Larissa Arakawa Martins, Veronica Soebarto, Terence Williamson and Dino Pisaniello
This paper presents the development of personal thermal comfort models for older adults and assesses the models’ performance compared to aggregate approaches. This is necessary as…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper presents the development of personal thermal comfort models for older adults and assesses the models’ performance compared to aggregate approaches. This is necessary as individual thermal preferences can vary widely between older adults, and the use of aggregate thermal comfort models can result in thermal dissatisfaction for a significant number of older occupants. Personalised thermal comfort models hold the promise of a more targeted and accurate approach.
Design/methodology/approach
Twenty-eight personal comfort models have been developed, using deep learning and environmental and personal parameters. The data were collected through a nine-month monitoring study of people aged 65 and over in South Australia, who lived independently. Modelling comprised dataset balancing and normalisation, followed by model tuning to test and select the best hyperparameters’ sets. Finally, models were evaluated with an unseen dataset. Accuracy, Cohen’s Kappa Coefficient and Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (AUC) were used to measure models’ performance.
Findings
On average, the individualised models present an accuracy of 74%, a Cohen’s Kappa Coefficient of 0.61 and an AUC of 0.83, representing a significant improvement in predictive performance when compared to similar studies and the “Converted” Predicted Mean Vote (PMVc) model.
Originality/value
While current literature on personal comfort models have focussed solely on younger adults and offices, this study explored a methodology for older people and their dwellings. Additionally, it introduced health perception as a predictor of thermal preference – a variable often overseen by architectural sciences and building engineering. The study also provided insights on the use of deep learning for future studies.
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Terence W. Bates, Brian Williamson, James A. Spearot and Chester K. Murphy
Oil film thickness measurements made in the front main bearing of an operating 3.8 L, V‐6 engine were compared with rheological measurements made on a series of commercial and…
Abstract
Oil film thickness measurements made in the front main bearing of an operating 3.8 L, V‐6 engine were compared with rheological measurements made on a series of commercial and experimental oil blends. High‐temperature, high‐shear‐rate viscosity measurements correlated with the film thickness of all single‐grade and many multigrade oils. However, the film thickness provided by some multigrade oils were larger than could be accounted for by their high‐temperature, high‐shear‐rate viscosities alone. Although the pressure/viscosity coefficients of some of the oils were significantly different from those of the majority of oils tested, they were not oils which produced unusual film thicknesses. As a consequence, correcting oil viscosities for the esimated pressures acting within the bearing was unsuccessful in improving the correlations. The correlations were improved, however, by accounting for the elastic properties of the multigrade oils. Measurements of oil relaxation times at high temperatures and shear rates showed large differences in elastic properties among the test oils. A good correlation (R2 = 0.73) was obtained from a multiple linear regression of film thickness as a function of both high‐temperature, high‐shear‐rate viscosities and relaxation times.
Zalina Shari and Veronica Soebarto
Economically, Malaysia has one of the fastest growing construction industries in the world; however, the necessary balance between socio-economic and ecological systems – to avoid…
Abstract
Purpose
Economically, Malaysia has one of the fastest growing construction industries in the world; however, the necessary balance between socio-economic and ecological systems – to avoid further environmental damage – has not yet been reached by the industry. This paper aims to explore the extent of sustainable development practices (socially, environmentally and economically) in the Malaysian construction industry, focusing on the office building sector.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured in-depth interviews with 30 stakeholders from various backgrounds of the Malaysian construction industry are used to explore their challenges and motivations for pursuing sustainable outcomes.
Findings
The study finds that economic issues are the first priorities among stakeholders in any decision-makings for building projects and cost becomes one of the major reasons for the slow progress in implementing sustainable practices in building projects. Socially, there is still a wide gap of knowledge and awareness on sustainability issues among stakeholders, explaining the lack of commitment in achieving sustainability.
Research limitations/implications
The sample size is only adequate to enable internal generalisation; hence, further research is required to test the generalisability of the findings in this research.
Practical implications
This paper informs the government and regulatory stakeholders, research and education sector, private sector, and clients of the building industry, where the authors currently are and the gaps that the authors have to bridge in order to make sustainability more socially acceptable and integral in the local construction industry.
Originality/value
There have been very limited studies on exploring the views from various groups of stakeholders regarding all the three components of sustainable development in the Malaysian construction industry.
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Terence Chan, Gerald Chau and Dennis Chan
Nonprofit Organisations (NPOs) receive their funding in three major types: government subvention, donations and fees collected for services provided. While the contributors do not…
Abstract
Nonprofit Organisations (NPOs) receive their funding in three major types: government subvention, donations and fees collected for services provided. While the contributors do not normally act as the decision agents, the potential existence of agency problem has to be dealt with. This paper investigates whether effective monitoring of principal‐agent relationship exists in NPOs in Hong Kong, which may be perceived to be attached to different types of funding provided to NPOs. While findings from previous studies suggest that NPOs' expense level will be low when they are subject to external monitoring, our results reveal that the expense level of NPOs is similarly associated with the type of funding. More specifically, sizeable donations induce a perception of effective external monitoring on the decision agents, which leads to the adoption of a lower expense level. On the other hand, due to the weak control that can be imposed by existing regulatory framework and disclosure requirements, government subvention and fees collected do not seem to impose any effective monitoring effects on NPOs.
The purpose of this paper is to identify the economic forces influencing the outsourcing process of property management services, and investigate how these forces should be…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the economic forces influencing the outsourcing process of property management services, and investigate how these forces should be applied in order to maximize the productive efficiency and performance quality, thus ensuring optimal use of resources.
Design/methodology/approach
Market competition and transaction monitoring were identified to be the fundamental factors. Single‐case study method was used to quantitatively examine the impact of these economic forces on the outsourcing of property management services of the Hong Kong Housing Authority.
Findings
The property services market was contestable, and through competitive tendering the level of competition had a significant negative impact on production cost and a significant positive relationship with service quality. Fee level was also found to have no significant effect on service quality. Professional maintenance services were found to be complex and associated with significant transaction costs, especially where there was a high degree of contact with tenants.
Research limitations/implications
The outsourcing strategy forms a conceptual baseline on which further research can build to test its significance in many other settings, thus resulting in a more robust economic theory for outsourcing of property management services.
Practical implications
Competitive tendering should be adopted for outsourcing to minimize production cost and maximize service quality. The overall transaction costs should be minimized by focusing the limited resources on monitoring of the complex professional maintenance services, especially the services for major planned maintenance works where there are many occupiers involved.
Originality/value
The confirmatory tests indicate that the strategic objectives of cost and quality improvement from outsourcing, as expected by the stakeholders, can be achieved. Hence the research contributes to the property management practice by developing an economic strategy which optimizes the use of resources for the benefit of corporate organizations which own a property portfolio, whilst at the same time satisfying the power and needs of the tenants and other stakeholders.
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Outsourcing is now a common strategy for delivery of property services. Recent reviews of empirical literature find support for the efficiency and cost savings from outsourcing is…
Abstract
Purpose
Outsourcing is now a common strategy for delivery of property services. Recent reviews of empirical literature find support for the efficiency and cost savings from outsourcing is at best mixed. In the housing context, organizations are still sceptical to the real cost benefit and are reluctant to enter into multiyear outsourcing contracts to deliver their housing management and facilities services. This study aims to investigate whether outsourcing can bring significant cost savings to housing services, and if so to explore how the transaction process should be structured in order to optimize the transaction value through minimization of production and transaction costs.
Design/methodology/approach
Single‐case study methodology, based on a typical major housing corporation in Hong Kong, was used to quantitatively examine the impact of outsourcing on cost savings using independent‐samples t‐test, and competition on fees (production cost) using Pearson correlation analysis. Pearson analysis was also conducted to examine the correlation between the levels of transaction costs and the degrees of complexity of housing services.
Findings
The quantitative study found that outsourcing could lead to significant cost savings for housing services in a contestable property service market. The levels of competition had significant negative correlation with the tendered prices, inferring that more competent bidders should be invited for competitive tendering to minimize production cost. Complex services with intensive resident involvement and uncertain scope of works were associated with high monitoring costs, inferring that monitoring resources should be allocated according to the complexity of services to minimize transaction costs. This approach can ensure optimization of transaction value, which is particularly relevant to high‐density developments requiring high transaction costs for performance monitoring of the outsourced housing services.
Research limitations/implications
Whilst cost savings and transaction structure for optimization of transaction value are verified in the context of a representative major housing organization, the results form a baseline on which further research can build to test their significance in many other settings. Ultimately, a more robust transaction value theory can be developed for outsourcing of housing services.
Practical implications
With the findings of this research, housing organizations can make an informed decision to outsource the services. They can also adopt the transaction structure to optimize transaction value from outsourcing, i.e. minimization of production and transaction costs through market competition and allocation of monitoring resources based on the complexity of services.
Originality/value
This study makes economic contribution to corporate outsourcing policy by establishing a transaction structure which policy makers and facilities managers can adopt to optimize cost savings. Consequently, this will benefit the society through optimal use of resources.
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This study seeks to investigate the actual impact of management practices on performance quality of the outsourced professional housing maintenance services in Hong Kong. Much of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study seeks to investigate the actual impact of management practices on performance quality of the outsourced professional housing maintenance services in Hong Kong. Much of the literature is theoretically based and there is a knowledge gap in empirical confirmatory testing of the validity of the theories for effective management of the outsourced professional services.
Design/methodology/approach
It was hypothesized that there was positive correlation between output performance quality and input management factors. Triangulation methodology was used to develop and test the correlation whereby literature review and qualitative interviews with the maintenance consultancy management practitioners of the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HKHA) were used to generate the hypothesis which was then tested by quantitative regression, using data from the maintenance consultancies of the Authority.
Findings
The hypothesis was transformed into sub‐hypotheses, which were primarily positive relationships, between service quality and individual input factors of competition level, past performance, project leadership and quality benchmarking. Results of the qualitative and quantitative studies confirmed and validated the hypotheses, and hence substantiated that there is a significant correlation between performance quality and the relevant management practices in the outsourcing process of professional housing maintenance services.
Research limitations/implications
Whilst the correlation is validated in the context of professional housing maintenance services of the HKHA, it forms a conceptual baseline on which further research can build to test its significance for many other public and private sector settings, and for various professional property management services. Effective management measures can be identified to optimize performance quality.
Practical implications
This paper establishes the validity of the impact of management practices that property managers can apply to enhance the quality of outsourced professional housing maintenance services for the benefit of their customers and organizations.
Originality/value
This study should contribute to management of outsourced professional services in the context of housing. Property managers can enhance the performance quality of their professional consultants by applying effective management measures so that they can optimize service quality to satisfy the ever‐increasing tenant and owner expectations of value for money property services from outsourcing.
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Robert Smith and Gerard McElwee
To explore and document the emerging international market for stolen tractors and plant in the United Kingdom. Whilst this may appear to be a criminological problem relating…
Abstract
Purpose
To explore and document the emerging international market for stolen tractors and plant in the United Kingdom. Whilst this may appear to be a criminological problem relating specifically to rural crime, it is a sophisticated international criminal business organised by traditional organised crime groups (OCGs) such as the Italian, Polish and Turkish Mafia’s in conjunction with a network of criminal entrepreneurs.
Methodology/approach
Using annual statistical data provided by National Farmers Union (NFU) Mutual and Plant and Agricultural National Intelligence Unit (PANIU) and other material sourced using documentary research techniques supplemented by qualitative interviews with industry specialists we present 10 micro-case studies of rural OCGs engaged in this lucrative enterprise crime. The data is verified and authenticated using narrative inquiry techniques.
Findings
There is an entrepreneurial dimension to the crime because traditional criminal families with knowledge of rural areas and rural social capital form alliances with OCGs. The practical utility of the NFU model of entrepreneurial alliances with interested parties including the police is highlighted.
Research limitations/implications
Implications for research design, ethics and the conduct of such research which are identified and discussed. These include the need to develop an investigative framework to protect academic researchers similar to guidelines in place to protect investigative journalists.
Practical implications
An investigative framework and the adaption of the business model canvass (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2010) to cover illegal business models are proposed.
Social implications
Suggestions are provided for the need to legislate against international criminal conspiracies.
Originality/value
Uses a mixture of entrepreneurship and criminological theories to help develop an understanding of the problem from an investigative perspective.
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The purpose of this study is to investigate the actual impact of competition and management practices on performance quality of the outsourced professional housing maintenance…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the actual impact of competition and management practices on performance quality of the outsourced professional housing maintenance services in Hong Kong. Much of the literature is theoretically based and there is a knowledge gap in empirical confirmatory testing of the validity of performance quality theories.
Design/methodology/approach
It was hypothesized that there was positive correlation between output performance quality and input competition and management factors. A triangulation methodology was used to develop and test the correlation. The literature review and qualitative interviews with the maintenance consultancy management practitioners of the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HKHA) were used to generate hypothesis, which was then tested by quantitative regression, using data from the maintenance consultancies of the Authority.
Findings
The main hypothesis was transformed into sub‐hypotheses which considered the relationships between service quality and individual input factors of competition level, past performance, project leadership and quality benchmarking. The results of the qualitative and quantitative studies confirmed and validated the hypotheses, and hence substantiated the main hypothesis that there is a significant correlation between performance quality and the relevant competition and management practices adopted in the outsourcing process of professional housing maintenance services.
Research limitations/implications
Whilst the correlation is validated in the context of professional housing maintenance services of the HKHA, it forms a conceptual baseline from which further research can build to provide a regression model in many other public and private sector settings, and for other housing services, including integrated housing maintenance and management professional services. Effective competition and management practices can then be identified to optimize performance quality.
Practical implications
This paper establishes the validity of the impact of quality practices which the housing or facility managers can apply to enhance the performance quality of outsourced professional housing maintenance services for the benefit of their organization and customers.
Originality/value
This study contributes to quality management of the outsourced professional housing services. Housing organizations can enhance the performance quality of their professional consultants by applying effective competition and management practices so that they can attain best service quality to satisfy the ever‐increasing tenant and owner expectations of value for money housing services from outsourcing.