Search results

Pressure is growing globally for larger businesses to improve the energy performance of the buildings in which they operate. Property or facility managers are usually responsible for these improvements through energy‐led refurbishment. The number and complexity of possible interventions pose challenges that these professionals attempt to meet by using decision support tools (DSTs). The work aims to identify key features of DSTs for energy‐led building refurbishment and define an optimum approach.

A desk study examined ten DSTs reported in the available literature and evaluated them against a set of desirable attributes that a property or facility manager would value for this task.

The results of the desk study concluded that no DST offers every feature and that there is an opportunity for a new DST for energy‐led refurbishment. An optimum DST template is proposed, consisting of a seven‐step process from assessment of the existing state of the building through to continuous evaluation and improvement of the refurbished building.

The work combines the best features of available DSTs into a novel optimised strategy for energy‐led refurbishment of non‐domestic buildings, which is geographically non‐specific and could be applied anywhere in the world.

This paper aims to propose a hand–eye calibration method of arc welding robot and laser vision sensor by using semidefinite programming (SDP).

The conversion relationship between the pixel coordinate system and laser plane coordinate system is established on the basis of the mathematical model of three-dimensional measurement of laser vision sensor. In addition, the conversion relationship between the arc welding robot coordinate system and the laser vision sensor measurement coordinate system is also established on the basis of the hand–eye calibration model. The ordinary least square (OLS) is used to calculate the rotation matrix, and the SDP is used to identify the direction vectors of the rotation matrix to ensure their orthogonality.

The feasibility identification can reduce the calibration error, and ensure the orthogonality of the calibration results. More accurate calibration results can be obtained by combining OLS + SDP.

A set of advanced calibration methods is systematically established, which includes parameters calibration of laser vision sensor and hand–eye calibration of robots and sensors. For the hand–eye calibration, the physics feasibility problem of rotating matrix is creatively put forward, and is solved through SDP algorithm. High-precision calibration results provide a good foundation for future research on seam tracking.

The purpose of this paper is to look at the importance of investment feasibility analysis.

The paper addresses the question of whether a planned course of action is likely to achieve individual or enterprise objectives, given the available resources and specific constraints. Key issues are the legal, physical, and financial feasibility of a project proposal. Feasibility typically addresses the issue of the most appropriate use for a particular site, the most appropriate site for a predetermined use, or the most appropriate outlet for investment funds.

Even though changes in the economy have increased risk or lowered returns, the investment market continues to devise innovative and attractive investment strategies and the determined investor keeps searching for profitable projects.

The paper gives investment principles that should be taken into consideration and will be of interest to those in a similar field.

Prolonged workplace sitting can harm employee health. Sit-stand desks are a potential workplace health initiative that might reduce and break up the time office-based employees spend sitting in the workplace. However, little is known about the feasibility and acceptability of providing sit-stand desks. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

The present study sought stakeholder employee views surrounding sit-stand desk implementation within two UK-based non-profit organisations with open-plan offices. This paper draws on qualitative semi-structured interviews with 26 stakeholder employees and 65 days of participant observations. Data were analysed using thematic analysis, and organisational cultural theory framed the study.

Stakeholders employees’ positioning of sit-stand desks as a workplace health initiative reflected their perceptions of the relationship between sit-stand desk provision, employee health and organisational effectiveness. Perceptions were shaped by the nature and context of the organisation and by occupation-specific processes. Relatively fixed (e.g. organisational structure) and modifiable (e.g. selecting products compatible with the environment) factors were found to restrict and facilitate the perceived feasibility of implementing sit-stand desks.

The findings offer several recommendations for workplaces to improve stakeholder employee attitudes towards sit-stand desk provision and to increase the ease and efficiency of implementation.

Whilst extant literature has tended to examine hypothetical views related to sit-stand desk provision, this study consulted relevant stakeholders following, and regarding, the sit-stand desk implementation process.

In the early 2000s, a wave of new practices concerning the adaptive reuse (AR) of historic buildings into boutique hotels began in Yazd, Iran. This study presents the findings of a postoccupancy evaluation (POE) of adaptively reused historic buildings into boutique hotels. It aims to explore and prioritize the main factors of architecture's physical aspects in the adapted buildings.

In order to carry out a POE, hotel guests' written reviews from online international and national travel platforms were analyzed. According to this preliminary analysis, a questionnaire was designed and randomly distributed among 300 hotel guests. The data obtained from the questionnaire were analyzed using SPSS software. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to reduce a set of indicators into the main components.

The findings revealed that “preliminary physical feasibility study and evaluation of building's functional potential” is the most important component with a weight of 0.709. Then, “adaptive reuse design” and “quality of building conservation” are placed with a weight of 0.232 and 0.058, respectively. The results show the mere attention of practitioners to architectural restoration rather than adapting historic buildings into boutique hotels in Yazd. Also, the lack of a specific framework for this purpose is felt in Iran.

Future research could evaluate the architectural aspects of historic buildings that have been converted into various functions from the main users' views.

This research's main contribution is to recommend guidelines for more user-friendly boutique hotels. This includes principal components and their sub-indicators that should be considered in the AR process of historic buildings by conservators, investors and hoteliers. Also, the extracted factors can be implemented for boutique hotels' improvements in operation because they determine the order of priority from the users' viewpoint.

This study introduces a new application of POE in the field of conservation of heritage assets and the hospitality industry; it focuses on the evaluation of the users' feedback regarding the architectural aspects of adaptively reused historic buildings into boutique hotels based on original empirical data.

The feasibility and viability appraisal technique is becoming increasingly crucial in the planning systems, theory, applications and outputs for property development and project investments. This paper aims to account for the findings of the practices associated with risk in the feasibility and viability appraisal process. Also, it examines the need for a practical framework for conducting a feasibility and viability appraisal, which can be employed by estate surveyors and valuers in Nigeria

This study adopted purposive sampling techniques to administer 240 sets of questionnaires, out of which 210 sets were well-thought-out to be useable for the analysis after data screening. Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS), structural equation modelling (SEM) and analysis of movement structures (AMOS) were the main analytical tools used to carry out the reliability test, normality test, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, measurement and structural model.

The analysis results indicated that the P-values of the various forms of concepts of risks in feasibility and viability appraisal process (preparation) for property development and the investment market was statistically significant: technological factor - 0.000; political factor- 0.000 and economic factor- 0.000. However, a non-significant effect was found with socio-environmental factors on the preparation of housing development appraisal with P-value 0.155, and that risk management is neither holistically implemented in the feasibility and viability appraisal process nor extensively taken into cognisance.

This paper reports the results of the practices among estate surveyors and valuers in regarding the risk associated in the preparation stages of the feasibility and viability appraisal process

There are limited studies that suggest risk management factors in the appraisal reports for property development. Although previous studies have identified the risk factors, there is a lack of emphasis on management, which entails identification, assessment, monitoring and control. This study, therefore, recommends the incorporation of risk management into the feasibility and viability appraisal process implemented by estate surveyors and valuers. It is envisaged that the process will protect investors from the potential risk factors associated with investments in property development.

The study highlighted the need for practical or empirical research to be used to assess the significant risk factors that are needed to be reflected in the preparation stages of the feasibility and viability appraisal conduct of estate surveyors and valuers in Abuja, Nigeria.

This study aims to cover issues regarding traveling to a tourist destination which has seen war and terrorism. These problems can be addressed altogether, as they are interrelated. Based on tourists’ opinions, this paper aims to focus on measures or steps that can be taken to ensure changing their perceptions about a certain destination.

This study targets tourism experts for their opinions regarding the measures most necessary to change the perceptions of tourists. Their opinions were extracted through a questionnaire based on three criteria with four alternatives. Furthermore, raw data extracted are studied using the Fuzzy-VIKOR technique to rank the alternatives in order of importance. Moreover, the questionnaire also aims to know the perception of participants by asking them what would make them trust a destination with a history of terrorism.

The problems captivate the attention of government, guiding them to ensure that they need to focus more on physical security of tourists if they expect tourism industry to thrive. It was found that the steps needed to be taken are in the areas of international trade, cultural exchange programs and social media advertising.

Research based on improving tourist perception of Pakistan to develop Pakistan as a tourist destination is scarce. The study takes four different alternatives into account for image recovery and based on those alternatives, it provides a unique solution to the government in this regard with the necessary steps they need to take and attempts to help the government ensure tourism expansion in the country.

The urban population in Indian cities is increasing at an alarming speed. Accommodating such a huge population while sustaining the environment is a challenge in urban areas. Compact urban forms with high-density planning is claimed to be a sustainable solution in such situations. Thus, this approach needs to be tested for Indian urban areas.

This paper formulates a neighbourhood sustainability assessment (NSA) framework for monitoring, assessing and managing the population density of urban neighbourhoods. The paper identifies context-specific built density indicators at the neighbourhood scale. It assesses the indicators in neighbourhoods with varying population density by physical and perceived measures. This helps in verifying the feasibility of density by physical density assessment and verifies the acceptability of density by perceived density assessment.

When tested in the Indian context, the framework shows that although high-density neighbourhoods are sustainable, certain indicators may endorse differing densities. The result displays that high-density planning is sustainable compared to low- and medium-density neighbourhoods in the selected cities.

The study demonstrates the application of formulated assessment system in three central Indian cities with useful results. Similar studies can be conducted to identify the gaps for improving sustainability and achieve a livable density pattern.

Although sustainable development goals are part of new planning policies, there exist very few assessment systems to determine the sustainability of neighbourhoods, especially for density. The methodology will assist in developing sustainability assessment frameworks and encourage the practice of sustainability assessment in developing countries like India.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the problems encountered by clothing merchandisers in managing fabric sample resources, and analyses their expectations of and requirements for a desirable management solution. It then aims to consider the architectural design of an intelligent fabric sample management system prototype, and the development of a construction and implementation plan for a fashion enterprise to install the system.

A three‐stage methodological approach is adopted. The first stage is a preliminary study using in‐depth interviews with potential system users; the second involves the architectural design of a five‐component system prototype; and the third develops a multi‐phase construction and implementation plan using a case study.

Four categories of problems in the management of fabric sample resources are identified, the system architecture is designed, and a construction and implementation plan is proposed. Managerial and theoretical implications are also discussed.

The design process of the research and development (R&D) framework enables fashion enterprises to obtain a deeper understanding of their operations in managing fabric samples and to make wiser decisions in resource allocation. By taking the specific needs of system users into consideration, system solution developers are able to design tailor‐made software packages that are intelligent, user‐friendly and user‐oriented.

Through a logical and systematic process of designing the R&D framework, the paper identifies some “technological rules” which links up the practice of solving an industrial problem with the formulation of substantive theories. This adds to the application of design science research.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an efficient hybrid method that can collectively address assembly sequence generation (ASG) and exploded view generation (EVG) problem effectively. ASG is an act of finding feasible collision free movement of components of a mechanical product in accordance with the assembly design. Although the execution of ASG is complex and time-consuming in calculation, it is highly essential for efficient manufacturing process. Because of numerous limitations of the ASG algorithms, a definite method is still unavailable in the computer-aided design (CAD) software, and therefore the explosion of the product is not found to be in accordance with any feasible disassembly sequence (disassembly sequence is reverse progression of assembly sequence). The existing EVG algorithms in the CAD software result in visualization of the entire constituent parts of the product over single screen without taking into consideration the feasible order of assembly operations; thus, it becomes necessary to formulate an algorithm which effectively solves ASG and EVG problem in conjugation. This requirement has also been documented as standard in the “General Information Concerning Patents: 1.84 Standards for drawings” in the United States Patent and Trademark office (2005) which states that the exploded view created for any product should show the relationship or order of assembly of various parts that are permissible.

In this paper, a unique ASG method has been proposed and is further extended for EVG. The ASG follows a deterministic approach to avoid redundant data collection and calculation. The proposed method is effectively applied on products which require such feasible paths of disassembly other than canonical directions.

The method is capable of organizing the assembly operations as linear or parallel progression of assembly such that the assembly task is completed in minimum number of stages. This result is further taken for EVG and is found to be proven effective.

Assembly sequence planning (ASP) is performed most of the times considering the geometric feasibility along canonical axes without considering parallel possibility of assembly operations. In this paper, the proposed method is robust to address this issue. Exploded view generation considering feasible ASP is also one of the novel approaches illustrated in this paper.