The Influence of Implementing Quality Management Towards Purchasing Performance and Competitive Advantage Making

This study examined the effect of quality management practices on purchasing performance and competitive advantage. The data were collected through questionnairesconsisting of 152 manufacturing companies in West Java, by using purposive sampling method. The hypotheses were tested by using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM.)The results indicate that quality management practices in purchasing had significant influence on purchasing performance, while quality performance had also significantinfluance on competitive advantage. Another finding was that quality management practices in purchasing had significant influence on the quality performance mediated bypurchasing performance

Naididae (Clitellata : Oligochaeta) and Aeolosomatidae ( Polychaeta : Aphanoneura) Species associated with aquatic plants in Tigris River/ Baghdad / Iraq

339 individuals , were sorted from 22 samples collected from three sites in Tigris River including , Al- Sarafiya district (S1), Al- Jaderiyah district (S2) and Al-Za'afaraniya district (S3), in addition to one site in the irrigation canal of the Al- Jaderiyah campus of the University of Baghdad (S4) , and in Al- Jeish canal(S5) east Baghdad. The sorting results revealed that the highest number of individuals of 102 was recorded at S4, whereas the lowest number of 24 individuals was recorded at S2. Regarding the sites, site S4 was the richest site with 30% of the total number represented 16 species, while each of S3 and S5 had 8 species only with 17.11% and 28.60% of the total individuals number respectively. The values of Jaccared Similarity Index, shows that the highest similarity index of 81% was recorded between S2 & S4.Sorted Naididae worms comprised, 17 species of the subfamily Naidinae with 59% of the total number ,10 species of them are new record to Iraq, and 6 species are new records to Tigris River. Four species of the Subfamily Pristininae were identified, with a percentage of 25% of the total number, two of them are new record to Iraq, while the other two are new records to Tigris River, in addition to two species of Aeolostomatidae (Aphanoneura: Polychaeta), with16% of the total number , both of them are new records to Iraq. Nine genera were recorded , from which Nais was the most abundant genus, followed by genus Pristina. These two genera were found in all study sites. Four species of Chaetogaster were observed including, C. cristallinus; C. diastrophus; C.Limnaei and C. langi, The first two species are new record to Iraq , and they are the most abundant species within the Chaetogaster collections . Uncinais minor, Slavina appendiculata and Allonais inaequalis were three species new record to Iraq. The first species was found in S5 and, second species in S1 , while the third one was found in S1& S5 . Three species of Dero were identified, including, D.dorsalis, D. obtusa and D. digitata, the first two species are new record to Iraq , and the last one is new record to Tigris RiverTwo species of Stylaria were observed including, S. lacustris and S. fossularis. Latter species was new record to Tigris River.Regarding the genus Nais, five species were recorded, including Nais varaibilis; N . comminus; N. simplex; N. paradalis and N. elinguis; The first three species are new record to Iraq, while the last two species are new record to Tigris River.According to subfamily Pristininae, Four species of Pristina were identified, P.aequiseta, P.longiseta , P. Proboscidea , and P. foreli. The first two species were the most abundant species of Pristina . P. foreli is new record to Iraq, while the other three species were new recods to Tigris River.Finally , a number of 55 individuals of genus Aeolosoma were recorded in S5 only, with two species including A. quarternarium and Aeolosoma leidyi , The two species are new record to Iraq.According to above results, it is clear that there were 14 & 8 species new records for Iraq and Tigris River in this investigation respectively

Pristina species (oligochaeta: naididae) in tigris river within baghdad city / Iraq

A total of 72 individuals of genus Pristina were sorted from aquatic plant, Ceratophyllum demersum L., and filamentous algae collected from three sites on Tigris River at Baghdad including: Al-Sarafiya area (S1), Al- Jadiriyah area (S2), and Al- Za´afaraniya area (S3). Four species were identified including P. longiseta, P. aequiseta, P. proboscidea and P. foreli, with percentags of 51.7 , 36.4, 1.1, and 10.5 % respectively. The first two species found in all sites , while , P. proboscidea found only in S1 and P. foreli only in S2

Will cool roofs improve the thermal performance of our built environment? A study assessing roof systems in Bahrain

A number of international campaigns have recently proposed the use of cool roofs worldwide in order to cope with the summer urban heat island (UHI) effect. This work investigates cool roof strategy and examines the potential of such a strategy for Bahrain. Full-scale measurement, meteorological modelling and thermal simulation of five standard roofs were performed during particular summer days due to the high intensity levels of solar irradiation. This work shows that the light tile roof and metal decking are relatively cooler and more comfortable than others and that the maximum reduction in heat gain occurs for a light tile roof with thermal insulation materials. Nevertheless, without insulation the cooling load is increased by only 1.3%. This percentage seems not to be cost-effective where economics and building construction are concerned. In contrast, the reduction percentage due to the use of thermal insulation in the case of dark tile roof, felt bitumen roof and screed roof increases to 5–7%, which is more cost effective. This work concludes that the cool roof strategy is the most cost-effective for the hot climate of Bahrain, which has a long cooling season. With the current levels of urban development in Bahrain, cool roofs can reduce UHI intensity and building cooling loads, lowering demand for electricity and greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. To avoid any negative consequences from using this strategy, however, trade-offs between urban mitigation and adoptation strategies and complementary technologies should be accounted for in future urban development plans

Relation Of Inter Implants / Inter Dental Papillae After Scalloping Of Crest Bone Of The Jaws (New Technique)

Background: The aims of this study is to determine the success of creating an inter implant / inter dental papillae after scalloping the crest of the jaw bones before placement of dental implant and compare this new technique with other techniques for creation of inter dental/inter implant papillae MATERIALS AND METHODS: A fifty five dental implantation were carried out for twenty one patients . Two stage dental implantation technique was done for all the patients .In this new technique scalloping of the bone was carried out before placement of the dental implant . RESULTS: The results of the present study indicates that the scalloping of the crest bone is consider as a best method for creation of inter implant / inter dental papillae and achieving an esthetically satisfying result before placement of the dental implants.. CONCLUSIONS: Scalloping of the crest bone make a good foundations that are essential for maintaining/creating papilla

Tipos de tensiones mecánica y térmica en la primera etapa de la pala del rotor de una turbina

Introduction: In this paper, the simulation of first stage of low pressure turbine for Nasiriya Power Plant was done to study the aerodynamic characteristic of steam along stage at load 70 MW, also the two types of mechanical stresses on the first stage rotor blade were studied in this paper. Materials and Methods:The material of blade was X20Cr13 stainless steel grade 1.4021. The first type of mechanical stresses which due to the steam pressure on the blade was analyzed. The seconds types of mechanical stresses that the centrifugal stresses on the blade. The AutoCAD software code was used for modeling the turbine stage, the dimensions and operational conditions were obtained practically from Nasiriya power plant and ANSYS (15.0) software was used to make simulate the turbine. Results and Discussion: The results showed that maximum steam velocity occurred at trailing edge of stationary blades and leading edge of rotating blades, also the maximum stresses occurred at the leading edge and trailing edge of root blade, the stresses due to the effect of centrifugal force is larger than the stresses due the pressure force. Conclusions: The maximum deformation occurred at tip of blade and minimum deformation depicted at root of blade

Improved Genetic and Simulating Annealing Algorithms to Solve the Traveling Salesman Problem Using Constraint Programming

The Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) is an integer programming problem that falls into the category of NP-Hard problems. As the problem become larger, there is no guarantee that optimal tours will be found within reasonable computation time. Heuristics techniques, like genetic algorithm and simulating annealing, can solve TSP instances with different levels of accuracy. Choosing which algorithm to use in order to get a best solution is still considered as a hard choice. This paper suggests domain reduction as a tool to be combined with any meta-heuristic so that the obtained results will be almost the same. The hybrid approach of combining domain reduction with any meta-heuristic encountered the challenge of choosing an algorithm that matches the TSP instance in order to get the best results

Prevalence of thinness cases and dietary diversity among learners of various education stages in Taif Region, Saudi Arabia

Monitoring nutritional status during infancy, childhood, and adulthood is essential because good quality diet during growth is vital to cover the cognitive and physical demands, supply enough energy stores for illnesses and pregnancy and avoid adult nutrition-associated diseases. Thinness cases and lack of dietary diversity among learners in various education stages are common nutritional problems. A cross-sectional survey was carried out for the assessments of thinness cases and dietary diversity among the learners in various education stages in Taif Region, Saudi Arabia in August, 2020. A total of randomly selected 1602 respondents who fulfilled the exclusion and inclusion criteria (n=364 primary schools, n=410 middle schools, n=321 high schools, and n=507 university students) were examined and efficiently completed the survey. The survey comprised of socio-demographic characteristics, questions about health problems, adequate dietary diversity, habits, food item consumption, and nutritional knowledge test based on the student's theory and behaviors. The prevalence of thinness status among university students was very obvious (22%) and found to be mild followed by moderate (11%) and (0.4%) severely thin. The prevalence of severe thinness was the highest among primary school participants (28%). The prevalence of moderate thinness was reported slightly similar among middle and high school participants (29% and 32%, respectively). The highest prevalence of thinness cases was found in students from rural areas, while the lowest values were observed in those from urban areas. Students from large family size were more likely to be thin as compared to students from small size families. Students whose mothers were illiterate or had low formal education were more likely to be thin compared to those students whose mothers had completed university education or above. Further, 78% of primary school students reported meal skipping due to lack of appetite, while shape maintaining for the meal was accounted for 50% for middle school students as the main reason for the meal skipping. Snacking was also reported to be at a high rate among primary and high school students as 76% and 83% of the students mentioned having snacks, respectively. A higher frequency of light physical exercise was established for primary school pupils (81%), while university students reported (34%) as moderate. Almost all students had a low level of eating cereals, fruits and vegetables, while high schools and university students had a high-level consumption of fruits, animal-based foods and nutritional supplements. High school students had an excellent score 37% for nutrition knowledge. Education stage of learners was found to have direct influence on thinness, dietary diversity and food consumption frequency of the respondents. Consequently, nutritional education may positively affect the whole student's ability for good diet choices in the way to ensure a healthier status. The knowledge of nutrition education combined with physical exercise programmers may contribute to strengthening of the healthy eating messages at the various educationstages