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Alongside structural equation modeling (SEM), the complementary technique of partial least squares (PLS) path modeling helps researchers understand relations among sets of observed variables. Like SEM, PLS began with an assumption of homogeneity – one population and one model – but has developed techniques for modeling data from heterogeneous populations, consistent with a marketing emphasis on segmentation. Heterogeneity can be expressed through interactions and nonlinear terms. Additionally, researchers can use multiple group analysis and latent class methods. This chapter reviews these techniques for modeling heterogeneous data in PLS, and illustrates key developments in finite mixture modeling in PLS using the SmartPLS 2.0 package.

Examines the twelfth published year of the ITCRR. Runs the whole gamut of textile innovation, research and testing, some of which investigates hitherto untouched aspects. Subjects discussed include cotton fabric processing, asbestos substitutes, textile adjuncts to cardiovascular surgery, wet textile processes, hand evaluation, nanotechnology, thermoplastic composites, robotic ironing, protective clothing (agricultural and industrial), ecological aspects of fibre properties – to name but a few! There would appear to be no limit to the future potential for textile applications.

The accuracy of severability measurements using the wetting balance depends on a number of parameters, some of which will be studied and discussed. Particular attention will be given to the influence of temperature, standard test pieces for measuring the wetting ability of fluxes, calibration of the measuring apparatus and the composition of the alloy used. Where necessary, tolerance limits will be given.

A decade and a half after the debut of pervasive computing, a large number of prototypes, applications, and interaction interfaces have emerged. However, there is a lack of consensus about the best approaches to create such systems or how to evaluate them. To address these issues, this paper aims to develop a performance evaluation framework for pervasive computing systems.

Based on the authors' experience in the Gator Tech Smart House – an assistive environment for the elderly, they established a reference scenario that was used to guide the analysis of the large number of systems they studied. An extensive survey of the literature was conducted, and through a thorough analysis, the authors derived and arrived at a broad taxonomy that could form a basic framework for evaluating existing and future pervasive computing systems.

A taxonomy of pervasive systems is instrumental to their successful evaluation and assessment. The process of creating such taxonomy is cumbersome, and as pervasive systems evolve with new technological advances, such taxonomy is bound to change by way of refinement or extension. This paper found that a taxonomy for something so broad as pervasive systems is very complex. It overcomes the complexity by focusing the classifications on key aspects of pervasive systems, decided purely empirically and based on the authors own experience in a real‐life, large‐scale pervasive system project.

There are currently no methods or frameworks for comparing, classifying, or evaluating pervasive systems. The paper establishes a taxonomy – a first step toward a larger evaluation methodology. It also provides a wealth of information, derived from a survey of a broad collection of pervasive systems.

This paper aims to characterize the acoustic field radiated by the piston transducer and measure a few parameters through the data visualization method.

Using the theoretical model of the ultrasonic transducer, the acoustic field data were acquired by scanning the ultrasound field of the piston transducer. And the visualized graphs of the ultrasonic data were displayed through 3D graphs including slice, iso‐surface and volume rendering, respectively. Furthermore, a few parameters of the transducer including beam width and spread angle were measured using the visualized data.

The visualized graphs of the acoustic field radiated by the piston transducer show that the data visualization method can expose obviously the space distribution of the ultrasound field and describe directly the cylindrical shape. And this method provides the basis of reliable measurement and assess for the ultrasonic transducer.

This paper presents a kind of measured method of the acoustic parameters using the visualized data. The measurement range has limitation.

This method is possible used in Medical ultrasonic.

This paper presents the visualized description of the acoustic field of the piston transducer and a measurement of two acoustic parameters using the visualized data.

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview and evaluation of performance measurement systems and also present a framework for the selection of an appropriate performance measurement system for healthcare processes.

The paper provides a brief review of the existing performance measurement frameworks. On the basis of review, performance measurement system criteria are identified and accordingly a framework has been proposed for measuring performance in healthcare processes.

The measurement of performance of a healthcare organization is still an unresolved issue. A performance measurement system should be sensitive to changes in the external and internal environment of an organization. The proposed framework measures performance from a multi and interrelated perspective, namely efficiency, effectiveness and flexibility.

The study will help the healthcare organization to know how they are performing; it will also help in benchmarking the organization so that customers know the value of the money they pay for the service.

The framework presented provides a performance measurement system for healthcare processes that is sensitive to change in the external and internal environment of an organization.

People working in the hot environment are constantly exposed to the overheating, that can lead to cardiovascular disorders and as a consequence result in occupational diseases. The purpose of this paper is to present developed personal liquid cooling system that is able to efficiently draw excess heat from the human organism, protecting against thermal stress.

The paper presents study concerning the assessment of effect of the coolant temperature in the developed liquid cooling garment (LCG) on physiological parameters of the subjects (heart rate, body temperature, skin temperature) and parameters of the undergarment microclimate, as well as subjective sensations reported by volunteers exercising in hot microclimate while wearing LCG and without LCG.

Obtained results of physiological parameters measurements, as well as undergarment physical parameters and volunteers subjective sensations, proved satisfactory level of thermal stress reduction while working in the aluminized protective clothing in hot environment by the developed personal liquid cooling system for the variant with coolant temperature 19°C and the flow rate 0.9 dm3/min.

This paper presents a new clothing construction intended for LCG that can efficiently support human thermoregulation processes while working in the hot environment.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the vibration suppression of industrial track robot and propose a practical solution.

Root‐cause analysis through dynamic modeling, and vibration suppression using the acceleration smoother.

The vibration is due to insufficient damping based on the model analysis. The solution achieved significant performance improvement without redesign of robot hardware and controller.

The design of the proposed acceleration smoother is still empirical based, which is unable to achieve optimal design.

This solution is very easy to implement. It is robust, reliable and is able to generate consistent results.

A very practical industrial solution, especially useful for upgrading the existing systems in the field without redesign the hardware and controller.

This study aims to introduce a new modified method for estimating steam turbine high pressure (HP)-intermediate pressure (IP) leakage flow based on the experimental data extracted from a 250 MW re-heat steam turbine.

Effects of measurement uncertainties on the test results are investigated and key parameters are specified via a new modified method to diminish the test uncertainties. The recommended method is based on a constant IP turbine pressure ratio at the same loads. Considering this assumption, it was found that the turbine pressure ratio can be achieved in the second and the third tests with a much longer duration.

The results showed that the cross-over temperature is a major parameter in the leakage flow estimation tests, whereas hot reheat and cross-over pressures are the next priorities. It was also observed that as the cross-over temperature varies by 1°C, the estimated leakage flow error significantly differs by up to 72.6 per cent.

It is concluded that the present modified HP-IP leakage flow estimation method seems to be more accurate in comparison with previously proposed methods in literature.

Hot and humid climates (HHCs) are potential environmental hazards that directly affect construction workers' health and safety (HS) and negatively impact workers' productivity. Extensive research efforts have addressed the effects of HHCs. However, these efforts have been inconsistent in their approach for selecting factors influencing workers in such conditions. There are also increasing concerns about the drop-off in research interest to follow through intrusive and non-real-time measurements. This review aims to identify the major research gaps in measurements applied in previous research with careful attention paid to the factors that influence the intrusiveness and selection of the applied data collection methods.

This research integrates a manual subjective discussion with a thematic analysis of Leximancer software and an elaborating chronological, geographical and methodological review that yielded 701 articles and 76 peer-reviewed most related articles.

The literature included the physiological parameters as influencing factors and useful indicators for HHC effects and identified site activity intensity as the most influencing work-related factor. In total, three main gaps were identified: (1) the role of substantial individual and work-related factors; (2) managerial interventions and the application of the right time against the right symptoms, sample size and measurement intervals and (3) applied methods of data collection; particularly, the intrusiveness of the utilised sensors.

The focus of researchers and practitioners should be in applying nonintrusive, innovative and real-time methods that can provide crew-level measurements. In particular, methods that can represent the actual effects of allocated tasks are aligned with real-time weather measurements, so proactive HHC-related preventions can be enforced on time.

This review contributes to the field of construction workers' safety in HHCs and enables researchers and practitioners to identify the most influential individual and work-related factors in HHCs. This review also proposes a framework for future research with suggestions to cover the highlighted research gaps and contributes to a critical research area in the construction industry.