Terms Of Management Systems Research Articles

Differential evolution to solve the lot size problem in stochastic supply chain management systems

An advanced resource planning model is presented to support optimal lot size decisions for overall performance improvement of real-life supply chain management systems in terms of either total delivery time or total setup costs. Based on a queueing network, a model is developed for a mix of products, which follow a sequence of operations taking place at multiple interdependent supply chain members. At the same time, various sources of uncertainty, both in demand and process characteristics, are taken into account. In addition, the model includes the impact of parallel servers for multiple resources with period dependent time schedules. The corrupting influence of variabilities from rework and breakdown is also explicitly modeled. This integer non-linear problem is solved by standard differential evolution algorithms. They are able to find each product’s lot size that minimizes its total supply chain lead time. We show that this solution approach outperforms the steepest descent method, an approach commonly used in the search for optimal lot sizes. For problems of realistic size, we propose appropriate control parameters for an efficient differential evolutionary search process. Based on these results, we add a major conclusion on the debate concerning the convexity between lot size and lead time in a complex supply chain environment.

An Approach for Solid Modeling and Equipment Fleet Management Towards Low-Carbon Earthwork

ABSTRACTEarthwork is a basic operation for all forms of civil works and affects construction time, cost and productivity. It is a mechanized operation that needs various construction equipment as a group and uses a lot of fuel for construction equipment. But, the prob lem is that earthwork operation is usually performed by equipment operator's heuristic and intuition, which can cause low productivity , high fuel consumption, and high carbon dioxide emission. As one of solutions for this problem, the fleet management system for construction equipment is suggested for effective earthwork planning, optimal equipment allocation, efficient machine operation , fast information exchange, and so forth. The purpose of this research is to suggest core methods for developing the equipment fleet management system. The methods include 3D solid parametric model generation, soil distribution using Cctree data structure, equipment fleet construction and equipment fleet operation. A simulation test is performed to verify the effectiveness of the e quipment fleet management system in terms of equipment operating ratio, fuel usage, and CO

Data Storage Control System Design

The paper presents a methodology for evaluating and improving the effectiveness of storage management during the development of automated control systems. The description of the storage management system in terms of queuing theory is proposed. The model of the system and the criteria for efficient processing of requests to read and write data are provided. The authors also propose the partitioning of stored data and the use of several software solutions to improve the system performance.

Policy Implications of Apartment Housing Management System in Terms of Local Government’s Enactment in Korea

Policy Implications of Apartment Housing Management System in Terms of Local Government’s Enactment in Korea

Utilization of blackboard among undergraduate medical students: Where we are from the reality?

This study aimed to evaluate undergraduate medical students' perceptions to Blackboard (Bb) utilization learning management systems in terms of benefits and difficulties. The study was conducted at the College of Medicine, King Saud University. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to the students. The questionnaire consisted of three parts including demographic information, utilization of Bb and difficulties while using Bb. A total of 808 questionnaires were distributed with 42% response rate. Among the participants, 224 (65.7%) were male and 116 (34.3%) were female students. Of them, 78.1% reported “disagreement and strong disagreement” on “Bb usefulness in communicating with the instructor”. However, 74.1% students reported “disagreed and strongly disagreed” on “Bb usefulness in communicating with other students”, whereas majority of the students (71.8%) did not use multimedia available in Bb system. Also, 61% students agreed that there is a “lack of formal training” on the use of Bb in the college, and 37.2% students agreed that the using “Bb system is a time consuming”. However, 39.2% students did not know about the Bb systems add any additional burden on the students. The disagreement trend of male and female students concerned with the Bb utility and difficulties were almost same. The finding of the study showed a poor utilization of Bb learning features. Students faced technical difficulties while using Bb. The findings of this study indicate the need of compulsory students training of any newly introduced learning management systems including Bb in the educational institute.

Soil phosphorus retention in a Mediterranean pasture subjected to differential management

SummaryThe objective of this study was to test a simple input‐output model to estimate soil phosphorus (P) retention over 12 years in a Mediterranean pasture. A 6‐ha permanent pasture field in Southern Portugal was subjected to different management systems in terms of grazing and fertilizer application. The soil and pasture were monitored and samples were geo‐referenced with RTK GPS. The model was developed to explain the effect of P fertilizer, based on the premise that P added through fertilizer and amounts removed in harvested plant products are the main fluxes affecting available P status, and was used to estimate the soil P retention. The results show that P fertilizer addition to Mediterranean grazed pastures on shallow soils influences several P dynamics under different grassland management systems. A positive linear relationship between the P budgets and the changes in measured P was demonstrated over the study periods. This work highlights the difficulty associated with the creation of recommendation maps for differentiated P fertilizer application in pastoral systems and indicates that before any accurate decision making, the historic knowledge of changes in the concentrations of P in the soil should be considered, as well as a prediction of the residual effects of applied nutrient. The importance of this knowledge increases when the aim is to use techniques and technologies for variable‐rate fertilizer application and implementation of site‐specific management strategies in the context of precision agriculture.

Dynamic Coordination in Fleet Management Systems: Toward Smart Cyber Fleets

Fleet management systems are commonly used to coordinate mobility and delivery services in a broad variety of domains. However, their traditional top-down control architecture becomes a bottleneck in open and dynamic environments, where scalability, proactiveness, and autonomy are becoming key factors for their success. Here, the authors present an abstract event-based architecture for fleet management systems that supports tailoring dynamic control regimes for coordinating fleet vehicles, and illustrate it for the case of medical emergency management. Then, they go one step ahead in the transition toward automatic or driverless fleets, by conceiving fleet management systems in terms of cyber-physical systems, and putting forward the notion of cyber fleets.

An Efficient and Trustworthy Resource Sharing Platform for Collaborative Cloud Computing

Advancements in cloud computing are leading to a promising future for collaborative cloud computing (CCC), where globally-scattered distributed cloud resources belonging to different organizations or individuals (i.e., entities) are collectively used in a cooperative manner to provide services. Due to the autonomous features of entities in CCC, the issues of resource management and reputation management must be jointly addressed in order to ensure the successful deployment of CCC. However, these two issues have typically been addressed separately in previous research efforts, and simply combining the two systems generates double overhead. Also, previous resource and reputation management methods are not sufficiently efficient or effective. By providing a single reputation value for each node, the methods cannot reflect the reputation of a node in providing individual types of resources. By always selecting the highest-reputed nodes, the methods fail to exploit node reputation in resource selection to fully and fairly utilize resources in the system and to meet users' diverse QoS demands. We propose a CCC platform, called Harmony, which integrates resource management and reputation management in a harmonious manner. Harmony incorporates three key innovations: integrated multi-faceted resource/reputation management, multi-QoS-oriented resource selection, and price-assisted resource/reputation control. The trace data we collected from an online trading platform implies the importance of multi-faceted reputation and the drawbacks of highest-reputed node selection. Simulations and trace-driven experiments on the real-world PlanetLab testbed show that Harmony outperforms existing resource management and reputation management systems in terms of QoS, efficiency and effectiveness.

PUBLIC REAL ESTATE MANAGEMENT IN POST-SOCIALIST COUNTRIES

Abstract Public real estate management is a complicated process which depends on many factors. Post-socialist countries are characterized by different ways of public real estate management. This is caused, inter alia, by the specifics of a particular country, its history, politics, the way in which public real estate is interpreted, or the amount of public resources. The paper presents the classification of the public real estate management systems in terms of the applied procedures. Analyses were made on the basis of the authors’ own studies and indicators proposed by international organizations, such as the World Bank and World Economic Forum. Extremely helpful advice was also obtained from the participants of the international seminar on State and Public Sector Land Management in Transition Countries, which was organized in September 2012 in Budapest by Commission 7 of the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Advancing stormwater management practice in Iran using water sensitive urban design approach

More than 350 cities of Iran are subject to floods every year and flood phenomena cause annual 1,500,000,000,000 Rials loss to Iran. The reason for floods lie with lack of appropriate water management systems in terms of stormwater management. Current status of Iran water management calls for imitating the successful experience of other countries. The aim of this paper is to review better management frameworks for urban water management in regard to stormwater management in outstanding countries. In this paper, the concept of Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) is initially reviewed, then the proposed frameworks of stormwater management in the world are reviewed and the initiatives associated with stormwater management are offered. Finally, an implemented case of Malaysia is studied to verify the use of initiatives in real similar scales. Among several variables in regard with stormwater management, three types of objectives are highlighted and two evaluation criteria are propsed. Analysis of the results is conducted based on proposed evaluation criteria. Result of the Analysis of the Putrajaya Stormwater Management System shows a remarkable contribution of WASUD initiatives in mitigating the stormwater in this city. Due to geometrical similarities of this city with Iranian ones, results show a great potential of employing WSUD initiatives in Iran. Key words: Resource water management, Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD), sustainable management, Putrajaya stormwater management, water management criteria.

Using electronic signals and neural networks to monitor the performance of an anaerobic bioreactor

More than 350 cities of Iran are subject to floods every year and flood phenomena cause annual 1,500,000,000,000 Rials loss to Iran. The reason for floods lie with lack of appropriate water management systems in terms of stormwater management. Current status of Iran water management calls for imitating the successful experience of other countries. The aim of this paper is to review better management frameworks for urban water management in regard to stormwater management in outstanding countries. In this paper, the concept of Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) is initially reviewed, then the proposed frameworks of stormwater management in the world are reviewed and the initiatives associated with stormwater management are offered. Finally, an implemented case of Malaysia is studied to verify the use of initiatives in real similar scales. Among several variables in regard with stormwater management, three types of objectives are highlighted and two evaluation criteria are propsed. Analysis of the results is conducted based on proposed evaluation criteria. Result of the Analysis of the Putrajaya Stormwater Management System shows a remarkable contribution of WASUD initiatives in mitigating the stormwater in this city. Due to geometrical similarities of this city with Iranian ones, results show a great potential of employing WSUD initiatives in Iran. Key words: Resource water management, Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD), sustainable management, Putrajaya stormwater management, water management criteria.

Is road safety management linked to road safety performance?

This research aims to explore the relationship between road safety management and road safety performance at country level. For that purpose, an appropriate theoretical framework is selected, namely the ‘SUNflower’ pyramid, which describes road safety management systems in terms of a five-level hierarchy: (i) structure and culture, (ii) programmes and measures, (iii) ‘intermediate’ outcomes’ – safety performance indicators (SPIs), (iv) final outcomes – fatalities and injuries, and (v) social costs. For each layer of the pyramid, a composite indicator is implemented, on the basis of data for 30 European countries. Especially as regards road safety management indicators, these are estimated on the basis of Categorical Principal Component Analysis upon the responses of a dedicated road safety management questionnaire, jointly created and dispatched by the ETSC/PIN group and the ‘DaCoTA’ research project. Then, quasi-Poisson models and Beta regression models are developed for linking road safety management indicators and other indicators (i.e. background characteristics, SPIs) with road safety performance. In this context, different indicators of road safety performance are explored: mortality and fatality rates, percentage reduction in fatalities over a given period, a composite indicator of road safety final outcomes, and a composite indicator of ‘intermediate’ outcomes (SPIs). The results of the analyses suggest that road safety management can be described on the basis of three composite indicators: “vision and strategy”, “budget, evaluation and reporting”, and “measurement of road user attitudes and behaviours”. Moreover, no direct statistical relationship could be established between road safety management indicators and final outcomes. However, a statistical relationship was found between road safety management and ‘intermediate’ outcomes, which were in turn found to affect ‘final’ outcomes, confirming the SUNflower approach on the consecutive effect of each layer.

Domestic scale vermicomposting for solid waste management

Abstract Background Vermicomposting has recently been recognized as one of the most appropriate methods to stabilize organic waste. In terms of a system for waste management, vermicomposting is sustainable, economically viable, and without detrimental effects to human health or to the environment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the process of vermicomposting using an indigenous species of earthworms (Eisenia fetida) on a small domestic scale as a system for waste management. Results This study was carried out as an experiment using the following procedure: a plastic container was prepared for vermicomposting; then, a bed was prepared in a ready container with a layer of initial bedding, sieved garden soil, and compostable waste. It was inoculated with Eisenia fetida earthworms. Samples were taken after 30 and 90 days of vermicomposting, and measurements were taken for the following parameters: percentage of organic matter, phosphorus, total carbon, total nitrogen, moisture content, ash, electrical conductivity, and pH. Results for percentage of organic matter, phosphorous, ash, total carbon, total nitrogen, carbon/nitrogen ratio, electrical conductivity, moisture content, and pH of mature compost after 90 days were 42 ± 2.8, 53 ± 0.17, 22 ± 0.170, 1.12 ± 0.003, 20 ± 0.25, 2.8 ± 0.6, 1, 200 ± 200 cSu, 56 ± 5.5%, 8.3 ± 0.2, respectively, and all these parameters except moisture content were compared with the standards. Conclusion According to these results, vermicomposting of municipal biodegradable waste by homeowners can be recommended as the best and most suitable method for solid waste disposal. This determines small-scale domestic vermicomposting as a suitable method for solid waste management. Reducing domestic waste at the source is an effective way to implement the main priorities of a waste management system in terms of its economy and its impact on the environment.

Collective Forest Management System in Japan: a Case Study in Osawa Property Ward Forest

Iriai an Indigenous forest management system in Japan from the viewpoint of "common pool resources" was a success resilient institution and resulted with sustainable production system and environmental conservation. This study was conducted in Osawa of the Nagano prefecture through group discussions, field observations and an in-depth field survey. Osawa Property Ward Forest is managed under the concept very much similarly to traditional "Iriai". This study firstly examined the changes of collective forest management system in terms of awareness and interest in forest management; forest management activities; role of forest; and collection of forest products. Then it analyzed the current threats for collective forest management have been identified as: land abandonment due to loss of benefits and lack of active community participation; deterioration of forest environment particularly the micro-climate and aesthetic values; conflict with local government authorities restraining the use of money in property ward forest and conflict with outsiders on damping of the garbage. Community cantered forestry management rules; livelihood contribution; protection of environment; local initiatives for protection and economic activities are the prevailing opportunities for collective forest management. The main requirements for revitalization of collective forest management are explained as local reciprocity; imposition of community based forest rules; encouraging local innovations; and building partnerships with stakeholders. Collective forest management system addresses the limitations of conventional forestry models, which had invalidated traditional 'iriai' institutions, and key to restoring sustainable use of forest and environmental resources. Cross-institutional collaborations together with responsibilities of local communities would ensure the revitalization of forest resources.

Roles and functions of sport and recreation officers on physical activity and sport exercise promotion in Thailand

Sport and Recreation Officers play an important role in the dissemination of information about physical activity, sport, and exercise to communities. They also take responsibility to explore, and provide appropriate health promotional activity for people in the area by mainly considering on social context. In the recent years, Sport and Recreation Officers have created numerous numbers of physical activity and exercise in the whole country. Unfortunately, there is no clearly study describing the roles and responsibilities of these personnel in the health promotion procedure. Thus, this study aims to assess the performance of Sport and Recreation Officers focusing on 1) what does the role of these officers in the physical activity, sport, and exercise promotion, and 2) how do they get involved with the health promotion partners and networks. The data are from the project of exercise and sport promotion at provincial level with the sponsorship of the Thai Health Promotion Foundation. Data were collected from officers, health clubs, and health organizations working in 5 provinces of all Thailand regions. Dataset presents the meaningful information of social networks, and role of individual health partners in health activity at community level. The results from the Social Networks Analysis (SNA) showed that Sport and Recreation Officers are the key person as a leader in promoting physical activity and exercise in the community. Furthermore, they are the center of the health workers network that are responsible for coordinating the work ties and maintaining the relationship among organizations related to the physical activity, sport and exercise promotion. Also, when considering a socio-diagram from SNA, it pointed out that these personnel are also indispensable of the activity management system in terms of staffing, budgeting, equipment and information. Without these personnel, there is no continuity and connectivity of the social network of health partners. It is therefore suggested that to provide effective health promotion activities at the community level, it should assign a liaison role to Sports and Recreation Officers. They would directly coordinate and transmit any of health policy and activity to their partners, networks, and people in the community thoroughly.

Performance measurement systems: A consensual analysis of their roles

Competitive pressures and advances in product and process technologies challenge performance management systems in terms of their design and their strategic and operational use. Understanding the roles of such systems is a first step in developing and employing the appropriate system capabilities and functions. This paper first identifies the roles a performance measurement system can perform. A synthesis is then used to capture expert views through interviews and a Delphi exercise. Twenty international operations management experts participated in the study—eleven academics and nine industry professionals. The study resulted in a refined list of proposed roles of performance measurement systems from the existing operations literature. The findings from the study show that continuous improvement, organisational learning and change management are new elements that characterise the refined measurement system roles, and that the appropriate PMS roles are contingent on design recommendations. The study provides insights for the design, management and use of PMS in organisations.

The automation design advisor tool (ADAT): Development and validation of a model‐based tool to support flight deck automation design for nextgen operations

AbstractNextGen aviation will require an even greater reliance on automation than current‐day operations. Therefore, systems with problems in human–automation interaction must be identified and resolved early, well before they are introduced into operation. This paper describes a research and software development effort to build a prototype automation design advisor tool (ADAT) for flight deck automation. This tool uses models of human performance to identify perceptual, cognitive, and action‐related inefficiencies in the design of flight management systems. Aviation designers can use the tool to evaluate and compare potential flight deck automation designs and to identify potential human–automation interaction concerns. Designers can compare different flight management systems in terms of specific features and their ability to support pilot performance. ADAT provides specific, research‐based guidance for resolving problematic design issues. It was specifically designed to be flexible enough for both current‐day technologies and revolutionary NextGen designs. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The RFad Method – a new fatigue recovery time assessment for industrial activities

This paper presents a study about fatigue recovery time assessment processes in work activities. It came about due to a demand presented by an automotive industry giant, in need of updating existing cycle time sheets and TAKT time parameters. The company decided to hire an Ergonomics Laboratory with ties to a major Brazilian University in order to evaluate current conditions and establish a new method to either calculate recovery times or validate existing assessment criteria, based in the ergonomics evaluation of the work activities. It is clear that there has been evident evolution in the industrial sector in the past two decades. It brought up fast modernization of industrial processes, not only in production but also in terms of management systems. Due to improved computer and robotics systems, combined with overall operational advancements - like the use of lighter hand tools and more effective hoist systems - most work activities have had its physical effort requirements reduced in the past decades. Thus, compensation factors built into production times need to be reviewed in order to avoid unnecessary costs associated to them. By using ergonomics considerations, we prevent simply removing the physical variables built in rest time calculations without taking on account, for example, additional cognitive load represented by the use of more sophisticated pieces of equipment.

Organisational behaviour and strategies in the adoption of certified management systems: an analysis of the Spanish hotel industry

While the literature over the last ten years has dealt with the implementation of quality, environmental and other management systems in terms of the interest aroused and results obtained, little has been written about organisational behaviour and the extent to which such standards have been adopted in the service sector. The present article explores these variables in the hotel industry, based on information collected from 403 hotels. The empirical analysis conducted evinces significant differences in behaviour and penetration between the service and manufacturing sectors, as well as between the implementation of management systems and the introduction of other business practices in the hotel industry. The results shed light on the importance of implementing certified management systems for conducting the hotel business.

A service oriented architecture for decision support systems in environmental crisis management

Efficient management of natural disasters impose great research challenges to the current environmental crisis management systems in terms of both architecture and services. This is mainly due to the fact that a large amount of geospatial content is usually distributed, non-compliant to standards, and needs to be transmitted under a QoS guaranteed framework to support effective decision making either in case of an emergency or in advance planning. Incorporating real time capabilities in Web services, both in terms of dynamic configuration and service selection, is an open research agenda. The things get worst in geospatial context due to the huge amount of data transmitted from distributed sensors under heterogeneous platforms, making the need of synchronization an important issue. In this paper, we propose a flexible service oriented architecture for planning and decision support in environmental crisis management. The suggested architecture uses real time geospatial data sets and 3D presentation tools, integrated with added-value services, such as simulation models for assisting decision making in case of emergency. The proposed architectural framework goes beyond integration and presentation of static spatial data, to include real time middleware that is responsible for selecting the most appropriate method of the available geospatial content and service in order to satisfy the QoS requirements of users and/or application. A case study of a complete, real world implementation of the suggested framework dealing with forest fire crisis management system is also presented.