The responsive reply chain: the influence of the positioning of decoupling points

Manufacturing supply chains have been challenged by high competition, dynamic, and stochastic conditions. They have to be constantly responsive in today’s ever-changing manufacturing environment. The proper positioning of decoupling points for material flow and information flow has a significant potential for increasing responsiveness in a supply chain. Positioning the material decoupling point as close to the end consumer as possible whilst the information decoupling point is positioned upstream is the key to the industries’ ability to reduce lead time and enhance performance in the dynamic behaviour of the supply chain. [Continues.

Review of the Literature on Children with Special Educational Needs

This study outlines the literature relevant to the Cross-cultural issues and the politics of SEN and the different perspectives arising from the literature on this widely debated issue are addressed. In addition, the origin of the term 'special educational needs' (SEN), its definitions and the types of special education needs are presented. Appropriate pedagogy for children with SEN is also discussed. The results from the literature review indicated a number of gaps in the present frameworks. As a result, this has led the scholar to work additional on these frameworks for the aim of this study. Keywords: Cross-cultural issues, the term and the types of SEN, Politics of SEN and Models of disability, and pedagogy for children with SEN

Background of Individual Education Plans (IEPs) Policy in Some Countries: A Review

This paper seeks to provide a cogent outline of the current policies that six separate countries have on Individual Education Plans (IEPs), identifying the key features in each system. The chosen countries are Australia (Queen Island), Canada (British Columbia), New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Saudi Arabia. The aim of the paper was to have greater insights of the globalisation of IEPs at public schools in these above countries. It looked into a set of factors closely associated with each other; such as, to enable the exploration of how IEP policy is implemented at public schools in the same countries. The findings from the literature review showed a number of gaps in the current frameworks. Therefore, this has led the researcher to work further on these frameworks for the purpose of this paper. Keywords: IEPs in Australia, IEPs in Canada, IEPs in New Zealand, IEPs in United Kingdom, IEPs in United States of America, and IEPs in Saudi Arabia

Review on Network Function Virtualization in Information-Centric Networking

Network function virtualization (NFV / VNF) and information-centric networking (ICN) are two trending technologies that have attracted expert's attention. NFV is a technique in which network functions (NF) are decoupling from commodity hardware to run on to create virtual communication services. The virtualized class nodes can bring several advantages such as reduce Operating Expenses (OPEX) and Capital Expenses (CAPEX). On the other hand, ICN is a technique that breaks the host-centric paradigm and shifts the focus to 'named information' or content-centric. ICN provides highly efficient content retrieval network architecture where popular contents are cached to minimize duplicate transmissions and allow mobile users to access popular contents from caches of network gateways. This paper investigates the implementation of NFV in ICN. Besides, reviewing and discussing the weaknesses and strengths of each architecture in a critical analysis manner of both network architectures. Eventually, highlighted the current issues and future challenges of both architectures. © 2021 IEEE

Modular product architecture to manage product development complexity

Shorter product life cycles, together with heterogeneous market demands, are forcing manufacturing companies to eliminate or reduce complexities in product development and supply chain. These complexities arise due to high level of interdependencies between component interfaces and supply chain participants. To address such complexities, companies need to focus on their product architecture and supply chain design. In this research, the impact of product architecture on developing modular products is highlighted. This modular principle is elaborated with the objective to reduce product development complexities. A case example is presented to define the importance of product architecture with the help of a design structure matrix (DSM) tool to reduce product development complexity. In addition, various drivers responsible for supply chain complexities are identified and categorised, and the relationship between product architecture and supply chain complexities are defined within the scope of this research.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Knowledge and Attitude of Oral Health Professionals in the Management of Avulsed Teeth

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to assess the knowledge and to compare the attitude and management of tooth avulsion between the general dentist and the specialist all with dental interns.  Materials and Methods:16-point questionnaires have been developed to a similar study and have been validated by a group of specialist.  The first part of the survey contained demographic data. The second part consisted of eight questions checking dentists’ knowledge on the treatment of avulsed teeth. All in which took part in Saudi Arabia, Riyadh and covered 311 dentists. Data were analyzed with SPSS program version 21Results: 583 questionnaires have been distributed and a total of 311 were collected. Which consisted 53.34% of distributed surveys. Almost two-third (219) of the surveyed populations have never treated any patient with dental avulsion. Amongst those who had such experience, the majority treated at least one case (35.9%), there were also 22 (23.9%) dentist who treated more than 5 avulsed teeth. 25 of 311 dentist have never received education or training in the management of tooth avulsion. Conclusion: there is a need to familiarize oral health professions with the needed knowledge and management of avulsion through lectures and proper training. Keywords: Avulsion; knowledge; management; oral professional; denta

Initial Assessment on Feasibility of Remanufacturing Practice: Case of Air Conditioners

Abstract- Due to the environmental regulations and economic viability, many industries show growing interest in the product recovery. Product recovery strategies (sometimes called end-of-life (EoL)) are recycling, remanufacturing, reuse, and refurbishment of components. Remanufacturing is a process that brings end-of-life product to its “like-new†conditions, the process recover product functions and quality, the remanufactured product is as its equivalent new with same warranty and less purchasing price. The price difference is associated with saving in energy, material and other resources recovered from the EoL product.  The air-conditioning is the most energy consuming sector in Saudi Arabia (the geographical location of the study) where it consume 60-70% of the total residential energy. This study provide initial investigation and assessment  of  Business models for remanufacturing of window air-conditioner., a survey regarding the customer behavior has been conducted, it assesses  how users deal with EoL Air-Conditioner, it also measures their perceptions about the remanufacturing process. Moreover, the paper describes the importance of remanufacturing in the context of reverse logistics. Results show that the cost structure is the driving force of conducting the remanufacturing of the air-conditioner.   Keywords: Remanufacturing; business model of remanufacturing; air conditioner

Multi Criteria Optimization Approach for Dressing of Vitrified Grinding Wheel

Rotary diamond dressers are widely used for the dressing to improve the efficiency of vitrified grinding wheel. The paper focuses on the process parameters, i.e., feed speed of dresser, depth of cut, grinding wheel velocity, velocity ratio between grinding wheel and rotary dresser, number of pass and dressing method (up-cut or down-cut) in rotary diamond dressing. The objective is to investigate the effect of these process parameters with their interactions for two response parameters, dressing ratio and overlapped dressed area. As far as the response parameters are concerned, the goal is to maximize dressing ratio and minimize overlapped dressed area simultaneously. Thirty-six experiments were designed and performed. Analysis of variance and multi-criteria optimization approach are opted to find out significant process parameters and optimal parameter setting. Finally, the significant process parameters, dressing method and number of pass are identified as well and the optimal parameter setting is also determined

Optimization of the Parameters of RISE Feedback Controller Using Genetic Algorithm

A control methodology based on a nonlinear control algorithm and optimization technique is presented in this paper. A controller called “the robust integral of the sign of the error” (in short, RISE) is applied to control chaotic systems. The optimum RISE controller parameters are obtained via genetic algorithm optimization techniques. RISE control methodology is implemented on two chaotic systems, namely, the Duffing-Holms and Van der Pol systems. Numerical simulations showed the good performance of the optimized RISE controller in tracking task and its ability to ensure robustness with respect to bounded external disturbances