Open Science Journal (OSJ)
Not a member yet
297 research outputs found
Sort by
The Optimization Problem of Product Mix and Linear Programming Applications: Case Study in the Apparel Industry
Get PDFIndustrial development strategy is characterized by the efficient use of resources at every production stage. The analysis and efficient utilization of resources are made sustainable by effective management decision making techniques employed in the industry. A quantitative decision making tool called linear programming can be used for the optimization problem of product mix. Understanding the concept behind the optimization problem of product mix is essential to the success of the industry for meeting customer needs, determining its image, focusing on its core business, and inventory management. Apparel manufacturing firms profit mainly depends on the proper allocation and usage of available production time, material, and labor resources. This paper considers an apparel industrial unit in Ethiopia as a case study. The monthly held resources, product volume, and amount of resources used to produce each unit of product and profit per unit for each product have been collected from the company. The data gathered was used to estimate the parameters of the linear programming model. The model was solved using LINGO 16.0 software. The findings of the study show that the profit of the company can be improved by 59.84%, that is, the total profit of Birr 465,456 per month can be increased to Birr 777,877.3 per month by applying linear programming models if customer orders have to be satisfied. The profit of the company can be improved by 7.22% if the linear programming formulation does not need to consider customer orders
Industrial Sustainability and the Circular Economy as Counterparts to the Self-Referral Structure of Natural Law: Part II – A Global Case Study
Get PDFPart I of this two-part series of research papers identified the theoretical foundations of industrial sustainability and circular economy in the structure of Natural Law, as explained by Maharishi Vedic Science. Part I showed that all levels of a manifest hierarchy are governed by self-referral and self-interacting feedback loops, and maintained that the circular economic model represents a counterpart to the self-referral mechanics of Natural Law and is therefore more in accord with Natural Law than the standard linear ‘take, make, dispose’economic model, which is unsustainable due to its attitude to and management of energy and other resource portfolios, waste and end-of-life products.This Part II explores the self-referral structure of Natural Law in the context of one of the world’s largest industrial hazardous wastes: alumina refinery residue or ‘red mud’. The paper examines how this solid waste residue, which is generated at a rate of more than 120 million tonnes each year, can: a) be incorporated into a sustainable, circular economic model in order to reduce waste and improve productivity; and b) be reused or repurposed as either a feedstock to other industrial and municipal processes, such as concrete and cementitious product manufacture, agriculture and mine site rehabilitation, or, if such reuse applications generate other forms of waste, how these, too, can enter further cascading circular economies through beneficial reuse. I propose that a long-term economic and environmental benefit from alumina refinery residue can be liberated when its reuse is based on the principles of self-referral and self-interacting feedback loops as described by Maharishi Vedic Science, and suggest that the deep-rooted commercial, human and environmental risks posed by this industrial waste stream can be minimized or even eliminated through a circular approach to waste management, thereby leading to a more sustainable economic future for the world
Writing the Self-at-War: World War I Popular Writings as “Technologies of the Self”
Get PDFBased on the analysis of more than 150 diaries and memoirs, this article highlights the rhetorical strategies used to define the self and shape the idea of war that characterized a specific peasant community, the Italian-speaking soldiers from the Trentino region that fought for Austria-Hungary in World War I. Through this case study the essay discusses how the Foucauldian notion of “technology of the self” can be applied to the study of war testimonies and to the historiographical debate on the nature of World War I “war culture”. By looking at the texts not in their message but in their form and in their function for the authors the study proposes a methodology to interpret sources that have been often deemed too repetitive and hermetic to be part of a systematic historical analysis.
Governance and attractiveness of FDI: the case of Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries
Get PDFThis article empirically examines the role of governance in attracting FDI for a sample of ten Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries over a 15-year period. We have approximated the attractiveness of FDI by governance through an endogenous variable called FDI in relation to GDP. The quality of these variables was tested by the positioning, dispersion and shape indicators and verified the normality of these variables by the Jarque-Berra test and the quality of linear adjustment of each variable with respect to its mean. The empirical validation of the impact of good governance in the attraction of FDI was carried out using the static Panel technique and based on the assumption of the absence of a stationarity problem for the explanatory variables of our model. Homogeneity-heterogeneity tests were used to specify the reference model and model the role of governance in the attraction of FDI by a panel with individual effects. The estimation of this model by the Within and GLS procedures yielded significant results
Age-related macular degeneration and its associated factors, in Khartoum locality, Sudan
No full textIntroduction: Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD or ARMD), also known as Macular Degeneration, is an eye disorder that slowly destroys sharp, central vision. The causal factors of ARMD remain a controversy. The proposed study aimed to participate in controversy in focusing on the magnitude of ARMD in tertiary hospital in Khartoum state. Methods: A hospital-based retrospective cross sectional study design was implemented in Makkah Eye Complex. Data on ARMD was derived from an electronic data based made available to the researcher. The data in excel format was uploaded in the SPSS version 21. All the 79 cases of ARMD was retained and summarized through descriptive statistics to produce graphics and frequency tables to address the research objectives and chi square test was performed to assess the association between ARMD and gender and age. A decision role was set prior to the test to reject the null hypothesis that there was no association whenever the p value is < 0.05.Results: During the period covered by the study a total of 86,788 patients attended Makkah Eye Complex, 79 patients among those was diagnosed as Age Related Macular Degeneration disease. This represents a prevalence of Age Related Macular Degeneration (ARMD) of 0.09 % (79/86,788).Discussion: Regarding age, our findings confirmed that the condition is related to aging. It occurred earlier in our research contrary to the commonly reported years of occurrence. However, the limited data available to us indicates the need to establish an electronic patient registry to enable to describe patients sociodemographic characteristics, the disease risk factors and patient management and related outcomes
The “urban sprawl” effect on the out-of-town real estate market
No full textThis paper examines the “urban sprawl” effect on out-of-town real estate market. There are many factors leading to urban sprawl and modulating exurban real estate market. In order to identify these factors, a survey conducted in the Larisa city fringes. Demand, which is a formulation of a number of variables, was determined using two different methods: a) the interview survey which is a descriptive method of identifying the characteristics that affect the property market and b) statistical analysis which is a quantitative assessment of suburban property demand, based on the stochastic method of hedonic regression. According to the questionnaire survey, land value is dependent on adjacency to road infrastructure, distance of the property from the city centre urban land use concentration and physical features of the property which are view adjacent to the road, shape and size of lot. The outcome that land value is dependent on the existence of important economic activity in the property’s locality is consistent with the hedonic regression result, according to which there is a strong and statistically significant correlation between land sale price and distance from a major central use. Hence, the role of theses land uses is documented reflecting the impact of urban sprawl on land market. This correlation is negative, statistical significant and follows a different function for each axis of development. The function depends on type and cycle of development of each area which have a different distribution and type of land uses. That is to say, each function expresses the different way that emerging land uses and urban morphology affect the land market. This outcome is important because allows us to assess the effect of a future spatial planning project of activities in the tertiary sector, on out-of-town real estate market
An Introduction to Exdysivity Index for Organizational Change Capability Assessment
Get PDFThe dynamic change capabilities of organizations are prerequisite to the success, long-term growth and sustainability (Moran & Brightman, 2000; Andreeva & Victoria, 2006; Barreto, 2010; Halkos, 2012). Although organization development (OD) study involves planned changes that would help businesses to stay competitive in the marketplace, there is no effective and reliable change indicator that can reflect the need and level of change capabilities. Apparently, organizational change management requires multi-perspectives approach rather than a single approach to all change situations (Andreeva, 2008). To achieve the successful and sustainable change, an effective change measurement is the key (Moran, Baird & Brightman, 2000). This study aims to propose the development idea for a change indicator or so-called “exdysivity index (EI)” as the change capability assessment and requirement for change intervention at both international and individual organization level
Effectiveness of Physiotherapy Intervention on the Quality of Life of Women with Breast Cancer who Underwent Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy.
Get PDFPurpose: To evaluate if physiotherapy can contribute to the quality of service provided to Women with Breast Cancer who underwent sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB).Methods: This Quasi-experimental study addressed a sample of 172 women with breast cancer who underwent surgery with SLNB, 90 were included in the control group and 82 in the experimental group. We used the EORTC C30 and BR23 questionnaires to collect data about the quality of life (QoL) in the course of the first 9 months after surgery. The experimental group was submitted to specific physiotherapy techniques while the control group was the target of assessments only. Poisson regression was used to perform the calculation of the Relative Benefit (aRB) and Relative Risk (aRR) adjusted for several confounding factors at the baseline of the study.Results: In the third month after surgery the experimental group showed a higher proportion of patients with substantial clinical improvement in the Global Health Status (GHS) (aRB=2.230; p=0.014) and a lower risk of degradation of the GHS (aRR=0.384; p=0.011), Physical Function (PF) (aRR=0.484; p=0.035), and Arm Symptoms (BRAS) (aRR=0.159; p=0.007), when compared to the control group. Between the 1st and 6th month after surgery, physiotherapy seems to act as a protective factor on the degradation of GHS and PF. Between the 1st and 9th month after surgery the experimental group showed a higher proportion of patients with notable clinical improvement in the GHS (aRB=1.905; p=0.038) and in the BRAS (aRB=1.761; p=0.029) and a lower risk of degradation of the GHS (aRR=0.287; p=0.010) and BRAS (aRR=0.265; p=0.0421) scales.Conclusions: In the course of the acute survival phase, physiotherapy can help to improve the QoL of women with breast cancer who underwent surgeries with SLNB, giving a positive contribution to the quality of service provided to this group of patients
Design of learning media for the solar system lesson using animation and virtual reality
Get PDFThe solar system is an astronomy subject which is taught in Elementary Schools, particularly in Grade 6. This subject requires the teachers to teach creatively because the lecturing method in teaching is too common. Besides, in learning this topic, the media is highly needed to help students understand and comprehend the materials given. The media used in the current learning process is considered not sufficient because of the limited teaching aids and learning media. Therefore, based on the technology development, there are many multimedia technologies. One of them is VR which provides real-time interaction to what is displayed in the application. Hence, a design of learning media for the solar system lesson using animation and virtual reality was developed. This study aims to help students who are studying this lesson to have a better understanding of the lesson since they can interact directly with what they are learning
Two criteria in Fermat infinite descent method
Get PDFA method infinite descent is traditionally used to proof the Fermat’s theorem for the special case of exponent n=4. At each step, the method sequentially generates a new Fermat’s equation with one of the term being smaller than that in the preceding step. After a finite number of steps the term becomes less than one and this is taken as criterion of the insolvency of the original Fermat’s equation. We show that the power of factor 2, in even parameter of Pythagoras’ equation solution used in the proof, decreases by one at each step of the descent. As a result we arrive at an unsolvable equation. This is the second criterion for the descent method. Which of the two criteria is reached first depends on the parameters of the initial Pythagorean solutions chosen for the analysis