Search results for: reduce the demand and supply of illicit drugs

Authors: Shahul Hamid Khan, S. Santhosh, Abhinav Kumar Sharma

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Environmental performance along with social performance is becoming vital factors for industries to achieve global standards. With a good environmental policy global industries are differentiating them from their competitors. This paper concentrates on multi stage, multi product and multi period manufacturing network. Bi-objective mathematical models for total cost and total emission for the entire forward supply chain are considered. Here five different problems are considered by varying the number of suppliers, manufacturers, and environmental levels, for illustrating the taken mathematical model. GA, and Random search are used for finding the optimal solution. The input parameters of the optimal solution are used to find the tradeoff between the initial investment by the industry and the long term benefit of the environment.

Keywords: closed loop supply chain, genetic algorithm, random search, green supply chain

Procedia PDF Downloads 549

Authors: Daham Owaid Matrood, Naqaa Hussein Raheem

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Evolutionary algorithms and Artificial neural networks (ANN) are two relatively young research areas that were subject to a steadily growing interest during the past years. This paper examines the use of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) to train a multi-layer feed forward neural network for demand forecasting. We use in this paper weekly demand data for packed cement and towels, which have been outfitted by the Northern General Company for Cement and General Company of prepared clothes respectively. The results showed superiority of trained neural networks using particle swarm optimization on neural networks trained using error back propagation because their ability to escape from local optima.

Keywords: artificial neural network, demand forecasting, particle swarm optimization, weight optimization

Procedia PDF Downloads 452

Authors: Hanen Filali, Mohamed Hachicha

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Treated grey water (TGW) reuse emerged as an alternative resource to meet the growing demand for water for agricultural irrigation and reduce the pressure on limited existing fresh water. However, this reuse needs adapted management in order to avoid environmental and health risks. In this work, the treatment of grey water (GW) was studied from a cyclic treatment system that we designed and implemented in the greenhouse of National Research Institute for Rural Engineering, Water and Forests (INRGREF). This system is composed of three levels for treatment (TGW 1, TGW 2, and TGW 3). Each level includes a sandy soil box. The use of grey water was moderated depending on the chemical and microbiological quality obtained. Different samples of soils and treated grey water were performed and analyzed for 14 irrigation cycles. TGW through cyclic treatment showed physicochemical parameters like pH, electrical conductivity (EC), chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD5) in the range of 7,35-7,91, 1,69-5,03 dS/m, 102,6-54,2 mgO2/l, and 31,33-15,74 mgO2/l, respectively. Results showed a reduction in the pollutant load with a significant effect on the three treatment levels; however, an increase in salinity was observed during all irrigation cycles. Microbiological results showed good grey water treatment with low health risk on irrigated soil. Treated water quality was below permissible Tunisian standards (NT106.03), and treated water is suitable for non-potable options.

Keywords: treated grey water, irrigation, cyclic treatment, soils, physico-chemical parameters, microbiological parameters

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Authors: Brahmia Nadjet

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The growing needs of displacements led advanced countries in this field install new specific transport systems, able to palliate any deficiencies, especially when regular public transport does not adequately meet the requests of users. In this context, on-demand transport systems (ODT) are very efficient. They rely on techniques based on the location of trip generators which should be assured effectively with the use of operators responsible for the advance reservation, planning and organization, and studying the different ODT criteria (organizational, technical, geographical, etc.). As the advanced countries in the field of transport, some developing countries are involved in the adaptation of the new technologies to reduce the deficit in their communication system. This paper presents the study of an ODT implementation in the west of Algeria, by developing the geomatics side of the study. This part requires the use of specific systems such as Geographic Information System (GIS), Road Database Management System (RDBMS). So, we developed the process through an application in an environment of mobility by using the computer tools dedicated to the management of the entities related to the transport field.

Keywords: ODT, geomatics, GIS, transport systems

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Authors: Xinrong Li, Jiawei Dai

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Food production, food safety, and the food supply chain are causing a great challenge to human health and the environment. Different kinds of food have different environmental costs. Therefore, a healthy diet can alleviate this problem to a certain extent. In this project, an online questionnaire was conducted to understand the purchase behaviour of consumers and their attitudes towards basic food information. However, the data shows that the public's current consumption habits and ideology do not meet the long-term development of sustainable social needs. In order to solve the environmental problems caused by the unbalanced diet of the public and the social problems of unequal food distribution, the purpose of this paper is to explore how to use the emerging media of VR to visualize food supply chain information so as to attract users' attention to the environmental cost of food. In this project, the food supply chain of imported and local cheese was compared side-by-side in the virtual reality environment, including the origin, transportation, sales, and other processes, which can effectively help users understand the difference between the two processes and environmental costs. Besides, the experimental data demonstrated that the participant would like to choose low environmental cost food after experiencing the whole process.

Keywords: virtual reality, information design, food supply chain, environmental cost

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Authors: Aderemi, Moses Aderibigbe

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The supply chain of a manufacturing company can be classified into three categories, namely: 1) supplier chain, these are a network of suppliers of raw materials, machinery, and other requirements for daily operations for the company; 2) internal chain, which are departmental or functional relationships within the organization like production, finance, marketing, logistic and quality control departments all interacting together to achieve the goals and objective of the company; and 3) customer chain; these are networks used for products distribution to the final consumer which includes the product distributors and retailers in the marketplace as may be applicable. In a developing country like Nigeria, where government infrastructures are poor or, in some cases, none in existence, the survival of a small-scale manufacturing company often depends on how effectively its supply chain is managed. In Nigeria, suppliers of machinery and raw materials to most manufacturing companies are from low-cost but high-tech countries like China or India. The problem with the supply chain from these countries apart from the language barrier between these countries and Nigeria, is also that of product quality and after-sales support services. The internal chain also requires funding to employ an experienced and trained workforce to deliver the company’s goals and objectives effectively and efficiently, which is always a challenge for small-scale manufacturers, including product marketing. In Nigeria, the management of the supply chain by small-scale manufacturers is further complicated by unfavourable government policies. This empirical research is a review and analysis of the supply chain management of a small-scale manufacturing company located in Lagos, Nigeria. The company's performance for the past five years has been on the decline and company management thinks there is a need for a review of its supply chain management for business survival. The company’s supply chain is analyzed and compared with best global practices in this research, and recommendations are made to the company management. The research outcome justifies the company’s need for a strategic change in its supply chain management for business sustainability and provides a learning point to small-scale manufacturing companies from developing countries in Africa

Keywords: management, small scale, supply chain, companies, leaders

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Authors: Krishna Prasad Sharma

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Nepal’s financial sector has become deeper and wider, and the number and types of financial intermediaries have grown rapidly over the past two decades. However, access to financial services remains limited for many people in many parts of rural Nepal. While financial institutions have been expanding rapidly in an urban area in recent years, the access to the rural poor is excessively inadequate due to financial illiteracy and limited numbers of financial institutions that confined only to the district headquarters. Based on the focus group discussion, semi-structured interview of key people and literature review, this paper aims to examine the supply of and demand for financial services in Nepal and the constraints to increasing access to them, and offers way forward for making the financial sector work for all of Nepal’s people, especially the rural poor. While Nepal’s government has tried to increase access to formal financial services for small businesses and low-income households through directed lending programs for small businesses and low-income households, created specialized wholesale and retail institutions, and lowered market entry requirements, formal financial services are declining, and financial intermediation is stagnating. Supply and demand indicators show that, despite government efforts, formal financial institutions do not serve the needs of most of the Nepalese population. While access to and use of formal financial services are limited, in general, the problem is acute for small businesses and low-income households. Indeed, both access and use are closely correlated with business loan size and household income. This study concludes that banks and microfinance institutions with the use of mobile phones can connect hundreds of millions of unbanked and low-income people, especially rural poor to financial services at low costs. While there are many challenges ahead in expanding the service to rural areas, the mobile financial services will be beneficial that makes payments faster and cheaper, more convenient and accessible to a greater number of senders and recipients in rural areas. In rural areas, clients will benefit from money transfer and other mobile and online services.

Keywords: financial inclusion, financial enabling environment, microfinance, branchless banking, rural poor

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Authors: A. Latif Karimi

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Since 2001, construction works, especially the construction of new homes and residential buildings, witnessed a dramatic boom across Afghanistan. More so, the construction industry and house builders are relied upon as important players in the country’s job market, economy and infrastructural development schemes. However, a lack of innovation, quality assurance mechanism, substandard construction and market dominance by traditional methods push all the parties in house building sector to shift for more advanced construction techniques and mass production technologies to meet the rising demands for proper accommodation. Meanwhile, rapid population growth and urbanization are widening the gap between the demand and supply of new and modern houses in urban areas like Kabul, Herat, etc. This paper investigates about current condition of construction practices in house building projects, the associated challenges, and the outcomes of transition to more reasonable and sustainable building methods. It is obvious, the introduction and use of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) can help construction industry and house builders in Afghanistan to tackle the challenges and meet the desired standards for modern houses. This paper focuses on prefabrication, a popular MMC that is becoming more common, improving in quality and available in a variety of budgets. It is revealed that this method is the way forward to improving house building practices as it has been proven to reduce construction time, minimize waste and improve environmental performance of construction developments.

Keywords: modern houses, traditional construction, modern methods of construction, prefabrication, sustainable building

Procedia PDF Downloads 287

Authors: Brandtner Patrick, Staberhofer Franz

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Logistics and Supply Chain Management are of crucial importance for organisational success. In the era of Digitalization, several implications and improvement potentials for these domains arise, which at the same time could lead to decreased competitiveness and could endanger long-term company success if ignored or neglected. However, empirical research on the issue of Digitalization and benefits purported to it by practitioners is scarce and mainly focused on single technologies or separate, isolated Supply Chain blocks as e.g. distribution logistics or procurement only. The current paper applies a holistic focus group approach to elaborate practitioner use cases at the nexus of the concepts of Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Digitalization. In the course of three focus group workshops with over 45 participants from more than 20 organisations, a comprehensive set of benefit entitlements and areas for improvement in terms of applying digitalization to SCM is developed. The main results of the paper indicate the relevance of Digitalization being realized in practice. In the form of seventeen concrete research action fields, the benefit entitlements are aggregated and transformed into potential starting points for future research projects in this area. The main contribution of this paper is an empirically grounded basis for future research projects and an overview of actual research action fields from practitioners’ point of view.

Keywords: digital supply chain, digital transformation, supply chain management, value networks

Procedia PDF Downloads 177

Authors: Mohammed Ibrahim Bu Haya, Abdelmoneim Bahyeldin Mohamed Metwally

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This paper examines the impact of Green Intellectual Capital (GIC) on Green Supply Chain Performance (GSCP). Further, the study examines the moderating role of external pressures (EP) on the relationship between GIC and GSCP. Data were collected from employees working in Egyptian hotels and tourism companies (N= 366). The collected data were analyzed using smart partial least squares (Smart-PLS) software. The current research indicated that there is a positive and significant impact of all GIC components on GSCP. The results also revealed that EP were found to moderate the relationship between GIC and GSCP. The study model was able to explain 63.1% of the variance in GSCP. The findings of this study serve as a pivotal yardstick for guiding corporate policy formulation, offering valuable insights to drive continuous improvements in supply chain management and performance. Furthermore, the research holds substantial implications for managerial strategies by shedding light on the potential of GIC and EP to elevate GSCP. Positioned as one of the initial studies to delve into the moderating role of EP in the relationship between GIC and GSCP, this research offers insights within an emerging market context.

Keywords: green intellectual capital, green supply chain, supply chain performance, external pressures, emerging economy, Egypt

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Authors: Chechen Liao, Pui-Lai To, Chiao-Ying Chen

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An introduction of internet auction has significantly widened the pool of consumers who participate in auctions and increased the number of companies attempting to sell their products in an auction format. Previous research on auctions has focused almost exclusively on the behavior of professional bidders. In this study, we focus on the characteristic of seller, auction parameter and the effect of supply and demand, and examine these impacts on auction effectiveness. In particular, a framework for online auction effectiveness was developed. The framework will help researchers and practitioner to find ways to improve online auction effectiveness.

Keywords: Auction Effectiveness, Framework Developing, Online Auction, Selling Strategy

Procedia PDF Downloads 337

Authors: Pascal Mwenge, Tumisang Seodigeng

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The increase in urbanisation in South Africa has led to an increase in water demand and a decline in freshwater supply. Despite this, poor water usage is still a major challenge in South Africa, for instance, freshwater is still used for non-drinking applications. The freshwater shortage can be alleviated by using other sources of water for non-portable purposes such as greywater treated with activated biochar produced from agricultural waste. The success of activated biochar produced from agricultural waste to treat greywater can be both economically and environmentally beneficial. Greywater treated with activated biochar produced from agricultural waste is considered a cost-effective wastewater treatment.  This work was aimed at determining the ability of activated biochar to remove Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Ammonium (NH₄-N), Nitrate (NO₃-N), and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) from greywater. The experiments were carried out in 800 ml laboratory plastic cylinders used as filter columns. 2.5 cm layer of gravel was used at the bottom and top of the column to sandwich the activated biochar material. Activated biochar (200 g and 400 g) was loaded in a column and used as a filter medium for greywater. Samples were collected after a week and sent for analysis. Four types of greywater were treated: Kitchen, floor cleaning water, shower and laundry water. The findings showed: 95% removal of TSS, 76% of NO₃-N and 63% of COD on kitchen greywater and 85% removal of NH₄-N on bathroom greywater, as highest removal of efficiency of the studied pollutants. The results showed that activated biochar produced from agricultural waste reduces a certain amount of pollutants from greywater. The results also indicated the ability of activated biochar to treat greywater for onsite non-potable reuse purposes.

Keywords: activated biochar produced from agriculture waste, ammonium, NH₄-N, chemical oxygen demand, COD, greywater, nitrate, NO₃-N, total suspended solids, TSS

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Authors: Ashenafi Sileshi Etefa, Bezawit Worku Yenealem

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Micro-insurance is a relatively new concept that is just being introduced in Ethiopia. For an agrarian economy dominated by small holder farming and vulnerable to natural disasters, mainly drought, the need for an Index-Based Micro Insurance (IBMI) is crucial. Since IBMI solves moral hazard, adverse selection, and access issues to poor clients, it is preferable over traditional insurance products. IBMI is being piloted in drought prone areas of Ethiopia with the aim of learning and expanding the service across the country. This article analyses the demand of IBMI and the barriers to demand and finds that the demand for IBMI has so far been constrained by lack of awareness, trust issues, costliness, and the level of basis risk; and recommends reducing the basis risk and increasing the role of government and farmer cooperatives.

Keywords: agriculture, index based micro-insurance (IBMI), drought, micro-finance institution (MFI)

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Authors: Afrah Saad Mohsen Al-Mahfadi

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In rural areas of developing countries, participation of all stakeholders in water supply projects is an important step towards further development. As most of the beneficiaries are women, it is important that they should be involved to achieve successful and sustainable water supply projects. Women are responsible for the management of water both inside and outside home, and often spend more than six-hours a day fetching drinking water from distant water sources. The problem is that rural women play a role of little importance in the water supply projects’ phases in rural Yemen. Therefore, this research aimed at analyzing the different reasons of their lack of participation in projects and in what way a full participation -if achieved- could contribute to sustainable water supply projects in the rural mountainous areas in Yemen. Four water supply projects were selected as a case study in Al-Della'a Alaala sub-district in the Al-Mahweet governorate, two of them were implemented by the Social Fund and Development (SFD), while others were implemented by the General Authority for Rural Water Supply Projects (GARWSSP). Furthermore, the successful Al-Galba project, which is located in Badan district in Ibb governorate, was selected for comparison. The rural women's active participation in water projects have potential consequences including continuity and maintenance improvement, equipment security, and improvement in the overall health and education status of these areas. The majority of respondents taking part in GARWSSP projects estimated that there is no reason to involve women in the project activities. In the comparison project - in which a woman worked as a supervisor and implemented the project – all respondents indicated that the participation of women is vital for sustainability. Therefore, the results of this research are intended to stimulate rural women's participation in the mountainous areas of Yemen.

Keywords: assessment, rural woman, sustainability, water management

Procedia PDF Downloads 692

Authors: Robel Habtemariam

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Globally, wind energy and photovoltaics (PV) solar energy are among the leading renewable energy sources (RES) in terms of installed capacity. In order to increase the contribution of RES to the power supply system, large scale energy integration is required, mainly due to wind energy and PV. In this paper, an investigation has been made on the electrical power supply systems of Taiwan and Greece in order to integrate high level of wind and photovoltaic (PV) to increase the penetration of renewable energy resources. Currently, both countries heavily depend on fossil fuels to meet the demand and to generate adequate electricity. Therefore, this study is carried out to look into the two cases power supply system by developing a methodology that includes major power units. To address the analysis, an approach for simulation of power systems is formulated and applied. The simulation is based on the non-dynamic analysis of the electrical system. This simulation results in calculating the energy contribution of different types of power units; namely the wind, PV, non-flexible and flexible power units. The calculation is done for three different scenarios (2020, 2030, & 2050), where the first two scenarios are based on national targets and scenario 2050 is a reflection of ambitious global targets. By 2030 in Taiwan, the input of the power units is evaluated as 4.3% (wind), 3.7% (PV), 65.2 (non-flexible), 25.3% (flexible), and 1.5% belongs to hydropower plants. In Greece, much higher renewable energy contribution is observed for the same scenario with 21.7% (wind), 14.3% (PV), 38.7% (non-flexible), 14.9% (flexible), and 10.3% (hydro). Moreover, it examines the ability of the power systems to deal with the variable nature of the wind and PV generation. For this reason, an investigation has also been done on the use of the combined wind power with pumped storage systems (WPS) to enable the system to exploit the curtailed wind energy & surplus PV and thus increase the wind and PV installed capacity and replace the peak supply by conventional power units. Results show that the feasibility of pumped storage can be justified in the high scenario (that is the scenario of 2050) of RES integration especially in the case of Greece.

Keywords: large scale energy integration, photovoltaics solar energy, pumped storage systems, renewable energy sources

Procedia PDF Downloads 277

Authors: Jamal Radaideh

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Al-Asfar Lake is located about 14 km east of Al-Ahsa and is one of the most important wetland lakes in the Al Ahsa/Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Al-Ahsa is may be the largest oasis in the world, having an area of 20,000 hectares, in addition, it is of the largest and oldest agricultural centers in the region. The surplus farm irrigation water beside additional water supplied by treated wastewater from Al-Hofuf sewage station is collected by a drainage network and discharged into Al-Asfar Lake. The lake has good wetlands, sand dunes as well as large expanses of open and shallow water. Salt tolerant vegetation is present in some of the shallow areas around the lake, and huge stands of Phragmites reeds occur around the lake. The lake presents an important habitat for wildlife and birds, something not expected to find in a large desert. Although high evaporation rates in the range of 3250 mm are common, the water remains in the evaporation lakes during all seasons of the year is used to supply cattle with drinking water and for aquifer recharge. Investigations showed that high concentrations of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and salinity discharge to Al Asfar Lake from the D2 drain exist. It is expected that the majority of BOD, COD and N originates from wastewater discharge and leachate from surplus irrigation water which also contribute to the majority of P and salinity. The significant content of nutrients and biological oxygen demand reduces available oxygen in the water. The present project aimed to improve the water quality of the lake using constructed wetland trains which will be built around the lake. Phragmites reeds, which already occur around the lake, will be used.

Keywords: Al Asfar lake, constructed wetland, water quality, water treatment

Procedia PDF Downloads 449

Authors: Panpan Fan, Bo Ming, Niels P. R. Anten, Jochem B. Evers, Yaoyao Li, Shaokun Li, Ruizhi Xie

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The reallocation of dry matter (DM) and nitrogen (N) from vegetative tissues to the grain sinks are critical for grain yield. The objective of this study was to quantify the DM and N accumulation, partition, and reallocation at the single-leaf, different-organ, and individual-plant scales and clarify the responses to different levels of N availabilities. A two-year field experiment was conducted in Jinlin province, Northeast China, with three N fertilizer rates to create the different N availability levels: N0 (N deficiency), N1(low supply), and N2 (high supply). The results showed that grain N depends more on reallocations of vegetative organs compared with grain DM. Besides, vegetative organs reallocated more DM and N to grain under lower N availability, whereas more grain DM and grain N were derived from post-silking leaf photosynthesis and post-silking N uptake from the soil under high N availability. Furthermore, the reallocation amount and reallocation efficiency of leaf DM and leaf N content differed among leaf ranks and were regulated by N availability; specifically, the DM reallocation occurs mainly on senesced leaves, whereas the leaf N reallocation was in live leaves. These results provide a theoretical basis for deriving parameters in crop models for the simulation of the demand, uptake, partition, and reallocation processes of DM and N.

Keywords: dry matter, leaf N content, leaf rank, N availability, reallocation efficiency

Procedia PDF Downloads 127

Authors: Rajeshwar S. Matche, Subhash V. Pawde, Suraj P, Sachin R. Chaudhari

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Time Temperature Indicator’s (TTI) are trending approach in a food packaging that will be insightful to have safe and hygienic food products. Currently, available TTI in the market are mostly a product specific and sometime even difficult to handle especially in supply chain as these are pre-activated and require specific storage conditions. In the present study, research focus is on the development of a cost-effective lactic acid based TTI that can work over a wide range of temperature and can be activated at time of packaging or on demand. The correlation between activation energies of colour change of the developed indicator and packed pasteurized milk spoilage with respect to time and temperature was established. Developed lactic acid based TTI strips have range of activation energy from 10.13 to 24.20 KJ/mol. We found that the developed TTI strip’s with activation energy 12.42, and 14.41KJ/mol can be correlated with spoilage activation energy of packed pasteurized milk which was 25.71 KJ/mol with factor of 2 at storage temperature 4°C. The implementation of these TTI on packed pasteurized milk allow us see visual colour change during the storage and can be fruitful to monitoring quality of the milk and understand its freshness especially in a cold supply chain, viz distributor and road vendor etc.

Keywords: pasteurised packed milk, time temperature indicator, spoilage, freshness

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Authors: Iman Janghorban Esfahani

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Due to the increased use of irrigation in agriculture, the importance and need for highly reliable water pumping systems have significantly increased. The pumping of the groundwater is essential to provide water for both drip and furrow irrigation to increase the agricultural yield, especially in arid regions that suffer from scarcities of surface water. The most common irrigation pumping systems (IPS) consume conventional energies through the use of electric motors and generators or connecting to the electricity grid. Due to the shortage and transportation difficulties of fossil fuels, and unreliable access to the electricity grid, especially in the rural areas, and the adverse environmental impacts of fossil fuel usage, such as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the need for renewable energy sources such as photovoltaic systems (PVS) as an alternative way of powering irrigation pumping systems is urgent. Integration of the photovoltaic systems with irrigation pumping systems as the Photovoltaic Powered-Irrigation Pumping System (PVP-IPS) can avoid fossil fuel dependency and the subsequent greenhouse gas emissions, as well as ultimately lower energy costs and improve efficiency, which made PVP-IPS systems as an environmentally and economically efficient solution for agriculture irrigation in every region. The greatest problem faced by integration of PVP with IPS systems is matching the intermittence of the energy supply with the dynamic water demand. The best solution to overcome the intermittence is to incorporate a storage system into the PVP-IPS to provide water-on-demand as a highly reliable stand-alone irrigation pumping system. The water storage tank (WST) is the most common storage device for PVP-IPS systems. In the integrated PVP-IPS with a water storage tank (PVP-IPS-WST), a water storage tank stores the water pumped by the IPS in excess of the water demand and then delivers it when demands are high. The Freshwater pinch analysis (FWaPA) as an alternative to mathematical modeling was used by other researchers for retrofitting the off-grid battery less photovoltaic-powered reverse osmosis system. However, the Freshwater pinch analysis has not been used to integrate the photovoltaic systems with irrigation pumping system with water storage tanks. In this study, FWaPA graphical and numerical tools were used for retrofitting an existing PVP-IPS system located in Salahadin, Republic of Iraq. The plant includes a 5 kW submersible water pump and 7.5 kW solar PV system. The Freshwater Composite Curve as the graphical tool and Freashwater Storage Cascade Table as the numerical tool were constructed to determine the minimum required outsourced water during operation, optimal amount of delivered electricity to the water pump, and optimal size of the water storage tank for one-year operation data. The results of implementing the FWaPA on the case study show that the PVP-IPS system with a WST as the reliable system can reduce outsourced water by 95.41% compare to the PVP-IPS system without storage tank.

Keywords: irrigation, photovoltaic, pinch analysis, pumping, solar energy

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Authors: Ramin Mirzada

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This research investigates the valuation of public transport importance in decreasing congestion and in introduction of bus rapid transit in Kabul city. The main concern and main problem of the Kabul city public transport is traffic congestion. When buses and trams are stuck in traffic jams, it is clear that they fall behind from the schedule and this cause lots of problem for Kabul residence. In this research, the main attention has been given to improve current public transport in Kabul city which Public transport has large share almost 50% share among all mode. The main purpose of this research is to improve public transport system, to examine the demand and the supply of public transport in Kabul city, and to improve public transport system by introducing Bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Kabul city. The data which is used in this research is gathered by Transport Ministry, Kabul Municipality and Japan Cooperation Agency in Afghanistan (JICA). Urban transportation modeling system (UTMS) which is also known as traditional four-step modeling is used as the methodology of this research. The outcome of this research shows that by improving public transport which is local bus system mostly congestion problem of Kabul city become solve, and for those lanes which has the high demand and has more congestion, it is needed to introduce bus rapid transit system.

Keywords: transportation, planning, public transport, bus rapid transit, Kabul, Afghanistan

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Authors: Armen Grigoryan, Milena Arakelyan

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The idea of smart logistics is still quite a complicated one. It can be used to market products to a large number of customers or to acquire raw materials of the highest quality at the lowest cost in geographically dispersed areas. The use of smart contracts in logistics and supply chain management has the potential to revolutionize the way that goods are tracked, transported, and managed. Smart contracts are simply computer programs written in one of the blockchain programming languages (Solidity, Rust, Vyper), which are capable of self-execution once the predetermined conditions are met. They can be used to automate and streamline many of the traditional manual processes that are currently used in logistics and supply chain management, including the tracking and movement of goods, the management of inventory, and the facilitation of payments and settlements between different parties in the supply chain. Currently, logistics is a core area for companies which is concerned with transporting products between parties. Still, the problem of this sector is that its scale may lead to detainments and defaults in the delivery of goods, as well as other issues. Moreover, large distributors require a large number of workers to meet all the needs of their stores. All this may contribute to big detainments in order processing and increases the potentiality of losing orders. In an attempt to break this problem, companies have automated all their procedures, contributing to a significant augmentation in the number of businesses and distributors in the logistics sector. Hence, blockchain technology and smart contracted legal agreements seem to be suitable concepts to redesign and optimize collaborative business processes and supply chains. The main purpose of this paper is to examine the scope of blockchain technology and smart contracts in the field of logistics and supply chain management. This study discusses the research question of how and to which extent smart contracts and blockchain technology can facilitate and improve the implementation of collaborative business structures for sustainable entrepreneurial activities in smart supply chains. The intention is to provide a comprehensive overview of the existing research on the use of smart contracts in logistics and supply chain management and to identify any gaps or limitations in the current knowledge on this topic. This review aims to provide a summary and evaluation of the key findings and themes that emerge from the research, as well as to suggest potential directions for future research on the use of smart contracts in logistics and supply chain management.

Keywords: smart contracts, smart logistics, smart supply chain management, blockchain and smart contracts in logistics, smart contracts for controlling supply chain management

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Authors: Josip Visković, Ana Rimac Smiljanić, Ines Ivić

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Housing loans play an important role in CEE countries’ economies. This fact is based on their share in total loans to households and their importance for economic activity and growth in CEE countries. Therefore, it is important to find out key determinants of housing loans demand in these countries. The aim of this study is to research and analyze the determinants of the demand for housing loans in Croatia. In this regard, the effect of economic activity, loan terms and real estate prices were analyzed. Also, the aim of this study is to find out what motivates people to take housing loans. Therefore, primarily empirical study was conducted among the Croatian residents. The results show that demand for housing loans is positively affected by economic growth, higher personal income and flexible loan terms, while it is negatively affected by interest rate rise.

Keywords: CEE countries, Croatia, demand determinants, housing loans

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Authors: Mohammad Borhani, Afshin Danehkar

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With the increase in population and the upward trend of energy demand, mankind has thought of using suppliers that guarantee a stable supply of energy, unlike fossil fuels, which, in addition to the widespread emission of greenhouse gases that one of the main factors in the destruction of the ozone layer and it will be finished in a short time in the not-so-distant future. In this regard, one of the sustainable ways of energy supply is the use of wind converters. That convert wind energy into electricity. For this reason, this research focused on wind turbines and their installation conditions. The main classification of wind turbines is based on the axis of rotation, which is divided into two groups: horizontal axis and vertical axis; each of these two types, with the advancement of technology in man-made environments such as cities, villages, airports, and other human environments can be installed and operated. The main difference between offshore and onshore wind turbines is their installation and foundation. Which are usually divided into five types; including of Monopile Wind Turbines, Jacket Wind Turbines, Tripile Wind Turbines, Gravity-Based Wind Turbines, and Floating Offshore Wind Turbines. For installation in a wind power plant requires an arrangement that produces electric power, the distance between the turbines is usually between 5 or 7 times the diameter of the rotor and if perpendicular to the wind direction be If they are 3 to 5 times the diameter of the rotor, they will be more efficient.

Keywords: wind farms, Savonius, Darrieus, offshore wind turbine, renewable energy

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Authors: Haile F. Darge, Hsieh C. Tsai

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The tumor microenvironment affects the therapeutic outcomes of cancer disease. In a malignant tumor, overexpression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) provokes the production of pathologic vascular networks. This results in a hostile tumor environment that hinders anti-cancer drug activities and profoundly fuels tumor progression. In this study, we develop a strategy of sequential sustain release of the anti-angiogenic drug: Bevacizumab(BVZ), and anti-cancer drug: Doxorubicin(DOX) which had a synergistic effect on cancer treatment. Poly (D, L-Lactide)- Poly (ethylene glycol) –Poly (D, L-Lactide) (PDLLA-PEG-PDLLA) thermo-sensitive hydrogel was used as a vehicle for local delivery of drugs in a single platform. The in vitro release profiles of the drugs were investigated and confirmed a relatively rapid release of BVZ (73.56 ± 1.39%) followed by Dox (61.21 ± 0.62%) for a prolonged period. The cytotoxicity test revealed that the copolymer exhibited negligible cytotoxicity up to 2.5 mg ml-1 concentration on HaCaT and HeLa cells. The in vivo study on Hela xenograft nude mice verified that hydrogel co-loaded with BVZ and DOX displayed the highest tumor suppression efficacy for up to 36 days with pronounce anti-angiogenic effect of BVZ and with no noticeable damage on vital organs. Therefore, localized co-delivery of anti-angiogenic drug and anti-cancer drugs by the hydrogel system may be a promising approach for enhanced chemotherapeutic efficacy in cancer treatment.

Keywords: anti-angiogenesis, chemotherapy, controlled release, thermo-sensitive hydrogel

Procedia PDF Downloads 134

Authors: Peter Fedichev

Abstract:

We studied fundamental aspects of aging to develop a mathematical model of gene regulatory network. We show that aging manifests itself as an inherent instability of gene network leading to exponential accumulation of regulatory errors with age. To validate our approach we studied age-dependent omic data such as transcriptomes, metabolomes etc. of different model organisms and humans. We build a computational platform based on our model to identify the targets and biomarkers of aging to design new drugs against aging and age-related diseases. As biomarkers of aging, we choose the rate of aging and the biological age since they completely determine the state of the organism. Since rate of aging rapidly changes in response to an external stress, this kind of biomarker can be useful as a tool for quantitative efficacy assessment of drugs, their combinations, dose optimization, chronic toxicity estimate, personalized therapies selection, clinical endpoints achievement (within clinical research), and death risk assessments. According to our model, we propose a method for targets identification for further interventions against aging and age-related diseases. Being a biotech company, we offer a complete pipeline to develop an anti-aging drug-candidate.

Keywords: aging, longevity, biomarkers, senescence

Procedia PDF Downloads 274

Authors: Polycarpe Feussi

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Globalization, technological and customer increasing changes, amongst other drivers, result in higher levels of uncertainty and unpredictability for organizations. In order for organizations to cope with the uncertain and fast-changing economic and business environment, these organizations need to innovate in order to achieve flexibility. In simple terms, the organizations must develop strategies leading to the ability of these organizations to provide horizontal information connections across the supply chain to create and deliver products that meet customer needs by synchronization of customer demands with product creation. The generated information will create efficiency and effectiveness throughout the whole supply chain regarding production, storage, and distribution, as well as eliminating redundant activities and reduction in response time. In an integrated supply chain, spanning activities include coordination with distributors and suppliers. This paper explains how through postponement strategies, flexibility can be achieved in an organization. In order to achieve the above, a thorough literature review was conducted via the search of online websites that contains material from scientific journal data-bases, articles, and textbooks on the subject of postponement and flexibility. The findings of the research are found in the last part of the paper. The first part introduces the concept of postponement and its importance in supply chain management. The second part of the paper provides the methodology used in the process of writing the paper.

Keywords: postponement strategies, supply chain management, flexibility, logistics

Procedia PDF Downloads 193

Authors: E. Happ, A. Albert Tóth

Abstract:

The aim of the research is to investigate the forms of the demands of leisure tourism in a West-Hungarian industrial city, Győr. Today, Győr is still a traditional industrial city, its industry is mainly based on vehicle industry, but the role of tourism is increasing in the life of the city as well. Because of the industrial nature and the strong economy of the city, the ratio of business tourists is high. It can be stated that MICE tourism is dominating in Győr. Developments of the last decade can help the city with new tourism products to increase the leisure tourism. The new types of tourism – besides business tourism – can help the providers to increase the occupancy rates and the demand at the weekends. The research demonstrates the theoretical background of the topic, and it shows the present situation of the tourism in Győr with secondary data. The secondary research contains statistical data from the Hungarian Statistical Office and the city council, and it is based on the providers’ data. The next part of the paper shows the potential types of leisure tourism with the help of primary research. The primary research contains the results of an online questionnaire with a sample of 1000 potential customers. It is completed with 10 in-depth interviews with tourism experts, who explained their opinions about the opportunities of leisure tourism in Győr from the providers’ side. The online questionnaire was filled out in spring 2017 by customers, who have already stayed in Győr or plan to visit the city. At the same time in-depth interviews were made with hotel managers, head of touristic institutions and employees at the council. Based on the research it can be stated that the touristic supply of Győr allows the increase of the leisure tourism ratio in the city. Primarily, the cultural and health tourism show potential development, but the supply side of touristic services can be developed in order to increase the number of guest nights. The tourism marketing needs to be strengthened in the city, and a distinctive marketing activity - from other cities - is needed as well. To conclude, although Győr is an industrial city, it has a transforming industrial part, and tourism is also strongly present in its economy. Besides the leading role of business tourism, different types of leisure tourism have the opportunity to take place in the city.

Keywords: business tourism, Győr, industrial city, leisure tourism, touristic demand

Procedia PDF Downloads 279

Authors: Gifty Kumadey, Albert Tchey Agbenyegah

Abstract:

This study explores the role of stakeholders in developing a sustainable supply chain policy framework in Ghana's pharmaceutical industry. It employs a qualitative research design to analyze policy documents, academic articles, and reports, shedding light on stakeholder involvement. The findings highlight the contributions of government agencies, regulatory bodies, pharmaceutical companies, suppliers, and civil society organizations. Key policies such as green procurement, waste management, and recycling initiatives are identified. However, challenges such as limited transparency, supplier engagement, and regulatory complexity impede implementation. The study recommends strengthening collaboration and promoting transparency to overcome these challenges. The findings provide valuable insights for policymakers, industry stakeholders, and researchers seeking to advance sustainable supply chain practices in Ghana's pharmaceutical industry.

Keywords: stakeholders, sustainable supply chain, policy framework, pharmaceutical industry

Procedia PDF Downloads 93

Authors: Denys Sebov, Viktoriia Korotaieva, Kateryna Markina

Abstract:

The clinical advantage of the multipill combination drugs administration (polypill-strategy) over single-component drugs (monopill-strategy) has been established in patients with comorbid arterial hypertension, heart failure, chronic coronary syndrome, diabetes. It was found that polypill-strategy provides better treatment adherence in 33.4% of the patients. It was proven a significant decrease in systolic and diastolic blood pressure, as well as a decrease in dispersion index due to the stability of the blood pressure profile in patients with the polypill-strategy treatment.

Keywords: polypill, artetial hypertension, cardiovascular disease, compliance

Procedia PDF Downloads 60

Authors: B. A. Adeniyi, S. A. Daud, O. Amao

Abstract:

The study investigates consumer demand for meat products in Oyo West Local Government using linear approximate almost ideal demand system (LA/AIDS). Questions that were addressed by the study include: first, what is the type and quantity of meat products available to the household and their demand pattern? Second is the investigation of the factors that affect meat products demand pattern and proportion of income that is spent on them. For the above purpose cross-sectional data were collected from 156 households of the study area and analyzed to reveal the functional relationship between meat products consumption and some socio-economic variables of the household. Results indicated that per capita meat consumption increased as household income and education increased but decreased with age. It was also found that male tend to consume more meat products than their female counterparts and that increase in household size will first increased per caput meat consumption but later decreased it. Price also tends to greatly influence the demand pattern of meat products. The results of elasticity computed from the results of regression analysis revealed that own price elasticity for all meat products were negative which indicated that they were normal products while cross and expenditure elasticity were positive which further confirmed that meat products were normal and substitute products. This study therefore concludes that the relevance of these variables imposed a great challenge to the policy makers and the government, in the sense that more cost effective methods of meat production technology have to be devised in other to make consumption of meat products more affordable.

Keywords: meat products, consumption, animal production, technology

Procedia PDF Downloads 248