Real Service Research Articles

Erosion behaviour of Fe-Cr-C alloys: Cast alloy versus coating

Abstract: This research focuses on the erosion wear behaviour of two Fe-Cr-C alloys with similar chemical compositions obtained using different production methods. The first alloy belongs to the high chromium cast irons (HCCI). It was made by casting, after which the samples were heat treated by annealing. The second alloy in the form of the coating was applied by the plasma transferred arc (PTA) surface welding process at the substrate material (structural carbon steel). Damage to the components of industrial plants due to erosive and/or abrasive wear is a frequent cause of failure and outages of such systems. For this reason, and to bring the experimental research closer to real service conditions, an erosion test was performed at a gas blast sand facility with a high erodent speed of 90 m/s and a higher feed rate than standard erosion testing parameters recommended in ASTM G76 standard. Microstructural characterisation of all samples was done using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) was used to identify the phases present. Similar erosion mechanisms were observed on all tested specimens, but coated samples (PTA alloy) had a lower mass loss during the erosion test compared to cast samples (HCCI alloy), i.e. they showed better erosion resistance.

Sustainable and resilient strategies for entering international markets for Russian manufacturing companies based on digital platform interactions

The focus of the article is the problem of forming sustainable and resilient (including in the face of external restrictions) strategies for entering international markets for Russian manufacturing companies based on mechanisms of platform interactions, taking into account the fact that in the current conditions of the platform economy, value creation is the result of a new combination of information, physical products and real services provided by various types of complementors. Based on a theoretical review and interviews with a focus group of 23 representatives of Russian manufacturing companies responsible for business development, strategy, IT systems, participation in platforms and digital transformation, the study suggests a typology of internationalization strategies. This typology of strategies for entering international markets for Russian manufacturing companies is proposed based on platform models of interactions to ensure long-term sustainability and resilience. For each of the seven types of strategies, a brief description of the focus and scope of applicability is provided. The author emphasizes the significance of helping manufacturers to understand digital platforms in more details, especially in how they can lead to better flexibility of international production and supply operations.

Digital Twin for Predicting Progressive Damage in Operating Pressure Vessels

According to the definition of the French Alliance “Industry of the Future”, the digital twin is a virtual clone of a physical system or a process. It systematically implies the existence of a "digital model" coupled with the object it copies. Depending on the system concerned and the desired usage, it can be a geometric, multiphysical, functional, behavioral, and decision-making model. It must evolve over time like its real twin. It can be used to improve the control, security and optimization of production lines and factories, digital continuity at the product level, from its design to its end of life, monitoring and predictive maintenance.The digital twin appears as a reliable way to monitor operation, to evaluate the resistance and safety of pressure vessels (PVs) in real service conditions. Via the connected transducers (IoT), we can integration the life cycle information in an automatic data processing module, and finally to capitalize on all this data to optimize the design of new products.To this end, the first objective of the thesis is to contribute to the development of a methodology for real-time assessment of the integrity of pressure vessels, by implementing a predictive maintenance strategy in place of the classical and costly, preventive or curative maintenance, based on IoT and digital twin technologies. The second technological goal of the thesis is to develop methods to optimize and make reliable the design and operation of new generations of pressure structures.

한중 부동산 앱(App) 필터 기능의 UI/UX 비교 연구

Due to language and environmental constraints, Chinese foreign students in Korea use real estate apps as their main means of renting apartments. Real estate apps are the main point of contact in the design of real estate services for international students, and not only can the needs and expectations of the international student community be clarified through the screening function of UI/UX, but also the design features presented by the apps can be reflected in the user experience. Therefore, using literature analysis, case study, and other research methods, we took 다방 and직방 in Korea and shell and Anjuke real estate apps in China as the scope of the study to identify the relationship between service design and UI/UX, as well as the specific differences in the screening functions of real estate apps in the two countries, and further summarize how they affect the user experience in the service design. The study mainly concludes the following: first, there are obvious differences in the layout and form of the screening functions of the two countries' apps, which is the root cause of the inconvenience for international students; second, the two countries have their own strengths in content classification levels and information optimization; and third, the two countries should learn from each other in the form of personalized recommendations, but both countries are very weak in the area of intelligent suggestions, which needs to be further strengthened.

An Impact of Profitability Indicators of Standard Chartered Bank Nepal Limited (SCBL)

This study has complemented in the field of study of the dissertation research results of the study indicated the “Impact of Earning Per Share, Return on Assets, Return on Equity, Net Profit Margin and Price Earnings Ratio on Market Value Per Share of Standard Chartered Bank Nepal Limited (SCBL)” and Standard Chartered Bank Nepal Limited (SCBL) in overall financial profitability position and its statement and financial events in the real service life of service provide bank. This dissertation research report work is different from other research work as this work is on effectiveness utilization and management of profit in the expansion of bank challenges on a particular sector. The main objective of this study is to analyze the trend, structure of Earning Per Share, Return on Assets, Return on Equity, Net Profit Margin and Price Earnings Ratio on Market Value Per Share significance relation through hypothesis and the study made over the period 2017/18 to 2021/22 taken as a sample year. The statistical methods of trend analysis and descriptive statistics like mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation and hypothesis test were used to analyze the study outcomes.

Measurement of the roller tilt angle in a double-row tapered roller bearing with strain gauges

Roller tilting can cause severe roller-edge loadings, leading to serious local heat generation or early failure of the rolling element bearing. Therefore, it is significant to obtain the roller tilt angle in real service for evaluating the bearing performance. A measurement method was proposed to determine the roller tilt angle by detecting the variation of the strain amplitude difference between two axial positions of the bearing outer surface with a notched housing. An experimental system was developed to investigate the roller tilt angles in a double-row tapered roller bearing and demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed measurement method by conducting a comparison with the finite element method (FEM) simulation results. The experimental roller tilt angles agree well with the FEM results. Compared with other measurement methods, the proposed method offers a potential approach to achieve the in-situ and non-destructive measurement of the roller tilt angles for long-term monitoring.

Investigation of the influence of the variable-intensity ultraviolet aging on asphalt properties

Currently, researches related to asphalt UV aging mostly based on constant-intensity UV radiation, which is not consistent with its real service condition. In this study, the variable-intensity and constant-intensity UV radiation conditions were proposed on the principle of constant total radiation. The UV-aged neat asphalt film thickness was 1 mm and 0.5 mm. The temperature sweep, frequency sweep, and multiple stress creep recovery tests were conducted to reveal the rheological properties of UV-aged neat asphalt. Moreover, the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) tests were performed to reveal the microscopic properties of UV-aged asphalt. Regarding the constant-intensity UV-aged asphalt with 1 mm film thickness, the rutting parameter aging index (RPAI) of 9 cycles was smaller than that of RTFO-aged asphalt. The variable-intensity UV aging induced a much larger aging effect than constant-intensity UV aging for UV-aged asphalt. The ISO and ICO under variable-intensity UV aging conditions is higher than constant-intensity UV aging for the same cycles. Besides, the asphalt thickness is an essential element affecting UV aging. The aging effect increased significantly as the film thickness decreased. SEM test results have indicated that the variable-intensity UV aging caused more microscopic morphology damage to asphalt than constant-intensity UV aging. Variable-intensity UV aging test condition proposed in this study is more accurately simulate the real service conditions. It is meaningful to propose the variable-intensity UV aging process. This study provides new ideas for simulating UV aging conditions and methods in the laboratory.

Study on a new index for yellow water problem during source water switch and its application on one real project

The evaluation of yellow water problem in drinking water distribution systems (DWDSs) by Larson ratio, Langlier saturation index is associated with fairly large uncertainty. As the background, one city in East China plans to change its water source from the local River A and River B into a new Lake C. Real servicing pipes were excavated in this city and assembled into 12 pipe section reactors (PSRs). The objectives of this study were to develop a more accurate index to predict the iron release in DWDSs, to verify the validity by simulation experiments with PSRs and to develop the reconditioning measures for the forthcoming source water switching project. A new index called iron stability index (ISI) was proposed by dividing alkalinity with the Larson ratio. Its validity was verified by the data in this study and literatures. ISI present closer linear relationship than that of LR and LSI in the situation where the concentration of anions (chloride and sulfate), and alkalinity in raw water and the switched water change more drastically. The water source switching from the local River A to the new Lake C was predicted not able to bring yellow water problem while that for the local River B to the Lake C has the risk. The water quality reconditioning measures were evaluated to address that concern and applied successfully in this project.

PENGARUH KEPUTUSAN INVESTASI, LIKUIDITAS, UKURAN PERUSAHAAN DAN STRUKTUR MODAL TERHADAP NILAI PERUSAHAAN

The purpose of this study is to identify the factors that influence firm value. This study examines the effect of investment decisions, liquidity, firm size and capital structure on firm value in property and real estate subsector service companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange for the 2020-2022 period. With the purposive sampling method, there were 159 data samples that met the population criteria in this study. Descriptive statistical analysis and multiple linear regression analysis were carried out in this study using the SPSS Statistic 29 data processing application. The results showed that investment decision and liquidity variables had an effect on firm value, while firm size and capital structure had no effect on firm value.

Durability of CFRP strengthened RC beam after six years exposure to natural hygrothermal environment with sustained loads

Exploring the durability of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) strengthened concrete structures is a significant focus in the field of civil engineering. The majority of the present durability studies, which investigate the combined effects of external and environmental loading on CFRP-strengthened concrete structures, are conducted in accelerated aging environments. Nevertheless, this method fails to accurately reflect the real service conditions experienced by these structures in natural hygrothermal environments. In this study, a 6-year-long natural exposure experiment is conducted on CFRP-strengthened reinforced concrete (RC) beams under sustained loads. Additionally, the static and fatigue behavior of the exposed beam is investigated through both experimental and theoretical methods. The results indicated that the ultimate load of CFRP-strengthened RC beam remained unchanged after 6 years of natural exposure, as compared to that of non-exposed beams. However, noticeable changes were observed in their fatigue performance. The fatigue life decreased by 30 %, 75 %, and 86 % at loading levels of 0.60, 0.65, and 0.72, respectively. The fatigue limit decreased by 10 % and exhibited a dense distribution of cracks. Meanwhile, a fatigue life prediction model for RC structures strengthened with CFRP after long-term exposure to natural hygrothermal environment was established. In this model, the degradation of the CFRP-concrete interface behavior was considered. Through finite element analysis, two failure modes were predicted: fracture of the main reinforcement and the CFRP-concrete interface debonding failure under fatigue load. The corresponding fatigue life times were calculated. This model agrees well with the experimental findings.

When Language Matters

Abstract Text analysis is increasingly used for consumer and marketing insight. But while work has shed light on what firms should say to customers, when to say those things (e.g., within an advertisement or sales interaction) is less clear. Service employees, for example, could adopt a certain speaking style at a conversation's start, end, or throughout. When might specific language features be beneficial? This article introduces a novel approach to address this question. To demonstrate its potential, we apply it to warm and competent language. Prior research suggests that an affective (i.e., warm) speaking approach leads customers to think employees are less competent, so a cognitive (competent) style should be prioritized. In contrast, our theorizing, analysis of hundreds of real service conversations from two firms across thousands of conversational moments (N = 23,958), and four experiments (total N = 1,589) offer a more nuanced perspective. Customers are more satisfied when employees use both cognitive and affective language but at separate, specific times. Ancillary analyses show how this method can be applied to other language features. Taken together, this work offers a method to explore when language matters, sheds new light on the warmth/competence trade-off, and highlights ways to improve the customer experience.

A New Theory of Damage Estimation and Fatigue Life Prediction

There are a considerable number of fatigue damage estimation theories and fatigue life prediction of mechanical components. The most popular one is Palmgren-Minor (P-M) theory. This theory has been used in the standards for selecting the bearing –as a component subject to fatigue loading- and for expecting the bearings lives. In Wind Turbine Gearboxes (WTGs), the bearings were selected to be without maintenance for 20 to 25 years; however, in real service life, the bearing suffer from premature failure within a life span of quite less than the design life (1 to 5 years). A new applicable methodology and a procedure of calculation for damage estimation due to fatigue loading and predicting the life has been suggested and tested. Results of 20 rolling and sliding tests which conducted under severe contact loading are used to test this method. The suggested method depends on calculating the number of operating cycles under a specific contact loading level to an equivalent number of loading cycles under the average loading level. This method depends on the area under the S-N curve without any correction or loading factors and can be used to predict the WTG bearings failure to manage the maintenance because the current life prediction standards have very high percentages of error (> 400%). The reliability of this approach can be further verified by utilizing actual operational data from Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), used for overseeing wind turbine operations. Additional examinations are necessary to confirm the dependability of this novel method.

Pelatihan Manajemen Pengelolaan Sampah di Desa Sumberagung Mantup Lamongan

This Real Work Lecture (KKN) and Community Service Program (PPM) broadly aim to provide insight, education and skills in the field of empowerment and training in dealing with problems in the community, one of which is waste management. Garbage is a part of human life. Garbage is an object / residual substance that is not used. Garbage should receive serious attention and handling. However, due to the lack of understanding of the community and the government, as well as the lack of costs and income for most people, this waste problem has been neglected. Currently, most people are aware of the bad effects of waste, including causing flooding, disease and odors that can interfere with life, but this is not balanced by the behavior of the people themselves. The purpose of this study is to try to find a way out of environmental sanitation problems, especially waste management in rural areas. This research was conducted in Sumberagung Village, Mantup District, Lamongan Regency with a population of 1,853 people. The data sources of this research are the heads of families from RT 1-5 Dsn. GempolWaru, namely 810 families. The members of the research sample amounted to 310 families. Collecting research data obtained primary and secondary. The results of the research that the authors get are a picture of good knowledge, fairly good attitudes and poor behavior from the people of Sumberagung Village towards waste. From the research conducted by the author, it can be concluded that the people of Sumberagung Village have good knowledge about waste, a fairly good attitude towards waste, but poor behavior towards waste, due to lack of attention from the local government which should be able to follow up on waste problems.

Extrapolation of real service loads to longer periods

Extrapolation of real service loads to longer periods

The Subprime Mortgage Crisis

This study is an analysis of the causes and effects of the subprime mortgage crisis with a specific focus on the role that residential segregation and discriminatory practices played and the impact that the financial crisis had on the American South. The project delves into the inner workings behind the financial crisis and the distinctive roles of mortgage lenders, investment banks, and other financial institutions in the magnification and extension of credit risk around the world through the United States' housing and financial markets.
 Many college professors were interviewed for this project, including Gary Hoover, a professor at Tulane University and the Executive Director of the Murphy Institute. He was also invited to speak at the first Nobel Peace Prize Summit to speak on the subject of the "Economics of Inequality." Two other professors who were interviewed for the article are Daniel Keniston, an assoicate professor at LSU's Department of Economics, and Brian Andrews, a senior instructor in LSU's Department of Finance, Executive Director of LSU's Real Estate Research Institute and Commerical Banking Initiative, and the Principal of Andrews Commercial Real Estate Services.
 The purpose of this project is to discover the most critical effects of the financial breakdown, the extent to which repercussions were disproportionate in Black and other minority communities, and the social outcomes of the subprime mortgage crisis on the American South. This study delves into an important piece of American history and attempts to uncover the subtleties of the U.S. housing and financial markets.

Woman Economic Activist Melirik Pengabdian Perempuan Fatayat NU Kota Surabaya

In raising the organization of girls in Nahdlatul Ulama Association, women can have a very important role and function in determining the activities and programs that suit the needs of women themselves, whether as a companion husband or role model for their sons and daughters as well as community service, especially in leadership in the family or in general in this beloved country, which is evidence that women play such an important role in building the nation. The girls' activity program of the Nahdelatul Ulama Association in Surabaya for the period 2015-2020 helped to enhance the role of women in the service of society in general. The programme of activities outlined in the outline of the Programme of Action has been realized in terms of real value in social life The women girls of the Nahdlatul Ulama Association in Surabaya City have great commitment and dedication to performing real service, so that they can participate in filling various areas of life with its various problems. Share this service in the meaning of the acculturation framework for religion, social, cultural, as well as economics. A good and correct understanding pattern in religion can generate and achieve good and sustainable benefit. The acceptance of the award as a companion in accelerating the trauma of the victims of the terrorist bombing in Surabaya, presented by the Mayor of Surabaya on November 10, 2019, is proof that the girls of the Association for the Renaissance of Scholars in the city of Surabaya have performed his services to the country

Functional suitability assessment of smart contracts: A survey and first proposal

AbstractBlockchain is a cross‐cutting technology allowing interactions among untrusted entities in a distributed manner without the need for involving a trusted third party. Smart contracts (i.e., programs running on the blockchain) enabled organizations to envision and implement solutions to real‐world problems in less cost and time. Given the immutability of blockchain and the lack of best practices for properly designing and developing smart contracts, it is crucial to assure smart contract quality before deployment. With the help of an exploratory survey involving developers and researchers, this paper identifies the practices and tools used to develop, implement, and evaluate smart contracts. The survey received 55 valid responses. Such responses indicate that (i) inefficiencies may occur during the development cycle of a smart contract, especially regarding requirements specification, design, and testing phases, and (ii) the lack of a shared standard to evaluate the functional quality of implemented smart contracts. To start coping with these issues, the adoption of functional suitability assessment measures recommended by the ISO/IEC 25000 standard, widely used in software engineering, is proposed by adapting them to the context of smart contracts. Through some examples, the manuscript also illustrates how to measure the functional completeness and correctness of smart contracts. The proposed procedure to measure smart contract functional suitability brings advantages to both developers and users of decentralized finance or non‐fungible tokens platforms, data marketplaces, or shipping and real estate services, just to mention a few. In particular, it helps (i) better outline the responsibilities of smart contracts, (ii) uncover errors and deficiencies of smart contracts in the early stages, and (iii) ensure that the established requirements are met.

Investigation on the high-temperature stability and fatigue behavior of cold mixed epoxy asphalt mixture with different gradations

Cold mixed epoxy asphalt mixture (CMEAM) is widely applied on steel deck bridge pavements due to its excellent high temperature and fatigue resistance. However, previous studies investigated above two properties through destructive test or without considering water-damage factor, respectively, which is far away from real servicing condition. To distinguish above two properties of EA-05 and EA-10 (mixture with nominal maximum particle size of 4.75 mm and 9.5 mm), uniaxial static creep tests, dynamic modulus test and four-point bending beam fatigue test were applied in this paper. At the same time, to comprehensively acquire elastic, viscous-elastic and plastic performance of CMEAM, four kinds of constitutive models were also put forward. Results showed that seven-element viscous-elastic-plastic creep model has the highest correlation coefficients which proves there exists plastic deformation in CMEAM. Meanwhile, EA-10 is likely to present viscous-elastic deformation while EA-05 is more likely to show plastic deformation. Dynamic modulus among different gradation type mixture at 40 °C is not so apparent. But with the increase of frequency and testing temperature, this difference would be clear. The middle gradation of EA-10 has the most excellent high temperature stability under dynamic load. In terms of the resistance to fatigue damage of control or freeze-thaw treated samples, EA-05-U(the upper limit of EA-05 gradation type) always takes the first place and has the lowest sensitivity to the change of stress level and water damage.

Costing analysis of a point-of-care drug checking program in Rhode Island

BackgroundDrug checking is a harm reduction strategy that provides greater awareness and information about the drug supply to the community. While fentanyl test strips are low-cost and available in most parts of the U.S., community-based organizations are considering using more sophisticated technologies, such as Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to test drugs. FTIR can detect multiple substances in a non-destructive manner that can be rapidly communicated to the end user by a trained technician, however implementation costs in community-based settings have not been assessed. MethodsWe conducted a costing analysis of a new pilot drug checking service that employed an FTIR spectrometer, fentanyl test strips and confirmatory testing in Rhode Island from January 2023-May 2023. We used microcosting methods to determine the overall cost during this period and cost per drug checked, reflecting realistic service capacity. ResultsAmong 101 drug samples that were voluntarily submitted and tested, 53% tested positive for fentanyl, 39% for cocaine, 9% for methamphetamine and 13% for xylazine, a powerful sedative. The total cost during this period was $71,044 and the cost per drug checked was $474, though sensitivity analyses indicated that the cost would rise to $78,058 - $83,058 or $544 - $593 for programs needing to pay for specialized training. ConclusionsThese findings demonstrate feasibility and inform the resources needed to scale-up drug checking services to reduce overdose risk.

Network design with route planning for battery electric high-speed passenger vessel services

This paper studies the Zero Emission passenger Vessel Service Network Design Problem (ZEVSNDP) in order to investigate how technical and economic challenges related to diffusion of battery electric vessels can be alleviated by appropriate planning of services. The ZEVSNDP considers decisions that are strategic (i.e., vessel fleet and charging locations), tactical (i.e., routes, whether to omit servicing ports, fleet deployment, and operating frequencies), as well as operational (i.e., passenger flow, sailing speeds, and scheduling decisions). A novel Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) model considering operator and passenger costs is proposed for the ZEVSNDP. Since the MIP model cannot be solved to optimality by a commercial solver except for tiny instances, we implement a heuristic Decomposition Based (DB) solution method. The DB solution method is applied to a real complex passenger vessel service in Florø, Norway, as well as two other test instances focusing on short-range transport and dense markets, respectively. Except for the short-range test instance, abatement costs (i.e., the costs of removing CO2 emissions by introducing battery electric vessels) are found to be significant. This is attributed to limited reach and time used for charging of battery electric vessels. Routes should consequently accommodate range limitations: omitting ports from the current route can be a cost-effective strategy when the cost of alternative transport for the passengers is moderate.