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The purpose of this paper is to study the coupled fixed point problem and the coupled best proximity problem for single-valued and multi-valued contraction type operators defined on cyclic representations of the space. The approach is based on fixed point results for appropriate operators generated by the initial problems.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

“It should also be noted that the objective of convergence and equal distribution, including across under-performing areas, can hinder efforts to generate growth. Contrariwise, the objective of competitiveness can exacerbate regional and social inequalities, by targeting efforts on zones of excellence where projects achieve greater returns (dynamic major cities, higher levels of general education, the most advanced projects, infrastructures with the heaviest traffic, and so on). If cohesion policy and the Lisbon Strategy come into conflict, it must be borne in mind that the former, for the moment, is founded on a rather more solid legal foundation than the latter” European Commission (2005, p. 9)Adaptation of Cohesion Policy to the Enlarged Europe and the Lisbon and Gothenburg Objectives.

Introduces the fourth and final chapter of the ISEF 1999 Proceedings by stating electric and magnetic fields are influenced, in a reciprocal way, by thermal and mechanical fields. Looks at the coupling of fields in a device or a system as a prescribed effect. Points out that there are 12 contributions included ‐ covering magnetic levitation or induction heating, superconducting devices and possible effects to the human body due to electric impressed fields.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate a bi-objective optimization problem characterized by coupled field analysis. The optimal design of a pancake inductor for the controlled heating of a graphite disk is considered as the benchmark problem. The case study is related to the design of industrial applications of the induction heating of graphite disk.

The expected goal of the optimization process is twofold: to improve temperature uniformity in the disk and also electrical efficiency of the inductor. The solution of the relevant bi-objective optimization problem is based on multiphysics field analysis. Specifically, the direct problem is solved as a magnetic and thermal coupled problem by means of finite elements; a mesh-inspired definition of thermal uniformity is proposed. In turn, the Pareto front trading off electrical efficiency and thermal uniformity is identified exploiting evolutionary computing.

By varying the problem targets, different Pareto fronts are identified trading off thermal uniformity and electrical efficiency of the induction-heating device.

These results suggest how to improve the design of this kind of device for the epitaxial growth of silicon wafer; the advantage of using a magnetic concentrator placed close to the inductor axis is pointed out.

The coupling of a multiphysics direct problem with a multiobjective inverse problem is presented as a benchmark problem and accordingly solved. The benchmark provides a simple analysis problem that allows testing various optimization algorithms in a comparative way.

Recent smart mobile devices are capable of letting users produce various digital content, and share/upload the content to many social network services (SNS) directly via wireless network connections. The phenomenon has increased the number of people using mobile SNS applications. Although the applications have become more popular, mobile users have been restricted in the virtual communities of online SNS and are not aware of the social opportunities available to them in real-time surrounding. While they spend most of their time accessing online SNS, they have missed many opportunities to interact with others for new friendships, business opportunities or information sharing. Consequently, a new breed of mobile social network (MSN) system has arisen to assist mobile users to interact with proximal people and perform various social activities. Such a proximal-based MSN environment is termed a Mobile Social Network in Proximity (MSNP).

Developing an MSNP system needs to address a number of issues and challenges, such as heterogeneity, content/service discovery, privacy and trust, resource management, and so on. This paper identifies and describes these challenges, and reviews a number of related solutions from existing literature. In the follow up, this paper addresses a number of open challenges in the MSNP domain.

Although various works have been proposed to enable and overcome challenges in MSNP, there are still many unsolved open challenges in terms of identification, content management, social-aware discovery, trust in public environment, adaptation, quality of service and the development of MSNP. We have addressed these challenges in this paper as future research directions in the MSNP domain.

This paper provides an original literature review in MSNP and identifies a number of open challenges as research direction in the MSNP domain.

This paper aims to analyze the extent to which the influence of external knowledge search activities on firms’ incremental innovation capability, and the moderating roles of the relatedness between the partners’ technological bases and a firm’s network embeddedness in the innovation network.

In this empirical research, the authors collected a sample of patents in the UAV industry over the period of 2004–2018. Then the authors examined the direct role of external knowledge search on firms’ incremental innovation capability and the joint moderating effects of technological proximity and network embeddedness.

We found that external knowledge search in innovation networks positively affects firms’ incremental innovation capability. Moreover, we discovered that high technological proximity to other peers positively strengthens the impact of firms’ external knowledge search on their incremental innovation capability. Finally, the findings suggested that the relationship between a firm’s external knowledge search activities and its incremental innovation capability is stronger for high technological proximity coupled with high network centrality or poor structural holes in innovation networks.

This study adds value to open innovation literature by pointing out a positive relationship between external knowledge search and firm incremental innovation capability. Furthermore, this study reinforces the key joint contingent roles of technological proximity and network embeddedness. This study provides a valuable theoretical framework of incremental innovation capability determinants by connecting the different perspectives.

With tower cranes being the site hubs, thoroughly planning and managing their operations can result in better construction performance. As urban spaces become more constricted, overlapping working radii of tower cranes becomes inevitable. While project planners are concerned with safety hazards, research has not comprehensively addressed workload distribution and synchronization of overlapping cranes. Therefore, this study aims at exploring the impact of overlapping cranes, used on high-rise buildings, on operational flexibility which is the balance between schedule duration, crane utilization and safety.

A simulation model was developed and applied on a real project to analyze and compare the impacts of different overlap sizes. Seven scenarios of different overlap sizes, i.e. different number of tasks falling in the overlap space, were executed in the model; their results were plotted and analyzed.

The outcomes result from several compounded factors such as the experience of planners and crane operators, the sequencing of critical versus non-critical activities and the overall effort and care taken when planning operations of overlapping cranes. Increasing overlap size can be beneficial or unfavorable depending on how properly planners allocate overlapping cranes to workload demand, keeping in mind that there are certain trade-offs while achieving operational flexibility.

While project planners are concerned with safety hazards associated with crane overlaps, research has not been comprehensively nor proactively addressing the workload distribution and synchronization of overlapping crane processes. This study contributes to science by addressing the need to harness the flexibility in using overlapping tower cranes while minimizing the resulting interruptions and safety risks. This study sheds light on the potential benefits of allowing cranes to overlap while considering their collision free operations. Operational flexibility is seen as the balance between achieving shorter schedule durations and higher crane utilizations while maintaining collision free motion paths.