties responding to customer value, overloaded employees, inability to make improvements, and poorly managed information.Research limitations/implications– Although the findings are grounded on a solid data collection and analysis, the case study nature of the research and the Finnish case study settings create limitations for the generalisation of the findings.Practical implications– Service providers and other process owners can use the findings to improve their value creation and increase the productivity of their service processes.Originality/value –This is one of the first research studies that utilise lean thinking in commercial service processes in the real-estate sector and thus provides new insight into how to increase productivity through waste minimisation.
Factors affecting Web 2.0 adoption: a case study
Authors: Isfandyari-Moghaddam Alireza , Hosseini-Shoar Mansoureh 
Published: January 2014

Purpose
– The main purpose of this paper is to identify factors affecting the adoption of Web 2.0 tools by librarians of academic libraries located in Hamedan, Iran.

Design/methodology/approach
– Methodologically, this survey is applied using a descriptive approach. The statistical population of the survey was 47 librarians of academic and college libraries located in Hamedan (Iran). The tool used for data gathering is a questionnaire made based on the relevant literature as well as authors' standpoint. It consists of 39 questions under ten broad factors. The collected data were analyzed with SPSS (version 16).

Findings
– Totally, ten broad factors affecting the adoption of Web 2.0 tools by the librarians were identified. The most effective factors are job conditions, changeability, skills, competitiveness, and saving time.

Practical implications
– To positively and effectively affect the adoption of Web 2.0 tools by librarians especially Hamedan academic librarians, holding training courses and related workshops, the inclusion of lessons regarding Web 2.0 tools and their application in the academic courses planned and run by LIS departments, implementing open and distance learning (ODL), attracting LIS professionals to the field of Web 2.0, buying needed software and hardware equipment, and addressing the importance of adopting and using Web 2.0 tools for academic and library managers should not be neglected.

Originality/value
– This study may contribute to the field in terms of better understanding of factors affecting the adoption of Web 2.0 tools and thus better usage of these and other emerging technologies in academic libraries and information centers.
Consuming and producing linked open data: the case of OpenCourseWare
Authors: Piedra Nelson , Tovar Edmundo , Colomo-Palacios Ricardo , Lopez-Vargas Jorge , Alexandra Chicaiza Janneth 
Published: January 2014

Purpose
– The aim of this paper is to present an initiative to apply the principles of Linked Data to enhance the search and discovery of OpenCourseWare (OCW) contents created and shared by the universities.

Design/methodology/approach
– This paper is a case study of how linked data technologies can be applied for the enhancement of open learning contents.

Findings
– Results presented under the umbrella of OCW-Universia consortium, as the integration and access to content from different repositories OCW and the development of a query method to access these data, reveal that linked data would offer a solution to filter and select semantically those open educational contents, and automatically are linked to the linked open data cloud.

Originality/value
– The new OCW-Universia integration with linked data adds new features to the initial framework including improved query mechanisms and interoperability.
Users' perceptions of blog functions: educational vs personal use
Authors: Yueh Hsiu-Ping , Lin Weijane , Lu Tzuyi 
Published: January 2014

Purpose
– This paper aims to understand how users' perceptions of the different functions of blogs vary in educational use and personal use, and further to explore whether experience with blogs has an influence on differences in perceptions of blog functions.

Design/methodology/approach
– To empirically determine whether the blog functions were suitable for educational and personal use, a blog system with numerous functions was constructed for users to evaluate. In total, 48 college students were recruited to participate in the study. The participants navigated this system and then filled in a questionnaire to give their opinions on the functions of both educational blogs and personal blogs.

Findings
– The findings of this study indicate that of the 26 blog functions, perceptions of 20 of the functions differed significantly between educational and personal use. Moreover, the results showed that only two blog functions, backup and traffic source, were influenced by both blog experience and blog usage.

Originality/value
– This study distinguishes itself from the previous studies on blogging systems in its specific focus on functionality with detailed evaluation under different purposes of contexts. Practical suggestions are accordingly made for practitioners to choose when and which functions to use under different circumstances to enhance the interaction and information exchange between users in the field practice of educational blogging.
Rankings, accreditation, and the international quest for quality
Authors: Blanco-Ramírez Gerardo , B. Berger Joseph 
Published: January 2014

Purpose– This paper seeks to analyze the internationalization of quality practices in higher education. In light of insufficient theorization about quality in the global dimension, the paper presents a model for value construction in higher education.Design/methodology/approach– The authors reviewed different models for quality in higher educationvis-à-visemerging international quality practices in higher education.Findings– After reviewing quality models and international quality practices, the authors argue that, in order to evaluate and improve quality in higher education, a model of value in higher education that connects quality with relevance, access, and investment is necessary.Research limitations/implications– Thus far, quality in higher education has been explored in isolation from access, relevance, and investment. The integrative approach suggested here may prove generative for researchers and help address complex educational interrogations.Practical implications– Higher education leaders are faced with decisions about quality; these leaders may benefit from connecting quality decisions with the demands on relevance, access, and investment that their local settings dictate.Originality/value– The concept of value is largely absent from conceptual discussions about quality in higher education; additionally, many discussions about quality in higher education seem to be isolated from their context. This paper addresses both these issues.
Quality and quality assurance in Chinese private higher education
Authors: Cao Yingxia , Li Xiaofan 
Published: January 2014

Purpose– The paper aims to establish a quality assurance framework for Chinese private higher education (PHE) in particular and for any newly-established higher education sector in general.Design/methodology/approach– This research relied on published qualitative and quantitative data, existing literature, historical documents, and the authors' observations. It described the PHE growth context, analyzed the quality issue from three dimensions (academic, administrative, and relationship quality), and examined its quality assurance practice through three players.Findings– The paper provides empirical insights about how quality and quality assurance issues have impacted on PHE development. To approach the issues, it suggests a “quality assurance triangle” framework that is composed of three PHE players (government, market, institution) and their joint association.Research limitations/implications– Because of the relative position of each player in current quality assurance, the success of its implementation in China depends on how the government establishes the triangle system and balances its dominating roles to ensure each of the players act independently and collaboratively.Practical implications– This framework provides directions for establishing an appropriate quality assurance system for PHE in China.Originality/value– This paper fulfills an identified need to setup a sound quality assurance system for PHE in China and contributes to quality assurance literature with a new framework.
Understanding validity issues in international large scale assessments
Authors: Lin Meiko , Bumgarner Erin , Chatterji Madhabi 
Published: January 2014

Purpose
– This policy brief, the third in the AERI-NEPC eBrief series “Understanding validity issues around the world”, discusses validity issues surrounding International Large Scale Assessment (ILSA) programs. ILSA programs, such as the well-known Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), are rapidly expanding around the world today. In this eBrief, the authors examine what “validity” means when applied to published results and reports of programs like the PISA.

Design/methodology/approach
– This policy brief is based on a synthesis of conference proceedings and review of selected pieces of extant literature. It begins by summarizing perspectives of an invited expert panel on the topic. To that synthesis, the authors add their own analysis of key issues. They conclude by offering recommendations for test developers and test users.

Findings
– ILSA programs and tests, while offering valuable information, should be read and used cautiously and in context. All parties need to be on the same page to maximize valid use of ILSA results, to obtain the greatest educational and social benefits, and to minimize negative consequences. The authors propose several recommendations for test makers and ILSA program leaders, and ILSA users. To ILSA leaders and researchers: provide more cautionary information about how to correctly interpret the ILSA results, particularly country rankings, given contextual differences among nations. Provide continuing psychometric or research resources so as to address or reduce various sources of error in reports. Encourage policy makers in different nations to share the responsibility for ensuring more contextualized (and valid) interpretations of ILSA reports and subsequent policy development. Raise awareness among policy makers to look beyond simple rankings and pay more attention to inter-country differences. For consumers of ILSA results and reports: read the fine print, not just the country rankings, to interpret ILSA results correctly in particular regions/nations. When looking to high-ranking countries as role models, be sure to consider the “whole picture”. Use ILSA data as complements to other national- and state-level educational assessments to better gauge the status of the country's education system and subsequent policy directions.

Originality/value
– By translating complex information on validity issues with all concerned ILSA stakeholders in mind, this policy brief will improve uses and applications of ILSA information in national and regional policy contexts.
Understanding validity issues surrounding test-based accountability measures in the US
Authors: Koh Nancy , Reddy Vikash , Chatterji Madhabi 
Published: January 2014

Purpose– This AERI-NEPC eBrief, the fourth in a series titled “Understanding validity issues around the world”, looks closely at issues surrounding the validity of test-based actions in educational accountability and school improvement contexts. The specific discussions here focus testing issues in the US. However, the general principles underlying appropriate and inappropriate test use in school reform and high stakes public accountability settings are applicable in both domestic and international settings. This paper aims to present the issues.Design/methodology/approach– This policy brief is based on a synthesis of conference proceedings and review of selected pieces of extant literature. It begins by summarizing perspectives of an invited expert panel on the topic. To that synthesis, the authors add their own analysis of key issues. They conclude by offering recommendations for test developers and test users.Findings– The authors conclude that recurring validity issues arise with tests used in school reform and public accountability contexts, because the external tests tend to be employed as policy instruments to drive reforms in schools, with unrealistic timelines and inadequate resources. To reconcile the validity issues with respect to educational assessment and forge a coherent understanding of validity among multiple public users with different agendas, the authors offer several recommendations, such as: adopt an integrated approach to develop content and standards of proficiency that represent a range of cognitive processes; support studies to examine validity of assessments and the effects of decisions taken with assessment data before results are fed into high stakes accountability-related actions that affect teachers, leaders or schools; align standards, curricula, instruction, assessment, and professional development efforts in schools to maximize success; increase capacity-building efforts to help teachers, administrators, policy makers, and other groups of test users learn more about assessments, particularly, about appropriate interpretation and use of assessment data and reports.Originality/value– Baker points out that in response to growing demands of reformers and policy-makers for more frequent and rigorous testing programs in US public education, results from a single test tend to get used to meet a variety of public education needs today (e.g. school accountability, school improvement, teacher evaluation, and measurement of student performance). While this may simply be a way to make things more cost-efficient and reduce the extent of student testing in schools, a consequence is inappropriate test use that threatens validity in practice settings. This policy brief confronts this recurring validity challenge and offers recommendations to address the issues.