Use of goal programming and integer programming for water quality management—A case study of Gaza Strip

This paper describes a project dealing with achieving an optimum mix of water from different underground wells, each having different amounts of nitrates and chlorides. The amounts of chlorides and nitrates in each of the wells may be higher or lower than the World Health Organization (WHO) standards. Therefore, the optimum mix would be the one that meets WHO standard which is 250 mg/l for chlorides and 50 mg/l for nitrates. A goal programming model was developed to identify the combination of wells along with the amounts of water from each well that upon mixing would result in minimizing the deviation of the amounts of chlorides and nitrates from the standards set by WHO. The output of the goal programming model along with the coordinates of the wells identified above was then used for a second model that determines the locations of the mixing points “reservoirs” in such a way that minimizes the total

Evaluating and benchmarking non-governmental training programs: an analytic hierarchy approach

This study uses Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) as a multi-criteria decision making technique for evaluating training programs. Critical factors characterizing successful training programs are first identified using interviews with experts along with questionnaires. Once the factors were identified, the hierarchy was constructed and the factors were ranked according to their importance with respect to achieving the overall goal set for training. Results show that, of these critical factors, content and trainer rank the highest, while logistics came last. Then, two existing non-governmental training programs are selected, evaluated, and compared. Moreover, and as requested by one of the administrations of one of the evaluated programs, a benchmarking alternative is derived based on the results of the two training programs. Finally, recommendations are given to each of these programs in particular and training programs in general, for possible areas of improvements based on the strengths and weaknesses of each program as compared to the benchmark

A MULTI-STAKEHOLDER INDUSTRIAL PROJECTS SELECTION: AN ANALYTIC HIERARCHY PROCESS AND ZERO-ONE-GOAL PROGRAMMING APPROACH

This study uses Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Zero-One Goal Programming (ZOGP) to select the most favorable industrial projects from the viewpoints of three stakeholders, namely, govern mental, consultants and academics. Therefore, it is the purpose of this paper to help reach a consensus among the stakeholders for selecting certain projects using weights obtained by AHP as inputs to (ZOGP) model. This is first done by identifying the projects from each individual stakeholder's viewpoint. Further, an aggregate model that simultaneously combines the viewpoints of the three stakeholders is built assuming that the three stakeholders have equal weights. Results show that the aggregate model does strike a balance not only among the conflicting criteria, but more importantly, it strikes a balance among the different stakeholders. Therefore, the aggregate model would make it easier for stakeholders to reach a consensus

Goal Programming for Academic Plans Design

This article describes a project undertaken at the Islamic University in Gaza. The project aims at designing a general academic departmental plan of study using binary goal programming. The design process includes balancing the assignment of courses to semesters. Soft and hard constraints are first identified based on interviews with academic experts. Then, a model that uses multiple criteria programming is built and used to construct the plan of study of the industrial engineering department at the Islamic University in Gaza. To determine the weights of the criteria, the researcher attempted to use Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). However, after interviewing the experts, it was concluded that pre-emptive goal programming is recommended. The model was then solved using LP-Solve software. The resulting plan of study clearly outperforms the manually designed one. A comparison between the newly designed

School furniture match to students' anthropometry in the Gaza Strip

This study aimed at comparing primary school students' anthropometry to the dimensions of school furniture and determining whether the furniture used matches the students' anthropometry. A sample of 600 male students, whose ages were between 6 and 11 years, from five primary schools in the Gaza Strip governorates participated in the study. Several students' body dimensions were measured. The dimensions measured included elbow–seat height, shoulder height, knee height, popliteal height and buttock–popliteal length. Measurements of the dimensions of the classroom furniture indicated that there was a considerable mismatch between the students' body dimensions and the classroom furniture. The mismatches in seat height, seat depth and desk height occurred for 99% of the students, while the mismatch for the back rest height was only 35%. Two design specifications were proposed in order to

Experimental study on the performance of superfinish hard turned surfaces in rolling contact

In this study, specimens of AISI 52100 with hardness of 62-63 Rc were hard turned using different cutting parameters. Surface roughness, residual stress, and micro-hardness were measured. The workpieces were then tested for the rolling contact fatigue life under several maximum Hertzian contact stresses. Results indicate that the choice of the cutting parameters greatly affects the surface integrity aspects of the hard turned parts and consequently, the fatigue life. For the range of experiments performed, it is found that varying the cutting parameters largely changes the fatigue life by a factor up to 40 times. The repeatability of the fatigue life of hard turned workpieces under the same loading is found to be much more consistent than that of ground workpieces

Neural network and multiple linear regression to predict school children dimensions for ergonomic school furniture design

The current study investigates the possibility of obtaining the anthropometric dimensions, critical to school furniture design, without measuring all of them. The study first selects some anthropometric dimensions that are easy to measure. Two methods are then used to check if these easy-to-measure dimensions can predict the dimensions critical to the furniture design. These methods are multiple linear regression and neural networks. Each dimension that is deemed necessary to ergonomically design school furniture is expressed as a function of some other measured anthropometric dimensions. Results show that out of the five dimensions needed for chair design, four can be related to other dimensions that can be measured while children are standing. Therefore, the method suggested here would definitely save time and effort and avoid the difficulty of dealing with students while measuring these dimensions. In

A multi-criteria multi-stakeholder industrial projects prioritization in Gaza Strip

This research presents a decision support methodology for selection decisions in which Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) model is used to prioritize main industries in Gaza Strip not only from the view point of a single stakeholder and a single criteria, but also from that of multiple stakeholders and multiple criteria. Literature review, in addition to experts’ interviews were used to identify the main selection criteria and sub-criteria. These main criteria are economic criteria, financial criteria, marketing, technical, political and social, and environmental criteria. In addition, the alternatives were identified via Palestinian Federation of Industries (PFI). These alternatives are food industries, garment industries, chemical industries, plastic industries, wood industries, metal industries, and construction industries. Results show that different stakeholders choose different alternatives. The aggregate ranking of the industries

Multi-criteria governmental crop planning problem based on an integrated AHP-PROMETHEE approach

The study uses analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and preference ranking organisation method for enrichment evaluations (PROMETHEE) to deal with the crop planning problem as a multi-criteria decision-making problem, for governmental lands in Gaza Strip under two conditions: the normal economy condition and the resistant economy condition. These two conditions are studied from the governmental point of view. The study goal is to rank crops according to some considered criteria. Crops are divided into eight types that include vegetables, fruits, citrus, olives, palms, export crops, field crops and medical and aromatic crops. The developed AHP and PROMETHEE compare crops with respect to seven main criteria, namely; economical, financial, marketing, environmental, technical, political and social criteria. AHP is used to obtain criteria weights to be used as input for PROMETHEE to outrank alternatives. The

Assessment of academic departments efficiency using data envelopment analysis

Purpose: In this age of knowledge economy, universities play an important role in the development of a country. As government subsidies to universities have been decreasing, more efficient use of resources becomes important for university administrators. This study evaluates the relative technical efficiencies of academic departments at the Islamic University in Gaza (IUG) during the years 2004-2006. Design/methodology/approach: This study applies Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to assess the relative technical efficiency of the academic departments. The inputs are operating expenses, credit hours and training resources, while the outputs are number of graduates, promotions and public service activities. The potential improvements and super efficiency are computed for inefficient and efficient departments respectively. Further, multiple linear -regression is used to develop a relationship between super efficiency and input and output variables. Findings: Results show that the average efficiency score is 68.5% and that there are 10 efficient departments out of the 30 studied. It is noted that departments in the faculty of science, engineering and information technology have to greatly reduce their laboratory expenses. The department of economics and finance was found to have the highest super efficiency score among the efficient departments. Finally, it was found that promotions have the greatest contribution to the super efficiency scores while public services activities come next. Research limitations/implications: The paper focuses only on academic departments at a single university. Further, DEA is deterministic in nature. Practical implications: The findings offer insights on the inputs and outputs that significantly contribute to efficiencies so that inefficient departments can focus on these factors. Originality/value: Prior studies have used only one type of DEA (BCC) and they did not explicitly answer the question posed by the inefficient departments "Which of the resources should be given priority so that these inefficient DMUs become efficient?". This study uses both (BCC) and (CCR) in addition to relating efficiencies to input and output variables.Peer Reviewe