Development of standardised Key Performance Indicators within the dry bulk terminals industry

The primary objective of my research project was to work with five worldwide dry bulk terminals to assist them to adopt and/or extend Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to improve their business performance. The project also explores the case for standardisation of KPIs within the wider Dry Bulk Terminals sector. The project aims to answer a number of business and academic research questions. On the business front, these include: does effectiveness dimension improve performance of KPIs; how does organisational culture affect implementation of KPIs; and what role do stakeholders play in planning and implementation of KPIs? On the academic front, these include: how do management style and organisational culture interact during the change process; what role do information systems play in the planning and implementation of KPIs; to what extent were planned PAR stages followed in practice; and challenges in becoming an insider researcher? In answering above questions, the project uses PAR as a research framework through a single research cycle with multiple stages. Representatives from each organisation actively participated during each stage of the project. Even though I was an outsider to participating organisations, I played a leading role and directly participated during each stage of the project. The project makes a novel contribution in a number of areas. First, it has focused on dry bulk terminals rather than ports in general, therefore bringing forward the important role of this industry sector as well as addressing a gap existed in this area in previous research. Secondly, it has introduced the effectiveness dimension into the planning and implementation of KPIs in addition to the efficiency in order to bring in key stakeholders’ expectations and views into the picture. Thirdly, if focussed on dry bulk terminals which are significantly more complex and diverse in nature in comparison with container terminals where the majority of previous research concentrated. Fourthly, the project examined a large number of areas where performance KPIs are utilised, led by the participants rather than by a limited or predetermined set of KPIs primarily driven by efficiency parameters. Finally, the project worked with multiple categories stakeholders, driven by the participating terminals rather than limiting those to two or three traditionally recognised stakeholder categories. As a result of adding an effectiveness dimension to performance KPIs, the project made a positive impact at participating terminals in areas such as competitiveness, stakeholder relationships, business continuity and performance. Participating terminals made effective use of elements of their organisational culture and adjusted their management style during the project to ensure success. Stakeholders played a pivotal role in the success of the project by actively participating in it. Information systems played an important role in the implementation of KPIs in coordination with the organisational culture in each participating organisation. The level of standardisation of KPIs in participating terminals was high and this in turn provided a positive platform to explore options for wider standardisation within the industry sector

Quality characteristics and phenolic compounds of European pear cultivars

Background: Pear fruits are an important source of plant secondary metabolites and one of the major sources of dietary phenolic compounds.Materials and Methods: The aim of this study was to determine the individual phenolic compounds and some quality characteristics of the flesh and peel of the fruit in four pear cultivars. The phenolic  composition of these pear cultivars was determined by high performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection (HPLC-DAD).Results: The fruit flesh firmness ranged from 35.2 to 85.8 N in the pear cultivars. The soluble solids content was higher in the flesh, while titrate-able acidity, vitamin C, individual phenolic compounds and total phenolics were generally higher in the peel. Arbutin, chlorogenic acid and epicatechin were detected as major phenolic compounds in the peel and flesh of pear fruits. Arbutin, chlorogenic acid and epicatechin of the flesh and peel ranged from 834.8 to 937.9 mg kg-1; from 332.1 to 460.7 mg kg-1; and from 77.2 to 104.0 mg kg-1 for ‘Seckel’ pear fruits, respectively. The highest total phenolics were found to be in the peel and flesh of the ‘Flemish Beauty’ pear fruits.Conclusion: Because of the higher level of antioxidant components in the peel of pear fruits (all phenolic compounds and vitamin C) consumption of unpeeled pears, after proper washing, is recommended to maximize the dietary benefit.Key words: Arbutin, Chlorogenic acid, Flesh and Peel, HPLC, Pear cultivars, Vitamin

Microwave-induced nonequilibrium temperature in a suspended carbon nanotube

Antenna-coupled suspended single carbon nanotubes exposed to 108 GHz microwave radiation are shown to be selectively heated with respect to their metal contacts. This leads to an increase in the conductance as well as to the development of a power-dependent DC voltage. The increased conductance stems from the temperature dependence of tunneling into a one-dimensional electron system. The DC voltage is interpreted as a thermovoltage, due to the increased temperature of the electron liquid compared to the equilibrium temperature in the leads

Single Tree Vegetation Depth Estimation Tool for Satellite Services Link Design

Attenuation caused by tree shadowing is an important factor for describing the propagation channel of satellite services. Thus, vegetation effects should be determined by experimental studies or empirical formulations. In this study, tree types in the Black Sea Region of Turkey are classified based on their geometrical shapes into four groups such as conic, ellipsoid, spherical and hemispherical. The variations of the vegetation depth according to different tree shapes are calculated with ray tracing method. It is showed that different geometrical shapes have different vegetation depths even if they have same foliage volume for different elevation angles. The proposed method is validated with the related literature in terms of average single tree attenuation. On the other hand, due to decrease system requirements (speed, memory usage etc.) of ray tracing method, an artificial neural network is proposed as an alternative. A graphical user interface is created for the above processes in MATLAB environment named vegetation depth estimation tool (VdET)

Homozygosity at variant MLH1 can lead to secondary mutation in NF1, neurofibromatosis type I and early onset leukemia

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Heterozygous germ-line variants of DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes predispose individuals to hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer. Several independent reports have shown that individuals constitutionally homozygous for MMR allelic variants develop early onset hematological malignancies often associated to features of neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) syndrome. The genetic mechanism of NF1 associated to MMR gene deficiency is not fully known. We report here that a child with this form of NF1 displays a heterozygous NF1 gene mutation (c.3721C > T), in addition to a homozygous MLH1 gene mutation (c.676C > T) leading to a truncated MLH1 protein (p.R226X). The parents did not display NF1 features nor the NF1 mutation. This new NF1 gene mutation is recurrent and predicts a truncated neurofibromin (p.R1241X) lacking its GTPase activating function, as well as all C-terminally located functional domains. Our findings suggest that NF1 disease observed in individuals homozygous for deleterious MMR variants may be due to a concomitant NF1 gene mutation. The presence of both homozygous MLH1 and heterozygous NF1 mutation in the child studied here also provides a mechanistic explanation for early onset malignancies that are observed in affected individuals. It also provides a model for cooperation between genetic alterations in human carcinogenesis. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Misconceptions of science teacher candidates about heat and temperature

3rd World Conference on Educational Sciences (WCES) -- FEB 03-07, 2011 -- Bahcesehir Univ, Istanbul, TURKEYWOS: 000466750602149In this study, the misconceptions that the students have about heat and temperature and the reasons behind it have been focused. Members of study group include 60 second grade students of the Faculty of Education of Ahi Evran University during 2009-2010 school year. Multiple-choice tests have been used to be able find out misconceptions. In this test, also entitled as "Diagnostic Test", there is a space where students are expected to write why they have chosen that particular option after a number of items including the right answer along with confounding options. In addition, the misconceptions of teacher candidates have been put forth as an outcome of the analysis of data about heat and temperature. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.Ankara Univ, Near E Uni

MOCVD growth and optical properties of non-polar (11-20) a-plane GaN on (10-12) r-plane sapphire substrate

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Non-polar a-plane GaN film with crystalline quality and anisotropy improvement is grown by use of high temperature AlN/AlGaN buffer, which is directly deposited on r-plane sapphire by pulse flows. Compared to the a-plane GaN grown on AIN buffer, X-ray rocking curve analysis reveals a remarkable reduction in the full width at half maximum, both on-axis and off-axis. Atomic force microscopy image exhibits a fully coalesced pit-free surface morphology with low root-mean-square roughness (similar to 1.5 nm). Photoluminescence is carried out on the a-plane GaN grown on r-plane sapphire. It is found that, at low temperature, the dominant emission at similar to 3.42 eV is composed of two separate peaks with different characteristics, which provide explanations for the controversial attributions of this peak in previous studies. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Multi-slice ptychography with large numerical aperture multilayer Laue lenses

The highly convergent x-ray beam focused by multilayer Laue lenses with large numerical apertures is used as a three-dimensional (3D) probe to image layered structures with an axial separation larger than the depth of focus. Instead of collecting weakly scattered high-spatial-frequency signals, the depth-resolving power is provided purely by the intense central cone diverged from the focused beam. Using the multi-slice ptychography method combined with the on-the-fly scan scheme, two layers of nanoparticles separated by 10 μm are successfully reconstructed with 8.1 nm lateral resolution and with a dwell time as low as 0.05 s per scan point. This approach obtains high-resolution images with extended depth of field, which paves the way for multi-slice ptychography as a high throughput technique for high-resolution 3D imaging of thick samples