LEAN MANUFACTURING - AN INTEGRATED SOCIO-TECHNICAL SYSTEMS APPROACH TO WORK DESIGN

Over the years, the manufacturing industry has witnessed a number of work design practices, based on different principles, which have significantly shaped the nature of work and have affected employees\u27 behavior and performance. This study compares the socio-technical systems (STS) principles and lean production (LP) principles in to explore the potential for synergistic integration between the two. They are categorized according to the common overarching goals of these principles, and through a process of theoretical rationalization, these categories are operationalized into the work design practices of middle management support, social practices usage, and technical practices usage. A model of work design is proposed to test the relationships between these work practices and to understand their effect on employees\u27 quality of work life and performance. The effect of task interdependence is also examined since teams are the basic unit of analysis in STS and LP approaches to work design. This model is tested with a cross-sectional survey research in which team leaders in manufacturing plants in the United States were the key respondents. Statistical analyses of survey data yielded three key findings. Middle management support has a positive direct and indirect effect on improved employee performance, a positive direct effect on social practices usage, and a positive indirect effect on technical practices usage and on employees\u27 quality of work life. Social practices usage has a total positive direct effect on technical practices usage, and a positive indirect effect on employees\u27 quality of work life and their performance. Technical practices usage has a direct effect on both quality of work life and employee performance. This study provides empirical support for the definition of lean production posited by Shah and Ward (2007). Results indicate that middle management is crucial for the implementation and sustainability of a lean system because it offers the support necessary for the usage of social and technical practices. Applications for manufacturing organizations and suggestions for future research are presented

The Impact of Marketing, Commercial, Social, Economic, Environmental and Statutory Factors on Customers Pre-Purchase and Post-Purchase Behaviors "The Case of Bottled Water Consumption in the Govern ate of Ma'an, Jordan"

There is an increasing trend in the consumption of bottled water as alternative to ordinary municipality tap water. Fear of contamination, health risks, quality, and product attributes of bottled water, change in live styles or ways of life, marketing strategies, urbanization and improved standards of living are among the diverse factors that may explain such tendency. Increase in bottled water consumption has boosted the bottled water industry and marketing tends show very promising perspectives for the future. Hence, the purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of marketing, commercial, social, economic, environmental and statutory factors on customers' pre-purchase and post-purchase behaviors "The Case of Bottled Water Consumption in the Govern ate of Ma'an, Jordan". The study is based on a set of null hypotheses that hypnotizes no significance impact of marketing, commercial, social, economic, environmental and statutory factors on customers' pre-purchase and post-purchase behaviors. A quantitative approach is used and relevant data was collected through structured questionnaire. Subjects for the study consisted of 500 people out of total target population of 144082. 500 structured questionnaires were distributed to residents in the govern ate of Ma'an, Jordan, 445 questionnaires were returned and only 400 were suitable for statistical analysis. SPSS version 16 was used to for data analysis. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis.  Statistical tools were aligned with objective of the research. For this purpose, frequency tables, percentages, means and standard deviations were computed and then substantively interpreted. Inferential statistics like Pearson product moment correlation coefficient (r) and linear regression were used to determine if there is a significant positive relationship existed between the independent variables (marketing, commercial, social, economic, environmental and statutory) and dependent variables (customers' pre-purchase and post-purchase behaviors). The findings indicate that marketing, commercial, social, economic, environmental and statutory factors were found to be positively correlated and claimed statistically significant relationship with customers' pre-purchase and post-purchase behaviors. Analysis and interpretations made at 0.05 level of significance. The study concluded that beverages companies should concentrate on all product attributes to gain competitive advantages and at the same time satisfy their customers. Keywords: Marketing, commercial, social, economic, environmental statutory, factors, Customers, pre

Ecology in Lakshmi Saravanakumar's novel ‘Kanagan’

The primary cause of deforestation is Man and also, he is the first to suffer from deforestation. The study is set to illustrate this under the title ‘Ecology in the Kanagan novel’. The novel sets out to explain who is responsible for deforestation and why they are doing it. The destruction of elephants at the instigation of big bosses also highlights the irresponsibility of forest officials who do not see them. The novel also reveals that the hill people, ‘Pali’, are being blamed for the ongoing deforestation and killing of elephants for their selfish ends. Along with these, the medical team that visits from time to time in the name of medical help can find out about the rare herbaceous plants in the forest, which are known to steal vines and eventually become extinct. The novel depicts the opposition of the hill people to this disgrace and sets out to bring about social change which is caused as a consequence of that. This article explains the role that elephants play in augmenting forest resources and the benefits they bring to wildlife. It also suggests that elephants have evolved into tools that work for humans during the twentieth century. Laws enacted by the government to protect wild elephants are being scrutinized in this review article. The tigers are threatened as an endangered species, revealing the steps taken by the government to protect the tigers. The study also says that the people have to protect the forests and the rare species of elephants and tigers that live in them from the brink of extinction

Performance evaluation of an RDB and an ORDB: A comparative study using the BUCKY benchmark

This paper highlights the functionality of object-based database systems by comparing the performance of relational database (RDB) and object-relational database (ORDB) systems. The study focuses on assessing the efficiency of database systems based on query processing and object complexity. We conducted an experiment that includes running the queries on the RDB and ORDB that were used in the BUCKY benchmark and implemented on Oracle 11g. The findings of this research show that the performance of both database systems depends on various factors, such as the size and type of databases, the schema and query structures, the number of tuples scanned in tables, indexes as well as the environment, in which the experiment was carried out

EFFECTS OF 90-MINUTE MATCH SIMULATION ON WHOLE-BODY DYNAMIC STABILITY IN UNANTICIPATED SIDE CUTTING

The purpose of this investigation was to identify the effects of soccer match-specific physical exertion on deployment of movement strategies to control the centre of mass (CoM) in the medio-lateral direction during unanticipated side cutting. Twenty-one healthy male recreational soccer players completed a 90-minute over-ground soccer match-simulation. Integrated to the match-simulation were 45° unanticipated side cutting tasks using a 4-5 m·s-1 approach speed. Performance outcomes, peak knee abduction moments (peak KAM), and whole-body dynamic stability variables were calculated for the side cutting tasks. A reduction in the capacity to generate medio-lateral forces from sagittal methods may explain the drop in average medial CoM acceleration and change of direction angle. An ankle movement strategy, represented by a lateral movement of the centre of pressure (CoP) position, appears to have been deployed to mitigate any additional drop in side-cutting performance. A single match-simulation may be insufficient to increase injury risk markers unless the individuals are already showing signs of a reduced ability to mitigate unnecessary movement deviations

VANETs Multipath Video Data Streaming Considering Road Features

Multipath video streaming in Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs) is an evolving research topic. The adoption of video transmission in VANETs communication has become essential due to the comprehensiveness and applicability of video data for on-road advertisement and infotainment. Meanwhile, several research studies have considered how to apply and improve the transmission of the video quality. Due to this, the concurrent multipath transmission has been employed in order to achieve load balancing and path diversity, because of the high data rate of the video data.  However, the main nature of the road, which is the pathway for VANET nodes has not been considered explicitly. In this paper, the road features are considered for VANETs multipath video streaming based on the greedy geographical routing protocol. Thus, VANETs Multipath Video Streaming based on Road Features (VMVS-RF) protocol has been proposed. The protocol was compared with an ordinary Multipath Video Streaming (MVS). The result demonstrates that the proposed VMVS-RF protocol outperforms the MVS in terms of Data Receiving Rate (DRR), Structural Similarity (SSIM) index and Packet Loss Ratio (PLR)

Correlation Analysis on the Effects of Wearing Compression Socks and Smooth Socks on Running Kinematics among Runners

This study was conducted to determine running kinematics while using compression socks (CS) and smooth socks (SS) among 16 recreational runners. They were required to complete a maximal treadmill test with two different running sock conditions (smooth and compression). All kinematic parameters (ground contact time, heel strike, stride length and swing time) were reported in an average of the four stages of Bruce protocol. Results showed more significant correlations (p<0.05) among the kinematic variables in the compression socks condition as compared to the smooth socks. In conclusion, wearing compression socks improves movement kinematics while running may be due to the enriched somatosensory information received by the foot. Keywords: Running; Compression socks; Movement kinematics; Somatosensory feedback  eISSN: 2398-4287© 2021. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v6iSI4.291

Facilities management relevant competencies for Malaysian public school

The question of whether one is actually practicing Facilities Management (FM) or an FM practitioner in the Malaysian industry is very common as the definition of FM continues to be under debate. Nevertheless, FM competencies have been defined by international FM professional associations with the main purposes of professional recognition and training in this area. Two pioneer associations in the field that are of distinguished reference internationally were the first in the effort of establishing the list of competencies for FM professionals. The process of defining the competencies however was very challenging given the fact that FM itself has not been able to be unanimously defined in its practice. The fine line between FM and other disciplines in the built environment also affects FM associations and their potential members, especially on whether or not they belong to each other. Despite this uncertainty, FM as a profession and an area of management is increasingly accepted and acknowledged all over the world, including Malaysia. This study aims at identifying the position of the practice of managing Malaysian public school within the context of FM, through relevancy of the defined competencies for FM by the international FM associations to the required competencies in the management of Malaysian school building and facilities. A survey was carried out amongst the school administrators from all parts of Malaysia and the data was analysed with factor analysis. The findings indicate that although by definition the management practice carried out by the school administrators does fall under the FM, less than half of the competency list proposed by FM organizations was found to be significant as far as Malaysian school facilities management is concerne

Measuring some kinesthetic perception tests using the computer-programmed atrussonic distance sensor for volleyball players according to their specialities

The problem of the research lies in the possibility of making the tests used through accurate devices that work according to the computer system to avoid self-evaluation, which takes a lot of time in the testing process, the study aimed to design some tests of kinaesthetic perception using the computer-programmed atrousonic distance sensor and identify the level of some kinaesthetic perception tests For the research sample, the research sample was represented by a group of volleyball players in (Basra, Maysan, Dhi Qar), totalling (40) players divided according to their specializations in playing. The results of the Colum grove Seminarov test for the normal distribution of volleyball players according to their specialities as well as the results of the analysis of variance of the value of (F) The calculated and tabular tests for the perception of the distance for the right hand and the perception of the distance for the left hand of the volleyball players, the researchers concluded that there are differences between the specialities of playing in the volleyball team and this is evidence that the specifications of the volleyball players differ from one player to another according to the requirements of modern play. Researching the reasons that cause the variation in the level of some specialities of playing in the volleyball team