Search results for: quality management

Authors: Mouna Hemdi, Jamel bel Hadj Tahar

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The increasing development of multimedia applications requiring the simultaneous transport of several different services contributes to the evolution of the need for very high-speed network. In this paper, we propose an effective solution to achieve the very high speed while retaining elements of the optical transmission channel. So our study focuses on error correcting codes that aim for quality improvement on duty. We present a comparison of the quality of service for single channels and integrating the code BCH, RS and LDPC in order to find the best code in the different conditions of the transmission.

Keywords: code error correction, high speed broadband, optical transmission, information systems security

Procedia PDF Downloads 374

Authors: J. H. Boonzaaier, A. C. Brent

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South Africa, a water scarce country, experiences the phenomenon that its life supporting natural water resources is seriously threatened by the users that are totally dependent on it. South Africa is globally applauded to have of the best and most progressive water laws and policies. There are however growing concerns regarding natural water resource quality deterioration and a critical void in the management of natural resources and compliance to policies due to increasing institutional uncertainties and failures. These are in accordance with concerns of many South African researchers and practitioners that call for a change in paradigm from talk to practice and a more constructive, practical approach to governance challenges in the management of water resources. A qualitative theory-building case study through longitudinal action research was conducted from 2014 to 2017. The research assessed whether a strategic positioned institutional agent can be parlayed to facilitate and execute WRM on catchment level by engaging multiple stakeholders in a polycentric setting. Through a critical realist approach a distinction was made between ex ante self-deterministic human behaviour in the realist realm, and ex post governance-management in the constructivist realm. A congruence analysis, including Toulmin’s method of argumentation analysis, was utilised. The study evaluated the unique case of a self-steering local water management institution, the Impala Water Users Association (WUA) in the Pongola River catchment in the northern part of the KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa. Exploiting prevailing water resource threats, it expanded its ancillary functions from 20,000 to 300,000 ha. Embarking on WRM activities, it addressed natural water system quality assessments, social awareness, knowledge support, and threats, such as: soil erosion, waste and effluent into water systems, coal mining, and water security dimensions; through structured engagement with 21 different catchment stakeholders. By implementing a proposed polycentric governance-management model on a catchment scale, the WUA achieved to fill the void. It developed a foundation and capacity to protect the resilience of the natural environment that is critical for freshwater resources to ensure long-term water security of the Pongola River basin. Further work is recommended on appropriate statutory delegations, mechanisms of sustainable funding, sufficient penetration of knowledge to local levels to catalyse behaviour change, incentivised support from professionals, back-to-back expansion of WUAs to alleviate scale and cost burdens, and the creation of catchment data monitoring and compilation centres.

Keywords: institutional agent, water governance, polycentric water resource management, water resource management

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Authors: Suangsuda Subjaroen, Chutikarn Sriviboon, Rosjana Chandhasa

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This research aims to examine the graduates' overall satisfaction and influential factors that affect the image of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, according to the graduates' viewpoints on the graduation rehearsal day. In accordance with the graduates' perceptions, the study is related to the levels of graduates' satisfaction, their perceived quality, perceived value, and the image of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. The sample group in this study involved 1,129 graduates of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University who attended on 2019 graduation rehearsal day. A questionnaire was used as an instrument in order to collect data. By the use of computing software, the statistics used for data analysis were various, ranging from frequencies, percentage, mean, and standard deviation, One-Way ANOVA, and Multiple Regression Analysis. The majority of participants were graduates with a bachelor's degree, followed by masters graduates and PhD graduates, respectively. Among the participants, most of them graduated from the Faculty of Management Sciences, followed by the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and Faculty of Education, respectively. Overall, the graduates were satisfied with the graduation rehearsal day, and each aspect was rated at a satisfactory level. Formality, steps, and procedures were the aspects that graduates were most satisfied with, followed by graduation rehearsal personnel and staff, venue, and facilities. Referring to graduates' perceptions, the perceived quality was rated at a very good level, the perceived value was at a good level, whereas the image of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University was perceived at a good level, respectively. There were differences in satisfaction levels among graduates with a bachelor's degree, graduates with a master's degree and a doctoral degree with statistical significance at the level of 0.05. There was a statistical significance at the level of 0.05 in perceived quality and perceived value affecting the image of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. The image of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University influenced graduates' satisfaction level with statistical significance at the level of 0.01.

Keywords: university image, perceived quality, perceived value, intention to study higher education, intention to recommend the university to others

Procedia PDF Downloads 95

Authors: Terada Pinyo

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This study is a survey research designed to evaluate the quality of graduate students and factors influencing their quality. The sample group consists of 240 students. The data are collected from stratified sampling and are analyzed and calculated by instant computer program. Statistics used are percentage, mean, standard deviation, Pearson correlation coefficient, Cramer’s V and logistic regression analysis. It is found that the graduate students’ opinions regarding their characteristics according to the Thai Qualifications Framework for Higher Education (TQF) are at high score range both overall and specific category. The top categories that received the top score are interpersonal skills and responsibility, ethics and morals, knowledge, cognitive skills, numerical analysis with communication and information technology skills, respectively. On the other hand, factors affecting the quality of graduate students are cognitive skills, numerical analysis with communication and information technology, knowledge, interpersonal skills and responsibility, ethics and morals, and career regarding sales/business, respectively.

Keywords: student quality evaluation, Thai qualifications framework for higher education, graduate school, cognitive skills

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Authors: Inyoung Park, Youngjoo Woo, Euiseong Seo

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With the advent of WebGL, Web apps are now able to provide high quality graphics by utilizing the underlying graphic processing units (GPUs). Despite that the Web apps are becoming common and popular, the current power management schemes, which were devised for the conventional native applications, are suboptimal for Web apps because of the additional layer, the Web browser, between OS and application. The Web browser running on a CPU issues GL commands, which are for rendering images to be displayed by the Web app currently running, to the GPU and the GPU processes them. The size and number of issued GL commands determine the processing load of the GPU. While the GPU is processing the GL commands, CPU simultaneously executes the other compute intensive threads. The actual user experience will be determined by either CPU processing or GPU processing depending on which of the two is the more demanded resource. For example, when the GPU work queue is saturated by the outstanding commands, lowering the performance level of the CPU does not affect the user experience because it is already deteriorated by the retarded execution of GPU commands. Consequently, it would be desirable to lower CPU or GPU performance level to save energy when the other resource is saturated and becomes a bottleneck in the execution flow. Based on this observation, we propose a power management scheme that is specialized for the Web app runtime environment. This approach incurs two technical challenges; identification of the bottleneck resource and determination of the appropriate performance level for unsaturated resource. The proposed power management scheme uses the CPU utilization level of the Window Manager to tell which one is the bottleneck if exists. The Window Manager draws the final screen using the processed results delivered from the GPU. Thus, the Window Manager is on the critical path that determines the quality of user experience and purely executed by the CPU. The proposed scheme uses the weighted average of the Window Manager utilization to prevent excessive sensitivity and fluctuation. We classified Web apps into three categories using the analysis results that measure frame-per-second (FPS) changes under diverse CPU/GPU clock combinations. The results showed that the capability of the CPU decides user experience when the Window Manager utilization is above 90% and consequently, the proposed scheme decreases the performance level of CPU by one step. On the contrary, when its utilization is less than 60%, the bottleneck usually lies in the GPU and it is desirable to decrease the performance of GPU. Even the processing unit that is not on critical path, excessive performance drop can occur and that may adversely affect the user experience. Therefore, our scheme lowers the frequency gradually, until it finds an appropriate level by periodically checking the CPU utilization. The proposed scheme reduced the energy consumption by 10.34% on average in comparison to the conventional Linux kernel, and it worsened their FPS by 1.07% only on average.

Keywords: interactive applications, power management, QoS, Web apps, WebGL

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Authors: Raymond Limen Njinga, Adeneye Samuel Olaolu, Akinyode Ojumoola Ajimo

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Introduction: Measurement of entrance dose and dose at different depths is essential to avoid overdose and underdose of patients. The aim of this study is to verify the variation in the absorbed dose using a water-equivalent material. Materials and Methods: The plastic phantom was arranged on the couch of the halcyon linear accelerator by Varian, with the farmer ionization chamber inserted and connected to the electrometer. The image of the setup was taken using the High-Quality Single 1280x1280x16 higher on the service mode to check the alignment with the isocenter. The beam quality TPR₂₀,₁₀ (Tissue phantom ratio) was done to check the beam quality of the machine at a field size of 10 cm x 10 cm. The calibration was done using SAD type set-up at a depth of 5 cm. This process was repeated for ten consecutive weeks, and the values were recorded. Results: The results of the beam output for the teletherapy machine were satisfactory and accepted in comparison with the commissioned measurement of 0.62. The beam quality TPR₂₀,₁₀ (Tissue phantom ratio) was reasonable with respect to the beam quality of the machine at a field size of 10 cm x 10 cm. Conclusion: The results of the beam quality and the absorbed dose rate showed a good consistency over the period of ten weeks with the commissioned measurement value.

Keywords: linear accelerator, absorbed dose rate, isocenter, phantom, ionization chamber

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Authors: Routsukol Sunalai

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This research was to study the relationship between the organizational culture like bureaucratic system, and patronage system in government hospitals with hospital accreditation and its impact on the quality of service in the government hospital accredited. Qualitative research was applied in this study by in-depth interviews with samples containing 20 public welfare service providers, i.e. doctors, nurses and practical nurses and 20 service recipients in the units of study. It was found that the bureaucracy still existed and was evidenced by the structure of the line of command; work systems, clear cut duty divisions, procedures and plans, and the patronage system hindered the quality of service in the government hospitals under the process of development and accreditation. The administrators should encourage and support the creation of a learning process in the organization for self-improvement and work development.

Keywords: hospital in Dusit Area, organization culture, the quality of service, economics and financial engineering

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Authors: Tomáš Ludík, Jiří Barta, Josef Navrátil

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Natural or human made disasters have a significant negative impact on the environment. At the same time there is an extensive effort to support management and decision making in emergency situations by information technologies. Therefore the purpose of the paper is to propose a design patterns applicable in emergency management, enabling better analysis and design of emergency management processes and therefore easier development and deployment of information systems in the field of emergency management. It will be achieved by detailed analysis of existing emergency management legislation, contingency plans, and information systems. The result is a set of design patterns focused at emergency management processes that enable easier design of emergency plans or development of new information system. These results will have a major impact on the development of new information systems as well as to more effective and faster solving of emergencies.

Keywords: analysis and design, Business Process Modelling Notation, contingency plans, design patterns, emergency management

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Authors: Huayun Zhai, Quan Hu, Wei-Chih Chiang, Jianjun Du

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By applying experimental methodology in the framework of the behavior-perception theory, this paper studies the relationship between information quality of corporates’ social responsibility (CSR) and individual investors’ risk perception, intermediated with individual investors’ perception on CSR. The findings are as follows: In general, the information quality of CSR significantly influences individual investors’ perception on investment risks. Furthermore, certification on CSR can help reinforce such perceptions. The higher the reporting quality of CSR is, accompanied by the certification by an independent third party, the more likely individual investors recognize the responsibilities. The research also found that the perception on CSR not only plays a role of intermediation between information quality about CSR and investors’ perception on investment risk but also intermediates the certification of CSR reports and individual investors’ judgment on investment risks. The main contributions of the research are in two folds. The first is that it supplements the research on CSR from the perspective of investors’ perceptions. The second is that the research provides theoretical and experimental evidence for enterprises to implement and improve reports on their social responsibilities.

Keywords: information quality, corporate social responsibility, report certification, individual investors’ perception on risk, perception of corporate social responsibility

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Authors: Md Asif Imrul, Maria Rafique, M. Habibur Rahman

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The study deals with an investigation into the impact of the relocation of tannery industry on water quality parameters of Buriganga. For this purpose, previous records have been collected from authentic data resources and for the attainment of present values, several samples were collected from three major locations of the Buriganga River during summer and winter seasons in 2018 to determine the distribution and variation of water quality parameters. Samples were collected six ft below the river water surface. Analysis indicates slightly acidic to slightly alkaline (6.8-7.49) in nature. Bio-Chemical Oxygen Demand, Total Dissolved Solids, Total Solids (TS) & Total Suspended Solids (TSS) have been found greater in summer. On the other hand, Dissolved Oxygen is found greater in rainy seasons. Relocation shows improvement in water quality parameters. Though the improvement related to relocation of tannery industry is not adequate to turn the water body to be an inhabitable place for aquatic lives.

Keywords: Buriganga river, river pollution, tannery industry, water quality parameters

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Authors: Bunjirtluk Jintaridth

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Utilization of silicon for sustainable rice cultivation in acid sulfate soils was studied for 2 years. The study was conducted on Rungsit soils in Amphoe Tanyaburi, Pathumtani Province. The objectives of this study were to assess the effect of high quality organic fertilizer in combination with silicon and chemical fertilizer on rice yield, chemical soil properties after using soil amendments, and also to assess the economic return. A Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with 10 treatments and 3 replications were employed. The treatments were as follows: 1) control 2) chemical fertilizer (recommended by Land Development Department, LDD 3) silicon 312 kg/ha 4) high quality organic fertilizer at 1875 kg/ha (the recommendation rate by LDD) 5) silicon 156 kg/ha in combination with high quality organic fertilizer 1875 kg/ha 6) silicon at the 312 kg/ha in combination with high quality organic fertilizer 1875 kg/ha 7) silicon 156 kg/ha in combination with chemical fertilizer 8) silicon at the 312 kg/ha in combination with chemical fertilizer 9) silicon 156 kg/ha in combination with ½ chemical fertilizer rate, and 10) silicon 312 kg/ha in combination with ½ chemical fertilizer rate. The results of 2 years indicated the treatment tended to increase soil pH (from 5.1 to 4.7-5.5), percentage of organic matter (from 2.43 to 2.54 - 2.94%); avail. P (from 7.5 to 7-21 mg kg-1 P; ext. K (from 616 to 451-572 mg kg-1 K), ext Ca (from 1962 to 2042.3-4339.7 mg kg-1 Ca); ext Mg (from 1586 to 808.7-900 mg kg-1 Mg); but decrease the ext. Al (from 2.56 to 0.89-2.54 cmol kg-1 Al. Two years average of rice yield, the highest yield was obtained from silicon 156 kg/ha application in combination with high quality organic fertilizer 300 kg/rai (3770 kg/ha), or using silicon at the 312 kg/ha combination with high quality organic fertilizer 300 kg/rai. (3,750 kg/ha). It was noted that chemical fertilizer application with 156 and 312 kg/ha silicon gave only 3,260 และ 3,133 kg/ha, respectively. On the other hand, half rate of chemical fertilizer with 156 and 312 kg/ha with silicon gave the yield of 2,934 และ 3,218 kg/ha, respectively. While high quality organic fertilizer only can produce 3,318 kg/ha as compare to rice yield of 2,812 kg/ha from control. It was noted that the highest economic return was obtained from chemical fertilizer treated plots (886 dollars/ha). Silicon application at the rate of 156 kg/ha in combination with high quality organic fertilizer 1875 kg/ha gave the economic return of 846 dollars/ha, while 312 kg/ha of silicon with chemical fertilizer gave the lowest economic return (697 dollars/ha).

Keywords: rice, high quality organic fertilizer, acid sulfate soil, silicon

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Authors: F.I. Adeosun, A.A. Idowu, D.O. Odulate,

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The aims of carrying out this experiment were to determine the water quality and to investigate if the various human and ecological activities around the river have any effect on the physico-chemical parameters of the river’s resources with a view to effectively utilizing these resources. Water samples were collected from two stations on the surface water of Lower Ogun River Akomoje biweekly for a period of 5 months (January to May, 2011). Results showed that temperature ranged between 24.0-30.7oC, transparency (0.53-1.00 m), depth (1.0-3.88 m), alkalinity (4.5-14.5 mg/l), nitrates (0.235-5.445 mg/l), electrical conductivity (140-190µS/cm), dissolved oxygen (4.12-5.32 mg/l), phosphates (0.02 mg/l-0.7 5 mg/l) and total dissolved solids (70-95).The parameters at the deep end (station A) accounted for the bulk of the highest values; there was however no significant differences between the stations at P˂0.05 with the exception of transparency, depth, total dissolved solids and electrical conductivity. The phosphate value was relatively low which accounted for the low productivity and high transparency. The results obtained from the physico-chemical parameters agreed with the limits set by both national and international bodies for drinking and fish growth. It was however observed that during the period of data collection, catch was low and this could be attributed to low level of primary productivity due to the quality of physico-chemical parameters of the water. It is recommended that the agencies involved in the management of the river should put the right policies in place that will effectively enhance proper exploitation of the water resources. More research should also be carried out on the physico-chemical parameters since this work only studied the water for five months.

Keywords: physical, chemical, parameters, water quality, Ogunriver

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Authors: Ana B. Carrera-Aguilar , Rodrigo T. Sepulveda-Hirose, Diego A. Bernal-Gurrusquieta, Francisco A. Ramirez Casas

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In recent years, Mexico City has presented high levels of atmospheric pollution; the city is also an example of inequality and poverty that impact metropolitan areas around the world. This combination of social and economic exclusion, coupled with high levels of pollution evidence the loss of well-being among the population. The effect of air pollution on quality of life is an area of study that has been overlooked. The purpose of this study is to find relations between air quality and quality of life in Mexico City through statistical analysis of a regression model and principal component analysis of several atmospheric contaminants (CO, NO₂, ozone, particulate matter, SO₂) and well-being indexes (HDI, poverty, inequality, life expectancy and health care index). The data correspond to official information (INEGI, SEDEMA, and CEPAL) for 2000-2018. Preliminary results show that the Human Development Index (HDI) is affected by the impacts of pollution, and its indicators are reduced in the presence of contaminants. It is necessary to promote a strong interest in this issue in Mexico City. Otherwise, the problem will not only remain but will worsen affecting those who have less and the population well-being in a generalized way.

Keywords: air quality, Mexico City, quality of life, statistics

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Authors: Satien Janpla, Radasa Pojard

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The objective of this study is to study bachelor's degree students’ satisfaction towards the course of Science Project based on education quality assurance. It is a case study of the Faculty of Science and Technology, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. The findings can be used as a guideline for analysis and revision of the content and the teaching/learning process of the subject. Moreover, other interesting factors such as teaching method can be developed based on education quality assurance. Population in this study included 267 students in year 3 and year 4 of the Faculty of Science and Technology, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University who registered in the subject of Science Project in semester 1/2556. The research tool was a questionnaire and the research statistics included arithmetic mean and SD. The results showed that the study of bachelor degree students’ satisfaction towards the subject of Science Project based on education quality assurance reported high satisfaction with the average of 3.51. Students from different departments showed no difference in their satisfaction.

Keywords: satisfaction, science project subject, education quality assurance, students

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Authors: Nahid Tavakoli, Asghar Ehteshami, Akbar Hassanzadeh, Fatemeh Amini

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Introduction: The Information security incident management guidelines was been developed to help hospitals to meet their information security event and incident management requirements. The purpose of this Study was to investigate on Information Security Incident Management in Isfahan’s educational hospitals in accordance to ISO/IEC 27002 standards. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study to investigate on Information Security Incident Management of educational hospitals in 2014. Based on ISO/IEC 27002 standards, two checklists were applied to check the compliance with standards on Reporting Information Security Events and Weakness and Management of Information Security Incidents and Improvements. One inspector was trained to carry out the assessments in the hospitals. The data was analyzed by SPSS. Findings: In general the score of compliance Information Security Incident Management requirements in two steps; Reporting Information Security Events and Weakness and Management of Information Security Incidents and Improvements was %60. There was the significant difference in various compliance levels among the hospitals (p-valueKeywords: information security incident management, information security management, standards, hospitals

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Authors: Mariana Mangas, Yaroslava Martins, Ana Matos Pires

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Introduction: Stigmatization is a common problem to overcome for people suffering from chronic diseases. It usually follows mental disorders and complicates the course of illness and reduces quality of life for people with mental illness. Objective: unsystematic review concerning stigma and mental illness, its impact on psychiatric disease and strategies to eradicate stigma. Methods: A search was conducted on PubMed, using keywords 'stigma' and 'mental illness'. Results and Discussion: Stigma is a psychosocial process that identifies individuals by the negative label of their differences. Stigma often brings a loss of occupational success and social support, reduced functioning and lower quality of life. The sense of stigma is common in individuals with mental illness and has considerable negative repercussions: delays treatment achievement, promotes social isolation, stress and maladaptive coping behaviors and it is associated with higher symptom levels, placing these individuals at higher risk for a poorer outcome and prognoses. Conclusion: Given the interrelation between stigma, symptoms, treatment seeking and disease management, stigma is a key construct in mental illness upon which anti-stigma initiatives may have considerable therapeutic potential. It will take multidisciplinary interventions to overcome mental illness stigma, including changes in social policy, attitudes and practices among mental health professionals, liaison between general public and people with a mental illness under conditions of equity and parity, family support, and easy access to evidence-based treatments.

Keywords: discrimination, stigma, mental illness, quality of life

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Authors: Fiona Lourenco, William Allen

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Dentofacial deformities are primarily surgically treated via orthognathic surgery. Health-related quality of life is concerned with aspects of quality of life that relate specifically to an individual’s health. Design and Setting: Retrospective analysis of patients who had orthognathic surgery from January 2018 - December 2022 at the trust using the previously validated Orthognathic Quality of Life questionnaire (OQoL). Materials and Methods: 32 Patient questionnaires (which included pre-operative and post-operative separate sections) were obtained via telephone survey. The data was analysed using the two-tailed paired t-test and Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Results: The change in perception post-surgery was highly significant (both tests resulted in p<0.001 for overall analysis as well as for each domain). Overall, a 74% improvement in QoL was seen following orthognathic surgery. Reports of improvement in each domain were as follows: 71% in the social aspect of the deformity domain, 76% in facial aesthetics, 60% in function, and 57% improvement in awareness of facial deformity. Conclusion: The assessment of QoL is becoming progressively imperative in clinical research. The above data shows that orthognathic surgery has a significant improvement in the QoL of patients post-operatively. The results demonstrate improvement in all domains, with perceptions in facial aesthetics seeing the highest change post-operatively.

Keywords: dentofacial, oral, facial asymmetry, orthognathic surgery, quality of life

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Authors: Milad Golshan, Wim Zeiler

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During the last decade research was done to clarify the importance of good Indoor Air Quality in schools. As a result, measurements were undertaken in different types of schools to see whether naturally ventilated schools could provide adequate indoor conditions. Also, a comparison was made between schools with hybrid ventilation and those with complete mechanical ventilation systems. Recently a large survey was undertaken at 60 schools to establish the average current situation of schools in the Netherlands. The results of the questionnaires were compared with those of earlier measured schools. This allowed us to compare different types of schools as well as schools of different periods. Overall it leads to insights about the actual current perceived quality by the teachers as well as the pupils and enables to draw some conclusions about the typical performances of specific types of school ventilation systems. Also, the perceived thermal comfort and controllability were researched. It proved that in around 50% of the schools there were major complains about the indoor air quality causing concentration problems and headaches by the pupils at the end of class. Although the main focus of the latest research was focused more on the quality of recently finished nearly Zero Energy schools, this research showed that especially the main focus school be on the renovation and upgrading of the existing 10.000 schools in the Netherlands.

Keywords: school ventilation, indoor air quality, perceiver thermal comfort, comparison different types

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Authors: Miloš Matúš, Peter Križan, Ľubomír Šooš, Juraj Beniak

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The moisture content of densified biomass is a limiting parameter influencing the quality of this solid biofuel. It influences its calorific value, density, mechanical strength and dimensional stability as well as affecting its production process. This paper deals with experimental research into the effect of moisture content of the densified material on the final quality of biofuel in the form of logs (briquettes or pellets). Experiments based on the single-axis densification of the spruce sawdust were carried out with a hydraulic piston press (piston and die), where the densified logs were produced at room temperature. The effect of moisture content on the qualitative properties of the logs, including density, change of moisture, expansion and physical changes, and compressive and impact resistance were studied. The results show the moisture ranges required for producing good-quality logs. The experiments were evaluated and the moisture content of the tested material was optimized to achieve the optimum value for the best quality of the solid biofuel. The dense logs also have high-energy content per unit volume. The research results could be used to develop and optimize industrial technologies and machinery for biomass densification to achieve high quality solid biofuel.

Keywords: biomass, briquettes, densification, fuel quality, moisture content, density

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Authors: Tori Reddy Dodla, Laura Ann Jones

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The objective of this study was to propose strategies to improve the efficiency of Knowledge Management Systems (KMS). This study highlights best practices from various industries to create an overall summary of Knowledge Management (KM) and efficiency in organizational performance. Results indicated eleven best practices for maximizing the efficiency of organizational KMS that can be divided into four categories: Designing the KMS, Identifying Case Studies, Implementing the KMS, and Promoting adoption and usage. Our findings can be used as a foundation for scholars to conduct further research on KMS efficiency.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, knowledge management efficiency, knowledge management systems, organizational performance

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Authors: Panita Wannapiroon, Noppadon Phumeechanya, Sitthichai Laisema

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This study is the research and development which is intended to: 1) design the ubiquitous cloud learning management system and: 2) assess the suitability of the design of the ubiquitous cloud learning management system. Its methods are divided into 2 phases. Phase 1 is the design of the ubiquitous cloud learning management system, phase 2 is the assessment of the suitability of the design the samples used in this study are work done by 25 professionals in the field of Ubiquitous cloud learning management systems and information and communication technology in education selected using the purposive sampling method. Data analyzed by arithmetic mean and standard deviation. The results showed that the ubiquitous cloud learning management system consists of 2 main components which are: 1) the ubiquitous cloud learning management system server (u-Cloud LMS Server) including: cloud repository, cloud information resources, social cloud network, cloud context awareness, cloud communication, cloud collaborative tools, and: 2) the mobile client. The result of the system suitability assessment from the professionals is in the highest range.

Keywords: learning management system, cloud computing, ubiquitous learning, ubiquitous learning management system

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Authors: Getachew Weldemichael, Sentayehu Alamerew, Leta Tulu, Gezahegn Berecha

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Coffee quality improvement program is becoming the focus of coffee research, as the world coffee consumption pattern shifted to high-quality coffee. However, there is limited information on the genetic variation of C. Arabica for quality improvement in potential specialty coffee growing areas of Ethiopia. Therefore, this experiment was conducted with the objectives of determining the magnitude of variation among 105 coffee accessions collected from east Wollega coffee growing areas and assessing correlations between the different coffee qualities attributes. It was conducted in RCRD with three replications. Data on green bean physical characters (shape and make, bean color and odor) and organoleptic cup quality traits (aromatic intensity, aromatic quality, acidity, astringency, bitterness, body, flavor, and overall standard of the liquor) were recorded. Analysis of variance, clustering, genetic divergence, principal component and correlation analysis was performed using SAS software. The result revealed that there were highly significant differences (P<0.01) among the accessions for all quality attributes except for odor and bitterness. Among the tested accessions, EW104 /09, EW101 /09, EW58/09, EW77/09, EW35/09, EW71/09, EW68/09, EW96 /09, EW83/09 and EW72/09 had the highest total coffee quality values (the sum of bean physical and cup quality attributes). These genotypes could serve as a source of genes for green bean physical characters and cup quality improvement in Arabica coffee. Furthermore, cluster analysis grouped the coffee accessions into five clusters with significant inter-cluster distances implying that there is moderate diversity among the accessions and crossing accessions from these divergent inter-clusters would result in hetrosis and recombinants in segregating generations. The principal component analysis revealed that the first three principal components with eigenvalues greater than unity accounted for 83.1% of the total variability due to the variation of nine quality attributes considered for PC analysis, indicating that all quality attributes equally contribute to a grouping of the accessions in different clusters. Organoleptic cup quality attributes showed positive and significant correlations both at the genotypic and phenotypic levels, demonstrating the possibility of simultaneous improvement of the traits. Path coefficient analysis revealed that acidity, flavor, and body had a high positive direct effect on overall cup quality, implying that these traits can be used as indirect criteria to improve overall coffee quality. Therefore, it was concluded that there is considerable variation among the accessions, which need to be properly conserved for future improvement of the coffee quality. However, the variability observed for quality attributes must be further verified using biochemical and molecular analysis.

Keywords: accessions, Coffea arabica, cluster analysis, correlation, principal component

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Authors: Afzaal Gulzar, Shafaq Mubarak, M. Zia-Ur-Rehman

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Industrial waste waters put environmental constrains to the water quality of aqueous reserves. Number of techniques has been used to treat them before disposal to water bodies. In this work a novel green approach is study by using poultry waste eggshells as a low cost efficient adsorbent for the dyes present in industrial effluent of textile and paper industries. The developed technique not only used to treat contaminated waters but also resulted in the utilization of poultry eggshell waste which in turn assists in solid waste management. Batch sorption studies like contact time, adsorbent dose, dye concentration, temp and pH has been conducted to find the optimum adsorption parameters.

Keywords: green technology, solid waste management, industrial effluent, eggshell waste utilization, waste water treatment

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Authors: Muhammad Nouman, Fahad Tiwana, Muhammad Irfan, Mohsin Tiwana

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Traffic congestion has been increasing significantly in major metropolitan areas as a result of increased motorization, urbanization, population growth and changes in the urban density. Traffic congestion compromises efficiency of transport infrastructure and causes multiple traffic concerns; including but not limited to increase of travel time, safety hazards, air pollution, and fuel consumption. Traffic management has become a serious challenge for federal and provincial governments, as well as exasperated commuters. Effective, flexible, efficient and user-friendly traffic information/database management systems characterize traffic conditions by making use of traffic counts for storage, processing, and visualization. While, the emerging data collection technologies continue to proliferate, its accuracy can be guaranteed through the comparison of observed data with the manual handheld counters. This paper presents the design of tablet based manual traffic counting application and framework for development of traffic database management system for Pakistan. The database management system comprises of three components including traffic counting android application; establishing online database and its visualization using Google maps. Oracle relational database was chosen to develop the data structure whereas structured query language (SQL) was adopted to program the system architecture. The GIS application links the data from the database and projects it onto a dynamic map for traffic conditions visualization. The traffic counting device and example of a database application in the real-world problem provided a creative outlet to visualize the uses and advantages of a database management system in real time. Also, traffic data counts by means of handheld tablet/ mobile application can be used for transportation planning and forecasting.

Keywords: manual count, emerging data sources, traffic information quality, traffic surveillance, traffic counting device, android; data visualization, traffic management

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Authors: Babatunde Joel Todowede

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It is a public knowledge that lack of quality and qualitative education breeds problems besetting Nigeria as a nation today. This paper entitled “Quality and Qualitative Education for all, panacea for insecurity and political unrest in Nigeria” seeks to explore how quality and qualitative education for all will tends to put an end to insecurity and political unrest in Nigeria as a Nation. It may be pertinent to note at this juncture that the development of any modern society or nation is primarily hinged on the functionality of its educational system. There is no developed nation in the world today, which does not owe its advancement to quality and qualitative education. In other words, Education is a vital instrument in the nation’s economic competitiveness, in its people, and in its communities. Hence, Education is not luxury to be cut in difficult economic times – it is an essential element of growth. In fact, education is the bedrock of any society that hopes to be numbered among the developed economies in the world. Nigeria, as a nation, has made continual efforts to assume its rightful place in education on the African continent, but has not been quite lucky. Interestingly however, Quality and Qualitative Education for all will come about if all stakeholders in the Education Sector perform their roles with skill and efficiency. Education is a very sensitive area, hence, needs to be passionate about education, and focused on building a future for the sector.” Quality and qualitative education instill significant core values in every student, which shape them into mature, caring and independent individuals. These values include commitment, collaboration, integrity, responsibility and respect. By imbibing these values in every aspect of their life, they are able to contribute their skills and talents while supporting each other in attaining their lifelong goals. This paper identified lack of proper education as the bane of insecurity and political unrest in the Country and urged the government to review the policy in a way that there will be quality and standard to check insurgency in the Country. More so, until the fallen standard of education in Nigeria is fixed to engage out of school children, the incessant attack on innocent Nigerians, particularly in the North East may get worse.

Keywords: quality and qualitative education, panacea, insecurity, political unrest

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Authors: S. Sadallah

Abstract:

In this paper, dynamic programming is used to determine the optimal management of financial resources in company. Solution of the problem by consider into simpler substructures is constructed. The optimal management of internal capital of company are simulated. The tools applied in this development are based on graph theory. The software of given problems is built by using greedy algorithm. The obtained model and program maintenance enable us to define the optimal version of management of proper financial flows by using visual diagram on each level of investment.

Keywords: management, software, optimal, greedy algorithm, graph-diagram

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Authors: Thuduwage Lasanthika Sajeevanie

Abstract:

Success is very important, and there are many factors affecting the success of any situation or a person. In Sri Lankan Context, it is hardly possible to find an empirical study relating to time management and academic success. Globally many organizations, individuals practice time management to be effective. Hence it is very important to examine the nature of time management practice. Thus this study will fill the existing gap relating to achieving academic success through proper time management practices. The research problem of this study is what is the relationship exist among time management skills and academic success of university lecturers in state universities. The objective of this paper is to identify the impact of time management skills for academic success of university lecturers. This is a conceptual study, and it was done through a literature survey by following purposive sampling technique for the selection of literature. Most of the studies have found that time management is highly related to academic performance. However, most of them have done on the academic performance of the students, and there were very few studies relating to academic performance of the university lecturers. Hence it can be further suggested to conduct a study relating to identifying the relationship between academic performance and time management skills of university lecturers.

Keywords: academic success, performance, time management skills, university lecturers

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Authors: Raymond Olayinka

Abstract:

The last three decades have witnessed myriads of definitions of knowledge management proposed by researchers and industry practitioners. Despite the magnitude of research and available literature on knowledge management, there is yet to be a consensus on what constitutes a good definition. There exists an in-exhaustive list of definitions which can appear confusing, conflicting and overlapping. What is even more daunting is the lack of common terminology in describing knowledge management processes and the inconsistency in the sequence in which the processes take. Whilst newbies to knowledge management research would struggle to make sense of knowledge management definitions, industry practitioners would struggle with their applicability. Against this backdrop, this study aimed to re-evaluate knowledge management definitions and terminologies. The objectives were threefold: (1) to conduct a critical review of an existing body of work around knowledge management concepts and definitions (2) to analyse and synthesise findings (3) to present conclusions and recommendations. The methodology for this study centres around the review of the literature and secondary data sources. A total of 48 knowledge management processes were found and extracted from various definitions (e.g. ‘identify’, ‘capture’, ‘codify’, ‘store’…). A taxonomy of the processes was created based on the commonality of the entities. The 48 processes were classified under 8 headings which were further converged into 3 main headings namely ‘acquire’, ‘exploit’ and ‘evaluate’, of which all definitions therefore hinge. The study concludes that in the multitude of knowledge management definitions, there is a consistent pattern to which the processes are organised and should be utilised. The contribution of this study is in the synthesis of previous work by various authors and the presentation of a more holistic approach to knowledge management definitions and terminologies.

Keywords: knowledge management definitions, knowledge management terminologies, knowledge management processes, literature review

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Authors: E. Cintura, M. I. Gomes

Abstract:

Nowadays, sustainable development issues have a key role in the planning of the man-made environment. Ensuring this development means limiting the impact of human activity on nature. It is essential to secure healthy places and good living conditions. For these reasons, indoor air quality and building materials play a fundamental role in sustainable architectural projects. These factors significantly affect human health: they can radically change the quality of the internal environment and energy consumption. The use of natural materials such as earth has many beneficial aspects in comfort and indoor air quality. As well as advantages in the environmental impact of the construction, they ensure a low energy consumption. Since they are already present in nature, their production and use do not require a high-energy consumption. Furthermore, they have a high thermo-hygrometric capacity, being able to absorb moisture, contributing positively to indoor conditions. Indoor air quality is closely related to relative humidity. For these reasons, it can be affirmed that the use of earth materials guarantees a sustainable development and at the same time improves the health of the building users. This paper summarizes several researches that demonstrate the importance of indoor air quality for human health and how it strictly depends on the building materials used. Eco-efficient plasters are also considered: earth and ash mortar. The bibliography consulted has the objective of supporting future experimental and laboratory analyzes. It is necessary to carry on with research by the use of simulations and testing to confirm the hygrothermal properties of eco-efficient plasters and therefore their ability to improve indoor air quality.

Keywords: hygroscopicity, hygrothermal comfort, mortar, plaster

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Authors: Dessie Fisseha, Derbew Belew, Ambecha Olika

Abstract:

Potato is a high-potential food security crop in Ethiopia. However, the yield and productivity of the crop have been far below the world average. This is due to several factors, including appropriate agronomic practices, such as time of earthing-up and inflorescence management. A field experiment was conducted at Jimma, Southwest Ethiopia, during 2016/17 under irrigation to determine the effect of time of earthing-up and inflorescence removal on the growth, yield, and quality of potatoes. The treatments consisted of a time of earthing-up (no earthing-up, earthing-up at 15, 30, and 45 days after complete plant emergence) and inflorescence removal (inflorescence removed and not removed). Potato variety (Belete) was used for this experiment. A 2x4 factorial experiment was laid out with three replications. Data collected on the growth, yield, and quality components of potatoes were analyzed using SAS Version 9.3 statistical software. Inflorescence removal affected the majority of the growth and yield parameters, while the time of earthing-up affected all growth, yield, and quality (green tuber number) parameters. Earthing-up at 15 days in combination with inflorescence removal (at 60 days after complete plant emergence) gave better plant growth and maximum tuber yield of the Belete potato variety under irrigated conditions. Since the current research was conducted at one location, in one season, and with one potato cultivar (Belete), it would be advisable to repeat the experiment so as to arrive at a final conclusion and subsequent recommendation.

Keywords: Belete, earthing-up, inflorescence, yield

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