Advantages and Disadvantages of Maintenance Outsourcing in Manufacturing Companies: With Special References to Jubail Industrial City – KSA

The research study presents, discusses and offers understanding on outsourcing, the most important benefits (advantages) and potential risks (disadvantages) associated with-in. It emphasizes the outsourcing specialized maintenance activities and its role in business success. In this research, a hypothesis were develop whether the benefits of outsourcing maintenance in manufacturing companies are more than expected risk associated on this. Overall result of the survey ruled out that outsourcing provides more advantage than disadvantage in a manufacturing industry. Manufacturing industry is the major contributor to the Kingdom's economy wherein Jubail is the largest industrial city in the Middle East. This is also the home of Middle East's largest and world's fourth largest petrochemical company. Outsourcing maintenance has been one of the pillars of manufacturing industries in Jubail as become apparent thru the outcome of the study. The research has paved a way for everyone who are engaged in outsourcing maintenance in providing them wise decision making. Managers need to contemplate maintenance outsourcing if it provides potential advantage to their company. Contractor qualification classifications established on the set conditions done by the government is recommended. More studies regarding maintenance outsourcing is needed in the academics as well as in advance forums. The author has successfully developed statistical survey wherein the respondents are professionals, engineers and management of prestigious manufacturing industries in Jubail, It is an impressive feedback that majority of manufacturing industries most likely practice and recommend outsourcing for the maintenance. 84.6% of the overall respondents practice outsourcing in the manufacturing industries and 80.0 % of them is highly recommending outsourcing here in Jubail Industrial City. Likewise, the author recommended future expanded studies interrelated with outsourcing and maintenance. Keywords: Outsourcing, Maintenance, Manufacturing Industries. Jubail Industrial City

Low scale type II seesaw: present constraints and prospects for displaced vertex searches

The type II seesaw mechanism is an attractive way to generate the observed light neutrino masses. It postulates a SU(2)L-triplet scalar field, which develops an induced vacuum expectation value after electroweak symmetry breaking, giving masses to the neutrinos via its couplings to the lepton SU(2)L-doublets. When the components of the triplet field have masses around the electroweak scale, the model features a rich phenomenology. We discuss the currently allowed parameter space of the minimal low scale type II seesaw model, taking into account all relevant constraints, including charged lepton flavour violation as well as collider searches. We point out that the symmetry protected low scale type II seesaw scenario, where an approximate “lepton number”-like symmetry suppresses the Yukawa couplings of the triplet to the lepton doublets, is still largely untested by the current LHC results. In part of this parameter space the triplet components can be long-lived, potentially leading to a characteristic displaced vertex signature where the doubly-charged component decays into same-sign charged leptons. By performing a detailed analysis at the reconstructed level we find that already at the current run of the LHC a discovery would be possible for the considered parameter point, via dedicated searches for displaced vertex signatures. The discovery prospects are further improved at the HL-LHC and the FCC-hh/SppC

An attention-based view of short-termism:The effects of organizational structure

Debates about short-termism in business tend to center around the role of shareholder pressures and managers’ incentives, while the role of organizational structure remains understudied. In our paper, we adopt an attention-based lens to elucidate the role of organizational structure in directing the attention of management towards pressures for short-term results at the expense of the long term. Specifically, we argue that greater scale of operations, hierarchy, bureaucracy, and workforce flexibility reduce slack resources available to senior managers and increase the complexity of information presented to them in different ways. As a result, the senior managers shift their attention to short-term pressures, which are more easily understood, at the expense of attention for long-term considerations. Analysis based on a survey of senior managers in 3221 private firms in the Netherlands provides support for our arguments

Effect of taurine supplementation on hyperhomocysteinemia and markers of oxidative stress in high fructose diet induced insulin resistance

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>High intake of dietary fructose is accused of being responsible for the development of the insulin resistance (IR) syndrome. Concern has arisen because of the realization that fructose, at elevated concentrations, can promote metabolic changes that are potentially deleterious. Among these changes is IR which manifests as a decreased biological response to normal levels of plasma insulin.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT) were carried out, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA) was calculated, homocysteine (Hcy), lipid concentrations and markers of oxidative stress were measured in male <it>Wistar </it>rats weighing 170-190 g. The rats were divided into four groups, kept on either control diet or high fructose diet (HFD), and simultaneously supplemented with 300 mg/kg/day taurine via intra-peritoneal (i.p.) route for 35 days.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Fructose-fed rats showed significantly impaired glucose tolerance, impaired insulin sensitivity, hypertriglyceridemia, hypercholesterolemia, hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy), lower total antioxidant capacity (TAC), lower paraoxonase (PON) activity, and higher nitric oxide metabolites (NOx) concentration, when compared to rats fed on control diet. Supplementing the fructose-fed rats with taurine has ameliorated the rise in HOMA by 56%, triglycerides (TGs) by 22.5%, total cholesterol (T-Chol) by 11%, and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) by 21.4%. Taurine also abolished any significant difference of TAC, PON activity and NOx concentration among treated and control groups. TAC positively correlated with PON in both rats fed on the HFD and those received taurine in addition to the HFD. Fructose-fed rats showed 34.7% increase in Hcy level. Taurine administration failed to prevent the observed HHcy in the current dosage and duration.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results indicate that HFD could induce IR which could further result in metabolic syndrome (MS), and that taurine has a protective role against the metabolic abnormalities induced by this diet model except for HHcy.</p

Hydraulic Model Prediction of the Total Load of Sediment Transport in The Euphrates River at The Upstream Ramadi Barrage

Examining river engineering properties and bed erosion is one of the most challenging but crucial issues in river engineering and sediment hydraulics, so preventing erosion and sedimentation is one of the primary goals of river management and prediction of river behavior. This research aims to give hydraulic engineers and decision-makers an accurate and dependable sediment transport equation that could be utilized to govern river engineering and modify river morphology. This study evaluated the carried sediments and their estimated quantity upstream of the Ramadi Barrage on the Euphrates River in the Anbar area of western Iraq. Six formulas, including Yang, Shen, Hung, Ackers and White, Engelund and Hansen, and Bagnold's and Toffaleti's, were used to evaluate the applicability of sediment transport in the study area. The performance of these models was assessed based on the precision of the actual sediment load relative to a specified deviation ratio. The analyses indicated that the Engelund-Hansen formula is the most applicable for this section of the river; that concludes, field data indicated an annual total sediment flow of roughly 1, 536, 337 tons

Spatial clustering of emergency department visits by asthmatic children in an urban area: south-western Detroit, Michigan

Objective This ecological study evaluates the correlation of asthma clusters with outdoor air pollution, race, and household income in South-western Detroit, Michigan. Design To attain this objective (1) a geographic information aystem (GIS) is utilized to evaluate the relationships between rates of emergency department (ED) admissions for asthma, race, and socio-economic status at the neighborhood block group level of analysis; (2) cluster statistical analyses are performed using Geomed software; and (3) the asthma risk from industrial air pollution was evaluated with windrose data and Screen3 air pollution model. Sample Data from five major hospitals with ED admissions of asthma patients (code 493), aged 0–15 years, are used to select a region of analysis with good geographical representation based on the catchment areas of hospitals in the study. A total of 2067 of the reported cases between 1 January 1993 and 30 June 1998, are successfully geocoded to a map, generating a no-match rate of 8.4%. Data on racial characteristics, population density, and household income levels are obtained from neighborhood block groups in the 1990 census report. Locations of major polluting industries within the study area are obtained from the Toxics Release Inventory. Results Spatial analysis identified a local asthma cluster roughly 2 km east (the predominant downwind direction) of the second and third largest air polluters (in terms of tonnage) in Wayne County. Evaluation of the industrial pollution with a focused cluster test, Screen3 air pollution model, and windrose figures, displayed weak association between ED asthma admissions and estimated levels of outdoor air pollution from these two facilities. The neighborhood block groups in the local asthma cluster are more closely correlated with high proportions of African Americans and low median household income. Implications for practice This study illustrates the strengths and weaknesses of GIS in the public health arena. It highlights the difficulty of disentangling the effects of exposure to outdoor air pollutants and socio-economic factors on ED asthmatics (reflecting asthma severity) among an urban population. This study also illustrates the need for population-based, as opposed to hospital-based, asthma data, and the need for block-groups, as opposed to zip codes, as a spatial unit of analysis in the evaluation and analysis of asthma-related risk factors.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73994/1/j.1467-0658.2001.00143.x.pd

A Quantitative Approach to Estimate the Damage Inflicted by Traffic Pollution on Historic Buildings in Al-Salt City, Jordan

Traffic in the city of Al-Salt is not only putting pedestrians at risk and threatening the health of citizens, it is also damaging the town's historic buildings. Most stone buildings in the heritage-rich city are suffering adverse effects from vehicle-related pollution. This effect is highly visible soiling and discoloration from deposited carbon particles in the form of fine soot on most buildings. The level and progress of the damage depends on the geology of the stone and the proximity of the structure from traffic congestion. The accumulation of soot leads to the buildup of black sulfate (gypsum) skins on the limestone facade which causes the sound stone behind it to disintegrate. It is vital to the well-being of this historic treasure that the volume of the city traffic must be reduced and traffic flow improved. The main objective of this study is to qualitatively and quantitatively assess the damage caused to buildings of historical and cultural value by traffic pollution. Age of vehicles running on city’s streets and the rate of their emissions are quantified and analyzed. Several field investigations and laboratory tests were conducted to identify the chemical relations between pollutants and stone decay on these buildings. Keywords: Traffic pollution, tailpipe emission, vehicular emission, historic buildings, limeston