Baltimore Red Line Project: An Overview of the Cooks Lane Tunnel

The Maryland Transit Administration’s Baltimore Red Line is a proposed 14.1-mile east-west Light Rail Transit (LRT) line connecting the areas of Woodlawn, Edmondson Village, West Baltimore, downtown Baltimore, Inner Harbour East, Fells Point, Canton and the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Centre Campus. Red Line has two tunnel segments namely, the Downtown and the Cooks Lane Tunnels. The Cooks Lane Tunnel (CLT) is the shorter of the two tunnels and will connect the proposed at-grade LRT segment running alongside I-70 with the at-grade LRT segment along Edmondson Avenue. The western CLT portal will be west of the intersection of North Forest Park Avenue and Cooks Lane and the eastern portal will be in the median of Edmondson Avenue close to the intersection with Cooks Lane. The length of the CLT is approximately 7,100 feet inclusive of the cut-and-cover and retained cut sections at both ends. The proposed CLT will be excavated below water table and in a variety of ground conditions ranging from soft ground to competent rock. Variable geotechnical conditions, mixed-face tunnel excavation, tunneling adjacent to the existing buildings and utilities, and cut-and-cover construction in urban environment characterize the design challenges of the CLT. This paper presents the design approach for the Preliminary Engineering of the CLT and describes the current proposed design and construction methodology. Different alternatives for the CLT including double-track large-diameter TBM-bored tunnel, single-track twin TBM-bored tunnels, and mined (NATM) tunnel are discussed in this paper. The paper also discusses ground water control during construction, tunnel muck removal, and brief description on numerical modeling and tunnel structural design

Perceived quality and emotional value among Iranian consumers’ strategies

The purpose of this paper is to examine the direct and indirect effects of product-oriented variables (i.e. customer`s need for uniqueness (NFU), and attitudes toward Korean products), and brand-specific variables (i.e. perceived quality and emotional value) on purchase intention toward a US brand versus a local brand that are available in the Iran market.  Data obtained from 142 consumers in Iran were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). This study finds that Iranian consumers' need for uniqueness positively influences attitudes toward Korean products. Attitudes toward Korean products positively affect perceived quality and emotional value for a foreign brand in a better way. Also By increasing acceptance of perceived quality and emotional value of foreign brands consumers are more motivated to buy foreign brands.  As Iran is witnessing multitude of US retailers in its market, this paper aids in the better understanding of the Iranian consumers and their perceptions toward US and local home appliances brands

Perceived quality and emotional value among Iranian consumers’ strategies

The purpose of this paper is to examine the direct and indirect effects of product-oriented variables (i.e. customer`s need for uniqueness (NFU), and attitudes toward Korean products), and brand-specific variables (i.e. perceived quality and emotional value) on purchase intention toward a US brand versus a local brand that are available in the Iran market.  Data obtained from 142 consumers in Iran were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). This study finds that Iranian consumers' need for uniqueness positively influences attitudes toward Korean products. Attitudes toward Korean products positively affect perceived quality and emotional value for a foreign brand in a better way. Also By increasing acceptance of perceived quality and emotional value of foreign brands consumers are more motivated to buy foreign brands.  As Iran is witnessing multitude of US retailers in its market, this paper aids in the better understanding of the Iranian consumers and their perceptions toward US and local home appliances brands

Perceived quality and emotional value among Iranian consumers’ strategies

The purpose of this paper is to examine the direct and indirect effects of product-oriented variables (i.e. customer`s need for uniqueness (NFU), and attitudes toward Korean products), and brand-specific variables (i.e. perceived quality and emotional value) on purchase intention toward a US brand versus a local brand that are available in the Iran market.  Data obtained from 142 consumers in Iran were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). This study finds that Iranian consumers' need for uniqueness positively influences attitudes toward Korean products. Attitudes toward Korean products positively affect perceived quality and emotional value for a foreign brand in a better way. Also By increasing acceptance of perceived quality and emotional value of foreign brands consumers are more motivated to buy foreign brands.  As Iran is witnessing multitude of US retailers in its market, this paper aids in the better understanding of the Iranian consumers and their perceptions toward US and local home appliances brands

Perceived quality and emotional value among Iranian consumers’ strategies

The purpose of this paper is to examine the direct and indirect effects of product-oriented variables (i.e. customer`s need for uniqueness (NFU), and attitudes toward Korean products), and brand-specific variables (i.e. perceived quality and emotional value) on purchase intention toward a US brand versus a local brand that are available in the Iran market.  Data obtained from 142 consumers in Iran were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). This study finds that Iranian consumers' need for uniqueness positively influences attitudes toward Korean products. Attitudes toward Korean products positively affect perceived quality and emotional value for a foreign brand in a better way. Also By increasing acceptance of perceived quality and emotional value of foreign brands consumers are more motivated to buy foreign brands.  As Iran is witnessing multitude of US retailers in its market, this paper aids in the better understanding of the Iranian consumers and their perceptions toward US and local home appliances brands

A hybrid model of QFD, SERVQUAL and KANO to increase bank's capabilities

In global market, factors such as precedence of competitors extending shave on market, promoting quality of services and identifying customers' needs are important. This paper attempts to identify strategic services in one of the biggest governmental banks in Iran called Melli bank for getting competition merit using Kano and SERVQUAL compound models and to extend operation quality and to provide suitable strategies. The primary question of this paper is on how to introduce high quality services in this bank. The proposed model of this paper uses a hybrid of three quality-based methods including SERVQUAL, QFD and Kano models. Statistical society in this article is all clients and customers of Melli bank who use this banks' services and based on random sampling method, 170 customers were selected. The study was held in one of provinces located in west part of Iran called Semnan. Research findings show that Melli banks' customers are dissatisfied from the quality of services and to solve this problem the bank should do some restructuring to place some special characteristics to reach better operation at the heed of its affairs. The characteristics include, in terms of their priorities, possibility of transferring money by sale terminal, possibility of creating wireless pos, accelerating in doing bank works, getting special merits to customers who use electronic services, eliminating such bank commission, solving problems in least time as disconnecting system, possibility of receiving foreign exchange by ATM and suitable parking in city

Relationship of Pears’ Dielectric Properties and Rates of Pears’ Bruise

Nowadays, dielectric materials, as one of the nondestructive methods, have drawn the researchers’ attention to their diverse array of advantages to the other methods. Before loading and storage, 120 pears were examined under CT-Scan and 81 pears with zero bruise were selected followed by subjecting them to quasi-static and dynamic loading and a 10 day storage period was chosen to investigate the bruise levels and their relationships with dielectric constant. At the end of the storage period, the fruits were measured in their dielectric constant after their bruise levels were determined in CT-Scans. The measurements were undertaken in capacitor plate distances of 8, 11 and 14 cm for input voltages of 6, 10 and 14 V and input voltage frequencies of 20, 60 and 100 KHz for two fruit placement directions. The results showed that the highest dielectric constant, 5.4868, belonged to broad-edge compressive plate for a plate capacitor distance of 8cm and subject to a 130N loading and a bruise level equal to 39.563; moreover, the lowest dielectric constant, 5.01651, was found belonging to longitudinal placement direction and subject to a 350 g loading weight exerted in the form of impact for a decay level equal to 5.147. The final result was that the bruise level increases and moisture content decrease with the elevation of the compression force following which the dielectric constant demonstrates higher values

The incremental information content of earnings, working capital from operations, and cash flows

This paper presents an empirical study to determine the effects of different factors including present profit, depreciation, working capital, operating cash flow and other accruals on future earnings stability. The study selects the information of 124 selected firms from Tehran Stock Exchange over the period 2006-2012. Using two regression analysis, the study has determined that as the fluctuation of profit increases, the profitability increases too. In addition, the study has concluded that firms with minimum fluctuations preserve more stable profitability. Moreover, firms with higher fluctuation in profitability maintain more volatile profitability for the next consecutive period