A new real-time high speed ultrasonic imaging system

An ultrasonic imaging technique was to be developed for sizing and characterization of defects in thick sections of steel. The problems generally found with the existing techniques in such applications are low speed, inadequate image quality, large size and high cost. [Continues.

Analysis of the milk value chains in Ghana and Senegal: What can we learn?

In the absence of a significant increase in domestic milk production, Ghana and Senegal heavily depend on milk powder and other dairy products imports from EU member countries. Actors in the West African dairy sector have come under increasing pressure to compete with the cheap imported milk powder on their local markets. Therefore, this research study was intended to map and compare the structure of two milk value chains in Ghana and Senegal. For the collection of primary data, in-depth interviews were conducted with key informants. A total of 59 actors along the milk value chains were sampled and interviewed and the data was descriptively analyzed. The study results reveal that the local fresh milk value chain in Ghana is entirely separated from the milk powder value chain. Ghana's local milk value chain is informal, simple, and not well-developed compared to the imported milk powder value chain. The main actors in the fresh milk value chains are the input suppliers, producers (intensive, semi-intensive, extensive), collectors, processors, street vendors, financial and other services providers. The value chain that depends on imported milk powder is extensive compared to the local milk value chain. Its key players are importers, re-packagers, re-constitutors, processors, distributors, wholesalers, and retailers. In Senegal, the key actors are limited in number and include input suppliers, producers (pastoral, agro-pastoral, peri-urban), collectors, processors, importers, wholesalers, small retailers (small kiosks, shops etc.). Overall, the value addition practices were low as compared to the potential available for dairy production. Traditional milk processing is more dominant in both countries, and herders' wives transform fresh milk into butter cheese (known as wagashi) or curdled milk. The primary constraints identified in both countries are an insufficient supply of fresh milk in the dry season, high transport fares due to long distances to the milk collectors, lack of storage facilities, lack of credit facilities to the dairy value chain actors, insufficient extension support, poor road networks, and competition from imported milk. Nevertheless, the strong preference of consumers for fresh milk-based products in both coun-tries presents a great opportunity to the local dairy value chain actors

Influence of Soil Water Content and Soil Amendments on Trace Metal Release and Seedling Growth in Serpentine Soil

This study was conducted to evaluate the synergistic effects of organic amendments and soil water status on trace metal release from serpentine soil

Impact of Green Supply Chain Management Practices on Organizational Performance of the Manufacturing Sector in Sri Lanka

The present study explores the impact of implementing Green Supply Chain Management Practices on Organizational performance, in terms of environmental, operational and financial performance among manufacturing firms in Sri Lanka. 150 no of firms (n = 150) which have already implemented GSCM practices in the Sri Lankan manufacturing industry were selected covering a variety of sectors including automobile (29), garments (36) , food and beverage (13), electronics (20), chemicals (20) and other (32) as the sample size of this study.  Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the relationship between variables. The empirical evidence verifies that, a significant positive relationship between GSCM practices and organizational performance exists. It can be concluded that higher the adaptation of GSCM practices, higher will be the organizational performance in Sri Lankan Context. Further, it is also concluded that higher the adaptation of GSCM practices, higher will be the environmental, operational and financial performance.  This suggests, that the impact of GSCM practices lead to reduce air emission, wastage of water and solid wastages and decrease the consumption of hazardous materials, frequency of environmental accidents under the environmental performance. When considering operational performance, the impact of GSCM practices lead to increase amount of goods delivered on time, decrease inventory levels and scrap rate, promote products quality, reducing and eliminating waste, increased product line and finally improved capacity utilization. Decrease of cost for energy consumption, cost for environmental accidents, and decrease in level of production costs, decrease in packing costs can be considered under the financial performance. This study will play an important role for managers and firms, also this study is contributing in increasing the sales through understanding the benefits of practices of the green supply chain management and got the highest benefits from it. Keywords: Green Supply Chain Management, Green Supply Chain Management Practices, Organizational Performance, Structural Equation Modeling (SME) Cite this paper: N. Priyashani, G.C.I. Gunarathne (2021), Impact of Green Supply Chain Management Practices on Organizational Performance of the Manufacturing Sector in Sri Lanka, Vidyodaya Journal of Management, 7(1), 1-25

An analysis of factors influencing for productivity of rubber smallholdings: A case study in Moneragala District of Sri Lanka

Rubber farming, being a new initiative in Moneragala District in Sri Lanka, plays a key role in national rubber production but still lags far behind in potential. This study was carried out to find the factors which determine the Productivity of Rubber Smallholdings (PRSs) and to find out the strategies for enhancement. A questionnaire survey was conducted in 2019, using stratified random sampling. Descriptive statistics and Spearman’s correlation analysis were employed in the methodology. The average PRSs is 905 kg/ha/year on dry rubber basis, which is far below in potential to the average of 2500 kg/ha/year. The majority of rubber smallholdings are in the category of low rubber productivity. Key socio-economic factors; gender, age, level of education, experience of rubber farming, membership of the Thurusaviya rubber society, age of the trees and type of clone did not affect to the PRSs, while fulltime rubber smallholders showed a positive relationship. The number of tapped trees in the land, number of tapping days per year and practice of self-tapping system positively correlated with PRSs while extent of rubber holdings was negatively correlated. The participation in training programmes, instructions given by experienced rubber smallholders and by extension personnel and utilization of CDs and leaflets on tapping and manuaring were positively correlated with PRSs. The adoption level of manuaring and tapping practices in rubber smallholdings affected the PRSs. It is also evident that effective strategic extension plans which include formulating appropriate policy measures, especially focusing on utilization of extension communication channels and mass media, development of rubber smallholdings and adoption of manuaring and tapping practices of rubber farming would eventually improve PRSs for the future for the improvement in performance of rubber farming in Moneragala District.        KEYWORDS:     Moneragala, Productivity, Rubber, Smallholdings, Adoption &nbsp

Traffic Signal Controller Optimization Through VISSIM to Minimize Traffic Congestion, CO and NOx Emissions, and Fuel Consumption

In developing countries with heterogeneous traffic, such as Sri Lanka, it is possible to observe severe traffic congestion at intersections and traffic corridors. The main objective of this study was to demonstrate the optimization of traffic signal controllers using VISSIM microsimulation software. It aimed to minimize traffic congestion, emissions, and fuel consumption. This study focused on developing a traffic signal controller optimization program for a congested traffic corridor which consisted of a three-legged signalized intersection, a four-legged unsignalized intersection, and a three-legged unsignalized intersection. The entire corridor was modeled here, and the already signalized three-legged intersection was optimized. Traffic signal controller optimization was done separately through the built-in optimization features in VISSIM and Webster’s Method. The results showed that emissions and fuel consumption were reduced by 14.89 % in VISSIM optimization and 14.11% in optimization using Webster’s Method. Through the comparison between the VISSIM optimized signal timing and manually calculated signal timing, it was found that the signal timing optimization provides much more improved results than the manual signal timing calculations. Using the proposed methodology, the traffic signal controllers can be optimized within a short duration in very few steps without any iterations compared to the existing traffic signal controller optimization techniques. Therefore, the proposed methodology is a good alternative method to optimize the traffic signal controllers

Customer Service on Social Media: The Effect of Customer Popularity and Sentiment on Airline Response

Many companies are now providing customer service through social media, helping and engaging their customers on a real-time basis. To study this increasingly popular practice, we examine how major airlines respond to customer comments on Twitter by exploiting a large data set containing Twitter exchanges between customers and three major airlines in North America. We find that these airlines pay significantly more attention to Twitter users with more followers, suggesting that companies literarily discriminate customers based on their social influence. Moreover, our findings suggest that companies in the digital age are increasingly more sensitive to the need to answer both customer complaints and customer compliments while the actual time-to-response depends on customer’s social influence and sentiment as well as the firm’s social media strategy

Racial Discrimination in Social Media Customer Service: Evidence from a Popular Microblogging Platform

The concept of racial inequality has existed from the early days of service provision, with evidence dating back to ancient civilizations. While the emergence of the Internet and social media has drastically transformed almost every aspect of everyday life, including the intrinsic values of social relationships, the impact of racial disparities on receiving services on online platforms is not so evident. Although many consumer brands provide customer service on social media today, little is known regarding the prevalence and magnitude of racial discrimination in the context of social media customer service. Thus, in this study, we examine the existence and the extent of racial discrimination against African-Americans in social media customer service. We analyzed all complaints to seven major U.S. airlines on Twitter for a period of nine months. Interestingly, our empirical analysis finds that African-American customers are less likely to receive brand responses to their complaints on social media. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to empirically analyze the racial discrimination phenomenon in the context of social media customer service