Search results for: sustainable supply chain management

Authors: Aydin Sipahioglu, Gokhan Celik

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Helicopter routing problem (HRP) is finding good tours for helicopter so as to pick up and deliver personnel or material among specified nodes, mutually. It can be encountered in case of being lots of supply and demand points for different commodities and requiring delivering commodities with helicopter. For instance, to deliver personnel or material from shore to oil rig is a good example. In fact, HRP is a branch of vehicle routing problem with pickup and delivery (VRPPD). However, it has additional constraints such that fuel capacity, performance of helicopter in different altitude and temperature, and the number of maximum takeoff and landing allowed. This kind of pickup and delivery problems can be classified into 3 groups, basically. 1-1 (one to one), M-M (many to many) and 1-M-1 (one to many to one). 1-1 means each commodity has only one supply and one demand point. M-M means there can be more than one supply and demand points for each kind of commodity. 1-M-1 means commodities at depot are delivered to demand points and commodities at customers are delivered to depot. In this case helicopter takes off from its own base, complete its tour and return to its own base. In this study, we define 1-M-M-1 type HRP. That means helicopter takes off from its home base, deliver commodities among the nodes as well as between depot and customers and return to its home base. These problems have NP-hard nature. Therefore, obtaining a good solution in a reasonable time is not easy. In this study, a model is offered for 1-M-M-1 type HRP. It is shown on small scale test instances that the model can find the optimal solution.

Keywords: helicopter routing problem, vehicle routing with pickup and delivery, integer programming

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Authors: Emin Gundogar, Aysegul Yilmaz

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Strategic performance scoring is a significant procedure in management. There are various methods to improve this procedure. This study introduces an information system that is developed to score performance for municipal management. The application of the system is clarified by exemplifying municipal processes.

Keywords: management information system, municipal management, performance scoring

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Authors: Soumyadeep Bhaduri, Rahul Ghosh, Rahul Shukla, Manaswini Behera

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The textile industry consumes a substantial amount of water throughout the processing and production of textile fabrics. The water eventually turns into wastewater, where it acts as an immense damaging nuisance due to its dye content. Wastewater streams contain a percentage ranging from 2.0% to 50.0% of the total weight of dye used, depending on the dye class. The management of dye effluent in textile industries presents a formidable challenge to global sustainability. The current focus is on implementing wastewater treatment technology that enable the recycling of wastewater, reduce energy usage and offset carbon emissions. Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a device that utilizes microorganisms as a bio-catalyst to effectively treat wastewater while also producing electricity. The MFC harnesses the chemical energy present in wastewater by oxidizing organic compounds in the anodic chamber and reducing an electron acceptor in the cathodic chamber, thereby generating electricity. This research investigates the potential of MFCs to tackle this challenge of azo dye removal with simultaneously generating electricity. Although MFCs are well-established for wastewater treatment, their application in dye decolorization with concurrent electricity generation remains relatively unexplored. This study aims to address this gap by assessing the effectiveness of MFCs as a sustainable solution for treating wastewater containing azo dyes. By harnessing microorganisms as biocatalysts, MFCs offer a promising avenue for environmentally friendly dye effluent management. The performance of MFCs in treating azo dyes and generating electricity was evaluated by optimizing the Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Hydraulic Retention Time (HRT) of influent. COD and HRT values ranged from 1600 mg/L to 2400 mg/L and 5 to 9 days, respectively. Results showed that the maximum open circuit voltage (OCV) reached 648 mV at a COD of 2400 mg/L and HRT of 5 days. Additionally, maximum COD removal of 98% and maximum color removal of 98.91% were achieved at a COD of 1600 mg/L and HRT of 9 days. Furthermore, the study observed a maximum power density of 19.95 W/m3 at a COD of 2400 mg/L and HRT of 5 days. Electrochemical analysis, including linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were done to find out the response current and internal resistance of the system. To optimize pH and dye concentration, pH values were varied from 4 to 10, and dye concentrations ranged from 25 mg/L to 175 mg/L. The highest voltage output of 704 mV was recorded at pH 7, while a dye concentration of 100 mg/L yielded the maximum output of 672 mV. This study demonstrates that MFCs offer an efficient and sustainable solution for treating azo dyes in textile industry wastewater, while concurrently generating electricity. These findings suggest the potential of MFCs to contribute to environmental remediation and sustainable development efforts on a global scale.

Keywords: textile wastewater treatment, microbial fuel cell, renewable energy, sustainable wastewater treatment

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Authors: Shathya Duobiene, Gediminas Račiukaitis

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Solar-powered wireless sensor nodes work best when they operate continuously with minimal energy consumption. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are a new technology opens up wide studies, and advancements are expanding the prevalence of numerous monitoring applications and real-time aid for environments. The Selective Surface Activation Induced by Laser (SSAIL) technology is an exciting development that gives the design of WSNs more flexibility in terms of their shape, dimensions, and materials. This research work proposes a methodology for using SSAIL technology for forest ecosystem monitoring by wireless sensor networks. WSN monitoring the temperature and humidity were deployed, and their architectures are discussed. The paper presents the experimental outcomes of deploying newly built sensor nodes in forested areas. Finally, a practical method is offered to extend the WSN's lifespan and ensure its continued operation. When operational, the node is independent of the base station's power supply and uses only as much energy as necessary to sense and transmit data.

Keywords: internet of things (IoT), wireless sensor network, sensor nodes, SSAIL technology, forest ecosystem

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Authors: Osifeko Olalekan Remigious, Osifeko Christiana Osikorede, Folarin Bolanle Eunice, Olugbenga Adebola Shodiya

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In this period of economic problem, nations are looking for avenues to improve their economy, preserve their environment and socio-political environment, educational institutions are not left out as there is the need for them to increase their economy and preserve their socio political environment. Sports is one of the ways through which sustainable development can be achieved. The purpose of this study was to examine the barriers to sports participation. A total of 1025 students were purposively selected from all the five schools in the College. A questionnaire which has a reliability coefficient of 0.71 was used for data collection. Data collected were subjected to the descriptive survey research design. Findings showed that facilities, funds and lectures schedule were significant barriers to sports participation. It was recommended that sports facilities should be provided by the Lagos State government.

Keywords: MOCPED sports, sustainable development, sports participation, state government

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Authors: Asena Demirci, Gozen Guner Aktaş, Nur Ayalp

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Nature provides a living space for humans, also in contrast it is destroyed by humans for their personal needs and ambitions. For decreasing these damages against nature, solutions are started to generate and to develop. Moreover, precautions are implemented. After 1960s, especially when the ozone layer got harmed and got thinner by toxic substances coming from man made structures, environmental problems which effected human’s activities of daily living. Thus, this subject about environmental solutions and precautions is becoming a priority issue for scientists. Most of the environmental problems are caused by buildings and factories which are built without any concerns about protecting nature. This situation creates awareness about environmental issues and also the terms like sustainability, Renewable energy show up in building, Construction and architecture sectors to provide environmental protection. In this perspective, the design disciplines also should be respectful to nature and the sustainability. Designs which involve the features like sustainability, renewability and being ecologic have specialties to be less detrimental to the environment rather than the designs which do not involve. Furthermore, these designs produce their own energy for consuming, So they do not use the natural resources. They do not contain harmful substances and they are made of recyclable materials. Thus, they are becoming environmentally friendly structures. There is a common concern among designers about the issue of sustainable design. They believe that the idea of sustainability inhibits the creativity. All works of design resemble each other from the point of aesthetics and technological matters. In addition, there is a concern about design ethics which aesthetic designs cannot be accepted as a priority. For these reasons, there are few designs included the features of being eco-friendly and well-designed and also had design concerns around the world. Despite the other design disciplines, The concept of sustainability is getting more important each day in interior architecture and interior design. As it is known that human being spends 90 % of his life in interior spaces, The importance of that concept in interior spaces is obvious. Aesthetic is another vital concern in interior space design also. Most of the time sustainable materials and sustainable interior design applications conflicts with personal aesthetic parameters. This study aims to discuss the great paradox between the design aesthetic and the sustainable design. Does the sustainable approach in interior design disturbs the design aesthetic? This is one of the most popular questions that have been discussed for a while. With this paper this question will be evaluated with a case study which analyzes the aesthetic perceptions and preferences of the users and designers in sustainable interior spaces.

Keywords: aesthetics, interior design, sustainable design, sustainability

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Authors: Rajkishore Nayak, Tarun Panwar, Majo George

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The study focuses on investigating the factors that influence the growth of fashion and textile manufacturing in the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries. This paper endeavours to identify, analyse and evaluate the critical factors associated with the growth of fashion and textile manufacturing in SSA countries. This research has done a Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat (SWOT) analysis based on the available literature and the knowledge of authors in garment manufacturing and export. It was found that the SSA countries have shown little growth in fashion and textile manufacturing and export from the starting of the year 2000. Unlike the developing countries such as Vietnam and Bangladesh, the total export to the US, the EU and other parts of the world has declined. On the other hand, the total supply of fashion and textiles to the domestic market has been in rise. However, the local communities still need to rely on other countries to meet their demand. Availability of cheaper imported clothes from other countries such as Bangladesh, China and Vietnam have made it difficult for the local manufacturers to produce at a cheaper price.

Keywords: Sub-Saharan Africa, developing countries, apparel industry, fashion and textile, sustainable fashion

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Authors: Pırıl Tekin, Rızvan Erol

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Risk management has become very important and popular in developing countries in recent years. Especially making patient and employee health and safety issues compulsory in the hospitals, raised the number of studies in Turkey. Also risk management become more important for hospital senior management from clinics to the laboratories. Because quality is really important to be chosen for both patients to consult and employees to prefer to work. And also risk management studies can lead to hospital management team about future works and methods. By this point of view, this study is the risk assessment carried out in the biggest dental hospital in the south part of Turkey. This study was conducted as a research case study, covering two different health care place; A Clinic and A Laboratory. It shows that the problems in this dental hospital and how it can solve all.

Keywords: risk management, healthcare, dental hospital, quality management

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Authors: Guo Bingkun

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With the rapid development of China's social economy and the continuous improvement of urbanization level, people's living standards have undergone tremendous changes, and more and more people are gathering in cities. The demand for urban residents' housing has been greatly released in the past decade. The demand for housing and related construction land required for urban development has brought huge pressure to urban operations, and land prices have also risen rapidly in the short term. On the other hand, from the comparison of the eastern and western regions of China, there are also great differences in urban socioeconomics and land prices in the eastern, central and western regions. Although judging from the current overall market development, after more than ten years of housing market reform and development, the quality of housing and land use efficiency in Chinese cities have been greatly improved. However, the current contradiction between land demand for urban socio-economic development and land supply, especially the contradiction between land supply and demand for urban residential land, has not been effectively alleviated. Since land is closely linked to all aspects of society, changes in land prices will be affected by many complex factors. Therefore, this paper studies the factors that may affect urban residential land prices and compares them among eastern, central and western cities, and finds the main factors that determine the level of urban residential land prices. This paper provides guidance for urban managers in formulating land policies and alleviating land supply and demand. It provides distinct ideas for improving urban planning and improving urban planning and promotes the improvement of urban management level. The research in this paper focuses on residential land prices. Generally, the indicators for measuring land prices mainly include benchmark land prices, land price level values, parcel land prices, etc. However, considering the requirements of research data continuity and representativeness, this paper chooses to use residential land price level values. Reflects the status of urban residential land prices. First of all, based on the existing research at home and abroad, the paper considers the two aspects of land supply and demand and, based on basic theoretical analysis, determines some factors that may affect urban housing, such as urban expansion, taxation, land reserves, population, and land benefits. Factors of land price and correspondingly selected certain representative indicators. Secondly, using conventional econometric analysis methods, we established a model of factors affecting urban residential land prices, quantitatively analyzed the relationship and intensity of influencing factors and residential land prices, and compared the differences in the impact of urban residential land prices between the eastern, central and western regions. Compare similarities. Research results show that the main factors affecting China's urban residential land prices are urban expansion, land use efficiency, taxation, population size, and residents' consumption. Then, the main reason for the difference in residential land prices between the eastern, central and western regions is the differences in urban expansion patterns, industrial structures, urban carrying capacity and real estate development investment.

Keywords: urban housing, urban planning, housing prices, comparative study

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Authors: Antonis Skouloudis, Konstantinos Evangelinos, Walter Leal-Filho, Panagiotis Vouros, Ioannis Nikolaou

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Organizational resilience capacity to extreme weather events (EWEs) has sparked a growth in scholarly attention over the past decade as an essential aspect in business continuity management, with supporting evidence for this claim to suggest that it retains a key role in successful responses to adverse situations, crises and shocks. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are more vulnerable to face floods compared to their larger counterparts, so they are disproportionately affected by such extreme weather events. The limited resources at their disposal, the lack of time and skills all conduce to inadequate preparedness to challenges posed by floods. SMEs tend to plan in the short-term, reacting to circumstances as they arise and focussing on their very survival. Likewise, they share less formalised structures and codified policies while they are most usually owner-managed, resulting in a command-and-control management culture. Such characteristics result in them having limited opportunities to recover from flooding and quickly turnaround their operation from a loss making to a profit making one. Scholars frame the capacity of business entities to be resilient upon an EWE disturbance (such as flash floods) as the rate of recovery and restoration of organizational performance to pre-disturbance conditions, the amount of disturbance (i.e. threshold level) a business can absorb before losing structural and/or functional components that will alter or cease operation, as well as the extent to which the organization maintains its function (i.e. impact resistance) before performance levels are driven to zero. Nevertheless, while it seems to be accepted as an essential trait of firms effectively transcending uncertain conditions, research deconstructing the enabling conditions and/or inhibitory factors of SMEs resilience capacity to natural hazards is still sparse, fragmentary and mostly fuelled by anecdotal evidence or normative assumptions. Focusing on the individual level of analysis, i.e. the individual enterprise and its endeavours to succeed, the emergent picture from this relatively new research strand delineates the specification of variables, conceptual relationships or dynamic boundaries of resilience capacity components in an attempt to provide prescriptions for policy-making as well as business management. This study will present the development of a flood resilience capacity index (FRCI) and its application to Greek SMEs. The proposed composite indicator pertains to cognitive, behavioral/managerial and contextual factors that influence an enterprise’s ability to shape effective responses to meet flood challenges. Through the proposed indicator-based approach, an analytical framework is set forth that will help standardize such assessments with the overarching aim of reducing the vulnerability of SMEs to flooding. This will be achieved by identifying major internal and external attributes explaining resilience capacity which is particularly important given the limited resources these enterprises have and that they tend to be primary sources of vulnerabilities in supply chain networks, generating Single Points of Failure (SPOF).

Keywords: Floods, Small & Medium-Sized enterprises, organizational resilience capacity, index development

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Authors: M. Beheshti, S. Saegrov, T. M. Muthanna

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Separated sewer systems are designed to transfer the wastewater from houses and industrial sections to wastewater treatment plants. Unwanted water in the sewer systems is a well-known problem, i.e. storm-water inflow is around 50% of the foul sewer, and groundwater infiltration to the sewer system can exceed 50% of total wastewater volume in deteriorated networks. Infiltration and inflow of non-sewer water (I/I) into sewer systems is unfavorable in separated sewer systems and can trigger overloading the system and reducing the efficiency of wastewater treatment plants. Moreover, I/I has negative economic, environmental, and social impacts on urban areas. Therefore, for having sustainable management of urban sewer systems, I/I of unwanted water into the urban sewer systems should be considered carefully and maintenance and rehabilitation plan should be implemented on these water infrastructural assets. This study presents a methodology to identify and quantify the level of I/I into the sewer system. Amount of I/I is evaluated by accurate flow measurement in separated sewer systems for specified isolated catchments in Trondheim city (Norway). Advanced information about the characteristics of I/I is gained by CCTV inspection of sewer pipelines with high I/I contribution. Achieving enhanced knowledge about the detection and localization of non-sewer water in foul sewer system during the wet and dry weather conditions will enable the possibility for finding the problem of sewer system and prioritizing them and taking decisions for rehabilitation and renewal planning in the long-term. Furthermore, preventive measures and optimization of sewer systems functionality and efficiency can be executed by maintenance of sewer system. In this way, the exploitation of sewer system can be improved by maintenance and rehabilitation of existing pipelines in a sustainable way by more practical cost-effective and environmental friendly way. This study is conducted on specified catchments with different properties in Trondheim city. Risvollan catchment is one of these catchments with a measuring station to investigate hydrological parameters through the year, which also has a good database. For assessing the infiltration in a separated sewer system, applying the flow rate measurement method can be utilized in obtaining a general view of the network condition from infiltration point of view. This study discusses commonly used and advanced methods of localizing and quantifying I/I in sewer systems. A combination of these methods give sewer operators the possibility to compare different techniques and obtain reliable and accurate I/I data which is vital for long-term rehabilitation plans.

Keywords: flow rate measurement, infiltration and inflow (I/I), non-sewer water, separated sewer systems, sustainable management

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Authors: Mira Tripathi, Ken Hughey, Hamish G. Rennie

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Management of water resources is a major challenge throughout the world and in many long-established societies people still use traditional water harvesting and management techniques. Despite often being seen as efficient and cost effective, traditional methods are in decline or have been abandoned in many countries. Nevertheless, traditional approaches continue to be useful in some countries such as Nepal. The extent to which such traditional measures, in this case via stone spouts, may survive modernization, while fulfilling socio-cultural, tourism, and other needs is the focus of the research. The research develops an understanding of the socio-cultural, tourism and other values of stone spouts for the people of urban and peri-urban heritage and non-heritage areas of the Kathmandu Valley to help ongoing sustainable management of remaining spouts. Three research questions are addressed: the impacts of changes in social and cultural norms and values; development activities; and, the incremental and ongoing loss of traditional stone spout infrastructure. A meta-theory framework has been developed which synthesizes Institutional, Attachment, Central Place and Common Property theories, which form analytical lenses for the mixed-method research approach. From the exploration of the meta-theory approach, it was found that no spouts are in pristine condition but those in non-heritage areas are in better condition than those in heritage areas. “Utility value” is the main driver that still motivates people to conserve spouts.

Keywords: stone spouts, social and cultural norms and values, meta-theory, Kathmandu Valley

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Authors: Hussain Ali Bekhet, Nor Salwati Othman

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Malaysia has achieved remarkable economic growth since 1957, moving toward modernization from a predominantly agriculture base to manufacturing and—now—modern services. The development policies (i.e., New Economic Policy [1970–1990], the National Development Policy [1990–2000], and Vision 2020) have been recognized as the most important drivers of this transformation. The transformation of the economic structure has moved along with rapid gross domestic product (GDP) growth, urbanization growth, and greater demand for energy from mainly fossil fuel resources, which in turn, increase CO2 emissions. Malaysia faced a great challenge to bring down the CO2 emissions without compromising economic development. Solid policies and a strategy to reduce dependencies on fossil fuel resources and reduce CO2 emissions are needed in order to achieve sustainable development. This study provides an overview of the Malaysian economic, energy, and environmental situation, and explores the existing policies and strategies related to energy and the environment. The significance is to grasp a clear picture on what types of policies and strategies Malaysia has in hand. In the future, this examination should be extended by drawing a comparison with other developed countries and highlighting several options for sustainable development.

Keywords: energy policies, energy efficiency, renewable energy, green building, Malaysia, sustainable development

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Authors: Djelloul Benatiallah, Ali Benatiallah, Abdelkader Harouz

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Geographic Information Systems (GIS) include various methods and computer techniques to model, capture digitally, store, manage, view and analyze. Geographic information systems have the characteristic to appeal to many scientific and technical field, and many methods. In this article we will present a complete and operational geographic information system, following the theoretical principles of data management and adapting to spatial data, especially data concerning the monitoring of drinking water supply wells (DWS) Adrar region. The expected results of this system are firstly an offer consulting standard features, updating and editing beneficiaries and geographical data, on the other hand, provides specific functionality contractors entered data, calculations parameterized and statistics.

Keywords: GIS, DWS, drilling, Adrar

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Authors: Eniko Nagy, Csaba Csiszar

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Satisfaction of air transportation passengers is significantly affected by the perceived quality of airport information services. The development potential of ICT is considerable. The traditional and new functions of ‘smart’ airports are realized by complex services aiding seamless, comfortable and less time-consuming travel. Based on the elements of the transportation chain the information management functions, their relationships and the technical solutions have been identified. The functions have been categorized by their development level and evaluation scores have been assigned to each category. Correction factors influencing the usefulness of the technology or the service have been introduced. A method for the calculation of ‘smart’ index in order to compare the airports in objective way has been developed; thus facilitating further developments. The method has been applied for the case study of Budapest.

Keywords: air transportation informatics, evaluation, information service, smart airport

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Authors: Chusit Apirumanekul, Chayanis Krittasudthacheewa, Ratchapat Ratanavaraha, Yanyong Inmuong

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Rapid economic development in the Lower Mekong region is leading to changes in water quantity and quality. Changes in land- and forest-use, infrastructure development, increasing urbanization, migration patterns and climate risks are increasing demands for water, within various sectors, placing pressure on scarce water resources. Appropriate policies, strategies, and planning are urgently needed for improved water resource management. Over the last decade, Thailand has experienced more frequent and intense drought situations, affecting the level of water storage in reservoirs along with insufficient water allocation for agriculture during the dry season. The Huay Saibat River Basin, one of the well-known water-scarce areas in the northeastern region of Thailand, is experiencing ongoing water scarcity that affects both farming livelihoods and household consumption. Drought management in Thailand mainly focuses on emergency responses, rather than advance preparation and mitigation for long-term solutions. Despite many efforts from local authorities to mitigate the drought situation, there is yet no long-term comprehensive water management strategy, that integrates climate risks alongside other uncertainties. This paper assesses the application in the Huay Saibat River Basin, of the Robust Decision Support framework, to explore the feasibility of multiple drought management policies; including a shift in cropping season, in crop changes, in infrastructural operations and in the use of groundwater, under a wide range of uncertainties, including climate and land-use change. A series of consultative meetings were organized with relevant agencies and experts at the local level, to understand and explore plausible water resources strategies and identify thresholds to evaluate the performance of those strategies. Three different climate conditions were identified (dry, normal and wet). Other non-climatic factors influencing water allocation were further identified, including changes from sugarcane to rubber, delaying rice planting, increasing natural retention storage and using groundwater to supply demands for household consumption and small-scale gardening. Water allocation and water use in various sectors, such as in agriculture, domestic, industry and the environment, were estimated by utilising the Water Evaluation And Planning (WEAP) system, under various scenarios developed from the combination of climatic and non-climatic factors mentioned earlier. Water coverage (i.e. percentage of water demand being successfully supplied) was defined as a threshold for water resource strategy assessment. Thresholds for different sectors (agriculture, domestic, industry, and environment) were specified during multi-stakeholder engagements. Plausible water strategies (e.g. increasing natural retention storage, change of crop type and use of groundwater as an alternative source) were evaluated based on specified thresholds in 4 sectors (agriculture, domestic, industry, and environment) under 3 climate conditions. 'Business as usual' was evaluated for comparison. The strategies considered robust, emerge when performance is assessed as successful, under a wide range of uncertainties across the river basin. Without adopting any strategy, the water scarcity situation is likely to escalate in the future. Among the strategies identified, the use of groundwater as an alternative source was considered a potential option in combating water scarcity for the basin. Further studies are needed to explore the feasibility for groundwater use as a potential sustainable source.

Keywords: climate change, robust decision support, scenarios, water resources management

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Authors: Raghuveer Kaur, Kartikay Sharma, Ashu Khanna

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Earnings management has been present from times immemorial. The recent downfall of giant enterprises like Enron, Satyam and WorldCom has brought a lot of focus on the study and detection of earnings management. The present study is an attempt to study earnings management in one of the fastest emerging economy - India. The study makes an attempt to understand earnings management in different sectors of the economy. The paper first tests a hypothesis to check whether different sectors of India are engaged in earnings management or not. In the later section the paper aims to study the level of earnings management in 6 popular sectors of India: IT&BPO, Retail, Telecom, Biotech, Hotels and coffee. To measure earnings management two popular techniques of detecting earnings management has been employed: Modified Jones Model and Beniesh M Score. A total of 332 companies were studied. Publicly available data from Capitaline database has been used. The paper also classifies the top and bottom five performers on the basis of sales turnover in each sector and identifies whether they manage their earnings or not.

Keywords: earnings management, India, modified Jones model, Beneish M score

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Authors: Medhat Tawfik, Ezzat Abd El Lateef, Bahr Amany, Mohamed Magda

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Applying organic farming systems in biosaline agriculture is unconventional approach for sustainable use of marginal soil and desert land for planting non-traditional halophytic crops such as Leptochloa fusca, Kochia indica, Sporobolus virginicus and Spartina patens. These plants are highly salt tolerant C4 halophytic forage plants grown well in coastal salt marsh. These halophytic plant will take important place in the farming system, especially in the coastal areas and salt-affected land. We can call it environmentally smart crops because they ensure food security, contribute to energy security, guarantee environmental sustainability, and mitigate the negative impacts of climate change. Organic Agriculture is the most important and widely practiced agro-ecological farming system. It is claimed to be the most sustainable approach and long term adaptation strategy. It promotes soil fertility and diversity at all levels and makes soils less susceptible to erosion. It is also reported to be climate change resilience farming systems as it promotes the proper management of soil, water, biodiversity and local knowledge and provides producers with ecologically sound management decisions. A field experiment was carried out at the Model Farm of National Research Centre, El Tour, South Sinai to study the impact of (Mycorrhiza 1kg/fed., charcoal 4 tons/fed., chicken manure 5 tons/fed., in addition to control treatment) on some growth characters, photosynthetic pigments content, and some physiological aspects i.e. prolind and soluble carbohydrates content, succulence and osmotic pressure values, as well as nutritive values i.e. Crude fat (CF), Acid detergent fiber (ADF), Neutral detergent fiber (NDF), Ether extract (EE) and Nitrogen-free extract (NFE) of five halophytic plant species (Leptochloa fusca, Kochia indica, Sporobolus virginicus and Spartina patens). Our results showed that organic fertilizer treatment enhanced all the previous character as compared with control with superiority to chicken manure over the other treatments.

Keywords: organic agriculture, halophytic plants, saline environment, water security

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Authors: Eda Kocakaya, Sebahat Seker, Dogan Argun

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The aim of this study is to determine the process of information technologies and the connections between concepts in accounting management services in Turkey. The objective of this study is to determine the adaptation and evaluation process of information technologies and the connections between concepts and differences in accounting management services in Turkey. The situation and determination of the IT applications of Accounting Management were studied. The applications of • Billing • Order Processing • Accounts Receivable/Payable Management • Contract Management • Bank Account Management Were discussed in this study. The IT applications were demonstrated and realized in actual accounting services. The sectoral representative's companies were selected, and the IT application was searched by bibliometric analysis.

Keywords: management, accounting, information technologies, adaptation

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Authors: Abu Zafor Sadek

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Pharmaceuticals were one of the least impacted business sectors during the corona pandemic as they are the center point of Covid-19 fight. Emergency use authorization, unproven indication of some commonly used drugs, self-medication, research and production capacity of an individual country, capacity of producing vaccine by many countries, Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) related uncertainty, information gap among manufacturer, practitioners and user, export restriction, duration of lock-down, lack of harmony in transportation, disruption in the regulatory approval process, sudden increased demand of hospital items and protective equipment, panic buying, difficulties in in-person product promotion, e-prescription, geo-politics and associated issues added a new dimension to this industry. Although the industry maintains a reasonable growth throughout Covid-19 days; however, it has been characterized by both long- and short-term effects. Short-term effects have already been visible to so many countries, especially those who are import-dependent and have limited research capacity. On the other hand, it will take a few more time to see the long-term effects. Nevertheless, supply chain disruption, changes in strategic planning, new communication model, squeezing of job opportunity, rapid digitalization are the major short-term effects, whereas long-term effects include a shift towards self-sufficiency, growth pattern changes of certain products, special attention towards clinical studies, automation in operations, the increased arena of ethical issues etc. Therefore, this qualitative and exploratory study identifies the post-covid-19 landscape of the global pharmaceutical industry.

Keywords: covid-19, pharmaceutical, businees, landscape

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Authors: Vakhtang Geladze, Nana Bolashvili, Tamazi Karalashvili, Nino Machavariani, Vajha Neidze, Nana Kvirkvelia, Tamar Chichinadze

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Deficiency of fresh water is a vital global problem today. It must be taken into consideration that in the nearest future fresh water crisis will become even more acute owing to the global climate warming and fast desertification processes in the world. Georgia has signed the association agreement with Euro Union last year where the priority spheres of cooperation are the management of water resources, development of trans-boundary approach to the problem and active participation in the “Euro Union water initiative” component of “the East Europe, Caucasus and the Central Asia”. Fresh water resources are the main natural wealth of Georgia. According to the average water layer height, Georgia is behind such European countries only as Norway, Switzerland and Austria. The annual average water provision of Georgia is 4-8 times higher than in its neighbor countries Armenia and Azerbaijan. Despite abundant water resources in Georgia, there is considerable discrepancy between their volume and use in some regions because of the uneven territorial distribution. In the East Georgia, water supply of the territory and population is four times less than in the West Georgia.

Keywords: GIS, water consumption, water management, water resources

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Authors: Sami Ayad, Mengshan Lee

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The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were designed to be the best possible blueprint to achieve peace, prosperity, and overall, a better and more sustainable future for the Earth and all its people, and such a blueprint is needed more than ever. The SDGs face many hurdles that will prevent them from becoming a reality, one of such hurdles, arguably, is the chemical pollution and unintended chemical impacts generated through the production of various goods and resources that we consume. Chemical Alternatives Assessment has proven to be a viable solution for chemical pollution management in terms of filtering out hazardous chemicals for a greener alternative. However, the current substitution practice lacks crucial quantitative datasets (exposures and life cycle impacts) to ensure no unintended trade-offs occur in the substitution process. A Chemical Life Cycle Alternative Assessment (CLiCAA) framework is proposed as a reliable and replicable alternative to Life Cycle Based Alternative Assessment (LCAA) as it integrates chemical molecular structure analysis and Chemical Life Cycle Collaborative (CLiCC) web-based tool to fill in data gaps that the former frameworks suffer from. The CLiCAA framework consists of a four filtering layers, the first two being mandatory, with the final two being optional assessment and data extrapolation steps. Each layer includes relevant impact categories of each chemical, ranging from human to environmental impacts, that will be assessed and aggregated into unique scores for overall comparable results, with little to no data. A feasibility study will demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of CLiCAA whilst bridging both cancer potency and exposure limit data, hoping to provide the necessary categorical impact information for every firm possible, especially those disadvantaged in terms of research and resource management.

Keywords: chemical alternative assessment, LCA, LCAA, CLiCC, CLiCAA, chemical substitution framework, cancer potency data, chemical molecular structure analysis

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Authors: Rauan Sakenov, Peter Bukovics, Peter Gaszler, Veronika Tokacs-Kollar, Beata Bugyi

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FH2 (formin homology-2) domains of several proteins, collectively known as formins, including DAAM, DAAM1 and mDia1, promote G-actin nucleation and elongation. FH2 domains of these formins exist as oligomers. Chain dimerization by ring structure formation serves as a structural basis for actin polymerization function of FH2 domain. Proper single chain configuration and specific interactions between its various regions are necessary for individual chains to form a dimer functional in G-actin nucleation and elongation. FH1 and WH2 domain-containing formins were shown to behave as intrinsically disordered proteins. Thus, the aim of this research was to study structural dynamics of FH2 domain of DAAM. To investigate structural features of FH2 domain of DAAM, molecular dynamics simulation of chain A of FH2 domain of DAAM solvated in water box in 50 mM NaCl was conducted at temperatures from 293.15 to 353.15K, with VMD 1.9.2, NAMD 2.14 and Amber Tools 21 using 2z6e and 1v9d PDB structures of DAAM was obtained on I-TASSER webserver. Calcium and ATP bound G-actin 3hbt PDB structure was used as a reference protein with well-described structural dynamics of denaturation. Topology and parameter information of CHARMM 2012 additive all-atom force fields for proteins, carbohydrate derivatives, water and ions were used in NAMD 2.14 and ff19SB force field for proteins in Amber Tools 21. The systems were energy minimized for the first 1000 steps, equilibrated and produced in NPT ensemble for 1ns using stochastic Langevin dynamics and the particle mesh Ewald method. Our root-mean square deviation (RMSD) analysis of molecular dynamics of chain A of FH2 domains of DAAM revealed similar insignificant changes of total molecular average RMSD values of FH2 domain of these formins at temperatures from 293.15 to 353.15K. In contrast, total molecular average RMSD values of G-actin showed considerable increase at 328K, which corresponds to the denaturation of G-actin molecule at this temperature and its transition from native, ordered, to denatured, disordered, state which is well-described in the literature. RMSD values of lasso and tail regions of chain A of FH2 domain of DAAM exhibited higher than total molecular average RMSD at temperatures from 293.15 to 353.15K. These regions are functional in intra- and interchain interactions and contain highly conserved tryptophan residues of lasso region, highly conserved GNYMN sequence of post region and amino acids of the shell of hydrophobic pocket of the salt bridge between Arg171 and Asp321, which are important for structural stability and ordered state of FH2 domain of DAAM and its functions in FH2 domain dimerization. In conclusion, higher than total molecular average RMSD values of lasso and post regions of chain A of FH2 domain of DAAM may explain disordered state of FH2 domain of DAAM at temperatures from 293.15 to 353.15K. Finally, absence of marked transition, in terms of significant changes in average molecular RMSD values between native and denatured states of FH2 domain of DAAM at temperatures from 293.15 to 353.15K, can make it possible to attribute these formins to the group of intrinsically disordered proteins rather than to the group of intrinsically ordered proteins such as G-actin.

Keywords: FH2 domain, DAAM, formins, molecular modelling, computational biophysics

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Authors: Redha M. Elhuni

Abstract:

This paper presents an analysis of the essential characteristics of the TQM philosophy by comparing the work of five notable authors in the field. A framework is produced which gather the identified TQM enablers under the well-known operations management dimensions of process, business and people. These enablers are linked with sustainable development via balance scorecard type economic and non-economic measures. In order to capture a picture of Libyan Company’s efforts to implement the TQM, a questionnaire survey is designed and implemented. Results of the survey are presented showing the main differentiating factors between the sample companies, and a way of assessing the difference between the theoretical underpinning and the practitioners’ undertakings. Survey results indicate that companies are experiencing much difficulty in translating TQM theory into practice. Only a few companies have successfully adopted a holistic approach to TQM philosophy, and most of these put relatively high emphasis on hard elements compared with soft issues of TQM. However, where companies can realize the economic outputs, non- economic benefits such as workflow management, skills development and team learning are not realized. In addition, overall, non-economic measures have secured low weightings compared with the economic measures. We believe that the framework presented in this paper can help a company to concentrate its TQM implementation efforts in terms of process, system and people management dimensions.

Keywords: TQM, balance scorecard, EFQM excellence model, oil sector, Libya

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Authors: Davidson E. Egirani, Nanfe R. Poyi, Napoleon Wessey

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This paper would report the environmental challenges faced by stakeholders in the development and management of mineral resources in Mindanao mining region of the Philippines. The paper would proffer solutions via the development and management of integrated mineral resource framework. This is by interfacing the views of government, operating mining companies and the mining host communities. The project methods involved the desktop review of existing local, regional, national environmental and mining legislation. This was followed up with visits to mining sites and discussions were held with stakeholders in the mineral sector. The findings from a 2-year investigation would reveal lack of information, education, and communication campaign by stakeholders on environmental, health, political, and social issues in the mining industry. Small-scale miners lack the professional muscles for a balance shift of emphasis to sustainable and responsible mining to avoid environmental degradation and human health effect. Therefore, there is a need to balance ecological requirements, sustainability of the environment and development of mineral resources. This paper would provide an environmentally friendly mineral resource development framework.

Keywords: ecological requirements, environmental degradation, human health, mining legislation, responsible mining

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Authors: Peter Okpamen

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The issue of environmental degradation in Nigeria is of serious concern. The colonial period brought a major change in environmental awareness and relationship with the environment. This period introduced a model of development, the major thrust of which was the exploration and transformation of natural and human resources for the benefit of the colonial masters. There is abundant evidence in the literature that there are various manifestations of environmental degradation in Nigeria, which have resulted in the various problems found throughout the Nigeria national space. The idea of the environment acting as a constraint to the growth of human activity has given way to the contrary. Environmental education, going by the literature, exists at the primary, secondary and tertiary institutions. In short, the 1st National conference on environmental education gave several suggestions on how it could be realised. Thus, to realise sustainable environmental development we need to accelerate the process of providing basic education for both the old and young. Environmental education should cover the whole federation, and resources should be made available for the training of environmental education teachers and research into environmental education for the development of appropriate learning resources.

Keywords: degradation, development, education, environment, sustainable

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Authors: Mohammad Z. Ansari, Lisa Brodie, Marilyn Goh

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Change facilitators are individuals who utilize change philosophy to make a positive change to organizations. The application of change facilitators can be seen in various change models; Lewin, Lippitt, etc. The facilitators within numerous change models are considered as internal/external consultants. Whilst most of the scholarly paper considers change facilitation as a consensus attempt to improve organization, there is a lack of a framework that develops both the organization and the change facilitator creating a self-sustaining change environment. This research paper introduces the development of the framework for change Leaders, Planners, and Executers (LPE), aiming at various organizational levels (Process, Departmental, and Organisational). The LPE framework is derived by exploring interrelated characteristics between facilitator(s) and the organization through qualitative research for understanding change management techniques and facilitator(s) behavioral aspect from existing Change Management models and Organisation behavior works of literature. The introduced framework assists in highlighting and identify the most appropriate change team to successfully deliver the change initiative within any organization (s).

Keywords: change initiative, LPE framework, change facilitator(s), sustainable change

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Authors: Alexander Kelíšek, Denisa Janasová, Veronika Mitašová

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Weak signals using is often associated with early warning. It is possible to find a link between early warning, respectively early problems detection and risk management. The idea of early warning is very important in the context of crisis management because of the risk prevention possibility. Weak signals are likened to risk symptoms. Nowadays, their usefulness as a tool of proactive problems solving is emphasized. Based on it, it is possible to use weak signals not only in strategic planning, project management, or early warning system, but also as a subsidiary element in risk management. The main question is how to effectively integrate weak signals into risk management. The main aim of the paper is to point out the possibilities of weak signals using in small and medium enterprises risk management.

Keywords: early warning system, weak signals, risk management, small and medium enterprises (SMEs)

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Authors: Ronghui (Kevin) Zhou

Abstract:

This research intends to explore the enactment of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), in term of the ESD concept, in primary schools in China, and investigate the factors that have positively or negatively impacted the outcome of ESD in urban primary schools in China. The proposed research question is: how is the ESD concept perceived and enacted by the local education stakeholders. This research is conducted in multiple primary schools in China and has questionnaired and interviewed multiple education stakeholders, including school principals, school teachers, and bureau from the municipal Ministry of Education. Factor analysis, regression analysis, and critical discourse analysis are adopted to interpret and analyze the data. The preliminary findings suggest that contested ESD definition, education system pressures, education policy enforcement, and power dynamics between stakeholders are the key factors that have determined to what degree is ESD enacted, and to what extent is ESD practiced in primary schools in China.

Keywords: education for sustainable development, China, primary education, case study

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Authors: Zhaoan Wang

Abstract:

Research in predictive maintenance modeling has improved in the recent years to predict failures and needed maintenance with high accuracy, saving cost and improving manufacturing efficiency. However, classic prediction models provide little valuable insight towards the most important features contributing to the failure. By analyzing and quantifying feature importance in predictive maintenance models, cost saving can be optimized based on business goals. First, multiple classifiers are evaluated with cross-validation to predict the multi-class of failures. Second, predictive performance with features provided by different feature selection algorithms are further analyzed. Third, features selected by different algorithms are ranked and combined based on their predictive power. Finally, linear explainer SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations) is applied to interpret classifier behavior and provide further insight towards the specific roles of features in both local predictions and global model behavior. The results of the experiments suggest that certain features play dominant roles in predictive models while others have significantly less impact on the overall performance. Moreover, for multi-class prediction of machine failures, the most important features vary with type of machine failures. The results may lead to improved productivity and cost saving by prioritizing sensor deployment, data collection, and data processing of more important features over less importance features.

Keywords: automated supply chain, intelligent manufacturing, predictive maintenance machine learning, feature engineering, model interpretation

Procedia PDF Downloads 133