Office Parks, Accessibility and Location Policy. An Analysis of the Dutch Case

Road-transport is an important source of congestion in the cities. Office parks, which are recognized with their high intensity of labour and visitors, contribute to road-based commuter and business transport. Consequently, their accessibility by environmentally friendly means of transport is crucial for the environment and economy. The aim of this paper is to analyse the role of location policy in The Netherlands in determining the extent of office parks accessibility by environmentally friendly means of transport. Initially, leading location policy principles relevant for the accessibility of office parks are examined. Selected policy principles coincide with each other in their explicitly or implicitly stated underlying goal: preventing suburbanisation. Secondly, implementation of these principles are analyzed in the light of four selected criteria: Land use change; urban versus rural areas; inner city versus peripheral locations; and presence of parking policy. Common to these criteria is that they provide insight for the spatial distribution of office parks and use of public transport as environmentally friendly alternative. Results indicate initially that land use change is being experienced in favour of more urbanization. The second result is that majority of the office parks are found to be located in the urban areas in The Netherlands. Thirdly, distribution of the office parks within the urban areas displays a nearly equal representation between the inner city and peripheral locations. However, this trend is expected to change at the expense of inner city office parks. And finally, presence of parking policy does not always provide sufficient results for improving accessibility. Combination of these results leads one to conclude that demand for accessibility by car, which is a strong location factor in the eyes of office based companies, is dealt with a (rather) flexible approach by the governmental organisations. In that, national policy goal of keeping the economic vitality and competitiveness of the regions and cities plays a determinant role

Determination of the effect of edge banding thickness and aging period on the MOR and MOE of melamine coated particle board using Taguchi method

U ovom istraživanju, razdoblje starenja (20, 30, 40 i 50 dana), debljina kantiranja (0,4; 0,8; 1 i 2 mm) i vrsta ostvarivanja sile (savojna čvrstoća - MOR i vlačna čvrstoća - MOE) odabrani su kao parametri za analizu učinaka na mehanička svojstva melaminom obložen iverice. U tu svrhu, Taguchijevo oblikovanje metodologije pokusa provedeno je za optimizaciju procesnih parametara. Pokusi su provedeni po ortogonalnom polju L16 sa 16 kombinacija ispitnih varijabli za procjenu utjecaja različitih čimbenika. Analiza varijance također je bila uključena za istraživanje koji parametri konstrukcije značajno utječu na mehanička svojstva melaminom obložene iverice. Statistička je analiza pokazala da vrsta ostvarivanja sile krajnje promjenjivo djeluje na odziv. Simulirani i eksperimentalni rezultati također pokazuju dobro slaganje jednih s drugima.In this study, the aging period (20, 30, 40 and 50 days), the edge banding thickness (0,4; 0,8;1,0 and 2,0 mm) and the type of force used (bending strength-MOR and tensile strength-MOE) were the parameters selected for analysis of the effects on the mechanical properties of melamine coated particle board. To do this, Taguchi\u27s methodology for the design of experiments was used to optimize the process parameters. Trials are conducted using an L16 orthogonal array with 16 combinations of test variables to assess the influence of various factors. Analysis of variance was also employed to investigate which design parameters significantly affect the mechanical properties of melamine coated particle board. The statistical analysis showed that the type of force used was the most significant factor affecting the response. The simulated and experimental results also showed good agreement with each other

The perception of critical thinking and problem solving skill among Malaysian undergraduate students

This study aims to investigate students’ perception on their critical thinking and problem solving skill. It also aims to determine whether there are differences between genders and academic disciplines on this skill. A sample of 2000 undergraduate students from six Malaysian public universities completed the survey. Findings indicate that students perceived they have high critical thinking and problem solving skill. It is also revealed that male students are perceived to have better critical thinking and problem solving skill. Social science students appear to perform better in this skill, as compared to science and engineering students