Search results for " Resource"
showing 10 items of 3405 documents
An interpretive framework for assessing and monitoring the sustainability of school gardens
2016
School gardens are, increasingly, an integral part of projects aiming to promote nutritional education and environmental sustainability in many countries throughout the world. In the late 1950s, FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) and UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) had already developed projects to improve the dietary intake and behavior through school and community gardens. However, notwithstanding decades of experience, real proof of how these programs contribute to improving sustainability has not been well-documented, and reported findings have mostly been anecdotal. Therefore, it is important to begin a process of collecting and monitoring data to quantify the results and …
Morally Successful Collaboration between Academia and Industry — A Case of a Project Course
2006
Academia-industry collaboration is common in the IT-field, and it includes training programs, research centre activities, and industry advisory boards (Watson and Huber 2000). For the industry, co-operation provides possibilities to acquire human resources and, for the academia, co-operation ensures that research and teaching activities are relevant. Regardless of its popularity little is known about moral issues relating to this phenomenon. This study intends to fill the gap in knowledge by determining the nature of moral conflicts perceived by clients, students, and instructors of a collaborative project course, and by formulating a framework to successfully getting grips with these confl…
Multicriteria evaluation of sustainable energy solutions for Colosseum
2017
Abstract Colosseum is a large office building in the capital region of Finland. The building owner operates on the highly competitive office rental market. With increasing emphasis on environmental responsibility, energy efficiency and sustainable energy solutions can provide competitive edge on the rental market. This study evaluates in terms of multiple criteria different alternatives to enhance the energy solutions of the building. The alternatives included different configurations of solar power, ground source heat, and roof constructions, along with district heating. Decision criteria included internal rate of return, energy efficiency, CO2 emissions, and attractiveness. Attractiveness…
An execution, monitoring and replanning approach for optimal energy management in microgrids
2011
abstract This work develops a new approach for optimal energy management of electrical distribution ‘smart-grids’. Optimality aims at improving sustainability through the minimization of carbon emissions and atreducing production costs and maximizing quality. Input data are the forecasted loads and productionsfrom renewable generation units, output data are a set of control actions for the actuators. Theconsidered electrical distribution system includes storage units that must be considered over a 24 h timeinterval, to consider an entire charge and discharge cycle. The objectives for the optimal management ofdistributed (renewables and not) generation are technical, economical and environme…
Clean and Sustainable Biodiesel Production
2015
To date, the majority of world's primary energy is derived from fossil fuels. However, the fossil fuel recourses are in an inevitable decline as energy demand continues to grow exponentially with population growth, urbanization, and improved standards of living. Crude oil prices have recently risen several times and their current annual volatility exceeds 30%. The potential scarcity of fossil fuels has prompted a global search for alternative energy resources. Biodiesel fulfills the major requirements for production of alternative fuels such as feedstock availability, technical feasibility, and economic competitiveness. Together with other renewable biofuels, the use of biodiesel as a subst…
An exploratory study for analyzing the energy savings obtainable by reshaping processes of sheet metal based components
2017
Abstract Producing materials causes about 25% of all anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Reshaping could be one of the most efficient strategy to foster material reuse and lower the environmental impact due to material production. Sheet metal forming processes can be applied to reshape sheet metal based component. This research field is still almost unexplored and the actual environmental impact saving potential has not been quantified. The present paper aims at starting to cover this research gap, a modeling effort to quantify the environmental impact saving of reshaping is proposed. Primary energy demand for conventional recycling and reshaping are quantified and compared. Primary energy savings…
Business Process-oriented design of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems for small and medium enterprises
2006
In the last few years, many organizations have used business process modelling as an effective tool for managing organizational changes. However, process modelling has rarely been exploited for supporting the entire business process management life cycle. This includes the design of business processes as well as their implementation and control. The adoption and implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems is a crucial issue if referred to small and medium-sized enterprises. The main problem is that the cost of implementation of ERP, intended as the process of customization of the ERP system towards the actual enterprise business processes, overtakes the cost of ERP acquisit…
AirBaltic Case Based Analysis of Potential for Improving Employee Engagement Levels in Latvia through Gamification
2016
Abstract In 2014, airBaltic Corporation introduced a gamified electronic platform called Forecaster with a purpose to increase its employee engagement. The article considers the approach used by the organisation, analyses results, advantages and drawbacks of the organisation, and mainly formulates recommendations for the organisation in order to improve impact on employee engagement through gamification. As a result of the research, the author proposes 8 steps that are useful and applicable to any organisation, and as such those may serve a broader purpose than just improving airBaltic Forecaster tool. The objective of the paper is to draw learnings and put forward suggestions for the organ…
Internal Quality Assurance for Higher Education Study Programme
2015
<p>Quality assurance for study programme is necessary precondition to realize qualitative higher education. Quality assessment is important part of quality assurance cycle. There are used different methodologies, assessment criteria and indicators to assess the higher education quality. It is clear that the assessment results which study programme will be better or worse are detected by the choice of criteria. It is difficult to find objective criteria which could be used universally for all study programme types. The aim of the research is to investigate quality assurance cycle for study programme quality and pay main attention to assessment part. The aim of assessment part is to sel…
Strategic Priorities and Lean Manufacturing Practices in Automotive Suppliers. Ten Years After
2011
Currently, automobile manufacturers have transformed their philosophy of production in favour of the lean manufacturing paradigm. By doing so, they hope to improve efficiency and to obtain better results in the markets in which they operate. This transformation must occur not only in their plants, but it seems important that their suppliers should also modify their production systems in line with the lean manufacturing philosophy (Liker & Wu, 2000; Morris et al., 2006; Oliver & Delbridge, 2002). The effects of this wave will probably result that one integrated supply chain can be built. Supply companies can see benefits from the implantation of lean manufacturing practices in certain of the…