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Management in service industries are constantly faced with the problem of balancing customer service against achieving a high level of economic efficiency in managing their own resources. The problem is shown to be particularly acute in the management of Freightliner Terminals where there are extraordinary fluctuations in the demand for the service. A computer model is described which simulates operations at a terminal and assists management in predicting the likely performance of the terminal for different levels of throughput.

The Covid-19 pandemic has thwarted global mobility over an unimaginable scale, forcing the competitive market processes of the tourism sector to be seriously disrupted. The ongoing pandemic has closed borders, suspended flights, quarantined more than half of the world population, induced mass fear and shook globalisation. The phenomenon of overtourism is related to the high number of tourists, the nature and time span of their visits and the carrying capability of the destination. To understand the nature of overtourism and the implications, it is essential to recognise why people of particular cities have begun to see tourism as a factor that has an adverse impact on their quality of life. This chapter aims to provide a link between Covid-19 and overtourism and also to examine whether both of these can offer opportunities or challenges to tourist destinations in the future. Based on the analysis of numerous existing crisis recovery mechanisms, the tourism industry is expected to rebound from this abrupt market shock, mostly due to various forms of government interventions. The present startling moment of the Covid-19 pandemic provides an opportunity to find hope in the ruins through the deconstruction of framings of crisis as ‘error’ and through reflecting on the present and future role of tourism in contributing to a more socially and environmentally sustainable community.

The etiology of fruit anthracnose in hot pepper (Capsicum frutescens) was investigated at Ibadan, Osogbo, and Ikenne in the lowland forest zone of western Nigeria. Collectotrichum capsici (Synd) Butler & Bisby was found associated with the fruit anthracnose of hot pepper in all locations. Out of 300 plants examined in all the locations, over 70 per cent had fruit anthracnose, while in some pepper fields all the fruits produced had the disease symptom. The pathogen overseasoned in pepper plant debris. A high inoculum population of 4.9×10⁶ g⁻¹ colony forming units/g was estimated in the soil of pepper fields. The seed from the infected hot pepper fruits also carried propergules of the pathogen. The fungus was also found on Lycopersicon esculentus, C. annum and Vigna unguiculata growing in and around the pepper fields. Pepper fruits infection by the disease occurs during the peak of the rainy season beginning in patches which spread later, resulting in extensive infection of the pepper field.

The design check regarding the fire resistance of concrete slabs can be easily performed using tabulated values. These tables are based on experimental results, but the level of safety, which is obtained by this approach, is not known. On the other hand, performance-based methods are more accepted, but require a target reliability as performance criterion. Hence, there is a need for calibration of the performance-based methods using the results of the “traditional” descriptive approach.

The calibration is performed for a single span concrete slab, where the axis distance of the reinforcement is chosen according to Eurocode 2 for a defined fire rating. A “standard” compartment is selected to cover typical fields of application. The opening factor is considered as parameter to obtain the maximum peak temperatures in the compartment. A Monte Carlo simulation, in combination with a response surface method, is set up to calculate the probabilities of failure.

The results indicate that the calculated reliability index for a standard is within the range, which has been used for the derivation of safety and combination factors in the Eurocodes. It can be observed that members designed for a fire rating R90 have a significant increase in the structural safety for natural fires compared to a design for a fire rating R30.

The level of safety, which is obtained by a design based on tabulated values, is quantified for concrete slabs. The results are a necessary input for the calibration of performance-based methods and could stimulate discussions among scientists and building authorities.

In the present article, the authors have conducted a review on some of the recent developments given in the literature pertaining to the passive protection of concrete structures using intumescent coatings. Here, the main thrust is placed on the spalling phenomenon of concrete elements when exposed to elevated temperatures and fires.

In this context, it has been long established that prolonged thermal insult on concrete members will lead to egress of water, both physically bound as well as those present as water of hydration within the concrete matrix, in the form of steam through microchannels and associated pathways of least resistance, often resulting in the flaking of the surface of the structure. The latter process can ultimately lead to the exposure of the ferrous-based reenforcement elements, for instance, to higher temperatures, thus inducing melting. This, in turn, can result in substantial loss of strength and load-bearing capacity of the structural element that is already undergoing disintegration of its base matrix owing to heat/fire. Even though spalling of concrete structures has long been recognized as a serious problem that can often lead to catastrophic failure of infrastructures, such as buildings, bridges and tunnels, the utility of intumescent coating as a mitigation strategy is relatively new and has not been explored to its fullest possible extent. Therefore, in the latter parts of the review, the authors have endeavored to discuss the different types of intumescent coatings, their modes of actions and, in particular, their wider applicability in terms of protecting concrete elements from detrimental effects of severe or explosive spalling.

Given that spalling of concrete components is still a very serious issue that can result in loss of lives and destruction of critical infrastructures, there is an urgent need to formulate better mitigating strategies, through novel means and methods. The use of the intumescent coating in this context appears to be a promising way forward but is one that seems to be little explored so far. Therefore, a more systematic investigation is highly warranted in this area, especially, as the authors envisage a greater activity in the building and commissioning of more infrastructures worldwide incommensurate with augmented economic activities during the post-COVID recovery period.

The authors have conducted a review on some of the recent developments given in the literature pertaining to the passive protection of concrete structures using intumescent coatings. The authors have also included the results from some recent tests carried out at the facilities using a newly commissioned state-of-the-art furnace.

This chapter is about how the tourism is revived and how it can be rebuilt in Asian and Pacific countries after the deadliest COVID-19 pandemic with facts and stats of prepandemic and postpandemic impacts on economies of Europe and Asia due to COVID-19. The pandemics are not new to the hospitality industry but this COVID-19 pandemic has changed the whole industry concepts, and several hotels have revived their products and protocols and redesigned them to cope with any pandemic in future. Family businesses hotels are the most affected stakeholders in the hospitality industry of Asia where the governments of different countries have provided the financial support to them to revive back. The purpose of this chapter is to provide the readers with the facts about the current scenario of the hospitality and tourism industry in Asian tourist destinations and how these countries have taken proper measures to face the future (Pandemic situations). The literature is based on prepandemic stats and the effects of COVID-19 on tourism industry during the existing phases of COVID-19 including the facts and available stats of Asia which will help in the understanding of how these countries are rebuilding the tourism industry in postpandemic situation.

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to study the ecological developments that are growing rapidly and are complemented by technological developments that make ecology a discipline which is able to collaborate, integrate, and use data for the development of science.

Design/Methodology/Approach – The method involves integration, analysis, and conclusion, drawing knowledge dissemination from heterogeneous ecological data that make the ecological research so complex requiring an approach to simplify the problem.

Findings – The data involved in ecology are very complex and diverse and spread from various sources, which are not mutually integrated so that a structured arrangement is required through the arrangement of computer-based data management.

Research Limitations/Implications – Eco-informatics is one of the options to manage the data, settings, and transform it into information and knowledge.

Even though it is widely used, reinforced concrete (RC) is susceptible to damage from various environmental factors. The hazard of a fire attack is particularly severe because it may cause the whole structure to collapse. Furthermore, repairing and strengthening existing structures with high-performance concrete (HPC) has become essential from both technical and financial points of view. In particular, studying the postfire behavior of HPC with normal strength concrete substrate requires experimental and numerical investigations. Accordingly, this study aims to numerically investigate the post-fire behavior of reinforced composite RC slabs.

Consequently, in this study, a numerical analysis was carried out to ascertain the flexural behavior of simply supported RC slabs strengthened with HPC and exposed to a particularly high temperature of 600°C for 2 h. This behavior was investigated and analyzed in the presence of a number of parameters, such as HPC types (fiber-reinforced, 0.5% steel, polypropylene fibers [PPF], hybrid fibers), strengthening side (tension or compression), strengthening layer thickness, slab thickness, boundary conditions, reinforcement ratio and yield strength of reinforcement.

The results showed that traction-separation and full-bond models can achieve accuracy compared with experimental results. Also, the fiber type significantly affects the postfire performance of RC slab strengthened with HPC, where the inclusion of hybrid fiber recorded the highest ultimate load. While adding PPF to HPC showed a rapid decrease in the load-deflection curve after reaching the ultimate load.

The proposed model accurately predicted the thermomechanical behavior of RC slabs strengthened with HPC after being exposed to the fire regarding load-deflection response, crack pattern and failure mode. Moreover, the considered independent parametric variables significantly affect the composite slabs’ behavior.

Should one use natural language or a controlled vocabulary to handle the names of organisms appearing in the scientific literature? At first sight the use of natural language seems attractive. One can take names straight from the text of articles and use them as descriptors in an information retrieval system. The taxonomic information is then as specific as the text itself.

The purpose of this study is assessment of fire and smoke hazards of some fiber reinforced polymers (FRP). The use of FRP strengthening strips has been found rapid growth in construction industry of Iran and many other countries. However, the fire and smoke hazards of these materials in both construction and use phases need to be determined and the appropriated measures against fire should be taken.

The fire hazards of two types of fibre-reinforced epoxy composites (graphite fibre-reinforced polymer and carbon fibre-reinforced polymer) were investigated in bench-scale using cone calorimeter test method. Time to ignition, heat release rate, total heat release, smoke release and carbon monoxide production were measured and analysed. Time to flashover of an assumed room lined with the tested FRP was analysed with Conetools software. Smoke production and toxicity of the considered composites were also analysed and discussed, using the fractional effective dose parameter.

The results showed that the tested FRP products had a high fire hazard and a potential high contribution to fire growth. The tests also proved that the used epoxy resin had a low glass transition temperature, around 50°C; therefore, the mechanical strength of the product could be drastically reduced at first stages of a probable fire incident. This also showed that a regular thermal barrier, typically used for protection of plastic foams against fire, could not be sufficient for the protection of strengthening FRP composites.

This research was carried out for the first time for the materials used in construction industry of Iran. The results and achievements were very useful for safe use and development of proper details of application of the system.