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Article
Publication date: 1 November 2006

Yousef S.H. Najjar and Sharaf F. Al‐Sharif

To develop and find the effect of combination of four cycle design variables that minimizes the specific fuel consumption (sfc) of a turbofan engine.

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Abstract

Purpose

To develop and find the effect of combination of four cycle design variables that minimizes the specific fuel consumption (sfc) of a turbofan engine.

Design/methodology/approach

After choosing the four variables, namely bypass ratio (B), fan pressure ratio, overall pressure ratio, and turbine inlet temperature (T04), first the sfc was minimized without a minimum thrust constraint. Then, a minimum specific thrust constraint was introduced.

Findings

The unconstrained‐specific thrust is a two‐dimensional optimization problem, whereas the specific thrust constrained problem was found to be a three‐dimensional one.

Research limitations/implications

The variables B and ï are limiting factors to further improvement, as set by their maximum practical values, whereas the other two variables are to be optimized.

Practical implications

A very useful work, in which numerical optimization program was developed, for a turbofan cycle and could be extended to other cycles.

Originality/value

This paper offers a great help to those intending to optimize certain cycles with a number of variables.

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. 78 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0002-2667

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 July 2013

Feng Yixiong, Gao Yicong, Mai Zeyu and Tan Jianrong

Existing models of product assembly scheme design often ignore the constraint relations among design thinking. In order to grasp the functions of each part and the constraint

Abstract

Purpose

Existing models of product assembly scheme design often ignore the constraint relations among design thinking. In order to grasp the functions of each part and the constraint relations among them in product assembly system macroscopically, further design and variation of product assembly system should be made according to design thinking. This paper seeks to address these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

Through analyzing the similarity between biological organization system and product system and taking biology knowledge for reference, product assembly system was expressed as product function gene, product constraint gene, product function protein, product constraint protein and product cell and so on in this paper. The product gene model composed of product function gene groups and constraint genes was established and a modeling method based on it was proposed.

Findings

The author applied this method to model the 5‐DOF manipulator of complex diamond manufacturing special equipment with good results which proved the effectiveness of this modeling method.

Originality/value

By identifying constraint relations and design thinking in the gene model, the system makes the modification process which is conducted by the designers automatically identified and varied to achieve computer‐aided design and assembly.

Details

Assembly Automation, vol. 33 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-5154

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 10 June 2015

Alexandra E. MacDougall, Zhanna Bagdasarov, James F. Johnson and Michael D. Mumford

Business ethics provide a potent source of competitive advantage, placing increasing pressure on organizations to create and maintain an ethical workforce. Nonetheless, ethical…

Abstract

Business ethics provide a potent source of competitive advantage, placing increasing pressure on organizations to create and maintain an ethical workforce. Nonetheless, ethical breaches continue to permeate corporate life, suggesting that there is something missing from how we conceptualize and institutionalize organizational ethics. The current effort seeks to fill this void in two ways. First, we introduce an extended ethical framework premised on sensemaking in organizations. Within this framework, we suggest that multiple individual, organizational, and societal factors may differentially influence the ethical sensemaking process. Second, we contend that human resource management plays a central role in sustaining workplace ethics and explore the strategies through which human resource personnel can work to foster an ethical culture and spearhead ethics initiatives. Future research directions applicable to scholars in both the ethics and human resources domains are provided.

Details

Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78560-016-6

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 October 2019

Rex Asibuodu Ugulu, Andrew Arewa and Stephen Allen

The purpose of this paper is to establish the perception of tradespeople about project-specific constraints (PSCs) influencing construction productivity in Nigeria.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to establish the perception of tradespeople about project-specific constraints (PSCs) influencing construction productivity in Nigeria.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a qualitative descriptive survey comprising face-to-face semi-structured interviews and a purposive sampling method, views of eight groups of tradespeople and seven project managers on live construction projects in Nigeria were collected. The study used conventional content analysis with the aid of NVivo 12 pro computer software for the analysis.

Findings

The research evaluated the PSCs and their effect on construction productivity of tradespeople. The findings identified five key PSCs, namely: lack of promotions/reward system, unsafe/poor health condition of workers, delay in material availability, inadequate site amenities and an ageing workforce. These results support earlier research on constraints influencing labour productivity, however, the poor health condition of workers and material unavailability appear to be more unique when compared to other previous studies.

Research limitations/implications

The study focussed on the Federal Capital Territory Abuja and the Lagos State of Nigeria. It provides insight into the PSCs influencing the productivity of tradespeople in the Nigerian construction industry. Further research to identify the PSCs in depth, in the Eastern part of Nigeria is necessary.

Practical implications

The PSCs influencing tradespeople’s productivity was identified. The level of the relative impact of the PSCs is expected to guide the project team in addressing the PSCs in a method that is cost effective.

Originality/value

This study is original research that has underlined some areas of improvement in construction project performance.

Details

Built Environment Project and Asset Management, vol. 10 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2044-124X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 October 2021

Tianyu Ying, Jun Wen, Edmund Goh and Shaohua Yang

The relationship between sex and tourism remains ambiguous in the tourism literature. Few studies have examined the underlying motivations behind sex-driven travel, and little is…

Abstract

Purpose

The relationship between sex and tourism remains ambiguous in the tourism literature. Few studies have examined the underlying motivations behind sex-driven travel, and little is known about factors inhibiting tourists' procurement of commercial sex when traveling. Therefore, this study explored male Chinese tourists' perceived constraints during decision-making and developed a comprehensive scale to assess constraints to commercial sex consumption overseas.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were obtained from male Chinese tourists purchasing commercial sex while traveling overseas. This study involved a four-stage process as recommended by Churchill (1979) for scale development research. In Stage 1, preliminary items were generated through a comprehensive review of the constraints literature and in-depth interviews with 16 sex tourists, which generated an initial 26 items. During the second stage to purify the measurement items, six items were eliminated, resulting in 20 items. Stage 3 involved exploratory factor analysis (N = 275) to extract the scale's underlying factor structure. Results revealed a five-factor structure with sufficient evidence of internal reliability given Cronbach's alpha coefficients between 0.722 and 0.843. The final stage included confirmatory factor analysis (N = 259) to verify the scale's reliability and validity.

Findings

Ultimately, 20 items were developed to measure sex tourists' perceived constraints toward engaging in commercial sex services overseas based on five factors: structural constraints, intrapersonal constraints, interpersonal constraints, value conflicts and service supply–related constraints.

Originality/value

This study advances the scope of sex tourism research by verifying how these five constraints are independent, generalized and can influence the procurement of sexual services overseas. This study is the first in sex tourism research to explore the difficulties facing sex tourists. Results offer marketers important insight on how to better address these constraints while providing a safe and legal sex tourism experience.

Details

Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, vol. 34 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-5855

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 August 2010

Lina Salazar

This paper aims to develop and validate a framework about the enablers and constraints to the creation, sharing and use of knowledge, by analyzing how enablers and constraints in

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to develop and validate a framework about the enablers and constraints to the creation, sharing and use of knowledge, by analyzing how enablers and constraints in a particular information environment – advocacy networks – impact each of the phases of the knowledge process.

Design/methodology/approach

The setting chosen for this research is a group of leading international non‐governmental organizations (INGOs), and their NGO partners in a developing country, pursuing a policy advocacy strategy in the context of an international donors conference. The qualitative research follows an embedded case study design with two levels of data collection and analysis: intra‐organizational: an individual INGO; and inter‐organizational: the advocacy network to which this INGO belongs.

Findings

Most enablers and constraints are internal to organizations and focus on the phases of knowledge use. Constraints associated with organizations' cultures, individuals' information‐processing preferences, and politics are prominent. The validated framework can then explain how specific constraints influence particular phases of the creation, sharing and use of knowledge and the nature of these constraints in settings where particular organizational cultures dominate.

Originality/value

Researchers have studied the enabling conditions through which knowledge is created and shared. Some contributions have focused on the role of personal beliefs and formal procedures; higher codification of knowledge; social capital; or technology and measurement, among others. The literature has been mainly focused on identifying particular constraints, without paying much attention to how they are manifested in the distinct phases of the knowledge process. This paper aims to make a contribution in this area.

Details

VINE, vol. 40 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0305-5728

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 October 2018

Marwa Khalfalli, Fouad Ben Abdelaziz and Hichem Kamoun

The purpose of this paper is to generate a daily operating theater schedule aiming to minimize completion time and maximum overtime while integrating real-life surgeon constraints

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to generate a daily operating theater schedule aiming to minimize completion time and maximum overtime while integrating real-life surgeon constraints, such as their role, specialty, qualification and availability.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper deals with complete surgery process using multi-objective surgery scheduling approach. Furthermore, the combinatorial nature of the studied problem does not allow to solve it to optimality. Therefore, the authors developed two approaches embedded in a tabu search metaheuristic, namely, weighted sum and e-constraint, to minimize completion time and maximum overtime.

Findings

The integration of the upstream and downstream services of an intervention and the consideration of the specific constraints related to surgeons are very essential to obtaining more closed schedules to the realty.

Practical implications

The paper includes implications for the development of efficient schedules for a significant number of operations coming from different specialties throughout its complete surgery process under multi-resource constraints.

Social implications

The paper can help hospital managers and decision makers to well manage the budget by minimizing the overtime cost and by offering efficient daily operating theater schedule.

Originality/value

The results of the paper will help hospital managers and decision makers to well manage the budget by minimizing the overtime cost and offering efficient daily operating theater schedule.

Details

Management Decision, vol. 57 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0025-1747

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 November 2013

Yun Zhong Hu, Botao Zhong, Hanbin Luo and Hai Meng Hu

The purpose of this paper is to explore the feasibility that an ontological approach can be applied to formalize the construction regulation constraint knowledge in a…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the feasibility that an ontological approach can be applied to formalize the construction regulation constraint knowledge in a computer-interpretable way, for construction quality checking, during construction stage.

Design/methodology/approach

The ontological and semantic web technologies are used to model the construction quality constraints knowledge into Axioms/OWL and SWRL rules. Protégé platform is selected to illustrate how the construction quality checking, based on the Axioms/OWL and SWRL rules, is achieved.

Findings

The ontology and semantic web technologies can be an alternative way for modeling the construction regulation constraints in a computer-interpretable way, and can be implemented for the regulation-based construction quality checking.

Research limitations/implications

The approach is illustrated only with given specific technical constraints examples, the generality and practicality of the approach need further investigation.

Originality/value

The paper introduces an ontological and semantic approach to model and formalize the construction regulation constraints for construction quality checking, and proves the feasibility by the case studies. The proposed approach enables the regulations can be understood and retrieved semantically by computers, which facilitates the using of regulation codes.

Details

Structural Survey, vol. 31 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-080X

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 6 November 2013

Bartosz Sawik

This chapter presents application of multi-criteria mathematical programming models by integer and mixed-integer programming for optimal allocation of workers among supporting…

Abstract

This chapter presents application of multi-criteria mathematical programming models by integer and mixed-integer programming for optimal allocation of workers among supporting services in a hospital. The services include logistics, inventory management, financial management, operations management, medical analysis, etc. The optimality criteria of the problem are minimization of operational costs of supporting services subject to some specific constraints. The constraints represent specific conditions for resource allocation in a hospital. The overall problems are formulated as assignment models, where the decision variables represent the assignment of people to various jobs. Numerical examples are presented. Some computational results modeled on a real data from a hospital in Poland are reported.

Article
Publication date: 12 June 2019

Roda Müller-Wieland, Antonia Muschner and Martina Schraudner

Academic entrepreneurship is extremely relevant in knowledge and technology transfer (KTT). The purpose of this study is to provide insights into phase-specific constraints and…

Abstract

Purpose

Academic entrepreneurship is extremely relevant in knowledge and technology transfer (KTT). The purpose of this study is to provide insights into phase-specific constraints and needs impacting scientists’ engagement in entrepreneurial activities at public research institutions.

Design/methodology/approach

In an exploratory case study, 40 qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted with German academic entrepreneurs in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

Findings

Based on the data analysis, an ideal-typical founding process with phase-specific barriers and needs was identified. Many constraints and associated needs occur in more than one phase, including the lack of knowledge, the demand for exchange formats, the lack of time and financial resources, institutionalized return options, the lack of human resources and the lack of incentives.

Research limitations/implications

Given its exploratory approach, this study has limitations regarding its generalization; however, the presented findings may induce further research and in-depth analysis on this matter.

Practical implications

Several recommendations for action are provided for each phase of the founding process to strengthen the (entrepreneurial) transfer in research organizations. Generally, a pioneering indicator of excellence in the science system should be developed to promote transfer next to publications.

Originality/value

The study contributes to existing literature on determinants of academic entrepreneurship by indicating the phase-specific constraints and needs throughout the founding process and discussing those needs in the theoretical context of current societal and technological mega-trends.

Details

Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, vol. 13 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6204

Keywords

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