International Standard ISO 9001–A Soft Computing View

In order to add value to ISO 9001, a Quality Management Systems that assess, measure, documents, improves, and certify processes to increase productivity, i.e., that transforms business at any level. On the one hand, this work focuses on the development of a decision support system, which will allow companies to be able to meet the needs of customers by fulfilling requirements that reflect either the effectiveness or the non-effectiveness of an organization. On the other hand, many approaches for knowledge representation and reasoning have been proposed using Logic Programming (LP), namely in the area of Model Theory or Proof Theory. In this work it is followed the proof theoretical approach in terms of an extension to the LP language to knowledge representation and reasoning. The computational framework is centered on Artificial Neural Networks to evaluate customer’s satisfaction and the degree of confidence that one has on such a happening

Decision support tools for site-specific fertilizer recommendations and agricultural planning in selected countries in sub-Sahara Africa

Peer Revie

Internal and external drivers for quality certification in the service industry: Do they have different impacts on success?

This paper presents the results of a study of hotels that are certified for quality management to identify the reasons for seeking quality certification. The authors analyse whether internal or external drivers for seeking certification have different impacts on benefits and the use of quality tools in the hotel industry. The analysis groups hotels according to the importance of their internal reasons for certification, and uses cluster analysis to identify the significant differences between groups of hotels. The findings for the 32 hotels analysed show that hotels that pursued certification for internal reasons develop better quality tools and have increased levels of benefit

Monitoring water use efficiency of irrigated sugarcane production in Mpumalanga, South Africa, using SEBAL

The objective of this study was to assess the accuracy, spatial variation and potential value of remote sensing (RS) estimates of evapotranspiration (ET) and biomass production for irrigated sugarcane in Mpumalanga, South Africa. Weekly ET and biomass production were estimated from RS data from 2011 to 2013 using the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL). Ground estimates of canopy interception of photosynthetically active radiation (FPAR) and aerial biomass were compared to RS estimates. ET was estimated with a surface renewal (SR) system in one field. Evaporation coefficient (Kc) values were calculated from ET and reference grass evaporation. Remote sensing FPAR and biomass estimates compared well with field measurements (R2 = 0.89 and 0.78). SEBAL ET estimates exceeded SR estimates by 5 mm/week, while full canopy Kc values for SEBAL compared better with literature values than with SR Kc values. SEBAL estimates of ET and biomass were regarded as reliable. Considerable spatial variation was observed in seasonal RS ET (1 034 ± 223 mm), biomass (45 ± 17 t/ha) and biomass water use efficiency (WUEBIO, defined as dry biomass produced per unit of ET) (4.1 ± 1.0 kg/m3). About 32% of sugarcane fields had values below economic thresholds, indicating an opportunity to increase productivity. Actual yields correlated well with WUEBIO values, suggesting that this may be used for monitoring crop performance and identifying areas that require remedial treatment

Electromagnetic Guided Postpyloric Tube Placement in Children: A Feasible and Promising Technique

Postpyloric feeding tube (PPFT) placement can be cumbersome. Fluoroscopic and endoscopic placements are required when unguided placement fails. We aimed to evaluate the feasibility and safety of PPFT placement in children, using an electromagnetic (EM) guided system as a rescue strategy in case unguided tube insertion fails. In a single-center prospective study, we included all the children (weight >2.5 kg) in whom unguided PPFT placement failed between 2009 and 2012. EM guided PPFT placement was attempted before regular fluoroscopic and endoscopic placement was attempted, respectively. Forty-nine children were included (mean age 3.5 years). EM guided PPFT placement was successful in 82% of the children. No adverse events occurred. Age or indication for the PPFT did not influence the success rate of the procedure. A trend of a learning curve of 25 patients was noticed. Costs of EM placement were slightly higher than those of fluoroscopic placement in our hospital setting. With enough expertise, EM guided PPFT placement seems safe and can prevent fluoroscopic or endoscopic tube placement in 82% of childre