Search results for: waste management indicators

Authors: Sajjad H. Kasanagh, Perviz Ahmedzade, Alexander Fainleib, Taylan Gunay

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Modification of asphalt is a fundamental method around the world mainly on the purpose of providing more durable pavements which lead to diminish repairing cost during the lifetime of highways. Various polymers such as styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) and ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) make up the greater parts of the all-over asphalt modifiers generally providing better physical properties of asphalt by decreasing temperature dependency which eventually diminishes permanent deformation on highways such as rutting. However, some waste and low-cost materials such as recycled plastics and ground rubber tire have been attempted to utilize in asphalt as modifier instead of manufactured polymer modifiers due to decreasing the eventual highway cost. On the other hand, the usage of recycled plastics has become a worldwide requirement and awareness in order to decrease the pollution made by waste plastics. Hence, finding an area in which recycling plastics could be utilized has been targeted by many research teams so as to reduce polymer manufacturing and plastic pollution. To this end, in this paper, thermoplastic dynamic vulcanizate (TDV) obtained from recycled post-consumer polyethylene and ground tire rubber (GTR) were used to provide an efficient modifier for asphalt which decreases the production cost as well and finally might provide an ecological solution by decreasing polymer disposal problems. TDV was synthesized by the chemists in the research group by means of the abovementioned components that are considered as compatible physical characteristic of asphalt materials. TDV modified asphalt samples having different rate of proportions of 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 wt.% TDV modifier were prepared. Conventional tests, such as penetration, softening point and roll thin film oven (RTFO) tests were performed to obtain fundamental physical and aging properties of the base and modified binders. The high temperature performance grade (PG) of binders was determined by Superpave tests conducted on original and aged binders. The multiple stress creep and recovery (MSCR) test which is relatively up-to-date method for classifying asphalts taking account of their elasticity abilities was carried out to evaluate PG plus grades of binders. The results obtained from performance grading, and MSCR tests were also evaluated together so as to make a comparison between the methods both aiming to determine rheological parameters of asphalt. The test results revealed that TDV modification leads to a decrease in penetration, an increase in softening point, which proves an increasing stiffness of asphalt. DSR results indicate an improvement in PG for modified binders compared to base asphalt. On the other hand, MSCR results that are compatible with DSR results also indicate an enhancement on rheological properties of asphalt. However, according to the results, the improvement is not as distinct as observed in DSR results since elastic properties are fundamental in MSCR. At the end of the testing program, it can be concluded that TDV can be used as modifier which provides better rheological properties for asphalt and might diminish plastic waste pollution since the material is 100% recycled.

Keywords: Asphalt, ground tire rubber, recycled polymer, thermoplastic dynamic vulcanized.

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Authors: Raymond K. Jonkers

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The present study investigated approaches and techniques to enhance strategic management governance and decision making within the framework of a performance-based balanced scorecard. The review of best practices from strategic, program, process, and systems engineering management provided for a holistic approach toward effective outcome-based capability management. One technique, based on factorial experimental design methods, was used to develop an empirical model. This model predicted the degree of capability effectiveness and is dependent on controlled system input variables and their weightings. These variables represent business performance measures, captured within a strategic balanced scorecard. The weighting of these measures enhances the ability to quantify causal relationships within balanced scorecard strategy maps. The focus in this study was on the performance of tangible assets within the scorecard rather than the traditional approach of assessing performance of intangible assets such as knowledge and technology. Tangible assets are represented in this study as physical systems, which may be thought of as being aboard a ship or within a production facility. The measures assigned to these systems include project funding for upgrades against demand, system certifications achieved against those required, preventive maintenance to corrective maintenance ratios, and material support personnel capacity against that required for supporting respective systems. The resultant scorecard is viewed as complimentary to the traditional balanced scorecard for program and performance management. The benefits from these scorecards are realized through the quantified state of operational capabilities or outcomes. These capabilities are also weighted in terms of priority for each distinct system measure and aggregated and visualized in terms of overall state of capabilities achieved. This study proposes the use of interactive controls within the scorecard as a technique to enhance development of alternative solutions in decision making. These interactive controls include those for assigning capability priorities and for adjusting system performance measures, thus providing for what-if scenarios and options in strategic decision-making. In this holistic approach to capability management, several cross functional processes were highlighted as relevant amongst the different management disciplines. In terms of assessing an organization’s ability to adopt this approach, consideration was given to the P3M3 management maturity model.

Keywords: Outcome based management, performance management, lifecycle costs, balanced scorecard.

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Authors: Andreea Maier, Diana Nicoară, Dorin Maier, Maria-Mihaela Suărăsan, Alexandra Anastasiu

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Innovation is becoming more and more important in modern society. There are a lot of researches on different kinds of innovation but marketing innovation is one kind of innovation that has not been studied frequently before. Marketing innovation is defined as a new way in which companies can market themselves to potential or existing customers. The study shows some key elements for marketing innovation that are worth paying attention to when implementing marketing innovation projects. Examples of such key elements are: paying attention to the neglected market, suitable market segmentatio reliable market information, public relationship, increased customer value, combination of market factors, explore different marketing channels and the use of technology in combination with what? Beside the key elements for marketing innovation, we also present some risks that may occur, such as cost, market uncertainty, information leakage, imitation and overdependence on experience. By proposing a set of indicators to measure marketing innovation, the article offers solutions for marketing innovation implementation so that any organization can achieve optimal results.

Keywords: Innovation, marketing innovation, performance in an organization.

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Authors: Han Park, JooSeok Song

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We propose an enhanced key management scheme based on Key Infection, which is lightweight scheme for tiny sensors. The basic scheme, Key Infection, is perfectly secure against node capture and eavesdropping if initial communications after node deployment is secure. If, however, an attacker can eavesdrop on the initial communications, they can take the session key. We use common neighbors for each node to generate the session key. Each node has own secret key and shares it with its neighbor nodes. Then each node can establish the session key using common neighbors- secret keys and a random number. Our scheme needs only a few communications even if it uses neighbor nodes- information. Without losing the lightness of basic scheme, it improves the resistance against eavesdropping on the initial communications more than 30%.

Keywords: Wireless Sensor Networks, Key Management

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Authors: Nor Azuana Ramli, Mohd Tahir Ismail, Hooy Chee Wooi

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Developing a stable early warning system (EWS) model that is capable to give an accurate prediction is a challenging task. This paper introduces k-nearest neighbour (k-NN) method which never been applied in predicting currency crisis before with the aim of increasing the prediction accuracy. The proposed k-NN performance depends on the choice of a distance that is used where in our analysis; we take the Euclidean distance and the Manhattan as a consideration. For the comparison, we employ three other methods which are logistic regression analysis (logit), back-propagation neural network (NN) and sequential minimal optimization (SMO). The analysis using datasets from 8 countries and 13 macro-economic indicators for each country shows that the proposed k-NN method with k = 4 and Manhattan distance performs better than the other methods.

Keywords: Currency crisis, k-nearest neighbour method, logit, neural network.

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Authors: W. Schellong

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Industry accounts for one-third of global final energy demand. Crossover technologies (e.g. motors, pumps, process heat, and air conditioning) play an important role in improving energy efficiency. These technologies are used in many applications independent of the production branch. Especially electrical power is used by drives, pumps, compressors, and lightning. The paper demonstrates the algorithm of the energy analysis by some selected case studies for typical industrial processes. The energy analysis represents an essential part of energy management systems (EMS). Generally, process control system (PCS) can support EMS. They provide information about the production process, and they organize the maintenance actions. Combining these tools into an integrated process allows the development of an energy critical equipment strategy. Thus, asset and energy management can use the same common data to improve the energy efficiency.

Keywords: Crossover technologies, data management, energy analysis, energy efficiency, process control.

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Authors: Jiří Klečka, Dagmar Čámská

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This paper is focused on the investigation of productivity (total productivity and partial productivity). The value productivity is an indicator of level and changes in technical economic efficiency of production factors. It represents an important factor in achieving corporate objectives. This text works with the contemporary concept of value productivity that means that indicators of the productivity express the effect of economic efficiency not only of inputs consumption, but also of inputs binding efficiency. This approach is based on principles of the economic profit, respectively the economic value added (EVA). The research is done on the sample of Czech enterprises operating in the automotive industry in the regions of Liberec and the Central Bohemia. The data sample covers the time period 2006-2011 which allows the comparison of development before crisis and during crisis period. It enables to discover the companies' reaction during crises and the regional comparison allows to showing if there are significant differences between regions.

Keywords: Automotive industry, Czech Republic, economic efficiency, regional comparison, value productivity.

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Authors: Nida Rizvi, Deeksha Katyal, Varun Joshi

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River Hindon is an important river catering the demand of highly populated rural and industrial cluster of western Uttar Pradesh, India. Water quality of river Hindon is deteriorating at an alarming rate due to various industrial, municipal and agricultural activities. The present study aimed at identifying the pollution sources and quantifying the degree to which these sources are responsible for the deteriorating water quality of the river. Various water quality parameters, like pH, temperature, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, total hardness, calcium, chloride, nitrate, sulphate, biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, and total alkalinity were assessed. Water quality data obtained from eight study sites for one year has been subjected to the two multivariate techniques, namely, principal component analysis and cluster analysis. Principal component analysis was applied with the aim to find out spatial variability and to identify the sources responsible for the water quality of the river. Three Varifactors were obtained after varimax rotation of initial principal components using principal component analysis. Cluster analysis was carried out to classify sampling stations of certain similarity, which grouped eight different sites into two clusters. The study reveals that the anthropogenic influence (municipal, industrial, waste water and agricultural runoff) was the major source of river water pollution. Thus, this study illustrates the utility of multivariate statistical techniques for analysis and elucidation of multifaceted data sets, recognition of pollution sources/factors and understanding temporal/spatial variations in water quality for effective river water quality management.

Keywords: Cluster analysis, multivariate statistical technique, river Hindon, water Quality.

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Authors: Leire Urcola, Amaia Altuzarra

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This communication is intended to provide some issues for thought on the importance of implementation of Blended Learning in traditional universities, particularly in the Spanish university system. In this respect, we believe that virtual environments are likely to meet some of the needs raised by the Bologna agreement, trying to maintain the quality of teaching and at the same time taking advantage of the functionalities that virtual learning platforms offer. We are aware that an approach of learning from an open and constructivist nature in universities is a complex process that faces significant technological, administrative and human barriers. Therefore, in order to put plans in our universities, it is necessary to analyze the state of the art of some indicators relating to the use of ICT, with special attention to virtual teaching and learning, so that we can identify the main obstacles and design adaptive strategies for their full integration in the education system. Finally, we present major initiatives launched in the European and state framework for the effective implementation of new virtual environments in the area of higher education.

Keywords: Blended learning, e-Learning, ICT, Virtual LearningEnvironments

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Authors: N. Clavijo Buriticá, L. M. Correa Lópezand J. R., Sánchez Rodríguez

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The environmental impact caused by industries is an issue that, in the last 20 years, has become very important in terms of society, economics and politics in Colombia. Particularly, the tannery process is extremely polluting because of uneffective treatments and regulations given to the dumping process and atmospheric emissions. Considering that, this investigation is intended to propose a management model based on the integration of Lean Supply Chain, Green Supply Chain, Cleaner Production and ISO 14001-2004, that prioritizes the strategic components of the organizations. As a result, a management model will be obtained and it will provide a strategic perspective through a systemic approach to the tanning process. This will be achieved through the use of Multicriteria Decision tools, along with Quality Function Deployment and Fuzzy Logic. The strategic approach that embraces the management model using the alignment of Lean Supply Chain, Green Supply Chain, Cleaner Production and ISO 14001-2004, is an integrated perspective that allows a gradual frame of the tactical and operative elements through the correct setting of the information flow, improving the decision making process. In that way, Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) could improve their productivity, competitiveness and as an added value, the minimization of the environmental impact. This improvement is expected to be controlled through a Dashboard that helps the Organization measure its performance along the implementation of the model in its productive process.

Keywords: Integration, environmental impact, management, systemic organization.

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Authors: Matta S. N. S. Kiran, Manikantadhar Maheswaram, Akshat Upadhyay, Rohit Mishra, Bhagat Singh

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A bearing is a very common and useful component of mechanical systems in order to transfer power from one end to another. Therefore, to ensure the accountability and robustness of the rotating mechanical systems, the bearing part's health condition must be checked at regular intervals, also known as preventive maintenance. This condition may lead to unnecessary higher maintenance costs and later result in higher production costs. These costs can be minimized by diagnosing the faulty bearing in its incipient stage. This paper describes an approach to detect rolling bearing defects based on Empirical Mode Decomposition. The novelty of the proposed methodology is validated experimentally using Case Western Reserve University bearing's data sets. The selected data sets comprise the two vibration signals, i.e., inner race and outer, for healthy and faulty conditions.

Keywords: Ball bearing, denoising, signal processing, statistical indicators.

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Authors: S. Turkan

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In this paper, the Turkey’s Top 500 Industrial Enterprises data in 2014 were analyzed by data envelopment analysis. Data envelopment analysis is used to detect efficient decision-making units such as universities, hospitals, schools etc. by using inputs and outputs. The decision-making units in this study are enterprises. To detect efficient enterprises, some financial ratios are determined as inputs and outputs. For this reason, financial indicators related to productivity of enterprises are considered. The efficient foreign weighted owned capital enterprises are detected via super efficiency model. According to the results, it is said that Mercedes-Benz is the most efficient foreign weighted owned capital enterprise in Turkey.

Keywords: Data envelopment analysis, super efficiency, financial ratios, BCC model.

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Authors: A. T. Nakysh, A. S. Idrisov, S. A. Baidurin

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This work presents the results of a study the incidence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in women with impaired reproductive function (IRF) according to the data of Astana, Kazakhstan. The anthropometric, biochemical and instrumental studies were conducted among 515 women, of which 53 patients with MetS according to IDF criteria, 2006, were selected. The frequency of occurrence of the IRF, due to MetS is 10.3% of cases according to the data of Astana. In women of childbearing age with IRF and the MetS, blood pressure (BP), indicators of carbohydrate and lipid metabolism were significantly higher and the level of high density lipoprotein (HDL) significantly lower compared to the same in women with the IRF without MetS. The hyperandrogenism, the hyperestrogenemia, the hyperprolactinemia and the hypoprogesteronemia were found in the patients with MetS and IRF, indicating the impact of MetS on the development of the polycystic ovary syndrome in 28% of cases and hyperplastic processes of the myometrium in 20% of cases.

Keywords: Dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, reproductive disorders, obesity.

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Authors: Cheewaphongphan P., Garivait S., Pongpullponsak A., Patumsawad S.

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Thailand is one of the world-s leaders of rice producers and exporters. Farmers have to increase the rice cultivation frequency for serving the national increasing of export-s demand. It leads to an elimination of rice residues by open burning which is the quickest and costless management method. The open burning of rice residue is one of the major causes of air pollutants and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission. Under ASEAN agreement on trans-boundary haze, Thailand set the master plan to mitigate air pollutant emission from open burning of agricultural residues. In this master plan, residues incorporation is promoted as alternative management method to open burning. However, the assessment of both options in term of GHG emission in order to investigate their contribution to long-term global warming is still scarce or inexistent. In this study, a method on rice residues assessment was first developed in order to estimate and compare GHG emissions from rice cultivation under rice residues open burning and the case with incorporation of the same amount of rice residues, using 2006 IPCC guidelines for emission estimation and Life Cycle Analysis technique. The emission from rice cultivation in different preparing area practice was also discussed.

Keywords: Greenhouse gases, Incorporation, Rice cultivation, Rice field residue, Rice residue management

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Authors: M. Aminu Sanda

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This paper examines challenges to the implementation and internalization of benchmarked management practices by research organizations in developing economies as transformative tools towards commercialization. The purpose is to understand the contributing influence of internal organizational factors from both situational and historical perspectives towards the practice implementation constraints, and also to provide theoretical understanding on how systemic formations and transformations in the organizations’ activities influenced the level to which their desired needs are attained. The results showed that the variability in the outcomes of the organizations’ transformation processes was indicative of their (in)ability to deal with the impacts of cumulated tensions in the systemic interfaces of their organizational activity systems. It is concluded that the functionalities of the systemic interfaces influence the functionality of the organizational activity system.

Keywords: Organizational activity system, practice implementation, systemic formations, systemic transformations, management re-engineering, R&D firms.

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Authors: Thorsten Herrmann, Alexander Laukemann, Hansgeorg Binz, Daniel Roth

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For the analysis of already identified and existing problems, the pertinent literature provides a comprehensive collection of approaches as well as methods in order to analyze the problems in detail. But coming up with problems, which are assets worth pursuing further, is often challenging. However, the importance of well-formulated problem ideas and their influence of subsequent creative processes are incontestable and proven. In order to meet the covered challenges, the Institute for Engineering Design and Industrial Design (IKTD) developed the Emoji Method. This paper presents the Emoji Method, which support designers to generate problem ideas in a structured way. Considering research findings from knowledge management and innovation management, research into emojis and emoticons reveal insights by means of identifying and formulating problem ideas within the early design phase. The simple application and the huge supporting potential of the Emoji Method within the early design phase are only few of the many successful results of the conducted evaluation. The Emoji Method encourages designers to identify problem ideas and describe them in a structured way in order to start focused with generating solution ideas for the revealed problem ideas.

Keywords: Emojis, problem ideas, innovation management, knowledge management.

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Authors: S. Chabrier, G. Molle, E. Conte, C. Carlier

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Fishing has always been an essential component of the Polynesians- life. Fishhooks, mostly in pearl shell, found during archaeological excavations are the artifacts related to this activity the most numerous. Thanks to them, we try to reconstruct the ancient techniques of resources exploitation, inside the lagoons and offshore. They can also be used as chronological and cultural indicators. The shapes and dimensions of these artifacts allow comparisons and classifications used in both functional approach and chrono-cultural perspective. Hence it is very important for the ethno-archaeologists to dispose of reliable methods and standardized measurement of these artifacts. Such a reliable objective and standardized method have been previously proposed. But this method cannot be envisaged manually because of the very important time required to measure each fishhook manually and the quantity of fishhooks to measure (many hundreds). We propose in this paper a detailed acquisition protocol of fishhooks and an automation of every step of this method. We also provide some experimental results obtained on the fishhooks coming from three archaeological excavations sites.

Keywords: Automated measures, extraction, fishhook, segmentation.

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Authors: H. Ostad-Ahmad-Ghorabi, T. Rahmani, D. Gerhard

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Product Data Management (PDM) systems for Computer Aided Design (CAD) file management are widely established in design processes. This management system is indispensable for design collaboration or when design task distribution is present. It is thus surprising that engineering design curricula has not paid much attention in the education of PDM systems. This is also the case for eduction of ecodesign and environmental evaluation of products. With the rise of sustainability as a strategic aspect in companies, environmental concerns are becoming a key issue in design. This paper discusses the establishment of a PDM platform to be used among technical and vocational schools in Austria. The PDM system facilitates design collaboration among these schools. Further, it will be discussed how the PDM system has been prepared in order to facilitate environmental evaluation of parts, components and subassemblies of a product. By integrating a Business Intelligence solution, environmental Life Cycle Assessment and communication of results is enabled.

Keywords: CAD, Engineering Design, Design Education, ProductLife Cycle, Sustainability

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Authors: Mozhgan Aliakbari, Sara Moridpour

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In recent years, much attention has been given to truck drivers’ fatigue management. Long working hours negatively influence truck drivers’ physiology, health, and safety. However, there is little empirical research in the heavy vehicle transport sector in Australia to identify the influence of working hours’ management on drivers’ fatigue and consequently, on the risk of crashes and injuries. There is no national legislation regulating the number of hours or kilometres travelled by truck drivers. Consequently, it is almost impossible to define a standard number of hours or kilometres for truck drivers in a safety management system. This paper reviews the existing studies concerning safe system interventions such as tachographs in relation to fatigue caused by long working hours. This paper also reviews the literature to identify the influence of frequency of rest breaks on the reduction of work-related road transport accidents involving trucks. A framework is presented to manage truck drivers’ fatigue, which may result in the reduction of injuries and fatalities involving heavy vehicles.

Keywords: Fatigue, time management, trucks, traffic safety.

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Authors: Jincheol Han, Hyunsun Ju, Jonghoon Chun

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Sharing consistent and correct master data among disparate applications in a reverse-logistics chain has long been recognized as an intricate problem. Although a master data management (MDM) system can surely assume that responsibility, applications that need to co-operate with it must comply with proprietary query interfaces provided by the specific MDM system. In this paper, we present a RFID-ready MDM system which makes master data readily available for any participating applications in a reverse-logistics chain. We propose a RFID-wrapper as a part of our MDM. It acts as a gateway between any data retrieval request and query interfaces that process it. With the RFID-wrapper, any participating applications in a reverse-logistics chain can easily retrieve master data in a way that is analogous to retrieval of any other RFID-based logistics transactional data.

Keywords: Reverse Logistics, Master Data Management, RFID.

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Authors: Muhammad Jamaluddin Thaheem, Alberto De Marco

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The area of Project Risk Management (PRM) has been extensively researched, and the utilization of various tools and techniques for managing risk in several industries has been sufficiently reported. Formal and systematic PRM practices have been made available for the construction industry. Based on such body of knowledge, this paper tries to find out the global picture of PRM practices and approaches with the help of a survey to look into the usage of PRM techniques and diffusion of software tools, their level of maturity, and their usefulness in the construction sector. Results show that, despite existing techniques and tools, their usage is limited: software tools are used only by a minority of respondents and their cost is one of the largest hurdles in adoption. Finally, the paper provides some important guidelines for future research regarding quantitative risk analysis techniques and suggestions for PRM software tools development and improvement.

Keywords: Construction industry, Project risk management, Software tools, Survey study.

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Authors: Kittipong Tissayakorn, Fumio Akagi, Yu Song

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Manufacturers have been exploring innovative strategies to achieve and sustain competitive advantages as they face a new era of intensive global competition. Such strategy is known as Supply Chain Management (SCM), which has gained a tremendous amount of attention from both researchers and practitioners over the last decade. Supply chain management (SCM) is considered as the most popular operating strategy for improving organizational competitiveness in the twenty-first century. It has attracted a lot of attention recently due to its role involving all of the activities in industrial organizations, ranging from raw material procurement to final product delivery to customers. Well-designed supply chain systems can substantially improve efficiency and product quality, and eventually enhance customer satisfaction and profitability. In this paper, a manufacturing engineering perspective on supply chain integration is presented. Research issues discussed include the product and process design for the supply chain, design evaluation of manufacturing in the supply chain, agent-based techniques for supply chain integration, intelligent information for sharing across the supply chain, and a development of standards for product, process, and production data exchange to facilitate electronic commerce. The objective is to provide guidelines and references for manufacturing engineers and researchers interested in supply chain integration.

Keywords: Supply Chain, Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Integration, Manufacturing Industries.

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Authors: Irina Astrova, Nahum Korda, Ahto Kalja

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Relational databases are often used as a basis for persistent storage of ontologies to facilitate rapid operations such as search and retrieval, and to utilize the benefits of relational databases management systems such as transaction management, security and integrity control. On the other hand, there appear more and more OWL files that contain ontologies. Therefore, this paper proposes to extract ontologies from OWL files and then store them in relational databases. A prerequisite for this storing is transformation of ontologies to relational databases, which is the purpose of this paper.

Keywords: Ontologies, relational databases, SQL, and OWL.

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Authors: Reihaneh Montazeri Shatouri, Rosmini Omar, Kunio Igusa

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Although automotive industry has brought different beneficiaries to human life, it is being pointed out as one of the major cause of global air pollution which resulted in climate change, smog, green house gases (GHGs), and human diseases by many reasons. Since auto industry is one of the largest consumers of fossil fuels, the realization of green innovations is becoming a crucial choice to meet the challenges towards sustainable development. Recently, many auto manufacturers have embarked on green technology initiatives to gain a competitive advantage in the global market; however, innovative manufacturing systems and technologies can enhance operational performance only if the human resource management is in place to elicit the motivation of the employees and develop their organizational expertise. No organization can perform at peak levels unless each employee is committed to the company goals and works as an effective team member. Strategic human resource practices are the primary means by which firms can shape the skills, attitudes, and behavior of individuals to align with the business strategic objectives. This study investigates on the comprehensive approach of multiple advanced technology innovations and human resource management at Toyota Motor Corporation as the market leader of full hybrid technology in the automotive industry. Then, HRM framework of the company is described and three sets of human resource practices that support the innovation-oriented HR system, presented. Finally, a conceptual framework for innovativeness in green technology in automotive industry by applying a deliberate strategic HR management system and knowledge management with the intervening factors of organizational culture, knowledge application and knowledge sharing is proposed.

Keywords: Automotive Industry, Green Technology, Innovation, Strategic Human Resource Management

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Authors: B. Alajmi, L. Marouf, A. S. Chaudhry

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Knowledge management is considered as an important factor in improving health care services. KM facilitates the transfer of existing knowledge and the development of new knowledge in hospitals. This paper reviews practices adopted by doctors in Kuwait for capturing, sharing, and generating knowledge. It also discusses the perceived impact of KM practices on performance of hospitals. Based on a survey of 277 doctors, the study found that KM practices among doctors in the sampled hospitals were not very effective. Little attention was paid to the main activities that support the transfer of expertise among doctors in hospitals. However, as predicted by previous studies, good km practices were perceived by doctors to have a positive impact on performance of hospitals. It was concluded that through effective KM practices hospitals could improve the services they provide. Documentation of best practices and capturing of lessons learnt for re-use of knowledge could help transform the hospitals into learning organizations.

Keywords: Health Sector, Hospitals, Knowledge Management, Kuwait, Tools and Practices.

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Authors: Liang Zhao, Guangwen Wang, Guichang Liu

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Constant potometer is an important component of pipeline anti-corrosion systems in the chemical industry. Based on Internet of Things (IoT) technology, Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) technology and database technology, this paper developed a set of a constant potometer remote monitoring management system. The remote monitoring and remote adjustment of the working status of the constant potometer are realized. The system has real-time data display, historical data query, alarm push management, user permission management, and supporting Web access and mobile client application (APP) access. The actual engineering project test results show the stability of the system, which can be widely used in cathodic protection systems.

Keywords: Internet of Things, pipe corrosion protection, potentiostat, remote monitoring.

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Authors: Lv Shizeng, Han Xiao, Zhang Yi, Ding Wenjing

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The lunar sample storage device is mainly used for the preparation of the lunar samples, observation, physical analysis and other work. The lunar samples and operating equipment are placed directly inside the storage device. The inside of the storage device is a high purity nitrogen environment to ensure that the sample is not contaminated by the Earth's environment. In order to ensure that the water and oxygen indicators in the storage device meet the sample requirements, a dynamic gas cycle is required between the storage device and the external purification equipment. However, the internal gas disturbance in the storage device can affect the operation of the sample. In this paper, the storage device model is established, and the tetrahedral mesh is established by Tetra/Mixed method. The influence of different inlet position and gas flow on the internal flow field disturbance is calculated, and the disturbed flow area should be avoided during the sampling operation.

Keywords: Lunar samples, gas disturbance, storage device, characteristic analysis.

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Authors: S. Ahmadnejad, Z. Monjamed, M. Pakravannejad, A. Malekian

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The investigating and assessing the effects of relaxation training on the levels of state anxiety concerning first year female nursing students at their initial experience in clinical setting. This research is a quasi experimental study that was carried out in nursing and midwifery faculty of Tehran university of medical sciences .The sample of research consists 60 first term female nursing students were selected through convenience and random sampling. 30 of them were the experimental group and 30 of them were in control group. The Instruments of data-collection has been a questionnaire which consists of 3 parts. The first part includes 10 questions about demographic characteristics .the second part includes 20 question about anxiety (test 'Spielberg' ). The 3rd part includes physiological indicators of anxiety (BP, P, R, body temperature). The statistical tests included t-test and
 and fisher test, Data were analyzed by SPSS software.

Keywords: Anxiety, Nursing students, Relaxation

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Authors: K. R. Balabiyev, A. O. Kaipbayeva

Abstract:

The article discusses the legal framework of the government’s environmental function and analyzes the role of the national policy in protection of wetlands. The problem is of interest for it deals with the most important branch of economy – utilization of Kazakhstan’s natural resources, protection of health and environmental wellbeing of the population. Development of a longterm environmental program addressing the protection of wetlands represents the final stage of the government’s environmental policy, and is a relatively new function for the public administration system. It appeared due to the environmental measures that require immediate decisions to be taken. It is an integral part of the effort in the field of management of state-owned natural resource, as well as of the measures aimed at efficient management of natural resources to avoid their early depletion or contamination.

Keywords: Environmental focus, government’s environmental function, protection of wetlands.

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Authors: Astghik R. Sukiasyan

Abstract:

The semidental sweet maize of Armenian population under drought stress and pollution by some heavy metals (HMs) in sites along the river Debet was studied. Accordingly, the objective of this work was to investigate the antioxidant status of maize plant in order to identify simple and reliable criteria for assessing the degree of adaptation of plants to abiotic stress of drought and HMs. It was found that in the case of removal from the mainstream of the river, the antioxidant status of the plant varies. As parameters, the antioxidant status of the plant has been determined by the activity of malondialdehyde (MDA) and Ferric Reducing Ability of Plasma (FRAP), taking into account the characteristics of natural drought of this region. The possibility of using some indicators which characterized the antioxidant status of the plant was concluded. The criteria for assessing the extent of environmental pollution could be HMs. This fact can be used for the early diagnosis of diseases in the population who lives in these areas and uses corn as the main food.

Keywords: Antioxidant status, maize corn, drought stress, heavy metal.

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