Search results

Disturbing increase in the use of virgin resources to produce new products has threatened the environment. Many countries have reacted to this situation through regulations which aim to eliminate negative impact of products on the environment shaping the concept of environmentally conscious manufacturing and product recovery (ECMPRO). The first crucial and the most time-consuming step of product recovery is disassembly. The best productivity rate is achieved via a disassembly line in an automated disassembly process. In this chapter, we consider a sequence-dependent disassembly line balancing problem (SDDLBP) with multiple objectives that is concerned with the assignment of disassembly tasks to a set of ordered disassembly workstations while satisfying the disassembly precedence constraints and optimizing the effectiveness of several measures considering sequence-dependent time increments among disassembly tasks. Due to the high complexity of the SDDLBP, there is currently no known way to optimally solve even moderately sized instances of the problem. Therefore, an efficient methodology based on the simulated annealing (SA) is proposed to solve the SDDLBP. Case scenarios are considered and comparisons with ant colony optimization (ACO), particle swarm optimization (PSO), river formation dynamics (RFD), and tabu search (TS) approaches are provided to demonstrate the superior functionality of the proposed algorithm.

This chapter reviews traditional intelligence work, primarily how intelligence was perceived and conducted in the industrial economy. The review includes economic sectors with dedicated intelligence functions such as military, law enforcement, and national security. The review also includes secondary intelligence work in all other economic sectors. Looking across all these examples, the authors present a traditional life cycle model of intelligence work and highlight this traditional view of intelligence’s tactical and reactive approach. The chapter details the historical evolution and common intelligence elements in military, business, law enforcement, judicial forensics, national security, market, financial, medical, digital, and computer forensics.

The purpose of this paper is to efficiently solve disassembly line balancing problem (DLBP) and the sequence-dependent disassembly line balancing problem (SDDLBP) which are both known to be NP-complete.

This manuscript utilizes a well-proven metaheuristics solution methodology, namely, variable neighborhood search (VNS), to address the problem.

DLBPs are analyzed using the numerical instances from the literature to show the efficiency of the proposed approach. The proposed algorithm showed superior performance compared to other techniques provided in the literature in terms of robustness to reach better solutions.

Since disassembly is the most critical step in end-of-life product treatment, every step toward improving disassembly line balancing brings us closer to cost savings and compelling practicality.

This paper is the first adaptation of VNS algorithm for solving DLBP and SDDLBP.

A numerical solution to the free boundary problem of three‐dimensional transient seepage through an earth dam with accretion is presented. The numerical model uses a Baiocchi type transformation to extend the unknown solution region to a fixed known region. The initial value problem is then solved by an iterative method of successive over‐relaxation type. A seepage situation of sudden rise of water level on one side of a dam is presented as an example problem. The effects of variation of accretion, effective porosity and hydraulic conductivity are studied.

Gives a bibliographical review of the finite element methods (FEMs) applied for the linear and nonlinear, static and dynamic analyses of basic structural elements from the theoretical as well as practical points of view. The range of applications of FEMs in this area is wide and cannot be presented in a single paper; therefore aims to give the reader an encyclopaedic view on the subject. The bibliography at the end of the paper contains 2,025 references to papers, conference proceedings and theses/dissertations dealing with the analysis of beams, columns, rods, bars, cables, discs, blades, shafts, membranes, plates and shells that were published in 1992‐1995.

This research attempts to present a solid transportation problem (STP) mechanism in uncertain and indeterminate contexts, allowing decision makers to select their acceptance, indeterminacy and untruth levels.

Due to the lack of reliable information, changeable economic circumstances, uncontrolled factors and especially variable conditions of available resources to adapt to the real situations, the authors are faced with a kind of uncertainty and indeterminacy in constraints and the nature of the parameters of STP. Therefore, an approach based on neutrosophic logic is offered to make it more applicable to real-world circumstances. In this study, the triangular neutrosophic numbers (TNNs) have been utilized to represent demand, transportation capacity, accessibility and cost. Then, the neutrosophic STP was converted into an interval programming problem with the help of the variation degree concept. Then, two simple linear programming models were extracted to obtain the lower and upper bounds of the optimal solution.

The results reveal that the new model is not complicated but more flexible and more relevant to real-world issues. In addition, it is evident that the suggested algorithm is effective and allows decision makers to specify their acceptance, indeterminacy and falsehood thresholds.

Under the transportation literature, there are several solutions for TP and STP in crisp, fuzzy set (FS) and intuitionistic fuzzy set (IFS) conditions. However, the STP has never been explored in connection with neutrosophic sets to the best of the authors’ knowledge. So, this work tries to fill this gap by coming up with a new way to solve this model using NSs.

The success of SMEs' financial and market performance (MAP) depends on the firms' level of blockchain technology adoption (BCA) and identifying the crucial antecedents that influence SMEs' adoption. Therefore, this research attempts to develop an integrated model to understand and predict the determinants of BCA and its effect on SMEs' performance. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue.

The theoretical foundations are the technology–organization –environment (TOE) framework and the resource-based view (RBV) perspective. The authors distributed a survey to SMEs in South Africa and received 311 responses. The covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) followed by the artificial neural network (ANN) technique was used for the data analysis.

The SEM results showed that SMEs' relative advantage, compatibility, top management support (TMS), organizational readiness (ORD), competitive pressures (COP), external support, regulations and legislation significantly influence SMEs' BCA. However, complexity negatively impacts SMEs' BCA. The analysis results also revealed that SMEs' BCA significantly influences the financial performance of the firms, followed by MAP. Furthermore, model determinants were input to an ANN modeling. The ANN results showed that TMS is the most critical predictor of SMEs' BCA, followed by ORD, COP, external support, and regulations and legislation.

The results provide valuable information for SMEs when maneuvering their adoption strategies in the scope of blockchain technology. Additionally, from the perspective of an emerging market, the study has successfully contributed the TOE framework and the RBV.

This study is the first work to explore the determinants of BCA in the context of SMEs from a developing country. This paper is also one pioneer in attempts to develop a causal and predictive statistical model for predicting the determinants of BCA in SMEs' performance.

This paper aims to operationalise and juxtapose variables related to identity, strategy and communications, and then examine the impact of such integration on organisational stakeholders’ trust, loyalty and commitment by using commitment/trust theory.

This research design utilises explanatory research at the preliminary stage, as informed by the literature and conceptual framework. The subsequent model was examined via a positivist survey carried out among stakeholders in high-end retail stores in London. Structural equation modelling (SEM) via AMOS was conducted to gain insight into the various relevant influences and relationships.

The results indicate that identity and strategy are key drivers of integrated corporate communication, and they serve to build stakeholder trust, loyalty and commitment.

The paper shows that while practitioners have indicated that integrated marketing communication is important for organisations, there are a few other areas of concern with regard to consequences related to trust, loyalty and commitment, especially in a retail context. This paper empirically examined relationships between these constructs by validating a conceptual model by using SEM.