Search results for: profitability performance

Authors: Seyedehfatemeh Golrizgashti, Seyedali Dalil

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The goal of this paper is proposing a supply chain value dashboard in home appliance manufacturing firms to create more value for all stakeholders via balanced scorecard approach. Balanced scorecard is an effective approach that managers have used to evaluate supply chain performance in many fields but there is a lack of enough attention to all supply chain stakeholders, improving value creation and, defining correlation between value indicators and performance measuring quantitatively. In this research the key stakeholders in home appliance supply chain, value indicators with respect to create more value for stakeholders and the most important metrics to evaluate supply chain value performance based on balanced scorecard approach have been selected via literature review. The most important indicators based on expert’s judgment acquired by in survey focused on creating more value for. Structural equation modelling has been used to disclose relations between value indicators and balanced scorecard metrics. The important result of this research is identifying effective value dashboard to create more value for all stakeholders in the supply chain via balanced scorecard approach and based on an empirical study covering ten home appliance manufacturing firms in Iran. Home appliance manufacturing firms can increase their stakeholder's satisfaction by using this value dashboard.

Keywords: supply chain management, balanced scorecard, value, structural modeling, stakeholders

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Authors: Mr. Liju Elias, A. Chitharanjan Hegde

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Ni-W alloy coatings have been developed galvanostatically on copper substrate from tri-sodium citrate bath, using glycerol as the additive. The deposition conditions for production of Ni-W coatings have been optimized for peak performance of their electrocatalytic activity, namely hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The corrosion behavior of the coatings were tested under working conditions of electrocatalysis (1M KOH). Electrocatalytic behaviours were tested by cyclic voltammetry and chrono-potentiometry techniques. Experimental results demonstrated that Ni-W coatings at low and high current densities (c. d.) showing superior performance for OER and HER respectively. The increased electrocatalytic activity for HER with increase of deposition c. d. was attributed to the phase structure, surface morphology and chemical composition of the coatings, confirmed by XRD, SEM and EDX analysis, respectively. The dependency of hardness and thickness of the coatings on HER and OER were examined, and results were discussed.

Keywords: electrocatalytic behavior, HER, Ni-W alloy, OER

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Authors: Ibrahim Alkandi

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This study aims at understanding how banks can utilize their resources and capabilities to achieve a competitive advantage. The resource-based approach has been applied to assess the resources and capabilities as well as how the management perceives them as sources of competitive advantages. A quantitative approach was implemented using cross-sectional data. The research population consisted of Top managers in financial companies in Saudi Arabia, and the sample comprised 79 managers. The resources were sub divided into tangible and intangible. Among the variables that will be assessed in the research include propriety rights, trademark which is the brand, communication as well as organizational culture. To achieve the objective of the research, Multivariate analysis through multiple regression was used. The research tool used is a questionnaire whose validity is also assessed. According to the results of the study, there is a significant relationship between bank’s performance and the strategic management of propriety rights, trademark, administrative and financial skills as well as bank culture. Therefore, the research assessed four aspects, among the variables in the model, in relation to the strategic performance of these banks. The aspects considered were trademark, communication, administrative and leadership style as well as the company’s culture. Hence, this paper contributes to the body of literature by providing empirical evidence of the resources influencing both banks’ market and economic performance.

Keywords: competitive advantage, Saudi banks, strategic management, RBV

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Authors: Ferhat Kadioglu, Hasan Puskul

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A composite material with carbon fiber and polymer matrix has been used as adherent for manufacturing adhesive joints. In order to evaluate different fiber orientations on joint performance, the adherents with the 0°, ±15°, ±30°, ±45° fiber orientations were used in the single lap joint configuration. The joints with an overlap length of 25 mm were prepared according to the ASTM 1002 specifications and subjected to tensile loadings. The structural adhesive used was a two-part epoxy to be cured at 70°C for an hour. First, mechanical behaviors of the adherents were measured using three point bending test. In the test, considerations were given to stress to failure and elastic modulus. The results were compared with theoretical ones using rule of mixture. Then, the joints were manufactured in a specially prepared jig, after a proper surface preparation. Experimental results showed that the fiber orientations of the adherents affected the joint performance considerably; the joints with ±45° adherents experienced the worst shear strength, half of those with 0° adherents, and in general, there was a great relationship between the fiber orientations and failure mechanisms. Delamination problems were observed for many joints, which were thought to be due to peel effects at the ends of the overlap. It was proved that the surface preparation applied to the adherent surface was adequate. For further explanation of the results, a numerical work should be carried out using a possible non-linear analysis.

Keywords: composite materials, adhesive bonding, bonding strength, lap joint, tensile strength

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Authors: Lorraine Joyce Chua, Sheena Fatima Ragas, Flora Mae Tantay, Carolyn Marie Sunio

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The Philippines is one of the countries most affected by weather-related disasters. The occurrence of natural disasters in this country increases due to environmental degradation making environment preservation a growing trend in the society including the corporate world. Most organizations implemented green practices in order to lower expenses unaware that some of these practices were already a part of a new trend in human resource management known as Green Human Resource Management (GHRM). GHRM is when business organizations implement HR policies programs processes and techniques that bring environmental impact and sustainability practices on the organization. In relation to this, the study hypothesizes that implementing GHRM practices in the workplace will spillover to an employees lifestyle and such lifestyle may moderate the impact of GHRM practices to his job performance. Private industries located in the Philippines National Capital Region (NCR) were purposively selected for the purpose of this study. They must be ISO14001 certified or are currently aiming for such certification. The employee respondents were randomly selected and were asked to answer a reliable and valid researcher-made questionnaire. Structural equation modeling (SEM) supported the hypothesis that GHRM practices may spillover to employees lifestyle stimulating such individual to start a green lifestyle which moderates the impact of GHRM to his job performance. It can also be implied that GHRM practices help shape employees to become environmentally aware and responsible which may help them in preserving the environment. The findings of this study may encourage Human Resource practitioners to implement GHRM practices in the workplace in order to take part in sustaining the environment while maintaining or improving employees job performance and keeping them motivated. This study can serve as a basis for future research regarding the importance of strengthening the GHRM implementation here in the Philippines. Future studies may focus more on the impact of GHRM to other factors, such as job loyalty and job satisfaction of the employees belonging to specific industries which would greatly contribute to the GHRM community in the Philippines.

Keywords: GHRM practices, Green Human Resource Management, Green Lifestyle, ISO14001, job performance, Philippines

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Authors: D. M. Bassuney, W. A. Ibrahim, Medhat A. E. Moustafa

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As awareness of the variable nature of food industrial wastewater and its environmental impact grows, a more stable treatment reactor is needed to treat such wastewater. In this paper, a performance of 5-compartment lab-scale Anaerobic Baffled Reactor (ABR) treating high strength wastewater with high pH variation was studied under three organic loading rates (OLRs). The reactor showed high COD removal efficiencies: 92.67, 97.44, and 98.19% corresponding to OLRs of 2.0, 3.0, and 4.8 KgCOD/m3 d, respectively. The first compartment showed a good buffering capacity and a distinct phase separation occurred in the ABR.

Keywords: anaerobic baffled reactor, food industrial wastewater, high strength wastewater, organic loading, pH

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Authors: Ahmed Ismail, Mustafa Baysal

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Although the energy source in the world is mainly based on fossil fuels today, there is a need for alternative energy generation systems, which are more economic and environmentally friendly, due to continuously increasing demand of electric energy and lacking power resources and networks. Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) such as fuel cells, wind and solar power have recently become widespread as alternative generation. In order to solve several problems that might be encountered when integrating DERs to power system, the microgrid concept has been proposed. A microgrid can operate both grid connected and island mode to benefit both utility and customers. For most distributed energy resources (DER) which are connected in parallel in LV-grid like micro-turbines, wind plants, fuel cells and PV cells electrical power is generated as a direct current (DC) and converted to an alternative currents (AC) by inverters. So the inverters are assumed to be primary components in a microgrid. There are many control techniques of parallel inverters to manage active and reactive sharing of the loads. Some of them are based on droop method. In literature, the studies are usually focused on improving the transient performance of inverters. In this study, the performance of two different controllers based on droop control method is compared for the inverters operated in parallel without any communication feedback. For this aim, a microgrid in which inverters are controlled by conventional droop controller and modified droop controller is designed. Modified controller is obtained by adding PID into conventional droop control. Active and reactive power sharing performance, voltage and frequency responses of those control methods are measured in several operational cases. Study cases have been simulated by MATLAB-SIMULINK.

Keywords: active and reactive power sharing, distributed generation, droop control, microgrid

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Authors: Hamed Homaei, Seyed Reza Hejazi, Iraj Mahdavi

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Return policy (RP) is a strategy for supply chain coordination, whereby the retailer returns the unsold products to the manufacturer or the manufacturer offers a credit on unsold products to the retailer at the end of selling season. Early order commitment (EOC) is another efficient mechanism for channel coordination wherein the retailer commits to purchasing from the manufacturer a fixed order quantity a few periods in advance of the regular delivery lead time. This paper studies the coordination issue of a two-level supply chain with one retailer and one manufacturer through combining two mentioned contracts. The main purpose of this paper is to present an analytical model to show that how the contract which is created by combining RP and EOC can improve supply chain performance. Numerical analyses show that the supply chain coordination through mentioned contract in compare with EOC mechanism, can improve supply chain performance under certain ranges of model parameters. Furthermore, some numerical analyses are done to determine the best buyback price in order to achieve maximum cost saving in the supply chain. Finally, a revenue sharing scheme is presented in order to achieve a win-win condition in the supply chain.

Keywords: supply chain coordination, early order commitment, return policy, revenue sharing

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Authors: Aneia Rajiel Busmente, Renato Gunio Jr., Jazin Mautante, Denise Joy Mendoza, Raymond Benedict Tagorio, Gabriel Uy, Natalie Quinn Valenzuela, Ma. Elayza Villa, Francine Yezha Vizcarra, Sofia Madelle Yapan, Eugene Kurt Yboa

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COVID-19’s rapid spread caused a dramatic change in the nation, especially the educational system. The Department of Education was forced to adopt a practical learning platform without neglecting health, a printed modular distance learning. The Philippines' K–12 curriculum includes Statistics and Probability as one of the key courses as it offers students the knowledge to evaluate and comprehend data. Due to student’s difficulty and lack of understanding of the concepts of Statistics and Probability in Normal Distribution. The Self-Learning Module in Statistics and Probability about the Normal Distribution created by the Department of Education has several problems, including many activities, unclear illustrations, and insufficient examples of concepts which enables learners to have a difficulty accomplishing the module. The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of self-learning module on the academic performance of students in the subject Statistics and Probability, it will also explore students’ perception towards the quality of created Self-Learning Module in Statistics and Probability. Despite the availability of Self-Learning Modules in Statistics and Probability in the Philippines, there are still few literatures that discuss its effectiveness in improving the performance of Senior High School students in Statistics and Probability. In this study, a Self-Learning Module on Normal Distribution is evaluated using a quasi-experimental design. STEM students in Grade 11 from National University's Nazareth School will be the study's participants, chosen by purposive sampling. Google Forms will be utilized to find at least 100 STEM students in Grade 11. The research instrument consists of 20-item pre- and post-test to assess participants' knowledge and performance regarding Normal Distribution, and a Likert scale survey to evaluate how the students perceived the self-learning module. Pre-test, post-test, and Likert scale surveys will be utilized to gather data, with Jeffreys' Amazing Statistics Program (JASP) software being used for analysis.

Keywords: self-learning module, academic performance, statistics and probability, normal distribution

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Authors: Mustafa Hyder, Shamaila Burney, Roohi Mumtaz

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The aim of this study is to determine the consequences of silent or hidden messages and their effectiveness in deteriorating or altering our ethical norms and values. The study also focuses the repercussions of subconscious messages and possibilities of ethical diffusion in our society. The research based on the question that what are the different factors that motivate advertisers to include subliminal messages and how much these unspoken truths affecting our ethical values silently. What are the causes and effects of the subliminal messages in general and the level of ethical diffusion and its acceptance? The concept of advertising is to promote and highlight the salient features of the products and services, a company offers. Advertising is the best option nowadays to convey the related information to the consumers so that they attracted more towards the products or services proposed. The other thing advertisers concentrate, is the psychological characteristics using to persuade consumers choice. Using skills and tactics of advertising to promote a product in such a way that it creates a sensation, controversy or brand consciousness among the consumers or customers. The purpose to have increase purchase or to gain popularity in comparison to their competitors, they sometimes use such tactics and techniques, which is highly unethical and immoral for any society. These kinds of stuff used very smartly within the ads that only the conscious mind subconsciously catches the meaning of those glittery images, posters, phrases, tag lines and non-verbal clues. This study elucidates the subliminal advertising their repercussions and impact on consumer’s behaviour in our society with the help of few ads embedded subliminally and the trends of profitability. The methods used to accomplish our research are based on qualitative research along with the research articles, books and feedback from focused groups regarding the topic. The basic objective of this study was that, there is no significant change in the behaviour and attitude observed. These messages capture very short-term life on the viewer’s subconscious mind but in long run people get used to it and hence not only have the diffusion power but also has the high level of acceptance as well that reflects mostly through their social behaviours and attitudes.

Keywords: ethical diffusion, subconscious, subliminal advertising, unspoken facts

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Authors: Muhammad Zikril Hakim Md. Azizi, Norhafizan Ahmad, Raja Ariffin Raja Ghazilla

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Postural stability, attention level of the archer and particularly the vibrations of the bow itself plays a prominent role in determining the athletes performance. Many techniques and systems had been developing to monitor the parameters of the archers during training. In Malaysia, archery coaches tend to use non-scientific ways that they are familiar with, to evaluate archer performance. An approach that provides more affordable yet accurate systems to the masses and relatively easy system deployment procedure need to be proposed. Hence, this project will address to fulfil the needs. Three area of the archer parameter were included for data monitoring sensors. Attention level can be measured using EEG sensor, centre of mass linked to the postural stability can be measured by foot pressure sensor, and the bow vibrations in three axis will be relayed by the vibrations sensors placed directly on the bow using wireless sensors. Arduino based microcontroller used to relay all the data back to the interfacing systems. Interface systems will be using Python language and C++ framework for user interface and hardware interfacing systems. All sensor data can be observed in real time using the in-house applications, and each sessions can be saved to common files so that coach and the team can have a further discussion and comparisons.

Keywords: archery, graphical user interface, microcontroller, wireless sensor, monitoring system

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Authors: A. Zatir, A. Mokhtari, A. Foufa, S. Zatir

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The city of Oran, like any other region of northern Algeria, is subject to frequent seismic activity, the study presented in this work will be based on an analysis of urban and architectural context of the city of Oran before the date of the earthquake of 1790, and then try to deduce the differences between the old city before and after the earthquake. The analysis developed as a specific objective to tap into the seismic history of the city of Oran parallel to its urban history. The example of the citadel of Oran indicates that constructions presenting the site of the old citadel, may present elements of resistance for face to seismic effects. Removed in city observations of these structures, showed the ingenuity of the techniques used by the ancient builders, including the good performance of domes and arches in resistance to seismic forces.

Keywords: earthquake, citadel, performance, traditional techniques, constructions

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Authors: Phakamani Xaba, Robert Huberts, Bilainu Oboirien

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The present study was aimed at developing & comparing two neural-network-based predictive models to predict shelf-life/product age of South African margarine using free fatty acid (FFA), water droplet size (D3.3), water droplet distribution (e-sigma), moisture content, peroxide value (PV), anisidine valve (AnV) and total oxidation (totox) value as input variables to the model. Brick margarine products which had varying ages ranging from fresh i.e. week 0 to week 47 were sourced. The brick margarine products which had been stored at 10 & 25 °C and were characterized. JMP and MATLAB models to predict shelf-life/ margarine age were developed and their performances were compared. The key performance indicators to evaluate the model performances were correlation coefficient (CC), root mean square error (RMSE), and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) relative to the actual data. The MATLAB-developed model showed a better performance in all three performance indicators. The correlation coefficient of the MATLAB model was 99.86% versus 99.74% for the JMP model, the RMSE was 0.720 compared to 1.005 and the MAPE was 7.4% compared to 8.571%. The MATLAB model was selected to be the most accurate, and then, the number of hidden neurons/ nodes was optimized to develop a single predictive model. The optimized MATLAB with 10 neurons showed a better performance compared to the models with 1 & 5 hidden neurons. The developed models can be used by margarine manufacturers, food research institutions, researchers etc, to predict shelf-life/ margarine product age, optimize addition of antioxidants, extend shelf-life of products and proactively troubleshoot for problems related to changes which have an impact on shelf-life of margarine without conducting expensive trials.

Keywords: margarine shelf-life, predictive modelling, neural networks, oil oxidation

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Authors: Adeaga Ibiyemi Iyabo, Adeaga Oyetunde Adeoye

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Interestingly, mechanical drying methods has played a major role in the commercialization of agricultural and agricultural allied sectors. In the overall, drying enhances the favorable storability and preservation of agricultural produce which in turn promotes its producibility, marketability, salability, and profitability. Recent researches have shown that solar drying is easier, affordable, controllable, and of course, cleaner and purer than other means of drying methods. It is, therefore, needful to persistently appraise solar dryers with a view to improving on the existing advantages. In this paper, mathematical equations were formulated for solar dryer using mass conservation law, material balance law and least cost savings method. Computer codes were written in Visual Basic.Net. The developed computer software, which considered Ibadan, a strategic south-western geographical location in Nigeria, was used to investigate the relationship between variable orientation angle of flat plate collector on solar energy trapped, derived monthly heat load, available energy supplied by solar and fraction supplied by solar energy when 50000 Kg/Month of produce was dried over a year. At variable collector tilt angle of 10°.13°,15°,18°, 20°, the derived monthly heat load, available energy supplied by solar were 1211224.63MJ, 102121.34MJ, 0.111; 3299274.63MJ, 10121.34MJ, 0.132; 5999364.706MJ, 171222.859MJ, 0.286; 4211224.63MJ, 132121.34MJ, 0.121; 2200224.63MJ, 112121.34MJ, 0.104, respectively .These results showed that if optimum collector angle is not reached, those factors needed for efficient and cost reduction drying will be difficult to attain. Therefore, this software has revealed that off - optimum collector angle in commercial solar drying does not worth it, hence the importance of the software in decision making as to the optimum collector angle of orientation.

Keywords: energy, ibadan, heat - load, visual-basic.net

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Authors: Sheng-Wei Hsu

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Taiwanese composer Kuo Chih-Yuan (1921-2013) studied composition at Tokyo University of the Arts and was influenced by the musical nationalism prevailing in Japan at the time. Determined to create world-class contemporary works to represent Taiwan, he created music with elements of traditional Taiwanese music in ways that had not been done before. The aims of this study were to examine the traditional elements used in Kuo Chih-Yuan’s Variations and Fugue on an Ancient Taiwanese Music (1972), and how an understanding of these elements might guide pianists to interpret a more proper performance of his work was also presented in this study.

Keywords: Taiwanese traditional music, piano performance research, Kuo Chih-Yuan, fugue, variations

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Authors: Margarita Gáfaro, Karelys Guzmán, Paola Poveda

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This paper establishes the theoretical aspects that explain the barriers to accessing credit for small agricultural producers in developing countries and identifies successful policy experiences to mitigate them. We will test two hypotheses. The first one is that information asymmetries, high transaction costs and high-risk exposure limit the supply of credit to small agricultural producers in developing countries. The second hypothesis is that low levels of financial education and productivity and high uncertainty about the returns of agricultural activity limit the demand for credit. To test these hypotheses, a review of the theoretical and empirical literature on access to rural credit in developing countries will be carried out. The first part of this review focuses on theoretical models that incorporate information asymmetries in the credit market and analyzes the interaction between these asymmetries and the characteristics of the agricultural sector in developing countries. Some of the characteristics we will focus on are the absence of collateral, the underdevelopment of the judicial systems and insurance markets, and the high dependence on climatic factors of production technologies. The second part of this review focuses on the determinants of credit demand by small agricultural producers, including the profitability of productive projects, security conditions, risk aversion or loss, financial education, and cognitive biases, among others. There are policies that focus on resolving these supply and demand constraints and managing to improve credit access. Therefore, another objective of this paper is to present a review of effective policies that have promoted access to credit for smallholders in the world. For this, information available in policy documents will be collected. This information will be complemented by interviews with officials in charge of the design and execution of these policies in a subset of selected countries. The information collected will be analyzed in light of the conceptual framework proposed in the first two parts of this section. The barriers to access to credit that each policy attempts to resolve and the factors that could explain its effectiveness will be identified.

Keywords: agricultural economics, credit access, smallholder, developing countries

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Authors: Mohsin Sadaqat, Hilal Anwar Butt

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Following the stock selection guidelines provided by the Sharia Board (SB), we segregate the firms listed at Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) into Sharia Compliant (SC) and Non-Sharia Compliant (NSC) stocks. Subsequently, we form portfolios within each group based on market capitalization and volatility. The purpose is to analyze and compare the performance of these two groups as the SC stocks have lesser diversification opportunities due to SB restrictions. Using data ranging from January 2004 until June 2016, our results indicate that in most of the cases the risk-adjusted returns (alphas) for the returns differential between SC and NCS firms are positive. In addition, the SC firms in comparison to their counterparts in PSX provides excess returns that are hedged against the market, size, and value-based systematic risks factors. Overall, these results reconcile with one prevailing notion that the SC stocks that have lower financial leverage and higher investment in real assets are lesser exposed to market-based risks. Further, the SC firms that are more capitalized and less volatile, perform better than lower capitalized and higher volatile SC and NSC firms. To sum up our results, we do not find any substantial evidence for opportunity loss due to limited diversification opportunities in case of SC firms. To optimally utilize scarce resources, investors should consider SC firms as a candidate in portfolio construction.

Keywords: diversification, performance, sharia compliant stocks, risk adjusted returns

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Authors: Aram Yeretzian, Yaser Abunnasr, Zahraa Makki, Betina Abi Habib

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Developments in architectural building typologies that are informed by prevalent construction techniques and socio-cultural practices generate different adaptations in the building envelope. While different building envelope types exhibit different climate responsive passive strategies, the individual and comparative thermal performance analysis resulting from these technologies is yet to be understood. This research aims to develop this analysis by selecting three building envelope types from three distinct building traditions by measuring the heat transmission in the city of Beirut. The three typical residential buildings are selected from the 1920s, 1940s, and 1990s within the same street to ensure similar climatic and urban conditions. Climatic data loggers are installed inside and outside of the three locations to measure indoor and outdoor temperatures, relative humidity, and heat flow. The analysis of the thermal measurements is complemented by site surveys on window opening, lighting, and occupancy in the three selected locations and research on building technology from the three periods. Apart from defining the U-value of the building envelopes, the collected data will help evaluate the indoor environments with respect to the thermal comfort zone. This research, thus, validates and contextualizes the role of building technologies in relation to climate responsive design.

Keywords: architecture, wall construction, envelope performance, thermal comfort

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Authors: Michael McTighe

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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic caused the cancellation of many large-scale in-person sporting events, which led to an increase in the availability of virtual ultra-marathons. This study intended to assess how participation in virtual long distances races relates to levels of physical activity for an extended period of time. Moreover, traditional ultra-marathons are known for being not only physically demanding, but also mentally and emotionally challenging. A second component of this study was to assess how psychological contructs related to emotion regulation and mental toughness predict overall performance in the sport. Method: 83 virtual runners participating in a four-month 1000-kilometer race with the option to exceed 1000 kilometers completed a questionnaire exploring demographics, their performance, and experience in the virtual race. Participants also completed the Difficulties in Emotions Regulation Scale (DERS) and the Sports Mental Toughness Questionnaire (SMTQ). Logistics regressions assessed these constructs’ utility in predicting completion of the 1000-kilometer distance in the time allotted. Multiple regression was employed to predict the total distance traversed during the fourmonth race beyond 1000-kilometers. Result: Neither mental toughness nor emotional regulation was a significant predictor of completing the virtual race’s basic 1000-kilometer finish. However, both variables included together were marginally significant predictors of total miles traversed over the entire event beyond 1000 K (p = .051). Additionally, participation in the event promoted an increase in healthy activity with participants running and walking significantly more in the four months during the event than the four months leading up to it. Discussion: This research intended to explore how psychological constructs relate to performance in a virtual type of endurance event, and how involvement in these types of events related to levels of activity. Higher levels of mental toughness and lower levels in difficulties in emotion regulation were associated with greater performance, and participation in the event promoted an increase in athletic involvement. Future psychological skill training aimed at improving emotion regulation and mental toughness may be used to enhance athletic performance in these sports, and future investigations into these events could explore how general participation may influence these constructs over time. Finally, these results suggest that participation in this logistically accessible, and affordable type of sport can promote greater involvement in healthy activities related to running and walking.

Keywords: virtual races, emotion regulation, mental toughness, ultra-marathon, predictors in performance

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Authors: Edward Nartey

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Although sustainability management control (SMC) systems provide information that enhances corporate sustainability decisions, reviews on the SMC implications for sustainable supply chains (SCs) demonstrate a wide research gap, particularly the sustainability performance of healthcare SCs in unusual times. This study provides preliminary empirical evidence on the level of SMC adoption and the decision-making implications for the Tripple Bottom Line (TBL) principles of SC sustainability of Ghanaian public healthcare institutions (PHIs). Using a sample of 226 public health managers, the results show that sustainable formal control has a positive and significant impact on economic sustainability but an insignificant effect on social and environmental sustainability. In addition, a positive relationship was established between informal controls and economic and environmental sustainability but an insignificant relationship with social sustainability. Although the findings highlight the prevalence of the SMC system being prioritized over regular MCS in crisis situations, the MCSs are inadequate in promoting PHIs' sustainable behaviours in SCs. It also provides little empirical evidence on the effective enhancement of the TBL principle of SC sustainability perhaps because the SMC is in misalignment with the TBL principle in crisis situations. Thus, in crisis situations, PHIs need to redesign their MCSs to support the integration of sustainability issues in SCs.

Keywords: sustainability management control, informal control, formal control, sustainable supply chain performance

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Authors: Subhash Chander, Tejinder Kumar Jindal

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Due to its simplicity, Pulse detonation engine technology has recently emerged as a future aerospace propulsion technology. In this paper, we studied various parameters affecting the performance of Pulse detonation engine (PDE) like tube length for proper deflagration to detonation transition (DDT), tube diameter (combustion tube), tube length, Shelkin spiral, Cell size, Equivalence ratio of fuel used etc. We have discussed various techniques for reducing the length of pulse tube by using various DDT enhancing devices. The effect of length of the tube from 40 mm to 3000 mm and diameter from 10 mm to 100 mm has been analyzed. The fuel used is C2H2 and oxidizer is O2. The results are processed in MATLAB for drawing valid conclusions.

Keywords: pulse detonation engine (PDE), deflagration to detonation (DDT), Schelkin spiral, cell size (λ)

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Authors: Ouafa Sakka, Henri Barki, Louise Cote

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Uncertainty and equivocality are defined in the information processing literature as two task characteristics that require different information processing responses from managers. As uncertainty often stems from a lack of information, addressing it is thought to require the collection of additional data. On the other hand, as equivocality stems from ambiguity and a lack of understanding of the task at hand, addressing it is thought to require rich communication between those involved. Past research has provided weak to moderate empirical support to these hypotheses. The present study contributes to this literature by defining uncertainty and equivocality at the project level and investigating their moderating effects on the association between several project information processing constructs and project performance. The information processing constructs considered are the amount of information collected by the project team, and the richness and frequency of formal communications among the team members to discuss the project’s follow-up reports. Data on 93 information system development (ISD) project managers was collected in a questionnaire survey and analyzed it via the Fisher Test for correlation differences. The results indicate that the highest project performance levels were observed in projects characterized by high uncertainty and low equivocality in which project managers were provided with detailed and updated information on project costs and schedules. In addition, our findings show that information about user needs and technical aspects of the project is less useful to managing projects where uncertainty and equivocality are high. Further, while the strongest positive effect of interactive use of follow-up reports on performance occurred in projects where both uncertainty and equivocality levels were high, its weakest effect occurred when both of these were low.

Keywords: uncertainty, equivocality, information processing model, management control systems, project control, interactive use, diagnostic use, information system development

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Authors: Andrew Lock, Alastair Allen

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Fragile watermarking has been proposed as a means of adding additional security or functionality to biometric systems, particularly for authentication and tamper detection. In this paper we describe an experimental study on the effect of watermarking iris images with a particular class of fragile algorithm, reversible algorithms, and the ability to correctly perform iris recognition. We investigate two scenarios, matching watermarked images to unmodified images, and matching watermarked images to watermarked images. We show that different watermarking schemes give very different results for a given capacity, highlighting the importance of investigation. At high embedding rates most algorithms cause significant reduction in recognition performance. However, in many cases, for low embedding rates, recognition accuracy is improved by the watermarking process.

Keywords: biometrics, iris recognition, reversible watermarking, vision engineering

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Authors: Farhan Beg

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A space vector based pulse width modulation control technique for the three-phase PWM converter is proposed in this paper. The proposed control scheme is based on a synchronous reference frame model. High performance and efficiency is obtained with regards to the DC bus voltage and the power factor considerations of the PWM rectifier thus leading to low losses. MATLAB/SIMULINK are used as a platform for the simulations and a SIMULINK model is presented in the paper. The results show that the proposed model demonstrates better performance and properties compared to the traditional SPWM method and the method improves the dynamic performance of the closed loop drastically. For the space vector based pulse width modulation, sine signal is the reference waveform and triangle waveform is the carrier waveform. When the value of sine signal is larger than triangle signal, the pulse will start producing to high; and then when the triangular signals higher than sine signal, the pulse will come to low. SPWM output will change by changing the value of the modulation index and frequency used in this system to produce more pulse width. When more pulse width is produced, the output voltage will have lower harmonics contents and the resolution will increase.

Keywords: power factor, SVPWM, PWM rectifier, SPWM

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Authors: Eric Ohene, Albert P. C. Chan, Shu-Chien HSU

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The rising building energy consumption and related carbon emissions make it necessary to construct net-zero carbon buildings (NZCBs). The objective of net-zero buildings has raised the benchmark for building performance and will alter how buildings are designed and constructed. However, there have been growing concerns about uncertainty in net-zero building design and cost implications in decision-making. Lessons from practice have shown that a robust net-zero building design is complex, expensive, and time-consuming. Moreover, climate conditions have an enormous implication for choosing the best-optimal passive and active solutions to ensure building energy performance while ensuring the indoor comfort performance of occupants. It is observed that 20% of the design decisions made in the initial design phase influence 80% of all design decisions. To design and construct NZCBs, it is crucial to ensure adequate decision-making during the early design phases. Therefore, this study aims to explore practical strategies to design NZCBs and to offer a design framework that could help decision-making during the design stage of net-zero buildings. A parametric simulation approach was employed, and experts (i.e., architects, building designers) perspectives on the decision framework were solicited. The study could be helpful to building designers and architects to guide their decision-making during the design stage of NZCBs.

Keywords: net-zero, net-zero carbon building, energy efficiency, parametric simulation, hot climate

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Authors: Seyran Naghdi

Abstract:

Background: Orphan drug development is limited by very high costs attributed to the research and development and small size market. How health policymakers address this challenge to consider both supply and demand sides need to be explored for directing the policies and plans in the right way. The price is an important signal for pharmaceutical companies’ profitability and the patients’ accessibility as well. Objective: This study aims to find out the orphan drugs' price-setting patterns and approaches in health systems through a systematic review of the available evidence. Methods: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) approach was used. MedLine, Embase, and Web of Sciences were searched via appropriate search strategies. Through Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), the appropriate terms for pricing were 'cost and cost analysis', and it was 'orphan drug production', and 'orphan drug', for orphan drugs. The critical appraisal was performed by the Joanna-Briggs tool. A Cochrane data extraction form was used to obtain the data about the studies' characteristics, results, and conclusions. Results: Totally, 1,197 records were found. It included 640 hits from Embase, 327 from Web of Sciences, and 230 MedLine. After removing the duplicates, 1,056 studies remained. Of them, 924 studies were removed in the primary screening phase. Of them, 26 studies were included for data extraction. The majority of the studies (>75%) are from developed countries, among them, approximately 80% of the studies are from European countries. Approximately 85% of evidence has been produced in the recent decade. Conclusions: There is a huge variation of price-setting among countries, and this is related to the specific pharmacological market structure and the thresholds that governments want to intervene in the process of pricing. On the other hand, there is some evidence on the availability of spaces to reduce the very high costs of orphan drugs development through an early agreement between pharmacological firms and governments. Further studies need to focus on how the governments could incentivize the companies to agree on providing the drugs at lower prices.

Keywords: orphan drugs, orphan drug production, pricing, costs, cost analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 163

Authors: Faycal Benyahia, Abdelmohsen Albedah, Bel Abbes Bachir Bouiadjra

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In this paper, the finite element analysis is applied to study the performance of the bonded composite reinforcement or repair for reducing stress concentration at a semi-circular lateral notch and repairing cracks emanating from this kind of notch. The effects of the adhesive properties on the variation of the stress intensity factor at the crack tip were highlighted. The obtained results show that the stress concentration factor at the notch tip is reduced about 30% and the maximal reduction of the stress intensity factor is about 80%. The adhesive properties must be optimized in order to increase the performance of the patch repair or reinforcement.

Keywords: bonded repair, notch, crack, adhesive, composite

Procedia PDF Downloads 390

Authors: Wu Xiaoguang, Liu Jiaxin, Fang Miaomiao, Wei Saidong

Abstract:

There are many prestressed concrete prefabricated girder Bridges with small and medium span and the damage is serious. This paper mainly study the effect of prestress loss of prefabricated bridge bearing performance, through the establishment of ANSYS finite element model, from the condition of different prestress loss research, get the stress and strain data, draw curve, finally get the following conclusion: loss of prestress can reduce the ultimate bearing capacity of Bridges, the side span across the deflection value than the influence of times side span, the influence of the deflection in the midspan cross value. Therefore, the prestress loss and the effective prestress should be strictly considered in the design and construction process.

Keywords: across the deflection, loss of prestress, prefabricated girder bridge, the main tensile stress

Procedia PDF Downloads 148

Authors: Chen-Yu Chen, Ping-Hsueh We, Wei-Mon Yan

Abstract:

Over the past few centuries, human requirements for energy have been met by burning fossil fuels. However, exploiting this resource has led to global warming and innumerable environmental issues. Thus, finding alternative solutions to the growing demands for energy has recently been driving the development of low-carbon and even zero-carbon energy sources. Wind power and solar energy are good options but they have the problem of unstable power output due to unpredictable weather conditions. To overcome this problem, a reliable and efficient energy storage sub-system is required in future distributed-power systems. Among all kinds of energy storage technologies, the fuel cell system with hydrogen storage is a promising option because it is suitable for large-scale and long-term energy storage. The high-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC) with metallic bipolar plates is a promising fuel cell system because an HT-PEMFC can tolerate a higher CO concentration and the utilization of metallic bipolar plates can reduce the cost of the fuel cell stack. However, the operating life of metallic bipolar plates is a critical issue because of the corrosion phenomenon. As a result, in this work, we try to apply different coating layer on the metal surface and to investigate the protection performance of the coating layers. The tested bipolar plates include uncoated SS304 bipolar plates, titanium nitride (TiN) coated SS304 bipolar plates and chromium nitride (CrN) coated SS304 bipolar plates. The results show that the TiN coated SS304 bipolar plate has the lowest contact resistance and through-plane resistance and has the best cell performance and operating life among all tested bipolar plates. The long-term in-situ fuel cell tests show that the HT-PEMFC with TiN coated SS304 bipolar plates has the lowest performance decay rate. The second lowest is CrN coated SS304 bipolar plate. The uncoated SS304 bipolar plate has the worst performance decay rate. The performance decay rates with TiN coated SS304, CrN coated SS304 and uncoated SS304 bipolar plates are 5.324×10⁻³ % h⁻¹, 4.513×10⁻² % h⁻¹ and 7.870×10⁻² % h⁻¹, respectively. In addition, the EIS results indicate that the uncoated SS304 bipolar plate has the highest growth rate of ohmic resistance. However, the ohmic resistance with the TiN coated SS304 bipolar plates only increases slightly with time. The growth rate of ohmic resistances with TiN coated SS304, CrN coated SS304 and SS304 bipolar plates are 2.85×10⁻³ h⁻¹, 3.56×10⁻³ h⁻¹, and 4.33×10⁻³ h⁻¹, respectively. On the other hand, the charge transfer resistances with these three bipolar plates all increase with time, but the growth rates are all similar. In addition, the effective catalyst surface areas with all bipolar plates do not change significantly with time. Thus, it is inferred that the major reason for the performance degradation is the elevated ohmic resistance with time, which is associated with the corrosion and oxidation phenomena on the surface of the stainless steel bipolar plates.

Keywords: coating layer, high-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell, metallic bipolar plate, performance degradation

Procedia PDF Downloads 281

Authors: Huihui Zhang, Zhongzhi Zhang

Abstract:

Coagulation/flocculation is regarded a simple and effective wastewater treatment technology. Chlorine-containing coagulants may release chloride ions into the wastewater, causing corrosion. A green chlorine-free coagulant of polyaluminum ferric silicate (PSAF) was prepared by the copolymerization method to treat oily refractory wastewaters. Results showed that the highest removal efficiency of turbidity and chemical oxygen demand (COD) achieved 97.4% and 93.0% at a dosage of 700 mg/L, respectively. After PSAF coagulation, the chloride ion concentration was also almost the same as that in the raw wastewater. Thus, the chlorine-free coagulant is highly efficient and does not introduce additional chloride ions into the wastewater, avoiding corrosion.

Keywords: coagulation, chloride-free coagulant, oily refractory wastewater, coagulation performance

Procedia PDF Downloads 218