Flood Risk Management In Small Urban River Using A Sustainable Urban Drainage System: Wortley Beck, Leeds, Uk

In the UK, urban river basins are particularly vulnerable to flash floods due to short and intense rainfall. This paper presents potential flood resilience approaches for the highly urbanised Wortley Beck river basin, south west of the Leeds city centre. The reach of Wortley Beck is approximately 6km long with contributing catchment area of 30km2 that drain into the River Aire. Lower Wortley has experienced regular flooding over the last few years from a range of sources, including Wortley Beck and surface and ground water, that affects properties both upstream and downstream of Farnley Lake as well as Wortley Ring Road. This has serious implications for society, the environment and economy activity in the City of Leeds. The first stage of the study involves systematically incorporating Wortley Beck’s land scape features on an Arc-GIS platform to identify existing green features in the region. This process also enables the exploration of potential blue green features: green spaces, green roofs, water retention ponds and swales at appropriate locations and connect them with existing green corridors to maximize their productivity. The next stage is involved in developing a detailed 2D urban flood inundation model for the Wortley Beck region using the CityCat model. CityCat is capable to model the effects of permeable/impermeable ground surfaces and buildings/roofs to generate flood depth and velocity maps at 1m caused by design storm events. The final stage of the study is involved in simulation of range of rainfall and flood event scenarios through CityCat model with different blue green features. Installation of other hard engineering individual property protection measures through water butts and flood walls are also incorporated in the CityCat model. This enables an integrated sustainable flood resilience strategy for this region.

Relationships between company size, types of production system and supply chain management: evidence from electro-electronics sector in Brazil

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how company size and the type of production system affect the adoption of supply chain management (SCM) practices in companies in the electro‐electronics sector in Brazil. Design/methodology/approach – An e‐mail survey of 107 companies associated with the Brazilian Electrical and Electronics Industry Association (ABINEE) was conducted. Statistical techniques were employed to verify the adoption of SCM practices according to the size of the company and its production system. Findings – The major results indicate that the larger the size of the company, the higher the level of adoption of SCM practices, and that the choice of SCM practices depends upon the type of production system implemented. Practical implications – The implications of this study are useful to top management leaders of small and medium‐sized enterprises since the findings enable them to identify the most common practices adopted by either large‐, medium‐ or small‐sized companies in order to benchmark the level of adoption of SCM practices. Production managers can also benefit from this study by identifying the SCM practices that may support certain production systems.

Knowledge Management and Decision Support for Sustainable Land Management

Much research has focused on desertification and land degradation assessments without putting sufficient emphasis on prevention and mitigation, although the concept of sustainable land management (SLM) is increasingly being acknowledged. A variety of SLM measures have already been applied at the local level, but they are rarely adequately recognised, evaluated, shared or used for decision support. WOCAT (World Overview of Technologies and Approaches) has developed an internationally recognised, standardised methodology to document and evaluate SLM technologies and approaches, including spatial distribution, allowing the sharing of SLM knowledge worldwide. The recent methodological integration into a participatory process allows now analysing and using this knowledge for decision support at the local and national level. The use of the WOCAT tools stimulates evaluation (self-evaluation as well as learning from comparing experiences) within SLM initiatives where all too often there is not only insufficient monitoring but also a lack of critical analysis. The comprehensive questionnaires and database system facilitate to document, evaluate and disseminate local experiences of SLM technologies and their implementation approaches. This evaluation process - in a team of experts and together with land users - greatly enhances understanding of the reasons behind successful (or failed) local practices. It has now been integrated into a new methodology for appraising and selecting SLM options. The methodology combines a local collective learning and decision approach with the use of the evaluated global best practices from WOCAT in a concise three step process: i) identifying land degradation and locally applied solutions in a stakeholder learning workshop; ii) assessing local solutions with the standardised WOCAT tool; iii) jointly selecting promising strategies for implementation with the help of a decision support tool. The methodology has been implemented in various countries and study sites around the world mainly within the FAO LADA (Land Degradation Assessment Project) and the EU-funded DESIRE project. Investments in SLM must be carefully assessed and planned on the basis of properly documented experiences and evaluated impacts and benefits: concerted efforts are needed and sufficient resources must be mobilised to tap the wealth of knowledge and learn from SLM successes.

Evaluating watershed service availability under future management and climate change scenarios in the Pangani Basin

Watershed services are the benefits people obtain from the flow of water through a watershed. While demand for such services is increasing in most parts of the world, supply is getting more insecure due to human impacts on ecosystems such as climate or land use change. Population and water management authorities therefore require information on the potential availability of watershed services in the future and the trade-offs involved. In this study, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is used to model watershed service availability for future management and climate change scenarios in the East African Pangani Basin. In order to quantify actual “benefits”, SWAT2005 was slightly modified, calibrated and configured at the required spatial and temporal resolution so that simulated water resources and processes could be characterized based on their valuation by stakeholders and their accessibility. The calibrated model was then used to evaluate three management and three climate scenarios. The results show that by the year 2025, not primarily the physical availability of water, but access to water resources and efficiency of use represent the greatest challenges. Water to cover basic human needs is available at least 95% of time but must be made accessible to the population through investments in distribution infrastructure. Concerning the trade-off between agricultural use and hydropower production, there is virtually no potential for an increase in hydropower even if it is given priority. Agriculture will necessarily expand spatially as a result of population growth, and can even benefit from higher irrigation water availability per area unit, given improved irrigation efficiency and enforced regulation to ensure equitable distribution of available water. The decline in services from natural terrestrial ecosystems (e.g. charcoal, food), due to the expansion of agriculture, increases the vulnerability of residents who depend on such services mostly in times of drought. The expected impacts of climate change may contribute to an increase or decrease in watershed service availability, but are only marginal and much lower than management impacts up to the year 2025.

Implementation Feasibility of a Digital Nervous System for the Construction Industry: For Efficient and Effective Information Management across the Project Lifecycle

The construction industry has long been considered as highly fragmented and non-collaborative industry. This fragmentation sprouted from complex and unstructured traditional coordination processes and information exchanges amongst all parties involved in a construction project. This nature coupled with risk and uncertainty has pushed clients and their supply chain to search for new ways of improving their business process to deliver better quality and high performing product. This research will closely investigate the need to implement a Digital Nervous System (DNS), analogous to a biological nervous system, on the flow and management of digital information across the project lifecycle. This will be through direct examination of the key processes and information produced in a construction project and how a DNS can provide a well-integrated flow of digital information throughout the project lifecycle. This research will also investigate how a DNS can create a tight digital feedback loop that enables the organisation to sense, react and adapt to changing project conditions. A Digital Nervous System is a digital infrastructure that provides a well-integrated flow of digital information to the right part of the organisation at the right time. It provides the organisation with the relevant and up-to-date information it needs, for critical project issues, to aid in near real-time decision-making. Previous literature review and survey questionnaires were used in this research to collect and analyse data about information management problems of the industry – e.g. disruption and discontinuity of digital information flow due to interoperability issues, disintegration/fragmentation of the adopted digital solutions and paper-based transactions. Results analysis revealed efficient and effective information management requires the creation and implementation of a DNS.

Irritation and counterirritation, a hypothesis about the autoamputative property of the nervous system; a scientific excursion into theoretical medicine.

Mode of access: Internet.

Project management in NASA; the system and the men,

Bibliography: p. 123-127

Pamphlets on industrial management and the Taylor system

Mode of access: Internet.

Developing and evaluating a methodology for business process improvement

Purpose – There appears to be an ever-insatiable demand from markets for organisations to improve their products and services. To meet this, there is a need to provide business process improvement (BPI) methodologies that are holistic, structured and procedural. Therefore, this paper describes research that has formed and tested a generic and practical methodology termed model-based and integrated process improvement (MIPI) to support the implementation of BPI; and to validate its effectiveness in organisations. This methodology has been created as an aid for practitioners within organisations. Design/methodology/approach – The research objectives were achieved by: reviewing and analysing current methodologies, and selecting a few frameworks against key performance indicators. Using a refined Delphi approach and semi-structured interview with the “experts” in the field. Intervention, case study and process research approach to evaluating a methodology. Findings – The BPI methodology was successfully formed and applied by the researcher and directly by the companies involved against the criteria of feasibility, usability and usefulness. Research limitations/implications – The paper has demonstrated a new knowledge on how to systematically assess a BPI methodology in practice. Practical implications – Model-based and integrated process improvement methodology (MIPI) methodology offers the practitioner (experienced and novice) a set of step-by-step aids necessary to make informed, consistent and efficient changes to business processes. Originality/value – The novelty of this research work is the creation of a holistic workbook-based methodology with relevant tools and techniques. It extends the capabilities of existing methodologies.

A decision support system for waste collection management and its potential improvement with Radio-Frequency Identification Technology (RFID)

Due to vigorous globalisation and product proliferation in recent years, more waste has been produced by the soaring manufacturing activities. This has contributed to the significant need for an efficient waste management system to ensure, with all efforts, the waste is properly treated for recycling or disposed. This paper presents a Decision Support System (DSS) framework, based on Constraint Logic Programming (CLP), for the collection management of industrial waste (of all kinds) and discusses the potential employment of Radio-Frequency Identification Technology (RFID) to improve several critical procedures involved in managing waste collection. This paper also demonstrates a widely distributed and semi-structured network of waste producing enterprises (e.g. manufacturers) and waste processing enterprises (i.e. waste recycling/treatment stations) improving their operations planning by means of using the proposed DSS. The potential RFID applications to update and validate information in a continuous manner to bring value-added benefits to the waste collection business are also presented. © 2012 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Evaluating the Appropriateness of Project Delivery Systems for Different Trenchless Methods

Trenchless methods have been considered to be a viable solution for pipeline projects in urban areas. Their applicability in pipeline projects is expected to increase with the rapid advancements in technology and emerging concerns regarding social costs related to trenching methods. Selecting appropriate project delivery system (PDS) is a key to the success of trenchless projects. To ensure success of the project, the selected project delivery should be tailored to trenchless project specific characteristics and owner needs, since the effectiveness of project delivery systems differs based on different project characteristics and owners requirements. Since different trenchless methods have specific characteristics such rate of installation, lengths of installation, and accuracy, the same project delivery systems may not be equally effective for different methods. The intent of this paper is to evaluate the appropriateness of different PDS for different trenchless methods. PDS are examined through a structured decision-making process called Fuzzy Delivery System Selection Model (FDSSM). The process of incorporating the impacts of: (a) the characteristics of trenchless projects and (b) owners’ needs in the FDSSM is performed by collecting data using questionnaires deployed to professionals involved in the trenchless industry in order to determine the importance of delivery systems selection attributes for different trenchless methods, and then analyzing this data. The sensitivity of PDS rankings with respect to trenchless methods is considered in order to evaluate whether similar project delivery systems are equally effective in different trenchless methods. The effectiveness of PDS with respect to attributes is defined as follows: a project delivery system is most effective with respect to an attribute (e.g., ability to control growth in costs ) if there is no project delivery system that is more effective than that PDS. The results of this study may assist trenchless project owners to select the appropriate PDS for the trenchless method selected.

Review of virtual power plant applications for the power system management and V2G market development

Utilization of renewable energy sources and energy storage systems is increasing with fostering new policies on energy industries. However, the increase of distributed generation hinders the reliability of power systems. In order to stabilize them, a virtual power plant emerges as a novel power grid management system. The VPP has a role to make a participation of different distributed energy resources and energy storage systems. This paper defines core technology of the VPP which are demand response and ancillary service concerning about Korea, America and Europe cases. It also suggests application solutions of the VPP to V2G market for restructuring national power industries in Korea.

The Design and Implementation of a SD Card File System

SD card (Secure Digital Memory Card) is widely used in portable storage medium. Currently, latest researches on SD card, are mainly SD card controller based on FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). Most of them are relying on API interface (Application Programming Interface), AHB bus (Advanced High performance Bus), etc. They are dedicated to the realization of ultra high speed communication between SD card and upper systems. Studies about SD card controller, really play a vital role in the field of high speed cameras and other sub-areas of expertise. This design of FPGA-based file systems and SD2.0 IP (Intellectual Property core) does not only exhibit a nice transmission rate, but also achieve the systematic management of files, while retaining a strong portability and practicality. The file system design and implementation on a SD card covers the main three IP innovation points. First, the combination and integration of file system and SD card controller, makes the overall system highly integrated and practical. The popular SD2.0 protocol is implemented for communication channels. Pure digital logic design based on VHDL (Very-High-Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language), integrates the SD card controller in hardware layer and the FAT32 file system for the entire system. Secondly, the document management system mechanism makes document processing more convenient and easy. Especially for small files in batch processing, it can ease the pressure of upper system to frequently access and process them, thereby enhancing the overall efficiency of systems. Finally, digital design ensures the superior performance. For transmission security, CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) algorithm is for data transmission protection. Design of each module is platform-independent of macro cells, and keeps a better portability. Custom integrated instructions and interfaces may facilitate easily to use. Finally, the actual test went through multi-platform method, Xilinx and Altera FPGA developing platforms. The timing simulation and debugging of each module was covered. Finally, Test results show that the designed FPGA-based file system IP on SD card can support SD card, TF card and Micro SD with 2.0 protocols, and the successful implementation of systematic management for stored files, and supports SD bus mode. Data read and write rates in Kingston class10 card is approximately 24.27MB/s and 16.94MB/s.

A survey of the meat goat industry in Queensland and New South Wales. 1. General property information, goat and pasture management.

This study aimed to survey farmers knowledge and practices on the management of pastures, stocking rates and markets of meat goat-producing enterprises within New South Wales and Queensland, Australia. An interview-based questionnaire was conducted on properties that derived a significant proportion of their income from goats. The survey covered 31 landholders with a total land area of 567 177 ha and a reported total of 160 010 goats. A total of 55% (17/31) of producers were involved in both opportunistic harvesting and commercial goat operations, and 45% (14/31) were specialised seedstock producers. Goats were the most important livestock enterprise on 55% (17/31) of surveyed properties. Stocking rate varied considerably (0.3?9.3 goats/ha) within and across surveyed properties and was found to be negatively associated with property size and positively associated with rainfall. Overall, 81% (25/31) of producers reported that the purpose of running goats on their properties was to target international markets. Producers also cited the importance of targeting markets as a way to increase profitability. Fifty-three percent of producers were located over 600 km from a processing plant and the high cost of freight can limit the continuity of goats supplied to abattoirs. Fencing was an important issue for goat farmers, with many producers acknowledging this could potentially add to capital costs associated with better goat management and production. Producers in the pastoral regions appear to have a low investment in pasture development and opportunistic goat harvesting appears to be an important source of income.