Search results for: cost efficient
10058 Detection Efficient Enterprises via Data Envelopment Analysis
Authors: S. Turkan
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In this paper, the Turkey’s Top 500 Industrial Enterprises data in 2014 were analyzed by data envelopment analysis. Data envelopment analysis is used to detect efficient decision-making units such as universities, hospitals, schools etc. by using inputs and outputs. The decision-making units in this study are enterprises. To detect efficient enterprises, some financial ratios are determined as inputs and outputs. For this reason, financial indicators related to productivity of enterprises are considered. The efficient foreign weighted owned capital enterprises are detected via super efficiency model. According to the results, it is said that Mercedes-Benz is the most efficient foreign weighted owned capital enterprise in Turkey.Keywords: data envelopment analysis, super efficiency, logistic regression, financial ratios
Procedia PDF Downloads 32410057 Application of Costing System in the Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SME) in Turkey
Authors: Hamide Özyürek, Metin Yılmaz
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Standard processes, similar and limited production lines, the production of high direct costs will be more accurate than the use of parts of the traditional cost systems in the literature. However, direct costs, overhead expenses, in turn, decreases the burden of increasingly sophisticated production facilities, a situation that led the researchers to look for the cost of traditional systems of alternative techniques. Variety cost management approaches for example Total quality management (TQM), just-in-time (JIT), benchmarking, kaizen costing, targeting cost, life cycle costs (LLC), activity-based costing (ABC) value engineering have been introduced. Management and cost applications have changed over the past decade and will continue to change. Modern cost systems can provide relevant and accurate cost information. These methods provide the decisions about customer, product and process improvement. The aim of study is to describe and explain the adoption and application of costing systems in SME. This purpose reports on a survey conducted during 2014 small and medium sized enterprises (SME) in Ankara. The survey results were evaluated using SPSS package program.Keywords: modern costing systems, managerial accounting, cost accounting, costing
Procedia PDF Downloads 56610056 Aircraft Line Maintenance Equipped with Decision Support System
Authors: B. Sudarsan Baskar, S. Pooja Pragati, S. Raj Kumar
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The cost effectiveness in aircraft maintenance is of high privilege in the recent days. The cost effectiveness can be effectively made when line maintenance activities are incorporated at airports during Turn around time (TAT). The present work outcomes the shortcomings that affect the dispatching of the aircrafts, aiming at high fleet operability and low maintenance cost. The operational and cost constraints have been discussed and a suggestive alternative mechanism is proposed. The possible allocation of all deferred maintenance tasks to a set of all deferred maintenance tasks to a set of suitable airport resources have termed as alternative and is discussed in this paper from the data’s collected from the kingfisher airlines.Keywords: decision support system, aircraft maintenance planning, maintenance-cost, RUL(remaining useful life), logistics, supply chain management
Procedia PDF Downloads 50210055 Apply Commitment Method in Power System to Minimize the Fuel Cost
Authors: Mohamed Shaban, Adel Yahya
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The goal of this paper study is to schedule the power generation units to minimize fuel consumption cost based on a model that solves unit commitment problems. This can be done by utilizing forward dynamic programming method to determine the most economic scheduling of generating units. The model was applied to a power station, which consists of four generating units. The obtained results show that the applications of forward dynamic programming method offer a substantial reduction in fuel consumption cost. The fuel consumption cost has been reduced from $116,326 to $102,181 within a 24-hour period. This means saving about 12.16 % of fuel consumption cost. The study emphasizes the importance of applying modeling schedule programs to the operation of power generation units. As a consequence less consumption of fuel, less loss of power and less pollutionKeywords: unit commitment, forward dynamic, fuel cost, programming, generation scheduling, operation cost, power system, generating units
Procedia PDF Downloads 61110054 Empirical Study of Correlation between the Cost Performance Index Stability and the Project Cost Forecast Accuracy in Construction Projects
Authors: Amin AminiKhafri, James M. Dawson-Edwards, Ryan M. Simpson, Simaan M. AbouRizk
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Earned value management (EVM) has been introduced as an integrated method to combine schedule, budget, and work breakdown structure (WBS). EVM provides various indices to demonstrate project performance including the cost performance index (CPI). CPI is also used to forecast final project cost at completion based on the cost performance during the project execution. Knowing the final project cost during execution can initiate corrective actions, which can enhance project outputs. CPI, however, is not constant during the project, and calculating the final project cost using a variable index is an inaccurate and challenging task for practitioners. Since CPI is based on the cumulative progress values and because of the learning curve effect, CPI variation dampens and stabilizes as project progress. Although various definitions for the CPI stability have been proposed in literature, many scholars have agreed upon the definition that considers a project as stable if the CPI at 20% completion varies less than 0.1 from the final CPI. While 20% completion point is recognized as the stability point for military development projects, construction projects stability have not been studied. In the current study, an empirical study was first conducted using construction project data to determine the stability point for construction projects. Early findings have demonstrated that a majority of construction projects stabilize towards completion (i.e., after 70% completion point). To investigate the effect of CPI stability on cost forecast accuracy, the correlation between CPI stability and project cost at completion forecast accuracy was also investigated. It was determined that as projects progress closer towards completion, variation of the CPI decreases and final project cost forecast accuracy increases. Most projects were found to have 90% accuracy in the final cost forecast at 70% completion point, which is inlined with findings from the CPI stability findings. It can be concluded that early stabilization of the project CPI results in more accurate cost at completion forecasts.Keywords: cost performance index, earned value management, empirical study, final project cost
Procedia PDF Downloads 15610053 An Open Loop Distribution Module for Precise and Uniform Drip Fertigation in Soilless Culture
Authors: Juan Ignacio Arango, Andres Diaz, Giacomo Barbieri
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In soilless culture, the definition of efficient fertigation strategies is fundamental for the growth of crops. Flexible test-benches able to independently manage groups of crops are key for investigating efficient fertigation practices through experimentation. These test-benches must be able to provide nutrient solution (NS) in a precise, uniform and repeatable way in order to effectively implement and compare different fertigation strategies. This article describes a distribution module for investigating fertigation practices able to control the fertigation dose and frequency. The proposed solution is characterized in terms of precision, uniformity and repeatability since these parameters are fundamental in the implementation of effective experiments for the investigation of fertigation practices. After a calibration process, the implemented system reaches a precision of 1mL, a uniformity of 98.5% at a total cost of 735USD.Keywords: recision horticulture, test-bench, fertigation strategy, automation, flexibility
Procedia PDF Downloads 13910052 Time and Cost Efficiency Analysis of Quick Die Change System on Metal Stamping Industry
Authors: Rudi Kurniawan Arief
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Manufacturing cost and setup time are the hot topics to improve in Metal Stamping industry because material and components price are always rising up while costumer requires to cut down the component price year by year. The Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) is one of many methods to reduce waste in stamping industry. The Japanese Quick Die Change (QDC) dies system is one of SMED systems that could reduce both of setup time and manufacturing cost. However, this system is rarely used in stamping industries. This paper will analyze how deep the QDC dies system could reduce setup time and the manufacturing cost. The research is conducted by direct observation, simulating and comparing of QDC dies system with conventional dies system. In this research, we found that the QDC dies system could save up to 35% of manufacturing cost and reduce 70% of setup times. This simulation proved that the QDC die system is effective for cost reduction but must be applied in several parallel production processes.Keywords: press die, metal stamping, QDC system, single minute exchange die, manufacturing cost saving, SMED
Procedia PDF Downloads 17010051 An Automated Business Process Management for Smart Medical Records
Authors: K. Malak, A. Nourah, S.Liyakathunisa
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Nowadays, healthcare services are facing many challenges since they are becoming more complex and more needed. Every detail of a patient’s interactions with health care providers is maintained in Electronic Health Records (ECR) and Healthcare information systems (HIS). However, most of the existing systems are often focused on documenting what happens in manual health care process, rather than providing the highest quality patient care. Healthcare business processes and stakeholders can no longer rely on manual processes, to provide better patient care and efficient utilization of resources, Healthcare processes must be automated wherever it is possible. In this research, a detail survey and analysis is performed on the existing health care systems in Saudi Arabia, and an automated smart medical healthcare business process model is proposed. The business process management methods and rules are followed in discovering, collecting information, analysis, redesign, implementation and performance improvement analysis in terms of time and cost. From the simulation results, it is evident that our proposed smart medical records system can improve the quality of the service by reducing the time and cost and increasing efficiencyKeywords: business process management, electronic health records, efficiency, cost, time
Procedia PDF Downloads 34110050 Inoculation of Aerospace Grade Mg-Al-Zn-Mn Cast Magnesium Alloy with Carbon Nanopowder
Authors: Spartak Makovskyi, Volodymir Klochykhin, Valery Zakharchenko, Konstantyn Balushok, Eduard Tsyvirko, Anatoly Shalomeyev
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A highly efficient, cost-effective grain refinement technique for ML5 magnesium alloy with a commercially pure carbon nanopowder has been proposed. An experimental casting of testing specimens with incremental additions of a carbon nanopowder (0.001 - 0.1 wt.% ) was performed. It has been found that the carbon nanoparticle inoculation of the alloy structure is efficient in a narrow concentration range. The additions of 0.005-0.01 wt. % the grain refiner in the alloy resulted in a maximum increase of ductility properties (appr. Twofold) and improved tensile strength. However, further expansion of the grain refiner content led to the deterioration of the alloy's mechanical properties. In particular, the introduction of 0.1 wt.% of the nanocarbon and more caused internal defects in the metal. The carbon nanoparticle inoculation is a promising way of improving the properties of the Mg-Al-Zn alloys for critical lightweight aerospace applications on an industrial scale.Keywords: carbon nanopowder, inoculation, melt, tensile strength
Procedia PDF Downloads 20810049 Preparation and Characterization of Biosorbent from Cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica) cladodes and its Application for Dye Removal from Aqueous Solution
Authors: Manisha Choudhary, Sudarsan Neogi
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Malachite green (MG), an organic basic dye, has been widely used for the dyeing purpose, as well as a fungicide and antiseptic in aquaculture industry to control fish parasites and disease. However, MG has now turned out to be an extremely controversial compound due to its adverse impact on living beings. Due to high toxicity, proper treatment of wastewater containing MG is utmost important. Among different available technologies, adsorption process is one of the most efficient and cost-effective treatment method due to its simplicity of design, ease of operation and regeneration of used materials. Nonetheless, commercial activated carbon is expensive leading the researchers to focus on utilizing natural resources. In the present work, a species of cactus, Opuntia ficus-indica (OFI), was used to develop a highly efficient, low-cost powdered activated carbon by chemical activation using NaOH. The biosorbent was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscope, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) and X-ray diffraction analysis. Batch adsorption studies were performed to remove MG from an aqueous solution as a function of contact time, initial solution pH, initial dye concentration, biosorbent dosages, the presence of salt and temperature. By increasing the initial dye concentration from 100 to 500 mg/l, adsorption capacity increased from 165.45 to 831.58 mg/g. The adsorption kinetics followed the pseudo-second-order model and the chemisorption mechanisms were revealed. The electrostatic attractions and chemical interactions were observed between amino and hydroxyl groups of the biosorbent and amine groups of the dye. The adsorption was solely controlled by film diffusion. Different isotherm models were used to fit the adsorption data. The excellent recovery of adsorption efficiency after the regeneration of biosorbent indicated the high potential of this adsorbent to remove MG from aqueous solution and an excellent cost-effective biosorbent for wide application in wastewater treatment.Keywords: adsorption, biosorbent, cactus, malachite green
Procedia PDF Downloads 37410048 Energy Efficient Retrofitting and Optimization of Dual Mixed Refrigerant Natural Gas Liquefaction Process
Authors: Muhammad Abdul Qyyum, Kinza Qadeer, Moonyong Lee
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Globally, liquefied natural gas (LNG) has drawn interest as a green energy source in comparison with other fossil fuels, mainly because of its ease of transport and low carbon dioxide emissions. It is expected that demand for LNG will grow steadily over the next few decades. In addition, because the demand for clean energy is increasing, LNG production facilities are expanding into new natural gas reserves across the globe. However, LNG production is an energy and cost intensive process because of the huge power requirements for compression and refrigeration. Therefore, one of the major challenges in the LNG industry is to improve the energy efficiency of existing LNG processes through economic and ecological strategies. The advancement in expansion devices such as two-phase cryogenic expander (TPE) and cryogenic hydraulic turbine (HT) were exploited for energy and cost benefits in natural gas liquefaction. Retrofitting the conventional Joule–Thompson (JT) valve with TPE and HT have the potential to improve the energy efficiency of LNG processes. This research investigated the potential feasibility of the retrofitting of a dual mixed refrigerant (DMR) process by replacing the isenthalpic expansion with isentropic expansion corresponding to energy efficient LNG production. To fully take the potential benefit of the proposed process retrofitting, the proposed DMR schemes were optimized by using a Coggins optimization approach, which was implemented in Microsoft Visual Studio (MVS) environment and linked to the rigorous HYSYS® model. The results showed that the required energy of the proposed isentropic expansion based DMR process could be saved up to 26.5% in comparison with the conventional isenthalpic based DMR process using the JT valves. Utilization of the recovered energy into boosting the natural gas feed pressure could further improve the energy efficiency of the LNG process up to 34% as compared to the base case. This work will help the process engineers to overcome the challenges relating to energy efficiency and safety concerns of LNG processes. Furthermore, the proposed retrofitting scheme can also be implemented to improve the energy efficiency of other isenthalpic expansion based energy intensive cryogenic processes.Keywords: cryogenic liquid turbine, Coggins optimization, dual mixed refrigerant, energy efficient LNG process, two-phase expander
Procedia PDF Downloads 14710047 Core Number Optimization Based Scheduler to Order/Mapp Simulink Application
Authors: Asma Rebaya, Imen Amari, Kaouther Gasmi, Salem Hasnaoui
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Over these last years, the number of cores witnessed a spectacular increase in digital signal and general use processors. Concurrently, significant researches are done to get benefit from the high degree of parallelism. Indeed, these researches are focused to provide an efficient scheduling from hardware/software systems to multicores architecture. The scheduling process consists on statically choose one core to execute one task and to specify an execution order for the application tasks. In this paper, we describe an efficient scheduler that calculates the optimal number of cores required to schedule an application, gives a heuristic scheduling solution and evaluates its cost. Our proposal results are evaluated and compared with Preesm scheduler results and we prove that ours allows better scheduling in terms of latency, computation time and number of cores.Keywords: computation time, hardware/software system, latency, optimization, multi-cores platform, scheduling
Procedia PDF Downloads 28210046 An Alternative Institutional Design for Efficient Management of Nepalese Irrigation Systems
Authors: Tirtha Raj Dhakal, Brian Davidson, Bob Farquharson
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Institutional design is important if water resources are to be managed efficiently. In Nepal, the supply of water in both farmer- and agency-managed irrigation systems is inefficient because of the weak institutional frameworks. This type of inefficiency is linked with collective problems such as non-excludability of irrigation water, inadequate recognition of property rights and externalities. Irrigation scheme surveys from Nepal as well as existing literature revealed that the Nepalese irrigation sector is facing many issues such as low cost recovery, inadequate maintenance of the schemes and inefficient allocation and utilization of irrigation water. The institutional practices currently in place also fail to create/force any incentives for farmers to use water efficiently and to pay for its use. This, thus, compels the need of refined institutional framework that can address the collective problems and improve irrigation efficiency.Keywords: agency-managed, cost recovery, farmer-managed, institutional design
Procedia PDF Downloads 42410045 Investigating the Effect of Refinancing on Financial Behaviour of Energy Efficiency Projects
Authors: Zohreh Soltani, Seyedmohammadhossein Hosseinian
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Reduction of energy consumption in built infrastructure, through the installation of energy-efficient technologies, is a major approach to achieving sustainability. In practice, the viability of energy efficiency projects strongly depends on the cost reimbursement and profitability. These projects are subject to failure if the actual cost savings do not reimburse the project cost in a timely manner. In such cases, refinancing could be a solution to benefit from the long-term returns of the project if implemented wisely. However, very little is still known about the effect of refinancing options on financial performance of energy efficiency projects. To fill this gap, the present study investigates the financial behavior of energy efficiency projects with focus on refinancing options, such as Leveraged Loans. A System Dynamics (SD) model is introduced, and the model application is presented using an actual case-study data. The case study results indicate that while high-interest start-ups make using Leveraged Loan inevitable, refinancing can rescue the project and bring about profitability. This paper also presents some managerial implications of refinancing energy efficiency projects based on the case-study analysis. Results of this study help implementing financially viable energy efficiency projects, so the community could benefit from their environmental advantages widely.Keywords: energy efficiency projects, leveraged loan, refinancing, sustainability
Procedia PDF Downloads 39310044 A Comparative Analysis of Residential Quality of Public and Private Estates in Lagos
Authors: S. Akinde, Jubril Olatunbosun
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In recent years, most of the urban centers in Nigeria are fast experiencing housing problems such as unaffordable housing and environmental challenges, all of which determine the nature of housing quality. The population continues to increase and the demand for quality housing increases probably at the same rate. Several kinds of houses serve various purposes; the objectives of the low cost housing schemes as the name suggests is to make houses quality to both the middle and lower classes of people in Lagos. A casual look into the study area of Iba Low Cost Housing Estate and the Unity Low Cost Housing Estate, Ojo and Alimosho respectively in Lagos State have shown a huge demands for houses. The study area boasts of a large population all engaged in various commercial activities with income at various levels. It would be fair to say that these people are mainly of the middle class and lower class. This means the low cost housing scheme truly serves these purposes. A Low Cost Housing Scheme of Iba which is publicly owned and Low Cost Housing Scheme of Unity Estate (UE) is privately owned.Keywords: housing, residential quality, low cost housing scheme, public, private estates
Procedia PDF Downloads 56310043 Impact on Cost of Equity of Accounting and Disclosures
Authors: Abhishek Ranga
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The study examined the effect of accounting choice and level of disclosure on the firm’s implied cost of equity in Indian environment. For the study accounting choice was classified as aggressive or conservative depending upon the firm’s choice of accounting methods, accounting policies and accounting estimates. Level of disclosure is the quantum of financial and non-financial information disclosed in firm’s annual report, essentially in note to accounts section, schedules forming part of financial statements and Management Discussion and Analysis report. Regression models were developed with cost of equity as a dependent variable and accounting choice, level of disclosure as an independent variable along with selected control variables. Cost of equity was measured using Edward-Bell-Ohlson (EBO) valuation model, to measure accounting choice Modified-Jones-Model (MJM) was used and level of disclosure was measured using a disclosure index essentially drawn from Botosan study. Results indicated a negative association between the implied cost of equity and conservative accounting choice and also between level of disclosure and cost of equity.Keywords: aggressive accounting choice, conservative accounting choice, disclosure, implied cost of equity
Procedia PDF Downloads 46210042 Optimization and Energy Management of Hybrid Standalone Energy System
Authors: T. M. Tawfik, M. A. Badr, E. Y. El-Kady, O. E. Abdellatif
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Electric power shortage is a serious problem in remote rural communities in Egypt. Over the past few years, electrification of remote communities including efficient on-site energy resources utilization has achieved high progress. Remote communities usually fed from diesel generator (DG) networks because they need reliable energy and cheap fresh water. The main objective of this paper is to design an optimal economic power supply from hybrid standalone energy system (HSES) as alternative energy source. It covers energy requirements for reverse osmosis desalination unit (DU) located in National Research Centre farm in Noubarya, Egypt. The proposed system consists of PV panels, Wind Turbines (WT), Batteries, and DG as a backup for supplying DU load of 105.6 KWh/day rated power with 6.6 kW peak load operating 16 hours a day. Optimization of HSES objective is selecting the suitable size of each of the system components and control strategy that provide reliable, efficient, and cost-effective system using net present cost (NPC) as a criterion. The harmonization of different energy sources, energy storage, and load requirements are a difficult and challenging task. Thus, the performance of various available configurations is investigated economically and technically using iHOGA software that is based on genetic algorithm (GA). The achieved optimum configuration is further modified through optimizing the energy extracted from renewable sources. Effective minimization of energy charging the battery ensures that most of the generated energy directly supplies the demand, increasing the utilization of the generated energy.Keywords: energy management, hybrid system, renewable energy, remote area, optimization
Procedia PDF Downloads 19910041 The Study of Cost Accounting in S Company Based on TDABC
Authors: Heng Ma
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Third-party warehousing logistics has an important role in the development of external logistics. At present, the third-party logistics in our country is still a new industry, the accounting system has not yet been established, the current financial accounting system of third-party warehousing logistics is mainly in the traditional way of thinking, and only able to provide the total cost information of the entire enterprise during the accounting period, unable to reflect operating indirect cost information. In order to solve the problem of third-party logistics industry cost information distortion, improve the level of logistics cost management, the paper combines theoretical research and case analysis method to reflect cost allocation by building third-party logistics costing model using Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing(TDABC), and takes S company as an example to account and control the warehousing logistics cost. Based on the idea of “Products consume activities and activities consume resources”, TDABC put time into the main cost driver and use time-consuming equation resources assigned to cost objects. In S company, the objects focuses on three warehouse, engaged with warehousing and transportation (the second warehouse, transport point) service. These three warehouse respectively including five departments, Business Unit, Production Unit, Settlement Center, Security Department and Equipment Division, the activities in these departments are classified by in-out of storage forecast, in-out of storage or transit and safekeeping work. By computing capacity cost rate, building the time-consuming equation, the paper calculates the final operation cost so as to reveal the real cost. The numerical analysis results show that the TDABC can accurately reflect the cost allocation of service customers and reveal the spare capacity cost of resource center, verifies the feasibility and validity of TDABC in third-party logistics industry cost accounting. It inspires enterprises focus on customer relationship management and reduces idle cost to strengthen the cost management of third-party logistics enterprises.Keywords: third-party logistics enterprises, TDABC, cost management, S company
Procedia PDF Downloads 35810040 Utilizing IoT for Waste Collection: A Review of Technologies for Eco-Friendly Waste Management
Authors: Fatemehsadat Mousaviabarbekouh
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Population growth and changing consumption patterns have led to waste management becoming a significant global challenge. With projections indicating that nearly 67% of the Earth's population will live in megacities by 2050, there is a pressing need for smart solutions to address citizens' demands. Waste collection, facilitated by the Internet of Things (IoT), offers an efficient and cost-effective approach. This study aims to review the utilization of IoT for waste collection and explore technologies that promote eco-friendly waste management. The research focuses on information and communication technologies (ICTs), including spatial, identification, acquisition, and data communication technologies. Additionally, the study examines various energy harvesting technologies to further reduce costs. The findings indicate that the application of these technologies can lead to significant cost savings, energy efficiency, and ultimately reshape the future of waste management.Keywords: waste collection, IoT, smart cities, eco-friendly, information and communication technologies, energy harvesting
Procedia PDF Downloads 11110039 Cost-Optimized Extra-Lateral Transshipments
Authors: Dilupa Nakandala, Henry Lau
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Ever increasing demand for cost efficiency and customer satisfaction through reliable delivery have been a mandate for logistics practitioners to continually improve inventory management processes. With the cost optimization objectives, this study considers an extended scenario where sourcing from the same echelon of the supply chain, known as lateral transshipment which is instantaneous but more expensive than purchasing from regular suppliers, is considered by warehouses not only to re-actively fulfill the urgent outstanding retailer demand that could not be fulfilled by stock on hand but also for preventively reduce back-order cost. Such extra lateral trans-shipments as preventive responses are intended to meet the expected demand during the supplier lead time in a periodic review ordering policy setting. We develop decision rules to assist logistics practitioners to make cost optimized selection between back-ordering and combined reactive and proactive lateral transshipment options. A method for determining the optimal quantity of extra lateral transshipment is developed considering the trade-off between purchasing, holding and backorder cost components.Keywords: lateral transshipment, warehouse inventory management, cost optimization, preventive transshipment
Procedia PDF Downloads 61510038 A Study of the Implications for the Health and Wellbeing of Energy-Efficient House Occupants: A UK-Based Investigation of Indoor Climate and Indoor Air Quality
Authors: Patricia Kermeci
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Policies related to the reduction of both carbon dioxide and energy consumption within the residential sector have contributed towards a growing number of energy-efficient houses being built in several countries. Many of these energy-efficient houses rely on the construction of very well insulated and highly airtight structures, ventilated mechanically. Although energy-efficient houses are indeed more energy efficient than conventional houses, concerns have been raised over the quality of their indoor air and, consequently, the possible adverse health and wellbeing effects for their occupants. Using a longitudinal study design over three different weather seasons (winter, spring and summer), this study has investigated the indoor climate and indoor air quality of different rooms (bedroom, living room and kitchen) in five energy-efficient houses and four conventional houses in the UK. Occupants have kept diaries of their activities during the studied periods and interviews have been conducted to investigate possible behavioural explanations for the findings. Data has been compared with reviews of epidemiological, toxicological and other health related published literature to reveals three main findings. First, it shows that the indoor environment quality of energy-efficient houses cannot be treated as a holistic entity as different rooms presented dissimilar indoor climate and indoor air quality. Thus, such differences might contribute to the health and wellbeing of occupants in different ways. Second, the results show that the indoor environment quality of energy-efficient houses can vary following changes in weather season, leaving occupants at a lower or higher risk of adverse health and wellbeing effects during different weather seasons. Third, one cannot assume that even identical energy-efficient houses provide a similar indoor environment quality. Fourth, the findings reveal that the practices and behaviours of the occupants of energy-efficient houses likely determine whether they enjoy a healthier indoor environment when compared with their control houses. In conclusion, it has been considered vital to understand occupants’ practices and behaviours in order to explain the ways they might contribute to the indoor climate and indoor air quality in energy-efficient houses.Keywords: energy-efficient house, health and wellbeing, indoor environment, indoor air quality
Procedia PDF Downloads 23010037 Optimizing Resource Management in Cloud Computing through Blockchain-Enabled Cost Transparency
Authors: Raghava Satya SaiKrishna Dittakavi
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Cloud computing has revolutionized how businesses and individuals store, access, and process data, increasing efficiency and reducing infrastructure costs. However, the need for more transparency in cloud service billing often raises concerns about overcharging and hidden fees, hindering the realization of the full potential of cloud computing. This research paper explores how blockchain technology can be leveraged to introduce cost transparency and accountability in cloud computing services. We present a comprehensive analysis of blockchain-enabled solutions that enhance cost visibility, facilitate auditability, and promote trust in cloud service providers. Through this study, we aim to provide insights into the potential benefits and challenges of implementing blockchain in the cloud computing domain, leading to improved cost management and customer satisfaction.Keywords: blockchain, cloud computing, cost transparency, blockchain technology
Procedia PDF Downloads 8310036 ParkedGuard: An Efficient and Accurate Parked Domain Detection System Using Graphical Locality Analysis and Coarse-To-Fine Strategy
Authors: Chia-Min Lai, Wan-Ching Lin, Hahn-Ming Lee, Ching-Hao Mao
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As world wild internet has non-stop developments, making profit by lending registered domain names emerges as a new business in recent years. Unfortunately, the larger the market scale of domain lending service becomes, the riskier that there exist malicious behaviors or malwares hiding behind parked domains will be. Also, previous work for differentiating parked domain suffers two main defects: 1) too much data-collecting effort and CPU latency needed for features engineering and 2) ineffectiveness when detecting parked domains containing external links that are usually abused by hackers, e.g., drive-by download attack. Aiming for alleviating above defects without sacrificing practical usability, this paper proposes ParkedGuard as an efficient and accurate parked domain detector. Several scripting behavioral features were analyzed, while those with special statistical significance are adopted in ParkedGuard to make feature engineering much more cost-efficient. On the other hand, finding memberships between external links and parked domains was modeled as a graph mining problem, and a coarse-to-fine strategy was elaborately designed by leverage the graphical locality such that ParkedGuard outperforms the state-of-the-art in terms of both recall and precision rates.Keywords: coarse-to-fine strategy, domain parking service, graphical locality analysis, parked domain
Procedia PDF Downloads 40810035 The Ideal Memory Substitute for Computer Memory Hierarchy
Authors: Kayode A. Olaniyi, Olabanji F. Omotoye, Adeola A. Ogunleye
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Computer system components such as the CPU, the Controllers, and the operating system, work together as a team, and storage or memory is the essential parts of this team apart from the processor. The memory and storage system including processor caches, main memory, and storage, form basic storage component of a computer system. The characteristics of the different types of storage are inherent in the design and the technology employed in the manufacturing. These memory characteristics define the speed, compatibility, cost, volatility, and density of the various storage types. Most computers rely on a hierarchy of storage devices for performance. The effective and efficient use of the memory hierarchy of the computer system therefore is the single most important aspect of computer system design and use. The memory hierarchy is becoming a fundamental performance and energy bottleneck, due to the widening gap between the increasing demands of modern computer applications and the limited performance and energy efficiency provided by traditional memory technologies. With the dramatic development in the computers systems, computer storage has had a difficult time keeping up with the processor speed. Computer architects are therefore facing constant challenges in developing high-speed computer storage with high-performance which is energy-efficient, cost-effective and reliable, to intercept processor requests. It is very clear that substantial advancements in redesigning the existing memory physical and logical structures to meet up with the latest processor potential is crucial. This research work investigates the importance of computer memory (storage) hierarchy in the design of computer systems. The constituent storage types of the hierarchy today were investigated looking at the design technologies and how the technologies affect memory characteristics: speed, density, stability and cost. The investigation considered how these characteristics could best be harnessed for overall efficiency of the computer system. The research revealed that the best single type of storage, which we refer to as ideal memory is that logical single physical memory which would combine the best attributes of each memory type that make up the memory hierarchy. It is a single memory with access speed as high as one found in CPU registers, combined with the highest storage capacity, offering excellent stability in the presence or absence of power as found in the magnetic and optical disks as against volatile DRAM, and yet offers a cost-effective attribute that is far away from the expensive SRAM. The research work suggests that to overcome these barriers it may then mean that memory manufacturing will take a total deviation from the present technologies and adopt one that overcomes the associated challenges with the traditional memory technologies.Keywords: cache, memory-hierarchy, memory, registers, storage
Procedia PDF Downloads 16410034 Cost Reduction Techniques for Provision of Shelter to Homeless
Authors: Mukul Anand
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Quality oriented affordable shelter for all has always been the key issue in the housing sector of our country. Homelessness is the acute form of housing need. It is a paradox that in spite of innumerable government initiated programmes for affordable housing, certain section of society is still devoid of shelter. About nineteen million (18.78 million) households grapple with housing shortage in Urban India in 2012. In Indian scenario there is major mismatch between the people for whom the houses are being built and those who need them. The prime force faced by public authorities in facilitation of quality housing for all is high cost of construction. The present paper will comprehend executable techniques for dilution of cost factor in housing the homeless. The key actors responsible for delivery of cheap housing stock such as capacity building, resource optimization, innovative low cost building material and indigenous skeleton housing system will also be incorporated in developing these techniques. Time performance, which is an important angle of above actors, will also be explored so as to increase the effectiveness of low cost housing. Along with this best practices will be taken up as case studies where both conventional techniques of housing and innovative low cost housing techniques would be cited. Transportation consists of approximately 30% of total construction budget. Thus use of alternative local solutions depending upon the region would be covered so as to highlight major components of low cost housing. Government is laid back regarding base line information on use of innovative low cost method and technique of resource optimization. Therefore, the paper would be an attempt to bring to light simpler solutions for achieving low cost housing.Keywords: construction, cost, housing, optimization, shelter
Procedia PDF Downloads 44510033 Licensing in a Hotelling Model with Quadratic Transportation Costs
Authors: Fehmi Bouguezzi
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This paper studies optimal licensing regimes in a linear Hotelling model where firms are located at the end points of the city and where the transportation cost is not linear but quadratic. We study for that a more general cost function and we try to compare the findings with the results of the linear cost. We find the same optimal licensing regimes. A per unit royalty is optimal when innovation is not drastic and no licensing is better when innovation is drastic. We also find that no licensing is always better than fixed fee licensing.Keywords: Hotelling model, technology transfer, patent licensing, quadratic transportation cost
Procedia PDF Downloads 34910032 The Cost of Innovation in Software Development Projects
Authors: Mihai Liviu Despa
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The paper tackles the topic of determining the cost of innovation in software development projects. Innovation can be achieved either in a planned or unplanned manner. The paper approaches the scenarios were innovation is planned for. As a starting point an innovative software development project is analyzed. The project is depicted step by step as it was implemented, from inception to delivery. Costs that are proprietary to innovation in software development are isolated based on the author’s personal experience in managing the above mentioned project. Innovation costs components identified by the author are then validated using open discussions with software development professionals and projects managers on LinkedIn groups. In order to receive relevant feedback only groups that focus on software development and innovation management are targeted. Additional innovation cost components suggested by software development professionals and projects managers are also considered. Based on the identified cost components an indicator is built. The indicator is meant to formalize the process of determining the cost of innovation in a software development project. The indicator aggregates all the innovation cost components that are identified in the research process. The process of calculating each cost component is also described. Conclusions are formulated and new related research topics are submitted for debate.Keywords: innovation cost, IT project management, software development, innovation management
Procedia PDF Downloads 46010031 Adopting Cloud-Based Techniques to Reduce Energy Consumption: Toward a Greener Cloud
Authors: Sandesh Achar
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The cloud computing industry has set new goals for better service delivery and deployment, so anyone can access services such as computation, application, and storage anytime. Cloud computing promises new possibilities for approaching sustainable solutions to deploy and advance their services in this distributed environment. This work explores energy-efficient approaches and how cloud-based architecture can reduce energy consumption levels amongst enterprises leveraging cloud computing services. Adopting cloud-based networking, database, and server machines provide a comprehensive means of achieving the potential gains in energy efficiency that cloud computing offers. In energy-efficient cloud computing, virtualization is one aspect that can integrate several technologies to achieve consolidation and better resource utilization. Moreover, the Green Cloud Architecture for cloud data centers is discussed in terms of cost, performance, and energy consumption, and appropriate solutions for various application areas are provided.Keywords: greener cloud, cloud computing, energy efficiency, energy consumption, metadata tags, green cloud advisor
Procedia PDF Downloads 8510030 A Machine Learning Approach for Efficient Resource Management in Construction Projects
Authors: Soheila Sadeghi
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Construction projects are complex and often subject to significant cost overruns due to the multifaceted nature of the activities involved. Accurate cost estimation is crucial for effective budget planning and resource allocation. Traditional methods for predicting overruns often rely on expert judgment or analysis of historical data, which can be time-consuming, subjective, and may fail to consider important factors. However, with the increasing availability of data from construction projects, machine learning techniques can be leveraged to improve the accuracy of overrun predictions. This study applied machine learning algorithms to enhance the prediction of cost overruns in a case study of a construction project. The methodology involved the development and evaluation of two machine learning models: Random Forest and Neural Networks. Random Forest can handle high-dimensional data, capture complex relationships, and provide feature importance estimates. Neural Networks, particularly Deep Neural Networks (DNNs), are capable of automatically learning and modeling complex, non-linear relationships between input features and the target variable. These models can adapt to new data, reduce human bias, and uncover hidden patterns in the dataset. The findings of this study demonstrate that both Random Forest and Neural Networks can significantly improve the accuracy of cost overrun predictions compared to traditional methods. The Random Forest model also identified key cost drivers and risk factors, such as changes in the scope of work and delays in material delivery, which can inform better project risk management. However, the study acknowledges several limitations. First, the findings are based on a single construction project, which may limit the generalizability of the results to other projects or contexts. Second, the dataset, although comprehensive, may not capture all relevant factors influencing cost overruns, such as external economic conditions or political factors. Third, the study focuses primarily on cost overruns, while schedule overruns are not explicitly addressed. Future research should explore the application of machine learning techniques to a broader range of projects, incorporate additional data sources, and investigate the prediction of both cost and schedule overruns simultaneously.Keywords: resource allocation, machine learning, optimization, data-driven decision-making, project management
Procedia PDF Downloads 3810029 Energy Efficient Assessment of Energy Internet Based on Data-Driven Fuzzy Integrated Cloud Evaluation Algorithm
Authors: Chuanbo Xu, Xinying Li, Gejirifu De, Yunna Wu
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Energy Internet (EI) is a new form that deeply integrates the Internet and the entire energy process from production to consumption. The assessment of energy efficient performance is of vital importance for the long-term sustainable development of EI project. Although the newly proposed fuzzy integrated cloud evaluation algorithm considers the randomness of uncertainty, it relies too much on the experience and knowledge of experts. Fortunately, the enrichment of EI data has enabled the utilization of data-driven methods. Therefore, the main purpose of this work is to assess the energy efficient of park-level EI by using a combination of a data-driven method with the fuzzy integrated cloud evaluation algorithm. Firstly, the indicators for the energy efficient are identified through literature review. Secondly, the artificial neural network (ANN)-based data-driven method is employed to cluster the values of indicators. Thirdly, the energy efficient of EI project is calculated through the fuzzy integrated cloud evaluation algorithm. Finally, the applicability of the proposed method is demonstrated by a case study.Keywords: energy efficient, energy internet, data-driven, fuzzy integrated evaluation, cloud model
Procedia PDF Downloads 202