High performance fiber-reinforced cementitious composites (HPFRCC) are aggregates like cement grout with fine grains and fibers which can be used in many cases like seismic improvement of building components. One of these building components is connecting beam in coupled shear wall which can increase plasticity and energy absorption. In this paper nonlinear finite element model of coupled beam containing HPFRCC is analyzed and the influence diagonal reinforcement is investigated on cracking patterns, stress contours and hysteresis diagrams of shear wall. It was observed that diagonal reinforcements play significant role in shear load bearing capacity of shear wall coupled with HPFRCC beam.

The bulk room-temperature polymerization of styrene initiated by environmentally friendly catalysts Maghnite-Na+ is investigated. The catalyst removed from the reaction mixture simply by filtration could be regenerated and reused. The effect of the Maghnite-Na+ catalyst loading on degree of polymerization had been studied and state their inverse relation. The catalyst was characterized by X-ray diffraction and FTIR spectroscopy.

This paper addresses the stochastic permutation flow shop problem (SPFSP) in which the stochastic parameters are the processing times. This allows the modeling of setups and machine breakdowns. Likewise, it is proposed a multi-objective greedy randomized adaptive search procedure (GRASP) coupled with Monte-Carlo Simulation to obtain expected makespan and expected tardiness. To manage the bi-objective function, a sequential combined method is considered in the construction phase of the meta-heuristic. Moreover, the local Search combines 2-optimal interchanges with a Pareto Archived Evolution Strategy (PAES) to obtain the Pareto front. Also, some Taillard benchmark instances of deterministic permutation flow shop problem were adapted in order to include the variation in processing times. Accordingly, two coefficients of variation (CVs) were tested: one depending on expected processing times values defined as twice the expected processing time of a job, and a fixed value of 0.25. Thus, the computational results on benchmark instances show that the variable CV provided lower values of the expected makespan and tardiness, while the con-stant CV presented higher expected measures. The computational results present insights for further analysis on the behavior of stochastic scheduling problems for a better approach in real-life scenarios at industrial and service systems.

The current development of polyurethane self-healing materials has been evaluated and reviewed. Three main ways of self-healing – microcontainers, microvascular networks and reversible polymers - are described, and recent most prominent examples of self-healing materials applications presented.

In service oriented industry, it is very difficult to set a standard rule to satisfy customers. As customer awareness increases on the service offered by banks, expectation from services quality increases too. Quality of a service in banking industry plays an essential role in measuring the performance of banks. Thus, the present study examines the PAKSERV model to measure customer satisfaction and customer loyalty of Islamic Banks in Palestine. A survey method was adopted where data was collected from 482 respondents through structured questionnaire. Structural equation model (SEM) was applied to check the hypothesis relationship between proposed constructs. Statistical finding revealed that PAKSERV model had significant impact on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in Islamic banks of Palestine. Results also revealed that in cultural context PAKSERV model was the most appropriate scale and had predictive power of service quality in banking industry of Palestine. The findings of this study will be helpful for managers and policy makers to improve the service quality in Islamic banks of Palestine.

This paper provides a method of acoustic emission (AE) technique to detect a train bearing fault of tapered bearing unit (TBU). An approach is to utilize acoustic emission signals which were captured from piezoelectric transducer and processed using Fourier transform. The transformed signals may contain unique characteristic features relating to the various types of bearing faults. The experiments on different operating conditions were investigated and they corresponded to (a) a normal bearing and (b) outer race defect bearing. The result is promising for faulty bearing identification and discrimination between different bearing conditions.

This article aims to examine the influence of top management green commitment and green intellectual capital of Thailand’s thrift and credit cooperatives on sustainable business performance: the mediating role of collaboration. A questionnaire was used to collect data from 400 Thailand’s thrift and credit cooperatives. The measurement and structural models were analyzed with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The finding of the study demonstrated that top management green commitment and green intellectual capital have a positive influence on sustainable business performance and collaboration. Moreover, collaboration has a positive influence on sustainable business performance and mediates the relationship between top management green commitment on sustainable business performance, and also green intellectual capital on sustainable business performance. This empirical finding contributes to the body of knowledge in Resource Based View theory.

The adsorption behavior of a potential polynuclear Schiff base, (s)-2-(anthracen-9(10H)-ylideneamino)-3-phenyl propanoic acid (A9Y3PPA) on carbon steel (CS) in 1M hydrochloric acid solution has been investigated using weight loss measurements, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and potentiodynamic polarization studies. The surface morphology of the carbon steel specimens in the presence and absence of the inhibitor was evaluated by AFM analysis. The corrosion inhibition efficiencies of parent amine and parent ketone on carbon steel in 1M HCl solution have also been investigated using weight loss studies. The adsorption of A9Y3PPA obeys Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Thermodynamic parameters (Kads, ∆G0ads) were calculated using the adsorption isotherm. Activation parameters of the corrosion process (Ea, ∆H* and ∆S*) were also calculated from the corrosion rates obtained from temperature studies. Tafel plot analysis revealed that A9Y3PPA acts as a mixed type inhibitor. A probable inhibition mechanism was also proposed.

The use of solar energy has been adduced as an alternative way for generating electricity. This electricity is generated by solar panel but as temperature increases efficiency of panel decreases too. The main objective of this research paper is to minimize the use of the amount of water, electrical energy and required time needed for cooling of a solar panel. This paper discusses a new approach by acquiring water as a coolant for accomplishing Photovoltaic panels at their moderate temperature and limits it from overheating. It is the cheapest method to enhance the efficiency of the Photovoltaic panel in developing countries like India. This paper also analyses the material used in increasing the efficiency of PV panel.

The objective of this paper is to determine the effect of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as a new accounting reporting among Nigerian listed firms. This study uses book value, earnings and dividends to fill in the gap using a sample of 126 Nigerian listed firms in the stock market from 2009 to 2013 (pre and Post-IFRS adoption). Data was collected from Thompson Reuters, Bank scope DataStreams and annual reports. The study adopted Ohlson (1995) [Ohlson, J. (1995). Earnings, book-value, and dividends in equity valuation. Contemporary Accounting Research, 11(2), 661–687.] price model that has been frequently used in determining the quality of accounting information studies. The study finds that combined book value, earnings and dividends do not provide statistical significance effects on IFRS after adoption on the quality of accounting information. This could be possible, as dividends do not provide a significant effect in the presence of earnings. Furthermore, the audit big 4 quality provided an effect on the quality of accounting information because of IFRS adoption. Therefore, findings of this study provide additional literature on the decreasing quality of accounting information in an emerging market setting like Nigeria. The study implication is to the policy makers, regulators, and government that accounting information do not provide value relevance among Nigerian listed firms after IFRS adoption.