Booth, Nathaniel L., Eric J. Everman, I‐Lin Kuo, Lori Sprague, and Lorraine Murphy, 2011. A Web‐Based Decision Support System for Assessing Regional Water‐Quality Conditions and Management Actions. ...Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 47(5):1136‐1150. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2011.00573.x
: The U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Assessment Program has completed a number of water‐quality prediction models for nitrogen and phosphorus for the conterminous United States as well as for regional areas of the nation. In addition to estimating water‐quality conditions at unmonitored streams, the calibrated SPAtially Referenced Regressions On Watershed attributes (SPARROW) models can be used to produce estimates of yield, flow‐weighted concentration, or load of constituents in water under various land‐use condition, change, or resource management scenarios. A web‐based decision support infrastructure has been developed to provide access to SPARROW simulation results on stream water‐quality conditions and to offer sophisticated scenario testing capabilities for research and water‐quality planning via a graphical user interface with familiar controls. The SPARROW decision support system (DSS) is delivered through a web browser over an Internet connection, making it widely accessible to the public in a format that allows users to easily display water‐quality conditions and to describe, test, and share modeled scenarios of future conditions. SPARROW models currently supported by the DSS are based on the modified digital versions of the 1:500,000‐scale River Reach File (RF1) and 1:100,000‐scale National Hydrography Dataset (medium‐resolution, NHDPlus) stream networks.
To date, the Ghanaian development control system has proven unsuccessful in delivering quality planning application approvals in a timely manner and it is doubtful whether it is possible to achieve ...that basic goal in its current form. Planning application approval assessment is performed conjointly by various planning organizations spearheaded by Accra Town and Country Planning Department (TCPD). The success in delivering quality approvals in a timely manner therefore depends on the inter-organizational task interdependency, collaboration, and teamwork of the various planning agencies that form the Accra Metropolitan Assembly. The paper puts into perspective the TCPD organizational workflow and knowledge flow based on their strategies, size, leadership style, organizational complexities, and their competencies to contribute to the success of the approval process. Further, this paper examines the reasons behind the increasing amorphous planning and unapproved development/construction and identifies the various planning approval problems. Finally, it offers modalities to curtail planning approval delays.
Applying quality engineering to the manufacturing supply chain is an area that has not been fully explored. This paper highlights the need for supply chain quality modelling tools to augment the vast ...array of quality tools used to predict and improve quality within a single corporate entity. The thesis of this paper is that network models are necessary to plan and improve quality in manufacturing supply chains. These models should augment, not replace, existing informational and organizational approaches to managing quality in the supply chain. Supply chain quality modelling is discussed in theoretical terms, and then two simple examples are given: a discrete example regarding a module required by an automotive original equipment manufacturer (OEM); and a continuous example regarding production of a mechanical pencil lead. Future research topics in supply chain quality modelling are suggested as multi-company adaptations of design of experiments, tolerance analysis and allocation, performance analysis, and statistical process control.
Continuous improvement of product and process quality is always challenging and creative task in today’s era of globalization. Various quality tools are available and used for the same. Some of them ...are successful and few of them are not. Considering the complexity in the continuous quality improvement (CQI) process various new techniques are being introduced by the industries, as well as proposed by researchers and academia. Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma is some of the techniques. In recent years, there are new tools being opted by the industry, especially automotive, called as Automotive Core Tools (ACT). The intention of this paper is to review the applications and benefits along with existing research on Automotive Core Tools with special emphasis on continuous quality improvement. The methodology uses an extensive review of literature through reputed publications—journals, conference proceedings, research thesis, etc. This paper provides an overview of ACT, its enablers, and exertions, how it evolved into sophisticated methodologies and benefits used in organisations. It should be of value to practitioners of Automotive Core Tools and to academics who are interested in how CQI can be achieved using ACT. It needs to be stressed here that this paper is not intended to scorn Automotive Core Tools, rather, its purpose is limited only to provide a balance on the prevailing positive views toward ACT.
This paper addresses a complex scheduling problem encountered in a major pharmaceutical industry setting. Specifically, the problem deals with assigning tasks to technicians as part of the quality ...control phase in order to minimise the total flowtime, and the number of jobs not meeting a required time window. The problem considers test batching, overlapping tests, and resource assignments constrained by test specific capability requirements. Furthermore, batching tasks of similar types is possible, but batch sizes are particular to each product-test type combination. This is a significant difference from previous literature in batching parallel machines. The particular problem described in the paper is highly relevant to the pharmaceutical industry and has not been previously addressed in the literature. Various approaches to solve this particular problem are described and compared via statistical analyses. Finally, the authors present a software prototype with implemented solution algorithms.
In the present financial and economic context, the automotive industry faces new challenges posed by the current crisis. Companies have to ensure that the quality products are delivered on time and ...in a competitive price. One of the most recommended techniques of quality management by specific standards of the automotive industry for product development is Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP). Product Quality Planning is a structured method of defining and establishing the steps which are necessary to ensure the customer satisfaction from the product. The goal of this paper is to present the results of evaluation of awareness and knowledge the APQP techniques in Polish and Romanian automotive industry. The research method was a questionnaire with indicators to measure the awareness APQP tools. The research was conducted among design and technology professionals in Polish and Romanian automotive companies. On the basis of questionnaire it was performed a comparative analysis of results from Poland and Romania. In this way it is shown which methods and tools of APQP are better known and understood in each country. It was pointed out which tools are difficult to use or there is lack of knowledge about them. It was also shown which methods are most often used in the Polish and Romanian automotive companies. They were also summarized the similarities and differences in the knowledge and using the APQP in both countries.
In this paper, technological interventions in a simple airshed model of emission propagation coupled with a social model of technology adoption are studied. An optimal control problem is introduced ...where a central planner aims to balance pollution concentration against intervention costs over an infinite time horizon. Interventions are classified into two types. Preventive interventions promote the adoption of low emission (green) technologies in the underlying population whereas dissipative interventions reduce the concentration of pre-existing pollutants in the air. Next, an infinite-horizon optimal control problem is set up and the notion of optimality is established. Applying Pontryagin's Minimum Principle, a sustainable equilibrium is derived and the existence of its stable manifold is explored. Imposition of green technology reduces both the steady-state pollutant concentration and dissipative Effort simultaneously but the planning variables induce a tradeoff between concentration and dissipative Effort. Lastly, the stable manifolds are simulated concluding with a discussion on policy implications for the system under consideration.
Effective water quality management requires careful consideration of pollutant fate and transport, proper estimation of non-point source loadings, and maximum allowable allocation of point source ...discharges. A decision support system (DSS) that addresses all these issues is developed in this study by embedding mass-balance expressions, GIS, and a remote-sensing-based non-point source loading scheme into a hybrid goal-programming approach and is applied to the rapidly growing Arroyo Colorado River watershed along the US–Mexico border. The model components were favorably evaluated against field data and previous studies. The DSS was used to evaluate the carrying capacity of the river, defined based on the water quality standards for biochemical oxygen demand, dissolved oxygen, and minimum in-stream flow requirements. The results indicated that on a macro-scale, the current stresses utilize about 40 % of the maximum carrying capacity. However, the most upstream and downstream sub-watersheds are currently over stressed and need to reduce their loadings. The assimilative capacity of the river is not sufficient to carry current flows at their permitted discharge concentrations implying an inequity among discharges with regard to treatment cost burden. Sensitivity analyses indicated that the carrying capacity was more affected by policy choices made for water quality standards then where they were to be enforced (i.e., compliance locations). Urban areas currently cover 13 % of the watershed but contribute nearly 45 % of the total non-point source loadings. Therefore, the urbanization in this watershed must be carefully planned with emphasis on stormwater treatment and management to sustain this valuable resource for future generations.
QFD based optimal process quality planning Zheng, Lian Yu; Chin, Kwai Sang
International journal of advanced manufacturing technology,
10/2005, Volume:
26, Issue:
7-8
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Process quality planning is an important activity of quality assurance. It aims to determine manufacturing processes with appropriate process capability to produce product characteristics. Quality ...function deployment (QFD) is a powerful tool for quality planning, which starts with identifying customer needs and ends with determining process plans. However, most studies on quality planning by QFD are limited to the product planning stage. The approach to process quality planning through QFD has rarely been discussed. This paper adopts the optimal QFD model and further develops it for process quality planning. By incorporating an empirical capability function for process elements, a composite process capability index (CCp) is presented to reflect the overall process quality level. Constraints including technical feasibility, correlations among process elements, project budget and development time are considered. A case study of the numerical control (NC) machining process quality for a thin-walled complex window frame of airship is given to illustrate how the proposed model can be effectively applied by process quality team to determine the optimal target level of process elements concerning with resources utilization .
A indústria de fundos de investimento desempenha importante papel na captação e alocação de recursos no Brasil. Esse mercado cresceu consideravelmente após a abertura econômica do país, tanto em ...quantidade de fundos quanto em patrimônio líquido (PL) administrado. Este artigo visa averiguar o impacto da oscilação e do tamanho do PL dos fundos de ações brasileiros sobre sua performance, além da influência de sua evolução etária. Foram utilizados dados de frequência diária em um painel de 162 fundos de diferentes tipos de gestão e benchmarks, no período de 2001 a 2009. Diversas regressões foram estimadas, incluindo variáveis que captam a evolução do PL e da idade do fundo e dividindo a amostra em quartis conforme a média de PL dos fundos. As conclusões mostram que os fundos de investimento em ações brasileiros apresentam indícios de efeito tamanho, pois, em geral, fundos com PL maior tendem a apresentar melhor performance. A influência da idade depende da categoria de fundos em análise.
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