V. Beran, P. Dlask, D. Eaton, E. Hromada and O. Zindulka
This paper seeks to present an approach to the improvement of the risk analysis of construction projects by linking risk analysis to the potential variances in time and cost…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to present an approach to the improvement of the risk analysis of construction projects by linking risk analysis to the potential variances in time and cost performance of endogenous variables. This link is synchronous, such that changes in either the cost or time schedule variables are uniquely modelled to the overall time and cost profile of a project.
Design/methodology/approach
The presented approach is based on synchronous time and cost scheduling, simulation and the methodology presented here develops technical indicators on the basis of virtual management momentum (VMM).
Findings
The paper shows a potential improvement to management decision making by the use of VMM. Senior management can test alternative strategies and develop probability matrices defining the potential results.
Research limitations/implications
The current model simulates the impact of endogenous risks, and therefore by implication excludes all exogenous risks. This limitation can be removed by the introduction of other risk vectors, but is beyond the scope of the current research.
Originality/value
The mapping technique utilised to display these changes makes the appreciation of such impacts visually simple and is extremely effective in improving the management of endogenous project risk.
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The problem of diverse cash flows associated with a construction “project” appear in four progressive cycles. These are the initiating construction cycle and closing…
Abstract
Purpose
The problem of diverse cash flows associated with a construction “project” appear in four progressive cycles. These are the initiating construction cycle and closing deconstruction cycle (devaluation cycle). The effectiveness of any project is given by capitalisation cycle. The optimisation of payback (credit return) cycle is critical for any project.
Design/methodology/approach
For calculate of activity durations, cash flows and even we may use the spreadsheet table as a tool for expression of calculation formulas. This approach may offer a mechanism for answers regarding the sensitivity of manageable parameters (say changes in costs, construction speeds, duration of activity). The problem of optimal capacity expansion of construction work as a time dependent problem is studied in many different applied contexts. Traditional capacity planning usually begins with a forecast of demand on the basis of organisational or technological needs.
Findings
The implementation of a technical project carried out in conditions of high production speeds and low time reserves requires changes in technologies, organisation and preparation of construction. In each specific case, a civil engineer needs to know the economic impacts (the capability of applicable calculations).
Originality/value
It is obvious from the given example, which has the same features as the execution of a series of construction projects in recent years, that the myth of the importance of executing works in large volumes ahead of the deadlines has significant financial consequences.
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After a series of recent Delaware Chancery Court and Delaware Supreme Court decisions and the standard of judicial review applied in challenges to “going‐private” transactions…
Abstract
After a series of recent Delaware Chancery Court and Delaware Supreme Court decisions and the standard of judicial review applied in challenges to “going‐private” transactions, controlling stockholders seeking to privatize their subsidiaries may be induced to do so by means of a two‐step acquisition (i.e., unilateral tender or exchange offer, followed by a short‐form merger) instead of a negotiated, single‐step merger. That said, there are a range of practical considerations for public M&A advisors in the wake of these decisions that may not necessarily make the two‐step method the “be all and end all” approach. In any case, there is an incongruity in Delaware’s common law, which is policy‐driven and, to some degree, formalistic, and which may no longer be as defensible today as it once may have been. Accordingly, a critical review of the applicable Delaware precedents and, ultimately, the reversal or modification thereof, seems appropriate at this time.
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Vittorio Di Vito, Giulia Torrano, Giovanni Cerasuolo and Michele Ferrucci
The small air transport (SAT) domain is gaining increasing interest over the past decade, based on its perspective relevance in enabling efficient travel over a regional range, by…
Abstract
Purpose
The small air transport (SAT) domain is gaining increasing interest over the past decade, based on its perspective relevance in enabling efficient travel over a regional range, by exploiting small airports and fixed wing aircraft with up to 19 seats (EASA CS-23 category). To support its wider adoption, it is needed to enable single pilot operations.
Design/methodology/approach
An integrated mission management system (IMMS) has been designed and implemented, able to automatically optimize the aircraft path by considering trajectory optimization needs. It takes into account both traffic scenario and weather actual and forecasted condition and is also able to select best destination airport, should pilot incapacitation occur during flight. As part of the IMMS, dedicated evolved tactical separation system (Evo-TSS) has been designed to provide elaboration of both surrounding and far located traffic and subsequent traffic clustering, to support the trajectory planning/re-planning by the IMMS.
Findings
The Clean Sky 2-funded project COAST (Cost Optimized Avionics SysTem) successfully designed and validated through flight demonstrations relevant technologies enabling affordable cockpit and avionics and supporting single pilot operations for SAT vehicles. These technologies include the TSS in its baseline and evolved versions, included in the IMMS.
Originality/value
This paper describes the TSS baseline version and the basic aspects of the Evo-TSS design. It is aimed to outline the implementation of the Evo-TSS dedicated software in Matlab/Simulink environment, the planned laboratory validation campaign and the results of the validation exercises in fast-time Matlab/Simulink environment, which were successfully concluded in 2023.
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Vittorio Di Vito, Giulia Torrano, Giovanni Cerasuolo and Michele Ferrucci
This paper aims to describe the advancements of the activities that have been carried out, in the Cost-Optimized Avionics SysTem (COAST) project, to complete the design and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to describe the advancements of the activities that have been carried out, in the Cost-Optimized Avionics SysTem (COAST) project, to complete the design and in-flight demonstration of the Tactical Separation System (TSS), which is an automatic support system to the pilot’s decision-making, onboard on small air transport (SAT) vehicles under single pilot operations, in the separation management.
Design/methodology/approach
In the framework of the Clean Sky 2 funded project COAST, some enabling technologies for single pilot operations in the EASA CS-23 category vehicles are designed and demonstrated in flight. Among the relevant flight management technologies addressed in the project, the specific one devoted to the real-time support to pilot’s decision-making in maintaining the vehicle self-separation is the TSS, designed by the Italian Aerospace Research Centre.
Findings
The TSS design started in the year 2016 and has been completed in the year 2021 after successful in-flight demonstration in the dedicated flight test campaign. The system has been validated by means of several simulation campaigns and finally demonstrated its effectiveness in providing its intended functionalities (situational awareness, conflict detection, conflict resolution) to the pilot in real flight trials, involving the presence of real conflicting aircraft.
Originality/value
The TSS contributes enabling the implementation of single pilot operations in CS-23 category vehicles, thanks to the possibility to support the pilot with provision of consolidated traffic picture, detection of conflicting surrounding traffic and suggestion of suitable conflict resolution manoeuvre real-time during the flight, through dedicated human–machine interface designed on purpose. The TSS supports the new separation modes that are envisaged in the future SESAR ATM target concept, with particular reference to the possible delegation of the separation responsibility to the pilot.
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Vittorio Di Vito, Piotr Grzybowski, Tomasz Rogalski and Piotr Maslowski
This paper aims to describe the activities that are ongoing, in the Cost Optimized Avionics SysTem (COAST) project, to design an integrated mission management system (IIMS) to be…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to describe the activities that are ongoing, in the Cost Optimized Avionics SysTem (COAST) project, to design an integrated mission management system (IIMS) to be used as support to the pilot and/or to act as a backup in case of pilot incapacitation onboard on small air transport (SAT) vehicles, under single-pilot operations.
Design/methodology/approach
The COAST project, funded by Clean Sky 2 programme, is developing enabling technologies for single-pilot operations in the European Aviation Safety Agency CS-23 category vehicles. Such technologies include specific tools that are designed as individual enablers for single-pilot operations and specifically address: the real-time support to pilot’s decision making in maintaining the vehicle self-separation (this technology is the tactical separation system [TSS]); the real-time support to pilot’s situational awareness about observed and forecasted weather conditions (this technology is the advanced weather awareness system [AWAS]); and the real-time management of emergency conditions due to pilot’s incapacitation under single-pilot operations (this technology is the flight reconfiguration system [FRS]). Based on the outcomes of the design activities of such individual tools, in the COAST project emerged the opportunity to proceed with the design of a further system, leveraging the individual tools and benefitting from their integration.
Findings
The IMMS design started in the year 2020 and the activities carried out up to mid-2021 allowed to define the concept of operations of the system, its high-level requirements (functional, interface and operational requirements) and the preliminary system architecture.
Originality/value
The IMMS contributes enabling the implementation of single-pilot operations in CS-23 category vehicles, thanks to the possibility to support, in normal operational conditions, the pilot’s decision-making and, in emergency conditions due to pilot’s incapacitation, the automatic flight management up to the safe destination.
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An appropriate space allocation among different residence types gives higher profitability and liquidity for cash flow management in real estate projects for developers. Thereby…
Abstract
Purpose
An appropriate space allocation among different residence types gives higher profitability and liquidity for cash flow management in real estate projects for developers. Thereby, a balance between debt and equity should be kept for capital formation in developers where high level of cost, profit and risk exists. The purpose of this paper is to provide cash flow optimization under debt and equity financing while providing an appropriate space allocation of residence types via synchronous consideration of profitability and liquidity.
Design/methodology/approach
A novel optimization methodology that includes project financing, optimization and experimental design modules is proposed. The first module, project financing, considers the flexibility of utilizing one or both of debt financing and equity financing when making capital. The optimization module addresses space allocation among different residence types for a construction while maximizing profitability and liquidity using two mixed-integer linear programming models in a pre-emptive manner. The experimental design module assesses the effects of decisive parameters within the methodology via multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA).
Findings
The proposed methodology is applied to a real-life residential project in Istanbul. The optimization module yielded 42.5% profitability via the first linear programming model and 2.2% trade-off between liquidity and profitability while minimizing the payback period by the second linear programming model. Meanwhile, MANOVA results showed that profit per square meter and sale rate trends are the most prominent factors considering their significant effects on net present value and payback period.
Originality/value
To the best knowledge of the author, related papers focused only on profitability under equity financing. Liquidity (as an objective) and equity financing (as a financing method) have not been handled. Hence, this paper not only performs profitability and liquidity-oriented cash flow optimization under debt and equity financing but also optimizes space allocation of residences for the first time.
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Shareholder dividends are “rents”: they are paid out of a producer's surplus that, in a fully competitive market, would not exist. In any market system, no one has a right to…
Abstract
Shareholder dividends are “rents”: they are paid out of a producer's surplus that, in a fully competitive market, would not exist. In any market system, no one has a right to rents. Why, then, do shareholders receive dividends? Most likely, share gains have been the result of the usefulness of the share-centered ideologies in justifying a tremendous shift of corporate wealth from employees to an alliance of top managers and shareholders. This alliance now shows signs of breaking down, as the managers learn they no longer need the ideological cover. Standard accounts conceal the struggle over corporate surplus and the weakness of shareholder claims to appropriate it. Recognizing that distribution of corporate surplus is a political struggle is the first step towards a less ideologically blindered discussion of how that struggle ought to be structured.
Piotr Grzybowski and Kamil Ziółkowski
The purpose of this paper is to present research on the flight demonstration of avionics technology for CS-23 commuter category aircraft. The Integrated Mission Management System…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present research on the flight demonstration of avionics technology for CS-23 commuter category aircraft. The Integrated Mission Management System (IMMS) is designed to reduce pilot workload by aggregating hazard information from multiple domains (airspace, traffic, weather and terrain) and automatically prefiltering this data to display only hazards relevant to the flight plan, from origin to destination. This paper details the design of the IMMS, along with the process of the integration on aircraft and flight demonstration results.
Design/methodology/approach
The IMMS integrates several technologies, including the Advanced Weather Awareness System, Tactical Separation System, Compact Computing Platform and Flight Reconfiguration System. Hazards are consolidated in a Unified Hazard Database (UHD) and assigned severity levels, providing automated hazard filtering and path planning.
Findings
Simulations and flight tests demonstrated that the IMMS effectively reduces the information displayed to pilots in real-time without loss of critical safety data. Feedbacks from test pilots on IMMS usage, as well as suggestions for improving the multi-source Graphical User Interface, are also discussed.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations of the UHD were identified, offering insights into potential expansions to support more efficient automatic flight planning. The technology was validated through extensive laboratory testing and real-world flight trials, achieving Technology Readiness Level 5. This validation demonstrated how the severity of hazards can be linked to their transparency level on the display, with the aim of reducing information overload.
Practical implications
The IMMS shows potential to be ground-breaking system in the CS-23 aircraft category, autonomously supporting route planning and flight execution while adapting to in-flight weather changes and ensuring tactical separation from other aircraft. It also shows that multi-domain hazard information can be processed on limited on-board avionics systems.
Originality/value
This study highlights the importance of Hardware-In-The-Loop testing in verifying new technologies and mitigating risks related to software reliability, flight demonstrations and system integration.
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Jan Váně, František Kalvas and Josef Basl
This case study of the readiness of engineering companies for Industry 4.0 (I4.0) presents how surveyed key figures manage the implementation of I4.0. The research comprised a…
Abstract
Purpose
This case study of the readiness of engineering companies for Industry 4.0 (I4.0) presents how surveyed key figures manage the implementation of I4.0. The research comprised a census of larger and medium-sized engineering companies in the Pilsen region of the Czech Republic. The selected region is characterised by a long industrial tradition and a high concentration of technical and technology-oriented companies. The survey questionnaire monitors a wide range of topics. In this text, the authors present the results only from selected areas. In particular, the authors examined: (1) the use of I4.0 technologies in individual areas, (2) the level of the digital strategy (DS), (3) factors influencing investments in I4.0 technologies, (4) the impact of I4.0 on the workforce and (5) existing threats to I4.0 implementation. The purpose of this paper is to show how key figures with a real impact on the implementation of I4.0 think and act in practice (as opposed to declarations).
Design/methodology/approach
In the presented article, thanks to the unique data obtained in the form of a census in the selected, traditionally engineering-oriented Pilsen region, and within the highly industrially oriented Czech Republic, the authors explored the state of readiness of companies for implementation of I4.0. The obtained data allowed the authors to present, in a suitably descriptive way, the current level, with respect to the future, of the planned use of I4.0 principles in the surveyed companies. They monitored not only the state of the adoption process (Industry of 4.0 technologies) compared to the declared proclamations but also which phenomena represent key obstacles.
Findings
First, medium-sized companies have barely implemented I4.0, whereas I4.0 is more often implemented in larger companies, especially the so-called DS aspect of I4.0. Furthermore, it appears that larger companies also clearly consider I4.0 more often and see it more significantly as a key success factor. Second, the survey highlighted the fact that customer satisfaction is the determining impetus for the introduction of I4.0. It can be assumed that with an increase in pressure from customers and a decrease in the price of technology, the introduction of I4.0 will increase. The third important finding is that the authors can observe a kind of two-stage flow of innovation in the results. The transformation towards I4.0 is approached by larger companies first, because they are more sensitive to customer satisfaction, are looking for new opportunities, and have greater resources to cover the costly implementation of innovations.
Originality/value
In the presented article, thanks to the unique data obtained in the form of a census in the selected, traditionally engineering-oriented Pilsen region, and within the highly industrially oriented Czech Republic, the authors explored the state of implementation of I4.0. The obtained data allowed the authors to present, in a suitably descriptive way, the current level, with respect to the future, of the planned use of I4.0 principles in the surveyed companies.