Satisfactory Production Research Articles

Investigating Key Factors Influencing Farming Decisions Based on Soil Testing and Fertilizer Recommendation Facilities (STFRF)—A Case Study on Rural Bangladesh

Proper nourishment is fundamental for satisfactory crop growth and production. However, for efficient crop production, it is important to understand the soil environment, to recognize the limitations of that environment, and to ameliorate them where possible without damaging the soil quality. Soil testing and fertilizer recommendation facilities (STFRF) can help farmers to achieve environmental and economic sustainability by assisting them in recognizing their soil condition, reducing agrochemicals usage, using an appropriate amount of fertilizer, minimizing input costs, and achieving higher yield. These facilities are not new in the context of Bangladesh, yet the adoption rate among farmers is low and its determinants have rarely been empirically tested based on microlevel data. Therefore, this study examined those factors underlying the adoption of soil testing and fertilizer recommendation facilities using field surveyed data of 176 individual farmers. Our evidence shows that young farmers with less farming experience are more likely to adopt these facilities. Additionally, being small-scale farmers, having higher education, having more farming income, and having more knowledge about these facilities and the fees of these facilities were found to have a significant effect on the adoption. On the other hand, gender, land ownership, and secondary income were found to be insignificant with regard to the adoption of soil testing and fertilizer recommendation facilities. Our results also revealed that most adopter farmers not only focused on profitability, but were additionally concerned with environmental well-being.

The More Complex the Less Success in Online Library Services: Evaluating the User Experience for International Students

Website developers are in charge of creating usable, useful and satisfactory products for their target audiences. Library websites are a crucial asset to the students, faculty, and staff at the colleges. User experience and usability testing play a significant role in the successful delivery of services and user satisfaction of libraries’ online services. The goal of this research study was to determine the issues with the one of the Midwestern college’s library website and to come up with the design recommendations to enhance services for not only for the college but also all online library service developers. This study uses a mixed method to collect quantitative and qualitative data, to make the evaluation more reliable and evaluates three dimensions of User Experience (UX) which include effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction. The data were collected through multiple phases including demographics of participants, pre-defined task test, subjective satisfaction survey, and a semi-structured interview. The research results indicate that the complexity in design increases the task completion time and leads users to quit. Additionally, advanced search capability increases the success of the library’s online services. The results would be of great importance to the library web developers to create user-friendly services that provide more benefits to the students as well as the academic community. DOI:10.2458/azu_itet_v6i2_demir

A Comparative Study for Machining of Ti–6Al–4V Alloy for Multi-Criteria Response

Nowadays, it has become very difficult for the manufacturer to satisfy all its customers with satisfactory products, as they have different demands considering the responses. However, hard-to-machine materials are difficult to manufacture. This study explores the application of electro-discharge machining (EDM) of Ti–6Al–4V alloy with pulse duration (Ton), duty factor ([Formula: see text], peak current (Ip) and gap voltage (Vg) as the control parameters using pure copper electrode. Machining effects are evaluated by performance characteristics including material removal rate (MRR), tool wear rate (TWR) and surface roughness (SR) by considering the multi-criteria preference of the customers that vary with the preference of responses. For the experiment, proper orthogonal arrays are found out using Taguchi methodology. The optimum parametric settings were obtained by utility-concept-based Taguchi method which were compared with desirability-approach-based Taguchi. It was found that utility-concept-based Taguchi optimization methodology results in more feasible parametric setting which has also been confirmed by the validation experiments. The optimum values of process variables obtained were pulse duration of 30[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]s, duty factor of 9%, peak current of 10[Formula: see text]A and gap voltage of 6[Formula: see text]V to achieve maximum MRR and lower TWR with better surface finish to satisfy multi-user criteria.

The Extension Activities in The Process of Training University Students

Since colonial times, social inequality is the reality that insists on persisting in the country, even with the great economic advances obtained over the centuries. Faced with these problems, there are several responsible for acting on their resolutions and / or mitigations. The important role of government (federal, state, and municipal), justice, NGOs, and even religious institutions are the most popular forms of action outside the scientific community, but universities in extension actions to be an important vector for generating ideas and solutions so that we have a more egalitarian society. It was with this in mind that, in 2008 at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF), the Nucleus of Social Attendance of the Faculty of Engineering (NASFE) was created to allow the generation of social projects of engineering and architecture, but also to enable the students to live practical experiences, acting in real cases and developing skills and competences essential for their academic formation. NASFE is currently an extension project that aims at good engineering practice in order to improve the quality of life of poor communities through the provision of free advisory services to engineering projects. With the guidance of teachers, students from the 2nd to 10th period of Engineering, Architecture, Arts and Design, and Social Service of the UFJF it is made possible to offer such services. Since November 2016 actions have been developing in partnership with the Center of Legal Practices of the Faculty of Law of the UFJF providing experience in multiprofessional and multidisciplinary activities. In addition to these services, students are organized into sectors to advance the practice of developing leadership skills so that they are able to assume leadership roles in the labor market and in public power. In this sense, NASFE is divided into three sectors: CIA (Communication, Infrastructure, and Service), Human Resources, and Quality and Projects, each of which is overseen by an academic member. Organization and opening of the requests, training, and management of the members and, finally, development, monitoring, and delivery of projects are the main activities of each sector, respectively. In 2016 and 2017, 71 consultations were carried out, divided into usucapian projects, proletarian projects, regularizations and architectural projects, mapping of risk areas, and technical surveys. Thus, even with the reduced number of students and professors facing the high demand of society for public engineering, a satisfactory productivity was obtained, as well as allowing members a practical vision of the social responsibility of their future professions. In addition, in view of the great problem of cities with natural disasters, the NASFE-EDUCATION sector was implemented in March 2018 with the aim of promoting prevention through the learning of elementary school children and the school community, regarding social and environmental risks, and to bring up the discussion on the subject and necessary care. The development of educational actions in public schools has partners such as the Fire Department and City Hall of Juiz de Fora.

Miscanthus, switchgrass, giant reed, and bulbous canary grass as potential bioenergy crops in a semi-arid Mediterranean environment

Perennial grasses have received particular attention as bioenergy crops in recent years due to their high biomass productivity and environmental benefits. The objective of the present study was to compare four perennial grasses: miscanthus (Miscanthus x giganteus Keng), switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), giant reed (Arundo donax L.), and bulbous canary grass (Phalaris aquatica L.) in terms of biomass yield, energy balance, and biomass quality under four nitrogen fertilization rates (0, 100, 150, 200 kg ha–1y–1) and 2 harvest times (autumn, winter) over three growing seasons in the Mediterranean environment of Turkey. The crop biomass and net energy yields were optimized with none or 100 kg ha–1 y–1 N input in the study. Although the winter harvest resulted in significant yield reductions in all of the grass species, it improved the biomass quality of miscanthus, switchgrass, and giant reed due to reduced moisture and ash contents. On the contrary, the autumn harvest resulted in a considerably lower moisture and ash contents in bulbous canary grass, mainly because of leaf defoliation the during summer dormancy period. Giant reed produced the highest average biomass yield (between 12.86 and 36.78 t ha–1) over the three years, followed by miscanthus (between 12.75 and 23.54 t ha–1), switchgrass (between 11.88 and 18.91 t ha–1), and bulbous canary grass (between 5.21 and 10.83 t ha–1). On the other hand, bulbous canary grass provided the highest average energy ratio (19.7–64.5) over the three years, due mainly to a lack of energy input for irrigation. These results suggest that satisfactory biomass production can be achievable from miscanthus, switchgrass, and giant reed in the semi-arid Mediterranean environment under adequate moist conditions, but the irrigation requirement increases the energy cost, thus decreasing the energy ratio. In this respect, bulbous canary grass may be evaluated as an alternative bioenergy crop in the dry marginal lands of Mediterranean for sustainable biomass production.

Production and quality of carrot in function of split application of nitrogen doses in top dressing

ABSTRACT Fertilizers supply in the appropriate period and dose is important to obtain satisfactory production. In this research we studied the effect of different split applications and doses of nitrogen in top dressing on the production of the carrot and the physicochemical characteristics of the roots. Nine treatments, resulting from a factorial of 4x2+1 (control without nitrogen fertilization), were evaluated in the randomized blocks experimental design, with four replications. The first factor were four nitrogen (N) doses in top dressing (60, 90, 120 and 150 kg ha-1) and the second were two forms of splitting [three equal applications (1/3+1/3+1/3 of the dose) and one with increasing proportions (1/6+2/6+3/6 of the dose) applied 15, 30 and 50 days after emergence]. We evaluated shoot height, fresh and dry shoot weight, fresh and dry root weight, root diameter and length, yield and some physicochemical characteristics of roots (soluble solids, titratable acidity, maturation index, pH, carotenoid content and reducing sugars). For most of the studied characteristics were observed quadratic effects for N dose, with an estimated maximum yield of 117.7 t ha-1 for the dose of 138 kg N ha-1. The splitting 1/6+2/6+3/6 resulted in higher values for fresh weight of shoot and root, root diameter, yield and carotenoid content, compared to the splitting 1/3+1/3+1/3.

Evaluation of Doppler radar and GTS data assimilation for NWP rainfall prediction of an extreme summer storm in northern China: from the hydrological perspective

Abstract. Data assimilation is an effective tool in improving high-resolution rainfall of the numerical weather prediction (NWP) systems which always fails in providing satisfactory rainfall products for hydrological use. The aim of this study is to explore the potential effects of assimilating different sources of observations, i.e., the Doppler weather radar and the Global Telecommunication System (GTS) data, in improving the mesoscale NWP rainfall products. A 24 h summer storm occurring over the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region of northern China on 21 July 2012 is selected as a case study. The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model is used to obtain 3 km rainfall forecasts, and the observations are assimilated using the three-dimensional variational (3DVar) data assimilation method. Eleven data assimilation modes are designed for assimilating different combinations of observations in the two nested domains of the WRF model. Both the rainfall accumulative amount and its distribution in space and time are examined for the forecasting results with and without data assimilation. The results show that data assimilation can effectively help improve the WRF rainfall forecasts, which is of great importance for hydrologic applications through the rainfall–runoff transformation process. Both the radar reflectivity and the GTS data are good choices for assimilation in improving the rainfall products, whereas special attention should be paid to assimilating radial velocity where unsatisfactory results are always found. The assimilation of the GTS data in the coarser domain has positive effects on the radar data assimilation in the finer domain, which can make the rainfall forecasts more accurate than assimilating the radar data alone. It is also found that the assimilation of more observations cannot guarantee further improvement of the rainfall products, whereas the effective information contained in the assimilated data is of more importance than the data quantity. Potential improvements of data assimilation in improving the NWP rainfall products are discussed and suggestions are further made.

Production performance of sesame cultivars under different nitrogen rates in two crops in the Brazilian semi-arid region

Sesame is an oleaginous plant that requires suitable management in the field to achieve satisfactory production; however, to better understand the requirements of the culture, it is necessary to obtain more information on the behavior of sesame cultivars, in relation to the nutrition and edaphoclimatic factors that can interfere with its response. Therefore, the aim of this work was to evaluate the production components of fertirrigated sesame cultivars, in the northeastern semi-arid region of Brazil, as a function of nitrogen (N) fertilization in two crops. The experiments were conducted at the Rafael Fernandes Experimental Farm, which belongs to the Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido (UFERSA), from February to May (first crop) and July to October (second crop), in the year 2016. The experimental design was of a randomized complete blocks type with four replications, with the treatments arranged in a split plots scheme, where in the plots were assigned five rates of N (0, 30, 60, 90, and 120 kg ha−1) and in the subplots four sesame cultivars (CNPA G2, CNPA G3, CNPA G4, and BRS Seda). The evaluated variables were N content in the diagnostic leaf (NCDL), number of capsules per plant (NC), plant dry mass (PDM), seed yield (SY), oil content (OC), and protein content (PC). The maximum values of the variables studied were obtained at a rate of 120 kg ha−1 of N. The cultivar CNPA G4 presented the highest productive performance in comparison to the other cultivars, and the cultivar BRS Seda had the highest oil content in the seed. The second crop (July to October) obtained the best agronomic performance for the sesame. Regarding the protein content, the cultivars CNPA G3 and CNPA G4 obtained the highest at a rate of 120 kg ha−1 of N. The second harvest also provided higher levels of protein in the seed, independent of the cultivar evaluated.

Analysis of damage outcome in the strength of polymer composite materials

The specific characteristics of composite materials, like carbon fibre-reinforced plastics, have been leading to their rising importance and widespread use. As these parts are normally produced in a near-net shape, secondary operations, like drilling, are necessary prior to their assembly in complex structures. It is still difficult to define a machining process that enables free-damage holes, due to the peculiar laminar nature of these materials. So, the definition of a drilling process that minimizes delamination and increases reliability in produced parts is combined with satisfactory cost and productivity is still of major importance in the composites manufacturing industry. In this paper, two sets of unidirectional coupons from plates with carbon fibre as reinforcement and epoxy resin as matrix are drilled using five different drilling tool strategies and two feed rates for uneven damage extension. One of the strategies is the use of a pre-drilling option. Then the delamination is assessed using enhanced radiography and, finally, three diverse mechanical tests are performed on the resulting coupons: three-point bending, four-point bending and pin bearing. The results allowed establishing and modelling, with the help of statistical tools, the relations between the damaged area caused by drilling and the material’s mechanical resistance. The three-point bending resistance does not vary greatly with the damage area. On the other hand, the bearing resistance and the four-point bending resistance decrease with the increase of the damaged area.

Propriedades energéticas da madeira e do carvão vegetal de Cenostigma macrophyllum: subsídios ao uso sustentável

O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar a qualidade da madeira de Cenostigma macrophyllum Tul para uso energético e determinar os rendimentos e propriedades do carvão vegetal produzido em diferentes temperaturas de carbonização. Foram retirados discos de 3 cm de espessura nas posições basal, 25%, 50%, 75% e 100% da altura comercial do fuste. Os discos foram cortados em cunhas e metade destas foi utilizada para análises na madeira e a outra metade foi carbonizada em temperaturas finais de 400 ºC, 500 ºC e 600 ºC para avaliação dos rendimentos e características do biorredutor. A densidade básica (1,2 g cm-3), teor de lignina (34%), poder calorífico superior (4.845 cal g-1) e rendimento gravimétrico de carbonização (RGC) aos 400 ºC (41,5%) da madeira do caneleiro se destacaram. O aumento da temperatura de pirólise da madeira de 400 ºC para 600 ºC resultou em acréscimo de 29,4% do teor de carbono fixo e redução de 19% e 63,4%, respectivamente, do RGC e do teor de materiais voláteis do carvão vegetal. Conclui-se que a espécie apresentou valores satisfatórios para produção energética.

Cultivares de algodoeiro herbáceo sob déficit hídrico aplicado em fases fenológicas

Para o uso do recurso água na agricultura procura-se uma maior eficiência devido á escassez em determinadas regiões. Objetivou-se avaliar o efeito do déficit hídrico, aplicado em diferentes fases fenológicas, sobre o crescimento, fisiologia e produção das cultivares BRS 286 e BRS 336 de algodoeiro herbáceo. O delineamento experimental foi blocos casualizados em parcelas subdivididas, com os seis regimes de déficits hídricos, aplicados em diferentes fases fenológicas do algodoeiro, formando as parcelas e, as duas cultivares de algodoeiro herbáceo, as subparcelas, em 4 repetições. Foram avaliadas as variáveis de crescimento, fisiológicas e produtividade de algodão em caroço do algodoeiro herbáceo. O déficit hídrico restringiu o crescimento de ambas as cultivares de algodoeiro herbáceo, com as fases mais sensíveis sendo as de crescimento inicial, de botão floral e de flor. O déficit de 14 dias, aplicados nas diferentes fases fenológicas, não influenciou a fotossíntese das plantas de ambas as cultivares, mas alterou a condutâncias estomática e a transpiração das mesmas. As fases fenológicas de flor e de maçã foram as mais sensíveis ao déficit hídrico por apresentarem menor produção. Os tratamentos sem déficit em todo o ciclo e com déficit nas fases de crescimento inicial e de capulho, de ambas as cultivares de algodoeiro herbáceo, permitiram produtividade satisfatória em relação à média nacional.

Valorization of spent sulphite liquor for succinic acid production via continuous fermentation system

Spent sulphite liquor has been evaluated in continuous cultures for succinic acid production using Actinobacillus succinogenes and Basfia succiniciproducens. Continuous cultures were initially carried out at constant dilution rate (0.04 h−1) and varying commercial xylose concentrations (23–55 g/L) or constant xylose concentration (40 g/L) and varying dilution rates (0.02–0.25 h−1) showing that dilution rates of 0.02–0.15 h−1 led to satisfactory succinic acid production by both strains. In continuous cultures using nanofiltrated spent sulphite liquor, the highest yields were achieved at dilution rate of 0.02 h−1 (0.48 g/g for A. succinogenes and 0.55 g/g for B. succiniciproducens), while the highest productivities were obtained at dilution rates of 0.04 h−1 for A. succinogenes cultures (0.67 g/L/h) and 0.1 h−1 for B. succiniciproducens cultures (1.6 g/L/h). Metabolic flux analysis demonstrated higher biomass concentrations in A. succinogenes cultures carried out in both xylose and nanofiltrated spent sulphite liquor, while B. succiniproducens cultures were more robust regarding succinic acid production efficiency in either xylose or nanofiltrated spent sulphite liquor.

Prediction of coal structure using particle size characteristics of coalbed methane well cuttings

Severely deformed coal seams barely deliver satisfactory gas production. This research was undertaken to develop a new method to predict the positions of deformed coals for a horizontal CBM well. Firstly, the drilling cuttings of different structure coals were collected from a coal mine and compared. In light of the varying cuttings characteristics for different structure coals, the coal structure of the horizontally drilled coal seam was predicted. And the feasibility of this prediction method was discussed. The result shows that exogenetic fractures have an important influence on the deformation of coal seams. The hardness coefficient of coal decreases with the deformation degree in the order of primary structural, cataclastic and fragmented coal. And the expanding-ratio of gas drainage holes and the average particle size of cuttings increase with the increase of the deformation degree. The particle size distribution of coal cuttings for the three types of coals is distinctive from each other. Based on the particle size distribution of cuttings from X-2 well in a coal seam, six sections of fragmented coal which are unsuitable for perforating are predicted. This method may benefit the optimization of perforation and fracturing of a horizontal CBM well in the study area.

Studies Concerning the Dynamics of Productive Indicators on Gray Guinea Fowl (Numida Meleagris)

Growing guinea-fowls is an area of less research activity, although meat and eggs from this species are increasingly sought by consumers around the world. In addition, there is a number of very valuable biological features that makes this sector such attractive. This paper deals with a study on the productive performance of the gray guinea fowl under controlled ambient conditions. The biological material consisted of 50 specimens of guinea-fowls, purchased from a producer in our country. Those guinea fowls were grown according to the species-specific technology, from one day to 77 days. The target indicators were body weight, weight gain, feed consumption and stockholding proportion, determined in accordance with the poultry research methodology. The data were statistically processed using the Anova (Analysis of variance) program. For the gray guinea fowl, the growing period has been divided into three stages of age, differentiated by the protein level of the feed. At the time of population, the body weight of birds was 28.09 ± 0.35 g, and on the day of slaughter (77th day), 1923.76 ± 18.29 g. This weight was achieved with a feed conversion index of 1: 3.64.The gray guinea fowl exhibits good organic resistance and ensures satisfactory meat production under conditions of optimal nutrient feeding.

Selective detection of copper ion in complex real samples based on nitrogen-doped carbon quantum dots.

Highly selective nitrogen-doped carbon quantum dots (ND-CQDs) for copper ion (Cu2+) determination were synthesized by a solvent-free pyrolysis of citric acid and histidine. The resultant ND-CQDs display a stable bright blue fluorescence with a satisfactory product yield of 56% and quantum yield of 16%. The ND-CQDs not only show good photostability under continuous UV irradiation, but arealso dramatically stable against extreme ionic strengths. The solid powders of the ND-CQDs re-dispersed in water still maintain a strong blue fluorescence after storing at room temperature for 6months. The ND-CQDs can be employed to selectively detect Cu2+ in a wide linear range of 0.6-30μM. The detection limit is as low as 0.19μM. The ND-CQDs were applied for Cu2+ detection in environmental water samples, fruit juice samples, and urine sample. Satisfactory recoveries of 96-102% with relative standard deviations below 3% were obtained. The research provided a promising prospect for selective detection of Cu2+ in the complex matrix. Graphical abstract Schematic illustration of the preparation of the ND-CQDs and its detection mechanism to Cu2.

Two-steps gas double-dynamic solid-state fermentation enhances growth and spore production of Conithyrium minitans

Gas double-dynamic solid-state fermentation (SSF) is a promising strategy with the potential in transforming open-pattern fermentation into closed-pattern fermentation. This paper investigated gas double-dynamic SSF performance in cultivating Coniothyrium minitans (C. minitans), as well as its effect on physiology of C. minitans. Results showed that gas double-dynamic increased biomass content by 48.6%. High temperature impeded pycnidia formation and increased glycine production. More pycnidia formed in solid matrix at 20 °C, which was responsible for higher conidia production (1.5 (±0.03) × 1010 spores/g dry mass), indicating decisive role of high temperature in pycnidia formation of C. minitans in solid-state fermentation. Higher glycine content may be the response of high temperature stress which has close relationship with pycnidia and conidia production. Based on the findings, a two-step strategy for gas double-dynamic SSF was proposed and an satisfactory conidia production was obtained while fermentation period shortened.

Field Performance of Eucalyptus Hybrids at Planalto da Conquista, Bahia, Brazil

ABSTRACT The present study was carried out with the objective of evaluating the field performance of six Eucalyptus clones, using seed-produced Eucalyptus urophylla as a reference. The experiment was conducted in the city of Vitoria da Conquista, Bahia, Brazil. The plants were monitored monthly with diameter at ground level and height measurements taken up to nine months after planting. Diameter at breast height (DBH) and height measurements, as well as the biomass of all tree components and stem volumes were obtained 12 months after planting. VM058 and I-144 were the only clones that showed survival rates below 70%. Nevertheless, up to the age of 12 months and similar to the seed-produced E. urophylla , the VM058 clone was the genetic material that presented the most satisfactory production given the edaphoclimatic conditions of Vitoria da Conquista, Bahia, Brazil.

Exploring adaptations of groundnut cropping to prevailing climate variability and extremes in Limpopo Province, South Africa

Adapting groundnut production to the high climatic variability and extremes prevailing in Limpopo (South Africa) requires season- and site-specific exploitation of genotype x environment x management interactions. Notably, the El Niño-Southern Oscillation phenomenon (ENSO) causes distinctive seasonal rainfall anomalies in the province: Weather records over the period 1955–2010, showed El Niño years with an average of 296 mm growing season rainfall, neutral years with 349 mm and La Niña with 434 mm. We hypothesized that (i) early planting date is crucial for ensuring high productivity of groundnut and (ii) early maturing cultivars can ensure satisfactory production even in El Niño years, both options aiming at escaping prolonged periods of drought. To evaluate our hypotheses, we conducted a three year on-station trial with three planting dates and two cultivars, a one year trial at two sites comparing the two cultivars, tested crop model APSIM against field trial data, and, finally, performed long-term gridded crop model simulation runs for all cultivated land (i.e. 14,739 grid cells at a resolution 0.01°) in Limpopo exploring the effect of the cultivars and planting dates on groundnut yield. Field trials showed that early planting was superior to later plantings, irrespective of the weather year. Even in the very dry El Niño year 2016, yields of more than 1000 kg/ha were achieved with early planting, while planting later was not possible due to severe soil water deficits. Cultivar ICGV 03796 performed slightly better than ICGV 99257 due to faster ground cover closure, but no difference in phenology was observed. After evaluation of the model against the field trial data was found satisfactory, APSIM simulations showed that highest yields were achieved in La Niña years (median 996 kg/ha across all grids) and smallest in El Niño years (654 kg/ha across all grids). However, as in the field trials, we observed on average over all grid cells higher grain yields for early planting for all weather years as effective rainfall captured was higher than for later plantings. Longer growth duration by cultivar ICGV 03796 appeared to be more productive than an earlier maturing cultivar that we added into the simulation analysis as a third cultivar. However, a closer look at the spatial pattern of the simulation analysis revealed that for the generally drier regions of Limpopo, this cultivar with shorter growth duration would indeed be more productive in El Niño years. It showed that such season-specific adaptation would increase yields only by 2.9% for Limpopo province in total, but yield gains of more than 10% could be obtained for 11.3% of the grid cells in El Niño years. Hence, this study demonstrated that management recommendations at provincial scale explicitly need to consider in more detail a site- and season-specific approach.

Analysis of the impact of the increase of production volume on the material supply system and work in process through simulation scenarios

In this work, we present a detailed analysis of the improvements that are required when a company needs to increase its production capacity. For this a computer simulation model of the current situation of the company was developed, which will be called KS, where 430,000 pieces are currently produced for the general motors (GM) model, and the future situation, with the double of parts. The company where the research was developed presents problems of overwork in process and it is foreseen that the problem will be more complicated when increasing the production volume, for this reason, simulation is considered as the ideal tool for the analysis of this problem; specific. Through different experiments in the model, a solution to these problems was observed and the satisfactory production volume of eight hundred and sixty thousand pieces was achieved.

Research on Order Decision of Quantity Flexibility Contract under the Competition between Multiple Suppliers and Multiple Retailers

In the supply chain system consisting of multiple suppliers and multiple retailers, in order to realize supply chain coordination, we studied the ordering decision under the quantity flexibility contract with competition between both sides. On the one hand, from the perspective of suppliers, a satisfactory production of goods for each supplier was obtained by means of a kind of interactive programmer step method. On the other hand, from the perspective of retailers, because each supplier holds a different preference attitude for different retailers, we sort retailers as preference in application of a group decision sequencing method of Markov chain. The optimal order quantity of goods for each retailer was obtained at the same time and we prove that it is Pareto optimal. Finally, we give a numerical example.