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This paper gives a review of the finite element techniques (FE) applied in the area of material processing. The latest trends in metal forming, non‐metal forming and powder metallurgy are briefly discussed. The range of applications of finite elements on the subjects is extremely wide and cannot be presented in a single paper; therefore the aim of the paper is to give FE users only an encyclopaedic view of the different possibilities that exist today in the various fields mentioned above. An appendix included at the end of the paper presents a bibliography on finite element applications in material processing for the last five years, and more than 1100 references are listed.

This paper gives a review of the finite element techniques (FE) applied in the area of material processing. The latest trends in metal forming, non‐metal forming, powder metallurgy and composite material processing are briefly discussed. The range of applications of finite elements on these subjects is extremely wide and cannot be presented in a single paper; therefore the aim of the paper is to give FE researchers/users only an encyclopaedic view of the different possibilities that exist today in the various fields mentioned above. An appendix included at the end of the paper presents a bibliography on finite element applications in material processing for 1994‐1996, where 1,370 references are listed. This bibliography is an updating of the paper written by Brannberg and Mackerle which has been published in Engineering Computations, Vol. 11 No. 5, 1994, pp. 413‐55.

Aquaculture has become the world’s fastest growing food-production technology. This chapter outlines the main factors for this growth and shows how farmed seafood can contribute directly and indirectly to food security. We used the databases of the FAO on food production and trade to analyze the development of production in the main categories of animal protein. The trends were interpreted in a productivity growth and trade context. We found that modern aquaculture is enabled by transferring knowledge from terrestrial animal production and from developing new technologies to create substantial productivity growth and production cost reductions. The current growth rate of aquaculture production exceeds all other types of meat production and is expected to continue to increase as the agro-science industry expands (seafood made up 34.5% of the world’s animal production in 2013). More than 90% of the world’s aquaculture production takes place in developing countries, where it contributes to food security directly through consumption or indirectly as a source of income. Seafood is a main source of animal protein in many parts of the world, particularly in developing countries. Depending on species and country, farmed seafood contributes to food security directly through domestic consumption, or indirectly through economic growth from exports.

Sports clubs are one of the most important elements in the sports systems of today’s societies. In the field of sport, a sports club aims, among other things, to make the sport more affordable and accessible to all, showing the organizational characteristics of companies, but with a much broader social mission. The aim of this chapter is to characterise sports clubs as potentially favorable environments for sports entrepreneurship, making questions about their nature and purposes. Aspects such as the hybridization of organizations, the progressive professionalisation of their members, the use of the entrepreneurial spirit as an instrument to facilitate the achievement of the organisation’s objectives or the need to seek alternative sources of funding to traditional public aid are discussed in the context of increasingly hostile and competitive environments, where social organizations must seek out resources in a similar way to companies.

A numerical method for shape optimisation in forging is presented. The goal of the optimisation is to eliminate work‐piece defects that may arise during the forging process. A two‐dimensional finite element code has been developed for the simulation of the mechanical process. The material is incompressible and it follows the Norton‐Hoff law. To deal with contact constraint the velocity projection algorithm is used. The optimisation process is conducted using a genetic algorithm supported by an elitist strategy. A new genetic operator called adaptive mutation has been developed to increase the efficiency of the search. The developed scheme is used to design optimal preform shapes for several axisymmetric examples. Continuous and discrete design variables are considered. The objective function of the optimisation problem is associated with the quality of the final product. Comparing the obtained optimal results with the literature validates the proposed optimisation method.

In a world where companies create multiple brand and product features and use technology to continuously improve the appeal and delivery of their offering, a perception that high tech characteristics are sufficient to attract customers and build loyalty for the company is a common misconception. In reality, the emotional aspects of the customer–brand/product bond are critical and must be factored into strategic decisions. Holbrook and Batra (1987a) suggest that consumers seek emotional value and benefit from brand/product and that these emotional ties may exceed the value derived from technology. While research turns attention to investigate emotions within this brand/product relationship, questions arise regarding possible levers that can be engaged to trigger this emotional relationship. In an effort to understand this complex issue, a review of literature on emotions and strategy, framed, as value management will be discussed and the role that emotions play in the customer–brand/product bond will be addressed. In addition, this discussion moves to understand which design element can possibly meet this challenge. Is it possible that color and its established link to emotions could prove strong enough to be a strategic lever?

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the relative importance of attributes for patient selection of a medical institution and to quantitatively evaluate the impact of different types of organizational forms upon the patient ' s selection of a medical institution.

By using a conjoint analysis, evaluation criteria in patient selection of a medical institution were examined. The paper assumed the selection of a medical institution under the situation of “being given a diagnosis of suspected diabetes with a physical examination and then visiting a medical institution”. The attributes included in the questionnaire were: quality of the medical institution, distance to the hospital, amount paid at the initial visit, amount paid at hospitalization for examinations, and organizational form of the hospital. Relative importance of the attributes and relative importance of organizational form were assessed. A total of 140 people were requested to respond to the questionnaire by way of researchers who have a connection with the authors. Completed responses were obtained from 111 subjects (79 per cent).

The results of the conjoint analysis revealed that the most important attribute was quality of the medical institution. Organizational form was the attribute with the lowest importance. The utility value of being a public hospital was the highest within the organizational form attribute for all respondents and being a private hospital was the lowest. The quality of the medical institution was considered the most important factor in selecting a medical institution and the type of organizational form was considered least important. Regarding organizational form, being a public hospital was most preferred and being a hospital managed by a company and a private hospital were least preferred respectively among healthcare professionals and other occupations.

The paper provides a relative evaluation of the factors thought to be important for patients in Japan when selecting a medical institution.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a maximum speed algorithm for serial palletizing robots, which guarantees relatively low system modeling requirements and can be easily implemented in actual applications.

Operation speed is an important index of palletizing robots performance. In order to improve it, features of palletizing motions are analyzed, and a refined iterative learning control algorithm for maximum speed optimization is proposed. The refined algorithm learns to increase local speed when the following error does not exceed a predefined tolerance, unlike conventional applications which make actual output identical to its reference. Furthermore, experiments were developed to illustrate the new algorithm's ability to take full advantage of motor capacity, drive ability and repetitive link couplings to improve palletizing efficiency.

Experiments show that motion time decreases more than 20 percent after optimization.

The new iterative control algorithm can be easily applied to any repetitive handling operations where manipulating efficiency matters.

Purpose – The UK road freight sector is an example of an economically important sector that can be viewed from two different perspectives with regards to climate change: firstly, as a significant contributor to the problem in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, and secondly as a likely recipient of significant impacts (both positive and negative) of any resulting change in climate, especially any increase in extreme weather. It is this relatively neglected second perspective, freight as a vulnerable sector, which is explored.

Methodology/approach – The way in which the freight sector develops in the future will be explored both in terms of the future type of freight operations and potential changes in vehicle technology.

Findings – There is a need to understand how the overlying socio-economic scenario influences the development of the freight sector.

Originality/value – The examination of the impact of climate change on the freight sector is a particularly original aspect of this chapter.

The purposes of this article are to outline the existing seismic risk in Lebanon and to identify the crucial role of Lebanese school education in advancing both a culture of safety and the resilience of Lebanese communities to destructive earthquakes.

This paper sets out to illustrate the exposure of Lebanon to seismic hazards and to investigate the current status of Lebanese public schools in terms of their preparedness for earthquake events. Interviews were conducted with principals from 17 different schools. From these interviews emerged the following four themes: curriculum deficiency, the structural vulnerability of school buildings, a lack of preparedness for natural hazards and the need for community engagement in this regard.

School principals in Lebanon confirmed the need for schools to engage in earthquake disaster preparedness and mitigation, as well as to show an enthusiastic attitude for earthquake hazard reduction in terms of hazard education, greater preparedness and community engagement.

As this article highlights the important role of school education in promoting earthquake disaster risk reduction, it has beneficial implications for educators, policymakers, administrators and government officials.