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Article
Publication date: 3 October 2008

Xiaofeng Du and Amory N. Li

The purpose of this paper is to propose a comprehensive approach to the valuation of an infrastructure concession right and quantitative risk management projects in the People's…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose a comprehensive approach to the valuation of an infrastructure concession right and quantitative risk management projects in the People's Republic of China.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper outlines a methodology, incorporating an economic model to appraise the dynamic value and risk of concession investment in the context of the design of concession contracts.

Findings

The framework of the study simulates the present value of net cash flow and identifies probability with different parameters in concession contracts as a way to establish a correlation between parameters and net present value distribution. Moreover, the paper uses the technique of value‐at‐risk to set up an economic model to appraise the dynamic value and risk of a concession investment and analyse the key issues in the concession contracts design phase.

Research limitations/implications

It is difficult to estimate precisely the distribution of parameters in the model. In particular, estimating shortfalls in the rate of return of the concession project, the appreciation rate of the future operating cash flow and the market rate of return all have significant impact on the results.

Practical implications

This study frames examines the concession rights mode in a traffic infrastructure construction project and provides potential developers and potential host governments with a reasoned approach to evaluating risk and capital investment in potential concession projects.

Originality/value

The paper offers insights into the risk management, financing and valuation of infrastructure concession rights concerning the Guangshen Freeway in China.

Details

Management Research News, vol. 31 no. 12
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0140-9174

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Article
Publication date: 1 October 2008

Felicity Matthews

Since 1997, the Labour Government sought to respond to the dilemmas and consequences of the earlier New Public Management reforms, according to the two principles of joined‐up…

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Abstract

Since 1997, the Labour Government sought to respond to the dilemmas and consequences of the earlier New Public Management reforms, according to the two principles of joined‐up government and public service delivery. A key aspect of its reform programme has been the public service agreement (PSA) framework, a target‐based performance regime that acts as a vehicle for the majority of spending and policy decisions across government and on the ground. Analysing its implementation and success, the article suggests that, in theory, the PSA regime provides an important example of steering at a distance as a form of political leadership, wherein the role of the centre is to provide the strategic framework for policy delivery. However, there are several structural constraints that have impeded the effectiveness of the framework, such as the pervading Whitehall departmental culture, and the tensions between top‐down performance management and devolved autonomy on the ground.

Details

International Journal of Leadership in Public Services, vol. 4 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1747-9886

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Book part
Publication date: 15 May 2023

Deepak Sood and Dinesh Tandon

Purpose: This study explores how computer video games can promote creative techniques. It specialises in innovative elements of special educational video games: Virtual Recreation…

Abstract

Purpose: This study explores how computer video games can promote creative techniques. It specialises in innovative elements of special educational video games: Virtual Recreation Based Mastering (VRBM), behavioural analytics and defined research results to measure the creative energy of leisure activities on laptops. The involvement and inclusion of gaming in learning are being adopted globally and becoming true global citizens. The macro problems and awareness, such as sustainability, climate changes, etc., around it can be easily created through the advent of PC games.

Design/Methodology/Approach: Examining job incentives, true tales, and inventive skill-related elements allow for measuring creative aspects. The Player’s Statistics for Pride (PSFP) survey technique employs a heuristic checklist in the world of sports games to look at the areas of participating sports that are important to a participant’s overall performance and to assess the participant’s knowledge. Energy, freedom and control, connections and presence contribute to player happiness. This examination evaluates how these sports affect participants’ knowledge and the impact of the teacher’s information on student learning. The study aimed to enhance the understanding of the inventive capacity of persons engaged in developing knowledge and abilities while playing video games.

Findings: The findings demonstrate that a region’s capacity for innovation propels it to a certain degree of overall success in the leisurely game of service activity mastery. Results on how video games broaden crucial research as a foundation for the research version of creative skills are anticipated (CPLN). CPLN openly discusses the link between research concepts and innovation. The results’ interpretation is crucial.

Details

Contemporary Studies of Risks in Emerging Technology, Part B
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80455-567-5

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Article
Publication date: 1 November 1906

IT is fitting that a new series of this magazine should be introduced by some reflections on the whole question of book selection, both for the general public and libraries.

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Abstract

IT is fitting that a new series of this magazine should be introduced by some reflections on the whole question of book selection, both for the general public and libraries.

Details

New Library World, vol. 9 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4803

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Article
Publication date: 3 May 2016

Amos Madhlopa

The purpose of this paper is to investigate a wall-integrated solar chimney for passive ventilation of a building cavity. Ventilation is required to improve the circulation of air…

378

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate a wall-integrated solar chimney for passive ventilation of a building cavity. Ventilation is required to improve the circulation of air in the built environment. This can be achieved through natural or forced convection. Natural circulation can be driven by renewable energy, and so it promotes sustainable exploitation of energy resources. Solar energy is one of the promising renewable energy resources.

Design/methodology/approach

The chimney was designed to face the Equator on the wall of a room which required ventilation. Mean monthly daily heating and cooling loads of the room were computed with and without a solar chimney by using hourly meteorological data from nine different weather sites at low, medium and high latitudes. The chimney was implemented with and without airflow control, and simulated by using the ESP-r software.

Findings

Results show that the solar chimney with airflow control marginally reduced the heating load in the building envelope, with a similar effect being exhibited by the chimney with uncontrolled airflow. The cooling load was reduced by the controlled airflow at all the nine sites. In contrast, the uncontrolled airflow increased the cooling load at some sites. In addition, the chimney with airflow control reduced the annual total thermal load at all the sites, while the chimney with uncontrolled airflow raised the total thermal load at some locations.

Originality/value

The performance of solar chimneys designed with and without airflow control systems has been investigated under the same prevailing meteorological conditions at a given site. Findings show that controlling airflow in a solar chimney reduces the total thermal load in the built environment. This information can be applied in different parts of the world.

Details

Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology, vol. 14 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1726-0531

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Article
Publication date: 1 March 1979

Thomas Blumenthal

An analysis of community health, its history, successes and failures, depends on an understanding of its scope, but there is little consensus as to precisely what the discipline…

266

Abstract

An analysis of community health, its history, successes and failures, depends on an understanding of its scope, but there is little consensus as to precisely what the discipline entails. Some view it as a strict scientific discipline, others see it as a social movement, and still others conceive of it as a conglomerate of various disciplines. It is useful initially to identify the medical components of community health, and then to approach its interdisciplinary aspects. Community health, strictly defined, includes such fields as disease control, environmental sanitation, maternal and child care, dental health, nutrition, school health, geriatrics, occupational health, and the treatment of drug and alcohol abuse. This limited definition, though accurate, does not differentiate the field from the much older area of public health. Within community health, the disease focus of traditional public health epidemiology, the total health focus of community medicine, and the outcome focus of health services research are interconnected. Community health combines the public health concern for health issues of defined populations with the preventive therapeutic approach of clinical medicine. An emphasis on personal health care is the result of this combination. Robert Kane describes the field accurately and succinctly: “We envision community medicine as a general organizational framework which draws upon a number of disciplines for its tools. In this sense, it is an applied discipline which adopts the knowledge and skills of other areas in its effort to solve community health problems. The tools described here include community diagnosis (which draws upon such diverse fields as sociology, political science, economics, biostatistics, and epidemiology), epidemiology itself, and health services research (the application of epidemiologic techniques on analyzing the effects of medical care on health).”

Details

Collection Building, vol. 1 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0160-4953

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Article
Publication date: 1 January 1957

AN ESTEEMED correspondent points out that there are about two dozen library magazines of all sorts and sizes in circulation, whereas when he started his career there were no more…

56

Abstract

AN ESTEEMED correspondent points out that there are about two dozen library magazines of all sorts and sizes in circulation, whereas when he started his career there were no more than three. Our correspondent has himself had considerable editorial experience, and it may be that he is still in harness in that regard. One of his earliest efforts was in running the magazine of the old Library Assistants' Association, and it is not likely that that magazine has ever reached the same heights of excellence as it attained in his day. He observes that there are far too many library magazines now in circulation. We agree.

Details

Library Review, vol. 16 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0024-2535

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Article
Publication date: 1 June 2015

Chen-Shu Wang, Yu-Chieh Li and Yeu-Ruey Tzeng

The purpose of this paper is to propose a game-based learning (GBL) content design model that replicates the two-dimensional Bloom cognitive process in GBL units. The proposed…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose a game-based learning (GBL) content design model that replicates the two-dimensional Bloom cognitive process in GBL units. The proposed model, called the knowledge and cognitive-process representation (KCR) model, enables a game player to access three types of Bloom knowledge by allowing the learner to experience-related cognitive processes that can be replicated in the GBL units via appropriate representation approaches.

Design/methodology/approach

To validate the feasibility of the proposed KCR model, 14 GBL units for a Cisco-certified network associate (CCNA) certification training program were designed and installed on several servers. Players played the GBL units via internet browsers. According to the problem-solving theory, three game components, including a tool, feedback, and goal, are necessary for game playing and should be adopted to implement three sub-cognitive processes. A three-phase experiment was performed for one year. Subjects were university sophomores and a randomized block experiment design was implemented.

Findings

The experimental results show that, compared with a traditional web-based learning platform, the GBL platform is more efficient and it enables learners to achieve improved learning performance. In addition, most hypotheses support the fact that particular cognizance processes should be implemented by a specific representation approach in GBL. Finally, a KCR model for GBL content design is inferred to represent a cognitive process appropriately that can be referenced for both the digital content instructor and the game developer.

Research limitations/implications

Because the CCNA training material does not include meta-knowledge of Bloom knowledge type and the creation of the Bloom cognitive process, the KCR model should be further extended. In addition, others certification training materials (such as Oracle DBA, Java programmer) can be implemented on the basis of the KCR model for general validation as further research.

Practical implications

Players can acquire specific types of knowledge, such as factual knowledge, by experiencing a particular cognitive process, such as the “remembering & understanding” processes, which can be represented with a computer tool. The KCR model can provide both the instructor and the game developer with design recommendations and accelerate GBL content implementation.

Originality/value

GBL is a learning platform that can stimulate a learner by improving the motivation to learn and the learning experience. To ensure high-learning performance, the learner should perform specific cognitive processes and acquire knowledge. This research proposes a content design model for GBL units that appropriately replicate the Bloom framework in a computer game.

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Article
Publication date: 31 January 2020

Maher Dhahri and Hana Aouinet

The purpose of this study is to investigate air flow, temperature distribution and thermal confort in natural ventilation induced by solar chimney for different operating.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate air flow, temperature distribution and thermal confort in natural ventilation induced by solar chimney for different operating.

Design/methodology/approach

Numerical simulation is performed using a commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) package ANSYS CFX software to understand the effects of air temperature, air velocity and solar heat flux on the performance of the solar chimney and thermal comfort. The comfort level was evaluated using the air diffusion performance index (ADPI) according to ASHRAE (55-210). The flow was investigated at inclination angles 45° solar heat flux 550-750 W/m2 and in a solar chimney of 1.4 m length, 0.6 m width and 0.20 m air gab.

Findings

The numerical results from the present simulation were first validated with experimental data, which was used for the thermal comfort indexes calculation. The obtained results of the analysis showed that the used numerical technique could accurately predict air flow and temperature distribution in natural ventilated building using solar chimney; the air temperature, air velocity and solar heat flux have a significant impact on thermal comfort; the temperature of 19°C with velocity of 0.15 m.s−1 gives the best effective draft temperature (EDT) satisfy ASHRAE (55-210) criteria that V = 0.35 m.s−1 and EDT range between −1.7 and 1.1.

Originality/value

In the present paper, air flow, temperature distribution and thermal comfort inside a room equipped with inclined solar chimney were numerically investigated and analyzed. The commercial CFD package (CFX 15) is used. Calculations are carried out in an empty room without any human or mechanical activity and the numerical results are compared with measurement points.

Details

World Journal of Engineering, vol. 17 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1708-5284

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Book part
Publication date: 28 January 2022

Andani Thakhathi

This opening chapter of this special volume of Research in Ethical Issues in Organizations (REIO) opens the anthology by setting the foundation for an authentic African…

Abstract

This opening chapter of this special volume of Research in Ethical Issues in Organizations (REIO) opens the anthology by setting the foundation for an authentic African philosophy. This establishment of an ‘African Philosophical Bedrock’ serves as a fundamental point of departure and primer for Bantu Wisdom as Transcendent Development drawing on the works of transcendent Bantu philosophers concerned with realising the golden mean capable of reconciling the extreme contradictions inherent in the social ills afflicting Africa. These intellectual trailblazers include Stephen Bantu Biko, Frantz Fanon, and Anton Muziwakhe Lembede. The philosophical bedrock herein established consists of four philosophical delineations systematically arranged in the following orderly fashion: (1) Logic, (2) Metaphysics, (3) Axiology, and (4) Epistemology. After presenting and justifying the development of the bedrock, Bantu Wisdom and its associated key terms are conceptualised and defined in order to create a conceptual framework through which the problem of ‘Compound-Indignity’ may be understood and addressed. This chapter then comes to a close by introducing the idea of Transcendent Development and its harmonising essence – the golden mean – that reconciles antagonistic dualisms underpinning the ‘compound-indignity’ problem. As such, this chapter serves as a Transcendent Development paradigmatic primer and philosophical point of departure for the further development of authentic African ethics.

Details

Transcendent Development: The Ethics of Universal Dignity
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80262-260-7

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