Search results for: operations planning

Authors: Elham S. Hasham, Anthony S. Hasham

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The construction industry is one of Australia’s fastest growing industries and its success is a result of a firm’s client satisfaction with focus on product determinants such as price and quality. Ensuring quality at every phase is a must and building rapport with the client will go a long way. To capitalise on the growing demand for Engineering Consulting Firms (ECFs), we should “redefine the bottom line by allowing client satisfaction, high-quality standards, and profits to be the top priorities”. Consequently, the emphasis should be on improving employee skills through various training provisions. Clients seek consistency and thus expect that all services should be similar in respect to quality and the ability of the service to meet their needs. This calls for empowerment and comfortable work conditions to motivate employees and give them incentive to deliver quality and excellent output. The methodology utilized is triangulation-a combination of both quantitative and qualitative research. The case study-Australian Consulting Engineers (ACE) was established in 1995 and has operations throughout Australia, the Philippines, Europe, U.A.E., K.S.A., and Lebanon. ACE is affiliated with key agencies and support organizations in the engineering industry with International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certifications in Safety and Quality Management. The objective of this study is significant as it sheds light on employee motivation and client satisfaction as imperative determinants of the success of an organization.

Keywords: leadership, motivation, organizational behavior, satisfaction

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Authors: Nasser Al-Rawahi

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The study aims at determining self-regulated learning strategies used by Omani physical education candidates to learn sport skills. The data were collected by a self-regulated learning theory questionnaire. The sample of the study comprised of 145 undergraduate physical education students enrolled in the department of physical education at the College of Education, Sultan Qaboos University. The findings of the study revealed that the most commonly used strategies for learning sport skills by Omani physical education candidate are ‘the effort learning strategies, planning learning strategies and evaluation learning strategies’. However, the reflection learning strategies, self-monitoring and self-efficacy learning strategies were revealed as the least used strategies by the PE candidates in learning and acquiring sport skills. Based on these findings, suggestions and recommendations for future research were provided.

Keywords: learning strategies, physical education candidates, self-regulated learning theory, Oman

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Authors: Tapan Kumar Dhar

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How well are our city forms designed to adapt to climate change and its resulting uncertainty? What urban design tools can be used to measure and improve resilience to climate change, and how would they do so? In addressing these questions, this paper considers indeterminacy, a concept originated in the resilience literature, to measure the resilience of built environments. In the realm of urban design, ‘indeterminacy’ can be referred to as built-in design capabilities of an urban system to serve different purposes which are not necessarily predetermined. An urban system, particularly that with a higher degree of indeterminacy, can enable the system to be reorganized and changed to accommodate new or unknown functions while coping with uncertainty over time. Underlying principles of this concept have long been discussed in the urban design and planning literature, including open architecture, landscape urbanism, and flexible housing. This paper argues that the concept indeterminacy holds the potential to reduce the impacts of climate change incrementally and proactively. With regard to sustainable development, both planning and climate change literature highly recommend proactive adaptation as it involves less cost, efforts, and energy than last-minute emergency or reactive actions. Nevertheless, the concept still remains isolated from resilience and climate change adaptation discourses even though the discourses advocate the incremental transformation of a system to cope with climatic uncertainty. This paper considers indeterminacy, as an urban design tool, to measure and increase resilience (and adaptive capacity) of Long Bay’s coastal settlements in Negril, Jamaica. Negril is one of the popular tourism destinations in the Caribbean highly vulnerable to sea-level rise and its associated impacts. This paper employs empirical information obtained from direct observation and informal interviews with local people. While testing the tool, this paper deploys an urban morphology study, which includes land use patterns and the physical characteristics of urban form, including street networks, block patterns, and building footprints. The results reveal that most resorts in Long Bay are designed for pre-determined purposes and offer a little potential to use differently if needed. Additionally, Negril’s street networks are found to be rigid and have limited accessibility to different points of interest. This rigidity can expose the entire infrastructure further to extreme climatic events and also impedes recovery actions after a disaster. However, Long Bay still has room for future resilient developments in other relatively less vulnerable areas. In adapting to climate change, indeterminacy can be reached through design that achieves a balance between the degree of vulnerability and the degree of indeterminacy: the more vulnerable a place is, the more indeterminacy is useful. This paper concludes with a set of urban design typologies to increase the resilience of coastal settlements.

Keywords: climate change adaptation, resilience, sea-level rise, urban form

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Authors: Chen Xi, Kuan Sinman, LI Haofeng, Huang Hongming, Zeng Chengyu, Tong Zhiyuan

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Stray animals are on the rise in mainland China's cities. There are legal reasons for this, namely the lack of protection for domestic pets in mainland China, where only wildlife protection laws exist. At a social level, the ease with which families adopt pets and the lack of a social view of animal nature has led to the frequent abandonment and loss of stray animals. If left unmanaged, conflicts between humans and stray animals can also increase. This project provides an inexpensive and widely applicable management tool for urban management by collecting videos and pictures of stray animals captured by surveillance or transmitted by humans and using artificial intelligence technology (mainly using YOLOv5 recognition technology) and recording and managing them in a database.

Keywords: urban planning, urban governance, artificial intelligence, convolutional neural network

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Authors: Rômulo Eustáquio Martins de Souza, Paulo Alexandre Rodrigues de Vasconcelos Figueiredo

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In recent years, there has been a surge in interest in applying artificial intelligence techniques, particularly machine learning algorithms. Machine learning is a data-analysis technique that automates the creation of analytical models, making it especially useful for designing complex situations. As a result, this technology aids in reducing human intervention while producing accurate results. This methodology is also extensively used in aerospace engineering since this is a field that encompasses several high-complexity operations, such as rocket propulsion. Rocket propulsion is a high-risk operation in which engine failure could result in the loss of life. As a result, it is critical to use computational methods capable of precisely representing the spacecraft's analytical model to guarantee its security and operation. Thus, this paper describes the use of machine learning algorithms for rocket propulsion to aid the realization that this technique is an efficient way to deal with challenging and restrictive aerospace engineering activities. The paper focuses on three machine-learning-aided rocket propulsion applications: set-point control of an expander-bleed rocket engine, supersonic retro-propulsion of a small-scale rocket, and leak detection and isolation on rocket engine data. This paper describes the data-driven methods used for each implementation in depth and presents the obtained results.

Keywords: data analysis, modeling, machine learning, aerospace, rocket propulsion

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Authors: Soo Hong Da, Ng Zheng Yao, Burra Venkata Durga Kumar

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The Healthcare sector is a business that consists of providing medical services, manufacturing medical equipment and drugs as well as providing medical insurance to the public. Most of the time, the data stored in the healthcare database is to be related to patient’s information which is required to be accurate when it is accessed by authorized stakeholders. In distributed systems, one important issue is concurrency in the system as it ensures the shared resources to be synchronized and remains consistent through multiple read and write operations by multiple clients. The problems of concurrency in the healthcare sector are who gets the access and how the shared data is synchronized and remains consistent when there are two or more stakeholders attempting to the shared data simultaneously. In this paper, a framework that is beneficial to distributed healthcare sector concurrent environment is proposed. In the proposed framework, four different level nodes of the database, which are national center, regional center, referral center, and local center are explained. Moreover, the frame synchronization is not symmetrical. There are two synchronization techniques, which are complete and partial synchronization operation are explained. Furthermore, when there are multiple clients accessed at the same time, synchronization types are also discussed with cases at different levels and priorities to ensure data is synchronized throughout the processes.

Keywords: resources, healthcare, concurrency, synchronization, stakeholders, database

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Authors: Vathna Suy, Ki-Il Song

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In order to store highly pressurized gas such as an isothermal compressed air energy storage, Lined Rock Caverns (LRC) are constructed underground and supported by layers of concrete, steel and rock masses. This study aims to numerically investigate the performance of rock masses which serve as a support of Lined Rock Cavern subjected to high cyclic pressure loadings. FLAC3D finite different software is used for the simulation since the software can effectively model the behavior of concrete lining and steel plate with its built-in structural elements. Cyclic pressure loadings are applied onto the inner surface of the cavern which then transmitted to concrete, steel and eventually to the surrounding rock masses. Changes of stress and strain are constantly monitored throughout all the process of loading operations. The results at various monitoring locations are then extracted and analyzed to assess the response of the rock masses, specifically on its ability to absorb energy during loadings induced by the changes of cyclic pressure loadings inside the cavern. By analyzing the obtained data of stress-strain relation and taking into account the behavior of materials under the effect of strain-dependency, conclusions on the performance of rock masses subjected to high cyclic loading conditions are drawn.

Keywords: cyclic loading, FLAC3D, lined rock cavern (LRC), strain-dependency

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Authors: Linet Melisa Daubanes, Nhleko Monique Chiloane

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The shovel-truck system is the most prevalent material handling system used in surface mining operations. Material handling entails the loading and hauling of material from production areas to dumping areas. The material handling process has operational delays that have a negative impact on the productivity of the load and haul fleet. Factors that may contribute to operational delays include shovel-truck mismatch, haul routes, machine breakdowns, extreme weather conditions, etc. The aim of this paper is to investigate factors that contribute to operational delays affecting the productivity of the load and haul fleet at the mine. Productivity is the measure of the effectiveness of producing products from a given quantity of units, the ratio of output to inputs. Productivity can be improved by producing more outputs with the same or fewer units and/or introducing better working methods etc. Several key performance indicators (KPI) for the evaluation of productivity will be discussed in this study. These KPIs include but are not limited to hauling conditions, bucket fill factor, cycle time, and utilization. The research methodology of this study is a combination of on-site time studies and observations. Productivity can be optimized by managing the factors that affect the operational performance of the haulage fleet.

Keywords: cycle time, fleet performance, load and haul, surface mining

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Authors: Justine Ugochukwu Osuagwu, Sazali Abd Wahab

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The performance and operation of NNPC have faced series of attacks by all stakeholders as many have observed lots of inefficiency not only on the part of the management but the staff. This has raised questions of whether their operations and performance are being seriously affected by lack of transformational leadership, and the political competition prevalent in the country. The author has applied the administrative leadership theory and institutional theory as a guide to this study and empirically relates such theories to the study. The study also has utilized the quantitative approach where questionnaires were distributed to 370 participants, and the correctly filled and returned questionnaires were used for the analysis using structural equation modeling. The path coefficient of transformational leadership to performance is strong and positive with β = 0.672; t-value = 14.245; p-value = 0.000. Also, the result found that political competition does not mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and performance of NNPC. (β = -0.008; t-value = -0.600; p- value > 0.05). However, the indirect path is all insignificant, meaning that transformational leadership has relationship with corporate performance.The study found that,while political competition does not serve as a mediator in the relationship between transformational leadership and corporate performance, these styles of leadership have a direct and positive impact on corporate performance. The direct relationship between transformational leadership and political competition was not discovered, despite the fact that political competition has a direct and significant impact, both positive and negative, on corporate performance. As a result, both political competition and transformational leadership have the potential to significantly alter corporate performance.

Keywords: performance, transformational leadership, political competition, corporation performance, Nigeria national petroleum corporation

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Authors: Hyeon-Kyo Lim, Tong-Il Jang, Yong-Hee Lee

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Human error is one of the most dreaded factors that may result in unexpected accidents, especially in nuclear power plants. For accident prevention, it is quite indispensable to analyze and to manage the influence of any factor which may raise the possibility of human errors. Out of lots factors, stress has been reported to have a significant influence on human performance. Therefore, this research aimed to develop a work-related stress management program which can guarantee Fitness-for-Duty (FFD) of the workers in nuclear power plants, especially those working in main control rooms. Major stress factors were elicited through literal surveys and classified into major categories such as demands, supports, and relationships. To manage those factors, a test and intervention program based on 4-level approaches was developed over the whole employment cycle including selection and screening of workers, job allocation, and job rotation. In addition, a managerial care program was introduced with the concept of Employee-Assistance-Program (EAP) program. Reviews on the program conducted by ex-operators in nuclear power plants showed responses in the affirmative, and suggested additional treatment to guarantee high performance of human workers, not in normal operations but also in emergency situations.

Keywords: human error, work performance, work stress, Fitness-For-Duty (FFD), Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

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Authors: Igho Ekiugbo, Christos Papanagnou

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The energy sector continues to face increased scrutiny due to climate change challenges emanating from the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and gas. These climate change challenges have motivated industry practitioners and researchers alike to gain an interest in the way businesses operate. This paper aimed to investigate and assess how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are reducing the impact of their operations, especially those within their supply chains, by assessing the sustainability practices they have adopted and implemented as well as the benefits and challenges of adopting such practices. Data will be collected from SMEs operating across the downstream oil and gas sector in Nigeria using questionnaire surveys. To analyse the data, confirmatory factor analysis and regression analysis will be performed. This method is deemed more suitable and appropriate for testing predefined measurements of sustainable supply chain practices as contained in the extant literature. Preliminary observations indicate a consensus on the awareness of the sustainability concept amongst the target participants. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is among the first to investigate the sustainability practices of SMEs operating in the Nigerian oil and gas sector and will therefore contribute to the sustainability and circular economic literature.

Keywords: small and medium-sized enterprises, sustainability practices, supply chains, sustainable supply chain management, corporate sustainability, oil and gas, business performance

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Authors: H. Al-Jabli

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Using the freeze-melting process for the disposing of high saline brines was the aim of the paper by confirming the performance estimation of the treatment system. A laboratory bench scale freezing technique test unit was designed, constructed, and tested at Doha Research Plant (DRP) in Kuwait. The principal unit operations that have been considered for the laboratory study are: ice crystallization, separation, washing, and melting. The applied process is characterized as “the secondary-refrigerant indirect freezing”, which is utilizing normal freezing concept. The high saline brine was used as definite feed water, i.e. average TDS of 250,000 ppm. Kuwait desalination plants were carried out in the experimental study to measure the performance of the proposed treatment system. Experimental analysis shows that the freeze-melting process is capable of dropping the TDS of the feed water from 249,482 ppm to 56,880 ppm of the freeze-melting process in the two-phase’s course, whereas overall recovery results of the salt passage and salt rejection are 31.11%, 19.05%, and 80.95%, correspondingly. Therefore, the freeze-melting process is encouraging for the proposed application, as it shows on the results, which approves the process capability of reducing a major amount of the dissolved salts of the high saline brine with reasonable sensible recovery. This process might be reasonable with other brine disposal processes.

Keywords: high saline brine, freeze-melting process, ice crystallization, brine disposal process

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Authors: Cheyne Kirkpatrick

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In an attempt to make the university intensive English program more worthwhile for students, many English language programs are redesigning curriculum to offer for-credit English for Academic Purposes classes, sometimes marketed as “bridge” courses. These programs are designed to be accredited to national language standards, provide communicative language learning, and give students the opportunity to simultaneously earn university language credit while becoming proficient in academic English. This presentation will discuss the curriculum design of one such program in the United States at a large private university that created its own for-credit “bridge” program. The planning, development, piloting, teaching, and challenges of designing this type of curriculum will be presented along with the aspects of accreditation, communicative language learning, and integration within various university programs. Attendees will learn about how such programs are created and what types of objectives and outcomes are included in American EAP classes.

Keywords: IEP, AEP, Curriculum, CEFR, University Credit, Bridge

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Authors: Adriana Avila Zuniga Nordfjeld

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This paper provides a literature review to document the state of the art with respect to handling 'human bias' in decision making within the established quality management systems (QMS) and LEAN theory, in the context of shipbuilding. Previous research shows that in shipbuilding there is a huge deviation from the planned man-hours under the project management to the actual man-hours used because of errors in planning and reworks caused by human bias in the information flows among others. This reduces the efficiency and increases operational costs. Thus, the research question is how QMS and LEAN handle biases. The findings show the gap in studying the integration of methods to handle human bias in decision making into QMS and lean, not only within shipbuilding but also in general. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed for researchers and practitioners in the areas of decision making QMS, LEAN, and future research is suggested.

Keywords: human bias, decision making, LEAN shipbuilding, quality management systems

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Authors: Anmari Viljamaa, Elina Varamäki

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In this study we compare the profiles of transitory hybrid entrepreneurs and persistent hybrid entrepreneurs to determine how they differ. Hybrid entrepreneurs (HEs) represent a significant share of entrepreneurial activity yet little is known about them. We define HEs as individuals who are active as entrepreneurs but do no support themselves primarily by their enterprise. Persistent HEs (PHEs) are not planning to transition to fulltime entrepreneurship whereas transitory HEs (THEs) consider it probable. Our results show that THEs and PHEs are quite similar in background. THEs are more interested in increasing their turnover than PHEs, as expected, but also emphasize self-fulfillment as a motive for entrepreneurship more than PHEs. The clearest differences between THEs and PHEs are found in their views on how well their immediate circle supports full-time entrepreneurship, and their views of their own entrepreneurial abilities and the market potential of their firm. Our results support earlier arguments that hybrids should be considered separately in research on entrepreneurial entry and self-employment.

Keywords: hybrid entrepreneurship, part-time entrepreneurship, self-employment, Theory of Planned Behavior

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Authors: F. Benkaci-Ali, R. Mékaoui, G. Scholl, G. Eppe

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The new methods as accelerated steam distillation assisted by microwave (ASDAM) is a combination of microwave heating and steam distillation, performed at atmospheric pressure at very short extraction time. Isolation and concentration of volatile compounds are performed by a single stage. (ASDAM) has been compared with (ASDAM) with cryogrinding of seeds (CG) and a conventional technique, hydrodistillation assisted by microwave (HDAM), hydro-distillation (HD) for the extraction of essential oil from aromatic herb as caraway and cumin seeds. The essential oils extracted by (ASDAM) for 1 min were quantitatively (yield) and qualitatively (aromatic profile) no similar to those obtained by ASDAM-CG (1 min) and HD (for 3 h). The accelerated microwave extraction with cryogrinding inhibits numerous enzymatic reactions as hydrolysis of oils. Microwave radiations constitute the adequate mean for the extraction operations from the yields and high content in major component majority point view, and allow to minimise considerably the energy consumption, but especially heating time too, which is one of essential parameters of artifacts formation. The ASDAM and ASDAM-CG are green techniques and yields an essential oil with higher amounts of more valuable oxygenated compounds comparable to the biosynthesis compounds, and allows substantial savings of costs, in terms of time, energy and plant material.

Keywords: microwave, steam distillation, caraway, cumin, cryogrinding, GC-MS, GCxGC-MS

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Authors: Abid Khan

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A recognized engineering challenge is related to personnel protection from fatal arc flash incident energy in the line side of the 480-volt switchgear incomer breakers during maintenance activities. The incident energy is typically high due to slow fault clearance, and it can be higher than the available personnel protective equipment (PPE) ratings. A fault in this section of the switchgear is cleared by breakers or fuses in the upstream higher voltage system (4160 Volt or higher). The current reflection in the higher voltage upstream system for a fault in the 480-volt switchgear is low, the clearance time is slower, and the inversely proportional incident energy is hence higher. The installation of overcurrent protection at a 480-volt system upstream of the incomer breaker will operate fast enough and trips the upstream higher voltage breaker when a fault develops at the incomer breaker. Therefore, fault current reduction as reflected in the upstream higher voltage system is eliminated. Since the fast overcurrent protection is permanently installed, it is always functional, does not require human interventions, and eliminates exposure to human errors. It is installed at the maintenance activities location, and its operations can be locally monitored by craftsmen during maintenance activities.

Keywords: arc flash, mitigation, maintenance switch, energy level

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Authors: John Paul Q. Tomas, Mark Wilson L. de los Reyes, Kirsten Joyce P. Vasquez

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The most frequent type of fracture is a wrist fracture, which often makes it difficult for medical professionals to find and locate. In this study, fractures in wrist x-ray pictures were located and identified using deep learning and computer vision. The researchers used image filtering, masking, morphological operations, and data augmentation for the image preprocessing and trained the RetinaNet and Faster R-CNN models with ResNet50 backbones and Adam optimizers separately for each image filtering technique and projection. The RetinaNet model with Anisotropic Diffusion Smoothing filter trained with 50 epochs has obtained the greatest accuracy of 99.14%, precision of 100%, sensitivity/recall of 98.41%, specificity of 100%, and an IoU score of 56.44% for the Posteroanterior projection utilizing augmented data. For the Lateral projection using augmented data, the RetinaNet model with an Anisotropic Diffusion filter trained with 50 epochs has produced the highest accuracy of 98.40%, precision of 98.36%, sensitivity/recall of 98.36%, specificity of 98.43%, and an IoU score of 58.69%. When comparing the test results of the different individual projections, models, and image filtering techniques, the Anisotropic Diffusion filter trained with 50 epochs has produced the best classification and regression scores for both projections.

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Computer Vision, Wrist Fracture, Deep Learning

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Authors: Zo Hasina Rabemananjara

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The North-East of Madagascar is the pillar of Madagascar's foreign trade, providing 41% and 80% of world exports of cloves and vanilla, respectively, in 2016. For Madagascar, the north-eastern escarpment is home to the last massifs of humid forest in large scale of the island, surrounded by a small scale agricultural mosaic. In the sites where this study is taking place, located in the peripheral zones of protected areas, the production of rent aims to supply international markets. In fact, importers of the cash crops produced in these areas are located mainly in India, Singapore, France, Germany and the United States. Recently, the price of these products has increased significantly, especially from the year 2015. For vanilla, the price has skyrocketed, from an approximate price of 73 USD per kilo in 2015 to more than 250 USD per kilo in 2016. The value of clove exports increased sharply by 49.4% in 2017, largely to Singapore and India due to the sharp increase in exported volume (+47, 6%) in 2017. If the relationship between the rise in prices of rented products and the change in physical environments is known, the evolution of the behavior of land users linked to this aspect was not yet addressed by research. In fact, the consequence of this price increase in the organization of the use of space at the local level still raises questions. Hence, the research question is: to what extent does this improvement in the price of imported products affect user behavior linked to the local organization of access to the factor of soil production? To fully appreciate this change in behavior, surveys of 144 land user households were carried out, and group interviews were also carried out. The results of this research showed that the rise in the prices of annuity products from the year 2015 caused significant changes in the behavior of land users in the study sites. Young people, who have not been attracted to farming for a long time, have started to show interest in it since the period of rising vanilla and clove prices. They have set up their own fields of vanilla and clove cultivation. This revival of interest conferred an important value on the land and caused conflicts especially between family members because the acquisition of the cultivated land was done by inheritance or donation. This change in user behavior has also affected the farmers' life strategy since the latter have decided to abandon rain-fed rice farming, which has long been considered a guaranteed subsistence activity for cash crops. This research will contribute to nourishing scientific reflection on the management of land use and also to support political decision-makers in decision-making on spatial planning.

Keywords: behavior of land users, North-eastern Madagascar, price of export products, spatial planning

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Authors: Anna Lower, Michal Lower, Robert Masztalski, Agnieszka Szumilas

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Contemporary cities are facing serious congestion and parking problems. In urban transport policy the introduction of the park and ride system (P&R) is an increasingly popular way of limiting vehicular traffic. The determining of P&R facilities location is a key aspect of the system. Criteria for assessing the quality of the selected location are formulated generally and descriptively. The research outsourced to specialists are expensive and time consuming. The most focus is on the examination of a few selected places. The practice has shown that the choice of the location of these sites in a intuitive way without a detailed analysis of all the circumstances, often gives negative results. Then the existing facilities are not used as expected. Methods of location as a research topic are also widely taken in the scientific literature. Built mathematical models often do not bring the problem comprehensively, e.g. assuming that the city is linear, developed along one important communications corridor. The paper presents a new method where the expert knowledge is applied to fuzzy inference model. With such a built system even a less experienced person could benefit from it, e.g. urban planners, officials. The analysis result is obtained in a very short time, so a large number of the proposed location can also be verified in a short time. The proposed method is intended for testing of car parks location in a city. The paper will show selected examples of locations of the P&R facilities in cities planning to introduce the P&R. The analysis of existing objects will also be shown in the paper and they will be confronted with the opinions of the system users, with particular emphasis on unpopular locations. The research are executed using the fuzzy inference model which was built and described in more detail in the earlier paper of the authors. The results of analyzes are compared to documents of P&R facilities location outsourced by the city and opinions of existing facilities users expressed on social networking sites. The research of existing facilities were conducted by means of the fuzzy model. The results are consistent with actual users feedback. The proposed method proves to be good, but does not require the involvement of a large experts team and large financial contributions for complicated research. The method also provides an opportunity to show the alternative location of P&R facilities. The performed studies show that the method has been confirmed. The method can be applied in urban planning of the P&R facilities location in relation to the accompanying functions. Although the results of the method are approximate, they are not worse than results of analysis of employed experts. The advantage of this method is ease of use, which simplifies the professional expert analysis. The ability of analyzing a large number of alternative locations gives a broader view on the problem. It is valuable that the arduous analysis of the team of people can be replaced by the model's calculation. According to the authors, the proposed method is also suitable for implementation on a GIS platform.

Keywords: fuzzy logic inference, park and ride system, P&R facilities, P&R location

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Authors: S. Srikiran, Dharmala Venkata Padmaja, P. N. L. Pavani, R. Pola Rao, K. Ramji

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Technological advancements in the development of cutting tools and coolant/lubricant chemistry have enhanced the machining capabilities of hard materials under higher machining conditions. Generation of high temperatures at the cutting zone during machining is one of the most important and pertinent problems which adversely affect the tool life and surface finish of the machined components. Generally, cutting fluids and solid lubricants are used to overcome the problem of heat generation, which is not effectively addressing the problems. With technological advancements in the field of tribology, nano-level particulate solid lubricants are being used nowadays in machining operations, especially in the areas of turning and grinding. The present investigation analyses the effect of using nano-particulate graphite powder as lubricant in the turning of AISI 1040 steel under variable machining conditions and to study its effect on cutting forces, tool temperature and surface roughness of the machined component. Experiments revealed that the increase in cutting forces and tool temperature resulting in the decrease of surface quality with the decrease in the size of nano-particulate graphite powder as lubricant.

Keywords: solid lubricant, graphite, minimum quantity lubrication (MQL), nano–particles

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Authors: Gaylord K. Booto, Marinelli Giuseppe, Helge Brattebø, Rolf A. Bohne

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Emissions reduction has emerged among the principal targets in the process of planning and designing road alignments today. Intelligent road design methods that can result in optimized alignment constitute concrete and innovative responses towards better alternatives and more sustainable road infrastructures. As the largest amount of emissions of road infrastructures occur in the operation stage, it becomes very important to consider traffic weight and distribution in alignment design process. This study analyzes the effects of four traffic factors (i.e. operating speed, vehicle category, technology and fuel type) on adjusting the vertical alignment of a given road, using optimization techniques. Further, factors’ effects are assessed qualitatively and quantitatively, and the emission profiles of resulting alignment alternatives are compared.

Keywords: alignment adjustment, emissions reduction, optimization, traffic-oriented

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Authors: Heungwook Son, Sungjoo Lee

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Recently, due to intensifying competition in several industries, the importance of meeting customer requirements has increased. The role that service plays in satisfying customer‘s requirements is key area of focus. Thus, the concept of using product development-research in the service system has been actively practiced. As strategic decision making tool, various types of the technology roadmap were suggested in the product-service system (PSS). However, the technology roadmap was configured a top-down form around the technologies of the elements. The limitation is that it hard for it to indicate a variety of interrelations. In response, this paper suggests using the planning support tool of PSS for a DSM for the technology roadmap; it consists of the relationship of product-service-technology as a bottom-up form. Therefore, nine types of the technology roadmap of PSS exist. The first defines the relationship of product-service-technology. The second phase identifies output when of the technology roadmaps are adapted to the DSM process. Finally, the DSM-based forms of each type of technology roadmap are presented through case studies.

Keywords: DSM, technology roadmap, PSS, product-service system, bottom-up

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Authors: Elham Sharifineyestani, Mohammad Farshchin

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Tropical cyclones are one of the most expensive and deadliest natural disasters. They cause heavy rainfall and serious flash flooding that result in billions of dollars of damage and considerable mortality each year in the United States. Prediction of the frequency of tropical cyclone-induced rainfall events can be helpful in emergency planning and flood risk management. In this study, we have developed a machine-learning model to predict the exceedance frequencies of tropical cyclone-induced rainfall events in the United States. Model results show a satisfactory agreement with available observations. To examine the effectiveness of our approach, we also have compared the result of our predictions with the exceedance frequencies predicted using a physics-based rainfall model by Feldmann.

Keywords: flash flooding, tropical cyclones, frequencies, machine learning, risk management

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Authors: Danny Fraser, James Zhang

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Aim of the study: Our study aims to identify any statistically significant evidence as it relates to PROMs for mastectomy and implant-based reconstruction to guide future surgical management. Method: The demographic, pre and post-operative treatment and implant characteristics were collected of all patients at Basildon hospital who underwent breast reconstruction from 2017-2023. We used the Breast-Q psychosocial well-being, physical well-being, and satisfaction with breasts scales. An Independent t-test was conducted for each group, and linear regression of age and implant size. Results: 69 patients were contacted, and 39 PROMs returned. The mean age of patients was 57.6. 40% had smoked before, and 40.8% had BMI>30. 29 had pre-pectoral placement, and 40 had subpectoral placement. 17 had smooth implants, and 52 textured. Sub pectoral placement was associated with higher (75.7 vs. 61.9 p=0.046) psychosocial scores than pre pectoral, and textured implants were associated with a lower physical score than the smooth surface (34.7 VS 50.2 P=0.046). On linear regression, age was positively associated (p=0.007) with psychosocial score. Conclusion: We present a large cohort of patients who underwent breast reconstruction. Understanding the PROMs of these procedures can guide clinicians, patients and policy makers to be more informed of the course of rehabilitation of these operations. Significance: We have found that from a patient perspective subpectoral implant placement was associated with a statistically significant improvement in psychosocial scores.

Keywords: breast surgery, mastectomy, breast implants, oncology

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Authors: Md Abdullah Al Mashud, M. Tariquzzaman, M. Jahangir Alam, Tapan Kumar Godder, M. Mahbubur Rahman

Abstract:

This paper presents a Monte Carlo (MC) method-based dose distributions on lung tumor for 6 MV photon beam to improve the dosimetric accuracy for cancer treatment. The polystyrene which is tissue equivalent material to the lung tumor density is used in this research. In the empirical calculations, TRS-398 formalism of IAEA has been used, and the setup was made according to the ICRU recommendations. The research outcomes were compared with the state-of-the-art experimental results. From the experimental results, it is observed that the proposed based approach provides more accurate results and improves the accuracy than the existing approaches. The average %variation between measured and TPS simulated values was obtained 1.337±0.531, which shows a substantial improvement comparing with the state-of-the-art technology.

Keywords: lung tumour, Monte Carlo, polystyrene, Elekta synergy, Monaco planning system

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Authors: Vijay Meena, Arup Kumar Sarma, Chandan Mahanta

Abstract:

The environment has been getting contaminated by anthropogenic processes including those that discharge heavy metals to air, soil and water. The present work emphasizes the spatial distribution and vertical profile of six heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Mn, Ni, Fe, Cr) in three layers of mid sand bars (bed surface layer, 50 cm and 100 cm depth) at 42 sampling stations covering around 600 km stretch of the Brahmaputra River, India. Heavy metal analysis was conducted on the sample collected from mid-sand bars in the river stretch to examine the impact of dredging for various hydrological operations in the future. Sediment quality was assessed by calculating six different indices viz., EF, CF, CD, PLI, Igeo, and PERI. In all sediment layers, heavy metal concentrations have been observed to be the same as listed, Fe > Mn > Zn > Ni > Cr > Cu in μg/g. The average concentration of Cu, Mn, and Fe was found in the middle layer while Zn, Ni, and Cr were in the Surface layer. EF indicates higher enrichment in reach 2 which is likely to be due to anthropogenic sources of industrial and urbanized effluents. The sediment of the mid-sand bar was generally found moderately polluted possessing low risk to aquatic lives and the environment. Suggesting, Dredging can be possible in the future. An examination of correlation matrices, principal components analysis, and cluster analyses indicated that these heavy metals possess similar anthropogenic origins for their enrichment.

Keywords: heavy metal contamination, risk assessment, anthropogenic impacts, sediment

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Authors: Saud Al Taj

Abstract:

Employer branding is considered as a useful tool for addressing the global-local problem facing complex organisations that have operations scattered across the globe and face challenges of dealing with the local environment alongside. Despite being an established field of study within the Western developed world, there is little empirical evidence concerning the relevance of employer branding to global companies that operate in the under-developed economies. This paper fills this gap by gaining rich insight into the implementation of employer branding programs in a foreign multinational operating in Pakistan dealing with the global-local problem. The study is qualitative in nature and employs semi-structured and focus group interviews with senior/middle managers and local frontline employees to deeply examine the phenomenon in case organisation. Findings suggest that authenticity is required in employer brands to enable them to respond to the local needs thereby leading to the resolution of the global-local problem. However, the role of signaling theory is key to the development of authentic employer brands as it stresses on the need to establish an efficient and effective signaling environment wherein signals travel in both directions (from signal designers to receivers and backwards) and facilitate firms with the global-local problem. The paper also identifies future avenues of research for the employer branding field.

Keywords: authenticity, counter-signals, employer branding, global-local problem, signaling theory

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Authors: Tran Thi Anh Dao, M. Arnold, L. Schacher, D. C. Adolphe, G. Reys

Abstract:

During tooth extraction or implant surgery, dentists are in contact with numerous infectious germs from patients' saliva and blood. For that reason, dentist's clothes have to play their role of protection from contamination. In addition, dentist's apparels should be not only protective but also comfortable and breathable because dentists have to perform many operations and treatments on patients throughout the day with high concentration and intensity. However, this type of protective garments has not been studied scientifically, whereas dentists are facing new risks and eager for looking for a comfortable personal protective equipment. For that reason, we have proposed some new designs of dentist's gown. They were expected to diminish heat accumulation that are considered as an important factor in reducing the level of comfort experienced by users. Experiments using infra-red technology were carried out in order to compare the breathable properties between a traditional gown and a new design with open zones. Another experiment using pressure sensors was also carried out to study ergonomic aspects trough the flexibility of movements of sleeves. The sleeves-design which is considered comfortable and flexible will be chosen for the further step. The results from the two experiments provide valuable information for the development of a new design of dentists' gowns in order to achieve maximum levels of cooling and comfort for the human body.

Keywords: garment, dentists, comfort, design, protection, thermal

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Authors: Pianpian Zhang, Qingping Luo

Abstract:

Currently, there is a great tendency that more and more villages in China are trying to increase income by development of tourism. Especially in Zhejiang Province, 'Beautiful Rural Construction' provides an excellent opportunity for the development of tourism. In this context, development orientation, transportation routes and tourism service facilities are analyzed under the perspective of water resources protection and regional integration based on the development tourism industry of the six villages in Pujiang County, Zhejiang Province as a research object. In the program, the biggest issue is the contradiction between the ecological protection of the water and the development of economy. How to deal with the relationship between protection and development is the key to the design of this case. Furthermore, the six villages are regarded as a whole, connecting to each other by the system of five-path and the landscape along the lake. Every village has its own features, but cannot develop without one another. The article is actively exploring for suggestions and countermeasures to promote the development premised on protection and based on a regional view.

Keywords: development, integration, protection, rural tourism

Procedia PDF Downloads 344