Abstract: The UK is leading in online retail and mobile
adoption. However, there is a dearth of information relating to mobile
apparel retail, and developing an understanding about consumer
browsing and purchase behaviour in m-retail channel would provide
apparel marketers, mobile website and app developers with the
necessary understanding of consumers’ needs. Despite the rapid
growth of mobile retail businesses, no published study has examined
shopping behaviour on fashion mobile apps and websites. A mixed method approach helped to understand why fashion
consumers prefer websites on smartphones, when diverse mobile
apps are also available. The following research methods were
employed: survey, eye-tracking experiments, observation, and
interview with retrospective think aloud. The mobile gaze tracking
device by SensoMotoric Instruments was used to understand
frustrations in navigation and other issues facing consumers in
mobile channel. This method helped to validate and compliment
other traditional user-testing approaches in order to optimize user
experience and enhance the development of mobile retail channel.
The study involved eight participants - females aged 18 to 35 years
old, who are existing mobile shoppers. The participants used the
Topshop mobile app and website on a smart phone to complete a task
according to a specified scenario leading to a purchase. The
comparative study was based on: duration and time spent at different
stages of the shopping journey, number of steps involved and product
pages visited, search approaches used, layout and visual clues, as
well as consumer perceptions and expectations. The results from the data analysis show significant differences in
consumer behaviour when using a mobile app or website on a smart
phone. Moreover, two types of problems were identified, namely
technical issues and human errors. Having a mobile app does not
guarantee success in satisfying mobile fashion consumers. The
differences in the layout and visual clues seem to influence the
overall shopping experience on a smart phone. The layout of search
results on the website was different from the mobile app. Therefore,
participants, in most cases, behaved differently on different
platforms. The number of product pages visited on the mobile app
was triple the number visited on the website due to a limited visibility
of products in the search results. Although, the data on traffic trends
held by retailers to date, including retail sector breakdowns for visits
and views, data on device splits and duration, might seem a valuable
source of information, it cannot explain why consumers visit many
product pages, stay longer on the website or mobile app, or abandon
the basket. A comprehensive list of pros and cons was developed by
highlighting issues for website and mobile app, and recommendations
provided. The findings suggest that fashion retailers need to be aware of
actual consumers’ behaviour on the mobile channel and their expectations in order to offer a seamless shopping experience. Added
to which is the challenge of retaining existing and acquiring new
customers. There seem to be differences in the way fashion
consumers search and shop on mobile, which need to be explored in
further studies.
Abstract: This paper develops a multiple channel assignment
model, which allows to take advantage of spectrum opportunities in
cognitive radio networks in the most efficient way. The developed
scheme allows making several assignments of available and
frequency adjacent channel, which require a bigger bandwidth, under
an equality environment. The hybrid assignment model it is made by
two algorithms, one that makes the ranking and selects available
frequency channels and the other one in charge of establishing the
Max-Min Fairness for not restrict the spectrum opportunities for all
the other secondary users, who also claim to make transmissions.
Measurements made were done for average bandwidth, average
delay, as well as fairness computation for several channel
assignments. Reached results were evaluated with experimental
spectrum occupational data from captured GSM frequency band. The
developed model shows evidence of improvement in spectrum
opportunity use and a wider average transmission bandwidth for each
secondary user, maintaining equality criteria in channel assignment.
Abstract: Government reports and published research have
flagged and brought to public attention the deteriorating condition of
a large percentage of bridges in Canada and the United States. With
the increasing number of deteriorated bridges in the US, Canada, and
around the globe, condition assessment techniques of concrete
bridges are evolving. Investigation for bridges’ defects such as
cracks, spalls, and delamination and their level of severity are the
main objectives of condition assessment. Inspection and
rehabilitation programs are being implemented to monitor and
maintain deteriorated bridge infrastructure. This paper highlights the
state-of-the art of current practices being performed for concrete
bridge inspection. The information is gathered from the literature and
through a distributed questionnaire. The current practices in concrete
bridge inspection rely on the use of hummer sounding and chain
dragging tests. Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) techniques are not
being utilized fully in the process. Nonetheless, they are being
partially utilized by the recommendation of the bridge inspector after
conducting visual inspection. Lanes are usually closed during the
performance of visual inspection and bridge inspection in general.
Abstract: Nowadays, the reflection on competence management
is the basic for new competitive strategies. It is considered as the core
of the problems of the global supply chain. It interact a variety of
actors: information, physical and activities flows, etc. Even though
competence management is seen as the key factor for any business
success, the existing approaches demonstrate the deficiencies and
limitations of the competence concept. This research has two
objectives: The first is to make a contribution by focusing on the
development of a competence approach, based on continuous
improvement. It allows the enterprise to spot key competencies,
mobilize them in order to serve its strategic objectives and to develop
future competencies. The second is to propose a method to evaluate
the Level of Collective Competence. The approach was confirmed
through an application carried out at an automotive company.
Abstract: Polylactic acid (PLA) is the most commercially
available bio-based and biodegradable plastic at present. PLA has
been used in plastic related industries including single-used
containers, disposable and environmentally friendly packaging owing
to its renewability, compostability, biodegradability, and safety.
Although PLA demonstrates reasonably good optical, physical,
mechanical and barrier properties comparable to the existing
petroleum-based plastics, its brittleness and mold shrinkage as well as
its price are the points to be concerned for the production of rigid and
semi-rigid packaging. Blending PLA with other bio-based polymers
including thermoplastic starch (TPS) is an alternative not only to
achieve a complete bio-based plastic, but also to reduce the
brittleness, shrinkage during molding and production cost of the
PLA-based products. TPS is a material produced mainly from starch
which is cheap, renewable, biodegradable, compostable, and nontoxic.
It is commonly prepared by a plasticization of starch under
applying heat and shear force. Although glycerol has been reported as
one of the most plasticizers used for preparing TPS, its migration
caused the surface stickiness of the TPS products. In some cases,
mixed plasticizers or natural fibers have been applied to impede the
retrogradation of starch or reduce the migration of glycerol. The
introduction of fibers into TPS-based materials could reinforce the
polymer matrix as well. Therefore, the objective of the present
research is to study the effect of starch type (i.e. native starch and
phosphate starch), plasticizer type (i.e. glycerol and xylitol with a
weight ratio of glycerol to xylitol of 100:0, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75 and
0:100) and fiber content (i.e. in the range of 1-25 %wt) on properties
of PLA/TPS blend and composite. PLA/TPS blends and composites
were prepared using a twin-screw extruder and then converted into
dumbbell-shaped specimens using an injection molding machine. The
PLA/TPS blends prepared by using phosphate starch showed higher
tensile strength and stiffness than the blends prepared by using native
one. In contrast, the blends from native starch exhibited higher
extensibility and heat distortion temperature (HDT) than those from
the modified starch. Increasing xylitol content resulted in enhanced
tensile strength, stiffness and water resistance, but decreased
extensibility and HDT of the PLA/TPS blend. Tensile properties and
hydrophobicity of the blend could be improved by incorporating
silane treated-jute fibers.
Abstract: This study, tries to suggest a design method based on
displacement using finite difference numerical modeling in
reinforcing soil retaining wall with steel strip. In this case, dynamic
loading characteristics such as duration, frequency, peak ground
acceleration, geometrical characteristics of reinforced soil structure
and type of the site are considered to correct the pseudo static method
and finally introduce the pseudo static coefficient as a function of
seismic performance level and peak ground acceleration. For this
purpose, the influence of dynamic loading characteristics,
reinforcement length, height of reinforced system and type of the site
are investigated on seismic behavior of reinforcing soil retaining wall
with steel strip. Numerical results illustrate that the seismic response
of this type of wall is highly dependent to cumulative absolute
velocity, maximum acceleration, and height and reinforcement length
so that the reinforcement length can be introduced as the main factor
in shape of failure. Considering the loading parameters, geometric parameters of the
wall and type of the site showed that the used method in this study
leads to efficient designs in comparison with other methods, which
are usually based on limit-equilibrium concept. The outputs show the
over-estimation of equilibrium design methods in comparison with
proposed displacement based methods here.
Abstract: Household waste form a larger proportion of waste
generated across the state, accumulation of organic waste is an
apparent problem and the existing dump sites could be overstress.
Niger state has abundant arable land and water resources thus should
be one of the highest producers of agricultural crops in the country.
However, the major challenge to agricultural sector today is loss of
soil nutrient coupled with high cost of fertilizer. These have
continued to increase the use of fertilizer and decomposed solid waste
for enhance agricultural yield, which have varying effects on the soil
as well a threat to human livelihood. Consequently, vegetable yield
samples from poultry droppings, decomposed household waste
manure, NPK treatments and control from each replication were
subjected to proximate analysis to determine the nutritional and antinutritional
component as well as heavy metal concentration. Data
collected was analyzed using SPSS software and Randomized
complete Block Design means were compared. The result shows that
the treatments do not devoid the concentrations of any nutritional
components while the anti-nutritional analysis proved that NPK had
higher oxalate content than control and organic treats. The
concentration of lead and cadmium are within safe permissible level
while the mercury level exceeded the FAO/WHO maximum
permissible limit for the entire treatments depicts the need for urgent
intervention to minimize mercury levels in soil and manure in order
to mitigate its toxic effect. Thus, eco-agriculture should be widely
accepted and promoted by the stakeholders for soil amendment,
higher yield, strategies for sustainable environmental protection, food
security, poverty eradication, attainment of sustainable development
and healthy livelihood.
Abstract: In this paper, we will try to demonstrate the
importance of the project approach in the urban to deal with
uncertainty, the importance of the involvement of all stakeholders in
the urban project process and that the absence of an actor can lead to
project failure but also the importance of the urban project
management. These points are handled through the following questions: Does
the urban adhere to the theory of complexity? Does the project
approach bring hope and solution to make urban planning
"sustainable"? How converging visions of actors for the same
project? Is the management of urban project the solution to support
the urban project approach?
Abstract: The present study seeks to investigate the application
of expansion strategy in Persian subtitles of English crime movies.
More precisely, this study aims at classifying the different types of
expansion used in subtitles as well as investigating the
appropriateness or inappropriateness of the application of each type.
To achieve this end, three movies; namely, The Net (1995), Contact
(1997) and Mission Impossible 2 (2000), available with Persian
subtitles, were selected for the study. To collect the data, the above
mentioned movies were watched and those parts of the Persian
subtitles in which expansion had been used were identified and
extracted along with their English dialogs. Then, the extracted
Persian subtitles were classified based on the reason that led to
expansion in each case. Next, the appropriateness or
inappropriateness of using expansion in the extracted Persian
subtitles was descriptively investigated. Finally, an equivalent not
containing any expansion was proposed for those cases in which the
meaning could be fully transferred without this strategy. The findings
of the study indicated that the reasons range from explicitation
(explicitation of visual, co-textual and contextual information),
mistranslation and paraphrasing to the preferences of subtitlers.
Furthermore, it was found that the employment of expansion strategy
was inappropriate in all cases except for those caused by explicitation
of contextual information since correct and shorter equivalents which
were equally capable of conveying the intended meaning could be
posited for the original dialogs.
Abstract: The present study examined how translation teachers
develop final tests as measures for checking on the quality of
students’ academic translation in Iranian context. To achieve this
goal, thirty experienced male and female translation teachers from the
four types of the universities offering the program were invited to an
in-depth 30-minute one-session semi-structured interview. The
responses provided showed how much discrepancy exists among the
Iranian translation teachers (as developers of final translation tests),
who are least informed with the current translation evaluation
methods. It was also revealed that the criteria they use for developing
such tests and scoring student translations are not theory-driven but
are highly subjective, mainly based on their personal experience and
intuition. Hence, the quality and accountability of such tests are under
serious question. The results also confirmed that the dominant
method commonly and currently practiced is the purely essay-type
format. To remedy the situation, some suggestions are in order. As
part of the solution, to improve the reliability and validity of such
tests, the present summative, product-oriented evaluation should be
accompanied with some formative, process-oriented methods of
evaluation. Training the teachers and helping them get acquainted
with modern principles of translation evaluation as well as the
existing models, and rating scales does improve the quality of
academic translation evaluation.
Abstract: In this study, we have collected cases with adipocere
formation, which were from the South Delhi region (average room
temperature 27-390C) and autopsied at our centre. Details of the
circumstances of the death, cause and time of death, surrounding
environment and demographic profile of the deceased were taken into
account. Total 16 cases were included in this study. Adipocere
formation was predominantly present over cheeks, shoulder, breast,
flanks, buttocks, and thighs. Out of 16, 11 cases were found in a dry
atmosphere, 5 cases were brought from the water. There were 5 cases
in which adipocere formation was seen in less than 2 days, and
among them, in 1 case, as early as one day. This study showed that
adipocere formation can be seen as early as 1 day in a hot and humid
environment.
Abstract: This study identified the hypothesised relationship
between creative experience, and revisit intention of handmade
oriental parasol umbrella in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. A face-to-face
questionnaire survey was administered in Meinong town, Kaohsiung.
The components of creative experience were found as “sense of
achievement”, “unique learning” and “interaction with instructors” in
creative tourism. The result also revealed significant positive
relationships between creative experience and revisit intention in
handmade activities. This paper provides additional suggestions for
enhancing revisit intention and guidance regarding creative tourism.
Abstract: In the present study, analysis of heat transfer is carried
out in the slip flow region for the fluid flowing between two parallel
plates by employing the asymmetric heat fluxes at surface of the
plates. The flow is assumed to be hydrodynamically and thermally
fully developed for the analysis. The second order velocity slip and
viscous dissipation effects are considered for the analysis. Closed
form expressions are obtained for the Nusselt number as a function of
Knudsen number and modified Brinkman number. The limiting
condition of the present prediction for Kn = 0, Kn2 = 0, and Brq1 = 0
is considered and found to agree well with other analytical results.
Abstract: The development of composite materials and the
related design and manufacturing technologies is one of the most
important advances in the history of materials. Composites are
multifunctional materials having unprecedented mechanical and
physical properties that can be tailored to meet the requirements of a
particular application. Some composites also exhibit great resistance
to high-temperature corrosion, oxidation, and wear. Polymers are
widely used indoors and outdoors, therefore they are exposed to a
chemical environment which may include atmospheric oxygen, acidic
fumes, acidic rain, moisture heat and thermal shock, ultra-violet light,
high energy radiation, etc. Different polymers are affected differently
by these factors even though the amorphous polymers are more
sensitive. Ageing is also important and it is defined as the process of
deterioration of engineering materials resulting from the combined
effects of atmospheric radiation, heat, oxygen, water, microorganisms
and other atmospheric factors.
Abstract: In this paper, we present an optimization technique or
a learning algorithm using the hybrid architecture by combining the
most popular sequence recognition models such as Recurrent Neural
Networks (RNNs) and Hidden Markov models (HMMs). In order to
improve the sequence/pattern recognition/classification performance
by applying a hybrid/neural symbolic approach, a gradient descent
learning algorithm is developed using the Real Time Recurrent
Learning of Recurrent Neural Network for processing the knowledge
represented in trained Hidden Markov Models. The developed hybrid
algorithm is implemented on automata theory as a sample test beds
and the performance of the designed algorithm is demonstrated and
evaluated on learning the deterministic finite state automata.
Abstract: Rapid prototyping is a new group of manufacturing
processes, which allows fabrication of physical of any complexity
using a layer by layer deposition technique directly from a computer
system. The rapid prototyping process greatly reduces the time and
cost necessary to bring a new product to market. The prototypes
made by these systems are used in a range of industrial application
including design evaluation, verification, testing, and as patterns for
casting processes. These processes employ a variety of materials and
mechanisms to build up the layers to build the part. The present work
was to build a FDM prototyping machine that could control the X-Y
motion and material deposition, to generate two-dimensional and
three-dimensional complex shapes. This study focused on the
deposition of wax material. This work was to find out the properties
of the wax materials used in this work in order to enable better
control of the FDM process. This study will look at the integration of
a computer controlled electro-mechanical system with the traditional
FDM additive prototyping process. The characteristics of the wax
were also analysed in order to optimise the model production process.
These included wax phase change temperature, wax viscosity and
wax droplet shape during processing.
Abstract: The ferrites ZnFe2O4, CdFe2O4 and CuFe2O4 are
synthesized in laboratory conditions using ceramic technology. Their
homogeneity and structure are proven by X-Ray diffraction analysis
and Mössbauer spectroscopy. The synthesized ferrites are subjected
to strong acid and high temperature leaching with solutions of H2SO4,
HCl and HNO3. The results indicate that the highest degree of
leaching of Zn, Cd and Cu from the ferrites is achieved by use of
HCl. The charging of five zinc sulfide concentrates was optimized using
the criterion of minimal amount of zinc ferrite produced when
roasting the concentrates in a fluidized bed. The results obtained are
interpreted in terms of the hydrometallurgical zinc production and
maximum recovery of zinc, copper and cadmium from initial zinc
concentrates after their roasting.
Abstract: In recent years, the power system has been changed
and a flexible power pricing system such as demand response has been
sought in Japan. The demand response system works simply in the
household sector and the owner as the decision-maker, can benefit
from power saving. On the other hand, the execution of demand
response in the office building is more complex than in the household
because various people such as owners, building administrators and
occupants are involved in the decision-making process. While the
owners benefit from demand saving, the occupants are exposed to
restricted benefits of a demand-saved environment. One of the reasons
is that building systems are usually under centralized management and
each occupant cannot choose freely whether to participate in demand
response or not. In addition, it is unclear whether incentives give
occupants the motivation to participate. However, the recent
development of IT and building systems enables the personalized
control of the office environment where each occupant can control the
lighting level or temperature individually. Therefore, it can be possible
to have a system which each occupant can make a decision of whether
or not to participate in demand response in the office building. This study investigates personal responses to demand response
requests, under the condition where each occupant can adjust their
brightness individually in their workspace. Once workers participate
in the demand response, their desk-lights are automatically turned off.
The participation rates in the demand response events are compared
among four groups, which are divided by different motivation, the
presence, or absence of incentives and the method of participation. The
result shows that there are significant differences of participation rates
in demand response event between four groups. The method of
participation has a large effect on the participation rate. The “Opt-out”
groups where the occupants are automatically enrolled in a demand
response event if they do not express non-participation have the
highest participation rate in the four groups. Incentives also have an
effect on the participation rate. This study also reports on the impact of low illumination office
environment on the occupants, such as stress or fatigue. The
electrocardiogram and the questionnaire are used to investigate the
autonomic nervous activity and subjective fatigue symptoms of the
occupants. There is no big difference between dim workspace during
demand response event and bright workspace in autonomic nervous
activity and fatigue.
Abstract: The activation volume of 6082T6 aluminum is
investigated at different temperatures for grain size variants. The
deformation activation volume was computed on the basis of the
relationship between the Boltzmann’s constant k, the testing
temperatures, the material strain rate sensitivity and the material yield
stress grain size variants. The material strain rate sensitivity is
computed as a function of yield stress and strain rate grain size
variants. The effect of the material strain rate sensitivity and the
deformation activation volume of 6082T6 aluminum at different
temperatures of 3-D grain are discussed. It is shown that the strain rate sensitivities and activation volume
are negative for the grain size variants during the deformation of
nanostructured materials. It is also observed that the activation
volume vary in different ways with the equivalent radius, semi minor
axis radius, semi major axis radius and major axis radius. From the
obtained results it is shown that the variation of activation volume
increase and decrease with the testing temperature. It was revealed
that, increase in strain rate sensitivity led to decrease in activation
volume whereas increase in activation volume led to decrease in
strain rate sensitivity.
Abstract: The first layer of defense against data loss is the backup
data. This paper implements an agent-based network backup system
used the backup, server-storage and server-backup agent these
tripartite construction, and the snapshot and hierarchical index are
used in the NSBS. It realizes the control command and data flow
separation, balances the system load, thereby improving efficiency of
the system backup and recovery. The test results show the agent-based
network backup system can effectively improve the task-based
concurrency, reasonably allocate network bandwidth, the system
backup performance loss costs smaller and improves data recovery
efficiency by 20%.