Search results for: Influencing
187 A Framework for Investigating Reverse Logistics Capability of E-Tailers
Authors: Wen-Shan Lin, Shu-Lu Hsu
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Environmental concern and consumer rights have entailed e-tailers to adopt better strategies to facilitate product returns from customers. As the demand for reverse logistics (RL) continues to grow, little is known about what motivates e-tailers to enhance their RL capabilities and about the role RL capabilities plays in enabling e-tailers to achieve better customer satisfaction and economic performance. Based on resource-based theory and institutional theory, this article proposes that the following factors play a critical role in influencing the RL capability of e-tailers: (a) Financial resource commitment to RL, (b) managerial resource commitment to RL, and (c) institutional pressure to implement RL. Based on the role of these factors, the study provides a framework and propositions that serve to guide future research addressing the link among resources, institutional pressure, and RL capability.Keywords: Reverse logistics, e-tailing, resource-based theory, institutional theory.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1225186 Developing the Methods for the Study of Static and Dynamic Balance
Authors: K. Abuzayan, H. Alabed, J. Ezarrugh, M. Agila
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Static and dynamic balance are essential in daily and sports life. Many factors have been identified as influencing static balance control. Therefore, the aim of this study was to apply the (XCoM) method and other relevant variables (CoP, CoM, Fh, KE, P, Q, and, AI) to investigate sport related activities such as hopping and jumping. Many studies have represented the CoP data without mentioning its accuracy so several experiments were done to establish the agreement between the CoP and the projected CoM in a static condition. 5 healthy male were participated in this study (Mean ± SD:- age 24.6 years ±4.5, height 177cm ± 6.3, body mass 72.8kg ± 6.6).Results found that the implementation of the XCoM method was found to be practical for evaluating both static and dynamic balance. The general findings were that the CoP, the CoM, the XCoM, Fh, and Q were more informative than the other variables (e.g. KE, P, and AI) during static and dynamic balance. The XCoM method was found to be applicable to dynamic balance as well as static balance.
Keywords: Centre of Mass, static balance, Dynamic balance, extrapolated Centre of Mass
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1996185 Pricing Strategy Selection Using Fuzzy Linear Programming
Authors: Elif Alaybeyoğlu, Y. Esra Albayrak
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Marketing establishes a communication network between producers and consumers. Nowadays, marketing approach is customer-focused and products are directly oriented to meet customer needs. Marketing, which is a long process, needs organization and management. Therefore strategic marketing planning becomes more and more important in today’s competitive conditions. Main focus of this paper is to evaluate pricing strategies and select the best pricing strategy solution while considering internal and external factors influencing the company’s pricing decisions associated with new product development. To reflect the decision maker’s subjective preference information and to determine the weight vector of factors (attributes), the fuzzy linear programming technique for multidimensional analysis of preference (LINMAP) under intuitionistic fuzzy (IF) environments is used.
Keywords: IF Sets, LINMAP, MAGDM, Marketing.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2250184 Strategy Research for the Development of Thematic Commercial Streets - Based On the Survey of Eight Typical Thematic Commercial Streets in Harbin
Authors: Wang Zhenzhen, Wang Xu, Hong Liangping
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The construction of thematic commercial streets has been on the hotspot with the rapid development of cities. In order to improve the image and competitiveness of cities, many cities are building or rebuilding thematic commercial streets. However, many contradictions and problems have emerged during this process. Therefore, it is significant, for both the practice and the research, to analyze the development of thematic commercial streets and provide some useful suggestions. Through the deep research and comparative study of the eight typical thematic commercial streets in Harbin, this paper summarize the current situations, laws and influencing factors of the development of these streets, and then put forward some suggestions about the plan, constructions and developments of the thematic commercial streets.
Keywords: Thematic commercial streets, laws of the development, influence factors, the constructions and developments, degrees of aggregation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1607183 Fast Lines at Theme Parks
Authors: G. Hernandez-Maskivker, G. Ryan, M. Blazey, M. Pàmies
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Waiting times and queues are a daily problem for theme parks. Fast lines or priority queues appear as a solution for a specific segment of customers, that is, tourists who are willing to pay to avoid waiting. This paper analyzes the fast line system and explores the factors that affect the decision to purchase a fast line pass. A greater understanding of these factors may help companies to design appropriate products and services. This conceptual paper was based on a literature review in marketing and consumer behavior. Additional research was identified in related disciplines such as leisure studies, psychology, and sociology. A conceptual framework of the factors influencing the decision to purchase a fast line pass is presented.
Keywords: Tourist behavior, fast lines, theme park, willing to pay.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4465182 Factors Influencing Environmental Management Practices Among Hotels in Malaysia
Authors: Zaiton Samdin, Kasimu Abdu Bakori, Hamimah Hassan
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This paper attempts to investigate the factors that influence hotel managers- attitudes towards sustainable tourism practices (STP) in Kuala Lumpur and the state of Selangor in Malaysia. The study distributes 104 questionnaires to hotels ranging from one star to five-star categories including budget hotels. Out of this figure, 60 copies of the questionnaires were returned and analyzed. The finding revealed that of all the seven factors investigated, only the variables measuring incentives and knowledge have significantly influenced sustainable tourism practices in the country. Therefore, government and other green bodies within the country should continue to provide hotels with incentives for sound technologies. Moreover, the government agencies should continue to educate hoteliers on the relevance of environmental protection for the successful implementation of sustainable tourism practices.
Keywords: Attitude, incentive, knowledge, sustainable tourism practices
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4090181 Labor Productivity in the Construction Industry -Factors Influencing the Spanish Construction Labor Productivity-
Authors: G. Robles, A. Stifi, José L. Ponz-Tienda, S. Gentes
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This research paper aims to identify, analyze and rank factors affecting labor productivity in Spain with respect to their relative importance. Using a selected set of 35 factors, a structured questionnaire survey was utilized as the method to collect data from companies. Target population is comprised by a random representative sample of practitioners related with the Spanish construction industry. Findings reveal the top five ranked factors are as follows: (1) shortage or late supply of materials; (2) clarity of the drawings and project documents; (3) clear and daily task assignment; (4) tools or equipment shortages; (5) level of skill and experience of laborers. Additionally, this research also pretends to provide simple and comprehensive recommendations so that they could be implemented by construction managers for an effective management of construction labor forces.
Keywords: Construction management, Factors, Improvement, Labor productivity, Lean construction.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 6952180 Effects of Sprint Training on Athletic Performance Related Physiological, Cardiovascular, and Neuromuscular Parameters
Authors: Asim Cengiz, Dede Basturk, Hakan Ozalp
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Practicing recurring resistance workout such as may cause changes in human muscle. These changes may be because combination if several factors determining physical fitness. Thus, it is important to identify these changes. Several studies were reviewed to investigate these changes. As a result, the changes included positive modifications in amplified citrate synthase (CS) maximal activity, increased capacity for pyruvate oxidation, improvement on molecular signaling on human performance, amplified resting muscle glycogen and whole GLUT4 protein content, better health outcomes such as enhancement in cardiorespiratory fitness. Sprint training also have numerous long long-term changes inhuman body such as better enzyme action, changes in muscle fiber and oxidative ability. This is important because SV is the critical factor influencing maximal cardiac output and therefore oxygen delivery and maximal aerobic power.
Keywords: Sprint, training, performance, exercise.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 899179 The Effectiveness of Mineral Fertilization of Winter Wheat by Nitrogen in the Soil and Climatic Conditions in the Cr
Authors: Václav Voltr, Jan Leština
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The basis of examines is survey of 500 in the years 2002-2010, which was selected according to homogeneity of land cover and where 1090 revenues were evaluated. For achieved yields of winter wheat is obtained multicriterial regression function depending on the major factors influencing the consumption of nitrogen. The coefficient of discrimination of the established model is 0.722. The increase in efficiency of fertilization is involved in supply of organic nutrients, tillage, soil pH, past weather, the humus content in the subsoil and grain content to 0.001 mm. The decrease in efficiency was mainly influenced by the total dose of mineral nitrogen, although it was divided into multiple doses, the proportion loamy particles up to 0.01 mm, rainy, or conversely dry weather during the vegetation. The efficiency of nitrogen was found to be the smallest on undeveloped soils and the highest on chernozem and alluvial soils.Keywords: Nitrogen efficiency, winter wheat, regression model
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1431178 Integrating Security Indifference Curve to Formal Decision Evaluation
Authors: Anon Yantarasri, Yachai Limpiyakorn
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Decisions are regularly made during a project or daily life. Some decisions are critical and have a direct impact on project or human success. Formal evaluation is thus required, especially for crucial decisions, to arrive at the optimal solution among alternatives to address issues. According to microeconomic theory, all people-s decisions can be modeled as indifference curves. The proposed approach supports formal analysis and decision by constructing indifference curve model from the previous experts- decision criteria. These knowledge embedded in the system can be reused or help naïve users select alternative solution of the similar problem. Moreover, the method is flexible to cope with unlimited number of factors influencing the decision-making. The preliminary experimental results of the alternative selection are accurately matched with the expert-s decisions.Keywords: Decision Analysis and Resolution, Indifference Curve, Multi-criteria Decision Making.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1614177 Family Bonding and Self-Concept: An Indirect Effect Mediated by School Experiences among Students
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School experiences, family bonding and self-concept had always been a crucial factor in influencing all aspects of a student-s development. The purpose of this study is to develop and to validate a priori model of self-concept among students. The study was tested empirically using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to validate the structural model. To address these concerns, 1167 students were randomly selected and utilized the Cognitive Psycho-Social University of Malaya instrument (2009).Resulted demonstrated there is indirect effect from family bonding to self-concept through school experiences among secondary school students as a mediator. Besides school experiences, there is a direct effect from family bonding to self-concept and family bonding to school experiences among students.Keywords: Confirmatory Factor Analysis, self-concept, family bonding, and school experience
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1585176 Household Demand for Solid Waste Disposal Options in Malaysia
Authors: Pek Chuen-Khee, Jamal Othman
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This paper estimates the economic values of household preference for enhanced solid waste disposal services in Malaysia. The contingent valuation (CV) method estimates an average additional monthly willingness-to-pay (WTP) in solid waste management charges of Ôé¼0.77 to 0.80 for improved waste disposal services quality. The finding of a slightly higher WTP from the generic CV question than that of label-specific, further reveals a higher WTP for sanitary landfill, at Ôé¼0.90, than incineration, at Ôé¼0.63. This suggests that sanitary landfill is a more preferred alternative. The logistic regression estimation procedure reveals that household-s concern of where their rubbish is disposed, age, ownership of house, household income and format of CV question are significant factors in influencing WTP.Keywords: contingent valuation, logistic regression, solid waste disposal, willingness-to-pay.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2591175 A Study on Exclusive Breastfeeding using Over-dispersed Statistical Models
Authors: Naushad Mamode Khan, Cheika Jahangeer, Maleika Heenaye-Mamode Khan
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Breastfeeding is an important concept in the maternal life of a woman. In this paper, we focus on exclusive breastfeeding. Exclusive breastfeeding is the feeding of a baby on no other milk apart from breast milk. This type of breastfeeding is very important during the first six months because it supports optimal growth and development during infancy and reduces the risk of obliterating diseases and problems. Moreover, in Mauritius, exclusive breastfeeding has decreased the incidence and/or severity of diarrhea, lower respiratory infection and urinary tract infection. In this paper, we give an overview of exclusive breastfeeding in Mauritius and the factors influencing it. We further analyze the local practices of exclusive breastfeeding using the Generalized Poisson regression model and the negative-binomial model since the data are over-dispersed.
Keywords: Exclusive breast feeding, regression model, generalized poisson, negative binomial.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1587174 Self-Compacting White Concrete Mix Design Using the Particle Matrix Model
Authors: Samindi Samarakoon, Ørjan Sletbakk Vie, Remi Kleiven Fjelldal
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White concrete facade elements are widely used in construction industry. It is challenging to achieve the desired workability in casting of white concrete elements. Particle Matrix model was used for proportioning the self-compacting white concrete (SCWC) to control segregation and bleeding and to improve workability. The paper presents how to reach the target slump flow while controlling bleeding and segregation in SCWC. The amount of aggregates, binders and mixing water, as well as type and dosage of superplasticizer (SP) to be used are the major factors influencing the properties of SCWC. Slump flow and compressive strength tests were carried out to examine the performance of SCWC, and the results indicate that the particle matrix model could produce successfully SCWC controlling segregation and bleeding.Keywords: Mix design, particle, matrix model, white concrete.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2261173 Motivational Factors Influencing Women’s Entrepreneurship: A Case Study of Female Entrepreneurship in South Africa
Authors: Natanya Meyer, Johann Landsberg
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Globally, many women are still disadvantaged when it comes to business opportunities. Entrepreneurship development programs, specifically designed to assist women entrepreneurs, are assisting in solving this problem to a certain extent. The purpose of this study is to identify the factors that motivate females to start their own business. Females, from three different groups (2013, 2014 and 2015), who were all enrolled in a short learning program specifically designed for women in early start-up stage or intending to start a business, were asked what motivated them to start a business. The results indicated that, from all three groups, the majority of the women wanted to start a business to be independent and have freedom and to add towards a social goal. The results further indicated that in general, women would enter into entrepreneurship activity due to pull factors rather than push factors.Keywords: Entrepreneurship programs, South Africa, female entrepreneurship, motivational factors.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3912172 The National Energy Strategy for Saudi Arabia
Authors: Ziyad Aljarboua
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In this paper, we present a technical and an economic assessment of several sources of renewable energy in Saudi Arabia; mainly solar, wind, hydro and biomass. We analyze the environmental and climatic conditions in relation to these sources and give an overview of some of the existing clean energy technologies. Using standardized cost and efficiency data, we carry out a cost benefit analysis to understand the economic factors influencing the sustainability of energy production from renewable sources in light of the energy cost and demand in the Saudi market. Finally, we take a look at the Saudi petroleum industry and the existing sources of conventional energy and assess the potential of building a successful market for renewable energy under the constraints imposed by the flow of subsidized cheap oil. We show that while some renewable energy resources are well suited for distributed or grid connected generation in the kingdom, their viability is greatly undercut by the well developed and well capitalized oil industry.Keywords: Energy strategy, energy policy, renewable energy, Saudi Arabia, oil.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3738171 Analysis of Behaviour of Real Estate Rates in India- A Case Study of Pune City
Authors: Sayali Sandbhor, Ravindra Bapat, N. B. Chaphalkar
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Decisions for investment, buying and selling of properties depend upon the market value of that property. Issues arise in arriving at the actual value of the property as well as computing the rate of returns from the estate. Addressing valuation related issues through an understanding of behavior of real property rates provide the means to explore the quality of past decisions and to make valid future decisions. Pune, an important city in India, has witnessed a high rate of growth in past few years. Increased demand for housing and investment in properties has led to increase in the rates of real estate. An attempt has been made to study the change and behavior of rates of real estate and factors influencing the same in Pune city.
Keywords: Real estate, valuation, property rates, trend analysis
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 9155170 Surface Roughness Prediction Model for Grinding of Composite Laminate Using Factorial Design
Authors: P. Chockalingam, C. K. Kok, T. R. Vijayaram
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Glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) laminates have been widely used because of their unique mechanical and physical properties such as high specific strength, stiffness and corrosive resistance. Accordingly, the demand for precise grinding of composites has been increasing enormously. Grinding is the one of the obligatory methods for fabricating products with composite materials and it is usually the final operation in the assembly of structural laminates. In this experimental study, an attempt has been made to develop an empirical model to predict the surface roughness of ground GFRP composite laminate with respect to the influencing grinding parameters by factorial design approach of design of experiments (DOE). The significance of grinding parameters and their three factor interaction effects on grinding of GFRP composite have been analyzed in detail. An empirical equation has been developed to attain minimum surface roughness in GFRP laminate grinding.
Keywords: GFRP Laminates, Grinding, Surface Roughness, Factorial Design.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2442169 On Measuring the Reusability Proneness of Mobile Applications
Authors: Fathi Taibi
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The abnormal increase in the number of applications available for download in Android markets is a good indication that they are being reused. However, little is known about their real reusability potential. A considerable amount of these applications is reported as having a poor quality or being malicious. Hence, in this paper, an approach to measure the reusability potential of classes in Android applications is proposed. The approach is not meant specifically for this particular type of applications. Rather, it is intended for Object-Oriented (OO) software systems in general and aims also to provide means to discard the classes of low quality and defect prone applications from being reused directly through inheritance and instantiation. An empirical investigation is conducted to measure and rank the reusability potential of the classes of randomly selected Android applications. The results obtained are thoroughly analyzed in order to understand the extent of this potential and the factors influencing it.
Keywords: Reusability, Software Quality Factors, Software Metrics, Empirical Investigation, Object-Oriented Software, Android Applications.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1787168 Integration of Asian Stock Markets
Authors: Noor A. Auzairy, Rubi Ahmad, Catherine S.F. Ho, Ros Z. Z. Sapian
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This paper is to explore the relationship and the level of stock market integration of the Asian countries, primarily concentrating on Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and South Korea, with the world from January 1997 to December 2009. The degree of short-run and long-run stock market integration of those Asian countries are analyzed in order to determine the significance of series of regional and world financial crises, liberalization policies and other financial reforms in influencing the level of stock market integration. To test for cointegration, this paper applies coefficient correlation, univariate regression analyses, cointegration tests, and vector autoregressive models (VAR) by using the four Asian stock markets main indices and the MSCI World index. The empirical findings from this work reveal that there is no long-run stock market integration for the four countries and the world market. However, there is short run integration.Keywords: Asia, integration, relationship, stock market.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2468167 Electronic Government Services Adoption from Multi-Nationalities Perspectives
Authors: Isaac Kofi Mensah, Jianing Mi, Cheng Feng
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Electronic government is the application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) by the government to improve public service delivery to citizens and businesses. The purpose of this study is to investigate factors influencing the adoption and use of e-government services from different nationalities perspectives. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) will be used as the theoretical framework for the study. A questionnaire would be developed and administered to 500 potential respondents who are students from different nationalities in China. Predictors such as perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, computer self-efficacy, trust in both the internet and government, social influence and perceived service quality would be examined with regard to their impact on the intention to use e-government services. This research is currently at the design and implementation stage. The completion of this study will provide useful insights into understanding factors impacting the decision to use e-government services from a cross and multi nationalities perspectives.
Keywords: Different nationalities, e-government, e-government services, technology acceptance model.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 774166 Parametrization of Piezoelectric Vibration Energy Harvesters for Low Power Embedded Systems
Authors: Yannick Verbelen, Tim Dekegel, Ann Peeters, Klara Stinders, Niek Blondeel, Sam De Winne, An Braeken, Abdellah Touhafi
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Matching an embedded electronic application with a cantilever vibration energy harvester remains a difficult endeavour due to the large number of factors influencing the output power. In the presented work, complementary balanced energy harvester parametrization is used as a methodology for simplification of harvester integration in electronic applications. This is achieved by a dual approach consisting of an adaptation of the general parametrization methodology in conjunction with a straight forward harvester benchmarking strategy. For this purpose, the design and implementation of a suitable user friendly cantilever energy harvester benchmarking platform is discussed. Its effectiveness is demonstrated by applying the methodology to a commercially available Mide V21BL vibration energy harvester, with excitation amplitude and frequency as variables.Keywords: Energy harvesting, vibrations, piezoelectric transducers, embedded systems, harvester parametrization.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1300165 Chronic Consumer States Influencing Compulsive Consumption
Authors: K. Prakash Vel, Lif Miriam Hamouda
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Consumer behaviour analysis represents an important field of study in marketing. Particularly strategy development for marketing and communications will be more focused and effective when marketers have an understanding of the motivations, behaviour and psychology of consumers. While materialism has been found to be one of the important elements in consumer behaviour, compulsive consumption represents another aspect that has recently attracted more attention. This is because of the growing prevalence of dysfunctional buying that has raised concern in consumer societies. Present studies and analyses on origins and motivations of compulsive buying have mainly focused on either individual factors or groups of related factors and hence a need for a holistic view exists. This paper provides a comprehensive perspective on compulsive consumption and establishes relevant propositions keeping the family life cycle stages as a reference for the incidence of chronic consumer states and their influence on compulsive consumption.Keywords: Chronic consumer states, compulsive consumption, family life cycle
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1380164 Design of a Mould System for Horizontal Continuous Casting of Bilayer Aluminium Strips
Authors: Ch. Nerl, M. Wimmer, P. Hofer, E. Kaschnitz
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The present article deals with a composite casting process that allows to produce bilayer AlSn6-Al strips based on the technique of horizontal continuous casting. In the first part experimental investigations on the production of a single layer AlSn6 strip are described. Afterwards essential results of basic compound casting trials using simple test specimen are presented to define the thermal conditions required for a metallurgical compound between the alloy AlSn6 and pure aluminium. Subsequently, numerical analyses are described. A finite element model was used to examine a continuous composite casting process. As a result of the simulations the main influencing parameters concerning the thermal conditions within the composite casting region could be pointed out. Finally, basic guidance is given for the design of an appropriate composite mould system.
Keywords: Aluminium alloys, composite casting, compound casting, continuous casting, numerical simulation
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3153163 An Examination of the Factors Influencing Software Development Effort
Authors: Zhizhong Jiang, Peter Naudé
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Effective evaluation of software development effort is an important aspect of successful project management. Based on a large database with 4106 projects ever developed, this study statistically examines the factors that influence development effort. The factors found to be significant for effort are project size, average number of developers that worked on the project, type of development, development language, development platform, and the use of rapid application development. Among these factors, project size is the most critical cost driver. Unsurprisingly, this study found that the use of CASE tools does not necessarily reduce development effort, which adds support to the claim that the use of tools is subtle. As many of the current estimation models are rarely or unsuccessfully used, this study proposes a parsimonious parametric model for the prediction of effort which is both simple and more accurate than previous models.
Keywords: Development effort, function points, team size, development language, CASE tool, rapid application development.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2495162 Achieving Sustainable Development through Transformative Pedagogies in Universities
Authors: Eugene Allevato
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Developing a responsible personal worldview is central to sustainable development, but achieving quality education to promote transformative learning for sustainability is thus far, poorly understood. Most programs involving education for sustainable development rely on changing behavior, rather than attitudes. The emphasis is on the scientific and utilitarian aspect of sustainability with negligible importance on the intrinsic value of nature. Campus sustainability projects include building sustainable gardens and implementing energy-efficient upgrades, instead of focusing on educating for sustainable development through exploration of students’ values and beliefs. Even though green technology adoption maybe the right thing to do, most schools are not targeting the root cause of the environmental crisis; they are just providing palliative measures. This study explores the under-examined factors that lead to pro-environmental behavior by investigating the environmental perceptions of both college business students and personnel of green organizations. A mixed research approach of qualitative, based on structured interviews, and quantitative instruments was developed including 30 college-level students’ interviews and 40 green organization staff members involved in sustainable activities. The interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed for analysis. Categorization of the responses to the open‐ended questions was conducted with the purpose of identifying the main types of factors influencing attitudes and correlating with behaviors. Overall the findings of this study indicated a lack of appreciation for nature, and inability to understand interconnectedness and apply critical thinking. The results of the survey conducted on undergraduate students indicated that the responses of business and liberal arts students by independent t-test were significantly different, with a p‐value of 0.03. While liberal arts students showed an understanding of human interdependence with nature and its delicate balance, business students seemed to believe that humans were meant to rule over the rest of nature. This result was quite intriguing from the perspective that business students will be defining markets, influencing society, controlling and managing businesses that supposedly, in the face of climate change, shall implement sustainable activities. These alarming results led to the focus on green businesses in order to better understand their motivation to engage in sustainable activities. Additionally, a probit model revealed that childhood exposure to nature has a significantly positive impact in pro-environmental attitudes to most of the New Ecological Paradigm scales. Based on these findings, this paper discusses educators including Socrates, John Dewey and Paulo Freire in the implementation of eco-pedagogy and transformative learning following a curriculum with emphasis on critical and systems thinking, which are deemed to be key ingredients in quality education for sustainable development.Keywords: Eco-pedagogy, environmental behavior, quality education for sustainable development, transformative learning.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1887161 Investigation Wintering And Breeding Habitat Selection by Asiatic Houbara Bustard (Chlamydotis macqueenii ) In Central Steppe of Iran
Authors: S. Aghainajafi Zadeh, M.R. Hemami., F. Heydari
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Asiatic Houbara ( Chlamydotis macqueenii ) is a flagship and vulnerable species. In-situ conservation of this threatened species demands for knowledge of its habitat selection. The aim of this study was to determine habitat variables influencing birds wintering and breeding selection in semi- arid central Iran. Habitat features of the detected nest and pellet sites were compared with paired and random plots by quantifying a number of habitat variables. In wintering habitat use at micro scale houbara selected sites where vegetation cover was significantly lower compard to control sites( p< 0.001). Areas with low number of larger plant species (p=0.03) that were not too close to a vegetation patch(p<0.001) were selected for breeding habitat.Keywords: Asiatic houbara bustard, Habitat selection, Nest, pellet.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1517160 Numerical Study on the Cavity-Induced Piping Failure of Embankment
Authors: H. J. Kim, G. C. Park, K. C. Kim, J. H. Shin
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Cavities are frequently found beneath conduits on pile foundations in old embankments. Cavity reduces seepage length significantly and consequently causes piping failure of embankments. Case studies of embankment failures indicate that the relative settlement between ground and pile supported-concrete conduit was the main reason of the cavity. In this paper, an attempt to simulate the cavity-induced piping failure mechanism was made using finite element numerical method. Piping potential is examined by carrying out parametric study for influencing factors such as cavity length, water level, and flow conditions. The concentration of hydraulic gradient adjacent to cavity was found. It is found that the hydraulic gradient close to the cavity exceeds considerably the critical hydraulic gradient causing piping. Piping failure potential due to the existence of cavity is evaluated and contour map for the potential risk of an embankment for piping failure is proposed.Keywords: Cavity, Embankment, Hydraulic gradient, Piping.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1480159 Traditional Grocery Stores and Business Management in Bangkok
Authors: Suppara Charoenpoom
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This paper was aimed to survey the level of awareness of traditional grocery stores in Bangkok in these categories: location, service quality, risk, shopping, worthwhile, shopping satisfaction, and future shopping intention. The paper was also aimed to survey factors influencing the decision to shop at traditional grocery stores in Bangkok in the future. The findings revealed that consumers had a high level of awareness of traditional grocery stores in Bangkok. Consumers were aware that the price was higher and it was riskier to buy goods and services at traditional grocery stores but they still had a high level of preference to patronage traditional grocery stores. This was due to the reasons that there was a high level of satisfaction from the factors of the friendliness of the owner, the ability to negotiate the price, the ability to buy on credit, free delivery, and the enjoyment to meet with other customers in the same neighborhood.Keywords: Business Management, Thai Economy, Traditional Grocery Store.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2523158 Parameters Influencing the Output Precision of a Lens-Lens Beam Generator Solar Concentrator
Authors: M. Tawfik, X. Tonnellier, C. Sansom
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The Lens-Lens Beam Generator (LLBG) is a Fresnel-based optical concentrating technique which provides flexibility in selecting the solar receiver location compared to conventional techniques through generating a powerful concentrated collimated solar beam. In order to achieve that, two successive lenses are used and followed by a flat mirror. Hence the generated beam emerging from the LLBG has a high power flux which impinges on the target receiver, it is important to determine the precision of the system output. In this present work, mathematical investigation of different parameters affecting the precision of the output beam is carried out. These parameters include: Deflection in sun-facing lens and its holding arm, delay in updating the solar tracking system, and the flat mirror surface flatness. Moreover, relationships that describe the power lost due to the effect of each parameter are derived in this study.
Keywords: Fresnel lens, LLBG, solar concentrator, solar tracking.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1136