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The purpose of this paper is to identify and explore important value‐creation initiatives in buyer‐seller relationships (BSRs).

Following a literature review and the presentation of an appropriate conceptual framework, an exploratory study of 14 BSRs in a variety of European industries is undertaken using in‐depth semi‐structured interviews with key informants.

The findings justify a distinction being drawn between two types of value‐creation initiatives: those that are important in transaction‐based arrangements (in which efficiency is paramount); and those that are important in interaction‐based relationships (in which effectiveness is paramount). Of the ten value‐creation initiatives identified in the literature review, seven were found to be of importance in the BSRs of the present sample.

Despite genuine attempts to select a heterogeneous sample, most of the data did come from sellers. Future studies could look more deeply into buyer data to explore these issues in BSRs.

The paper provides managers with practical guidance on the selection of appropriate value‐creation initiatives in various types of BSRs.

The paper reports the first known empirical study of value‐creation initiatives in BSRs.

The effect of different kind of pigments on the corrosion resistance properties of an epoxy paint has been investigated using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and open circuit potential measurements. Painted naval steel samples were studied during the exposure to artificial sea water. The epoxy paint coatings were prepared employing red lead, zinc, red iron oxide or titanium dioxide as pigment with 0.8 of PVC/CPVC ratio. From the EIS and corrosion potential data analyis was found that the anticorrosive protection given by an anticorrosive (pigmented with red lead) and a top coat (pigmented with red iron oxide) epoxy painting scheme was both more lasting and more effective. This was attributed to the fact that both the effective adhesion provided by the chemical bonding between the steel surface and the epoxy paint groups and the constant high barrier effect afforded by this type of top coat were a perfect complement for the high corrosion inhibitive capacity of the red lead pigment.

The effect of different kind of pigments on the corrosion resistance properties of an epoxy paint has been investigated using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and open circuit potential measurements. Painted naval steel samples were studied during the exposure to artificial sea water. The epoxy paint coatings were prepared employing red lead, zinc, red iron oxide or titanium dioxide as pigment with 0.8 of PVC/CPVC ratio. From the EIS and corrosion potential data analyis was found that the anticorrosive protection given by an anticorrosive (pigmented with red lead) and a top coat (pigmented with red iron oxide) epoxy painting scheme was both more lasting and more effective. This was attributed to the fact that both the effective adhesion provided by the chemical bonding between the steel surface and the epoxy paint groups and the constant high barrier effect afforded by this type of top coat were a perfect complement for the high corrosion inhibitive capacity of the red lead pigment.

The purpose of this paper is to survey briefly how harmonic analyis started and developed throughout the centuries to reach its modern status and its surprisingly wide range of applications.

The author traces applications of harmonic analysis back to Mesopotamia, ancient Egypt and the Indus Valley, showing how the Greeks have applied trigonometry and influenced its birth, then the important developments in India in the sixth century laying the first brick to modern trigonometry with the definition of the sinus, then medieval India founding modern mathematical analysis. Trigonometry was developed further by the Arabs until the fourteenth century, then by the Europeans. The eighteenth century in France was particularly important when Bernoulli solved, with an infinite trigonometric series, the vibrating string problem, then Fourier, who studied these series extensively. The author goes on to harmonic analysis on locally compact groups, and ends up with a quick personal view on harmonic analysis nowadays. The last section of the paper presents some of the modern applications. Harmonic analysis is, of course, still used for navigation but also has many other very surprising applications such as signal processing, quantum mechanics, neuroscience, tomography, etc.

The power of harmonic analysis lies in giving the solutions to various problems as infinite series of basic functions, so to be able to produce algorithms for FFT boxes, it must be understood how these series came about and the convergence of these series.

The review should be useful to people interested in studying and/or applying harmonic analysis.

This study aims to investigate the aviation, energetic, exergetic, environmental, sustainability and exergoeconomic performances of a micro turbojet engine used in unmanned aerial vehicles at four different modes.

The engine data were collected from engine test cell. The engine performance calculations were performed for four different operation modes.

According to the results, maximum energy and exergy efficiency were acquired as 19.19% and 18.079% at Mode 4. Total cost rate was calculated as 6.757 $/h at Mode-1, which varied to 10.131 $/h at Mode-4. Exergy cost of engine power was observed as 0.249 $/MJ at Mode-1, which decreased to 0.088 $/MJ at Mode-4 after a careful exergoeconomic analysis.

The novelty of this work is the capability to serve as a guide for similar systems with a detailed approach in the thermodynamic, thermoeconomic and environmental assessments by prioritizing efficiency, fuel consumption and cost formation. This investigation intends to establish a design of the opportunities and benefits that the thermodynamic approach provides to turbojet engine systems.

This paper aims to compare two diagnostic performance measures, i.e. signal‐to‐noise ratio (S/N ratio) and partial area under receiver operating characteristic curves (pAUC). It proposes the use of S/N ratio rather than pAUC for establishing optimal cut‐off point for diagnostic biomarkers.

This paper discusses the properties, uses, advantages and shortcomings of the two performance measures, namely the partial area under receiver operating characteristic curve (pAUC) and Taguchi's signal‐to‐noise (S/N) ratio. The benefits of S/N ratio have been illustrated in a sample of four biomarkers, each having five cut‐off points. The S/N ratio is compared to the pAUC index. The SAS software is employed to calculate pAUC and AUC.

This paper shows that S/N ratio can be used as a measure of diagnostic accuracy. The cut‐off point with the highest S/N ratio is the optimal cut‐off point for the biomarker. The proposed method has the advantages of being easier, more practical and less costly than that of pAUC.

This paper includes implications for the development of a more practical, equally powerful and less costly means of measuring clinical accuracy thereby reducing the costs and risks resulting from wrong selection of cut‐off point can be decreased.

This paper supports suggestions in the recent literature to replace pAUC with a new, more meaningful index.

Productivity improvement is central to the growth and survival of an organisation. The results of a study carried out to measure productivity in a wire rope manufacturing company are described. Several models of productivity are developed and tested to draw out weak operational spots for the company. An illustration of how the results can be used to derive predictive models of company productivity and total unit cost is provided. Cause and effect diagrams are presented to establish the logical premises for taking action towards improvement of productivity in the operational areas.

Education for sustainability has become the mechanism for creating a pool of graduates who can understand, appreciate, practice and support the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In a world with diverse cultures, demographics, political ideologies, etc. faster progress towards sustainable development needs increased use of digital technologies. Integration of digital technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), metaverse, visualisation techniques, cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), open data repositories, geographic information system (GIS), etc. with classroom teaching can build awareness, skills, attitudes and values among students in the journey towards sustainable development and scale up the efforts towards the goals.

In this chapter, the authors have tried to bring out a list of digital technologies and the way in which they can be used in classroom teaching to ensure education for sustainability. It may be noticed that there are watertight compartments between those who know the SDGs and those with proficiency in technology. What is also needed is integration between both silos for mapping the digital technologies with the appropriate SDGs. The teachers in the higher education system need more exposure to understand and implement this integration.

Evidence from a study in Middlesborough is presented in favour of the proposition that an adequate analysis of domestic labour in modern society depends on taking into account its content and distribution. In particular, the characteristics of the gender division of domestic labour suggest the need for an integrated theoretical approach which draws on the insights of both Marxists, concerning the development of the capitalist mode of production and feminists concerning the operation and impact of patriarchy.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how effectively the cost appraisal system proposed measures the cost of poor quality (COPQ) in a construction project. The paper first formulates how COPQ can be measured and later clarifies the relationship between COPQ, labor productivity, and profitability.

In order to measure COPQ, the researchers prepared data entry forms for recording COPQ items on a daily basis and formulated the cost contribution of lost material, lost man-hours, lost machinery hours, and lost overhead on the overall COPQ for the project. The proposed method was then applied in a case study.

The results showed that, for the 60-days study period, COPQ decreased by about 24 percent while labor productivity and profitability increased by about 17 and 11 percent, respectively, after the implementation of COPQ measuring system. This study further supports the use of the COPQ system in construction projects as a mechanism to facilitate continuous improvement.

COPQ is a major cost that is often ignored in construction projects due to the difficulty of measuring it. This paper presents a COPQ measuring and recording system capable of identifying COPQ. The implementation of the system is shown to increase productivity and profitability as demonstrated by the project used for the case study.