Search results for: manufacturing sector
764 Interconnection of Autonomous PROFIBUS Segments through IEEE 802.16 WMAN
Authors: M. İskefiyeli, İ. Özçelik
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PROFIBUS (PROcess FIeld BUS) which is defined with international standarts (IEC61158, EN50170) is the most popular fieldbus, and provides a communication between industrial applications which are located in different control environment and location in manufacturing, process and building automation. Its communication speed is from 9.6 Kbps to 12 Mbps over distances from 100 to 1200 meters, and so it is to be often necessary to interconnect them in order to break these limits. Unfortunately this interconnection raises several issues and the solutions found so far are not very satisfactory. In this paper, we propose a new solution to interconnect PROFIBUS segments, which uses a wireless MAN based on the IEEE 802.16 standard as a backbone system. Also, the solution which is described a model for internetworking unit integrates the traffic generated by PROFIBUS segments into IEEE 802.16 wireless MAN using encapsulation technique.
Keywords: Internetworking Unit, PROFIBUS, WiMAX, WMAN, 802.16.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1683763 Cultural Effects on the Performance of Non- Profit and For-Profit Microfinance Institutions
Authors: Patrick M. Stanton, William R. McCumber
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Using a large dataset of more than 2,400 individual microfinance institutions (MFIs) from 120 countries from 1999 to 2016, this study finds that nearly half of the international MFIs operate as for-profit institutions. Formal institutions (business regulatory environment, property rights, social protection, and a developed financial sector) impact the likelihood of MFIs being for-profit across countries. Cultural differences across countries (power distance, individualism, masculinity, and indulgence) seem to be a factor in the legal status of the MFI (non-profit or for-profit). MFIs in countries with stronger formal institutions, a greater degree of power distance, and a higher degree of collectivism experience better financial and social performance.Keywords: Hofstede cultural dimensions, international finance, microfinance institutions, non-profit.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 977762 Combined Effect of Heat Stimulation and Delay Addition of Superplasticizer with Slag on Fresh and Hardened Property of Mortar
Authors: Antoni Wibowo, Harry Pujianto, Dewi Retno Sari Saputro
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The stock market can provide huge profits in a relatively short time in financial sector; however, it also has a high risk for investors and traders if they are not careful to look the factors that affect the stock market. Therefore, they should give attention to the dynamic fluctuations and movements of the stock market to optimize profits from their investment. In this paper, we present a nonlinear autoregressive exogenous model (NARX) to predict the movements of stock market; especially, the movements of the closing price index. As case study, we consider to predict the movement of the closing price in Indonesia composite index (IHSG) and choose the best structures of NARX for IHSG’s prediction.
Keywords: NARX, prediction, stock market, time series.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 803761 LFSR Counter Implementation in CMOS VLSI
Authors: Doshi N. A., Dhobale S. B., Kakade S. R.
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As chip manufacturing technology is suddenly on the threshold of major evaluation, which shrinks chip in size and performance, LFSR (Linear Feedback Shift Register) is implemented in layout level which develops the low power consumption chip, using recent CMOS, sub-micrometer layout tools. Thus LFSR counter can be a new trend setter in cryptography and is also beneficial as compared to GRAY & BINARY counter and variety of other applications. This paper compares 3 architectures in terms of the hardware implementation, CMOS layout and power consumption, using Microwind CMOS layout tool. Thus it provides solution to a low power architecture implementation of LFSR in CMOS VLSI.Keywords: Chip technology, Layout level, LFSR, Pass transistor
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4501760 Process of Revitalization of the City Centers in Poland: The Problem of Cooperation between Sectors
Authors: Ewa M. Boryczka
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Contemporary city is a subject to rapid economic and social changes. Therefore, it requires an active policy designed to meet the diverse needs of their residents, build competitive position and capacity to compete with other cities. Competitiveness of cities depends largely on their resources but also to a large extent, on the policies and performance of local authorities. Cooperation with social sector also plays an important role, as it affects the use of resources and builds an advantage over other cities. The subject of this article is city's contemporary problems of development with particular emphasis on central areas. This issue is a starting point for reflection on the process of urban regeneration in medium size cities in Poland, as well as cooperation between various actors and their roles in the revitalization processes of Polish cities' centers.
Keywords: City, cooperation between sectors, crisis of city centers, revitalization.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1640759 Conflict, Confusion, Choice: A Phenomenological Approach to Acts of Corruption
Authors: Yvonne T. Haigh
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Public sector corruption has long-term and damaging effects that are deep and broad. Addressing corruption relies on understanding the drivers that precipitate acts of corruption and developing educational programs that target areas of vulnerability. This paper provides an innovative approach to explore the nature of corruption by drawing on the perceptions and ideas of a group of public servants who have been part of a corruption investigation. The paper examines these reflections through the ideas of Pierre Bourdieu and Alfred Schutz to point to some of the steps that can lead to corrupt activity. The paper demonstrates that phenomenological inquiry is useful in the exploration of corruption and, as a theoretical framework, it highlights that corruption emerges through a combination of conflict, doubt and uncertainty. The paper calls for anti-corruption education programs to be attentive to way in which these conditions can influence the steps into corruption.Keywords: Phenomenology, choice, conflict, corruption.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2127758 Practice of Social Audit in Hotel Companies: Case Study of Agadir, Morocco
Authors: M. El Mousadik, F. Elkandoussi
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The concern for increased rigor in social management has led more and more Moroccan business leaders to question the value of applying social audit as an essential tool in the management of human resources. Hotel companies are not excluded; in fact, they are expected to implement such an audit to develop sound and credible human resources management (HRM) policies. The main objective of this paper is to establish the relationship between the practice of social audit as a tool, and its impact on the tourism sector, especially on hotels at one of the Morocco’s first and most popular city for tourism, Agadir. This exploratory study of properties in Agadir has revealed that hotel executives are aware of the importance of social auditing to hone their decisions in the field of HRM.
Keywords: Social audit, hotel companies, human resources management, social piloting.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1794757 The Role of Social and Technical Lean Implementation in Improving Operational Performance: Insights from the Pharmaceutical Industry
Authors: M. Bernasconi, M. Grothkopp, T. Friedli
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The objective of this paper is to examine the relationships between technical and social lean bundles as well as operational performance in the context of the pharmaceutical industry. We investigate the direct and mediating effects of the lean bundles Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), Total Quality Management (TQM), Just-In-Time (JIT), and Human Resource Management (HRM) on operational performance. Our analysis relies on 113 manufacturing facilities from the St.Gallen OPEX benchmarking database. The results show that HRM has a positive indirect effect on operational performance mediated by the technical lean bundles.
Keywords: Human resource management, operational performance, pharmaceutical industry, technical lean practices.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 553756 Vibration Induced Fatigue Assessment in Vehicle Development Process
Authors: Fatih Kagnici
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Improvement in CAE methods has an important role for shortening of the vehicle product development time. It is provided that validation of the design and improvements in terms of durability can be done without hardware prototype production. In recent years, several different methods have been developed in order to investigate fatigue damage of the vehicle. The intended goal among these methods is prediction of fatigue damage in a short time with reduced costs. This study developed a new fatigue damage prediction method in the automotive sector using power spectrum densities of accelerations. This study also confirmed that the weak region in vehicle can be easily detected with the method developed in this study which results were compared with conventional method.
Keywords: Fatigue damage, Power spectrum density, Vibration induced fatigue, Vehicle development
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3115755 Human Capital and the Innovation System – Case Study of the Mpumalanga Province, South Africa
Authors: Maria E. Eggink
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Innovation plays an important role in economic growth and development. Evolutionary economics has entrepreneurs at the centre of the innovation system, but includes all other participants as contributors to the performance of the innovation system. Education and training institutions, one of the participants in the innovation system, contributes in different ways to human capital. The gap in literature on the competence building as part of human capital in the analysis of innovation systems is addressed in this paper. The Mpumalanga Province of South Africa is used as a case study. It was found that the absence of a university, the level of education, the quality and performance in the education sector and the condition of the education infrastructure have not been conducive to learning.
Keywords: Education institutions, human capital, innovation systems, Mpumalanga Province.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2024754 Intervention Targeting in Environmental Networks
Authors: Chukwudi Henry Dike
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We explore targeted subsidy in a set-up for which manufacturing firms in a waste-spillover network make endogenous production decisions. Here, games of substitution in digraphs arises where waste-producing firms internalise negative externality in a quadratic fashion. We find neutrality in intervention policies that create or reduce spillover links. Most importantly, we observe centrality distinction in asymmetric digraphs so that the dependence and power of each firm play unique roles. Here we see that in targeted subsidy, a firm with greater centrality guarantees optimal welfare improvement. This centrality however measures the weakness of each firm’s Nash-based link to other neighbourhood firms i.e., lower negative externality.
Keywords: Centrality, externality, key-player, Nash-Equilibrium.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 182753 Simulation of Activity Stream inside Energy Social Business Environment using Assemblage Theory and Simplicial Complex Tool
Authors: Eddie Soulier, Philippe Calvez, Florie Bugeaud, Francis Rousseaux, Jacky Legrand
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Social, mobility and information aggregation inside business environment need to converge to reach the next step of collaboration to enhance interaction and innovation. The following article is based on the “Assemblage" concept seen as a framework to formalize new user interfaces and applications. The area of research is the Energy Social Business Environment, especially the Energy Smart Grids, which are considered as functional and technical foundations of the revolution of the Energy Sector of tomorrow. The assemblages are modelized by means of mereology and simplicial complexes. Its objective is to offer new central attention and decision-making tools to end-users.Keywords: Activity Streams, Assemblage, Energy Social Business Environment, Simplicial Complex, Smart Grid
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2281752 Bank Loans and the Business Cycle: The Case of the Czech Republic
Authors: Libena Cernohorska, Jan Cernohorsky
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This article aims to evaluate the impact of loans provided within the Czech banking sector on the growth of the Czech economy. The article is based on research of current scientific findings in respect to bank loans and economic development. The paper is based on data taken from the Czech Statistical Office on the development of the gross domestic product and data from the Czech National Bank on the development of loans from the period 2004-2015. Links between selected variables are tested using Granger causality tests. The results calculated confirm the hypothesis of the impact of the loans on economic growth, with a six-month delay. The results thus correspond to the standard economic findings and results of most previous studies.
Keywords: Bank, business cycle, economic growth, loans.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 655751 Effective Security Method for Wireless LAN using Life-Cycle of Wireless Access Point
Authors: Soon-Tai Park, Haeryong Park, Myoung-sun Noh, Yoo-Jae Won
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There are many expand of Wi-Fi zones provided mobile careers and usage of wireless access point at home as increase of usage of wireless internet caused by the use of smart phone. This paper shows wireless local area network status, security threats of WLAN and functionality of major wireless access point in Korea. We propose security countermeasures concerned with life cycle of access point from manufacturing to installation, using and finally disposal. There needed to releasing with configured secure at access point. Because, it is most cost effective resolution than stage of installation or other life cycle of access point.Keywords: Wireless LAN Security, Wi-Fi Security, Wireless Access Point, Product Life-Cycle
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1910750 Lodging Business Management in Nakhon Pathom with Sufficient Economy Approach
Authors: Krisada Sungkhamanee
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The objectives of this research are to search the management pattern of Nakhon Pathom lodging entrepreneurs for sufficient economy ways, to know the threat that affects this sector and design fit arrangement model to sustain their business with Nakhon Pathom style. What will happen if they do not use this approach? Will they have a financial crisis? The data and information are collected by informal discussions with 12 managers and 400 questionnaires. A mixed method of both qualitative research and quantitative research are used. Bent Flyvbjerg’s phronesis is utilized for this analysis. Our research will prove that sufficient economy can help small business firms to solve their problems. We think that the results of our research will be a financial model to solve many problems of the entrepreneurs and this way will can be a model for other provinces of Thailand.
Keywords: Nakhon Pathom Province, Lodging Business, Sufficient Economy.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4007749 Owner/Managers’ External Financing Used and Preference towards Islamic Banking
Authors: Khalid Hassan Abdesamed, Kalsom Abd Wahab
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Economic development and growth are significantly linked to the consistent and sustainable sector of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Banks are the frontrunners in financing and advising SMEs. The main objective of the study is to assess the tendency of SMEs to use the Islamic bank. Model was developed using quantitative method with a hypothetical-deductive testing approach. Model (N = 364) used primary data on the tendency of SMEs to use Islamic banks gathered from questionnaire. It is found by Mann-Whitney test that the tendency to use Islamic bank varies between those firms which consider formal financing with the ones relying on informal financing with the latter tends more to use Islamic bank. This study can serve academic researchers, policy makers, and developing countries as a model of SMEs’ desirability to Islamic banking.Keywords: Formal financing, informal financing, Islamic bank, SMEs.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1645748 Perceptions of Chinese Top-Up Students Transitioning through a Regional UK University: A Longitudinal Study Using the U Curve Model
Authors: Xianghan O’Dea
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This article argues an urgent need to better understand the personal experiences of Chinese top-up students studying in the UK since the number of Chinese students taking year-long top-up programmes in the UK has risen rapidly in recent years. This lack of knowledge could potentially have implications for the reputation of some UK institutions and also the attractiveness of the UK higher education sector to future international students. This longitudinal study explored the academic and social experiences of 12 Chinese top-up students in a UK institution in-depth and revealed that the students felt their experiences were influenced significantly by their surrounding contexts at the macro and meso levels, which, however, have been largely overlooked in existing research. This article suggests the importance of improving the communications between the partner institutions in China and the UK, and also providing sufficient pre-departure and after arrival support to Chinese top-up students at the institutional level.
Keywords: Articulation agreements, Chinese top-up students, top-up programmes, U curve.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 385747 The Concept and Practice of Good Governance in the European Union
Authors: Robert Grzeszczak
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The article deals with one of the most significant issues concerning the functioning of the public sector in the European Union. The objectives of good governance were formulated by the EU itself and also the Scholars in reaction to the discussion that started a decade ago and concerned the role of the government in 21st century, the future of integration processes and globalization challenges in Europe. Currently, the concept of good governance is mainly associated with the improvement of management of public policies in the European Union, concerning both domestic and EU policies. However, it goes beyond the issues of state capacity and effectiveness of management. Good governance relates also to societal participation in the public administration and verification of decisions made in public authorities’ (including public administration). Indirectly, the concept and practice of good governance are connected to societal legitimisation of public bodies in the European Union.
Keywords: Good governance, Government, European law, European Union.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4397746 Environmental Impact of Trade Sector Growth: Evidence from Tanzania
Authors: Mosses E. Lufuke
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This paper attempted to investigate whether there is Granger-causality running from trade to environment as evidenced in the changing climatic condition and land degradation. Using Tanzania as the reference, VAR-Granger-causality test was employed to rationalize the conundrum of causal-effect relationship between trade and environment. The changing climatic condition, as the proxy of both nitrous oxide emissions (in thousand metric tons of CO2 equivalent) and land degradation measured by the size of arable land were tested against trade using both exports and imports variables. The result indicated that neither of the trade variables Granger-cause the variability on gas emissions and arable land size. This suggests the possibility that all trade concerns in relation to environment to have been internalized in domestic policies to offset any likely negative consequence.
Keywords: Trade, growth, impact, environment.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1193745 Organizational Socialization Levels in Nurses
Authors: M. Aslan, A. Karaaslan, S. Selcuk
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The research was conducted in order to determine the organizational socialization levels of nurses working in hospitals in the form of a descriptive study. The research population was composed of nurses employed in public and private sector hospitals in the province of Konya with 0-3 years of professional experience in the hospitals (N=1200); and the sample was composed of 495 nurses that accepted to take part in the study voluntarily. Statistical evaluation of data was conducted in SPSS.16 software. The results of the study revealed that the total score taken by nurses at the organizational socialization scale was 262.95; and this was close to the maximum score. Particularly the departmental socialization sub-dimension proved to be higher in comparison to the other two dimensions (organization socialization and task socialization). Statistically meaningful differences were found in the levels of organization socialization in relation to the status of organizational orientation training, level of education and age group.Keywords: Nurses, Newcomers, Organizational Socialization.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1731744 A Search Algorithm for Solving the Economic Lot Scheduling Problem with Reworks under the Basic Period Approach
Authors: Yu-Jen Chang, Shih-Chieh Chen, Yu-Wei Kuo
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In this study, we are interested in the economic lot scheduling problem (ELSP) that considers manufacturing of the serviceable products and remanufacturing of the reworked products. In this paper, we formulate a mathematical model for the ELSP with reworks using the basic period approach. In order to solve this problem, we propose a search algorithm to find the cyclic multiplier ki of each product that can be cyclically produced for every ki basic periods. This research also uses two heuristics to search for the optimal production sequence of all lots and the optimal time length of the basic period so as to minimize the average total cost. This research uses a numerical example to show the effectiveness of our approach.Keywords: Economic lot, reworks, inventory, basic period.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1503743 Cultural Policies, Globalisation of Arts, and Impact on Cultural Heritage: A Contextual Analysis of France
Authors: Nasser AlShawaaf, Soo Hee Lee
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Arts globalisation represents a different phenomenon than arts commercialisation which was facilitated by local cultural policies. This study examines the causes and effects of globalisation of art museums in France. Building on art literature, we conducted a literature review of cultural policies. Our findings show that the cultural policies of the French government since the 1980s of cultural democratisation, cultural decentralisation, and implementing market principles on the cultural sector are leading to arts globalisation. Although globalisation is producing economic benefits and enhancing cultural reach, however, the damages include artistic values and creativity, cultural heritage and representation, and the museum itself. Art museums and host cities could overcome negative consequences through a hybrid collection display and develop local collections gradually.
Keywords: Cultural policy, cultural decentralisation, cultural globalisation, art museums, contextual analysis, France.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 151742 Aerodynamic Analysis of a Frontal Deflector for Vehicles
Authors: C. Malça, N. Alves, A. Mateus
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This work was one of the tasks of the Manufacturing2Client project, whose objective was to develop a frontal deflector to be commercialized in the automotive industry, using new project and manufacturing methods. In this task, in particular, it was proposed to develop the ability to predict computationally the aerodynamic influence of flow in vehicles, in an effort to reduce fuel consumption in vehicles from class 3 to 8. With this aim, two deflector models were developed and their aerodynamic performance analyzed. The aerodynamic study was done using the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software Ansys CFX and allowed the calculation of the drag coefficient caused by the vehicle motion for the different configurations considered. Moreover, the reduction of diesel consumption and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions associated with the optimized deflector geometry could be assessed.
Keywords: Aerodynamic analysis, CFD, CO2 emissions, Drag coefficient, Frontal deflector, Fuel consumption.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2658741 Interactive Fuzzy Multi-objective Programming in Land Re-organisational Planning for Sustainable Rural Development
Authors: Bijaya Krushna Mangaraj, Deepak Kumar Das
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Sustainability in rural production system can only be achieved if it can suitably satisfy the local requirement as well as the outside demand with the changing time. With the increased pressure from the food sector in a globalised world, the agrarian economy needs to re-organise its cultivable land system to be compatible with new management practices as well as the multiple needs of various stakeholders and the changing resource scenario. An attempt has been made to transform this problem into a multi-objective decisionmaking problem considering various objectives, resource constraints and conditional constraints. An interactive fuzzy multi-objective programming approach has been used for such a purpose taking a case study in Indian context to demonstrate the validity of the method.Keywords: Land re-organisation, Crop planning, Multiobjective Decision-Making, Fuzzy Goal Programming.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1442740 Parametric Cost Estimating Relationships for Design Effort Estimation
Authors: Adil Salam, Nadia Bhuiyan, Gerard J. Gouw
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The Canadian aerospace industry faces many challenges. One of them is the difficulty in estimating costs. In particular, the design effort required in a project impacts resource requirements and lead-time, and consequently the final cost. This paper presents the findings of a case study conducted for recognized global leader in the design and manufacturing of aircraft engines. The study models parametric cost estimation relationships to estimate the design effort of integrated blade-rotor low-pressure compressor fans. Several effort drivers are selected to model the relationship. Comparative analyses of three types of models are conducted. The model with the best accuracy and significance in design estimation is retained.
Keywords: Effort estimation, design, aerospace.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2564739 Challenges to Technological Advancement in Economically Weak Countries: An Assessment of the Nigerian Educational Situation
Authors: Iyabosola B. Oronti, Adeoluwawale A. Adewusi, Israel O. Megbowon
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Nigeria is considered as one of the many countries in sub-Saharan Africa with a weak economy and gross deficiencies in technology and engineering. Available data from international monitoring and regulatory organizations show that technology is pivotal to determining the economic strengths of nations all over the world. Education is critical to technology acquisition, development, dissemination and adaptation. Thus, this paper seeks to critically assess and discuss issues and challenges facing technological advancement in Nigeria, particularly in the education sector, and also proffers solutions to resuscitate the Nigerian education system towards achieving national technological and economic sustainability such that Nigeria can compete favourably with other technologicallydriven economies of the world in the not-too-distant future.Keywords: Economically weak countries, education, globalization and competition, technological advancement.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3503738 Improvement Plant Layout Using Systematic Layout Planning (SLP) for Increased Productivity
Authors: W. Wiyaratn, A. Watanapa
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The objective of this research is to study plant layout of iron manufacturing based on the systematic layout planning pattern theory (SLP) for increased productivity. In this case study, amount of equipments and tools in iron production are studied. The detailed study of the plant layout such as operation process chart, flow of material and activity relationship chart has been investigated. The new plant layout has been designed and compared with the present plant layout. The SLP method showed that new plant layout significantly decrease the distance of material flow from billet cutting process until keeping in ware house.Keywords: Plant layout, Systematic Layout Planning, Flowanalysis, Activity relationship chart
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13834737 The Prospects and Challenges of Open Learning and Distance Education in Malawi
Authors: Andrew Chimpololo
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Open and distance learning is a fairly new concept in Malawi. The major public provider, the Malawi College of Distance Education, rolled out its activities only about 40 years ago. Over the years, the demand for distance education has tremendously increased. The present government has displayed positive political will to uplift ODL as outlined in the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy as well as the National Education Sector Plan. A growing national interest in education coupled with political stability and a booming ICT industry also raise hope for success. However, a fragile economy with a GNI per capita of -US$ 200 over the last decade, poor public funding, erratic power supply and lack of expertise put strain on efforts towards the promotion of ODL initiatives. Despite the challenges, the nation appears determined to go flat out and explore all possible avenues that could revolutionise education access and equity through ODL.Keywords: challenges, distance education, Malawi, openlearning, prospects.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3698736 The Perception of Customer Satisfaction in Textile Industry According to Genders in Turkey
Authors: Ikilem Gocek, Senem Kursun, Yesim Iridag Beceren
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The customer satisfaction for textile sector carries great importance like the customer satisfaction for other sectors carry. Especially, if it is considered that gaining new customers create four times more costs than protecting existing customers from leaving, it can be seen that the customer satisfaction plays a great role for the firms. In this study the affecting independent variables of customer satisfaction are chosen as brand image, perceived service quality and perceived product quality. By these independent variables, it is investigated that if any differences exist in perception of customer satisfaction according to the Turkish textile consumers in the view of gender. In data analysis of this research the SPSS program is used.Keywords: Customer satisfaction, textile industry, brand image, service quality, product quality, gender.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4457735 Press Hardening of Tubes with Additional Interior Spray Cooling
Authors: B.-A. Behrens, H. J. Maier, A. Neumann, J. Moritz, S. Hübner, T. Gretzki, F. Nürnberger, A. Spiekermeier
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Press-hardened profiles are used e.g. for automotive applications in order to improve light weight construction due to the high reachable strength. The application of interior water-air spray cooling contributes to significantly reducing the cycle time in the production of heat-treated tubes. This paper describes a new manufacturing method for producing press-hardened hollow profiles by means of an additional interior cooling based on a water-air spray. Furthermore, this paper provides the results of thorough investigations on the properties of press-hardened tubes in dependence of varying spray parameters.Keywords: 22MnB5, hollow profiles, press hardening, tubes, water-air spray cooling.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2093