Going Green: Carving a Niche in a Global Market

Companies that do well are described in accounting terms as being “in the black”. This is the accounting term for being profitable. The “black” shows up in the bottom line of the financial statement. Business practices that simultaneously benefit the business, society, and the environment help a firm become more sustainable. The triple bottom line refers to the economic, environmental, and social impacts of an organization. Here the company reaches out to its stakeholders rather than shareholders. However, the triple bottom line approach does not negate the drive for profits, it just does so in the context of also considering people and the planet. Consumers have higher expectations than ever of the companies they buy from, and this is impacting the brands they choose. The paper looks at the sustainability practices of seven companies from different industries

A Framework for the Implementation of an ISO 9000 Based Certification Program for Printed Circuit Board Manufacturers

ISO 9000:2000 is the newest version of the ISO 9000 family of standards. Unlike the 1994 version, it does not distinguish between servicing, testing and designing standards. It emphasizes quality improvement rather than quality control and briefly explains how to implement the Plan-Do-Check- Act (PDCA) cycle for improvement and the use of statistical techniques to improve the quality of process and product instead of controlling the quality of the output. The thesis explains why companies need to be certified and how to implement quality improvement programs. The objective of this thesis is to provide generic certification guidelines for printed circuit board manufacturers, based on ISO 9000:2000 standard. This standardized framework could assist companies in achieving ISO 9000 certification. Since every manufacturer has its own proprietary set of controls on their processes, these generic guidelines provide an opportunity for the user to plug in their own information and to write their own processes. Another objective of this thesis is to introduce a methodology for the implementation of the various methods and tools that can be applied for process improvement in printed circuit boards manufacturing

Prevalence of Potential Zoonotic Enteric Bacterial Pathogens in Dogs and Cats and Factors Associated with Potential Transmission Between Animals and Humans

With the discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), concerns about dangers of pet ownership have increased. Zoonotic organisms associated with cats and dogs, may cause life-threatening infections in immuosuppressed human beings. The objectives of this project were to determine the prevalence of potential zoonotic enteric pathogens (Salmonella, Listeria, and Campylobacter) in feces of dogs and cats (diarrheic, healthy, and hospitalized), to evaluate the association of diarrhea in dogs and cats with diarrhea in human beings sharing the same household, and to evaluate the antimicrobial susceptibility of Salmonella, Listeria, and E.coli to 18 antimicrobials of human and veterinary importance. Methods of bacterial isolation and identification followed conventional FDA BAM protocols (Bacteriological Analytical Manual). Bacterial isolates were tested for their susceptibility using the disk diffusion assay in accordance with NCCLS guidelines. Owners of pets with diarrhea participating in the study were interviewed using a phone questionnaire that focused on identifying association of diarrhea in human beings living in the same household with affected pets. Salmonella and Campylobacter spp. were isolated from 1 each of 95 dogs having acute or chronic diarrhea (1.1%). Listeria species was isolated from 12 of 353 (3.4%) total dogs and cats. Generic E.coli was isolated from feces in 70.8% of all dogs and cats sampled (250 of 353). E.coli isolated from healthy dogs and cats showed the highest resistance rate to the antibiotics followed by diarrheic dogs and cats. Most E.coli isolates (79.7%) were multidrug resistant (MDR). Imipenem was the only antibiotic which none of the E.coli isolates were resistant to. Listeria spp. isolated from dogs were most resistant to nalidixic acid (88.9%) followed by cefoxitin (77.8%). The low incidence of enteric pathogens in dogs and cats having acute or chronic diarrhea shows that the risk is low for transmission to human beings. However, individuals who are immunocompromised should have animals with acute or chronic diarrhea checked by a veterinarian. High prevalence of MDR bacteria is a serious problem and the search for alternative therapeutic compounds is needed especially for the immunocompromised, infants and elderly people

Exploring the influence of national culture on performance management systems.

Globalisation has resulted in the increase of internationalisation for large and small organisations alike. Since Performance Management Systems (PMS) are vitally used by top management to make them aware of their attainment of the planned organisational goals, their use has become widespread in most companies (Speckbacher et al., 2003). At the same time, the expansion of organisations outside their birthplaces has compelled top managers to use their home developed Performance Management Systems in different cultures. Each national culture has its unique combination of National Culture dimensions, which had originally emerged from the anthropology field (Nardon & Steers, 2009, House et al., 2004). This phenomenon prompted scholars to call for the investigation of the impact of national culture on performance management systems (Otley, 2003). Therefore, the aim of the study is to investigate the impact of national culture on the design and use of Performance Management Systems. The researcher first reviewed published literature in performance measurement and management control systems, but found it to be scarce and fragmented; an inductive case study design was employed to collect data from four diverse national cultures to bridge the knowledge gap. Four national cultures were tested: China, Italy, Qatar and the UK. The researcher used Hofstede’s (1980) framework of national culture to map the relationship between the design and use of Performance Management System in different national cultures. The research findings confirmed that national culture dimensions of Power Distance (PD) and Uncertainty Avoidance (UA) impact the design and use of Performance Management Systems individually or combined. PD dimension influence starting a balanced PMS, the degree of collaboration in Performance Management Systems’ design, the intended aim of Performance Management Systems’ implementation, type of performance measures employed, Performance Management Systems’ adoption and the frequency of Performance Management Systems’ use. While UA dimension influences information accessibility and collaboration patterns in PMS use. The research also identified different moderators that affect the action of national culture dimensions such as leaders’ age, and education and innovation based goods

Levels of acetic and lactic acid in RTE meat and poultry products and their association with occurrence of Listeria monocytogenes at retail

The purposes of this study were (1) to quantify the levels of acetic, and lactic acid occurring in approximately 1800 retail ready-to-eat (RTE) processed deli meat and poultry products to determine the impact of current antimicrobial lethality treatments on occurrence of Listeria monocytogenes (LM) at retail, (2) to determine if the intrinsic levels of lactic acid (LA) produced by lactic acid bacteria (LAB) of the processed RTE meat or poultry affect the extrinsic levels of lactic acid added in RTE meat and poultry products, and (3) to evaluate 2%LA for its effect as a post-lethality treatment on the survival of LM on RTE meat and poultry products. Samples were randomly selected and acetic and lactic acids were extracted and analyzed by ion exclusion HPLC. Amount of LA extracted from the samples did not change with increased LAB counts (P\u3e 0.05) and with storage time of six weeks (P\u3e0.05).Thus, the age of the processed RTE meat or poultry did not affect the levels of lactic acid present in RTE meat and poultry products in six weeks at 4 C. The effect of 2%LA as a post lethality treatment on LM count differed according to meat type and time of storage. However, greater than a 1 log CFU/g reduction was achieved with frankfurters, bologna, and ham after application of 2%LA . Mean concentrations of acetic acid and lactic acid in samples varied by product type and by different manufacturers and ranged from 0.51 to 5.7 m/g (0.051 - 0.57%), and 12.88 to 23.03 m/g (1.28% -2.3%). Concentrations of acetic and lactic acids varied among manufacturers (p\u3c0.0001) and within products produced by the same manufacturer. Higher levels of AA and LA in RTE meat and poultry products were associated (p\u3c0.01) with lower occurrence of LM.Thus, addition of acetates and lactates as antimicrobials is helpful in formulations as a part of an overall listeria control program for processed meat and poultry products; however, even high levels of LA and AA may not prevent contamination of RTE meat and poultry with LM, particularly with post-process contamination

Global Prediction of Wind Energy Market Strategy for Electricity Generation

Global warming and increasing electricity consumption trends in many parts of the world pose a serious challenge to most countries from a climate change and energy security perspective. Wind power is the only one that offers a mature technique, as well as promising commercial prospects, and is now generally applied in large-scale electricity generation. Continued technological improvements will assist to boost the on-shore and off-shore wind farms’ ability by improving micro turbine, enhancing reliability with predictive maintenance models. At the same time, as global and regional markets for wind power technologies grow, economies of scale are being reaped in manufacturing. With increased market scale, opportunities to improve the efficiency of supply chains arise. Technological improvements and cost reductions have led wind energy to become one of the most competitive options for new generation capacity. Wind energy still has significant potential for cost reduction. Indeed, by 2025, the global weighted average levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of onshore and offshore wind could see declines of 26 and 35%, respectively. This chapter aims to provide an overview of the world wind energy market, current and forecasting development globally of wind energy, and LCOE historical growth Ffor wind energy

A Surrogate Measure Of Customer Satisfaction In The Manufacture Of Printed Wiring Boards

The objective of this research is to determine and develop a model that is capable of accurately measuring customer satisfaction for different industries and in particularly for the Printed Wiring Boards (PWB) Manufacturers. The new model will incorporate data not being collected or utilized by the survey method of determining customer satisfaction. The method used is a weighted average of satisfaction among several researched categories with percentages that accurately represent the relative importance of multiple facets of the PWB manufacturers customer satisfaction. A very common term in quality assurance is that What is not measured accurately can not be evaluated or managed correctly, thus customer satisfaction is a very important aspect of any business, industry, or government. A satisfied customer will do more business and recommend it to other potential customers. Thus the business will grow and more revenues result. On the other hand, an unsatisfied customer will abandon the business and encourage more customers not to get involved with the same business so the business may decline and lose its market share and profitability. The categories that contribute to PWB customer satisfaction will be determined by conducting surveys among the leaders and best in the business of the PWB industry in addition to discovery of related articles that define the categories of the customer satisfaction for the PWB manufacturers. Once the categories are determined, the research concentrates on the weighting of the categories that most contribute to the PWB customer\u27s satisfaction and a measure of satisfaction is derived. The model is easily applied to any other kind of PWB business or service industry. The model is based on empirical methods that will give an accurate measurement for the PWB customer\u27s satisfaction. This in turn allows organizations the opportunity for improving customer satisfaction and increasing market share. The algorithm is based on characteristics deemed important by customers. Thus the customer satisfaction index can be computed and monitored on a regular basis without costly surveys. The major difference between this new model and the standard methods of determining customer satisfaction using the surveys is that this model will utilize data available with the proposals, sales, shipping, receiving, quality, engineering, manufacturing, and purchasing departments. The developed method to measure customer satisfaction utilizing internal data can be more cost effective, more accurate, can provide individual customer satisfaction scores, can measure whether or not these individual scores are statistically lower than the majority, and can provide satisfaction measures in real time none of which can be supplied by the survey method

Guilty By Association: The Boycotting Of Danish Products In The Middle East

We present a business situation encountered by several multinational corporations as they faced social boycotts of their products in countries where the policies of their home country’s government were unpopular.  The case examines the issues surrounding the boycott of Danish products following the publication of cartoons depicting the likeness of Prophet Muhammad in what was interpreted as blasphemous by Muslim consumers.

Improving Printability of Silk and Polyamide Substrates with Madder Nano-Sized Particles

The possibility of using madder nanoscaled particles, as a natural dye for printing silk and polyamide 6 fabrics, has been investigated. The dried plant is both milled and exposed to ultrasound waves (for a specific period of time), incorporated with urea in the printing paste at an acidic pH value, printed on the pretreated fabrics and eventually the prints are steamed and washed off. The influence of several parameters and measurements affecting K/S values as well as fastness levels of the prints are studied in detail i.e. mordant and urea concentrations, printing paste pH, SEM, TEM and FT-IR analysis and fastness properties. Results show that, printing using nano-scaled particles of the natural dye greatly enhances both: K/S values and fastness levels of the prints. SEM, FT-IR and UV visible spectroscopes are employed to show particle changes after milling as well as sonication

Economic Future of Concentrating Solar Power for Electricity Generation

Worldwide, the climate change is a major universal concern. CO2 is the main cause of international warming, and at least 85% emission results of CO2 came from conventional energy depleted sources (oil, natural gas and coal) for energy generation. Hence, renewable energy has been the focal point of most regulations of governments to aim at greenhouse gas reduced. In Egypt, greenhouse gas emissions from rural activities amount to some 25% of national greenhouse gas emissions, amounting to approximately 27 million t CO2 equivalent annually. Moreover, these emissions are supposed to increase rapidly in the coming decades, more than doubling in the next 15 years, as rural populations grow and activities become increasingly energy intensive. The Mediterranean region embraces Europe, North Africa and Middle East and has enormous potential in solar energy. It has abundant solar radiation, cheap land and high electricity demand, which could make this region the universal hub for concentrating solar power (CSP) generation. This chapter discusses the Egypt market potential of CSP. The chapter covers recent CSP trends and discusses in detail the CSP market development. The chapter aims to obtain the data sources to compare the CSP and levelized electricity cost. Enas Shouman presents a strategy for CSP plant market entrance in Egypt and a comparison between the electricity cost for Egypt model case and the cost evolution of CSP plants on the basis of expectations for the expansion as an international level. This chapter proposes a concept strategy for management CSP in Egypt. The chapter included two applied parts. The first part is to calculate the generating electricity cost from conventional power sources and its expansion in the future. Then, the second part will be followed by identifying the CSP cost and its growth in the future