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1 – 10 of over 9000Yue Teng, Zhongfu Li, Jin Cai and Min Ju
This study aims to focus on the sustainability of prefabricated medical emergency buildings (PMEBs) renovation after the epidemic, to address the problem that large numbers of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to focus on the sustainability of prefabricated medical emergency buildings (PMEBs) renovation after the epidemic, to address the problem that large numbers of PMEBs may be abandoned for losing their original architectural functions. This study develops an evaluation system to identify and measure sustainable factors for PMEBs’ renovation schemes. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of PMEBs’ renovation scheme was conducted based on cloud model evaluation method and selected the renovation scheme in line with sustainable development. The study promotes evaluation methods and decision-making basis for the renovation design of global PMEBs and realizes the use-value of building functions again.
Design/methodology/approach
By referring to the existing literature, design standards and expert visiting a set of evaluation index systems which combines the renovation of the PMEBs and the sustainability concept has been established, which calculates the balanced optimal comprehensive weight of each indicator utilizing combination weighting method, and quantifies the qualitative language of different PMEBs’ renovation schemes by experts through characteristics of the cloud model. This paper takes Huoshenshan hospital a representative PMEB during the epidemic period as an example, to verify the feasibility of the cloud model evaluation method.
Findings
The research results of this paper are that in the PMEBs’ renovation scheme structural reformative (T11) and corresponding nature with the original building (T13) have the most important influence; the continuity of architectural cultural value (T22) and regional development coherence (T23) are the key factors affecting the social dimension; the profitability of renovated buildings (T34) is the key factor affecting the economic dimension; the environmental impact (T41), resource utilization (T42) and ecological technology (T43) are the key factors in the environmental dimension.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by supplementing a set of scientific evaluation methods to make up for the sustainability measurement of PMEBs’ renovation scheme. The main objective was to make renovated PMEBs meet the needs of urban sustainable development, retain the original cultural value of the buildings, meanwhile enhance their social and economic value and realize the renovation with the least impact on the environment.
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Natalia Distefano and Salvatore Leonardi
The risk of aircraft runway excursion, dependent on multiple factors, is related to operating conditions. The purpose of this paper is to identify the correspondence between…
Abstract
Purpose
The risk of aircraft runway excursion, dependent on multiple factors, is related to operating conditions. The purpose of this paper is to identify the correspondence between features belonging to different aspects that occur in runway excursion events, distinguishing between take-off and landing phases.
Design/methodology/approach
To define the correspondence between the characteristic features of runway excursions, this study has applied multiple correspondence analysis (MCA). MCA is used to represent and model data sets as “clouds” of points in a multi-dimensional Euclidean space. There are five variables used in MCA: geographical region, potential cause, aircraft class, flight nature and aircraft damages. For the purpose of this research, the database contains only runway excursion accidents that took place between 2006 and 2016 among all categories of aircraft in all world regions. The events contained in the database were analyzed by separating those that occurred during take-off and those that occurred during landing.
Findings
With this method, this study identified a few particularly interesting variable combinations. Generally, the consequence of an aircraft runway excursion is substantial aircraft damage. Also, the most common cause of runway excursion during take-off is aircraft system faults, while during landing, it is weather conditions. Furthermore, the destruction of an aircraft is a result of a runway excursion due to bad weather conditions, both during take-off and landing.
Practical implications
The results of this study can be used by a broad range of civil aviation organizations for runway risk assessment and to select the most effective safety countermeasures for runway excursions.
Originality/value
The authors believe this study is original, especially for the statistical analysis method used.
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– The purpose of this paper is to examine the following question: What is cloud computing?
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the following question: What is cloud computing?
Design/methodology/approach
This paper surveys the current literature.
Findings
Cloud computing is described in many ways.
Originality/value
This paper is one of the first pieces to examine the nature of cloud computing.
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This paper aims to identify potential issues for the travel and tourism industry, regarding technology in the digital era.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify potential issues for the travel and tourism industry, regarding technology in the digital era.
Design/methodology/approach
Travelport has defined five major themes in this area: big data, hybrid cloud, mobile, artificial intelligence and internet of things.
Findings
Issues such as personal data privacy, choice of solutions that preserve environmental sustainability, impact of the industry’s environmental footprint and growing number of conflict areas around the world mean that ethics comes before business as a benchmark.
Originality/value
This paper presents the perspective of a global distribution system operator regarding trends and opportunities affecting the travel industry.
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Abdelbasset Barkat, Kazar Okba and Samir Bourekkache
User requests over the cloud are not achievable with one single service, multiple services need to be executed to fulfill what a user asks for. Typically, such services are…
Abstract
Purpose
User requests over the cloud are not achievable with one single service, multiple services need to be executed to fulfill what a user asks for. Typically, such services are composed and presented as one global service. Moreover, the same operation can be achieved by multiple services available at different clouds, which can result in different possibilities in composing them. This paper aims to decrease the number of clouds involved in the composition process, so that user requests are satisfied with minimal cost (communication costs, execution time and financial charges).
Design/methodology/approach
This paper investigates the use of an intelligent water drops (IWDs) optimization-based algorithm, and an integer linear programming model to optimize the number of cloud bases involved in the composition process. A comparison of the solutions found by these two techniques is presented in the paper.
Findings
The obtained results show that the number of cloud bases can be decreased without affecting user satisfaction.
Originality/value
The paper is a first attempt to use the IWDs algorithm for service composition, tested with big-size data.
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Yousong Wang, Enqin Gong, Yangbing Zhang, Yao Yao and Xiaowei Zhou
The need for infrastructure is growing as urbanization picks up speed, and the infrastructure REITs financing model has been crucial in reviving the vast infrastructure stock…
Abstract
Purpose
The need for infrastructure is growing as urbanization picks up speed, and the infrastructure REITs financing model has been crucial in reviving the vast infrastructure stock, alleviating the pressure on government funds and diversifying investment entities. This study aims to propose a framework to better assess the risks of infrastructure REITs, which can serve for the researchers and the policy makers to propose risk mitigation strategies and policy recommendations more purposively to facilitate successful implementation and long-term development of infrastructure REITs.
Design/methodology/approach
The infrastructure REITs risk evaluation index system is established through literature review and factor analysis, and the optimal comprehensive weight of the index is calculated using the combination weight. Then, a risk evaluation cloud model of infrastructure REITs is constructed, and experts quantify the qualitative language of infrastructure REITs risks. This paper verifies the feasibility and effectiveness of the model by taking a basic REITs project in China as an example. This paper takes infrastructure REITs project in China as an example, to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the cloud evaluation method.
Findings
The research outcome shows that infrastructure REITs risks manifest in the risk of policy and legal, underlying asset, market, operational and credit. The main influencing factors in terms of their weights are tax policy risk, operation and management risk, liquidity risk, termination risk and default risk. The financing project is at a higher risk, and the probability of risk is 64.2%.
Originality/value
This research contributes to the existing body of knowledge by supplementing a set of scientific and practical risk evaluation methods to assess the potential risks of infrastructure REITs project, which contributes the infrastructure financing risk management system. Identify key risk factors for infrastructure REITs with underlying assets, which contributes to infrastructure REITs project management. This research can help relevant stakeholders to control risks throughout the infrastructure investment and financing life cycle, provide them with reference for investment and financing decision-making and promote more sustainable and healthy development of infrastructure REITs in developing countries.
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Dimitris Mourtzis and Ekaterini Vlachou
The purpose of this paper is to review and explore the evolution, advances and future trends of cloud manufacturing, placing the focus on the quality of services. Moreover, moving…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review and explore the evolution, advances and future trends of cloud manufacturing, placing the focus on the quality of services. Moreover, moving toward the new trend of cyber-physical systems (CPS), a cloud-based cyber-physical system (CBCPS) is proposed combining the key enabling techniques of this decade, namely Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, Big Data analytics and CPS.
Design/methodology/approach
First, an extensive review is made on cloud computing and its applications in manufacturing sectors, namely product development, manufacturing processes and manufacturing systems management. Second, a conceptual CBCPS which combines key enabling techniques including cloud computing, CPS and IoT is proposed. Finally, a review on the quality of the services (QoS) presented in the second step, along with the main security issues of cloud manufacturing, is conducted.
Findings
The findings of this review indicate that the combination of the key enabling techniques presented in the CBCPS will lead to a new manufacturing paradigm capable of facing the new challenges and trends. The opportunities, as well as the challenges and barriers of the proposed framework are presented, concluding that the transition into this whole new era of networked computing and manufacturing has a valuable impact, but also generates several security and quality issues.
Originality/value
The paper is the first to specifically study the QoS as a factor in the proposed manufacturing paradigm.
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Omar Ali, Anup Shrestha, Valmira Osmanaj and Shahnawaz Muhammed
The significance of cloud services in information technology (IT) is increasing as a means of achieving enhanced productivity, efficiency and cost reduction. Through cloud-based…
Abstract
Purpose
The significance of cloud services in information technology (IT) is increasing as a means of achieving enhanced productivity, efficiency and cost reduction. Through cloud-based service, the reliability and scalability of an organization’s systems can be enhanced since organizations such as local governments are able to concentrate on their main business strategies. This research seeks to identify critical factors that may have an impact on the acceptance of cloud-based services, where the organizational context is based on local governments in Australia.
Design/methodology/approach
To formulate a more comprehensive IT innovation adoption model for cloud technology, factors from the technology-organizational-environment framework, desires framework and diffusion of innovation model were integrated. Data was obtained from 480 IT staff working in 47 local government organizations.
Findings
The research results show that the factors which had a statistically significant and positive impact on the adoption of cloud-based services in local governments were compatibility, complexity, cost, security concerns, expected benefits and organization size. It is likely that the outcomes from this research will provide insights to any organization seeking to make investment decisions on the adoption of cloud-based services.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations include generalizability of the findings since the data is restricted to local government areas in Queensland, Australia. Further, the sample mostly included individuals with managerial positions and may not completely capture the cloud adoption factors relevant for front line IT employees. Another limitation is the possible omission of factors that may be relevant but not considered due to the selected theories. Lastly, this research did not differentiate between different types of cloud adoption such as private, public, community and hybrid models that are possible in this context.
Originality/value
The paper provides a combination framework of cloud-based service adoption based on a literature review on cloud adoption from an IS perspective. It adapts integrated model to establish a more comprehensive innovation adoption framework for cloud technology.
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Sahil Kansal, Harish Kumar and Sakshi Kaushal
As the storage and processing requirement of digital information is increasing on the cloud, it is very difficult for the single cloud provider (CP) to meet the resource…
Abstract
Purpose
As the storage and processing requirement of digital information is increasing on the cloud, it is very difficult for the single cloud provider (CP) to meet the resource requirement. Multiple providers form a federation for the execution of users’ requests. For the federated cloud, this paper aims to address the issue distribution of users’ request for resources and revenue among the providers by offering fair and stable distribution models for the federated cloud.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses cooperative game (CG)-theoretical models, i.e. Shapley–Shubik power index (SSPI) and Banzhaf power index (BPI) for distribution. Performance is analysed using variance and monotonicity using a case study.
Findings
Numerical analysis is done using two scenarios. Monotonicity is evaluated. Results show that SSPI performs better as compared to BPI in terms of fairness accuracy and the framework provide the fair distribution of revenue among providers in the federated cloud.
Research limitations/implications
The proposed framework works efficiently under the specific defined conditions.
Social implications
Paper provides the fair distribution. It assist the centralised cloud exchange in managing the users’ request in such a way every CPs, in the federated cloud will get an equal chance of serving the users’ request. The framework also provides the stable federation. Proposed work provides less rejection rate of users’ request. Finally, it assists the providers in increasing their profits in the federation.
Originality/value
This paper presents a CG theoretic-based framework for the distribution of resources required and revenue. The framework analysed the performance of distribution models by considering the variance and monotonicity for multiple users’ requests.
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Ming K. Lim, Weiqing Xiong and Zhimei Lei
Cloud manufacturing (CMfg) is a networked manufacturing mode that promotes the agile, service-oriented, green and intelligent development of the manufacturing industry. Although…
Abstract
Purpose
Cloud manufacturing (CMfg) is a networked manufacturing mode that promotes the agile, service-oriented, green and intelligent development of the manufacturing industry. Although some scholars have reviewed related studies of CMfg from multiple perspectives, these reviews are not fully systematic or well justified and fail to fully reveal the key characteristics in the development process of CMfg. The purpose of this paper is to systematically review the relevant research on CMfg via identification of key characteristics of definition, architecture, supporting technology and application of CMfg to provide critical information in decision support for the innovation and development of CMfg.
Design/methodology/approach
This study systematically reviews the relevant research on CMfg across theoretical methods to technical applications by integrating quantitative and qualitative methods. Word cloud method is used to quantitatively analyse the structure and feature of different definitions of CMfg. The principle of System Science is used to explore the basic components and functions of various CMfg architectures and their common and differing characteristics. A multi-level technology framework is developed to explore the development status of CMfg supporting technologies. A multi-stage application classification is proposed to reveal the application status of CMfg.
Findings
Through literature review, this study found that CMfg architecture is currently dominated by general architectures and lacks architectures that fit the actual enterprise characteristics; CMfg supporting technology is mature in the traditional cloud computing-based technology, but it is still weak in the development of virtualization and servitization technology, service scheduling technology; CMfg application is still in the initial stage and still lacks a relatively complete system application. By analysing the development status of CMfg, this study also identified potential research directions of CMfg in information management, service composition and evaluation, system application and sustainable development and other aspects.
Research limitations/implications
This paper predominantly focuses on journal articles and some key conference papers published in English and Chinese. Chinese articles account for more than half of the total. The reason is that CMfg was proposed by the Chinese and CMfg is suitable for the development of China's manufacturing industry because of China's intelligent manufacturing environment. It is believed that this research has reached a reliable comprehensiveness that can help scholars and practitioners establish new research directions and evaluate their work in CMfg.
Originality/value
Prior literature reviews ignore the identification and analysis of key feature identification for the current development of CMfg, including common and unique feature identification of different CMfg architectures and functions, multi-layer analysis and interpretation of CMfg technology and different stage analysis of CMfg applications. This study addresses these limitations and provides a comprehensive literature review.
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