Bilingual Publishing Co. (BPC): E-Journals
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Search Engine Optimization, Competitive Advantage and Market Performance of Registered Tours and Travel Agencies in Nairobi City County, Kenya
No full textCOVID-19 is a devastating pandemic with widespread negative health, social, and economic consequences. Due to drastic changes in the business environment of tour and travel agencies, firms and marketing managers can now use search engine optimization to effectively position themselves. The study’s main goal is to evaluate the effect of search engine optimization on the market performance of registered tours and travel agencies in Nairobi County, Kenya. Kenya’s tourism ministry and state government work hard to improve the business climate for tour and travel companies. Despite the overall positive image, international tourist market growth rates in Kenya have been 3.5 percent slower from 2017 to 2019 compared to previous years. This was further aggregated by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the year 2020, when the growth rate of tours and travel agencies fell by 65%. The study’s main goal is to evaluate the effect of search engine optimization on the market performance of registered tours and travel agencies in Nairobi County, Kenya. This study adopted a positivist philosophy. Both descriptive and explanatory research designs were used. A self-administered semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 324 registered tours and travels agencies picked from and a sample of 179 were used. Data analysis included the development and interpretation of both descriptive and inferential statistics, such as frequencies, mean, percentages, and standard deviation, and was presented using tables and numerical values. The results of regression analysis established that search engine optimization had a positive and significant effect on market performance of the registered tours and travel agencies picked from a sample of 179. The study recommends that agency management ensure that the firm’s website is easily accessible in order to improve agency performance. Using the internet to gain a large market share can assist tours and travel agencies in improving the performance and income of their websites
Taxation in a Decentralized Value Added Tax Regime: Implications for States in Nigeria
No full textThe study examined the implication of a decentralized Value Added Tax system for states in Nigeria. It is a theoretical presentation that made is made of journals, articles, and data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) accessed on Google Scholar Websites. A total of eighty (80) articles were accessed. Results from a theoretical review revealed that while few states in Nigeria are in favor of a decentralized VAT administration in the country, quite a number of them (States) are averse to the new VAT regime due to differences among the states in terms of volume of business activities and economic power as many of the states rely on federal allocation. The study, therefore, recommends Partial Decentralization (PD) of VAT administration in Nigeria as a measure of autonomy for states that will guarantee fairness in resource control in the Nigerian Society
Sustainability Reporting Based on GRI Indicators
No full textEvery company wants to make a profit in the short run but doesn’t think about the long run. The environment and human resources are used by the companies but eventually, they will react in a repugnant way. The environment is being polluted every day and it is a threat to human life as well as the world. To assess the impact of activities being done by the companies, a non-governmental organization was established in Boston called Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) in 1997. GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) established a sustainability reporting framework that provides a systematic guideline for the sake of companies to disclose their performance on the environmental, economic, and social degree of sustainability. This study will find out how responsible multinational (listed and non-listed) companies (MNC) in the case of sustainability reporting when they are consistently doing business in the environment of Bangladesh. This study was analyzed based on GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) guidelines towards their reporting on sustainability. A quantitative score from 0 to 3 was given for each of 84 performance indicators (9, 30, and 45 exhibitors for environmental, economic, and social dimensions respectively) of the GRI 3 guidelines based on sustainability reporting. This study reports that tidings on the economic degree are better compared to environmental and social dimensions. Much deviation is reported in environmental and social dimensions, but less deviation is reported in economic dimensions by the selected companies as the sample. Overall, the reporting practices of Nestle Bangladesh Ltd are better than other selected companies
Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Design for Commercial Complex Buildings: Theory and Method Based on Inverse Problem
No full textScientific and technological progress and innovation help the design industry, which plays an important role in sustainable development. It will improve the operation efficiency of enterprises and explore a blue sea for enterprise. In essence, design should be the process of deriving the optimal scheme from different schemes or imaginary scenes. Based on this, this paper proposes an overall optimization method for Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) design. Compared with the traditional design method, under certain constraints, it can obtain the optimal design scheme that maximizes the value of the designed product. This study provides new inverse problem ideas and methods for HVAC designers, and provides solutions for enhancing the value of HVAC design products
Current Standing of Longleaf Pine Trees under Climate Change
No full textClimate change poses many risks to economically and ecologically crucial species. Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) trees are keystone species that were once dominant across the southeastern United States, but now occupy less than 5% of their historic range and are thus classified as endangered. Here we review the current status and challenges facing longleaf pine trees, what is known on how changing climate will impact longleaf growth and reproduction, and gaps in the literature that are important to address. We found that many fundamental aspects of longleaf pine growth and reproduction are understood. However, these systems are complex, and not all is known about each factor that influences the relationship between climate, growth, and reproductive output. Additionally, long-term data sets capable of examining all relevant factors in these relationships do not currently exist. To fill necessary gaps, we recommend a joint approach between using readily available data sets and establishing new long-term monitoring plots targeted to collect data on missing or poorly understood conditions. This review provides a clue from an ecological complexity perspective to understand and manage longleaf pine forests under climate change
Evaluation of Tung Oil (Vernicia fordii (Hemsl.)) for Controlling Termites
No full textIn worldwide, the use of chemical pesticides to protect wood has been greatly restricted. In recent years, a large number of researchers devoted to the search for natural, safe and non-polluting bioactive chemical compounds from plants as an alternative to synthetic organic chemical preservative. In Chinese folk, tung oil can be used as paint for wooden furniture to protect them from pests. This study aimed to evaluate the chemical compositions of raw and heated tung oil and their activity against termite. In choice bioassays, weight loss of wood treated with 5% raw or heated tung oil after 4 weeks was significantly less than that of the control group. In no-choice bioassays, there was a significant difference in termite survival and wood weight loss on raw and heated tung oil-treated wood. When tung oil-treatment concentrations increased to 5%, wood weight loss was less than 10%. There was no significant difference in termite survival and wood weight loss between raw and heated tung oil-treated wood. Survival of termites in both tung oil wood treatments was significantly lower than that in the starvation control after 4 weeks. Raw and heated tung oil significantly improved the resistance of pine wood to termites, and have the potential for the development of natural wood preservatives
A Hybrid Geostatistical Method for Estimating Citywide Traffic Volumes – A Case Study of Edmonton, Canada
No full textTraffic volume information has long played an important role in many transportation related works, such as traffic operations, roadway design, air quality control, and policy making. However, monitoring traffic volumes over a large spatial area is not an easy task due to the significant amount of time and manpower required to collect such large-scale datasets. In this study, a hybrid geostatistical approach, named Network Regression Kriging,has been developed to estimate urban traffic volumes by incorporating auxiliary variables such as road type, speed limit, and network accessibility.Since standard kriging is based on Euclidean distances, this study implements road network distances to improve traffic volumes estimations.A case study using 10-year of traffic volume data collected within the city of Edmonton was conducted to demonstrate the robustness of the model developed herein. Results suggest that the proposed hybrid model significantly outperforms the standard kriging method in terms of accuracy by 4.0% overall, especially for a large-scale network. It was also found that the necessary stationarity assumption for kriging did not hold true for a large network whereby separate estimations for each road type performed significantly better than a general estimation for the overall network by 4.12%
Asymmetric Mean Annual Temperature Wavelets Surface Air Layer of Berlin for 1701–2021
No full textThe regularities of the dynamics of the average annual temperature of Berlin from 1701 to 2021 are revealed. A total of 65 wavelets were received. The temperature has a high quantum certainty, and the change in the average annual temperature of Berlin was identified by a model that contains only two components for prediction. The basis of the forecast at 320 years makes it possible to look into the future until the year 2340. The forecast confirms the conclusions made in the CMIP5 report on global warming. With an increase in the number of components in the model up to five, the forecast is possible only until 2060. Therefore, the model with only two components is workable. The trend is characterized by a modified Mandelbrot equation showing exponential growth with a high growth rate of 1.47421. The wave equation also has an amplitude in the form of the Mandelbrot law (in mathematics, the Laplace law, in biology, the Zipf-Pearl law, in econometrics, the Pareto law), when the exponential growth activity is equal to 1. For 1701, the period of oscillation was 2× 60.33333 ≈ 120.7 years. By 2021, the period decreased and became equal to 87.6 years. The trend is such that by 2340 the period of oscillation will decrease to 30.2 years. Such an increase in fluctuations indicates an imbalance in climate disturbances in temperature in Berlin. For Berlin, the last three years are characterized by sharp decreases in the average annual temperature from 11.8 °C to 10.5 °C, i.e. by 12.4% in 2021. Therefore, the forecast is still unstable, as a further decrease in the average annual temperature of Berlin in the near future may change the picture of the forecast
The Influence of Friction Time on the Joint Interface and Mechanical Properties in Dissimilar Friction Welds
No full textThe welding of dissimilar materials is one of the challenging issues in thefabrication industry to obtain required quality welds using fusion weldingmethods. However, some processes recently improved interface bondingwith low joint strength. Unfortunately, the major intermetallic compoundscould not alleviate from the joint interface. Alternatively, solid-statewelding methods revealed fewer intermetallics at the joint interface fordissimilar material welds. Among them, friction welding was chosen to joinincompatible materials with the necessary properties successfully. Frictiontime is a critical parameter for obtaining strong welds through frictionwelding, apart from friction pressure, forging pressure, forging time, androtational speed. Variability of friction time can change the strength offriction by changing mechanical properties such as tensile strength. Thischange of tensile strength is typically influenced by the intermixing region,dependent on friction time. In this experiment, carbon steel and stainlesssteel have been friction welded to test the impact of friction time on thejoint interface where the substrate’s faying surface meets. This interfaceconsists of the intermixing region of the two materials on which the frictionwelding is performed. The results showed an interesting variation in tensilestrength, with varying friction time. The width of the intermixing zoneincreased gradually with friction time until and decreased with the furtherincreasing. The strength of the welds obtained was the highest of 730 MPaat a friction time of 4 s and fell as friction time’s increased value after 4 s
Evaluation and Effectiveness of Reallocating Traffic Signal Timing at Corridors with High Freight Volume
No full textThe COVID-19 pandemic drastically altered traffic patterns across the globe. With more people staying at home and relying on delivery services, there was a reduction in passenger car traffic but an increase in freight traffic. This study investigates the changes in traffic volume and mode splits during the COVID-19 pandemic at the intersection of Broening Highway and Holabird Avenues and investigates traffic signal reallocation strategies that account for the changes in traffic. This study considers morning peak traffic volumes before and during COVID. A methodology was developed to evaluate and measure freight volumes and emissions. From the literature, the cost per kilogram of CO, VOC, and NOx was 3,37, and $12.53, respectively. The intersection operated at a level of service (LOS) of C both pre-COVID and during COVID. Traffic volume decreased by 24.3% during COVID at the study location; car volumes declined by 50%, and truck volumes increased by 130%. The total rate of emissions decreased by 22.6%.