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The well‐known maxim “different products, different requirements” is, of course, derived from practical experience. This article seeks to establish whether this maxim also has significance when viewed from the perspective of physical distribution. In particular, it will consider what this significance is with reference to physical distribution strategy, production allocation and stock allocation policy. At the same time it will seek to establish which product characteristics can significantly shape this policy.

Non-gated residential communities (NGR) are now becoming significant in Jordan resulting in an increase in low and medium-income areas. This study aims to investigate the sense of community at residential level within NGR by testing the characteristics presented in the first and largest non-gated community in Jordan (Al-Sharq project).

Such characteristics were identified via literary reviews and visual data collected through site visits, observation and photographs of the project's physical settings. This formed the basis of a questionnaire/survey that was distributed to the residents. This research depends on the mixed-method approach (qualitative and quantitative) to achieve the research objectives. The quantitative method involved the use of a questionnaire/survey, while the qualitative method undertook a comparative process using some statistical methods for the main characteristics. The results were analysed by using descriptive statistics, comprising frequency and factor analyses.

The study concludes with a framework consisting of suggestions and recommendations to remove the main constraints on improving the quality of life for the non-gated residential community.

The outcome of this study will influence the decisions made by the parties involved in urban development in Jordan when designing residential neighborhoods.

The significance of this paper is that while the majority of studies have been on the evaluation of gated communities in developing countries, there have only been a limited of studies specifically examining the experience of residents in those environments. Therefore, this paper contributes and adds to the existing knowledge in the development of non-gated communities in a developing country.

Examines the tenth 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.

This study aims to investigate the characteristics of the physical work environment that are known and used in practice to promote creativity for innovative start-up workplaces. The first part of the study identified these characteristics from a content and visual analysis, and examined the current state of implementation of these characteristics in the work environments of innovative start-up companies. The second part of the study examined criticalness and practicality of these characteristics in the workplace with a group of experts in the workplace design, evaluation and management.

A content and visual analysis for written and visual images was conducted to identify a comprehensive list of characteristics of the physical work environment critical to creativity of the workplace. With the seven characteristics identified, an instrument was developed and interviews were conducted to assess the physical work environments of 22 innovative start-up companies in Michigan. Following up the interviews, an expert group was formed with 26 professionals including architects, interior designers, facility managers and CEOs. A survey was conducted with them to understand the significance and implementation issues among the seven characteristics.

The most frequently incorporated characteristics in the innovative start-up companies in Michigan were spaces for idea generation, technology interface for collaboration and spaces for a short mental break or social hangout. The three most important physical work environmental characteristics for companies to produce creative, innovative ideas and products/services for growth and market competitiveness were balanced layout, technology interface for collaboration and spaces for idea generation.

The study provides a comprehensive framework to evaluate creative workplace regarding the physical environment. It also offers insights on the work environments of the innovative start-up companies for increased creativity and innovation performance in the workplace.

This paper examines a user categorisation of documents related to a particular literary work. Fifty study participants completed an unconstrained sorting task of documents related to Charles Dickens’ A Christmas carol. After they had finished the sorting task, participants wrote descriptions of the attributes they used to create each group. Content analysis of these descriptions revealed categories of attributes used for grouping. Participants used physical format, audience, content description, pictorial elements, usage, and language most frequently for grouping. Many of the attributes participants used for grouping already exist in bibliographic records and may be used to cluster records related to works automatically in online catalogue displays. The attributes used by people in classifying or grouping documents related to a work may be used to guide the design of summary online catalogue work displays.

Although lean popularity is rapidly growing, its implementation is far from problem-free and companies may experience difficulties in sustaining long-term success. On this premises, the purpose of this paper is to understand to what extent human factors, affected by the implementation of both hard (defined as technical and analytical tools) and soft (concerning people and relations) lean practices, play a key role in achieving long-term superior performance.

The analysis of the relationships between lean practices implementation, human factors and operational performance is carried out in a single exploratory case study. A retrospective approach is adopted to trace the changes of human and operational performance before, during and after the introduction of lean management (LM) implementation. In particular, a mixed method concurrent design merging results of a qualitative analysis with data collected from a survey is selected to provide a more realistic benefit in the exploration of the proposed research questions.

The results show a short-term direct relationship between the implementation of lean practices (hard and soft) and physical work environment and job characteristics, directly connected to operational outcome. In the long term, operational performance is influenced by employee behaviour outcome and conditioned by physical work environment and job characteristics with the mediating effect of individual characteristics.

The proposed model supports the building of a roadmap for LM implementation, taking into account the role of the human factors to achieve superior operational performance. Moreover, it helps managers to implement a monitoring system to check how social and technical components of a LM system evolve over time. Finally, it supports the definition of specific training programs, tailored for specific workers’ types.

This paper extends theory in LM, highlighting how hard and soft lean practices have to interact to enable a successful LM implementation.

This paper aims to propose a new concept of product manufacturing mode which takes physical manufacturing theory as the basic starting point. In this work, the authors intend to systematically define the basic connotation and extension of physical manufacturing, and sort out the typical characteristics of physical manufacturing, in order to propose the general concept of physical manufacturing.

How to study the combination of physics, mathematics, mechanics and other disciplines with the manufacturing disciplines, and how to elevate modern manufacturing science to a new height, has always been a problem for scientists in the field of manufacturing and engineering construction people to deeply think about. Therefore, on the basis of tracing the development of physics and combining the attributes and functions of manufacturing, the authors propose the basic concept of physical manufacturing. On this basis, the authors further clarify the connotation and extension, theoretical basis and technical system of physical manufacturing, reveal the basic problem domain of research and construct the theoretical foundation of physical manufacturing research, which are of great theoretical value and practical significance to adjust and optimize the manufacturing industry structure, improve the quality of manufacturing industry development and promote the green development of manufacturing industry.

The research on the basic theory and technical system of physical manufacturing will therefore broaden the way of thinking and make a better understanding of manufacturing science and technology, which will promote the development of manufacturing industry to some extent.

On the basis of continuous improvement of the basic theory and conceptual system of physical manufacturing, the physical manufacturing technology will become more and more perfect; physical manufacturing system and intelligent manufacturing system will become the mainstream of next-generation manufacturing system.

In order to promote the development of modern manufacturing towards high-precision, high-quality intelligence and precision, this paper puts forward the concept of physical manufacturing and conducts a more in-depth theoretical discussion on its basic connotation and characteristics, based on which the application of physical manufacturing in cutting and autoclave curing molding of composite material is briefly introduced.

As a brand-new manufacturing concept, physical manufacturing determines the optimal process parameters according to multidisciplinary simulations, which emphasizes the physical characteristics about long life and high reliability of the processed products, and makes intelligent adjustment of process parameters according to the changes in the environment and equipment status during manufacturing.

The concept of physical manufacturing has pioneering significance for the basic research and development of advanced manufacturing technology, which helps to further improve production efficiency, reduce production costs and improve product quality.

The concept of physical manufacturing was first proposed, which emphasizes the analysis, reasoning, perception, and deduction during the manufacturing process, to achieve high-quality processing of products.

The purpose of this article is to revisit the concepts of city singularity and identity, as well as the concept’s related topics (i.e. place identity, place attachment and place dependence). The aim is to investigate the impact of development projects on people's preferences for old and contemporary features in modern cities. The evidence for this can be seen mainly at historical sites such as Heliopolis in Cairo, Egypt.

The authors investigated how development projects affect place identity and city singularity through a three-step process. As a first step, an online questionnaire was administered to experts to assess the characteristics that shape the identity of local districts. In the second and third steps, interviews were conducted, followed by online surveys directed at Heliopolis residents and non-residents. The weight of people’s preferences was determined using multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM).

The results highlighted people's preferences to consider when developing projects at historical sites. Based on these preferences, the authors’ concluded remarks provide insight into some considerations for developing projects in historic places.

The added value here is surveying people’s preferences about development projects in historical places. The physical and social components interplay contributes to city identity and singularity. Based on these preferences, this investigation offers valuable insights into enhancing historical site development.

This paper examines residential satisfaction in welfare housing facilities exclusively built for low-income single-mother households in South Korea. The main objective is to identify predictors from among various domains such as sociodemographic and psychological characteristics of residents, as well as objective and subjective characteristics of their residential environment.

A mixed-method field study evaluates data obtained via structured questionnaires administered to 233 low-income single mothers in 23 residential welfare facilities across South Korea, supplemented by facility observations and interviews with housing staff from 16 facilities.

Residential satisfaction was found to be a multidimensional construct predicted by a number of variables, with psychological characteristics being dominant. Significant predictors were also identified among physical and sociospatial environmental characteristics, such as plan type, management and service and personal space.

The results of this study highlight the significance of the human aspects of management and the sociospatial quality of housing unit spaces to provide a sense of protection and privacy for the residents, which emphasizes the importance of management, design and policy improvements to increase satisfaction in welfare facility residents.

Currently, data for special housing conditions of female-headed households in unstable housing affordability are relatively few and outdated. A critical examination of the physical and sociospatial quality of short-term subsidized public housing for low-income single-mother households in South Korea expands the current knowledge in this field to various sociodemographic and cultural contexts.