<p dir="ltr">Small and medium enterprises generally employ the use of custom developed quoting programs to bid on goods and services. Custom bid programs (e.g., Microsoft Excel) are used to capture the company-specific costs of production. The inputs of variable costs, such as machine rate and scrap rate, are critical to get correct (Brassington & Pettitt, 2013); however, companies often rely on educated guesses and industry expertise to quote packaging products to end-users. Due to the guesswork involved there can be a financial difference between the quoted costs and actual costs. This variance is often the cause of significant lost dollars. Price, if not determined correctly, could negatively impact both the company’s and the product’s profitability (Helna, 2020). Predictive analytics can be used to support quoting activities by providing a future value based on previous job performance. The purpose of the present study is to identify whether predictive analytics can be used to predict machine rate and scrap rate to give more accuracy to quoting estimation.</p>

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Parler du foncier agricole en Algérie, c'est évoquer inévitablement tout un processus historique dans laquelle la terre a été l'enjeu principal aussi bien pendant la colonisation que pendant la période post indépendance, où elle a été au centre de choix politiques, voir même idéologiques. Tout un arsenal juridique mis en place pendant plus de 60 ans, pour la création et la libéralisation du marché foncier afin de faciliter les transactions foncières et réaliser la sécurisation foncière des exploitants agricoles et ce, dans le but de renforcer l'accès au foncier agricole. En Algérie, la problématique du foncier devient cruciale. Pour des raisons extrêmement variées et à des degrés divers, le foncier se trouve au centre des débats et des enjeux. Dans ce travail de recherche, nous nous intéresserons à la problématique du foncier agricole en Algérie et les différents dispositifs mis en place par l’État depuis l'indépendance pour trouver une solution à la question complexe du foncier agricole en Algérie, et ce, à travers toutes les réformes : de l'autogestion à la concession des terres du domaine privé de l’État. / Talking about the agricultural land in Algeria, is inevitably evoking a historical process in which the land was the main challenge both during the colonization and during the post independence period, where it was the centre of a political and even ideological choice. A whole legal arsenal is introduced during more than 60 years, for the creation and the liberalization of land market, in order to facilitate the land transactions and to realise a land security of farmers to reinforce the access to agricultural land. In Algeria, the land problem becomes crucial. Due to extremely varied raisons and to various degrees, the land lies at the centre of debates and issues. In this research, we focus on the land of agricultural problem in Algeria and the various devices set up by the government since the independence to find a solution to complex question of the agriculture landholding in Algeria, and that, through all the reforms of the self- management to the concession of land in the private domain of the state.

<p>  </p> <p>Printed electronics (PE) is one of the fastest growing technologies in the 21^st century. Recent reports have shown that PE market will reach 4.9 billion by 2032. PE refers to additive deposition of materials to fabricate electrical circuits, interconnects, and devices. </p> <p>The quest for developing nondestructive processes that enables additive manufacturing of low-cost PEs on heat-sensitive substrates with novel functionalities has resulted in several recent developments in the field which includes investigation of selective and optical sintering processes such as photonic sintering and laser sintering, to name a few. Broadly, this dissertation is an effort to study these sintering technologies for additive manufacturing of bimodal (metal/metal, metal/inorganic, and metal/organic) printed material compositions.  </p> <p>In the first section, nondestructive sintering technologies is combined with chemical sintering to develop bimodal metallic conductive pastes for the fabrication of biodegradable and non-biodegradable printed devices for applications in food packaging and wireless smart drug delivery.</p> <p>Next, a process is developed via near-infrared (NIR) technology to enable soldering and mounting electrical components onto printed materials using low-temperature bimodal metal/organic solder pastes. The developed optimized process is used to fabricate a flexible printed hybrid device for remote assessment of the wound exudate absorption in dressings.</p> <p>Lastly, laser processing is used to fabricate an antibacterial bimodal silver containing glass ceramics coating directly on temperature-sensitive polymeric surgical meshes. The integrated bioceramic coating on the mesh exhibits long-lasting antibacterial properties against Gram-positive and Gram-negative strains of bacteria. </p> <p>The results of this dissertation will open a new route of research to fabricate low-cost devices with bimodal materials with applications in medical device, healthcare, and packaging industries. </p> <p><br></p>

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The relationship between international regimes regulating intellectual property, traditional knowledge and biodiversity has received much attention in recent times. Of the many complex and controversial issues in contemporary international legal discourse on this matter, the protection of traditional knowledge (TK) stands out as a significant challenge. Choices abound in the search for modalities to regulate rights to use and control TK systems and their underlying biodiversity. In recent times, the protection of geographical indications (GIs) has emerged as an option for protecting TK. Despite the considerable enthusiasm over it, there is appreciable research dearth on how far and in what context GIs can be used as a protection model. Indeed, not only is the concept of GIs itself widely misunderstood. As well, analyses as to their applicability for protecting TK often reflect underlying cultural differences in the nature, scope and the jurisprudence regarding GIs across jurisdictions. This thesis examines the relationship between GIs and TK, focusing on the responsiveness of GIs to the needs and desires of indigenous peoples and local communities (ILCs). The thesis posits that the search for a model to protect TK should involve identifying different modalities, including those based on intellectual property, to fit to the nature and uses of TK in particular contexts. The analysis conceptualizes GIs as a form of IP that are structurally and functionally suitable to protect aspects of TK in traditional knowledge-based agricultural products (TKBAPs). Substantively, the thesis draws attention to the conceptual underpinnings of GIs as encompassing cultural and economic objectives in the protection of TK. As such, it is argued that stronger protection of GIs should be achieved by integrating the negotiations and discussion concerning GIs and TK at the international level. Further, the case is made for the determination of immediate challenges and long-term opportunities in choosing a legal means for protecting GIs at the national level. In this connection, the thesis suggests that the potential of GIs to meet national and local imperatives to protect TK be assessed, inter alia, based on their instrumentality for economic, biodiversity, cultural and food security objectives in protecting TKBAPs.