Search results for: product availability

Authors: Dosun Shin, Assegid Kidane, Pavan Turaga

Abstract:

According to the National Institute of Health, living a sedentary lifestyle leads to a number of health issues, including increased risk of cardiovascular dis-ease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and certain types of cancers. This project brings together experts in multiple disciplines to bring product design, sensor design, algorithms, and health intervention studies to develop a product and system that helps reduce the amount of time sitting at the workplace. This paper illustrates ongoing improvements to prototypes the research team developed in initial research; including working prototypes with a software application, which were developed and demonstrated for users. Additional modifications were made to improve functionality, aesthetics, and ease of use, which will be discussed in this paper. Extending on the foundations created in the initial phase, our approach sought to further improve the product by conducting additional human factor research, studying deficiencies in competitive products, testing various materials/forms, developing working prototypes, and obtaining feedback from additional potential users. The solution consisted of an aesthetically pleasing seat cover cushion that easily attaches to common office chairs found in most workplaces, ensuring a wide variety of people can use the product. The product discreetly contains sensors that track when the user sits on their chair, sending information to a phone app that triggers reminders for users to stand up and move around after sitting for a set amount of time. This paper also presents the analyzed typical office aesthetics and selected materials, colors, and forms that complimented the working environment. Comfort and ease of use remained a high priority as the design team sought to provide a product and system that integrated into the workplace. As the research team continues to test, improve, and implement this solution for the sedentary workplace, the team seeks to create a viable product that acts as an impetus for a more active workday and lifestyle, further decreasing the proliferation of chronic disease and health issues for sedentary working people. This paper illustrates in detail the processes of engineering, product design, methodology, and testing results.

Keywords: anti-sedentary work behavior, new product development, sensor design, health intervention studies

Procedia PDF Downloads 158

Authors: Olivia Borgue, Massimo Panarotto, Ola Isaksson

Abstract:

This article presents a neural networks-based strategy for reducing the need for support structures when designing for additive manufacturing (AM). Additive manufacturing is a relatively new and immature industrial technology, and the information to make confident decisions when designing for AM is limited. This lack of information impacts especially the early stages of engineering design, for instance, it is difficult to actively consider the support structures needed for manufacturing a part. This difficulty is related to the challenge of designing a product geometry accounting for customer requirements, manufacturing constraints and minimization of support structure. The approach presented in this article proposes an automatized geometry modification technique for reducing the use of the support structures while designing for AM. This strategy starts with a neural network-based strategy for shape recognition to achieve product classification, using an STL file of the product as input. Based on the classification, an automatic part geometry modification based on MATLAB© is implemented. At the end of the process, the strategy presents different geometry modification alternatives depending on the type of product to be designed. The geometry alternatives are then evaluated adopting a QFD-like decision support tool.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, engineering design, geometry modification optimization, neural networks

Procedia PDF Downloads 253

Authors: B. Sathyanarayana

Abstract:

As per the report of World Health Organization, more than 80% of world population uses medicines made from herbal and natural materials. They have stood the test of time for their safety, efficacy, cultural acceptability and lesser side effects. Quality assurance and control measures, such as national quality specification and standards for herbal materials, good manufacturing practices (GMP) for herbal medicines, labelling, and licensing schemes for manufacturing, imports and marketing, should be in place in every country where herbal medicines are regulated. These measures are vital for ensuring the safety and efficacy of herbal medicines. In the case of herbal products challenge begins at the stage of designing itself except the classical products. Selection of herbal ingredients, officinal parts to be used, proportions are vital. Once the formulation is designed one should take utmost care to produce the standardized product of assured quality and safety. Quality control measures should cover the validation of quality and identity of raw materials, in process control (as per SOP and GMP norms) and at the level of final product. Quality testing, safety and efficacy studies of the final product are required to ensure the safe and effective use of the herbal products in human beings. Medicinal plants being the materials of natural resource are subjected to great variation making it really difficult to fix quality standards especially in the case of polyherbal preparations. Manufacturing also needs modification according to the type of ingredients present. Hence, it becomes essential to develop Standard operative Procedure for a specific herbal product. Present paper throws a light on the challenges that are encountered during the design and development of herbal products.

Keywords: herbal product, challenges, quality, safety, efficacy

Procedia PDF Downloads 503

Authors: D. R. Rama Brahma Reddy, A. Vijaya Sarada Reddy

Abstract:

Nanoparticles represent a promising drug delivery system of controlled and targeted drug release. They are specially designed to release the drug in the vicinity of target tissue. The aim of this study was to prepare and evaluate polymethacrylic acid nanoparticles containing Zidovudine in different drug to polymer ratio by nanoprecipitation method. SEM indicated that nanoparticles have a discrete spherical structure without aggregation. The average particle size was found to be 120 ± 0.02 - 420 ± 0.05 nm. The particle size of the nanoparticles was gradually increased with increase in the proportion of polymethacrylic acid polymer. The drug content of the nanoparticles was increasing on increasing polymer concentration up to a particular concentration. No appreciable difference was observed in the extent of degradation of product during 60 days in which, nanoparticles were stored at various temperatures. FT-IR studies indicated that there was no chemical interaction between drug and polymer and stability of drug. The in-vitro release behavior from all the drug loaded batches was found to be zero order and provided sustained release over a period of 24 h. The developed formulation overcome and alleviates the drawbacks and limitations of Zidovudine sustained release formulations and could possibility be advantageous in terms of increased bio availability of Zidovudine.

Keywords: nanoparticles, zidovudine, biodegradable, polymethacrylic acid

Procedia PDF Downloads 626

Authors: Adilla Anggraeni

Abstract:

The purpose of the paper is to investigate the effects of religiosity and subjective knowledge towards initial trust that a consumer has towards a product manufacturer. Since globalization enters the point of no return, it should be acknowledged that further exploration of country of origin image, its influences and possible limiting factors is imperative. This model aims to broaden COO-related research, especially related to different product categories based on the perception of consumers in emerging markets. The study employs quantitative method, aiming to involve 200 Indonesian respondents to evaluate different product categories (food/apparel). Relationships between variables are evaluated using structural equation modeling. It is expected that subjective knowledge will have significant influence towards initial trust that an individual possesses towards food products. A major contribution of this study will be the inclusion of religiosity and subjective knowledge in the country of origin study’s body of knowledge. Companies are also expected to benefit from the study as the acceleration of globalization may again repose the question of whether companies should market their product using similar strategies across different countries or different ones. Religiosity dimension is expected to add values to international marketing literature concerning emerging economies in particular, as many companies view the emerging economies as promising markets.

Keywords: country of origin, subjective knowledge, initial trust, emerging economy, Indonesia

Procedia PDF Downloads 290

Authors: Udeh Anastasia Ifeoma

Abstract:

The need to develop the rural areas in developing countries where there have been decades of neglect are on the increase. It is against this background that this paper examined the impact of micro finance contribution to Nigeria’s gross domestic product. Time series data for 12-years period 1999-2010 were collated from Central Bank of Nigeria published annual reports. The least squares (LS) regression was used to analyze the data. The result revealed that microfinance activities have negative and non-significant contribution to gross domestic product in Nigeria. The paper recommends that rural poverty is often a product of poor infrastructural facilities; therefore government should make a conscious effort towards industrializing the rural areas thereby motivating the micro finance institutions to locate their offices and extend credit facilities to rural areas thereby improving rural economic growth.

Keywords: microfinance, rural economic growth, Nigeria, developing countries

Procedia PDF Downloads 451

Authors: Al-Molhem, Y.

Abstract:

This work aimed to study the influence of a geotextile material under sprinkler irrigation on the availability of soil moisture content and salinity of 40 cm top soil profile. Field experiment was carried out to measure soil moisture content, soil salinity and water application efficiency under sprinkler irrigation system. The results indicated that, the mats placed at 20 cm depth leads to increasing of the availability of soil moisture content in the root zone. The results further showed increases in water application efficiency because of using the geotextile material. In addition, soil salinity in the root zone decreased because of increasing soil moisture content.

Keywords: geotextile, moisture content, sprinkler irrigation

Procedia PDF Downloads 400

Authors: Farshideh Einsele, Hassan Foroosh

Abstract:

In this paper, we present a robust algorithm to recognize extracted text from grocery product images captured by mobile phone cameras. Recognition of such text is challenging since text in grocery product images varies in its size, orientation, style, illumination, and can suffer from perspective distortion. Pre-processing is performed to make the characters scale and rotation invariant. Since text degradations can not be appropriately defined using wellknown geometric transformations such as translation, rotation, affine transformation and shearing, we use the whole character black pixels as our feature vector. Classification is performed with minimum distance classifier using the maximum likelihood criterion, which delivers very promising Character Recognition Rate (CRR) of 89%. We achieve considerably higher Word Recognition Rate (WRR) of 99% when using lower level linguistic knowledge about product words during the recognition process.

Keywords: camera-based OCR, feature extraction, document, image processing, grocery products

Procedia PDF Downloads 406

Authors: Shakila N. Senarath, Dinesh Asanka, Janaka Wijayanayake

Abstract:

The necessity of cosmetic products is arising to fulfill consumer needs of personality appearance and hygiene. A cosmetic product consists of various chemical ingredients which may help to keep the skin healthy or may lead to damages. Every chemical ingredient in a cosmetic product does not perform on every human. The most appropriate way to select a healthy cosmetic product is to identify the texture of the body first and select the most suitable product with safe ingredients. Therefore, the selection process of cosmetic products is complicated. Consumer surveys have shown most of the time, the selection process of cosmetic products is done in an improper way by consumers. From this study, a content-based system is suggested that recommends cosmetic products for the human factors. To such an extent, the skin type, gender and price range will be considered as human factors. The proposed system will be implemented by using Machine Learning. Consumer skin type, gender and price range will be taken as inputs to the system. The skin type of consumer will be derived by using the Baumann Skin Type Questionnaire, which is a value-based approach that includes several numbers of questions to derive the user’s skin type to one of the 16 skin types according to the Bauman Skin Type indicator (BSTI). Two datasets are collected for further research proceedings. The user data set was collected using a questionnaire given to the public. Those are the user dataset and the cosmetic dataset. Product details are included in the cosmetic dataset, which belongs to 5 different kinds of product categories (Moisturizer, Cleanser, Sun protector, Face Mask, Eye Cream). An alternate approach of TF-IDF (Term Frequency – Inverse Document Frequency) is applied to vectorize cosmetic ingredients in the generic cosmetic products dataset and user-preferred dataset. Using the IF-IPF vectors, each user-preferred products dataset and generic cosmetic products dataset can be represented as sparse vectors. The similarity between each user-preferred product and generic cosmetic product will be calculated using the cosine similarity method. For the recommendation process, a similarity matrix can be used. Higher the similarity, higher the match for consumer. Sorting a user column from similarity matrix in a descending order, the recommended products can be retrieved in ascending order. Even though results return a list of similar products, and since the user information has been gathered, such as gender and the price ranges for product purchasing, further optimization can be done by considering and giving weights for those parameters once after a set of recommended products for a user has been retrieved.

Keywords: content-based filtering, cosmetics, machine learning, recommendation system

Procedia PDF Downloads 134

Authors: Javeed Akhtar, R. K. Pandey, Z. R. Azaz Ahmad Azad

Abstract:

For the purpose of making different uses of food material for the development of extruded foods are produced using single and twin extruders. Extrusion cooking is a useful and economical tool for processing of novel food. This high temperature, short time processing technology causes chemical and physical changes that alter the nutritional and physical quality of the product. Extrusion processing of food ingredients characteristically depends on associating process conditions that influence the product qualities. The process parameters are optimized for extrusion of food material in order to obtain the maximum nutritive value by inactivating the anti-nutritional factors. The processing conditions such as moisture content, temperature and time are controlled to avoid over heating or under heating which otherwise would result in a product of lower nutritional quality.

Keywords: extrusion processing, single and twin extruder, operating condition of extruders and extruded novel foods, food and agricultural engineering

Procedia PDF Downloads 382

Authors: Imelda Atengco Milan

Abstract:

This research is aimed to assess the effectiveness and status of Islamic branding amongst hypermarkets from respondents perspective in the Kingdom of Bahrain such as Lulu, Geant and Carrefour and It was identified in terms of pure advertisement, religious norms and culture, certified halal product/ brand, consumption barriers and attitude towards other products/ brand. Included here are also the essentials in modern marketing including problems encountered and recommendations which will be revealed through the findings of the study. The methods used are descriptive and quantitative with sample analysis through quite a number of populations. Formulation of Sample questionnaire is done according to the variables and items used to measure reliability of statistics. The measurement of validity on the conduct of the surveys has been done according to Chronbach’s value (greater than 0.7). Pearson correlation was used as part of statistical analysis as well. It must show continuously that the model used is aligned towards factors indicated.

Keywords: pure advertisement, religious norms & culture, certified halal product, attitude towards other brand and consumption barriers

Procedia PDF Downloads 218

Authors: Zane Bulderberga

Abstract:

Spatial dimension in development planning is becoming more topical in 21st century as a result of changes in population structure. Sustainable spatial development focuses on identifying and using territorial advantages to foster the harmonized development of the entire country, reducing negative effects of population concentration, increasing availability and mobility. EU and national development planning documents state polycentrism as main tool for balance spatial development, including investment concentration in growth centres. If mutual cooperation of growth centres as well as urban-rural cooperation is not fostered, then territorial differences can deepen and create unbalanced development. The aim of research: to evaluate the urban-rural interaction, elaborating spatial development scenarios in framework of Latvian regional policy. To perform the research monographic, comparison, abstract-logical method, synthesis and analysis will be used when studying the theoretical aspects of research aiming at collecting the ideas of scientists from different countries, concepts, regulations as well as to create meaningful scientific discussion. Hierarchy analysis process (AHP) will be used to state further scenarios of spatial development in Latvia. Experts from various institutions recognized urban-rural interaction and co-operation as an essential tool for the development. The most important factors for balanced spatial development in Latvia are availability of public transportation and improvement of service availability. Evaluating the three alternative scenarios, it was concluded that the urban-rural partnership will ensure a balanced development in Latvian regions.

Keywords: rural-urban interaction, rural-urban cooperation, spatial development, AHP

Procedia PDF Downloads 308

Authors: Lara F. Horani, Shurong Tong

Abstract:

Identification of customer requirements and their preferences are the starting points in the process of product design. Most of design methodologies focus on traditional requirements. But in the previous decade, the green products and the environment requirements have increasingly attracted the attention with the constant increase in the level of consumer awareness towards environmental problems (such as green-house effect, global warming, pollution and energy crisis, and waste management). Determining the importance weights for the customer requirements is an essential and crucial process. This paper used the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach to evaluate and rate the customer requirements for green products. With respect to the ultimate goal of customer satisfaction, surveys are conducted using a five-point scale analysis. With the help of this scale, one can derive the weight vectors. This approach can improve the imprecise ranking of customer requirements inherited from studies based on the conventional AHP. Furthermore, the AHP with extent analysis is simple and easy to implement to prioritize customer requirements. The research is based on collected data through a questionnaire survey conducted over a sample of 160 people belonging to different age, marital status, education and income groups in order to identify the customer preferences for green product requirements.

Keywords: analytic hierarchy process (AHP), green product, customer requirements for green design, importance weights for the customer requirements

Procedia PDF Downloads 244

Authors: Abidemi C. Adegboye, Samuel Iweriebor

Abstract:

The primary link between financial institutions and economic performance is the provision of resources by these institutions to businesses in order to drive enterprise expansion, sustainability, and development. In this study, the role of access to finance in driving innovations and productivity in Nigerian SMEs is investigated using the World Bank Enterprise Survey (ES) dataset. Innovation is defined based on the ES analysis using five compositions including product, method, organisational, use of foreign-licensed technology, and spending on R&D. The study considers finance in terms of source in meeting investment needs and in terms of access. Moreover, finance access is categorized as external and internal to a firm with each having different implications. The research methodology adopted a survey analysis based on the 2014 World Bank Enterprise Survey of 19 states in Nigeria. The survey comprised over 10,000 manufacturing and services firms, both at the small scale and medium scale levels. The logit estimation technique is used to estimate the relationships in the study. The results from the empirical analysis show that in general, access to finance drives SME innovation in Nigeria. In particular, ease of accessing bank loans and credit is shown to be the strongest positive force in driving all types of innovation among SMEs in Nigeria. In the same vein, the type of finance source for investment matters in terms of how it affects innovation: it is shown that both internal and external sources improve investment in product, process, and organisational innovation, but only external financing has effect on R&D spending and use of foreign licensed technology. Overall spending on R&D is only driven by access to external finance by the SMEs. For productivity, the results show that while structure of financing investment improves productivity, increased access to finance may actually lead to productivity decline among SMEs in Nigeria. There is a need for the financial system to evolve structures to increase fund availability to SMEs in Nigeria, especially for the purpose of innovation investment.

Keywords: access to finance, financing investment, innovation, productivity, SMEs

Procedia PDF Downloads 358

Authors: Wajahat Munir, Muhammad Haseeb, Adeel Anjum, Basit Raza, Ahmad Kamran Malik

Abstract:

Databases are the key components of the software systems. Due to the exponential growth of data, it is the concern that the data should be accurate and available. The data in databases is vulnerable to internal and external threats, especially when it contains sensitive data like medical or military applications. Whenever the data is changed by malicious intent, data analysis result may lead to disastrous decisions. Autonomic self-healing is molded toward computer system after inspiring from the autonomic system of human body. In order to guarantee the accuracy and availability of data, we propose a technique which on a priority basis, tries to avoid any malicious transaction from execution and in case a malicious transaction affects the system, it heals the system in an isolated mode in such a way that the availability of system would not be compromised. Using this autonomic system, the management cost and time of DBAs can be minimized. In the end, we test our model and present the findings.

Keywords: autonomic computing, self-healing, threat avoidance, security

Procedia PDF Downloads 504

Authors: Dina Kuttah

Abstract:

It is well known that recycling of by-product materials saves natural resources, reduces by-product volumes, and reduces the need for virgin materials. The steel industry produces a myriad of metal components for industrial chains, which in turn generates mineral discarded sand molds. Although these sands are clean before their use, after casting, they may contain contaminants. Therefore, huge quantities of excess by-product foundry sand (BFS) end up occupying large volumes in landfills. In Sweden, approximately 200000 tonnes of excess BFS end up in landfills. The transportation and construction industries have the greatest potential for reuse by-products because they use vast quantities of earthen materials annually. Accordingly, experimental work has been undertaken to evaluate the possible use of two chosen BFS from two Swedish foundries in a conventional Swedish asphalt mixture. The experimental procedure of this research has focused on the dosage, environmental and technical properties of the same mixture type ABT 11 and the same bitumen (160/220) but at different replacement proportions of the conventional fine sand with the two BFS. The environmental requirements, in addition to the technical requirements, namely, void ratio, static indirect tensile strength ratio, and resilient modulus before and after moisture-induced sensitivity tests of the asphalt mixtures, have been investigated in the current study. The test results demonstrated that the BFS from both foundries can be incorporated in the selected asphalt mixture at specified replacement proportions of the conventional fine sand fraction 0-2 mm, as discussed in the paper.

Keywords: asphalt mixtures, by-product foundry sand, indirect tensile strength, moisture induced sensitivity tests, resilient modulus

Procedia PDF Downloads 135

Authors: Danar Agus Susanto, Hermawan Febriansyah, Meilinda Ayundyahrini

Abstract:

The availability of spring water to meet people demand is often a problem, especially in tropical areas with very limited surface water sources, or very deep underground water. Although the technology and equipment of pumping system are available and easy to obtain, but in remote areas, the availability of pumping system is difficult, due to the unavailability of fuel or the lack of electricity. Solar Water Pumping System (SWPS) became one of the alternatives that can overcome these obstacles. In the tropical country, sunlight can be obtained throughout the year, even in remote areas. SWPS were already widely built in Indonesia, but many encounter problems during operations, such as decreased of efficiency; pump damaged, damaged of controllers or inverters, and inappropriate photovoltaic performance. In 2011, International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) issued the IEC standard 62253:2011 titled Photovoltaic pumping systems - Design qualification and performance measurements. This standard establishes design qualifications and performance measurements related to the product of a solar water pumping system. National Standardization Agency of Indonesia (BSN) as the national standardization body in Indonesia, has not set the standard related to solar water pumping system. This research to study operational procedures of SWPS by adopting of IEC Standard 62253:2011 to be Indonesia Standard (SNI). This research used literature study and field observation for installed SWPS in Indonesia. Based on the results of research on SWPS already installed in Indonesia, IEC 62253: 2011 standard can improve efficiency and reduce operational failure of SWPS. SWPS installed in Indonesia still has GAP of 51% against parameters in IEC standard 62253: 2011. The biggest factor not being met is related to operating and maintenance handbooks for personnel that included operation and repair procedures. This may result in operator ignorance in installing, operating and maintaining the system. The Photovoltaic (PV) was also the most non-compliance factor of 71%, although there are 22 Indonesia Standard (SNI) for PV (modules, installation, testing, and construction). These research samples (installers, manufacturers/distributors, and experts) agreed on the parameter in the IEC standard 62253: 2011 able to improve the quality of SWPS in Indonesia. Recommendations of this study, that is required the adoption of IEC standard 62253:2011 into SNI to support the development of SWPS for remote areas in Indonesia.

Keywords: efficiency, inappropriate installation, remote areas, solar water pumping system, standard

Procedia PDF Downloads 198

Authors: Rose-Michelle Smith, Musandji Fuamba, Salomon Salumu

Abstract:

Water is vital for life. Access to drinking water and sanitation for humans is one of the Sustainable Development Goals (specifically the sixth) approved by United Nations Member States in September 2015. There are various problems identified relating to water: insufficient fresh water, inequitable distribution of water resources, poor water management in certain places on the planet, detection of water-borne diseases due to poor water quality, and the negative impacts of climate change on water. One of the major challenges in the world is finding ways to ensure that people and the environment have enough water resources to sustain and support their existence. Thus, this research project aims to develop a tool to assess the availability, quality and needs of water in current and future situations with regard to climate change. This tool was tested using threshold values for three regions in three countries: the Metropolitan Community of Montreal (Canada), Normandie Region (France) and North Department (Haiti). The WEAP software was used to evaluate the available quantity of water resources. For water quality, two models were performed: the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) and the Malaysian Water Quality Index (WQI). Preliminary results showed that the ratio of the needs could be estimated at 155, 308 and 644 m3/capita in 2023 for Normandie, Cap-Haitian and CMM, respectively. Then, the Water Quality Index (WQI) varied from one country to another. Other simulations regarding the water availability and quality are still in progress. This tool will be very useful in decision-making on projects relating to water use in the future; it will make it possible to estimate whether the available resources will be able to satisfy the needs.

Keywords: climate change, water needs, balance sheet, water quality

Procedia PDF Downloads 75

Authors: V. V. Singh

Abstract:

We have studied the reliability measures of a system, which consists of two subsystems i.e. subsystem-1 and subsystem-2 in series configuration under different types of failure. The subsystem-1 has three identical units in parallel configuration and operating under 2-out-of-3: G policy and connected to subsystem-2 in series configuration. Each subsystem has different types of failure and repair rates. An important cause for failure of system is unsuitability of the environmental conditions, like overheating, weather conditions, heavy rainfall, storm etc. The environmental failure is taken into account in the proposed repairable system. Supplementary variable technique is used to study of system and some traditional measures such as; availability, reliability, MTTF and profit function are obtained for different values of parameters. In the proposed model, some particular cases of failure rates are explicitly studied.

Keywords: environmental failure, human failure, availability, MTTF, reliability, profit analysis, Gumbel-Hougaard family copula

Procedia PDF Downloads 353

Authors: I Putu Deny Arthawan Sugih Prabowo, Eko Nugroho, Rudy Hartanto

Abstract:

Known, Green IT is a concept about how to use the technology (IT) wisely, efficiently, and environmentally. However, it exists as the consequence of the rapid-growth of the technology (especially IT) currently. Not only for the environments, the usage of Green IT applications, e.g. Cloud Computing (Cloud Storage) and E-Money (E-Cash), also gives its benefits for the organizational business strategy (especially the organizational product/service strategy) in order to gain the organizational competitive advantage (to be the market leader). This paper takes the case at E-Money as a Value-Added Services (VAS) of a telecommunication firm (company) in Indonesia which it also competes with the competitors’ similar product (service). Although it has been a popular telecommunication firm’s product/service, but its strategic values for the organization (firm) is still unknown, and therefore, the aim of this paper is for analyzing its strategic values for gaining the organizational competitive advantage. However, in this paper, its strategic value analysis is viewed by how to assess (consider) its strategic benefits and also manage the challenges or risks of its implementation at the organization as an organizational product/service. Then the paper uses a research model for investigating the influences of both perceived risks and the organizational cultures to the usage of Green IT Application at the organization and also both the usage of Green IT Application at the organization and the threats-challenges of the organizational products/services to the competitive advantage of the organizational products/services. However, the paper uses the quantitative research method (collecting the information from the field respondents by using the research questionnaires) and then, the primary data is analyzed by both descriptive and inferential statistics. Also in this paper, SmartPLS is used for analyzing the primary data by the quantitative research method. Besides using the quantitative research method, the paper also uses the qualitative research method, such as interviewing the field respondent and/or directly field observation, for deeply confirming the quantitative research method’s analysis results at the certain domain, e.g. both organizational cultures and internal processes that support the usage of Green IT applications for the organizational product/service (E-Money in this paper case). However, the paper is still at an infant stage of in-progress research. Then the paper’s results may be used as a reference for the organization (firm or company) in developing the organizational business strategies, especially about the organizational product/service that relates to Green IT applications. Besides it, the paper may also be the future study, e.g. the influence of knowledge transfer about E-Money and/or other Green IT application-based products/services to the organizational service performance that relates to the product (service) in order to gain the competitive advantage.

Keywords: Green IT, competitive advantage, strategic value, organization (firm or company), organizational product (service)

Procedia PDF Downloads 305

Authors: Kanokwan Somoon, Chumporn Moorapun

Abstract:

A product’s perceived value may increase purchase intention. Value perceptions may differ among cultures. Window displays can be used to increase products’ information and value. This study aims to investigate the relationship between window display design elements and value perceptions of local products between two different cultures. The research methodology is based on survey research. Several window displays in favorite of tourist spots were selected as a unit of study. Also, 100 tourists (56 Thai tourists and 44 foreign tourists) were asked to complete a questionnaire. T-Tests were used to analyze the comparison. Then, the results were compared to Thai and foreign tourists. Finally, the results find that Thai and foreign tourists have different perception towards three design elements that are size of the window, props and colour lighting. The differences of their perceptions signify the different cultural values they adhere to.

Keywords: cross-culture, window display, Thai craft product, environmental perception

Procedia PDF Downloads 277

Authors: Nermine A. Harraz, Aliaa Abouali

Abstract:

The retail stores put up for sale multiple items while the spaces in the backroom and display areas constitute a scarce resource. Availability, volume, and location of the product displayed in the showroom influence the customer’s demand. Managing these operations individually will result in sub-optimal overall retail store’s profit; therefore, a non-linear integer programming model (NLIP) is developed to determine the inventory replenishment and shelf space allocation decisions that together maximize the retailer’s profit under shelf space and backroom storage constraints taking into consideration that the demand rate is positively dependent on the amount and location of items displayed in the showroom. The developed model is solved using LINGO® software. The NLIP model is implemented in a real world case study in a large retail outlet providing a large variety of products. The proposed model is validated and shows logical results when using the experimental data collected from the market.

Keywords: retailing management, inventory replenishment, shelf space allocation, showroom, backroom

Procedia PDF Downloads 354

Authors: Vignesh Pechiappan Ayyathurai, Mukesh Limbachiya, Hsein Kew

Abstract:

There is a growing interest in using recycled, secondary use and industrial by product materials in high value commercial applications. Potential high volume applications include use of fine aggregate in flowable fill or as a component in manufactured aggregates. However, there is much scientific, as well as applied research needed in this area due to lack to availability of data on the mechanical and environmental properties of elements or products produced using fine recycled aggregates. The principle objectives of this research are to synthesize existing data on the beneficial reuse of fine recycled materials and to develop extensive testing programme for assessing and establishing engineering and long term durability properties of concrete and other construction products produced using such material for use in practical application widely. This paper is a research proposal for PhD admission. The proposed research aims to supply the necessary technical, as well as practical information on fine recycled aggregate concrete to the construction industry for promoting its wider use within the construction industry. Furthermore, to disseminate research outcomes to the local authorities for consideration of use of fine recycled aggregate concrete in various applications.

Keywords: FRA, fine aggregate, recycling, concrete

Procedia PDF Downloads 323

Authors: Bahaa Eltahawy, Mikko Ylihärsilä, Reino Virrankoski, Esko Petäjä

Abstract:

Sheet metal processing is automated, but the step from product models to the production machine control still requires human intervention. This may cause time consuming bottlenecks in the production process and increase the risk of human errors. In this paper we present a system, which automatically recognizes features from the CAD-model of the sheet metal product. By using these features, the system produces a complete model of the particular sheet metal product. Then the model is used as an input for the sheet metal processing machine. Currently the system is implemented, capable to recognize more than 11 of the most common sheet metal structural features, and the procedure is fully automated. This provides remarkable savings in the production time, and protects against the human errors. This paper presents the developed system architecture, applied algorithms and system software implementation and testing.

Keywords: feature recognition, automation, sheet metal manufacturing, CAD, CAM

Procedia PDF Downloads 355

Authors: Evy Sulistianingsih, Mariatul Kiftiah, Dedi Rosadi, Heni Wahyuni

Abstract:

This research attempts to analyse palm oil production and rubber production to prosperity of the community of ten districts in West Kalimantan namely Sanggau, Sintang, Sambas, Ketapang, Bengkayang, Landak, Singkawang, Kapuas Hulu, Melawi and Sekadau by panel regression. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the districts will be used to be a prosperity indicator on this research. Based on the result of analysis, it can be concluded that palm oil and rubber production statistically give contribution to GDP. Adjusted coefficient determination of Fixed Effect Model indicates that 76% of GDP’s variation can be explained by palm oil and rubber production. In another point of view, there should be a district’s government intervention to regulate the plantations. In addition, there is an obligation of the government to monitor regularly the plantations and to conduct researches in order to govern better planning of lands that have been used to the plantations. So that, the environmental effects that have been caused by the plantation can be diminished.

Keywords: gross domestic product (GDP), panel, palm, welfare

Procedia PDF Downloads 255

Authors: Kitti Supchukun, Kris Angkanaporn, Teerapong Yata

Abstract:

The product innovation using a nutraceutical delivery system on improving the growth performance of broilers is the product planning and development to solve the antibiotics banning policy incurred in the local and global livestock production system. Restricting the use of antibiotics can reduce the quality of chicken meat and increase pathogenic bacterial contamination. Although other alternatives were used to replace antibiotics, the efficacy was inconsistent, reflecting on low chicken growth performance and contaminated products. The product innovation aims to effectively deliver the selected active ingredients into the body. This product is tested on the pharmaceutical lab scale and on the farm-scale for market feasibility in order to create product innovation using the nutraceutical delivery system model. The model establishes the product standardization and traceable quality control process for farmers. The study is performed using mixed methods. Starting with a qualitative method to find the farmers' (consumers) demands and the product standard, then the researcher used the quantitative research method to develop and conclude the findings regarding the acceptance of the technology and product performance. The survey has been sent to different organizations by random sampling among the entrepreneur’s population including integrated broiler farm, broiler farm, and other related organizations. The mixed-method results, both qualitative and quantitative, verify the user and lead users' demands since they provide information about the industry standard, technology preference, developing the right product according to the market, and solutions for the industry problems. The product innovation selected nutraceutical ingredients that can solve the following problems in livestock; bactericidal, anti-inflammation, gut health, antioxidant. The combinations of the selected nutraceutical and nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC) technology aim to improve chemical and pharmaceutical components by changing the structure of active ingredients into nanoparticle, which will be released in the targeted location with accurate concentration. The active ingredients in nanoparticle form are more stable, elicit antibacterial activity against pathogenic Salmonella spp and E.coli, balance gut health, have antioxidant and anti-inflammation activity. The experiment results have proven that the nutraceuticals have an antioxidant and antibacterial activity which also increases the average daily gain (ADG), reduces feed conversion ratio (FCR). The results also show a significant impact on the higher European Performance Index that can increase the farmers' profit when exporting. The product innovation will be tested in technology acceptance management methods from farmers and industry. The production of broiler and commercialization analyses are useful to reduce the importation of animal supplements. Most importantly, product innovation is protected by intellectual property.

Keywords: nutraceutical, nano structure lipid carrier, anti-microbial drug resistance, broiler, Salmonella

Procedia PDF Downloads 179

Authors: Xin-Yu Li, Dung-Ying Lin

Abstract:

Fleet availability is a crucial indicator for an aircraft fleet. However, in practice, fleet planning involves many resource and safety constraints, such as annual and monthly flight training targets and maximum engine usage limits. Due to safety considerations, engines must be removed for mandatory maintenance and replacement of key components. This situation is known as the "threshold." The annual number of thresholds is a key factor in maintaining fleet availability. However, the traditional method heavily relies on experience and manual planning, which may result in ineffective engine usage and affect the flight missions. This study aims to address the challenges of fleet planning and availability maintenance in aircraft fleets with resource and safety constraints. The goal is to effectively optimize engine usage and maintenance tasks. This study has four objectives: minimizing the number of engine thresholds, minimizing the monthly lack of flight hours, minimizing the monthly excess of flight hours, and minimizing engine disassembly frequency. To solve the resulting formulation, this study uses parametric programming techniques and ϵ-constraint method to reformulate multi-objective problems into single-objective problems, efficiently generating Pareto fronts. This method is advantageous when handling multiple conflicting objectives. It allows for an effective trade-off between these competing objectives. Empirical results and managerial insights will be provided.

Keywords: aircraft fleet, engine utilization planning, multi-objective optimization, parametric method, Pareto optimality

Procedia PDF Downloads 24

Authors: Mateusz Wielopolski, Asia Guerreschi

Abstract:

Circular Economy, as the counterargument to the ‘make-take-dispose’ linear model, is an approach that includes a variety of schools of thought looking at environmental, economic, and social sustainability. This, in turn, leads to a variety of strategies and often confusion when it comes to choosing the right one to make a circular transition as effective as possible. Due to the close interplay of circular product design, business model and social responsibility, companies often struggle to develop strategies that comply with all three triple-bottom-line criteria. Hence, to transition to circularity effectively, product design approaches must become more inclusive. In a case study conducted with the University of Bayreuth and the ISPO, we correlated aspects of material choice in product design, labeling and technological innovation with customer preferences and education about specific material and technology features. The study revealed those attributes of the consumers’ environmental awareness that directly translate into an increase of purchase power - primarily connected with individual preferences regarding sports activity and technical knowledge. Based on this outcome, we constituted a product development approach that incorporates the consumers’ individual preferences towards sustainable product features as well as their awareness about materials and technology. It allows deploying targeted customer education campaigns to raise the willingness to pay for sustainability. Next, we implemented the customer preference and education analysis into a circularity assessment tool that takes into account inherent company assets as well as subjective parameters like customer awareness. The outcome is a detailed but not cumbersome scoring system, which provides guidance for material and technology choices for circular product design while considering business model and communication strategy to the attentive customers. By including customer knowledge and complying with corresponding labels, companies develop more effective circular design strategies, while simultaneously increasing customers’ trust and loyalty.

Keywords: circularity, sustainability, product design, material choice, education, awareness, willingness to pay

Procedia PDF Downloads 200

Authors: Obokhai Kess Asikhia

Abstract:

This work explores design concept generation by understanding user needs through observation and interview. The aim is to examine several principles and guidelines in obtaining evidence from observing how users interact with the targeted product and interviewing them to acquire deep insights of their needs. With the help of Quality Function Deployment (QFD), the identified needs of the users while interacting with the product were ranked using the normalised weighting approach. Furthermore, a low fidelity prototype of the alarm clock is developed with a view of addressing the identified needs of the users. Finally, the low fidelity prototype design was evaluated with two design prototypes already existing in the market through a study involving 30 participants. Preliminary results reveal higher performance ratings by the majority of the participants of the new prototype compared to the other existing alarm clocks in the market used in the study.

Keywords: design concept, low fidelity prototype, normalised weighting approach, quality function deployment, user needs

Procedia PDF Downloads 184

Authors: K. Caban-Piaskowska

Abstract:

The aim of the article is to show how the role of a designer has changed, from the point of view of human resources management and thanks to the increased importance of design management, and is to present how a rehabilitation product, through technology approach to designing, becomes a universal product. Designing for the disabled is a very undiscovered area on the pattern-designing market, most often because it is associated with devices which support rehabilitation. In consequence, it means that the realizations have a limited group of receivers and are not that attractive for designers. The relation between using modern design in building rehabilitation devices and increasing the efficiency of treatment and physiotherapy. Using modern technology can have marketing significance. Rehabilitation products designed and produced in a modern way makes an impression that experts and professionals are involved in the lives of the user – patient. In order to illustrate the problem presented above i.e. Creating a rehabilitation product as an example of design management, the case study method was used in the research. The analysis of the case was created on the basis of an interview conducted by the author with a designer who took part in meetings with people who use rehabilitation and their physiotherapists, and created universal products in Poland in the years of 2012 to 2017. Usually, engineers and constructors deal with creating products which remind us of old torture devices, however, they are indestructible in construction. Such image of those products for the disabled clearly indicates that it is a wonderful niche for designers and emphasizes the need to make those products more attractive and innovative. Products for the disabled cannot be limited to rehabilitation equipment only e.g. wheelchairs or standing frames. Introducing the idea of universal designing can significantly broaden the circle of pattern-designing receivers – everyday-use items – with the disabled people. Fulfilling these criteria will decide about the advantage on the competitive market. It is possible due to the usage of the design management concept in the functioning of an organization. Using modern technology and materials in the production of equipment, and changing the role of a designer broadening the circle of receivers by designing a wide use process which makes it possible to use the product by people with various needs. What is more, introducing rehabilitation functions in everyday-use items can also become an innovative accent in designing. In the reality of the market, each group of users can and should be treated as a problem and a realization task.

Keywords: design management, innovation, rehabilitation product, universal product

Procedia PDF Downloads 196