42,739 research outputs found
Total Value of Phosphorus Recovery
Phosphorus (P) is a critical, geographically concentrated, nonrenewable resource necessary to support global food production. In excess (e.g., due to runoff or wastewater discharges), P is also a primary cause of eutrophication. To reconcile the simultaneous shortage and overabundance of P, lost P flows must be recovered and reused, alongside improvements in P-use efficiency. While this motivation is increasingly being recognized, little P recovery is practiced today, as recovered P generally cannot compete with the relatively low cost of mined P. Therefore, P is often captured to prevent its release into the environment without beneficial recovery and reuse. However, additional incentives for P recovery emerge when accounting for the total value of P recovery. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the range of benefits of recovering P from waste streams, i.e., the total value of recovering P. This approach accounts for P products, as well as other assets that are associated with P and can be recovered in parallel, such as energy, nitrogen, metals and minerals, and water. Additionally, P recovery provides valuable services to society and the environment by protecting and improving environmental quality, enhancing efficiency of waste treatment facilities, and improving food security and social equity. The needs to make P recovery a reality are also discussed, including business models, bottlenecks, and policy and education strategies
Economic and Workforce Development Task Force Report, August 2008
The 2008 disasters devastated businesses, farms, homes, schools, non-profit institutions, entire communities, and peopleâs lives across the state of Iowa. The Rebuild Iowa Advisory Commission (RIAC) is charged by the Governor to guide the stateâs recovery and reconstruction process. The Economic and Workforce Development Task Force is respectfully submitting this report to be included and considered in the deliberations of the RIAC. While economic and workforce development are two issues that are inextricably linked and critical to Iowaâs rebuilding strategies, each also requires extraordinary attention in
determining what needs to be considered in the very immediate and longer-term recovery
Taylorism, targets, technology and teams - compatible concepts? Evidence from a US call centre
Taylorism, targets and technology form a potent mix in call
centres where groups of individuals are asked to perform as
âteamsâ. In this paper we explore how âtaskâ oriented
concepts interact with the âinterpersonal relationshipâ realm in an environment where group life dominates the notional foundation of a call centreâs organisational structure.
Tuckmanâs four stage model of sequential group development
serves as the theoretical lens through which the role âteamsâ play in the working environment of a large call centre is examined.Our analysis of structured interviews conducted in an outbound, financial services call centre in the southern United States reveals the mechanisms by which agents have interpreted their âteam charterâ to focus on individual achievement of increased remuneration levels. The interplay between these variables indicate that reward mechanisms associated with simple Taylorist targets, imposed on the entry level call centre agents, mitigate against meaningful group development. The advancement through promotion based on individual performance to more challenging, less target based
work, is in sharp contrast to their initial training period where âteam buildingâ is an essential ingredient of skills acquisition
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An ontological approach for recovering legacy business content
Legacy Information Systems (LIS) pose a challenge for many organizations. On one hand, LIS are viewed as aging systems needing replacement; on the other hand, years of accumulated business knowledge have made these systems mission-critical. Current approaches however are often criticized for being overtly dependent on technology and ignoring the business knowledge which resides within LIS. In this light, this paper proposes a means of capturing the business knowledge in a technology agnostic manner and transforming it in a way that reaps the benefits of clear semantic expression - this transformation is achieved via the careful use of ontology. The approach called Content Sophistication (CS) aims to provide a model of the business that more closely adheres to the semantics and relationships of objects existing in the real world. The approach is illustrated via an example taken from a case study concerning the renovation of a large financial system and the outcome of the approach results in technology agnostic models that show improvements along several dimensions
Problem solving methods as Lessons Learned System instrumentation into a PLM tool
Among the continuous improvement tools of the performance in enterprise, the experience feedback represents undoubtedly an effective lever of progress by offering important prospects for a progression in almost all the industrial sectors. However, several reserves to its use slow down the diffusion of its employment. We are interested in the installation of experience feedback system in a partner enterprise. In this paper, we propose an instrumentation of a Lessons Learned System (LLS) by problem solving methods (PSM) and its integration with a product lifecycle management (PLM). These proposals support an improvement of LLS performance and a facility of his application
It's written in the cloud: The hype and promise of cloud computing
Purpose of paper: This viewpoint discusses the emerging IT platform of Cloud Computing and discusses where and how this has developed in terms of the collision between internet and enterprise computing paradigms â and hence why cloud computing will be driven not by computing architectures but more fundamental ICT consumption behaviours. Design/methodology/approach: The approach has been based upon the discussion and recent developments of Software as a Service (SaaS) and associated ICT computing metaphors and is largely based upon the contemporary discussion at the moment of the impact of social, open source and configurable technology services. Findings: It is suggested that whilst cloud computing and SaaS are indeed innovations within ICT, the real innovation will come when such platforms allow new industries, sectors, ways of doing business, connecting with and engaging with people to emerge. Thus looking beyond the technology itself.
Research limitations/applications: Author viewpoint only, not research based. Practical applications: Brings together some of the recent discussions within the popular as well as business and computing press on social networking, open source and utility computing. Social implications: Suggests that cloud computing can potentially transform and change the way in which IS and IT are accessed, consumed, configured and used in daily life. Originality / value of paper: Author viewpoint on a contemporary subject
A General Framework for Complex Network Applications
Complex network theory has been applied to solving practical problems from
different domains. In this paper, we present a general framework for complex
network applications. The keys of a successful application are a thorough
understanding of the real system and a correct mapping of complex network
theory to practical problems in the system. Despite of certain limitations
discussed in this paper, complex network theory provides a foundation on which
to develop powerful tools in analyzing and optimizing large interconnected
systems.Comment: 8 page
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