• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.23-34
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• 2023

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify factors affecting satisfaction as well as the intention of Gen Z customers to reorder food online in the context of a crisis. Research design, data and methodology: Data for this cross-sectional study were collected via the Internet by conducting an online survey of 652 Gen Z respondents, aged 15-25, in the south of Vietnam and using a convenience sampling method. To analyse the reliability of the scales, SPSS was used to run Cronbach's alpha. Then, SmartPLS was used to assess the measurement model, including variable reliability and validity, convergent validity, and discriminant validity of the proposed model, as well as test the hypotheses with partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Results: Social influence, price value, and convenience all have a positive effect on satisfaction and repurchase intention. Satisfaction not only plays a critical role in mediating the relationship between social influence, price value, convenience and repurchase intention but also has a positive impact on repurchase intention towards buying food online. Conclusions: This study was successful in identifying the factors of repurchase intention in a crisis setting among Gen Z customers by developing a theoretical research model via literature to complete a brief Theory of Planned Behaviour model. This study also took an innovative approach to earlier ones by demonstrating not just the significant effect of social influence on satisfaction and repurchase intention, but also by identifying critical variables that managers should focus on increasing and improving management.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.11
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• pp.3983-3995
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• 2023

In fast reactors, restructuring of the fuel micro-structure driven by high temperature and high temperature gradient can cause the formation of columnar grains. The non-spheroidal shape and the non-uniform temperature field in such columnar grains implies that standard models for fission gas diffusion can not be applied. To tackle this issue, we present a reduced order model for the fission gas diffusion process which is applicable in different geometries and with non-uniform temperature fields, maintaining a computational requirement in line with its application in fuel performance codes. This innovative application of reduced order models as meso-scale tools within fuel performance codes represents a first-of-a-kind achievement that can be extended beyond fission gas behaviour.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.58-68
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• 2011

As part of basic studies of monitoring carbon dioxide ($CO_2$) storage using electrical and seismic surveys, laboratory experiments have been conducted to measure resistivity and P-wave velocity changes due to the injection of $CO_2$ into water-saturated sandstone. The rock sample used is a cylinder of Berea sandstone. $CO_2$ was injected under supercritical conditions (10 MPa, $40^{\circ}C$). The experimental results show that resistivity increases monotonously throughout the injection period, while P-wave velocity and amplitude decrease drastically due to the supercritical $CO_2$ injection. A reconstructed P-wave velocity tomogram clearly images $CO_2$ migration in the sandstone sample. Both resistivity and seismic velocity are useful for monitoring $CO_2$ behaviour. P-wave velocity, however, is less sensitive than resistivity when the $CO_2$ saturation is greater than ~20%. The result indicates that the saturation estimation from resistivity can effectively complement the difficulty of $CO_2$ saturation estimations from seismic velocity variations. By combining resistivity and seismic velocity we were able to estimate $CO_2$ saturation distribution and the injected $CO_2$ behaviour in our sample.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.92-113
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• 2000

Products liability refers to the liability of any or all parties along the chain of manufacture of any product for damage caused by that product. This includes the manufacturer of component parts (at the top of the chain), an assembling manufacturer, the wholesaler, and the retail store owner (at the bottom of the chain). Products containing inherent defects that cause harm to a consumer of the product, or someone to whom the product was loaned, given, etc., are the subjects of products liability suits. The goal of products liability system should be to maximize consumer welfare by efficiently providing just compensation for injuries incurred and deterring future injuries without unreasonably impeding the supply of the goods and services to consumers. Some advanced countries, apart from relying on products liability systems, also apply other policies and legislation directly aimed at the safety of the consumer. The application of general safety policies as well as products liability rules is not costless. An efficient system will not eliminate risk from society. An efficient system ... that maximises consumer welfare ... maximises the benefits while minimising the costs. Products liability claims can be based on negligence, strict liability, or breach of warranty of fitness depending on the jurisdiction where the claim is based. In view of international business and law circumstances, it should be stressed that international enterprises in Korea should consider how to cope with the situation of international transaction. International enterprises should have a correct perception about products liability which is to contribute the stabilization and improvement of the people's life and the sound develpement of the national economy. Products liability system creates incentives that influence behaviour and performance in ways that are desirable, such as more diligent monitoring to prevent defective products from reaching the market-place. At the same time, any liability system will impose burdens that are undesirable, such as greater costs imposed on business and consumers and reduced avaiability of consumer goods. The concern for society is to balance. The ideal situation is where the cost imposed on producers of goods and services pushes them to a desirable level of care but not so far that producers reach undesirable level of caution that may deprive consumers unnecessarily of the benefits from new and innovative products.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.29-62
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• 2001

Based on the results from investigation of behaviour of pulverized fly ashes (PFA) at laboratory and field, the way how to reduce the environmental impacts to geotechnical practices Is considered and described. In order to reduce discharged industrial by-products, it should primarily be emphasized that an effort are made as much as possible not to put into homing. Secondarily, an effort must be made to increase amount of utilization to geotechnical engineering practices. In addition, from an environmental point of view, we should challenge to create innovative materials which are eligible for controlling other wastes and remedying contamination m soils by using industrial byproducts which belong to wastes This Is a new concept in which the polluting materials can be eliminated by making use of wastes. Based on the above-stated concept, the previous and possible utilization of PFA is classified into: (1 ) reclamation, embankment or backfill material, (2) light weight geo-material, (8) soil stabilization/improvement, and (4) environmental material. The reason why PFA, in particular, slurry PFA has been used and will possibly be used more widely is due to the fact that PFA has the advantages : (i) low specific gravity leading to a light weight geomaterial, (ii) high pozzolanic activity enhancing strength, especially due to cement addition, and (iii) spherical shape of particles producing isotropy and then pumpability. As well as the concept of reducing geo-environmental impacts, the present text mainly describes the successful results at laboratory and field which have been obtained by the authors. The most important issue hi application of byproducts including PFA for geotechnical practices is to prevent leakage of polluted substances from sedimentary deposits, ground and earth structures. As one of possible techniques far achieving this purpose, a method of washing off the polluted substances by hot water is described.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.69-77
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• 2018

The use of membrane as an innovative technology for water treatment process has now widely been accepted and adopted to replace the conventional water treatment process in increasing fresh water production for various domestic and industrial purposes. In this study, ultrafiltration (UF) membranes with different formulation were fabricated via phase inversion method. The membranes were fabricated by varying the polymer concentration (16 wt%, 18 wt%, 20 wt%, and 21 wt%). A series of tests, such as field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), pore size and porosity, contact angle, and zeta potential were performed to characterize the membranes. The membrane performance in terms of permeation flux and rejection were evaluated using a laboratory bench-scale test unit with mine water, lake water and tube well as model feed solution. Long hour filtration study of the membranes provides the information on its fouling property. Few pore blocking mechanism models were proposed to examine the behaviour of flux reduction and to estimate the fouling parameters based on different degree of fouling. 21 wt% PVDF membrane with smaller membrane pore size showed an excellent performance for surface water treatment in which the treated water complied with NWQS class II standard.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.319-332
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• 2019

This study is aimed to predict the behaviour of channel shear connectors in composite floor systems at different temperatures. For this purpose, a soft computing approach is adopted. Two novel intelligence methods, including an Extreme Learning Machine (ELM) and a Genetic Programming (GP), are developed. In order to generate the required data for the intelligence methods, several push-out tests were conducted on various channel connectors at different temperatures. The dimension of the channel connectors, temperature, and slip are considered as the inputs of the models, and the strength of the connector is predicted as the output. Next, the performance of the ELM and GP is evaluated by developing an Artificial Neural Network (ANN). Finally, the performance of the ELM, GP, and ANN is compared with each other. Results show that ELM is capable of achieving superior performance indices in comparison with GP and ANN in the case of load prediction. Also, it is found that ELM is not only a very fast algorithm but also a more reliable model.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.383-400
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• 2024

For a conventionally repaired frame-supported-transfer-slab (FSTS) reinforced concrete (RC) structure, both the transfer slab and the beam-to-column and transfer slab-to-column joints remain vulnerable to secondary earthquakes. Aimed at improving the seismic performance of a damaged FSTS RC structure, an innovative retrofitting scheme is proposed, which adopts the sector lead rubber dampers (SLRDs) at joints after the damaged FSTS RC structure is repaired by conventional approaches. In this paper, a series of quasi-static cyclic tests was conducted on a large-scale retrofitted FSTS RC structure. The seismic performance was evaluated and the key test results, including deformation characteristics, damage pattern, hysteretic behaviour, bearing capacity and strains on key components, were reported in detail. The test results indicated that the SLRDs started to dissipate energy under the service level earthquake, and thus prevented damages on the beam-to-column and transfer slab-to-column joints during the secondary earthquakes and shifted the plastic hinges away from the beam ends. The retrofitting scheme of using SLRDs also achieved the seismic design concept of 'strong joint, weak component'. The FSTS RC structure retrofitted by the SLRDs could recover more than 85% bearing capacity of its undamaged counterpart. The hysteresis curves were featured by the inverse "S" shape, indicating good bearing capacity and hysteresis performance. The deformation capacity of the damaged FSTS RC structure retrofitted by the SLRDs met the corresponding codified requirements for the case of the maximum considered earthquake, as set out in the Chinese seismic design code. The stability of the FSTS RC structure retrofitted by the SLRDs, which was revealed by the developed stains of the RC frame and transfer slab, was improved compared with the undamaged FSTS RC structure.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.603-617
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• 2017

This paper presents investigation into the behavior of beam-column joints, with the joint region concrete being replaced by steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) and by ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC). A total of ten beam-column joint specimens (BCJ) were tested experimentally to failure under monotonic and cyclic loading, with the beam section being subjected to flexural loading and the column to combined flexural and axial loading. The joint region essentially transferred shear and axial stresses as received from the column. Steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) and ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) were used as an innovative construction and/or strengthening scheme for some of the BCJ specimens. The reinforced concrete specimens were reinforced with longitudinal steel rebar, 18 mm, and some specimens were reinforced with an additional two ties in the joint region. The results showed that using SFRC and UHPC as a replacement concrete for the BCJ improved the joint shear strength and the load carrying capacity of the hybrid specimens. The mode of failure was also converted from a non-desirable joint shear failure to a preferred beam flexural failure. The effect of the ties in the SFRC and UHPC joint regions could not be observed due to the beam flexural failure. Several models were used in estimating the joint shear strength for different BCJ specimens. The results showed that the existing models yielded wide-ranging values. A new concept to take into account the influence of column axial load on the shear strength of beam-column joints is also presented, which demonstrates that the recommended values for concrete tensile strength for determination of joint shear strength need to be amended for joints subject to moderate to high axial loads. Furthermore, finite element model (FEM) simulation to predict the behaviour of the hybrid BCJ specimens was also carried out in an ABAQUS environment. The result of the FEM modelling showed good agreement with experimental results.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.10-18
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• 2006

We measured the changes in P-wave velocity that occur when injecting $CO_2$ in gaseous, liquid, and supercritical phases into water-saturated anisotropic sandstones. P-wave velocities were measured in two cylindrical samples of Tako Sandstone, drilled along directions normal and parallel to the bedding plane, using a piezo-electric transducer array system. The velocity changes caused by $CO_2$ injection are typically -6% on average, with maximum values about -16% for the case of supercritical $CO_2$ injection. P-wave velocity tomograms obtained by the differential arrival-time method clearly show that $CO_2$ migration behaviour is more complex when $CO_2$ flows normal to the bedding plane than when it flows parallel to bedding. We also found that the differences in P-wave velocity images were associated both with the $CO_2$ phases and with heterogeneity of pore distribution in the rocks. Seismic images showed that the highest velocity reduction occurred for supercritical $CO_2$ injection, compared with gaseous or liquid $CO_$ injection. This result may justify the use of the seismic method for $CO_2$ monitoring in geological sequestration.