INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH -GRANTHAALAYAH

1-15

Authors: A. Aliyu

The study examines the technical efficiency of rubber smallholders in Negeri Sembilan under 3 age categories using different method of efficiency analysis which include the Free Disposal Hull (FDH), Expected Oder-m (EOM) and Oder-Alpha (α) (O-α). The analysis was done in such a way that the rubber age was categorized in to All-age, matured-age and Old-age categories. Multistage sampling procedure was used and 307 smallholders were used comprising 307,206 and 101 for all-age, matured-age and old-age categories respectively. The result of the analysis revealed that the mean technical efficiency of all-age, matured-age and old-age crops under FDH were 1.00, 1.00 and 1.00 while that of Order-Alpha and Expected Oder-m were 0.89, 0.89, 0.90 and 0.96, 0.97 0.98 respectively for the all-age, matured-age and old-age crops categories. The percentages of rubber crop farms that are on the FDH production frontier were 100%, 100%, and 100% while under Order Alpha (α) were 13%,10 and 20%. The ones under expected order-m frontier were 29%, 39% and 52% respectively for all-age, matured-age and old-age categories. The mean TE of FDH and mean TE of Order-Alpha were subjected under paired t-test and found to be statistically different from each other. It was revealed that mean TE of FDH was statistically greater than that of Order-M efficiency. Order- M and Order-alpha efficiencies were also subjected under paired mean t-test, and the results indicated that the two means were statistically different from each other. Expected Order-M was found to be statistically higher in magnitude than its counterpart Order Alpha. The study finally concludes that FDH has higher efficiency scores than the other two partial production frontiers. Also deduced from the study was that the old-age category has higher efficiency scores than both the matured-age and all-age categories under both the EOM and Oder Alpha production frontier techniques.. So conclusively the old-age is higher than the matured-age which in turn higher than the all-age category in both the Expected Oder-m and Oder-Alpha production frontiers. Most importantly, policy planners should be very cautious on specific techniques. They should as well be knowledgeable and comparatively minded on the results obtained from both the Expected Oder-m and Oder-Alpha production frontiers with regards to the policy selections on the rubber crop

16-21

Authors: T.Athiyaman 1 , V.A.Subramaniam

Technological developments play a significant role in accelerating economic development of nations. One of the important evidence for the above statement is the payment system using the card. This payment instrument is called as credit card. The credit card, also referred to as "plastic money" represents a contemporary payment system in the modern world. It can be stated as a payment tool that provides to the people the possibility of purchasing needed goods or services, without making any payment at that moment of purchase, by allowing them to make such payment at a later time, without charging any additional financial burden.

38-44

Authors: Dr. Salam Shantibala Devi

Lai Haraoba is an inseparable part of the cultural life of the Meiteis known as Manipuris in general. It has a dimorigin. Lai Haraoba is a ritual performed under strict rules and order with the objective to please various deities and ancients. During the ritual which may last five days or more, the creation of the world and humans is represented with dance and sing by the maibis accompanied by the pena music of the Maiba. The number of Maibis may vary from three to more than three where only one maiba or Amaiba is employed. There are numerous Umang lais thus to be pleased ritually once in a year. In fact, each place has its own different deity and some particular deities have been regarded as the guardian deity of a region in which all the villages falling inside that region will have to deserve the ritual of lai Haraoba for that particular deity only. This ritual is performed starting on an auspicious day during February to July in a year. The main objectives of Lai Haraoba are to please the deities sot that the area under whose protection becomes prosperous with less morality which also infers the idea of growth of population by reminding people to perform the act of procreation as a duty. This particular part or inducement is performed with beautiful lyrical dialogue on the last day of the ritual in the form of the chance meeting of Panthoibi and Nongpok Ningthou. A propose of what has been laid out above the objectives of the study are very clear. I will help in codifying women’s involvement in social and cultural life in Manipur along with its relevant ramifications in the present context. This paper attempt to discuss the importance role of Amaibis in umang Lai Haoba

49-66

Authors: Babale.D.M 1 , A. Aliyu *2, Dazala I.U 1 , Wazamda.E.A

Fattening has been defined as intensive feeding of highly nutritious feed to and promotes fast growth and fat deposition to achieve desired carcass growth and quality. The main strategy is to fatten young, lean male goat to obtain either from the farmer’s own flock or more often, purchased on the open market over a period of two to three months, with each farmer fattening between one and five animals. The goats are usually tethered or kept in a small sheltered enclosure at the homestead, and often fed and watered individually. Basal feeds used for goat fattening, such as hay and millet straw are supplemented with cowpea haulms, maize bran, rice bran and coconut flour which is derived from the crop residues. Poor nutrition is a major constraint in fattening small ruminants in Nigeria, this is because farmers often give the animals whatever is available, leading to waste when feed availability is high, and underfeeding when it is low (feed availability). Fattening of small ruminants as a business is very common in Nigeria. Small ruminants are usually reproduced on the farms or houses and are sold around festivities. (Christmas and Sallah) or when cash is required. No special efforts, other than grazing the animals, are made by many smallholder farmers and pastoralists to ‘’fatten’’ them. A similar situation exists for fattening of large ruminants (bulls) as a business. Most farmers in Nigeria sell their bulls once they have been introduced to ‘’fatten’’ these animals commercially. Goats are able to subsist and make appreciable gains in long dry season with crop residue-based diets that compare favourably with conventional concentrate rations. Some of the crop residues and by-products available are potentially good feed resources which degrade readily in the rumen, some however, have shown poor degradability and hence, require some treatments before they can contribute to animal nutrition

75-80

Authors: Dr. M. Esakkiammal

Agriculture is one of the most important pillars of the Indian economy. The contribution of agriculture and its allied sectors to India’s GDP stood at 13.9% during 2013-14. More than half of the Indian population is dependent on agriculture for its subsistence. Since the beginning years of economic development, it has been one of the main drivers of growth of the economy as it supplies was a major source of raw materials to most of the manufacturers. This paper focuses on exploring the socio-economic status of farmer in Tuticorin District, to draw findings, suggestion and conclusion

88-96

Authors: C. Ananth 1 , M. Karthikeyan 2 , N. Mohananthini

Abstract In the present work, the multiple watermarking techniques have been executed to present information security. DWT - SVD based multiple watermarking for color images are proposed and has been implemented in cloud computing. The multiple watermarking is used to share the copyright of multiple users improves the robustness and high security. In the proposed work, multiple watermarks are embedded into the cover image. Image quality is computed using Normalized Correlation (NC) and Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) for color images. The proposed scheme provides a secure and well imperceptibility to different image processing attacks.

101-108

Authors: Ine Fausayana *1 , La Nalefo 1 , Samsul Alam Fika 1 , Dian Aris Ani

Social capital plays a vital role in a business as so does in seaweed cultivation. The aims of this study are to know the social capital of cultivators and to analyze the relation of social capital toward business successfulness of seaweed cultivators in Liya Mawi village. The variable of the study is social capital, such as trust, network, and norm; and business achievement based on sales volume and income. This study used the descriptive analysis and correlation test with rank spearman correlation test. The result of this study showed that the social capital of seaweed cultivators in Liya Mawi village are in the medium category to high at around 44.68% have medium level of trust and 55.32% have a high trust level and there is no respondents who have a level of low trust category; Networking category is as high as 42.55% and 57.45%, and there are no farmers are included in the category of low network; and the level of compliance with the norm being as much as 23.40% and a high level of norms compliance as much as 76.60%, while for the low category does not exist. The results of data analysis showed that social capital has a relationship with the level of success of the venture, while the views of the elements of social capital, only the network level that has a relationship with the level of business successfulness.

119-130

Authors: Dr. Md. Abdus Sabur *1 , Professor Dr. Md. Abu Sina 2 , Sanjoy Kumar Sarker

The teaching learning is a continuous process by which the educators involving in this field are working to change the behavior of the students as the required human resources for the welfare of the society. Bloom’s Taxonomy is the most important and widely used process that helps the educators to provide the students equipped with knowledge perfectly in the different domains of the learning skills as suggested by Benjamin Bloom. To assess the learning skills written test is the very important tools that are applying on the students from the beginning of the formal education. In this paper an attempt has been taken to evaluate the allocation pattern of the marks of the course Business Mathematics of the three departments Accounting and Information System, Management and Finance & Banking under business faculty according to the components of Bloom’s Taxonomy. It is observed that there is a significant difference of the allocations of marks among the selected the three departments regarding the cognitive domain of the B.T. But no significant difference has been found in the allocation pattern of marks throughout the academic years under review. The marks allocation in LOCQ, IOCQ and HOCQ are found to be 43 percent 52 percent and 5 percent respectively which are not suited with the recommended marks allocation according to the recognized system. The suggestions and recommendation have been given to allocate the marks to prepare the written questions papers according to the cognitive domains of Bloom’s Taxonomy

139-150

Authors: Franklin O. Okorodudu *1, Philip O. Okorodudu 2 , Lawrence O. Atumah

Petroleum pipeline vandalism has, over the years, become a torn in the flesh of successive administrations in Nigeria as the nation losses 12 billion dollars yearly to pipeline vandalism related issues. There is an urgent need to permanently address the rising scourge in the nation. In this study, an approach for synthesizing a monitoring system to curtain pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria is presented. The design was done in stages starting with the power supply subsystem and culminates in the simulation of the whole subsystems to give the overall monitoring system. The simulation of the subsystems was done using the procedural programming application Proteus 8. Most of the components used in the design of each sub systems was according to design specifications from data book with alternatives used in cases where they are unavailable. The overall system was tested to perform the required task of monitoring pipelines. It is found that the overall system is able to monitor petroleum pipelines and reduce acts of vandalism on the nation’s pipeline topology.

161-177

Authors: Abene Abderrahmane, Mohamed Salah -Eddine Seddiki, Aurora Morocini Mohamed Si Youcef

The use of variable baffle solar panels for drying is the low level of heat exchange with the air in the dynamic vein of the solar panel. This weakness in such systems does not provide optimal performance or high thermal efficiency from their use. There is, however, a very noticeable improvement in heat transfer when the baffles are placed in rows in the ducts. To conduct the experiments, solar energy was simulated, the goal being to improve the relationship between temperature and thermal efficiency of a solar panel air heating plane and to use the system to reduce the time to gently dry the lemon to keep these vitamins. lemon and destinine for a sustainable therapy (the lemon promotes the absorption of calcium and in case of rhumet gill or five also to treat sinusitis, against migraine solair dryness and also for sustainable conservation and also for a sustainable medicine for a sustainable medicine.

189-192

Authors: Eun hyun Lee 1 , Yong-Il Ji

Ovarian dysgerminoma is a malignant germ cell tumor and it account for 1-5% of all ovarian cancers. Dysgerminoma usually occurs in adolescence and early adult life. So, it could cause problems in fertility and if it is diagnosed during pregnancy, feto-maternal problems will be incurred. Hereby, we report a case of successful delivery associated with para-aortic Lymph Node (LN) involved ovarian dysgerminoma masquerading as myoma during pregnancy and recommend ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration cytology for ovarian masses should be considered.

200-204

Authors: Alida Bella Vallejo López 1 , Dr Jorge Daher Nader

In recent times society demands the development and training of professionals capable of investigating, analyzing and solving problems that affect the life of man. Investigate contribute to the progress and development of the countries. However, there are still countries in which the importance or the support that this work deserves has not been given. In Ecuador in the last decade a structure has been established aimed at reaching this goal, but there are still gaps that must be overcome. Objective: The objective of this article is to raise awareness of the importance of forming a new generation of researchers capable of providing scientific knowledge to society and the world ". Methodology. - A review of the literature of the Hinari database, Medline and articles related to the SCIELO, Redalyc Google Scholar web pages. The analysis of 50 found articles was carried out and the article was made based on the information of 12 articles Conclusion Form a new research culture, the key that offers solutions to the problems of humanity to eradicate ignorance and generate prosperity for the peoples of the world.

212-225

Authors: Elias Randjbaran *1, Rizal Zahari 1, 2 , Dayang L. Majid 1 , Mohamed T. H. Sultan 1 , Norkhairunnisa Mazlan 1

Motivation/Background: Current review paper is about the forecast of Young's modulus for carbon nanotubes, from both hypothetical and exploratory angles are introduced. The disparities between the estimations of Young's modulus announced in the writing are broke down, and distinctive patterns of the outcomes are examined. Explain the importance of the problem investigated in the paper. Include here a statement of the main research question. Method: A whole investigation is performed to feature the obstructions and downsides of the demonstrating methods and crucial presumptions utilized which ought to be defeated in additionally contemplates. Conclusions: The perspectives that ought to be considered all the more precisely in demonstrating carbon nanotube composites are distinguished

238-245

Authors: Amayika Kakati 1 , Deeksha Sharma 1 , Nikhil N Aggarwal 1

The underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC) system gives very high rate of underwater data transmission over several meters. It utilizes the visible band in the spectral range of 390-750nm of the electromagnetic spectrum. In this paper, we study various types of link configurations depending upon the circumstances in water environment. We also study the effect of various water types on the system performance. We find that the UWOC system is affected especially by inherent optical properties such as absorption and scattering and the effect of these properties is different in various water types. We also present that misalignment in UOWC system adversely affects its functioning and reliability. Finally, we present that hybrid system design for a proper systematic UOWC system

260-280

Authors: Josie Agatha Parrilha da Silva *1, Marcos Cesar Danhoni Neves 2

This research reports the imagery representation of the Moon in the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception with Saints and Angels (1611) by Domenico Cresti (Passignano). Our goal is to defend this image as a telescopic representation of the Galilean Moon, that is, a cratered Moon as presented by Galileo Galilei in his work Sidereus nuncius (1610). Passignano was a friend of the artist Lodovico Cardi (Cigoli) who corresponded with Galileo and exchanged information on telescopic observations. This relationship between the artists and Galileo reinforces the possibility that the two painters had represented cratered the moons. The research consists of bibliographical and imaginary research and, at the end, the Moon of Passignano as the first representation of a Galilean Moon inside a Church.

296-309

Authors: Muhammad Iwan 1 , Agus Suyatna *2, Warsito 3

This study aims to develop static fluid material props in an effort to improve students' argumentation skills. Design development using 4-D development model consists of four stages, namely Define, Design, Development, and Disseminate. The test subjects of this study were 5 physics teachers and 75 students from three high schools in Bandar Lampung. Data were collected through observation in the preliminary study, questionnaires to see the responses of students, teachers, and experts on the developed aids and tests of the method of one pretest and posttest design. The questionnaire data were analyzed using scoring techniques and improved learning outcomes using the N-gain formula. According to the response of students and teachers there is a clear U-shaped hose that contains water that can be observed movement, there are sensors and LED lights that can live when the movement of water through the sensor. The second props are simple hydraulics to prove Pascal's law by laying loads of different weight on both sides of the piston with different cross-sectional areas. An effective tool for improving student learning outcomes and argument skills involves making claims and warrants, effective enough to improve the skills of backing, but less effectively to improve rendering skills.

322-334

Authors: Amrozi 1 , Zarah Puspitaningtyas 1 , Djoko Poernomo 1

This study is to examine the influence of leadership, job satisfaction and organizational commitment on employee performance. Population in this research was the entire employees of Rumah Sakit Umum Daerah (RSUD) Besuki, Situbondo, Indonesia which was about 295 peoples. Then, the researcher applied probability random sampling technique to select 170 respondents as the sampling. The researcher analyzed the data by applying multiple linear regression method. The result shows that leadership and job satisfaction contribute positive and significant effect on employee performance, while organizational commitment has no effect on employee performance.

346-356

Authors: Dr.K.Lenin

This paper projects Volition Particle Swarm Optimization (VP) algorithm for solving optimal reactive power problem. Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm (PSO) has been hybridized with the Fish School Search (FSS) algorithm to improve the capability of the algorithm. FSS presents an operator, called as collective volition operator, which is capable to auto-regulate the exploration-exploitation trade-off during the algorithm execution. Since the PSO algorithm converges faster than FSS but cannot auto-adapt the granularity of the search, we believe the FSS volition operator can be applied to the PSO in order to mitigate this PSO weakness and improve the performance of the PSO for dynamic optimization problems. In order to evaluate the efficiency of the proposed Volition Particle Swarm Optimization (VP) algorithm, it has been tested in standard IEEE 30 bus test system and compared to other reported standard algorithms. Simulation results show that Volition Particle Swarm Optimization (VP) algorithm is more efficient then other algorithms in reducing the real power losses with control variables are within the limits..

361-376

Authors: Sareef Tehtae 1 , Abubakar Eby Hara 1 , Zarah Puspitaningtyas 1

Special territory policy has been using in the Southern Thailand is a central government’s policy (Bangkok) in terms of giving absolute authority to the military, to resolve the conflicts in southern Thailand. The policy includes three matters: 1) Martial law of 2547 (the regulations in state of emergency in the 2004); 2) the Emergency Decree 2548 PO-Ro-Ko (Security rules in state of emergency); 3) Internal Security Act in the 2551 PO – RO – BO (the rule in terms of internal security implementation of 2008). This paper aimed to analyzing the impacts of special regional policies on local governance in southern Thailand (case study in Repel district, Krongpinang, Thailand. This research used descriptive qualitative methodology. based on research results, can be concluded that the impacts of the implementation of special regional policy; 1) the functional disappearance of local government; 2) local government was depressed by military system; 3) society harmonization to local government (village head) decreased.

389-395

Authors: I Wayan Distrik 1 , Chandra Ertikanto 2 , Agus Suyatna 3 , Wayan Suana 4

This paper outlines the effect of REAL model in enhancing students' metacognitive abilities on abstract physics topics, such as electricity and magnetism. The study employed a pre-test and posttest quasi-experimental design with a control group. The experiment group (n = 30) was taught using the REAL model while control group (n = 30) was taught using the traditional method. REAL model includes recognizing the concept of targets through analogies, explaining concepts with multiple representations, applying concepts to sample solutions, and looking back at selfweakness through reflection self. Pre-test and post-tests were given at the beginning and at the end of the treatment for each group. Data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential methods. The results showed that REAL model has a positive effect in increasing students’ metacognitive ability shown by significant n-gain difference between experiment and control groups. During the study, students also felt motivated and more confident in solving physics problems shown by more than 80% of them responded positively to the learning model.

403-406

Authors: Abhilasha Jaiswal

An online art gallery is new concept of selling and purchasing art works, both digital prints and traditional paintings are available on online sites. Basically, it is a user interface kind of web page on which buyer and seller both gets a platform for their jobs. Online art gallery is a time, energy and money saving web site concept. By this artist also can host their works and art curator can arrange auctions for art works.

414-452

Authors: Aadrsh Kumar Tiwari *1, Manisha Gautam 1 , Hardesh K Maurya *1

Lack of degradability and the closing of landfill sites as well as growing water and land pollution problems have led to concern about plastics. With the too much use of plastics and increasing pressure being placed on capacity available for plastic waste disposal, the need for biodegradable plastics and biodegradation of plastic wastes has assumed increasing importance in the last few years. Awareness of the waste problem and its impact on the environment has awakened new interest in the area of degradable polymers. The interest in environmental issues is growing and there are increasing demands to develop material which do not burden the environment significantly. This project reviews the biodegradation of biodegradable and also the conventional synthetic plastics, types of biodegradations of biodegradable polymers also use of a variety of “Recent development of biodegradation techniques” for the analysis of degradation in vitro.

461-471

Authors: Rahul Ravi Ravichandran 1 , Sambit Supriya Dash 2 , Vinayak Malhotra *3

Combustion is a complex phenomenon that involves the interaction of multiple phenomena, the cumulative effect of which give rise to the common flame that comprises wide range of practical, functional to propulsion applications. An interesting aspect that needs attention is the effect of the various surrounding environment phenomenon on its behavior and properties of premixed flames. It is noteworthy that soot formation is the main cause of pollution and a major cause of inefficiency of current propulsion systems. These phenomena root variety of energy interactions leading to energy transformations which in turn affect the flame behavior. Present work focuses on experimental investigations and implications of the externally induced acoustics on partially premixed flames. The subject is extensively studied as thermo-acoustics, and the current work emphases on studying its role on soot formation on premixed flames. Experimentation was carried out on a scaled setup comprising of a butane cylinder fitted with a nozzle, that houses 3 arrays consisting of 4 holes each placed equidistant to each other for entraining air. The resulting flame is impinged with acoustics from two independent and similar sources placed equidistant from the center of the nozzle. The entire process is systematically video graphed using a 60-fps regular CCD and analyzed for variation in flame heights and flickering frequencies. The observations involve fixed fuel mass flow rate with varying configuration of entrainment holes and acoustic frequency under normal ambient atmospheric conditions. The work establishes significant outcomes on the effect of acoustics on soot formation. The results are likely to encourage better understanding with applicability to commercial and domestic utilizations for energy generation for enhanced effectiveness and reduced hazards

488-497

Authors: Betty Jepchirchir Kosgei 1 , Dr. Jane Wanjira

Understanding consumer buying behaviour and their preference to product attributes has become a key success factor in contemporary competitive and rapid changing business environment. Consumer is now more discerning and individualistic requiring marketers to gain insights into their buying behaviour especially the attitude they have towards product innovation especially packaging. The general objective of the study was to determine the effect of packaging attributes on consumer’s buying behaviour of packaged foods in Kenya. This paper discusses the research findings on the influence of packaged food graphics and colour attributes on consumers’ buying behaviour in Kenya. The study was supported by the Theory of Reasoned Action, the HowardSheth Model and Kano’s Theory of Attractive Quality. Descriptive and explanatory research designs were used and a sample of 385 shoppers from three supermarkets in Nairobi was selected randomly while data was collected using structured questionnaires. The selection of supermarkets was based on judgmental sampling in which location and foot traffic was considered. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics in the form of mean, percentages and standard deviations, and inferential statistics in the form of correlation tests and regression analysis. The study found a statistically significant relationship between the attributes of graphics and colour and consumer’s buying behaviour. The study recommends that food manufacturers understand consumer response to their packages, and integrate the inputs into designing the best packaging styles. This can be achieved by involving consumers in the process of packaging so that the right decisions are made without making any assumption regarding the final packaging of food products. This study is beneficial to new and existing food product manufacturers in coming up with strategies and in development of product packaging. Keywords: Package Graphics, Colour Attributes, Consumers’ Buying Behaviour.

503-517

Authors: G. Sudha Elizabath 1 , Dr. T. Sangeetha 2

In India most of the classrooms are still teacher centered, where the students have to sit and listening to the teachers lecture. In emerging 21st century the student’s needs to develop skills like reasoning, problem-solving, creative, collaboration, critical thinking, communication etc., the study aimed to examine the Project Based Learning method in teaching high school students. The investigator adopted experimental method to study the PBL method in teaching high school students. For the study sample of 60 IX std students from schools situated in Coimbatore district in Tamil Nadu was selected. The finding reveals that is inferred that there is a difference between PBL method of teaching and conventional teaching among High school’s students.

522-535

Authors: Miray Gür 1 , Filiz Şenkal Sezer

The objective of this research paper is to investigate residents’ perception of indoor comfort conditions and user satisfaction in the residences for middle-income groups, focusing on thermal, visual and acoustical comfort. For this purpose, a residential satisfaction survey was conducted to residents of 5 housing estates in Ataevler, Bursa, Turkey. The study consists of literature review, evaluation of user satisfaction survey, and discussion of the research findings focusing on improving indoor environment. The questionnaires were applied to residents and they were asked to express their perception of indoor comfort and their satisfaction level with comfort parameters in which they live in. The answers have statically been analyzed in terms of percentages through SPSS 13.0. The results obtained indicate that the main dissatisfaction factors related to comfort conditions of middle income groups in their housing estates were related to indoor-outdoor noise problems and inadequate daylight received. The results suggest that comfort levels of users related to climatic factors vary based on their house and seasons. Heating levels of buildings are adjusted based on the comfort of the users. Comfort levels related to indoor-outdoor noise are very low. Satisfaction levels from visual comfort is low in buildings that were constructed close to each other because of inadequate daylight. Achieving optimal visual, acoustical, and climatic comfort conditions is essential to create a positive impact on users’ performance in houses. The results of this study and suggested comfort conditions are expected to contribute to building policies, building producers, academia and to the implementation of high quality, healthy and energy efficient houses

544-554

Authors: Dr. Albert Ferrer *1

Western scholarship and culture usually ignore the contributions from other civilizations, in the field of education even more clearly than anywhere else. While the advocates of integral education, for instance, pay attention to the Western pedagogues only, there has been a profound educational philosophy in other contexts such as the Indian or the Buddhist. This paper tries to open the Western educational scenario to the Buddhist tradition in particular, outlining some achievements like the Buddhist university of Nalanda that can certainly inspire and enrich the educational world, in Asia or in the West. Hence, this introductory paper wishes to contribute to the needed intercultural dialogue in Western education and scholarship.