Search results for: risk management failure

Authors: Irena Paramita Pramono

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Islamic bank is a financial industry with huge potential to grow in Indonesia. Profit-sharing agreement in the operations of Islamic banks distinguishes Islamic banks with conventional banks. Profit-sharing agreement allows sharing of benefits and risks between shahibul maal and mudharib in islamic bank. This study aimed to observe the patterns of influence between the risk-sharing agreement, financing risk and Profitability in Islamic banks. This research used several Islamic banks as sample and path analysis method. The empirical results of this research shows that the profit-sharing agreement in deposits structure has no direct significant effect to ROA, but it has indirect effect to ROA through profit-sharing financing. On the other hand, profit-sharing financing has direct and indirect influence to ROA through financing risk. This research shows that profit-sharing financing has a positive significant effect to the financing risk and also to the ROA. The research recommends Islamic banks to continue using and developing profit-sharing agreement in its operational activities, hence to create value.

Keywords: Islamic bank, profit-loss sharing agreement, financing risk, profitability

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Authors: Alaa Allakany, Koji Okamura

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Multicast technology is an efficient and scalable technology for data distribution in order to optimize network resources. However, in the IP network, the responsibility for management of multicast groups is distributed among network routers, which causes some limitations such as delays in processing group events, high bandwidth consumption and redundant tree calculation. Software Defined Networking (SDN) represented by OpenFlow presented as a solution for many problems, in SDN the control plane and data plane are separated by shifting the control and management to a remote centralized controller, and the routers are used as a forwarder only. In this paper we will proposed fast switching mechanism for solving the problem of link failure in multicast tree based on Tabu Search heuristic algorithm and modifying the functions of OpenFlow switch to fasts switch to the pack up sub tree rather than sending to the controller. In this work we will implement multicasting OpenFlow controller, this centralized controller is a core part in our multicasting approach, which is responsible for 1- constructing the multicast tree, 2- handling the multicast group events and multicast state maintenance. And finally modifying OpenFlow switch functions for fasts switch to pack up paths. Forwarders, forward the multicast packet based on multicast routing entries which were generated by the centralized controller. Tabu search will be used as heuristic algorithm for construction near optimum multicast tree and maintain multicast tree to still near optimum in case of join or leave any members from multicast group (group events).

Keywords: multicast tree, software define networks, tabu search, OpenFlow

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Authors: Katalin Bodor, Zsolt Bodor, Robert Szep

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The particulate matter (PM) smaller than 2.5 μm are less studied due to the limited availability of PM₂.₅, and less information is available on the health effects attributable to PM₁₀ in Central-Eastern Europe. The objective of the current study was to assess the human health risk and characterize the spatial and temporal variation of PM₂.₅ and PM₁₀ in eight Romanian regions between the 2009-2018 and. The PM concentrations showed high variability over time and spatial distribution. The highest concentration was detected in the Bucharest region in the winter period, and the lowest was detected in West. The relative risk caused by the PM₁₀ for all-cause mortality varied between 1.017 (B) and 1.025 (W), with an average 1.020. The results demonstrate a positive relative risk of cardiopulmonary and lung cancer disease due to exposure to PM₂.₅ on the national average 1.26 ( ± 0.023) and 1.42 ( ± 0.037), respectively.

Keywords: PM₂.₅, PM₁₀, relative risk, health effect

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Authors: Mohammed Alassim

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In 2014, a UN survey stated that: "The greatest challenge to the adoption of whole-of government, which fundamentally rests on increased collaboration, is resistance to change among government actors". Change management has experienced both theoretically and practically many transformation over the years. When organizations have to implement radical changes, they have to encounter a plethora of issues which leads to ineffective or inefficient implementation of change in most cases. 70% of change projects fail because of human issues. It has been cited that” most studies still show a 60-70% failure rate for organizational change projects — a statistic that has stayed constant from the 1970’s to the present.”. E-government involves not just technical change but cultural, policy, social and organizational evolution. Managing change and overcoming resistance to change is seen as crucial in the success of E-government projects. Resistance can be from different levels in the organization (top management, middle management or employees at operational levels). There can be many reasons for resistance including fear of change and insecurity, lack of knowledge and absence of commitment from management to implement the change. The purpose of this study is to conduct in-depth research to understand the process of change and to identify the critical factors that have led to resistance from employees at different levels (top management, Middle management and operational employees) during e-government initiatives in the public sector in Saudi Arabia. The study is based on qualitative and empirical research methods conducted in the public sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This research will use triangulation in data method (interview, group discussion and document review). This research will contribute significantly to knowledge in this field and will identify the measures that can be taken to reduce resistance to change, Upon analysis recommendations or model will be offered which can enable decision makers in public sector in Saudi Arabia how to plan, implement and evaluate change in e-government initiatives via change management strategy.

Keywords: change management, e-government, managing change, resistance to change

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Authors: Souad Romdhane, Lotfi Belkacem

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When referring to actuarial analysis of lifetime, only models accounting for observable risk factors have been developed. Within this context, Cox proportional hazards model (CPH model) is commonly used to assess the effects of observable covariates as gender, age, smoking habits, on the hazard rates. These covariates may fail to fully account for the true lifetime interval. This may be due to the existence of another random variable (frailty) that is still being ignored. The aim of this paper is to examine the shared frailty issue in the Cox proportional hazard model by including two different parametric forms of frailty into the hazard function. Four estimated methods are used to fit them. The performance of the parameter estimates is assessed and compared between the classical Cox model and these frailty models through a real-life data set from the Quebec Pension Plan and then using a more general simulation study. This performance is investigated in terms of the bias of point estimates and their empirical standard errors in both fixed and random effect parts. Both the simulation and the real dataset studies showed differences between classical Cox model and shared frailty model.

Keywords: life insurance-pension plan, survival analysis, risk factors, cox proportional hazards model, multivariate failure-time data, shared frailty, simulations study

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Authors: Jamshed Ahmad, Abdul Wahid Khan, Javed Ali Khan

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Managing software quality requirements change management is a difficult task in the field of software engineering. Avoiding incoming changes result in user dissatisfaction while accommodating to many requirement changes may delay product delivery. Poor requirements management is solely considered the primary cause of the software failure. It becomes more challenging in global software outsourcing. Addressing success factors in quality requirement change management is desired today due to the frequent change requests from the end-users. In this research study, success factors are recognized and scrutinized with the help of a systematic literature review (SLR). In total, 16 success factors were identified, which significantly impacted software quality requirement change management. The findings show that Proper Requirement Change Management, Rapid Delivery, Quality Software Product, Access to Market, Project Management, Skills and Methodologies, Low Cost/Effort Estimation, Clear Plan and Road Map, Agile Processes, Low Labor Cost, User Satisfaction, Communication/Close Coordination, Proper Scheduling and Time Constraints, Frequent Technological Changes, Robust Model, Geographical distribution/Cultural differences are the key factors that influence software quality requirement change. The recognized success factors and validated with the help of various research methods, i.e., case studies, interviews, surveys and experiments. These factors are then scrutinized in continents, database, company size and period of time. Based on these findings, requirement change will be implemented in a better way.

Keywords: global software development, requirement engineering, systematic literature review, success factors

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Authors: Longqing Li

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The paper addresses the inefficiency of the classical model in measuring the Value-at-Risk (VaR) using a normal distribution or a Student’s t distribution. Specifically, the paper focuses on the one day ahead Value-at-Risk (VaR) of major stock market’s daily returns in US, UK, China and Hong Kong in the most recent ten years under 95% confidence level. To improve the predictable power and search for the best performing model, the paper proposes using two leading alternatives, Extreme Value Theory (EVT) and a family of GARCH models, and compares the relative performance. The main contribution could be summarized in two aspects. First, the paper extends the GARCH family model by incorporating EGARCH and TGARCH to shed light on the difference between each in estimating one day ahead Value-at-Risk (VaR). Second, to account for the non-normality in the distribution of financial markets, the paper applies Generalized Error Distribution (GED), instead of the normal distribution, to govern the innovation term. A dynamic back-testing procedure is employed to assess the performance of each model, a family of GARCH and the conditional EVT. The conclusion is that Exponential GARCH yields the best estimate in out-of-sample one day ahead Value-at-Risk (VaR) forecasting. Moreover, the discrepancy of performance between the GARCH and the conditional EVT is indistinguishable.

Keywords: Value-at-Risk, Extreme Value Theory, conditional EVT, backtesting

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Authors: Ali Noorzad, Ehsan Badakhshan, Shima Zameni

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The present paper is focused on a generalized failure criterion for geomaterials with cross-anisotropy. The cyclic behavior of granular material primarily depends on the nature and arrangement of constituent particles, particle size, and shape that affect fabric anisotropy. To account for the influence of loading directions on strength variations, an anisotropic variable in terms of the invariants of the stress tensor and fabric into the failure criterion is proposed. In an extension to original CANAsand constitutive model two concepts namely critical state and compact state play paramount roles as all of the moduli and coefficients are related to these states. The applicability of the present model is evaluated through comparisons between the predicted and the measured results. All simulations have demonstrated that the proposed constitutive model is capable of modeling the cyclic behavior of sand with inherent anisotropy.

Keywords: fabric, cohesionless media, cyclic loading, critical state, compact state, CANAsand constitutive model

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Authors: Anita D. Adamu, Winston M. W. Shakantu

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Maintenance management is no longer a stand-alone activity. It has now assumed a strategic position in many organisations that have recognised its importance in achieving primary goals and a key aspect of effective management of facilities. This paper aims at providing an understanding of the role and function of strategic management in creating and sustaining an effective maintenance management system in an organisation. The background provides an articulated concept and principles of strategic management. The theoretical concepts paved way for a conceptual framework for which strategic management can be integrated into the maintenance management system of an organisation to improve effectiveness in the maintenance of facilities.

Keywords: facilities, maintenance management, organisations, strategic management

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Authors: Hongmeng Su, Luyu Zhao, Yanyan Qian, Hong Fan

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Aim: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignant tumors that endanger human health seriously. RNA methylation, especially N6-methyladenosine (m⁶A) and 5-methylcytosine (m⁵C), a crucial epigenetic transcriptional regulatory mechanism, plays an important role in tumorigenesis, progression and prognosis. This research aims to systematically evaluate the prognostic value of m⁶A and m⁵C modulators in HCC patients. Methods: Twenty-four modulators of m⁶A and m⁵C were candidates to analyze their expression level and their contribution to predict the prognosis of HCC. Consensus clustering analysis was applied to classify HCC patients. Cox and LASSO regression were used to construct the risk model. According to the risk score, HCC patients were divided into high-risk and low/medium-risk groups. The clinical pathology factors of HCC patients were analyzed by univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis. Results: The HCC patients were classified into 2 clusters with significant differences in overall survival and clinical characteristics. Nine-gene risk model was constructed including METTL3, VIRMA, YTHDF1, YTHDF2, NOP2, NSUN4, NSUN5, DNMT3A and ALYREF. It was indicated that the risk score could serve as an independent prognostic factor for patients with HCC. Conclusion: This study constructed a Nine-gene risk model by modulators of m⁶A and m⁵C and investigated its effect on the clinical prognosis of HCC. This model may provide important consideration for the therapeutic strategy and prognosis evaluation analysis of patients with HCC.

Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma, m⁶A, m⁵C, prognosis, RNA methylation

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Authors: Samba Lamine Cisse, Cheick Oumar Tangara, Seynabou Sissoko, Mahamadou Diakite, Seydou Doumbia

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Background: Financial management of a scientific research center is a crucial element in achieving ambitious scientific goals. It can be a driving force for research success, but it also has shortcomings that are important to understand. This study focuses on the crucial aspects of financial management in the context of scientific research centers, more specifically the USTTB (UCRC) in Mali in terms of strengths and weaknesses. Methodology: This study concerns the case of the UCRC, one of the USTTB's research centers. It is a qualitative study based on years of experience in project management at the USTTB, and on analyses and interpretations of everyday activities. Result: It offers practical recommendations for improving the financial stability of research institutions, thereby contributing to their mission of promoting scientific research and innovation. Scientific research centers play a crucial role in the development of knowledge, and their effective operation largely depends on the appropriate management of their financial resources. It begins with an in-depth analysis of UCRC's typical financial structure, highlighting its types and sources of funding, followed by an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of its current financial management system. Conclusion: Financial management of a scientific research center is essential to ensure the continuity of research activities, the development of innovative projects and the achievement of scientific objectives. Adaptive financial management focused on efficiency, diversification of funding and risk control. They are essential to meeting these challenges and fostering excellence in scientific research.

Keywords: financial, management, strengths, weaknesses, recommendations

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Authors: Sameh Ibrahim Ghali Hanna

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Information system (IS) are fairly crucial in the operation of private and public establishments in growing and developed international locations. Growing countries are saddled with many project failures throughout the implementation of records systems. However, successful information systems are greatly wished for in developing nations in an effort to decorate their economies. This paper is extraordinarily critical in view of the high failure fee of data structures in growing nations, which desire to be decreased to minimal proper levels by means of advocated interventions. This paper centers on a review of IS development in developing international locations. The paper gives evidence of the IS successes and screw-ups in developing nations and posits a version to deal with the IS failures. The proposed model can then be utilized by means of growing nations to lessen their IS mission implementation failure fee. A contrast is drawn between IS improvement in growing international locations and evolved international locations. The paper affords valuable records to assist in decreasing IS failure, and growing IS models and theories on IS development for developing countries.

Keywords: research information systems (RIS), research information, heterogeneous sources, data quality, data cleansing, science system, standardization artificial intelligence, AI, enterprise information system, EIS, integration developing countries, information systems, IS development, information systems failure, information systems success, information systems success model

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Authors: Vladimir A. Todiras

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Spatio-temporal models provide new possibilities for real-time action in pest risk analysis. It should be noted that estimation of the possibility and probability of introduction of a pest and of its economic consequences involves many uncertainties. We present a new mapping technique that assesses pest invasion risk using online BioClass software. BioClass is a GIS tool designed to solve multiple-criteria classification and optimization problems based on fuzzy logic and level set methods. This research describes a method for predicting the potential establishment and spread of a plant pest into new areas using a case study: corn rootworm (Diabrotica spp.), tomato leaf miner (Tuta absoluta) and plum fruit moth (Grapholita funebrana). Our study demonstrated that in BioClass we can combine fuzzy logic and geographic information systems with knowledge of pest biology and environmental data to derive new information for decision making. Pests are sensitive to a warming climate, as temperature greatly affects their survival and reproductive rate and capacity. Changes have been observed in the distribution, frequency and severity of outbreaks of Helicoverpa armigera on tomato. BioClass has demonstrated to be a powerful tool for applying dynamic models and map the potential future distribution of a species, enable resource to make decisions about dangerous and invasive species management and control.

Keywords: classification, model, pest, risk

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Authors: Khaled Alkadamani

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Using the simultaneous equations model, this paper examines the impact of capital requirements on bank risk-taking during the recent financial crisis. It also explores the relationship between capital and risk decisions and the impact of economic instability on this relationship. By analyzing the data of 20 Islamic commercial banks between 2004 and 2014 from four Middle East countries, the study concludes a positive effect of regulatory pressure on bank capital in Saudi Arabia and UAE and a negative effect in Jordan and Kuwait. Moreover, the results show a negative impact of regulatory pressure on bank risk taking in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and UAE. The findings reveal also that banks close to the minimum regulatory capital requirements improve their capital adequacy by increasing their capital and decreasing their risk taking. Furthermore, the results show that economic crisis negatively affects bank risk changes, suggesting that banks react to the impact of uncertainty by reducing their risk taking. Finally, the estimations show a negative correlation between banks profitability and capital adequacy ratio (CAR), implying that as more capital is set aside as a buffer for banks safety; it affects the performance of Islamic banks.

Keywords: bank capital, bank regulation, crisis, Islamic banks, risk taking

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Authors: J. R. Wang, W. Y. Cheng, J. S. Yeh, S. W. Chen, Y. M. Ferng, J. H. Yang, W. S. Hsu, C. Shih

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To understand the risk for dry storage concrete casks in the cask loading, transfer, and storage phase, the purpose of this research is to establish the probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) analysis methodology for dry storage concrete casks by using SAPHIRE 8 code. This analysis methodology is used to perform the study of Taiwan nuclear power plants (NPPs) dry storage system. The process of research has three steps. First, the data of the concrete casks and Taiwan NPPs are collected. Second, the PRA analysis methodology is developed by using SAPHIRE 8. Third, the PRA analysis is performed by using this methodology. According to the analysis results, the maximum risk is the multipurpose canister (MPC) drop case.

Keywords: PRA, dry storage, concrete cask, SAPHIRE

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Authors: Md. Refat Jahan Rakiba, M. Belal Hossaina, Rakesh Kumarc, Md. Akram Ullaha, Sultan Al Nahiand, Nazmun Naher Rimaa, Tasrina Rabia Choudhury, Samia Islam Libaf, Jimmy Yub, Mayeen Uddin Khandakerg, Abdelmoneim Suliemanh, Mohamed Mahmoud Sayedi

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Microplastics (MPs) have become an emerging global pollutant due to their wide spread and dispersion and potential threats to marine ecosystems. However, studies on MPs of estuarine and coastal ecosystems of Bangladesh are very limited or not available. In this study, we conducted the first study on the abundance, distribution, characteristics and potential risk assessment of microplastics in the sediment of Karnaphuli River estuary, Bangladesh. Microplastic particles were extracted from sediments of 30 stations along the estuary by density separation, and then enumerated and characterize by using steromicroscope and Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. In the collected sediment, the number of MPs varied from 22.29 - 59.5 items kg−1 of dry weight (DW) with an average of 1177 particles kg−1 DW. The mean abundance was higher in the downstream and left bank of estuary where the predominant shape, colour, and size of MPs were films (35%), white (19%), and >5000 μm (19%), respectively. The main polymer types were polyethylene terephthalate, polystyrene, polyethylene, cellulose, and nylon. MPs were found to pose risks (low to high) in the sediment of the estuary, with the highest risk occuring at one station near a sewage outlet, according to the results of risk analyses using the pollution risk index (PRI), polymer risk index (H), contamination factors (CFs), and pollution load index (PLI). The single value index, PLI clearly demonastated that all sampling sites were considerably polluted (as PLI >1) with microplastics. H values showed toxic polymers even in lower proportions possess higher polymeric hazard scores and vice versa. This investigation uncovered new insights on the status of MPs in the sediments of Karnaphuli River estuary, laying the groundwork for future research and control of microplastic pollution and management.

Keywords: microplastics, polymers, pollution risk assessment, Karnaphuli esttuary

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Authors: Samuel Carpintero

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Public-private partnerships (PPP) arrangements have emerged all around the world as a response to infrastructure deficits and the need to refurbish existing infrastructure. The motivations of governments for embarking on PPPs for the delivery of public infrastructure are manifold, and include on-time and on-budget delivery as well as access to private project management expertise. The PPP formula has been used by some State governments in United States and Canada, where the participation of private companies in financing and managing infrastructure projects has increased significantly in the last decade, particularly in the transport sector. On the one hand, this paper examines the various ways used in these two countries in the implementation of PPP arrangements, with a particular focus on risk transfer. The examination of risk transfer in this paper is carried out with reference to the following key PPP risk categories: construction risk, revenue risk, operating risk and availability risk. The main difference between both countries is that in Canada the demand risk remains usually within the public sector whereas in the United States this risk is usually transferred to the private concessionaire. The aim is to explore which lessons can be learnt from both models than might be useful for other countries. On the other hand, the paper also analyzes why the Spanish companies have been so successful in winning PPP contracts in North America during the past decade. Contrary to the Latin American PPP market, the Spanish companies do not have any cultural advantage in the case of the United States and Canada. Arguably, some relevant reasons for the success of the Spanish groups are their extensive experience in PPP projects (that dates back to the late 1960s in some cases), their high technical level (that allows them to be aggressive in their bids), and their good position and track-record in the financial markets. The article’s empirical base consists of data provided by official sources of both countries as well as information collected through face-to-face interviews with public and private representatives of the stakeholders participating in some of the PPP schemes. Interviewees include private project managers of the concessionaires, representatives of banks involved as financiers in the projects, and experts in the PPP industry with close knowledge of the North American market. Unstructured in-depth interviews have been adopted as a means of investigation for this study because of its powers to achieve honest and robust responses and to ensure realism in the collection of an overall impression of stakeholders’ perspectives.

Keywords: PPP, concession, infrastructure, construction

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Authors: Cabangile Ncengeni Ngwane, Gerald Mills

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Anthropogenic climate change is exacerbating natural hazards such as droughts, heat waves and sea-level rise. The associated risks are the greatest in places where socio-ecological systems are exposed to these changes and the populations and infrastructure are vulnerable. Identifying the communities at risk and enhancing local resilience are key issues in responding to the current and project climate changes. This paper explores the types of risks associated with multiple overlapping hazards in Durban, South Africa where the social, cultural and economic dimensions that contribute to exposure and vulnerability are compounded by its history of apartheid. As a result, climate change risks are highly concentrated in marginalized communities that have the least adaptive capacity. In this research, a Geographic Information System is to explore the spatial correspondence among geographic layers representing hazards, exposure and vulnerability across Durban. This quantitative analysis will allow authors to identify communities at high risk and focus our study on the nature of the current human-environment relationships that result in risk inequalities. This work will employ qualitative methods to critically examine policies (including educational practices and financial support systems) and on-the-ground actions that are designed to improve the adaptive capacity of these communities and meet UN Sustainable Development Goals. This work will contribute to a growing body of literature on disaster risk management, especially as it relates to developing economies where socio-economic inequalities are correlated with ethnicity and race.

Keywords: adaptive capacity, disaster risk reduction, exposure, resilience, South Africa

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Authors: Alon Cohen, Jeffrey Kantor, Shalom Levy

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Technology adoption models are extensively used in the literature to explore drivers and inhibitors affecting the adoption of Computer Assisted Audit Techniques and Tools (CAATTs). Further studies from recent years suggested additional factors that may affect technology adoption by CPA firms. However, the adoption of CAATTs by financial auditors differs from the adoption of technologies in other industries. This is a result of the unique characteristics of the auditing process, which are expressed in the audit risk elements and the risk-based auditing approach, as encoded in the auditing standards. Since these audit risk factors are not part of the existing models that are used to explain technology adoption, these models do not fully correspond to the specific needs and requirements of the auditing domain. The overarching objective of this qualitative research is to fill the gap in the literature, which exists as a result of using generic technology adoption models. Followed by a pretest and based on semi-structured in-depth interviews with 16 Israeli CPA firms of different sizes, this study aims to reveal determinants related to audit risk factors that influence the adoption of CAATTs in audits and proposes a new modeling approach for the successful adoption of CAATTs. The findings emphasize several important aspects: (1) while large CPA firms developed their own inner guidelines to assess the audit risk components, other CPA firms do not follow a formal and validated methodology to evaluate these risks; (2) large firms incorporate a variety of CAATTs, including self-developed advanced tools. On the other hand, small and mid-sized CPA firms incorporate standard CAATTs and still need to catch up to better understand what CAATTs can offer and how they can contribute to the quality of the audit; (3) the top management of mid-sized and small CPA firms should be more proactive and updated about CAATTs capabilities and contributions to audits; and (4) All CPA firms consider professionalism as a major challenge that must be constantly managed to ensure an optimal CAATTs operation. The study extends the existing knowledge of CAATTs adoption by looking at it from a risk-based auditing approach. It suggests a new model for CAATTs adoption by incorporating influencing audit risk factors that auditors should examine when considering CAATTs adoption. Since the model can be used in various audited scenarios and supports strategic, risk-based decisions, it maximizes the great potential of CAATTs on the quality of the audits. The results and insights can be useful to CPA firms, internal auditors, CAATTs developers and regulators. Moreover, it may motivate audit standard-setters to issue updated guidelines regarding CAATTs adoption in audits.

Keywords: audit risk, CAATTs, financial auditing, information technology, technology adoption models

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Authors: Yousaf Tariq

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There are many reasons which are involved in electronic equipment failure i.e. temperature, humidity, dust, smoke etc. Corrosive gases are also one of the factor which may involve in failure of equipment. Sensitivity of electronic equipment increased when “lead-free” regulation enforced on manufacturers. In data center, equipment like hard disk, servers, printed circuit boards etc. have been exposed to gaseous contamination due to increase in sensitivity. There is a worldwide standard to protect electronic industrial electronic from corrosive gases. It is well known as “ANSI/ISA S71.04 – 1985 - Environmental Conditions for Control Systems: Airborne Contaminants. ASHRAE Technical Committee (TC) 9.9 members also recommended ISA standard in their whitepaper on Gaseous and Particulate Contamination Guideline for data centers. TC 9.9 members represented some of the major IT equipment manufacturers e.g. IBM, HP, Cisco etc. As per standard practices, first step is to monitor air quality in data center. If contamination level shows more than G1, it means that gas-phase air filtration is required other than dust/smoke air filtration. It is important that outside fresh air entering in data center should have pressurization/re-circulated process in order to absorb corrosive gases and to maintain level within specified limit. It is also important that air quality monitoring should be conducted once in a year. Temperature and humidity should also be monitored as per standard practices to maintain level within specified limit.

Keywords: corrosive gases, corrosion, electronic equipment failure, ASHRAE, hard disk

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Authors: Ezgi Avci-Surucu, Doganbey Akgul

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Turkey’s energy reforms has achieved energy security through a variety of interlinked measures including electricity, gas, renewable energy and energy efficiency legislation; the establishment of an energy sector regulatory authority; energy price reform; the creation of a functional electricity market; restructuring of state-owned energy enterprises; and private sector participation through privatization and new investment. However, current strategies, namely; “Electricity Sector Reform and Privatization Strategy” and “Electricity Market and Supply Security Strategy” has been criticized for various aspects. The present paper analyzes the implementation of the aforementioned strategies in the framework of generation scheduling, transmission constraints, bidding structure and general aspects; and argues the deficiencies of current strategies which decelerates power investments and creates uncertainties. We conclude by policy suggestions to eliminate these deficiencies in terms of price and risk management, infrastructure, customer focused regulations and systematic market development.

Keywords: electricity markets, risk management, regulations, balancing and settlement, bilateral trading, generation scheduling, bidding structure

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Authors: Jose CanIzares

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In the last decades, resilience has received much attention in relation to understanding and managing new forms of risk, especially in the context of urban adaptation to climate change. There are abundant concerns, however, on how to best interpret resilience and related ideas, and on whether they can guide ethically appropriate risk-related or adaptation efforts. Narrative creation and framing are critical steps in shaping public discussion and policy in large-scale interventions, since they favor or inhibit early decision and interpretation habits, which can be morally sensitive and then become persistent on time. This article adds to such framing process by contesting a conventional narrative on resilience and offering an alternative one. Conventionally, present ideas on resilience are traced to the work of ecologist C. S. Holling, especially to his article Resilience and Stability in Ecosystems. This article is usually portrayed as a contribution of complex systems thinking to theoretical ecology, where Holling appeals to resilience in order to challenge received views on ecosystem stability and the diversity-stability hypothesis. In this regard, resilience is construed as a “purely scientific”, precise and descriptive concept, denoting a complex property that allows ecosystems to persist, or to maintain functions, after disturbance. Yet, these formal features of resilience supposedly changed with Holling’s later work in the 90s, where, it is argued, Holling begun to use resilience as a more pragmatic “boundary term”, aimed at unifying transdisciplinary research about risks, ecological or otherwise, and at articulating public debate and governance strategies on the issue. In the conventional story, increased vagueness and degrees of normativity are the price to pay for this conceptual shift, which has made the term more widely usable, but also incompatible with scientific purposes and morally problematic (if not completely objectionable). This paper builds on a detailed analysis of Holling’s early work to propose an alternative narrative. The study will show that the “complexity turn” has often entangled theoretical and pragmatic aims. Accordingly, Holling’s primary aim was to fight what he termed “pathologies of natural resource management” or “pathologies of command and control management”, and so, the terms of his reform of ecosystem science are partly subordinate to the details of his proposal for reforming the management sciences. As regards resilience, Holling used it as a polysemous, ambiguous and normative term: sometimes, as an instrumental value that is closely related to various stability concepts; other times, and more crucially, as an intrinsic value and a tool for attacking efficiency and instrumentalism in management. This narrative reveals the limitations of its conventional alternative and has several practical advantages. It captures well the structure and purposes of Holling’s project, and the various roles of resilience in it. It helps to link Holling’s early work with other philosophical and ideological shifts at work in the 70s. It highlights the currency of Holling’s early work for present research and action in fields such as risk and climate adaptation. And it draws attention to morally relevant aspects of resilience that the conventional narrative neglects.

Keywords: resilience, complexity turn, risk management, positivistic, framing

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Authors: Martina Kanciruk, Jac J. W. Andrews, Tyrone Donnon

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The purpose of this study was to determine the significance of history of obesity for the development of childhood overweight and/or obesity. Accordingly, a systematic literature review of English-language studies published from 1980 to 2012 using the following data bases: MEDLINE, PsychINFO, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and Dissertation Abstracts International was conducted. The following terms were used in the search: pregnancy, overweight, obesity, family history, parents, childhood, risk factors. Eleven studies of family history and obesity conducted in Europe, Asia, North America, and South America met the inclusion criteria. A meta-analysis of these studies indicated that family history of obesity is a significant risk factor of overweight and /or obesity in offspring; risk for offspring overweight and/or obesity associated with family history varies depending of the family members included in the analysis; and when family history of obesity is present, the offspring are at greater risk for developing obesity or overweight. In addition, the results from moderator analyses suggest that part of the heterogeneity discovered between the studies can be explained by the region of world that the study occurred in and the age of the child at the time of weight assessment.

Keywords: childhood obesity, overweight, family history, risk factors, meta-analysis

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Authors: Jacek Kabzinski, Karolina Przybylowska, Lukasz Dziki, Adam Dziki, Ireneusz Majsterek

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The incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) is increasing from year to year. Despite intensive research CRC etiology remains unknown. Studies suggest that at the basis of the process of carcinogenesis can lie reduced efficiency of DNA repair mechanisms, often caused by polymorphisms in DNA repair genes. The aim of the study was to determine the relationship between gene polymorphisms Pro242Arg of PolB gene and Arg780His of Lig3 gene and modulation of the risk of colorectal cancer in the Polish population. Determination of the molecular basis of carcinogenesis process and predicting increased risk will allow qualifying patients to increased risk group and including them in preventive program. We used blood collected from 110 patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer. The control group consisted of equal number of healthy people. Genotyping was performed by TaqMan method. The obtained results indicate that the genotype 780Arg/His of Lig3 gene is associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer. On the basis of these results, we conclude that Lig3 gene polymorphism Arg780His may be associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer.

Keywords: BER, colorectal cancer, PolB, Lig3, polymorphisms

Procedia PDF Downloads 454

Authors: Souvik Das, Sandip Bhattacharya, Goutam Mukhopadhyay, Manashi Adhikary

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Wires breakages during cold drawing are a complex phenomenon; wire breakages may be induced by improper wire-rod quality, inappropriate heat-treated microstructure, and/or lubrication breakdown on the wire surface. A comprehensive metallurgical investigation of failed/broken wire samples is therefore essential for understanding the origin of failure. Frequent breakage of wires during drawing is a matter of serious concern to the wire drawers as it erodes their already slim margins through reduced productivity and loss in yield. The present paper highlights the failure investigation of wires of Low Relaxation Prestressed High Carbon grade during cold drawing due to entrapment of hard constituents detached from the roller entry guide during rolling operations. The hardness measurement of this entrapped location indicates 54.9 Rockwell Hardness as against the rest portion 33.4 Rockwell Hardness. The microstructure chemical analysis and X-ray mapping analysis data of the entrapment location confirmed complex chromium carbide originated from D2-steel used in entry guide during the rolling process. Since the harder entrapped phase could not be deformed in the same manner as the parent phase, the failure of the wire rod occurs during hot rolling.

Keywords: LRPC, D2-steel, chromium carbide, roller guide

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Authors: Luis Marquez, Ge Zhu, Vikas Srivastava

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High-density polyethylene (HDPE) is one of the most commonly used thermoplastic polymer materials for water and gas pipelines. Slow crack growth failure is a well-known phenomenon in high-density polyethylene material and causes brittle failure well below the yield point with no obvious sign. The failure of transportation pipelines can cause catastrophic environmental and economic consequences. Using the non-destructive testing method to predict slow crack growth failure behavior is the primary preventative measurement employed by the pipeline industry but is often costly and time-consuming. Phenomenological slow crack growth models are useful to predict the slow crack growth behavior in the polymer material due to their ability to evaluate slow crack growth under different temperature and loading conditions. We developed a quantitative method to assess the slow crack growth behavior in the high-density polyethylene pipeline material under different thermal conditions based on existing physics-based phenomenological models. We are also working on developing an experimental protocol and quantitative model that can address slow crack growth behavior under different chemical exposure conditions to improve the safety, reliability, and resilience of HDPE-based pipeline infrastructure.

Keywords: mechanics of materials, physics-based modeling, civil engineering, fracture mechanics

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Authors: Sarah Müller-Sägebrecht

Abstract:

Today’s volatile environment challenges executives to make the right strategic decisions to gain sustainable success. Entrepreneurship scholars postulate mainly positive effects of environmental changes on entrepreneurship behavior, such as developing new business opportunities, promoting ingenuity, and the satisfaction of resource voids. A strategic solution approach to overcome threatening environmental changes and catch new business opportunities is business model innovation (BMI). Although this research stream has gained further importance in the last decade, BMI research is still insufficient. Especially BMI barriers, such as inefficient strategic decision-making processes, need to be identified. Strategic decisions strongly impact organizational future and are, therefore, usually made in groups. Although groups draw on a more extensive information base than single individuals, group-interaction effects can influence the decision-making process - in a favorable but also unfavorable way. Decisions are characterized by uncertainty and risk, whereby their intensity is perceived individually differently. Individual risk-willingness influences which option humans choose. The special nature of strategic decisions, such as in BMI processes, is that these decisions are not made individually but in groups due to their high organizational scope. These groups consist of different personalities whose individual risk-willingness can vary considerably. It is known from group decision theory that these individuals influence each other, observable in different group-interaction effects. The following research questions arise: i) Which impact has the individual risk-willingness on BMI decisions? And ii) how do group interaction effects impact BMI decisions? After conducting 26 in-depth interviews with executives from the manufacturing industry, the applied Gioia methodology reveals the following results: i) Risk-averse decision-makers have an increased need to be guided by facts. The more information available to them, the lower they perceive uncertainty and the more willing they are to pursue a specific decision option. However, the results also show that social interaction does not change the individual risk-willingness in the decision-making process. ii) Generally, it could be observed that during BMI decisions, group interaction is primarily beneficial to increase the group’s information base for making good decisions, less than for social interaction. Further, decision-makers mainly focus on information available to all decision-makers in the team but less on personal knowledge. This work contributes to strategic decision-making literature twofold. First, it gives insights into how group-interaction effects influence an organization’s strategic BMI decision-making. Second, it enriches risk-management research by highlighting how individual risk-willingness impacts organizational strategic decision-making. To date, it was known in BMI research that risk aversion would be an internal BMI barrier. However, with this study, it becomes clear that it is not risk aversion that inhibits BMI. Instead, the lack of information prevents risk-averse decision-makers from choosing a riskier option. Simultaneously, results show that risk-averse decision-makers are not easily carried away by the higher risk-willingness of their team members. Instead, they use social interaction to gather missing information. Therefore, executives need to provide sufficient information to all decision-makers to catch promising business opportunities.

Keywords: business model innovation, decision-making, group biases, group decisions, group-interaction effects, risk-willingness

Procedia PDF Downloads 96

Authors: Marimuthu Gurusamy

Abstract:

In vibration analysis (with accelerometers) of rotating machines with rolling element bearing, the customers are interested to know the failure of the machine well in advance to plan the spare inventory and maintenance. But in real world most of the machines fails before the prediction of vibration analyst or Expert analysis software. Presently the prediction of failure is based on ISO 10816 vibration limits only. But this is not enough to monitor the failure of machines well in advance. Because more than 50% of the machines will fail even the vibration readings are within acceptable zone as per ISO 10816.Hence it requires further detail analysis and different techniques to predict the failure well in advance. In vibration Analysis, the velocity spectrum is used to analyse the root cause of the mechanical problems like unbalance, misalignment and looseness etc. The envelope spectrum are used to analyse the bearing frequency components, hence the failure in inner race, outer race and rolling elements are identified. But so far there is no correlation made between these two concepts. The author used both velocity spectrum and Envelope spectrum to analyse the machine behaviour and bearing condition to correlated the changes in dynamic load (by unbalance, misalignment and looseness etc.) and effect of impact on the bearing. Hence we could able to predict the expected life of the machine and bearings in the rotating equipment (with rolling element bearings). Also we used process parameters like temperature, flow and pressure to correlate with flow induced vibration and load variations, when abnormal vibration occurs due to changes in process parameters. Hence by correlation of velocity spectrum, envelope spectrum and process data with 20 years of experience in vibration analysis, the author could able to predict the rotating Equipment and its component’s deterioration and expected duration for maintenance.

Keywords: vibration analysis, velocity spectrum, envelope spectrum, prediction of deterioration

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Authors: Belabed Lazhar

Abstract:

The dimensioning of the anchored retaining screens passes always by the analysis of their stability. The calculation of anchoring lengths is practically carried out according to the mechanical model suggested by Kranz which is often criticized. The safety is evaluated through the comparison of interior force and external force. The force of anchoring over the length cut behind the failure solid is neglected. The failure surface cuts anchoring in the medium length of sealing. In this article, one proposes a new mechanical model which overcomes these disadvantages (simplifications) and gives interesting results.

Keywords: retaining walls, anchoring, stability, mechanical modeling, safety

Procedia PDF Downloads 352

Authors: Rona Lee Suelo-Calanao, Mahmoud Loubani

Abstract:

Objective: Sternal wound infection (SWI) following cardiac operation has a significant impact on patient morbidity and mortality. It also contributes to longer hospital stays and increased treatment costs. SWI management is mainly focused on treatment rather than prevention. This study looks at the effect of closed incision negative pressure therapy (ciNPT) dressing to help reduce the incidence of superficial SWI in high-risk patients after cardiac surgery. The ciNPT dressing was evaluated at 3 cardiac hospitals in the United Kingdom". Methods: All patients who had cardiac surgery from 2013 to 2021 were included in the study. The patients were classed as high risk if they have two or more of the recognised risk factors: obesity, age above 80 years old, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Patients receiving standard dressing (SD) and patients using ciNPT were propensity matched, and the Fisher’s exact test (two-tailed) and unpaired T-test were used to analyse categorical and continuous data, respectively. Results: There were 766 matched cases in each group. Total SWI incidences are lower in the ciNPT group compared to the SD group (43 (5.6%) vs 119 (15.5%), P=0.0001). There are fewer deep sternal wound infections (14(1.8%) vs. 31(4.04%), p=0.0149) and fewer superficial infections (29(3.7%) vs. 88 (11.4%), p=0.0001) in the ciNPT group compared to the SD group. However, the ciNPT group showed a longer average length of stay (11.23 ± 13 days versus 9.66 ± 10 days; p=0.0083) and higher mean logistic EuroSCORE (11.143 ± 13 versus 8.094 ± 11; p=0.0001). Conclusion: Utilization of ciNPT as an approach to help reduce the incidence of superficial and deep SWI may be effective in high-risk patients requiring cardiac surgery.

Keywords: closed incision negative pressure therapy, surgical wound infection, cardiac surgery complication, high risk cardiac patients

Procedia PDF Downloads 96