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In service, the periodic clashes of wheel flat against the rail result in large wheel/rail impact force and high-frequency vibration, leading to severe damage on the wheelset, rail and track structure. This study aims to analyze characteristics and dynamic impact law of wheel and rail caused by wheel flat of high-speed trains.

A full-scale high-speed wheel/rail interface test rig was used for the test of the dynamic impact of wheel/rail caused by wheel flat of high-speed train. With wheel flats of different lengths, widths and depths manually set around the rolling circle of the wheel tread, and wheel/rail dynamic impact tests to the flats in the speed range of 0–400 km/h on the rig were conducted.

As the speed goes up, the flat induced the maximum of the wheel/rail dynamic impact force increases rapidly before it reaches its limit at the speed of around 35 km/h. It then goes down gradually as the speed continues to grow. The impact of flat wheel on rail leads to 100–500 Hz middle-frequency vibration, and around 2,000 Hz and 6,000 Hz high-frequency vibration. In case of any wheel flat found during operation, the train speed shall be controlled according to the status of the flat and avoid the running speed of 20 km/h–80 km/h as much as possible.

The research can provide a new method to obtain the dynamic impact of wheel/rail caused by wheel flat by a full-scale high-speed wheel/rail interface test rig. The relations among the flat size, the running speed and the dynamic impact are hopefully of reference to the building of speed limits for HSR wheel flat of different degrees.

The brand logo, as a fundamental element of marketing communications, serves as a crucial visual representation of a brand. In the current era of mobile Internet, logo flatness has become a new trend in practice. However, there remains a scarcity of research that explores the effects of logo flatness on consumer perceptions and brand attitudes.

Across four studies, using both observational analyses of real brands and experimental manipulations of fictitious brands, the authors examined the impact of logo flatness on consumer perceptions and brand attitudes.

Results show that logo flatness promotes the perception of modernity due to the simplicity it presents. Consumers will evaluate the brand more positively when their perception of the logo association is congruent with the brand image. Notably, traditional brands using skeuomorphic logos and modern brands employing flat logos can effectively enhance consumers' brand attitudes.

The findings of this study have significant implications for businesses seeking to enhance consumers' brand attitude and foster brand renewal through the strategic selection and design of logos that align with their brand image.

This study provides a theoretical and empirical test of the influence of logo flatness on consumers' perception of brand image, thereby enriching the existing research on brand management.

Basically, connections are used to transfer the force supported by structural members to other parts of the structure. The flush end-plate bolted beam to column connection is one type that has been widely used because of its simplicity in fabrication and rapid site erection. The purpose of this study is to determine the moment-rotation curve, moment of resistance (MR) and mode of failure, and the results were compared with existing results for normal flat web connections.

In this study, the connection modeled was the flush end-plate welded with triangular web profile (TriWP) steel beam section and then bolted to a UKC column flange. The bolted flush end-plate semi-rigid beam to column connection was modeled using finite element software. The specimen was modeled using LUSAS 14.3 finite element software, with dimensions and parameters of the finite element model sizes being 200 × 200 × 49.9 UKC, 200 × 100 × 17.8 UKB and 200 × 100 with a thickness of 20 mm for the endplate.

It can be concluded that the MR obtained from the TriWP steel beam section is different from that of the normal flat web steel beam by 28%. The value of MR for the TriWP beam section is lower than that of the normal flat web beam section, but the moment ultimate is higher by 21% than the normal flat web. Therefore, it can be concluded that the TriWP section can resist more acting force than the normal flat web section and is suitable to be used as a new proposed shape to replace the normal flat web section for a certain steel structure based on the end-plate connection behavior.

As a result, the TriWP section has better performance than the flat web section in resisting MR behavior.

This paper aims to investigate the effect of the flat tax system on self-employment by necessity and by opportunity. Specifically, the paper examines whether individuals decide to switch from wage-employment to self-employment by necessity or by opportunity when government imposes a flat tax system.

To analyze the association of a flat tax system with occupational choice this paper uses both multinomial and ordinary logit models. In the multi-nominal logit model, this study separates dependent variables into three categories: wage employee, self-employed by necessity and self-employed by opportunity. In the second step of analyzes using the ordinary logit model, this paper studies only self-employed individuals by distinguishing them according to their preferences.

The results suggest that, in countries with the imposed flat tax system, the probability of being self-employed by necessity is low, while the probability of being self-employed by opportunity is high. Moreover, better economic growth in the country also elevates the chances of individuals to be self-employed by opportunity.

Out novel contribution is documenting that flat tax system in transition countries increases the number of individuals self-employed by opportunity compared to self-employed by necessity.

When dwellings fail to respond to residents’ needs, housing will suffer from segregation and buildings will possibly be demolished ahead of their time. This paper focuses on the lack of variation in the sizes of dwellings as a factor in residential segregation. It examines this issue in the context of Finnish mass housing built in the 1960s and 1970s. The purpose of the paper is to review how mass housing layouts can be adapted to produce the currently absent flat sizes.

The paper operates at the intersection of human geography, building stock research and adaptability research. First, statistical data are utilized to investigate how dwellings and households of different sizes are distributed over the Finnish housing stock. Second, the building layouts of mass housing are examined in detail. Third, the potential that flats in mass housing have for size modification is reviewed.

There is a disparity of available dwelling sizes between different housing types, and statistics show that the proportion of large households has decreased significantly in blocks of flats over the last decades. The lack of large dwellings in mass housing may contribute as one factor to the segregation of the neighborhoods built in the 1960s and 1970s. The findings show how the variation of apartment sizes can be increased in mass housing.

The housing stock is rarely examined in detail in segregation research, even though it is a major determinant for a city’s social structure. This paper argues that to address segregation sustainably, it is necessary to understand the housing stock better and to view it as an adaptable asset.

This paper compares the use of flat continuing franchise fees or royalties with percentage‐based continuing franchise fees in Australian franchises. The population of Australian franchisors is surveyed to investigate why some franchisors choose a flat continuing fee structure. It is found that franchises using flat continuing fees offer their franchisees similar types of ongoing support throughout the life of the franchise agreement, but provide less ongoing support than franchises characterised by percentage fees. The flat fee franchises also conduct less monitoring of their franchisees, grow at a faster rate, and are less costly to enter than percentage fee franchises. The results suggest that whereas percentage fee franchisors can improve their ongoing income by helping franchisees to increase their sales, the flat fee franchisors are motivated to improve their ongoing income by increasing the size of their systems.

Short-term rentals are mainly of small flats, which are offered to tourists. Currently, the providers of short-term rentals, in particular Airbnb (ABB), are being criticized in several German cities, on the grounds that shares of residential flats are being removed from the housing market, due to illegitimate misuse as tourist accommodation. Thus, the conventional urban housing markets are contending with a decline in housing supply and increasing rents. This paper aims to support these findings empirically.

The paper opted first for a spatial analysis with ArcGIS for ABB in Berlin. Second, different online data requests of periods of up to two months were used to analyze the extent of misuse with regard to the Zweckentfremdungsverbot (misuse prohibition law). Third, analysis of variance was used to analyze rental growth on the ABB markets. The data were collected in different approaches from the website of airbnb.com.

The paper provides evidence that 5,555 residential flats are presently being misused by ABB (0.30 per cent of the total housing stock in Berlin) and that many providers of entire flats have more than one offer simultaneously. Moreover, the paper provides the first entire-market overview of ABB in Berlin. It is evident that the ABB market is mainly located centrally and that only a few neighborhoods have large ABB markets. Rental growth is higher in the ABB markets which have a significant share of misused flats, than in the ABB markets which have insignificant shares of misused flats.

To the authors’ best knowledge, the paper provides the first empirical approach regarding misuse through short-term rentals on a housing market with an innovative design and first-hand data.

The repair and maintenance of flat roofs probably creates one of the greatest headaches for a property manager as well as giving a touch of migraine to the professionals and advisers concerned with flat roofing problems. It was probably 15 years ago when we all became aware of the failings in design, construction and maintenance of flat roofs erected in the mid‐sixties and early seventies. The Codes of Practice at the time informed us that flat roofs, if designed and constructed in accordance with the Codes, should be maintenance‐free! Unfortunately this was not the case. Flat roofs, even today, still remain unmaintained with maintenance only being considered when failure actually occurs, when something has to be done. This attitude and approach are changing and today property managers are very much more aware of the importance of keeping flat roofs maintained and in a good state of repair. The property manager can also take comfort from the vastly superior materials that are available on the market now as opposed to ten to 15 years ago. This, however, is not an excuse to become complacent about the obligations of maintaining flat roofs, indeed there is no less obligation now than there was ten years ago; the due process of maintenance must be followed. Maintenance of flat roofing should form part of the designers thinking when detailing and specifying a roofing system. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to achieve maintenance input in terms of design and specification. Consequently, maintenance for flat roofing is only considered on completion of the roof and it is at this stage that maintenance policy must be formulated.

Public-rented flats in Jakarta Province operated by the Management Unit of Public-Rented Flats (MUPRF) experienced budget cuts for the maintenance and treatment activities during the COVID-19 pandemic that hit Indonesia in the early 2020. Currently, the budgeting scheme of the MUPRF uses the local government’s budget in determining the expenditures of public-rented flat. This papers aims to propose an alternative budgeting scheme for the MUPRF.

Soft system methodology (SSM) was adopted to understand the public-rented flats as a whole system, so an alternative budgeting scheme for the MUPRF can be identified and developed. Interviews with an employee of the Department of Community Housing and Settlement of Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta Province were conducted. A rich picture, customer, action, transformation, worldview, owner and environment analyses, conceptual model and a proposed model were developed during the process.

Based on the SSM, it is found that becoming a local public service agency, the MUPRF can be more independent and flexible in managing their budget. The income generated by the public-rented flats can be used directly for their expenditure.

Through the SSM, only a conceptual model is developed, which has not yet been implemented in practice. Future studies need to be carried out to evaluate the feasibility of the conceptual model.

This research analyses the public-rented flat as a whole system through SSM to identify factors and parties that are involved in the daily activities in public-rented flats to propose a suitable alternative for its budgeting scheme.

In considering leasehold flats, it should be remembered that the same considerations apply more or less equally to all cases where an occupier of part of the premises has partial responsibility for maintenance of the whole building.