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Condition assessment on reinforced concrete (RC) structures is one of the critical issues as a result of structure degradation due to aging in many developed countries. The purpose of this paper is to examine the sensitivity and reliability of the conventional dynamic response approaches, which are currently applied in the RC structures. The key indicators include: natural frequency and damping ratio. To deal with the non-linear characteristics of RC, the concept of random decrement is applied to analyze time domain data and a non-linear damping curve could be constructed to reflect the condition of RC structure.

A full-scale RC structure was tested under ambient vibration and the impact from a rubber hammer. Time history data were collected to analyze dynamics parameters such as natural frequency and damping ratio.

The research demonstrated that the measured natural frequency is not a good indicator for integrity assessment. Similarly, it was revealed that the traditional theory of viscous damping performed poorly for the RC with non-linear characteristics. To address this problem, a non-linear curve is constructed using random decrement and it can be used to retrieve the condition of the RC structure in a scientific manner.

The time domain analysis using random decrement can be used to construct a non-linear damping curve. The results from this study revealed that the damage of structure can be reflected from the changes in the damping curves. The non-linear damping curve is a powerful tool for assessing the health condition of RC structures in terms of sensitivity and reliability.

The purpose of this paper is to present a systems information model (SIM) that is akin to a building information model (BIM) and can be used by asset managers and staff to make more informed and quicker decisions about maintenance.

The problems associated with managing assets are examined alongside recent international efforts to standardize methods of data collection for meeting the objectives of owners. A case study in the domain of electrical, control and instrumentation (ECI) documentation is examined in detail, with particular reference to the amelioration of errors and omissions in “as built” drawings in order to provide the underlying foundation to support effective asset management (AM).

The findings show that object oriented data models such as SIM provide a robust structure for effective and efficient AM and associated leverage of benefits throughout the entire facility lifecycle of a project. In particular object oriented data enables appropriate and reliable information to be created as a project progresses through its lifecycle, at little cost to the creators.

The above special approach to enabling data collection at the point of creation is in alignment with recent Government initiatives such as Construction Operations Building Information Exchange, which are beginning to gather traction within the industry. While the potential benefits for AM of such systems are espoused throughout the industry, there are few successful examples in existence with measurable realization of benefits.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating influence of organizational climate in the relationship between job stress and intent to stay.

This study has used a non-probability sampling design for data collection. A semi-structured questionnaire has been prepared and a street survey has been carried out at popular public places in Macau.

This study shows that stressful employees working in organizations characterized by unsupportive organizational climate had far less desire to stay with the organization than those working in organizations with supportive organizational climate.

Street intercept survey is a technique of convenience sampling. This makes it difficult to generalize the study’s findings to the entire population.

Few studies to date have paid attention to the influence of organizational climate between job stress and intent to stay. The multi-industry context from which the data are collected suggests that the results and findings are useful to managers and practitioners from across a broad range of business sectors.

Man has been seeking an ideal existence for a very long time. In this existence, justice, love, and peace are no longer words, but actual experiences. How ever, with the American preemptive invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq and the subsequent prisoner abuse, such an existence seems to be farther and farther away from reality. The purpose of this work is to stop this dangerous trend by promoting justice, love, and peace through a change of the paradigm that is inconsistent with justice, love, and peace. The strong paradigm that created the strong nation like the U.S. and the strong man like George W. Bush have been the culprit, rather than the contributor, of the above three universal ideals. Thus, rather than justice, love, and peace, the strong paradigm resulted in in justice, hatred, and violence. In order to remove these three and related evils, what the world needs in the beginning of the third millenium is the weak paradigm. Through the acceptance of the latter paradigm, the golden mean or middle paradigm can be formulated, which is a synergy of the weak and the strong paradigm. In order to understand properly the meaning of these paradigms, however, some digression appears necessary.

This study aims to empirically develop a new destination personality scale (DPS) for Thailand.

To fill the previous gaps in the existing literature, this research study used a more concise destination personality definition consisting of human personality traits only, a variety of more than 100 destination stimuli covering 12 categories of tourist destinations including many urban cities across the country, a mix of sample groups (domestic and international tourists) that proportionally represent tourist population visiting the country and mixed method (qualitative and quantitative) approaches.

The results revealed that the new scale consists of seven personality dimensions representing eastern cultures: traditionalism, kindness, excitement, easygoingness, liveliness, trendiness and charm. The results also showed that the scale is valid and reliable.

First, data was collected using a cross-sectional survey method, so the results are limited to a specific period of time. Thus, longitudinal studies are recommended to enhance the validity and reliability of the scale. Second, destination stimuli used in this scale covered both urban cities and rural areas across the country. Thus, further studies should compare between destination personality dimensions resulting from urban cities as stimuli and those from rural areas.

City tourism marketers can use this scale as a valid tool for measuring destination personalities in urban cities of the country and checking whether such personalities are consistent with what is intended.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first attempt to develop the Thailand Destination Personality Scale (TDPS).