Search results

In this paper, the objective is to perform mathematical modeling to optimize the steady-state availability of a multi-state repairable crushing system of a sugar plant using the evolutionary algorithm of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). The system availability is optimized by evaluating the optimal values of failure and repair rate parameters concerned with the subsystem of the system.

Mathematical modeling of the multi-state repairable system is performed to develop the first-order differential equations based on the exponential distribution of the failure and repair rates. These differential equations are recursively solved to obtain the availability under normalizing conditions. The availability of the system is optimized by using the PSO algorithm. The results obtained by PSO are validated by using the Genetic Algorithm (GA).

The availability analysis of the system concludes that the cane preparation (F1) is critical of the crushing system and the optimized availability of the system using PSO is achieved as high as 87.12%.

A crushing system of the sugar plant is evaluated as it is the main system of the sugar plant. The maintenance data associated with failure and repair rate parameters were analyzed with the help of maintenance records/logbook and by conducting personal meetings with maintenance executives of the plant. The results obtained in the paper helped them to plan maintenance strategies accordingly to get optimal system availability.

This paper deals with the performance optimization and sensitivity analysis for crystallization system of a sugar plant.

Crystallization system comprises of five subsystems, namely crystallizer, centrifugal pump and sugar grader. The Chapman–Kolmogorov differential equations are derived from the transition diagram of the crystallization system using mnemonic rule. These equations are solved to compute reliability and steady state availability by putting the appropriate combinations of failure and repair rates using normalizing and initial boundary conditions. The performance optimization is carried out by varying number of generations, population size, crossover and mutation probabilities. Finally, sensitivity analysis is performed to analyze the effect of change in failure rates of each subsystem on availability, mean time to failure (MTBF) and mean time to repair (MTTR).

The highest performance observed is 96.95% at crossover probability of 0.3 and sugar grader subsystem comes out to be the most critical and sensitive subsystem.

The findings of the paper highlights the optimum value of performance level at failure and repair rates for subsystems and also helps identify the most sensitive subsystem. These findings are highly beneficial for the maintenance personnel of the plant to plan the maintenance strategies accordingly.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a method to compute RAMD indices to measure and improve the performance of skim milk powder production system of a dairy plant under real working conditions.

The present work is carried out by developing performance model based on Markov birth-death process. The skim milk powder production system consists of six units. The first order governing differential equations are derived using the mnemonic rule and further solved to calculate RAMD indices i.e. reliability, availability, maintainability, dependability, MTBF, MTTR and dependability ratio for each subsystem of the system.

The subsystem SS1 comprising of chiller and cream separator is the most critical from maintenance point of view, as the reliability, availability, maintainability, dependability, MTBF and dependability ratio indices are low as compared to those of other subsystems of skim milk powder production system of the dairy plant.

The RAMD indices of the present work is very useful for finding the critical subsystem and its effect on the performance of the system working under real working conditions. Further, based on findings the maintenance priorities for various subsystems can be decided.

This paper aims to explore the impact of climate change on yields and yield variances in major rainfed crops and measure possible changes in yields under projected climate changes in different agro-climatic zones of Tamil Nadu, India. Although many empirical studies report the influence of climate change on crop yield, only few address the effect on yield variances. Even in such cases, the reported yield variances were obtained through simulation studies rather than from actual observations. In this context, the present study analyzes the impact of climate change on crops yield and yield variance using the observed yields.

The Just-Pope yield function (1978) is used to analyze the impact of climate change on mean yield and variance. The estimated coefficient from Just-Pope yield function and the projected climatic data for the year 2030 are incorporated to capture the projected changes in crop yield and variances.

By the year 2030, the yield of pulses is estimated to decline in all the zones (Northeast, Northwest, Western, Cauvery delta, South and Southern zones), with significant declines in the Northeast zone (6.07 per cent), Cauvery delta zone (3.55 per cent) and South zone (3.54 per cent). Sorghum yield may suffer more in Western zone (2.63 per cent), Southern zone (1.92 per cent) and Northeast zone (1.62 per cent). Moreover, the yield of spiked millet is more likely to decrease in the Southern zone (1.39 per cent), Northeast zone (1.21 per cent) and Cauvery delta zone (0.24 per cent), and the yield of cotton may also decline in the Northeast zone (12.99 per cent), Northwest zone (8.05 per cent) and Western zone (2.10 per cent) of Tamil Nadu, India.

The study recommends introducing appropriate crop insurance policies to address possible financial losses to the farmers. Prioritizing area-specific stress-tolerant crop varieties without complementing yield would sustain crops cultivation further.

The term “prepaid card” refers to the pre‐payment of value process, i.e. pay now and extract value later, and describes most of the prepaid/stored value products available today. These cards have largely supplanted paper gift certificates and travelers checks, and are used as alternatives for traditional paper‐based transactions such as payroll payments, cross‐border remittances, and government assistance or welfare benefit programs. However, the same attributes that make open‐system prepaid cards attractive to legitimate customers make them attractive to money launderers. The purpose of this paper is to make the case for subjecting certain prepaid card products (but not all) to Report of International Transportation of Currency or Monetary Instruments (CMIR) requirements.

Addresses how the US law‐enforcement agencies might reconstruct the CMIR enforcement regime to address the unique challenges that prepaid card products present.

The money laundering threat posed by these products is not immediate, but it is not conjectural either. US law‐enforcement agencies (and perhaps ultimately the courts) will be required to address the fourth amendment and privacy issues that may arise when a customs officer “searches” a prepaid card by swiping it and ascertaining the value of the funds associated with that card.

The paper is of value by showing that problem issues can be surmounted, provided the enforcement regime is narrowly targeted to include only those prepaid card products that bear the closest resemblance to currency, and provided the funds associated with those products are maintained in pooled accounts.

Based on fifteen years of data on the annual Academy of International Business (AIB) best dissertation Farmer Award finalists, we find that these dissertations were done at a range of North American universities. Interestingly, dissertation topics differed from the topics covered in the three top IB journals with five‐sixths of the topics in management, organization, economics, or finance and two‐thirds set in a single country or region (U.S., Japan, North America, and Western Europe). Survey research is the most common methodology but analysis of secondary data is growing. As expected, the finalists are on average an extraordinarily prolific group.

Outpatient departments (OPDs) need to monitor the quality of care and patient satisfaction for continuous quality improvement. Additionally, there is a need for an increase in focused literature on patient satisfaction and quality of health care at a tertiary care level. The purpose of this paper is to attempt to fulfil this need.

A cross‐sectional hospital‐based study among OPD patients was undertaken, where investigators conducted interviews with 120 patients at entry (registration), 120 patients at the OPD clinic (60 doctor‐patient interactions and 60 exit interviews), and a further 120 patients at investigation facilities. Patient satisfaction, client convenience facilities, prescription quality, doctor‐patient interaction and other quality elements as described in the study were given score of 0 or 1.

At exit, 52 (86.6 percent) patients were satisfied with the OPD care. The mean total quality score was 80.9 percent of the total scores. It was above 90 percent of the total score for patient convenience facilities and for doctor‐patient interaction, 76 percent for the prescription quality of the doctors and 43.3 percent for signage display. The mean score for patient‐doctor interaction was found to be significantly lower (3.6/5) among dissatisfied patients compared to the satisfied patients (4.7/5). Satisfied patients reported a significantly higher consultation time (12.4 minutes) with a doctor compared to dissatisfied patients (8.5 minutes) (p=0.04).

Not using a Likert scale to measure patient satisfaction could be considered a limitation. However, the authors also arrived at similar conclusions with their tools as with the use of Likert scales in other studies. Furthermore, findings are limited to medicine and surgery general OPDs in a tertiary care setting. Any interpretation beyond this frame may be done with caution.

Hospitals should encourage good patient‐doctor interaction as it has emerged as the key factor associated with patient satisfaction.

Quality improvements in public sector health institutes can lead to better utilization of health care by the poor and compromised sections of society and can lead to a reduction in the inequity associated with health care.

This paper fulfils the need to evaluate quality of hospital care in public sector hospitals at the tertiary care level. The methods and tools used are simple and extensive enough to capture information at multiple service points.

Images and caption descriptions serve as important visual stimuli that influence consumer preferences; therefore, the current study focuses on property images and captions illustrated on the home pages of accommodation-sharing platforms. Specifically, this study investigates the relative importance of hue, brightness and saturation of a property image and caption description styles on potential consumers’ preferences.

A mixed-method approach was used, and a total of 293 valid responses were collected through a discrete choice experiment approach. Interviews were conducted for additional analyses to explore the detailed explanations.

The utility model demonstrated that the image’s saturation was the most critical attribute perceived by the respondents, followed by caption description style, hue and brightness.

This is one of the first studies to investigate the display of attributes on a digital accommodation platform by exploring potential customers’ stated preferences. This study focuses explicitly on images and captions illustrated on the home page of an accommodation booking platform. Detailed image investigation is also a new research area in sharing economy-related research.

This paper advances a research agenda for service researchers at the intersection of healthcare and information technologies to improve access to quality healthcare at affordable prices. The article reviews key trends to provide an agenda for research focusing on strategies, governance and management of key service processes.

This paper synthesizes literature in information systems, service management, marketing and healthcare operations to suggest a research agenda. The authors draw on frameworks such as the interpretive model of technology, technology acceptance model, assemblage theories and Baumol's cost disease to develop their arguments.

The paper situates strategy-related service management questions that service providers and consumers face in the context of emerging healthcare and technology trends. It also derives implications for governance choices and questions related to that.

The paper discusses service management challenges and concludes with an agenda for future research that touches on governance and service management issues.

This paper provides implications for healthcare service providers and policymakers to understand new trends in healthcare delivery, technologies and facilities management to meet evolving customer needs.

This paper provides implications for managing healthcare services that touch on many social and societal concerns.

This conceptual paper provides background and review of the work at the intersections of information systems, marketing and healthcare operations to draw implications for future research.

This study aims to examine the moderating role of private label product type (organic vs non-organic) on the relationships between trust transfer, price fairness, perceived value and brand loyalty.

The empirical data were gathered with the structured questionnaire from two groups of respondents who had previously purchased organic and conventional private label products. The direct, mediating and moderating effects were analysed with structural equation modelling.

The findings confirmed the trust transfer between the retail store and private label brand. The results revealed that both store trust and trust in private label brand positively influence price fairness and which, in turn, elicits higher perceived value. Perceived value was also found to influence private label brand loyalty. The multi-group analyses revealed that the magnitude of the trust transfer was accentuated by organic food private label. Furthermore, the relation between trust in private label brand, price fairness and perceived value was also greater in organic food private label.

This study utilized the trust transfer theory and equity theory as a theoretical foundation to provide novel insights into the moderating influence of private label product type on the relationships between the antecedents of private label brand loyalty. The results of the research can help retailers to develop successful private label brand marketing strategies.