Related Management Issues Research Articles

Proposition of a Framework for Classifying Returnable Transport Items Closed-Loop/Reverse Logistics Issues

In this paper, we propose a conceptual framework for classifying operations management-related issues for returnable transport items (RTI). RTI closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) issues are classified into three categories. Our proposal is based on a global literature review in the field of CLSC and reverse logistics (RL), with a specific focus on transport items reuse. We also derive our work from observations made in the automotive industry. The motivation for dealing with this topic is that more and more companies are adopting RTIs in their supply chain, and despite the growing attention that CLSC and RL research have gained during the last years, the focus is still more oriented toward remanufacturing issues. The objectives of this paper are twofold. Firstly, to provide practitioners with a clear vision on different issues that arise when implementing a RTI system from an operations management point of view, and secondly, to give suggestions to researchers regarding existing gaps that still need to be filled in this field.

A review of acoustic telemetry in Europe and the need for a regional aquatic telemetry network

BackgroundGlobally, there are a large and growing number of researchers using biotelemetry as a tool to study aquatic animals. In Europe, this community lacks a formal network structure. The aim of this study is to review the use of acoustic telemetry in Europe and document the contribution of cross-boundary studies and inter-research group collaborations. Based on this, we explore the potential benefits and challenges of a network approach to identify future priorities and best practices for aquatic biotelemetry research in Europe.ResultsOver the past decade, there was an approximately sevenfold increase in the number of acoustic telemetry studies published on marine and diadromous species in Europe compared to a sixfold increase globally. Over 90% of these studies were conducted on fishes and undertaken in coastal areas, estuaries, or rivers. 75% of these studies were conducted by researchers based in one of five nations (Norway, UK, France, Portugal, and Spain) and, even though 34% were based on collaborations between scientists from several countries, there was only one study with an acoustic receiver array that extended beyond the borders of a single country. In recent years, acoustic telemetry in European waters has evolved from studying behavioural aspects of animals (82.2%), into more holistic approaches addressing management-related issues (10%), tagging methods and effects (5%), and technology and data analysis development (2.8%).ConclusionsDespite the increasing number of publications and species tracked, there is a prominent lack of planned and structured acoustic telemetry collaborations in Europe. A formal pan-European network structure would promote the development of (1) a research platform that could benefit the acoustic telemetry community through capacity building, (2) a centralized database, and (3) key deployment sites and studies on priority species requiring research in Europe. A network may increase efficiency, expand the scope of research that can be undertaken, promote European science integration, enhance the opportunities and success of acquiring research funding and, ultimately, foster regional and transatlantic collaborations. It may also help address research priorities such as the large-scale societal challenges arising from climate change impacts and assist the EU’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive via identification of good environmental status of endangered or commercially important species.

Classroom Management Through Lesson Design: Considering Some Often-Overlooked Variables to Prevent Issues Before They Start

Classroom management skills and related issues are usually top concerns of preservice and new in-service music educators. This column, the first in a series about classroom management issues, is about designing lessons to avoid common behavior issues. There are many more variables to consider besides curriculum when designing a lesson, such as the students’ experiences directly prior to music class, the culture set by the classroom teacher, and dozens of others. This column contains a detailed examination with applicable strategies concerning two such variables: time of day of the lesson and students’ physiological needs.

THE EFFICIENCY OF RANDOM FOREST METHOD FOR SHORELINE EXTRACTION FROM LANDSAT-8 AND GOKTURK-2 IMAGERIES

Abstract. Coastal monitoring plays a vital role in environmental planning and hazard management related issues. Since shorelines are fundamental data for environment management, disaster management, coastal erosion studies, modelling of sediment transport and coastal morphodynamics, various techniques have been developed to extract shorelines. Random Forest is one of these techniques which is used in this study for shoreline extraction.. This algorithm is a machine learning method based on decision trees. Decision trees analyse classes of training data creates rules for classification. In this study, Terkos region has been chosen for the proposed method within the scope of "TUBITAK Project (Project No: 115Y718) titled "Integration of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Sustainable Coastal Zone Monitoring Model – Three-Dimensional Automatic Coastline Extraction and Analysis: Istanbul-Terkos Example". Random Forest algorithm has been implemented to extract the shoreline of the Black Sea where near the lake from LANDSAT-8 and GOKTURK-2 satellite imageries taken in 2015. The MATLAB environment was used for classification. To obtain land and water-body classes, the Random Forest method has been applied to NIR bands of LANDSAT-8 (5th band) and GOKTURK-2 (4th band) imageries. Each image has been digitized manually and shorelines obtained for accuracy assessment. According to accuracy assessment results, Random Forest method is efficient for both medium and high resolution images for shoreline extraction studies.

Relationship between leaf litter decomposition and colonization of benthic macroinvertebrates during early frost period in a headwater stream in the Changbai Mountains, Northeast China

Annually, about 70% of the streams in the Changbai Mountains are frosted during November to April, with manifest seasonal freeze-thaw characters. By using monoculture and mixing leaf litters of Tilia amurensis, Acer mono and Quecus mongolica, this research attempted to disentangle the relationship between leaf litter decomposition and colonization of macroinvertebrates in the stream during early frost period. A 35-day investigation was carried out in a headwater stream of the Changbai Mountains. Nylon bags with two hole sizes (5 mm and 0.3 mm) were used to examine decomposition of the litters. The results showed that the mass losses were significantly different among the three kinds of leaf litters in monoculture, whose decomposition rates descended as A. mono, T. amurensis, and Q. mongolica, however, there existed no significant difference among the litter mixing. Mass losses in both mesh bags all showed little difference, except T. amurensis and the mixed litters. Litter mixing effects occurred in the coarse mesh bags with A. mono and Q. mongolica, but no mixture effects for others. Community structures of the macroinvertebrates colonizing in the litter bags differed with each other, but shredders' density had no significant difference among the three litters, and the mixing effects on shredders were poor. Our results implied that microbes play the major decomposers of leaf litters, and macroinvertebrates contribute little to the decomposition in the early frost period. Despite shredder's density is lower, they determine the mixing effects of litters. Macroinvertebrates are selective to food and habitats, however, due to the short term colonizing, and the influence of leaf litters on shredders is still unsure. Our results might contribute to understanding the cold season ecological processes and related management issues of headwater stream ecosystem.

Collaborative triangle for effective community water resource management in Thailand

Water resource management through community collaboration is a crucial way to bring sustainability to water utilization. This study highlighted the key factors affecting community water resource management. The study was based on the Royal Initiated Project in Thailand's southern region. In this research, qualitative analysis was used and a case study was applied as the research strategy. The data were collected from relevant documents, observations, and in-depth interviews with 30 key informants consisting of 5 water resource management experts, 4 academics, 5 community leaders, 10 members of community water resource management committees, and 6 government organization officials. The data were analyzed using content analysis and accuracy checks were made with relevant people until a common conclusion was achieved. Then, synthesis was used to describe the context relationship linkages. The findings showed the importance of geography, lifestyle, sense of ownership, and modes of practices of people in the area as well as the involvement of a network of government agencies (Hydro and Agro Informatics Institute and local government agencies), Thammasat University, and the Ban Kuan community. The government agencies and Thammasat University played a partnership role in supporting the community in terms of transferring knowledge, helping with analysis of existing situations and problems, and giving guidance in problem-solving, supporting management-related issues, and coordinating with water resource management agencies and other government agencies. These interactions can transform the concept of community water resource management into actual practice and create sustainable development for the community. Moreover, the findings illustrated the key factors in community water resource management according to His Majesty the King's initiatives which include management-oriented, community-oriented, social network-oriented, and technology-oriented factors.

HYDROLOGICAL TIME SERIES FORECASTING USING ANFIS MODELS WITH AID OF WAVELET TRANSFORM

The precise and accurate models of hydrological time series that are embedded with high complexity, non-stationarity, and non-linearity in both spatial and temporal scales can provide important information for decision-making in water resources management and environmental related issues. Hybrid wavelet transform (WT) and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) has been used in this study to improve the forecasting capability of ANFIS model by decomposing the time series into sub-time series (approximation and details) using wavelet transform then combining the effective and significant time lags of sub-time series to form a set of input variables. The present study attempts to add the effective and significant time lags of original time series as extra variables to the input variables set. In addition, different combinations of variables, 1-3, from the set of input variables as inputs to the ANFIS model were used to forecast the time series. To examine the potential of the approach for practical applications, the model is applied to forecast, one step-ahead, the monthly data of hydrological time series (rainfall, evaporation, minimum and maximum temperature, average wind speed and reservoir inflow) for Kirkuk, Sulaimani, Dokan and Darbandikhan meteorological stations in Iraq. The best fit models were selected using the coefficient of determination ( ) and root mean square error ( ). Based on the results, the proposed model has high performance in forecasting the monthly minimum and maximum temperature, evaporation and reservoir inflow with values ranged from 0.93 to 0.99 and relatively good performances in forecasting the monthly rainfall and average wind speed with values ranged from 0.77 to 0.93.

Essential people management skills necessary in today’s workplace

This presentation will show how technical managers can achieve greater success if provided with adequate people skills. Most times, managers are trained in the technical aspects of their field, however, the success of any organization often rests on the understanding of related people and management issues, rather than technical. Research has consistently demonstrated that when clear goals are associated with learning, it occurs more easily and rapidly. With that in mind, let‟s review our goals for today. At the end of this presentation, attendees should be able to: Discuss how soft management skills are important to success in the workplace. Understand the 10 key people management skills everyone should develop. Use soft skills to relate more effectively to others in the workplace. Understand how to use soft management skills to communicate, problem-solve, and resolve conflict. Apply soft people management skills to specific situations.

Security and management framework for an organization operating in cloud environment

Cloud computing has attained tremendous popularity recently, leading to its fast and rapid deployment. However, privacy and security concerns have also increased in the same ratio. The adoption of cloud model has revealed new dimensions of attack, demanding major reconsideration and reevaluation of traditional security mechanisms. If an organization is operating in cloud environment without adopting essential security measures, it may face catastrophic consequences including loss of valuable data, financial damages, or reputation loss etc. Any organization in cloud architecture faces severe security threats and challenges for which a comprehensive security framework is needed. Certain frameworks exist in literature which focus deeply on specific cloud security issues; however, there is a dire need of comprehensive framework encompassing both security-related and management-related issues. This paper initially reviews security challenges and threats to data/applications in cloud environment. Furthermore, a comprehensive security and management framework is proposed for an organization operating in cloud environment. Proposed framework has been implemented in virtualized cloud environment to validate the efficacy of certain features of the model. The data center has been setup in virtualized environment through virtual machines on VMware ESXi-6 hypervisor layer. VMware vCloud-6 has been installed on top of it for provision of services to the users. The proposed framework is a set of guidelines that will adequately secure the organization’s data and applications. The framework incorporates a layered security architecture to achieve utmost level of security for nullifying the impact of threats.

A review of Indian research on co-occurring cannabis use disorders& psychiatric disorders.

Background & objectives:Cannabis is a widely used illicit drug and its use is often associated with co-occurring psychiatric disorders. This systematic review was aimed to provide information on the published Indian studies on co-occurring cannabis use disorders and psychiatric disorders.Methods:An electronic search of available Indian literature using relevant search terms was carried out in May 2015 and 52 articles in English language published from India were included in the current review.Results:Studies on cannabis and associated psychotic disorders (n=16) chiefly described acute episodes with predominant positive symptoms, following cannabis use. Some studies (n=6) observed an overall increased prevalence of all psychiatric disorders and symptoms owing to cannabis use, while others (n=14) elaborated on high rates of substance use in those with psychiatric disorders. The effect of cannabis use on cognitive function was the focus of some of the Indian studies (n=7). All these studies barring one had all male subjects, and a single study described the service delivery model for those with dual diagnosis disorders in India. Most of the research used cross-sectional observational design and focussed on treatment-seeking population.Interpretation & conclusions:A review of Indian literature on cannabis use and its association with psychiatric disorders indicates a high co-prevalence of psychotic disorders, especially in vulnerable individuals as well as high rates of co-occurrence of other psychiatric comorbidities. However, there is limited focus on exploring the aetiological association between cannabis use and psychiatric disorders; understanding the neurobiology of this association and management-related issues.

A literature review of port competition research

Research interest in the port industry has increased significantly in recent decades, due to the integration of ports in global supply chain strategies. Ports globally are facing strong competitive pressures in order to meet modern demand characteristics. The motivation behind this work has been to analyse the works present in academic journals, which fall under the port competition umbrella and identify niche areas of research. The study provides detailed analysis of the different research angles of port competition being port selection, port productivity and port competitiveness. Results show that most works focus on topics related to port selection, efficiency, performance and competitiveness. Room for future research appears to be in the areas of geographic comparisons of ports and terminals, financial indicators linked with environmental efficiency, efficiency in liquefied and liquid cargo terminals, port competitiveness and IT systems, port management related issues to strategy and marketing management and finally intra-port competition.

アーキテクト間の分業に関する基本的考察

This paper investigates the task distribution among “Design Architect” and “Architect of Record” by examining “Matrix of Responsibilities”. It is typically utilized in US projects, which clarifies tasks and responsibilities among architects in a descriptive manner. The authors obtained nine “Matrix of Responsibilities” from six US based design firms (Table 1). First, the transition of Prime Responsibilities from “Design Architect” to “Architect of Record” was investigated based on the Project Phases. Then, the role and responsibilities of “Design Architect” and “Architect of Record” was investigated in each Project Phases. Finally, the equally distributed responsibilities are focused to identify the specific intent of the architects. The list of the findings as follows; 1. The prime responsibility of “Design Architect” is transferred to the “Architect of Record” mainly in the CD phase (Table 2, Fig. 1). 2. Design Management in the Design Phase: “Architect of Record” is responsible of consultants’ coordination and approval from the public agencies, especially in the CD phase (Table 3). 3. Design Document Preparation in the Design Phase: “Design Architect” is mainly responsible for the production of drawings until the DD phase. The prime responsibility of the production of specification is handed over to the “Architect of Record” earlier phase than the drawings. Preparation of presentation documents is in charge mainly by “Design Architect” in the SD and the DD phase. Documentation for authority approval is prepared solely by “Architect of Record” (Table 3). 4. Bidding and Negotiation phase: Neither of architects takes prime responsibility in the management of Bidding and Negotiation. “Architect of Record” takes full responsibility in the production of documents for Bidding and Negotiation (Table 4). 5. Construction Contract Administration phase: “Architect of Record” covers most of the responsibilities in the Construction Contract Administration. “Design Architect” sometimes controls “Material and Color” and other specific design elements (Table 5). 6. Both “Design Architect” and “Architect of Record” are assigned equal responsibilities of Design Management related issues in the Design Phase (Table 6).

Abstract PR198

Background & Objectives: To determine the incidence, surgery and anaesthesia related management issues, outcomes and to compare emergency and electively planned peripartum hysterectomies for perioperative and postoperative complications Materials & Methods: The present study included all women who underwent peripartum hysterectomy in the department of obstetrics and gynaecology, PGIMER Chandigarh, a teaching hospital and referral institute in Northern India over a span of one year(1April, 2014 to 31 march, 2015). Records of all women who underwent peripartum hysterectomy were studied. Results: The incidence of peripartum hysterectomy was 6.86 per 1000 deliveries during the period of evaluation. Of these, only 2 women were hospital supervised whereas the majority of patients were referrals. The main indications of peripartum hysterectomies were placenta accreta (60%), atonic PPH (27.5%) and uterine rupture (7.5%). Intensive care management was deemed necessary in 35% of women postoperatively. A high incidence of maternal morbidity was observed by discharge. Most common maternal complications were febrile morbidity, bladder injury, disseminated intravascular coagulation and wound infection. There were four maternal deaths (10%) following peripartum hysterectomy done for atonic PPH. Conclusion: The most common cause for Peripartum hysterectomy was placenta accreta in our institute. This is because of rising number of cesareans and early diagnosis by imaging. Electively planned peripartum hysterectomies with a multidisciplinary team approach and ICU facility beforehand has better outcomes and no mortality compared to emergency peripartum hysterectomies.

The construction of nurse post management questionnaire and small-scale empirical study

Objective To construct the nurse post management questionnaire which could suit the condition of our country such as Jiangsu province. So as to know the present situation of the cities in Jiangsu province and perfect the nurse job management mechanism by small-scale empirical study,which provides the basis for further advance the quality of nursing service. Methods Firstly,through the nurse position management guidance,to construct the first draft of the questionnaire on the basis of literature review,then carrying on two rounds of 15 expert consultation by Delphi technique. Secondly,to select different nurses,nurse managements from Jiangsu province expediently, who can take part in the small-scale survey. Results Two rounds of the recovery rate was 100% , Crs were 0.887 and 0.903. The basic content of post questionnaire was determined after two rounds of expert consultation. A total of 98 personnel were investigated in the empirical study. In terms of Jiangsu province, the differences and deficiencies of nurse management station were still exist, including settings and responsibilities, performance appraisal system, the training of nurses, job satisfaction, etc. Conclusions The research provides a comprehensive and effective tool to understand the nursing job management related issues. At present there are regional differences in nurse station management, fully reflecting the urgency and importance of further understanding and perfecting our work. Key words: Nurse; Delphi technique; Empirical study; Post management

Switching therapy from intravenous beta blocker to bisoprolol transdermal patch for atrial fibrillation tachycardia

Beta-blockers are important for severe-status patients with atrial fibrillation-related tachycardia. Beta 1-selective intravenous injection are routinely used, but long-term administration is difficult due to cost-performance- or management-related issues. A bisoprolol patch, a beta-blocker to be percutaneously absorbed, recently became commercially available in Japan. As it may facilitate effective absorption and a mild elevation of the blood concentration, we retrospectively analyzed 16 patients with atrial fibrillation-related tachycardia who were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of Hitachi General Hospital Emergency and Critical Care Center, and underwent switching therapy from landiolol to a bisoprolol patch. For switching, the bisoprolol patch (4mg) was attached to each patient. The bisoprolol patch was introduced 88h after the start of landiolol administration, when the rate was approximately 3μg/kg/min. Landiolol injection was combined with bisoprolol for 15.4±17.5h. Switching therapy was successful in all subjects. The introduction of the bisoprolol patch did not induce any significant changes in the blood pressure or heart rate. After the completion of landiolol administration, there were also no significant changes in either parameter. There were no adverse events. In severe-status patients, switching therapy from landiolol injection to the bisoprolol patch can be conducted safely, and might be useful for heart-rate control.

Multi-level agile project management challenges: A self-organizing team perspective

Agile software development advocates self-organizing teams that display high levels of autonomy. Self-organizing agile teams are meant to share project management activities such as estimation, planning, and requirements elicitation with managers and customers. While prior literature has explored some individual management-related issues, little is known about how the high involvement of self-organizing agile teams influences everyday project management activities. Through a Grounded Theory study involving 21 agile practitioners across six software companies implementing scrum and XP, we identified a set of eight project management challenges as experienced by and as a result of self-organizing agile teams at multiple levels. These include delayed/changing requirements and eliciting senior management sponsorship at the project level; achieving cross-functionality and effective estimations at the team level; asserting autonomy and self-assignment at the individual level, and lack of acceptance criteria and dependencies at the task level. A mapping between the emergent challenges and standard project management activities is also presented. The article also shares practical implications and guidelines for agile teams, their managers, and customers for overcoming some of these challenges.

Software Defined Networking challenges and future direction: A case study of implementing SDN features on OpenStack private cloud

Cloud computing provides services on demand instantly, such as access to network infrastructure consisting of computing hardware, operating systems, network storage, database and applications. Network usage and demands are growing at a very fast rate and to meet the current requirements, there is a need for automatic infrastructure scaling. Traditional networks are difficult to automate because of the distributed nature of their decision making process for switching or routing which are collocated on the same device. Managing complex environments using traditional networks is time-consuming and expensive, especially in the case of generating virtual machines, migration and network configuration. To mitigate the challenges, network operations require efficient, flexible, agile and scalable software defined networks (SDN). This paper discuss various issues in SDN and suggests how to mitigate the network management related issues. A private cloud prototype test bed was setup to implement the SDN on the OpenStack platform to test and evaluate the various network performances provided by the various configurations.

Lack of scientific recordkeeping of disaster incidences: A big hurdle in disaster risk reduction in India

Despite enhanced awareness on various disaster management related issues and mounting disaster induced losses disaster risk reduction is far from getting its due share of attention and resources, particularly in India. This is attributed to (i) departmental inertia, (ii) lacking political foresight and will, (iii) fragmented decision-making authority, (iv) lacking techno-legal regime and non-compliance of what exists, (v) lack of capacity building, (vi) unawareness of the mass, (vii) lacking risk assessment and communication, (viii) missing locally relevant data and examples, and (ix) lack of objective and uniform disaster database. Based upon in depth analysis of the present situation recommended road map for DRR inclusive development includes (i) enhanced focus on mass awareness to ensure voluntary compliance and to do away with political apathy, (ii) comprehensive hazard, vulnerability and risk assessment and communication, (iii) enhanced investment on research and development related to disaster resilient technology and improvising traditional DRR practices, (iv) enhanced investment on capacity building, (v) invoking DRR compliant techno-legal regime and putting in place mechanism for its compliance, (vi) NDMA and SDMA to be provided authority to issue binding guidelines, (vii) institutional mechanism for collecting precise and objective data relating to disaster induced losses. Action on the suggested points is envisaged to streamline DRR interventions in India and help in bringing forth resilience amongst communities.

Managing frozen heritage: Some challenges and responses

Archaeological and historical remains of great value are emerging from melting snow and ice across the globe as rising temperatures and changing weather patterns lead to the degradation and decline of snow patches, ice sheets and glaciers. Rescuing the heritage remains that exist within some of these sites is a serious challenge for cultural heritage management (CHM) systems and regimes in a number of ways. This paper is a review of some of these challenges. It begins with an overview of the geographical and chronological distribution of glacial archaeological sites and finds from around the world. The institutional CHM context within which this sub-discipline has emerged is described, as are some of the difficulties associated with managing frozen heritage sites and finds. An overview is also given of some of the field and methodological responses that have been applied in different regions until now. Finally, a number of management related issues in need of special attention in the future are highlighted.

Strengthening capacity for agribusiness in agroforestry and natural resources in tertiary agricultural education in Africa: African Network for Agriculture, Agroforestry and Natural Resources Education (ANAFE)

This paper highlights the main achievements of the programme on Strengthening Africa’s Strategic Agricultural Capacity for Impact on Development (SASACID) funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The programme is implemented by the African Network for Agriculture, Agroforestry and Natural Resources Education (ANAFE) through 16 Pilot Institutions (PIs). It focuses on supporting agribusiness development in tertiary agricultural education and research in Africa. Under the programme, ANAFE is working towards refocusing agricultural learning and development objectives, producing contextualized learning materials, managing risk and uncertainties in agriculture, developing and reviewing curricula, retooling lecturers in pedagogy and strategizing on how best to work more closely with the private sector. The paper build on the final SASACID (2012–2014) report jointly developed through the Results-Based Management logical framework with the 16 SASACID Pilot Institutions (PIs) that met in Nairobi November 11–13, 2014. Results show that even though the PIs are at different levels of achievement over 75 % have achieved 80 % of the expected outputs. Management of scholarships for BSc and MSc students working with the private sector on risk management-related issues is among the outputs achieved by all the Pilot Institutions. Formalizing engagement with private sector through signing of Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) was reported by 25 % of the PIs working in Agribusiness through which students were supported to undertake research or internship within selected private sector firms; about 15 % got employed while others initiated their own businesses. A major output from the programme is the development and sharing of Agribusiness and Risk Management curricula frameworks for all degree levels from Diploma, BSc, MSc and PhD. Four Pilot institutions have signed MoUs with ANAFE to test the Agribusiness curricula at various levels. They are Rongo University College, Taita Taveta University College and Strathmore University (all from Kenya) and (Kenya), Mulungushi University (Zambia). The objective of this paper is to highlight ANAFE’s key achievements in transforming tertiary agricultural education and research in Africa, with specific reference to the SASACID programme. The programme was implemented from 2011 to 2015. Sixteen (16) ANAFE member institutions from 14 countries, competitively selected, implemented the SASACID programme, which focused on Agribusiness and management of risks and uncertainties in agriculture.