Search results for: Construction Industry
881 The Public Law Studies: Relationship between Accountability, Environmental Education and Smart Cities
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.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 579880 One-Class Support Vector Machine for Sentiment Analysis of Movie Review Documents
Authors: Chothmal, Basant Agarwal
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Sentiment analysis means to classify a given review document into positive or negative polar document. Sentiment analysis research has been increased tremendously in recent times due to its large number of applications in the industry and academia. Sentiment analysis models can be used to determine the opinion of the user towards any entity or product. E-commerce companies can use sentiment analysis model to improve their products on the basis of users’ opinion. In this paper, we propose a new One-class Support Vector Machine (One-class SVM) based sentiment analysis model for movie review documents. In the proposed approach, we initially extract features from one class of documents, and further test the given documents with the one-class SVM model if a given new test document lies in the model or it is an outlier. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed sentiment analysis model.Keywords: Feature selection methods, Machine learning, NB, One-class SVM, Sentiment Analysis, Support Vector Machine.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3287879 Fabrication of Autonomous Wheeled Mobile Robot for Industrial Applications Using Appropriate Technology
Authors: M. M. Islam, Rajib K. Saha, Abdullah A. Amin, M. Z. Haq
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The autonomous mobile robot was designed and implemented which was capable of navigating in the industrial environments and did a job of picking objects from variable height and delivering it to another location following a predefined trajectory. In developing country like Bangladesh industrial robotics is not very prevalent yet, due to the high installation cost. The objective of this project was to develop an autonomous mobile robot for industrial application using the available resources in the local market at lower manufacturing cost. The mechanical system of the robot was comprised of locomotion, gripping and elevation system. Grippers were designed to grip objects of a predefined shape. Cartesian elevation system was designed for vertical movement of the gripper. PIC18F452 microcontroller was the brain of the control system. The prototype autonomous robot was fabricated for relatively lower load than the industry and the performance was tested in a virtual industrial environment created within the laboratory to realize the effectiveness.
Keywords: Industrial application, autonomous mobile robot, appropriate technology.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2496878 Identification of the Key Sustainability Issues to Develop New Decision Support Tools in the Spanish Furniture Sector
Authors: P.Cordero, R.Poler, R.Sanchis
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The environmental impacts caused by the current production and consumption models, together with the impact that the current economic crisis, bring necessary changes in the European industry toward new business models based on sustainability issues that could allow them to innovate and improve their competitiveness. This paper analyzes the key environmental issues and the current and future market trends in one of the most important industrial sectors in Spain, the furniture sector. It also proposes new decision support tools -diagnostic kit, roadmap and guidelines- to guide companies to implement sustainability criteria into their organizations, including eco-design strategies and other economical and social strategies in accordance with the sustainability definition, and other available tools such as eco-labels, environmental management systems, etc., and to use and combine them to obtain the results the company expects to help improve its competitiveness.
Keywords: Furniture sector, eco-design, sustainability, economical crisis, market trends, roadmap
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1501877 A Statistical Prediction of Likely Distress in Nigeria Banking Sector Using a Neural Network Approach
Authors: D. A. Farinde
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One of the most significant threats to the economy of a nation is the bankruptcy of its banks. This study evaluates the susceptibility of Nigerian banks to failure with a view to identifying ratios and financial data that are sensitive to solvency of the bank. Further, a predictive model is generated to guide all stakeholders in the industry. Thirty quoted banks that had published Annual Reports for the year preceding the consolidation i.e. year 2004 were selected. They were examined for distress using the Multilayer Perceptron Neural Network Analysis. The model was used to analyze further reforms by the Central Bank of Nigeria using published Annual Reports of twenty quoted banks for the year 2008 and 2011. The model can thus be used for future prediction of failure in the Nigerian banking system.
Keywords: Bank, Bankruptcy, Financial Ratios, Neural Network, Multilayer Perceptron, Predictive Model
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2685876 Springback Simulations of Monolithic and Layered Steels Used for Pressure Equipment
Authors: Anish H. Gandhi, Harit K. Raval
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Carbon steel is used in boilers, pressure vessels, heat exchangers, piping, structural elements and other moderatetemperature service systems in which good strength and ductility are desired. ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Section II Part A (2004) provides specifications of ferrous materials for construction of pressure equipment, covering wide range of mechanical properties including high strength materials for power plants application. However, increased level of springback is one of the major problems in fabricating components of high strength steel using bending. Presented work discuss the springback simulations for five different steels (i.e. SA-36, SA-299, SA-515 grade 70, SA-612 and SA-724 grade B) using finite element analysis of air V-bending. Analytical springback simulations of hypothetical layered materials are presented. Result shows that; (i) combination of the material property parameters controls the springback, (ii) layer of the high ductility steel on the high strength steel greatly suppresses the springback.Keywords: Carbon steel, Finite element analysis, Layeredmaterial, Springback
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2217875 Relations between Human Capital Investments and Business Excellence in Croatian Companies
Authors: Ivana Tadić, Željana Aljinović Barać, Nikolina Plazonić
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Living today in turbulent business environment forces companies to distinguish from each other, securing sustainable competitive growth and competitive advantage. The best possible solution is to invest (effort and financial resources) within companies’ different practices of human resource management (HRM), more specifically in employees’ knowledge, skills and abilities. Applying this approach companies will create enviable level of human capital securing its economic growth. Employees become human capital for their employers at the moment when they contribute with their own knowledge and abilities in creating material and non-material value of the company. The main aim of this research is to explore the relations between human capital investments and business excellence of Croatian companies. Furthermore, the differences in the level of human capital investments with regard to several companies’ characteristics (e.g. size of the company, ownership and type of the industry) are investigated.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2660874 The Use of Classifiers in Image Analysis of Oil Wells Profiling Process and the Automatic Identification of Events
Authors: Jaqueline M. R. Vieira
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Different strategies and tools are available at the oil and gas industry for detecting and analyzing tension and possible fractures in borehole walls. Most of these techniques are based on manual observation of the captured borehole images. While this strategy may be possible and convenient with small images and few data, it may become difficult and suitable to errors when big databases of images must be treated. While the patterns may differ among the image area, depending on many characteristics (drilling strategy, rock components, rock strength, etc.). In this work we propose the inclusion of data-mining classification strategies in order to create a knowledge database of the segmented curves. These classifiers allow that, after some time using and manually pointing parts of borehole images that correspond to tension regions and breakout areas, the system will indicate and suggest automatically new candidate regions, with higher accuracy. We suggest the use of different classifiers methods, in order to achieve different knowledge dataset configurations.
Keywords: Brazil, classifiers, data-mining, Image Segmentation, oil well visualization, classifiers.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2534873 Numerical and Experimental Stress Analysis of Stiffened Cylindrical Composite Shell under Transverse end Load
Authors: J. Arashmehr, G. H. Rahimi, S.F.Rasouli
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Grid composite structures have many applications in aerospace industry in which deal with transverse loadings abundantly. In present paper a stiffened composite cylindrical shell with clamped-free boundary condition under transverse end load experimentally and numerically was studied. Some electrical strain gauges were employed to measure the strains. Also a finite element analysis was done for validation of experimental result. The FEM software used was ANSYS11. In addition, the results between stiffened composite shell and unstiffened composite shell were compared. It was observed that intersection of two stiffeners has an important effect in decrease of stress in the shell. Fairly good agreements were observed between the numerical and the measured results. According to recent studies about grid composite structures, it should be noted that any investigation like this research has not been reported.
Keywords: Grid composite structure, Transverse loadings, Strain measurement, Finite element analysis
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2209872 Sustainable Energy Supply in Social Housing
Authors: Rolf Katzenbach, Frithjof Clauss, Jie Zheng
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The final energy use can be divided mainly in four sectors: commercial, industrial, residential, and transportation. The trend in final energy consumption by sector plays as a most straightforward way to provide a wide indication of progress for reducing energy consumption and associated environmental impacts by different end use sectors. The average share of end use energy for residential sector in the world was nearly 20% until 2011, in Germany a higher proportion is between 25% and 30%. However, it remains less studied than energy use in other three sectors as well its impacts on climate and environment. The reason for this involves a wide range of fields, including the diversity of residential construction like different housing building design and materials, living or energy using behavioral patterns, climatic condition and variation as well other social obstacles, market trend potential and financial support from government.
This paper presents an extensive and in-depth analysis of the manner by which projects researched and operated by authors in the fields of energy efficiency primarily from the perspectives of both technical potential and initiative energy saving consciousness in the residential sectors especially in social housing buildings.
Keywords: Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy, Retro-commissioning, Social Housing, Sustainability.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2429871 Effect of Natural Animal Fillers on Polymer Rheology Behaviour
Authors: M. Seidl, J. Bobek, P. Lenfeld, L. Běhálek, A. Ausperger
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This paper deals with the evaluation of flow properties of polymeric matrix with natural animal fillers. Technical university of Liberec cooperates on the long-term development of “green materials“ that should replace conventionally used materials (especially in automotive industry). Natural fibres (of animal and plant origin) from all over the world are collected and adapted (drying, cutting etc.) for extrusion processing. Inside the extruder these natural additives are blended with polymeric (synthetic and biodegradable - PLA) matrix and created compound is subsequently cut for pellets in the wet way. These green materials with unique recipes are then studied and their mechanical, physical and processing properties are determined. The main goal of this research is to develop new ecological materials very similar to unfilled polymers. In this article the rheological behaviour of chosen natural animal fibres is introduced considering their shape and surface that were observed with use of SEM microscopy.Keywords: Polypropylene matrix, Green polymers, Rheology, Natural animal fibres.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2184870 Approach to Implementation of Power Management with Load Prioritizations in Modern Civil Aircraft
Authors: Brice Nya, Detlef Schulz
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Any use of energy in industrial productive activities is combined with various environment impacts. Withintransportation, this fact was not only found among land transport, railways and maritime transport, but also in the air transport industry. An effective climate protection requires strategies and measures for reducing all greenhouses gas emissions, in particular carbon dioxide, and must take into account the economic, ecologic and social aspects. It seem simperative now to develop and manufacture environmentally friendly products and systems, to reduce consumption and use less resource, and to save energy and power. Today-sproducts could better serve these requirements taking into account the integration of a power management system into the electrical power system.This paper gives an overview of an approach ofpower management with load prioritization in modernaircraft. Load dimensioning and load management strategies on current civil aircraft will be presented and used as a basis for the proposed approach.Keywords: Load management, power management, electrical load analysis, flight mission, power load profile.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2366869 Examining of Tool Wear in Cryogenic Machining of Cobalt-Based Haynes 25 Superalloy
Authors: Murat Sarıkaya, Abdulkadir Güllü
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Haynes 25 alloy (also known as L-605 alloy) is cobalt based super alloy which has widely applications such as aerospace industry, turbine and furnace parts, power generators and heat exchangers and petroleum refining components due to its excellent characteristics. However, the workability of this alloy is more difficult compared to normal steels or even stainless. In present work, an experimental investigation was performed under cryogenic cooling to determine cutting tool wear patterns and obtain optimal cutting parameters in turning of cobalt based superalloy Haynes 25. In experiments, uncoated carbide tool was used and cutting speed (V) and feed rate (f) were considered as test parameters. Tool wear (VBmax) were measured for process performance indicators. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to determine the importance of machining parameters.Keywords: Cryogenic machining, difficult-to-cut alloy, tool wear, turning.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2749868 Pathway to Reduce Industrial Energy Intensity for Energy Conservation at Chinese Provincial Level
Authors: Shengman Zhao, Yang Yu, Shenghui Cui
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Using logarithmic mean Divisia decomposition technique, this paper analyzes the change in industrial energy intensity of Fujian Province in China, based on data sets of added value and energy consumption for 35 selected industrial sub-sectors from 1999 to 2009. The change in industrial energy intensity is decomposed into intensity effect and structure effect. Results show that the industrial energy intensity of Fujian Province has achieved a reduction of 51% over the past ten years. The structural change, a shift in the mix of industrial sub-sectors, made overwhelming contribution to the reduction. The impact of energy efficiency’s improvement was relatively small. However, the aggregate industrial energy intensity was very sensitive to both the changes in energy intensity and in production share of energy-intensive sub-sectors, such as production and supply of electric power, steam and hot water. Pathway to reduce industrial energy intensity for energy conservation in Fujian Province is proposed in the end.
Keywords: Decomposition analysis, energy intensity, Fujian Province, industry.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1374867 Investigation on an Innovative Way to Connect RC Beam and Steel Column
Authors: Ahmed H. El-Masry, Mohamed A. Dabaon, Tarek F. El-Shafiey, Abd El-Hakim A. Khalil
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An experimental study was performed to investigate the behavior and strength of proposed technique to connect reinforced concrete (RC) beam to steel or composite columns. This approach can practically be used in several types of building construction. In this technique, the main beam of the frame consists of a transfer part (part of beam; Tr.P) and a common reinforcement concrete beam. The transfer part of the beam is connected to the column, whereas the rest of the beam is connected to the transfer part from each side. Four full-scale beam-column connections were tested under static loading. The test parameters were the length of the transfer part and the column properties. The test results show that using of the transfer part technique leads to modify the deformation capabilities for the RC beam and hence it increases its resistance against failure. Increase in length of the transfer part did not necessarily indicate an enhanced behavior. The test results contribute to the characterization of the connection behavior between RC beam - steel column and can be used to calibrate numerical models for the simulation of this type of connection.
Keywords: Composite column, reinforced concrete beam, Steel Column, Transfer Part.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 5296866 Laboratory Testing Regime for Quantifying Soil Collapsibility
Authors: Anne C. Okwedadi, Samson Ng’ambi, Ian Jefferson
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Collapsible soils go through radical rearrangement of their particles when triggered by water, stress or/and vibration, causing loss of volume. This loss of volume in soil as seen in foundation failures has caused millions of dollars’ worth of damages to public facilities and infrastructure and so has an adverse effect on the society and people. Despite these consequences and the several studies that are available, more research is still required in the study of soil collapsibility. Discerning the pedogenesis (formation) of soils and investigating the combined effects of the different geological soil properties is key to elucidating and quantifying soils collapsibility. This study presents a novel laboratory testing regime that would be undertaken on soil samples where the effects of soil type, compactive variables (moisture content, density, void ratio, degree of saturation) and loading are analyzed. It is anticipated that results obtained would be useful in mapping the trend of the combined effect thus the basis for evaluating soil collapsibility or collapse potentials encountered in construction with volume loss problems attributed to collapse.
Keywords: Collapsible soil, Geomorphological process, Soil Collapsibility properties, Soil test.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3666865 Finite Element Modeling of Rotating Mixing of Toothpaste
Authors: Inamullah Bhatti, Ahsanullah Baloch, Khadija Qureshi
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The objective of this research is to examine the shear thinning behaviour of mixing flow of non-Newtonian fluid like toothpaste in the dissolution container with rotating stirrer. The problem under investigation is related to the chemical industry. Mixing of fluid is performed in a cylindrical container with rotating stirrer, where stirrer is eccentrically placed on the lid of the container. For the simulation purpose the associated motion of the fluid is considered as revolving of the container, with stick stirrer. For numerical prediction, a time-stepping finite element algorithm in a cylindrical polar coordinate system is adopted based on semi-implicit Taylor-Galerkin/pressure-correction scheme. Numerical solutions are obtained for non-Newtonian fluids employing power law model. Variations with power law index have been analysed, with respect to the flow structure and pressure drop.
Keywords: finite element simulation, mixing fluid, rheology, rotating flow, toothpaste
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2245864 The Autoregresive Analysis for Wind Turbine Signal Postprocessing
Authors: Daniel Pereiro, Felix Martinez, Iker Urresti, Ana Gomez Gonzalez
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Today modern simulations solutions in the wind turbine industry have achieved a high degree of complexity and detail in result. Limitations exist when it is time to validate model results against measurements. Regarding Model validation it is of special interest to identify mode frequencies and to differentiate them from the different excitations. A wind turbine is a complex device and measurements regarding any part of the assembly show a lot of noise. Input excitations are difficult or even impossible to measure due to the stochastic nature of the environment. Traditional techniques for frequency analysis or features extraction are widely used to analyze wind turbine sensor signals, but have several limitations specially attending to non stationary signals (Events). A new technique based on autoregresive analysis techniques is introduced here for a specific application, a comparison and examples related to different events in the wind turbine operations are presented.
Keywords: Wind turbine, signal processing, mode extraction.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1551863 Factors Having Impact on Marketing and Improvement Measures in the Real Estate Sector of Turkey
Authors: Ali Ihtiyar, Serdar Durdyev, Syuhaida Ismail
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Marketing is an essential issue to the survival of any real estate company in Turkey. There are some factors which are constraining the achievements of the marketing and sales strategies in the Turkey real estate industry. This study aims to identify and prioritise the most significant constraints to marketing in real estate sector and new strategies based on those constraints. This study is based on survey method, where the respondents such as credit counsellors, real estate investors, consultants, academicians and marketing representatives in Turkey were asked to rank forty seven sub-factors according to their levels of impact. The results of Multiattribute analytical technique indicated that the main subcomponents having impact on marketing in real estate sector are interest rates, real estate credit availability, accessibility, company image and consumer real income, respectively. The identified constraints are expected to guide the marketing team in a sales-effective way.Keywords: Marketing, marketing constraints, Real estate marketing, Turkey real estate sector
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1564862 Prioritizing Influential Factors on the Promotion of Virtual Training System
Authors: Nader Gharibnavaz, Mostafa Mosadeghi, Naser Gharibnavaz
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In today's world where everything is rapidly changing and information technology is high in development, many features of culture, society, politic and economy has changed. The advent of information technology and electronic data transmission lead to easy communication and fields like e-learning and e-commerce, are accessible for everyone easily. One of these technologies is virtual training. The "quality" of such kind of education systems is critical. 131 questionnaires were prepared and distributed among university student in Toba University. So the research has followed factors that affect the quality of learning from the perspective of staff, students, professors and this type of university. It is concluded that the important factors in virtual training are the quality of professors, the quality of staff, and the quality of the university. These mentioned factors were the most prior factors in this education system and necessary for improving virtual training.Keywords: Training , Virtual Training, Strategic Positioning, Positioning Mapping, Unique Selling Proposition, Strong Brands, Indoors industry
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1456861 Production of Polyurethane Foams from Bark Wastes
Authors: Luísa P. Cruz-Lopes, Liliana Rodrigues, Idalina Domingos, José Ferreira, Luís Teixeira de Lemos, Bruno Esteves
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Currently, the polyurethanes industry is dependent on fossil resources to obtain their basic raw materials (polyols and isocyanate), as these are obtained from petroleum products. The aim of this work was to use biopolyols from liquefied Pseudotsuga (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and Turkey oak (Quercus cerris) barks for the production of polyurethane foams and optimize the process. Liquefaction was done with glycerol catalyzed by KOH. Foams were produced following different formulations and using biopolyols from both barks. Subsequently, the foams were characterized according to their mechanical properties and the reaction of the foam formation was monitored by FTIR-ATR. The results show that it is possible to produce polyurethane foams using bio-based polyols and the liquefaction conditions are very important because they influence the characteristics of biopolyols and, consequently the characteristics of the foams. However, the process has to be further optimized so that it can obtain better quality foams.Keywords: Bio-based polyol, mechanical tests, polyurethane foam, Pseudotsuga bark, renewable resources, Turkey oak bark.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1294860 Analysis of the Islands Tourists, Destination Information Sources and Service Satisfaction
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The purpose of this study is to analyze the islands tourist travel information sources, as well as for the satisfaction of the tourist destination services. This study used questionnaires to the island of Taiwan to the Penghu Islands to engage in tourism activities tourist adopt the designated convenience sampling method, a total of 889 valid questionnaires were collected. After statistical analysis, this study found that: 1. tourists to the Penghu Islands travel information source for “friends and family came to Penghu". 2. Tourists feel the service of the outlying islands of Penghu, the highest feelings of “friendly local residents". 3. There are different demographic variables affect the tourist travel information source and service satisfaction. Based on the findings of this study not only for Penghu's tourism industry with the unit in charge of the proposed operating and suggestions for future research to other researchers.Keywords: Island tourism, destination, travel information, service satisfaction.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1486859 Research on the Development and Space Optimization of Rental-Type Public Housing in Hangzhou
Authors: Xuran Zhang, Huiru Chen
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In recent years, China has made great efforts to cultivate and develop the housing rental market, especially the rental-type public housing, which has been paid attention to by all sectors of the society. This paper takes Hangzhou rental-type public housing as the research object, and divides it into three development stages according to the different supply modes of rental-type public housing. Through data collection and field research, the paper summarizes the spatial characteristics of rental-type public housing from the five perspectives of spatial planning, spatial layout, spatial integration, spatial organization and spatial configuration. On this basis, the paper proposes the optimization of the spatial layout. The study concludes that the spatial layout of rental-type public housing should be coordinated with the development of urban planning. When planning and constructing, it is necessary to select more mixed construction modes, to be properly centralized, and to improve the surrounding transportation service facilities. It is hoped that the recommendations in this paper will provide a reference for the further development of rental-type public housing in Hangzhou.
Keywords: Hangzhou, rental-type public housing, spatial distribution, spatial optimization.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 785858 Investigating the Impact of the Laundry and Sterilization Process on the Performance of Reusable Surgical Gowns
Authors: N. Khomarloo, F. Mousazadegan, M. Latifi, N. Hemmatinejad
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Recently, the utilization of reusable surgical gowns in order to decrease costs, environmental protection and enhance surgeon’s comfort is considered. One of the concerns in applying this kind of medical protective clothing is reduction of their resistance to bacterial penetration especially in wet state, after repeated laundering and sterilizing process. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the laundering and sterilizing process on the reusable surgical gown’s resistance against bacterial wet penetration. To this end, penetration of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria in wet state after 70 washing and sterilizing cycles was evaluated on the two single-layer and three-layer reusable gowns. The outcomes reveal that up to 20 laundering and sterilizing cycles, protective property of samples improves due to fabric shrinkage, after that because of the fabric’s construction opening, the bacterial penetration increase. However, the three-layer gown presents higher protective performance comparing to the single-layer one.
Keywords: Reusable surgical gown, laundry, sterilization, wet bacterial penetration.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1730857 Flexible Cities: A Multisided Spatial Application of Tracking Livability of Urban Environment
Authors: Maria Christofi, George Plastiras, Rafaella Elia, Vaggelis Tsiourtis, Theocharis Theocharides, Miltiadis Katsaros
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The rapidly expanding urban areas of the world constitute a challenge of how we need to make the transition to "the next urbanization", which will be defined by new analytical tools and new sources of data. This paper is about the production of a spatial application, the ‘FUMapp’, where space and its initiative will be available literally, in meters, but also abstractly, at a sensed level. While existing spatial applications typically focus on illustrations of the urban infrastructure, the suggested application goes beyond the existing: It investigates how our environment's perception adapts to the alterations of the built environment through a dataset construction of biophysical measurements (eye-tracking, heart beating), and physical metrics (spatial characteristics, size of stimuli, rhythm of mobility). It explores the intersections between architecture, cognition, and computing where future design can be improved and identifies the flexibility and livability of the ‘available space’ of specific examined urban paths.
Keywords: Biophysical data, flexibility of urban, livability, next urbanization, spatial application.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1009856 Application of Transportation Linear Programming Algorithms to Cost Reduction in Nigeria Soft Drinks Industry
Authors: A. O. Salami
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The transportation problems are primarily concerned with the optimal way in which products produced at different plants (supply origins) are transported to a number of warehouses or customers (demand destinations). The objective in a transportation problem is to fully satisfy the destination requirements within the operating production capacity constraints at the minimum possible cost. The objective of this study is to determine ways of minimizing transportation cost in order to maximum profit. Data were sourced from the records of the Distribution Department of 7-Up Bottling Company Plc., Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria. The data were computed and analyzed using the three methods of solving transportation problem. The result shows that the three methods produced the same total transportation costs amounting to N1, 358, 019, implying that any of the method can be adopted by the company in transporting its final products to the wholesale dealers in order to minimize total production cost.
Keywords: Allocation problem, Cost Minimization, Distribution system, Resources utilization.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 8786855 The Relationship between Human Resource Practices and Firm Performance Case Study: The Philippine Firms Empirical Assessment
Authors: Bella Llego
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This study on “The relationship between human resource practices and Firm Performance is a speculative investigation research. The purpose of this research are (1) to provide and to understand of HRM history and current HR practices in the Philippines (2) to examine the extent of HRM practice among its Philippine firms effectively; (3) to investigate the relationship between HRM practice and firm performance in the Philippines. The survey was done to 233 companies in the Philippines. The questionnaire is divided into three parts a) to gathers information on the profile of respondent, b) to measures the extent to which human resource practices are being practiced in their organization c) to measure the organizations performance as perceived by human resource managers and top executives as compared with their competitors in the same industry. As a result an interesting finding was that almost 50 percent of firm performance is affected by the extent of implementation of HR practices in the firm. These results show that HR practices that are in line with the organization’s strategic goals are important for future performance.
Keywords: Economic Growth, Firm performance, Human Resource Practices, Management.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4891854 Eco-Connectivity: Sustainable Practices in Telecom Networks Using Big Data
Authors: Tharunika Sridhar
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This paper addresses sustainable eco-connectivity within the telecommunications sector studying its importance to tackle the contemporary challenges and data regulation issues. The paper also investigates the role of Big Data and its integration in this context, specific to telecom industry. One of the major focus areas in this paper is studying and examining the pathways explored, that are state-of-the-art ecological infrastructure solutions and sector-led measures derived from expert analyses and reviews. Additionally, the paper analyses critical factors involving cost-effective route planning, and the development of green telecommunications infrastructure that adds qualitative reasoning to the research idea. Furthermore, the study discusses in detail a potential green roadmap towards sustainability by exploring green routing software, eco-friendly infrastructure and other eco-focused initiatives. The paper is also directed at the special linguistic needs of the telecommunications sector by focusing on targeted select range of telecom environment.
Keywords: Big Data, telecom, sustainable telecom sector, telecom networks.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 28853 Optimization of Heat Treatment Due to Austenising Temperature, Time and Quenching Solution in Hadfield Steels
Authors: Sh. Hosseini, M. B. Limooei, M. Hossein Zade, E. Askarnia, Z. Asadi
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Manganese steel (Hadfield) is one of the important alloys in industry due to its special properties. High work hardening ability with appropriate toughness and ductility are the properties that caused this alloy to be used in wear resistance parts and in high strength condition. Heat treatment is the main process through which the desired mechanical properties and microstructures are obtained in Hadfield steel. In this study various heat treatment cycles, differing in austenising temperature, time and quenching solution are applied. For this purpose, the same samples of manganese steel was heat treated in 9 different cycles, and then the mechanical properties and microstructures were investigated. Based on the results of the study, the optimum heat treatment cycle was obtained.
Keywords: Manganese steel (Hadfield), heat treatment, austenising temperature, austenising time, quenching solution, mechanical properties.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4464852 Technologies of Transportation and Communication: Impact in Colonial Punjab
Authors: Mandakini Thakur, Sheena Pall
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Technology had been intimately related to colonialism as colonizers found the tools of technology essential to penetrate, organize and develop the unexplored geographical areas which they conquered. Transportation and communication technologies played an important role in consolidating the British rule in India as these were essential components required for quick movement of goods, troops and securing co-ordination between authorities and officials at various levels. The province of Punjab in British India was annexed by the British in 1949 and they immediately started to introduce western technologies of transport and communication for transportation of agricultural produce, security of defence forces and acquiring comprehensive, accurate, and frequent information from every quarter of the region. This paper describes the introduction of western technologies of road and bridge construction, railways, telegraph, telephone, radio transmission and printing press by the British in Colonial Punjab. These technologies created appreciable impact on the colonial Punjabi society which has been highlighted. The paper is intended to contribute to the much needed aspect of History of Technology in colonial Punjab.
Keywords: Colonial Punjab, technology, transportation, communication.
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