Mattia Olivero, Matteo Ferrai, Piero Pantaleone, Ivan Perkovic, Antonella D’Amato, David Moroni, Pierluigi Perugini and Matteo Tirelli
This activity dealt with the thermal analysis of the launch vehicle Vega C through a lumped parameter model. The Vega C is the upgrade of the actual launch vehicle Vega within the…
Abstract
Purpose
This activity dealt with the thermal analysis of the launch vehicle Vega C through a lumped parameter model. The Vega C is the upgrade of the actual launch vehicle Vega within the Vega Consolidation and Evolution Program, whose objective is to develop a consolidated – hence the C – version of the Vega by 2020. The main aim of the study was verifying the thickness of the external thermal protection of the launch vehicle, such that the structure and equipment temperatures were kept within their operating ranges.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis has been performed by means of ESATAN–TMS during a time-frame that included the stand-by on ground phase and a flight phase up to the separation of the second stage from the third one. Two operating conditions have been considered, i.e. the worst hot and worst cold cases. The study has been divided as follows: geometry definition through spatial discretization; application of materials and optical properties; application of thermal loads; thermal analysis; and post-processing of the results in ThermNV.
Findings
It was concluded that the calculated temperatures were within the supposed project specifications, while their trends reflected the expected behavior.
Originality/value
During the flight phase, the mutual separation of the investigated stages has been explicitly modelled through a routine specifically developed for this purpose. Therefore, the submodels of each stage have been disabled at the correct instant according to the known time-sheet.
Details
Keywords
Elhassan Kotb Abdelrahman Radwan, Zsuzsanna Győri and Antonella Russo
The study aims to evaluate and compare the quantity and quality levels of corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD) practices on the websites of the largest Islamic and…
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to evaluate and compare the quantity and quality levels of corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD) practices on the websites of the largest Islamic and conventional banks worldwide.
Design/methodology/approach
Two indices were developed: the quantity index, consisting of seven categories, and the quality index, which includes eight characteristics, to adopt the quantitative content analysis of the global leading 94 Islamic and 100 conventional banks’ websites.
Findings
The results show that conventional banks have higher levels of CSRD quantity and quality on their websites than those of Islamic banks. The study found that the products and services category is the most disclosed by largest Islamic and conventional banks worldwide, while environment and energy information is the lowest for Islamic banks and employee and human resource information is less common for conventional ones. The analysis reveals low levels of CSRD quantity and quality on Islamic banks’ websites (43.69% and 54.56%) and high levels on conventional banks’ websites (70.84% and 73.26%).
Research limitations/implications
The study focuses on analyzing the quantity and quality of CSRD on English-accessible websites of the largest Islamic and conventional banks in 2022, focusing on English as a uniform language for data collection because it analyzed 194 websites from 48 countries with over 20 languages.
Practical implications
The results of this study are likely to be valuable to many interested parties because they inform investors about the status of CSRD practices on the largest Islamic and conventional banks’ websites worldwide and how they disclose such information. To ensure investor satisfaction and accurate investment decisions, these global banks should provide comprehensive and high-quality CSR information on their websites to show how they contribute to CSR activities. For scholars, its limitations may be helpful in their future research.
Originality/value
The originality of this paper derives from its focus on largest-world Islamic and non-Islamic banks, collecting primary data directly from their websites, and offering valuable theoretical, methodological and practical insights.
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Keywords
Imma Latessa, Antonella Fiorillo, Ilaria Picone, Giovanni Balato, Teresa Angela Trunfio, Arianna Scala and Maria Triassi
One of the biggest challenges in the health sector is that of costs compared to economic resources and the quality of services. Hospitals register a progressive increase in…
Abstract
Purpose
One of the biggest challenges in the health sector is that of costs compared to economic resources and the quality of services. Hospitals register a progressive increase in expenditure due to the aging of the population. In fact, hip and knee arthroplasty surgery are mainly due to primary osteoarthritis that affects the elderly population. This study was carried out with the aim of analysing the introduction of the fast track surgery protocol, through the lean Six Sigma, on patients undergoing knee and hip prosthetic replacement surgery. The goal was to improve the arthroplasty surgery process by reducing the average length of stay (LOA) and hospital costs
Design/methodology/approach
Lean Six Sigma was applied to evaluate the arthroplasty surgery process through the DMAIC cycle (define, measure, analyse, improve and control) and the lean tools (value stream map), adopted to analyse the new protocol and improve process performance. The dataset consisted of two samples of patients: 54 patients before the introduction of the protocol and 111 patients after the improvement. Clinical and demographic variables were collected for each patient (gender, age, allergies, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and American Society of Anaesthesiologists (ASA) score).
Findings
The results showed a 12.70% statistically significant decrease in LOS from an overall average of 8.72 to 7.61 days. Women patients without allergies, with a low ASA score not suffering from diabetes and cardiovascular disease showed a significant a reduction in hospital days with the implementation of the FTS protocol. Only the age variable was not statistically significant.
Originality/value
The introduction of the FTS in the orthopaedic field, analysed through the LSS, demonstrated to reduce LOS and, consequently, costs. For each individual patient, there was an economic saving of € 445.85. Since our study takes into consideration a dataset of 111 patients post-FTS, the overall economic saving brought by this study amounts to €49,489.35.