Search results for: large privately owned enterprises

Authors: Luigi Delle Rose, Oliver Fischer, Ahmed Hammad

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In this article, we study the prospects of the proposed Large Hadron electron Collider (LHeC) in the search for heavy neutral scalar particles. We consider a minimal model with one additional complex scalar singlet that interacts with the Standard Model (SM) via mixing with the Higgs doublet, giving rise to an SM-like Higgs boson and a heavy scalar particle. Both scalar particles are produced via vector boson fusion and can be tested via their decays into pairs of SM particles, analogously to the SM Higgs boson. Using multivariate techniques, we show that the LHeC is sensitive to heavy scalars with masses between 200 and 800 GeV down to scalar mixing of order 0.01.

Keywords: beyond the standard model, large hadron electron collider, multivariate analysis, scalar singlet

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Authors: Munirah Stapah Salleh, Ahmad Rosly Abbas, Sazalina Zakaria, Nur Iffika Ruslan, Nurfaziera Rahim

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One of the areas that require a massive amount of energy is the airport. Hence, several airports have increased their reliance on renewable energy, specifically solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, to solve the issue. The interest regarding the installations of airport-based solar farms caught much attention. This, at the same time, helps to minimize the reliance on conventional energy sources that are fossil-based. However, many concerns were raised on the solar PV systems, especially on the effect of potential glare occurrence to the pilots during their flies. This paper will be discussing both the positive and negative impact of the large scale solar power plant on airports and aviation. Installing the large scale solar have negative impacts on airport and aviation, such as physical collision hazards, potential interference, or voltage problems with aircraft navigational and surveillance equipment as well as potential glare. On the positive side, it helps to lower environmental footprint, acquiring less energy from the utility provider, which are traditionally highly relying on other energy sources that have larger effects on the environment, and, last but not least, reduce the power supply uncertainty.

Keywords: solar photovoltaic systems, large scale solar, airport, glare effects

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Authors: Simon Oga Egboja

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In Africa, particularly in Nigeria, unemployment is a serious issue of concern to every citizen. Hence, this paper focuses on the employment situation and trends in Nigeria. It also investigated the causes why unemployment persists in the country. Prominent among them is the population explosion and rapid expansion of education opportunities all over the country without a corresponding increase in industrial establishment. The paper also discusses the way of reducing the rate of unemployment by encouraging graduates of tertiary institutions in Nigeria to read professional courses and also to indulge in the habit of establishing small-scale enterprises so that after them school they can be self-employed rather than relying solely on government for employment.

Keywords: causes, population, remedy, unemployment

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Authors: Kwan Hee Han

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External environment of enterprise is rapidly changing majorly by global competition, cost reduction pressures, and new technology. In these situations, production scheduling function plays a critical role to meet customer requirements and to attain the goal of operational efficiency. It deals with short-term decision making in the production process of the whole supply chain. The major task of production scheduling is to seek a balance between customer orders and limited resources. In manufacturing companies, this task is so difficult because it should efficiently utilize resource capacity under the careful consideration of many interacting constraints. At present, many computerized software solutions have been utilized in many enterprises to generate a realistic production schedule to overcome the complexity of schedule generation. However, most production scheduling systems do not provide sufficient information about the validity of the generated schedule except limited statistics. Process mining only recently emerged as a sub-discipline of both data mining and business process management. Process mining techniques enable the useful analysis of a wide variety of processes such as process discovery, conformance checking, and bottleneck analysis. In this study, the performance of generated production schedule is evaluated by mining event log data of production scheduling software system by using the process mining techniques since every software system generates event logs for the further use such as security investigation, auditing and error bugging. An application of process mining approach is proposed for the validation of the goodness of production schedule generated by scheduling software systems in this study. By using process mining techniques, major evaluation criteria such as utilization of workstation, existence of bottleneck workstations, critical process route patterns, and work load balance of each machine over time are measured, and finally, the goodness of production schedule is evaluated. By using the proposed process mining approach for evaluating the performance of generated production schedule, the quality of production schedule of manufacturing enterprises can be improved.

Keywords: data mining, event log, process mining, production scheduling

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Authors: Jesus Ruano, Francesc Xavier Trias, Asensi Oliva

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A three-dimensional incompressible Large Eddy Simulation (LES) is performed to compute the hydrodynamic field around a pair of tandem cylinders. Symmetry-preserving schemes will be used during this simulation in conjunction with Finite Volume Method (FVM) to obtain the hydrodynamic field around the selected geometry. A set of results consisting of pressure and velocity and the combination of them will be stored at different surfaces near the cylinders as the initial input for the second part of the study. A post-processing of the obtained results based on Ffowcs-Williams and Hawkings (FWH) equation with a Fourier Transform of the acoustic sources will be used to compute noise at several probes located far away from the region where the hydrodynamics are computed. Directivities as well as spectral profile of the obtained acoustic field will be analyzed.

Keywords: far-field noise, Ffowcs-Williams and Hawkings, finite volume method, large eddy simulation, long-span bodies

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Authors: Safia Hocine, Djamil Aïssani

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Risk models, recently studied in the literature, are becoming increasingly complex. It is rare to find explicit analytical relations to calculate the ruin probability. Indeed, the stability issue occurs naturally in ruin theory, when parameters in risk cannot be estimated than with uncertainty. However, in most cases, there are no explicit formulas for the ruin probability. Hence, the interest to obtain explicit stability bounds for these probabilities in different risk models. In this paper, we interest to the stability bounds of the univariate classical risk model established using the regenerative processes approach. By adopting an algorithmic approach, we implement this approximation and determine numerically the bounds of ruin probability in the case of large claims (heavy-tailed distribution).

Keywords: heavy-tailed distribution, large claims, regenerative process, risk model, ruin probability, stability

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Authors: Sevil Yildiz

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In this study, we will touch upon the legal arrangements issued in Turkey for prevention of condensation and for ensuring pluralism in the media. We will mention the legal arrangements concerning the regulatory and supervisory authority, namely the Radio and Television Supreme Council, for the visual and auditory media. In this context; the legal arrangements, which have been introduced by the Law No 6112 on the Establishment of Radio and Television Enterprises and Their Media Services in relation to the media ownership, will be reviewed through comparison with the Article 29 of the repealed Law No 3984.

Keywords: media ownership, legal arrangements, the case for Turkey, pluralism

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Authors: Allan Chia, Gabriel Gervais

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The case study on FoodXervices Inc shows how businesses need to reinvent and transform themselves in order to adapt and thrive and it also features how an SME can also devote resources to CSR causes. The company, Ng Chye Mong, was set up in 1937 and it went through ups and downs and encountered several failures and successes. In the 1970’s, the management of the company was entrusted to the next generation who continued to manage and expanded the business. In early 2003, the business encountered several challenges. A pair of siblings from the next generation of the Ng family joined the business fulltime and together they set-out to transform the company into FoodXervices Inc. In 2012, they started a charity, Food Bank Singapore Pte Ltd. The authors conducted case study research involving a series of in-depth interviews with the business owner and staff. This case study is an example of how to run a business and coordinate a charity concurrently while mobilising the same resources. The uniqueness of this case is the operational synergy of both the business and charity to promote corporate responsibility causes and initiatives in Singapore.

Keywords: family-owned business, charity, corporate social responsibility, branding

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Authors: Yang Liu

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The work team has been being adopted by the CCP for special missions in a limited time. Since the 18th National Congress of CCP, the unprecedented practice of the work team has had impacts beyond the original goal of poverty alleviation, their functions in village governance have still not been well studied. As the state agents that come from the outside of the village community, this article argues that the work team is a group that represents the coexistence of political, economic, and cultural capital, which contributes to effectively empower the state, and the village cadres and the peasants. For the state, more accurate bottom-up information could be collected by the work team, and policies could be made scientifically and implemented without distortion. For the village cadres, they can learn leadership skills and share more resources owned or mobilized by the work team. For the peasants, they have more access to participate the public affairs of their village and express their claims. The multiple empowerments have greatly improved the relationship among the state, the peasants, and the village cadres since a series of reforms from 1980s to 2000s that alienated the relationship among them.

Keywords: state, village cadre, empowerment, work team, peasants

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Authors: Shanorfizah Mohd Safar, Shaizatulaqma Kamalul Ariffin

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Internationalization of halal small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is necessary for SMEs to become more involved in regional trade and business cooperation. By internationalization, SMEs' profit can increase, and market expansion of SMEs is basic for rising economies of countries to contend all around in the halal industry globally. There are several modes of internationalization; exporting is one of the first steps for internationalization with less capital needed. The study examines the influential factors of export performance amongst halal SMEs in Malaysia. Specifically, this study examines the positive and significant relationships amongst human capital, managerial capability, Halal Assurance Management System (HAMS), digital transformation, government support, and networking capability on halal SMEs' export performance toward SMEs' competitive advantage. In addition, this study will examine innovation capabilities as a moderator in the relationship between independence variables and competitive advantage. Competitive advantage is the most compelling perspective that drives the export performance of halal SMEs in Malaysia. A quantitative method will be used: an online questionnaire survey distributed through emails and face-to-face toward selected halal-certificated SMEs registered in JAKIM, MATRADE website and SME Corp Malaysia website. Nevertheless, whether the halal SMEs practice global business, they will still be the potential respondents. The data were examined and obtained using the statistical software Smart PLS. The analysis used is reliability, correlation, and regression analysis to meet the research objectives. This study contributes significantly to the theory by integrating Resource Based View (RBV) theory, Technology–Organization–Environment (TOE) framework and Networking theory. In addition, this research extends the RBV by extending a variable, the Halal Assurance Management System. This study also examines a moderating role of innovation capabilities in the framework and competitive advantage as a mediator. This research aims to analyze the factors that will impact the internationalization of halal SMEs.

Keywords: internationalization, halal SMEs, competitive advantage, export performance

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Authors: Iman Shabanzadeh

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Over the last three decades, the main demands of the Iranian workforce have been focused on three areas: "The right to a decent wage", "The right to organize" and "The right to job security". In order to investigate and analyze this situation, the present study focuses on the component of job security. The purpose of the study is to figure out what mechanisms in Iran's Labor Law have led to the destabilization and undermining of workers' job security. The research method is descriptive-analytical. To collect information, library and document sources in the field of laws related to labor rights in Iran and, semi-structured interviews with experts have been used. In the data analysis stage, the qualitative content analysis method was also used. The trend analysis of the statistics related to the labor force situation in Iran in the last three decades shows that the employment structure has been facing an increase in the active population, but in the last decade, a large part of this population has been mainly active in the service sector, and contract-free enterprises, so a smaller share of this employment has insurance coverage and a larger share has underemployment. In this regard, the results of this study show that four contexts have been proposed as the main legal and executive mechanisms of labor instability in Iran, which are: 1) temporaryization of the labor force by providing different interpretations of labor law, 2) adjustment labor in the public sector and the emergence of manpower contracting companies, 3) the cessation of labor law protection of workers in small workshops and 4) the existence of numerous restrictions on the effective organization of workers. The theoretical conclusion of this article is that the main root of the challenges of the labor society and the destabilized workforce in Iran is the existence of structural inequalities in the field of labor security, whose traces can be seen in the legal provisions and executive regulations of this field.

Keywords: inequality, precariat, temporaryization, labor force, labor law

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Authors: Vivek Anand, Rainer Naegele

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Industry 4.0 is a global mega-trend revolutionizing the world of advanced manufacturing, but also bringing up challenges for SMEs. In response, many regional, as well as digital Industry 4.0 Platforms, have been set up to boost the competencies of established enterprises as well as SMEs. The concept of 'Clusters' is a policy tool that aims to be a starting point to establish sustainable and self-supporting structures in industries of a region by identifying competencies and supporting cluster actors with services that match their growth needs. This paper is motivated by the idea that Clusters have the potential to enable firms, particularly SMEs, to accelerate the innovation process and transition to digital technologies. In this research, the efficacy of Industry 4.0 platforms as Cluster ecosystems is evaluated, especially for SMEs. Focusing on the Baden Wurttemberg region in Germany, an action research method is employed to study how SMEs leverage other actors on Industry 4.0 Platforms to further their Industry 4.0 journeys. The aim is to evaluate how such Industry 4.0 platforms stimulate innovation, cooperation and competitiveness. Additionally, the barriers to these platforms fulfilling their promise to serve as capacity building cluster ecosystems for SMEs in a region will also be identified. The findings will be helpful for academicians and policymakers alike, who can leverage a ‘cluster policy’ to enable Industry 4.0 ecosystems in their regions. Furthermore, relevant management and policy implications stem from the analysis. This will also be of interest to the various players in a cluster ecosystem - like SMEs and service providers - who benefit from the cooperation and competition. The paper will improve the understanding of how a dialogue orientation, a bottom-up approach and active integration of all involved cluster actors enhance the potential of Industry 4.0 Platforms. A strong collaborative culture is a key driver of digital transformation and technology adoption across sectors, value chains and supply chains; and will position Industry 4.0 Platforms at the forefront of the industrial renaissance. Motivated by this argument and based on the results of the qualitative research, a roadmap will be proposed to position Industry 4.0 Platforms as effective clusters ecosystems to support Industry 4.0 adoption in a region.

Keywords: cluster policy, digital transformation, industry 4.0, innovation clusters, innovation policy, SMEs and startups

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Authors: Yue Meng, Lingyun Wei

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In this paper, the coordination problem of a supply chain system composed of multiple retailers and manufacturers is studied under the background of the new retail supply chain. Taking a system composed of two retailers and one manufacturer as an example, this paper introduces an online store owned by the manufacturer to reflect the characteristics of the combination of online and offline new retail. Then, this paper gives the conditions that need to be satisfied to realize the coordination between retailers and manufacturers, such as the revenue sharing coefficient. The supply chain coordination model is compared with the newsboy model through a specific example. Finally, the conclusion is drawn that the profits of the coordinated supply chain and its members are better than the corresponding profits under the newsboy model; that is, the coordination of the supply chain is realized by using the revenue sharing contract and the transshipment fund mechanism.

Keywords: transshipment, coordination, multi-retailer, revenue-sharing contract

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Authors: Mahdi Azizzadeh, Ali Nabizadeh

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This paper investigates whether ownership structure has significant effects on dividend policy and the percentage of cash dividend payout ratio in Iranian companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange. We use a sample of 300 firm-years for 2010-2014. Results indicate that there is no significant relationship between family ownership and/or institutional ownership and dividend policy. Furthermore, there is no significant relationship between dividend policies in family-owned firms with high or low institutional ownership. However, our empirical test shows that family firms with a low level of institutional investors distribute more cash dividends on average than family firms with a high level of institutional ownership.

Keywords: family ownership, institutional ownership, dividend policy, dividend payout ratio

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Authors: Chen Chuanzhi, Guo Yunyun

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The large linear array feeding parabolic cylindrical antenna of the satellite has the ability of large-area line focusing, multi-directional beam clusters simultaneously in a certain azimuth plane and elevation plane, corresponding quickly to different orientations and different directions in a wide frequency range, dual aiming of frequency and direction, and combining space power. Therefore, the large-diameter parabolic cylindrical antenna has become one of the new development directions of spaceborne antennas. Limited by the size of the rocked fairing, the large-diameter spaceborne antenna is required to be small mass and have a deployment function. After being orbited, the antenna can be deployed by expanding and be stabilized. However, few types of structures can be used to construct large cylindrical shell structures in existing structures, which greatly limits the development and application of such antennas. Aiming at high structural efficiency, the geometrical characteristics of parabolic cylinders and mechanism topological mapping law to the expandable truss are studied, and the basic configuration of deployable truss with cylindrical shell is structured. Then a modular truss parabolic cylindrical antenna is designed in this paper. The antenna has the characteristics of stable structure, high precision of reflecting surface formation, controllable motion process, high storage rate, and lightweight, etc. On the basis of the overall configuration comprehensive theory and optimization method, the structural stiffness of the modular truss parabolic cylindrical antenna is improved. And the bearing density and impact resistance of support structure are improved based on the internal tension optimal distribution method of reflector forming. Finally, a truss-type cylindrical deployable support structure with high constriction-deployment ratio, high stiffness, controllable deployment, and low mass is successfully developed, laying the foundation for the application of large-diameter parabolic cylindrical antennas in satellite antennas.

Keywords: linear array feed antenna, truss type, parabolic cylindrical antenna, spaceborne antenna

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Authors: Rachida Ouysse

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This paper proposes a constrained principal components (CnPC) estimator for efficient estimation of large-dimensional factor models when errors are cross sectionally correlated and the number of cross-sections (N) may be larger than the number of observations (T). Although principal components (PC) method is consistent for any path of the panel dimensions, it is inefficient as the errors are treated to be homoskedastic and uncorrelated. The new CnPC exploits the assumption of bounded cross-sectional dependence, which defines Chamberlain and Rothschild’s (1983) approximate factor structure, as an explicit constraint and solves a constrained PC problem. The CnPC method is computationally equivalent to the PC method applied to a regularized form of the data covariance matrix. Unlike maximum likelihood type methods, the CnPC method does not require inverting a large covariance matrix and thus is valid for panels with N ≥ T. The paper derives a convergence rate and an asymptotic normality result for the CnPC estimators of the common factors. We provide feasible estimators and show in a simulation study that they are more accurate than the PC estimator, especially for panels with N larger than T, and the generalized PC type estimators, especially for panels with N almost as large as T.

Keywords: high dimensionality, unknown factors, principal components, cross-sectional correlation, shrinkage regression, regularization, pseudo-out-of-sample forecasting

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Authors: Faith Eweluegim Enahoro-Ofagbe

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Worldwide, every nation is experiencing the effects of global warming. In developing countries, due to the heavy reliance on agriculture for socioeconomic growth and security, among other things, these countries are more affected by climate change, particularly with the availability of water. Floods, droughts, rising temperatures, saltwater intrusion, groundwater depletion, and other severe environmental alterations are all brought on by climatic change. Life depends on water, a vital resource; these ecological changes affect all water use, including agriculture and household water use. Therefore adequate and adaptive water usage strategies for sustainability are essential in developing countries. Therefore, this paper investigates Nigeria's challenges due to climate change and adaptive techniques that have evolved in response to such issues to ensure water management and sustainability for irrigation and provide quality water to residents. Questionnaires were distributed to respondents in the study area, central Nigeria, for quantitative evaluation of sustainable water resource management techniques. Physicochemical analysis was done, collecting soil and water samples from several locations under investigation. Findings show that farmers use different methods, ranging from intelligent technologies to traditional strategies for water resource management. Also, farmers need to learn better water resource management techniques for sustainability. Since more residents obtain their water from privately held sources, the government should enforce legislation to ensure that private borehole construction businesses treat water sources of poor quality before the general public uses them.

Keywords: developing countries, irrigation, strategies, sustainability, water resource management, water usage

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Authors: S. B. Tende, H. L. Abubakar

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It is acknowledged that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) may encounter different ethical issues and pressures that could affect the way in which they strategize or make decisions concerning the outcome of their business. Therefore, this research aimed at assessing entrepreneurial ethics in the business of SMEs in Nigeria. Secondary data were adopted as source of corpus for the analysis. The findings conclude that a sound entrepreneurial ethics system has a significant effect on the level of performance of SMEs in Nigeria. The Nigerian Government needs to provide both guiding and physical structures; as well as learning systems that could inculcate these entrepreneurial ethics.

Keywords: culture, entrepreneurial ethics, performance, SME

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Authors: Manuel de Pazos-Liano, Manuel Cifuentes-Antonio, Juan Fisac-Gozalo, Sara Perales-Momparler, Carlos Martinez-Montero

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The first-ever game in the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium, the new home of the Club Atletico de Madrid, was played on September 16, 2017, thanks to the work of a multidisciplinary team that made it possible to combine urban development with sustainability goals. The new football ground sits on a 1.2 km² land owned by the city of Madrid. Its construction has dramatically increased the sealed area of the site (transforming the runoff coefficient from 0.35 to 0.9), and the surrounding sewer network has no capacity for that extra flow. As an alternative to enlarge the existing 2.5 m diameter pipes, it was decided to detain runoff on site by means of an integrated and durable infrastructure that would not blow up the construction cost nor represent a burden on the municipality’s maintenance tasks. Instead of the more conventional option of building a large concrete detention tank, the decision was taken on the use of pervious pavement on the 3013 car parking spaces for sub-surface water storage, a solution aligned with the city water ordinance and the Madrid + Natural project. Making the idea a reality, in only five months and during the summer season (which forced to pour the porous concrete only overnight), was a challenge never faced before in Spain, that required of innovation both at the material as well as the machinery side. The process consisted on: a) defining the characteristics required for the porous concrete (compressive strength of 15 N/mm2 and 20% voids); b) testing of different porous concrete dosages at the construction company laboratory; c) stablishing the cross section in order to provide structural strength and sufficient water detention capacity (20 cm porous concrete over a 5 cm 5/10 gravel, that sits on a 50 cm coarse 40/50 aggregate sub-base separated by a virgin fiber polypropylene geotextile fabric); d) hydraulic computer modelling (using the Full Hydrograph Method based on the Wallingford Procedure) to estimate design peak flows decrease (an average of 69% at the three car parking lots); e) use of a variety of machinery for the application of the porous concrete to achieve both structural strength and permeable surface (including an inverse rotating rolling imported from USA, and the so-called CMI, a sliding concrete paver used in the construction of motorways with rigid pavements); f) full-scale pilots and final construction testing by an accredited laboratory (pavement compressive strength average value of 15 N/mm2 and 0,0032 m/s permeability). The continuous testing and innovating construction process explained in detail within this article, allowed for a growing performance with time, finally proving the use of the CMI valid also for large porous car park applications. All this process resulted in a successful story that converts the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium into a great demonstration site that will help the application of the Spanish Royal Decree 638/2016 (it also counts with rainwater harvesting for grass irrigation).

Keywords: construction machinery, permeable carpark, porous concrete, SUDS, sustainable develpoment

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Authors: M. E. Hammond, R. Pokorny

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Not much research has gone into the dynamics of natural regeneration of trees species in tropical forest regions. This study seeks to investigate the impact of gap sizes and light distribution in forest floors on the regeneration of Celtis mildbraedii (CEM), Nesogordonia papaverine (NES) and Terminalia superba (TES). These are selected economically important tree species with different shade tolerance attributes. The spatial distribution patterns and the potential regeneration competition index (RCI) among species using height to diameter ratio (HDR) have been assessed. Gap sizes ranging between 287 – 971 m² were selected at the Bia Tano forest reserve, a tropical moist semi-deciduous forest in Ghana. Four (4) transects in the cardinal directions were constructed from the center of each gap. Along each transect, ten 1 m² sampling zones at 2 m spacing were established. Then, three gap microsites (labeled ecozones I, II, III) were delineated within these sampling zones based on the varying temporal light distribution on the forest floor. Data on height (H), root collar diameter (RCD) and regeneration census were gathered from each of the ten sampling zones. CEM and NES seedlings (≤ 50 cm) and saplings (≥ 51 cm) were present in all ecozones of the large gaps. Seedlings of TES were observed in all ecozones of large and small gaps. Regression analysis showed a significant negative linear relationship between independent RCD and H growth variables on dependent HDR index in ecozones II and III of both large and small gaps. There was a correlation between RCD and H in both large and small gaps. A strong regeneration competition was observed among species in ecozone II in large (df 2, F=3.6, p=0.035) and small (df 2, F=17.9, p=0.000) gaps. These results contribute to the understanding of the natural regeneration of different species with regards to light regimes in forest floors.

Keywords: Celtis mildbraedii, ecozones, gaps, Nesogordonia papaverifera, regeneration, Terminalia superba

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Authors: David C. Ni

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In the previous efforts, we constructed N-Body Systems by an extended Blaschke product (EBP), which represents a non-temporal and nonlinear extension of Lorentz transformation. In this construction, we rely only on two parameters, nonlinear degree, and relative momentum to characterize the systems. We further explored root computation via iteration with an algorithm extended from Jenkins-Traub method. The solution sets demonstrate a form of σ+ i [-t, t], where σ and t are the real numbers, and the [-t, t] shows various canonical distributions. In this paper, we correlate the convergent sets in the original domain with solution sets, which demonstrating large-deviation distributions in the codomain. We proceed to compare our approach with the formula or principles, such as Donsker-Varadhan and Wentzell-Freidlin theories. The deterministic model based on this construction allows us to explore applications in the areas of finance and statistical mechanics.

Keywords: nonlinear Lorentz transformation, Blaschke equation, iteration solutions, root computation, large deviation distribution, deterministic model

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Authors: Jesus Ruano, Asensi Oliva

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The hydrodynamic field generated by a jet expansion is computed via three dimensional compressible Large Eddy Simulation (LES). Finite Volume Method (FVM) will be the discretization used during this simulation as well as hybrid schemes based on Kinetic Energy Preserving (KEP) schemes and up-winding Godunov based schemes with instabilities detectors. Velocity and pressure fields will be stored at different surfaces near the jet, but far enough to enclose all the fluctuations, in order to use them as input for the acoustic solver. The acoustic field is obtained in the far-field region at several locations by means of a hybrid method based on Ffowcs-Williams and Hawkings (FWH) equation. This equation will be formulated in the spectral domain, via Fourier Transform of the acoustic sources, which are modeled from the results of the initial simulation. The obtained results will allow the study of the broadband noise generated as well as sound directivities.

Keywords: far-field noise, Ffowcs-Williams and Hawkings, finite volume method, large eddy simulation, jet noise

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Authors: Karam Chand Gupta

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If an ellipse is to be drawn of given dimensions on a large ground, there is no formula, method or set of calculations & procedure available which will help in drawing an ellipse of given length and width on ground. Whenever a field engineer is to start the work of an ellipse-shaped structure like elliptical conference hall, screening chamber and pump chamber in disposal work etc., it is cumbersome for him to give demarcation of the structure on the big surface of the ground. No procedure is available, even in Google. A set of formulas with calculations has been made which helps the field engineer to draw an true and perfect ellipse of given length and width on the large ground very easily so as to start the construction work of elliptical structure. Based on these formulas a civil Engineering tool kit has been made with the help of which we can make perfect ellipse of desired dimensions on very large surface. The Patent of the tool kit has been filed in Intellectual Property India with Patent Filing Number: 201611026153 and Patent Application Filing Date: 30.07.2016. An App named ‘KC’s Mesh Formula’ has also been made to ease the calculation work. This can be downloaded from Play Store. After adopting these formulas and tool kit, a field engineer will not face difficulty in drawing ellipse on the ground to start the work.

Keywords: ellipse, elliptical structure, foci, string, wooden peg

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Authors: Vladyslav Povoroznyuk, Anna Musiienko, Nataliia Zaverukha, Roksolana Povoroznyuk

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Along with the global aging of population, the number of people with somatic diseases is increasing, including such interrelated pathologies as obesity, osteoarthritis (OA) and osteoporosis (OP). The objective of the study is to examine the connection between body mass index (BMI), OA and bone mineral density (BMD) of lumbar spine, femoral neck and trabecular bone score (TBS) in postmenopausal women with OA. We have observed 359 postmenopausal women (50-89 years old) and divided them into four groups by age: 50-59 yrs, 60-69 yrs, 70-79 yrs and over 80 years old. In addition, according to the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Clinical classification criteria for knee and hip OA, we divided them into 2 groups: group I – 117 females with symptomatic OA (including 89 patients with knee OA, 28 patients with hip OA) and group II –242 women with a normal functional activity of large joints. Analysis of data was performed taking into account their BMI, classified by World Health Organization (WHO). Diagnosis of obesity was established when BMI was above 30 kg/m². In woman with obesity, a symptomatic OA was detected in 44 postmenopausal women (41.1%), a normal functional activity of large joints - in 63 women (58.9%). However, in women with normal BMI – 73 women, who account for 29.0% of cases, a symptomatic OA was detected. According to a chi-squared (χ2) test, a significantly higher level of BMI was detected in postmenopausal women with OA (χ2 = 5.05, p = 0.02). Women with a symptomatic OA had a significantly higher BMD of lumbar spine compared with women who had a normal functional activity of large joints. No significant differences of BMD of femoral necks or TBS were detected in either the group with OA or with a normal functional activity of large joints.

Keywords: bone mineral density, body mass index, obesity, overweight, postmenopausal women, osteoarthritis

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Authors: Chaimongkol Limpianchob

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This work addresses the problem of production planning that arises in the production of aromatic coconuts from Samudsakhorn province in Thailand. The planning involves the forwarding of aromatic coconuts from the harvest areas to the factory, which is classified into two groups; self-owned areas and contracted areas, the decisions of aromatic coconuts flow in the plant, and addressing a question of which warehouse will be in use. The problem is formulated as a mixed-integer linear programming model within supply chain management framework. The objective function seeks to minimize the total cost including the harvesting, labor and inventory costs. Constraints on the system include the production activities in the company and demand requirements. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the feasibility of coconuts supply chain model compared with base case.

Keywords: aromatic coconut, supply chain management, production planning, mixed-integer linear programming

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Authors: Jin Wang, Chunyi Zhu, Chongjian Li, Dapeng Zheng

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A method based on virtual inertia for suppressing electromechanical torsional vibration of a large-power AC drive system is presented in this paper. The main drive system of the rolling mill is the research object, and a two-inertia elastic model is established to study the mechanism of electromechanical torsional vibration. The improvement is made based on the control of the load observer. The virtual inertia control ratio K is added to the speed forward channel, and the feedback loop adds 1-K to design virtual inertia control. The control method combines the advantages of the positive and negative feedback control of the load observer, can achieve the purpose of controlling the moment of inertia of the motor from the perspective of electrical control, and effectively suppress oscillation.

Keywords: electromechanical torsional vibration, large-power AC drive system, load observer, simulation design

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Authors: Yiea Funk Te, Daniel Mueller, Irena Pletikosa Cvijikj

Abstract:

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in the economy of many countries. When the overall world economy is considered, SMEs represent 95% of all businesses in the world, accounting for 66% of the total employment. Existing studies show that the current business environment is characterized as highly turbulent and strongly influenced by modern information and communication technologies, thus forcing SMEs to experience more severe challenges in maintaining their existence and expanding their business. To support SMEs at improving their competitiveness, researchers recently turned their focus on applying data mining techniques to build risk and growth prediction models. However, data used to assess risk and growth indicators is primarily obtained via questionnaires, which is very laborious and time-consuming, or is provided by financial institutes, thus highly sensitive to privacy issues. Recently, web mining (WM) has emerged as a new approach towards obtaining valuable insights in the business world. WM enables automatic and large scale collection and analysis of potentially valuable data from various online platforms, including companies’ websites. While WM methods have been frequently studied to anticipate growth of sales volume for e-commerce platforms, their application for assessment of SME risk and growth indicators is still scarce. Considering that a vast proportion of SMEs own a website, WM bears a great potential in revealing valuable information hidden in SME websites, which can further be used to understand SME risk and growth indicators, as well as to enhance current SME risk and growth prediction models. This study aims at developing an automated system to collect business-relevant data from the Web and predict future growth trends of SMEs by means of WM and data mining techniques. The envisioned system should serve as an 'early recognition system' for future growth opportunities. In an initial step, we examine how structured and semi-structured Web data in governmental or SME websites can be used to explain the success of SMEs. WM methods are applied to extract Web data in a form of additional input features for the growth prediction model. The data on SMEs provided by a large Swiss insurance company is used as ground truth data (i.e. growth-labeled data) to train the growth prediction model. Different machine learning classification algorithms such as the Support Vector Machine, Random Forest and Artificial Neural Network are applied and compared, with the goal to optimize the prediction performance. The results are compared to those from previous studies, in order to assess the contribution of growth indicators retrieved from the Web for increasing the predictive power of the model.

Keywords: data mining, SME growth, success factors, web mining

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Authors: Shun-Qi Zhang, Shu-Yang Zhang, Min Chen, , Jing Bai

Abstract:

Piezoelectric laminated smart structures can be subjected to the strong driving electric field, which may result in large displacements and rotations. In one hand, piezoelectric materials usually behave very significant material nonlinear effects under strong electric fields. On the other hand, thin-walled structures undergoing large displacements and rotations exist nonnegligible geometric nonlinearity. In order to give a precise prediction of piezo laminated smart structures under the large electric field, this paper develops a finite element (FE) model accounting for material nonlinearity (piezoelectric part) and geometric nonlinearity based on the first order shear deformation (FSOD) hypothesis. The proposed FE model is first validated by both experimental and numerical examples from the literature. Afterwards, it is applied to simulate for plate and shell structures with multiple piezoelectric patches under the strong applied electric field. From the simulation results, it shows that large discrepancies occur between linear and nonlinear predictions for piezoelectric laminated structures driving at the strong electric field. Therefore, both material and geometric nonlinearities should be taken into account for piezoelectric structures under strong electric.

Keywords: piezoelectric smart structures, finite element analysis, geometric nonlinearity, electroelastic material nonlinearities

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Authors: Lam Hong Lan, Gabor Sarlos

Abstract:

It is hard to search for best practices in promotion for local fashion brands in Vietnam as the industry is still very young. Local fashion start-ups have grown quickly in the last five years, thanks in part to the internet and social media. However, local designer/owners can face a huge challenge when competing with international brands in the Vietnamese market – and few local case studies are available for guidance. In response, this paper studied how local small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) promote to their target customers in order to compete with international brands. Knowledge of both successful and unsuccessful approaches generated by this study is intended to both contribute to the academic literature on local fashion in Vietnam as well as to help local designers to learn from and improve their brand-building strategy. The primary study featured qualitative data collection via semi-structured depth interviews. Transcription and data analysis were conducted manually in order to identify success factors that local brands should consider as part of their promotion strategy. Purposive sampling of SMEs identified five designers in Ho Chi Minh City (the biggest city in Vietnam) and three designers in Hanoi (the second biggest) as interviewees. Participant attributes included: born in the 1980s or 1990s; familiar with internet and social media; designer/owner of a successful local fashion brand in the key middle market and/or mass market segments (which are crucial to the growth of local brands). A secondary study was conducted using social listening software to gather further qualitative data on what were considered to be successful or unsuccessful approaches to local fashion brand promotion on social media. Both the primary and secondary studies indicated that local designers had maximized their promotion budget by using owned media and earned media instead of paid media. Findings from the qualitative interviews indicate that internet and social media have been used as effective promotion platforms by local fashion start-ups. Facebook and Instagram were the most popular social networks used by the SMEs interviewed, and these social platforms were believed to offer a more affordable promotional strategy than traditional media such as TV and/or print advertising. Online stores were considered an important factor in helping the SMEs to reach customers beyond the physical store. Furthermore, a successful online store allowed some SMEs to reduce their business rental costs by maintaining their physical store in a cheaper, less central city area as opposed to a more traditional city center store location. In addition, the small comparative size of the SMEs allowed them to be more attentive to their customers, leading to higher customer satisfaction and rate of return. In conclusion, this study found that these kinds of cost savings helped the SMEs interviewed to focus their scarce resources on producing unique, high-quality collections in order to differentiate themselves from international brands. Facebook and Instagram were the main platforms used for promotion and brand-building. The main challenge to this promotion strategy identified by the SMEs interviewed was to continue to find innovative ways to maximize the impact of a limited marketing budget.

Keywords: Vietnam, SMEs, fashion brands, promotion, marketing, social listening

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Authors: Maria Giovanna Pacifico

Abstract:

Maintenance, in Italy, is not yet a consolidated practice despite the benefits that could come from. Among the main reasons, there are the lack of financial resources and personnel in the public administration and a general lack of knowledge about how to activate and to manage a prevented and programmed maintenance. The experimentation suggests that users and tourists could be involved in the maintenance process from the knowledge phase to the monitoring ones by using mobile devices. The goal is to increase the quality of Facility Management for cultural heritage, prioritizing usage needs, and limiting interference between the key stakeholders. The method simplifies the consolidated procedures for the Information Systems, avoiding a loss in terms of quality and amount of information by focusing on the users' requirements: management economy, user safety, accessibility, and by receiving feedback information to define a framework that will lead to predictive maintenance. This proposal was designed to be tested in the Archaeological Park of Pompeii on the state property asset.

Keywords: asset maintenance, key stakeholders, Pompeii, user requirement

Procedia PDF Downloads 125