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Selective Production of Exotic Species is an innovative plant for advanced nuclear physic studies. A radioactive beam, generated by using an UCx target-ion source system, is ionized, selected and accelerated for experimental objects. Very high vacuum conditions and appropriate safety systems to storage exhaust gases are required to avoid radiological risk for operators and people. In this paper, Failure Mode, Effects, and Criticality Analysis of a preliminary design of high activity gas recovery system is performed by using a modified Fuzzy Risk Priority Number to rank the most critical components in terms of failures and human errors. Comparisons between fuzzy approach and classic application allow to show that Fuzzy Risk Priority Number is able to enhance the focus of risk assessments and to improve the safety of complex and innovative systems such as those under consideration.

There is description of the three-criteria ranging method intended to form a priority number of alternatives and the results of its analysis. It is noted that during developing recommendations for the decision maker, it is necessary not only to identify the most promising alternatives, but also to provide reasonable explanations of the obtained results, which requires to additional analysis of the results of the calculations. It has been proposed a new multicriteria comparison method to reduce the volume of such analysis, which involves the use of several combinations of comparison criteria. There are used three single-criteria, three two-criteria and one three-criteria comparisons. Formulas dependencies are given for this new method and it is provided a step-by-step description of the calculation procedure. The possibility of practical application of the proposed method is shown in the calculated example, for which the literature sources provide the obtained results for known multi-criteria methods. Comparison of the results of the calculations for known and new methods shows that the use of the proposed method makes it possible to increase the validity of the developed recommendations by increasing the completeness of the comparison of alternatives. It leads to the conclusion that the use of the developed complex method of ranking can be quite promising during multi-criteria optimization of complex objects.

Study Design Narrative review. Objective The current review aimed to describe the role of existing techniques and emerging methods of imaging and electrophysiology for the management of degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM), a common and often progressive condition that causes spinal cord dysfunction and significant morbidity globally. Methods A narrative review was conducted to summarize the existing literature and highlight future directions. Results Anatomical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is well established in the literature as the key imaging tool to identify spinal cord compression, disc herniation/bulging, and inbuckling of the ligamentum flavum, thus facilitating surgical planning, while radiographs and computed tomography (CT) provide complimentary information. Electrophysiology techniques are primarily used to rule out competing diagnoses. However, signal change and measures of cord compression on conventional MRI have limited utility to characterize the degree of tissue injury, which may be helpful for diagnosis, prognostication, and repeated assessments to identify deterioration. Early translational studies of quantitative imaging and electrophysiology techniques show potential of these methods to more accurately reflect changes in spinal cord microstructure and function. Conclusion Currently, clinical management of DCM relies heavily on anatomical MRI, with additional contributions from radiographs, CT, and electrophysiology. Novel quantitative assessments of microstructure, perfusion, and function have the potential to transform clinical practice, but require robust validation, automation, and standardization prior to uptake.

This paper investigates the process of designing concrete mixtures based on a risk-oriented approach. For the risk identification and assessment on the stage of heavy concrete mix composition design, an expert method (Failure mode and effects analysis, FMEA) has been used. Based on the results of an expert survey and an analysis of regulatory documents, potential risks of the design stage have been identified. In the experimental part of the work, the quantitative characteristics of failures (priority number of risk) have been determined, taking into account their significance in terms of consequences, the probability of occurrence and the probability of detection. As a result, it was possible to identify failures that have the highest priority risk number and occur at the stages of determining the consumption of Portland cement, fine aggregate fractions, water-cement ratio of the concrete mixture, and the quality factor of the coarse aggregate. The results have been further used to optimize the composition of the concrete mixture.

This paper presents an eco-innovation method by revised the “Anticipatory Failure Determination (AFD)” method which is the failure analysis tools in TRIZ theory. Using the functional analysis to list the system process and make the functional analysis model. Based on the environmental efficiency factors and functional analysis model, Substance-Field inverse analysis can find a lot of failure modes in the system. In order to assess the priority of risk improvement, the designer can calculate the environmental risk priority number including controlling documents, public image and environmental consequences. Designer can quickly find out the potential failure mode in the complex engineering system with the systematic steps. The TRIZ methods are used for finding eco-innovation idea to solve failure problem. The capability of the whole eco-innovative design process was illustrated by the electrical motorcycle case.

Hydrogen energy can be effectively converted from various energy sources, such as renewable energy or hydrocarbon fuel, and therefore, it is a promising energy source. Various hydrogen production processes have been proposed worldwide because conventional energy conversion systems, after minor design modifications, can be used for such conversions. However, hydrogen gas can be more dangerous than other flammable gases if released into the atmosphere, where it can rapidly reach its explosion limit because of its high diffusion velocity. Therefore, a failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) for hydrogen production processes is required. In this study, FMEA is performed for hydrogen produced from coal syngas using Thermococcus onnurineus NA1, which was discovered in the Indonesian deep sea. A fuzzy inference methodology is introduced for a quantitative analysis of the linguistic ambiguity of risk priority number estimated from a conventional FMEA. To estimate the objective severity ranking, we introduced the potential asset loss combined with the proportionate cost of each piece of equipment under total capital investment and a weight value influenced by environmental and mankind. Moreover, we proposed a fuzzified risk matrix to effectively represent the fuzzy risk priority number (f-RPN) under the risk matrix; variation with and without fuzzification of risk priority number is then expressed to ascertain why this variation has occurred through a vector diagram. Based on the f-RPN vector diagram, we have performed a design revision of the hydrogen production process using Thermococcus onnurineus NA1 to adjust the risk priority number downward from a broadly unacceptable region.

Continuous improvement in the quality management system is based on corrective action. Corrective actions require the identification of priority defects that require priority elimination of the causes of occurrence. The traditional method of prioritization can be considered a Pareto chart, built by the number of identified inconsistencies. This technique makes it possible to prioritize the most frequently detected defects. However, defects that are rare can significantly outweigh those that are often encountered in their consequences. The defect risk is a complex indicator that simultaneously takes into account both the number of detected defects and their impact. Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) can be used to quantify risk. This technique allows to determine the risk priority number (RPN), taking into account the number of detected defects (O), the consequences of the appearance of a defect (S) and the possibility of timely detection of a defect or cause before the onset of undesirable consequences (D). The priority number of risks numerically characterizes the risks of a defect and can be used as a criterion for determining priority defects. Based on the values of the priority number of risks, a Pareto chart can be built and defects that form 80% of the risk area can be identified. These defects require urgent corrective action. According to the data taken from production, it is shown that the Pareto analysis by the priority number of risks gives results that differ from the analysis by the number of identified inconsistencies. Application of the proposed approach will allow introducing risk-oriented methods into the procedures for carrying out corrective actions. This will make it possible to direct the resources of the enterprise to eliminate the causes of defects that are actually detected and can have the most significant consequences for consumers of products

This paper reporst a research that was conducted to utilize lean method and failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) in product costing, in order to obtain more rational price standard. FMEA as one of the methods to analyze risks is used in this paper as a tool to identify the risks from the waste side which is then adapted into a product costing in order to obtain a more rational product price structure. Utilizing both methods produce a waste priority number with adjustment value of 52.23% to the existing product cost. This adjustment makes the cost of product higher than before but yields less gap with the highest retail price

The US government faces severe challenges in the midst of this raging pandemic. Overcoming the health crisis is priority number one. But protecting the minimum livelihoods of individuals and ensuring the survival of otherwise viable entities are of equal importance. Despite economic relief packages totaling $3 trillion to date, needs yet to be met abound. However, US fiscal situation, which were assessed pre pandemic by the CBO to be already in a vulnerable territory, seems left with little space for further actions. Of particular concern is an unfavorable debt picture, which additional major relief programs could push into an explosive dynamics. A way must be found to let the fiscal authorities roll out additional packages while keeping a further deterioration of debt situation within manageable bound. Helicopter money warrants serious consideration as a solution.

Due to the epistemic uncertainty, it is difficult for the experts to give precise parameter values in Risk Priority Number (RPN) evaluations. To overcome this drawback, a hybrid method is proposed by integrating the concepts of fuzzy set theory, weight analysis and similarity value measure of fuzzy numbers. The analysis process is divided into two phases to identify the hazard source. The first phase uses fuzzy Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) and Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA), then the main potential failure modes can be determined. The importance analysis of basic events can be calculated using fuzzy set theory and weight analysis. In the second phase, the multiple failure modes and component correlations are modelled using the Fuzzy Risk Priority Number (FRPN) evaluation and the Similarity Measure Value Method (SMVM). The proposed method has been applied to the risk analysis of a satellite propulsion system to show the effectiveness and applicability.

In this article, a method is developed. This method allows reducing the delivery time of goods by UAVs by reducing the average waiting time for the delivery of one unit of goods, depending on the characteristics of the delivery system of goods. The conducted experimental studies prove the effectiveness of the developed method for the delivery systems of goods. It is proposed to carry out the service of orders for the delivery of goods not in the queue of appearance (the first in the input, the first in output), and in turn, taking into account priority. The priority number is selected by the proportional distance to the delivery point. That is, the closest orders are served first, which, on average, shortens queuing times for most orders and total waiting time. The proposed method can be used to optimize the delivery of goods using small UAVs and it makes sense for mass use (of mass service) under not very high delivery system load. This method can be used for the system of delivery of goods within a populated area or a certain territory.

Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) is a frequently applied risk assessment methodology in different fields of industry. It provides the opportunity for deep analysis of risky events, connecting to their potential causes and effects. Due to its robust method, risk can be identified and managed but, because of its complexity, the assessment can be time-consuming, and the answers can be inconsistent. In the authors' experience, the scale used to quantify the priority number can influence these outcomes. To identify and measure the significance level of this connection, a survey was organized with experts of digital manufacturing, who were asked to rank the probability of risk occurrence in planning a production process based on digital manufacturing principles. Participants had to use three assessment methods: 1) traditional 'linguistic' scale; 2) 'ratio scale; 3) pairwise comparison. In the case of the linguistic scale, probabilities were defined by their descriptions and an integer between number 1 and 7. These numbers did not equal the probability percentage. In contrast, the ranks of the ratio scale equalled the ranges of probability percentage. In the pairwise comparison, risks were compared by the frequencies of their occurrences. The assessment results were compared by time-need, difficulty, priority list, and consistency. Time and difficulty were ranked by the survey participants on a 4-level scale. The priority list was created by the summarized rank values. In the consistency assessment, we looked at how the amended scale affects the assessment uncertainty. In addition, pairwise comparisons were used to examine the consistency of each expert's evaluation and filter out those that were not accurate enough.

The manufacturing quality of the solar gel battery has a weighty impact on its performances as well as its available rated capacity and lifetime. It is possible to achieve many improvements of battery quality by making attention to the critical causes of manufacturing process defect. The aim of this paper is the critical assessment of the manufacturing process defects of the solar gel battery using a novel approach based on a combination of Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA), fuzzy logic method and Pareto chart. FMEA is performed for the manufacturing process with the aim of identifying the various failure modes, their causes and effects. The implementation of the fuzzy logic method for the input factors: Occurrence (O), Severity (S) and Non-detection (ND), then these factors are related to reach Fuzzy Risk Priority Number (FRPN). A comparative study is done to assess the validity and efficiency of fuzzy FMECA versus the traditional Failure Mode, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA). This study is completed by developing Pareto chart to highlight the most important causes and suggest some corrective actions. The results prove that the proposed approach can efficiently assess the manufacturing process defects of solar gel battery.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify and prioritize the causes of delay in development projects and present strategies to reduce the delay. Design/methodology/approach The discussion includes the failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) method for converting survey data, fuzzy risk priority number (FRPN) for prioritizing the delay factors, and the proposed solutions to reduce the delay of projects. Findings The research provided prioritized delay factors to show the importance of each delay factor in the projects by analyzing the survey data. Results show that lack of proper contract price to win the tender has the most impact on the delay of development project between delay factors. Originality/value This study offered some guidelines for people who are involved with contracts and development projects, so that they can use these suggestions to prevent possible factors that may cause delay in projects. This paper also demonstrated a process of analyzing the data which was provided by FMEA and FRPN methods.

Identification, assessment, elimination, and control of hazards in every workplace represent the key to success as well as a critical part of any health and safety programme. Due to the complexity of the operations, equipment, and procedures in the rolling industry, this industry always involves some degree of hazard. Hence, it is necessary to apply an effective risk assessment method to manage hazards. In this research, environmental failure mode and effect analysis (E-FMEA) was used to identify possible risks, analyze environmental risks, and determine the highest risk priorities in an aluminium rolling industry. For this purpose, the production process, equipment, and tasks were examined. Stack emissions, as well as factory sewage, were analyzed according to the standard methods. Considering the results of the analysis and according to the expert panel comments, potential harmful factors were identified and classified regarding the possibility of occurrence, capability for discovery, pollution level, and intensity of their effect on the environment. Using the E-FMEA method, 210 aspects and environmental consequences were identified where 27 cases had a low risk, 148 had a moderate risk, and 35 had a high risk. For those classes of risks with a priority number above 118, correction and control operations were accomplished. The results of the repeated risk assessment approved that the protective measures have been satisfactorily effective; the control operations were performed well and the risk priority number (RPN) was mitigated to the low- or moderate-risk levels.

According to statistics, the most promising direction is the desire to introduce continuous improvement in the quality of the company to maintain and improve competitiveness in the market. This article considers the method of ensuring the requirements of the quality management system aimed at addressing risk management issues. The scheme for calculating the priority number of risks is given, and the FMEA analysis methodology is improved. A comparison of the correlation levels obtained as a result of a survey of employees. Discrepancies allowed by personnel are identified and eliminated using the Pareto chart.

Existing methods of quality assessment of flat products are not sufficiently effective: they can be used for technological process management with certain limitations. Our research suggests an improved approach to the calculations of priority number of risks. The new suggested approach will allow risk assessment of dependent undesired events.

The purpose of this study is to reveal various problems application of accounting on Islamic Micro Finance Institutions (IMFI) based grameen. To achieve the study researchers used a methodology Analytical Network Process. Decomposition of the problem conducted by survey-based Grameen IMFI to practitioners as well as in-depth interviews to experts or academicians. Based on the results of the study (decomposition problem) suggests that the problems in the application of accounting-based Grameen IMFI divided into three main clusters, namely the lack of regulation of supporting institutions, the absence of operational standards and minimum operational assistance. The finding of the study suggested that the main problem was on the lack of regulation supporting with the priority number (0.31), followed by problems of lack of operational standards (0.28), and finally the lack of operational assistance (0.14)

The James Lind Alliance, in association with Diabetes UK, conducted a survey of people with Type 2 diabetes to establish their priorities for research. The number one research priority was found to be 'Can Type 2 diabetes be cured or reversed, what is the best way to achieve this, and is there a point beyond which the condition cannot be reversed?'. The present review summarizes the current understanding of weight loss-induced reversal of Type 2 diabetes. It considers the diagnostic criteria for remission and describes the clinical features of post-diabetes. It is of great importance to recognize these, as post-diabetes differs considerably from the high cardiovascular risk state of prediabetes. Current data demonstrate long-term stable β-cell function, providing weight regain is prevented. If an individual, having previously demonstrated susceptibility to Type 2 diabetes, returns to their previous weight then recurrence of the condition is certain. Appropriate use of the terms 'reversal' and 'remission' is discussed, with emphasis that the word 'cure' is inappropriate. Evidence-based means of achieving and maintaining remission of Type 2 diabetes are described, together with a summary of the information on the steadily diminishing chance of achieving reversal with increasing duration of Type 2 diabetes.

To date, the focus of the research on offshore wind turbines (WTs) has been mainly on how to minimise their capital cost, but Operation and Maintenance (O&M) can represent up to a third of the lifetime costs of an offshore wind farm. The cost for the assets repair/replacement and for the logistics of the maintenance operations are two of the biggest contributors to O&M expenses. While the first is going to rise with the employment of bigger structures, the latter can significantly increase dependently on the reliability of the components, and thus the necessity to performed unscheduled maintenance operations. Using the reliability data for a population of offshore WTs (representing the configurations most employed offshore), first, the share of the components failures to the O&M cost, together with an estimation of their dependency on some O&M parameters has been derived. Then, by following a cost-based Failure Modes Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA), and ranking the components through O&M cost priority number, the most critical components for O&M unplanned operations are identified.

Decision-making is part of the entire process of product development and affects to the direction of the project. Due to the complexity of an organization and process, heuristic decisions, that are a part of intuitive decisions, are applied automatically. Therefore, understanding the decision-making processes especially heuristic decisions in product engineering are a crucial factor to enhance the organization's performance. 7 students who represent different positions from 7 groups of the project IP-Integrated Product Development were interviewed face-to-face and answered questionnaires about the decision-making during the project. 22 types of decisions that have the highest heuristic priority number calculated by frequency, impact, awareness, routine, and systematic are presented. These 22 types of decisions are analyzed in terms of the iPeM model that represents the product development process. The results show a high probability of heuristic decisions in 5 activities in product engineering that are: manage knowledge, validation and verification, detect profiles, detect ideas, and model the principle solution and embodiment.

Ranking of an activity is very important to support work effectiveness. Previous works, ranking for distribution product is used by manual process or averaging value. Problem in this research, the research should be found the effective way to rank the distribution product. This research proposes assist the ranking with a computational model based on Fuzzy Multiple Decision Making (FMADM). Getting an effective ranking, a variable in FMADM computing is required. Variables is used in this research such as number of households, number of small-scale enterprises run by households, gross domestic regional income, and economic growth rate of a region. Research completion is assisted by using self-built research methods. Research method consists of determining value of origin, determining degree of membership, determining weight of each variable, calculation of relation matrix, calculation of the preference value in each village for ranking value, and last is sorting. Operationalized FMADM is gain a result with three priorities district. Priority number one is all of district that have a rank or Vij (alternative rank) higher than 0.4. It means only 7% or 5 villages with the highest rank. Priority number second s all of district that have rank between Vij = 0.26 and Vij = 0.4. It means only 62% or 44 villages. Priority number three is district that have a rank lower than Vij = 0.26, and only 31% or 22 villages. Impact in use of FMADM, calculated in rank, is the process runs effective and dynamic with changing of weighted. User can arrange of weighted as needed.

The goal of this study is to propose a reliability centered predictive maintenance scheme for a complex structure Inertial Navigation System (INS) with several redundant components. GO Methodology is applied to build the INS reliability analysis model—GO chart. Components Remaining Useful Life (RUL) and system reliability are updated dynamically based on the combination of components lifetime distribution function, stress samples, and the system GO chart. Considering the redundant design in INS, maintenance time is based not only on components RUL, but also (and mainly) on the timing of when system reliability fails to meet the set threshold. The definition of components maintenance priority balances three factors: components importance to system, risk degree, and detection difficulty. Maintenance Priority Number (MPN) is introduced, which may provide quantitative maintenance priority results for all components. A maintenance unit time cost model is built based on components MPN, components RUL predictive model and maintenance intervals for the optimization of maintenance scope. The proposed scheme can be applied to serve as the reference for INS maintenance. Finally, three numerical examples prove the proposed predictive maintenance scheme is feasible and effective.

The existence of methodology for ranking and mitigating the risk of non-value added activities in manufacturing strongly support the realization of sustainable manufacturing practice. However, endeavours to create tools and methodology to rank the risk of non-value added activities are mostly devoted on product design and manufacturing and very rarely in maintenance engineering discipline. Motivated by such scarcity, the goal of this study is attempted to develop a modified FMEA (Failure Mode and Effect Analysis) as means to access the criticality of waste in maintenance operations. In an attempt to facilitate decision makers in appraising the criticality of maintenance waste occurrence, an improved model for ranking the risk of maintenance waste mode by using Waste Priority Number (WPN) is proposed

The article consists of two parts which make for an integral body. This article depicts the method of designating the critical damages in accordance with lean maintenance method. Author considered exemplary production system (serial-parallel) in which in time Δt appeared a damage on three different objects. Article depicts the mathematical model which enables determination of an indicator called “prioritized digit of the device”. In the developed model there were considered some parameters: production abilities of devices, existence of potential vicarious devices, position of damage in the production stream based on the capacity of operational buffers, time needed to remove the damages and influence of damages to the finalization of customers’ orders – CEF indicator.

First-in-class drugs and drought-resistant seeds may not seem to have much in common but the transformative technologies being developed to produce these game-changing products do. At the heart of those discoveries are the companies, identified by the 2014 Science Careers Top Employer Survey, that foster a spirit of innovation. These 20 biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies have their eyes on transformative prizes and invest in the intellectual capital needed to get there. From encouraging risky research to bolstering academic collaborations, keeping employees engaged and excited about their research is priority number one. Read the Feature (Full-Text HTML) Read the Feature (PDF)

Article 5 clause 1 of the Registration of real estate act provides that except as otherwise provided for by any act, the order of priority for rights registered with regard to the same real estate shall be in accordance with the order of registration. Clause 2 of the above same article states that the order of registration shall be, from among registration forms, in accordance with the priority number for registration field in the same district. If an estate is owned jointly by two or more persons in proportion to their own shares, the estate shall belong to co-ownership. The co-owners may make use of or take the profits from, in proportion to their own shares, the whole of the article owned jointly. In a registry, one form shall be used for one lot of land. If someone owns the speific part of one lot of land, he shall subdivide that estate. Without subdivision of land, specific parts of such land are owned by specific owners in interior otherwise in exterior they registrate their own shares. In the above mentioned partitioned co-ownership, a person who has for twenty years peaceably and openly held possession of the specific part of the jointly owned estate with an intention to own it, shall acquire the ownership.

The outpatient queue system at the Pratama Clinic still uses manuals so that it can implement computerized technology (mobile) to improve health services for patients. In making this outpatient queue system application using the Priority Scheduling method which is a priority scheduling algorithm. Each process is equipped with a priority number (the smallest integer value is usually the biggest priority). This outpatient queue system is mobile based with the aim that patients can register online. Test results using a comparison of smartphones from the Android 4.1 version of Jelly Bean to the Android 7.0 version of Nougat can run. Comparison of distances in applications with google maps, get the same results and test application users using a questionnaire that is calculated with a Likert Scale to get 81.8% results including the "Very Good" category.

Every supply chain activity is always related to risk. Indonesia is an agricultural country as well as a rice seed producer. In rice seed supply chain activities, there are still some problems, namely the unstable amount of consumer demand, product competition, and delays in receiving raw materials. The purpose of this study was to determine the priority level of risk in the rice seed supply chain, and also determine alternative of risk mitigation strategies. The method used was Fuzzy Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) and Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). This study used an expert survey with 4 respondents consisting of 2 people from the manufacture level (manager and assistant production manager) and 2 people from farmer level (as supplier). There were 14 risks identified from the manufacture level and from the farmer level. Based on the results of calculations with the fuzzy FMEA method, the manufacture level obtained the highest risk result, namely the risk of competition in rice seed products with a Fuzzy Risk Priority Number (FRPN) with value of 7.019. For farmer level, the highest risk was the high competition with other farmers with FRPN 7.812. 80% of critical risks from manufacturing and farmer level were analyzed using fuzzy AHP to determine priority of risk mitigation strategies. Alternative strategies for manufacture level were production planning and inventory control and machine maintenance. Alternative strategies for farmer level were improving information access, maintain quality, and production planning and inventory control.

Aims: Values are listed as motivational factors that determine an individual’s lifestyle. This paper presents a study, which aims to compare value priorities in Estonian, Lithuanian and Finnish students. More than 3,000 teenagers (about 1,000 per country) ranked 16 values according to priority number. The data was gathered using an electronic questionnaire. The objective of the study was to answer two questions: (1) How do the value priorities of Research Article British Journal of Education, Society & Behavioural Science, 3(3): 233-245, 2013 234 adolescents differ in the three countries? (2) Which are the most and least important values among adolescents in the three countries? Study Design: Casual comparative study. Place and Duration of Study: Estonia, Lithuania and Finland over two years. Methodology: 3,043 participants, almost 1,000 from each country in two age groups: 13– 15 years old and 16–18 years old. Differences in the ranking of values in the three countries were compared using an ANOVA analysis. Results: Despite some differences in the value priorities of adolescents in these countries, the study generally shows that the priorities were similar rather than different. Adolescents of all three countries reported having friends and honesty as the most important value (in Lithuania shared with esteem from others). The Finnish respondents ranked having a good time and the respondents in both Baltic States the esteem from others (in Estonia this was shared with knowledge) as the third most important value. The least important in all the countries were modern clothes and high position in society, in Lithuania also the ability to work, in Estonia wealth and in Finland good looks.

This study attempts to apply Failure Mode Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) to improve the safety of a production system, specifically the production process of an oil company. Since food processing is a worldwide issue and self-management of a food company is more important than relying on government regulations, therefore this study focused on that matter. The initial step of this study is to identify and analyze the criticality of the potential failure modes of the production process. Furthermore, take corrective action to minimize the probability of repeating the same failure mode, followed by a re-analysis of its criticality. The results of corrective actions were compared with those before improvement conditions by testing the significance of the difference using two sample t-test. The final measured result is the Criticality Priority Number (CPN), which refers to the severity category of the failure mode and the probability of occurrence of the same failure mode. The recommended actions proposed by the FMECA significantly reduce the CPN compared with the value before improvement, with increases of 38.46% for the palm olein case study.

We relate sustainability to the wine industry and recognize that for practitioners in the wine industry, priority number one is leaving the land in better shape for the next generation. We show an overview of sustainable wine business practices around the world and five illustrative decision-focused case studies about sustainable wineries. Among those case studies, one presented "live" at the conference: the winemaker and Director of Marketing and Communications for one of the wineries, Puerta del Viento (Spain), described their experiences in starting a sustainable wine venture in the Bierzo region. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Knowledge management (KM) is essential to enhancing the competitive edge of organisations. However, not all enterprises apply KM successfully; in KM research, a focus on critical success factors (CSFs) can result in a limited field since failure can still occur. It is only through looking at critical failure factors (CFFs) that a complete prevention can be achieved. In short, focusing on CFFs may be more valuable than looking at CSFs. This paper focuses on applying a failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) to prevent KM failure. It tracks a typical FMEA approach using interviews with respected experts. This method was tested and practiced for reducing risks by 11 companies in Taiwan. The results have shown that the average risk priority number in projects dropped dramatically from 299.3 to 20.6 – an improvement rate of 93.1%. All experts in the study agree that the use of FMEA enhances KM implementation. In addition, 14 common failure modes have been noted for further prevention. Due to the limitation in...

Fuzzy risk priority numbers (FRPNs) were proposed for assessment of the probabilistic risk by synthetically using fuzzy set theory, failure mode and effect analysis. The priority rank of failure modes is evaluated by fuzzy risk priority number in the fuzzy failure mode and effect analysis, where occurrence probability ranking, effect severity ranking and detection difficulty ranking are all fuzzy weighted geometric mean, and the FRPN can be computed using alpha-level set and optimization model. An engine example was provided to illustrate the proposed fuzzy FMEA and the detailed computational process of the FRPNs.

The power system of leisure ship has a character of stand-alone type, so it continuously checks the usable power. Especially, the leisure ship using renewable energy needs to adjust the power consumption of loads according to the usable power. Also, the important loads of leisure ship are different by operation mode. However, current power management system doesnot consider such character. This paper studied load management system of the SPMS(Smart Power Management System) and composed using the smart plug. The SPMS controls the loads depending on a user’s pattern and character through variable priority number control. This control algorithm was verified through simulation of assumed user and situation using LabVIEW.

Axiomatic Design is becoming a preferred system design process tool for insuring the quality and efficiency of design processes for products and services. One aspect of Axiomatic Design is modeling and analyzing the functional independence of proposed solutions. Axiomatic Design provides for comparing and ranking solutions by three categories of functional coupling: Uncoupled, Decoupled and Coupled (1). However, given two potential solutions within the same functional coupling category, Axiomatic Design technology cannot further rank these solutions without additional information. This paper proposes that the degree of functional coupling can be assessed to provide further discrimination between solutions within the same coupling category. Using complexity concepts, this paper proposes two additional metrics, the Independence Priority Number (IPN) and the Independence Measure (IM) to further rank the potential robustness of alternative solutions using the Independence Axiom of the Axiomatic Design process. With IPN and IM metrics, design professionals can better assess the functional robustness of their proposal at the earliest phase of design, conceptual design synthesis.Copyright © 2015 by ASME

Cellular mobile communication Networks have many services and each type of Services has distinct characteristics and Quality of Service requirement. It is important issues in 3-G and beyond networks are to prepare a framework for multiple class service, which performs call admission and handoff efficiently. There have been handful existing mechanisms for improving Call Admission Control (CAC) and Handoff Techniques in mobile network but most of them have considered only single class of service or might have touched value of few classes but not beyond. In this paper we have considered 8 types of services, which are differentiated according to their: Acceptable delay in transmission, Buffering capacity, Transmission mode and Bit rate. In this approach CAC and Handoff issues are resolved by awarding calls with some Priority Number by which each call will be recognized. Another issue of collision in CAC and handoff will be resolved by priority and authority to access the channel. Performance of this frame- work for CAC and Handoff is evaluated by calculating Call Dropping probability and Call Completion probability in this paper.

Chaotic events and developments stemming from climate change now affect social systems and the household economy, globally. Thus, the growing deoxygenation will force people to move. See level rise will crush whole Island States in the Pacific and seize huge land portions elsewhere. Violent storms are conducive to mudslides that like extremely forceful forest fires kill numerous people. Entire cities may present a considerable health risk for ordinary citizens. The COP21 project of the UNFCCC starts its implementation of its decarbonisation goals I, II and III in 2020, but will countries like the economically successful nations on the Asian continent really comply. Or is continued economic growth still priority number One, as the enquiry into their plans indicates here?

Traditionally, decisions on how to improve an operation are based on risk priority number (RPN) in the failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA). Many scholars questioned the RPN method and proposed some new methods to improve the decision process, but these methods are only measuring from the risks viewpoint while ignoring the importance of corrective actions. The corrective actions may be interdependent; hence, if the implementation of corrective actions is in proper order, selection may maximize the improvement effect, bring favorable results in the shortest times, and provide the lowest cost. This study aims to evaluate the structure of hierarchy and interdependence of corrective action by interpretive structural model (ISM), then to calculate the weight of a corrective action through the analytic network process (ANP), then to combine the utility of corrective actions and make a decision on improvement priority order of FMEA by utility priority number (UPN). Finally, it verifies the feasibility and effectiveness of this method by application to a case study.