Search results for "servi"
showing 10 items of 4470 documents
Evaluation to support stakeholder centered design and continuous quality improvement in higher education services
2014
Abstract: Evaluation and self-evaluation procedures are commonly used in educational institutions to measure education services and research performance. This chapter describes the main opportunities that evaluation-based approaches can produce to support processes of design and continuous quality improvement in higher education institutions in the light of recent normative measures in Italy to address quality aspects of education services. Subsequently, a new approach – based on the ServQual conceptual model – that evaluates education services is used to carry out a strategic analysis of education services at the management engineering program at the University of Palermo, Italy.
Towards more equity concerning quality of Urban Waste Management services in the context of cities
2018
Abstract An innovative combined evaluation approach is proposed in the present paper to deal with the issue of the performance measurement and comparison of Urban Waste Management (UWM) services in the context of cities. The ELECTRE III method is initially considered as tool able to execute a multi-criteria analysis aimed at ranking UWM systems based on their integration and sustainability levels. The latter are comprehensively evaluated via the recently developed “Wasteaware” Integrated and Sustainability Waste Management indicators framework, which takes into account physical components and governance aspects of UWM systems. Then, on the basis on ELECTRE III results, a practical gaps inve…
Sustainable mobility: “exchange poles” between transport networks and urban structure
2012
An intermodal hub can be defined as a place where transportation networks are organized to facilitate intermodality between different modes. Intermodal hubs should intrinsically have an urban dimension and be globally designed as “plug flows”, being interfaces between transport networks and territory, being an element to create “urbanity”. Intermodal hubs focus technical, social, urban, transport, service aspects and they play a multi-modal, multi-service, multioperator role. Several studies highlight the need to “measure the interdependence” among the various aspects of urban problems, avoiding too specific methodologies. The increasing congestion in urban centres and urban parking problem…
An optimized diagnostic architecture for real-time monitoring of MV networks
2006
Due to the electrical energy market liberalization, the Authority for electrical energy and gas (AEEG) in Italy and the other regulatory organizations in other European countries have concentrated their attention on the quality of the electrical service. One of the aspect of major importance in the definition of the quality of a public service is its continuity. In the aim of regulating this field the Authority has defined some continuity indicators, for example the number of interruptions per year and the cumulate duration of the interruptions per year. Recent statistics on these indicator show that the 80% of the number of interruptions in one year is caused by MV network. For this reason…
Structural behavior of the old masonry bridge in the Gulf of Castellammare
2016
Abstract Masonry arch bridges represent a very significant part of the heritage of road and railway artworks all over the word and especially in the Mediterranean area, both in terms of: numbers; reduced environmental impact; and static efficiency. In these cases, the cost of maintenance is often limited to the content and channeling of surface water and control of vegetation, which can eventually take root on the joints of the masonry at the shoulders. In masonry bridges, there are no expansion joints or hinges with support equipment or trolleys, as in metal bridges and reinforced concrete ones, or paint, or resin surface protection, all items that affect the cost of maintenance. The perma…
Serviceability of segmental concrete arch-frame bridges built by cantilevering
2013
The evaluation of the safety degree in service life for a segmental prestressed concrete bridge built by the cantilever method presents different aspects related to strength, deformability, durability and to effects of time-dependent phenomena as creep and shrinkage. The case-study of a prestressed concrete frame bridge with inclined piers is presented, built by cantilevering, with precast segments. By considering the fundamental items of design and construction stages, the implications due to the arch effect in this static scheme are investigated, with respect to an equivalent bridge with a final scheme of continuous girder on vertical piers. The birth of a significant value of axial force…
Vertical Software Industries
2009
The software industry (SWI) was born only a few decades ago, and is still relatively young compared to other industries. Its origins can be traced down to the decisions to unbundle some secondary parts of IBM computer development to independent software companies (Campbell-Kelly 2004). The software development was then considered a secondary activity serving the core business, which was at that time computer hardware manufacturing. This focus on hardware is still visible in the brand names of both the global information and communication technology (ICT) giants, such as IBM, and the major professional and scientific establishments of the field, such as the Association for Computing Machiner…
Flexural behaviour of glass panels under dead load and uniform lateral pressure
2013
Abstract In the present paper the experimental results relative to flexural tests on out-of-plane loaded large scale panels made of laminated structural glass are presented and discussed. Glass panels are parts of the structural facade of the Fontanarossa International Airport of Catania (Italy). Panels are mounted on a rigid testing frame and loaded with an uniformly distributed lateral pressure. Two different kinds of tests were carried-out, cyclic and monotonic, able to reproduce the serviceability and the ultimate conditions of the glass panels when subjected to the coupled effects of dead load and horizontal forces, the latter reproducing the wind action. Results obtained focused the h…
Describing urban soils through a faceted system ensures more informed decision-making
2016
Urban areas are increasing worldwide at a dramatic rate and their soils definitely deserve more attention than they have received in the past. In urban environments, soils potentially provide the same ecosystem services as in rural and wild environments, although in some cases they are depleted of their basic functions, such as when they lose their productive and filtering capacities because of sealing, and become mere supports for infrastructures. In other cases, soils of urban areas acquire new functions that are unique to these environments. Current soil classifications fail to effectively account for the complexity of urban soils and the information that is required for their management…
The interdisciplinary nature of <i>SOIL</i>
2015
Abstract. The holistic study of soils requires an interdisciplinary approach involving biologists, chemists, geologists, and physicists, amongst others, something that has been true from the earliest days of the field. In more recent years this list has grown to include anthropologists, economists, engineers, medical professionals, military professionals, sociologists, and even artists. This approach has been strengthened and reinforced as current research continues to use experts trained in both soil science and related fields and by the wide array of issues impacting the world that require an in-depth understanding of soils. Of fundamental importance amongst these issues are biodiversity,…