An optimization of on-line monitoring of simple linear and polynomial quality functions

This research aims to introduce a number of contributions for enhancing the statistical performance of some of Phase II linear and polynomial profile monitoring techniques. For linear profiles the idea of variable sampling size (VSS) and variable sampling interval (VSI) have been extended from multivariate control charts to the profile monitoring framework to enhance the power of the traditional T^2 chart in detecting shifts in linear quality models. Finding the optimal settings of the proposed schemes has been formulated as an optimization problem solved by using a Genetic Approach (GA). Here the average time to signal (ATS) and the average run length (ARL) are regarded as the objective functions, and ATS and ARL approximations, based on Markov Chain Principals, are extended and modified to capture the special structure of the profile monitoring. Furthermore,the performances of the proposed control schemes are compared with their fixed sampling counterparts for different shift levels in the parameters. The extensive comparison studies reveal the potentials of the proposed schemes in enhancing the performance of T^2 control chart when a process yields a simple linear profile. For polynomial profiles, where the linear regression model is not sufficient, the relationship between the parameters of the original and orthogonal polynomial quality profiles is considered and utilized to enhance the power of the orthogonal polynomial method (EWMA4). The problem of finding the optimal set of explanatory variable minimizing the average run length is described by a mathematical model and solved using the Genetic Approach. In the case that the shift in the second or the third parameter is the only shift of interest, the simulation results show a significant reduction in the mean of the run length distribution of the EWMA4 technique

Disaster management in industrial areas: Perspectives, challenges and future research

Purpose: In most countries, development, growth, and sustenance of industrial facilities are given utmost importance due to the influence in the socio-economic development of the country. Therefore, special economic zones, or industrial areas or industrial cities are developed in order to provide the required services for the sustained operation of such facilities. Such facilities not only provide a prolonged economic support to the country but it also helps in the societal aspects as well by providing livelihood to thousands of people. Therefore, any disaster in any of the facilities in the industrial area will have a significant impact on the population, facilities, the economy, and threatens the sustainability of the operations. This paper provides review of such literature that focus on theory and practice of disaster management in industrial cities. Design/methodology/approach: In the paper, content analysis method is used in order to elicit the insights of the literature available. The methodology uses search methods, literature segregation and developing the current knowledge on different phases of industrial disaster management. Findings: It is found that the research is done in all phases of disaster management, namely, preventive phase, reactive phase and corrective phase. The research in each of these areas are focused on four main aspects, which are facilities, resources, support systems and modeling. Nevertheless, the research in the industrial cities is insignificant. Moreover, the modeling part does not explicitly consider the nature of industrial cities, where many of the chemical and chemical processing can be highly flammable thus creating a very large disaster impact. Some research is focused at an individual plant and scaled up to the industrial cities. The modeling part is weak in terms of comprehensively analyzing and assisting disaster management in the industrial cities. Originality/value: The comprehensive review using content analysis on disaster management is presented here. The review helps the researchers to understand the gap in the literature in order to extend further research for disaster management in large scale industrial cities.Scopu

Perspectives on the capabilities for the selection of strategic projects

Strategic projects are large scale, complex, and require significant investments and resources. These projects aim at gaining long-term social and economic benefits. Therefore, organizations focusing on strategic projects should use a consistent approach that suits their strategy, capability, and long-term expectations. Based on the four research questions and content analysis of the literature, generic processes used for the strategic project selection in tandem with the managerial capabilities are identified in this paper. The generic processes and managerial capabilities are used to develop a generic framework for strategic project selection. The framework is used for literature analysis in the paper. The review shows that both qualitative and quantitative methods are used for strategic project selection. Some possible research directions have also been proposed at the end of the review. The paper provides value to both researchers and practitioners in terms of tools available and a guidance on project selection through a structured process framework. 2020 by the authors.Scopus2-s2.0-8509254534

Effect of corrosion on mechanical properties of the joining of materials

The effect of corrosion behavior in critical environmental conditions on the mechanical properties of composite/metal materials joints was investigated by immersing metalic materials into 5wt% hydrochloric acid solutions. The current study was carried out on a single lab joint with a total thickness of 4mm; thus, a destructive test was undertaken to investigate the corrosion behavior induced degradation of mechanical properties followed by Scanning electron microscope analysis (SEM). The joined specimens were examined under both non-corrosive and corrosive environmental conditions. Moreover, the Taguchi analysis of experimental data for maximizing the required output is carried out to validate the impact and significance of input factors. Experimental results have shown that the weight losses of the mild steel and aluminum materials are 7.45% and 16.7%, respectively, in 5% wt hydrochloric acid after three weeks. The corrosive environment affected the strength of the joints and obtained an early failure on the joint region that leads to a reduction on the strength of the materials by almost 15% compared to the non-corroded joint. The joining of non-corroded similar steel obtained the highest maximum stress among all other specimens, where the maximum recorded stress was 140.5MPa as compared to 125MPa for corroded specimen. Furthermore, the mode of failure and hardness tests were obtained and analyzed for all specimens. A significant reduction in the hardness of the materials after exposure to the HCl acid was observed

A Frontier Based Eco-Efficiency Assessment of Electric Vehicles: The Case of European Union Countries Using Mixed and Renewable Sources of Energy

Electric vehicles (EVs) are seen as a promising solution for creating more efficient and sustainable transportation systems. European Union (EU) members show a strong interest in implementing EVs, and the governments support the concept by offering facilities to the buyers. Although electric vehicles can be operated with nonpolluting fuels, such as natural gas, fuel cells are more efficient. Creating electricity can affect the environment and the economy. Three environmental features (consumption of water, GHG emissions, and energy consumption, plus GDP's contribution to EU gross domestic product) were analyzed for 28 EU member states to measure electric vehicle efficiency. In one of the DEA models, an input-oriented method was employed to compute the efficiency scores. The k-means clustering algorithm defined the high, medium, and low-efficiency groups. Even more so, the total efficiency scores in this study show that using solar energy outperforms mixed-source energy sources was found to be more efficient

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

The impact of the corrosive environment on the quality of metal joining process

Owing to the main attention as regards the metal joining in the automotive industries, many studies have been conducted to achieve this problem by joining metals materials that can provide high efficiency at minimum cost. However, one of the main factors to be considered is the metal corrosion when exposed to a corrosive environment. Consequently, this paper examines the effect of corrosion on the degradation of mechanical properties on the metal sheets joined by the seaming technique. The effect of corrosion on the joining strength was examined by immersing specimens in nitric acid solution. The tensile experiment was conducted under three different conditions. As supplied specimens, specimens were corroded before the joining process, and specimens were corroded after the joining process. The results showed that deterioration of corrosion affects the efficiency of the joints, causing early failure of the mechanical joint on specimens that were joined before exposure to a corrosive environment. Furthermore, it was observed that the effect of corrosion degradation on the sheet metal that corroded before the assembly process has excellent durability properties compared to the sheet metal, which exposed to the corrosive environment after assembly.This paper was made possible by internal grant No. QUSD-CENG-2018\2019-5 from Qatar University fund. The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors

A Framework for Prioritization and Selection of Strategic Projects

Strategic projects are critical for the sustenance of an organization; however, they are subject to different types of constraints in terms of risk, management capabilities, resources, and political and cultural factors. Therefore, prioritizing and selecting these projects becomes a challenging task in each organization that focuses on multiple strategic projects spanning different sectors or industries. This article proposes a framework for analyzing strategic projects to rank heterogeneous projects across industries. The framework uses a multiple-criteria decision analysis model to prioritize strategic projects based on a set of criteria. The criteria were developed through clustering the relevant factors. Projects are first weighted with the criteria importance through intercriteria correlation method and then ranked using the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution method. Vector weighting is then applied to rank the projects. The framework is demonstrated by its application to Qatar's real estate and transportation projects. This article contributes by providing a holistic framework and analytical methodologies to support decision-making for selecting one or more types of cross-industry strategic projects. Results show that the cross-industry project ranking obtained from the model is highly correlated with the ranks assigned by experts. The applicability of the model and the future research direction are also discussed. IEEEScopus2-s2.0-8513367494

Investigating Determinants of Student Satisfaction in the First Year of College in a Public University in the State of Qatar

Purpose. A first-year student’s life is a web of interrelated academic and social experiences. Most universities have rigorous processes to achieve excellence or reach high-quality standards, with “Student Satisfaction” being the central focus of all of higher education aims for excellence. This study examined the influence of various academic, social, and environmental aspects on the overall satisfaction of first-year students. Design. A questionnaire was designed and administered to first-year students, and the resulting data were analyzed using correlation, linear regression, binary logistic regression, and artificial neural networks. Findings. The findings suggested that three of the five factors explored—100-level course satisfaction, a sense of belonging, and citizenship knowledge and skills—were the best determinants of the level of first-year student satisfaction. Originality. This study examined the influence of academic, social, and environmental factors on overall student satisfaction with the college experience. Many studies have focused on how factors such as student attitudes, perceptions, and academic and social engagements impact first-year student success and retention; however, few studies have attempted to explore the influence these factors have on student satisfaction and their overall perceptions of the college experience. Discussion and Conclusion. This study has provided a snapshot of some of the key determinants of the overall student satisfaction of the first-year experience. This study can assist college administrators and instructors in their quality assurance initiatives which may include reviewing the current system, setting college priorities, and planning and allocation of future resources to better achieve higher levels of student satisfaction

Business Process Re-Engineering: A Literature Review-Based Analysis of Implementation Measures

Business process re-engineering (BPR) is an approach to improving organizational performance. It evolved mostly within the private sector to maintain a successful business model despite increasing global competition. BPR presents a fundamental improvement in the essential organizational design. This paper investigates recent studies of BPR and identifies the success factors of BPR projects and their connection to the human–technology–organization (HTO) framework. By examining the relevant literature, we study various factors and their effects on the implementation of BPR and how these factors can affect process performance, successfully or otherwise. The aim is to study the literature to determine the success factors and challenges for BPR in the HTO framework. The article concludes by emphasizing the factors that will help to allow BPR to be implemented with a wider use in different sectors