Determinants of customer behavioural responses: A pilot study

The paper aims at exploring a small sample data on the determinants of customer behavioural responses in the Nigerian retail banking. Hence, instrument validity, reliability and subsequently the data normality were examined through panel of expert and also by analysing small sample data with aid of SPSS software. Results show that the instrument is reliable and the data for preliminary study exhibit reasonable normality.The research explored and validated the instrument of the various antecedents of consumer behavioural responses most of which were hitherto ignored

Assessment of Sri Petaling Landfill Towards Pollution in an Unconfined Aquifer

An investigation on the extent of leachate from a landfill towards the surface and groundwater pollution was carried out using resistivity imaging survey. Aquifer parameters determined were porosity, hydraulic conductivity, resistivity and the associated fonnation factor. The aquifer type was indicated to be an unconfined. It was covered with a superficial layer of hard materials ranged in thickness between 1 and 2 m with high resistivity ranged from 87 to 1726 Om. The depth to the aquifer from the surface ranged between 1 and 3 m. The aquifer materials having variable resistivity values ranged between 15 and 150 Om, and associated porosity values ranged between 18 and 35%. The aquifer thickness ranged between 14 to 47 m. The bed rock ranged in resistivity between 48.6 and >9329 Om and has irregular topography, and its depth from the surface ranged from 20 to 38 m. Resistivity values of rock samples varied between 39 and 1238 Om, while for soil samples between 9 and 74 Om. The hydraulic conductivity varied between 0.8 x 10⁻⁸ and 11x 10⁻⁸ mlsec for rock samples and between 5.2 x 10⁻⁷ and 23.1 x 10⁻⁷ mlsec for soil samples. The subsurface porosity distribution of the fonnation along each line of resistivity survey was also established. Within the landfill groundwater flow was estimated towards the downstream area. Leachate production was interpreted from the resistivity survey lines within the landfill. The leachate migrated following the ground water flow patterns from east to west and from north to south directions. The leachate movement towards the downstream as interpreted from resistivity survey lines was supported by the results of the groundwater chemistry. Chemical analysis of the groundwater revealed that the pH was slightly alkaline downstream (8.1) compared to acidic pH at the upstream bore hole. The Na, K, Ca, Cl concentrations and EC were statistically significant in the downstream area. These results supported the fact of inorganic pollution in the area. No sign of heavy metals pollution in the surface and groundwater. The resistivity survey was also used to interpret the IDS distribution within the landfill and in the regional area. The TDS distribution indicated high ion (up to 1 5435 mgll) concentration within the landfill. These high IDS amounts verified the waste decomposition, leachate production and inorganic pollution within the landfill body. Soil exchangeable bases were significantly higher in the downstream saturated zone compared to the vadose zone. With the exception of Cd, the concentration ranges of all trace elements (Cu, Zn, Cr, Pb, and Ni) of the landfill soils were below the upper limits of baseline concentrations as published from different sources

Boundary Interference Assessment and Correction for Open Jet Wind Tunnels Using Panel Methods

The presence of nearby boundaries in a wind tunnel can lead to aerodynamic measurements on a model in the wind tunnel that differ from those that would be made when the boundaries of the moving fluid were infinitely far away. The differences, referred to as boundary interference or wall interference, can be quite large, such as when testing aircraft models developing high lift forces, or whose wingspan is a large fraction of the wind tunnel width, or high drag models whose frontal area is a large fraction of the tunnel cross section. Correction techniques for closed test section (solid walled) wind tunnels are fairly well developed, but relatively little recent work has addressed the case of open jet tunnels specifically for aeronautical applications. A method to assess the boundary interferences for open jet test sections is introduced. The main objective is to overcome some of the limitations in the classical and currently used methods for aeronautical and automotive wind tunnels, particularly where the levels of interference are large and distortion of the jet boundary becomes significant. The starting point is to take advantage of two well-developed approaches used in closed wall test sections, namely the boundary measurement approach and adaptive wall wind tunnels. A low-order panel code is developed because it offers a relatively efficient approach from the computational point of view, within the required accuracy. It also gives the method more flexibility to deal with more complex model geometries and test section cross sections. The method is first compared to the method of images. Several lifting and non-lifting model representations are used for both two- and three-dimensional studies. Then the method is applied to results of a test of a full-scale Wright Flyer replica inside the Langley Full Scale Tunnel. The study is extended to include the effect of model representation and the test section boundaries (closed, open and 3/4 open) on the interference. The method is also used during a test of full scale NASCAR inside the NASA Langley Research Center 14- by 22- Foot Subsonic Wind Tunnel. This part includes the effects of test section length and the inclusion of the nozzle in the solution on the predicted boundary interference. Finally, a test is conducted at the 1/15th scale Langley Full Scale Tunnel using a generic automotive model ( Davis model) to validate the prediction of the boundary distortion and to investigate the effect of the collector. The developed method showed reliability when compared to the classical method of images. Through the studied wind tunnel tests, the method showed enough flexibility to be applied to solve both aeronautical and automotive models and several test section configurations with a reasonable computational efficiency

Hermite-Hadamard, Hermite-Hadamard-Fejer, Dragomir-Agarwal and Pachpatte Type Inequalities for Convex Functions via Fractional Integrals

The aim of this paper is to establish Hermite-Hadamard, Hermite-Hadamard-Fej\'er, Dragomir-Agarwal and Pachpatte type inequalities for new fractional integral operators with exponential kernel. These results allow us to obtain a new class of functional inequalities which generalizes known inequalities involving convex functions. Furthermore, the obtained results may act as a useful source of inspiration for future research in convex analysis and related optimization fields.Comment: 14 pages, to appear in Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematic

Glass Selection for High-rise Residential Buildings in the United Arab Emirates Based on Life Cycle Cost Analysis

AbstractThe architect's decision to select a glass type for a high rise building has significant impact on both the initial and the running cost of a building. This is particularly the case with many of the new buildings that have a high window-to- wall ratio (WWR). While several competing factors impact the architect's decision, this study supports such a decision for buildings in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by focusing on the relationship between the glass thermal characteristics and its cost. At this stage of the study, it uses a typical 30 story residential building with a WWR of 50% and a north-south orientation. An energy simulation modelling tool is used to provide data on the impact of different types of glass on the cooling load and hence the energy consumption. The cost and thermal properties of used glass types are those that actually exist in the market of the UAE. The study considers the different energy price structure in different parts of the country. Using both the simple payback period and the life cycle cost reduction techniques, optimal glass thermal properties are identified

A Survey on some date palm orchards parameters applicable in date palm mechanization

The aim of this work is determination a several date palm related-information to be utilized in designing of date palm service machines. Different parameters were collected from 37 farms in Biskra province, due its importance in Algerian dates production, such as: height of trees (to crown), circumferences of trees and position of the dates bunch in the tree, number of tractor, irrigation mode. According to the results of this survey, several points were defined applicable in date palm mechanization, such as the machine work height must reach up 8 m higher, in minimum and the irrigation channels and the intercropping are, generally, along the rows which facility the displacement of wheeled machine