Search results for: construction waste management.
2542 Corporate Governance Mechanisms, Whistle-Blowing Policy and Earnings Management Practices of Firms in Malaysia
Authors: Mujeeb Saif Mohsen Al-Absy, Ku Nor Izah Ku Ismail, Sitraselvi Chandren
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This study examines whether corporate governance (CG) mechanisms in firms that have a whistle-blowing policy (WHBLP) are more effective in constraining earnings management (EM), than those without. A sample of 288 Malaysian firms for the years 2013 to 2015, amounting to 864 firm-years were grouped into firms with and without WHBLP. Results show that for firms without WHBLP, the board chairman tenure would minimize EM activities. Meanwhile, for firms with WHBLP, board chairman independence, board chairman tenure, audit committee size, audit committee meeting and women in the audit committees are found to be associated with less EM activities. Further, it is found that ownership concentration and Big 4 auditing firms help to reduce EM activities in firms with WHBLP, while not in firms without WHBLP. Hence, functional and effective governance can be achieved by having a WHBLP, which is in line with agency and resource dependent theories. Therefore, this study suggests that firms should have a WHBLP in place, and policymakers should come up with enhanced criteria to strengthen the mechanisms of WHBLP.
Keywords: Corporate governance, earnings management, whistle-blowing policy, audit committee, board of directors.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 12712541 Studying the Relationship between Different Dimensions of CRM and Innovation Capabilities in Melli Bank of Iran
Authors: Peyman Ghafari, Reza Karjalian, Ali Mashayekhnia
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This paper investigates the relationship between different dimensions of customer relationship management and innovation capabilities in Melli Bank of Iran. Five dimensions of CRM include information sharing, customer involvement, long-term partnership, joint problem solving and technology-based CRM are selected to measure their relationship with innovation capabilities including innovation in product, innovation in process, innovation in administrative affairs, innovation in marketing, and finally innovation in services. Research findings indicate that there is significant relationship between CRM dimensions and innovation capabilities in Melli bank of Iran.
Keywords: Customer relationship management, innovation capabilities.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20692540 A Study of Current Maintenance Strategies and the Reliability of Critical Medical Equipment in Hospitals in Relation to Patient Outcomes
Authors: Khelood A. Mkalaf, Peter Gibson, John Flanagan
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This study investigates the relationship between the reliability of critical medical equipment (CME) and the effectiveness of CME maintenance management strategies in relation to patient outcomes in 84 public hospitals of a top 20 OECD country. The work has examined the effectiveness of CME maintenance management strategies used by the public hospital system of a large state run health organization. The conceptual framework was designed to examine the significance of the relationship between six variables: (1) types of maintenance management strategies, (2) maintenance services, (3) maintenance practice, (4) medical equipment reliability, (5) maintenance costs and (6) patient outcomes. The results provide interesting insights into the effectiveness of the maintenance strategies used. For example, there appears to be about a 1 in 10 000 probability of failure of anesthesia equipment, but these seem to be confined to specific maintenance situations. There are also some findings in relation to outsourcing of maintenance. For each of the variables listed, results are reported in relation to the various types of maintenance strategies and services. Decision-makers may use these results to evaluate more effective maintenance strategies for their CME and generate more effective patient outcomes.
Keywords: Critical medical equipment, maintenance strategy, patient outcomes, reliability.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 49152539 Development of Storm Water Quality Improvement Strategy Plan for Local City Councils in Western Australia
Authors: Ranjan Sarukkalige, Dinushi Gamage
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The aim of this study was to develop a storm water quality improvement strategy plan (WQISP) which assists managers and decision makers of local city councils in enhancing their activities to improve regional water quality. City of Gosnells in Western Australia has been considered as a case study. The procedure on developing the WQISP consists of reviewing existing water quality data, identifying water quality issues in the study areas and developing a decision making tool for the officers, managers and decision makers. It was found that land use type is the main factor affecting the water quality. Therefore, activities, sources and pollutants related to different land use types including residential, industrial, agricultural and commercial are given high importance during the study. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with coordinators of different management sections of the regional councils in order to understand the associated management framework and issues. The issues identified from these interviews were used in preparing the decision making tool. Variables associated with the defined “value versus threat" decision making tool are obtained from the intensive literature review. The main recommendations provided for improvement of water quality in local city councils, include non-structural, structural and management controls and potential impacts of climate change.
Keywords: Storm water quality, Storm water Management, Land use, Strategy plan
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16682538 Unveiling the Indonesian Identity through Proverbial Expressions: The Relation of Meaning between Authority and Globalization
Authors: Prima Gusti Yanti, Fairul Zabadi
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The purpose of the study is to find out relation of moral massage between the authority and globalization in proverb. Proverb is one of the many forms of cultural identity of the Indonesian/Malay people filled with moral values. The values contained within those proverbs are beneficial not only to the society, but also to those who held power amidst on this era of globalization. The method being used is qualitative research through content analysis which is done by describing and uncovering the forms and meanings of proverbs used within Indonesia Minangkabau society. Sources for this study’s data were extracted from a Minangkabau native speaker in the sub district of Tanah Abang, Jakarta. Said sources were retrieved through a series of interviews with the Minangkabau native speaker, whose speech is still adorned with idiomatic expressions. The research findings show that there are 30 existed proverbs or idiomatic expressions in the Minangkabau language often used by its indigenous people. The thirty data contain moral values which are closely interwoven with the matter of power and globalization. Analytical results show that the fourteen moral values contained within proverbs reflect a firm connection between rule and power in globalization; such as: responsible, brave, togetherness and consensus, tolerance, politeness, thorough and meticulous, honest and keeping promise, ingenious and learning, care, self-correction, be fair, alert, arbitrary, self-awareness. Structurally, proverbs possess an unchangeably formal construction; symbolically, proverbs possess meanings that are clearly decided through ethnographic communicative factors along with situational and cultural contexts. Values contained within proverbs may be used as a guide in social management, be it between fellow men, between men and nature, or even between men and their Creator. Therefore, the meanings and values contained within the morals of proverbs could also be utilized as a counsel for those who rule and in charge of power in order to stem the tides of globalization that had already spread into sectoral, territorial and educational continuums.Keywords: Continuum, globalization, identity, proverb, rule-power.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19162537 Reform Framework for Urban Land Management in Serbia in the Period of Transition
Authors: Slavka Zeković
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A preliminary evaluation of the urban land system is presented in the article together with the instruments of land policy in Serbia. The main reason for the analysis is demand for definition of reform framework for urban land management in Serbia in the period of transition towards market-led system. It is concluded that due to the limitations of the current regulation it will be impossible in the future to apply market principles in the urban land policy (supply and demand of land, land capitalization, investment efficiency, et al.). Based on the estimation that the urban land system and land policy are key factors of competitiveness between regions and towns in Serbia, it is necessary to initiate changes in this field. There are indicated on an option of privatization of urban public land and possible establishment of leasehold land. A comparative analysis of the possibilities of the reform urban land system in Serbia has been carried out in relation to two approaches of market systems: (a) with dominant private ownership of urban land (neo/liberal approach) and (b) with dominant public ownership of urban land (system of leasehold)whose findings can be a basis for further study of the new system in Serbia.. The attanied results are part of studies matter for the making of Strategy of territorial development of Serbia.Keywords: Urban Land System, Urban Land Management, Instruments of Land Policy, Evaluation, Market.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 11902536 TSM: A Design Pattern to Make Ad-hoc BPMs Easy and Inexpensive in Workflow-aware MISs
Authors: Haitao Yang
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Despite so many years- development, the mainstream of workflow solutions from IT industries has not made ad-hoc workflow-support easy or inexpensive in MIS. Moreover, most of academic approaches tend to make their resulted BPM (Business Process Management) more complex and clumsy since they used to necessitate modeling workflow. To cope well with various ad-hoc or casual requirements on workflows while still keeping things simple and inexpensive, the author puts forth first the TSM design pattern that can provide a flexible workflow control while minimizing demand of predefinitions and modeling workflow, which introduces a generic approach for building BPM in workflow-aware MISs (Management Information Systems) with low development and running expenses.
Keywords: Ad-hoc workflow, BPM, Design pattern, TSM
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14962535 Knowledge Management Factors Affecting the Level of Commitment
Authors: Abbas Keramati, Abtin Boostani, Mohammad Jamal Sadeghi
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This paper examines the influence of knowledge management factors on organizational commitment for employees in the oil and gas drilling industry of Iran. We determine what knowledge factors have the greatest impact on the personnel loyalty and commitment to the organization using collected data from a survey of over 300 full-time personnel working in three large companies active in oil and gas drilling industry of Iran. To specify the effect of knowledge factors in the organizational commitment of the personnel in the studied organizations, the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is used. Findings of our study show that the factors such as knowledge and expertise, in-service training, the knowledge value and the application of individuals’ knowledge in the organization as the factor “learning and perception of personnel from the value of knowledge within the organization” has the greatest impact on the organizational commitment. After this factor, “existence of knowledge and knowledge sharing environment in the organization”; “existence of potential knowledge exchanging in the organization”; and “organizational knowledge level” factors have the most impact on the organizational commitment of personnel, respectively.
Keywords: Knowledge management, organizational commitment, loyalty, drilling industry, principle component analysis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 8772534 Structural Analysis of Warehouse Rack Construction for Heavy Loads
Authors: C. Kozkurt, A. Fenercioglu, M. Soyaslan
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In this study rack systems that are structural storage units of warehouses have been analyzed as structural with Finite Element Method (FEA). Each cell of discussed rack system storages pallets which have from 800 kg to 1000 kg weights and 0.80x1.15x1.50 m dimensions. Under this load, total deformations and equivalent stresses of structural elements and principal stresses, tensile stresses and shear stresses of connection elements have been analyzed. The results of analyses have been evaluated according to resistance limits of structural and connection elements. Obtained results have been presented as visual and magnitude.Keywords: warehouse, structural analysis, AS/RS, FEM, FEA
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 37382533 Simulation of Polymeric Precursors Production from Wine Industrial Organic Wastes
Authors: Tanapoom Phuncharoen, Tawiwat Sriwongsa, Kanita Boonruang, Apichit Svang-ariyaskul
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The production of Dimethyl acetal, Isovaleradehyde and Pyridine were simulated using Aspen Plus simulation. Upgrading cleaning water from wine industrial production is the main objective of the project. The winery waste composes of Acetaldehyde, Methanol, Ethyl Acetate, 1-propanol, water, iso-amyl alcohol and iso-butyl alcohol. The project is separated into three parts; separation, reaction, and purification. Various processes were considered to maximize the profit along with obtaining high purity and recovery of each component with optimum heat duty. The results show a significant value of the product with purity more than 75% and recovery over 98%.
Keywords: Dimethyl acetal, Pyridine, wine, Aspen Plus, Isovaleradehyde, polymeric precursors.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 24392532 Strategic Decision Making Practice in Croatia – Which Decision Making Style is More Effective?
Authors: Ivana Bulog
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Decision making is a vital part of the business world and any other field of human endeavor. Which way a business organization will take, and where that way will lead it, depends on broad range of decisions made by managers in the managerial structure. Strategic decisions are of the greatest importance for organizational success. Although much empirical research has been done trying to describe and explain its nature and effectiveness, knowledge about strategic decision making is still incomplete. This paper explores the nature of strategic decision making in particular setting - in Croatian companies. The main focus of this research is on the style that decision makers on strategic management level are following when making decisions of life importance for their companies. Two main decision making style that explain the way decision maker collects and processes available information and performs all the activities in strategic decision making process were empirical tested: rational and intuitive one. Besides analyzing their existence on strategic management level in Croatian companies, their effectiveness is analyzed as well. Results showed that decision makers at strategic management level are following both styles somewhat equally in order to function effectively, and that intuitive style is more effective when considering decisions outcomes.
Keywords: Decision making style, decision making effectiveness, strategic decisions.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16952531 Bioconversion of Oranges Wastes for Pectinase Production Using Aspergillus niger under Solid State Fermentation
Authors: N. Hachemi, A. Nouani, A. Benchabane
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The influence of cultivation factors such as content of ammonium sulfate, glucose and water in the culture medium and particle size of dry orange waste, on their bioconversion for pectinase production was studied using complete factorial design. A polygalacturonase (PG) was isolated using ion exchange chromatography under gradient elution 0-0,5 m/l NaCl (column equilibrate with acetate buffer pH 4,5), subsequently by sephadex G75 column chromatography was applied and the molecular weight was obtained about 51,28 KDa. Purified PG enzyme exhibits a pH and temperature optima of activity at 5 and 35°C respectively. Treatment of apple juice by purified enzyme extract yielded a clear juice, which was competitive with juice yielded by pure Sigma Aldrich Aspergillus niger enzyme.
Keywords: Bioconversion, orange wastes, optimization, pectinase.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 30712530 Using Agility in Building Business Process Management Solutions
Authors: Krešimir Fertalj, Mladen Matejaš
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In turbulent modern economy, the companies need to properly manage their business processes. Well-defined and stable business processes ensure security of crucial data and applications, and provide a quality product or service to the end customer. On the other side, constant changes on the market, new regulatory provisions, and emerging new technologies require the need of issuing prompt and effective changes of business process. In this article, we explore the use of agile principles in working with business process management (BPM) solutions. We deal with difficulties in BPM development cycle, review the benefits of using agility, and choose the basic agile principles that ensure the success of a BPM project.Keywords: Agile development, BPM environment, Kanban, SCRUM, XP.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16192529 Numerical Simulation and Analysis of Axially Restrained Steel Cellular Beams in Fire
Authors: Asal Pournaghshband
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This paper presents the development of a finite element model to study the large deflection behaviour of restrained stainless steel cellular beams at elevated temperature. Cellular beams are widely used for efficient utilization of raw materials to facilitate long spans with faster construction resulting sustainable design solution that can enhance the performance and merit of any construction project. However, their load carrying capacity is less than the equivalent beams without opening due to developing shear-moment interaction at the openings. In structural frames due to elements continuity, such beams are restrained by their adjoining members which has a substantial effect on beams behaviour in fire. Stainless steel has also become integral part of the build environment due to its excellent corrosion resistance, whole life-cycle costs, and sustainability. This paper reports the numerical investigations into the effect of structural continuity on the thermo-mechanical performance of restrained steel beams with circle and elongated circle shapes of web opening in fire. The numerical model is firstly validated using existing numerical results from the literature, and then employed to perform a parametric study. Parametric studies to explore the influence of variation in i) axial restraint stiffness, ii) steel grades, iii) shape and size of web openings, and iv) load level were described. Hence, the structural continuity is evaluated through the application of different levels of axial restraints on the response of carbon steel and stainless steel cellular beam in fire. The transit temperature for stainless steel cellular beam is shown to be less affected by the level of axial stiffness than the equivalent carbon steel cellular beam. Overall, it was established that whereas stainless steel cellular beams show similar stages of behaviour of carbon steel cellular beams in fire, they are capable of withstanding higher temperatures prior to the onset of catenary action in large deflection, despite the higher thermal expansion of stainless steel material.
Keywords: Axial restraint, catenary action, cellular beam, fire, numerical modelling, stainless steel, transit temperature.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 742528 Collaborative Environmental Management: A Case Study Research of Stakeholders’ Collaboration in the Nigerian Oil-producing Region
Authors: Favour Makuochukwu Orji, Yingkui Zhao
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A myriad of environmental issues face the Nigerian industrial region, resulting from; oil and gas production, mining, manufacturing and domestic wastes. Amidst these, much effort has been directed by stakeholders in the Nigerian oil producing regions, because of the impacts of the region on the wider Nigerian economy. Although collaborative environmental management has been noted as an effective approach in managing environmental issues, little attention has been given to the roles and practices of stakeholders in effecting a collaborative environmental management framework for the Nigerian oil-producing region. This paper produces a framework to expand and deepen knowledge relating to stakeholders aspects of collaborative roles in managing environmental issues in the Nigeria oil-producing region. The knowledge is derived from analysis of stakeholders’ practices – studied through multiple case studies using document analysis. Selected documents of key stakeholders – Nigerian government agencies, multi-national oil companies and host communities, were analyzed. Open and selective coding was employed manually during document analysis of data collected from the offices and websites of the stakeholders. The findings showed that the stakeholders have a range of roles, practices, interests, drivers and barriers regarding their collaborative roles in managing environmental issues. While they have interests for efficient resource use, compliance to standards, sharing of responsibilities, generating of new solutions, and shared objectives; there is evidence of major barriers and these include resource allocation, disjointed policy, ineffective monitoring, diverse socio- economic interests, lack of stakeholders’ commitment and limited knowledge sharing. However, host communities hold deep concerns over the collaborative roles of stakeholders for economic interests, particularly, where government agencies and multi-national oil companies are involved. With these barriers and concerns, a genuine stakeholders’ collaboration is found to be limited, and as a result, optimal environmental management practices and policies have not been successfully implemented in the Nigeria oil-producing region. A framework is produced that describes practices that characterize collaborative environmental management might be employed to satisfy the stakeholders’ interests. The framework recommends critical factors, based on the findings, which may guide a collaborative environmental management in the oil producing regions. The recommendations are designed to re-define the practices of stakeholders in managing environmental issues in the oil producing regions, not as something wholly new, but as an approach essential for implementing a sustainable environmental policy. This research outcome may clarify areas for future research as well as to contribute to industry guidance in the area of collaborative environmental management.Keywords: Collaborative environmental management framework, document analysis, case studies, multinational oil companies, Nigerian oil-producing region, stakeholders analysis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 24912527 Accessible Business Process Modelling
Authors: D. D. Vaziri, D. DeOliveira
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This article concerns with the accessibility of Business process modelling tools (BPMo tools) and business process modelling languages (BPMo languages). Therefore the reader will be introduced to business process management and the authors' motivation behind this inquiry. Afterwards, the paper will reflect problems when applying inaccessible BPMo tools. To illustrate these problems the authors distinguish between two different categories of issues and provide practical examples. Finally the article will present three approaches to improve the accessibility of BPMo tools and BPMo languages.Keywords: Accessibility, Business Process Management, BPM, Event Process Chains, Modelling Languages
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23472526 Hybrid Color-Texture Space for Image Classification
Authors: Hassan El Maia, Ahmed Hammouch, Driss Aboutajdine
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This work presents an approach for the construction of a hybrid color-texture space by using mutual information. Feature extraction is done by the Laws filter with SVM (Support Vectors Machine) as a classifier. The classification is applied on the VisTex database and a SPOT HRV (XS) image representing two forest areas in the region of Rabat in Morocco. The result of classification obtained in the hybrid space is compared with the one obtained in the RGB color space.
Keywords: Color, texture, laws filter, mutual information, SVM, hybrid space.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18262525 Reverse Logistics Information Management Using Ontological Approach
Authors: F. Lhafiane, A. Elbyed, M. Bouchoum
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Reverse Logistics (RL) Network is considered as complex and dynamic network that involves many stakeholders such as: suppliers, manufactures, warehouse, retails and costumers, this complexity is inherent in such process due to lack of perfect knowledge or conflicting information. Ontologies on the other hand can be considered as an approach to overcome the problem of sharing knowledge and communication among the various reverse logistics partners. In this paper we propose a semantic representation based on hybrid architecture for building the Ontologies in ascendant way, this method facilitates the semantic reconciliation between the heterogeneous information systems that support reverse logistics processes and product data.
Keywords: Reverse Logistics, information management, heterogeneity, Ontologies, semantic web.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 29662524 A Processor with Dynamically Reconfigurable Circuit for Floating-Point Arithmetic
Authors: Yukinari Minagi , Akinori Kanasugi
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This paper describes about dynamic reconfiguration to miniaturize arithmetic circuits in general-purpose processor. Dynamic reconfiguration is a technique to realize required functions by changing hardware construction during operation. The proposed arithmetic circuit performs floating-point arithmetic which is frequently used in science and technology. The data format is floating-point based on IEEE754. The proposed circuit is designed using VHDL, and verified the correct operation by simulations and experiments.Keywords: dynamic reconfiguration, floating-point arithmetic, double precision, FPGA
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15182523 Comparative Analysis of Photovoltaic Systems
Authors: Irtaza M. Syed, Kaamran Raahemifar
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This paper presents comparative analysis of photovoltaic systems (PVS) and propose practical techniques to improve operational efficiency of the PVS. The best engineering and construction practices for PVS are identified and field oriented recommendation are made. Comparative analysis of central and string inverter based, as well as 600 and 1000VDC PVS are performed. In addition, direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) photovoltaic (PV) module based systems are compared. Comparison shows that 1000V DC String Inverters based PVS is the best choice.Keywords: Photovoltaic module, photovoltaic systems, operational efficiency improvement, comparative analysis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22982522 FRC – A New Sustainable Option for Construction to Mitigate Earthquakes
Authors: P. J. Sa sturkar
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Ten simply supported grossly underreinforced tapered concrete beams of full size were tested upto complete collapse under flexural effect .Out of 10 beams, 5 beams were nonfibrous and the remaining beams contained fibres. The beams had a variation in the tapered angle as 2°, 4°, 6°, 8° and 10°. The concrete mix, conventional steel and the type of fibre used were held constant. Flat corrugated steel fibres were utilized as secondary reinforcement. The strength and stability parameters were measured. It is established that the fibrous tapered beams can be used economically in earthquake prone areas.Keywords: Earthquake, Grossly underreinforced sections, Fibre reinforced concrete, Tapered beams.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14202521 Soil-Cement Floor Produced with Alum Water Treatment Residues
Authors: Flavio Araujo, Paulo Scalize, Julio Lima, Natalia Vieira, Antonio Albuquerque, Isabela Santos
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From a concern regarding the environmental impacts caused by the disposal of residues generated in Water Treatment Plants (WTP's), alternatives ways have been studied to use these residues as raw material for manufacture of building materials, avoiding their discharge on water streams, disposal on sanitary landfills or incineration. This paper aims to present the results of a research work, which is using WTR for replacing the soil content in the manufacturing of soil-cement floor with proportions of 0, 5, 10 and 15%. The samples tests showed a reduction mechanical strength in so far as has increased the amount of waste. The water absorption was below the maximum of 6% required by the standard. The application of WTR contributes to the reduction of the environmental damage in the water treatment industry.Keywords: Residue, soil-cement floor, sustainable, WTP.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 12522520 Reliability-Based Maintenance Management Methodology to Minimise Life Cycle Cost of Water Supply Networks
Authors: Mojtaba Mahmoodian, Joshua Phelan, Mehdi Shahparvari
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With a large percentage of countries’ total infrastructure expenditure attributed to water network maintenance, it is essential to optimise maintenance strategies to rehabilitate or replace underground pipes before failure occurs. The aim of this paper is to provide water utility managers with a maintenance management approach for underground water pipes, subject to external loading and material corrosion, to give the lowest life cycle cost over a predetermined time period. This reliability-based maintenance management methodology details the optimal years for intervention, the ideal number of maintenance activities to perform before replacement and specifies feasible renewal options and intervention prioritisation to minimise the life cycle cost. The study was then extended to include feasible renewal methods by determining the structural condition index and potential for soil loss, then obtaining the failure impact rating to assist in prioritising pipe replacement. A case study on optimisation of maintenance plans for the Melbourne water pipe network is considered in this paper to evaluate the practicality of the proposed methodology. The results confirm that the suggested methodology can provide water utility managers with a reliable systematic approach to determining optimum maintenance plans for pipe networks.Keywords: Water pipe networks, maintenance management, reliability analysis, optimum maintenance plan.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 12562519 Recycling Poultry Feathers for Pb Removal from Wastewater: Kinetic and Equilibrium Studies
Authors: G. de la Rosa, H. E. Reynel-Avila, A. Bonilla-Petriciolet, I. Cano-Rodríguez, C. Velasco-Santos, and A. L. Martínez-Hernández
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Chicken feathers were used as biosorbent for Pb removal from aqueous solution. In this paper, the kinetics and equilibrium studies at several pH, temperature, and metal concentration values are reported. For tested conditions, the Pb sorption capacity of this poultry waste ranged from 0.8 to 8.3 mg/g. Optimal conditions for Pb removal by chicken feathers have been identified. Pseudo-first order and pseudo-second order equations were used to analyze the experimental data. In addition, the sorption isotherms were fitted to classical Langmuir and Freundlich models. Finally, thermodynamic parameters for the sorption process have been determined. In summary, the results showed that chicken feathers are an alternative and promising sorbent for the treatment of effluents polluted by Pb ions.Keywords: Sorption, chicken feathers, Pb, water treatment.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 25872518 The Advent of Electronic Logbook Technology - Reducing Cost and Risk to Both Marine Resources and the Fishing Industry
Authors: Amos Barkai, Guy Meredith, Fatima Felaar, Zahrah Dantie, Dave de Buys
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Fisheries management all around the world is hampered by the lack, or poor quality, of critical data on fish resources and fishing operations. The main reasons for the chronic inability to collect good quality data during fishing operations is the culture of secrecy common among fishers and the lack of modern data gathering technology onboard most fishing vessels. In response, OLRAC-SPS, a South African company, developed fisheries datalogging software (eLog in short) and named it Olrac. The Olrac eLog solution is capable of collecting, analysing, plotting, mapping, reporting, tracing and transmitting all data related to fishing operations. Olrac can be used by skippers, fleet/company managers, offshore mariculture farmers, scientists, observers, compliance inspectors and fisheries management authorities. The authors believe that using eLog onboard fishing vessels has the potential to revolutionise the entire process of data collection and reporting during fishing operations and, if properly deployed and utilised, could transform the entire commercial fleet to a provider of good quality data and forever change the way fish resources are managed. In addition it will make it possible to trace catches back to the actual individual fishing operation, to improve fishing efficiency and to dramatically improve control of fishing operations and enforcement of fishing regulations.Keywords: data management, electronic logbook (eLog), electronic reporting system (ERS), fisheries management
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19762517 Managing of Work Risk in Small and Medium-Size Companies
Authors: Janusz K. Grabara, Bartłomiej Okwiet, Sebastian Kot
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The purpose of the article is presentation and analysis of the aspect of job security in small and medium-size enterprises in Poland with reference to other EU countries. We show the theoretical aspects of the risk with reference to managing small and medium enterprises, next risk management in small and medium enterprises in Poland, which were subjected to a detailed analysis. We show in detail the risk associated with the operation of the mentioned above companies, as well as analyses its levels on various stages and for different kinds of conducted activity.Keywords: Job safety, small and medium-size companies, SME, work risk, risk management.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13092516 RFID Logistic Management with Cold Chain Monitoring – Cold Store Case Study
Authors: Mira Trebar
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Logistics processes of perishable food in the supply chain include the distribution activities and the real time temperature monitoring to fulfil the cold chain requirements. The paper presents the use of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology as an identification tool of receiving and shipping activities in the cold store. At the same time, the use of RFID data loggers with temperature sensors is presented to observe and store the temperatures for the purpose of analyzing the processes and having the history data available for traceability purposes and efficient recall management.
Keywords: Logistics, warehouse, RFID device, cold chain.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 37152515 A BIM-Based Approach to Assess COVID-19 Risk Management Regarding Indoor Air Ventilation and Pedestrian Dynamics
Authors: T. Delval, C. Sauvage, Q. Jullien, R. Viano, T. Diallo, B. Collignan, G. Picinbono
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In the context of the international spread of COVID-19, the Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment (CSTB) has led a joint research with the French government authorities Hauts-de-Seine department, to analyse the risk in school spaces according to their configuration, ventilation system and spatial segmentation strategy. This paper describes the main results of this joint research. A multidisciplinary team involving experts in indoor air quality/ventilation, pedestrian movements and IT domains was established to develop a COVID risk analysis tool based on Building Information Model. The work started with specific analysis on two pilot schools in order to provide for the local administration specifications to minimize the spread of the virus. Different recommendations were published to optimize/validate the use of ventilation systems and the strategy of student occupancy and student flow segmentation within the building. This COVID expertise has been digitized in order to manage a quick risk analysis on the entire building that could be used by the public administration through an easy user interface implemented in a free BIM Management software. One of the most interesting results is to enable a dynamic comparison of different ventilation system scenarios and space occupation strategy inside the BIM model. This concurrent engineering approach provides users with the optimal solution according to both ventilation and pedestrian flow expertise.
Keywords: BIM, knowledge management, system expert, risk management, indoor ventilation, pedestrian movement, integrated design.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7632514 Application of Costing System in the Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SME) in Turkey
Authors: Hamide Özyürek, Metin Yılmaz
Abstract:
Standard processes, similar and limited production lines, the production of high direct costs will be more accurate than the use of parts of the traditional cost systems in the literature. However, direct costs, overhead expenses, in turn, decrease the burden of increasingly sophisticated production facilities, a situation that led the researchers to look for the cost of traditional systems of alternative techniques. Variety cost management approaches for example Total quality management (TQM), just-in-time (JIT), benchmarking, kaizen costing, targeting cost, life cycle costs (LLC), activity-based costing (ABC) value engineering have been introduced. Management and cost applications have changed over the past decade and will continue to change. Modern cost systems can provide relevant and accurate cost information. These methods provide the decisions about customer, product and process improvement. The aim of study is to describe and explain the adoption and application of costing systems in SME. This purpose reports on a survey conducted during 2014 small and medium sized enterprises (SME) in Ankara. The survey results were evaluated using SPSS18 package program.
Keywords: Cost Accounting, Costing, Modern Costing Systems, Managerial Accounting.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 53302513 The Impact of Fish Cages on Water Quality in One Fish Farm in Croatia
Authors: G. Jelic Mrcelic, M. Sliskovic
Abstract:
In Croatia, the majority of cultured marine fish species are reared in net cages. The intensive production of the fish in net cages may generate the considerable amount of bio waste and change water quality especially in enclosed and semi-enclosed coastal areas. The aim of this paper is to assess the potential impact of sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax L.) cage farm on water quality. The weak relationship between food supply and water quality parameters (nutrient content and phytoplankton biomass) was found, but significant changes in oxygen saturation was observed in the cages during the warmer period of a year especially in the morning (occasionally it dropped below 70 %). Despite of, satisfactory results of water quality parameters, it is necessary to establish comprehensive monitoring process, especially to include quality assessment of fouling communities.
Keywords: Mariculture, monitoring, fish cages, water quality parameters.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2659