Search results for: Strategic Management

Authors: Prabhakar Venugopal Gantasala

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Complex environments triggered by globalization have necessitated new paradigms of leadership – Complexity Leadership that encompass multiple roles that leaders need to take upon. Success of Higher Education institutions depends on how well leaders can provide adaptive, administrative and enabling leadership. Complexity Leadership seems all the more relevant for institutions that are knowledge-driven and thrive on Knowledge creation, Knowledge storage and retrieval, Knowledge Sharing and Knowledge applications. Discussed in this paper are the elements of Globalization and the opportunities and challenges that are brought forth by globalization. The Complexity leadership paradigm in a knowledge-based economy and the need for such a paradigm shift for higher education institutions is presented. Further, the paper also discusses the support the leader requires in a knowledge-driven economy through knowledge management initiatives.

Keywords: Globalization, Complexity Leadership, Knowledge Management.

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Authors: A. Leśniak, E. Plebankiewicz, K. Zima

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Construction projects can be implemented under various contractual and organizational systems. They can be divided into two groups: systems without the managing company where the Client manages the process, and systems with the managing company, where management is entrusted to an external company. In the public sector of the Polish market there are two ways of delivery of construction projects with the participation of the manager: one is to assign operations to another party, the so called Project Supervisor, whilst the other results from the application of FIDIC conditions of contract, which entail appointment of the Engineer. The decision is to be made by the Client and depends on various factors. On the public procurement market in Poland the selection of construction project manager boils down to awarding the contract for such a service. The selection can be done by one of eight public procurement procedures identified by the procurement law. The paper provides the analysis of 96 contracts for services awarded in 2011, which employed construction management. The study aimed to investigate the methods and criteria for selecting managers, applied in practice by the Polish public Clients.

Keywords: construction management, construction services, methods and criteria of tender selection, public procurement

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Authors: Aishath Shakeela

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At a global level, water stewardship, water stress and water security are crucial factors in tourism planning and development considerations. Challenges associated with water is of particular concern to the Maldives as there is limited availability of freshwater, high dependency on desalinated water, and high unit cost associated with desalinating water. While the Maldives is promoted as an example of sustainable tourism, a key sustainability challenge facing tourism dependent communities is the efficient use and management of available water resources. A water crisis event in the capital island of Maldives highlighted how precarious water related issues are in this tourism dependent destination. Applying netnography, the focus of this working paper is to present community perceptions of how government policies addressed Malé Water and Sewerage Company (MWSC) water crisis event.

Keywords: Crisis management, government policies, Maldives, tourism, water.

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Authors: Mohammed Bilal, Noor Hyder

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Agile methodology is a popular project management methodology and is widely used in many engineering projects. In the recent years agile methodology is successful in countering the inherent problems seen in traditional methodology. The application of the Agile methodology in the computational fluid dynamic project had improved the project delivery performance. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is the method to solve and analyze the fluid flow problems by the application of the numerical analysis. In this paper, study is conducted using agile methodology and results are compared with waterfall methodology. The result shows that the agile methodology is improves the final delivery of the project.

Keywords: Agile methodology, traditional methodology, engineering management, engineering technology, Computational Fluid Dynamics, project management.

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Authors: S. Saravanan, G. Sugumaran

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Nowadays the use of Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV) is increasing dramatically. The HEV is mainly dependent on electricity and there is always a need for storage of charge. Fuel Cell (FC), Batteries and Ultra Capacitor are being used for the proposed HEV as an electric power source or as an energy storage unit. The aim of developing an energy management technique is to utilize the sources according to the requirement of the vehicle with help of controller. This increases the efficiency of hybrid electric vehicle to reduce the fuel consumption and unwanted emission. The Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) in FC is done using (Perturb & Observe) algorithm. In this paper, the control of automobiles at variable speed is achieved effectively.

Keywords: Batteries, Energy Management System (EMS), Fuel Cell (FC), Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs), Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT).

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Authors: Vinod Tejwani, Bhavik Suthar

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The paper presents and energy management strategy for a Fuel Cell, Ultracapacitor, Battery hybrid energy storage. The fuel cell hybrid power system is devised basically for emergency power requirements and transient load applications. The power density of an Ultracapacitor is extremely high and for a battery, it is subtle. For a fuel cell, the value of power density is medium. The energy density of these three stockpiling gadgets is contrarily about the power density, i.e. for the batteries it is most noteworthy and for the Ultracapacitor, it is least. Again the fuel cell has medium energy density. The proposed Energy Management System (EMS) is trying to rationalize these parameters viz. the energy density and power density. The working of the fuel cell, Ultracapacitor and batteries are controlled in a coordinated environment in a way to optimize the energy usage and at the same time to get benefits of power and energy density from their inherent characteristics. MATLAB/ Simulink® based test bench is created by using different DC-DC converters for all energy storage devices and an inverter is modeled to supply the time varying load. The results provided by the EMS are highly satisfactory that proves its adaptability.

Keywords: Energy Management System (EMS) Fuel Cell, Ultracapacitor, Battery, Hybrid Energy Storage.

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Authors: Pradip Kumar Das

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Phenomenal growth of population and industry exploits the environment in varied ways. Consequently, the greenhouse effect and other allied problems are threatening mankind the world over. Protection and up gradation of environment have, therefore, become the prime necessity all of mankind for the sustainable development of environment. People in humbler walks of life including the corporate citizens have become aware of the impacts of environmental pollution. Governments of various nations have entered the picture with laws and regulations to correct and cure the effects of present and past violations of environmental practices and to obstruct future violations of good environmental disciplines. In this perspective, environmental audit directs verification and validation to ensure that the various environmental laws are complied with and adequate care has been taken towards environmental protection and preservation. The discipline of environmental audit has experienced expressive development throughout the world. It examines the positive and negative effects of the activities of an enterprise on environment and provides an in-depth study of the company processes any growth in realizing long-term strategic goals. Environmental audit helps corporations assess its achievement, correct deficiencies and reduce risk to the health and improving safety. Environmental audit being a strong management tool should be administered by industry for its own self-assessment. Developed countries all over the globe have gone ahead in environment quantification; but unfortunately, there is a lack of awareness about pollution and environmental hazards among the common people in India. In the light of this situation, the conceptual analysis of this study is concerned with the rationale of environmental audit on the industry and the society as a whole and highlights the emerging dimensions in the auditing theory and practices. A modest attempt has been made to throw light on the recent development in environmental audit in developing nations like India and the problems associated with the implementation of environmental audit. The conceptual study also reflects that despite different obstacles, environmental audit is becoming an increasing aspect within the corporate sectors in India and lastly, conclusions along with suggestions have been offered to improve the current scenario.

Keywords: Environmental audit, environmental hazards, environmental laws, environmental protection, environmental preservation.

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Authors: Kristjan Kuhi, Kati K. Kaare, Ott Koppel

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Modern management in most fields is performance based; both planning and implementation of maintenance and operational activities are driven by appropriately defined performance indicators. Continuous real-time data collection for management is becoming feasible due to technological advancements. Outdated and insufficient input data may result in incorrect decisions. When using deterministic models the uncertainty of the object state is not visible thus applying the deterministic models are more likely to give false diagnosis. Constructing structured probabilistic models of the performance indicators taking into consideration the surrounding indicator environment enables to estimate the trustworthiness of the indicator values. It also assists to fill gaps in data to improve the quality of the performance analysis and management decisions. In this paper authors discuss the application of probabilistic graphical models in the road performance measurement and propose a high-level conceptual model that enables analyzing and predicting more precisely future pavement deterioration based on road utilization.

Keywords: Probabilistic graphical models, performance indicators, road performance management, data collection

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Authors: Achmad Zamroni, Masahiro Yamao

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Coastal resource management, community empowerment and socio economic development are the cornerstones for uplifting the lives of coastal area inhabitants. This paper aims to identify the positive impacts of coastal management projects toward fishermen-s economic well-being, to analyze the role of fishermen and their families in effecting economic change and to analyze the roles of stakeholders in managing coastal resources. Structured and semi-structured questionnaires were prepared to obtain qualitative data, and interviews were conducted with fishermen. Findings show that community empowerment and conservation of coastal resources through local and central government projects have exerted positive impact on the coastal community. Some activities involved women who are more active particularly in “off-fishing" season. Traditionally, local fishermen together with local stakeholders have set up a zoning system to minimize conflicts between fishermen. In addition, zoning is used to protect certain ecosystems that can provide benefits well into the future.

Keywords: Economic development, Off-fishing, Resource management, Stakeholders' participation, Women's participation

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Authors: Mohsen Pirdashti, Arezou Ghadi, Mehrdad Mohammadi, Gholamreza Shojatalab

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Chemical industry project management involves complex decision making situations that require discerning abilities and methods to make sound decisions. Project managers are faced with decision environments and problems in projects that are complex. In this work, case study is Research and Development (R&D) project selection. R&D is an ongoing process for forward thinking technology-based chemical industries. R&D project selection is an important task for organizations with R&D project management. It is a multi-criteria problem which includes both tangible and intangible factors. The ability to make sound decisions is very important to success of R&D projects. Multiple-criteria decision making (MCDM) approaches are major parts of decision theory and analysis. This paper presents all of MCDM approaches for use in R&D project selection. It is hoped that this work will provide a ready reference on MCDM and this will encourage the application of the MCDM by chemical engineering management.

Keywords: Chemical Engineering, R&D Project, MCDM, Selection.

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Authors: M. Osipova

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Thanks to informational technologies development every sphere of economics is becoming more and more datacentralized as people are generating huge datasets containing information on any aspect of their life. Applying research of such data to human resources management allows getting scarce statistics on labor market state including salary expectations and potential employees’ typical career behavior, and this information can become a reliable basis for management decisions. The following article presents results of career behavior research based on freely accessible resume data. Information used for study is much wider than one usually uses in human resources surveys. That is why there is enough data for statistically significant results even for subgroups analysis.

Keywords: Human resources management, labor market, salary expectations, statistics, turnover.

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Authors: Matthew P. Mancini, Vincent Ribiere

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Today’s workers face more numerous and complex challenges and are required to be increasingly interdependent and faster learners. Knowledge sharing activities between people have been understood as a significant element affecting organizational innovation performance. While they do have the potential to spark cognitive conflict, disagreement is important from an organizational perspective because it can stimulate the development of new ideas and perhaps pave the way for creativity, innovation, and competitive advantage. How teams cope with the cognitive conflict dimension of knowledge sharing and the associated interpersonal risk is what captures our attention. Specifically, assertive conflict management strategies have a positive influence on knowledge sharing behaviors, and team psychological safety has a positive influence on knowledge sharing intention. This paper focuses on explaining the impact that these factors have on the shaping of an individual’s decision to engage or not in knowledge sharing activities. To accomplish this, we performed an empirical analysis on the results of our questionnaire about knowledge-sharing related conflict management and team psychological safety in pharmaceutical enterprises located in North America, Europe, and Asia. First, univariate analysis is used to characterize behavior regarding conflict management strategy into two groups. Group 1 presents assertive conflict management strategies and group 2 shows unassertive ones. Then, by using SEM methodology, we evaluated the relationships between them and the team psychological safety construct with the knowledge sharing process. The results of the SEM analysis show that assertive conflict management strategies affect the knowledge sharing process the most with a small, but significant effect from team psychological safety. The findings suggest that assertive conflict management strategies are just as important as knowledge sharing intentions for encouraging knowledge sharing behavior. This paper provides clear insights into how employees manage the sharing of their knowledge in the face of conflict and interpersonal risk and the relative importance of these factors in sustaining productive knowledge sharing activities.

Keywords: Cognitive dissonance, conflict management, knowledge sharing, organizational behavior, psychological safety.

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Authors: A. Y. Dutse, S. I. Ningi

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The adoption and diffusion of Information Technology (IT) is one of the fastest growing trends in organizations operating within Nigeria’s economy. Public and private organizations make huge capital investments in an attempt acquire and adopt the state-of-the-art IT for improving operational efficiency. In this study the level of IT adoption is considered the primary driver of efficiency witnessed by organizations. The research gathered data on the intensity of IT usage, and resultant efficiency increase in the organizations’ operations. The data was analyzed using multiple regression analysis and reveals that high level of IT usage has enhance efficiency of private and public organizations in Northern part of Nigeria with organizations having strategic intent on IT adoption indicating higher efficiency gains.

Keywords: IT Adoption, Nigeria, Organizational efficiency.

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Authors: Sawcen Chebaane, Hakim Ben Othman

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This paper investigates the effect of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption on the frequency of earnings managements towards small positive profits. We focus on two emerging markets IFRS adopters: South Africa and Turkey. We tested our logistic regression using appropriate panelestimation techniques over a sample of 330 South African and 210 Turkish firm-year observations over the period 2002-2008. Our results document that mandatory adoption of IFRS is not associated with a reduction in earnings management towards small positive profits in emerging markets. These results contradict most of the previous findings of the studies conducted in developed countries. Based on the legal system factor, we compare the intensity of earnings management between a code law country (Turkey) and a common law country (South Africa) over the pre and post-adoption periods. Our findings show that the frequency of such earnings management practice increases significantly for the code law country.

Keywords: Civil law, common law, emerging markets, Mandatory IFRS adoption, small positive profits.

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Authors: Bambang Ariantara, Nandy Putra, Rangga Aji Pamungkas

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The development of electric vehicle batteries have resulted in very high energy density lithium-ion batteries. However, this progress is accompanied by the risk of thermal runaway, which can result in serious accidents. Heat pipes are heat exchangers that are suitable to be applied in electric vehicle battery thermal management for their lightweight, compact size and do not require external power supply. This paper aims to examine experimentally a Flat Plate Loop Heat Pipe (FPLHP) performance as a heat exchanger in thermal management system of lithium-ion battery for electric vehicle application. The heat generation of the battery was simulated using a cartridge heater. Stainless steel screen mesh was used as the capillary wick. Distilled water, alcohol and acetone were used as working fluids with a filling ratio of 60%. It was found that acetone gives the best performance that produces thermal resistance of 0.22 W/°C with 50°C evaporator temperature at heat flux load of 1.61 W/cm2.

Keywords: Electric vehicle, flat plate loop heat pipe, lithium-ion battery, thermal management system.

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Authors: N.B. Adams

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This article discusses the concept of student ownership of knowledge and seeks to determine how to move students from knowledge acquisition to knowledge application and ultimately to knowledge generation in a virtual setting. Instructional strategies for fostering student engagement in a virtual environment are critical to the learner-s strategic ownership of the knowledge. A number of relevant theories that focus on learning, affect, needs and adult concerns are presented to provide a basis for exploring the transfer of knowledge from teacher to learner. A model under development is presented that combines the dimensions of knowledge approach, the teacher-student relationship with regards to knowledge authority and teaching approach to demonstrate the recursive and scaffolded design for creation of virtual learning environments.

Keywords: Virtual learning environments, learning theory, teaching model, online learning.

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Authors: Mohammed Almohammedali, Peter Duncan, David Edgar

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The aim of this exploratory research is to understand further how organisations can evaluate their activities, which generate knowledge creation, to meet changing stakeholder expectations. A Scale of Knowledge (SoK) Framework is proposed which links knowledge management and organisational activities to changing stakeholder expectations. The framework was informed by the knowledge management literature, as well as empirical work conducted via a single case study of a multi-site hospital organisation in Saudi Arabia. Eight in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers from across the organisation regarding current and future stakeholder expectations, organisational strategy/activities and knowledge management. Data were analysed using thematic analysis and a hierarchical value map technique to identify activities that can produce further knowledge and consequently impact on how stakeholder expectations are met. The SoK Framework developed may be useful to practitioners as an analytical aid to determine if current organisational activities produce organisational knowledge which helps them meet (increasingly higher levels of) stakeholder expectations. The limitations of the research and avenues for future development of the proposed framework are discussed.

Keywords: Knowledge creation, knowledge management, organisational knowledge, scale of knowledge, knowledge impact.

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Authors: Aseela Alhinaai, Suliman Abdullah, Adil Albusaidi

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Knowledge has been considered an important asset in private and public organizations. It is utilized in the libraries sector to run different operations of technical services and administrative works. This study aims to identify the impact of the knowledge-sharing factors (technology, collaboration, management support) to improve decision-making at Sultan Qaboos University Libraries. This study conducted a quantitative method using a questionnaire instrument to measure the impact of technology, collaboration, and management support on knowledge sharing that lead to improved decision-making. The study population is the Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) libraries (Main Library, Medical Library, College of Economic and Political Science Library, and Art Library). The results showed that management support, collaboration, and technology use have a positive impact on the knowledge-sharing process, and knowledge sharing positively affects decision making process.

Keywords: Knowledge sharing, decision making, information technology, management support, corroboration, Sultan Qaboos University.

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Authors: Jürgen Dorn, Tabbasum Naz

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In the area of Human Resource Management, the trend is towards online exchange of information about human resources. For example, online applications for employment become standard and job offerings are posted in many job portals. However, there are too many job portals to monitor all of them if someone is interested in a new job. We developed a prototype for integrating information of different job portals into one meta-search engine. First, existing job portals were investigated and XML schema documents were derived automated from these portals. Second, translation rules for transforming each schema to a central HR-XML-conform schema were determined. The HR-XML-schema is used to build a form for searching jobs. The data supplied by a user in this form is now translated into queries for the different job portals. Each result obtained by a job portal is sent to the meta-search engine that ranks the result of all received job offers according to user's preferences.

Keywords: Meta-search, Information extraction and integration, human resource management, job search.

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Authors: Proud Arunrangsiwed

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This study analyzes the crisis management and image repair strategies during the crisis of Mahidol Wittayanusorn School (MWIT) library burning. The library of this school was burned by a 16-year-old-male student on June 6th, 2010. This student blamed the school that the lesson was difficult, and other students were selfish. Although no one was in the building during the fire, it had caused damage to the building, books and electronic supplies around 130 million bahts (4.4 million USD). This event aroused many discourses arguing about the education system and morality. The strategies which were used during crisis were denial, shift the blame, bolstering, minimization, and uncertainty reduction. The results of using these strategies appeared after the crisis. That was the numbers of new students, who registered for the examination to get into this school in the later years, have remained the same.

Keywords: School, crisis management, violence, image repair strategies, uncertainty, burn.

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Authors: Mamoon M. Atout

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The Middle East Gulf region has witnessed rapid growth and development in many areas over the last two decades. The development of the real-estate sector, construction industry and infrastructure projects are a major share of the development that has participated in the civilization of the countries of the Gulf. Construction industry projects were planned and managed by different types of experts, who came from all over the world having different types of experiences in construction management and industry. Some of these projects were completed on time, while many were not, due to many accumulating factors. Many accumulated factors are considered as the principle reason for the problem experienced at the project construction stage, which reflected negatively on the project success. Specific causes of delay have been identified by construction managers to avoid any unexpected delays through proper analysis and considerations to some implications such as risk assessment and analysis for many potential problems to ensure that projects will be delivered on time. Construction management implications were adopted and considered by project managers who have experience and knowledge in applying the techniques of the system of engineering construction management. The aim of this research is to determine the benefits of the implications of construction management by the construction team and level of considerations of the techniques and processes during the project development and construction phases to avoid any delay in the projects. It also aims to determine the factors that participate to project completion delays in case project managers are not well committed to their roles and responsibilities. The results of the analysis will determine the necessity of the applications required by the project team to avoid the causes of delays that help them deliver projects on time, e.g. verifying tender documents, quantities and preparing the construction method of the project.

Keywords: Construction management, control process, cost control, planning and scheduling, roles and responsibilities.

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Authors: Ivana Mokrá

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The article deals with modelling of the fire pragmatism in the area of military management and its experimental verification. Potential approaches are based on the synergy of mathematical and theoretical ideas, operational and tactical requirements and the military decision-making process. This issue has taken on importance in recent times, particularly with the increasing trend of digitized battlefield, the development of C4ISR systems and intention to streamline the command and control process at the lowest levels of command. From fundamental and philosophical point of view, these new approaches seek to significantly upgrade and enhance the decision-making process of the tactical commanders.

Keywords: Military management, decision-making process, strike modeling, experimental evaluation, pragmatism, tactical strike modeling

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Authors: Getabalew Derib, Arragaw Alemayehu

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Assessing the sustainability of watersheds holds significant importance for regional natural resource management and to achieve sustainable development. This study investigated the sustainability of the Wulo Abiye watershed, central highlands of Ethiopia. The sustainability status of the watershed was evaluated by using 17 indicators representing the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development goals (SDGs) based on the local and existing conditions of the watershed. The results indicated that environmental sustainability was at a ‘high’ level, while social and economic sustainability and the aggregate index were at ‘moderate’ levels. The overall level of community participation in the planning and evaluation phases of watershed management was at ‘low’ levels. The implementation phase was at ‘high’ level. Overall, the sustainability status of the watershed management practices and the level of community participation were at a moderate level. The study concluded that integrated support is needed to overcome the identified challenges to achieve sustainable development in watersheds.

Keywords: Wulo Abiye watershed, community participation, watershed management, sustainable development.

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Authors: F. Lievens, M. Jordanova

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Telemedicine is brought to life by contemporary changes of our world and summarizes the entire range of services that are at the crossroad of traditional healthcare and information technology. It is believed that eHealth can help in solving critical issues of rising costs, care for ageing and housebound population, staff shortage. It is a feasible tool to provide routine as well as specialized health service as it has the potential to improve both the access to and the standard of care. eHealth is no more an optional choice. It has already made quite a way but it still remains a fantastic challenge for the future requiring cooperation and coordination at all possible levels. The strategic objectives of this paper are: 1. To start with an attempt to clarify the mass of terms used nowadays; 2. To answer the question “Who needs eHealth"; 3. To focus on the necessity of bridging telemedicine and medical (health) informatics as well as on the dual relationship between them; as well as 4. To underline the need of networking in understanding, developing and implementing eHealth.

Keywords: E-Health/telemedicine, networking, medical informatics.

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Authors: L. Heidari, M. Jalili Ghazizade

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This paper aims to determine the best environmental and economic scenario for Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management of the Maku city by using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach. The functional elements of this study are collection, transportation, and disposal of MSW in Maku city. Waste composition and density, as two key parameters of MSW, have been determined by field sampling, and then, the other important specifications of MSW like chemical formula, thermal energy and water content were calculated. These data beside other information related to collection and disposal facilities are used as a reliable source of data to assess the environmental impacts of different waste management options, including landfills, composting, recycling and energy recovery. The environmental impact of MSW management options has been investigated in 15 different scenarios by Integrated Waste Management (IWM) software. The photochemical smog, greenhouse gases, acid gases, toxic emissions, and energy consumption of each scenario are measured. Then, the environmental indices of each scenario are specified by weighting these parameters. Economic costs of scenarios have been also compared with each other based on literature. As final result, since the organic materials make more than 80% of the waste, compost can be a suitable method. Although the major part of the remaining 20% of waste can be recycled, due to the high cost of necessary equipment, the landfill option has been suggested. Therefore, the scenario with 80% composting and 20% landfilling is selected as superior environmental and economic scenario. This study shows that, to select a scenario with practical applications, simultaneously environmental and economic aspects of different scenarios must be considered.

Keywords: IWM software, life cycle assessment, Maku, municipal solid waste management.

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Authors: Brahmjit Singh

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Mobile IP has been developed to provide the continuous information network access to mobile users. In IP-based mobile networks, location management is an important component of mobility management. This management enables the system to track the location of mobile node between consecutive communications. It includes two important tasks- location update and call delivery. Location update is associated with signaling load. Frequent updates lead to degradation in the overall performance of the network and the underutilization of the resources. It is, therefore, required to devise the mechanism to minimize the update rate. Mobile IPv6 (MIPv6) and Hierarchical MIPv6 (HMIPv6) have been the potential candidates for deployments in mobile IP networks for mobility management. HMIPv6 through studies has been shown with better performance as compared to MIPv6. It reduces the signaling overhead traffic by making registration process local. In this paper, we present performance analysis of MIPv6 and HMIPv6 using an analytical model. Location update cost function is formulated based on fluid flow mobility model. The impact of cell residence time, cell residence probability and user-s mobility is investigated. Numerical results are obtained and presented in graphical form. It is shown that HMIPv6 outperforms MIPv6 for high mobility users only and for low mobility users; performance of both the schemes is almost equivalent to each other.

Keywords: Wireless networks, Mobile IP networks, Mobility management, performance analysis, Handover.

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Authors: Ilya Kavalchuk, Hayrettin Arisoy, Alex Stojcevski, Aman Maun Than Oo

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Electric vehicles are one of the most complicated electric devices to simulate due to the significant number of different processes involved in electrical structure of it. There are concurrent processes of energy consumption and generation with different onboard systems, which make simulation tasks more complicated to perform. More accurate simulation on energy consumption can provide a better understanding of all energy management for electric transport. As a result of all those processes, electric transport can allow for a more sustainable future and become more convenient in relation to the distance range and recharging time. This paper discusses the problems of energy consumption simulations for electric vehicles using different software packages to provide ideas on how to make this process more precise, which can help engineers create better energy management strategies for electric vehicles.

Keywords: Electric Vehicles, EV, Power Consumption, Power Management, Simulation.

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Authors: Chun-guang Pan, Ying-wu Chen

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Risk response planning is of importance for software project risk management (SPRM). In CMMI, risk management was in the third capability maturity level, which provides a framework for software project risk identification, assessment, risk planning, risk control. However, the CMMI-based SPRM currently lacks quantitative supporting tools, especially during the process of implementing software project risk planning. In this paper, an economic optimization model for selecting risk reduction actions in the phase of software project risk response planning is presented. Furthermore, an example taken from a Chinese software industry is illustrated to verify the application of this method. The research provides a risk decision method for project risk managers that can be used in the implementation of CMMI-based SPRM.

Keywords: Software project, risk management, CMMI, riskresponse planning.

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Authors: Faris Elghaish, Sepehr Abrishami, Mark Gaterell, Richard Wise

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The collaboration and integration between all building information management (BIM) processes and tasks are necessary to ensure that all project objectives can be delivered. The literature review has been used to explore the state of the art BIM technologies to manage construction materials as well as the challenges which have faced the construction process using traditional methods. Thus, this paper aims to articulate a framework to integrate traditional material planning methods such as ABC analysis theory (Pareto principle) to analyse and categorise the project materials, as well as using independent material planning methods such as Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) and Fixed Order Point (FOP) into the BIM 4D, and 5D capabilities in order to articulate a dependent material planning cycle into BIM, which relies on the constructability method. Moreover, we build a model to connect between the material planning outputs and the BIM 4D and 5D data to ensure that all project information will be accurately presented throughout integrated and complementary BIM reporting formats. Furthermore, this paper will present a method to integrate between the risk management output and the material management process to ensure that all critical materials are monitored and managed under the all project stages. The paper includes browsers which are proposed to be embedded in any 4D BIM platform in order to predict the EOQ as well as FOP and alarm the user during the construction stage. This enables the planner to check the status of the materials on the site as well as to get alarm when the new order will be requested. Therefore, this will lead to manage all the project information in a single context and avoid missing any information at early design stage. Subsequently, the planner will be capable of building a more reliable 4D schedule by allocating the categorised material with the required EOQ to check the optimum locations for inventory and the temporary construction facilitates.

Keywords: Building information management, BIM, economic order quantity, fixed order point, BIM 4D, BIM 5D.

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Authors: Maria de Nazaré Moraes Soares, Silvia Maria Dias Pedro Rebouças, José Carlos Lázaro

Abstract:

The Solidarity Economy (SE) acts in the re-articulation of the economic field to the other spheres of social action. The significant participation of women in SE resulted in the formation of a national network of self-managed enterprises in Brazil: The Solidarity and Feminist Economy Network (SFEN). The objective of the research is to identify factors of gender justice and feminist self-management practices that adhere to the reality of women in SE enterprises. The conceptual apparatus related to feminist studies in this research covers Nancy Fraser approaches on gender justice, and Patricia Yancey Martin approaches on feminist management practices, and authors of postcolonial feminism such as Mohanty and Maria Lugones, who lead the discussion to peripheral contexts, a necessary perspective when observing the women’s movement in SE. The research has a quantitative nature in the phases of data collection and analysis. The data collection was performed through two data sources: the database mapped in Brazil in 2010-2013 by the National Information System in Solidary Economy and 150 questionnaires with women from 16 enterprises in SFEN, in a state of Brazilian northeast. The data were analyzed using the multivariate statistical technique of Factor Analysis. The results show that the factors that define gender justice and feminist self-management practices in SE are interrelated in several levels, proving statistically the intersectional condition of the issue of women. The evidence from the quantitative analysis allowed us to understand the dimensions of gender justice and feminist management practices intersectionality; in this sense, the non-distribution of domestic work interferes in non-representation of women in public spaces, especially in peripheral contexts. The study contributes with important reflections to the studies of this area and can be complemented in the future with a qualitative research that approaches the perspective of women in the context of the SE self-management paradigm.

Keywords: Feminist management practices, gender justice, self-management, solidarity economy.

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