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In order to pursue men's suit wear comfort, the basic data on an accurate men's suit comfort analysis with clothing pressure is required. Therefore, in such investigation, it is difficult to find out ideal persons as test subjects. In the measuring experiments, we used dummies designed for resuscitation practice to obtain the clothing pressure with both normal standing posture and movement patterns and compared these data with subjects' to give the relationship of clothing pressure between the dummy and subject. The correlation between the measurements with dummies and the subjects' are shown. It turns out that the dummy D1 and D6 are mainly as intended in pressure measurement with normal standing posture. But the dummy D2 and D3 are not. It turns out that the dummy D1 can imitate the human shoulder's movement patterns well, and the dummy D4 and D6 are mainly as intended. But the dummy D2 is not. It turns out that all the dummies have a certain limitation to be placed in clothing pressure measurements. It also shows that instead of subject to use dummy to investigate clothing pressure with both normal standing posture and movement pattern, not only dummy's features such as compression hardness, form and size, but measuring postures are also needed to take into consideration.

This study takes the position that the concept of fraud is socially constructed. Moreover, it asks why and how different understandings of fraud have emerged. Insights from the work of Lakoff and Johnson (1999, 2003; Lakoff, 2002, 2004, 2009) are used to analyze language revealing dominant worldviews and metaphors regarding fraud. The research method is a case study (Yin, 2014), and the analytical approach used parallels the one described in O’Dwyer (2004). The research setting is a report issued by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, which provides a context to study different understandings of fraud due to the report’s divided nature. The analysis reveals three alternative worldviews, representing different assumptions about reality, that are at the root of the different understandings of fraud. These worldviews also lead to the usage of different conceptual metaphors which allow the commissioners to interpret facts in a manner that supports each worldview’s assumptions. The paper also concludes by providing a nuanced and critical examination of the results of the commission concerning its understanding of fraud.

The paper aims to identify, prioritize and rank lean practices in the context of an Indian automotive component manufacturing organization using interpretive ranking process (IRP) and interpretive structural modeling (ISM) approaches.

Lean practices are identified from the literature. Then, two hierarchical models were are developed using two distinct modeling approaches – ISM and IRP with expert opinions from an Indian automotive component manufacturing organization to analyze the contextual relationships among the various lean practices and to prioritize and rank them with respect to performance dimensions.

In the study, the hierarchical structural models are developed using ISM and IRP approaches for an Indian automotive component manufacturing organization. In ISM-based modeling, lean practices can be categorized into five levels. Top priority should be given to the motivators followed by value chain, system/technology and organization centric practices. IRP model shows the dominance relationship among the various lean practices with respect to performance dimensions.

The models are constructed from the organizational standpoint to evaluate their impact to the implementation of lean manufacturing. The study leverages the organizations to prioritize limited resources as per the hierarchy. Managers get the inter-linkages and ranking of various lean practices, which leads to a better perspective for the effective implementation of lean. The structural models also assist management to assign proper roles to employees/departments for effective lean implementation.

There is hardly any structural model of lean practices in the literature for clustering, prioritizing and ranking of lean practices. The study fills this gap and develops the hierarchical models of lean practices through IRP and ISM approaches for an Indian automotive component manufacturing organization. The results from both approaches are compared for illustrating the benefits of one over the other.

The aim of this paper is synthesis of some new hydrazo, dihydropyridazinyl and triazolyl derivatives containing indole nucleus and their antimicrobial evaluation.

Treatment of 3-(1H-indol-3-yl)-3-oxopropanenitrile (1) with different aryl diazonium salts 2a-j gave the corresponding arylazohydrazone derivatives 3a-j. The azo derivatives 3d and 3e were used as the key intermediate for the synthesis of some new diazines 5d, e and triazoles 7d, e. The newly synthesized compounds were characterized by electronic absorption properties – IR, 1HNMR and MS studies – and screened for their biological evaluation. Compounds 3a-j, 5d, e and 7d, e showed promising results as antimicrobial agents.

Compounds 3a-j, 5d, e and 7d, e showed promising results as antimicrobial agents.

No details regarding the synthesis of such dyes are reported before in the literature.

In mature global business-to-business (B2B) product markets, management of external sales channels, governed by contractual relationships, is a key determinant of business performance. However, existing sales channel management literature lacks focus on contractual governance and reseller management success. The purpose of the study is to systematically review different governance theories in relation to sales channel management and to show which factors are the most influential in making or keeping external sales channels effective.

A case study on a large B2B information and communication technology (ICT) company is used to reflect on the way the different theoretical governance perspectives explain sales channel management success. Interviews and mini-questionnaires were used to collect data.

Expressions of interdependence and equality alongside persevered personal relationships are important in managing daily business activities and in avoiding bad will at the reseller’s grass-root level. Future-oriented planning, long-term-oriented support and jointly set incentive systems are important for reseller management. Degree of professional management sets resellers apart through shifts in power balance.

A multi-theory governance perspective offers a holistic view over reseller management and provides a comprehensive view over different sales channel management issues and their relative importance.

The findings highlight the importance of long-term orientation and cooperation in setting up a reseller management system to gain and nurture distributors’ trust and commitment towards the manufacturer.

The study is the first to comprehensively use governance perspective in studying reseller management.

Constructing porous wind barriers is one of the most effective approaches to increase the running safety of trains on viaducts in crosswinds. This paper aims to further improve the wind-sheltering performance of the porous wind barriers.

Improved delayed detached eddy simulations based on the k-ω turbulence model were carried out, and the results were validated with wind tunnel tests. The effects of the hole diameter on the flow characteristics and wind-sheltering performance were studied by comparing the wind barriers with the porosity of 21.6% and the hole diameters of 60 mm–360 mm. The flow characteristics above the windward and leeward tracks were analyzed, and the wind-sheltering performance of the wind barriers was assessed using the wind speed reduction coefficients.

The hole diameters affected the jet behind the wind barriers and the recirculation region above the tracks. Below the top of the wind barriers, the time-averaged velocity first decreased and then increased with the increase in the hole diameter. The wind barrier with the hole diameter of 120 mm had the best wind-sheltering performance for the windward track, but such barrier might lead to overprotection on the leeward track. The wind-sheltering performance of the wind barriers with the hole diameters of 240 mm and 360 mm was significantly degraded, especially above the windward track.

The effects of the hole diameters on the wake and wind-sheltering performance of the wind barriers were studied, by which the theoretical basis is provided for a better design of the porous wind barrier.

With the rapid-growing house market in the past decade, the purpose of this paper is to study the important issue of house price information flows among 12 major cities in China, including Shanghai, Beijing, Xiamen, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Nanjing, Zhuhai, Fuzhou, Suzhou and Dongguan, during the period of June 2010 to May 2019.

The authors approach this issue in both time and frequency domains, latter of which is facilitated through wavelet analysis and by exploring both linear and nonlinear causality under the vector autoregressive framework.

The main findings are threefold. First, in the long run of the time domain and for timescales beyond 16 months of the frequency domain, house prices of all cities significantly affect each other. For timescales up to 16 months, linear causality is weaker and is most often identified for the scale of four to eight months. Second, while nonlinear causality is seldom determined in the time domain and is never found for timescales up to four months, it is identified for scales beyond four months and particularly for those beyond 32 months. Third, nonlinear causality found in the frequency domain is partly explained by the volatility spillover effect.

Results here should be of use to policymakers in certain policy analysis.

This study aimed to evaluate the performance attributes relevant to thermal wear comfort of the commercially available hip protective pads and materials intended for impact protection that can be used for the hip protective pad.

The performance attributes relevant to thermal wear comfort (i.e. dry thermal resistance and evaporative resistance) of the pads were tested using MTNW Integrated Sweating Guarded Hotplate (iSGHP).

It was found that: the pad with more porous structure has more advantages in terms of evaporative resistance; the permeability index will be higher on the pad with an opening such as a segmented pad; the permeability index will be lower on the thicker and larger pad. The pocket fabric with open structure will have lower dry thermal resistance and evaporative resistance.

The study results showed that the properties of the utilised materials influenced thermal comfort performance. These results could be useful for designing and engineering hip protective garments.

In this paper, we study the role of government financial guarantees as catalyst for project finance (PF). On the one hand, the government's incentive compatibility and participation constraint determine the optimal portion of the loan to be backed. On the other, the borrowing interest rate satisfies the debtholders’ participation constraint. The project's sponsor may choose to underinvest or overinvest depending on its own capital contribution, the risk technology, the risk measurement errors, and the proportion of guarantee provided by the government. We derive the project optimal investment level as well as the government partial loan guarantee coverage. We also discuss the impact of the risk measurement errors on the project's credit spreads.