Search results for: socio-psychological factors and economic factors

Authors: Aline Alves Bandeira, Luís Pedro Lima, Maria Cecília de Paula Silva, Paulo Henrique de Viveiros Tavares

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Nowadays, the study of public policies regarding management efficiency is essential. Public policies are about what governments do or do not do, being an area that has grown worldwide, contributing through the knowledge of technologies and methodologies that monitor and evaluate the performance of public administrators. The information published on official government websites needs to provide for transparency and responsiveness of managers. Thus, transparency is a primordial factor for the execution of accountability, providing, in this way, services to the citizen with the expansion of transparent, efficient, democratic information and that value administrative eco-efficiency. The ecologically balanced management of a Smart City must optimize environmental education, building a fairer society, which brings about equality in the use of quality environmental resources. Smart Cities add value in the construction of public management, enabling interaction between people, enhancing environmental education and the practical applicability of administrative eco-efficiency, fostering economic development and improving the quality of life.

Keywords: Accountability, environmental education, new public administration, smart cities.

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Authors: Lorenzo Maiorino, Fabio Fortuna, Giovanni Panebianco, Marco Sanzari, Gabriella Arcese, Valerio Maria Paolozzi

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It is well known that sport is a factor of social cohesion and the breaking down of barriers between people. From this point of view, the aim is to demonstrate how, through the (re)generation of sustainable structures, it is possible to give life to a new social, cultural and economic pathway, where possible, in peripheral areas with problems of abandonment and degradation. The aim of this paper is therefore to study realities such as European programs and funds and to highlight the ways in which planning can be used to respond to critical issues such as urban decay, abandonment, and the mitigation of social differences. For this reason, the analysis will be carried out through the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) package, the next generation EU, the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the Cohesion Fund, the European Social Fund, and other managed funds. The procedure will rely on sources and data of unquestionable origin, and the relation to the object of study in question will be highlighted. The project lends itself to be ambitious and explore a further aspect of the sports theme, which as we know, is one of the foundations for a healthy society

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Keywords: Sport, social inclusion, urban regeneration, sport facilities, European funds.

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Authors: Gheorghe Romanescu, IonuŃ V. Jora, Cristian Constantin Stoleriu

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The influence of human activities produced by dams along the river beds is minor, but the location of accumulation of water directly influences the hydrological regime. The most important effect of the influence of damming on the way water flows decreases the frequency of floods. The water rate controls the water flow of the dams. These natural reservoirs become dysfunctional and, as a result, a new distribution of flow in the downstream sector, where maximum flow is, brings about, in this case, higher values. In addition to fishing, middle and lower courses of rivers located by accumulation also have a role in mitigating flood waves, thus providing flood protection. The Vaslui also ensures a good part of the needs of the town water supply. The most important lake is Solesti, close to the Vaslui River, opened in 1974. A hydrological regime of accumulation is related to an anthropogenic and natural drainage system. The design conditions and their manoeuvres drain or fill the water courses.

Keywords: Hydraulic works, hydrological regime, average flow, repeat flow.

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Authors: Isa Nakhai Kamal Abadi, Esmaeel Saberi, Ehsan Mirjafari

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While financial institutions have faced difficulties over the years for a multitude of reasons, the major cause of serious banking problems continues to be directly related to lax credit standards for borrowers and counterparties, poor portfolio risk management, or a lack of attention to changes in economic or other circumstances that can lead to a deterioration in the credit standing of a bank's counterparties. Credit risk is most simply defined as the potential that a bank borrower or counterparty will fail to meet its obligations in accordance with agreed terms. The goal of credit risk management is to maximize a bank's risk-adjusted rate of return by maintaining credit risk exposure within acceptable parameters. Banks need to manage the credit risk inherent in the entire portfolio as well as the risk in individual credits or transactions. Banks should also consider the relationships between credit risk and other risks. The effective management of credit risk is a critical component of a comprehensive approach to risk management and essential to the long-term success of any banking organization. In this research we also study the relationship between credit risk indices and borrower-s timely payback in Karafarin bank.

Keywords: Financial Ratios; Spearman Test; Bank OperationsRisk

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Authors: M. Celeska, K. Najdenkoski, V. Dimchev, V. Stoilkov

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Accurate determination of wind turbine performance is necessary for economic operation of a wind farm. At present, the procedure to carry out the power performance verification of wind turbines is based on a standard of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). In this paper, nonparametric statistical inference is applied to designing a simple, inexpensive method of verifying the power performance of a wind turbine. A statistical test is explained, examined, and the adequacy is tested over real data. The methods use the information that is collected by the SCADA system (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) from the sensors embedded in the wind turbines in order to carry out the power performance verification of a wind farm. The study has used data on the monthly output of wind farm in the Republic of Macedonia, and the time measuring interval was from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2016. At the end, it is concluded whether the power performance of a wind turbine differed significantly from what would be expected. The results of the implementation of the proposed methods showed that the power performance of the specific wind farm under assessment was acceptable.

Keywords: Canonical correlation analysis, power curve, power performance, wind energy.

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Authors: A. Iqbal, N. Khalid, S. Rafiq

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The interrelationship between international stock markets has been a key study area among the financial market researchers for international portfolio management and risk measurement. The characteristics of security returns and their dynamics play a vital role in the financial market theory. This study is an attempt to find out the dynamic linkages among the equity market of USA and emerging markets of Pakistan and India using daily data covering the period of January 2003–December 2009. The study utilizes Johansen (Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 12, 1988) and Johansen and Juselius (Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 52, 1990) cointegration procedure for long run relationship and Granger-causality tests based on Toda and Yamamoto (Journal of Econometrics, 66, 1995) methodology. No cointegration was found among stock markets of USA, Pakistan and India, while Granger-causality test showed the evidence of unidirectional causality running from New York stock exchange to Bombay and Karachi stock exchanges.

Keywords: Causality, Cointegration, India, Pakistan, Stock Markets, US.

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Authors: Mohamed A. Tantawy, Nourelhoda A. Hussein, Moataz A. Mahrous

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New planning and city design theories are continuously debated and optimized for seeking efficiency and adequacy in economic and life quality aspects. Here, we examine the children-city relationship, to reflect on how modern and traditional cities affect the social climate. We adopt children as a proper caliber for urbanism, as for their very young age, they are independent and attached to family. Their fragility offers a chance to gauge how various urban settings directly affect their feeling of safety, containment, and their perception of belonging for home territory. The importance of street play for the child development process is discussed thoroughly. The authority they have on their play (when and what to play) pushes us to our conclusion. A mediocre built environment characterized by spontaneity and human-scale semi-private urban spaces, is irreplaceable by a perfectly designed far away playgrounds. Street play has a huge role in empowering children for a gradual engagement with grown-ups’ urban flow.

Keywords: Child's psychology, social activity, street play, urban fabric.

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Authors: Yongsei Lee, Hyunsu Park, Youngseob Yu, Heechan Yoo, Sungin Yoo

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A horizontal anaerobic digester was developed and tested in pilot scale for Korean food waste with high water contents (>80%). The hydrogen sulfide in the biogas was removed by a biological desulfurization equipment integrated in the horizontal digester. A mixer of the horizontal digester was designed to easily remove the sediment in the bottom and scum layers on surface in the digester. Experimental result for 120 days of operation of the pilot plant showed a high removal efficiency of 81.2% for organic substance and high stability during the whole operation period were acquired. Also food waste was treated at high organic loading rates over 4 kg•VS/m3∙day and a methane gas production rate of 0.62 m3/kg•VSremoved was accomplished. The biological desulfurization equipment inside the horizontal digester was proven to be an economic and effective method to reduce the biogas desulfurization cost by removing hydrogen sulfide more than 90% without external desulfurization equipments.

Keywords: Biogas, Biological desulfurization, Horizontal anaerobic digester, Korean food waste

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Authors: Baseem Khan, Ganga Agnihotri

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Restructuring of Electricity supply industry introduced many issues such as transmission pricing, transmission loss allocation and congestion management. Many methodologies and algorithms were proposed for addressing these issues. In this paper a power flow tracing based method is proposed which involves Matrices methodology for the transmission usage and loss allocation for generators and demands. This method provides loss allocation in a direct way because all the computation is previously done for usage allocation. The proposed method is simple and easy to implement in a large power system. Further it is less computational because it requires matrix inversion only a single time. After usage and loss allocation cooperative game theory is applied to results for finding efficient economic signals. Nucleolus and Shapely value approach is used for optimal allocation of results. Results are shown for the IEEE 6 bus system and IEEE 14 bus system.

Keywords: Modified Kirchhoff Matrix, Power flow tracing, Transmission Pricing, Transmission Loss Allocation.

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Authors: Barnabas M. Suleiman, Ifeanyi P. Onyeonoru, Egharevba E. Matthew

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This article interrogates the question of leadership in the context of the antidemocratic tendencies of Africa’s political leaders. The African continent has continued to struggle behind other continents of the world as a result of the failure of leadership to address the political and socio-economic challenges of the continent. Thus, bedevilled with the challenges of development, the African continent is in need of people-centred leadership. However, as the continent struggles to overcome its political and development predicaments, it is stuck in the dystopia of demagoguery that promises nothing but apocalyptic future for its teeming population. Thus, despite the enormous resources available in Africa, leadership failures have made progress difficult to achieve. At the centre of this leadership failure are demagogues: a set of leaders who have influence over a large number of people but take advantage of that influence to undermine democracy and good governance. Citing various examples across Africa, the article describes how demagogues, especially in democratic countries, have become the problem of the African continent in its quest to achieve democratic progress, development and peaceful progress.

Keywords: Africa, demagogue, good governance, democracy, leadership.

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Authors: Waldemiro Francisco Sorte Junior

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The Japanese integrative approach to social systems can be observed in supply chain management as well as in the relationship between public and private sectors. Both the Lean Production System and the Developmental State Model are characterized by efforts towards the achievement of mutual goals, resulting in initiatives for capacity building which emphasize the system level. In Brazil, although organizations undertake efforts to build capabilities at the individual and organizational levels, the system level is being neglected. Fieldwork data confirmed the findings of other studies in terms of the lack of integration in supply chain management in the Brazilian automobile industry. Moreover, due to the absence of an active role of the Brazilian state in its relationship with the private sector, automakers are not fully exploiting the opportunities in the domestic and regional markets. For promoting a higher level of economic growth as well as to increase the degree of spill-over of technologies and techniques, a more integrative approach is needed.

Keywords: Integration, Lean Production System, DevelopmentalState Model, Brazilian automobile industry.

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Authors: G. Zazzaro, F.M. Pisano, G. Romano

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During last decades, worldwide researchers dedicated efforts to develop machine-based seismic Early Warning systems, aiming at reducing the huge human losses and economic damages. The elaboration time of seismic waveforms is to be reduced in order to increase the time interval available for the activation of safety measures. This paper suggests a Data Mining model able to correctly and quickly estimate dangerousness of the running seismic event. Several thousand seismic recordings of Japanese and Italian earthquakes were analyzed and a model was obtained by means of a Bayesian Network (BN), which was tested just over the first recordings of seismic events in order to reduce the decision time and the test results were very satisfactory. The model was integrated within an Early Warning System prototype able to collect and elaborate data from a seismic sensor network, estimate the dangerousness of the running earthquake and take the decision of activating the warning promptly.

Keywords: Bayesian Networks, Decision Support System, Magnitude Classification, Seismic Early Warning System

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Authors: T. Motsima, K. Zuma, E Rapoo

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Childhood mortality is a key sign of the coverage of child survival interventions, social and economic progressions. Although the level of under-five mortality has been declining, it is still unacceptably high. The primary aim of this paper is to establish and analyse the levels and trends of under-five mortality for the periods 1998, 2003 and 2012 in South Africa. Methods: The data used for analysis came from the 1998 SADHS, the 2003 SADHS and the 2012 SABSSM which collected information on the survival status of children. The Kaplan-Meier estimate of the survival function method was used to determine the probabilities of failure (death) from birth up to 59 months. Results and Conclusion: The overall U5MR declined by 28.2% from 53.1 in 1998 to 38.1 in 2012. The U5MR of male children declined from 59.2 in 1998 to 46.2 in 2003 and dropped further to 41.4 in 2012. The U5MR of children of mothers aged 40 years and older increased from 64.0 in 1998 to 89.0 in 2003 and rose further to 129.9 in 2012. The U5MR of children of mothers with education level of 12 years or more increased from 32.2 in 1998 to 35.2 in 2003 and declined substantially to 17.5 in 2012.

Keywords: Demographic and health survey, Kaplan-Meier, levels and trends, under-five mortality.

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Authors: Sara Blanc, José V. Benlloch-Dualde, Laura Grindei, Ana C. Torres, Angélica Monteiro

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This paper presents a study that leads an experience by introducing digital learning applied to a case study focused on primary and secondary school garden-based education. The approach represents an example for interaction among different education and research agents at different countries and levels, such as universities, public and private researches and schools, to get involved in the implementation of education for sustainable development that will make students become more sensible to natural environment, more responsible for their consumption, more aware about waste reduction and recycling, more conscious of the sustainable use of natural resources and, at the same time, more ‘digitally competent’. The experience was designed attending to the European digital education context and OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) directives in transversal skills education. The paper presents the methodology carried out in the study as well as outcomes obtained from the experience.

Keywords: School gardens, primary education, secondary education, science technology and innovation in education, digital learning, sustainable development goals, university, knowledge transference.

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Authors: M. Palanivel, R. Uthayakumar

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In this paper, Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) based model for non-instantaneous Weibull distribution deteriorating items with power demand pattern is presented. In this model, the holding cost per unit of the item per unit time is assumed to be an increasing linear function of time spent in storage. Here the retailer is allowed a trade-credit offer by the supplier to buy more items. Also in this model, shortages are allowed and partially backlogged. The backlogging rate is dependent on the waiting time for the next replenishment. This model aids in minimizing the total inventory cost by finding the optimal time interval and finding the optimal order quantity. The optimal solution of the model is illustrated with the help of numerical examples. Finally sensitivity analysis and graphical representations are given to demonstrate the model.

Keywords: Power demand pattern, Partial backlogging, Time dependent holding cost, Trade credit, Weibull deterioration.

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Authors: R. Hajkova, J. Palecek, H. Malachova, A. Oulehlova

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Ensuring of continuity of business is basic strategy of every company. Continuity of organization activities includes comprehensive procedures that help in solving unexpected situations of natural and anthropogenic character (for example flood, blaze, economic situations). Planning of continuity operations is a process that helps identify critical processes and implement plans for the security and recovery of key processes. The aim of this article is to demonstrate application of system approach to managing business continuity called business continuity management systems in military issues. This article describes the life cycle of business continuity management which is based on the established cycle PDCA (Plan- Do-Check-Act). After this is carried out by activities which are making by University of Defence during activation of forces and means of the integrated rescue system in case of emergencies - accidents at a nuclear power plant in Czech Republic. Activities of various stages of deployment earmarked forces and resources are managed and evaluated by using MCMS application (Military Continuity Management System).

Keywords: Business continuity management system, emergency management, military, nuclear safety.

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Authors: Dimitrios J. Dimitriou, Maria F. Sartzetaki

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Transport infrastructures are high-cost, long-term investments that serve as vital foundations for the operation of a region or nation and are essential to a country’s or business’s economic development and prosperity, by improving well-being and generating jobs and income. The development of appropriate financing options is of key importance in the decision making process in order develop viable transport infrastructures. The development of transport infrastructure has increasingly been shifting toward alternative methods of project financing such as Public Private Partnership (PPPs) and hybrid forms. In this paper, a methodological decision-making framework based on the evaluation of the financial viability of transportation infrastructure for different financial schemes is presented. The framework leads to an assessment of the financial viability which can be achieved by performing various financing scenarios analyses. To illustrate the application of the proposed methodology, a case study of rail transport infrastructure financing scenario analysis in Greece is developed.

Keywords: Rail transport infrastructure; financial viability, scenario analysis, rail project feasibility.

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Authors: Thitaporn Thoopputra, Tipaporn Pongmesa, Shuchuen Li

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Aims: To evaluate the application of non-invasive diabetes risk assessment tool in community pharmacy setting. Methods: Thai diabetes risk score was applied to assess individuals at risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Interactive computer-based risk screening (IT) and paper-based risk screening (PT) tools were applied. Participants aged over 25 years with no known diabetes were recruited in six participating pharmacies. Results: A total of 187 clients, mean aged (+SD) was 48.6 (+10.9) years. 35% were at high risk. The mean value of willingness-to-pay for the service fee in IT group was significantly higher than PT group (p=0.013). No significant difference observed for the satisfaction between groups. Conclusions: Non-invasive risk assessment tool, whether paper-based or computerized-based can be applied in community pharmacy to support the enhancing role of pharmacists in chronic disease management. Long term follow up is needed to determine the impact of its application in clinical, humanistic and economic outcomes.

Keywords: Community pharmacy, intervention, prevention, risk assessment, type 2 diabetes.

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Authors: M. Sadique, S. Ainane, Y. F. Yap, P. Rostron, E. Al Hajri

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The presence of sand in production lines in the oil and gas industries causes material degradation due to erosion-corrosion. The material degradation caused by erosion-corrosion in pipelines can result in a high cost of monitoring and maintenance and in major accidents. The process of erosion-corrosion consists of erosion, corrosion, and their interactions. Investigating and understanding how the erosion-corrosion process affects the degradation process in certain materials will allow for a reduction in economic loss and help prevent accidents. In this study, material loss due to erosion-corrosion of mild steel under impingement of sand-laden water at 90˚ impingement angle is investigated using a submerged impingement jet (SIJ) test. In particular, effects of jet velocity and sand loading on TWL due to erosion-corrosion, weight loss due to pure erosion and erosion-corrosion interactions, at a temperature of 29-33 °C in sea water environment (3.5% NaCl), are analyzed. The results show that the velocity and sand loading have a great influence on the removal of materials, and erosion is more dominant under all conditions studied. Changes in the surface characteristics of the specimen after impingement test are also discussed.

Keywords: Erosion-corrosion, flow velocity, jet impingement, sand loading.

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Authors: S. Mahdavi, S. R. Allahkaram

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Electrodeposition is a simple and economic technique for precision coating of different shaped substrates with pure metal, alloy or composite films. Dc electrodeposition was used to produce Cr, Co-Cr and Co-Cr/TiO2 nano-composite coatings from Cr(III) based electrolytes onto 316L SS substrates. The effects of TiO2 nanoparticles concentration on co-deposition of these particles along with Cr content and microhardness of the coatings were investigated. Morphology of the Cr, Co-Cr and Co-Cr/TiO2 coatings besides their tribological behavior were studied. The results showed that increment of TiO2 nanoparticles concentration from 0 to 30 g L-1 in the bath increased their co-deposition and Cr content of the coatings from 0 to 3.5 wt.% and from 23.7 to 31.2 wt.%, respectively. Microhardness of Cr coating was about 920 Hv which was higher than Co-Cr and even Co-Cr/TiO2 films. Microhardness of Co-Cr and Co-Cr/TiO2 coatings were improved by increasing their Cr and TiO2 content. All the coatings had nodular morphology and contained microcracks. Nodules sizes and the number of microcracks in the alloy and composite coatings were lower than the Cr film. Wear results revealed that the Co-Cr/TiO2 coating had the lowest wear loss between all the samples, while the Cr film had the worst wear resistance.

Keywords: Co-Cr alloy, electrodeposition, nano-composite, tribological behavior, trivalent chromium.

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Authors: Dinesh Khandujaa, Pardeep Kumar Sharma

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Education, as the most important resource in any country, has multiplying effects on all facets of development in a society. The new social realities, particularly the interplay between democratization of education; unprecedented developments in IT sector; emergence of knowledge society, liberalization of economy and globalization have greatly influenced the educational process of all nations. This turbulence entails upon education to undergo dramatic changes to keep up with the new expectations. Growth of entrepreneurship among Indian women is highly important for empowering them and this is highly essential for socio-economic development of a society. Unfortunately in India there is poor acceptance of entrepreneurship among women as unfounded myths and fears restrain them to be enterprising. To remove these inhibitions, education system needs to be re-engineered to make entrepreneurship more acceptable. This paper empirically analyses the results of a survey done on around 500 female graduates in North India to measure and evaluate various entrepreneurial traits present in them. A formative model has been devised in this context, which should improve the teaching-learning process in our education system, which can lead to sustainable growth of women entrepreneurship in India.

Keywords: Women Empowerment, Entrepreneurship, Education System, Women Entrepreneurship, Sustainable Development.

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Authors: Miguel José Oliveira, Fátima Farinha, Elisa M. J. da Silva, Rui Lança, Manuel Duarte Pinheiro, Cátia Miguel

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The Observatory of Sustainability of the Algarve Region for Tourism (OBSERVE) will be a valuable tool to assess the sustainability of this region. The OBSERVE tool is designed to provide data and maintain an up-to-date, consistent set of indicators defined to describe the region on the environmental, sociocultural, economic and institutional domains. This ongoing two-year project has the active participation of the Algarve’s stakeholders, since they were consulted and asked to participate in the discussion for the indicators proposal. The environmental and sociocultural indicators chosen must indicate the characteristics of the region and should be in alignment with other global systems used to monitor the sustainability. This paper presents a review of sustainability indicators systems that support the first proposal for the environmental and sociocultural indicators. Others constraints are discussed, namely the existing data and the data available in digital platforms in a format suitable for automatic importation to the platform of OBSERVE. It is intended that OBSERVE will be a valuable tool to assess the sustainability of the region of Algarve.

Keywords: Sustainability, observatory, environmental indicators, sociocultural indicators, development, tourism, Algarve.

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Authors: S. Kittipongvises, A. Dubsok

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The mineral and mining industry is necessary for countries to have an adequate and reliable supply of materials to meet their socio-economic development. Despite its importance, the environmental impacts from mineral exploration are hugely significant. This study aimed to investigate and quantify the amount of GHGs emissions emitted from both electricity and diesel vehicle fuel consumption in basalt mining in Thailand. Plant A, located in the northeastern region of Thailand, was selected as a case study. Results indicated that total GHGs emissions from basalt mining and operation (Plant A) were approximately 2,501,086 kgCO₂e and 1,997,412 kgCO₂e in 2014 and 2015, respectively. The estimated carbon intensity ranged between 1.824 kgCO₂e to 2.284 kgCO₂e per ton of rock product. Scope 1 (direct emissions) was the dominant driver of its total GHGs compared to scope 2 (indirect emissions). As such, transport related combustion of diesel fuels generated the highest GHGs emission (65%) compared to emissions from purchased electricity (35%). Some of the potential implications for mining entities were also presented.

Keywords: Basalt mining, diesel fuel, electricity, GHGs emissions, Thailand.

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Authors: Paula Ferreira, Filipa Vieira

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The use of wind energy for electricity generation is growing rapidly across the world and in Portugal. However, the geographical characteristics of the country along with the average wind regime and with the environmental restrictions imposed to these projects create limitations to the exploit of the onshore wind resource. The best onshore wind spots are already committed and the possibility of offshore wind farms in the Portuguese cost is now being considered. This paper aims to make a contribution to the evaluation of offshore wind power projects in Portugal. The technical restrictions are addressed and the strategic, environmental and financial interest of the project is analysed from the private company and public points of view. The results suggest that additional support schemes are required to ensure private investors interest for these projects. Assuming an approach of direct substitution of energy sources for electricity generation, the avoided CO2 equivalent emissions for an offshore wind power project were quantified. Based on the conclusions, future research is proposed to address the environmental and social impacts of these projects.

Keywords: Feed-in tariff, offshore wind power, project evaluation.

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Authors: Leila Jafari, Viliam Makis, Akram Khaleghei G.B.

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In this paper, we present a maintenance model of a two-unit series system with economic dependence. Unit#1 which is considered to be more expensive and more important, is subject to condition monitoring (CM) at equidistant, discrete time epochs and unit#2, which is not subject to CM has a general lifetime distribution. The multivariate observation vectors obtained through condition monitoring carry partial information about the hidden state of unit#1, which can be in a healthy or a warning state while operating. Only the failure state is assumed to be observable for both units. The objective is to find an optimal opportunistic maintenance policy minimizing the long-run expected average cost per unit time. The problem is formulated and solved in the partially observable semi-Markov decision process framework. An effective computational algorithm for finding the optimal policy and the minimum average cost is developed, illustrated by a numerical example.

Keywords: Condition-Based Maintenance, Semi-Markov Decision Process, Multivariate Bayesian Control Chart, Partially Observable System, Two-unit System.

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Authors: Tsung-Hsi Fu, Wan-I Lin, Jyh-Cherng Shieh

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Typhoon Morakot hit Taiwan in 2009 and caused severe damages. The government employs a compulsory relocation strategy for post-disaster reconstruction. This study analyzes the impact of this strategy on community solidarity. It employs a multiple approach for data collection, including semi-structural interview, secondary data, and documentation. The results indicate that the government-s strategy for distributing housing has led to conflicts within the communities. In addition, the relocating process has stimulated tensions between victims of the disaster and those residents whose lands were chosen to be new sites for relocation. The government-s strategy of “collective relocation" also worsened community integration. In addition, the fact that a permanent housing community may accommodate people from different places also posts challenge for the development of new inter-personal relations in the communities. This study concludes by emphasizing the importance of bringing social, economic and cultural aspects into consideration for post-disaster relocation..

Keywords: community solidarity, permanent housing, post-disaster reconstruction, relocation.

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Authors: Dimitra Alexiou

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During the last 10 years, in spite of the economic crisis, the number of tourists arriving in Greece has increased, particularly during the tourist season from April to October. In this paper, the number of annual tourist arrivals is studied to explore their preferences with regard to the month of travel, the selected destinations, as well the amount of money spent. The collected data are processed with statistical methods, yielding numerical and graphical results. From the computation of statistical parameters and the forecasting with exponential smoothing, useful conclusions are arrived at that can be used by the Greek tourism authorities, as well as by tourist organizations, for planning purposes for the coming years. The results of this paper and the computed forecast can also be used for decision making by private tourist enterprises that are investing in Greece. With regard to the statistical methods, the method of Simple Exponential Smoothing of time series of data is employed. The search for a best forecast for 2017 and 2018 provides the value of the smoothing coefficient. For all statistical computations and graphics Microsoft Excel is used.

Keywords: Tourism, statistical methods, exponential smoothing, land spatial planning, economy, Microsoft Excel.

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Authors: Kai-Ying A. Chan, Leon A.G. Oerlemans, Marthinus W. Pretorius

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Science parks are often established to drive regional economic growth, especially in countries with emerging economies. However, mixed findings regarding the performances of science park firms are found in the literature. This study tries to explain these mixed findings by taking a relational approach and exploring (un)intended knowledge transfers between new technology-based firms (NTBFs) in the emerging South African economy. Moreover, the innovation outcomes of these NTBFs are examined by using a multi-dimensional construct. Results show that science park location plays a significant role in explaining innovative sales, but is insignificant when a different indicator of innovation outcomes is used. Furthermore, only for innovations that are new to the firms, both science park location and intended knowledge transfer via informal business relationships have a positive impact; whereas social relationships have a negative impact.

Keywords: knowledge flows, innovative performances, science parks, new technology-based firms

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Authors: A. Khanipour, K. M. Ebrahimi, W. J. Seale

Abstract:

Due to heightened concerns over environmental and economic issues the growing important of air pollution, and the importance of conserving fossil fuel resources in the world, the automotive industry is now forced to produce more fuel efficient, low emission vehicles and new drive system technologies. One of the most promising technologies to receive attention is the hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), which consists of two or more energy sources that supply energy to electric traction motors that in turn drive the wheels. This paper presents the various structures of HEV systems, the basic theoretical knowledge for describing their operation and the general behaviour of the HEV in acceleration, cruise and deceleration phases. The conventional design and sizing of a series HEV is studied. A conventional bus and its series configuration are defined and evaluated using the ADVISOR. In this section the simulation of a standard driving cycle and prediction of its fuel consumption and emissions of the HEV are discussed. Finally the bus performance is investigated to establish whether it can satisfy the performance, fuel consumption and emissions requested. The validity of the simulation has been established by the close conformity between the fuel consumption of the conventional bus reported by the manufacturer to what has achieved from the simulation.

Keywords: Hybrid Electric Vehicle, Hybridization, LEV, HEV.

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Authors: N. W. K. Jayatissa, R. Attalage, Prabath Hewageegana, P. A. A. Perera, M. A. Punyasena

Abstract:

Per capita energy usage in any country is exponentially increasing with their development. As a result, the country’s dependence on the fossil fuels for energy generation is also increasing tremendously creating economic and environmental concerns. Tropical countries receive considerable amount of solar radiation throughout the year, use of solar energy with different energy storage and conversion methodologies is a viable solution to minimize the ever increasing demand for the depleting fossil fuels. Salinity gradient solar pond is one such solar energy application. This paper reports the characteristics and performance of a thermally insulated, experimental salinity-gradient solar pond, built at the premises of the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. Particular stress is given to the behavior of the evolution of the three layer structure exist at the stable state of a salinity gradient solar pond over a long period of time, under different environmental conditions. The operational procedures required to maintain the long term thermal stability are also reported in this article.

Keywords: Salt-gradient, solar pond, solar radiation, renewable energy.

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