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Effect of Green Practices on Organizational Performance: An Empirical Study
Get PDFGlobal manufacturing businesses have contributed to energy and resource consumption, pollution. Along with governmental legislation, social and market pressure that growing as awareness about environmental issues increases. To tackle such problems the study focuses on the analysis of the direct consequence of Green Manufacturing (GM) practices on operational performance in the manufacturing industry. A model for evaluating the effect of GM is developed taking into consideration as a fundamental variable that affects the causal relationship between GM practices and operational performance.
A structural equation model was proposed and investigated across the manufacturing industry in India. A structured survey questionnaire was used to gather empirical data from 400 Indian companies. A total of 203 usable responses were obtained giving a response rate of 53%. The data was analyzed using SPSS- AMOS software.
The results revealed that GM practices directly and positively affected operational performance. The results indicated that the structural equation model remained invariant across the Industry.
The implementation of Green practices in manufacturing has been recognized as a mean to improve economic and environmental performance that increases competitiveness and urge innovation.
The study provides further evidence to managers and practitioners on the effect of GM practices on operational performance in developing countries like India
Biodegradation of Malachite Green by Extracellular Laccase Producing Bacillus thuringiensis RUN1
Get PDFA bacteria strain Bacillus thuringiensis RUN1identifiedby 16s RNA gene phylogenetic analysiswas used to decolorize malachite green, a triphenylmethane dye in a simulated wastewater. The ability of the organism to produce extracellular laccase and degrade the dye were also investigated. Results showed that the organism decolorized (84.67 ± 1.19 %) malachite green at 40 mgl-1 within 6 h; and the decolorization was associated to laccase production by the organism experimentally. Laccase activity increased as the decolorization process progressed, with the highest activity value of 0.1043 ± 0.02 U/min/ mg protein recorded after 24 h of incubation using ABTS as substrate. In addition, FTIR analysis showed that the strain actually degraded the dye. It was therefore concluded that this strain of Bacillus thuringiensis will be relevant in the biotreatment of industrial effluent containing malachite green and in the production of laccase, an industrially important enzyme
Ex Post Impacts of Chashma Right Bank Irrigation Project on Cropping Pattern in D.I. Khan district, Pakistanc
Get PDFThis paper carries out the ex post environmental impacts of Chashma Right Bank Irrigation Project (CRBIP) on the cropping pattern of district D.I. Khan, Pakistan. Work on the Chashma Right Bank Canal (CRBC) was started in 1984 and subsequently completed in three stages during 2003-2004. The total cultivable command area of CRBC is 250,000 ha. It commands only left bank area as the slope is from west to east. It spreads over the two provinces i.e. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. The ultimate goal of the CRBIP was to enhance agricultural productivity, employment opportunities and alleviate poverty.
The analysis revealed that there had been large scale changes in the agricultural system, with the construction of CRBC in the arid tract of district D.I. Khan. These changes were both positive and negative. After the advent of CRBC, acreage of both Kharif (summer) and Rabi (winter) crops has improved. The analysis revealed that positive changes have occurred in rice, sugarcane, pulses, wheat, barley, orchards and vegetables. Contrary to this, negative changes were registered in sorghum, millet, oilseed, barley and maize. While comparing the ex post changes in the cropping system, new water loving crops has been introduced as a result of CRBC. It has directly affected the water-table. It was found from the analysis that water-table is inclining at a rapid pace and is serious threat to the crop area
Using Vapor Generation Equipment to Create Artificial Rain: The Design and Function of a New System
Get PDFThe incidence of water shortage events – including drought, forest fire, and desertification – is rapidly increasing due to global warming. This paper shows the principles and the practical application of a new artificial rain system that would help prevent these types of harmful water shortage events. The proposed artificial rain system is composed of solar-powered vapor generation equipment that floats on a large body of water. From this water, vapor is generated by means of solar energy. This vapor is transformed into clouds. These clouds are transported to an area experiencing water shortage, and these clouds provide rain to the target area. The proposed artificial rain system can be designed to provide a specific amount of rain, to be applied at a pre-determined time, to a specified area. This equipment is operated by solar power, so does not produce any CO2emissions. The detailed design example shown in this paper demonstrates that a vapor generation equipment group 1,080km square in area can make 1,200 kg of vapor per square meter per one year, and provide precipitation for an agricultural area 9,720 km square. The advantages and disadvantages of this system are considered. The estimated cost to produce one kilogramme of precipitation water by the proposed artificial rain system is about 0.002USD
The Impact of Sun Drying on the Occurrence of Aflatoxin in Red Chilies
Get PDFA major challenge in post-harvest protection of chilies is its rapid drying to prevent quality deterioration as a result of fungal contamination. The speed and efficiency of drying is crucial as the improper and prolonged drying may eventually initiate the buildup of mycotoxins. This research demonstrated levels of aflatoxin in samples at different stages of drying with the objective to assess the efficiency of the common practice of on-farm sun drying in Pakistan. The results indicated that there was no significant pre-harvest contamination of aflatoxins in chilies grown at different locations under study. Sun drying of the harvested chilies over a post drying stage reduced average moisture content from 69.70% to 9.87%, but also led to a gradual increase in the level of aflatoxins. The correlation between the observed increase in aflatoxin levels and the length of the drying period was found to be statistically significant (P<0.05) at all the locations investigated. The implications of the findings are discussed in relation to optimizing the post-harvest drying process to minimize the levels of aflatoxin in chilies
Catalog of Coefficients for Estimating Bulk and Shear Moduli as a Function of Lithology
Get PDFThe purpose of this paper is to present correlation coefficients for a variety of rock types that can be used in a suitable petroelastic model (PEM). The correlation coefficients for different rock types facilitate the application of a petroelastic model in reservoir flow models. By combining the correlation coefficients and the PEM, it is possible to obtain low-cost estimates of reservoir geophysical attributes. The rock types include dolomite, limestone, high porosity sandstone, poorly consolidated sandstone, tight gas sandstone, and well consolidated Gulf Coast sandstone
Comparative Effects of Luteolin and Quercetin on Adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 Cells
Get PDFPurpose: Quercetin has been reported as a more potent inhibitor of fat accumulation than other flavonoids. However, little information is available regarding the strength and mechanism of the repressive action of luteolin on fat accumulation. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the comparative effects of luteolin and quercetin on the differentiation of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes into mature adipocytes.
Methods: 3T3-L1 preadipocytes were differentiated by treatment with insulin, dexamethasone, and 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine in the presence of luteolin or quercetin. Alterations in triacylglycerol (TG) levels, lipid-filled adipocyte quantity, and the mRNA and protein expression levels of CCAAT-enhancer-binding protein α (C/EBPα) and peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor γ (PPARγ) were measured.
Results: Both luteolin and quercetin reduced TG levels, the number of lipid-filled adipocytes, and the mRNA expression levels of C/EBPα and PPARγ; however, these effects occurred with lower concentrations of luteolin than quercetin.
Conclusions: These results suggest that luteolin may be more potent than quercetin in inhibiting adipocyte differentiation. These effects may be explained by differences in the inhibitory effects of the two compounds on C/EBPα and PPARγ expression. This study suggests that luteolin might be a beneficial dietary supplement for obesity and lifestyle-related diseases
The Implications of Fruit and Vegetable Consumption in Patients with Diabetes
Get PDFIt is widely accepted that the management of diabetes should include both pharmacologic and lifestyle modifications. However, these recommendations are not readily or consistently incorporated into clinical practice. Current guideline recommendations encourage an emphasis on nutrient-dense foods, which include those foods that tend to be high in flavonoids such as fruits and vegetables. Polyphenolic compounds in fruits and vegetables have been shown to affect the same biological processes as certain classes of pharmacological therapy used in the treatment of diabetes. A better understanding of the benefits of these compounds may help healthcare professionals, including pharmacists, communicate dietary recommendations to patients
Experimental Study on the Morphology of Keratin Based Material for Asbestos Free Brake Pad
Get PDFThis research was carried out to investigate the friction and wear of automotive materials using a pad on disk type friction tester to study the synergistic effects of bagasse (residue from sugarcane) and cow hooves dust (keratin based material). The friction materials were based on a simple formulation with three ingredients (phenolic resin, cow hooves dust and bagasse). Friction stability, hardness, compressive strength, flame resistance and oil absorption were measured. Microscopic observation of the friction material showed that the cow hooves adhered to the bagasse providing heat resistance and strength to the friction film at the rubbing interface. The beneficial synergistic effect from the two fibrous ingredients however was significantly diminished when only one of them was employed
Evaluation of Basic Data Compression Algorithms in a Distributed Environment
Get PDFData compression methods aim at reducing the data size in order to make data transfer more efficient. To accomplish data compression, the basic algorithms such as Huffman, Lempel-Ziv (LZ), Shannon-Fano (SF) and Run-Length Encoding (RLE) are widely used. Most of the applications incorporate different variants of these algorithms. This paper analyzes the execution times, compression ratio and efficiency of compression methods in a client-server distributed environment. The data from a client is distributed to multiple processors/servers, subsequently compressed by the servers at remote locations, and sent back to the client. Our experimentation has been carried out using Simgrid Framework. Our results show that the LZ algorithm attains better efficiency/scalability and compression ratio, however, it works slower than other algorithms