RK University is organizing its first International Conference on January 5th & 6th, 2016. The primary focus of this conference would be on highlighting India’s competitive positioning in the world of research and entrepreneurship. Education being the key to nation-building in a youth-dominated developing nation like India, the theme essentially covers the roles of research and entrepreneurship, from classrooms to shop floors to boardrooms, in making the 21st century, India’s century too. This conference theme is in synergy with the various other topical initiatives being undertaken in our country (e.g., the “Make in India” initiative, or the “Digital India,” and “Skill India” initiatives).

Authors are requested to submit their original (unpublished) manuscripts focusing on one or both of the aforementioned areas (research and entrepreneurship), with special emphasis on the corresponding discipline-wise sub-themes (e.g., original research articles in the field of science, engineering, pharmacy, physiotherapy, management, and education, manuscripts offering detailed insights on the role of modern researchers and innovators as entrepreneurs, etc.). The ICRE 2016 Committee is pleased to inform you that Nobel Laureate Dr. Alan J. Heeger would be delivering a pre-recorded video address to the conference attendees during ICRE 2016. The last date for manuscript submission is Dec. 19, 2015.

• Latest Trends in Pharmacy
• Current Concepts in Physiotherapy
• Latest Trends in Science
• Management Research for Start-Ups and Family Businesses
• Innovative Materials, Methods, and Mechanisms in Engineering
• Innovations in Pedagogy

The field of Pharmacy has witnessed turbulence in recent times, but has nevertheless stood its ground and prevailed in the rough weather. In fact, it has remained nearly unaffected by the adversities during these times of depression and inflation. The inter-disciplinary nature of the pharmaceutical domain is one of the main reasons behind its survival and growth. Be it research or academics, the interdisciplinary roots of this domain have anchored deep into the ground. Untapped potentials and unexplored horizons continue to beckon us to play our part, small or big, in contributing to the research in this field. In fact, there’s yet another unique aspect of this domain that needs further exploration. It’s called “entrepreneurship.”

The central theme of the first international conference of RK University focuses on research and entrepreneurship. The pharmaceutical sector is undoubtedly going to have a strong say in it! Accordingly, the sub-theme, in order to cover the broad spectrum of our domain, has been simply and aptly titled “Latest Trends in Pharmacy.”

Eminent speakers will deliver talks on pharmaceutical research and entrepreneurship during this conference. Participation is invited from industry personnel, entrepreneurs, researchers, and academicians, in the poster presentation category, with only limited manuscripts being further selected for oral presentations, after undergoing a rigorous selection process by our reputed editorial board. Pharmaceutical Technologists, Pharmacologists, Pharmacognosists, Medicinal Chemists, Pharmaceutical Analysts, Quality Assurance Executives, Regulatory Affairs Officers, IPR Experts, Biotechnologists, and researchers even remotely touching the fringes of Pharmacy, this conference is for you!

Physiotherapy is a speciality that remedies impairments and promotes mobility, function, and quality of life through examination, diagnosis, physical intervention, and prognosis. Just as many aspects of the modern health care system are changing, physiotherapy too is subject to significant shifts that will present both challenges and opportunities for patients and practitioners alike. Physiotherapy practice is currently achieving new heights because of the technological boom. Physiotherapists are now able to take advantage of the technological breakthroughs in determining the best therapeutic techniques for patient treatments. Recent technologies such as physio apps, wearable and sensor-enabled devices, virtual reality and robotics in neurological rehabilitation, bionics, and tele-rehabilitation have started offering new opportunities to physiotherapists for improved diagnosis, treatment, and patient engagement. Over the past few years, standout advances have been made in physical therapy, thereby helping patients effectively recover from injuries in a shorter period. Long story short, the physiotherapists in India have started getting better day by day and are steadily transitioning into world-class service providers of international repute.

This conference will give an opportunity for the physiotherapist to showcase their recent research activities and achievements in physiotherapy practice. As research in physiotherapy is progressing, it is very important to keep ourselves updated with all of the recent advances, so as to be able to deliver the best to our patients and clients.

Original manuscripts based on the following topics will be given due consideration:

• Physiotherapists as a healthcare entrepreneurs
• Neuromuscular Science
• Musculoskeletal and Sports Science
• Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Science
• Preventive and Community Physiotherapy
• Women’s Health, Peadiatric Science
• Electrodiagnostic Studies

The objective of this international conference is to provide an opportunity to researchers, academicians, and professionals to present their original contributions to the area of research and entrepreneurship. More specifically, the School of Science at RK University is hoping to provide a common platform to all the scientists working in the areas mentioned below. Science researchers and educationists will get a wonderful opportunity to exchange their ideas and to showcase their recent discoveries/innovations.

In order to create awareness about the recent developments in the field of scientific research, the School of Science has suggested the following research topics for this international conference:

• Microscopic Study of Materials
• Drug design, Discovery, and Development
• Synthetic Chemistry/Medicinal Chemistry
• Environmental Science
• Natural products
• Plant Tissue Culture
• Recent Advances in Life Science
• Nanotechnology/Multifunctional Materials
• Material Science: Synthesis, Characterization, and Applications
• Advances in Agriculture Science
• Pure and Applied Mathematics

The prosperity of any economy largely depends on the amount of success achieved by promoting entrepreneurship, innovation, and the use of newer technologies in businesses. Globalization has brought upon many challenges that can be addressed by promoting entrepreneurship and by supporting start up eco-systems. Small family-owned businesses are initially managed by a few family members. However, as the business grows in size, more and more people start contributing, and many of these contributors/collaborators are not necessarily members of the family. India in general and Gujarat in particular have a rich heritage of small- and medium-sized family businesses, wherein the families and their corresponding businesses are naturally intertwined for several generations. Some of the questions that management researchers might want to address, in the light of the above, include the following:

• How can entrepreneurship education play a role in promoting entrepreneurship?
• What is the role of our government and that of our society?
• Is entrepreneurship all about specific personalities and/or innovations?
• How do we measure and appreciate the value created by entrepreneurship?
• Is the growth of family-managed businesses constrained because of the unwillingness to expand or because of the lack of internal and external financing?
• How does the family environment add value to the business?
• How do mutual trust and admiration lead to better business decisions?
• What are the factors that help sustain family-managed businesses for several generations?

Research in itself is something that cannot be confined to a handful of questions, and the same is applicable to research in the area of entrepreneurship and family-managed businesses as well. Researchers are invited to contribute their original work on any of the above mentioned topics; the aforementioned questions are merely indicative in nature. The Rajkot Management Association (local body of the All India Management Association) has extended its support to ICRE 2016.

In line with the main theme of the conference (research and entrepreneurship, with special focus on the role of India in shaping the 21st century), we expect engineering and technology researchers to focus on research outcomes based on the use/incorporation of innovative materials, experiments, studies, analysis, and simulation experiments in the field of civil engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, agricultural engineering, electronics engineering, computer engineering, and information technology. The specific methods and mechanisms used to establish these research outcomes need to be highlighted in the submitted manuscripts. Manuscripts specifically highlighting entrepreneurial possibilities would be more than welcome. Research communications covering the following fields of study are invited for the engineering track:

Agricultural Engineering: Agricultural Machinery and Equipment, Environmental Control Systems, Conservation Agriculture, Crop Production, Seeding, Tillage, Irrigation Practices, Soil and Water Conservation Analysis, Bio-Fuel Production and Utilization on the Farm, Post-Harvest Processing, Handling, and Storage, Precision Farming Technologies, Remote Sensing and GIS, Farm Operations and Management, Farm Safety and Security, Ergonomics, Precision Agriculture, ICT in Agriculture, Storage, Dehydration, Greenhouse Technology, and Agricultural Extension.

Civil Engineering:Structural Engineering, Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRPS), Geo-Techniques, Geographic Information System (GIS), Geo-Environment, Geo-Mapping, Spatial Data, Construction Engineering, Alternate Building Materials, Special Concrete, Engineering Mechanics and Materials, Environmental Engineering, Environment and Sustainable Issues, Bio-Composting, Traffic and Industrial Noise Control, Hazardous Waste Management, Green Building, Hydro-Technical Engineering, Earthquake Engineering, Water Resources, Hydraulics and Hydraulic Structures, Construction Management and Materials, Highway Engineering, and Soil-Structure Interaction.

Computer Science & Computer Engineering: Adhoc and Sensor Networks, Data and Web Mining, Data Mining and Big Data, Cloud Computing, Green Computing, Energy Efficient Systems, Neural Networks, Fuzzy Systems, Rough Set Theory, Chaos Theory and Evolutionary Algorithms, Visualization and Multimedia, Data and Information Systems, Internet and Distributed Computer Systems, Semantic Web Technologies and Social Semantic Web, Graphics and Imaging, Bio-informatics, Natural Language Processing, Computational Mathematics, Robotics and Micro-Robotics, Theoretical Informatics, Quantum Computing, Software Testing, Computer Vision, Digital Systems, Pervasive Computing, Computational Topology, Information Personalization, Human-Computer Interaction, Ensemble Modeling, Wavelet Representations, Principle of Concurrency, Software Life-cycle Management, Social Network Mining, Embedded Systems, Pattern Recognition, Signal Processing, Bayesian Statistics, Adaptive Control, Sequential Decision Theory, and Digital Forensics.

Electrical Engineering: Smart grids, Power System Protection, Renewable Power Conversion Technologies, Soft Computing Techniques in Power Systems, Electrical Machines, Power Electronics and Energy Efficient Drives, Power Quality Improvement Techniques, Instrumentation and Automation, Education in Electrical Engineering Emerging Technologies, Power Electronics in Electrical Energy Transmission and Distribution, Digital Control Techniques, System Planning and Management, Energy Markets and Energy Finance, Power System Control and Operation, System Stability and Analysis, and High Voltage and Testing.

Electronics and Communication Engineering: Cognitive Radio, Software-Defined Radio, Wireless Sensor Networks, Energy Efficient Algorithms, Bandwidth Utilization, Data Compression Techniques, Underwater Communication, and Speech recognition.

Information Technology: Artificial Intelligence, Bio-informatics, Cloud Computing, Computer Architecture, Computer Vision, Computer Graphics and Multimedia, Computer Networks, Data Communication, Data Mining, Database Systems, Digital Signal and Image Processing, Digital System and Logic Design, Distributed and Parallel Systems, E-commerce and E-governance, Formal Methods, Fuzzy Logic, Game and Animation, Graph Theory and Computing, High performance and Next Generation Computing, Information Security, Information Systems, Knowledge and Data Engineering, Language Processing, Learning Management System (LMS) and e-Learning, Mobile computing, Pattern Recognition, Sensors, Signal Processing, Social and Business Aspects of Convergence IT, Software Engineering, System Security and Control, and Wireless Communication.

Mechanical Engineering: Manufacturing Technology, Energy Systems, Fluid Mechanics and Machinery, Heat Transfer, Non-Conventional Sources of Energy, Fuels and Combustion, Automobile Engineering, Design Engineering, Applied Mechanics and Materials, Internal Combustion Engines, Nanotechnology, Bio-Engineering, Reliability and Maintenance Engineering, Sustainable Engineering, and Non-Linear Dynamics in MEMS/NEMS, CAD/CAM/CAE.

Effective teaching techniques are indeed necessary for facilitating the process of learning and research. RK University has made pioneering contributions to the field of pedagogy via activity-based classroom teaching and outcome-based learning. Authors submitting manuscripts under this category are expected to focus on entrepreneurship education or on innovative pedagogical techniques that can positively impact the field of higher education in India.

• ICRE 2016: January 5th & 6th, 2016
• Manuscript Submission Deadline: December 19, 2015

Authors are requested to submit their original (unpublished) manuscripts focusing on research/entrepreneurship, with special emphasis on the corresponding discipline-wise sub-themes (e.g., original research articles in the field of science, engineering, pharmacy, physiotherapy, management, and education, manuscripts offering detailed insights on the role of modern researchers and innovators as entrepreneurs, etc.). The manuscript submission deadline is Dec. 19, 2015. However, early submission is encouraged.

Dr. Huanchen Wang (National Institutes of Health, USA), Dr. Nithin V. George (IIT Gandhinagar), Dr. Shivani Agarwal (Northwestern University, USA), Dr. Uttama Lahiri (IIT Gandhinagar), Dr. Shivangi Agarwal (Northwestern University, USA), Dr. Vasudha Nair (National Institutes of Health, USA), Dr. C. H. Vithlani (GEC Rajkot), Dr. P. H. Parsania (Saurashtra University, Rajkot), Dr. Hiren H. Joshi (Saurashtra University, Rajkot), Dr. K. R. Desai (Uka Tarsadia University, Surat), Dr. Anamik Shah (VC, Gujarat Vidyapith,Ahmedabad), Dr. Ketan Kotecha (VC, Parul University, Vadodara),Dr. Subhash Mandal (Jadavpur University, Kolkata), Mr. Apoorve Mohan (Northeastern University, USA), and Dr. Nagasamy Venkatesh (JSS College of Pharmacy, Ooty).

Inderscience Publishers (with offices based in Switzerland and UK) would be publishing the extended versions of some of the presented conference papers from the field of science, pharmacy, medicine, technology, and management in a special issue, provided these papers exclusively focus on research-inspired entrepreneurial ventures/proposals. The last date for receiving conference papers (under this category) is December 5, 2015. The last date for receiving the extended versions (after the conference), for possible publication in the International Journal of Business And Globalisation (a Scopus-indexed journal with a SCImago Journal Ranking/h-index), is April 5, 2016. The extended (or completely re-written) versions need to be significantly (more than 50%) different from the originally presented conference papers. All submitted papers will undergo a customary plagiarism check and a double-blind peer review to confirm to IJBG’s high standards.

Invited Speakers, Conference Proceedings with ISBN, Best Paper Awards, and Certificate of Participation.

INR 1,200/USD 20 (Faculty Members, Researchers, and Students); INR 2,000/USD 40 (Industry Professionals).

Dr. Ranjit Goswami (Organizer), Dr. Nikhil A. Gokhale (Coordinator), Dr. Ajit Shukla, Dr. Devang Pandya, Dr. Dharmesh Raval, Prof. Krunal Vaghela, Prof. Mayank Pandya, Prof. Nilesh Kalani, Dr. Priyanshu Rathod, Dr. Amit Lathigara (Academic Communications), and Mr. Yash Chawla (Media and PR).

ICRE 2016 will be held inside the sprawling RK University campus in Rajkot, Gujarat. Rajkot is well-connected with major Indian cities (New Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, etc.) via direct flights. The world renowned Gir National Park (home to the Asiatic lions) is only 3.5 hours away from Rajkot and is easily accessible by road. Tourists from the US, Europe, and other countries regularly visit the Gir National Park throughout the year. We would highly recommend attending ICRE 2016 on Jan. 5th and 6th, and then visiting the Gir National Park along with your family. The Gir National Park hosts 30,000+ Indian spotted deer, 300+ Asiatic lions, and over 300 species of birds.