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Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has made telecommuting widely valued, but different individuals have different degrees of acceptance of telecommuting. This article aims to identify suitable individuals for telework and to clarify which types of workers are suitable for what level of telework, set scientific, reasonable hybrid work ratios and processes and measure their suitability.

First, two working scenarios of different risk levels were established, and the theory of planned behavior (TPB) was used to introduce latent variables, constructing a multi-indicator multi-causal model (MIMIC) to identify suitable individuals, and second, constructing an integrated choice and latent variable (ICLV) model of the working method to determine the suitability of different types of people for telework by calculating their selection probabilities.

It is possible to clearly distinguish between two types of suitable individuals for telework or traditional work. Their behavior is significantly influenced by the work environment, which is influenced by variables such as age, income, attitude, perceived behavioral control, work–family balance and personnel exposure level. In low-risk scenarios, the influencing factors of the behavioral model for both types of people are relatively consistent, while in high-risk scenarios, significant differences arise. Furthermore, the suitability of telework for the telework-suitable group is less affected by the pandemic, while the suitability for the non-suitable group is greatly affected.

This study contributes to previous literature by: (1) determining the suitability of different population types for telework by calculating the probability of selection, (2) dividing telework and traditional populations into two categories, identifying the differences in factors that affect telework under different epidemic risks and (3) considering the impact of changes in the work scenario on the suitability of telework for employees and classifying the population based on the suitability of telework in order to avoid the potential negative impact of telework.

This study aims to improve the reliability of emergency safety barriers by using the subjective safety analysis based on evidential reasoning theory in order to develop on a framework for optimizing the reliability of emergency safety barriers.

The emergency event tree analysis is combined with an interval type-2 fuzzy-set and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method. In order to the quantitative data is not available, this study based on interval type2 fuzzy set theory, trapezoidal fuzzy numbers describe the expert's imprecise uncertainty about the fuzzy failure probability of emergency safety barriers related to the liquefied petroleum gas storage prevent. Fuzzy fault tree analysis and fuzzy ordered weighted average aggregation are used to address uncertainties in emergency safety barrier reliability assessment. In addition, a critical analysis and some corrective actions are suggested to identify weak points in emergency safety barriers. Therefore, a framework decisions are proposed to optimize and improve safety barrier reliability. Decision-making in this framework uses evidential reasoning theory to identify corrective actions that can optimize reliability based on subjective safety analysis.

A real case study of a liquefied petroleum gas storage in Algeria is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology. The results show that the proposed methodology provides the possibility to evaluate the values of the fuzzy failure probability of emergency safety barriers. In addition, the fuzzy failure probabilities using the fuzzy type-2 AHP method are the most reliable and accurate. As a result, the improved fault tree analysis can estimate uncertain expert opinion weights, identify and evaluate failure probability values for critical basic event. Therefore, suggestions for corrective measures to reduce the failure probability of the fire-fighting system are provided. The obtained results show that of the ten proposed corrective actions, the corrective action “use of periodic maintenance tests” prioritizes reliability, optimization and improvement of safety procedures.

This study helps to determine the safest and most reliable corrective measures to improve the reliability of safety barriers. In addition, it also helps to protect people inside and outside the company from all kinds of major industrial accidents. Among the limitations of this study is that the cost of corrective actions is not taken into account.

Our contribution is to propose an integrated approach that uses interval type-2 fuzzy sets and AHP method and emergency event tree analysis to handle uncertainty in the failure probability assessment of emergency safety barriers. In addition, the integration of fault tree analysis and fuzzy ordered averaging aggregation helps to improve the reliability of the fire-fighting system and optimize the corrective actions that can improve the safety practices in liquefied petroleum gas storage tanks.

Cruise tourism is the fastest-growing segment of the shipping and port industry. This study aims to develop an analytic model to assess the key criteria and sub-criteria influencing four cruise port's development in Taiwan.

Based on the literature review, four criteria and 13 sub-criteria are developed and analysed by fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP). Four cruise ports include Kaohsiung, Keelung, Taichung and Hualien ports. The 26 relevant field experts (including cruise operators, governmental officials and academics) were invited to provide information for assessing the sub-criteria in the model.

The results indicate that port infrastructure and facilities are the most important criterion, followed by port-city development plans, port geography and climate and port regulations and services. In addition, the three most important sub-criteria overall are the onshore tourism programme, the city’s historical and cultural features and the green port hinterland transport system. Also, Keelung port is ranked as the best port, followed by Kaohsiung, Taichung and Hualien.

As Asia is an important cruise market in the world (ranked as third) and passenger number in Taiwan has achieved the top two in Asia, denoting Taiwan is a good market to develop an evaluation model of cruise ports. The findings present a holistic picture of the relative importance of the various criteria associated with cruise port development and raise issues related to cruise port marketing and the economic and environmental sustainability of ports and their hinterlands.

The purpose of this paper is to present the application of Design of Experiments techniques for the analysis of operating parameters of an industrial oven for the heat treatment process of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle filaments.

The focus is on evaluating new ways of operating the transformation process. The main issue is to raise what are the variables interfering with the performance of the oven. The complete 2k factorial for three factors of control was used to analyze the behavior of these variables and their relationships in the specific response parameter for the process.

The results presented in this work allow the company to have greater knowledge about the operation of the equipment. The study showed possibilities of 14.8% energy reduction.

The heat treatment activity was characterized as a critical point in the production process, and techniques with empirical approaches, based on statistical techniques, was an opportunity that the company has to improve the execution of activities without major investments for the quality of the final product. The application of statistical quality techniques showed to be very promising.

The fact that the study was conducted using subjective quality performance makes this work different from others presented in the literature, showing the possibility to apply Design of Experiments using main control factors based on the opinion of experienced personnel involved in the process analyzed.

This paper discusses the differences in search pattern transitions for mobile phone, tablet and desktop devices by mining the transaction log data of a library online public access catalogue (OPAC). We aimed to analyze the impacts of different devices on user search behavior and provide constructive suggestions for the development of library OPACs on different devices.

Based on transaction logs which are 9 GB in size and contain 16,140,509 records of a university library OPAC, statistics and clustering were used to analyze the differences in search pattern transitions on different devices in terms of two aspects: search field transition patterns and query reformulation patterns.

Search field transition patterns are influenced by the input function and user interfaces of different devices. As reformulation times increase, the differences between query reformulation patterns among different devices decrease.

Mobile-side libraries need to optimize user interfaces, for example by setting web page labels and improving input capabilities. Desk-side libraries can add more suggestive content on the interface.

Unlike previous studies, which have analyzed web search, this paper focuses on library OPAC search. The search function of mobile phones, tablets and desktops were found to be asymptotic, which was a good illustration of how devices have a large impact on user search behavior.

During the operation of nickel-based alloys as blades and discs in turbines, the sliding activity between metallic surfaces is subjected to structural and compositional changes. In as much as friction and wear are influenced by interacting surfaces, it is necessary to investigate these effects. This study aims to understand better the mechanical and tribological characteristics of Ni-17Cr-10X (X = Mo, W, Ta) ternary alloy systems developed via spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique.

Nickel-based ternary alloys were fabricated via SPS technique at 50 MPa, 1100 °C, 100 °C/min and a dwell time of 10 mins. Scanning electron microscopy, X-Ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, nanoindentation techniques and tribometer were used to assess the microstructure, phase composition, elemental dispersion, mechanical and tribological characteristics of the sintered nickel-based alloys.

The outcome of the investigation showed that the Ni-17Cr10Mo alloy exhibited the highest indentation hardness value of 8045 MPa, elastic modulus value of 386 GPa and wear resistance. At the same time, Ni-17Cr10W possessed the least mechanical and wear properties.

It can be shown that the SPS technique is efficient in the development of nickel-based alloys with good elemental distribution and without defects such as segregation of alloying elements, non-metallic inclusions. This is evident from the scanning electron microscopy micrographs.

This paper proposes a heuristic, data-driven approach to the rapid performance evaluation of periodic maintenance on complex production plants. Through grouping, maintenance interval (MI)-based evaluation and performance assessment, potential nonvalue-adding maintenance elements can be identified in the current maintenance structure. The framework reduces management complexity and supports the decision-making process for further maintenance improvement.

The evaluation framework follows a prescriptive research approach. The framework is structured in three steps, which are further illustrated in the case study. The case study utilizes real-life data to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed framework.

Through a case study conducted on 9,538 pieces of equipment from eight offshore oil and gas production platforms, the results show considerable potential for maintenance performance improvement, including up to a 23% reduction in periodic maintenance hours.

The problem of performance evaluation under limited data availability has barely been addressed in the literature on the plant level. The proposed framework aims to provide a quantitative approach to reducing the structural complexity of the periodic maintenance evaluation process and can help maintenance professionals prioritize the focus on maintenance improvement among current strategies.

The proposed framework is especially suitable for initial performance assessment in systems with a complex structure, limited maintenance records and imperfect data, as it reduces management complexity and supports the decision-making process for further maintenance improvement. A similar application has not been identified in the literature.

The paper proposes a research method to verify the perception bias of consumers on the freshness preservation effects of vacuum packaging (VP) and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) chilled pork packages, the influence of “sensory experience” on correcting consumers' perception bias of packaging performance and willingness-to-pay (WTP) enhancement channels.

Using data from 458 and 188 participants who completed the contingent valuation method (CVM) and auction experiment, respectively, the study aimed to uncover consumers' packing quality perception bias and WTP, and investigated the societal factors that contribute to variations in WTP.

The CVM experiment revealed that although consumers' high perception bias rate toward MAP to maintain freshness, as compared to lab test results, came along with low WTP premium to cost rate with sensory experience in the auction experiment, the proportion of consumers with quality perception bias decreased from 49.85% to 34.46%, while the WTP premium to cost rate for MAP increased largely by 36.7%. Perceptive embedding has a positive effect on chilled pork packaging WTP, while normative embedding decreases WTP.

The findings emphasize the need of public policies to promote positive consumption attitudes, while whittling the negative consumption norms, to increase the WTP for packaged child pork and promote the chilled pork market formation.

Heavy industrial construction often relies on large mobile cranes to erect equipment and pre-assembled modules. Engineering calculations are required for the lifting analysis where lifting capacity is analyzed to ensure the feasibility of the lifting scenarios. Such engineering calculations are often presented in static formats, e.g. two-dimensional or three-dimensional models. However, it is difficult to help practitioners (e.g. lifting engineers, site crews and operators) understand the complexity of the lifting process and thus operational decisions are often made intuitively. Therefore, this paper aims to introduce a game-based simulation system to allow for interactive analysis of the lifting process to improve lifting efficiency and safety.

The proposed method treats the mobile crane as a robot with degree-of-freedoms, and the movements are simulated in the Unity game environment. The lifting capacity is calculated dynamically based on the lifting object weight, rigging weight and lifting radius.

Compared with the four-dimensional visualization, this development has added a dimension of real-time interactive simulation; this allows the users to understand the complexity and feasibility of the lifting process.

The developed prototype has been tested and validated using a real case study from a heavy industrial project with the possibility of generalizing crane lifting configurations.

This study aims to design and validate a theoretical model for capacitive imaging (CI) sensors that incorporates the interelectrode shielding and surrounding shielding electrodes. Through experimental verification, the effectiveness of the theoretical model in evaluating CI sensors equipped with shielding electrodes has been demonstrated.

The study begins by incorporating the interelectrode shielding and surrounding shielding electrodes of CI sensors into the theoretical model. A method for deriving the semianalytical model is proposed, using the renormalization group method and physical model. Based on random geometric parameters of CI sensors, capacitance values are calculated using both simulation models and theoretical models. Three different types of CI sensors with varying geometric parameters are designed and manufactured for experimental testing.

The study’s results indicate that the errors of the semianalytical model for the CI sensor are predominantly below 5%, with all errors falling below 10%. This suggests that the semianalytical model, derived using the renormalization group method, effectively evaluates CI sensors equipped with shielding electrodes. The experimental results demonstrate the efficacy of the theoretical model in accurately predicting the capacitance values of the CI sensors.

The theoretical model of CI sensors is described by incorporating the interelectrode shielding and surrounding shielding electrodes into the model. This comprehensive approach allows for a more accurate evaluation of the detecting capability of CI sensors, as well as optimization of their performance.