Search results for: TQM (total quality management)

Authors: Anshu Manik, William G. Buttlar, Kasthurirangan Gopalakrishnan

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Over the years, there is a growing trend towards quality-based specifications in highway construction. In many Quality Control/Quality Assurance (QC/QA) specifications, the contractor is primarily responsible for quality control of the process, whereas the highway agency is responsible for testing the acceptance of the product. A cooperative investigation was conducted in Illinois over several years to develop a prototype End-Result Specification (ERS) for asphalt pavement construction. The final characteristics of the product are stipulated in the ERS and the contractor is given considerable freedom in achieving those characteristics. The risk for the contractor or agency depends on how the acceptance limits and processes are specified. Stochastic simulation models are very useful in estimating and analyzing payment risk in ERS systems and these form an integral part of the Illinois-s prototype ERS system. This paper describes the development of an innovative methodology to estimate the variability components in in-situ density, air voids and asphalt content data from ERS projects. The information gained from this would be crucial in simulating these ERS projects for estimation and analysis of payment risks associated with asphalt pavement construction. However, these methods require at least two parties to conduct tests on all the split samples obtained according to the sampling scheme prescribed in present ERS implemented in Illinois.

Keywords: Asphalt Pavement, Risk Analysis, StochasticSimulation, QC/QA.

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Authors: Bahr Eldin S. M, K. S. Rama Rao, N. Perumal

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A generalized unified power quality conditioner (GUPQC) by using three single-phase three-level voltage source converters (VSCs) connected back-to-back through a common dc link is proposed in this paper as a new custom power device for a three-feeder distribution system. One of the converters is connected in shunt with one feeder for mitigation of current harmonics and reactive power compensation, while the other two VSCs are connected in series with the other two feeders to maintain the load voltage sinusoidal and at constant level. A new control scheme based on synchronous reference frame is proposed for series converters. The simulation analysis on compensation performance of GUPQC based on PSCAD/EMTDC is reported.

Keywords: Custom power device, generalized unified power quality conditioner, PSCAD/ETMDC, voltage source converter

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Authors: Milad Kurdi, Hadi Farhadian, Teymour Eslamkish

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This study examined the hydro-geochemistry of Qare-Sou catchment and Gorgan Gulf in order to determine the spatial distribution of major ions. In this regard, six hydrometer stations in the catchment and four stations in Gorgan Gulf were chosen and the samples were collected. Results of spatial and temporal distribution of major ions have shown similar variation trends for calcium, magnesium, and bicarbonate ions. Also, the spatial trend of chloride, sulfate, sodium and potassium ions were same as Electrical Conductivity (EC) and Total Dissolved Solid (TDS). In Nahar Khoran station, the concentrations of ions were more than other stations which may be related to human activities and the role of geology. The Siah Ab station’s ions showed high concentration which is may be related to the station’s close proximity to Gorgan Gulf and the return of water to Qare-Sou River. In order to determine the interaction of water and rock, the Gibbs diagram was used and the results showed that water of the river falls in the rock range and it is affected more by weathering and reaction between water and stone and less by evaporation and crystallization. Assessment of the quality of river water by using graphic methods indicated that the type of water in this area is Ca-HCO₃-Mg. Major ions concentration in Qare-Sou in the universal average was more than but not more than the allowed limit by the World Health Organization and China Standard Organization. A comparison of ions concentration in Gorgan Gulf, seas and oceans showed that the pH in Gorgan Gulf was more than the other seas but in Gorgan Gulf the concentration of anion and cation was less than other seas.

Keywords: Hydro-geochemistry, Qare-Sou River, Gorgan Gulf, major ions, Gibbs diagram, water quality, graphical methods.

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Authors: Klementina Puto, Ermelinda Nexhipi, Evi Llaka

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Dairy by-products are a fairly good environment for microorganisms due to their composition for their growth. Microbial populations have a significant impact in the production of cheese, butter, yogurt, etc. in terms of their organoleptic quality and at the same time some also cause their breakdown. In this paper, the microbiological contamination of soft cheese, butter and yogurt produced in the country (domestic) and imported is assessed, as an indicator of hygiene with impact on public health. The study was extended during September 2018-June 2019 and was divided into three periods, September-December, January-March, and April-June. During this study, a total of 120 samples were analyzed, of which 60 samples of cheese and butter locally produced, and 60 samples of imported soft cheese and butter productions. The microbial indicators analyzed are Staphylococcus aureus and E. coli. Analyzes have been conducted at the Food Safety Laboratory (FSIV) in Tirana in accordance with EU Regulation 2073/2005. Sampling was performed according to the specific international standards for these products (ISO 6887 and ISO 8261). Sampling and transport of samples were done under sterile conditions. Also, coding of samples was done to preserve the anonymity of subjects. After the analysis, the country's soft cheese products compared to imports were more contaminated with S. aureus and E. coli. Meanwhile, the imported butter samples that were analyzed, resulted within norms compared to domestic ones. Based on the results, it was concluded that the microbial quality of samples of cheese, butter and yogurt analyzed remains a real problem for hygiene in Albania. The study will also serve business operators in Albania to improve their work to ensure good hygiene on the basis of the HACCP plan and to provide a guarantee of consumer health.

Keywords: Consumer, health, dairy, by-products, microbial.

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Authors: Zeki Kara, Kevser Yazar

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Table grapes (Vitis vinifera L.) are an important crop worldwide. Postharvest problems like berry shattering, decay and stem dehydration are some of the important factors that limit the marketing of table grapes. Edible coatings are an alternative for increasing shelf-life of fruits, protecting fruits from humidity and oxygen effects, thus retarding their deterioration. This study aimed to compare different grape seed oil applications (GSO, 0.5 g L^-1, 1 g L^-1, 2 g L^-1) and SO₂ generating pads effects (SO₂-1, SO₂-2). Treated grapes with GSO and generating pads were packaged into polyethylene trays and stored at 0 ± 1°C and 85-95% moisture. Effects of the applications were investigated by some quality and sensory evaluations with intervals of 15 days. SO₂ applications were determined the most effective treatments for minimizing weight loss and changes in TA, pH, color and appearance value. Grape seed oil applications were determined as a good alternative for grape preservation, improving weight losses and °Brix, TA, the color values and sensory analysis. Commercially, ‘Alphonse Lavallée’ clusters were stored for 75 days and ‘Antep Karası’ clusters for 60 days. The data obtained from GSO indicated that it had a similar quality result to SO₂ for up to 40 days storage.

Keywords: Postharvest, quality, sensory analyses, Vitis vinifera L.

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Authors: Shuhana Shamsuddin, Nur Rasyiqah Abu Hassan, Ahmad Bashri Sulaiman

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Liveable city is referred to as the quality of life in an area that contributes towards a safe, healthy and enjoyable place. This paper discusses the role of the streets- activities in making Kuala Lumpur a liveable city and the happiness level of the residents towards the city-s street activities. The study was conducted using the residents of Kuala Lumpur. A mixed method technique is used with the quantitative data as a main data and supported by the qualitative data. Data were collected using questionnaires, observation and also an interview session with a sample of residents of Kuala Lumpur. The sampling technique is based on multistage cluster data sampling. The findings revealed that, there is still no significant relationship between the length of stay of the resident in Kuala Lumpur with the happiness level towards the street activities that occurred in the city.

Keywords: Liveable city, activities, urban design quality, quality of life, happiness level.

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Authors: M. Farzadkia, S. Jorfi

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Hospital waste is a category of waste consisting of infectious and non-infectious waste, which pose environmental and health risks. Therefore, special planning and management is required, due to the potential hazards of them. The lack of valid and comprehensive information regarding the generation and management of hospital waste in Iran is one of the most important problems in this field. This research aimed to evaluate hospital waste management efficiency in Karaj city, Iran. The four greatest hospitals in Karaj city had been selected in this cross-sectional study. Site observations and interviews with employees were implemented. The data was gathered based on the hospital waste management questionnaire which was designed by World Health Organization for developing countries. Collected Data had been analyzed using SPSS software. The average of solid waste which was generated per bed was 2.78 kg, which included 90% of domestic waste and 10% of infectious waste. Based on the quantitative analysis of general and infectious waste in these hospitals, the highest contributors of general waste were consisting of food waste (37.39%), while textile (28.06%) were the highest contributors of the infectious waste. According to the information contained in the questionnaires, the main defects of waste management in these hospitals were; inadequate staff in waste management sector, poorly disinfection of solid waste containers and temporary storage locations, and a lack of proper infectious waste treatment. According to the results of this research, waste management in these hospitals were far from optimum conditions. In order to improve the existing conditions, mentioned problems must be solved quickly, and planning for continuous monitoring in the waste management field in these hospitals should be established.

Keywords: Waste management, hospital wastes, solid wastes, Iran.

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Authors: Reza Sigari Tabrizi, Yeap Peik Foong, Nazli Ebrahimi

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The Knowledge Management (KM) Criteria is an essential foundation to evaluate KM outcomes. Different sets of criteria were developed and tailored by many researchers to determine the results of KM initiatives. However, literature review has emphasized on incomplete set of criteria for evaluating KM outcomes. Hence, this paper tried to address the problem of determining the criteria for measuring knowledge management outcomes among different types of Malaysian organizations. Successively, this paper was assumed to develop widely accepted criteria to measure success of knowledge management efforts for Malaysian organizations. Our analysis approach was based on the ANOVA procedure to compare a set of criteria among different types of organizations. This set of criteria was exploited from literature review. It is hoped that this study provides a better picture for different types of Malaysian organizations to establish a comprehensive set of criteria due to measure results of KM programs.

Keywords: KM Criteria, Knowledge Management, KMOutcomes, ANOVA

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Authors: Bahareh Khezri, Richard D. Webster

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In Southeast Asia, during the dry season (August to October) forest fires in Indonesia emit pollutants into the atmosphere. For two years during this period, a total of 67 samples of 2.5 μm particulate matters were collected and analyzed for total mass and elemental composition with ICP - MS after microwave digestion. A study of 60 elements measured during these periods suggest that the concentration of most of elements, even those usually related to crustal source, are extremely high and unpredictable during the haze period. In By contrast, trace element concentration in non - haze months is more stable and covers a lower range. Other unexpected events and their effects on the findings are discussed.

Keywords: Haze, ICP - MS, Particulate Patter, Transboundary Air Pollution.

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Authors: Dariush Semnani, Hossein Ghayoor

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In this paper a novel method was presented for evaluating the fabric pills using digital image processing techniques. This work provides a novel technique for detecting pills and also measuring their heights, surfaces and volumes. Surely, measuring the intensity of defects by human vision is an inaccurate method for quality control; as a result, this problem became a motivation for employing digital image processing techniques for detection of defects of fabric surface. In the former works, the systems were just limited to measuring of the surface of defects, but in the presented method the height and the volume of defects were also measured, which leads to a more accurate quality control. An algorithm was developed to first, find pills and then measure their average intensity by using three criteria of height, surface and volume. The results showed a meaningful relation between the number of rotations and the quality of pilled fabrics.

Keywords: 3D analysis, computer vision, fabric, pile, surface evaluation

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Authors: Kevin Wongleedee

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Culinary culture differences can cause health problems for international tourists in Thailand. This paper drew upon data collected from an international tourist survey conducted in Bangkok, Thailand during summer of 2012. Summer is the period that a variety food safety issues and incidents are often publicized in Thailand. The survey targeted European Union tourists- concerns toward a variety of food safety issues that they encountered during their trip in Thailand. A total of 400 respondents were elicited as data input for t-test, and one way ANOVA test. The findings revealed an astonishing result that up to 46.5 percent of respondents were sick at least one time or more in Thailand. However, the majority of respondents trusted that the Thai hotel and Thai restaurants would ensure food safety, but they did not trust street vendors to ensure food safety. The level of food safety concern can be ranked from most concern to least concern by using the value of mean scores as follows: 1) artificial coloring, 2) use of preservatives, 3) antibiotics, 4) growth hormones, 5) chemical residues, and 6) bacterial contamination. The overall mean score for level of concerns was 3.493 with standard deviation of 1.677 which did not indicate a very high level of concern. In addition, the result for t-test and one way ANOVA test revealed that there was not much effect from the demographic differences to level of food safety concerns.

Keywords: Concerns, European Union Tourists, Food Safety Management.

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Authors: Sara Zamani, Mojtaba Fazeli, Abdollah Rashidi Mehrabadi

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In a world worried about water resources with the shadow of drought and famine looming all around, the quality of water is as important as its quantity. The source of all concerns is the constant reduction of per capita quality water for different uses. Iran With an average annual precipitation of 250 mm compared to the 800 mm world average, Iran is considered a water scarce country and the disparity in the rainfall distribution, the limitations of renewable resources and the population concentration in the margins of desert and water scarce areas have intensified the problem. The shortage of per capita renewable freshwater and its poor quality in large areas of the country, which have saline, brackish or hard water resources, and the profusion of natural and artificial pollutant have caused the deterioration of water quality. Among methods of treatment and use of these waters one can refer to the application of membrane technologies, which have come into focus in recent years due to their great advantages. This process is quite efficient in eliminating multi-capacity ions; and due to the possibilities of production at different capacities, application as treatment process in points of use, and the need for less energy in comparison to Reverse Osmosis processes, it can revolutionize the water and wastewater sector in years to come. The article studied the different capacities of water resources in the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea watershed basins, and processes the possibility of using nanofiltration process to treat brackish and non-conventional waters in these basins.

Keywords: Membrane processes, saline waters, brackish waters, hard waters, zoning water quality in the Persian Gulf and the Oman Sea Watershed area, nanofiltration.

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Authors: Hsiao-Ming Chang, Jui-Liang Hsu

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The purpose of this study is to analyze the cognitive and travel experience the situation of the tourist attraction of the sport tourism in Penghu. This study used a questionnaires, the main island of Taiwan to Penghu in the way of marine sports tourists adopted the designated convenience sampling method, a total of 1447 valid questionnaires. After statistical analysis, this study found that: 1. Tourists to Penghu sports tourism attraction cognitive as “good air quality, suitable for water activities". 2. Tourists in Penghu's tourism experience, “Let me taste the delicious specialties and snacks". 3. The attraction of the sport tourism, travel experience and perceived value are correlated, and both the perceived value with a high degree of predictive ability. Based on the findings of this study not only for Penghu's tourism industry with the unit in charge of the proposed operating and suggestions for future research to other researchers.

Keywords: Sport tourism, travel experience, perceived value, sport attraction.

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Authors: C. S. Mammas, A. Lazaris, A. S. Mamma-Graham, G. Kostopanagiotou, C. Lemonidou, J. Mantas, E. Patsouris

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Introduction: The process to build a better safety culture, methods of error analysis, and preventive measures, starts with an understanding of the effects when human factors engineering refer to remote microscopic diagnosis in surgery and specially in organ transplantation for the remote evaluation of the grafts. It has been estimated that even in well-organized transplant systems an average of 8% to 14% of the grafts (G) that arrive at the recipient hospitals may be considered as diseased, injured, damaged or improper for transplantation. Digital microscopy adds information on a microscopic level about the grafts in Organ Transplant (OT), and may lead to a change in their management. Such a method will reduce the possibility that a diseased G, will arrive at the recipient hospital for implantation. Aim: Ergonomics of Digital Microscopy (DM) based on virtual slides, on Telemedicine Systems (TS) for Tele-Pathological (TPE) evaluation of the grafts (G) in organ transplantation (OT). Material and Methods: By experimental simulation, the ergonomics of DM for microscopic TPE of Renal Graft (RG), Liver Graft (LG) and Pancreatic Graft (PG) tissues is analyzed. In fact, this corresponded to the ergonomics of digital microscopy for TPE in OT by applying Virtual Slide (VS) system for graft tissue image capture, for remote diagnoses of possible microscopic inflammatory and/or neoplastic lesions. Experimentation included: a. Development of an OTE-TS similar Experimental Telemedicine System (Exp.-TS), b. Simulation of the integration of TS with the VS based microscopic TPE of RG, LG and PG applying DM. Simulation of the DM based TPE was performed by 2 specialists on a total of 238 human Renal Graft (RG), 172 Liver Graft (LG) and 108 Pancreatic Graft (PG) tissues digital microscopic images for inflammatory and neoplastic lesions on four electronic spaces of the four used TS. Results: Statistical analysis of specialist‘s answers about the ability to diagnose accurately the diseased RG, LG and PG tissues on the electronic space among four TS (A,B,C,D) showed that DM on TS for TPE in OT is elaborated perfectly on the ES of a Desktop, followed by the ES of the applied Exp.-TS. Tablet and Mobile-Phone ES seem significantly risky for the application of DM in OT (p<.001). Conclusion: To make the largest reduction in errors and adverse events referring to the quality of the grafts, it will take application of human factors engineering to procurement, design, audit, and aware ness-raising activities. Consequently, it will take an investment in new training, people, and other changes to management activities for DM in OT. The simulating VS based TPE with DM of RG, LG and PG tissues after retrieval; seem feasible and reliable and dependable on the size of the electronic space of the applied TS, for remote prevention of diseased grafts from being retrieved and/or sent to the recipient hospital and for post-grafting and pre-transplant planning.

Keywords: Organ Transplantation, Tele-Pathology, Digital Microscopy, Virtual Slides.

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Authors: Yannan Wu, An Chen, Yan Zhao

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Termination Mechanism is an indispensible part of the emergency management mechanism. Despite of its importance in both theory and practice, it is almost a brand new field for researching. The concept of termination mechanism is proposed firstly in this paper, and the design and implementation which are helpful to guarantee the effect and integrity of emergency management are discussed secondly. Starting with introduction of the problems caused by absent termination and incorrect termination, the essence of termination mechanism is analyzed, a model based on Optimal Stopping Theory is constructed and the termination index is given. The model could be applied to find the best termination time point.. Termination decision should not only be concerned in termination stage, but also in the whole emergency management process, which makes it a dynamic decision making process. Besides, the main subjects and the procedure of termination are illustrated after the termination time point is given. Some future works are discussed lastly.

Keywords: Emergency management, Termination Mechanism, Optimal Termination Model, Decision Making, Optimal StoppingTheory.

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Authors: Pirada Techaratpong

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This qualitative research has 2 objectives: to study marketing management of the cultural learning center in Suansunandha Rajabhat University and to suggest guidelines to improve its marketing management. This research is based on a case study of the Arts and Culture Office in Suansunandha Rajabhat University, Bangkok. This research found the Art and Culture Office has no formal marketing management. However, the marketing management is partly covered in the overall business plan, strategic plan, and action plan. The process can be divided into 5 stages. The marketing concept has long been introduced to its policy but not apparently put into action due to inflexible system. Some gaps are found in the process. The research suggests the Art and Culture Office implement the concept of marketing orientation, meeting the needs and wants of its target customers and adapt to the changing situation. Minor guidelines for improvement are provided.

Keywords: Marketing, management, museum, cultural learning center.

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Authors: M. W. Yip, H. H. Ng, S. Din, N. Abu Bakar

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This paper reviewed the relationships between the Knowledge Management (KM) activities and its perceived benefits in the knowledge based organisations. KM activities include: knowledge identification, knowledge acquisition, knowledge application, knowledge sharing, knowledge creation and knowledge preservation. And the perceived benefits of KM are fast customer responsiveness, operation excellence and high innovative intensity.  Based on the above review, a conceptual framework for KM implementation in retail business organisations has been proposed. Finally the paper forwarded some limitations of the framework and based on which, directions for future research had been suggested.

Keywords: Knowledge Management, Knowledge Management Activities, Retail Business, Knowledge Economy.

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Authors: SunWoo Lee, TaeBum Lee, YoonHwa Park, YooJeong Kim

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Solar lentigines appear predominantly on chronically sun-exposed areas of skin, such as the face and the back of the hands. Among the several ways to lentigines treatment, quality-switched lasers are well-known effective treatment for removing solar lentigines. The present pilot study was therefore designed to assess the efficacy of quality-switched ruby laser treatment of such lentigines compare between pretreatment and posttreatment of skin brightness. Twenty-two adults with chronic sun-damaged skin (mean age 52.8 years, range 37–74 years) were treated at the Korean site. A 694 nm Q-switched ruby laser was used, with the energy density set from 1.4 to 12.5 J/cm2, to treat solar lentigines. Average brightness of skin color before ruby laser treatment was 137.3 and its skin color was brightened after ruby laser treatment by 150.5. Also, standard deviation of skin color was decreased from 17.8 to 16.4. Regarding the multivariate model, age and energy were identified as significant factors for skin color brightness change in lentigo depigmentation by ruby laser treatment. Their respective odds ratios were 1.082 (95% CI, 1.007–1.163), and 1.431 (95% CI, 1.051–1.946). Lentigo depigmentation treatment using ruby lasers resulted in a high performance in skin color brightness. Among the relative factors involve with ruby laser treatment, age and energy were the most effective factors which skin color change to brighter than pretreatment.

Keywords: Depigmentation, lentigo, quality switched ruby laser, skin color.

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Authors: Wendong Tao

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Stormwater wetlands have been mainly designed in an empirical approach for water quality improvement, with little quantitative understanding of the internal microbial processes. This study investigated into heterotrophic bacterial production rate, heterotrophic bacterial mineralization percentage, and algal biomass in hypertrophic and eutrophic surface flow stormwater wetlands. Compared to a nearby wood leachate treatment wetland, the stormwater wetlands had much higher chlorophyll-a concentrations. The eutrophic stormwater wetland had improved water quality, whereas the hypertrophic stormwater wetland had degraded water quality. Heterotrophic bacterial activities in water were limited in the stormwater wetlands due to competition of algal growth for nutrients. The relative contribution of biofilms to the overall heterotrophic activities was higher in the stormwater wetlands than that in the wood leachate treatment wetland.

Keywords: chlorophyll-a, constructed wetland, heterotrophicproduction, mineralization, stormwater

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Authors: Tahereh Talebi, Reza Ghomashchi, Pejman Talemi, Sima Aminorroaya

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A high quality crack-free film of Bi₂Te₃ material has been deposited for the first time using electrophoretic deposition (EPD) and microstructures of various films have been investigated. One of the most important thermoelectric (TE) applications is Bi₂Te₃ to manufacture TE generators (TEG) which can convert waste heat into electricity targeting the global warming issue. However, the high cost of the manufacturing process of TEGs keeps them expensive and out of reach for commercialization. Therefore, utilizing EPD as a simple and cost-effective method will open new opportunities for TEG’s commercialization. This method has been recently used for advanced materials such as microelectronics and has attracted a lot of attention from both scientists and industry. In this study, the effect of media of suspensions has been investigated on the quality of the deposited films as well as their microstructure. In summary, finding an appropriate suspension is a critical step for a successful EPD process and has an important effect on both the film’s quality and its future properties.

Keywords: Bi2Te3, electrical conductivity, electrophoretic deposition, thermoelectric materials, thick films.

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Authors: Z. Zaman Asam, M. Ajmal, R. Saeed, H. Miraj, M. Muhammad Ahtisham, B. Hameed, A. -Sattar Nizami

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In Pakistan, environmental degradation and consequent human health deterioration has rapidly accelerated in the past decade due to solid waste mismanagement. As the situation worsens with time, establishment of proper waste management practices is urgently needed especially in semi urban and rural areas of Pakistan. This study uses a concept of Waste Bank, which involves a transfer station for collection of sorted waste fractions and its delivery to the targeted market such as recycling industries, biogas plants, composting facilities etc. The management efficiency and effectiveness of Waste Bank depend strongly on the proficient sorting and collection of solid waste fractions at household level. However, the social attitude towards such a solution in semi urban/rural areas of Pakistan demands certain prerequisites to make it workable. Considering these factors the objectives of this study are to: [A] Obtain reliable data about quantity and characteristics of generated waste to define feasibility of business and design factors, such as required storage area, retention time, transportation frequency of the system etc. [B] Analyze the effects of various social factors on waste generation to foresee future projections. [C] Quantify the improvement in waste sorting efficiency after awareness campaign. We selected Gujrat city of Central Punjab province of Pakistan as it is semi urban adjoined by rural areas. A total of 60 houses (20 from each of the three selected colonies), belonging to different social status were selected. Awareness sessions about waste segregation were given through brochures and individual lectures in each selected household. Sampling of waste, that households had attempted to sort, was then carried out in the three colored bags that were provided as part of the awareness campaign. Finally, refined waste sorting, weighing of various fractions and measurement of dry mass was performed in environmental laboratory using standard methods. It was calculated that sorting efficiency of waste improved from 0 to 52% as a result of the awareness campaign. The generation of waste (dry mass basis) on average from one household was 460 kg/year whereas per capita generation was 68 kg/year. Extrapolating these values for Gujrat Tehsil, the total waste generation per year is calculated to be 101921 tons dry mass (DM). Characteristics found in waste were (i) organic decomposable (29.2%, 29710 tons/year DM), (ii) recyclables (37.0%, 37726 tons/year DM) that included plastic, paper, metal and glass, and (iii) trash (33.8%, 34485 tons/year DM) that mainly comprised of polythene bags, medicine packaging, pampers and wrappers. Waste generation was more in colonies with comparatively higher income and better living standards. In future, data collection for all four seasons and improvements due to expansion of awareness campaign to educational institutes will be quantified. This waste management system can potentially fulfill vital sustainable development goals (e.g. clean water and sanitation), reduce the need to harvest fresh resources from the ecosystem, create business and job opportunities and consequently solve one of the most pressing environmental issues of the country.

Keywords: Integrated solid waste management, waste segregation, waste bank, community development.

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Authors: R. Tlili Yaakoubi, H. Nakouri, O. Blanpain, S. Lallahem

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The current tools for real time management of sewer systems are based on two software tools: the software of weather forecast and the software of hydraulic simulation. The use of the first ones is an important cause of imprecision and uncertainty, the use of the second requires temporal important steps of decision because of their need in times of calculation. This way of proceeding fact that the obtained results are generally different from those waited. The major idea of this project is to change the basic paradigm by approaching the problem by the "automatic" face rather than by that "hydrology". The objective is to make possible the realization of a large number of simulations at very short times (a few seconds) allowing to take place weather forecasts by using directly the real time meditative pluviometric data. The aim is to reach a system where the decision-making is realized from reliable data and where the correction of the error is permanent. A first model of control laws was realized and tested with different return-period rainfalls. The gains obtained in rejecting volume vary from 19 to 100 %. The development of a new algorithm was then used to optimize calculation time and thus to overcome the subsequent combinatorial problem in our first approach. Finally, this new algorithm was tested with 16- year-rainfall series. The obtained gains are 40 % of total volume rejected to the natural environment and of 65 % in the number of discharges.

Keywords: Automation, optimization, paradigm, RTC.

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Authors: Kenichiro Hida, Shin-Ichi Kuribayashi

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In a conventional network, most network devices, such as routers, are dedicated devices that do not have much variation in capacity. In recent years, a new concept of network functions virtualisation (NFV) has come into use. The intention is to implement a variety of network functions with software on general-purpose servers and this allows the network operator to select their capacities and locations without any constraints. This paper focuses on the allocation of NFV-based routing functions which are one of critical network functions, and presents the virtual routing function allocation algorithm that minimizes the total power consumption. In addition, this study presents the useful allocation policy of virtual routing functions, based on an evaluation with a ladder-shaped network model. This policy takes the ratio of the power consumption of a routing function to that of a circuit and traffic distribution between areas into consideration. Furthermore, the present paper shows that there are cases where the use of NFV-based routing functions makes it possible to reduce the total power consumption dramatically, in comparison to a conventional network, in which it is not economically viable to distribute small-capacity routing functions.

Keywords: Virtual routing function, NFV, resource allocation, minimum power consumption.

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Authors: A. Sokołowska

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The study presents a brief and synthetic discussion of selected conclusions resulting from multidimensional and in-depth empirical studies. Its theoretical part presents the assumptions referring to social responsibility management from the perspective of the specific nature of small enterprise functioning, while the empirical part presents the selected dysfunctions and paradoxes in social responsibility management referring to this group of enterprises. The paper is summarized by a short list of the resulting recommendations.

Keywords: Small enterprise, social responsibility management, social responsibility of small enterprise.

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Authors: Andrea Bencsik

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Gurus of the Classical Management School (like Taylor, Fayol and Ford) had an opinion that work must be delegated to the individual and the individual has to be instructed, his work assessed and paid based on individual performance. The theories of the Human Relations School have changed this mentality regarding the concept of groups. They came to the conclusion that the influence of groups greatly affects the behaviour and performance of its members. Group theories today are characterized by problem-solving teams and self-managing groups authorized to make decisions and execute; professional communities also play an important role during the operation of knowledge management systems. In this theoretical research we try to find answers to a question: what kind of characteristics (professional competencies, personal features, etc.) a successful team needs to manage a change to operate a knowledge management system step by step.

Keywords: Knowledge management, team, team knowledge, team memory, team roles.

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Authors: M. Chumburidze, N. Salia, T. Namchevadze

Abstract:

This work deals with case processing problems in business. The task of strategic credit requirements management of cases portfolio is discussed. The information model of credit requirements in a binary tree diagram is considered. The algorithms to solve issues of prioritizing clusters of cases in business have been investigated. An implementation of priority queues to support case management operations has been presented. The corresponding pseudo codes for the programming application have been constructed. The tools applied in this development are based on binary tree ordering algorithms, optimization theory, and business management methods.

Keywords: Credit network, case portfolio, binary tree, priority queue, stack.

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Authors: Zeljko Panian

Abstract:

The term Enterprise 2.0 (E2.0) describes a collection of organizational and IT practices that help organizations establish flexible work models, visible knowledge-sharing practices, and higher levels of community participation. E2.0 parallels and builds on another term commonly being used in the industry – Web 2.0. E2.0 represents also new packaging for strategic collaboration and Knowledge Management (KM). Organizations rely on collaboration and KM initiatives to attain innovation, growth, productivity, and performance goals.

Keywords: Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, knowledge management, knowledge planner, collaboration.

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Authors: Doaa M. Atia, Faten H. Fahmy, Ninet M. Ahmed, Hassen T. Dorrah

Abstract:

Fuel cells have become one of the major areas of research in the academia and the industry. The goal of most fish farmers is to maximize production and profits while holding labor and management efforts to the minimum. Risk of fish kills, disease outbreaks, poor water quality in most pond culture operations, aeration offers the most immediate and practical solution to water quality problems encountered at higher stocking and feeding rates. Many units of aeration system are electrical units so using a continuous, high reliability, affordable, and environmentally friendly power sources is necessary. Aeration of water by using PEM fuel cell power is not only a new application of the renewable energy, but also, it provides an affordable method to promote biodiversity in stagnant ponds and lakes. This paper presents a new design and control of PEM fuel cell powered a diffused air aeration system for a shrimp farm in Mersa Matruh in Egypt. Also Artificial intelligence (AI) techniques control is used to control the fuel cell output power by control input gases flow rate. Moreover the mathematical modeling and simulation of PEM fuel cell is introduced. A comparison study is applied between the performance of fuzzy logic control (FLC) and neural network control (NNC). The results show the effectiveness of NNC over FLC.

Keywords: PEM fuel cell, Diffused aeration system, Artificialintelligence (AI) techniques, neural network control, fuzzy logiccontrol

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Authors: D. M. Cocârță, I. A. Istrate, C. Streche, D. M. Dumitru

Abstract:

Soil contamination phenomena are a wide world issue that has received the important attention in the last decades. The main pollutants that have affected soils are especially those resulted from the oil extraction, transport and processing. This paper presents results obtained in the framework of a research project focused on the management of contaminated sites with petroleum products/ REMPET. One of the specific objectives of the REMPET project was to assess the electrochemical treatment (improved with polarity change respect to the typical approach) as a treatment option for the remediation of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) from contaminated soils. Petroleum hydrocarbon compounds attach to soil components and are difficult to remove and degrade. Electrochemical treatment is a physicochemical treatment that has gained acceptance as an alternative method, for the remediation of organic contaminated soils comparing with the traditional methods as bioremediation and chemical oxidation. This type of treatment need short time and have high removal efficiency, being usually applied in heterogeneous soils with low permeability. During the experimental tests, the following parameters were monitored: pH, redox potential, humidity, current intensity, energy consumption. The electrochemical method was applied in an experimental setup with the next dimensions: 450 mm x 150 mm x 150 mm (L x l x h). The setup length was devised in three electrochemical cells that were connected at two power supplies. The power supplies configuration was provided in such manner that each cell has a cathode and an anode without overlapping. The initial value of TPH concentration in soil was of 1420.28 mg/kg_dw. The remediation method has been applied for only 21 days, when it was already noticed an average removal efficiency of 31 %, with better results in the anode area respect to the cathode one (33% respect to 27%). The energy consumption registered after the development of the experiment was 10.6 kWh for exterior power supply and 16.1 kWh for the interior one. Taking into account that at national level, the most used methods for soil remediation are bioremediation (which needs too much time to be implemented and depends on many factors) and thermal desorption (which involves high costs in order to be implemented), the study of electrochemical treatment will give an alternative to these two methods (and their limitations).

Keywords: Electrochemical remediation, pollution, soil contamination, total petroleum hydrocarbons

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Authors: Constansia Musvoto, Isaac Mapaure, Tendayi Gondo, Albertina Ndeinoma, Takaendesa Mujawo

Abstract:

There is increasing pressure on, and decline of mopane woodlands due to increasing use and competition for mopane resources in Zimbabwe in Namibia. Community management strategies, based largely on local knowledge are evidently unable to cope. Research has generated potentially useful information for mopane woodland management, but this information has not been utilized. The work reported in this paper sought to add value to research work conducted on mopane woodlands by developing effective community-based mopane woodland management regimes that were based on both local and scientific knowledge in Zimbabwe and Namibia. The conditions under which research findings were likely to be adopted for mopane woodland management by communities were investigated. The study was conducted at two sites each in Matobo and Omusati Districts in Zimbabwe and Namibia respectively. The mopane woodland resources in the two study areas were assessed using scientific ecological methods. A range of participatory methods was used to collect information on use of mopane woodland resources by communities, institutional arrangements governing access to and use of these resources and to evaluate scientific knowledge for applicability in local management regimes. Coppicing, thinning and pollarding were the research generated management methods evaluated. Realities such as availability of woodland resources and social roles and responsibilities influenced preferences for woodland management interventions

Keywords: Woodland management, community, coppicing, thinning, pollarding

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