Search for Spin Filtering By Electron Tunneling Through Ferromagnetic EuS Barriers in Pbs

Science.gov (United States)

Figielski, T.; Morawski, A.; Wosinski, T.; Wrotek, S.; Makosa, A.; Lusakowska, E.; Story, T.; Sipatov, A. Yu.; Szczerbakow, A.; Grasza, K.;

Constraint-based job shop scheduling with ILOG SCHEDULER

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nuijten, W.P.M.; Le Pape, C.

1998-01-01

We introduce constraint-based scheduling and discuss its main principles. An approximation algorithm based on tree search is developed for the job shop scheduling problem using ILOG SCHEDULER. A new way of calculating lower bounds on the makespan of the job shop scheduling problem is presented and

Review on PCL, PBS, and PCL/PBS blends containing carbon nanotubes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. P. Gumede

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Biodegradable polymers received considerable attention due to their contribution in the reduction of environmental concerns and the realization that global petroleum resources are finite. The development of double crystalline biobased blends such as poly(ε-caprolactone (PCL and poly(butylene succinate (PBS are particularly interesting because each component has an influence on the crystallization behaviour of the other component, and thus influences the strength and mechanical properties of a polymer blend. The lack of miscibility between PCL and PBS constitutes a bottleneck, and efforts have been made to improve the miscibility through the inclusion of copolymers. Having realized that incorporating conductive nanofillers such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs, (especially when the CNTs are functionalized or used as a masterbatch i.e., polycarbonate/MWCNTs masterbatch, into biopolymer matrices, can enhance the thermal and mechanical properties, as well as electrical and thermal conductivity, a lot of research was aimed at the production of bionanocomposites. This review paper discusses the properties of PCL, PBS, their blends, and their CNTs containing nanocomposites.

CERN SHOP CHRISTMAS SALE

CERN Multimedia

Visits & Exhibition Service

2000-01-01

Looking for Christmas present ideas? Come to the Reception Shop Special Stand in Meyrin, Main Building, ground floor, from Tuesday 12 to Thursday 14 December from 10.00 to 16.00.   Sweat-shirt col zippé, grey, blue, black (M, L, XL) 30.- Sweat-shirt col polo, grey, collar blue (M, L, XL) 30.- T-shirt, black, (M, L, XL) 15.- WWW T-shirt, white, bordeau (M, L, XL) 15.- CERN silk tie (3 colours) 33.- Fancy silk tie (blue, bordeau 25.- Silk scarf (blue, red, yellow) 35.- Swiss army knife with CERN logo 25.- New model of CERN watch 25.- New CERN baseball cap 10.- Antimatter (English/anglais) 30.- The Search for Infinity (French, Italian, English,) 35.- Auf der Suche nach dem Unendlichen 45.- If you miss this special occasion, the articles are also available at the Reception Shop in Building 33 from Monday to Saturday between 08.30 and 17.30 hrs (Shop will be closed at 12.00 on 22.12.).

Monitoring system for OpenPBS environment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kolosov, V. [ITEP, Moscow (Russian Federation)]. E-mail: victor.kolosov@itep.ru; Lublev, Y. [ITEP, Moscow (Russian Federation); Makarychev, S. [ITEP, Moscow (Russian Federation)

2004-11-21

The OpenPBS batch system is widely used in the HEP community. The Open PBS package has a set of tools to check the current status of the system. This information is useful, but it is not sufficient enough for resource accounting and planning. As a solution for this problem, we developed a monitoring system which parses the logfiles from OpenPBS and stores the information into a SQL database (PostgreSQL). This allows us to analyze the data in many different ways using SQL queries. The system was used in ITEP during the last two years for batch farm monitoring.

Patients' views on price shopping and price transparency.

Science.gov (United States)

Semigran, Hannah L; Gourevitch, Rebecca; Sinaiko, Anna D; Cowling, David; Mehrotra, Ateev

2017-06-01

Driven by the growth of high deductibles and price transparency initiatives, patients are being encouraged to search for prices before seeking care, yet few do so. To understand why this is the case, we interviewed individuals who were offered access to a widely used price transparency website through their employer. Qualitative interviews. We interviewed individuals enrolled in a preferred provider organization product through their health plan about their experience using the price transparency tool (if they had done so), their past medical experiences, and their opinions on shopping for care. All interviews were transcribed and manually coded using a thematic coding guide. In general, respondents expressed frustration with healthcare costs and had a positive opinion of the idea of price shopping in theory, but 2 sets of barriers limited their ability to do so in reality. The first was the salience of searching for price information. For example, respondents recognized that due to their health plan benefits design, they would not save money by switching to a lower-cost provider. Second, other factors were more important than price for respondents when choosing a provider, including quality and loyalty to current providers. We found a disconnect between respondents' enthusiasm for price shopping and their reported use of a price transparency tool to shop for care. However, many did find the tool useful for other purposes, including checking their claims history. Addressing the barriers to price shopping identified by respondents can help inform ongoing and future price transparency initiatives.

An improved sheep flock heredity algorithm for job shop scheduling and flow shop scheduling problems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chandramouli Anandaraman

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Job Shop Scheduling Problem (JSSP and Flow Shop Scheduling Problem (FSSP are strong NP-complete combinatorial optimization problems among class of typical production scheduling problems. An improved Sheep Flock Heredity Algorithm (ISFHA is proposed in this paper to find a schedule of operations that can minimize makespan. In ISFHA, the pairwise mutation operation is replaced by a single point mutation process with a probabilistic property which guarantees the feasibility of the solutions in the local search domain. A Robust-Replace (R-R heuristic is introduced in place of chromosomal crossover to enhance the global search and to improve the convergence. The R-R heuristic is found to enhance the exploring potential of the algorithm and enrich the diversity of neighborhoods. Experimental results reveal the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, whose optimization performance is markedly superior to that of genetic algorithms and is comparable to the best results reported in the literature.

Facile synthesis of organically capped PbS nanoparticles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nejo, Ayorinde O.; Nejo, Adeola A.; Pullabhotla, Rajasekhar V.S.R. [Department of Chemistry, University of Zululand, Private Bag X1001, Kwadlangezwa (South Africa); Revaprasadu, Neerish, E-mail: nrevapra@pan.uzulu.ac.za [Department of Chemistry, University of Zululand, Private Bag X1001, Kwadlangezwa (South Africa)

2012-10-05

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Hexadecylamine and tri-n-octylphosphine oxide capped PbS nanoparticles have been synthesized. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer By varying the reaction conditions various morphologies were formed. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The formation of the anisotropic particles is due to different growth mechanisms. - Abstract: PbS nanocubes and nanorods were successfully synthesized through a facile route using hexadecylamine (HDA) and tri-n-octylphosphine oxide (TOPO) as surfactants. The structure and morphology of the as-prepared PbS nanocrystals were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high resolution TEM. The morphology of the PbS was influenced by the variation in lead source and organic surfactant. Particles in the shape of spheres, perfect cubes and rods were obtained by variation in reaction conditions. A possible growth mechanism to explain the formation of these PbS nanocubes and nanorods is also discussed.

B1-B2 phase transition mechanism and pathway of PbS under pressure

Science.gov (United States)

Adeleke, Adebayo A.; Yao, Yansun

2018-03-01

Experimental studies at finite Pressure-Temperature (P-T) conditions and a theoretical study at 0 K of the phase transition in lead sulphide (PbS) have been inconclusive. Many studies that have been done to understand structural transformation in PbS can broadly be classified into two main ideological streams—one with Pnma and another with Cmcm orthorhombic intermediate phase. To foster better understanding of this phenomenon, we present the result of the first-principles study of phase transition in PbS at finite temperature. We employed the particle swarm-intelligence optimization algorithm for the 0 K structure search and first-principles metadynamics simulations to study the phase transition pathway of PbS from the ambient pressure, 0 K Fm-3m structure to the high-pressure Pm-3m phase under experimentally achievable P-T conditions. Significantly, our calculation shows that both streams are achievable under specific P-T conditions. We further uncover new tetragonal and monoclinic structures of PbS with space group P21/c and I41/amd, respectively. We propose the P21/c and I41/amd as a precursor phase to the Pnma and Cmcm phases, respectively. We investigated the stability of the new structures and found them to be dynamically stable at their stability pressure range. Electronic structure calculations reveal that both P21/c and I41/amd phases are semiconducting with direct and indirect bandgap energies of 0.69(5) eV and 0.97(3) eV, respectively. In general, both P21/c and I41/amd phases were found to be energetically competitive with their respective orthorhombic successors.

Census tract correlates of vape shop locations in New Jersey.

Science.gov (United States)

Giovenco, Daniel P; Duncan, Dustin T; Coups, Elliot J; Lewis, M Jane; Delnevo, Cristine D

2016-07-01

Vape shops are opening across the USA, but little is known about the types of neighborhoods where they are located. This study explores community-level predictors of vape shop locations in New Jersey, USA. Vape shops were identified in July 2015 using a validated systematic online search protocol and geocoded using Google Earth Pro. Multivariable logistic regression identified demographic and other predictors of vape shop presence at the census tract level. Tobacco outlet density was consistently associated with higher odds of vape shop presence after adjusting for covariates (pretail were negatively associated with vapor outlets. Census tracts with a higher proportion of non-Hispanic black residents had significantly lower odds of having a vape shop (β=-0.03, pretail is high, but where fewer racial minorities live. The retail environment may communicate social norms regarding vaping and ultimately influence use behaviors of community residents. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

PBS in the service of ecology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stiegel, J.

1999-01-01

In this paper the activities of PBS Banska Bystrica, Ltd., in the service ecology are presented. PBS is fundamentally oriented toward repairs to and maintenance of original products of Prvni brnenska strojirna, including spare parts, as well as modernization and ecologization of heat-energy operations using low-emission combustion equipment, cogeneration units for steam-gas processes and high efficient technological process control systems. In connection with company's profile the prospectus expressed with a sum of 80 million Slovak crowns in orders accepted for 1998 was exceed by 15 million Slovak crowns and despite a bad situation on the Slovak financial market the company is functioning in the first year of its activity without credits. In the perspective by 2000 PBS plans to obtain 200 million Slovak crowns worth orders

A new form of nicotine retailers: a systematic review of the sales and marketing practices of vape shops.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Joseph G L; Orlan, Elizabeth N; Sewell, Kerry B; Ribisl, Kurt M

2017-12-05

Retailers that primarily or exclusively sell electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) or vaping products represent a new category of tobacco retailer. We sought to identify (a) how vape shops can be identified and (b) sales and marketing practices of vape shops. A medical librarian iteratively developed a search strategy and in February 2017 searched seven academic databases (ABI/INFORM Complete, ECONLit, Embase, Entrepreneurship, PsycINFO, PubMed/MEDLINE and Scopus). We hand searched Tobacco Regulatory Science and Tobacco Prevention & Cessation . We used dual, independent screening. Records were eligible if published in 2010 or later, were peer-reviewed journal articles and focused on vape shops. We used dual, independent data abstraction and assessed risk of bias. Of the 3605 records identified, 22 were included. We conducted a narrative systematic review. Researchers relied heavily on Yelp to identify vape shops. Vape shop owners use innovative marketing strategies that sometimes diverge from those of traditional tobacco retailers. Vape shop staff believe strongly that their products are effective harm-reduction products. Vape shops were more common in areas with more White residents. Vape shops represent a new type of retailer for tobacco products. Vape shops have potential to promote e-cigarettes for smoking cessation but also sometimes provide inaccurate information and mislabelled products. Given their spatial patterning, vape shops may perpetuate inequities in tobacco use. The growing literature on vape shops is complicated by researchers using different definitions of vape shops (eg, exclusively selling e-cigarettes vs also selling traditional tobacco products). © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Structural characterization of chemically deposited PbS thin films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fernandez-Lima, F.A.; Gonzalez-Alfaro, Y.; Larramendi, E.M.; Fonseca Filho, H.D.; Maia da Costa, M.E.H.; Freire, F.L.; Prioli, R.; Avillez, R.R. de; Silveira, E.F. da; Calzadilla, O.; Melo, O. de; Pedrero, E.; Hernandez, E.

2007-01-01

Polycrystalline thin films of lead sulfide (PbS) grown using substrate colloidal coating chemical bath depositions were characterized by RBS, XPS, AFM and GIXRD techniques. The films were grown on glass substrates previously coated with PbS colloidal particles in a polyvinyl alcohol solution. The PbS films obtained with the inclusion of the polymer showed non-oxygen-containing organic contamination. All samples maintained the Pb:S 1:1 stoichiometry throughout the film. The amount of effective nucleation centers and the mean grain size have being controlled by the substrate colloidal coating. The analysis of the polycrystalline PbS films showed that a preferable (1 0 0) lattice plane orientation parallel to the substrate surface can be obtained using a substrate colloidal coating chemical bath deposition, and the orientation increases when a layer of colloid is initially dried on the substrate

CERN Shop Christmas Sale

CERN Multimedia

Visits & Exhibition Service/ETT-VE

2001-01-01

11-13.12.2001 Looking for Christmas present ideas? Come to the Reception Shop Special Stand in Meyrin, Main Building, ground floor, from Tuesday 11 to Thursday 13 December from 10.30 to 16.00. CERN Calendar 10.- CERN Sweat-shirts(M, L, XL) 30.- CERN T-shirt (M, L, XL) 20.- New CERN silk tie (2 colours) 35.- Fancy silk tie (blue, bordeau) 25.- Silk scarf (light blue, red, yellow) 35.- Swiss army knife with CERN logo 25.- CERN watch 25.- CERN baseball cap 15.- CERN briefcase 15.- Book 'Antimatter' (English) 35.- Book 'How the web was born' (English) 25.- The Search for Infinity (French, Italian, English, German) 40.-   If you miss this special occasion, the articles are also available at the Reception Shop in Building 33 from Monday to Saturday between 08.30 and 17.30 hrs.

Science Shops

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Michael Søgaard

1999-01-01

The paper prsents the overall concept of science shops as practised in most of the European science shops and present the concept practised and some experience obtained at the Technical University of Denmark. An outline for the planning of new sceince shops is presented.......The paper prsents the overall concept of science shops as practised in most of the European science shops and present the concept practised and some experience obtained at the Technical University of Denmark. An outline for the planning of new sceince shops is presented....

Towards an understanding of Internet-based problem shopping behaviour: The concept of online shopping addiction and its proposed predictors

Science.gov (United States)

ROSE, SUSAN; DHANDAYUDHAM, ARUN

2014-01-01

Background: Compulsive and addictive forms of consumption and buying behaviour have been researched in both business and medical literature. Shopping enabled via the Internet now introduces new features to the shopping experience that translate to positive benefits for the shopper. Evidence now suggests that this new shopping experience may lead to problematic online shopping behaviour. This paper provides a theoretical review of the literature relevant to online shopping addiction (OSA). Based on this selective review, a conceptual model of OSA is presented. Method: The selective review of the literature draws on searches within databases relevant to both clinical and consumer behaviour literature including EBSCO, ABI Pro-Quest, Web of Science – Social Citations Index, Medline, PsycINFO and Pubmed. The article reviews current thinking on problematic, and specifically addictive, behaviour in relation to online shopping. Results: The review of the literature enables the extension of existing knowledge into the Internet-context. A conceptual model of OSA is developed with theoretical support provided for the inclusion of 7 predictor variables: low self-esteem, low self-regulation; negative emotional state; enjoyment; female gender; social anonymity and cognitive overload. The construct of OSA is defined and six component criteria of OSA are proposed based on established technological addiction criteria. Conclusions: Current Internet-based shopping experiences may trigger problematic behaviours which can be classified on a spectrum which at the extreme end incorporates OSA. The development of a conceptual model provides a basis for the future measurement and testing of proposed predictor variables and the outcome variable OSA. PMID:25215218

Towards an understanding of Internet-based problem shopping behaviour: The concept of online shopping addiction and its proposed predictors.

Science.gov (United States)

Rose, Susan; Dhandayudham, Arun

2014-06-01

Compulsive and addictive forms of consumption and buying behaviour have been researched in both business and medical literature. Shopping enabled via the Internet now introduces new features to the shopping experience that translate to positive benefits for the shopper. Evidence now suggests that this new shopping experience may lead to problematic online shopping behaviour. This paper provides a theoretical review of the literature relevant to online shopping addiction (OSA). Based on this selective review, a conceptual model of OSA is presented. The selective review of the literature draws on searches within databases relevant to both clinical and consumer behaviour literature including EBSCO, ABI Pro-Quest, Web of Science - Social Citations Index, Medline, PsycINFO and Pubmed. The article reviews current thinking on problematic, and specifically addictive, behaviour in relation to online shopping. The review of the literature enables the extension of existing knowledge into the Internet-context. A conceptual model of OSA is developed with theoretical support provided for the inclusion of 7 predictor variables: low self-esteem, low self-regulation; negative emotional state; enjoyment; female gender; social anonymity and cognitive overload. The construct of OSA is defined and six component criteria of OSA are proposed based on established technological addiction criteria. Current Internet-based shopping experiences may trigger problematic behaviours which can be classified on a spectrum which at the extreme end incorporates OSA. The development of a conceptual model provides a basis for the future measurement and testing of proposed predictor variables and the outcome variable OSA.

Eyes Wide Shopped: Shopping Situations Trigger Arousal in Impulsive Buyers

Science.gov (United States)

Serfas, Benjamin G.; Büttner, Oliver B.; Florack, Arnd

2014-01-01

The present study proposes arousal as an important mechanism driving buying impulsiveness. We examined the effect of buying impulsiveness on arousal in non-shopping and shopping contexts. In an eye-tracking experiment, we measured pupil dilation while participants viewed and rated pictures of shopping scenes and non-shopping scenes. The results demonstrated that buying impulsiveness is closely associated with arousal as response to viewing pictures of shopping scenes. This pertained for hedonic shopping situations as well as for utilitarian shopping situations. Importantly, the effect did not emerge for non-shopping scenes. Furthermore, we demonstrated that arousal of impulsive buyers is independent from cognitive evaluation of scenes in the pictures. PMID:25489955

Eyes wide shopped: shopping situations trigger arousal in impulsive buyers.

Science.gov (United States)

Serfas, Benjamin G; Büttner, Oliver B; Florack, Arnd

2014-01-01

The present study proposes arousal as an important mechanism driving buying impulsiveness. We examined the effect of buying impulsiveness on arousal in non-shopping and shopping contexts. In an eye-tracking experiment, we measured pupil dilation while participants viewed and rated pictures of shopping scenes and non-shopping scenes. The results demonstrated that buying impulsiveness is closely associated with arousal as response to viewing pictures of shopping scenes. This pertained for hedonic shopping situations as well as for utilitarian shopping situations. Importantly, the effect did not emerge for non-shopping scenes. Furthermore, we demonstrated that arousal of impulsive buyers is independent from cognitive evaluation of scenes in the pictures.

The adherence to UK legislation by online shops selling new psychoactive substances

OpenAIRE

Wadsworth, Elle; Drummond, Colin; Deluca, Paolo

2017-01-01

Aims: On the 26th of May 2016, the UK Government introduced the Psychoactive Substances Act, 2016. The aim of this short report is to explore online shops selling New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) stated motivations for closing and the changes that arose preceding the ban. Methods: The search for online shops selling NPS was made throughout October 2015. From March to June 2016, data were collected on the status of the online shops, and whether they mentioned the ban, the delay, or their clos...

Eyes wide shopped: shopping situations trigger arousal in impulsive buyers.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Benjamin G Serfas

Full Text Available The present study proposes arousal as an important mechanism driving buying impulsiveness. We examined the effect of buying impulsiveness on arousal in non-shopping and shopping contexts. In an eye-tracking experiment, we measured pupil dilation while participants viewed and rated pictures of shopping scenes and non-shopping scenes. The results demonstrated that buying impulsiveness is closely associated with arousal as response to viewing pictures of shopping scenes. This pertained for hedonic shopping situations as well as for utilitarian shopping situations. Importantly, the effect did not emerge for non-shopping scenes. Furthermore, we demonstrated that arousal of impulsive buyers is independent from cognitive evaluation of scenes in the pictures.

One visual search, many memory searches: An eye-tracking investigation of hybrid search.

Science.gov (United States)

Drew, Trafton; Boettcher, Sage E P; Wolfe, Jeremy M

2017-09-01

Suppose you go to the supermarket with a shopping list of 10 items held in memory. Your shopping expedition can be seen as a combination of visual search and memory search. This is known as "hybrid search." There is a growing interest in understanding how hybrid search tasks are accomplished. We used eye tracking to examine how manipulating the number of possible targets (the memory set size [MSS]) changes how observers (Os) search. We found that dwell time on each distractor increased with MSS, suggesting a memory search was being executed each time a new distractor was fixated. Meanwhile, although the rate of refixation increased with MSS, it was not nearly enough to suggest a strategy that involves repeatedly searching visual space for subgroups of the target set. These data provide a clear demonstration that hybrid search tasks are carried out via a "one visual search, many memory searches" heuristic in which Os examine items in the visual array once with a very low rate of refixations. For each item selected, Os activate a memory search that produces logarithmic response time increases with increased MSS. Furthermore, the percentage of distractors fixated was strongly modulated by the MSS: More items in the MSS led to a higher percentage of fixated distractors. Searching for more potential targets appears to significantly alter how Os approach the task, ultimately resulting in more eye movements and longer response times.

Da "Search engines" a "Shop engines"

OpenAIRE

Lupi, Mauro

2001-01-01

The change occuring related to “search engines” is going towards e-commerce, transforming all the main search engines into information and commercial suggestion conveying means, basing their businnes on this activity. In a next future we will find two main series of search engines: from one side, the portals that will offer a general orientation guide being convoying means for services and to-buy products; from the other side, vertical portals able to offer information and products on specifi...

Online consumer behavior and its relationship with socio-demographics, shopping orientations, need for emotion, and fashion leadership

OpenAIRE

Burkolter, Dina; Kluge, Annette

2011-01-01

With online shopping entering a consolidation phase, there is a need for research differentiating online consumer behavior for a range of prod-uct categories. Also, individual differences in online shopping need to be considered. Therefore, a survey (N = 405) assessing online infor-mation search and online shopping for nine different product categories as well as socio-demographic and individual variables (shopping orien-tation, need for emotion, and fashion leadership) was conducted in Germa...

A novel electrochemical preparation of PbS nanoparticles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang Yujun

2006-01-01

A simple one-step anodic sonoelectrochemical method to synthesize PbS nanoparticles has been developed. With the lead foil as the sacrificing anode, Pb(II) was anodically dissolved from the lead electrode into the aqueous solution of sodium sulfide, supporting electrolyte (potassium nitrate) and capping agent (PVA) at a constant potential, and then the produced Pb(II) reacted with the sulfide anion to form PbS nanoparticles under ultrasonic irradiation. The effects of the applied potential, capping agent and ultrasound in the formation of PbS nanoparticles are discussed, and the results suggest that the anodic sonoelectrochemical method may be a general and convenient way to prepare metal sulfide nanoparticles

A Method for Efficient Searching at Online Shopping

Science.gov (United States)

Sanjo, Tomomi; Nagata, Moiro

In recent years, online shopping has been popularized. However, the users can not find efficiently their items at on-line markets. This paper proposes an engine to find items easily at the online market. This engine has the following facilities. First, it presents information in a fixed format. Second, the user can find items by selected keywords. Third, it presents only necessary information by using his/her history. Finally, it has a customize function for each user. Moreover, the system asks the users to down load a page of recommended items. We show the effectives of our proposal with some experiments.

A Local and Global Search Combine Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm for Job-Shop Scheduling to Minimize Makespan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhigang Lian

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The Job-shop scheduling problem (JSSP is a branch of production scheduling, which is among the hardest combinatorial optimization problems. Many different approaches have been applied to optimize JSSP, but for some JSSP even with moderate size cannot be solved to guarantee optimality. The original particle swarm optimization algorithm (OPSOA, generally, is used to solve continuous problems, and rarely to optimize discrete problems such as JSSP. In OPSOA, through research I find that it has a tendency to get stuck in a near optimal solution especially for middle and large size problems. The local and global search combine particle swarm optimization algorithm (LGSCPSOA is used to solve JSSP, where particle-updating mechanism benefits from the searching experience of one particle itself, the best of all particles in the swarm, and the best of particles in neighborhood population. The new coding method is used in LGSCPSOA to optimize JSSP, and it gets all sequences are feasible solutions. Three representative instances are made computational experiment, and simulation shows that the LGSCPSOA is efficacious for JSSP to minimize makespan.

Self-assembled colloidal PbS quantum dots on GaAs substrates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lue, Wei; Yamada, Fumihiko; Kamiya, Itaru

2010-01-01

We report the fabrication and analysis of self-assembled monolayer and bilayer films of colloidal PbS quantum dots (QDs) on GaAs (001) substrates. 1,6-hexanedithiol is used as link molecule between QDs and GaAs substrates. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and photoluminescence (PL) measurements confirm the formation of PbS QD film on GaAs. For the monolayer PbS QD film, the temperature-dependent PL shows a feature typical of close-packed film. For the bilayer PbS QD film fabricated from two different mean-sized PbS QDs, we find that the stacking sequence of QDs with different size affects the quantum yield and emission wavelength of the film.

Solvent Engineering for High-Performance PbS Quantum Dots Solar Cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rongfang Wu

2017-07-01

Full Text Available PbS colloidal quantum dots (CQDs solar cells have already demonstrated very impressive advances in recent years due to the development of many different techniques to tailor the interface morphology and compactness in PbS CQDs thin film. Here, n-hexane, n-octane, n-heptane, isooctane and toluene or their hybrids are for the first time introduced as solvent for comparison of the dispersion of PbS CQDs. PbS CQDs solar cells with the configuration of PbS/TiO2 heterojunction are then fabricated by using different CQDs solution under ambient conditions. The performances of the PbS CQDs solar cells are found to be tuned by changing solvent and its content in the PbS CQDs solution. The best device could show a power conversion efficiency (PCE of 7.64% under AM 1.5 G illumination at 100 mW cm−2 in a n-octane/isooctane (95%/5% v/v hybrid solvent scheme, which shows a ~15% improvement compared to the control devices. These results offer important insight into the solvent engineering of high-performance PbS CQDs solar cells.

Examining characteristics, knowledge and regulatory practices of specialized drug shops in Sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review of the literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Wafula, Francis N; Miriti, Eric M; Goodman, Catherine A

2012-07-27

Specialized drug shops such as pharmacies and drug shops are increasingly becoming important sources of treatment. However, knowledge on their regulatory performance is scarce. We set out to systematically review literature on the characteristics, knowledge and practices of specialized drug shops in Sub-Saharan Africa. We searched PubMed, EMBASE, WEB of Science, CAB Abstracts, PsycINFO and websites for organizations that support medicine policies and usage. We also conducted open searches using Google Scholar, and searched manually through references of retrieved articles. Our search included studies of all designs that described characteristics, knowledge and practices of specialized drug shops. Information was abstracted on authors, publication year, country and location, study design, sample size, outcomes investigated, and primary findings using a uniform checklist. Finally, we conducted a structured narrative synthesis of the main findings. We obtained 61 studies, mostly from Eastern Africa, majority of which were conducted between 2006 and 2011. Outcome measures were heterogeneous and included knowledge, characteristics, and dispensing and regulatory practices. Shop location and client demand were found to strongly influence dispensing practices. Whereas shops located in urban and affluent areas were more likely to provide correct treatments, those in rural areas provided credit facilities more readily. However, the latter also charged higher prices for medicines. A vast majority of shops simply sold whatever medicines clients requested, with little history taking and counseling. Most shops also stocked popular medicines at the expense of policy recommended treatments. Treatment policies were poorly communicated overall, which partly explained why staff had poor knowledge on key aspects of treatment such as medicine dosage and side effects. Overall, very little is known on the link between regulatory enforcement and practices of specialized drug shops

Genetic algorithm and neural network hybrid approach for job-shop scheduling

OpenAIRE

Zhao, Kai; Yang, Shengxiang; Wang, Dingwei

1998-01-01

Copyright @ 1998 ACTA Press This paper proposes a genetic algorithm (GA) and constraint satisfaction adaptive neural network (CSANN) hybrid approach for job-shop scheduling problems. In the hybrid approach, GA is used to iterate for searching optimal solutions, CSANN is used to obtain feasible solutions during the iteration of genetic algorithm. Simulations have shown the valid performance of the proposed hybrid approach for job-shop scheduling with respect to the quality of solutions and ...

A simple route for making surfactant free lead sulfide (PbS) quantum dots

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Alam, Firoz; Kumar, Neetesh; Dutta, Viresh, E-mail: vdutta@ces.iitd.ac.in

2015-05-15

Highlights: • Surfactant free PbS NCs were successfully synthesised using CoSP technique. • The technique eliminates the requirements of washing to remove the ligands. • Grinding using mortar and pestle creates well separated PbS QDs. • Surfactant free PbS NCs are stable and do not show any degradation with time. - Abstract: An efficient, cost effective and less time consuming method suitable for mass production of surfactant free quantum dots (QDs) of lead sulfide (PbS) is reported. PbS nanocrystals (NCs) are first synthesised by continuous spray pyrolysis (CoSP) technique and de-agglomeration into PbS quantum dots (QDs) is achieved by vigorous mechanical grinding using mortar and pestle. Lead acetate and thiourea were used as the precursor materials for preparation of surfactant free PbS NCs. The broadening in XRD peaks of ground NCs as compared to as synthesized PbS NCs clearly indicated the reduction in particle size to be QDs of PbS. The TEM images also showed that ground PbS NCs were nearly spherical in shape having an average diameter in the range of 4–6 nm. The shift in optical gap from 0.41 eV to 1.47 eV supported the QD formation.

Identification of Vape Shops in Two North Carolina Counties: An Approach for States without Retailer Licensing.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Joseph G L; D'Angelo, Heather; Kuteh, Jaleel D; Martin, Ryan J

2016-10-27

Stores that sell electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) as their primary product are a new phenomenon and often termed "vape shops". While vape shops are now regulated by state and federal agencies, not all states maintain lists of vape shops in operation. Standard ways of identifying tobacco retailers through off-premise alcohol permits and business listing services may not identify vape shops. We used four online business listing services (i.e., Google Maps, ReferenceUSA, YellowPages.com, Yelp) to identify vape shops in two counties in North Carolina (NC). In one county, we also assessed four vaping web sites. We drove primary and secondary roads to physically validate the identified stores and attempt to identify stores not listed online. To assess the accuracy of the online searches, we calculated sensitivity and positive predictive values (PPVs). This research was conducted in spring and summer 2016 and identified 28 vape shops online. We confirmed 16 vape shops (seven in Pitt County, NC, USA, and nine in Durham County, NC, USA). Online searches ranged in sensitivity, 62.5%-81.3%, and PPVs ranged from 73.3% to 92.3%. Because of the range of sensitivity found among the business listing services, state policymakers should consider uniform licensing requirements for vape and tobacco retailers to more easily track retailers and ensure compliance with regulations.

Generation Y Attitudes towards Shopping: A Comparison of the Czech Republic and Slovakia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Klapilova Krbova Petra

2016-03-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the results of a study focused on Generation Y (born between 1980 and 2000 behavior in two neighboring European countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. This article identifies and describes basic characteristics of this generation’s general behavior as well as defines specifics of their shopping behavior by examining their attitudes towards retailers, brands, sales and discount offers. The sample consisted of 380 respondents: 162 from Slovakia and 218 from the Czech Republic. Results of the analysis indicate that shopping is perceived as an entertaining and pleasurable leisure activity. A particular product is chosen before the shopping place. Approximately two-thirds of the respondents search for information online, but quite a large percentage prefer both offline searching and purchasing. Brands are considered to be the symbols and guarantors of quality, but also uselessly expensive. Finally, a positive attitude towards sales and discount offers was observed.

Gold-decorated shopping centre; Golddekoriertes Shopping Center

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Altmannshofer, Robert

2010-11-15

In the autumn 2009, the German quality seal sustainable construction for commercial new buildings was introduced. Thus, owners and operators of retail real estate and shopping centres can make clear their commitment in the matter of sustainability. The Ernst-August-Galerie (Hanover, Federal Republic of Germany) developed and operated by ECE Projektmanagement GmbH and Co. KG (Hamburg, Federal Republic of Germany) was a pilot project and also the first gold in one. With its around 150 shops, the Ernst-August-Galerie offers a supermarket, fashion outlets, a food court, service outlets and restaurants/cafes. The spacious and elegantly designed shopping mall with its piazzas and light-flooded rotundas exudes a Mediterranean air, making it a high-quality venue for shopping, strolling and leisure activities.

A novel particle swarm optimization algorithm for permutation flow-shop scheduling to minimize makespan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lian Zhigang; Gu Xingsheng; Jiao Bin

2008-01-01

It is well known that the flow-shop scheduling problem (FSSP) is a branch of production scheduling and is NP-hard. Now, many different approaches have been applied for permutation flow-shop scheduling to minimize makespan, but current algorithms even for moderate size problems cannot be solved to guarantee optimality. Some literatures searching PSO for continuous optimization problems are reported, but papers searching PSO for discrete scheduling problems are few. In this paper, according to the discrete characteristic of FSSP, a novel particle swarm optimization (NPSO) algorithm is presented and successfully applied to permutation flow-shop scheduling to minimize makespan. Computation experiments of seven representative instances (Taillard) based on practical data were made, and comparing the NPSO with standard GA, we obtain that the NPSO is clearly more efficacious than standard GA for FSSP to minimize makespan

Comparison Shopping Agents and Czech Online Customers’ Shopping Behaviour

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pilik Michal

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The internet has changed the lifestyles and shopping behaviours of customers. Online purchasing enables people to obtain information about products and services provided more effectively and easily, with the result that home shopping has become ordinary and usual. This paper presents part of a research focusing on online shopping customers’ behaviour in the Czech Republic. The article pertains to comparison shopping agents (CPAs, a tool which provides information to customers and helps find the best offer. The research was conducted on the basis of an online questionnaire available on an internet web page. The main results confirmed a dependency between online purchasing and the use of shopping agents, which are very popular in the Czech Republic. Almost two-thirds of online shoppers use CPAs when they engage in internet shopping. The final part of the paper addresses references and customers’ reviews as an important factor for the selection of online retailer.

Shopping Centres and Selected Aspects of Shopping Behaviour (Brno, the Czech Republic)

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kunc, J.; Tonev, P.; Szczyrba, Z.; Frantál, Bohumil

2012-01-01

Roč. 7, č. 2 (2012), s. 39-51 ISSN 2065-4421 Institutional support: RVO:68145535 Keywords : shopping centres * shopping habits * commuting to retail shops Subject RIV: AO - Sociology, Demography http://technicalgeography.org/pdf/2_2012/05_josef_kunc_petr_tonev_zdenek_szczyrba_bohumil_frantal_shopping_centres_and_selected_aspects_of_shopping_behaviour.pdf

Examining characteristics, knowledge and regulatory practices of specialized drug shops in Sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review of the literature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wafula Francis N

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Specialized drug shops such as pharmacies and drug shops are increasingly becoming important sources of treatment. However, knowledge on their regulatory performance is scarce. We set out to systematically review literature on the characteristics, knowledge and practices of specialized drug shops in Sub-Saharan Africa. Methods We searched PubMed, EMBASE, WEB of Science, CAB Abstracts, PsycINFO and websites for organizations that support medicine policies and usage. We also conducted open searches using Google Scholar, and searched manually through references of retrieved articles. Our search included studies of all designs that described characteristics, knowledge and practices of specialized drug shops. Information was abstracted on authors, publication year, country and location, study design, sample size, outcomes investigated, and primary findings using a uniform checklist. Finally, we conducted a structured narrative synthesis of the main findings. Results We obtained 61 studies, mostly from Eastern Africa, majority of which were conducted between 2006 and 2011. Outcome measures were heterogeneous and included knowledge, characteristics, and dispensing and regulatory practices. Shop location and client demand were found to strongly influence dispensing practices. Whereas shops located in urban and affluent areas were more likely to provide correct treatments, those in rural areas provided credit facilities more readily. However, the latter also charged higher prices for medicines. A vast majority of shops simply sold whatever medicines clients requested, with little history taking and counseling. Most shops also stocked popular medicines at the expense of policy recommended treatments. Treatment policies were poorly communicated overall, which partly explained why staff had poor knowledge on key aspects of treatment such as medicine dosage and side effects. Overall, very little is known on the link between regulatory

Using the Vape Shop Standardized Tobacco Assessment for Retail Settings (V-STARS) to Assess Product Availability, Price Promotions, and Messaging in New Hampshire Vape Shop Retailers.

Science.gov (United States)

Kong, Amanda Y; Eaddy, Jessica L; Morrison, Susan L; Asbury, Donna; Lindell, Kristine M; Ribisl, Kurt M

2017-04-01

This is the first statewide census of the product availability, price promotions, and product messaging of vape shops. A comprehensive list of New Hampshire vape shops was developed through a previously validated online search method. Store audits were conducted in 55 stores between January and February 2016 using the Vape Shop Standardized Tobacco Assessment for Retail Settings (V-STARS). Modifiable devices and cig-alikes were sold in 92.6% and 14.6% of stores, respectively. Cross-product promotions with tobacco products were rare, and messaging promoting e-cigarettes as effective cessation devices was found in 27.3% of all stores. Candy/fruit and menthol e-liquids were most commonly found in stores, and sampling of products was available in 83.6% of stores. Ten (18.2%) stores did not have a minimum age sign posted, and self-service sampling displays were available in about one-fifth of stores. Using V-STARS to conduct retail assessments of vape shops is feasible and is important for assessing the changing retail environment of vape shops. Vape shops distinguish themselves from traditional tobacco product retailers and offer a variety of products to customize a consumer's experience. Regulations and effective enforcement ensuring accurate health messages is essential.

Using the Vape Shop Standardized Tobacco Assessment for Retail Settings (V-STARS) to Assess Product Availability, Price Promotions, and Messaging in New Hampshire Vape Shop Retailers

Science.gov (United States)

Kong, Amanda Y.; Eaddy, Jessica L.; Morrison, Susan L.; Asbury, Donna; Lindell, Kristine M.; Ribisl, Kurt M.

2017-01-01

Objectives This is the first statewide census of the product availability, price promotions, and product messaging of vape shops. Methods A comprehensive list of New Hampshire vape shops was developed through a previously validated online search method. Store audits were conducted in 55 stores between January and February 2016 using the Vape Shop Standardized Tobacco Assessment for Retail Settings (V-STARS). Results Modifiable devices and cig-alikes were sold in 92.6% and 14.6% of stores, respectively. Cross-product promotions with tobacco products were rare, and messaging promoting e-cigarettes as effective cessation devices was found in 27.3% of all stores. Candy/fruit and menthol e-liquids were most commonly found in stores, and sampling of products was available in 83.6% of stores. Ten (18.2%) stores did not have a minimum age sign posted, and self-service sampling displays were available in about one-fifth of stores. Conclusions Using V-STARS to conduct retail assessments of vape shops is feasible and is important for assessing the changing retail environment of vape shops. Vape shops distinguish themselves from traditional tobacco product retailers and offer a variety of products to customize a consumer’s experience. Regulations and effective enforcement ensuring accurate health messages is essential. PMID:29201950

A bi-criteria M-machine SDST flow shop scheduling using modified ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

user

In the present work, a modified heuristic based genetic algorithm ..... Due to the large search space in flow shop scheduling, it is expected that random generation ..... ergonomics, anthropometry, inventory management and quality control etc.

Identification of Vape Shops in Two North Carolina Counties: An Approach for States without Retailer Licensing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joseph G. L. Lee

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Stores that sell electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS as their primary product are a new phenomenon and often termed “vape shops”. While vape shops are now regulated by state and federal agencies, not all states maintain lists of vape shops in operation. Standard ways of identifying tobacco retailers through off-premise alcohol permits and business listing services may not identify vape shops. We used four online business listing services (i.e., Google Maps, ReferenceUSA, YellowPages.com, Yelp to identify vape shops in two counties in North Carolina (NC. In one county, we also assessed four vaping web sites. We drove primary and secondary roads to physically validate the identified stores and attempt to identify stores not listed online. To assess the accuracy of the online searches, we calculated sensitivity and positive predictive values (PPVs. This research was conducted in spring and summer 2016 and identified 28 vape shops online. We confirmed 16 vape shops (seven in Pitt County, NC, USA, and nine in Durham County, NC, USA. Online searches ranged in sensitivity, 62.5%–81.3%, and PPVs ranged from 73.3% to 92.3%. Because of the range of sensitivity found among the business listing services, state policymakers should consider uniform licensing requirements for vape and tobacco retailers to more easily track retailers and ensure compliance with regulations.

Identification of Vape Shops in Two North Carolina Counties: An Approach for States without Retailer Licensing

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Joseph G. L.; D’Angelo, Heather; Kuteh, Jaleel D.; Martin, Ryan J.

2016-01-01

Stores that sell electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) as their primary product are a new phenomenon and often termed “vape shops”. While vape shops are now regulated by state and federal agencies, not all states maintain lists of vape shops in operation. Standard ways of identifying tobacco retailers through off-premise alcohol permits and business listing services may not identify vape shops. We used four online business listing services (i.e., Google Maps, ReferenceUSA, YellowPages.com, Yelp) to identify vape shops in two counties in North Carolina (NC). In one county, we also assessed four vaping web sites. We drove primary and secondary roads to physically validate the identified stores and attempt to identify stores not listed online. To assess the accuracy of the online searches, we calculated sensitivity and positive predictive values (PPVs). This research was conducted in spring and summer 2016 and identified 28 vape shops online. We confirmed 16 vape shops (seven in Pitt County, NC, USA, and nine in Durham County, NC, USA). Online searches ranged in sensitivity, 62.5%–81.3%, and PPVs ranged from 73.3% to 92.3%. Because of the range of sensitivity found among the business listing services, state policymakers should consider uniform licensing requirements for vape and tobacco retailers to more easily track retailers and ensure compliance with regulations. PMID:27801793

Modeling the PbS quantum dots complex dielectric function by adjusting the E-k diagram critical points of bulk PbS

Science.gov (United States)

Hechster, Elad; Sarusi, Gabby

2017-07-01

The complex dielectric function ɛ(E )=ɛR(E )+i ɛI(E ) of a semiconductor is a key parameter that dictates the material's optical and electrical properties. Surprisingly, the ɛ(E ) of Lead Sulfide (PbS) quantum dots (QDs) has not been widely studied. In the present work, we develop a new model that aims to simulate the ɛ(E ) of QDs. Our model is based on the fact that the quantum confinement in the nano regime affects all the electronic transitions throughout the entire Brillouin zone. Hence, as a first approximation, we attribute an equal contribution of energy, equivalent to the bandgap broadening, to each critical point (CP) in the E-k diagram. This is mathematically realized by adding these energy contributions to the central energy parameters of the Lorentz oscillator model. In order to validate our model, we used the CP parameters of bulk PbS to simulate the ɛ(E ) of PbS QDs. Next, we use Maxwell Relations to calculate the refractive index and the extinction coefficient of PbS QDs from ɛ(" separators="|E ). Our results were compared with those published in the previous literature and showed good agreement. Our findings open a new avenue that may enable the calculation of the ɛ(" separators="|E ) for nanoparticle systems.

Identification and Analysis of Multi-tasking Product Information Search Sessions with Query Logs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiang Zhou

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Purpose: This research aims to identify product search tasks in online shopping and analyze the characteristics of consumer multi-tasking search sessions. Design/methodology/approach: The experimental dataset contains 8,949 queries of 582 users from 3,483 search sessions. A sequential comparison of the Jaccard similarity coefficient between two adjacent search queries and hierarchical clustering of queries is used to identify search tasks. Findings: (1 Users issued a similar number of queries (1.43 to 1.47 with similar lengths (7.3-7.6 characters per task in mono-tasking and multi-tasking sessions, and (2 Users spent more time on average in sessions with more tasks, but spent less time for each task when the number of tasks increased in a session. Research limitations: The task identification method that relies only on query terms does not completely reflect the complex nature of consumer shopping behavior. Practical implications: These results provide an exploratory understanding of the relationships among multiple shopping tasks, and can be useful for product recommendation and shopping task prediction. Originality/value: The originality of this research is its use of query clustering with online shopping task identification and analysis, and the analysis of product search session characteristics.

Job shop scheduling problem with late work criterion

Science.gov (United States)

Piroozfard, Hamed; Wong, Kuan Yew

2015-05-01

Scheduling is considered as a key task in many industries, such as project based scheduling, crew scheduling, flight scheduling, machine scheduling, etc. In the machine scheduling area, the job shop scheduling problems are considered to be important and highly complex, in which they are characterized as NP-hard. The job shop scheduling problems with late work criterion and non-preemptive jobs are addressed in this paper. Late work criterion is a fairly new objective function. It is a qualitative measure and concerns with late parts of the jobs, unlike classical objective functions that are quantitative measures. In this work, simulated annealing was presented to solve the scheduling problem. In addition, operation based representation was used to encode the solution, and a neighbourhood search structure was employed to search for the new solutions. The case studies are Lawrence instances that were taken from the Operations Research Library. Computational results of this probabilistic meta-heuristic algorithm were compared with a conventional genetic algorithm, and a conclusion was made based on the algorithm and problem.

Research and Applications of Shop Scheduling Based on Genetic Algorithms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hang ZHAO

Full Text Available ABSTRACT Shop Scheduling is an important factor affecting the efficiency of production, efficient scheduling method and a research and application for optimization technology play an important role for manufacturing enterprises to improve production efficiency, reduce production costs and many other aspects. Existing studies have shown that improved genetic algorithm has solved the limitations that existed in the genetic algorithm, the objective function is able to meet customers' needs for shop scheduling, and the future research should focus on the combination of genetic algorithm with other optimized algorithms. In this paper, in order to overcome the shortcomings of early convergence of genetic algorithm and resolve local minimization problem in search process,aiming at mixed flow shop scheduling problem, an improved cyclic search genetic algorithm is put forward, and chromosome coding method and corresponding operation are given.The operation has the nature of inheriting the optimal individual ofthe previous generation and is able to avoid the emergence of local minimum, and cyclic and crossover operation and mutation operation can enhance the diversity of the population and then quickly get the optimal individual, and the effectiveness of the algorithm is validated. Experimental results show that the improved algorithm can well avoid the emergency of local minimum and is rapid in convergence.

ShopComm: Community-Supported Online Shopping for Older Adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Gorkovenko, Katerina; Tigwell, Garreth W; Norrie, Christopher S; Waite, Miriam; Herron, Daniel

2017-01-01

The United Kingdom has an ageing population whose members experience significant life transitions as they grow older, for example, losing mobility due to deteriorating health. For these adults, digital technology has the potential to sustain their independence and improve their quality of life. However older adults can be reluctant to use digital solutions. In this paper, we review a local charity providing a grocery shopping service for older adults who are unable to go themselves. We explore how older adults perceive the benefits and drawbacks of both physical and digital shopping. Using these insights, we designed ShopComm to enable and support older adults with mobility impairments to shop online.

Solving the flexible job shop problem by hybrid metaheuristics-based multiagent model

Science.gov (United States)

Nouri, Houssem Eddine; Belkahla Driss, Olfa; Ghédira, Khaled

2018-03-01

The flexible job shop scheduling problem (FJSP) is a generalization of the classical job shop scheduling problem that allows to process operations on one machine out of a set of alternative machines. The FJSP is an NP-hard problem consisting of two sub-problems, which are the assignment and the scheduling problems. In this paper, we propose how to solve the FJSP by hybrid metaheuristics-based clustered holonic multiagent model. First, a neighborhood-based genetic algorithm (NGA) is applied by a scheduler agent for a global exploration of the search space. Second, a local search technique is used by a set of cluster agents to guide the research in promising regions of the search space and to improve the quality of the NGA final population. The efficiency of our approach is explained by the flexible selection of the promising parts of the search space by the clustering operator after the genetic algorithm process, and by applying the intensification technique of the tabu search allowing to restart the search from a set of elite solutions to attain new dominant scheduling solutions. Computational results are presented using four sets of well-known benchmark literature instances. New upper bounds are found, showing the effectiveness of the presented approach.

Nongeminate radiative recombination of free charges in cation-exchanged PbS quantum dot films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Marshall, Ashley R. [National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 15013 Denver West Pkwy., Golden, CO 80401 (United States); Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 (United States); Beard, Matthew C.; Johnson, Justin C. [National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 15013 Denver West Pkwy., Golden, CO 80401 (United States)

2016-06-01

Highlights: • Photoluminescence and transient absorption are used to probe PbS QD films. • Cation-exchanged PbS QDs show room-temperature PL emission. • Bimolecular recombination is shown for the first time in coupled, PbS QD films. - Abstract: Using photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy we explore the radiative recombination pathways in PbS quantum dots (QDs) synthesized by two methods. We compare conventionally synthesized PbS from a PbO precursor to PbS synthesized using cation-exchange from CdS QDs. We show that strongly coupled films of PbS QDs from the cation-exchange luminesce with significant efficiency at room temperature. This is in stark contrast to conventional PbS QDs, which have exceedingly weak room temperature emission. Moreover, the power dependence of the emission is quadratic, indicating bimolecular radiative recombination that is reasonably competitive with trap-assisted recombination, a feature previously unreported in coupled PbS QD films. We interpret these results in terms of a greatly reduced defect concentration for cation-exchanged QDs that mitigates the influence of trap-assisted recombination. Cation-exchanged QDs have recently been employed in highly efficient and air-stable lead chalcogenide QD devices, and the reduced number of trap states inferred here may lead to improved current collection and higher open circuit voltage.

Omni channel fashion shopping

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kemperman, A.D.A.M.; van Delft, L.; Borgers, A.W.J.; Pantano, E.

2015-01-01

This chapter gives insight into consumers' online and offline fashion shopping behavior, consumers' omni-channel usage during the shopping process, and consumer fashion shopper segments. Based on a literature review, omni-channel shopping behavior during the shopping process was operationalized.

ATTITUDES TOWARD ONLINE SHOPPING FROM THE ASPECTS OF PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND SHOPPING MOTIVE THROUGH A DEVELOPING CONCEPT: PRIVATE SHOPPING

OpenAIRE

BAYBARS, Miray; USTUNDAGLI, Elif

2011-01-01

Private shopping is one of the concepts that serve as a members-only online shopping platform with deep discounts and well-known brands. The aim of this paper is to determine whether consumers’ need for uniqueness and innovativeness as a personal trait and price discount orientation affect consumer attitudes toward private shopping and their purchase decision or not. Research results revealed that need for uniqueness and innovativeness affect positive attitudes towards private shopping positi...

Performance-based standards (PBS) vehicles for transport in the agricultural sector

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Nordengen, Paul A

2008-07-01

Full Text Available manufacturers start designing vehicles on an ad hoc basis. It should be borne in mind that PBS vehicle designs include certain safety features, and must be loaded in the correct manner. The RTMS approach offers the most suitable way of ensuring.... The objectives of the Performance-Based Standards (PBS) philosophy are to utilise technology to reduce road damage, improve safety, increase payloads and reduce costs. To overcome the limitations of prescriptive legislation, is has been proposed that PBS...

Study of the back recombination processes of PbS quantum dots sensitized solar cells

Science.gov (United States)

Badawi, Ali; Al-Hosiny, N.; Merazga, Amar; Albaradi, Ateyyah M.; Abdallah, S.; Talaat, H.

2016-12-01

In this study, the back recombination processes of PbS quantum dots sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs) has been investigated. PbS QDs were adsorbed onto titania electrodes to act the role of sensitizers using successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) technique. The energy band gaps of the synthesized PbS QDs/titania are ranged from 1.64 eV (corresponding to 756 nm) to 3.12 eV (397 nm) matching the whole visible solar spectrum. The hyperbolic band model (HBM) was used to calculate PbS QDs size and it ranges from 1.76 to 3.44 nm. The photovoltaic parameters (open circuit voltage Voc, short circuit current density Jsc, fill factor FF and efficiency η) of the assembled PbS QDs sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs) were determined under a solar illumination of 100 mW/cm2 (AM 1.5 conditions). The open circuit voltage-decay (OCVD) rates of the assembled PbS QDSSCs were measured. The time constant (τ) for PbS QDSSCs (4 SILAR cycles) shows one order of magnitude larger than that of PbS QDSSCs (8 SILAR cycles) as a result of a decreased electron-hole back recombination.

Supporting the Supermarket Shopping Experience through a Context-Aware Shopping Trolley

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Black, Darren; Clemmensen, Nils Jakob; Skov, Mikael B.

2009-01-01

Shopping in the real world is becoming an increasingly interactive experience as stores integrate various technologies to support shoppers. Based on an empirical study of supermarket shoppers, we designed a mobile context-aware system called the Context- Aware Shopping Trolley (CAST). The aim...... of the system is to support shopping in supermarkets through context-awareness and acquiring user attention. Thus, the interactive trolley guides and directs shoppers in the handling and finding of groceries. An empirical evaluation showed that shoppers using CAST adapted in different shopping behavior than...... traditional trolley shoppers by exhibiting a more uniform behavior in terms of product sequence collection and ease of finding products and thus, CAST supported the shopping experience....

Oleic acid capped PbS nanoparticles: Synthesis, characterization and tribological properties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Shuang; Liu Weimin

2006-01-01

Oleic acid (OA) capped PbS nanoparticles were chemically synthesized and characterized by means of Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray electron diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The triboligical properties of the capped PbS nanoparticles as additive in liquid paraffin was investigated using a four-ball machine. The lubricating mechanisms were discussed along with the analyses results of XPS and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Results show that OA-capped PbS nanoparticles, with an average diameter of about 8 nm, are able to prevent water adsorption, oxidation and are capable of being dispersed stably in organic solvents or mineral oil. OA-capped PbS nanoparticles as an additive in liquid paraffin perform good antiwear and friction-reduction properties owing to the formation of a boundary film

Inorganic-ligand exchanging time effect in PbS quantum dot solar cell

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Byung-Sung; Hong, John; Hou, Bo; Cho, Yuljae; Sohn, Jung Inn; Cha, SeungNam; Kim, Jong Min

2016-01-01

We investigate time-dependent inorganic ligand exchanging effect and photovoltaic performance of lead sulfide (PbS) nanocrystal films. With optimal processing time, volume shrinkage induced by residual oleic acid of the PbS colloidal quantum dot (CQD) was minimized and a crack-free film was obtained with improved flatness. Furthermore, sufficient surface passivation significantly increased the packing density by replacing from long oleic acid to a short iodide molecule. It thus facilities exciton dissociation via enhanced charge carrier transport in PbS CQD films, resulting in the improved power conversion efficiency from 3.39% to 6.62%. We also found that excess iodine ions on the PbS surface rather hinder high photovoltaic performance of the CQD solar cell.

Inorganic-ligand exchanging time effect in PbS quantum dot solar cell

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Byung-Sung; Hong, John; Hou, Bo; Cho, Yuljae; Sohn, Jung Inn, E-mail: junginn.sohn@eng.ox.ac.uk, E-mail: seungnam.cha@eng.ox.ac.uk; Cha, SeungNam, E-mail: junginn.sohn@eng.ox.ac.uk, E-mail: seungnam.cha@eng.ox.ac.uk [Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PJ (United Kingdom); Kim, Jong Min [Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, 9 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0FA (United Kingdom)

2016-08-08

We investigate time-dependent inorganic ligand exchanging effect and photovoltaic performance of lead sulfide (PbS) nanocrystal films. With optimal processing time, volume shrinkage induced by residual oleic acid of the PbS colloidal quantum dot (CQD) was minimized and a crack-free film was obtained with improved flatness. Furthermore, sufficient surface passivation significantly increased the packing density by replacing from long oleic acid to a short iodide molecule. It thus facilities exciton dissociation via enhanced charge carrier transport in PbS CQD films, resulting in the improved power conversion efficiency from 3.39% to 6.62%. We also found that excess iodine ions on the PbS surface rather hinder high photovoltaic performance of the CQD solar cell.

Unknown Aspects of Self-Assembly of PbS Microscale Superstructures

Science.gov (United States)

Querejeta-Fernández, Ana; Hernández-Garrido, Juan C.; Yang, Hengxi; Zhou, Yunlong; Varela, Aurea; Parras, Marina; Calvino-Gámez, José J.; González-Calbet, Jose M.; Green, Peter F.; Kotov, Nicholas A.

2012-01-01

A lot of interesting and sophisticated examples of nanoparticle (NP) self-assembly (SA) are known. From both fundamental and technological standpoints this field requires advancements in three principle directions: a) understanding the mechanism and driving forces of three-dimensional (3D) SA with both nano- and micro-levels of organization; b) understanding of disassembly/deconstruction processes; and c) finding synthetic methods of assembly into continuous superstructures without insulating barriers. From this perspective, we investigated the formation of well-known star-like PbS superstructures and found a number of previously unknown or overlooked aspects that can advance the knowledge of NP self-assembly in these three directions. The primary one is that the formation of large seemingly monocrystalline PbS superstructures with multiple levels of octahedral symmetry can be explained only by SA of small octahedral NPs. We found five distinct periods in the formation PbS hyperbranched stars: 1) nucleation of early PbS NPs with an average diameter of 31 nm; 2) assembly into 100–500 nm octahedral mesocrystals; 3) assembly into 1000–2500 nm hyperbranched stars; 4) assembly and ionic recrystallization into six-arm rods accompanied by disappearance of fine nanoscale structure; 5) deconstruction into rods and cubooctahedral NPs. The switches in assembly patterns between the periods occur due to variable dominance of pattern–determining forces that include vander Waals and electrostatic (charge-charge, dipole-dipole, and polarization) interactions. The superstructure deconstruction is triggered by chemical changes in the deep eutectic solvent (DES) used as the media. PbS superstructures can be excellent models for fundamental studies of nanoscale organization and SA manufacturing of (opto)electronics and energy harvesting devices which require organization of PbS components at multiple scales. PMID:22515512

Designing heavy vehicles to be safer and more productive using PBS

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Kienhöfer, FW

2013-07-01

Full Text Available condition that the proposed vehicle’s safety is demonstrated either through physical testing or simulations. Such a PBS approach is currently being evaluated in South Africa. This paper summarises the productivity and safety increases of three PBS...

Synthesis of star-shaped lead sulfide (PbS) nanomaterials and theirs gas-sensing properties

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Song, Chengwen; Sun, Menghan; Yin, Yanyan; Xiao, Jingkun; Dong, Wei; Li, Chen; Zhang, Li, E-mail: chengwensong@dlmu.edu.cn [College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian(China)

2016-11-15

Star-shaped PbS nanomaterials are synthesized by a hydrothermal method. Morphology and structure of the PbS nanomaterials are analyzed by SEM, HRTEM and XRD. Gas-sensing properties of the as-prepared PbS sensor are also systematically investigated. The results show star-shaped PbS nanostructure consists of four symmetric arms in the same plane and demonstrate good crystallinity. With the increase of ethanol concentration, the sensitivity of the PbS sensor significantly increases and demonstrates an almost linear relationship at the optimal operating temperature of 400 deg C. Moreover, the fast response-recovery towards ethanol is also observed, which indicates its great potential on ethanol detection. (author)

Synthesis of star-shaped lead sulfide (PbS) nanomaterials and theirs gas-sensing properties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Song, Chengwen; Sun, Menghan; Yin, Yanyan; Xiao, Jingkun; Dong, Wei; Li, Chen; Zhang, Li

2016-01-01

Star-shaped PbS nanomaterials are synthesized by a hydrothermal method. Morphology and structure of the PbS nanomaterials are analyzed by SEM, HRTEM and XRD. Gas-sensing properties of the as-prepared PbS sensor are also systematically investigated. The results show star-shaped PbS nanostructure consists of four symmetric arms in the same plane and demonstrate good crystallinity. With the increase of ethanol concentration, the sensitivity of the PbS sensor significantly increases and demonstrates an almost linear relationship at the optimal operating temperature of 400 deg C. Moreover, the fast response-recovery towards ethanol is also observed, which indicates its great potential on ethanol detection. (author)

Optical properties of PbS thin films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Akhmedov, O. R., E-mail: orucahmedov@mail.ru; Guseinaliyev, M. G. [National Academy of Azerbaijan, Nakhichevan Branch (Azerbaijan); Abdullaev, N. A.; Abdullaev, N. M.; Babaev, S. S.; Kasumov, N. A. [National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan, Abdullaev Institute of Physics (Azerbaijan)

2016-01-15

The complex dielectric function of PbS thin films is studied by spectroscopic ellipsometry in the spectral range from 0.74 to 6.45 eV at a temperature of 293 K. The critical energies are determined to be E{sub 1} = 3.53 eV and E{sub 2} = 4.57 eV. For both energy regions, the best fit is attained at the critical point 2D (m = 0). In addition, the Raman spectra and the optical-absorption spectra of PbS thin films are studied. From the dependence of the quantity (αhν){sup 2} on the photon energy hν, the band gap is established at E{sub g} = 0.37 eV.

Staying True to Our PBS Roots in a Changing World

Science.gov (United States)

Kincaid, Don

2018-01-01

The field of Positive Behavior Support (PBS) has grown and changed significantly in the past 25 years and should be expected to continue that trend for the next 25 years. These changes cannot always be predicted, but they can be managed by considering some current changes to the definition of PBS (Kincaid et al., 2016). This paper discussed how…

Molecular characterization of Fagaceae species using inter-primer binding site (iPBS) markers.

Science.gov (United States)

Coutinho, João Paulo; Carvalho, Ana; Martín, Antonio; Lima-Brito, José

2018-04-01

Retrotransposons (RTNs) contribute for genome evolution, influencing its size and structure. We investigated the utility of the RTN-based markers inter-primer binding site (iPBS) for the molecular characterization of 25 Fagaceae species from genera Castanea, Fagus and Quercus. The assessment of genetic diversity, relationships and structure, as well as taxonomic classification of Fagaceae based on molecular data is important for definition of conservation, forestry management strategies and discrimination among natural hybrids and their parents since natural hybridization may increase with the climate changes. Here, iPBS primers designed by other authors were tested alone and combined. Some of them were discriminative, revealed polymorphism within and among taxa allowing the production of a total of 150 iPBS markers. In addition, several monomorphic iPBS markers were also amplified in each taxon. The UPGMA dendrogram based on the pooled iPBS data revealed 27% of genetic similarity among species. The individuals were clustered per genus and most of the oaks per infrageneric group corroborating the adopted taxonomy. Globally, the iPBS markers demonstrated suitability for DNA fingerprinting, determination of phylogenies and taxonomic discrimination in Fagaceae, and could constitute a useful and alternative tool for germplasm characterization, and for definition of conservation strategies and forestry management. Moreover, these markers would be useful for fingerprinting natural hybrids that share morphological similarities with their parents. Since iPBS markers could also enable insights about RTNs evolution, an eventual correlation among iPBS polymorphism, variability of RTN insertions and/or genome size in Fagaceae is discussed.

Internet Shopping

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

刘洪毓

2004-01-01

Nowadays you no longer need to walk round hundreds of shops looking for the items you need. You can shop for just about anything from your armchair. All you need is a computer and access(进入) to the Internet.

γ-ray radiation effect on properties of straw powder/PBS composite

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang Mingcheng; Luo Yongquan; Liu Wentao; Zhu Jun; Guo Dongquan; Li Zhaopeng; Gen Feng; Qu Lingbo

2013-01-01

Background: In recent years, with decreasing global fossil resources and increasing 'white pollution', renewable and biodegradable materials attract more and more attentions. Poly (butylene succinate) (PBS) has good mechanical property, biodegradability and processing performance, which is the focus of hot topics in the study of biodegradable plastic materials, however, being soft and of high cost, it is still limited in application range. Purpose: In order to improve the mechanical and thermal properties, a series of wheat straw powder/PBS composites were prepared by melt extrusion, and then the 60 Co-y ray was directly utilized to irradiate the straw powder/PBS composite. Methods: The influence of TAIC (triallyl isocyanurate) radiation absorbed dose and radiation sensitizer on the mechanical property and thermal performance of straw powder/PBS composite was investigated, and the impact fracture surface morphology of the composite was observed by SEM (scanning electron microscope). Results: The tensile strength and flexural strength were enhanced with increasing radiation dosage, and then tend to be stable, the heat distortion temperature also increased but not significantly with increasing radiation dosage. The results show that when TAIC content is 2%, with straw powder/PBS composite irradiated by 30-kGy dose, the tensile strength and flexural strength are increased by 26% and 39.8%, respectively. Conclusion: The radiation modification of composite material has no effect on thermal stability, but do improve the tensile strength and flexural strength when up to 2% of TAIC is integrated and irradiated by certain dose. The interface cohesiveness between straw powder and PBS is strengthened after radiation. (authors)

THE INFLUENCE OF HEDONIC SHOPPING MOTIVATION TO THE IMPULSE BUYING OF ONLINE-SHOPPING CONSUMER ON INSTAGRAM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Asnawati

2018-02-01

Full Text Available This research aims to know the influence of Adventure Shopping, Relaxation Shopping, Value Shopping, Social Shopping and Idea Shopping variables to the variable of Impulse Buying of Online-Shopping Consumer on Instagram. The type of the research is explanatory research. The result of F-test showed that Fcount (12.829 > Ftable (2.669 which meant that research variables had influences to the Impulse Buying. With partial correlation value of 0.548, Idea Shopping variable became the dominant factor influencing Impulse Buying on the online-shopping purchase on Instagram.

Cultural-Based Genetic Tabu Algorithm for Multiobjective Job Shop Scheduling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuzhen Yang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The job shop scheduling problem, which has been dealt with by various traditional optimization methods over the decades, has proved to be an NP-hard problem and difficult in solving, especially in the multiobjective field. In this paper, we have proposed a novel quadspace cultural genetic tabu algorithm (QSCGTA to solve such problem. This algorithm provides a different structure from the original cultural algorithm in containing double brief spaces and population spaces. These spaces deal with different levels of populations globally and locally by applying genetic and tabu searches separately and exchange information regularly to make the process more effective towards promising areas, along with modified multiobjective domination and transform functions. Moreover, we have presented a bidirectional shifting for the decoding process of job shop scheduling. The computational results we presented significantly prove the effectiveness and efficiency of the cultural-based genetic tabu algorithm for the multiobjective job shop scheduling problem.

Evaluation of genetic diversity in open pollinated guava by iPBS primers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mehmood, A.; Jaskani, M.J.; Ahmad, S.; Ahmad, R.

2013-01-01

DNA markers are important tools for assessing genetic diversity and relationships among species, cultivars and breeding materials. Many horticultural species are lacking genomic information. DNA markers that do not require prior knowledge of DNA sequences are therefore appealing for horticultural research. A retrotransposon-based DNA marker system, iPBS (inter primer binding sites) developed from conserved primer binding sites within retrotransposons, was used to study the genetic variation and relationships in ornamental guava. PCR from 6 iPBS primers (dominant markers) produced a total of 113 bands (52.38-100% polymorphic) ranging from 150 bp to 3000 bp, and the mean PIC value for each primer ranging from 0.1245 to 0.3698. Molecular information generated from both iPBS was separately scored in a matrix for phylogenetic dendrogram construction. The phylogenetic dendrogram based on iPBS markers reflected morphologic classifications of the accessions that were studied. The iPBS PCR-based genome fingerprinting technology in this study is low-cost and provides another effective alternative in differentiation of accessions in guava (Psidium guajava Linn.) and related species or genera. (author)

THE INFLUENCE OF HEDONIC SHOPPING MOTIVATION TO THE IMPULSE BUYING OF ONLINE-SHOPPING CONSUMER ON INSTAGRAM

OpenAIRE

Asnawati; Wahyuni S.

2018-01-01

This research aims to know the influence of Adventure Shopping, Relaxation Shopping, Value Shopping, Social Shopping and Idea Shopping variables to the variable of Impulse Buying of Online-Shopping Consumer on Instagram. The type of the research is explanatory research. The result of F-test showed that Fcount (12.829) > Ftable (2.669) which meant that research variables had influences to the Impulse Buying. With partial correlation value of 0.548, Idea Shopping variable became the dominant fa...

Literature Review on the Hybrid Flow Shop Scheduling Problem with Unrelated Parallel Machines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eliana Marcela Peña Tibaduiza

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Context: The flow shop hybrid problem with unrelated parallel machines has been less studied in the academia compared to the flow shop hybrid with identical processors. For this reason, there are few reports about the kind of application of this problem in industries. Method: A literature review of the state of the art on flow-shop scheduling problem was conducted by collecting and analyzing academic papers on several scientific databases. For this aim, a search query was constructed using keywords defining the problem and checking the inclusion of unrelated parallel machines in such definition; as a result, 50 papers were finally selected for this study. Results: A classification of the problem according to the characteristics of the production system was performed, also solution methods, constraints and objective functions commonly used are presented. Conclusions: An increasing trend is observed in studies of flow shop with multiple stages, but few are based on industry case-studies.

Shopping Malls - ShoppingCenters

Data.gov (United States)

NSGIC Local Govt | GIS Inventory — Collected from a variety of sources both commercial and internal, this layer represents shopping center locations within Volusia County and is maintained by the...

Female Consumers Recreational Shopping Experiences

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sarbjot Singh

2013-04-01

Full Text Available The study examines the core meaning of intrinsic shopping to understand their experimental aspects of recreational and leisure shopping. The study focus only on female shoppers of age group ranging from 25-30, and understand their mall experiences because this segment is newly transform into self dependent segment which have less social and familial liabilities and have enough enthusiasm to explore the world or their boundaries. The Grounded theory use for identification of recreational shopping themes which are (a seeking experiences and (b experimental shopping and each have respective sub themes. The themes are connected to the key idea that shoppers are motivated by their expectations and desires. The study uses social constructivism to find and understand the shopper meanings in real terms rather than imposing and judgment on them. The findings described the way people do recreational shopping and how shopping malls use as leisure space and become facilitators of recreational shopping activities. Females use malls to fulfill their recreational and leisure shopping experiences as this is the great way of enjoying shopping for females of small towns. In malls females not only enjoy product experiences but services experiences also which makes their shopping interesting. The way the female of this age category use malls help the marketers and retailers to understand this segment shopping patterns.

A discrete firefly meta-heuristic with local search for makespan minimization in permutation flow shop scheduling problems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nader Ghaffari-Nasab

2010-07-01

Full Text Available During the past two decades, there have been increasing interests on permutation flow shop with different types of objective functions such as minimizing the makespan, the weighted mean flow-time etc. The permutation flow shop is formulated as a mixed integer programming and it is classified as NP-Hard problem. Therefore, a direct solution is not available and meta-heuristic approaches need to be used to find the near-optimal solutions. In this paper, we present a new discrete firefly meta-heuristic to minimize the makespan for the permutation flow shop scheduling problem. The results of implementation of the proposed method are compared with other existing ant colony optimization technique. The preliminary results indicate that the new proposed method performs better than the ant colony for some well known benchmark problems.

The Virtual Shopping Experience: using virtual presence to motivate online shopping

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carolyn Chin

2005-11-01

Full Text Available Online shopping has thus far tended to be a niche business – highly successful in selling digital products such as shares, software and, increasingly, music and films, it has been less successful in persuading the purchasers of ‘traditional’ goods such as cars, clothes, toiletries, or household appliances to forsake their physical retailers and move into cyberspace. In this wide-ranging review paper we investigate the issue of the virtual experience – endeavouring to understand what is needed for a successful ‘shopping experience’ online and what the possible obstacles or pitfalls along the way might be. We initially introduce the concepts of virtual presence (the sense of ‘being there’ and virtual reality, discussing the possible roles both can play in providing a solution to the problem of effective online shopping. We then consider the Experience Economy, a concept which encapsulates many of the issues related to the problem of online shopping and which suggests ways in which online retailers can enhance the effectiveness of their sites by means of a virtual ‘experience’. Having set the scene for online shopping, we discuss eTailing today in terms of direct product experience and the opportunities which cyber-shopping offers to replicate this process. Finally, we identify some of the possibilities and problems of online shopping today, illustrating the current status of virtual presence in retailing with two micro-cases of success and failure.

Discrete Bat Algorithm for Optimal Problem of Permutation Flow Shop Scheduling

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Qifang; Zhou, Yongquan; Xie, Jian; Ma, Mingzhi; Li, Liangliang

2014-01-01

A discrete bat algorithm (DBA) is proposed for optimal permutation flow shop scheduling problem (PFSP). Firstly, the discrete bat algorithm is constructed based on the idea of basic bat algorithm, which divide whole scheduling problem into many subscheduling problems and then NEH heuristic be introduced to solve subscheduling problem. Secondly, some subsequences are operated with certain probability in the pulse emission and loudness phases. An intensive virtual population neighborhood search is integrated into the discrete bat algorithm to further improve the performance. Finally, the experimental results show the suitability and efficiency of the present discrete bat algorithm for optimal permutation flow shop scheduling problem. PMID:25243220

Discrete bat algorithm for optimal problem of permutation flow shop scheduling.

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Qifang; Zhou, Yongquan; Xie, Jian; Ma, Mingzhi; Li, Liangliang

2014-01-01

A discrete bat algorithm (DBA) is proposed for optimal permutation flow shop scheduling problem (PFSP). Firstly, the discrete bat algorithm is constructed based on the idea of basic bat algorithm, which divide whole scheduling problem into many subscheduling problems and then NEH heuristic be introduced to solve subscheduling problem. Secondly, some subsequences are operated with certain probability in the pulse emission and loudness phases. An intensive virtual population neighborhood search is integrated into the discrete bat algorithm to further improve the performance. Finally, the experimental results show the suitability and efficiency of the present discrete bat algorithm for optimal permutation flow shop scheduling problem.

Controlled self-assembly of PbS nanoparticles into macrostar-like hierarchical structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Guowei; Li, Changsheng; Tang, Hua; Cao, Kesheng; Chen, Juan

2011-01-01

Graphical abstract: The aggregation and rotation of nanoparticles to adopt parallel orientations in three dimensions was indirectly illustrated by TEM and HRTEM images. Highlights: → Macrostar-like PbS hierarchical structures was successfully synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method and mesostars were assembled from the PbS nanocube building blocks with edge lengths of about 100 nm. → Ostwald-ripening-assisted oriented attachment is believed to play a key role in the growth behavior of novel 3D structures. → Optical properties indicating few defects on the surface of the PbS structure and exhibit large blue-shifts compared to bulk PbS. -- Abstract: The synthesis of macrostar-like PbS hierarchical structures by a simple hydrothermal method at 180 o C for 24 h is proven successful with the assistance of a new surfactant called tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBAB). The as-obtained product is characterized by means of X-ray powder diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectrometry, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, and selected area electron diffraction. The presence of TBAB and NaF plays an important role in the formation of PbS macrostructures. Ostwald-ripening-assisted oriented attachment is believed to play a key role in the growth behavior of novel 3D structures. As such, a possible self-assembly mechanism is proposed to explain the formation of the said structures. The present study aims to introduce new insights into understanding the formation process of such unique hierarchical superstructures.

Online Shopping Behavior

OpenAIRE

Shahzad, Hashim

2015-01-01

Online shopping is a very much developed phenomena in Scandinavian countries. Different online factors impact online consumers’ behavior differently depending on the environment of different regions. Sweden is one of the developed and technologically advanced countries. To see the impact of different factors on consumers’ online shopping behavior, the purpose of this study is to analyse the factors that influence consumers’ online shopping behavior in Sweden’s context. One of the objectives o...

Practical job shop scheduling

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schutten, Johannes M.J.

1998-01-01

The Shifting Bottleneck procedure is an intuitive and reasonably good approximation algorithm for the notoriously difficult classical job shop scheduling problem. The principle of decomposing a classical job shop problem into a series of single-machine problems can also easily be applied to job shop

All-solution-processed PbS quantum dot solar modules

Science.gov (United States)

Jang, Jihoon; Shim, Hyung Cheoul; Ju, Yeonkyeong; Song, Jung Hoon; An, Hyejin; Yu, Jong-Su; Kwak, Sun-Woo; Lee, Taik-Min; Kim, Inyoung; Jeong, Sohee

2015-05-01

A rapid increase in power conversion efficiencies in colloidal quantum dot (QD) solar cells has been achieved recently with lead sulphide (PbS) QDs by adapting a heterojunction architecture, which consists of small-area devices associated with a vacuum-deposited buffer layer with metal electrodes. The preparation of QD solar modules by low-cost solution processes is required to further increase the power-to-cost ratio. Herein we demonstrate all-solution-processed flexible PbS QD solar modules with a layer-by-layer architecture comprising polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate/indium tin oxide (ITO)/titanium oxide (TiO2)/PbS QD/poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT)/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) : poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT : PSS)/Ag, with an active area of up to 30 cm2, exhibiting a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 1.3% under AM 1.5 conditions (PCE of 2.2% for a 1 cm2 unit cell). Our approach affords trade-offs between power and the active area of the photovoltaic devices, which results in a low-cost power source, and which is scalable to larger areas.A rapid increase in power conversion efficiencies in colloidal quantum dot (QD) solar cells has been achieved recently with lead sulphide (PbS) QDs by adapting a heterojunction architecture, which consists of small-area devices associated with a vacuum-deposited buffer layer with metal electrodes. The preparation of QD solar modules by low-cost solution processes is required to further increase the power-to-cost ratio. Herein we demonstrate all-solution-processed flexible PbS QD solar modules with a layer-by-layer architecture comprising polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate/indium tin oxide (ITO)/titanium oxide (TiO2)/PbS QD/poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT)/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) : poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT : PSS)/Ag, with an active area of up to 30 cm2, exhibiting a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 1.3% under AM 1.5 conditions (PCE of 2.2% for a 1 cm2 unit cell). Our approach affords trade

Customer experience with online shopping : what are the unique experiences customers seek from online shopping?

OpenAIRE

Jin, Daoyan

2013-01-01

Over the last decade, there has been a great change in consumers' shopping behavior along with technological change. Online shopping is the use of computer technology for better shopping performance. Retailers are busy in studying consumers' behavior to see their attitudes toward online shopping and to meet the demand of online shoppers. Due to my interest in online business, I have also decided to study about customers' attitudes toward online shopping and specifically regarding factors that...

Consumers' perceptions of vape shops in Southern California: an analysis of online Yelp reviews.

Science.gov (United States)

Sussman, Steve; Garcia, Robert; Cruz, Tess Boley; Baezconde-Garbanati, Lourdes; Pentz, Mary Ann; Unger, Jennifer B

2014-01-01

E-cigarettes are sold at many different types of retail establishments. A new type of shop has emerged, the vape shop, which specializes in sales of varied types of e-cigarettes. Vape shops allow users to sample several types. There are no empirical research articles on vape shops. Information is needed on consumers' beliefs and behaviors about these shops, the range of products sold, marketing practices, and variation in shop characteristics by ethnic community and potential counter-marketing messages. This study is the first to investigate marketing characteristics of vape shops located in different ethnic neighborhoods in Los Angeles, by conducting a Yelp electronic search and content analysis of consumer reports on vape shops they have visited. The primary measure was Yelp reviews (N = 103 vape shops in the Los Angeles, California area), which were retrieved and content coded. We compared the attributes of vape shops representing four ethnic communities: African American, Hispanic/Latino, Korean, and White. Vape shop attributes listed as most important were the selection of flavors or hardware (95%), fair prices (92%), and unique flavors or hardware (89%). Important staff marketing attributes included being friendly (99%), helpful/patient/respectful (97%), and knowledgeable/professional (95%). Over one-half of the shops were rated as clean (52%) and relaxed (61%). Relatively few of the reviews mentioned quitting smoking (32%) or safety of e-cigarettes (15%). The selection of flavors and hardware appeared relatively important in Korean ethnic location vape shops. Yelp reviews may influence potential consumers. As such, the present study's focus on Yelp reviews addressed at least eight of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products' priorities pertaining to marketing influences on consumer beliefs and behaviors. The findings suggest that there were several vape shop and product attributes that consumers considered important to disseminate to others through postings on

GENDER AND SHOPPING BEHAVIOR OUTCOMES IN THE CONTEXT OF SHOPPING CENTERS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ioana Nicoleta ABRUDAN

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Understanding consumer behavior can be divided into three parts: before visiting the stores or shopping centers, during the visit, and after. From the point of view of the final result intended by retailers, satisfying customers in terms of profitability, all three components are equally important. A relevant segmentation criterion for most products and stores is gender. Previous research suggests that gender influences shopping motivations, the way people shop and shopping behavior outcomes. The purpose of this article is to investigate if there are, indeed, differences between shopping behavior outputs of women and men (affective loyalty (satisfaction and conative loyalty, as found by certain researchers, and also in terms of the factors that influence the formation of conative loyalty. The results confirm that there are few significant differences in the satisfaction level, although for women all values are slightly higher, and none in the repurchase and recommendation intentions between the two genders. Conative loyalty formation (defined as intent to repurchase and recommend takes place differently between the two genders.

Affect Of Cultural Factor On Consumer Behaviour In Online Shop

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Agnita Yolanda

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Consumer behavior is an action taken by a person in making a decision to search for purchase acquire use of goods and services that will satisfy their needs. The purpose of this study is presented to determine how much the behavior of consumers to choose online shopping and direct shopping at Management of Higher School STIM Sukma Medan. The method used in this research is descriptive method with quantitative data that has been obtained through the data directly from the company. The data collected with the spaciousness of research and literature in the form of distributing questionnaires to 52 fifty-two consumers. Processing data using SPSS statistical test tools version 17.00. Based on the results of the 4 four and the indicator above the 8 eight questions as well as 52 fifty-two consumers. Results showed that the most influential in choosing online shopping is a cultural factor with a percentage of 26.14 while the most influential in choosing the direct spending is psychological factors with the percentage of 26.50.

Graphene and PbS quantum dot hybrid vertical phototransistor

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Xiaoxian; Zhang, Yating; Zhang, Haiting; Yu, Yu; Cao, Mingxuan; Che, Yongli; Dai, Haitao; Yang, Junbo; Ding, Xin; Yao, Jianquan

2017-04-01

A field-effect phototransistor based on a graphene and lead sulfide quantum dot (PbS QD) hybrid in which PbS QDs are embedded in a graphene matrix has been fabricated with a vertical architecture through a solution process. The n-type Si/SiO2 substrate (gate), Au/Ag nanowire transparent source electrode, active layer and Au drain electrode are vertically stacked in the device, which has a downscaled channel length of 250 nm. Photoinduced electrons in the PbS QDs leap into the conduction band and fill in the trap states, while the photoinduced holes left in the valence band transfer to the graphene and form the photocurrent under biases from which the photoconductive gain is evaluated. The graphene/QD-based vertical phototransistor shows a photoresponsivity of 2 × 103 A W-1, and specific detectivity up to 7 × 1012 Jones under 808 nm laser illumination with a light irradiance of 12 mW cm-2. The solution-processed vertical phototransistor provides a new facile method for optoelectronic device applications.

CERN Shop - Christmas Sale 15-17.12.2003

CERN Multimedia

2003-01-01

Looking for Christmas present ideas? Come to the Reception Shop Special Stand: in Meyrin, Main Building, ground floor, from Monday 15 to Wednesday 17 December from 10:30 to 16:00 hrs. CERN Sweat-shirts (M, L, XL) 30.- CERN T-shirt, (M, L, XL) 20.- CERN silk tie (2 colours) 35.- Fancy silk tie (blue, bordeau) 20.- Silk scarf (light blue, red, yellow) 35.- Swiss army knife with CERN logo 25.- Swiss Duo Pack with CERN logo 30.- CERN/Atlas watch 40.- CERN baseball cap 15.- CERN briefcase 15,- Mouse mat 10,- CERN Calendar 5,- Books: - "Antimatter" (English) 35.- - "How the web was born" (English, Italian) 30,- - "The Search for Infinity" (French, Italian, English, German) 40.- - "World of Particles/le monde de particules" 6,- - "Facts and Mysteries" (English) 28,- - "Nucleus" (English) 50,- If you miss this special occasion, the articles are also available at the Reception Shop in Buildin...

Enhancement of the photovoltaic performance in P3HT: PbS hybrid solar cells using small size PbS quantum dots

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Firdaus, Yuliar; Van der Auweraer, Mark, E-mail: mark.vanderauweraer@chem.kuleuven.be [Laboratory of Photochemistry and Spectroscopy, Division of Molecular Imaging and Photonics, Chemistry Department, KULeuven, Celestijnenlaan 200F, 2404, B-3001 Leuven (Belgium); Vandenplas, Erwin; Gehlhaar, Robert; Cheyns, David [Imec vzw, Kapeldreef 75, B-3001 Leuven (Belgium); Justo, Yolanda; Hens, Zeger [Physical Chemistry Laboratory, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281-S3, 9000 Gent (Belgium)

2014-09-07

Different approaches of surface modification of the quantum dots (QDs), namely, solution-phase (octylamine, octanethiol) and post-deposition (acetic acid, 1,4-benzenedithiol) ligand exchange were used in the fabrication of hybrid bulk heterojunction solar cell containing poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and small (2.4 nm) PbS QDs. We show that replacing oleic acid by shorter chain ligands improves the figures of merit of the solar cells. This can possibly be attributed to a combination of a reduced thickness of the barrier for electron transfer and an optimized phase separation. The best results were obtained for post-deposition ligand exchange by 1,4-benzenedithiol, which improves the power conversion efficiency of solar cells based on a bulk heterojunction of lead sulfide (PbS) QDs and P3HT up to two orders of magnitude over previously reported hybrid cells based on a bulk heterojunction of P3HT:PbS QDs, where the QDs are capped by acetic acid ligands. The optimal performance was obtained for solar cells with 69 wt. % PbS QDs. Besides the ligand effects, the improvement was attributed to the formation of an energetically favorable bulk heterojunction with P3HT, when small size (2.4 nm) PbS QDs were used. Dark current density-voltage (J-V) measurements carried out on the device provided insight into the working mechanism: the comparison between the dark J-V characteristics of the bench mark system P3HT:PCBM and the P3HT:PbS blends allows us to conclude that a larger leakage current and a more efficient recombination are the major factors responsible for the larger losses in the hybrid system.

Enhancement of the photovoltaic performance in P3HT: PbS hybrid solar cells using small size PbS quantum dots

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Firdaus, Yuliar; Van der Auweraer, Mark; Vandenplas, Erwin; Gehlhaar, Robert; Cheyns, David; Justo, Yolanda; Hens, Zeger

2014-01-01

Different approaches of surface modification of the quantum dots (QDs), namely, solution-phase (octylamine, octanethiol) and post-deposition (acetic acid, 1,4-benzenedithiol) ligand exchange were used in the fabrication of hybrid bulk heterojunction solar cell containing poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and small (2.4 nm) PbS QDs. We show that replacing oleic acid by shorter chain ligands improves the figures of merit of the solar cells. This can possibly be attributed to a combination of a reduced thickness of the barrier for electron transfer and an optimized phase separation. The best results were obtained for post-deposition ligand exchange by 1,4-benzenedithiol, which improves the power conversion efficiency of solar cells based on a bulk heterojunction of lead sulfide (PbS) QDs and P3HT up to two orders of magnitude over previously reported hybrid cells based on a bulk heterojunction of P3HT:PbS QDs, where the QDs are capped by acetic acid ligands. The optimal performance was obtained for solar cells with 69 wt. % PbS QDs. Besides the ligand effects, the improvement was attributed to the formation of an energetically favorable bulk heterojunction with P3HT, when small size (2.4 nm) PbS QDs were used. Dark current density-voltage (J-V) measurements carried out on the device provided insight into the working mechanism: the comparison between the dark J-V characteristics of the bench mark system P3HT:PCBM and the P3HT:PbS blends allows us to conclude that a larger leakage current and a more efficient recombination are the major factors responsible for the larger losses in the hybrid system

Online shopping hesitation.

Science.gov (United States)

Cho, Chang-Hoan; Kang, Jaewon; Cheon, Hongsik John

2006-06-01

This study was designed to understand which factors influence consumer hesitation or delay in online product purchases. The study examined four groups of variables (i.e., consumer characteristics, contextual factors perceived uncertainty factors, and medium/channel innovation factors) that predict three types of online shopping hesitation (i.e., overall hesitation, shopping cart abandonment, and hesitation at the final payment stage). We found that different sets of delay factors are related to different aspects of online shopping hesitation. The study concludes with suggestion for various delay-reduction devices to help consumers close their online decision hesitation.

The influences of social e-shopping in enhancing young women’s online shopping behaviour

OpenAIRE

Dennis, C; Morgan, A; Wright, LT; Jayawardhena, C

2010-01-01

Copyright @ 2010 Westburn Publishers Ltd The background to this paper is that shoppers, particularly women, are motivated by a variety of different reasons, including socialising and enjoyment. Despite the growth of Internet retailing (e-retailing), these social needs are largely unmet in e-shopping. In the high street, women do most of the shopping but online shopping (e-shopping) tends to be dominated by male shoppers. At the same time, social networking is growing fast and is especially...

Supporting shop floor intelligence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Carstensen, Peter; Schmidt, Kjeld; Wiil, Uffe Kock

1999-01-01

Many manufacturing enterprises are now trying to introduce various forms of flexible work organizations on the shop floor. However, existing computer-based production planning and control systems pose severe obstacles for autonomous working groups and other kinds of shop floor control to become r......-to-day production planning by supporting intelligent and responsible workers in their situated coordination activities on the shop floor....

Shopping Problems among High School Students

Science.gov (United States)

Grant, Jon E.; Potenza, Marc N.; Krishnan-Sarin, Suchitra; Cavallo, Dana A.; Desai, Rani A.

2010-01-01

Background Although shopping behavior among adolescents is normal, for some the shopping becomes problematic. An assessment of adolescent shopping behavior along a continuum of severity and its relationship to other behaviors and health issues is incompletely understood. Methods A large sample of high school students (n=3999) was examined using a self-report survey with 153 questions concerning demographic characteristics, shopping behaviors, other health behaviors including substance use, and functioning variables such as grades and violent behavior. Results The overall prevalence of problem shopping was 3.5% (95%CI: 2.93–4.07). Regular smoking, marijuana and other drug use, sadness and hopelessness, and antisocial behaviors (e.g., fighting, carrying weapons) were associated with problem shopping behavior in both boys and girls. Heavy alcohol use was significantly associated with problem shopping only in girls. Conclusion Problem shopping appears fairly common among high school students and is associated with symptoms of depression and a range of potentially addictive and antisocial behaviors. Significant distress and diminished behavioral control suggest that excessive shopping may often have significant associated morbidity. Additional research is needed to develop specific prevention and treatment strategies for adolescents who report problems with shopping. PMID:21497217

Shopping problems among high school students.

Science.gov (United States)

Grant, Jon E; Potenza, Marc N; Krishnan-Sarin, Suchitra; Cavallo, Dana A; Desai, Rani A

2011-01-01

Although shopping behavior among adolescents is normal, for some, the shopping becomes problematic. An assessment of adolescent shopping behavior along a continuum of severity and its relationship to other behaviors and health issues is incompletely understood. A large sample of high school students (n = 3999) was examined using a self-report survey with 153 questions concerning demographic characteristics, shopping behaviors, other health behaviors including substance use, and functioning variables such as grades and violent behavior. The overall prevalence of problem shopping was 3.5% (95% CI, 2.93-4.07). Regular smoking, marijuana and other drug use, sadness and hopelessness, and antisocial behaviors (e.g., fighting, carrying weapons) were associated with problem shopping behavior in both boys and girls. Heavy alcohol use was significantly associated with problem shopping only in girls. Problem shopping appears fairly common among high school students and is associated with symptoms of depression and a range of potentially addictive and antisocial behaviors. Significant distress and diminished behavioral control suggest that excessive shopping may often have significant associated morbidity. Additional research is needed to develop specific prevention and treatment strategies for adolescents who report problems with shopping. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

SU-E-T-266: Proton PBS Plan Design and Robustness Evaluation for Head and Neck Cancers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liang, X; Tang, S; Zhai, H; Kirk, M; Kalbasi, A; Lin, A; Ahn, P; Tochner, Z; McDonough, J; Both, S

2014-01-01

Purpose: To describe a newly designed proton pencil beam scanning (PBS) planning technique for radiotherapy of patients with bilateral oropharyngeal cancer, and to assess plan robustness. Methods: We treated 10 patients with proton PBS plans using 2 posterior oblique field (2F PBS) comprised of 80% single-field uniform dose (SFUD) and 20% intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT). All patients underwent weekly CT scans for verification. Using dosimetric indicators for both targets and organs at risk (OARs), we quantitatively compared initial plans and verification plans using student t-tests. We created a second proton PBS plan for each patient using 2 posterior oblique plus 1 anterior field comprised of 100% SFUD (3F PBS). We assessed plan robustness for both proton plan groups, as well as a photon volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) plan group by comparing initial and verification plans. Results: The 2F PBS plans were not robust in target coverage. D98% for clinical target volume (CTV) degraded from 100% to 96% on average, with maximum change Δ D98% of −24%. Two patients were moved to photon VMAT treatment due to insufficient CTV coverage on verification plans. Plan robustness was especially weak in the low-anterior neck. The 3F PBS plans, however, demonstrated robust target coverage, which was comparable to the VMAT photon plan group. Doses to oral cavity were lower in the Proton PBS plans compared to photon VMAT plans due to no lower exit dose to the oral cavity. Conclusion: Proton PBS plans using 2 posterior oblique fields were not robust for CTV coverage, due to variable positioning of redundant soft tissue in the posterior neck. We designed 3-field proton PBS plans using an anterior field to avoid long heterogeneous paths in the low neck. These 3-field proton PBS plans had significantly improved plan robustness, and the robustness is comparable to VMAT photon plans

Study of structural and optical properties of PbS thin films

Science.gov (United States)

Homraruen, T.; Sudswasd, Y.; Sorod, R.; Kayunkid, N.; Yindeesuk, W.

2018-03-01

This research aimed to synthesize lead sulfide (PbS) thin films on glass slides using the successive ion layer absorption and reaction (SILAR) method. We studied the optical properties and structure of PbS thin films by changing the number of dipping cycles and the concentration of precursor solution. The results of this experiment show that different conditions have a considerable influence on the thickness and absorbance of the films. When the number of dipping cycles and the concentration of the solution are increased, film thickness and absorbance tend to become higher. The xrays diffraction pattern showed all the diffraction peaks which confirmed the face center cubic and the structure of PbS had identified. Grain size computation was used to confirm how much these conditions could be affected.

Na-A4 zeolites as host of PbS nanoparticles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Flores A, M.; Perez S, R.; Aceves T, R.; Arizpe C, H.; Sotelo L, M.; Ramirez B, R.

2006-01-01

In this work we report the optical and structural properties of composite materials based on the semiconductor PbS enclosed in type A zeolite. The composite materials were obtained by chemical reaction in several steps of the zeolite in alkaline aqueous solutions containing Pb 2+ and S 2- ions successively. Three samples were prepared at temperatures of 40, 50 and 60 C during the chemical reaction with S 2- ions. The obtained materials were studied by x-ray diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and photoluminescence. The experimental results show the formation of spherical-shaped PbS particles with nano metric size and cubic crystalline structure embedded in the zeolite matrix. The absorption spectra of the samples display a well defined absorption band at about 300 nm due to the PbS nanoparticles in the zeolite matrix. In addition, an absorption peak appears in the absorption spectra at about 400 nm assigned to exciton transitions. (Author)

Synthesis and Characterization of Quantum Dots: A Case Study Using PbS

Science.gov (United States)

Pan, Yi; Li, Yue Ru; Zhao, Yu; Akins, Daniel L.

2015-01-01

A research project for senior undergraduates of chemistry has been developed to introduce syntheses of a series of monodispersed semiconductor PbS quantum dots (QDs) and their characterization methodologies. In this paper, we report the preparation of monodispersed semiconductor PbS QDs with sizes smaller than the exciton Bohr radius using a…

Binjai Shopping Mall : Arsitektur Metafora

OpenAIRE

Abadsyah, Haris

2014-01-01

City of Binjai have a potential to increase economic growth, especially in the field of trade and services.It can be seen from appearance of the commercial building like the shopping center ( Binjai Super Mall, Ramayana and Suzuya ) Construction of Binjai Shopping Mall intended for planning new shopping centers that provide public kebuthan in Binjai and well planned shopping center with optimal processing space and create a comfortable and pleasant atmosphere. In addition, the ...

Consumers’ Attitude towards Online Shopping : Factors influencing Gotland consumers to shop online

OpenAIRE

Sultan, Muhammad Umar; Uddin, Md. Nasir

2011-01-01

In the era of globalization electronic marketing is a great revolution.  Over the last decade maximum business organizations are running with technological change.  Online shopping or marketing is the use of technology (i.e., computer) for better marketing performance. And retailers are devising strategies to meet the demand of online shoppers; they are busy in studying consumer behavior in the field of online shopping, to see the consumer attitudes towards online shopping. Therefore we have ...

CERN SHOP - CHRISTMAS SALE - 11-12.12.2002

CERN Multimedia

Visits & Exhibition Service

2002-01-01

Looking for Christmas present ideas? Come to the Reception Shop Special Stand in Meyrin, Main Building, ground floor, from Wednesday 11 to Thursday 12 December from 10.30 to 16.00. CERN Sweat-shirts(M, L, XL) 30.- CERN T-shirt,(M, L, XL) 20.- New CERN silk tie (2 colours) 35.- Blue silk tie 15.- Fancy silk tie (blue, bordeau) 20.- Silk scarf (light blue, red, yellow) 35.- Swiss army knife with CERN logo 25.- Swiss Duo Pack with CERN logo 30.- CERN watch 20.- CERN baseball cap 15.- CERN briefcase 15.- Book 'Antimatter' (English) 35.- Book 'Particle Odyssey' (English) 60.- Book 'How the web was born' (English, Italian) 30.- The Search for Infinity (French, Italian, English, German)  40.- If you miss this special occasion, the articles are also available at the Reception Shop in Building 33 from Monday to Saturday between 08.30 and 17.00 hrs. Visits & Exhibition Service/ETT-VE

Chemical bath deposited PbS thin films on ZnO nanowires for photovoltaic applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gertman, Ronen [Dept of Chemistry, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Be' er Sheva 84105 (Israel); Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Be' er Sheva 84105 (Israel); Osherov, Anna; Golan, Yuval [Dept of Materials Engineering, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Be' er Sheva 84105 (Israel); Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Be' er Sheva 84105 (Israel); Visoly-Fisher, Iris, E-mail: irisvf@bgu.ac.il [Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Be' er Sheva 84105 (Israel); Department of Solar Energy and Environmental Physics, Swiss Institute for Dryland Environmental and Energy Research, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus 84990 (Israel)

2014-01-01

Photovoltaic devices usually exploit mid-range band-gap semiconductors which absorb in the visible range of the solar spectrum. However, much energy is lost in the IR and near-IR range. We combined the advantages of small band-gap, bulk-like PbS deposited by facile, cheap and direct chemical bath deposition (CBD), with the good electronic properties of ZnO and the large surface area of nanowires, towards low cost photovoltaic devices utilizing IR and near-IR light. Surprisingly, CBD of PbS on ZnO, and particularly on ZnO nanowires, was not studied hitherto. Therefore, the mechanism of PbS growth by chemical bath deposition on ZnO nanowires was studied in details. A visible proof is shown for a growth mechanism starting from amorphous Pb(OH){sub 2} layer, that evolved into the ‘ion-by-ion’ growth mechanism. The growth mechanism and the resulting morphology at low temperatures were controlled by the thiourea concentration. The grain size affected the magnitude of the band-gap and was controlled by the deposition temperatures. Deposition above 40 °C resulted in bulk-like PbS with an optical band-gap of 0.4 eV. Methods were demonstrated for achieving complete PbS coverage of the complex ZnO NW architecture, a crucial requirement in optoelectronic devices to prevent shorts. Measurements of photocurrents under white and near-IR (784 nm) illumination showed that despite a 200 meV barrier for electron transfer at the PbS/ZnO interface, extraction of photo-electrons from PbS to the ZnO was feasible. The ability to harvest electrons from a narrow band-gap semiconductor deposited on a large surface-area electrode can advance the field towards high efficiency, low cost IR and near-IR sensors and third generation solar cells. - Highlights: • PbS was deposited on ZnO nanowires using chemical bath deposition. • At 50 °C the growth mechanism starts from an amorphous Pb(OH){sub 2} layer. • At 5 °C the growth mechanism of PbS can be controlled by thiourea concentrations

High-contrast MacNeille-PBS-based LCOS projection systems

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Jianmin; Robinson, Michael G.; Sharp, Gary D.

2005-04-01

Contrast limits are investigated for MacNeille PBS based LCOS projection systems that use retarder stack filters (RSF). The two contributing factors are considered separately; namely the color management system and the panel port. To enhance performance of the former, skew ray compensated RSFs are introduced. For the latter, a general methodology is presented to optimize contrast by compensating the LCOS panel. It is shown that the orientation of the LCOS panel and compensator, relative to the MacNeille PBS, is critical. The significant impact of AR coating performance on system contrast is also revealed. A high contrast architecture will be presented by way of example.

Shopping in discount stores

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zielke, Stephan

2014-01-01

quarters of intentions to shop in discount stores. Value perception has the strongest total effect, which is partly mediated by enjoyment, shame and guilt. Attributions influence the shopping intention indirectly via value perception and emotions. The inferior quality attribution has the strongest total......This paper analyzes the impact of price-related attributions, emotions and value perception on the intention to shop at grocery discounters in an integrated framework. Moderating effects of price consciousness are also analyzed. The results show that the proposed model explains almost three...... effect, followed by the efficiency of the business model attribution. The unfairness to stakeholders and the tricks in price communication attribution mostly influence the shopping intention for less price-conscious customers....

A tabu search algorithm for scheduling a single robot in a job-shop environment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hurink, Johann L.; Knust, S.

1999-01-01

We consider a single-machine scheduling problem which arises as a subproblem in a job-shop environment where the jobs have to be transported between the machines by a single transport robot. The robot scheduling problem may be regarded as a generalization of the travelling-salesman problem with time

A tabu search algorithm for scheduling a single robot in a job-shop environment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hurink, Johann L.; Knust, Sigrid

2002-01-01

We consider a single-machine scheduling problem which arises as a subproblem in a job-shop environment where the jobs have to be transported between the machines by a single transport robot. The robot scheduling problem may be regarded as a generalization of the travelling-salesman problem with time

Vape Shop Employees: Public Health Advocates?

OpenAIRE

Hart, Joy L; Walker, Kandi L; Sears, Clara G; Lee, Alexander S; Smith, Courteney; Siu, Allison; Keith, Rachel; Ridner, S. Lee

2017-01-01

INTRODUCTION E-cigarettes have increased in popularity and given rise to a new type of sales outlet?the vape shop. Expanding on work examining vape shop employee e-cigarette and tobacco attitudes and behaviors 1 , this study examined key messages that vape shop employees communicate to customers. METHODS Using informal interviews, observations, and a cross-sectional survey, we examined vape shop employees? (n=16) perceptions and e-cigarette use. Data were collected in nine vape shops in Louis...

You never get a second chance to make a first impression : meet your users’ expectations regarding web object placement in online shops

OpenAIRE

Bargas-Avila, J. A.; Roth, S. P.; Tuch, A. N.; Opwis, K.

2011-01-01

Knowledge about users’ expectations and mental models is a key aspect of interface development. By meeting users’ expectations, errors may be prevented and interaction quality enhanced. In the case of online shops, this means that it is crucial to know where users expect to find the most common Web ob- jects such as the search field, shopping cart, or navigation. In this chapter, we show how users’ mental models of an online shop can be analyzed and validated empirically. The resulting model ...

A novel discrete PSO algorithm for solving job shop scheduling problem to minimize makespan

Science.gov (United States)

Rameshkumar, K.; Rajendran, C.

2018-02-01

In this work, a discrete version of PSO algorithm is proposed to minimize the makespan of a job-shop. A novel schedule builder has been utilized to generate active schedules. The discrete PSO is tested using well known benchmark problems available in the literature. The solution produced by the proposed algorithms is compared with best known solution published in the literature and also compared with hybrid particle swarm algorithm and variable neighborhood search PSO algorithm. The solution construction methodology adopted in this study is found to be effective in producing good quality solutions for the various benchmark job-shop scheduling problems.

The Effects of Shopping Orientations, Consumer Innovativeness, Purchase Experience, and Gender on Intention to Shop for Fashion Products Online

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ratih Puspa Nirmala

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Nowadays, many fashion retailers or marketers use the power of internet to promote and sell their products. This research examines the effects of consumers’ shopping orientations (brand/fashion consciousness, shopping enjoyment, price consciousness, convenience/time consciousness, shopping confidence, in-home shopping tendency, consumer innovativeness, online purchase experience for fashion products, and gender on consumers’ intention to shop for fashion products online. Data were collected through online surveys from the population of internet users in Indonesia, aged between 15 and 30 years old (generation Y, who had bought or browsed fashion products through the internet (N=210. This research is a quantitative research which uses purposive sampling and multiple regression analysis. Results show that the effects of several shopping orientations (shopping enjoyment, price consciousness, in-home shopping tendency, consumer innovativeness, online purchase experience for fashion products, and gender, are significant on consumers’ intention to shop for fashion products online. Furthermore, gender is marginally significant related to consumers’ intention to shop for fashion products online. Surprisingly, women tend to have lower intentions to shop for fashion products online compared to men.

CONSUMER MOTIVATION AND CONCERN FACTORS FOR ONLINE SHOPPING IN TURKEY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ceren Topaloğlu

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Understanding consumer behaviour in online environments is the basic factor to build an effective consumer-retailer relationship structure. The purpose of this study is to explore the influences of different values and concerns affecting search and purchase intentions of consumers and to build an integrated model, which could explain the purchase intentions of consumers in Turkey, where the majority of the population is under the age of 30. An integrated model of motivation and concern factors on the online shopping is developed to test the causal effect variables. Current study points out that hedonic value is a determinant of the consumer intention to search and purchase. Search intention has a direct impact on purchase intention. Utilitarian value does not have a significant impact on the search intention but it does have an important impact on the purchase intention. From the concern factors perspective, security has a significant impact on both search and purchase intentions, whereas there is no impact for privacy.

Online Shopping: Advantages over the Offline Alternative

OpenAIRE

Dr Joshua Chang

2003-01-01

The advent of the Internet as a shopping medium has enabled shoppers to gain shopping benefits such as convenience and time-saving, better information, and price savings. This paper aims to provide a better understanding of the benefits of Internet shopping by identifying and discussing the advantages of Internet shopping over traditional storefront shopping.

Spectroscopic evidence of resonance energy transfer mechanism from PbS QDs to bulk silicon

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bernechea M.

2013-06-01

Full Text Available In this work, we study the efficiency of the resonance energy transfer from PbS quantum dots to bulk silicon. We present spectroscopic evidence that resonance energy transfer from PbS quantum dots to bulk silicon can be an efficient process for separation distances below 12 nm. Temperature measurements are also presented for PbS quantum dots deposited on glass and silicon with 5 nm and 20nm spacer thicknesses substrates. Our findings show that the resonance energy transfer efficiency remains constant over the 50K to 300K temperature range.

Solving multi-objective job shop problem using nature-based algorithms: new Pareto approximation features

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jarosław Rudy

2015-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper the job shop scheduling problem (JSP with minimizing two criteria simultaneously is considered. JSP is frequently used model in real world applications of combinatorial optimization. Multi-objective job shop problems (MOJSP were rarely studied. We implement and compare two multi-agent nature-based methods, namely ant colony optimization (ACO and genetic algorithm (GA for MOJSP. Both of those methods employ certain technique, taken from the multi-criteria decision analysis in order to establish ranking of solutions. ACO and GA differ in a method of keeping information about previously found solutions and their quality, which affects the course of the search. In result, new features of Pareto approximations provided by said algorithms are observed: aside from the slight superiority of the ACO method the Pareto frontier approximations provided by both methods are disjoint sets. Thus, both methods can be used to search mutually exclusive areas of the Pareto frontier.

PENGARUH ATMOSFER PUSAT BELANJA PADA SHOPPING VALUE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Astrid Kusumowidagdo

2015-11-01

Full Text Available AbstractAt the moment, the creation of shopping environment design that provides certain sensation and experience become strategy of the shopping center. This research aims to find out about the influence of shopping center’s atmosphere towards shopping value. The formative factors of shopping centre’s atmosphere are architectural features, interior features and support facilities. The research begins with a focus group to adjust the indicators of the previous research to the present research’s object. The next stage of research is done with a multiple regression analysis. The research object is the atmosphere condition of Senayan City shopping center in Jakarta and the subjects are samples totaling to sixty people. The samples are visitors from the middle-class segment between the age of 18-35.The research finds that architectural features, interior features and support facilities collectively bring an influence towards shopping value in Senayan City Pusat belanja, wether partially, only interior features show the significant influence towards shopping value.Keywords: design, atmosphere, shopping centre, shopping value.AbstrakSaat ini penciptaan lingkungan belanja dengan yang memberikan sensasi dan pengalaman telah menjadi bagian dari strategi bisnis pusat belanja. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menelusuri pengaruh atmosfer pusat belanja terhadap shopping value. Atmosfer pusat belanja dibentuk oleh faktor-faktor yaitu fitur arsitektur, fitur interior dan fasilitas penunjang. Penelitian ini diawali dengan focus group untuk penentuan indikator yang tepat dan dilanjutkan dengan survey pada 60 orang dengan usia 18-35 tahun yang bersegmen menengah. Obyek penelitian adalahatmosfer dari pusat belanja Senayan City. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan terdapat hubungan dari faktor-faktor atmosfer pusat belanja secara serempak pada shopping value, sedangkan secara parsial hanya fitur interior yang memberikan pengaruh signifikan pada shopping value

Proposta de classificação hierarquizada dos modelos de solução para o problema de job shop scheduling A proposition of hierarchical classification for solution models in the job shop scheduling problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ricardo Ferrari Pacheco

1999-04-01

Full Text Available Este artigo propõe uma classificação hierarquizada dos modelos utilizados na solução do problema de programação da produção intermitente do tipo job shop, incluindo tanto os que fornecem solução ótima, quanto os modelos heurísticos mais recentes baseados em métodos de busca estendida. Por meio dessa classificação obteve-se um painel amplo dos modelos existentes, evidenciando as diferentes abordagens do problema e suas soluções, com o objetivo de proporcionar uma orientação preliminar na escolha do modelo de job shop scheduling mais adequado.This paper proposes a hierarchical model classification used in the job shop scheduling problem, including those that provide an optimal solution and the more recent ones based on heuristics, called extended search methods. A panel with the existing models is obtained by this classification, and solutions and approach differences are highlighted with the aim of a preliminary orientation on the choice of a more adequate job shop scheduling model.

Machine Shop Lathes.

Science.gov (United States)

Dunn, James

This guide, the second in a series of five machine shop curriculum manuals, was designed for use in machine shop courses in Oklahoma. The purpose of the manual is to equip students with basic knowledge and skills that will enable them to enter the machine trade at the machine-operator level. The curriculum is designed so that it can be used in…

Influence of PbS nanoparticle polymer coating on their aggregation behavior and toxicity to the green algae Dunaliella salina

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zamani, Hajar [Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Shiraz University, Shiraz 71454 (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Moradshahi, Ali, E-mail: moradshahi@susc.ac.ir [Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Shiraz University, Shiraz 71454 (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Jahromi, Hamed Dehdashti; Sheikhi, Mohammad Hosein [Nanotechnology Research Institute, Shiraz University, Shiraz 71454 (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

2014-09-15

Highlights: • Lead sulfide nanoparticles (PbS NPs) are toxic to D. salina. • Gum-Arabic coating alters the toxicity of PbS NPs. • Cell-NPs agglomerates and lipid peroxidation could explain the toxicity of PbS NPs. • Shading effect and dissolution do not seem to contribute to the toxicity of PbS NPs. • Particle–particle interaction was reduced by coating; therefore, PbS NPs were stabilized in the culture media. - Abstract: The potential hazards of nanoparticles (NPs) to the environment and to living organisms need to be considered for a safe development of nanotechnology. In the present study, the potential toxic effects of uncoated and gum Arabic-coated lead sulfide nanoparticles (GA-coated PbS NPs) on the growth, lipid peroxidation, reducing capacity and total carotenoid content of the hypersaline unicellular green algae Dunaliella salina were investigated. Coatings of PbS NPs with GA, as confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, reduced the toxicity of PbS NPs. Uncoated PbS NP toxicity to D. salina was attributed to higher algal cell-NP agglomerate formation, higher lipid peroxidation, lower content of total reducing substances and lower total carotenoid content. Low levels of Pb{sup 2+} in the growth culture media indicate that PbS NP dissolution does not occur in the culture. Also, the addition of 100 μM Pb{sup 2+} to the culture media had no significant (P > 0.05) effect on algal growth. The shading of light (shading effect) by PbS NPs, when simulated using activated charcoal, did not contribute to the overall toxic effect of PbS NPs which was evident by insignificant (P > 0.05) reduction in the growth and antioxidant capacity of the algae. When PbS NP aggregation in culture media (without algal cells) was followed for 60 min, uncoated form aggregated rapidly reaching aggregate sizes with hydrodynamic diameter of over 2500 nm within 60 min. Effective particle–particle interaction was reduced in the GA-coated NPs. Aggregates of about

Influence of PbS nanoparticle polymer coating on their aggregation behavior and toxicity to the green algae Dunaliella salina

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zamani, Hajar; Moradshahi, Ali; Jahromi, Hamed Dehdashti; Sheikhi, Mohammad Hosein

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Lead sulfide nanoparticles (PbS NPs) are toxic to D. salina. • Gum-Arabic coating alters the toxicity of PbS NPs. • Cell-NPs agglomerates and lipid peroxidation could explain the toxicity of PbS NPs. • Shading effect and dissolution do not seem to contribute to the toxicity of PbS NPs. • Particle–particle interaction was reduced by coating; therefore, PbS NPs were stabilized in the culture media. - Abstract: The potential hazards of nanoparticles (NPs) to the environment and to living organisms need to be considered for a safe development of nanotechnology. In the present study, the potential toxic effects of uncoated and gum Arabic-coated lead sulfide nanoparticles (GA-coated PbS NPs) on the growth, lipid peroxidation, reducing capacity and total carotenoid content of the hypersaline unicellular green algae Dunaliella salina were investigated. Coatings of PbS NPs with GA, as confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, reduced the toxicity of PbS NPs. Uncoated PbS NP toxicity to D. salina was attributed to higher algal cell-NP agglomerate formation, higher lipid peroxidation, lower content of total reducing substances and lower total carotenoid content. Low levels of Pb 2+ in the growth culture media indicate that PbS NP dissolution does not occur in the culture. Also, the addition of 100 μM Pb 2+ to the culture media had no significant (P > 0.05) effect on algal growth. The shading of light (shading effect) by PbS NPs, when simulated using activated charcoal, did not contribute to the overall toxic effect of PbS NPs which was evident by insignificant (P > 0.05) reduction in the growth and antioxidant capacity of the algae. When PbS NP aggregation in culture media (without algal cells) was followed for 60 min, uncoated form aggregated rapidly reaching aggregate sizes with hydrodynamic diameter of over 2500 nm within 60 min. Effective particle–particle interaction was reduced in the GA-coated NPs. Aggregates of about 440 nm

Monitoring results of two PBS demonstration vehicles in the forestry industry in South Africa

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Nordengen, Paul A

2010-03-01

Full Text Available and manufactured to comply with the Level 2 safety standards of the Australian PBS system. This paper presents a summary of the monitoring data compiled during the first nine months of operation of the two PBS demonstration vehicles, which were commissioned...

Co-sensitization of quantum dot sensitized solar cells composed of TiO2 nanocrystalline photoanode with CdS and PbS nanoparticles and effect of PbS on the performance of solar cell

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maziar Marandi

2017-09-01

Full Text Available In this research, CdS and PbS quantum dots were applied as the light sensitizers in TiO2 based nanostructured solar cells. The PbS quantum dots could absorb a wide range of the sunlight spectrum on earth due to their low bandgap energy. As a result, the cell sensitization is more effective by application of both CdS and PbS quantum dots sensitizers. The TiO2 nanocrystals were synthesized through a hydrothermal process and deposited on FTO glass substrates as the photoanode scaffold. Then PbS quantum dots were grown on the surface of this nanocrystalline layer by a successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR method. The CdS quantum dots were over-grown in the next step through a similar deposition method. Finally this sensitized layer was applied as the photoelectrode of the corresponding quantum dot sensitized solar cells. The results demonstrated that the maximum efficiency was achieved for the cell with a photoanode made of co-sensitization through 2 and 6 cycles of PbS and CdS deposition, respectively. The photovoltaic parameters of this cell were measured as Jsc of 10.81 mA/cm2, Voc of 590 mv and energy conversion efficiency of 2.7+0.2%.

A fine-grained parallel algorithm for the cyclic flexible job shop problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bożejko Wojciech

2017-06-01

Full Text Available In this paper there is considered a flexible job shop problem of operations scheduling. The new, very fast method of determination of cycle time is presented. In the design of heuristic algorithm there was the neighborhood inspired by the game of golf applied. Lower bound of the criterion function was used in the search of the neighborhood.

Buying cannabis in 'coffee shops'.

Science.gov (United States)

Monshouwer, Karin; Van Laar, Margriet; Vollebergh, Wilma A

2011-03-01

The key objective of Dutch cannabis policy is to prevent and limit the risks of cannabis consumption for users, their direct environment and society ('harm reduction'). This paper will focus on the tolerated sale of cannabis in 'coffee shops'. We give a brief overview of Dutch policy on coffee shops, its history and recent developments. Furthermore, we present epidemiological data that may be indicative of the effects of the coffee shop policy on cannabis and other drug use. Dutch coffee shop policy has become more restrictive in recent years and the number of coffee shops has decreased. Cannabis prevalence rates in the adult population are somewhat below the European average; the rate is relatively high among adolescents; and age of first use appears to be low. On a European level, the use of hard drugs in both the Dutch adult and adolescent population is average to low (except for ecstasy among adults). International comparisons do not suggest a strong, upward effect of the coffee shop system on levels of cannabis use, although prevalence rates among Dutch adolescents give rise to concern. Furthermore, the coffee shop system appears to be successful in separating the hard and soft drugs markets. Nevertheless, in recent years, issues concerning the involvement of organised crime and the public nuisance related to drug tourism have given rise to several restrictive measures on the local level and have sparked a political debate on the reform of Dutch drug policy. © 2011 Trimbos Institute.

Kinect sensing of shopping related actions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Popa, M.; Koc, A.K.; Rothkrantz, L.J.M.; Shan, C.; Wiggers, P.

2011-01-01

Surveillance systems in shopping malls or supermarkets are usually used for detecting abnormal behavior. We used the distributed video cameras system to design digital shopping assistants which assess the behavior of customers while shopping, detect when they need assistance, and offer their support

Social Sustainability of Shopping Streets in Ankara

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Özge YALÇINER ERCOŞKUN

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Shopping streets are integral parts of public spaces in traditional shopping areas of Central Business Districts (CBD. Furthermore, as modern shopping venues, shopping centers offer advantages for modern lifestyles with spacious shopping areas, variety of commercial and social activities, and economic value of their investments. These advantages act in favor of shopping centers and improve the level of shopping street social sustainability and its relevant concepts. The aim of this study is to analyze the main shopping streets of Ankara, using the concepts of social sustainability. In this study, these concepts, such as locality, identity, vitality, viability, sense of place, conviviality, meaning and local characteristics of the shopping streets are investigated. For the first time, the retail unit locations in Ankara, their brands and their business types, are illustrated on thematic land use maps using Geographical Information Systems (GIS software. Next, population activities and consumer spatial behavior are observed and marked on maps that are also referred to as social sustainability maps. The results of the study can be useful in formulating strategies within the framework of social sustainability, which is a relatively new concept.

Deposition and characteristics of PbS thin films by an in-situ solution chemical reaction process

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ji, Junna; Ji, Huiming; Wang, Jian; Zheng, Xuerong; Lai, Junyun; Liu, Weiyan; Li, Tongfei [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Key Laboratory for Advanced Ceramics and Machining Technology of Ministry of Education, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072 (China); Ma, Yuanliang; Li, Haiqin; Zhao, Suqin [College of Physics and Electronic Information Engineering, Qinghai University for Nationalities, Xining 810007 (China); Jin, Zhengguo, E-mail: zhgjin@tju.edu.cn [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Key Laboratory for Advanced Ceramics and Machining Technology of Ministry of Education, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072 (China)

2015-09-01

Preferential oriented and uniform PbS thin films were deposited by a room temperature in-situ solution chemical reaction process, in which the lead nitrate as precursor in a form of thin solid films from lead precursor solution was used to react with ammonium sulfide ethanol solution. Influence of 1-butanol addition in the lead precursor solution, Pb:S molar ratios in the separate cationic and anionic solutions, deposition cycle numbers and annealing treatment in Ar atmosphere on structure, morphology, chemical composition and optical absorption properties of the deposited PbS films were investigated based on X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectrometer, atomic force microscopy, selected area electron diffraction, UV–vis, near infrared ray and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy measurements. The results showed that the deposited PbS thin films had a cubic structure and highly preferred orientation along with the plane (100). The deposition rate of single-layer was stable, about 30 nm in thickness per deposition cycle. - Highlights: • Time-efficiency synthetic method for the preparation of lead sulfide (PbS) films • Effect of 1-butanol addition into cationic precursor solution is discussed. • Growth rate of the PbS films is stable at about 30 nm per cycle.

Preparation of nanostructured PbS thin films as sensing element for NO{sub 2} gas

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kaci, S., E-mail: k_samira05@yahoo.fr [Centre de Recherche en Technologie des Semi-conducteurs pour l’Energétique (CRTSE) Division Couches Minces et Interfaces, 02 Bd Frantz Fanon, B.P. 140, 7 Merveilles, 16038 Algiers (Algeria); Keffous, A.; Hakoum, S. [Centre de Recherche en Technologie des Semi-conducteurs pour l’Energétique (CRTSE) Division Couches Minces et Interfaces, 02 Bd Frantz Fanon, B.P. 140, 7 Merveilles, 16038 Algiers (Algeria); Trari, M. [Université des Sciences et Technologies Houari Boumediene (USTHB), Laboratoire de Stockage et de Valorisation des Eneriges Renouvelables, Faculté de Chimie, BP 32, EL Alia, 16111 Bab Ezzouar, Algiers (Algeria); Mansri, O.; Menari, H. [Centre de Recherche en Technologie des Semi-conducteurs pour l’Energétique (CRTSE) Division Couches Minces et Interfaces, 02 Bd Frantz Fanon, B.P. 140, 7 Merveilles, 16038 Algiers (Algeria)

2014-06-01

In this work, we demonstrate that semiconducting films of A{sub IV}B{sub VI} compounds, in particular, of nanostructured lead sulfide (PbS) which prepared by chemical bath deposition (CBD), can be used as a sensing element for nitrogen dioxide (NO{sub 2}) gas. The CBD method is versatile, simple in implementation and gives homogeneous semiconductor structures. We have prepared PbS nanocrystalline thin film at different reaction baths and temperatures. In the course of deposition, variable amounts of additives, such as organic substances among them, were introduced into the baths. The energy dispersive analysis (EDX) confirms the chemical composition of PbS films. A current–voltage (I–V) characterization of Pd/nc-PbS/a-SiC:H pSi(100)/Al Schottky diode structures were studied in the presence of NO{sub 2} gas. The gas sensing behavior showed that the synthesized PbS nanocrystalline thin films were influenced by NO{sub 2} gas at room temperature. The results can be used for developing an experimental sensing element based on chemically deposited nanostructured PbS films which can be applicable in gas sensors.

Enhancement of Electron Transfer Efficiency in Solar Cells Based on PbS QD/N719 Dye Cosensitizers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yanyan Gao

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Cosensitized solar cells (CSSCs have recently become an active subject in the field of sensitized solar cells (SSCs due to their increasing electronic utilization. However, because of the dye molecules, layer must be single, dye-SSCs cannot be co-sensitized with two different dyes to form two different molecules layer. But it is possible to be cosensitized with quantum dots (QDs and dyes. Here we designed novel photoanode architecture, namely, PbS QDs and N719 dyes are used as co-sensitizers of the TiO2 mesoporous film. The experimental result shows that PbS QDs/N719 dyes co-sensitized structure can make PbS QDs and N719 dyes mutual improvement. Taking the advantage of PbS not only achieved higher transfer efficiency of photo-excited electron, but also achieved obviously wider range and higher intensity of absorption. The PbS QDs which have been deposited on the TiO2 film was coated by N719 dyes, which can effectively prevent PbS QDs from corroding by I-/I3-electrolyte and light. As we expected, the solar energy-conversion efficiency which is showed by CSSCs fabricated following these photoanodes is relatively higher than the PbS QDs or N719 dyes, single-sensitized solar cells under the illumination of one sun.

77 FR 40358 - Federal Management Regulation; FMR Bulletin PBS-2012-03; Redesignations of Federal Buildings...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-07-09

... Management Regulation; FMR Bulletin PBS-2012-03; Redesignations of Federal Buildings: Correction AGENCY: Public Buildings Service (PBS), General Services Administration (GSA). ACTION: Notice of a bulletin..., 2012, a bulletin announcing the designation and redesignation of three Federal buildings. Inadvertently...

Spanish adaptation of the Participatory Behaviors Scale (PBS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alejandro Magallares

2016-04-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to adapt the Participatory Behaviors Scale (PBS and validate the results for use among the Spanish population. Using snowball sampling methodology, 501 individuals from all areas of Spain were selected to participate in the study. The Participatory Behaviors Scale (PBS and questionnaires that measure a sense of community, belief in a just world and Machiavellianism were used to analyze the criterion validity of the adapted scale. A confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the items on the questionnaire fit a second-order model with four factors, which corresponded to the four dimensions proposed by the original authors, namely, disengagement, civil participation, formal political participation and activism. Additionally, it has been found that the scale is related to a sense of community, belief in a just world and Machiavellianism. In light of these results, we concluded that the questionnaire is methodologically valid and can be used by the scientific community to measure participatory behavior.

Science Shops - a concept for community based learning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Michael Søgaard; Hende, Merete

2001-01-01

Experience from science shops show that besides assisting citizen groups, science shops can also contribute to the development of university curricula and research. The paper is based on an investigation of the impact of science shops on university curricula and research through a questionnaire...... sent out to science shops and through follow-up interviews with employees from nine different university based science shops. These science shops had in the questionnaire indicated that the science shop in one way or the other has had impact on university curricula and/or research. This paper focuses...... on the impact on university curricula. The case studies have been supplemented with articles and reports. The analysis has focused on the kind of impact, which the science shops have reported, and has tried to relate the impact to the local history of the science shop. One direct impact on the curricula...

The delivery of medical services in a retail shopping mall: a strategy for growth.

Science.gov (United States)

Hayden, K R

1989-01-01

The successful medical practice of the future will continually search for growth strategies. This writer believes the location of a primary care medical clinic in a retail shopping mall, with a full menu of primary services, is one strategy for growth. It is an effective method of health care delivery to a community.

Why Shops Close Again : An Evolutionary Perspective on the Deregulation of Shopping Hours

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kosfeld, M.

1999-01-01

This paper introduces a new perspective on the deregulation of shopping hours based on ideas from evolutionary game theory. We study a retail economy where shopping hours have been deregulated recently. It is argued that first, the deregulation leads to a coordination problem between store owners

Hybrid job shop scheduling

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schutten, Johannes M.J.

1995-01-01

We consider the problem of scheduling jobs in a hybrid job shop. We use the term 'hybrid' to indicate that we consider a lot of extensions of the classic job shop, such as transportation times, multiple resources, and setup times. The Shifting Bottleneck procedure can be generalized to deal with

Online Shopping In The UK

OpenAIRE

K. K. Ramachandran; K. K. Karthick; M. Saravana Kumar

2011-01-01

This paper will contribute to current academic literature in the area of online retailing and consumer behaviour. Our research outlines a survey conducted with respondents from the UK to ascertain their attitudes to grocery shopping both off and online. The findings indicate that, whilst the vast majority of our sample has experience of online shopping, few actively engage in online grocery shopping. Some of the reasons for this are highlighted and the key issues relate to consumer trust and ...

Shopping Online Sebagai Gaya Hidup

OpenAIRE

Lestari, Sri Budi

2015-01-01

The use of internet communication technology can make the world as if in one hand makes electronicbusiness with the concept of Online Shopping at its peak in recent years along with the development ofcommunication technologies over theInternet.How to shop online by using the internet through computers andmobile devices is increasingly popular smartphone can even be said to have become a trend today.Variousconvenience of shopping be the main thing to offer, with enough gadgets available in the...

The Shopping Mall: A Teenager Hangout.

Science.gov (United States)

Anthony, Kathryn H.

1985-01-01

Investigated teenagers' use of the shopping mall as a "hangout" through interviews with 51 adolescents using the mall, and 10 hours of behavioral observations. Results indicated that many teenagers visit the shopping center regularly to watch members of the opposite sex, play video games, see friends, shop, and people-watch. (Author/NRB)

Cross-border shopping and tourism destination marketing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Makkonen, Teemu

2016-01-01

This article addresses the economic impact that cross-border shopping has on the local tourism industry and the ways that cross-border shopping is taken advantage of in tourism destination marketing. Southern Jutland–situated in Denmark just north of the German border, where border shops situated......-border shopping into tourism destination marketing strategies. The results have wider relevance for other border regions.......This article addresses the economic impact that cross-border shopping has on the local tourism industry and the ways that cross-border shopping is taken advantage of in tourism destination marketing. Southern Jutland–situated in Denmark just north of the German border, where border shops situated...... just south of the same border enable Danes to capitalize on the lower value added tax levels in Germany–is utilized as an illustrative case example. The data was collected by analysing the relevant tourism destination marketing material and via interviews with local destination marketing organizations...

A Generalized Ant Colony Algorithm for Job一shop Scheduling Problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ZHANG Hong-Guo

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Aiming at the problem of ant colony algorithm for solving Job一shop scheduling problem. Considering the complexity of the algorithm that uses disjunctive graph to describe the relationship between workpiece processing. To solve the problem of optimal solution，a generalized ant colony algorithm is proposed. Under the premise of considering constrained relationship between equipment and process，the pheromone update mechanism is applied to solve Job-shop scheduling problem，so as to improve the quality of the solution. In order to improve the search efficiency，according to the state transition rules of ant colony algorithm，this paper makes a detailed study on the selection and improvement of the parameters in the algorithm，and designs the pheromone update strategy. Experimental results show that a generalized ant colony algorithm is more feasible and more effective. Compared with other algorithms in the literature，the results prove that the algorithm improves in computing the optimal solution and convergence speed.

Revisiting the Rise of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems Using Search Query Surveillance.

Science.gov (United States)

Ayers, John W; Althouse, Benjamin M; Allem, Jon-Patrick; Leas, Eric C; Dredze, Mark; Williams, Rebecca S

2016-06-01

Public perceptions of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) remain poorly understood because surveys are too costly to regularly implement and, when implemented, there are long delays between data collection and dissemination. Search query surveillance has bridged some of these gaps. Herein, ENDS' popularity in the U.S. is reassessed using Google searches. ENDS searches originating in the U.S. from January 2009 through January 2015 were disaggregated by terms focused on e-cigarette (e.g., e-cig) versus vaping (e.g., vapers); their geolocation (e.g., state); the aggregate tobacco control measures corresponding to their geolocation (e.g., clean indoor air laws); and by terms that indicated the searcher's potential interest (e.g., buy e-cigs likely indicates shopping)-all analyzed in 2015. ENDS searches are rapidly increasing in the U.S., with 8,498,000 searches during 2014 alone. Increasingly, searches are shifting from e-cigarette- to vaping-focused terms, especially in coastal states and states where anti-smoking norms are stronger. For example, nationally, e-cigarette searches declined 9% (95% CI=1%, 16%) during 2014 compared with 2013, whereas vaping searches increased 136% (95% CI=97%, 186%), even surpassing e-cigarette searches. Additionally, the percentage of ENDS searches related to shopping (e.g., vape shop) nearly doubled in 2014, whereas searches related to health concerns (e.g., vaping risks) or cessation (e.g., quit smoking with e-cigs) were rare and declined in 2014. ENDS popularity is rapidly growing and evolving. These findings could inform survey questionnaire development for follow-up investigation and immediately guide policy debates about how the public perceives the health risks or cessation benefits of ENDS. Copyright © 2016 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A methodology for assessment of road structures for the PBS pilot project in South Africa

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Nordengen, Paul A

2016-11-01

Full Text Available This paper describes the methodology that is being used for the performance assessment of PBS vehicles in terms of road structures as part of the PBS pilot project in South Africa. The assessment approach has evolved from the standard “bridge...

Dynamic Support of Government in Online Shopping

OpenAIRE

Hai, Le Chi; Alam Kazmi, Syed Hasnain

2015-01-01

Advancements in online shopping for consumers requires consistent government support policies and the introduction of substantial government laws and regulations. In order to establish innovative developments in online shopping market environment that makes online shopping faster and stable, the government perspective is vital with the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) for research and development in online shopping behavior for consumer’s confidence and their purchase intention. The proposed...

SHOPPING ONLINE SEBAGAI GAYA HIDUP

OpenAIRE

Sri Budi Lestari

2016-01-01

The use of internet communication technology can make the world as if in one hand makes electronic business with the concept of Online Shopping at its peak in recent years along with the development of communication technologies over theInternet.How to shop online by using the internet through computers and mobile devices is increasingly popular smartphone can even be said to have become a trend today.Various convenience of shopping be the main thing to offer, with enough gadgets ...

A hybrid algorithm for flexible job-shop scheduling problem with setup times

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ameni Azzouz

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Job-shop scheduling problem is one of the most important fields in manufacturing optimization where a set of n jobs must be processed on a set of m specified machines. Each job consists of a specific set of operations, which have to be processed according to a given order. The Flexible Job Shop problem (FJSP is a generalization of the above-mentioned problem, where each operation can be processed by a set of resources and has a processing time depending on the resource used. The FJSP problems cover two difficulties, namely, machine assignment problem and operation sequencing problem. This paper addresses the flexible job-shop scheduling problem with sequence-dependent setup times to minimize two kinds of objectives function: makespan and bi-criteria objective function. For that, we propose a hybrid algorithm based on genetic algorithm (GA and variable neighbourhood search (VNS to solve this problem. To evaluate the performance of our algorithm, we compare our results with other methods existing in literature. All the results show the superiority of our algorithm against the available ones in terms of solution quality.

Process Waste Assessment - Paint Shop

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Phillips, N.M.

1993-06-01

This Process Waste Assessment was conducted to evaluate hazardous wastes generated in the Paint Shop, Building 913, Room 130. Special attention is given to waste streams generated by the spray painting process because it requires a number of steps for preparing, priming, and painting an object. Also, the spray paint booth covers the largest area in R-130. The largest and most costly waste stream to dispose of is open-quote Paint Shop wasteclose quotes -- a combination of paint cans, rags, sticks, filters, and paper containers. These items are compacted in 55-gallon drums and disposed of as solid hazardous waste. Recommendations are made for minimizing waste in the Paint Shop. Paint Shop personnel are very aware of the need to minimize hazardous wastes and are continuously looking for opportunities to do so

Optimal Results and Numerical Simulations for Flow Shop Scheduling Problems

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Tao Ren

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper considers the m-machine flow shop problem with two objectives: makespan with release dates and total quadratic completion time, respectively. For Fm|rj|Cmax, we prove the asymptotic optimality for any dense scheduling when the problem scale is large enough. For Fm‖ΣCj2, improvement strategy with local search is presented to promote the performance of the classical SPT heuristic. At the end of the paper, simulations show the effectiveness of the improvement strategy.

Iterated greedy algorithms to minimize the total family flow time for job-shop scheduling with job families and sequence-dependent set-ups

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Ji-Su; Park, Jung-Hyeon; Lee, Dong-Ho

2017-10-01

This study addresses a variant of job-shop scheduling in which jobs are grouped into job families, but they are processed individually. The problem can be found in various industrial systems, especially in reprocessing shops of remanufacturing systems. If the reprocessing shop is a job-shop type and has the component-matching requirements, it can be regarded as a job shop with job families since the components of a product constitute a job family. In particular, sequence-dependent set-ups in which set-up time depends on the job just completed and the next job to be processed are also considered. The objective is to minimize the total family flow time, i.e. the maximum among the completion times of the jobs within a job family. A mixed-integer programming model is developed and two iterated greedy algorithms with different local search methods are proposed. Computational experiments were conducted on modified benchmark instances and the results are reported.

TU-H-BRC-03: Evaluation of Very High-Energy Electron (VHEE) Beams in Comparison to VMAT and PBS Treatment Plans

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schueler, E; Loo, B; Maxim, P [Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California (United States); Eriksson, K; Hynning, E [RaySearch Laboratories, Stockholm (Sweden)

2016-06-15

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of very high-energy electron (VHEE) beams in comparison to clinically delivered treatment plans generated with volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) and proton pencil beam scanning (PBS) technology. Methods: Three clinical cases were selected (prostate, lung, and pediatric CNS). The VHEE plans were calculated in the Monte Carlo EGSnrc code and pencil beam doses were calculated using the DOSxyznrc MC code for 100 and 200 MeV beams. Treatment plans with VHEE, VMAT, and PBS were optimized in a research version of RayStation using an in house build script in order to minimize operator bias between the different techniques. Results: For the prostate cancer case, the PBS plan showed lower mean organ at risk (OAR) doses compared to the other modalities. An exception was the femoral heads, due to the lateral beam arrangements. The VMAT plan showed lower mean doses to the rectum and the bladder compared to the 100 MeV VHEE plan. The lung cancer case showed minor differences between the three modalities. However, the PBS plan showed a lower contralateral lung dose. The pediatric CNS case showed a better conformity and lower spinal cord dose for the 100 MeV VHEE plan. For all cases, the 200 MeV VHEE plans were found to be similar to or better than the 100 MeV VHEE plans. Conclusion: The present study showed that VHEE plans are similar or superior to VMAT plans with reduced mean OAR dose and increased target conformity for a variety of clinical cases. With increased VHEE energy, better conformity and even higher reductions in mean OAR doses can be achieved. Funding: DoD, Award#:W81XWH-13-1-0165, Weston Havens Foundation, Bio-X (Stanford University), the Office of the Dean of the Medical School, the Office of the Provost (Stanford University), and the Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation. BL and PM are founders of TibaRay,Inc. BL and PM have received research grants from Varian and RaySearch Laboratory.

Going where the ad leads you : On high advertised prices and searching where to buy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Janssen, Maarten C. W.; Non, Marielle C.

2009-01-01

An important role of informative advertising is to inform consumers of the simple fact that the shop that advertises sells a particular product. This information may help consumers to save on their search activities: instead of wandering around, a consumer can simply visit the shop that has

Youth Clothes-Shopping Behavior: An Analysis by Gender.

Science.gov (United States)

Peters, John F.

1989-01-01

Explored possible gender differences in clothes-shopping behavior among adolescents. Findings from 387 college students revealed that: parents financially assisted sons and daughters equally; there was no gender difference in shopping frequency; mothers more frequently shopped with sons than with daughters; fathers rarely shopped with any…

PbS Thin Films for Photovoltaic Applications Obtained by Non-Traditional Chemical Bath Deposition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pérez-García Claudia Elena

2015-01-01

Full Text Available To optimize cost-efficiency relation for thin film solar cells, we explore the recently developed versions of chemical deposition of semiconductor films, together with classic CBD (Chemical Bath Deposition: SILAR (Successive Ionic Layer Adsorption and Reaction and PCBD (Photo Chemical Bath Deposition, all of them ammonia-free and ecologically friendly. The films of CdS and PbS were made, and experimental solar cells with CdS window layer and PbS absorber elaborated. We found that band gap of PbS films can be monitored by deposition process due to porosity-induced quantum confinement which depends on the parameters of the process. We expect that the techniques employed can be successfully used for production of optoelectronic devices.

Consumers preferences of shopping centers in Bratislava (Slovakia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kristína Bilková

2016-05-01

Full Text Available There have been changes in the shopping behavior and preferences of consumers in the post-communist countries caused by political changes after 1989. Slovakia is not an exception, and it has been observed a change not only at the consumers’ level but also in retail stores. A notable bearer of such changes was the construction of big shopping centers that were a new phenomenon in shopping. They quickly became popular and changed spatial and shopping patterns of consumers. The main aim of this study is to analyze and evaluate the shopping preferences of consumers based on the example of the capital city – Bratislava (at the level of urban districts. The database consists of results of a questionnaire survey carried out in 2011. Respondents were interviewed inside the shopping center. The partial aims focus on the analysis of consumers’ perceptions, the frequency of their shopping and the mode of transport used for shopping. One of the goals of this study is also to evaluate the perception of consumers in terms of the catchment areas of the chosen shopping center, as well as the perceptional classification of retail in the given area and the accessibility of stores.

Strategy of image management in retail shops

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sandra Soče Kraljević

2007-12-01

Full Text Available A sound positioning in consumers’ mind, along with strong promotion support, brought many retail shops to the top. This is mostly thanks to the image created in the consumers’ mind. A retail shop’s image may but need not conform to reality. Image often looks like a cliché. It overstates certain elements of the shop while simply omitting others. That is exactly why image is of great importance and often crucial to consumer behavior. This paper aims at determining the impact of image on customer behavior in the course of decision making about shopping and choosing a particular retail shop. Image is a significant factor of success of every company, hence also of a retail shops. It is a relatively strong value and a component of creating competitive advantage. But if we do not pay sufficient attention to image, it can become counterproductive. Instead to, like an additional value helps creating and maintaining the advantage in competition and realization of business aims, transforms into a limiting factor. Therefore, it is imperative to identify the elements of image that are of greatest importance to customers. Research has shown that customers choose the retail shop first and after that products and brands within this shop. When it comes to the supermarket, as a kind of retail shop, research has shown that two out of three shopping decisions are made by the customer on the spot, that is, without previous planning. That practically means that we can influence customers with different sales techniques. The paper suggests different strategies of image management for supermarkets and conventional shops. For supermarkets it is the “widest assortment” strategy, while for conventional shops the strategy is that of a “selected group of products“. Improvements to research methods will enable getting more information about customer behavior, while pressures of increased competition in the business environment will force retailers to get

Evolutionary Hybrid Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm for Solving NP-Hard No-Wait Flow Shop Scheduling Problems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laxmi A. Bewoor

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The no-wait flow shop is a flowshop in which the scheduling of jobs is continuous and simultaneous through all machines without waiting for any consecutive machines. The scheduling of a no-wait flow shop requires finding an appropriate sequence of jobs for scheduling, which in turn reduces total processing time. The classical brute force method for finding the probabilities of scheduling for improving the utilization of resources may become trapped in local optima, and this problem can hence be observed as a typical NP-hard combinatorial optimization problem that requires finding a near optimal solution with heuristic and metaheuristic techniques. This paper proposes an effective hybrid Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO metaheuristic algorithm for solving no-wait flow shop scheduling problems with the objective of minimizing the total flow time of jobs. This Proposed Hybrid Particle Swarm Optimization (PHPSO algorithm presents a solution by the random key representation rule for converting the continuous position information values of particles to a discrete job permutation. The proposed algorithm initializes population efficiently with the Nawaz-Enscore-Ham (NEH heuristic technique and uses an evolutionary search guided by the mechanism of PSO, as well as simulated annealing based on a local neighborhood search to avoid getting stuck in local optima and to provide the appropriate balance of global exploration and local exploitation. Extensive computational experiments are carried out based on Taillard’s benchmark suite. Computational results and comparisons with existing metaheuristics show that the PHPSO algorithm outperforms the existing methods in terms of quality search and robustness for the problem considered. The improvement in solution quality is confirmed by statistical tests of significance.

Solving multi-objective job shop scheduling problems using a non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Piroozfard, Hamed; Wong, Kuan Yew

2015-05-01

The efforts of finding optimal schedules for the job shop scheduling problems are highly important for many real-world industrial applications. In this paper, a multi-objective based job shop scheduling problem by simultaneously minimizing makespan and tardiness is taken into account. The problem is considered to be more complex due to the multiple business criteria that must be satisfied. To solve the problem more efficiently and to obtain a set of non-dominated solutions, a meta-heuristic based non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm is presented. In addition, task based representation is used for solution encoding, and tournament selection that is based on rank and crowding distance is applied for offspring selection. Swapping and insertion mutations are employed to increase diversity of population and to perform intensive search. To evaluate the modified non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm, a set of modified benchmarking job shop problems obtained from the OR-Library is used, and the results are considered based on the number of non-dominated solutions and quality of schedules obtained by the algorithm.

CERN Shop - Christmas Sale in Bldg. 33

CERN Multimedia

PH Department

2010-01-01

Looking for Christmas present ideas? The CERN Shop will give CERN card holders a special reduction of 10 % on all CERN Shop articles from Monday 13.12.2010 to Saturday 18.12.2010. Come and visit the CERN Shop in the Reception Building 33.

Band-structure tailoring and surface passivation for highly efficient near-infrared responsive PbS quantum dot photovoltaics

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Ru; Niu, Haihong; Ji, Fengwei; Wan, Lei; Mao, Xiaoli; Guo, Huier; Xu, Jinzhang; Cao, Guozhong

2016-11-01

PbS is a promising light harvester for near-infrared (NIR) responsive quantum dot (QD) photovoltaics due to its narrow bulk band gap (0.41 eV) and large exciton Bohr radius (18 nm). However, the relatively low conduction band (CB) and high-density surface defects of PbS as two major drawbacks for its use in solar cells severely hamper the photovoltaic performance enhancement. In this work, a modified solution-based successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) utilizing mixed cationic precursors of Pb2+ and Cd2+ is explored, and such a scheme offers two benefits, band-structure tailoring and surface passivation. In-situ deposited CdS suppresses the excessive growth of PbS in the mesopores, thereby facilitating the favorable electron injection from PbS to TiO2 in view of the up-shifted CB level of QDs; the intimate interpenetration of two sulfides with each other leads to superior passivation of trap state defects on PbS, which suppresses the interfacial charge recombination. With the construction of photovoltaics based on such a hybrid (Pb,Cd)S/CdS configuration, impressive power conversion efficiency up to 4.08% has been reached, outperforming that of the conventional PbS/CdS pattern (2.95%). This work highlights the great importance of band-structure tailoring and surface passivation for constructing highly efficient PbS QD photovoltaics.

SEARCHING THE FACTORS HAVING CREDIT CARD: A SURVEY STUDY IN ERZURUM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ERKAN OKTAY

2013-06-01

Full Text Available In this study, the factors related with having credit card in Erzurum have been searched by a logit model. There are demographic, social, cultural, and economic variables in the model. The final model is statistically significant. According to the model, job, average household income per month, payment method at shopping, usefulness of credit card and increasing the shopping tendency are statistically significant on having credit card.

The correlation between cherry picking and the distance that consumers travel to do grocery shopping

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Louise Van Scheers

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Retailers often use price promotions to discriminate between consumers who can shift purchases over time and those who cannot. Retailers consistently tend to charge lower prices than necessary, pricing defensively to prevent loyal customers from cherry picking, or shifting to competitors. Knowledge about cherry picking behaviour will enable retailers to obtain a higher share of disposable income from even price-sensitive shoppers, while at the same time charging higher prices. Recent studies indicate that effective cherry picking entails saving costs through price searching over time, price searching across stores, or both. This study examines the relationship between cherry picking and the distance that consumers travel to do grocery shopping. Interviews were conducted at ten different retail outlets over three days, and the results show that there is a highly significant correlation between cherry picking and the distance that consumers travel to do grocery shopping.These results should help retailers to benefit from cherry picking by taking a proactive approach to store switching and store location, two of the main influences on cherry picking behaviour.

Comparison of the risks of shopping behavior and opioid abuse between tapentadol and oxycodone and association of shopping behavior and opioid abuse.

Science.gov (United States)

Cepeda, M Soledad; Fife, Daniel; Kihm, Mary A; Mastrogiovanni, Greg; Yuan, Yingli

2014-12-01

This study compared the risks of opioid shopping behavior and opioid abuse between tapentadol immediate release and oxycodone immediate release and, to validate the definition of shopping, examined the association between opioid shopping and opioid abuse further. This retrospective cohort study using linked dispensing and diagnosis databases followed opioid-naive patients for development of shopping behavior and/or opioid abuse during 1 year after initial exposure to tapentadol or oxycodone. Shopping was defined by having overlapping opioid prescriptions from >1 prescriber filled at ≥3 pharmacies; abuse by having International Classification of Diseases, 9th revision diagnoses reflecting opioid abuse, addiction, or dependence. To determine their association, we cross-tabulated shopping and opioid abuse and calculated odds ratios. Risks of developing each outcome were estimated using logistic regression. Among 277,401 participants initiating opioid use with tapentadol (39,524) or oxycodone (237,877), 0.6% developed shopping behavior, 0.75% developed abuse. Higher proportions of patients in the oxycodone group developed shopping behavior and abuse than in the tapentadol group (shopping: adjusted odds ratio [95% confidence interval], 0.45 [0.36-0.55]; abuse: 0.44 [0.37-0.54]). Shopping behavior and abuse were associated; of those with shopping behavior, 6.5% had abuse. Age (18 to 64 y), sex (male), prior benzodiazepine use, paying cash, and history (mood disorders, abuse of nonopioid medications, and back pain) were risk factors for developing either outcome. Shopping behavior and abuse measure complementary, but associated, constructs, which further validates the current definition of shopping. The risk of developing either is lower among patients who initiate opioid use with tapentadol than those who initiate opioid use with oxycodone.

Shop stewards' learning and union strategies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Warring, Niels

2007-01-01

In Denmark the trade unions have well established educational systems providing the shop stewards with a variety of competencies. Union courses have been analysed focusing on shop stewards' satisfaction with the content and the practical impact of the courses. However, little attention has been...... different theoretical traditions: Shop steward's learning is situational, relational and cross-contextual. Shop stewards' learning is lifelong and life wide. And shop stewards' learning is closely connected to the development of the labour market and not least the unions' priorities, interpretation...

Why do you shop there? A mixed methods study mapping household food shopping patterns onto weekly routines of black women.

Science.gov (United States)

DiSantis, Katherine Isselmann; Hillier, Amy; Holaday, Rio; Kumanyika, Shiriki

2016-01-28

The effectiveness of initiatives to increase healthy food access may be affected by where people decide to shop. People with poor neighborhood access to large grocery stores develop shopping patterns that require traveling to other areas, and some people who do have neighborhood access also travel elsewhere for food shopping. We sought to gain an understanding of household food shopping patterns in a sample of Black women in terms of where they shopped and why. All food shopping trips of 35 low- or middle/high-income black mothers or caregivers living with at least one child were identified from grocery shopping receipts collected over four consecutive weeks. Food shopping locations were mapped along with locations of participants' homes and other places they visited during weekly routine travels (e.g. work, child's school). Semi-structured individual interviews elicited narrative information about whether and how grocery shopping trips were linked to routine travels. Inductive content analysis was utilized to identify emergent themes from interviews. Themes were considered in relation to geospatial distances and travel patterns identified through mapping of participants' shopping. Participants shopped at an average of six different stores, traveling on average a total of 35 miles (sd = 41) (Euclidian distance) over the four weeks. The most frequented store was within a mile of home (57%) or home or another place visited in the weekly routine for about 77% of participants. Interview results emphasized the concept of convenience which referred to geographical proximity to the home or routine destinations and also to potential to save time because several stores were co-located or because the store layout was easy to navigate and familiar. Store selection also related to mode of transportation, pricing, and family preference for certain foods. People have specific reasons for consistently shopping in areas outside of their neighborhood of residence. Incorporating

Effects of Hydroxylation on PbS Quantum Dot Sensitized TiO2 Nanotube Array Photoelectrodes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Zhongqing; Wang, Bin; Wu, Jianchun; Dong, Qiang; Zhang, Xiaoming; Xu, He

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT: The contact state at the heterojunction interfaces greatly influences the interfacial kinetics of the photoinduced charge carriers. In this study, we used a facile NaOH pretreatment to replenish the hydroxyl groups lost during the heat treatment for crystallization of TiO 2 nanotube arrays (TNAs) prepared via anodic oxidization. By reacting the carboxylic acid groups of thioglycolic acid (TGA) with the TiO 2 surface hydroxyl groups, TGA molecules were covalently linked to the TiO 2 surface and then PbS quantum dots (QDs) were anchored onto the TNAs via the successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method. The sample microstructure and photoelectrochemical properties were analyzed with X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM),current–voltage characteristics (J–V), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), transient photovoltage plots and Mott-Schottky curves. The contact state and electrostatic potential distribution between TiO 2 {1 0 1} and PbS {1 1 1} planes were estimated by using first principle simulation. It was found that the NaOH pretreatment could enhance the crystallization degree of PbS QDs, decrease the crystal face mismatch, dangling bond density and the interfacial resistance between PbS QDs and TiO 2 , and accelerate the interfacial separation and transfer of photoinduced charge carriers. The first principle calculations demonstrated that the PbS QDs and TiO 2 interfacial contact was strengthened, and the built-in electric field was induced from TiO 2 {1 0 1} towards PbS {1 1 1}. These combined effects apparently improved the device photoelectrochemical performance. Compared to the sample without pretreatment, the specimen pretreated with NaOH demonstrated 19.96% and 29.93% increases in peak photoconversion efficiency after five and ten cycles of SILAR deposition, respectively.

Marketing activities of vape shops across racial/ethnic communities.

Science.gov (United States)

Garcίa, Robert; Sidhu, Anupreet; Allem, Jon-Patrick; Baezconde-Garbanati, Lourdes; Unger, Jennifer B; Sussman, Steve

2016-01-01

There has been a surge in the number of vape shops in the USA. Research on the marketing practices of e-cigarette manufacturers is scarce and even less known are the practices of vape shop retailers. Past research on tobacco marketing has shown differences in the amount and content of marketing material, based on a community's demographic profile. This study examined marketing strategies in vape shops and explored differences among vape shops located in communities that differ by ethnic composition. Data was gathered in 2014 from a pilot-study on vape shops (n=77) in Los Angeles, which documented the characteristics of shops through employee interviews and in-store observations. Data were collected from shops located in communities that were predominantly, African-American (n=20), Hispanic (n=17), Korean (n=18), or non-Hispanic White (n=22). Sixty-one percent of vape shops had advertisements (print ads and posters) for e-cigarettes and 84% offered discounts. Vape shops in Hispanic communities were more likely to have ethnic specific marketing material compared to shops in other communities. All the shops provided customers with free samples, however those in Korean and non-Hispanic White communities had a significantly higher prevalence of customer accessible free samples. Vape shop marketing practices differed by ethnic community. A large majority of shops provided free samples to their customers, a practice which is now banned by the FDA. It will be important to monitor how vape shops will adjust their marketing strategy because of this ban. Future research should expand on the findings presented here to provide regulators with further crucial information.

Facile preparation of PbS nanostructures and PbS/f-CNT nanocomposites using xanthate as sulfur source: Thermal and optical characterization

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Golabi, Parisa; Akbarzadeh, Raziyeh; Dehghani, Hossein, E-mail: dehghani@kashanu.ac.ir

2015-10-25

PbS nanostructures with different morphologies were fabricated using a new sulfur source through a facile and low cost hydro(solvo)thermal method. The influence of different reaction factors such as sulfur source, temperature, reactant, solvent and surfactant on the size and morphology of the obtained PbS particles were investigated. Beside, a simple hydrothermal process at low temperature (60 °C) for little time (4 h), has been used for preparation of PbS nanoparticles (NPs)/functionalized multi wall carbon nanotubes (f-MWCNTs) nanocomposite. The as-prepared nanocomposite possesses excellent thermal and optical properties. Thermal stability increases by depositing PbS nanoparticles on the surface of CNT. The structure, morphology, thermal and optical properties of the as-prepared nanocompounds were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, Scanning electron microscope (SEM), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Pl spectra and UV–Vis absorption spectra. Photoluminescence spectra of PbS NPs and nanocomposite are consist of two emission peaks which centered at around 402 and 423 nm, when excited at 350 nm. It was noteworthy that the blue luminescence intensity over PbS/f-CNT nanocomposite is very lower than that of pure PbS NPs. Remarkable blue-shift from bulk material was observed on the PbS nanoparticles using UV–Vis spectrum. Furthermore, possible growth mechanism of PbS nanostructures is presented. - Graphical abstract: PbS nanostructures with different morphologies were fabricated using xanthate as sulfide source. Also, PbS/f-CNT nanocomposites were synthesized by simple hydrothermal process at low temperature (60 °C) for little time (4 h). - Highlights: • Sodium tert-butyl xanthate was used as sulfur source for synthesis of PbS. • Pb(CH{sub 3}COO){sub 2}·3H{sub 2}O salt was used for synthesis of PbS. • PbS/CNT nanocomposite was synthesized in deionized water for 4 h at 60

CERN Shop - Christmas Sale in Bldg. 33

CERN Multimedia

PH Department

Looking for Christmas present ideas? The CERN Shop will give the CERN card holders a special reduction of 10 % on all CERN Shop articles from Friday 11.12.2009 to Thursday 17.12.2009. Come to visit the CERN Shop at the Reception, Building 33. PH-EDU-PO

Reflexivity in performative science shop projects

OpenAIRE

Beunen, R.; Duineveld, M.; During, R.; Straver, G.H.M.B.; Aalvanger, A.

2012-01-01

Science shop research projects offer possibilities for universities to engage with communities. Many science shop projects directly or indirectly intend to empower certain marginalised groups or interests within a decision-making process. In this article we argue that it is important to reflect on the role and position the researchers have in these projects. We present three science shop projects to illustrate some of the dilemmas that may arise in relation to citizen empowerment, democracy, ...

Handbook for Trade and Industrial Shop Teachers.

Science.gov (United States)

Texas A and M Univ., College Station. Vocational Instructional Services.

This handbook is intended to help teachers of pre-employment shop courses in organizing and delivering instruction in both the shop and classroom. Addressed in the guide are the following topics: the instructor's place in the local school organization; the instructor's job (objectives, advisory committees, occupational analysis, shop/classroom and…

Dimensions of Consumer's Perceived Risk in Online Shopping

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

YE Naiyi

2004-01-01

Perceived risk is an important concept in consumer behavior in online shopping. It impedes the adopting online shopping. A structure model with seven factors of consumer's perceived risk in online shopping is developed in this paper. The results have the descriptive power about Chinese consumers' perceived risk in Internet shopping and provide framework for managerial use in China's e-commerce market environment.

Forecasting of indirect consumables for a Job Shop

Science.gov (United States)

Shakeel, M.; Khan, S.; Khan, W. A.

2016-08-01

A job shop has an arrangement where similar machines (Direct consumables) are grouped together and use indirect consumables to produce a product. The indirect consumables include hack saw blades, emery paper, painting brush etc. The job shop is serving various orders at a particular time for the optimal operation of job shop. Forecasting is required to predict the demand of direct and indirect consumables in a job shop. Forecasting is also needed to manage lead time, optimize inventory cost and stock outs. The objective of this research is to obtain the forecast for indirect consumables. The paper shows how job shop can manage their indirect consumables more accurately by establishing a new technique of forecasting. This results in profitable use of job shop by multiple users.

Social image of students who shop and don't shop online.

Science.gov (United States)

Lammers, H Bruce; Curren, Mary T; Cours, Deborah; Lammers, Marilyn L

2003-06-01

A descriptive survey of a stratified random sample of 326 undergraduates from a large, diverse university in Los Angeles was conducted to assess whether resistance to online shopping might be, in part, related to negative social perceptions of those who shop online. Indirect questioning showed that students perceived online student shoppers as more lazy and less likely to fear for the safety and security of others but also as more trustworthy, attractive, successful, and smart. Differences in social perceptions were not related to these students' own online spending.

INDONESIAN CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IN ONLINE SHOPPING TRADING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hermawan F.

2018-03-01

Full Text Available This research aims to find out if the ease of shopping, site design, informative, comprehensive, and communication have a significant influence on the level of Indonesian customer satisfaction in online shopping transactions and how the impact to the word of mouth communication. Respondents of this study are the 250 students of Jakarta colleges. This study found that the variables of design, simplicity, and security have an influence on customer satisfaction in shopping online, while the informative variable and communication have no influence on the customer's satisfaction online shopping.

Tunneling effect on double potential barriers GaAs and PbS

Science.gov (United States)

Prastowo, S. H. B.; Supriadi, B.; Ridlo, Z. R.; Prihandono, T.

2018-04-01

A simple model of transport phenomenon tunnelling effect through double barrier structure was developed. In this research we concentrate on the variation of electron energy which entering double potential barriers to transmission coefficient. The barriers using semiconductor materials GaAs (Galium Arsenide) with band-gap energy 1.424 eV, distance of lattice 0.565 nm, and PbS (Lead Sulphide) with band gap energy 0.41 eV distance of lattice is 18 nm. The Analysisof tunnelling effect on double potentials GaAs and PbS using Schrodinger’s equation, continuity, and matrix propagation to get transmission coefficient. The maximum energy of electron that we use is 1.0 eV, and observable from 0.0025 eV- 1.0 eV. The shows the highest transmission coefficient is0.9982 from electron energy 0.5123eV means electron can pass the barriers with probability 99.82%. Semiconductor from materials GaAs and PbS is one of selected material to design semiconductor device because of transmission coefficient directly proportional to bias the voltage of semiconductor device. Application of the theoretical analysis of resonant tunnelling effect on double barriers was used to design and develop new structure and combination of materials for semiconductor device (diode, transistor, and integrated circuit).

Space Odyssey Gift Shop

Science.gov (United States)

2000-01-01

The Space Odyssey Gift Shop located in StenniSphere at the John C. Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Miss., offers every visitor the opportunity to go home with 'the right stuff' from his or her StenniSphere visit. The gift shop is located just inside the front doors to StenniSphere and offers a wide range of space-related apparel, memorabilia, toys, books, mission patches and more.

A Review On Job Shop Scheduling Using Non-Conventional Optimization Algorithm

OpenAIRE

K.Mallikarjuna; Venkatesh.G

2014-01-01

A great deal of research has been focused on solving job shop scheduling problem (∫J), over the last four decades, resulting in a wide variety of approaches. Recently much effort has been concentrated on hybrid methods to solve ∫J, as a single technique cannot solve this stubborn problem. As a result much effort has recently been concentrated on techniques that lead to combinatorial optimization methods and a meta-strategy which guides the search out of local optima. In this p...

Determinants Of Online Shopping In Manado

OpenAIRE

Halim, Ellen

2013-01-01

Retailers utilize online media to reach more potential customers. Internet connects the retailer and customers without any geographic location boundaries. Internet growth has a positive impact for business world. There is a new shopping method in non-store shopping as people can buy products or services without having to travel to the outlets like traditional retail does. With the increase of online retailers on internet world, online shopping became popular. The objective of this research is...

Potential of Natural Ventilation in Shopping Centres

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Diederichsen, Alice; Friis, Kristina; Brohus, Henrik

2008-01-01

The indoor environmental quality (IEQ) is a fundamental requirement for a well performing shopping centre. This paper contains a pilot study of the potential of using hybrid ventilation (a combination of automatically controlled natural and mechanical ventilation - respectively NV and MV) in shop......The indoor environmental quality (IEQ) is a fundamental requirement for a well performing shopping centre. This paper contains a pilot study of the potential of using hybrid ventilation (a combination of automatically controlled natural and mechanical ventilation - respectively NV and MV......) in shopping centres with focus on both the achieved IEQ and energy consumptions for air movement. By thermal building simulations it is found that there exists an interesting potential for hybrid ventilation of shopping centres, which can lead to great savings in the electrical energy consumptions...

Overcoming the Cut-Off Charge Transfer Bandgaps at the PbS Quantum Dot Interface

KAUST Repository

El-Ballouli, Ala'a O.

2015-11-17

Light harvesting from large size of semiconductor PbS quantum dots (QDs) with a bandgap of less than 1 eV is one of the greatest challenges precluding the development of PbS QD-based solar cells because the interfacial charge transfer (CT) from such QDs to the most commonly used electron acceptor materials is very inefficient, if it occurs at all. Thus, an alternative electron-accepting unit with a new driving force for CT is urgently needed to harvest the light from large-sized PbS QDs. Here, a cationic porphyrin is utilized as a new electron acceptor unit with unique features that bring the donor–acceptor components into close molecular proximity, allowing ultrafast and efficient electron transfer for QDs of all sizes, as inferred from the drastic photoluminescence quenching and the ultrafast formation of the porphyrin anionic species. The time-resolved results clearly demonstrate the possibility of modulating the electron transfer process between PbS QDs and porphyrin moieties not only by the size quantization effect but also by the interfacial electrostatic interaction between the positively charged porphyrin and the negatively charged QDs. This approach provides a new pathway for engineering QD-based solar cells that make the best use of the diverse photons making up the Sun\\'s broad irradiance spectrum.

Overcoming the Cut-Off Charge Transfer Bandgaps at the PbS Quantum Dot Interface

KAUST Repository

El-Ballouli, Ala'a O.; Alarousu, Erkki; Kirmani, Ahmad R.; Amassian, Aram; Bakr, Osman; Mohammed, Omar F.

2015-01-01

Light harvesting from large size of semiconductor PbS quantum dots (QDs) with a bandgap of less than 1 eV is one of the greatest challenges precluding the development of PbS QD-based solar cells because the interfacial charge transfer (CT) from such QDs to the most commonly used electron acceptor materials is very inefficient, if it occurs at all. Thus, an alternative electron-accepting unit with a new driving force for CT is urgently needed to harvest the light from large-sized PbS QDs. Here, a cationic porphyrin is utilized as a new electron acceptor unit with unique features that bring the donor–acceptor components into close molecular proximity, allowing ultrafast and efficient electron transfer for QDs of all sizes, as inferred from the drastic photoluminescence quenching and the ultrafast formation of the porphyrin anionic species. The time-resolved results clearly demonstrate the possibility of modulating the electron transfer process between PbS QDs and porphyrin moieties not only by the size quantization effect but also by the interfacial electrostatic interaction between the positively charged porphyrin and the negatively charged QDs. This approach provides a new pathway for engineering QD-based solar cells that make the best use of the diverse photons making up the Sun's broad irradiance spectrum.

Deposition of Cu-doped PbS thin films with low resistivity using DC sputtering

Science.gov (United States)

Soetedjo, Hariyadi; Siswanto, Bambang; Aziz, Ihwanul; Sudjatmoko

2018-03-01

Investigation of the electrical resistivity of Cu-doped PbS thin films has been carried out. The films were prepared using a DC sputtering technique. The doping was achieved by introducing the Cu dopant plate material directly on the surface of the PbS sputtering target plate. SEM-EDX data shows the Cu concentration in the PbS film to be proportional to the Cu plate diameter. The XRD pattern indicates the film is in crystalline cubic form. The Hall effect measurement shows that Cu doping yields an increase in the carrier concentration to 3.55 × 1019 cm-3 and a significant decrease in electrical resistivity. The lowest resistivity obtained was 0.13 Ωcm for a Cu concentration of 18.5%. Preferential orientation of (1 1 1) and (2 0 0) occurs during deposition.

HESITANCY TOWARDS ONLINE SHOPPING, A STUDY OF PAKISTANI CONSUMERS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Usman YOUSAF

2012-01-01

Full Text Available To study the influence of Perceived cost, risk, convenience and enjoyment on online consumer purchases. Being more convenient online shopping seems painless compared to in store shopping, why consumers are still reluctant to shop online?.A sample of 220 questionnaires was filled from different departments at University of Sargodha. Respondents were asked to fill the questionnaire based on four factors (Perceived cost, Perceived risk, Perceived convenience, Perceived enjoyment, there were 2 general questions. Out of 220, 207 questionnaires were returned. One sample test is applied in this study to check the reliability of independent variables. Analysis was also done on basis of gender and their ages. The most important factor out of four, which can persuade the customer's online buying decision, is delivery cost for purchased items and it has negative relationship with dependent variable, moreover perceived risk has also negative relationship with dependent one. Perceived convenience and Perceived enjoyment has positive relationship with online shopping preference. As online shopping is easier to do but due to extra delivery cost and risk factors consumers do not adopt online shopping and these factors should be minimized to promote online shopping. Online shopping should be promoted and to gain the consumer confidence, delivery cost and risk factor should be minimized. As online shopping is easier to do as compared to offline shopping but people still reluctant to use internet for online shopping, so to promote online shopping delivery cost and risk factor should be minimized to gain consumers attraction and confidence. People want to experience online shopping but it won’t be promoted until delivery cost and perceived risk factors be reduced. A little work has been done on exploring the factors that influence the online buying decision. These factors are called situational factors and include delivery charges, risk factors, convenience

Commuter Shopping : A study in understanding commuting in the context of shopping

OpenAIRE

Andersson, Åsa; Skoog, Sara; Svensson, Johanna

2014-01-01

Background For ages people have commuted to work, or to other activities, located outside their home municipality. Statements found indicate that the basic decision for commuting are based on utility maximisation and no matter what the character of the benefit is; it should be higher than what can be found closer to the home location. This thesis aims to investigate if people are also commuting with the purpose of obtaining benefits from shopping. The shopping location will in this thesis be ...

Retail Shopping Lists

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schmidt, Marcus

2012-01-01

categories. An association between the frequency of a brand's appearance on lists and the amount of money spent on advertising the brand could not be found. A strong link between brands, prices and store names is revealed. Price in the majority of cases refers to brands rather than to product categories......The paper addresses consumers' shopping lists. The current study is based on a survey of 871 lists collected at retail grocery stores. Most items on shopping lists appear on the product category level rather than the brand level. The importance of the brand level varies considerably across product...

Growing Shopping Malls and Behavior of Urban Shoppers

OpenAIRE

Rajagopal

2009-01-01

Shopping malls contribute to business more significantly than traditional markets which were viewed as simple convergence of supply and demand. Shopping malls attract buyers and sellers, and induce customers providing enough time to make choices as well as a recreational means of shopping. However, competition between malls, congestion of markets and traditional shopping centers has led mall developers and management to consider alternative methods to build excitement with customers. This stu...

Designing electronic shops, persuading consumers to buy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dormann, Claire

2000-01-01

The purpose of this article is to show how to design persuasive and successful Web shops. An approach to commercial site design that draws on theories of visual persuasion is proposed. We focus on the role of emotion. Images in an ad are typically meant to create some emotional disposition toward....... To strengthen the discussion, an evaluation of shop home pages, situated within the perspective of visual persuasion is presented. This study has given some indications that viewers form distinctive emotional impressions from shop designs. Thus, by building on visual persuasion theories, we can learn how...... to design seductive Web shops....

Improved teaching-learning-based and JAYA optimization algorithms for solving flexible flow shop scheduling problems

Science.gov (United States)

Buddala, Raviteja; Mahapatra, Siba Sankar

2017-11-01

Flexible flow shop (or a hybrid flow shop) scheduling problem is an extension of classical flow shop scheduling problem. In a simple flow shop configuration, a job having `g' operations is performed on `g' operation centres (stages) with each stage having only one machine. If any stage contains more than one machine for providing alternate processing facility, then the problem becomes a flexible flow shop problem (FFSP). FFSP which contains all the complexities involved in a simple flow shop and parallel machine scheduling problems is a well-known NP-hard (Non-deterministic polynomial time) problem. Owing to high computational complexity involved in solving these problems, it is not always possible to obtain an optimal solution in a reasonable computation time. To obtain near-optimal solutions in a reasonable computation time, a large variety of meta-heuristics have been proposed in the past. However, tuning algorithm-specific parameters for solving FFSP is rather tricky and time consuming. To address this limitation, teaching-learning-based optimization (TLBO) and JAYA algorithm are chosen for the study because these are not only recent meta-heuristics but they do not require tuning of algorithm-specific parameters. Although these algorithms seem to be elegant, they lose solution diversity after few iterations and get trapped at the local optima. To alleviate such drawback, a new local search procedure is proposed in this paper to improve the solution quality. Further, mutation strategy (inspired from genetic algorithm) is incorporated in the basic algorithm to maintain solution diversity in the population. Computational experiments have been conducted on standard benchmark problems to calculate makespan and computational time. It is found that the rate of convergence of TLBO is superior to JAYA. From the results, it is found that TLBO and JAYA outperform many algorithms reported in the literature and can be treated as efficient methods for solving the FFSP.

Intelligent Information Systems for Web Product Search

NARCIS (Netherlands)

D. Vandic (Damir)

2017-01-01

markdownabstractOver the last few years, we have experienced an increase in online shopping. Consequently, there is a need for efficient and effective product search engines. The rapid growth of e-commerce, however, has also introduced some challenges. Studies show that users can get overwhelmed by

Monitoring results of PBS vehicles in South Africa in terms of productivity, safety and road wear performance

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Nordengen, Paul A

2013-07-01

Full Text Available As part of a Performance-Based Standards (PBS) research programme for heavy vehicles in South Africa, a need was identified to design, manufacture and operate a number of PBS or Smart Truck demonstration vehicles in order to gain practical...

The 3D virtual environment online for real shopping

OpenAIRE

Khalil, Nahla

2015-01-01

The development of information technology and Internet has led to rapidly progressed in e-commerce and online shopping, due to the convenience that they provide consumers. E-commerce and online shopping are still not able to fully replace onsite shopping. In contrast, conventional online shopping websites often cannot provide enough information about a product for the customer to make an informed decision before checkout. 3D virtual shopping environment show great potential for enhancing e-co...

RURAL CUSTOMER SATISFACTION TOWARDS ONLINE SHOPPING IN POLLACHI TALUK

OpenAIRE

K. Jayaprakash; A. Pavithra

2017-01-01

Online shopping is a recent phenomenon in electronic commerce and its definitely going to be the future of shopping in the world. It is user friendly compare to in store shopping because consumers can just complete his requirements just with a click of mouse without leaving their home. In the present work, the researcher intended to analyze the most preferred online shopping website, factors influencing the rural customers towards online shopping and to analyze the level satisfaction of the ...

Photoluminescence properties of powder and pulsed laser-deposited PbS nanoparticles in SiO2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dhlamini, M.S.; Terblans, J.J.; Ntwaeaborwa, O.M.; Ngaruiya, J.M.; Hillie, K.T.; Botha, J.R.; Swart, H.C.

2008-01-01

Thin films of lead sulfide (PbS) nanoparticles embedded in an amorphous silica (SiO 2 ) host were grown on Si(1 0 0) substrates at different temperatures by the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. Surface morphology and photoluminescence (PL) properties of samples were analyzed with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and a 458 nm Ar + laser, respectively. The PL data show a blue-shift from the normal emission at ∼3200 nm in PbS bulk to ∼560-700 nm in nanoparticulate PbS powders and thin films. Furthermore, the PL emission of the films was red-shifted from that of the powders at ∼560 to ∼660 nm. The blue-shifting of the emission wavelengths from 3200 to ∼560-700 nm is attributed to quantum confinement of charge carriers in the restricted volume of nanoparticles, while the red-shift between powders and thin-film PbS nanoparticles is speculated to be due to an increase in the defect concentration. The red-shift increased slightly with an increase in deposition temperature, which suggests that there has been a relative growth in particle sizes during the PLD of the films at higher temperatures. Generally, the PL emission of the powders was more intense than that of the films, although the intensity of some of the films was improved marginally by post-deposition annealing at 400 deg. C. This paper compares the PL properties of powder and pulsed laser-deposited thin films of PbS nanoparticles and the effects of deposition temperatures

A photodiode based on PbS nanocrystallites for FYTRONIX solar panel automatic tracking controller

Science.gov (United States)

Wageh, S.; Farooq, W. A.; Tataroğlu, A.; Dere, A.; Al-Sehemi, Abdullah G.; Al-Ghamdi, Ahmed A.; Yakuphanoglu, F.

2017-12-01

The structural, optical and photoelectrical properties of the fabricated Al/PbS/p-Si/Al photodiode based on PbS nanocrystallites were investigated. The PbS nanocrystallites were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-VIS-NIR, Infrared and Raman spectroscopy. The XRD diffraction peaks show that the prepared PbS nanostructure is in high crystalline state. Various electrical parameters of the prepared photodiode were analyzed from the electrical characteristics based on I-V and C-V-G. The photodiode has a high rectification ratio of 5.85×104 at dark and ±4 V. Moreover, The photocurrent results indicate a strong photovoltaic behavior. The frequency dependence of capacitance and conductance characteristics was attributed to depletion region behavior of the photodiode. The diode was used to control solar panel power automatic tracking controller in dual axis. The fabricated photodiode works as a photosensor to control Solar tracking systems.

48 CFR 252.227-7033 - Rights in shop drawings.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Rights in shop drawings... of Provisions And Clauses 252.227-7033 Rights in shop drawings. As prescribed in 227.7107-(1)(c), use the following clause: Rights in Shop Drawings (APR 1966) (a) Shop drawings for construction means...

48 CFR 1952.227-77 - Rights in shop drawings.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 6 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 true Rights in shop drawings... Rights in shop drawings. As prescribed in 1927.405(h), insert the following clause: Rights in Shop Drawings (FEB 1985) (a) Shop drawings for construction means drawings, submitted to the Government by the...

WE-E-BRB-03: Implementation of PBS Proton Therapy Treatment for Free Breathing Lung Cancer Patients

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, H. [UT MD Anderson Cancer Center (United States)

2016-06-15

Strategies for treating thoracic and liver tumors using pencil beam scanning proton therapy Thoracic and liver tumors have not been treated with pencil beam scanning (PBS) proton therapy until recently. This is because of concerns about the significant interplay effects between proton spot scanning and patient’s respiratory motion. However, not all tumors have unacceptable magnitude of motion for PBS proton therapy. Therefore it is important to analyze the motion and understand the significance of the interplay effect for each patient. The factors that affect interplay effect and its washout include magnitude of motion, spot size, spot scanning sequence and speed. Selection of beam angle, scanning direction, repainting and fractionation can all reduce the interplay effect. An overview of respiratory motion management in PBS proton therapy including assessment of tumor motion and WET evaluation will be first presented. As thoracic tumors have very different motion patterns from liver tumors, examples would be provided for both anatomic sites. As thoracic tumors are typically located within highly heterogeneous environments, dose calculation accuracy is a concern for both treatment target and surrounding organs such as spinal cord or esophagus. Strategies for mitigating the interplay effect in PBS will be presented and the pros and cons of various motion mitigation strategies will be discussed. Learning Objectives: Motion analysis for individual patients with respect to interplay effect Interplay effect and mitigation strategies for treating thoracic/liver tumors with PBS Treatment planning margins for PBS The impact of proton dose calculation engines over heterogeneous treatment target and surrounding organs I have a current research funding from Varian Medical System under the master agreement between University of Pennsylvania and Varian; L. Lin, I have a current funding from Varian Medical System under the master agreement between University of Pennsylvania and

WE-E-BRB-02: Implementation of Pencil Beam Scanning (PBS) Proton Therapy Treatment for Liver Patient

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lin, L. [University of Pennsylvania (United States)

2016-06-15

Strategies for treating thoracic and liver tumors using pencil beam scanning proton therapy Thoracic and liver tumors have not been treated with pencil beam scanning (PBS) proton therapy until recently. This is because of concerns about the significant interplay effects between proton spot scanning and patient’s respiratory motion. However, not all tumors have unacceptable magnitude of motion for PBS proton therapy. Therefore it is important to analyze the motion and understand the significance of the interplay effect for each patient. The factors that affect interplay effect and its washout include magnitude of motion, spot size, spot scanning sequence and speed. Selection of beam angle, scanning direction, repainting and fractionation can all reduce the interplay effect. An overview of respiratory motion management in PBS proton therapy including assessment of tumor motion and WET evaluation will be first presented. As thoracic tumors have very different motion patterns from liver tumors, examples would be provided for both anatomic sites. As thoracic tumors are typically located within highly heterogeneous environments, dose calculation accuracy is a concern for both treatment target and surrounding organs such as spinal cord or esophagus. Strategies for mitigating the interplay effect in PBS will be presented and the pros and cons of various motion mitigation strategies will be discussed. Learning Objectives: Motion analysis for individual patients with respect to interplay effect Interplay effect and mitigation strategies for treating thoracic/liver tumors with PBS Treatment planning margins for PBS The impact of proton dose calculation engines over heterogeneous treatment target and surrounding organs I have a current research funding from Varian Medical System under the master agreement between University of Pennsylvania and Varian; L. Lin, I have a current funding from Varian Medical System under the master agreement between University of Pennsylvania and

WE-E-BRB-03: Implementation of PBS Proton Therapy Treatment for Free Breathing Lung Cancer Patients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, H.

2016-01-01

Strategies for treating thoracic and liver tumors using pencil beam scanning proton therapy Thoracic and liver tumors have not been treated with pencil beam scanning (PBS) proton therapy until recently. This is because of concerns about the significant interplay effects between proton spot scanning and patient’s respiratory motion. However, not all tumors have unacceptable magnitude of motion for PBS proton therapy. Therefore it is important to analyze the motion and understand the significance of the interplay effect for each patient. The factors that affect interplay effect and its washout include magnitude of motion, spot size, spot scanning sequence and speed. Selection of beam angle, scanning direction, repainting and fractionation can all reduce the interplay effect. An overview of respiratory motion management in PBS proton therapy including assessment of tumor motion and WET evaluation will be first presented. As thoracic tumors have very different motion patterns from liver tumors, examples would be provided for both anatomic sites. As thoracic tumors are typically located within highly heterogeneous environments, dose calculation accuracy is a concern for both treatment target and surrounding organs such as spinal cord or esophagus. Strategies for mitigating the interplay effect in PBS will be presented and the pros and cons of various motion mitigation strategies will be discussed. Learning Objectives: Motion analysis for individual patients with respect to interplay effect Interplay effect and mitigation strategies for treating thoracic/liver tumors with PBS Treatment planning margins for PBS The impact of proton dose calculation engines over heterogeneous treatment target and surrounding organs I have a current research funding from Varian Medical System under the master agreement between University of Pennsylvania and Varian; L. Lin, I have a current funding from Varian Medical System under the master agreement between University of Pennsylvania and

WE-E-BRB-02: Implementation of Pencil Beam Scanning (PBS) Proton Therapy Treatment for Liver Patient

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lin, L.

2016-01-01

Strategies for treating thoracic and liver tumors using pencil beam scanning proton therapy Thoracic and liver tumors have not been treated with pencil beam scanning (PBS) proton therapy until recently. This is because of concerns about the significant interplay effects between proton spot scanning and patient’s respiratory motion. However, not all tumors have unacceptable magnitude of motion for PBS proton therapy. Therefore it is important to analyze the motion and understand the significance of the interplay effect for each patient. The factors that affect interplay effect and its washout include magnitude of motion, spot size, spot scanning sequence and speed. Selection of beam angle, scanning direction, repainting and fractionation can all reduce the interplay effect. An overview of respiratory motion management in PBS proton therapy including assessment of tumor motion and WET evaluation will be first presented. As thoracic tumors have very different motion patterns from liver tumors, examples would be provided for both anatomic sites. As thoracic tumors are typically located within highly heterogeneous environments, dose calculation accuracy is a concern for both treatment target and surrounding organs such as spinal cord or esophagus. Strategies for mitigating the interplay effect in PBS will be presented and the pros and cons of various motion mitigation strategies will be discussed. Learning Objectives: Motion analysis for individual patients with respect to interplay effect Interplay effect and mitigation strategies for treating thoracic/liver tumors with PBS Treatment planning margins for PBS The impact of proton dose calculation engines over heterogeneous treatment target and surrounding organs I have a current research funding from Varian Medical System under the master agreement between University of Pennsylvania and Varian; L. Lin, I have a current funding from Varian Medical System under the master agreement between University of Pennsylvania and

Effects of shopping addiction on consumer decision-making: Web-based studies in real time.

Science.gov (United States)

Lo, Hui-Yi; Harvey, Nigel

2012-12-01

Background and aims Most research into compulsive buying has focused on its causes: questionnaires have been used to study its association with various factors assumed to be important in its etiology. Few studies have dealt with the effects of being a compulsive buyer on shopping decisions. Also, processes underlying compulsive buying are dynamic but questionnaires give access only to a retrospective view of them from the standpoint of the participant. The aim of the current study was to investigate the decision processes underlying compulsive buying. Methods Two simulated shopping experiments, each with over 100 participants, were used to compare the decision processes of compulsive shoppers with those of non-compulsive shoppers. This approach allowed us to measure many features of consumer decision-making that are relevant to compulsive shopping. Results Compulsive shoppers differed from general shoppers in six ways: choice characteristics, searching behavior, overspending, budget-consciousness, effects of credit card availability, and emotional responses to overspending. Conclusions Results are consistent with the view that compulsive buying, like other behavioral addictions, develops because the cognitive system under-predicts the extent of post-addiction craving produced by emotional and visceral processes.

Determinants of Customer Continuance Intention of Online Shopping

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Al-maghrabi, T.

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to clarify theory and identify factors that could explain the level of continuance intention of e-shopping. A revised technology acceptance model integrates expectation confirmation theory and investigates effects of age differences. An online survey of internet shoppers in Saudi Arabia. Structural equation modelling and invariance analysis confirm model fit. The findings confirm that perceived usefulness, enjoyment and social pressure are determinants of e-shopping continuance. The structural weights are mostly equivalent between young and old but the regression path from perceived usefulness to social pressure is stronger for younger respondents. This research moves beyond e-shopping intentions to factors affecting e-shopping continuance, explaining 55% of intention to continue shopping online. Online strategies cannot ignore direct and indirect effects on continuance intentions. The findings contribute to literature on internet shopping and continuance intentions in the context of Saudi Arabia.

An Exploratory Analysis of Online Shopping Behavior in Turkey

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adnan Veysel Ertemel

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Alongside the technologic developments, transformation in user behavior and business models has been observed. New areas and models are emerged in a lot of grounds like the communication of people or daily activities. So a new face put for shopping behavior by the e-commerce, which is one of the novelties. This study tries to research online shopping behavior in Turkey. With a quantitative research, device usage, the reasons behind to shop or not to shop online, online shopping category and e-commerce site preferences, payment methods, international e-commerce and online marketplace usage is investigated. As implications of the research, “saving time“ is found to be the foremost reason for shopping online in Turkey and “travel and bookings” category is found as the most shopped category among the results of the survey.

Specific energy use in Swedish and Norwegian shopping malls

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stensson, Sofia; Axell, Monica (SP Energy Technology, Boraas (Sweden)); Smaage, Kjell Petter (Evotek AS (Norway)); Fahlen, Per (Chalmers Univ. of Technology, Building Services Engineering, Goeteborg (Sweden))

2009-07-01

The prevalence of shopping malls is growing worldwide. Internationally, there are differences in energy use and system solutions due to local outdoor climate, available energy resources, prices, national building regulations, traditions etc. On the other hand, tenants are usually international chains and they often have the same demands regarding indoor climate, system solutions etc. irrespective of the national differences. Shopping malls overall tends to have large lighting loads, high population density and, hence, a large air conditioning demand. There is also an apparent trend towards increasing glass surfaces and such design feature affects the energy balance of the building. For those interested in the energy efficiency of the building and its installations, it is interesting to know how different system solutions affect the energy use. Benchmarking between buildings gives valuable insight to energy efficient design and operation. However, available information on energy use for such benchmarking in shopping malls is still rather limited. This study investigates shopping malls in Sweden and Norway. Available national statistical data on retail and shopping malls are reviewed. Further building statistical data were collected from building owners and managers, covering energy use in 41 shopping malls. Additional energy use data for 115 shops, within three of these shopping malls were also collected. The building statistical data shows that the average energy use in Norwegian and Swedish shopping malls are approximately 291 and 279 kWh/m2/year respectively. The highest energy use exceeds the lowest figure by approximately 50 percent, indicating a significant potential for improvement. Results also show a wide deviation in energy use of the different shops in a shopping mall. The paper further provides a discussion concerning alternative benchmarking methods and necessary improvements to make valid conclusions regarding energy use in shopping malls.

Shopping Behaviour of Generation Y: A Comparison of Czech Republic and Slovakia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Petra Klapilová Krbová

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Study of Generation Y shopping behaviour was conducted in Czech Republic and Slovakia. The main aim was to describe the whole decision making process of this generational cohort. In this paper, only selected features are presented, especially early phases of decision making. For the purposes of the study, people with the year of birth between 1980 and 2000 served as a population. Data were collected by online and written questionnaire during autumn and winter 2014/2015. The sample of 380 respondents was conducted by non-probability sampling technique, more specifically judgemental sampling. Results suggest that Generation Y individuals prefer online environment to search for information before purchase. The four most used channels in both countries are the same and all online (e.g. web search engine or retailer’s website. These young people mainly rely on themselves when they look for some personal recommendations, so own experience was the most important source. The choice of a particular shop is influenced by the quality of goods offered, but also by the price level which should be below the competitors. Wide assortment which enables to choose an appropriate product is also preferred. According to these results segmentation in both countries was conducted. Particular segments in both countries differ, but we can also find some common attributes.

Turning shopping habits of young consumers into green

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bialkova, Svetlana; van 't Erve, Sanne; van Hoof, Joris Jasper; Pruyn, Adriaan T.H.; Bigné, Enrique

2014-01-01

Consumers have strong shopping habits, and although being aware of sustainable issues, they hardly do green shopping. Therefore, a challenging question is: how to break the old shopping habits and turn those into green? The current study addresses this question looking at barriers and potential

Typically Female Features in Hungarian Shopping Tourism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gábor Michalkó

2006-06-01

Full Text Available Although shopping has been long acknowledged as a major tourist activity, the extent and characteristics of shopping tourism have only recently become the subject of academic research and discussion. As a contribution to this field of knowledge, the paper presents the characteristics of shopping tourism in Hungary, and discusses the typically female features of outbound Hungarian shopping tourism. The research is based on a survey of 2473 Hungarian tourists carried out in 2005. As the findings of the study indicate, while female respondents were altogether more likely to be involved in tourist shopping than male travellers, no significant difference was experienced between the genders concerning the share of shopping expenses compared to their total travel budget. In their shopping behaviour, women were typically affected by price levels, and they proved to be both more selfish and more altruistic than men by purchasing more products for themselves and for their family members. The most significant differences between men and women were found in their product preferences as female tourists were more likely to purchase typically feminine goods such as clothes, shoes, bags and accessories, in the timing of shopping activities while abroad, and in the information sources used by tourists, since interpersonal influences such as friends’, guides’ and fellow travellers’ recommendations played a higher role in female travellers’ decisions.

Why Shops Close Again : An Evolutionary Perspective on the Deregulation of Shopping Hours

OpenAIRE

Kosfeld, M.

1999-01-01

This paper introduces a new perspective on the deregulation of shopping hours based on ideas from evolutionary game theory. We study a retail economy where shopping hours have been deregulated recently. It is argued that first, the deregulation leads to a coordination problem between store owners and customers, and second, the ‘solution’ to this problem depends on the specific cost structure of stores and the preferences of customers. In particular, it may happen that, even if extended shoppi...

Hybrid Genetic Algorithm with Multiparents Crossover for Job Shop Scheduling Problems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Noor Hasnah Moin

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The job shop scheduling problem (JSSP is one of the well-known hard combinatorial scheduling problems. This paper proposes a hybrid genetic algorithm with multiparents crossover for JSSP. The multiparents crossover operator known as extended precedence preservative crossover (EPPX is able to recombine more than two parents to generate a single new offspring distinguished from common crossover operators that recombine only two parents. This algorithm also embeds a schedule generation procedure to generate full-active schedule that satisfies precedence constraints in order to reduce the search space. Once a schedule is obtained, a neighborhood search is applied to exploit the search space for better solutions and to enhance the GA. This hybrid genetic algorithm is simulated on a set of benchmarks from the literatures and the results are compared with other approaches to ensure the sustainability of this algorithm in solving JSSP. The results suggest that the implementation of multiparents crossover produces competitive results.

Retailing and Shopping on the Internet.

Science.gov (United States)

Rowley, Jennifer

1996-01-01

Internet advertising and commercial activity are increasing. This article examines challenges facing the retail industry on the Internet: location; comparison shopping; security, especially financial transactions; customer base and profile; nature of the shopping experience; and legal and marketplace controls. (PEN)

Impact of e-shopping on shopping-related travel behaviour: Analyses of the Netherlands Mobility Panel data.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hoogendoorn-Lanser, S.; Olde Kalter, Marie-José José Theresia; Schaap, Nina

2015-01-01

From the moment e-shopping emerged, there are speculations about the impact that would have on personal mobility. Questions about the impact of e-shopping on mobility increase due to media coverage on the sharp increase in turnover of Internet purchases and the increasing number of consumers that

Measuring consumer perceptions of online shopping convenience

OpenAIRE

Ferreira, Margarida Bernardo

2016-01-01

The aim of this master thesis is to identify which dimensions of convenience affect consumers’ intention of using online shopping. Also it explores a conceptual model to measuring consumer perceptions of online shopping convenience. This paper contains prospects about online consumer behavior, and the results have important implications for retailers, managers and marketers, related to online shopping strategies. An empirical investigation was carried out to test the hypotheses. In order t...

Deposition of Cu-doped PbS thin films with low resistivity using DC sputtering

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hariyadi Soetedjo

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Investigation of the electrical resistivity of Cu-doped PbS thin films has been carried out. The films were prepared using a DC sputtering technique. The doping was achieved by introducing the Cu dopant plate material directly on the surface of the PbS sputtering target plate. SEM-EDX data shows the Cu concentration in the PbS film to be proportional to the Cu plate diameter. The XRD pattern indicates the film is in crystalline cubic form. The Hall effect measurement shows that Cu doping yields an increase in the carrier concentration to 3.55 × 1019 cm−3 and a significant decrease in electrical resistivity. The lowest resistivity obtained was 0.13 Ωcm for a Cu concentration of 18.5%. Preferential orientation of (1 1 1 and (2 0 0 occurs during deposition. Keywords: Thin films, Lead sulfide, Sputtering, Resistivity, Semiconductor, Infrared

An architecture for agile shop floor control systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Langer, Gilad; Alting, Leo

2000-01-01

as shop floor control. This paper presents the Holonic Multi-cell Control System (HoMuCS) architecture that allows for design and development of holonic shop floor control systems. The HoMuCS is a shop floor control system which is sometimes referred to as a manufacturing execution system...

Tourist shopping behavior in a historic downtown area

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kemperman, A.D.A.M.; Borgers, A.W.J.; Timmermans, H.J.P.

2009-01-01

Shopping is one of the most important activities for tourists. The purpose of this study is to describe and predict tourist shopping route choice behavior in a downtown historic center. Reported routes of tourists in the downtown shopping area of Maastricht, located in the Southern part of the

The impact of science shops on university research and education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hende, Merete; Jørgensen, Michael Søgaard

This report discusses the impact from university-based science shops on curricula and research. Experience from science shops show that besides assisting citizen groups, science shops can also contribute to the development of university curricula and research. This impact has been investigated...... through the SCIPAS questionnaire sent out to science shops and through follow-up interviews with employees from nine different university-based science shops and one university researcher. Not all the cases call themselves science shops, but in the report the term 'science shop' will be used most...... way or the other has had impact on university curricula and/or research. The analysis and the case studies have theoretically been based on literature on universities and education and research as institutions and a few articles about the impact of science shops on education and research. The analysis...

Spin-coating deposition of PbS and CdS thin films for solar cell application

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Patel, Jayesh; Mighri, Frej [Laval University, CREPEC, Department of Chemical Engineering, Quebec, QC (Canada); Ajji, Abdellah [Ecole Polytechnique, CREPEC, Chemical Engineering Department, Montreal, QC (Canada); Tiwari, Devendra; Chaudhuri, Tapas K. [Charotar University of Science and Technology (CHARUSAT), Dr. K.C. Patel Research and Development Centre, Anand District, Gujarat (India)

2014-12-15

In this work, we describe a simple spin-coating deposition technique for lead sulphide (PbS) and cadmium sulphide (CdS) films from a methanolic metal-thiourea complex. The characterization of the films by X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy techniques revealed that pure cubic phase PbS and CdS layers were formed via this method. As shown by atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy results, both films were homogeneous and presented a smooth surface. Optical properties showed that the energy band gap of PbS and CdS films were around 1.65 and 2.5 eV, respectively. The PbS film is p-type in nature with an electrical conductivity of around 0.8 S/cm. The hole concentration and mobility were 2.35 x 10{sup 18} cm{sup -3} and 2.16 x 10{sup -3} cm{sup 2}/V/s, respectively, as determined from Hall measurement. Both films were used to develop a thin film solar cell device of graphite/PbS/CdS/ITO/glass. Device characterization showed the power conversion efficiency of around 0.24 %. The corresponding open circuit voltage, short circuit current and fill factor were 0.570 V, 1.32 mA/cm{sup 2} and 0.32, respectively. (orig.)

E-COMMERCE FACTORS INFLUENCING CONSUMERS‘ ONLINE SHOPPING DECISION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Živilė Baubonienė

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to look at the factors driving online shopping and to develop an understanding of the factors influencing the online shopping by the consumers. This is done by exploring the factors that encourage consumers to shop online through analysis of such advantages as security, fast delivery, comparable price, convenience, cheaper prices and a wider choice. At the same time, the research project reveals the factors that are discouraging for consumers and the benefits received by buyers making purchases online. Specifically, the research explores how online shopping can be affected by such factors as age, gender or occupation. Design/methodology/approach – The factors that affect the consumer online shopping have been disclosed through quantitative research by analysing data collected via a web‐based questionnaire survey. The sample consisted of 183 Lithuanian consumers who were purchasing online. Findings –The empirical findings of this study indicate that the main factors influencing consumers to shop online are convenience, simplicity and better price. Analysis of socio-demographical characteristics such as gender has shown that men shop more often online because of the lower price. Respondents of the 25–35 year age group more often choose shopping online for such reasons as lack of time and a wide range of products. The most beneficial factor of shopping online was identified as a possibility to compare prices and buy at a lower price. Research limitations/implications – This study was done regarding only general conditions and the findings may not necessarily be applicable to a particular e-business. Therefore, in the future it would be highly encouraged to examine consumers’ attitudes towards specialized online shopping websites to look for differences by kind of products or services.Practical implications – Attributes identified by this study could help e-business developers to forme their

MULTICRITERIA HYBRID FLOW SHOP SCHEDULING PROBLEM: LITERATURE REVIEW, ANALYSIS, AND FUTURE RESEARCH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcia de Fatima Morais

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This research focuses on the Hybrid Flow Shop production scheduling problem, which is one of the most difficult problems to solve. The literature points to several studies that focus the Hybrid Flow Shop scheduling problem with monocriteria functions. Despite of the fact that, many real world problems involve several objective functions, they can often compete and conflict, leading researchers to concentrate direct their efforts on the development of methods that take consider this variant into consideration. The goal of the study is to review and analyze the methods in order to solve the Hybrid Flow Shop production scheduling problem with multicriteria functions in the literature. The analyses were performed using several papers that have been published over the years, also the parallel machines types, the approach used to develop solution methods, the type of method develop, the objective function, the performance criterion adopted, and the additional constraints considered. The results of the reviewing and analysis of 46 papers showed opportunities for future research on this topic, including the following: (i use uniform and dedicated parallel machines, (ii use exact and metaheuristics approaches, (iv develop lower and uppers bounds, relations of dominance and different search strategies to improve the computational time of the exact methods,  (v develop  other types of metaheuristic, (vi work with anticipatory setups, and (vii add constraints faced by the production systems itself.

Approximation algorithms for the parallel flow shop problem

NARCIS (Netherlands)

X. Zhang (Xiandong); S.L. van de Velde (Steef)

2012-01-01

textabstractWe consider the NP-hard problem of scheduling n jobs in m two-stage parallel flow shops so as to minimize the makespan. This problem decomposes into two subproblems: assigning the jobs to parallel flow shops; and scheduling the jobs assigned to the same flow shop by use of Johnson's

Initiative to introduce a performance-based standards (PBS) approach for heavy vehicle design and operations in South Africa

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Nordengen, Paul A

2008-05-01

Full Text Available The introduction of PBS for heavy vehicles in South Africa was first identified in the National Overload Control Strategy as a potential concession of a proposed Self-regulation initiative. In August 2004 a PBS committee was established...

Product Characteristics and Internet Shopping Intentions.

Science.gov (United States)

Vijayasarathy, Leo R.

2002-01-01

Discussion of electronic commerce and online marketing focuses on an empirical study that investigated differences between Internet shopping intentions for products categorized by cost and tangibility. Highlights include hypotheses; respondent characteristics; results that showed that intentions to shop using the Internet differ by tangibility of…

Rental Values in UK Shopping Malls

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Yuo, Tony Shun-Te; Lizieri, Colin; McCann, Phillip; Crosby, Neil

This paper employs a unique dataset to analyse the retail rental levels of 1108 retail tenants in 148 UK regional shopping malls. The dataset integrates information regarding the characteristics of the shopping centre, the individual retailer, the brand, the individual unit occupied, the tenancy

Cellular Phone Users- Willingness to Shop Online

OpenAIRE

Norazah Mohd Suki; Norbayah Mohd Suki

2009-01-01

This study aims to identify cellular phone users- shopping motivating factors towards online shopping. 100 university students located in Klang Valley, Malaysia were involved as the respondents. They were required to complete a set of questionnaire and had to own a cellular phone in order to be selected as sample in this study. Three from five proposed hypotheses were supported: purchasing information, shopping utilities and service quality. As a result, marketers and retailers should concent...

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR AND ATTITUDE TOWARDS ONLINE SHOPPING

OpenAIRE

S. Nethra; Dr. V. T. Dhanaraj

2016-01-01

The popularity of online shopping has caught the attention of many peoples. Many studies have been done in developed nations to know about the attitude and behaviour of consumers towards online shopping. The research is focused on consumer behaviour and attitude towards online shopping in Coimbatore district. The study is based on primary data which has been collected by issuing questionnaire to 200 respondents residing in Coimbatore district by adopting convenient sampling method. The stat...

Passion and dependency in online shopping activities.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Chih-Chien; Yang, Hui-Wen

2007-04-01

This study examines the influence of harmonious passion (HP) and obsessive passion (OP) to online shopping dependency. The results show that both HP and OP might lead to online shopping dependency and online shoppers with OP are more dependent on online shopping activities. In addition, this study also found out that HP and OP could be denoted as a sequence of different intensities of passion, where HP might be a necessity of OP.

Breaking Out of the Local: International dimensions of science shops

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Caspar DeBok

2008-09-01

Full Text Available In this article we want to give an overview of the international dimension and the interest of the European Union (EU in the concept of Science Shops. The European Commission (EC manages the day-to-day business by initiating and implementing EU policies and spending EU funds. The EC support for Science Shops has been an important factor for the international interest and progress of the Science Shop movement. This article will not give detailed information about daily routines of a Science Shop. Detailed information about the Science Shop concept can be found at the Living Knowledge website (www.livingknowledge.org. Living Knowledge represents the international Science Shop Network. In this article international developments of the Science Shop Network, like the project TRAMS, and Science Shop backgrounds will be linked with past and new EU policies like the EU 7th Framework Programme for Research. It shows how community-based research does not only have a local dimension. The international Science Shop activities show the strengths of international cooperation to break out of the local and to bring local issues on the international agenda. Detailed information about the Science Shop concept and daily routines of a Science Shop can be found at the Living Knowledge website (www.livingknowledge.org, e.g. at the FAQ section and in the toolbox.

Power Service Shops

Data.gov (United States)

Federal Laboratory Consortium — TVA's Power Service Shops provides expert repair and maintenance of power system components and large industrial equipment. With world-class maintenance facilities...

Hedonic Motivations for Online Shopping

OpenAIRE

Pui-Lai To; E-Ping Sung

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study is to investigate hedonic online shopping motivations. A qualitative analysis was conducted to explore the factors influencing online hedonic shopping motivations. The results of the study indicate that traditional hedonic values, consisting of social, role, self-gratification, learning trends, pleasure of bargaining, stimulation, diversion, status, and adventure, and dimensions of flow theory, consisting of control, curiosity, enjoyment, and telepresence, exist in t...

An Explanatory Study of Lean Practices in Job Shop Production/ Special Job Production/ Discrete Production/ Batch Shop Production Industries

OpenAIRE

Lavlesh Kumar Sharma; Ravindra Mohan Saxena

2014-01-01

In this paper, the study explores the benefits and advantages of Lean Practices or Lean Thinking in Job shop production/ Special job production/ Discrete production/ Batch shop production industries. The Lean Practices have been applied more compatible in Job shop production than in the continuous/ mass production because of several barriers and hurdles in the industrial context that influence the whole processes again and again, this happens due to the lack of knowledge about...

Internet Shopping Behavior of College of Education Students

Science.gov (United States)

Kiyici, Mubin

2012-01-01

Internet is an important facilitator for human and humans use this medium almost every phase. As a shopping medium, internet attract human so attract researcher. Younger people can adapt newer technologies so they can adapt internet as shopping tool. In this research it is tried to define college of education students' online shopping behavior and…

'No, the government doesn't need to, it's already self-regulated': a qualitative study among vape shop operators on perceptions of electronic vapor product regulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Nayak, Pratibha; Barker, Dianne C; Huang, Jidong; Kemp, Catherine B; Wagener, Theodore L; Chaloupka, Frank

2018-03-26

While the market share of electronic vapor products (EVPs), sold primarily through vape shops and other outlets, has increased rapidly, these products remained largely unregulated until 2016. This study, conducted prior to announcement of the deeming regulations, provides insights into vape shop operator attitudes toward potential government regulations of EVPs. In 2015, we conducted 37 in-person interviews of vape shop operators across nine US cities. Shops were identified through extensive web-searches. We used QSR International's NVivo 11 qualitative data analysis software to analyze the transcripts. Many vape shop operators viewed regulations requiring safe production of e-liquids, child-resistant bottles and listing e-juice ingredients as acceptable. They disagreed with the elimination of free samples and bans on flavored e-liquid sales, which generate significant revenue for their stores. Many held negative perceptions of pre-market review of new product lines and EVP-specific taxes. All agreed that EVPs should not be sold to minors, but most felt that owners should not be fined if minors visited vape shops. Findings from this study offer insights into the acceptability of proposed regulations, as well as barriers to effective regulation implementation.

INDONESIAN CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IN ONLINE SHOPPING TRADING

OpenAIRE

Hermawan F.; Wijayanti S.H.

2018-01-01

This research aims to find out if the ease of shopping, site design, informative, comprehensive, and communication have a significant influence on the level of Indonesian customer satisfaction in online shopping transactions and how the impact to the word of mouth communication. Respondents of this study are the 250 students of Jakarta colleges. This study found that the variables of design, simplicity, and security have an influence on customer satisfaction in shopping online, while the info...

Modeling the Joint Choice Decisions on Urban Shopping Destination and Travel-to-Shop Mode: A Comparative Study of Different Structures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chuan Ding

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The joint choice of shopping destination and travel-to-shop mode in downtown area is described by making use of the cross-nested logit (CNL model structure that allows for potential interalternative correlation along the both choice dimensions. Meanwhile, the traditional multinomial logit (MNL model and nested logit (NL model are also formulated, respectively. This study uses the data collected in the downtown areas of Maryland-Washington, D.C. region, for shopping trips, considering household, individual, land use, and travel related characteristics. The results of the model reveal the significant influencing factors on joint choice travel behavior between shopping destination and travel mode. A comparison of the different models shows that the proposed CNL model structure offers significant improvements in capturing unobserved correlations between alternatives over MNL model and NL model. Moreover, a Monte Carlo simulation for a group of scenarios assuming that there is an increase in parking fees in downtown area is undertaken to examine the impact of a change in car travel cost on the joint choice of shopping destination and travel mode switching. The results are expected to give a better understanding on the shopping travel behavior.

Urban artisanal gold shops and mercury emissions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cordy, P.; Veiga, M.; Carrasco, V.H.G.

2008-01-01

Artisanal miners in developing countries use mercury amalgamation processes to extract gold. The amalgams are then refined before being sold on to urban gold shops. The amalgams can often contain between 2 to 40 per cent mercury. Unburned amalgams are also often sold directly to gold shops. There are serious health risks for shop employees and nearby populations when the gold is melted and further purified. Studies have shown that mercury concentrations in the ambient air of gold shops often exceeds World Health Organization (WHO) limits by an order of magnitude or more. This study examined the practices and technologies used to refine gold in Latin America and Indonesia. The study compared and contrasted various refining methods and their resulting mercury emissions. Methods of reducing mercury emissions were also investigated, including a filtration system designed to capture 80 per cent of mercury emissions. Barriers to implementing mercury emissions reduction plans were also investigated. It was concluded that the design of urban gold shops must include condensers, fume hoods, and efficient mercury capture systems. 15 refs

Luminescence and transient lifetime studies for energy transfer of PbS QD films

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Joanna S.; Ullrich, Bruno; Dass, Chandriker K.; Das, Anirban; Wai, Chien M.; Brown, Gail J.; Hendrickson, Joshua R.

2017-08-01

Quantum confined semiconductor materials in colloidal form have drawn great attention in scientific communities due to the size-tunability, which controls their optical properties. PbS quantum dots (QDs) are exciting candidates for quantum optics, particularly due to the control of the QD sizes during the synthetic process enabling the realization of precisely tunable emission properties in the near-infrared region. Differently sized pairs of PbS QDs were deposited onto glass substrates to form thin films using supercritical CO2 (sc-CO2) deposition and solvent deposition methods (SDM). The fluorescence and photoluminescence (PL) spectra obtained from these closely packed films prepared by the sc-CO2 method reveal effective Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) between two different sized dots, while the films composed of three different QD sizes show an even more effective FRET from the smallest to the largest ones. Energy transfer can be observed more directly by temporally resolved PL decay of mixed dots. By means of transient lifetime measurements, a mixed PbS film with 3.1 and 4.7 nm QDs was studied for FRET by time correlated single photon counting. The PL peak of the 3.1 nm QDs is quenched with respect to the emission of the 4.7 nm QDs and decays faster, and the best fit for the lifetime (decay constant)-1 is a biexponential decay mode. The long wavelength decay (4.7 nm QDs) is best fit by a mono-exponential equation. More theoretical and experimental work is required for a thorough understanding of the radiative lifetimes of PbS QDs in mixed QD systems.

Nurses' shop stewards and their collaboration with management

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bild, Tage; Hjalager, Anne-Mette; Lassen, Morten Staun

2009-01-01

Purpose - This study investigates the collaboration between Danish nurses' shop stewards and workplace management. The aim of the study is to track changes in workplace climate after a major structural reform of the health sector. Design/methodology/approach - The data source for the study...... is a comprehensive survey among union representatives in the health and care sectors. Findings - Generally, and not surprisingly, shops stewards maintain closer relations and a higher degree of loyalty to the nearest managers rather than management at higher levels in the hierarchy. It can also be demonstrated...... that more experienced shop stewards, those who have been employed in this position and in the workplace for the longest terms have more affirmative relations to management than less experienced shop stewards with shorter tenure. Those shop stewards who spend much time on the entitled duties are rewarded...

Relationships among Shopping Quality and Corporate Social Responsibility of Shopping Centers and Consumer Satisfaction: Case from Novi Sad (Serbia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ivana Blešić

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Taking into consideration satisfied customer as necessary for business maintenance, companies are trying to discover determinants which have the biggest influence on their consumer satisfaction. Here are presented two factors that have influence on consumer satisfaction in shopping centers: quality of shopping and corporate social responsibility. In this research, each of these factors had six elements. The results of the regression analysis are that “Value for money in stores” (beta=0.387, p=0.000 has the greatest impact on satisfaction when shopping quality performance is concerned, and that “Retailer support for (national/local cultural and sport events“ (beta=0.333, p<0.001 has the greatest impact on satisfaction in the case of CSR performance. Further analysis showed the difference in consumer perception of corporate social responsibility, depending on their occupation and level of education. It is also important to mention that consumers with environment and empathic concern have higher scores perception of CSR. However, there is not statistically important difference in consumer perception of shopping quality in shopping centers

The Science Shop for Physics: an interface between practical problems in society and physical knowledge

Science.gov (United States)

van den Berg, G. P.

1998-03-01

Since some 20 years most Dutch universities have one or more science shops. Central shops handle research questions for all disciplines. Specialized shops are part of a department of chemistry or medicine, history, social science, etc. The shops have evolved rather differently, but their main mission still is to help social groups that lack money and have no easy access to scientific knowledge, e.g. neighbourhood, environmental, third world or patient groups. Most also help non-commercial organizations such as schools, trade unions or local authorities. Low-cost help can be provided because students do the work as part of their training, mainly in student projects (literature search, practical work, graduation, etc.). A total staff of 80, helped by 600 students, 250 voluntary and 50 paid researchers, handle 1500 questions resulting in 300 reports (estimated figures 1995). Science shops for physics (`Physics Shop', PS) have to deal with practical problems, generally involving classical physics. Major topics are noise, vibration, radiation, indoor climate and energy: most of the work lies in estimating/measuring relevant parameters, assessing impact, seeking solutions. The 3 Dutch PS's have developed in different directions. One is run entirely by students and deals with small, concrete problems. The second PS is managed by a co-ordinator who mediates between client groups and physics staff members who assist students in small and larger projects. The third has a lot of in-house expertise, and the shop staff is in direct contact with client groups as well as students who work in the PS itself. In questions submitted to the PS it is not always immediately clear what to do or how to do it because of the non-scientific phrasing of the problems and problems include non-physical (e.g. technical, health or legal) aspects. Also, difficulties in solving the problems are typically not in the underlying physics, but in the lack of accurate data and of control of the complex

Effects of time of day on shopping behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Chebat, J C

1999-04-01

Shoppers interviewed in a shopping mall at different times of the day show different activities within the mall and attitudes toward the products. Prices also vary with the time of the day. These results can be explained in terms of shopping values and the related demographic characteristics of the population visiting the shopping center at different times of the day.

LOW INCOME CONSUMERS AND ONLINE SHOPPING: APPREHENSIONS IN CONSUMING THROUGH THE INTERNET

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juan Pablo da Silva Dias

2015-08-01

Full Text Available The growth in access of low income consumers to the internet has taken them to use the net in search of entertainment, education and relationships. However, consuming online is still an activity surrounded by distrust. The present study aims to discuss the reasons why low income consumers have apprehension in consuming through the internet. For this, in depth interviews were conducted with 23 low income consumers. The collected data shows that the internet is still seen by the interviewees as being, mainly, for leisure and entertainment. Online shopping still is a task they fear, because of different motives. Initially, one can point the preference to consume in physical stores, since the consumers can touch the desired product, enjoy the trip to the store as a moment of pleasure and the possibility of interacting with salesmen, who help them in their choice. The apprehensions in buying online are also influenced by the perception that sites are not safe, because they offer threats, such as viruses or theft of personal information. Furthermore, interviewees believe that online stores are not compromised with their customers, since they permit problems to occur in the delivery of merchandise, are not clear about the shopping process, and create difficulties in payment method. Another reason for them not to buy online is the perception that if a negative consuming episode of online shopping happened to someone they know, it is also bound to happen with them. Despite this reasoning, these consumers point the importance of help from a third party in their reference group as main incentive for them to face the obstacles to consuming through the internet. In conclusion, it is possible to consider that low income consumers have apprehensions that are similar to their higher income peers, but, also, show different feelings, which are seldom discussed in the literature about online shopping.

Photoelectron emission as a tool to assess dose of electron radiation received by ZrO2:PbS films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krumpane, Diana; Dekhtyar, Yury; Surkova, Indra; Romanova, Marina

2013-01-01

PbS nano dots embedded in ZrO 2 thin film matrix (ZrO 2 :PbS films) were studied for application in nanodosimetry of electron radiation used in radiation therapy. ZrO 2 :PbS films were irradiated with 9 MeV electron radiation with doses 3, 7 and 10 Gy using medical linear accelerator. Detection of the dosimetric signal was made by measuring and comparing photoelectron emission current from ZrO 2 :PbS films before and after irradiation. It was found that electron radiation decreased intensity of photoemission current from the films. Derivatives of the photoemission spectra were calculated and maximums at photon energies 5.65 and 5.75 eV were observed. Amplitude of these maximums decreased after irradiation with electrons. Good linear correlation was found between the relative decrease of the intensity of these maximums and dose of electron radiation. Observed changes in photoemission spectra from ZrO 2 :PbS films under influence of electron radiation suggested that the films may be considered to be effective material for electron radiation dosimetry. Photoelectron emission is a tool that allows to read the signal from such dosimeter. (authors)

A product feature-based user-centric product search model

OpenAIRE

Ben Jabeur, Lamjed; Soulier, Laure; Tamine, Lynda; Mousset, Paul

2016-01-01

During the online shopping process, users would search for interesting products and quickly access those that fit with their needs among a long tail of similar or closely related products. Our contribution addresses head queries that are frequently submitted on e-commerce Web sites. Head queries usually target featured products with several variations, accessories, and complementary products. We present in this paper a product feature-based user-centric model for product search involving in a...

Field effect transistors and phototransistors based upon p-type solution-processed PbS nanowires

Science.gov (United States)

Giraud, Paul; Hou, Bo; Pak, Sangyeon; Inn Sohn, Jung; Morris, Stephen; Cha, SeungNam; Kim, Jong Min

2018-02-01

We demonstrate the fabrication of solution processed highly crystalline p-type PbS nanowires via the oriented attachment of nanoparticles. The analysis of single nanowire field effect transistor (FET) devices revealed a hole conduction behaviour with average mobilities greater than 30 cm2 V-1 s-1, which is an order of magnitude higher than that reported to date for p-type PbS colloidal nanowires. We have investigated the response of the FETs to near-infrared light excitation and show herein that the nanowires exhibited gate-dependent photo-conductivities, enabling us to tune the device performances. The responsivity was found to be greater than 104 A W-1 together with a detectivity of 1013 Jones, which benefits from a photogating effect occurring at negative gate voltages. These encouraging detection parameters are accompanied by relatively short switching times of 15 ms at positive gate voltages, resulting from a combination of the standard photoconduction and the high crystallinity of the nanowires. Collectively, these results indicate that solution-processed PbS nanowires are promising nanomaterials for infrared photodetectors as well as p-type nanowire FETs.

An effective PSO-based memetic algorithm for flow shop scheduling.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Bo; Wang, Ling; Jin, Yi-Hui

2007-02-01

This paper proposes an effective particle swarm optimization (PSO)-based memetic algorithm (MA) for the permutation flow shop scheduling problem (PFSSP) with the objective to minimize the maximum completion time, which is a typical non-deterministic polynomial-time (NP) hard combinatorial optimization problem. In the proposed PSO-based MA (PSOMA), both PSO-based searching operators and some special local searching operators are designed to balance the exploration and exploitation abilities. In particular, the PSOMA applies the evolutionary searching mechanism of PSO, which is characterized by individual improvement, population cooperation, and competition to effectively perform exploration. On the other hand, the PSOMA utilizes several adaptive local searches to perform exploitation. First, to make PSO suitable for solving PFSSP, a ranked-order value rule based on random key representation is presented to convert the continuous position values of particles to job permutations. Second, to generate an initial swarm with certain quality and diversity, the famous Nawaz-Enscore-Ham (NEH) heuristic is incorporated into the initialization of population. Third, to balance the exploration and exploitation abilities, after the standard PSO-based searching operation, a new local search technique named NEH_1 insertion is probabilistically applied to some good particles selected by using a roulette wheel mechanism with a specified probability. Fourth, to enrich the searching behaviors and to avoid premature convergence, a simulated annealing (SA)-based local search with multiple different neighborhoods is designed and incorporated into the PSOMA. Meanwhile, an effective adaptive meta-Lamarckian learning strategy is employed to decide which neighborhood to be used in SA-based local search. Finally, to further enhance the exploitation ability, a pairwise-based local search is applied after the SA-based search. Simulation results based on benchmarks demonstrate the effectiveness

Consumer Buying Behavior Towards Online Shopping Stores in Malaysia

OpenAIRE

Mehrdad Salehi

2011-01-01

The Internet as a global medium is quickly gaining interest and attractiveness as the most revolutionary marketing tool. The global nature of communication and shopping has as well redefined, seeing that it is the perfect vehicle for online shopping stores. Online convenient shop is mostly reflected in shorter time and less energy spent, including shipping cost reduction, less crowd and queues than real markets, unlimited time and space, which all increase convenience of shopping. Internet sh...

End-user Acceptance of Online Shopping Sites in India

OpenAIRE

Bolar K; Shaw B

2015-01-01

Online shopping sites have recently gained momentum in India. Since the ecommerce industry is in infancy state, customer (end user) satisfaction with the online shopping is the prime concern because decreasing customer satisfaction leads to negative electronic word of mouth (eWOM) which is very severe for the business. Through a dataset gathered from 127 online shopping customers in with respect to online shopping sites in India, this study investigates the role of website quality, informatio...

Multiattribute shopping models and ridge regression analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Timmermans, H.J.P.

1981-01-01

Policy decisions regarding retailing facilities essentially involve multiple attributes of shopping centres. If mathematical shopping models are to contribute to these decision processes, their structure should reflect the multiattribute character of retailing planning. Examination of existing

MATERIALISTIC VALUES, SHOPPING, AND LIFE SATISFACTION IN ROMANIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

VALERIU FRUNZARU

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Numerous studies have shown that generally materialists are less happy than those lower in materialism. Several studies confirm that people who experience a lower level of life satisfaction are more interested in shopping; therefore materialism determines directly and indirectly (mediated by life satisfaction the desire of going shopping. There are only few studies that deal with this topic within Romanian consumers. The conceptual model proposed here was tested on a convenience sample of 390 Romanians. Using structural equation modelling, our findings confirm the hypothetical model only partially. Materialism leads to life dissatisfaction and shopping, but life dissatisfaction does not increase shopping. To the contrary, there is a positive relationship between life satisfaction and the desire for shopping. One possible explanation is that Romanians perceive materialism as a positive attitude. Anyway, nuances should be considered regarding the role of money and possession in bringing life satisfaction

Minimum Price Guarantees In a Consumer Search Model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

M.C.W. Janssen (Maarten); A. Parakhonyak (Alexei)

2009-01-01

textabstractThis paper is the first to examine the effect of minimum price guarantees in a sequential search model. Minimum price guarantees are not advertised and only known to consumers when they come to the shop. We show that in such an environment, minimum price guarantees increase the value of

Marketing activities of vape shops across racial/ethnic communities

OpenAIRE

Garcίa, Robert; Sidhu, Anupreet; Allem, Jon-Patrick; Baezconde-Garbanati, Lourdes; Unger, Jennifer B.; Sussman, Steve

2017-01-01

INTRODUCTION There has been a surge in the number of vape shops in the USA. Research on the marketing practices of e-cigarette manufacturers is scarce and even less known are the practices of vape shop retailers. Past research on tobacco marketing has shown differences in the amount and content of marketing material, based on a community’s demographic profile. This study examined marketing strategies in vape shops and explored differences among vape shops located in communities that differ by...

iPBS: a universal method for DNA fingerprinting and retrotransposon isolation.

Science.gov (United States)

Kalendar, Ruslan; Antonius, Kristiina; Smýkal, Petr; Schulman, Alan H

2010-11-01

Molecular markers are essential in plant and animal breeding and biodiversity applications, in human forensics, and for map-based cloning of genes. The long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposons are well suited as molecular markers. As dispersed and ubiquitous transposable elements, their "copy and paste" life cycle of replicative transposition leads to new genome insertions without excision of the original element. Both the overall structure of retrotransposons and the domains responsible for the various phases of their replication are highly conserved in all eukaryotes. Nevertheless, up to a year has been required to develop a retrotransposon marker system in a new species, involving cloning and sequencing steps as well as the development of custom primers. Here, we describe a novel PCR-based method useful both as a marker system in its own right and for the rapid isolation of retrotransposon termini and full-length elements, making it ideal for "orphan crops" and other species with underdeveloped marker systems. The method, iPBS amplification, is based on the virtually universal presence of a tRNA complement as a reverse transcriptase primer binding site (PBS) in LTR retrotransposons. The method differs from earlier retrotransposon isolation methods because it is applicable not only to endogenous retroviruses and retroviruses, but also to both Gypsy and Copia LTR retrotransposons, as well as to non-autonomous LARD and TRIM elements, throughout the plant kingdom and to animals. Furthermore, the inter-PBS amplification technique as such has proved to be a powerful DNA fingerprinting technology without the need for prior sequence knowledge.

Online versus conventional shopping: consumers' risk perception and regulatory focus.

Science.gov (United States)

van Noort, Guda; Kerkhof, Peter; Fennis, Bob M

2007-10-01

In two experiments, the impact of shopping context on consumers' risk perceptions and regulatory focus was examined. We predicted that individuals perceive an online (vs. conventional) shopping environment as more risky and that an online shopping environment, by its risky nature, primes a prevention focus. The findings in Study 1 demonstrate these effects by using self-report measures for risk perception and prevention focus. In Study 2, we replicated these findings and demonstrated that the effect of an online shopping environment carries over to behavior in a domain unrelated to shopping.

NON-FUNCTIONAL SHOPPING MOTIVES AMONG IRANIAN CONSUMERS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shahriar AZIZI

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This study aims to explore the non functional shopping motives among Iranian consumers. In addition, the effects of marital status, gender, age and residential region as an indicator for social class on the non-functional shopping motives are investigated. This paper uses a self-reported and 15 items questionnaire. The analysis is done based on 363 returned and usable questionnaires. Multivariate analysis of variance is applied for this study. MANOVA results show that marital status, gender, age and region have different significant effects on the non-functional shopping motives among Iranian consumers.

MEMBANGUN BRAND EQUITY MELALUI MEDIA JEJARING SOSIAL (STUDI PADA KOMUNITAS ONLINE SHOP DI FACEBOOK)

OpenAIRE

Widyastuti, Dhyah Ayu Retno

2012-01-01

Change in technology bring new challenges and opportunities for the brand environment. Today people use internet, and in particular the social media like facebook, in advertise the brand and self their products. In the typical online shopping process, when potential consumers recognize a need for some product (good or service); they go to the internet and search for need related information. These condition encourage the manufacturers to complete to reach market share. Therefore they take the...

What drives people? Analyzing leisure-shopping trip decision making

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Ceunynck, T.; Kusumastuti, Diana; Hannes, E.; Janssens, D.; Wets, G.

2011-01-01

Because of the strong increase in the number of leisure-shopping trips, a shift towards more sustainable leisure-shopping behaviour is desirable. This can be attained by having a better insight into people’s reasoning in choosing a transport mode and shopping location for this type of activities.

The effect of water molecules on the thiol collector interaction on the galena (PbS) and sphalerite (ZnS) surfaces: A DFT study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Long, Xianhao [School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004 (China); Chen, Ye, E-mail: fby18@126.com [College of Resources and Metallurgy, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004 (China); Chen, Jianhua, E-mail: jhchen@gxu.edu.cn [School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004 (China); College of Resources and Metallurgy, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004 (China); Xu, Zhenghe; Liu, Qingxia [Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2V4 (Canada); Du, Zheng [National Supercomputing Center in Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518055 (China)

2016-12-15

Highlights: • Water adsorption has a greater effect on the electron distribution of ZnS surface than PbS surface. • Water adsorption decreases the reactivity of ZnS surface atoms but improves that of PbS. • Thiol collectors cannot interact with the hydrated ZnS surface. • The hydration has little influence on the interaction of thiol collectors with PbS surface. - Abstracts: In froth flotation the molecular interaction between reagents and mineral surfaces take place at the solid liquid interface. In this paper, the effect of water molecule on the three typical thiol collectors (xanthate, dithiocarbomate and dithiophosphate) interactions at the galena (PbS) and sphalerite (ZnS) surfaces has been studied adopting density functional theory (DFT). The results suggests that the presence of water molecule shows a greater influence on the electron distribution of ZnS surface than PbS surface, and reduce the reactivity of ZnS surface atoms but improves the reactivity of PbS surface atoms during the reaction with xanthate. Water adsorption could also reduce the covalent binding between Zn and S atoms but have little influence on Pb-S bond. In the presence of water, xanthate, dithiocarbomate (DTC) and dithiophosphate (DTP) could not adsorb on the sphalerite surface. And for galena (PbS) surface, the interaction of DTP is the strongest, then the DTC and the interaction of xanthate is the weakest. These results agree well with the flotation practice.

Apparel shopping behavior of elderly men and women.

Science.gov (United States)

Chowdhary, U

1989-06-01

70 interested elderly (65 yr. and over) men and women participated in an investigation of older consumers' apparel-shopping behavior and satisfactions and dissatisfactions with available clothing and facilities. Analysis showed that the participants considered shopping ease, wide variety, and label/brand as some of the important factors while shopping for clothes. The respondents were satisfied with good selection, closeness of the mall, and reasonable sales. However, their dissatisfactions ranged from service to fit and size, youthful styles, and abundance of imported clothing. In-store displays, mail order catalogs, and window shopping were the most commonly used sources of apparel information. Several implications of the findings were discussed and suggestions for further research were made.

Energy efficiency in U.K. shopping centres

Science.gov (United States)

Mangiarotti, Michela

Energy efficiency in shopping centres means providing comfortable internal environment and services to the occupants with minimum energy use in a cost-effective and environmentally sensitive manner. This research considers the interaction of three factors affecting the energy efficiency of shopping centres: i) performance of the building fabric and services ii) management of the building in terms of operation, control, maintenance and replacement of the building fabric and services, and company's energy policy iii) occupants' expectation for comfort and awareness of energy efficiency. The aim of the investigation is to determine the role of the above factors in the energy consumption and carbon emissions of shopping centres and the scope for reducing this energy usage by changing one or all the three factors. The study also attempts to prioritize the changes in the above factors that are more cost-effective at reducing that energy consumption and identify the benefits and main economic and legal drivers for energy efficiency in shopping centres. To achieve these targets, three case studies have been analysed. Using energy data from bills, the performance of the selected case studies has been assessed to establish trends and current energy consumption and carbon emissions of shopping centres and their related causes. A regression analysis has attempted to break down the energy consumption of the landlords' area by end-use to identify the main sources of energy usage and consequently introduce cost-effective measures for saving energy. A monitoring and occupants' survey in both landlords' and tenants' areas have been carried out at the same time to compare the objective data of the environmental conditions with the subjective impressions of shoppers and shopkeepers. In particular, the monitoring aimed at assessing the internal environment to identify possible causes of discomfort and opportunities for introducing energy saving measures. The survey looked at

Cue reactivity towards shopping cues in female participants.

Science.gov (United States)

Starcke, Katrin; Schlereth, Berenike; Domass, Debora; Schöler, Tobias; Brand, Matthias

2013-03-01

Background and aims It is currently under debate whether pathological buying can be considered as a behavioural addiction. Addictions have often been investigated with cue-reactivity paradigms to assess subjective, physiological and neural craving reactions. The current study aims at testing whether cue reactivity towards shopping cues is related to pathological buying tendencies. Methods A sample of 66 non-clinical female participants rated shopping related pictures concerning valence, arousal, and subjective craving. In a subgroup of 26 participants, electrodermal reactions towards those pictures were additionally assessed. Furthermore, all participants were screened concerning pathological buying tendencies and baseline craving for shopping. Results Results indicate a relationship between the subjective ratings of the shopping cues and pathological buying tendencies, even if baseline craving for shopping was controlled for. Electrodermal reactions were partly related to the subjective ratings of the cues. Conclusions Cue reactivity may be a potential correlate of pathological buying tendencies. Thus, pathological buying may be accompanied by craving reactions towards shopping cues. Results support the assumption that pathological buying can be considered as a behavioural addiction. From a methodological point of view, results support the view that the cue-reactivity paradigm is suited for the investigation of craving reactions in pathological buying and future studies should implement this paradigm in clinical samples.

ShopGirls Shine in Eco-Marathon

Science.gov (United States)

Stowell, Shante

2011-01-01

The ShopGirls of Granite Falls (WA) High School are the first-ever all-female team to successfully design, build, and race a prototype diesel car in the Shell Eco-marathon. The team took first place in the diesel fuel-efficiency category with a vehicle that achieved 470 miles per gallon! The idea for the ShopGirls came when Vervia Gabriel, career…

The impact of science shops on university research and education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Michael Søgaard

2000-01-01

Science shops are mediating agencies at universities that give citizens and citizen groups access to the resources of the university through co-operation with students and researchers. Science shops have three aims: to support citizens and citizen groups in their efforts getting influence...... to the impact of science shops on universities and on society are discussed. A typology for the different types of knowledge requested by citizens and citizen groups through science shops is presented (documentation, knowledge building, development of new perspectives). As important aspects of the potentials......, prerequisites and limits to the impact of science shops are discussed the networking between the science shop and the researchers and teachers and with the citizens and other external actors, and the content and the structure of the curricula at the university....

Consumer protection and internet shopping

OpenAIRE

Blažková, Lenka

2010-01-01

The diploma thesis is devoted to the issue of online shopping. Its aim is to analyze internet shopping and see the rights and obligations of consumers and sellers, which are based on current legislation. The thesis is divided into two parts. The theoretical part deals with purchase over the internet and its regulations. There are explained the concepts internet, e-business and e-commerce and indicate the types of e-business and is mentioned certification of online stores. The practical part i...

Doctor and pharmacy shopping for controlled substances.

Science.gov (United States)

Peirce, Gretchen L; Smith, Michael J; Abate, Marie A; Halverson, Joel

2012-06-01

Prescription drug abuse is a major health concern nationwide, with West Virginia having one of the highest prescription drug death rates in the United States. Studies are lacking that compare living subjects with persons who died from drug overdose for evidence of doctor and pharmacy shopping for controlled substances. The study objectives were to compare deceased and living subjects in West Virginia for evidence of prior doctor and pharmacy shopping for controlled substances and to identify factors associated with drug-related death. A secondary data study was conducted using controlled substance, Schedule II-IV, prescription data from the West Virginia Controlled Substance Monitoring Program and drug-related death data compiled by the Forensic Drug Database between July 2005 and December 2007. A case-control design compared deceased subjects 18 years and older whose death was drug related with living subjects for prior doctor and pharmacy shopping. Logistic regression identified factors related to the odds of drug-related death. A significantly greater proportion of deceased subjects were doctor shoppers (25.21% vs. 3.58%) and pharmacy shoppers (17.48% vs. 1.30%) than living subjects. Approximately 20.23% of doctor shoppers were also pharmacy shoppers, and 55.60% of pharmacy shoppers were doctor shoppers. Younger age, greater number of prescriptions dispensed, exposure to opioids and benzodiazepines, and doctor and pharmacy shopping were factors with greater odds of drug-related death. Doctor and pharmacy shopping involving controlled substances were identified, and shopping behavior was associated with drug-related death. Prescription monitoring programs may be useful in identifying potential shoppers at the point of care.

A Bee Colony Optimization Approach for Mixed Blocking Constraints Flow Shop Scheduling Problems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mostafa Khorramizadeh

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The flow shop scheduling problems with mixed blocking constraints with minimization of makespan are investigated. The Taguchi orthogonal arrays and path relinking along with some efficient local search methods are used to develop a metaheuristic algorithm based on bee colony optimization. In order to compare the performance of the proposed algorithm, two well-known test problems are considered. Computational results show that the presented algorithm has comparative performance with well-known algorithms of the literature, especially for the large sized problems.

"Seeing a doctor is just like having a date": a qualitative study on doctor shopping among overactive bladder patients in Hong Kong.

Science.gov (United States)

Siu, Judy Yuen-Man

2014-02-06

Although having a regular primary care provider is noted to be beneficial to health, doctor shopping has been documented as a common treatment seeking behavior among chronically ill patients in different countries. However, little research has been conducted into the reasons behind doctor shopping behavior among patients with overactive bladder, and even less into how this behavior relates to these patients' illness and social experiences, perceptions, and cultural practices. Therefore, this study examines overactive bladder patients to investigate the reasons behind doctor shopping behavior. My study takes a qualitative approach, conducting 30 semi-structured individual interviews, with 30 overactive bladder patients in Hong Kong. My study found six primary themes that influenced doctor shopping behavior: lack of perceived need, convenience, work-provided medical insurance, unpleasant experiences with doctors, searching for a match doctor, and switching between biomedicine and traditional Chinese medicine. Besides the perceptual factors, participants' social environment, illness experiences, personal cultural preference, and cultural beliefs also intertwined to generate their doctor shopping behavior. Due to the low perceived need for a regular personal primary care physician, environmental factors such as time, locational convenience, and work-provided medical insurance became decisive in doctor shopping behavior. Patients' unpleasant illness experiences, stemming from a lack of understanding among many primary care doctors about overactive bladder, contributed to participants' sense of mismatch with these doctors, which induced them to shop for another doctor. Overactive bladder is a chronic bladder condition with very limited treatment outcome. Although patients with overactive bladder often require specialty urology treatment, it is usually beneficial for the patients to receive continuous, coordinated, comprehensive, and patient-centered support from their

"Seeing a doctor is just like having a date": a qualitative study on doctor shopping among overactive bladder patients in Hong Kong

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

Background Although having a regular primary care provider is noted to be beneficial to health, doctor shopping has been documented as a common treatment seeking behavior among chronically ill patients in different countries. However, little research has been conducted into the reasons behind doctor shopping behavior among patients with overactive bladder, and even less into how this behavior relates to these patients’ illness and social experiences, perceptions, and cultural practices. Therefore, this study examines overactive bladder patients to investigate the reasons behind doctor shopping behavior. Methods My study takes a qualitative approach, conducting 30 semi-structured individual interviews, with 30 overactive bladder patients in Hong Kong. Results My study found six primary themes that influenced doctor shopping behavior: lack of perceived need, convenience, work-provided medical insurance, unpleasant experiences with doctors, searching for a match doctor, and switching between biomedicine and traditional Chinese medicine. Besides the perceptual factors, participants’ social environment, illness experiences, personal cultural preference, and cultural beliefs also intertwined to generate their doctor shopping behavior. Due to the low perceived need for a regular personal primary care physician, environmental factors such as time, locational convenience, and work-provided medical insurance became decisive in doctor shopping behavior. Patients’ unpleasant illness experiences, stemming from a lack of understanding among many primary care doctors about overactive bladder, contributed to participants’ sense of mismatch with these doctors, which induced them to shop for another doctor. Conclusions Overactive bladder is a chronic bladder condition with very limited treatment outcome. Although patients with overactive bladder often require specialty urology treatment, it is usually beneficial for the patients to receive continuous, coordinated

Millisecond-Timescale Monitoring of PbS Nanoparticle Nucleation and Growth Using Droplet-Based Microfluidics.

Science.gov (United States)

Lignos, Ioannis; Stavrakis, Stavros; Kilaj, Ardita; deMello, Andrew J

2015-08-26

The early-time kinetics (conversion of precursor species to PbS crystals, followed by the growth of the formed particles. The growth kinetics of the PbS nanoparticles follow the Lifshitz-Slyozov-Wagner model for Ostwald ripening, allowing direct estimation of the rate constants for the process. In addition, the extraction of absorption spectra of ultrasmall quantum dots is demonstrated for first time in an online manner. The droplet-based microfluidic platform integrated with online spectroscopic analysis provides a new tool for the quantitative extraction of high temperature kinetics for systems with rapid nucleation and growth stages. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

"In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great" PBS Series. Teacher's Guide.

Science.gov (United States)

Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Washington, DC.

This teacher's guide correlates with the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) television series "In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great" hosted by historian Michael Wood. The four episodes of the series are entitled: "Son of God"; "Lord of Asia"; "Across the Hindu Kush"; and "To the Ends of the…

Flexible job shop scheduling problem in manufacturing

OpenAIRE

Curralo, Ana; Pereira, Ana I.; Barbosa, José; Leitão, Paulo

2013-01-01

This paper addresses a real assembly cell: the AIP-PRIMECA cell at the Université de Valenciennes et du Hainaut-Cambrésis, in France. This system can be viewed as a Flexible Job Shop, leading to the formulation of a Flexible Job Shop Scheduling Problem (FJSSP).

Effects of Website Interactivity on Online Retail Shopping Behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Islam, Hafizul

Motivations to engage in retail online shopping can include both utilitarian and hedonic shopping dimensions. To cater to these consumers, online retailers can create a cognitively and esthetically rich shopping environment, through sophisticated levels of interactive web utilities and features, offering not only utilitarian benefits and attributes but also providing hedonic benefits of enjoyment. Since the effect of interactive websites has proven to stimulate online consumer’s perceptions, this study presumes that websites with multimedia rich interactive utilities and features can influence online consumers’ shopping motivations and entice them to modify or even transform their original shopping predispositions by providing them with attractive and enhanced interactive features and controls, thus generating a positive attitude towards products and services offered by the retailer. This study seeks to explore the effects of Web interactivity on online consumer behavior through an attitudinal model of technology acceptance.

Online shopping behavior in offline retail stores : strategic value for companies?

OpenAIRE

Ferreira, José Pedro Santos

2015-01-01

In a world where e-tailing and traditional in-store shopping live together and complement each other in several shopping activities (Chu, et. al, 2010), little is known about the possibility of an emerging reality in which online and offline shopping merge into one single phenomenon. The purpose of this dissertation is to explore whether consumers are willing to engage in a shopping behavior inside retail stores in a way that is similar to the one they have when shopping online. Additionally,...

Chemically synthesized PbS Nano particulate thin films for a rapid NO2 gas sensor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Burungale Vishal V.

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Rapid NO2 gas sensor has been developed based on PbS nanoparticulate thin films synthesized by Successive Ionic Layer Adsorption and Reaction (SILAR method at different precursor concentrations. The structural and morphological properties were investigated by means of X-ray diffraction and field emission scanning electron microscope. NO2 gas sensing properties of PbS thin films deposited at different concentrations were tested. PbS film with 0.25 M precursor concentration showed the highest sensitivity. In order to optimize the operating temperature, the sensitivity of the sensor to 50 ppm NO2 gas was measured at different operating temperatures, from 50 to 200 °C. The gas sensitivity increased with an increase in operating temperature and achieved the maximum value at 150 °C, followed by a decrease in sensitivity with further increase of the operating temperature. The sensitivity was about 35 % for 50 ppm NO2 at 150 °C with rapid response time of 6 s. T90 and T10 recovery time was 97 s at this gas concentration.

English Shop Signs and Brand Names

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Parvaneh Khosravizadeh

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The present study tries to investigate the people’s attitude to the use of English words in TV commercials, brand-naming and shop signs in Iran and specifically in Tehran where due to the fact that it is the capital, more English might be used for the sake of foreigners. The widespread use of English shop signs and English brand names for recently produced goodsdrove the researchers to investigate peoples’ attitude as consumers from two aspects of age and education. To reach the research goal, a questionnaire was devised and distributed to 100 people at random selection probing their attitudes while considering two factors of age and education. The result of the research will mostly benefit sociolinguists and business marketers.Keywords: age, education, advertising, brand-naming, shop signs, globalization

An extended continuous estimation of distribution algorithm for solving the permutation flow-shop scheduling problem

Science.gov (United States)

Shao, Zhongshi; Pi, Dechang; Shao, Weishi

2017-11-01

This article proposes an extended continuous estimation of distribution algorithm (ECEDA) to solve the permutation flow-shop scheduling problem (PFSP). In ECEDA, to make a continuous estimation of distribution algorithm (EDA) suitable for the PFSP, the largest order value rule is applied to convert continuous vectors to discrete job permutations. A probabilistic model based on a mixed Gaussian and Cauchy distribution is built to maintain the exploration ability of the EDA. Two effective local search methods, i.e. revolver-based variable neighbourhood search and Hénon chaotic-based local search, are designed and incorporated into the EDA to enhance the local exploitation. The parameters of the proposed ECEDA are calibrated by means of a design of experiments approach. Simulation results and comparisons based on some benchmark instances show the efficiency of the proposed algorithm for solving the PFSP.

E-commerce factors influencing consumers‘ online shopping decision

OpenAIRE

Baubonienė, Živilė; Gulevičiūtė, Gintarė

2015-01-01

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to look at the factors driving online shopping and to develop an understanding of the factors influencing the online shopping by the consumers. This is done by exploring the factors that encourage consumers to shop online through analysis of such advantages as security, fast delivery, comparable price, convenience, cheaper prices and a wider choice. At the same time, the research project reveals the factors that are discouraging for consumers and the ben...

Customer Buying Behavior : - Online shopping towards electronic product

OpenAIRE

Wang, Dan; Yang, Liuzi

2010-01-01

ABSTRACT Online shopping in EU has been shown to a good potential market. The electronic equipment takes a high percent of the individuals shopping. Compared with other goods, online shopping of electronic goods adds great convenience to the life of the people. Buying electronic gadgets online gives customers an opportunity to find a great variety of product online, and customers can review a wide selection of products and find special offers and discount with the best deals online. In the co...

Online versus conventional shopping: Consumers' risk perception and regulatory focus

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Noort, G.; Kerkhof, P.; Fennis, B.M.

2007-01-01

In two experiments, the impact of shopping context on consumers' risk perceptions and regulatory focus was examined. We predicted that individuals perceive an online (vs. conventional) shopping environment as more risky and that an online shopping environment, by its risky nature, primes a

Online versus Conventional Shopping: Consumers' Risk Perception and Regulatory Focus

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Noort, Guda; Kerkhof, Peter; Fennis, B.M.

2007-01-01

In two experiments, the impact of shopping context on consumers' risk perceptions and regulatory focus was examined. We predicted that individuals perceive an online (vs. conventional) shopping environment as more risky and that an online shopping environment, by its risky nature, primes a

Enhanced charge collection and photocatalysis performance of CdS and PbS nanoclusters co-sensitized TiO{sub 2} porous film

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, Miao; Xu, Yanyan; Gong, Zezhou; Tao, Jiajia [School of Physics & Material Science, Anhui University, Hefei 230601 (China); Sun, Zhaoqi, E-mail: szq@ahu.edu.cn [School of Physics & Material Science, Anhui University, Hefei 230601 (China); Lv, Jianguo [School of Electronic & Information Engineering, Hefei Normal University, Hefei, 230601 (China); National Laboratory for Infrared Physics, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200083 (China); Chen, Xiaoshuang [National Laboratory for Infrared Physics, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200083 (China); Jiang, Xishun [School of Physics & Material Science, Anhui University, Hefei 230601 (China); School of Mechanical & Electronic Engineering, Chuzhou University, Chuzhou, 239000 (China); He, Gang; Wang, Peihong; Meng, Fanming [School of Physics & Material Science, Anhui University, Hefei 230601 (China)

2015-11-15

A novel translucent TiO{sub 2} porous film was prepared through etched method. The CdS, PbS and CdS/PbS nanoclusters were imbedded on TiO{sub 2} porous film by successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction method. Microstructure, morphology, optical and photoelectron-chemical properties of the as-synthesized thin films were investigated systematically. XRD and morphology analysis showed that PbS or CdS nanoclusters have been attached to the TiO{sub 2} porous films. It was found that the energy band gap of TiO{sub 2} porous film decreased from 3.46 to 3.2 eV after sensitized with nanoclusters. The photocurrent density of ITO/TiO{sub 2} photoelectrode increased from 0.017 to 0.28 mA/cm{sup 2} after co-sensitized with CdS and PbS nanoclusters. Besides, the photoelectrode sensitized with two sorts of nanoclusters showed evident higher photocurrent density than which sensitized just one sort of nanoclusters. The photocurrent density of ITO/TiO{sub 2}/PbS and TO/TiO{sub 2}/CdS photoelectrode was 0.11 mA/cm{sup 2} and 0.22 mA/cm{sup 2} respectively. 0.28 mA/cm{sup 2} can be obtained by ITO/TiO{sub 2}/CdS/PbS photoelectrode. The results showed that the optical and photoelectrochemistry properties and phtotcatalysis performance of TiO{sub 2} porous film were greatly improved by co-sensitized with CdS and PbS nanoclusters. - Graphical abstract: When CdS and PbS were brought in the cascade structure, such a Fermi level alignment causes upward and downward shifts of the band edges for PbS and CdS, respectively. Therefore the resulting band edges for the ITO/TiO{sub 2}/CdS/PbS devices are inferred to have a stepwise structure. The elevated conduction band edge of PbS provides a higher driving force for the injection of photogenerated electrons from PbS to CdS as well as the injection of excited holes from CdS to PbS. Such a structure offers efficient separation and transport of the excited electrons and holes. - Highlights: • Ti films were obtained from direct current

A Strategic Planning for a College Student-Segment Shopping Mall

OpenAIRE

Astri Anindya Sari; Hanson Endra Kusuma; Baskoro Tedjo

2011-01-01

In the midst of shopping mall development today, an understanding of consumer behaviors and preferences is absolutely a must if we want to plan successfuly a shopping mall. This knowledge will provide input for strategic planning so that the concept offered for shopping mall development will meet the consumers’ demand and may win the market competition. This study explores the preferences of students in Bandung as one of the potential market segments of the shopping mall. Qualitative study w...

Vape shops: who uses them and what do they do?

Science.gov (United States)

Pattinson, Julie; Lewis, Sarah; Bains, Manpreet; Britton, John; Langley, Tessa

2018-04-23

'Vape shops' are a popular source for buying electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and related products. The products that vape shops sell, their marketing techniques and the extent to which they provide information or encouragement to smokers to quit tobacco use, as well as the patterns of tobacco and e-cigarette use of their customers are not well understood. We conducted cross-sectional surveys in vape shops in the East Midlands region of the United Kingdom, one with shop staff (n = 41), and one with customers (n = 197). The majority of customers (84%) currently used e-cigarettes. Among current vapers, 19% were dual users and 78% had quit smoking. Over half of vapers reported using a lower level of nicotine in their current e-liquid than when they started using e-cigarettes. There was a wide variety in products and price ranges between the shops. Many staff reported that customers ask for information about quitting smoking (90%). Less than half reported providing smoking cessation advice, although 76% of staff reported feeling confident about delivering cessation advice to customers who ask for it. Just under half of customers and shop staff said they thought it was appropriate to deliver formal in-store smoking cessation support. The majority of vape shop customers are vapers who have quit smoking. Shop staff play a central role in providing customers with product information, and many provide smoking cessation advice. Further research is needed to investigate the potential for smoking cessation interventions in vape shops, including the extent to which these would appeal to non-vapers.

A hybrid job-shop scheduling system

Science.gov (United States)

Hellingrath, Bernd; Robbach, Peter; Bayat-Sarmadi, Fahid; Marx, Andreas

1992-01-01

The intention of the scheduling system developed at the Fraunhofer-Institute for Material Flow and Logistics is the support of a scheduler working in a job-shop. Due to the existing requirements for a job-shop scheduling system the usage of flexible knowledge representation and processing techniques is necessary. Within this system the attempt was made to combine the advantages of symbolic AI-techniques with those of neural networks.

Sulfide precursor concentration and lead source effect on PbS thin films properties

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Beddek, L.; Messaoudi, M.; Attaf, N. [Laboratoire Couche Minces et Interfaces, Université frères Mentouri Constantine, 25000, Constantine (Algeria); Aida, M.S., E-mail: aida_salah2@yahoo.fr [Laboratoire Couche Minces et Interfaces, Université frères Mentouri Constantine, 25000, Constantine (Algeria); Bougdira, J. [Université de Lorraine, Institut Jean Lamour UMR 7198, Vandoeuvre 54506 (France)

2016-05-05

Lead sulfide (PbS) thin films were synthesized using chemical bath deposition (CBD). Bath solutions are formed of various concentrations of thiourea, sulfide source, ranged from 0.6 to 1.2 M and two different salts as Pb source (lead acetate and lead nitrate). From the growth mechanism, we inferred that PbS is formed through the ion by ion process when using acetate lead source, while, using nitrate source yields to films growth through the complex-decomposition process. Due to the difference in the involved growth process, lead acetate produces films with larger crystallite size (from 4 to 16 nm), smooth and dense films. However, lead nitrate produces rough films with smaller crystallite size (from 1 to 4 nm). Increasing the thiourea concentration results in crystallinity improvement when using lead acetate and, oppositely, in crystallinity degradation when using lead nitrate. Due to the quantum effect caused by the small crystallite sizes, the films optical gap is varied from 0.5 to 0.9 eV. - Highlights: • PbS thin films were synthesized by chemical bath deposition. • Ion by ion is the growth process when using the acetate lead source. • Deposition process is by complex-decomposition when using nitrate source. • Lead acetate yields to dense films with larger crystallite size. • Lead nitrate produces rough films with smaller crystallite size.

Sulfide precursor concentration and lead source effect on PbS thin films properties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beddek, L.; Messaoudi, M.; Attaf, N.; Aida, M.S.; Bougdira, J.

2016-01-01

Lead sulfide (PbS) thin films were synthesized using chemical bath deposition (CBD). Bath solutions are formed of various concentrations of thiourea, sulfide source, ranged from 0.6 to 1.2 M and two different salts as Pb source (lead acetate and lead nitrate). From the growth mechanism, we inferred that PbS is formed through the ion by ion process when using acetate lead source, while, using nitrate source yields to films growth through the complex-decomposition process. Due to the difference in the involved growth process, lead acetate produces films with larger crystallite size (from 4 to 16 nm), smooth and dense films. However, lead nitrate produces rough films with smaller crystallite size (from 1 to 4 nm). Increasing the thiourea concentration results in crystallinity improvement when using lead acetate and, oppositely, in crystallinity degradation when using lead nitrate. Due to the quantum effect caused by the small crystallite sizes, the films optical gap is varied from 0.5 to 0.9 eV. - Highlights: • PbS thin films were synthesized by chemical bath deposition. • Ion by ion is the growth process when using the acetate lead source. • Deposition process is by complex-decomposition when using nitrate source. • Lead acetate yields to dense films with larger crystallite size. • Lead nitrate produces rough films with smaller crystallite size.

A multipurpose shopping trip model to assess retail agglomeration effects

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Arentze, T.A.; Oppewal, H.; Timmermans, H.J.P.

2005-01-01

Multipurpose shopping is a prominent and relevant feature of shopping behavior. However, no methodology is available to assess empirically how the demand for multipurpose shopping depends on retail agglomeration or, in general, the characteristics of retail supply, such as the numbers and types of

Outpatient-shopping behavior and survival rates in newly diagnosed cancer patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Chiou, Shang-Jyh; Wang, Shiow-Ing; Liu, Chien-Hsiang; Yaung, Chih-Liang

2012-09-01

To evaluate the appropriateness of the definition of outpatient-shopping behavior in Taiwanese patients. Linked study of 3 databases (Taiwan Cancer Registry, National Health Insurance [NHI] claim database, and death registry database). Outpatient shopping behavior was defined as making at least 4 or 5 physician visits to confirm a cancer diagnosis. We analyzed patient-related factors and the 5-year overall survival rate of the outpatient-shopping group compared with a nonshopping group. Using the household registration database and NHI database, we determined the proportion of outpatient shopping, characteristics of patients who did and did not shop for outpatient therapy, time between diagnosis and start of regular treatment, and medical service utilization in the shopping versus the nonshopping group. Patients with higher incomes were significantly more likely to shop for outpatient care. Patients with higher comorbidity scores were 1.4 times more likely to shop for outpatient care than patients with lower scores. Patients diagnosed with more advanced cancer were more likely to shop than those who were not. Patients might be more trusting of cancer diagnoses given at higher-level hospitals. The nonshopping groups had a longer duration of survival over 5 years. Health authorities should consider charging additional fees after a specific outpatient- shopping threshold is reached to reduce this behavior. The government may need to reassess the function of the medical sources network by shrinking it from the original 4 levels to 2 levels, or by enhancing the referral function among different hospital levels.

A Hybrid Metaheuristic Approach for Minimizing the Total Flow Time in A Flow Shop Sequence Dependent Group Scheduling Problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonio Costa

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Production processes in Cellular Manufacturing Systems (CMS often involve groups of parts sharing the same technological requirements in terms of tooling and setup. The issue of scheduling such parts through a flow-shop production layout is known as the Flow-Shop Group Scheduling (FSGS problem or, whether setup times are sequence-dependent, the Flow-Shop Sequence-Dependent Group Scheduling (FSDGS problem. This paper addresses the FSDGS issue, proposing a hybrid metaheuristic procedure integrating features from Genetic Algorithms (GAs and Biased Random Sampling (BRS search techniques with the aim of minimizing the total flow time, i.e., the sum of completion times of all jobs. A well-known benchmark of test cases, entailing problems with two, three, and six machines, is employed for both tuning the relevant parameters of the developed procedure and assessing its performances against two metaheuristic algorithms recently presented by literature. The obtained results and a properly arranged ANOVA analysis highlight the superiority of the proposed approach in tackling the scheduling problem under investigation.

Technicians and Shop Owners

Science.gov (United States)

Overview page provides information for shops and technicians that repair or service motor vehicle air-conditioning systems, including information on proper training, approved equipment, and regulatory practices.

Pre-purchase information search and consumer satisfaction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. Rousseau

1986-04-01

Full Text Available This survey examines the factors which determine consumer satisfaction with major household appliances. Hypotheses relating to pre-purchase information search, and product satisfaction as well as previous satisfactory store experience and subsequent repurchase behaviour are proposed and empirically tested, using data obtained from 55 consumers who patronized a large Eastern Cape hypermarket. Results indicate that product satisfaction is related more to market place variables than actual search behaviour. Repeat shopping intentions are associated with previous shopping experiences at the particular store, while the latter also contribute to product satisfaction. Marketing implications and future research directions are briefly discussed. Opsomming Hierdie studie ondersoek verbruikerstevredenheid met groter huishoudelike toebehore en die aanleidende oorsake daarvan. Hipoteses wat die verband tussen voorafinligtinginwinningsaktiwiteit en produktevredenheid ondersoek, asook vorige bevredigende winkelondervindings en gevolglike heraankoopgedrag, is empirics getoets met 'n steekproef van 55 verbruikers in 'n groot hipermark in die Oos-Kaap. Die resultate suggureer dat produktevredenheid meer verband hou met markplek-verwante veranderlikes as met inligtingsinwinninggedrag. Herhaalde koopvoornemens is geassosieer met vorige bevredigende koopervarmgs by die betrokke winkel terwyl laasgenoemde ook bydra tot produktevredenheid. Bemarkingsimplikasies en toekomstige navorsingsriglyne word ook kortliks bespreek.

Online Infrastructure in Supply Chain for Hardware Shops

OpenAIRE

Sørensen , Karl ,

2014-01-01

Part 4: Private Services; International audience; This article describes how the Scandinavian network communication system DATEX was used to build an online infrastructure in a retail chain of privately owned hardware shops and Do-It-Yourself (DIY) centers. The solution gave the staff in the shops the possibility to use EDP as early as in 1983. The Internet did not exist at the time. EDP was not part of the daily work in the shop and was for most employees something unknown that took place at...

Genetic analysis of the genus Diospyros ssp. using RAPD and i-PBS methods

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jana Raddová

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Molecular techniques (RAPD and i-PBS were used to study genetic diversity within persimmon collection at Horticulture Faculty of Mendel University in Lednice. The aim of the work was to distinguish 14 known and 6 of unknown origin persimmon cultivars. The basic screening of 20 OPT primers was applied to 4 cultivars differring in the place of origin. Within the group of screened primers there were chosen those, which gave polymorphic repeatable strong and middle strong bands. Selected primers were used for the RAPD reactions within the whole persimmon collection. Three OPA primers previously described in the literature were also used for the RAPD reactions within the whole persimmon collection. Additional 16 i-PBS primers previously described in the literature were also used for i-PBS analysis of the whole group of cultivars. Amplification was successful with 12 i-PBS primers. The FreeTree software package was used to gen­erate a similarity matrix and then to produce a dendrogram using UPGMA analyses. The similarity dendrograms of all persimmon cultivars were created based on both approaches and also on combination of both analyses by program Tree View. All the dendrograms clearly separated the assessed cultivars into 4 clusters. There are cluster of American persimmons – Meader’ (1, ’Garretson’ (2 and ’Early Golden’ (3. They are representatives of D. virginiana. Further part of dendrogram includes single D. lotus (5, which is also clearly separated from other cultivars of the genus Diospyros. The third cluster includes interspecific hybrids ’Rossiyanka’ (10 and ’Nikitskaiya Bordovaiya’ (13, which arised from crosses of D. virginiana and D. kaki. The last cluster is formed by cultivars of Japanese persimmon – ’Mikatani Gosho’, ’Zenjimaru’, ’Tone Wase’, ’Hiratanenashi’, ’Fuyu’, Chinese cultivar – ’Sansi’ and two Italian cultivars ’Vaniglia’ and ’Tipo’. They are clustered without significant

Possible Opioid Shopping and its Correlates.

Science.gov (United States)

Walker, Alexander M; Weatherby, Lisa B; Cepeda, M Soledad; Bradford, Daniel; Yuan, Yingli

2017-11-01

We created an operational definition of possible opioid shopping in US commercial health insurance data and examined its correlates. The population consisted of 264,204 treatment courses in persons with a fill for an opioid or diuretic prescription in 2012 and a second within 18 months. We examined counts of prescribers and pharmacies and the numbers of fills and overlaps for ability to discriminate courses of opioids from diuretics, which were a negative control. The most discriminatory measure, indicating possible shopping behavior, was cross-tabulated against other prescriptions filled and diagnoses as found in insurance claims. The associations between claims characteristics and shopping behavior were assessed in a logistic regression. A definition that classified possible "moderate" or "extensive" shopping when a person obtained drug through at least 3 practices and at least 3 pharmacies over 18 months was highly discriminatory between opioid and diuretic treatment. Overlaps between fills and number of fills did not improve the discrimination. Data from insurance claims strongly predicted moderate-to-extensive levels of possible shopping (c=0.82). Prominent among 20 significant predictors were: state of residence; amount of opioid dispensed; self-payment; use of nonspecialist prescribers; high use of anxiolytics, hypnotics, psychostimulants, and antipsychotics; and use of both immediate release and extended-release or long-acting opioids. The use of ≥3 prescribing practices and ≥3 dispensing pharmacies over 18 months sharply discriminated courses of opioid treatment from courses of diuretics. This pattern of fills was additionally associated with the numbers of nonspecialist and self-paid fills, the total morphine milligram equivalents dispensed, and heavier use of drugs for anxiety, sleep, attention, and psychosis.

Energy benchmarking for shopping centers in Gulf Coast region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Juaidi, Adel; AlFaris, Fadi; Montoya, Francisco G.; Manzano-Agugliaro, Francisco

2016-01-01

Building sector consumes a significant amount of energy worldwide (up to 40% of the total global energy); moreover, by the year 2030 the consumption is expected to increase by 50%. One of the reasons is that the performance of buildings and its components degrade over the years. In recent years, energy benchmarking for government office buildings, large scale public buildings and large commercial buildings is one of the key energy saving projects for promoting the development of building energy efficiency and sustainable energy savings in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Benchmarking would increase the purchase of energy efficient equipment, reducing energy bills, CO_2 emissions and conventional air pollution. This paper focuses on energy benchmarking for shopping centers in Gulf Coast Region. In addition, this paper will analyze a sample of shopping centers data in Gulf Coast Region (Dubai, Ajman, Sharjah, Oman and Bahrain). It aims to develop a benchmark for these shopping centers by highlighting the status of energy consumption performance. This research will support the sustainability movement in Gulf area through classifying the shopping centers into: Poor, Usual and Best Practices in terms of energy efficiency. According to the benchmarking analysis in this paper, the shopping centers best energy management practices in the Gulf Coast Region are the buildings that consume less than 810 kW h/m"2/yr, whereas the poor building practices are the centers that consume greater than 1439 kW h/m"2/yr. The conclusions of this work can be used as a reference for shopping centres benchmarking with similar climate. - Highlights: •The energy consumption data of shopping centers in Gulf Coast Region were gathered. •A benchmarking of energy consumption for the public areas for the shopping centers in the Gulf Coast Region was developed. •The shopping centers have the usual practice in the region between 810 kW h/m"2/yr and 1439 kW h/m"2/yr.

A causal model to evaluate the influence of consumer's perceptions of online shopping on their shopping behavior

OpenAIRE

Asakawa, Masami; Okano, Masao

2009-01-01

This study examined the factors influencing consumers' perception of online shopping and developed a causal model that explains how this perception affects their online-shopping behavior. We administered a questionnaire survey to 297 college students. By utilizing the answers to 13 questions pertaining to consumer perceptions, we conducted a factor analysis that identified the following three factors: "convenience", "anxiety regarding security" and "poor navigation". On the basis of this resu...

Getting closer to people: family planning provision by drug shops in Uganda

Science.gov (United States)

Akol, Angela; Chin-Quee, Dawn; Wamala-Mucheri, Patricia; Namwebya, Jane Harriet; Mercer, Sarah Jilani; Stanback, John

2014-01-01

ABSTRACT Background: Private-sector drug shops are often the first point of health care in sub-Saharan Africa. Training and supporting drug shop and pharmacy staff to provide a wide range of contraceptive methods and information is a promising high-impact practice for which more information is needed to fully document implementation experience and impact. Methods: Between September 2010 and March 2011, we trained 139 drug shop operators (DSOs) in 4 districts of Uganda to safely administer intramuscular DMPA (depot medroxyprogesterone acetate) contraceptive injections. In 2012, we approached 54 of these DSOs and interviewed a convenience sample of 585 of their family planning clients to assess clients' contraceptive use and perspectives on the quality of care and satisfaction with services. Finally, we compared service statistics from April to June 2011 from drug shops, community health workers (CHWs), and government clinics in 3 districts to determine the drug shop market share of family planning services. Results: Most drug shop family planning clients interviewed were women with low socioeconomic status. The large majority (89%) were continuing family planning users. DMPA was the preferred contraceptive. Almost half of the drug shop clients had switched from other providers, primarily from government health clinics, mostly as a result of more convenient locations, shorter waiting times, and fewer stock-outs in drug shops. All clients reported that the DSOs treated them respectfully, and 93% trusted the drug shop operator to maintain privacy. Three-quarters felt that drug shops offered affordable family planning services. Most of the DMPA clients (74%) were very satisfied with receiving their method from the drug shop and 98% intended to get the next injection from the drug shop. Between April and June 2011, clinics, CHWs, and drug shops in 3 districts delivered equivalent proportions of couple-years of protection, with drug shops leading marginally at 36

Self-control predicts attentional bias assessed by online shopping-related Stroop in high online shopping addiction tendency college students.

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Zhaocai; Zhao, Xiuxin; Li, Cancan

2017-05-01

The aim of this study was to examine the relationships of personality types (i.e., self-control, BAS/BIS) and online shopping addiction (OSA) behavior and to investigate whether high-OSA tendency individuals display attentional biases toward online shopping-related (OS-related) stimuli as well as the links between attentional bias and personality types. The study included 98 college students divided into three groups (i.e., high-, medium- and low-OSA) according to their OSA behavior. The personality types (i.e., self-control, BAS/BIS) and OSA behavior were investigated by questionnaires. The attentional bias was evaluated by the OS-related Stroop and dot-probe task (DPT) paradigms. OSA was positively predicted by time spent on online shopping per day and average consumption for online shopping monthly, and negatively by self-control. High-OSA individuals displayed significant attentional biases toward OS-related stimuli in the Stroop, but not DPT paradigm. Moreover, the attentional bias toward OSA-related stimuli in high-OSA individuals was negatively correlated with self-control. These findings demonstrated the critical role of self-control in OSA behavior and attentional bias to OS-related stimuli in high-OSA individuals, indicating that more importance should be attached to self-control for the clinical intervention of online shopping addiction in future studies. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Google and global market search: information signals and knowledge indices

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Millar-Schijf, Carla C.J.M.; Choi, Chong-Ju; Millar, Hartley

2008-01-01

With perfect information an economically rational market is expected. In the ICT age the introduction of a shopping/price comparison facility (Froogle) by a company with a search reputation as pre-eminent as Google leads to the expectation that it will allow comparison of products in terms not only

Methods in Mapping Usability of Malaysia’s Shopping Centre

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdul Ghani Aida Affina

2016-01-01

Full Text Available With more than 200 number of shopping centre in Klang Valley itself, we the consumer actually have vast of choices. Instead of the machineries varieties from the lower class product till the posh one, each of those shopping centres eventually offers the typical product same as others. Those shopping centers are competing with each other and in great endeavour to attract more consumers, to visit and spend. As for the visitor, the typical product and boring ambience seems similar in all malls, and is looking something beyond the standard. Something that promising quality embedded in shopping centre which evokes the various emotions of the user along their journey in malls. This quality is known as usability. Usability; as defined generally is a global user’s experience response with product, environment, service or facilities. It is an assessment in extracting the qualities of shopping centre design. In mapping it, there are a few synthesizing methods to implement it. Therefore, this paper purposely to review the method that been used in usability of Malaysia’s shopping centre research with a few references on previous research done in usability assessment by predecessor’s scholars. With the accentuation on three elements that anchoring what the usability is: effectiveness, efficient and satisfaction, it is hope that this overview can lead other researcher in portraying its relationship with the quality and ‘user friendly’ design of shopping centre.

INVESTIGATING THE COLLECTIVE ONLINE purchase PHENOMENON: FACTORS AFFECTING THE SHOPPING INTENSITY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Everton Roberto Comin

2014-04-01

Full Text Available The collective online shopping is a recent phenomenon in Brazil whose objective is to sell products and services for a minimum number of consumers. This study aims to investigate whether the intensity of collective online shopping is influenced by the aspects consumer interest in online collective shopping, impulse buying and insecurity. The data collection was based on a questionnaire with closed questions with multiple choices and a 5-point Likert scale.The final sample is composed of 143 respondents. Data was analyzed through the following statistic techniques: exploratory data analysis, exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis, and logistic regression. The results suggest that people more interest in collective shopping are more likely to make collective shopping. People who feel greater insecurity in navigating the website is less likely to make collective shopping. It was observed that there is no a positive relationship between impulse shopping and collective purchasing. Some limitations include the number of constructs and sample characteristics.

Baby boomers' food shopping habits. Relationships with demographics and personal values.

Science.gov (United States)

Worsley, Anthony; Wang, Wei C; Hunter, Wendy

2010-12-01

The purpose of this study was to examine baby boomers' food shopping behaviours and to investigate their relationships with demographics and personal values. A questionnaire concerning food shopping behaviours, personal values and demographics was mailed to a random sample of 2975 people aged 40-70 years in Victoria, Australia. Usable questionnaires of 1031 were obtained. Structural equation modelling was employed for data analyses. The analyses revealed that demographics and personal values influenced shopping behaviours via different pathways among male and female baby boomers. For example, self-direction positively impacted on shopping planning for men but negatively influenced price minimization for women. Among women only, age was positively related to shopping planning and negatively to price minimization. Thus, both personal values and demographics influenced baby boomers' shopping behaviours. Since values are more likely to be amenable to change than demographics, segmentation of the population via value orientations would facilitate targeted interventions to promote healthy food shopping. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

37 CFR 253.4 - Performance of musical compositions by PBS, NPR and other public broadcasting entities engaged in...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... background or theme music in a PBS program: 2003-2007 $56.81 (3) For performance of such a work in a feature... music in a program of a station of PBS: 2003-2007 $4.04 (5) For the performance of such a work in a... theme music in an NPR program: 2003-2007 $5.51 (7) For the performance of such a work in a feature...

37 CFR 381.4 - Performance of musical compositions by PBS, NPR and other public broadcasting entities engaged in...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... background or theme music in a PBS program: 2008-2012 $57.66 (3) For performance of such a work in a feature... music in a program of a station of PBS: 2008-2012 $4.10 (5) For the performance of such a work in a... theme music in an NPR program: 2008-2012 $5.59 (7) For the performance of such a work in a feature...

The role of food shopping in later life.

Science.gov (United States)

Pettigrew, Simone; Worrall, Caitlin; Biagioni, Nicole; Talati, Zenobia; Jongenelis, Michelle

2017-04-01

By the time they reach retirement, individuals are typically highly experienced in sourcing food products and they have strong familiarity with food retailing environments. To investigate the ongoing role of food shopping in later life, the present study explored seniors' attitudes to food shopping and their food-selection behaviours through the lens of their broader lifestyles. The aim was to provide insights of relevance to the development of future efforts to optimise seniors' food shopping experiences and nutrition-related outcomes. Interviews were conducted with 75 Western Australians aged 60 + years to discuss food shopping in the context of their day-to-day lives. The sample was comprised mainly of women (n = 64) and the average age was 74 years. In general, food shopping was perceived to be a manageable but mundane part of life. The findings suggest that there has been an improvement in food retailing practices because many of the numerous areas of concern identified in previous research conducted in this geographical location a decade ago were not nominated as relevant by the interviewees. Instead, food-related issues reported to be most problematic included the difficulties associated with sourcing affordable food products that had been produced locally and that did not contain unacceptable food additives. Seniors' food shopping concerns thus appear to have changed from functional aspects of the physical store environment to product attributes that reflect the increasing industrialisation of the food industry. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Meat Safety: An Evaluation of Portuguese Butcher Shops.

Science.gov (United States)

Santos, Ana; Cardoso, Margarida Fonseca; Costa, José M Correia da; Gomes-Neves, Eduarda

2017-07-01

Butcher shops are end points in the meat chain, and they can have a determinant role in cross-contamination control. This study aims to determine whether Portuguese butcher shops comply with European and Portuguese law regarding the sale of fresh meat and meat products. Butcher shops (n = 73) were assessed for meat handler and facility hygiene and for maintenance of the premises. Handlers (n = 88) were given a questionnaire composed of questions about knowledge and practice, including hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) and good practice in food industry, to assess their knowledge of and compliance with food safety practices. A checklist of 27 items was used to evaluate facility and meat handler hygiene and butcher shop maintenance. Our results revealed some lack of compliance in all the areas evaluated. The mean knowledge and practice score among the operators was 68.0%, and the mean "visual inspection" score for the butcher shops was 64.0%. Severe deficiencies were observed in the mandatory implementation of HACCP principles in this type of small food business. These findings indicate a need to modify training to enhance compliance with European food safety regulations at this step of the meat chain.

Interfacial dynamic surface traps of lead sulfide (PbS) nanocrystals: test-platform for interfacial charge carrier traps at the organic/inorganic functional interface

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Youngjun; Ko, Hyungduk; Park, Byoungnam

2018-04-01

Nanocrystal (NC) size and ligand dependent dynamic trap formation of lead sulfide (PbS) NCs in contact with an organic semiconductor were investigated using a pentacene/PbS field effect transistor (FET). We used a bilayer pentacene/PbS FET to extract information of the surface traps of PbS NCs at the pentacene/PbS interface through the field effect-induced charge carrier density measurement in the threshold and subthreshold regions. PbS size and ligand dependent trap properties were elucidated by the time domain and threshold voltage measurements in which threshold voltage shift occurs by carrier charging and discharging in the trap states of PbS NCs. The observed threshold voltage shift is interpreted in context of electron trapping through dynamic trap formation associated with PbS NCs. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of the presence of interfacial dynamic trap density of PbS NC in contact with an organic semiconductor (pentacene). We found that the dynamic trap density of the PbS NC is size dependent and the carrier residence time in the specific trap sites is more sensitive to NC size variation than to NC ligand exchange. The probing method presented in the study offers a means to investigate the interfacial surface traps at the organic-inorganic hetero-junction, otherwise understanding of the buried surface traps at the functional interface would be elusive.

Flow shop scheduling with heterogeneous workers

OpenAIRE

Benavides, Alexander J.; Ritt, Marcus; Miralles Insa, Cristóbal Javier

2014-01-01

We propose an extension to the flow shop scheduling problem named Heterogeneous Flow Shop Scheduling Problem (Het-FSSP), where two simultaneous issues have to be resolved: finding the best worker assignment to the workstations, and solving the corresponding scheduling problem. This problem is motivated by Sheltered Work centers for Disabled, whose main objective is the labor integration of persons with disabilities, an important aim not only for these centers but for any company d...

Novel Random PBS-Based Copolymers Containing Aliphatic Side Chains for Sustainable Flexible Food Packaging

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giulia Guidotti

2017-12-01

Full Text Available In the last decade, there has been an increased interest from the food packaging industry toward the development and application of biodegradable and biobased plastics, to contribute to the sustainable economy and to reduce the huge environmental problem afflicting the planet. In this framework, the present paper describes the synthesis of novel PBS (poly(butylene succinate-based random copolymers with different composition containing glycol sub-units characterized by alkyl pendant groups of different length. The prepared samples were subjected to molecular, thermal, diffractometric and mechanical characterization. The barrier performances to O2, CO2 and N2 gases were also evaluated, envisioning for these new materials an application in food packaging. The presence of the side alkyl groups did not alter the thermal stability, whereas it significantly reduced the sample crystallinity degree, making these materials more flexible. The barrier properties were found to be worse than PBS; however, some of them were comparable to, or even better than, those of Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE, widely employed for flexible food packaging. The entity of variations in the final properties due to copolymerization were more modest in the case of the co-unit with short side methyl groups, which, when included in the PBS crystal lattice, causes a more modest decrement of crystallinity degree.

Optimal experience in online shopping: the influence of flow

OpenAIRE

Sharkey, Ultan; Acton, Thomas; Conboy, Kieran

2012-01-01

peer-reviewed This research investigates the influences of product presentation modes, decision behaviour and the consumer experience on Internet shopping. The growth of online shopping brings with it cognitive challenges for consumers attempting to assess large numbers of options in purchase decisions. Further, there is little guidance for vendors in terms of presenting large numbers of product. In this study, online shopping is viewed as an information processing, decision ta...

Ultrafast exciton decay in PbS quantum dots through simultaneous electron and hole recombination with a surface-localized ion pair

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Edme, Kedy; Bettis Homan, Stephanie; Nepomnyashchii, Alexander B.; Weiss, Emily A., E-mail: e-weiss@northwestern.edu

2016-06-01

Highlights: • We synthesize complexes of PbS quantum dots (QDs) and tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ). Each PbS QD spontaneously reduces up to 17 TCNQ molecules. • The photoluminescence of the PbS QDs is quenched in the presence of the reduced TCNQ species through ultrafast non-radiative, simultaneous decay of the electron and hole. • We assign this decay to a four-carrier, concerted charge recombination mechanism with the surface localized sulfur–TCNQ{sup x−} ion pair. - Abstract: This paper describes the ultrafast decay of the band-edge exciton in PbS quantum dots (QDs) through simultaneous recombination of the excitonic hole and electron with the surface localized ion pair formed upon adsorption of tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ). Each PbS QD (R = 1.8 nm) spontaneously reduces up to 17 TCNQ molecules upon adsorption of the TCNQ molecule to a sulfur on the QD surface. The photoluminescence of the PbS QDs is quenched in the presence of the reduced TCNQ species through ultrafast (⩽15-ps) non-radiative decay of the exciton; the rate constant for the decay process increases approximately linearly with the number of adsorbed, reduced TCNQ molecules. Near-infrared and mid-infrared transient absorption show that this decay occurs through simultaneous transfer of the excitonic electron and hole, and is assigned to a four-carrier, concerted charge recombination mechanism based on the observations that (i) the PL of the QDs recovers when spontaneously reduced TCNQ{sup 1−} desorbs from the QD surface upon addition of salt, and (ii) the PL of the QDs is preserved when another spontaneous oxidant, ferrocinium, which cannot participate in charge transfer in its reduced state, is substituted for TCNQ.

Digitalization influence on shopping centers strategic management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ioniţă Irene Mihaela

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Shopping centers are an important aspect of the extremely dynamic life of the 21st century consumer. Nowadays, worldwide, shopping centers represent significant multimillion euro investments, remarking themselves with bold architectures and structures and an individual brand image. Retail markets are currently under transformation by a confluence of new retailing technologies, dramatic shifts in the demographic profile and preferences of more affluent and educated shoppers. Part of the market share in modern retail moved to new forms of selling, which weakened the offer of some traditional retailers, while also creating opportunities for retailers to move and integrate their offerings with new digital tools (via electronic commerce, social commerce and mobile commerce. Meeting customer needs and increasing sales are the primary drivers behind retailers use of information systems and technology (IS/IT. New developments in IS/IT offer new opportunities and challenges for organizations and society. The current paper proposes to analyze the way digital media and information technology (computers and mobile devices influences the virtual and physical shopping experiences, and shopping centers management consequently. The need for communication & sales channels integration, the impact of new information technologies (IT’s, the growing role of social / digital media, the balance between personalization and privacy – all represent challenges retail industry needs to currently adapt to face digitalization. E-commerce is transforming both consumer behavior and retailing business models, by greatly expanding shopping convenience, selection and affordability.

New Digital Marketing Actors: Private Shopping Clubs and Their Advertising Practices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nazlım Tüzel Uraltaş

2014-12-01

In the first part of the study the concept of digital marketing and its historical background will be explained. In the second part online shopping behavior, online shopping training activities in Turkey and private shopping clubs will be examined.  The last part of the study will deal with the advertising practices of private shopping clubs. The study is essentially a literature review; thus, the resources are mostly secondary in nature.

Solution-processed nanocrystalline PbS on paper substrate with pencil traced electrodes as visible photodetector

Science.gov (United States)

Vankhade, Dhaval; Chaudhuri, Tapas K.

2018-04-01

Paper-based PbS photodetector sensitive in the visible spectrum is reported. Nanocrystalline PbS-on-paper devices are fabricated by a spin coating method on white paper (300 GSM) from a methanolic precursor solution. Photodetector cells of gap 0.2 cm and length 0.5 cm are prepared by drawing contacts by monolithic cretacolor 8B pencil. X-ray diffractometer confirmed the deposition of nanocrystalline PbS films with 14 nm crystallites. The SEM illustrated the uniform coating of nanocrystalline PbS thin films on cellulose fibres of papers having an average thickness of fibres are 10 µm. The linear J-V characteristics in dark and under illumination of light using graphite trace on nanocrystalline PbS-on-paper shows good ohmic contact. The resistivity of pencil trace is 30 Ω.cm. Spectral response measurements of photodetector reveal the excellent sensitivity from 400 to 700 nm with a peak at 550 nm. The best responsivity anddetectivity are 0.7 A/W and 1.4 × 1012 Jones respectively. These paper-based low-cost photodetectors devices have fast photoresponse and recovery without baseline deviation.

Charge Carrier Conduction Mechanism in PbS Quantum Dot Solar Cells: Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Haowei; Wang, Yishan; He, Bo; Li, Weile; Sulaman, Muhammad; Xu, Junfeng; Yang, Shengyi; Tang, Yi; Zou, Bingsuo

2016-07-20

With its properties of bandgap tunability, low cost, and substrate compatibility, colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) are becoming promising materials for optoelectronic applications. Additionally, solution-processed organic, inorganic, and hybrid ligand-exchange technologies have been widely used in PbS CQDs solar cells, and currently the maximum certified power conversion efficiency of 9.9% has been reported by passivation treatment of molecular iodine. Presently, there are still some challenges, and the basic physical mechanism of charge carriers in CQDs-based solar cells is not clear. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy is a monitoring technology for current by changing the frequency of applied alternating current voltage, and it provides an insight into its electrical properties that cannot be measured by direct current testing facilities. In this work, we used EIS to analyze the recombination resistance, carrier lifetime, capacitance, and conductivity of two typical PbS CQD solar cells Au/PbS-TBAl/ZnO/ITO and Au/PbS-EDT/PbS-TBAl/ZnO/ITO, in this way, to better understand the charge carriers conduction mechanism behind in PbS CQD solar cells, and it provides a guide to design high-performance quantum-dots solar cells.

Effect of Maleated Compatibiliser (PBS-g-MA) Addition on the Flexural Properties and Water Absorption of Poly(butylene succinate)/ kenaf Bast Fibre Composites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahmad, M.Z.T.; Mohd, Z.A.M.; Mat, R.T.; Ahmad, M.Z.T.; Mohd, Z.A.I.; Mat, R.T.; Rahim, S.

2013-01-01

Poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) composites with 30 wt.% loading of kenaf bast fibre (KBF) were compatibilised with 5 wt. % maleated PBS (PBS-g-MA). The maleic anhydride (MA) concentration in the compatibiliser was either 3, 5, 7 or 10 phr. In general, the compatibilised composites showed better flexural properties than the un-compatibilised composite. The highest increment in the flexural strength and modulus of 12.7 and 8.9 %, respectively, were obtained with the addition of PBS-g-MA with MA concentration of 5 phr. Compatibilised and un-compatibilised PBS/ KBF composites were immersed in distilled water for 90 days. The absorption of water by all the composites was observed to follow Ficks law. The equilibrium moisture content, M m , of the composites with PBS-g-MA at 3, 5 and 7 phr of MA concentrations was lower than that of the un-compatibilised composite due to improved fiber-matrix interfacial adhesion and reduction of voids content. Both un-compatibilised and compatibilised composites showed dimensional instability after the water absorption. This was probably due to the degradation of the fibre-matrix interfacial adhesion and fibre integrity. The flexural properties of these composites decreased after the water absorption. After re-drying only some of the flexural properties were recovered from plasticizing effect of water. (author)

LinkShop v.1.0.0

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2017-05-15

LinkShop is a software tool for applying the method of Linkography to the analysis time-sequence data. LinkShop provides command line, web, and application programming interfaces (API) for input and processing of time-sequence data, abstraction models, and ontologies. The software creates graph representations of the abstraction model, ontology, and derived linkograph. Finally, the tool allows the user to perform statistical measurements of the linkograph and refine the ontology through direct manipulation of the linkograph.

A cross-cultural comparison of expatriates’ shopping behavior

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wijnen, G.J.; Kemperman, A.D.A.M.; Janssen, I.I.

2012-01-01

Explored is how shopping centre attributes can be adapted to culture-related shopping behaviour of expatriates. While awareness of consumer ethnicity and effectiveness of culture-based market segmentation are on-going and relevant topics in retailing, there is only limited information available on

Evaluation of Fresh Food Internet Shopping in Korean Beef

OpenAIRE

金, 鍾和; 森高, 正博; 福田, 晋; Kim, Jong-hwa; Moritaka, Masahiro; Fukuda, Susumu

2013-01-01

This paper focuses on consumer reactions to the fresh food internet shopping on Korea beef. In the paper, we have analyzed an effective relation in consumer's perceived qualities, the evaluation of commodities and the evaluation of fresh food internet shopping. As a result, two effective relations were found. Firstly, consumer's perceived qualities affect the evaluation of commodities. Secondly, the evaluation of commodities affects t-he evaluation of fresh food internet shopping. This result...

Attitudinal Explanation on Virtual Shopping Intention

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ritzky Karina M.R. Brahmana

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract. Virtual stores provide great efficiency in the retail value chain, and their existence has tremendously paved the way for electronic commerce. Understanding the intention of consumers to shop online in attitudinal perspective will provide important contribution to the area of e-commerce. This research proposes Task Technology Fit, Perceived Ease of Use (PEoU, and Perceived Usefulness (PU as the factors that drive consumers’ intention. The results from our survey study of 310 online consumers in Indonesia indicate that TTF affects PEoU and PU significantly. Our hierarchical model also reports that PEoU is the mediating effect on the relationship between TTF and Intention. The resulting model explains a large portion of the factors that lead a user’s behavioural intention to use a virtual shop. Keywords : Attitudinal, Task Technology Fit, Perceived Ease of Use, Perceived Usefulness, Retail, Virtual Shopping Intention

Minimizing total weighted completion time in a proportionate flow shop

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Shakhlevich, N.V.; Hoogeveen, J.A.; Pinedo, M.L.

1998-01-01

We study the special case of the m machine flow shop problem in which the processing time of each operation of job j is equal to pj; this variant of the flow shop problem is known as the proportionate flow shop problem. We show that for any number of machines and for any regular performance

Opioid shopping behavior: how often, how soon, which drugs, and what payment method.

Science.gov (United States)

Cepeda, M Soledad; Fife, Daniel; Chow, Wing; Mastrogiovanni, Gregory; Henderson, Scott C

2013-01-01

Doctor shopping (obtaining opioid prescriptions from multiple prescribers) is one example of opioid abuse and diversion. The authors assessed how soon shopping behavior was observed after opioid exposure, number of events per shopper, preferred opioids, and method of payment. This was a cohort study. Individuals with ≤1 dispensing for any opioid in 2008 were followed for 18 months. Shopping behavior was defined as ≤2 prescriptions by different prescribers with ≤1 day of overlap and filled at ≤3 pharmacies. Of 25,161,024 subjects, 0.30% exhibited shopping behavior. Opioid-experienced subjects were 13.7 times more likely to exhibit shopping behavior and had more shopping episodes than opioid-naive subjects. Time to first shopping event was 246.90 ± 163.61 days. Number of episodes was 2.74 ± 4.66. Most subjects with shopping behavior (55.27%) had 1 shopping episode, whereas 9.52% had ≤6 episodes; 88.99% had ≤4 prescribers. Subjects with shopping behavior filled schedule II opioids more often than subjects without shopping behavior (19.51% vs 10.89%) and more often paid in cash (44.85% vs 18.54%). Three of 1000 people exposed to opioids exhibit shopping behavior, on average, 8 months after exposure. Opioid shoppers seek strong opioids, avoid combination products, often pay cash, and obtain prescriptions from few prescribers. © 2012 The Author(s).

Implementing the Affordable Care Act: State Action to Establish SHOP Marketplaces.

Science.gov (United States)

Dash, Sarah J; Lucia, Kevin W; Thomas, Amy

2014-03-01

The Affordable Care Act seeks to help small employers offer coverage by reforming the small-group market and establishing Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) marketplaces. Seventeen states and the District of Columbia chose to operate their own SHOP marketplaces in 2014, with the federal government operating the SHOP marketplace in 33 states. This brief examines state decisions to enhance the value of SHOP marketplaces for small employers and finds that most have set predictable participation and eligibility requirements and will offer a competitive choice of insurers and plans. States also are seeking to facilitate small employers' shopping experience through online tools and access to personalized assistance. While not all SHOP marketplaces are yet functioning as intended, their establishment offers an opportunity to identify successful strategies for improving the affordability and accessibility of coverage for small employers.

Workload control in job shops, grasping the tap

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Land, Martin Jaap

2004-01-01

The term job shops is used to indicate companies that produce customer-specific components in small batches. Jobs (production orders) in a job shop are characterised by a large variety of routings and operation processing times. This variety, combined with irregular order arrivals, generally leads

E-Commerce Performance. Shopping Cart Key Performance Indicators

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mihaela I. MUNTEAN

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In an e-commerce performance framework is important to identify the key performance indicators that measure success and together provide the greatest context into the business perfor-mance. Shopping carts are an essential part of ecommerce, a minimal set of key performance indicators being the subject of our debate. The theoretical approach is sustained by a case study, an e-shop implemented using PHP and MySQL, for simulating main business processes within the considered performance framework. Our approach opens a perspective for future research using additional indicators in order to properly evaluate the global performance of any e-shop.

The Effect of Substrate Temperature on the Structural Properties of Spray Pyrolysed Lead Sulphide (PbS Thin Films

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad G. Faraj

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Lead sulphide (PbS films were prepared by the chemical spray pyrolysis technique using a solution of Lead nitrate and thiourea. PbS films were deposited (prepared on glass substrate at varied temperature (250-350 oC. Effects of substrate temperature on the structural characteristics of the films were studied. The X-ray diffraction patterns’ results reveal that the all of PbS films have a face centered cubic structure. The X-ray diffraction study showed that irrespective of substrate temperature all the films exhibits a preferred orientation along the (200 plane. The degree of preferred orientation increased with the substrate temperature. It was observed that the increase of the substrate temperature increase the diffraction peak intensity of (200 plane which resulted in increase in grain size and good crystallinity of the films.

Probing surface states in PbS nanocrystal films using pentacene field effect transistors: controlling carrier concentration and charge transport in pentacene.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Byoungnam; Whitham, Kevin; Bian, Kaifu; Lim, Yee-Fun; Hanrath, Tobias

2014-12-21

We used a bilayer field effect transistor (FET) consisting of a thin PbS nanocrystals (NCs) film interfaced with vacuum-deposited pentacene to probe trap states in NCs. We interpret the observed threshold voltage shift in context of charge carrier trapping by PbS NCs and relate the magnitude of the threshold voltage shift to the number of trapped carriers. We explored a series of NC surface ligands to modify the interface between PbS NCs and pentacene and demonstrate the impact of interface chemistry on charge carrier density and the FET mobility in a pentacene FET.

Consumer behavior towards Online shopping of electronics in pakistan

OpenAIRE

BASHIR, ADIL

2013-01-01

E-commerce has made life simple and innovative of individuals and groups; consumer Behavior in online shopping is different from the physical market where he has access to see the product. The purpose of the research was to study the consumer behavior in online shopping of electronics especially in Pakistan. The main research question in thesis is how consumers behave while shopping online. Primary data was collected through the questionnaire survey and by emails from personal contacts in...

Influence of visualization on consumption during on-line shopping

OpenAIRE

Hictaler, Urška

2013-01-01

This diploma work studies the influence of visualization on consumption during on-line shopping. The first part of the thesis starts with key areas of visualization, consumption and on-line shopping. Visualization, areas of use, human perception and ways of product presentation in on-line shops are defined discussed first. Next, consumption, consumers and factors that influence their decisions and satisfaction are defined. The last topic in the first part of the thesis discusses on-line shopp...

Shopping intention prediction using decision trees

OpenAIRE

Šebalj, Dario; Franjković, Jelena; Hodak, Kristina

2017-01-01

Introduction: The price is considered to be neglected marketing mix element due to the complexity of price management and sensitivity of customers on price changes. It pulls the fastest customer reactions to that change. Accordingly, the process of making shopping decisions can be very challenging for customer.Objective: The aim of this paper is to create a model that is able to predict shopping intention and classify respondents into one of the two categories, depending on whether they inten...

Multi-objective flexible job-shop scheduling problem using modified discrete particle swarm optimization.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Song; Tian, Na; Wang, Yan; Ji, Zhicheng

2016-01-01

Taking resource allocation into account, flexible job shop problem (FJSP) is a class of complex scheduling problem in manufacturing system. In order to utilize the machine resources rationally, multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) integrating with variable neighborhood search is introduced to address FJSP efficiently. Firstly, the assignment rules (AL) and dispatching rules (DR) are provided to initialize the population. And then special discrete operators are designed to produce new individuals and earliest completion machine (ECM) is adopted in the disturbance operator to escape the optima. Secondly, personal-best archives (cognitive memories) and global-best archive (social memory), which are updated by the predefined non-dominated archive update strategy, are simultaneously designed to preserve non-dominated individuals and select personal-best positions and the global-best position. Finally, three neighborhoods are provided to search the neighborhoods of global-best archive for enhancing local search ability. The proposed algorithm is evaluated by using Kacem instances and Brdata instances, and a comparison with other approaches shows the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm for FJSP.

Erotismo, mercado e gênero: uma etnografia dos sex shops de São Paulo Eroticism, market and gender: an ethnography of sex shops in São Paulo

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Filomena Gregori

2012-06-01

Full Text Available As ideias deste artigo têm como propósito aprofundar a discussão sobre mercado erótico (produção, comercialização e consumo de bens eróticos e pensar, de um lado, suas conexões mais gerais com o mercado, ou seja, com uma lógica cuja operação implica a produção de diferenças a partir da oferta de bens e serviços; de outro lado, analisar as articulações dessa oferta no registro dos produtos eróticos, partindo do suposto de que os objetos buscados e valorizados seriam os que justamente realçam a diferença e a transgressão. Ao lado da discussão teórica, o artigo traz uma etnografia dos sex shops na cidade de São Paulo. Na direção inversa das visões que tendem a tomar o mercado ora como mero reflexo de demandas sociais ora como força manipuladora diante da qual o consumidor é passivo, assiste-se a criação de nichos de sex shops que configuram um processo de constituição de novas posições diante da sexualidade, ampliando o escopo de escolhas e práticas sexuais, sobretudo, para as mulheres.The ideas in this paper aim at deepening the discussion on the erotic market (production, commercialization and consumption of erotic goods and thinking its more general connections to the market, i. e., to an operative logic that implies the production of differences, from the supply of goods and services. It aims, on the other hand, at analyzing the articulation of this supply from the assumption that the objects searched for and valorized are precisely those that stress the difference and transgression. Besides the theoretical discussion, the paper reports an ethnography of sex shops in São Paulo. Against views that take the market for a mere reflection of social demands or as a manipulating force before passive consumers, we see the creation of a niche of sex shops that configure new positions vis a vis sexuality, widening the scope of sexual choices, especially for women.

Price learning during grocery shopping

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Birger Boutrup

Many attempts have been made to measure consumers' price knowledge for groceries. However, the results have varied considerably and conflict with results of reference price research. This is the first study to examine price knowledge before, during, and after store visit, thus enabling a study...... of what consumers learn about prices during grocery shopping. Three measures of price knowledge corresponding to different levels of price information processing were applied. Results indicate that price learning does take place and that episodic price knowledge after store exit is far more widespread...... than expected. Consequently, a new view of how consumer price knowledge evolves during grocery shopping is presented....

When Is a New Scale not a New Scale? The Case of the Bergen Shopping Addiction Scale and the Compulsive Online Shopping Scale.

Science.gov (United States)

Griffiths, Mark D; Andreassen, Cecilie S; Pallesen, Ståle; Bilder, Robert M; Torsheim, Torbjørn; Aboujaoude, Elias

2016-01-01

Manchiraju et al. ( International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction , 1-15, 2016) published the Compulsive Online Shopping Scale (COSS) in the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction ( IJMHA ). To develop their measure of compulsive online shopping, Manchiraju and colleagues adapted items from the seven-item Bergen Shopping Addiction Scale (BSAS) and its' original 28-item item pool. Manchiraju et al. did not add or remove any of the original seven items, and did not substantially change the content of any of the 28 items on which the BSAS was based. They simply added the word "online" to each existing item. Given that the BSAS was specifically developed to take into account the different ways in which people now shop and to include both online and offline shopping, there does not seem to be a good rationale for developing an online version of the BSAS. It is argued that the COSS is not really an adaptation of the BSAS but an almost identical instrument based on the original 28-item pool.

Chinese and Finnish Undergraduates’ Online Shopping Behaviour

OpenAIRE

Wan, Ning

2015-01-01

The main goal of the thesis was to recognise similar and different characteristics of online shopping behaviour between Chinese and Finnish undergraduates. Additionally, this thesis would give meaningful proposals for merchants and managers on offering better online marketing. This thesis report was conducted in both theoretical and practical parts. The theoretical parts include marketing research and online shopping consumption behaviour. The study describes the marketing research progre...

Improving Interaction between NGO's, Science Shops and Universities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Michael Søgaard

2005-01-01

An overview of the results from the INTERACTS research project: Improving Interaction between NGOs, Universities and Science Shops: Experiences and Expectations, running 2002-2004......An overview of the results from the INTERACTS research project: Improving Interaction between NGOs, Universities and Science Shops: Experiences and Expectations, running 2002-2004...

E-shopping in the Netherlands: does geography matter?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Farag, Sendy; Weltevreden, J.W.J.; Rietbergen, T. van; Dijst, M.J.; Oort, F.G. van

2006-01-01

Why consumers shop via the Internet, is a frequently asked question. As yet, the impact of spatial variables on e-shopping has received little attention. In this paper we report our investigation of the spatial distribution of Internet users and online buyers in the Netherlands for the time period

Phase transformation and conductivity in nanocrystal PbS under pressure

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jiang, Jianzhong; Gerward, Leif; Secco, R.

2000-01-01

The grain-size effect on the phase transition induced by pressure in PbS was studied by in situ high-pressure electrical resistance and synchrotron radiation x-ray powder diffraction measurements. The mean transition pressure of the B1-to-B16 phase transformation was found to be 6.3±1.3 GPa in 8...... in terms of a decrease of energy band gap with increasing pressure. ©2000 American Institute of Physics....

Informal sector shops and AIDS prevention An exploratory social ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Informal sector shops and AIDS prevention An exploratory social marketing ... The existence of a variety of media and interpersonal information sources on the ... shops should be further investigated as avenues for AIDS prevention efforts.

Identify the Important Decision Factors of Online Shopping Adoption in Indonesia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lailatul HIJRAH

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The objective of this study is to identify factors encouraging a consumer to engage in online shopping activities. The expected contribution of this study is for online entrepreneurs, in order to develop the most suitable business strategy, so that it will be clearly identified and sorted out which factors are the most important and the main motivation of Indonesian consumers to shop via online by using responses from respondents who usually shop online and offline in 3 cities in Indonesia, Jakarta, Surabaya and Samarinda. The research instruments were developed by conducting FGDs on relevant groups, either academics, online shopping activists, suppliers and courier businessmen in Jakarta, Surabaya and Samarinda Cities in effort to extract any information that encourages consumers to online shopping. After conducting FGD, the researcher produced 48 items proposed for factor analysis and after extracted to form eleven constructs, some items were removed because they had less loading factors. The eleven constructs or dimensions are trust, risk, consumer factors, website factors, price, service quality, convenience, subjective norm, product guarantee, variety of products and lifestyle. The implications of this study provide valuable insights about consumer decisions to online shopping or not online shopping.

Consumer's Online Shopping Influence Factors and Decision-Making Model

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Xiangbin; Dai, Shiliang

Previous research on online consumer behavior has mostly been confined to the perceived risk which is used to explain those barriers for purchasing online. However, perceived benefit is another important factor which influences consumers’ decision when shopping online. As a result, an integrated consumer online shopping decision-making model is developed which contains three elements—Consumer, Product, and Web Site. This model proposed relative factors which influence the consumers’ intention during the online shopping progress, and divided them into two different dimensions—mentally level and material level. We tested those factors with surveys, from both online volunteers and offline paper surveys with more than 200 samples. With the help of SEM, the experimental results show that the proposed model and method can be used to analyze consumer’s online shopping decision-making process effectively.

Planning continuity and the actual conditions of shopping malls.

Science.gov (United States)

Morita, Yoshitsugu; Tahara, Manabu

2004-11-01

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the continuity of the planning of shopping malls in downtown areas of Japan and to look into the tendencies of the current existing malls until today. This paper is a summary of a survey conducted on the actual conditions of current shopping malls and a questionnaire administered to local governments in the survey areas. The results of this study allow us to summarize the reasons for and changes caused by renewal efforts directed toward the streets, public spaces, and urban elements (pavement, bench, streetlight, arcade, sculpture, etc.) in shopping malls. Furthermore, these results also help us to understand the scale of the renewal efforts as well as their timing in relation to when the shopping mall was originally constructed.

PrestaShop 1.5 beginner's guide

CERN Document Server

Caro, Jose Antonio Tizon

2013-01-01

This book is written in a friendly voice with lots of tips, tricks, and screenshots to help you set up, extend, and personalize your own online shop. If you want to start your own e-commerce business, then this book will help you do that.This book is for people who are interested in creating an online shop. Basic HTML and CSS skills would be beneficial but are not required as we will provide you with all the code and know-how you need.

ProteinShop: A tool for interactive protein manipulation and steering

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Crivelli, Silvia; Kreylos, Oliver; Max, Nelson; Hamann, Bernd; Bethel, Wes

2004-05-25

We describe ProteinShop, a new visualization tool that streamlines and simplifies the process of determining optimal protein folds. ProteinShop may be used at different stages of a protein structure prediction process. First, it can create protein configurations containing secondary structures specified by the user. Second, it can interactively manipulate protein fragments to achieve desired folds by adjusting the dihedral angles of selected coil regions using an Inverse Kinematics method. Last, it serves as a visual framework to monitor and steer a protein structure prediction process that may be running on a remote machine. ProteinShop was used to create initial configurations for a protein structure prediction method developed by a team that competed in CASP5. ProteinShop's use accelerated the process of generating initial configurations, reducing the time required from days to hours. This paper describes the structure of ProteinShop and discusses its main features.

Drivers and Barriers to Online Shopping in a Newly Digitalized Society

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Shakaib Akram

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Despite the massive penetration of internet in the developed and the developing world, e-commerce is still struggling in most of the developing and emerging economies. In this context, this study investigates why the customers, in developing countries, do not prefer online shopping for apparel despite the several benefits such as convenience, control, variety and enjoyment being offered by this mode of shopping. Moreover, the study assesses the boundary conditions under which consumers’ perceived risk diminishes online shopping benefits. With data from prospective online customers in an emerging economy, the proposed concept is tested using SmartPLS 3.0 based SEM approach. The results indicate a significant positive effect of online shopping benefits on consumers’ purchase intention for online shopping. In addition, the relationship between online shopping benefits and purchase intention is contingent on the consumers’ level of perceived risk in the digital environment. The paper concludes with a discussion on the managerial and the theoretical implications.

Electrochemical surface-enhanced Raman scattering measurement on ligand capped PbS quantum dots at gap of Au nanodimer

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xiaowei; Minamimoto, Hiro; Murakoshi, Kei

2018-05-01

The vibrational characteristics of ligand-capped lead sulfide (PbS) quantum dots (QDs) were clarified via electrochemical surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (EC-SERS) using a hybridized system of gold (Au) nanodimers and PbS QDs under electrochemical potential control. Enhanced electromagnetic field caused by the coupling of QDs with plasmonic Au nanodimers allowed the characteristic behavior of the ligand oleic acid (OA) on the PbS QD surface to be detected under electrochemical potential control. Binding modes between the QDs and OA molecules were characterized using synchronous two-dimensional correlation spectra at distinct electrochemical potentials, confirming that the bidentate bridging mode was probably the most stable mode even under relatively negative potential polarization. Changes in binding modes and molecular orientations resulted in fluctuations in EC-SERS spectra. The present observations strongly recommend the validity of the QD-plasmonic nanostructure coupled system for sensitive molecular detection via EC-SERS.

Pengaruh Hedonic Shopping Motivation Terhadap Impulse Buying Pada Toko Online: Studi Pada Toko Online Zalora

OpenAIRE

Pasaribu, Lia Octaria; Dewi, Citra Kusuma

2015-01-01

Online shopping, including shopping for fashion goods, has become a trend in Indonesia. One of buyer's motivations to do online-fashion-shopping is hedonic shopping motivation. This research aims to examine the influence of hedonic shopping motivation on impulse buying process. Using 100 buyers of Zalora (an online shop) as the respondents, this study confirms that hedonic shopping motivation has a significant influence on the impulse buying process.

Efficient 3M PBS enhancing miniature projection optics

Science.gov (United States)

Yun, Zhisheng; Nevitt, Timothy; Willett, Stephen; Mortenson, Dave; Le, John; McDowell, Erin; Kent, Susan; Wong, Timothy; Beniot, Gilles J.; Ouderkirk, Andrew

2016-09-01

Over the past decade, 3M has developed a number of mobile projectors, with a goal towards providing the world's smallest, most efficient projection systems. Compact size and efficiency are required characteristics for projection systems used in mobile devices and more lately, in augmented reality systems. In this paper we summarize the main generations of 3M light engine optical designs. We present the optical architectures of four light engines, including the rationale behind the illumination designs and the projection systems. In particular, we describe various configurations relating to the 3M polarizing beam splitter (PBS) which is key to enhanced efficiency of the miniature projection systems.

Farmers' market shopping and dietary behaviours among Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participants.

Science.gov (United States)

Jilcott Pitts, Stephanie B; Wu, Qiang; Demarest, Chelsea L; Dixon, Crystal E; Dortche, Ciarra Jm; Bullock, Sally L; McGuirt, Jared; Ward, Rachel; Ammerman, Alice S

2015-09-01

Because farmers' markets include a variety of fruits and vegetables, shopping at farmers' markets would likely improve diet quality among low-income consumers, as well as promote sustainable direct farm-to-consumer business models. However, not much is known about how to promote farmers' market shopping among low-income consumers. Therefore, the purpose of the present paper was to examine barriers to and facilitators of shopping at farmers' markets and associations between shopping at farmers' markets and self-reported dietary behaviours (fruit and vegetable, sugar-sweetened beverage and fast-food consumption) and BMI. Cross-sectional analyses of associations between farmers' market shopping frequency, awareness of markets, access to markets, dietary behaviours and BMI. Department of Social Services, Pitt County, eastern North Carolina, USA. Between April and July 2013, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants (n 205) completed a quantitative survey. Barriers to shopping at farmers' markets included does not accept SNAP/electronic benefit transfer, out of the way and lack of transportation. Farmers' market shopping was associated with awareness of farmers' markets (estimate =0·18 (se 0·04), Pmarket shopping (estimate =1·06 (se 0·32), P=0·001). Our study is one of the first to examine SNAP participants' farmers' market shopping, distance to farmers' markets and dietary behaviours. Barriers to shopping at farmers' markets and increasing awareness of existing markets should be addressed in future interventions to increase SNAP participants' use of farmers' markets, ultimately improving diet quality in this high-risk group.

IS ONLINE GROCERY SHOPPING INCREASING IN STRENGTH?

OpenAIRE

Corbett, James J.

2001-01-01

Online grocery shopping is a relatively new innovation with regard to the way in which one purchases groceries. Some interesting concepts- designed to enhance the process of making grocery products available for consumption of the ever-changing consumer- have entered the food distribution industry channels. A telephone survey was conducted in the Boston trading area to determine the profile of online grocery consumers who are familiar with online grocery shopping.

Future Shop: A Model Career Placement & Transition Laboratory.

Science.gov (United States)

Floyd, Deborah L.; And Others

During 1988-89, the Collin County Community College District (CCCCD) conducted a project to develop, implement, and evaluate a model career laboratory called a "Future Shop." The laboratory was designed to let users explore diverse career options, job placement opportunities, and transfer resources. The Future Shop lab had three major components:…

Shopping versus Nature? An Exploratory Study of Everyday Experiences.

Science.gov (United States)

Craig, Tony P; Fischer, Anke; Lorenzo-Arribas, Altea

2018-01-01

Although a growing volume of empirical research shows that being in nature is important for human wellbeing, the definition of what constitutes an 'experience in nature,' and how this is different from other types of experiences, is very often left implied. In this paper we contrast everyday experiences involving nature with a category of everyday experience in which most people regularly partake. We present an exploratory study in which people ( N = 357) were explicitly asked to describe a memory they had of an everyday 'experience which involved nature,' as well as an everyday 'experience which involved shopping.' The open-ended responses to these questions were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Nature experiences were generally found to be more positive than shopping experiences, and they were more likely to be rated as 'peaceful' and 'active' compared to shopping experiences. Follow-up analyses indicate a significant interaction between experience category (nature or shopping), and the relationship between connectedness to nature and the amount of pleasure associated with that experience: The more strongly connected to nature a respondent was, the larger the disparity between the pleasantness of the shopping experience and that of the experience in nature tended to be.

Ranking Parameters on Quality of Online Shopping Websites Using Multi-Criteria Method

OpenAIRE

Mehrbakhsh Nilashi; Karamollah Bagherifard; Othman Ibrahim; Nasim Janahmadi; Leila Ebrahimi

2012-01-01

The growing use of Internet in Malaysia provides a developing prospect of online shopping for international students. Also, international students are an outstanding group in online shopping in Malaysia. In view of this, in order to improve increase online shopping among international students and Malaysian online shopping, a research framework was proposed and a survey of international student was done. Proposed research framework considers three key dimensions service quality, information q...

Opto-electronics of PbS quantum dot and narrow bandgap polymer blends

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kahmann, Simon; Mura, Andrea; Protesescu, Loredana; Kovalenko, Maksym V.; Brabec, Christoph J.; Loi, Maria A.

2015-01-01

Here we report on the interaction between the narrow bandgap polymer [2,6-(4,4-bis(2-ethylhexyl)-4H-cyclopenta-[2,1-b;3,4-b]dithiophene)-alt-4,7-(2,1,3-benzothiadiazole)] (PCPDTBT) and lead sulphide (PbS) colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) upon photoexcitation. We show that the presence of both materials

How Can Stores Sustain Their Businesses? From Shopping Behaviors and Motivations to Environment Preferences

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rachel J.C. Chen

2013-02-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to (1 discover consumer purchasing behaviors while shopping as a tourist and shopping at home, and (2 investigate tourist shopping preferences for an ideal shopping environment. A sample of 1,235 respondents participated in this study. Survey participants were asked to evaluate what store attributes they desired and what sources of information they used while selecting a store to shop in during their trips. Results indicate that consumers utilized various shopping channels while shopping in various environments. Also, different types of consumers exhibited clear preferences toward their ideal shopping environment. The results of this study are helpful for future service providers, tourism businesses, and tourism retailers to plan product development, provide better services, and equip a wider range of service skills.

CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF CONSUMERS TRUST TO ONLINE SHOPS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. Dubovyk

2014-06-01

Full Text Available In the article the conceptual model of the major factors that influence consumers trust in online shop: reliability of online store, reliable information system for making purchases online, factors of ethic interactiveness (security, third-party certification, internet-marketing communications of online-shop and other factors – that is divided enterprises of trade and consumers (demographic variables, psychological perception of internet-marketing communications, experience of purchase of commodities are in the Internet. The degree of individual customer trust propensity which reflects the personality traits, culture and previous experience. An implement signs of consumer confidence due to site elements online shop – graphic design, structured design, design of content, design harmonized with perception of target audience.

US Household Food Shopping Patterns: Dynamic Shifts Since 2000 And Socioeconomic Predictors.

Science.gov (United States)

Stern, Dalia; Robinson, Whitney R; Ng, Shu Wen; Gordon-Larsen, Penny; Popkin, Barry M

2015-11-01

Under the assumption that differential food access might underlie nutritional disparities, programs and policies have focused on the need to build supermarkets in underserved areas, in an effort to improve dietary quality. However, there is limited evidence about which types of stores are used by households of different income levels and differing races/ethnicities. We used cross-sectional cluster analysis to derive shopping patterns from US households' volume food purchases by store from 2000 to 2012. Multinomial logistic regression identified household socioeconomic characteristics that were associated with shopping patterns in 2012. We found three food shopping patterns or clusters: households that primarily shopped at grocery stores, households that primarily shopped at mass merchandisers, and a combination cluster in which households split their purchases among multiple store types. In 2012 we found no income or race/ethnicity differences for the cluster of households that primarily shopped at grocery stores. However, low-income non-Hispanic blacks (versus non-Hispanic whites) had a significantly lower probability of belonging to the mass merchandise cluster. These varied shopping patterns must be considered in future policy initiatives. Furthermore, it is important to continue studying the complex rationales for people's food shopping patterns. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Penerapan Algoritma Genetika Untuk Masalah Penjadwalan Job Shop Pada Lingkungan Industri Pakaian

OpenAIRE

Sitanggang, Hendrik

2011-01-01

Pada industri pakaian khususnya yang proses produksinya berbaur dan multi produk sering mengalami kesulitan pada penjadwalan job shop. Oleh karena itu, perlu diadakan penelitian untuk penjadwalan job shop yang efektif terutama yang proses produksinya berbaur dan multi produk. Pada tulisan ini akan diajukan metode untuk penjadwalan job shop yang berbaur dan multi produk dengan tujuan meminimalkan total pinalti E/T (Earliness/Tardiness) dengan menentukan start pada masing-masing job shop dan ba...

Metalworking Lathe; Machine Shop Work--Intermediate: 9555.03.

Science.gov (United States)

Dade County Public Schools, Miami, FL.

The course outline has been prepared as a guide to assist the instructor to plan systematically and to present meaningful lessons to provide the training needed by the machine shop student. This is the third course of instruction in a series of machine shop work courses. The six blocks of instruction contained in this outline are designed to…

The planned Shopping Center as a generator of a new develpmente city district: the example of Catuaí Shopping Center in Londrina O Shopping Center planejado, como gerador de um novo (sub centro de desenvolvimento: o exemplo do Catuaí Shopping Center de Londrina

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Luiza Fava Grassiotto

2007-11-01

Full Text Available Dejan Sudjic (1999 considers shopping centers, modern airports and museums, as important reference marks of new urban landscape, “public” spaces, keys to contemporary cities definition. They are mega complexes that generate economic competition between cities, establishing their influence areas. Enterprises which concentrate populations, arise cultural interests that, independently of scale and without causing excessive development in cities, afford them structure, form and identity. This paper briefly characterizes the multifunctionality and the existing shopping center typologies, concentrating afterwards on the history of Catuaí Shopping Center and the dynamics of its evolutionary process. Matters such as the expansion of the surrounding and real property valorization, its power to attract investments and new activities, besides its performance as land use modifier, are mentioned. Finally, it is highlighted the role of the shopping center as an instrument of neighborhood progress, social transformation, and changing of behavior enabling, during its evolutionary process, the development of a characteristic city district and a new centrality.Dejan Sudjic (1999 considera os shopping centers, ao lado dos modernos aeroportos e museus, como importantes marcos de referência da nova paisagem urbana, espaços “públicos” chaves na definição da cidade contemporânea. São megacomplexos que geram competição econômica entre as cidades, estabelecendo suas áreas de influência. Empreendimentos concentradores de população, despertam interesses culturais, que independentemente da escala e sem causar o intenso crescimento das cidades, lhes dão estrutura, forma e identidade. Este texto, após uma breve caracterização da multifuncionalidade e das tipologias de shopping centers existentes, concentra-se na história do Catuaí Shopping Center de Londrina, e a dinâmica de seu processo evolutivo. Questões como: a expansão e valoriza

Size-dependent optical properties of colloidal PbS quantum dots.

Science.gov (United States)

Moreels, Iwan; Lambert, Karel; Smeets, Dries; De Muynck, David; Nollet, Tom; Martins, José C; Vanhaecke, Frank; Vantomme, André; Delerue, Christophe; Allan, Guy; Hens, Zeger

2009-10-27

We quantitatively investigate the size-dependent optical properties of colloidal PbS nanocrystals or quantum dots (Qdots), by combining the Qdot absorbance spectra with detailed elemental analysis of the Qdot suspensions. At high energies, the molar extinction coefficient epsilon increases with the Qdot volume d(3) and agrees with theoretical calculations using the Maxwell-Garnett effective medium theory and bulk values for the Qdot dielectric function. This demonstrates that quantum confinement has no influence on epsilon in this spectral range, and it provides an accurate method to calculate the Qdot concentration. Around the band gap, epsilon only increases with d(1.3), and values are comparable to the epsilon of PbSe Qdots. The data are related to the oscillator strength f(if) of the band gap transition and results agree well with theoretical tight-binding calculations, predicting a linear dependence of f(if) on d. For both PbS and PbSe Qdots, the exciton lifetime tau is calculated from f(if). We find values ranging between 1 and 3 mus, in agreement with experimental literature data from time-resolved luminescence spectroscopy. Our results provide a thorough general framework to calculate and understand the optical properties of suspended colloidal quantum dots. Most importantly, it highlights the significance of the local field factor in these systems.

Classification of Inheritance Shop Houses in George Town, Penang - UNESCO World Heritage Site

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rozliani Mansor

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Shop house is an urban terrace house attribute of Asian towns from the 18 th century which usually integrates a shop or business premise on the ground floor whilst the family dwells on the upper level, providing both ease and safety. The shop house might also be used entirely as dwelling quarters. Shop houses are constructed in rows and each row is arranged in blocks enclosed within a grid of main roads, back lanes and side roads. A shop house is usually two or three storeys high and is long and narrow, sharing a party wall with neighbours on either side. The Penang shop house is a ideal paradigm of a green building, using materials that are locally obtainable such as lime, clay stone and timber and suited to local geology and weather conditions. Shop houses also possessing architectural characteristics such as air vents and air-well that assist with natural ventilation and cooling. This paper will discuss categories and styles of the shop houses in historic city of George Town which can be divided into nine major groups.

Smart Shopping Carts: How Real-Time Feedback Influences Spending

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ittersum, van K.; Wansink, B.; Pennings, J.M.E.; Sheehan, D.

2013-01-01

Although interest in smart shopping carts is increasing, both retailers and consumer groups have concerns about how real-time spending feedback will influence shopping behavior. Building on budgeting and spending theories, the authors conduct three lab and grocery store experiments that robustly

Smart shopping carts : How real-time feedback influences spending

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Ittersum, Koert; Wansink, B.; Pennings, J.M.E.; Sheehan, D.

Although interest in smart shopping carts is increasing, both retailers and consumer groups have concerns about how real-time spending feedback will influence shopping behavior. Building on budgeting and spending theories, the authors conduct three lab and grocery store experiments that robustly

The architectural foundations for agent-based shop floor control

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Langer, Gilad; Bilberg, Arne

1998-01-01

simulation and cell controlenabling technologies. In order to continuethis research effortnew concepts and theories for shop floor control are investigated.This paper reviews the multi-agent concept aimed at investigatingits potential use in shop floor control systems. The paper willalso include a survey...

Smart shopping carts : How real-time feedback influences spending

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Ittersum, Koert; Wansink, B.; Pennings, J.M.E.; Sheehan, D.

2013-01-01

Although interest in smart shopping carts is increasing, both retailers and consumer groups have concerns about how real-time spending feedback will influence shopping behavior. Building on budgeting and spending theories, the authors conduct three lab and grocery store experiments that robustly

E2023 ITEA SHOPS Collection of information on electricity. Part 2/2; E2023 ITEA SHOPS - Saehkoeenergiatiedon keruu. Osa 2/2

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Savelius, A. [Enermet Oy, Jyskae (Finland)

2006-12-19

The Smart Home Payment Services (SHOPS) project aims at supporting those advanced functions for the payment of home utilities leading to innovative solutions and opening the door to a new generation of services. The main project innovation is a proposed open, cross-domain, platform-neutral system for describing services (e.g. Automatic Meter Reading) provided by devices and applications. The system description model elaborated by SHOPS combined existing standards and extend their reach. The technology developed will provide a high-level design base, reducing the cost and delay of new devices and applications creation. SHOPS architecture is based on advanced network and web technologies while careful attention is paid to data security and user privacy. (orig.)

Tenant mix structure in shopping centres: some empirical analyses from Poland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bartłomiej Marona

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Objective: The objective of this paper is to find an ideal tenant mix structure for the current shopping centres in Upper Silesian Urban Area Region in Poland, taking under consideration consumer preferences and behaviour. Research Design & Methods: Apart from literature review, empirical research is based on a survey questionnaire. The Analytic Hierarchy Process was applied in the analysis of the data collected. Findings: The research confirmed that to a great extent the valid tenant mix structure in the surveyed shopping centres meets with friendly attitude of customers. However, there are areas where improvement can increase the visitors’ satisfaction. Moreover, it was proven that shopping remains the main reason for customers’ visits in shopping centres, in spite of extending the offer of this type of places with new functions. Implications & Recommendations: Real estate managers are recommended to take actions aiming at increasing competitiveness on the market via the extension of the proposed shopping offer and their adjustment to customers’ expectations. For the managers, the results of the conducted research suggest lack of the necessity for radical transformations, and transforming Polish shopping centres into facilities of the fourth and fifth generation, which is slow in Poland, is, as it turns out, not necessarily expected, since customers identify shopping centres mainly with their traditional function. Contribution & Value Added: The proposed research model and findings can serve as a useful lens within the research of tenant mix structure in shopping centres in other parts of the Poland.

In Situ Passivation for Efficient PbS Quantum Dot Solar Cells by Precursor Engineering.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yongjie; Lu, Kunyuan; Han, Lu; Liu, Zeke; Shi, Guozheng; Fang, Honghua; Chen, Si; Wu, Tian; Yang, Fan; Gu, Mengfan; Zhou, Sijie; Ling, Xufeng; Tang, Xun; Zheng, Jiawei; Loi, Maria Antonietta; Ma, Wanli

2018-04-01

Current efforts on lead sulfide quantum dot (PbS QD) solar cells are mostly paid to the device architecture engineering and postsynthetic surface modification, while very rare work regarding the optimization of PbS synthesis is reported. Here, PbS QDs are successfully synthesized using PbO and PbAc 2  · 3H 2 O as the lead sources. QD solar cells based on PbAc-PbS have demonstrated a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 10.82% (and independently certificated values of 10.62%), which is significantly higher than the PCE of 9.39% for PbO-PbS QD based ones. For the first time, systematic investigations are carried out on the effect of lead precursor engineering on the device performance. It is revealed that acetate can act as an efficient capping ligands together with oleic acid, providing better surface coverage and replace some of the harmful hydroxyl (OH) ligands during the synthesis. Then the acetate on the surface can be exchanged by iodide and lead to desired passivation. This work demonstrates that the precursor engineering has great potential in performance improvement. It is also pointed out that the initial synthesis is an often neglected but critical stage and has abundant room for optimization to further improve the quality of the resultant QDs, leading to breakthrough efficiency. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

A Novel Memetic Algorithm Based on Decomposition for Multiobjective Flexible Job Shop Scheduling Problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chun Wang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available A novel multiobjective memetic algorithm based on decomposition (MOMAD is proposed to solve multiobjective flexible job shop scheduling problem (MOFJSP, which simultaneously minimizes makespan, total workload, and critical workload. Firstly, a population is initialized by employing an integration of different machine assignment and operation sequencing strategies. Secondly, multiobjective memetic algorithm based on decomposition is presented by introducing a local search to MOEA/D. The Tchebycheff approach of MOEA/D converts the three-objective optimization problem to several single-objective optimization subproblems, and the weight vectors are grouped by K-means clustering. Some good individuals corresponding to different weight vectors are selected by the tournament mechanism of a local search. In the experiments, the influence of three different aggregation functions is first studied. Moreover, the effect of the proposed local search is investigated. Finally, MOMAD is compared with eight state-of-the-art algorithms on a series of well-known benchmark instances and the experimental results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms or at least has comparative performance to the other algorithms.

Pengaruh Shopping Orientation, Online Trust Dan Prior Online Purchase Experience Terhadap Online Purchase Intention (Studi Pada Online Shop Hijabi House)

OpenAIRE

Azifah, Nurul; Dewi, Citra Kusuma

2016-01-01

Salah satu fashion yang semakin berkembang di kalangan masyarakat Indonesia khususnya wanita muslimah adalah jilbab. Hijabi House merupakan salah satu online shop yang menawarkan jilbab hasil produksinya melalui media sosial Instagram. Hasil wawancara awal, Hijabi House dinilai baik namun masih ada keluhan dari para followers berkaitan shopping orientation, online trust, dan prior online purchase experience. Penelitian yang bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh ketiga variabel tersebut terhadap...

Shopping intention prediction using decision trees

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dario Šebalj

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Introduction: The price is considered to be neglected marketing mix element due to the complexity of price management and sensitivity of customers on price changes. It pulls the fastest customer reactions to that change. Accordingly, the process of making shopping decisions can be very challenging for customer. Objective: The aim of this paper is to create a model that is able to predict shopping intention and classify respondents into one of the two categories, depending on whether they intend to shop or not. Methods: Data sample consists of 305 respondents, who are persons older than 18 years involved in buying groceries for their household. The research was conducted in February 2017. In order to create a model, the decision trees method was used with its several classification algorithms. Results: All models, except the one that used RandomTree algorithm, achieved relatively high classification rate (over the 80%. The highest classification accuracy of 84.75% gave J48 and RandomForest algorithms. Since there is no statistically significant difference between those two algorithms, authors decided to choose J48 algorithm and build a decision tree. Conclusions: The value for money and price level in the store were the most significant variables for classification of shopping intention. Future study plans to compare this model with some other data mining techniques, such as neural networks or support vector machines since these techniques achieved very good accuracy in some previous research in this field.

High School Girls’ Shopping Mall Experiences, Perceptions and Expectations: A Qualitative Study

OpenAIRE

Burcu Ilter TABAK; Ozge OZGEN; Bilge AYKOL

2006-01-01

Shopping malls have become an important part of the economic and social fabric of Turkey especially in some of the big cities. In Izmir, there are currently eight shopping malls and this number is expected to increase due to the interest of consumers and investors in shopping malls. This can lead to over saturation triggering high level of competition. Thus deeper understanding of consumer expectations, experiences and perceptions regarding mall image has become much more essential. Shopping ...

Cost-effectiveness analysis of introducing malaria diagnostic testing in drug shops

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Kristian Schultz; Clarke, Siân E.; Lal, Sham

2017-01-01

Background Private sector drug shops are an important source of malaria treatment in Africa, yet diagnosis without parasitological testing is common among these providers. Accurate rapid diagnostic tests for malaria (mRDTs) require limited training and present an opportunity to increase access...... to correct diagnosis. The present study was a cost-effectiveness analysis of the introduction of mRDTs in Ugandan drug shops. Methods Drug shop vendors were trained to perform and sell subsidised mRDTs and artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) in the intervention arm while vendors offered ACTs...... following presumptive diagnosis of malaria in the control arm. The effect on the proportion of customers with fever ‘appropriately treated of malaria with ACT’ was captured during a randomised trial in drug shops in Mukono District, Uganda. Health sector costs included: training of drug shop vendors...

A RELATIONAL DATABASE APPROACH TO THE JOB SHOP SCHEDULING PROBLEM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. Lindeque

2012-01-01

Full Text Available

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This paper will attempt to illuminate the advantages of an approach to the job shop scheduling problem using priority based search algorithms and database technology. It will use as basis a system developed for and implemented at a large manufacturing plant. The paper will also attempt to make some predictions as to future developments in these techniques and look at the possibility of including new technologies such as expert systems.

AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die voordele en toepaslikheid van prioriteits-gebaseerde soek-algoritmes en databasisstelsels op die taakwerkswinkelprobleem sal in hierdie artikel uitgelig word. 'n Stelsel wat by 'n groot vervaardigingsonderneming geimplementeer is, sal as uitgangspunt gebruik word. Toekomstige ontwikkelings in bogenoemde tegnieke en die moontlike insluiting van ekspertstelsels sal ook ondersoek word.

Attitude of students towards online shopping of agricultural products ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The study examined the attitude of students towards online shopping in selected tertiary institutions in Ogun state. One hundred and thirty-five respondents were sampled using multistage and simple random sampling procedures. Variables measured included their attitude towards online shopping, the factors that affect ...

The Impact of Price Disclosure on Dynamic Shopping Decisions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

B.G.C. Dellaert (Benedict); V.Y. Golounov (Vladislav); J. Prabhu (Jaideep)

2005-01-01

textabstractA potentially powerful way to assist consumers in making dynamic shopping decisions is to disclose price information to them before they shop, for example by posting prices on the Internet. This paper addresses the differential impact of disclosing either only current, or both current

An Empirical Study Of Using New Technology like NFC, AI, RFID etc. to be implemented in shopping malls in ajmer : To Ease Out The Customer Shopping Experience Like Queue Less And Cashless Payment Mode

OpenAIRE

Dimple,; Jyoti Kushwah; Manisha Tak; Neeharika singh; Dr. Ajay Singh Jethoo; Vijay Laxmi Kalyani

2017-01-01

In today’s world due to rapid development of new shopping trend. The retailers launches new technologies for new shopping trend. In today scenario every people are busy. When we are talking about shopping from stores, shopping malls etc., the customers waiting in queue for long time for payment process. This is a problematic conditions for customers. The traditional shopping trend consuming more time of customers during shopping. To remove this problem many retailers are focussing that how to...

Comparison of opioid doctor shopping for tapentadol and oxycodone: a cohort study.

Science.gov (United States)

Cepeda, M Soledad; Fife, Daniel; Vo, Lien; Mastrogiovanni, Gregory; Yuan, Yingli

2013-02-01

Obtaining opioids from multiple prescribers, known as doctor shopping, is 1 example of opioid abuse and diversion. The dual mechanism of action of tapentadol could make tapentadol less likely to be abused than other opioids. The aim of this retrospective cohort study was to compare the risk of shopping behavior between tapentadol immediate release (IR) and oxycodone IR. Subjects exposed to tapentadol or oxycodone with no recent opioid use were included and followed for 1 year. The primary outcome was the proportion of subjects who developed shopping behavior defined as subjects who had opioid prescriptions written by >1 prescriber with ≥1 day of overlap filled at ≥3 pharmacies. The opioids involved in the shopping episodes were assessed. A total of 112,821 subjects were exposed to oxycodone and 42,940 to tapentadol. Shopping behavior was seen in .8% of the subjects in the oxycodone group and in .2% of the subjects in the tapentadol group, for an adjusted odds ratio of 3.5 (95% confidence interval, 2.8 to 4.4). In the oxycodone group, 28.0% of the shopping events involved exclusively oxycodone, whereas in the tapentadol group, .6% of the shopping events involved exclusively tapentadol. Results suggest that the risk of shopping behavior is substantially lower with tapentadol than with oxycodone. The risk of opioid doctor shopping, ie, obtaining opioid prescriptions from multiple prescribers, is lower with tapentadol than with oxycodone. Copyright © 2013 American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Women who doctor shop for prescription drugs.

Science.gov (United States)

Worley, Julie; Thomas, Sandra P

2014-04-01

Doctor shopping is a term used to describe a form of diversion of prescription drugs when patients visit numerous prescribers to obtain controlled drugs for illicit use. Gender differences exist in regard to prescription drug abuse and methods of diversion. The purpose of this phenomenological study guided by the existential philosophy of Merleau-Ponty was to understand the lived experience of female doctor shoppers. Interviews were conducted with 14 women, which were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed. Included in the findings are figural aspects of the participants' experience of doctor shopping related to the existential grounds of world, time, body, and others. Four themes emerged from the data: (a) feeding the addiction, (b) networking with addicts, (c) playing the system, and (d) baiting the doctors. The findings suggest several measures that nurses can take to reduce the incidence of doctor shopping and to provide better care for female doctor shoppers.

Shopping versus Nature? An Exploratory Study of Everyday Experiences

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tony P. Craig

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Although a growing volume of empirical research shows that being in nature is important for human wellbeing, the definition of what constitutes an ‘experience in nature,’ and how this is different from other types of experiences, is very often left implied. In this paper we contrast everyday experiences involving nature with a category of everyday experience in which most people regularly partake. We present an exploratory study in which people (N = 357 were explicitly asked to describe a memory they had of an everyday ‘experience which involved nature,’ as well as an everyday ‘experience which involved shopping.’ The open-ended responses to these questions were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Nature experiences were generally found to be more positive than shopping experiences, and they were more likely to be rated as ‘peaceful’ and ‘active’ compared to shopping experiences. Follow-up analyses indicate a significant interaction between experience category (nature or shopping, and the relationship between connectedness to nature and the amount of pleasure associated with that experience: The more strongly connected to nature a respondent was, the larger the disparity between the pleasantness of the shopping experience and that of the experience in nature tended to be.

Shopping behaviour and attribute evaluation of expatriates – A cross-cultural study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wijnen, G.J.; Kemperman, A.D.A.M.; Janssen, I.I.

2011-01-01

This study explores how shopping centre attributes can be adapted to culture-related shopping behaviour of expatriates. The study is relevant since only limited information is available on consumer behaviour of this target group and since insight in the heterogeneity of consumer shopping behaviour

ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF SHOP TOWEL USAGE IN THE AUTOMOTIVE AND PRINTING INDUSTRIES

Science.gov (United States)

This assessment identifies the environmental impacts and usage trends of shop towels in the printing and automotive repair industries. The shop towels are used to clean equipment and to wipe up contaminants for a variety of operations. Four types of shop towels were evaluated; wo...

Tuning light emission of PbS nanocrystals from infrared to visible range by cation exchange

KAUST Repository

Binetti, Enrico

2015-10-27

Colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals, with intense and sharp-line emission between red and near-infrared spectral regions, are of great interest for optoelectronic and bio-imaging applications. The growth of an inorganic passivation layer on nanocrystal surfaces is a common strategy to improve their chemical and optical stability and their photoluminescence quantum yield. In particular, cation exchange is a suitable approach for shell growth at the expense of the nanocrystal core size. Here, the cation exchange process is used to promote the formation of a CdS passivation layer on the surface of very small PbS nanocrystals (2.3 nm in diameter), blue shifting their optical spectra and yielding luminescent and stable nanostructures emitting in the range of 700–850 nm. Structural, morphological and compositional investigation confirms the nanocrystal size contraction after the cation-exchange process, while the PbS rock-salt crystalline phase is retained. Absorption and photoluminescence spectroscopy demonstrate the growth of a passivation layer with a decrease of the PbS core size, as inferred by the blue-shift of the excitonic peaks. The surface passivation strongly increases the photoluminescence intensity and the excited state lifetime. In addition, the nanocrystals reveal increased stability against oxidation over time. Thanks to their absorption and emission spectral range and the slow recombination dynamics, such highly luminescent nano-objects can find interesting applications in sensitized photovoltaic cells and light-emitting devices.

Tuning light emission of PbS nanocrystals from infrared to visible range by cation exchange

KAUST Repository

Binetti, Enrico; Striccoli, Marinella; Sibillano, Teresa; Giannini, Cinzia; Brescia, Rosaria; Falqui, Andrea; Comparelli, Roberto; Corricelli, Michela; Tommasi, Raffaele; Agostiano, Angela; Curri, M Lucia

2015-01-01

Colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals, with intense and sharp-line emission between red and near-infrared spectral regions, are of great interest for optoelectronic and bio-imaging applications. The growth of an inorganic passivation layer on nanocrystal surfaces is a common strategy to improve their chemical and optical stability and their photoluminescence quantum yield. In particular, cation exchange is a suitable approach for shell growth at the expense of the nanocrystal core size. Here, the cation exchange process is used to promote the formation of a CdS passivation layer on the surface of very small PbS nanocrystals (2.3 nm in diameter), blue shifting their optical spectra and yielding luminescent and stable nanostructures emitting in the range of 700–850 nm. Structural, morphological and compositional investigation confirms the nanocrystal size contraction after the cation-exchange process, while the PbS rock-salt crystalline phase is retained. Absorption and photoluminescence spectroscopy demonstrate the growth of a passivation layer with a decrease of the PbS core size, as inferred by the blue-shift of the excitonic peaks. The surface passivation strongly increases the photoluminescence intensity and the excited state lifetime. In addition, the nanocrystals reveal increased stability against oxidation over time. Thanks to their absorption and emission spectral range and the slow recombination dynamics, such highly luminescent nano-objects can find interesting applications in sensitized photovoltaic cells and light-emitting devices.

Print and Internet Catalog Shopping: Assessing Attitudes and Intentions.

Science.gov (United States)

Vijayasarathy, Leo R.; Jones, Joseph M.

2000-01-01

Findings of an empirical study that compared individuals' attitudes and intentions to shop using print and Internet catalogs suggest that individuals perceived differences between the two catalog media on the shopping factors of reliability, tangibility, and consumer risk. Product value, pre-order information, post-selection information, shopping…

Attitude theory applied to in-store and online shopping

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dijst, M.J.; Farag, S.; Schwanen, T.

2005-01-01

In this study, we investigated whether our understanding of adoption of e-shopping and instore shopping could be advanced through the application of attitude theory. A shortcoming of the analytical frameworks and models featured in attitude theory is that they do not address the issue of what

CONSUMIDOR ADOLESCENTE EM AMBIENTE DE SHOPPING CENTER

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lunie Imamura Lima

2009-07-01

shopping center da cidade de Fortaleza (CE e objetivou conhecer as características bio-demográficas, os hábitos de utilização do shopping e os principais elementos influenciadores do processo de decisão de compra deste segmento. De natureza descritiva, quantitativa, com corte transversal; a pesquisa utilizou um questionário estruturado aplicado a uma amostra não-probabilística por conveniência, com maioria do sexo masculino, faixa etária entre 13 e 15 anos, provenientes de famílias de classe alta e renda familiar mensal superior a R$ 2700,00. Os resultados demonstraram que a maioria dos respondentes recebe mesada no valor menor que R$ 80,00; vai ao shopping de carro com pais ou parentes; gasta de R$ 10,00 a R$ 30,00; freqüenta o local 3 vezes na semana; permanece de 4 a 6 horas e é acompanhado pelos amigos. Ainda mostrou que pais ou familiares são os principais elementos influenciadores do processo de decisão de compra, enquanto os amigos os principais meios de informações sobre novos produtos. O estudo pretende contribuir com a literatura científica nas áreas de Marketing e Comportamento do consumidor e servir de instrumento gerencial aos dirigentes de shopping centers.

[Twisting and turning; the development of the Dutch science shops].

Science.gov (United States)

Lursen, M; Mulder, H; Lieshout, M

2000-01-01

The concept of science shops (Wetenschapswinkels) originates from the Netherlands. Science shops were based on the idea that universities had to play a more prominent role in the solution of social problems - an outcome of the discussion, initiated by students, on the democratisation of universities in the early 1970s. Starting as voluntary student organisations supported by individual staff members from the universities, they were devoted to give oppressed minority groups and the financially weak access to scientific research. Slowly, acknowledgement came. Science shops began to receive financial support from university boards. Support also came from the Dutch government. By now science shops have professionalized and most of them are well embedded in their universities. Many developments within society and the universities influenced the work and structure of the science shops. Positive developments were professionalization, growth, becoming embedded, and the introduction of new research themes. There were also negative developments, such as budget cuts and the fact that 'service to society' ceased to be a government objective for the universities. These led to recurring struggles for survival, which were not always won. Interest in the science shop concept has grown in other countries over the last years. In the 1980s, the system spread within Western Europe. Similar activities, based on the Dutch model, have started in North America and Eastern Europe in the 1990s. The activities on the international level led to an E.U. financial project to prepare an international network of science shops, which commenced in 1999. With information exchange and international cooperation as its major goals, the network will create new opportunties for the future.

Breaking Out of the Local: International dimensions of science shops

OpenAIRE

DeBok, Caspar; Steinhaus, Norbert

2008-01-01

In this article we want to give an overview of the international dimension and the interest of the European Union (EU) in the concept of Science Shops. The European Commission (EC) manages the day-to-day business by initiating and implementing EU policies and spending EU funds. The EC support for Science Shops has been an important factor for the international interest and progress of the Science Shop movement. This article will not give detailed information about daily routines of a Science ...

Store Location in Shopping Centers: Theory & Estimates

OpenAIRE

Kerry D. Vandell; Charles C. Carter

2000-01-01

This paper develops a formal theory of store location within shopping centers based on bid rent theory. The bid rent model is fully speci?ed and solved with the objective function of pro?t maximization in the presence of comparative, multipurpose and impulse shopping behavior. Several hypotheses result about the optimal relationships between store types, sizes, rents, sales, and distances from the mall center. The hypotheses are tested and con?rmed using data from a sample of 689 leases in ei...

An Exploratory Study of Factors Affecting Consumer International Online Shopping Behavior

OpenAIRE

Pingjun Jiang; David B. Jones

2014-01-01

Few studies in the literature on electronic commerce provide empirical investigation of consumer behavior in the international online shopping context. This study identifies and discusses factors that influence international online purchases and profile the characteristics of those who purchase and those who do not purchase from online stores overseas in three main categories: the online shopping experiential factors, the international shopping motivational factors, and the international trus...

Improved performance of CdS/CdSe quantum dot-sensitized solar cells using Mn-doped PbS quantum dots as a catalyst in the counter electrode

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Byung-Man; Son, Min-Kyu; Kim, Soo-Kyoung; Hong, Na-Yeong; Park, Songyi; Jeong, Myeong-Soo; Seo, Hyunwoong; Prabakar, Kandasamy; Kim, Hee-Je

2014-01-01

Highlights: • PbS QDs synthesized using the SILAR method act not only as the electrochemical catalysts but as donors providing additional electrons under illumination. • The electrochemical and optical properties of the PbS QDs were enhanced considerably after Mn 2+ doping. • The electron supply from the counter electrode was significantly activated by Mn 2+ doping, improving the performance of QDSSC. - Abstract: This study reports the enhanced catalytic ability of Mn-doped PbS QDs synthesized using a successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method for quantum dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs). Electrochemical and optical analysis of each material showed that the catalytic ability of the PbS electrode was improved significantly by Mn 2+ doping. Two factors can explain this behavior. The first is that intentional impurities have an impact on the structure of the host material, such as increases in surface roughness. The other is that dopants create new energy states that delay the exciton recombination time and allow charge separation to be activated. As a result, the photoelectron supply from the counter electrode is accelerated, resulting in vigorous redox reactions at the polysulfide electrolyte. The performance of the CdS/CdSe QDSSC using a Mn-doped PbS counter electrode was compared with those using the Pt and PbS counter electrodes. Finally, a power conversion efficiency of 3.61% was achieved with the Mn-doped PbS counter electrode (V OC = 0.61 V, J SC = 11.67 mA cm −2 , FF = 0.51) under one sun illumination (100 mW cm −2 ), which is ∼40% higher than that of CdS/CdSe QDSSCs with the bare PbS counter electrode

Determinants of Online Shopping and Moderating Role of Innovativeness and Perceived Risk

OpenAIRE

Muhammad Rizwan; Hamna Sultan; Sadia Parveen; Shumaila Nawaz; Samreen Sattar; Maryam Sana

2013-01-01

Time and trend wait for none. We are no more in Stone Age. It is 2012, Glass Age, where time is money, so better skips the malls and start online shopping. The basis of this revision is to discover the influence of different variables on future intention of online shopping and the perception of people about online shopping as how people perceive shopping via internet by using technology. This research offers insight into the consumer’s attitude. The outcomes have very significant effects on s...

Aesthetic quality inference for online fashion shopping

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Ming; Allebach, Jan

2014-03-01

On-line fashion communities in which participants post photos of personal fashion items for viewing and possible purchase by others are becoming increasingly popular. Generally, these photos are taken by individuals who have no training in photography with low-cost mobile phone cameras. It is desired that photos of the products have high aesthetic quality to improve the users' online shopping experience. In this work, we design features for aesthetic quality inference in the context of online fashion shopping. Psychophysical experiments are conducted to construct a database of the photos' aesthetic evaluation, specifically for photos from an online fashion shopping website. We then extract both generic low-level features and high-level image attributes to represent the aesthetic quality. Using a support vector machine framework, we train a predictor of the aesthetic quality rating based on the feature vector. Experimental results validate the efficacy of our approach. Metadata such as the product type are also used to further improve the result.

Rostocker Hof shopping mall; Galerie Rostocker Hof

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anon.

1998-06-01

The Rostocker Hof shopping mall comprises a 151-room hotel, a shopping mall of 45 shops, 22230m{sup 2} of office floor, and an underground garage with 308 parking lots. The following systems are described: Heating systems, air conditioning systems, refrigeration systems, ventilation systems, fire protection systems and electrical installation. Heat is supplied by the district heating grids. Circuit diagrams and flow charts are presented for the heat exchangers and heat supply system, the air conditioning system, the sanitary and sprinkler systems, and the single-room control systems for heat and fresh air supply. (MSK) [Deutsch] Der Rostocker Hof umfasst ein Hotel mit 151 Zimmern, eine Einzelhandelspassage mit 45 Laeden sowie 2230qm Bueronutzungsflaeche und eine Tiefgarage mit 308 Stellplaetzen. Die Haustechnik wird in folgenden Punkten erlaeutert: Heizungtechnik, Klimatechnik, Kaeltetechnik, Lueftungstechnik, Brandschutzanlage sowie Elektroinstallation. Die Waermerversorgung erfolgt durch Fernwaerme. Schaltplaene bzw. Funktionsablaeufe sind fuer die Waermeuebergabestation, die Waermeaufbereitung, die Luftaufbereitungsanlage, die Sanitaer- und Sprinkleranlage sowie fuer die Waerme- und Raumluftregelung der Einzelraeume enthalten. (MSK)

The construction and evaluation of a scale of consumer shopping experience

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. A. Gillham

2003-10-01

Full Text Available Generally speaking consumer psychology have focused primarily on the problem solving and decision making processes underlying buying behaviour. As a result, the experience of consumers engaging in the activity of shopping has been neglected. The purpose of this study was to construct and evaluate a scale of consumer shopping experience. The instrument indicated that shopping experience is not merely a means to an end, but in many cases an end in itself. The Shopping Experience Survey consisting of 54 items was developed and administered to 426 respondents consisting of students at a large tertiary institution. The study indicated that the Shopping Experience Survey is highly reliable (rxx=0,965 and sensitive to group differences. Opsomming Benaderings tot verbruikersielkunde fokus in die algemeen hoofsaaklik op die probleemoplossings- en besluitnemingsprosesse onderliggend aan aankoopgedrag. Gevolglik het die ervarings wat verbruikers tydens die aankoopproses beleef, nie veel aandag geniet nie. Die doel van die onderhawige studie was om ’n skaal van verbruikeraankoopbelewenisse te konstrueer en te evalueer. Die instrument het aangedui dat die aankoopbelewenis nie ’n middel tot ’n doel is nie, maar ‘n doel insigself is. Die Shopping Experience Survey, bestaande uit 54 items, is ontwikkel en geadministreer aan 426 respondente van ’n groot residensiële tersiêre instelling. Met die studie is bevind dat die Shopping Experience Survey hoogs betroubaar is (rxx=0,965 en sensitief is vir groepverskille.

Job shop scheduling with makespan objective: A heuristic approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohsen Ziaee

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Job shop has been considered as one of the most challenging scheduling problems and there are literally tremendous efforts on reducing the complexity of solution procedure for solving job shop problem. This paper presents a heuristic method to minimize makespan for different jobs in a job shop scheduling. The proposed model is based on a constructive procedure to obtain good quality schedules, very quickly. The performance of the proposed model of this paper is examined on standard benchmarks from the literature in order to evaluate its performance. Computational results show that, despite its simplicity, the proposed heuristic is computationally efficient and practical approach for the problem.

Asymptotic Analysis of SPTA-Based Algorithms for No-Wait Flow Shop Scheduling Problem with Release Dates

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tao Ren

2014-01-01

Full Text Available We address the scheduling problem for a no-wait flow shop to optimize total completion time with release dates. With the tool of asymptotic analysis, we prove that the objective values of two SPTA-based algorithms converge to the optimal value for sufficiently large-sized problems. To further enhance the performance of the SPTA-based algorithms, an improvement scheme based on local search is provided for moderate scale problems. New lower bound is presented for evaluating the asymptotic optimality of the algorithms. Numerical simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms.

Asymptotic analysis of SPTA-based algorithms for no-wait flow shop scheduling problem with release dates.

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, Tao; Zhang, Chuan; Lin, Lin; Guo, Meiting; Xie, Xionghang

2014-01-01

We address the scheduling problem for a no-wait flow shop to optimize total completion time with release dates. With the tool of asymptotic analysis, we prove that the objective values of two SPTA-based algorithms converge to the optimal value for sufficiently large-sized problems. To further enhance the performance of the SPTA-based algorithms, an improvement scheme based on local search is provided for moderate scale problems. New lower bound is presented for evaluating the asymptotic optimality of the algorithms. Numerical simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms.

The new century: Lessons learned from Singapore's shopping sector during the 1990's

OpenAIRE

Brenda J. Moscove; Robert G. Fletcher

2001-01-01

Singapore's main shopping corridor, Orchard Road, is being challenged as the international shopping paradise for residents and visitors. It no longer reigns supreme as the mecca for international shopping. The loss of prestige and dominance can be attributed to recent shifts in the Singaporean and regional marketplace such as: economic recession, tourism industry slump, societal concerns, technological trends and innovations, shopping sector development in the region, and political uncertaint...

Window shopping

OpenAIRE

Oz Shy

2013-01-01

The terms "window shopping" and "showrooming" refer to the activity in which potential buyers visit a brick-and-mortar store to examine a product but end up either not buying it or buying the product from an online retailer. This paper analyzes potential buyers who differ in their preference for after-sale service that is not offered by online retailers. For some buyers, making a trip to the brick-and-mortar store is costly; however, going to the store to examine the product has the advantage...

Cryptanalysis and improvement of a quantum communication-based online shopping mechanism

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Wei; Yang, Ying-Hui; Jia, Heng-Yue

2015-06-01

Recently, Chou et al. (Electron Commer Res 14:349-367, 2014) presented a novel controlled quantum secure direct communication protocol which can be used for online shopping. The authors claimed that their protocol was immune to the attacks from both external eavesdropper and internal betrayer. However, we find that this protocol is vulnerable to the attack from internal betrayer. In this paper, we analyze the security of this protocol to show that the controller in this protocol is able to eavesdrop the secret information of the sender (i.e., the customer's shopping information), which indicates that it cannot be used for secure online shopping as the authors expected. Accordingly, an improvement of this protocol, which could resist the controller's attack, is proposed. In addition, we present another protocol which is more appropriate for online shopping. Finally, a discussion about the difference in detail of the quantum secure direct communication process between regular quantum communications and online shopping is given.

Combination of short-length TiO_2 nanorod arrays and compact PbS quantum-dot thin films for efficient solid-state quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Zhengguo; Shi, Chengwu; Chen, Junjun; Xiao, Guannan; Li, Long

2017-01-01

Graphical abstract: The TiO_2 nanorod array with the length of 600 nm, the diameter of 20 nm, the areal density of 500 μm"−"2 was successfully prepared. The compact PbS quantum-dot thin film was firstly obtained on the TiO_2 nanorod array by spin-coating-assisted successive ionic layer absorption and reaction with using 1,2-ethanedithiol. The photoelectric conversion efficiency (PCE) of the compact PbS quantum-dot thin film sensitized solar cells achieved 4.10% using spiro-OMeTAD as a hole transporting layer, while the PCE of the PbS quantum-dot sensitized solar cells was only 0.54%. - Highlights: • Preparation of TiO_2 nanorod arrays with the length of 600 nm, diameter of 20 nm. • The compact PbS QD thin film and short-length TiO_2 nanorod array were combined. • EDT addition improved PbS nanoparticle coverage and photovoltaic performance. • The compact PbS QD thin film sensitized solar cell achieved the PCE of 4.10%. - Abstract: Considering the balance of the hole diffusion length and the loading quantity of quantum-dots, the rutile TiO_2 nanorod array with the length of 600 nm, the diameter of 20 nm, and the areal density of 500 μm"−"2 is successfully prepared by the hydrothermal method using the aqueous grown solution of 38 mM titanium isopropoxide and 6 M hydrochloric acid at 170 °C for 105 min. The compact PbS quantum-dot thin film on the TiO_2 nanorod array is firstly obtained by the spin-coating-assisted successive ionic layer absorption and reaction with using 1,2-ethanedithiol (EDT). The result reveals that the strong interaction between lead and EDT is very important to control the crystallite size of PbS quantum-dots and obtain the compact PbS quantum-dot thin film on the TiO_2 nanorod array. The all solid-state sensitized solar cell with the combination of the short-length, high-density TiO_2 nanorod array and the compact PbS quantum-dot thin film achieves the photoelectric conversion efficiency of 4.10%, along with an open

E-shopping: Current Practices and Future Opportunities Towards Malaysian Customer Perspective

OpenAIRE

Ahasanul Haque; Ali Khatibi

2005-01-01

The rapid diffusion on the internet widely documented high growth potential of Internet shopping in Malaysia, apparently there is still lack of understanding concerning the characteristics of Internet shopping in Malaysia and its potential impact on consumer marketing. Therefore, this study aims to establish a preliminary assessment, evaluation and understanding of the characteristics of Internet shopping in Malaysia. The results of this study indicated significantly mean difference between u...

Un algoritmo genético para el problema de Job Shop Flexible A genetic algorithm for the Flexible Job Shop problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rosa Medina Durán

2011-06-01

Full Text Available En este estudio se propone e implementa computacionalmente un algoritmo genético secuencial para resolver el problema del Job Shop Flexible (existente en la Gestión de Operaciones, el cual es parte de la familia de los problemas de programación de tareas o trabajos (Scheduling en un taller que funciona a pedido. Surge como una generalización del problema del Job Shop y permite optimizar el uso de los recursos (máquinas con mayor flexibilidad, ya que cada máquina puede realizar más de una operación. Este problema ha sido estudiado por numerosos autores, los que han propuesto diversos modelos matemáticos y enfoques heurísticos. Debido a la naturaleza combinatoria, los métodos exactos que resuelven modelos matemáticos encuentran soluciones sólo para instancias pequeñas o simples del problema mencionado. Los resultados muestran la efectividad del algoritmo propuesto para entregar buenas soluciones en tiempos computacionales razonables en más de 130 instancias encontradas en la literatura.This study proposes and computationally implements a sequential genetic algorithm to solve the Flexible Job Shop problem (found in Operations Management, which is part of the family of job or task scheduling problems in a shop that works on demand. It is a generalization of the Job Shop problem, and allows optimizing the use of resources (machines in the shop, with greater flexibility, since each machine can perform more than one operation. This problem has been studied by many authors, who have proposed various mathematical models and heuristic approaches. Due to the combinatorial nature of the problem, the exact methods that solve the mathematical models are often solutions for small and simple instances of the problem. The results show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm to provide good solutions in reasonable computational times in over 130 instances found in the literatura.

Simulation as a planning tool for job-shop production environment

Science.gov (United States)

Maram, Venkataramana; Nawawi, Mohd Kamal Bin Mohd; Rahman, Syariza Abdul; Sultan, Sultan Juma

2015-12-01

In this paper, we made an attempt to use discrete event simulation software ARENA® as a planning tool for job shop production environment. We considered job shop produces three types of Jigs with different sequence of operations to study and improve shop floor performance. The sole purpose of the study is to identifying options to improve machines utilization, reducing job waiting times at bottleneck machines. First, the performance of the existing system was evaluated by using ARENA®. Then identified improvement opportunities by analyzing base system results. Second, updated the model with most economical options. The proposed new system outperforms with that of the current base system by 816% improvement in delay times at paint shop by increase 2 to 3 and Jig cycle time reduces by Jig1 92%, Jig2 65% and Jig3 41% and hence new proposal was recommended.

Shopping Mall to Study Hall.

Science.gov (United States)

Rittner-Heir, Robbin M.

1999-01-01

Discusses how the Burnsville (Minnesota) expanded its high school classroom space by buying a shopping mall and converting it into classrooms. Renovation costs and classroom layout are briefly discussed; a floor plan is included. (GR)

Optimization of synthesis conditions of PbS thin films grown by chemical bath deposition using response surface methodology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yücel, Ersin, E-mail: dr.ersinyucel@gmail.com [Department of Physics, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Mustafa Kemal University, 31034 Hatay (Turkey); Yücel, Yasin; Beleli, Buse [Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Mustafa Kemal University, 31034 Hatay (Turkey)

2015-09-05

Highlights: • For the first time, RSM and CCD used for optimization of PbS thin film. • Tri-sodium citrate, deposition time and temperature were independent variables. • PbS thin film band gap value was 2.20 eV under the optimum conditions. • Quality of the film was improved after chemometrics optimization. - Abstract: In this study, PbS thin films were synthesized by chemical bath deposition (CBD) under different deposition parameters. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize synthesis parameters including amount of tri-sodium citrate (0.2–0.8 mL), deposition time (14–34 h) and deposition temperature (26.6–43.4 °C) for deposition of the films. 5-level-3-factor central composite design (CCD) was employed to evaluate effects of the deposition parameters on the response (optical band gap of the films). The significant level of both the main effects and the interaction are investigated by analysis of variance (ANOVA). The film structures were characterized by X-ray diffractometer (XRD). Morphological properties of the films were studied with a scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The optical properties of the films were investigated using a UV–visible spectrophotometer. The optimum amount of tri-sodium citrate, deposition time and deposition temperature were found to be 0.7 mL, 18.07 h and 30 °C respectively. Under these conditions, the experimental band gap of PbS was 2.20 eV, which is quite good correlation with value (1.98 eV) predicted by the model.

Optimization of synthesis conditions of PbS thin films grown by chemical bath deposition using response surface methodology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yücel, Ersin; Yücel, Yasin; Beleli, Buse

2015-01-01

Highlights: • For the first time, RSM and CCD used for optimization of PbS thin film. • Tri-sodium citrate, deposition time and temperature were independent variables. • PbS thin film band gap value was 2.20 eV under the optimum conditions. • Quality of the film was improved after chemometrics optimization. - Abstract: In this study, PbS thin films were synthesized by chemical bath deposition (CBD) under different deposition parameters. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize synthesis parameters including amount of tri-sodium citrate (0.2–0.8 mL), deposition time (14–34 h) and deposition temperature (26.6–43.4 °C) for deposition of the films. 5-level-3-factor central composite design (CCD) was employed to evaluate effects of the deposition parameters on the response (optical band gap of the films). The significant level of both the main effects and the interaction are investigated by analysis of variance (ANOVA). The film structures were characterized by X-ray diffractometer (XRD). Morphological properties of the films were studied with a scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The optical properties of the films were investigated using a UV–visible spectrophotometer. The optimum amount of tri-sodium citrate, deposition time and deposition temperature were found to be 0.7 mL, 18.07 h and 30 °C respectively. Under these conditions, the experimental band gap of PbS was 2.20 eV, which is quite good correlation with value (1.98 eV) predicted by the model

Photoluminescence under high-electric field of PbS quantum dots

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. Ullrich

2012-12-01

Full Text Available The effect of a laterally applied electric field (≤10 kV/cm on the photoluminescence of colloidal PbS quantum dots (diameter of 2.7 nm on glass was studied. The field provoked a blueshift of the emission peak, a reduction of the luminescent intensity, and caused an increase in the full width at half maximum of the emission spectrum. Upon comparison with the photoluminescence of p-type GaAs exhibits the uniqueness of quantum dot based electric emission control with respect to bulk materials.

Street Choice Logit Model for Visitors in Shopping Districts

Science.gov (United States)

Kawada, Ko; Yamada, Takashi; Kishimoto, Tatsuya

2014-01-01

In this study, we propose two models for predicting people’s activity. The first model is the pedestrian distribution prediction (or postdiction) model by multiple regression analysis using space syntax indices of urban fabric and people distribution data obtained from a field survey. The second model is a street choice model for visitors using multinomial logit model. We performed a questionnaire survey on the field to investigate the strolling routes of 46 visitors and obtained a total of 1211 street choices in their routes. We proposed a utility function, sum of weighted space syntax indices, and other indices, and estimated the parameters for weights on the basis of maximum likelihood. These models consider both street networks, distance from destination, direction of the street choice and other spatial compositions (numbers of pedestrians, cars, shops, and elevation). The first model explains the characteristics of the street where many people tend to walk or stay. The second model explains the mechanism underlying the street choice of visitors and clarifies the differences in the weights of street choice parameters among the various attributes, such as gender, existence of destinations, number of people, etc. For all the attributes considered, the influences of DISTANCE and DIRECTION are strong. On the other hand, the influences of Int.V, SHOPS, CARS, ELEVATION, and WIDTH are different for each attribute. People with defined destinations tend to choose streets that “have more shops, and are wider and lower”. In contrast, people with undefined destinations tend to choose streets of high Int.V. The choice of males is affected by Int.V, SHOPS, WIDTH (positive) and CARS (negative). Females prefer streets that have many shops, and couples tend to choose downhill streets. The behavior of individual persons is affected by all variables. The behavior of people visiting in groups is affected by SHOP and WIDTH (positive). PMID:25379274

Street Choice Logit Model for Visitors in Shopping Districts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ko Kawada

2014-07-01

Full Text Available In this study, we propose two models for predicting people’s activity. The first model is the pedestrian distribution prediction (or postdiction model by multiple regression analysis using space syntax indices of urban fabric and people distribution data obtained from a field survey. The second model is a street choice model for visitors using multinomial logit model. We performed a questionnaire survey on the field to investigate the strolling routes of 46 visitors and obtained a total of 1211 street choices in their routes. We proposed a utility function, sum of weighted space syntax indices, and other indices, and estimated the parameters for weights on the basis of maximum likelihood. These models consider both street networks, distance from destination, direction of the street choice and other spatial compositions (numbers of pedestrians, cars, shops, and elevation. The first model explains the characteristics of the street where many people tend to walk or stay. The second model explains the mechanism underlying the street choice of visitors and clarifies the differences in the weights of street choice parameters among the various attributes, such as gender, existence of destinations, number of people, etc. For all the attributes considered, the influences of DISTANCE and DIRECTION are strong. On the other hand, the influences of Int.V, SHOPS, CARS, ELEVATION, and WIDTH are different for each attribute. People with defined destinations tend to choose streets that “have more shops, and are wider and lower”. In contrast, people with undefined destinations tend to choose streets of high Int.V. The choice of males is affected by Int.V, SHOPS, WIDTH (positive and CARS (negative. Females prefer streets that have many shops, and couples tend to choose downhill streets. The behavior of individual persons is affected by all variables. The behavior of people visiting in groups is affected by SHOP and WIDTH (positive.

Proportionate Flow Shop Games

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Estevez Fernandez, M.A.; Mosquera, M.A.; Borm, P.E.M.; Hamers, H.J.M.

2006-01-01

In a proportionate flow shop problem several jobs have to be processed through a fixed sequence of machines and the processing time of each job is equal on all machines.By identifying jobs with agents, whose costs linearly depend on the completion time of their jobs, and assuming an initial

An Approach to Teaching Young Children about "The Shop."

Science.gov (United States)

Pramling, Ingrid

An attempt was made to increase Swedish preschool children's understanding of aspects of commercial enterprise, particularly those of "the shop," by introducing a specific didactic approach to preschool education. Of particular interest were two aspects of the shop: advertising and the principle of trade. A total of 77 children up to 7 years of…

The effects of online shopping on the customer loyalty

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hamideh Afrashteh

2014-09-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates the use of Online Shopping as one of electronic marketing techniques as well as the effect of applying this shopping method and marketing on customer loyalty in Iran. The variables are extracted according to the review of literature and studies conducted in the field of shopping through cyberspace. A questionnaire is designed by applying these variables and distributed among a sample of service providers and users after testing its reliability and validity. Performing the statistical tests on the results of investigation led to the identification of effective factors. In addition, another questionnaire is distributed according to the obtained components in order to achieve a structural model for the impact of components on the customer loyalty. The structural equation modeling (SEM is designed to learn the impact of obtained components on customer loyalty as a basis influencing on the survival of business space using SEM method. The study identified different components affected by utilization of online shopping websites including comprehensive information system, system development, choice power, viability and system optimization.

Interaction between NGOs and science through science shops

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Michael Søgaard

and institutions have more resources themselves and easier access to and influence on the research facilities than NGO’s like consumer organisations, environmental organisations, trade unions, social organisations etc. Science shops are organisations that offer NGO’s free or very low-cost access to scientific...... knowledge and research in order to help them achieve social and environmental improvement. Originally developed at Dutch universities during the 1970’s, science shops now also exist in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Romania and the U.K., as well as in a number of non-European countries including Australia......, Canada, Malaysia, South Korea and the USA. Some science shops are independent not-for-profit research centres and some are affiliated to a university acting as the intermediary between NGO’s and university researchers, teachers and students, who conduct research in response. Most university based science...

The social value of Science Shops: a Cost-Benefit Analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boere, E.J.M.; Heijman, W.J.M.

2012-01-01

We describe and apply a method to determine the net social benefits of science shops. University departments operating as science shops coordinate research projects for individuals or civil society organizations (CSO) lacking the financial means to turn to professional consultancy bureaus. Three

ShopList: Programming PDA applications for Windows Mobile using C#

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dan L. Lacrama

2007-01-01

Full Text Available This paper is focused on a C# and Sql Server Mobile 2005 application to keep evidence of a shop list. The purpose of the application is to offer to the user an easier way to manage his shopping options.

Tn5-induced pBS286 plasmid mutations blocking early stages of napthalene oxidation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kosheleva, I.A.; Tsoi, T.V.; Ivashina, T.V.; Selifonov, S.A.; Starovoitov, I.I.; Boronin, A.M.

1988-01-01

The authors present data on the further analysis of the structural and functional organization of the nah region of plasmid pBS286 controlling the constitutive oxidation of naphthalene by Pseudomonas putida cells. They have studied Tn5-induced mutations blocking early stages of naphthalene oxidation. They present and discuss data providing evidence that, in contrast to plasmid NAH7, the mechanism of regulation of the nahl operon of plasmid NPL-1, the parent plasmid of plasmid pBS286, with inducible synthesis of naphthalene dioxygenase can include elements of a negative control with participation of the regulatory locus R, located proximal to the structural nah genes and closely linked to or overlapped by the inverted control DNA segment (4.2 kb). They also present data on the possibility of regulation of the activity of the catechol-splitting meta-pathway genes with the participation of products of early stages of naphthalene oxidation

Design and Testing of an Air Force Services Mystery Shopping Program

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Hall, Justin

1998-01-01

.... Other service quality measurement methods such as mystery shopping are rarely used. Bases do not consider using mystery shopping programs because of the significant resources required to start the program...

FLOW-SHOP SCHEDULING WITH MULTIPLE OPERATIONS AND TIME LAGS

NARCIS (Netherlands)

RIEZEBOS, J; GAALMAN, GJC; GUPTA, JND

A scheduling system is proposed and developed for a special type of flow shop. Ln this flow shop there is one machine at each stage. A job may require multiple operations at each stage. The first operation of a job on stage j cannot start until the last operation of the job on stage j - 1 has

THE INTELLECTUAL STRUCTURE OF ONLINE SHOPPING RESEARCH: AUTHOR CO-CITATION ANALYSIS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wann-Yih Wu

2016-06-01

Full Text Available This study was conducted to investigate the intellectual structure of the online shopping field in the last decade using co-citation analysis. The citations were obtained from the database of WOS (World of Science, and articles (authors were used as the units of analysis. Based on the results, this research revealed the main categories in the field of online shopping and the relationships between the subfields of research subjects and among authors and identified the authors who play a central role in the conceptual domains of online shopping. This research outlines the intellectual structure of the field of online shopping and its development trends. It also provides details about the influence of individual authors and the evolving structure of this research field over time.

Beyond Promotion-Based Store Switching : Antecedents and Consequences of Systematic Multiple-Store Shopping

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gijsbrechts, E.; Campo, K.; Nisol, P.

2005-01-01

In this paper, we demonstrate that single-purpose multiple store shopping is not only driven by opportunistic, promotion-based motivations, but may also be part of a longer term shopping planning process based on stable store characteristics.Starting from a utility-maximizing shopping behavior

Who walks into vape shops in Southern California?: a naturalistic observation of customers.

Science.gov (United States)

Sussman, Steve; Allem, Jon-Patrick; Garcia, Jocelyn; Unger, Jennifer B; Cruz, Tess Boley; Garcia, Robert; Baezconde-Garbanati, Lourdes

2016-01-01

The rising popularity of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) has been accompanied by the proliferation of vape shops in the United States. Vape shops are devoted to the sale of e-cigarettes and e-juices. This study aimed to describe the age, gender, and ethnicity of customers who frequent these shops, determine whether conversations transpire between retailers and customers, as well as identify the types of activities taking place while customers are inside the store. A naturalistic observation study of 186 customers in 59 vape shops in Southern California was completed in locations that were relatively high in Korean, Non-Hispanic white, Hispanic, or African American ethnicity. Across all shops, the average estimated age of customers was 30.29 years old (SD = 9.70), 53 % were estimated to be non-Hispanic white, and 79 % were males; few minors entered the shops. Conversations about vaping related topics were prevalent (e.g., sampling e-juices, receiving help on hardware, and talking about vaping). Purchases were commonly observed as well as customers lounging in the shop. Vape shops provide consumers a place to purchase and discuss e-cigarettes and offer an environment that serves as a place of recreation with customers lounging once inside. Findings should inform local tobacco control efforts and regulatory policies in the future.

Indoor air quality at nine shopping malls in Hong Kong.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, W M; Lee, S C; Chan, L Y

2001-06-12

Hong Kong is one of the most attractive shopping paradises in the world. Many local people and international tourists favor to spend their time in shopping malls in Hong Kong. Good indoor air quality is, therefore, very essential to shoppers. In order to characterize the indoor air quality in shopping malls, nine shopping malls in Hong Kong were selected for this study. The indoor air pollutants included carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), total hydrocarbons (THC), formaldehyde (HCHO), respirable particulate matter (PM10) and total bacteria count (TBC). More than 40% of the shopping malls had 1-h average CO2 levels above the 1000 ppm of the ASHRAE standard on both weekdays and weekends. Also, they had average weekday PM10 concentrations that exceeded the Hong Kong Indoor Air Quality Objective (HKIAQO). The highest indoor PM10 level at a mall was 380 microg/m3. Of the malls surveyed, 30% had indoor airborne bacteria levels above 1000 cfu/m3 set by the HKIAQO. The elevated indoor CO2 and bacteria levels could result from high occupancy combined with insufficient ventilation. The increased PM10 levels could be probably attributed to illegal smoking inside these establishments. In comparison, the shopping malls that contained internal public transport drop-off areas, where vehicles were parked with idling engines and had major entry doors close to heavy traffic roads had higher CO and PM10 indoor levels. In addition, the extensive use of cooking stoves without adequate ventilation inside food courts could increase indoor CO2, CO and PM10 levels.

Investigation and Evaluation of the Effect to Environmental Pollution of Plastic Shopping Bags

OpenAIRE

DURAK, Sevgi Güneş

2016-01-01

Shopping which is related to the level of economic development, except for consumption necessities such as eating-drinking-dressing, is taken up a wide space extremely in today’s conditions. By increasing in the number of shopping, environmental pollution increases, too. Plastic bags (shopping bags) used in shopping have a duration of extinction in the nature 400-1000 years, during this time, plastic bags enter the food web and are toxic for human and other livings as a soil pollutant; cause ...

Enhanced Mobility-Lifetime Products in PbS Colloidal Quantum Dot Photovoltaics

KAUST Repository

Jeong, Kwang S.

2012-01-24

Figure Persented: Colloidal quantum dot (CQD) photovoltaics offer a promising approach to harvest the near-IR region of the solar spectrum, where half of the sun\\'s power reaching the earth resides. High external quantum efficiencies have been obtained in the visible region in lead chalcogenide CQD photovoltaics. However, the corresponding efficiencies for band gap radiation in the near-infrared lag behind because the thickness of CQD photovoltaic layers from which charge carriers can be extracted is limited by short carrier diffusion lengths. Here, we investigate, using a combination of electrical and optical characterization techniques, ligand passivation strategies aimed at tuning the density and energetic distribution of charge trap states at PbS nanocrystal surfaces. Electrical and optical measurements reveal a more than 7-fold enhancement of the mobility-lifetime product of PbS CQD films treated with 3-mercaptopropionic acid (MPA) in comparison to traditional organic passivation strategies that have been examined in the literature. We show by direct head-to-head comparison that the greater mobility-lifetime products of MPA-treated devices enable markedly greater short-circuit current and higher power conversion efficiency under AM1.5 illumination. Our findings highlight the importance of selecting ligand treatment strategies capable of passivating a diversity of surface states to enable shallower and lower density trap distributions for better transport and more efficient CQD solar cells. © 2011 American Chemical Society.

Health Risk Screening Practices of Pharmacy and Chemist Shops in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Methodology: Fifty two pharmacy and chemist shops were selected using simple random number sampling technique from 120 registered pharmacy and chemist shops in Jos Metropolis. A semi-structured questionnaire, examining the screening practice of the sales persons was interviewer administered to all the sales ...

THE LIFE CYCLE OF SHOPPING CENTERS AND POSSIBLE REVITALIZATION STRATEGIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dabija Dan Cristian

2009-05-01

Full Text Available This paper addresses the concept of shopping center life cycle. The concept is considered a possible explanation for the death of certain types of shopping centers and birth of others. Of course that there are also other theories that explains this evolut

Multi-objective flexible job shop scheduling problem using variable neighborhood evolutionary algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Chun; Ji, Zhicheng; Wang, Yan

2017-07-01

In this paper, multi-objective flexible job shop scheduling problem (MOFJSP) was studied with the objects to minimize makespan, total workload and critical workload. A variable neighborhood evolutionary algorithm (VNEA) was proposed to obtain a set of Pareto optimal solutions. First, two novel crowded operators in terms of the decision space and object space were proposed, and they were respectively used in mating selection and environmental selection. Then, two well-designed neighborhood structures were used in local search, which consider the problem characteristics and can hold fast convergence. Finally, extensive comparison was carried out with the state-of-the-art methods specially presented for solving MOFJSP on well-known benchmark instances. The results show that the proposed VNEA is more effective than other algorithms in solving MOFJSP.

High-performance PbS quantum dot vertical field-effect phototransistor using graphene as a transparent electrode

Science.gov (United States)

Che, Yongli; Zhang, Yating; Cao, Xiaolong; Song, Xiaoxian; Zhang, Haiting; Cao, Mingxuan; Dai, Haitao; Yang, Junbo; Zhang, Guizhong; Yao, Jianquan

2016-12-01

Solution processed photoactive PbS quantum dots (QDs) were used as channel in high-performance near-infrared vertical field-effect phototransistor (VFEpT) where monolayer graphene embedded as transparent electrode. In this vertical architecture, the PbS QD channel was sandwiched and naturally protected between the drain and source electrodes, which made the device ultrashort channel length (110 nm) simply the thickness of the channel layer. The VFEpT exhibited ambipolar operation with high mobilities of μe = 3.5 cm2/V s in n-channel operation and μh = 3.3 cm2/V s in p-channel operation at low operation voltages. By using the photoactive PbS QDs as channel material, the VFEpT exhibited good photoresponse properties with a responsivity of 4.2 × 102 A/W, an external quantum efficiency of 6.4 × 104% and a photodetectivity of 2.1 × 109 Jones at the light irradiance of 36 mW/cm2. Additionally, the VFEpT showed excellent on/off switching with good stability and reproducibility and fast response speed with a short rise time of 12 ms in n-channel operation and 10.6 ms in p-channel operation. These high mobilities, good photoresponse properties and simplistic fabrication of our VFEpTs provided a facile route to the high-performance inorganic photodetectors.

A Qualitative Exploration of the Role of Vape Shop Environments in Supporting Smoking Abstinence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emma Ward

2018-02-01

Full Text Available E-cigarettes are the most popular method of quitting smoking in England and most are purchased in specialist vape shops. This qualitative study explores how the vape shop environment is experienced by quitters to support smoking abstinence. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted to elicit experiences of e-cigarette use, including experiences of vape shops, in 40 people who had used e-cigarettes in a quit attempt. Observations of six shops in a range of locations were also undertaken. Interview and observation data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis and triangulated. At an individual level, smoking abstinence was supported through shop assistants’ attempts to understand customers’ smoking preferences in order to: (i tailor advice about the most appropriate product; and (ii offer an ongoing point of contact for practical help. At an interpersonal level, shops offered opportunity to socialise and reinforce a vaping identity, although the environment was perceived as intimidating for some (e.g., new and female users. At a structural level, shops ensured easy access to products perceived to be good value by customers and had adapted to legislative changes. Vape shops can provide effective behavioural support to quitters to maintain smoking abstinence. Health professionals could capitalise on this through partnership working with shops, to ensure best outcomes for clients wanting to use e-cigarettes to quit smoking.

A Qualitative Exploration of the Role of Vape Shop Environments in Supporting Smoking Abstinence

Science.gov (United States)

Jakes, Sarah; Holland, Richard; Notley, Caitlin

2018-01-01

E-cigarettes are the most popular method of quitting smoking in England and most are purchased in specialist vape shops. This qualitative study explores how the vape shop environment is experienced by quitters to support smoking abstinence. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted to elicit experiences of e-cigarette use, including experiences of vape shops, in 40 people who had used e-cigarettes in a quit attempt. Observations of six shops in a range of locations were also undertaken. Interview and observation data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis and triangulated. At an individual level, smoking abstinence was supported through shop assistants’ attempts to understand customers’ smoking preferences in order to: (i) tailor advice about the most appropriate product; and (ii) offer an ongoing point of contact for practical help. At an interpersonal level, shops offered opportunity to socialise and reinforce a vaping identity, although the environment was perceived as intimidating for some (e.g., new and female users). At a structural level, shops ensured easy access to products perceived to be good value by customers and had adapted to legislative changes. Vape shops can provide effective behavioural support to quitters to maintain smoking abstinence. Health professionals could capitalise on this through partnership working with shops, to ensure best outcomes for clients wanting to use e-cigarettes to quit smoking. PMID:29425117

The performance of workload control concepts in job shops : Improving the release method

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Land, MJ; Gaalman, GJC

1998-01-01

A specific class of production control concepts for jobs shops is based on the principles of workload control. Practitioners emphasise the importance of workload control. However, order release methods that reduce the workload on the shop floor show poor due date performance in job shop simulations.

Combination of short-length TiO{sub 2} nanorod arrays and compact PbS quantum-dot thin films for efficient solid-state quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, Zhengguo [School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009 (China); School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Beifang University of Nationalities, Yinchuan 750021 (China); Shi, Chengwu, E-mail: shicw506@foxmail.com [School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009 (China); Chen, Junjun; Xiao, Guannan; Li, Long [School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009 (China)

2017-07-15

Graphical abstract: The TiO{sub 2} nanorod array with the length of 600 nm, the diameter of 20 nm, the areal density of 500 μm{sup −2} was successfully prepared. The compact PbS quantum-dot thin film was firstly obtained on the TiO{sub 2} nanorod array by spin-coating-assisted successive ionic layer absorption and reaction with using 1,2-ethanedithiol. The photoelectric conversion efficiency (PCE) of the compact PbS quantum-dot thin film sensitized solar cells achieved 4.10% using spiro-OMeTAD as a hole transporting layer, while the PCE of the PbS quantum-dot sensitized solar cells was only 0.54%. - Highlights: • Preparation of TiO{sub 2} nanorod arrays with the length of 600 nm, diameter of 20 nm. • The compact PbS QD thin film and short-length TiO{sub 2} nanorod array were combined. • EDT addition improved PbS nanoparticle coverage and photovoltaic performance. • The compact PbS QD thin film sensitized solar cell achieved the PCE of 4.10%. - Abstract: Considering the balance of the hole diffusion length and the loading quantity of quantum-dots, the rutile TiO{sub 2} nanorod array with the length of 600 nm, the diameter of 20 nm, and the areal density of 500 μm{sup −2} is successfully prepared by the hydrothermal method using the aqueous grown solution of 38 mM titanium isopropoxide and 6 M hydrochloric acid at 170 °C for 105 min. The compact PbS quantum-dot thin film on the TiO{sub 2} nanorod array is firstly obtained by the spin-coating-assisted successive ionic layer absorption and reaction with using 1,2-ethanedithiol (EDT). The result reveals that the strong interaction between lead and EDT is very important to control the crystallite size of PbS quantum-dots and obtain the compact PbS quantum-dot thin film on the TiO{sub 2} nanorod array. The all solid-state sensitized solar cell with the combination of the short-length, high-density TiO{sub 2} nanorod array and the compact PbS quantum-dot thin film achieves the photoelectric conversion

Estimation of distribution algorithm with path relinking for the blocking flow-shop scheduling problem

Science.gov (United States)

Shao, Zhongshi; Pi, Dechang; Shao, Weishi

2018-05-01

This article presents an effective estimation of distribution algorithm, named P-EDA, to solve the blocking flow-shop scheduling problem (BFSP) with the makespan criterion. In the P-EDA, a Nawaz-Enscore-Ham (NEH)-based heuristic and the random method are combined to generate the initial population. Based on several superior individuals provided by a modified linear rank selection, a probabilistic model is constructed to describe the probabilistic distribution of the promising solution space. The path relinking technique is incorporated into EDA to avoid blindness of the search and improve the convergence property. A modified referenced local search is designed to enhance the local exploitation. Moreover, a diversity-maintaining scheme is introduced into EDA to avoid deterioration of the population. Finally, the parameters of the proposed P-EDA are calibrated using a design of experiments approach. Simulation results and comparisons with some well-performing algorithms demonstrate the effectiveness of the P-EDA for solving BFSP.

77 FR 35393 - Federal Management Regulation; FMR Bulletin PBS-2012-03; Redesignations of Federal Buildings

Science.gov (United States)

2012-06-13

... Management Regulation; FMR Bulletin PBS-2012-03; Redesignations of Federal Buildings AGENCY: Public Buildings... bulletin announces the designation and redesignation of three Federal buildings. Expiration Date: This bulletin announcement expires October 31, 2012. The building designation and redesignations remains in...

The Associations between Yelp Online Reviews and Vape Shops Closing or Remaining Open One Year Later.

Science.gov (United States)

Kong, Grace; Unger, Jennifer; Baezconde-Garbanati, Lourdes; Sussman, Steve

2017-01-01

Vape shops are popular brick-and-mortar stores that sell e-cigarette products but are not understood well. Previous analysis of Yelp reviews of vape shops located in various ethnic neighborhoods in Los Angeles, California in 2014 identified characteristics of vape shop as delineated by consumers. In this study, we assessed the associations between these characteristics and vape shops going out of business in 2015. Content analysis of Yelp reviews of 72 vape shops in 2014 identified 1) general characteristics of the reviews/reviewers, 2) vape shop, staff, and marketing attributes, 3) physical environment, and 4) health claims. In 2015, in-person visits confirmed that 22% of these vape shops closed permanently. We analyzed whether characteristics/attributes identified in 2014 associated with stores remaining open (n = 56) or permanently closing (n = 16) in 2015. Univariate findings showed that open vape shops relative to closed shops had greater 1) number of reviews, 2) rebuilds/fixings, 3) ratings of staff attributes as "helpful/patient/respectful," and 4) report of the physical environment as "bar type." Bar type vape shops and those with rebuilding/fixing capabilities were associated with staying open, suggesting the popularity of these attributes. Yelp consumer reviews is a useful research tool to identify consumer-determined important sustaining attributes of vape shops and may be used to identify aspects of enduring shops that need regulations.

Tunable and switchable all-fiber comb filter using a PBS-based two-stage cascaded Mach-Zehnder interferometer

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Zhi-Chao; Luo, Ai-Ping; Xu, Wen-Cheng

2011-08-01

We propose and demonstrate a novel tunable and switchable all-fiber comb filter by employing a polarization beam splitter (PBS)-based two-stage cascaded Mach-Zehnder (M-Z) interferometer. The proposed comb filter consists of a rotatable polarizer, a fiber PBS, a non-3-dB coupler and a 3-dB coupler. By simply adjusting the polarization state of the input light, the dual-function of channel spacing tunable and wavelength switchable (interleaving) operations can be efficiently obtained. The theoretical analysis is verified by the experimental results. A comb filter with both the channel spacing tunable from 0.18 nm to 0.36 nm and the wavelength switchable functions is experimentally demonstrated.

Difficulty and independence in shopping among older Americans: more than just leaving the house.

Science.gov (United States)

Brenner, Allison B; Clarke, Philippa J

2017-11-09

The built, social and economic environments are associated with disability, but knowledge of how these environmental characteristics simultaneously influence older adults' ability to shop independently is limited. We investigated cross-sectional associations between the outdoor home, local neighborhood and macrosocioeconomic levels of the environment and shopping difficulty and interactions between environmental factors and shopping difficulty. Using nationally representative data from a study of Medicare-eligible adults, we conducted a cross-sectional secondary data analysis to examine associations between the environment and difficulty shopping (N = 5504). Sidewalk conditions, broken steps, neighborhood social cohesion and neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage were associated with more difficulty shopping, although health factors partially accounted for associations between broken steps and disadvantage and shopping difficulty. The association between social cohesion and shopping difficulty also depended on the degree of socioeconomic disadvantage in the neighborhood. Overall, results suggest that factors in the outdoor and local neighborhood environment influence the ability to shop independently for older adults, but that it also may depend on the socioeconomic context of the neighborhood. Interventions aimed at improving the built environment directly outside of older adults' homes and helping increase social cohesion among neighbors, has the potential to reduce difficulty in carrying out this important activity. Implications for rehabilitation Built features of the outdoor home environment including sidewalks and broken steps influence whether older adults are able to safely leave their home to conduct daily activities such as shopping, so it is important that clinicians and rehabilitation professionals are aware of these challenges when helping their patients resume daily activities such as shopping. The physical condition and safety of the immediate

A multipopulation PSO based memetic algorithm for permutation flow shop scheduling.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Ruochen; Ma, Chenlin; Ma, Wenping; Li, Yangyang

2013-01-01

The permutation flow shop scheduling problem (PFSSP) is part of production scheduling, which belongs to the hardest combinatorial optimization problem. In this paper, a multipopulation particle swarm optimization (PSO) based memetic algorithm (MPSOMA) is proposed in this paper. In the proposed algorithm, the whole particle swarm population is divided into three subpopulations in which each particle evolves itself by the standard PSO and then updates each subpopulation by using different local search schemes such as variable neighborhood search (VNS) and individual improvement scheme (IIS). Then, the best particle of each subpopulation is selected to construct a probabilistic model by using estimation of distribution algorithm (EDA) and three particles are sampled from the probabilistic model to update the worst individual in each subpopulation. The best particle in the entire particle swarm is used to update the global optimal solution. The proposed MPSOMA is compared with two recently proposed algorithms, namely, PSO based memetic algorithm (PSOMA) and hybrid particle swarm optimization with estimation of distribution algorithm (PSOEDA), on 29 well-known PFFSPs taken from OR-library, and the experimental results show that it is an effective approach for the PFFSP.

A Multipopulation PSO Based Memetic Algorithm for Permutation Flow Shop Scheduling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ruochen Liu

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The permutation flow shop scheduling problem (PFSSP is part of production scheduling, which belongs to the hardest combinatorial optimization problem. In this paper, a multipopulation particle swarm optimization (PSO based memetic algorithm (MPSOMA is proposed in this paper. In the proposed algorithm, the whole particle swarm population is divided into three subpopulations in which each particle evolves itself by the standard PSO and then updates each subpopulation by using different local search schemes such as variable neighborhood search (VNS and individual improvement scheme (IIS. Then, the best particle of each subpopulation is selected to construct a probabilistic model by using estimation of distribution algorithm (EDA and three particles are sampled from the probabilistic model to update the worst individual in each subpopulation. The best particle in the entire particle swarm is used to update the global optimal solution. The proposed MPSOMA is compared with two recently proposed algorithms, namely, PSO based memetic algorithm (PSOMA and hybrid particle swarm optimization with estimation of distribution algorithm (PSOEDA, on 29 well-known PFFSPs taken from OR-library, and the experimental results show that it is an effective approach for the PFFSP.

Authorizer Shopping: Lessons from Experience and Ideas for the Future

Science.gov (United States)

Boast, Lyria; Ellison, Shonaka; Hassel, Bryan C.; Conlan, Sean; Rausch, M. Karega

2016-01-01

As charter school authorizers and states have increased performance expectations and grown less hesitant to close failing schools, "authorizer shopping" has emerged as a growing threat to overall charter school quality. Authorizer shopping happens when a charter school chooses or changes its authorizer specifically to avoid…

FME Carpentry Shop Keeps Facility in Good Repair | Poster

Science.gov (United States)

By Peggy Pearl, Contributing Writer Did you know that what most people call the Carpentry Shop at Facilities Maintenance and Engineering (FME) is actually made up of the three crafts, woodcrafting, painting, and locksmithing?  On any given day, throughout the Frederick National Laboratory campus, you may find shop staff utilizing an assortment of tools and a wide range of

The Development and Validation of the Online Shopping Addiction Scale.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Haiyan; Tian, Wei; Xin, Tao

2017-01-01

We report the development and validation of a scale to measure online shopping addiction. Inspired by previous theories and research on behavioral addiction, the Griffiths's widely accepted six-factor component model was referred to and an 18-item scale was constructed, with each component measured by three items. The results of exploratory factor analysis, based on Sample 1 (999 college students) and confirmatory factor analysis, based on Sample 2 (854 college students) showed the Griffiths's substantive six-factor structure underlay the online shopping addiction scale. Cronbach's alpha suggested that the resulting scale was highly reliable. Concurrent validity, based on Sample 3 (328 college students), was also satisfactory as indicated by correlations between the scale and measures of similar constructs. Finally, self-perceived online shopping addiction can be predicted to a relatively high degree. The present 18-item scale is a solid theory-based instrument to empirically measure online shopping addiction and can be used for understanding the phenomena among young adults.

The Development and Validation of the Online Shopping Addiction Scale

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Haiyan; Tian, Wei; Xin, Tao

2017-01-01

We report the development and validation of a scale to measure online shopping addiction. Inspired by previous theories and research on behavioral addiction, the Griffiths's widely accepted six-factor component model was referred to and an 18-item scale was constructed, with each component measured by three items. The results of exploratory factor analysis, based on Sample 1 (999 college students) and confirmatory factor analysis, based on Sample 2 (854 college students) showed the Griffiths's substantive six-factor structure underlay the online shopping addiction scale. Cronbach's alpha suggested that the resulting scale was highly reliable. Concurrent validity, based on Sample 3 (328 college students), was also satisfactory as indicated by correlations between the scale and measures of similar constructs. Finally, self-perceived online shopping addiction can be predicted to a relatively high degree. The present 18-item scale is a solid theory-based instrument to empirically measure online shopping addiction and can be used for understanding the phenomena among young adults. PMID:28559864

The Development and Validation of the Online Shopping Addiction Scale

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Haiyan Zhao

2017-05-01

Full Text Available We report the development and validation of a scale to measure online shopping addiction. Inspired by previous theories and research on behavioral addiction, the Griffiths's widely accepted six-factor component model was referred to and an 18-item scale was constructed, with each component measured by three items. The results of exploratory factor analysis, based on Sample 1 (999 college students and confirmatory factor analysis, based on Sample 2 (854 college students showed the Griffiths's substantive six-factor structure underlay the online shopping addiction scale. Cronbach's alpha suggested that the resulting scale was highly reliable. Concurrent validity, based on Sample 3 (328 college students, was also satisfactory as indicated by correlations between the scale and measures of similar constructs. Finally, self-perceived online shopping addiction can be predicted to a relatively high degree. The present 18-item scale is a solid theory-based instrument to empirically measure online shopping addiction and can be used for understanding the phenomena among young adults.

Sikap Online Shopping Dan Niat Pencarian Informasi Terhadap Niat Dan Perilaku Belanja

OpenAIRE

Setiowati, Apriliani Kartika; Widayat; Jasly

2012-01-01

This explanatory study aims to test and analyze how respondents attitudes towards online shoppingeffect, information gathering, shopping intention and behavior. To measure the attitudes toward onlineshopping, attributes associated to online shopping are used. Moreover, the websites revisits andshopping intensity through alternative channels are used to measure the behaviour of the respondentsvisiting intensity to shop online. Partial least square are used to analysis primary data attitudestow...

Corrosion of experimental magnesium alloys in blood and PBS: A gravimetric and microscopic evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schille, Ch.; Braun, M.; Wendel, H.P.; Scheideler, L.; Hort, N.; Reichel, H.-P.; Schweizer, E.; Geis-Gerstorfer, J.

2011-01-01

Highlights: ► Corrosion of eight Mg–based Biomaterials was tested in saline and human blood. ► Corrosion behaviour in physiological saline and in blood was entirely different. ► Al and Zn had the highest influence on corrosion behaviour in both electrolytes. ► MgAl9 and MgAl9Zn1 showed least corrosion in human whole blood. ► Tests in buffered corrosion media are not sufficient to predict corrosion in vivo. - Abstract: Corrosion tests for medical materials are often performed in simulated body fluids (SBF). When SBF are used for corrosion measurement, the open question is, how well they match the conditions in the human body. The aim of the study was to compare the corrosion behaviour of different experimental magnesium alloys in human whole blood and PBS minus (phosphate buffered saline w/o Ca and Mg) as a simulated body fluid by gravimetric weight measurements and microscopic evaluation. Eight different experimental magnesium alloys, containing neither Mn nor other additives, were manufactured. With these alloys, a static immersion test in PBS minus and a dynamic test using the Chandler-loop model with human whole blood over 6 h were performed. During the static immersion test, the samples were weighed every hour. During the dynamic test, the specimens were weighed before and after the 6 h incubation period in the Chandler-loop. From both tests, the total mass change was calculated for each alloy and the values were compared. Additionally, microscopic pictures from the samples were taken at the end of the test period. All alloys showed different corrosion behaviour in both tests, especially the alloys with high aluminium content, MgAl9 and MgAl9Zn1. Generally, alloys in PBS showed a weight gain due to generation of a microscopically visible corrosion layer, while in the blood test system a more or less distinct weight loss was observed. When alloys are ranked according to corrosion susceptibility, the results differ also between the test systems. The

The Associations between Yelp Online Reviews and Vape Shops Closing or Remaining Open One Year Later

Science.gov (United States)

Kong, Grace; Unger, Jennifer; Baezconde-Garbanati, Lourdes; Sussman, Steve

2017-01-01

INTRODUCTION Vape shops are popular brick-and-mortar stores that sell e-cigarette products but are not understood well. Previous analysis of Yelp reviews of vape shops located in various ethnic neighborhoods in Los Angeles, California in 2014 identified characteristics of vape shop as delineated by consumers. In this study, we assessed the associations between these characteristics and vape shops going out of business in 2015. METHODS Content analysis of Yelp reviews of 72 vape shops in 2014 identified 1) general characteristics of the reviews/reviewers, 2) vape shop, staff, and marketing attributes, 3) physical environment, and 4) health claims. In 2015, in-person visits confirmed that 22% of these vape shops closed permanently. We analyzed whether characteristics/attributes identified in 2014 associated with stores remaining open (n = 56) or permanently closing (n = 16) in 2015. RESULTS Univariate findings showed that open vape shops relative to closed shops had greater 1) number of reviews, 2) rebuilds/fixings, 3) ratings of staff attributes as “helpful/patient/respectful,” and 4) report of the physical environment as “bar type.” CONCLUSIONS Bar type vape shops and those with rebuilding/fixing capabilities were associated with staying open, suggesting the popularity of these attributes. Yelp consumer reviews is a useful research tool to identify consumer-determined important sustaining attributes of vape shops and may be used to identify aspects of enduring shops that need regulations. PMID:29057379

Strengthening Community-University Research Partnerships: Science Shops in the Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mulder, Henk; Straver, Gerard; Hall, Budd; Tandon, Rajesh; Tremblay, Crystal

2015-01-01

Although they have been around for a long time already, the Science Shop approach is still seen as innovative in bridging the gap between science and civil society. The Dutch Science Shops are often taken as an example for similar activities abroad, and receive much support from the European

Mall shopping preferences and patronage of mature shoppers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gabriel G. Rousseau

2014-04-01

Research purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the buying behaviour of mature consumers (older than 55 in Port Elizabeth shopping malls. Motivation for the study: The perception of mature shoppers as old people with limited financial resources is untrue. This study investigates the behaviours of mature shoppers. Research design, approach and method: A model guided the investigation. The authors facilitated four focus groups to gain insight into mature consumers’ buying behaviours. A field survey followed with a sample of mall shoppers (n = 680. The authors performed content analysis of the focus group material and used SPSS and AMOS programs to analyse the data quantitatively. Main findings: Focus group interviews revealed specific buying behaviours of mature shoppers. The survey showed significant relationships between various determinants that influence respondents’ buying behaviours with adequate model fit indices. These results confirmed the convergent and discriminant validity of the model that comprises mall shopping anticipation, experience and patronage. Practical/managerial implications: Mature shoppers’ expectations exceeded their experiences, suggesting dissatisfaction with some aspects of their experiences. Retailers and shopping mall managers need to redesign malls if they wish to cater for the segment of ageing shoppers and their spending power. Contribution/value-add: The study contributes to the research available in South Africa on service at shopping malls that cater for mature consumers.

Shopping behavior for ADHD drugs: results of a cohort study in a pharmacy database.

Science.gov (United States)

Cepeda, M Soledad; Fife, Daniel; Berwaerts, Joris; Yuan, Yingli; Mastrogiovanni, Greg

2014-09-01

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medications are subject to abuse, misuse, and diversion. Obtaining ADHD prescriptions from multiple prescribers or filled across multiple pharmacies, known as 'doctor shopping', may reflect such unsanctioned use. We sought to create a definition of shopping behavior that differentiated ADHD medications from medications with low risk of diversion, i.e. asthma medications, and describe the incidence, frequency, and demography of shopping behavior. This was a retrospective cohort study in a pharmacy database-LRx-covering 65 % of US retail pharmacies. Subjects had ADHD or asthma medication dispensed between February 2011 and January 2012. We followed subjects for 18 months to assess the number with overlapping dispensings from different prescribers, and the number of prescribers and pharmacies involved in those dispensings. We included 4,402,464 subjects who were dispensed ADHD medications, and 6,128,025 subjects who were dispensed asthma medications. Overlapping prescriptions from two or more prescribers dispensed by three or more pharmacies was four times more frequent in the ADHD cohort than in the asthma cohort. Using this definition, ADHD medication shopping behavior was more common among experienced users than naïve users, and was most common in subjects aged 10-39 years. Among subjects who shopped, 57.4 % shopped only once (accounting for 22.4 % of episodes), and 9.2 % shopped six or more times (accounting for 42.0 % of episodes). Shoppers more often received stimulant ADHD drugs than non-stimulants. Overlapping prescriptions by different prescribers and filled at three or more pharmacies defines ADHD medication shopping. Shopping behavior is most common in adolescents and younger adults. A small proportion of shoppers is responsible for a large number of shopping episodes.

Tightening the Dutch coffee shop policy: Evaluation of the private club and the residence criterion.

Science.gov (United States)

van Ooyen-Houben, Marianne M J; Bieleman, Bert; Korf, Dirk J

2016-05-01

The Dutch coffee shop policy was tightened in 2012. Two additional criteria that coffee shops must adhere to in order for them to be tolerated came into force: the private club and the residence criterion. Coffee shops were only permitted to give access to members and only residents of the Netherlands were permitted to become a member. This tightened policy sought to make coffee shops smaller and more controllable, to reduce the nuisance associated with coffee shops and to reduce the number of foreign visitors attracted by the coffee shops. Enforcement began in the southern provinces. The private club criterion was abolished at the end of 2012. A sample of fourteen municipalities with coffee shops was drawn. Seven in the south were treated as an 'experimental group' and the others as 'comparison group'. A baseline assessment and follow-ups at six and 18 months were performed. A combination of methods was applied: interviews with local experts, surveys with neighbourhood residents, coffee shop visitors and cannabis users, and ethnographic field work. Drugs tourism to coffee shops swiftly declined in 2012. The coffee shops also lost a large portion of their local customers, since users did not want to register as a member. The illegal market expanded. Neighbourhood residents experienced a greater amount of nuisance caused by dealer activities. After abolishment of the private club criterion, residents of the Netherlands largely returned to the coffee shops. Drug tourists still remained largely absent. Neighbourhood residents experienced more nuisance from coffee shops again. Illegal cannabis sale was tempered. No effect on cannabis use was found. The quick and robust shifts in the users' market in reaction to the policy changes illustrate the power of policy, but also the limitations caused by the dynamic and resilient nature of the Dutch cannabis supply market. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Shopping for a safer car

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

This brochure provides some helpful tips on what to look for when shopping for a safer car. Automakers are increasingly advertising the safety features of their cars. The problem is sorting out their claims and zeroing in on the safety features that ...

Preferences of men and women in the Czech Republic when shopping for food

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jana Turčínková

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Buying behavior of men and women shows considerable differences. The individual stages of purchase decision-making process lead to convergence or conversely deepening of these differences. The paper provides results of analysis of chosen aspects of consumer behavior of men and women in the Czech Republic. It focuses on the grocery shopping in small-sized shops. Due to the complexity of the problem the research could not cover all aspects associated with this topic. It identifies who in a household is responsible for grocery shopping, how often and in what quantity of purchases. The paper examines to what extent is a purchase planned and by what a consumer is usually stimulated to an impulsive shopping. Further, it describes factors leading to a choice of shopping place and to a satisfaction with shopping conditions. The primary data was collected through a method of in-depth interviews conducted from January to March 2011 on a sample of 56 respondents in the three smaller stores in the Moravské Budějovice, and via questionnaire survey which took place in all regions of the Czech Republic (n = 5809 among respondents aged 12+. The results confirmed we can observe differences in shopping behavior of women and man, even though the importance of various factors taken into account when making a choice of a particular food product show significant differences from the gender perspective (none of the analyzed factors was found to have higher statistical significance than weak, p < .05. The qualitative research, however, revealed that women tend to make more frequent purchases and keep a certain level of supplies at home, while men tend to leave shopping till it becomes necessary, they are more likely to stick to their shopping list and more loyal to their favorite products. Women are more flexible when in need to replace a missing product with its substitute. The proportion of impulsively purchased items in a shopping basket is higher for women than

Driving online shopping: Spending and behavioral differences among women in Saudi Arabia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Al-maghrabi, T.

2010-01-01

Full Text Available This study proposes a revised technology acceptance model that integrates expectation confirmation theory to measure gender differences with regard to continuance online shopping intentions in Saudi Arabia. The sample consists of 650 female respondents. A structural equation model confirms model fit. Perceived enjoyment, usefulness, and subjective norms are determinants of online shopping continuance in Saudi Arabia. High and low online spenders among women in Saudi Arabia are equivalent. The structural weights are also largely equivalent, but the regression paths from perceived site quality to perceived usefulness is not invariant between high and low e-shoppers in Saudi Arabia. This research moves beyond online shopping intentions and includes factors affecting online shopping continuance. The research model explains 60% of the female respondents’ intention to continue shopping online. Online strategies cannot ignore either the direct and indirect spending differences on continuance intentions, and the model can be generalized across Saudi Arabia.

Generation Y: Online Shopping Behaviour of the Secondary School and University Students

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Petra Krbová