Green supply chain management: the case of the construction sector in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Restraining the negative environmental impacts of the construction sector constitutes one of the major challenges of the twenty-first century. However, efforts to address it have been largely fragmented. With environmental consequences of a construction project typically dispersed across its life cycle, i.e. from design through to end-of-life, greening this sector requires a supply chain wide focus inclusive of all key stages and stakeholders; also, all relevant aspects such as the nature of green practices implemented and associated drivers, barriers and performance implications need to be considered. This forms the focus of the present study where a comprehensive, green supply chain management oriented understanding of the construction sector is developed through the context of the UAE construction sector, and incorporating inputs from all key stakeholders, i.e. Developers, Architects/Consultants, Contractors and (material) Suppliers. The study contributes to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of greening of the construction sector.     

Experimental designs and their efficiencies for spatially correlated observations in two dimensions

Optimality of experimental designs for spatially correlated observations is investigated.come two dimensional correlation structures are discussed and an attempt has been made to find optimal or nearly optimal design for each sitution.The solution lend to designs similar to that used for repeated measurements.The relative efficiency of the proposed designs in comparison to randomized latin square designs is tabulated for some cases.     

When Precaution Creates Misunderstandings: The Unintended Effects of Precautionary Information on Perceived Risks,the EMF Case

In the past decade, growing public concern about novel technologies with uncertain potential long‐term impacts on the environment and human health has moved risk policies toward a more precautionary approach. Focusing on mobile telephony, the effects of precautionary information on risk perception were analyzed. A pooled multinational experimental study based on a 5 × 2 × 2 factorial design was conducted in nine countries. The first factor refers to whether or not information on different types of precautionary measures was present, the second factor to the framing of the precautionary information, and the third factor to the order in which cell phones and base stations were rated by the study participants. The data analysis on the country level indicates different effects. The main hypothesis that informing about precautionary measures results in increased risk perceptions found only partial support in the data. The effects are weaker, both in terms of the effect size and the frequency of significant effects, across the various precautionary information formats used in the experiment. Nevertheless, our findings do not support the assumption that informing people about implemented precautionary measures will decrease public concerns.     

Inventory model for convertible item with deterioration

Abstract

In this article, we developed a model for a convertible item (or product) where initial form of the item converts into another product by consuming conversion cost and time both. After duration, it converts again into a new product of a different nature. It is a sequential-type conversion from initial into two other products over states. The demand pattern and deterioration rate differ at each converted state. An inventory model is developed for such a kind of sequential convertible item. Expressions for total cost and other related costs (as per states) are derived and optimal time to convert the product in different states are calculated under model assumptions. A numerical example is incorporated in support of the theoretical findings and it validates the strength of the model.     

A study of physical-health and neuroticism among women engaged in the home-based production of chikan embroidery

The present study examined physical health and neuroticism among women (n=200) engaged in the unorganized home-based production of chikan embroidery. Physical health of women chikan workers was examined with the help of an abbreviated version of CMI, and neuroticism, with PGI Health Questionnaire N-2 in easy paced, face to face personal interviews. The results indicated that women chikan workers in general were facing some serious health problems. Significant variations were also obtained across groups of women associated with different centres of chikan production. The study points towards the stressful nature of environment in which these women chikan workers live and work.     

Edge Estimation in the Population of a Binary Tree Using Node-Sampling

Suppose a finite population of several vertices, each connected to single or multiple edges. This constitutes a structure of graphical population of vertices and edges. As a special case, the graphical population like a binary tree having only two child vertices associated to parent vertex is taken into consideration. The entire binary tree is divided into two sub-graphs such as a group of left-nodes and a group of right-nodes. This paper takes into account a mixture of graph structured and population sampling theory together and presents a methodology for mean-edge-length estimation of left sub-graph using right edge sub-graph as an auxiliary source of information. A node-sampling procedure is developed for this purpose and a class of estimators is proposed containing several good estimators. Mathematical conditions for minimum bias and optimum mean squared error of the class are derived and theoretical results are numerically supported with a test of 99% confidence intervals. It is shown that suggested class has a sub-class of optimum estimators, and sample-based estimates are closer to the true value of the population parameter.     

Prediction under uncertainty of degree of polynomial in growth curve models

Random coefficient polynomial regression model has been considered for prediction purpose when there is uncertainty about the degree of the polynomialo Expressions for mean square errors of two predictors based on simple estimators have been derived and their perfomaiices have been compared when parameters are estimated from the sample. A modified predictor has also been suggested when parameters in the predicting equations are to be estimated from the sample. Perform-ance ofseveral predictors haife been compared by cross validation technique from a real set of data.     

Optimal change-over designs for correlated observations

Design implications of an autoregressive model for change-over experiments are investigated. In this model, the residual effect due to the previous treatment is assumed to be proportional to the response in the previous period. In addition, the errors from the same experimental subject are assumed to be correlated according to a first-order autoregressive model. Models with fixed and random subject effects are discussed separately. An attempt has been made to identify and construct optimal or nearly optimal designs in various situations. Empirical conclusions of Taka and Armitage [Commun. Statist. Theor. Meth. (1983)12, 865-876] regarding the efficiency of some designs have also been confirmed.     

A general class of chain estimators for ratio and product of two means of a finite population

This paper proposes a class of estimators for estimating ratio and product of two means of a finite population using information on two auxiliary characters. Asymptotic expression to terms of order 0(n^-1) for bias and mean square error (MSE) of the proposed class of estimators are derived. Optimum conditions are obtained under which the proposed class of estimators has the minimum MSE. An empirical study is carried out to compare the performance of various estimators of ratio with the conventional estimators.