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	<title>Science and lifestyle &#187; Industry</title>
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	<link>http://scilifestyle.com</link>
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	<lastBuildDate>Tue, 11 Jun 2013 05:32:54 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>How to choose colors for your website</title>
		<link>http://scilifestyle.com/how-to-choose-colors-for-your-website.html</link>
		<comments>http://scilifestyle.com/how-to-choose-colors-for-your-website.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 11 Jul 2012 06:26:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jade</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Industry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[colors]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://scilifestyle.com/?p=611</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The actual colors are probably the most important factors when making a web site. Most web-site designers pay great focus on the images and content from the website although not to the actual colors. The colors of the website may define how these potential customers will experience your business once they enter your site. Actual [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-612" title="RGB_24bits_palette_color" src="http://scilifestyle.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/RGB_24bits_palette_color.png" alt="color palette" width="258" height="200" />The actual colors are probably the most important factors when making a web site. Most web-site designers pay great focus on the images and content from the website although not to the actual colors. The colors of the website may define how these potential customers will experience your business once they enter your site. Actual research show the reason why color issues and the reason why it plays an essential role in our day-to-day visible experiences. Just focus on the subsequent data whenever selecting the actual colors for the website, based on the Color Expo 2004:</p>
<p>92.6% associated with buyers say they put probably the most heavy within visual elements when buying. 5. 6% said how the physical really feel applying the actual sense associated with touch was probably the most substantial. Listening to and Smelling had been at 0. 9% each.</p>
<p>So why don&#8217;t you take advantage of the visible factors and find the right colours when creating your expert website? Remember that in typical, people generally judge some thing in concerning the first ninety seconds associated with viewing the individual or point, so why don&#8217;t you make the best impression the very first time. Remember that there&#8217;s not another chance for that first impact.</p>
<p>Here are a few examples of exactly how colors might have a physical influence for your visitors:</p>
<p><strong>Green</strong>- Associated with money, additionally, it symbolizes character. It additionally represents serenity, good good fortune, and wellness.</p>
<p><strong>Blue</strong>- Azure is referred to as the colour of peace or tranquility. Research has additionally proved to be a innovative color because people tend to be productive within blue areas.</p>
<p><strong>Red</strong>- Red-colored is related to love, warmness, and comfort and ease. It relates to strong feelings. It also describes angry emotions and emotions of exhilaration and strength.</p>
<p><strong>Black</strong>-Black is some of those colors that may represent a lot of things. In a few cultures dark represents passing away and period of unhappiness, but within ancient Egypt this represented existence and revival.</p>
<p><strong>White</strong>- Whitened represents wholesomeness and purity. White additionally creates a feeling of room and include highlight. Additionally, it may refer in order to frigid as well as bland.</p>
<p><strong>Yellow</strong>- This particular color is referred to as cheery as well as warm. Although it is consider like a cheery colour, it can also be very deep for that eye and may create worries to people.</p>
<p><strong>Purple</strong>- Represents royalty as well as wealth, knowledge and spirituality. It&#8217;s also often utilized in fashion.</p>
<p>Now think about, are colours really considerable? Colors need to be chosen knowingly. Just how to attract more people to your site they are able to also generate visitors aside. Choose colors which are pleasant towards the eye which help you to get your stage across.</p>
<p>If you will find affiliate advertising graphic advertisements that you choose to use included in affiliate advertising strategies in your website, it is going to be wise to test to make certain that the internet affiliate marketing advertisement suits in using the theme colours and ideas of the site whenever possible. This can help the internet affiliate marketing enhance instead of distract out of your own web site. Affiliate advertising banners and internet affiliate marketing text links are helpful for all those interested in internet affiliate marketing.</p>
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		<title>Team building effect on employee performance</title>
		<link>http://scilifestyle.com/team-building-effect.html</link>
		<comments>http://scilifestyle.com/team-building-effect.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 11 Jul 2012 05:56:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jade</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Industry]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://scilifestyle.com/?p=605</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The activities and structure of a team building day bond your team while improving communication and team work. The fun environment created by a well-planned program develops confidence and trust, ensuring maximum involvement and a stronger organisation. Team building is a philosophy of job design in which employees are viewed as members of interdependent teams instead [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-608" title="team building" src="http://scilifestyle.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/adelaide-300x225.jpg" alt="team building" width="300" height="225" />The activities and structure of a team building day bond your team while improving communication and team work. The fun environment created by a well-planned program develops confidence and trust, ensuring maximum involvement and a stronger organisation.</p>
<p>Team building is a philosophy of job design in which employees are viewed as members of interdependent teams instead of as individual workers.</p>
<p>Team building helps in increasing the productivity of a business and also helps in motivating employees to improve their overall performance in their work. It also brings a bonding within employees who work together. Many corporate companies across the world have begun team building activities to improve the performance of their employees. Some of the main benefits of this program are :</p>
<p>1- Helps improve the morale and the leadership skills of employees,<br />
2- Helps target all barriers that hinder creativity,<br />
3- Helps analyze goals and objectives,<br />
4- Helps enhance the productivity of an organization,<br />
5- Helps identify the strengths and the weaknesses of a team,<br />
6- Helps improve the ability to solve problems.</p>
<p>Some of the main team building motivation activities for employees are:</p>
<p>1- Team building exercises &#8211; Such exercise programs or activities are organized by companies to help build in their employees a sense of understanding and commitment. The entire team tends to mingle with one another without any superiority or inferiority complex.</p>
<p>2- Team building games &#8211; One of the best ways to entertain employees and encourage them work as a team would be to organize occasional games. Such games will help all the employees enjoy as a team which will have a positive effect during their work.</p>
<p>3- Parties &#8211; Theme parties when organized by companies have an edge over corporate parties. These parties must also include some fun games which will help strengthen an employee-employer relation. Moreover, employees will be comfortable sharing space with their seniors during such parties.</p>
<p>These motivational programs organized by companies remove all the barriers between employees which will only help in increasing the productivity of a company. Remember, we must respect each and every employee hired by the company. And with activities and programs like the one&#8217;s mentioned above, no employee will ever feel like leaving the company in search for another job.</p>
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		<title>Development of ceramic tiles</title>
		<link>http://scilifestyle.com/development-of-ceramic-tiles.html</link>
		<comments>http://scilifestyle.com/development-of-ceramic-tiles.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 24 Feb 2012 12:40:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jade</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Industry]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://scilifestyle.com/?p=688</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Tiles can be hand-made or they can be industrially manufactured. Ceramic tiles are made from clay that is produced through baking. Before it has been baked, it is usually formed into a certain shape, glazed with coating color and textured for strength. Ceramic tiles are either handmade or they can be manufactured through a mechanized process. They are usually made [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="size-full wp-image-689 alignleft" title="bathroom" src="http://scilifestyle.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/bathroom.jpg" alt="bathroom" width="300" height="400" /></p>
<p>Tiles can be hand-made or they can be industrially manufactured. Ceramic tiles are made from clay that is produced through baking. Before it has been baked, it is usually formed into a certain shape, glazed with coating color and textured for strength. Ceramic tiles are either handmade or they can be manufactured through a mechanized process. They are usually made from various clay types. The most common clays used in the development of ceramic tiles include earthenware, porcelain and stoneware. The strongest ceramic tiles are stoneware ceramic tiles. They are also the most expensive. Porcelain is the clay that is used in the production of the most beautiful tiles.</p>
<p>It should be pointed out that each ceramic tile production company uses its on recipes for the creation of the clay used in the development of ceramic tiles. Clay is usually mixed with feldspar, quartz and sand. This clay is then made more pliable through the addition of water. Water is then removed through drying to render the body slip or the clay into dust. This dust or powder is placed into a mould or press that is used to make it to a certain shape. The mould is also used to shape the size of the ceramic tile.</p>
<p>The pressurization of the tile in the development of the ceramic tiles is for increasing the tensile strength. This tensile strength cannot be found in hand made tiles. During is critical in removing moisture. It is also important in the glazing process. After the glazing of the tiles, the tiles are fired or baked. More glazing and other decorative processes are achieved through more firings. This standard procedure is followed in the development of ceramic tiles in many companies in the country. However, it should be pointed out the recipes for the tiles may differ slightly.</p>
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		<title>New Product Development</title>
		<link>http://scilifestyle.com/new-product-development.html</link>
		<comments>http://scilifestyle.com/new-product-development.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 20 Dec 2011 11:01:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jade</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Industry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New Product Development]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://scilifestyle.com/?p=553</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For every company producing new things new product development is crucial. NPD is an area in which a lot of money and expertese is invested and is a neccessary part of every porduction process. Basics: In business and engineering, new product development (NPD) is the term used to describe the complete process of bringing a [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For every company producing new things new product development is crucial. NPD is an area in which a lot of money and expertese is invested and is a neccessary part of every porduction process.</p>
<h2>Basics:</h2>
<p>In business and engineering, new product development (NPD) is the term used to describe the complete process of bringing a new product to market. A product is a set of benefits offered for exchange and can be tangible (that is, something physical you can touch) or intangible (like a service, experience, or belief). There are two parallel paths involved in the NPD process: one involves the idea generation, product design and detail engineering; the other involves market research and marketing analysis. Companies typically see new product development as the first stage in generating and commercializing new products within the overall strategic process of product life cycle management used to maintain or grow their market share. [<a href="#1">1</a>]<br />
<img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1060" title="Product’s lifecycle" src="http://www.australianscience.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Product’s_lifecycle-300x266.jpg" alt="Product’s lifecycle" width="300" height="266" />This paper examines the nature of the core capabilities of a firm, focusing in particular on their interaction with new product and process development projects. Two new concepts about core capabilities are explored here. First, while core capabilities are traditionally treated as clusters of distinct technical systems, skills, and managerial systems, these dimensions of capabilities are deeply rooted in values, which constitute an often overlooked but critical fourth dimension. Second, traditional core capabilities have a down side that inhibits innovation, here called core rigidities. Managers of new product and process development projects thus face a paradox: how to take advantage of core capabilities without being hampered by their dysfunctional flip side. Such projects play an important role in emerging strategies by highlighting the need for change and leading the way. Twenty case studies of new product and process development projects in five firms provide illustrative data.[<a href="#2">2</a>]<br />
Managing new product development (NPD) is, to a great extent, a process of separating the winners from the losers. At the project level, tough go/no-go decisions must be made throughout each development effort to ensure that resources are being allocated appropriately. At the company level, benchmarking is helpful for identifying the critical success factors that set the most successful firms apart from their competitors. This company- or macro-level analysis also has the potential for uncovering success factors that are not readily apparent through examination of specific projects.<br />
To improve our understanding of the company-level drivers of NPD success, Robert Cooper and Elko Kleinschmidt describe the results of a multi-firm benchmarking study. They propose that a company&#8217;s overall new product performance depends on the following elements: the NPD process and the specific activities within this process; the organization of the NPD program; the firm&#8217;s NPD strategy; the firm&#8217;s culture and climate for innovation; and senior management commitment to NPD. Given the multidimensional nature of NPD performance, the study involves 10 performance measures of a company&#8217;s new product program: success rate, percent of sales, profitability relative to spending, technical success rating, sales impact, profit impact, success in meeting sales objectives, success in meeting profit objectives, profitability relative to competitors, and overall success.<br />
The 10 performance metrics are reduced to two underlying dimensions: program profitability and program impact. These performance factors become theX-and Y-ax.es of a performance map, a visual summary of the relative performance of the 135 companies responding to the survey. The performance map further breaks down the respondents into four groups: solid performers, high-impact technical winners, low-impact performers, and dogs. Again, the objective of this analysis is to determine what separates the solid performers from the companies in the other groups.<br />
The analysis identifies nine constructs that drive performance. In rank order of their impact on performance, the main performance drivers that separate the solid performers from the dogs are: a high-quality new product process; a clear, well-communicated new product strategy for the company; adequate resources for new products; senior management commitment to new products; an entrepreneurial climate for product innovation; senior management accountability; strategic focus and synergy (i.e., new products close to the firm&#8217;s existing markets and leveraging existing technologies); high-quality development teams; and cross-functional teams.[<a href="#3">3</a>]<br />
Faster, better, cheaper—these marching orders summarize the challenge facing new product development (NPD). In other words, NPD teams must find the means for speeding time to market while also improving product quality and reducing product costs. Cross-functional teams have proved effective for meeting these challenges, and such teams may extend beyond company boundaries to include key materials suppliers.<br />
Effective integration of suppliers into NPD can yield such benefits as reduced cost and improved quality of purchased materials, reduced product development time, and improved access to and application of technology. As Gary Ragatz, Robert Handfield, and Thomas Scannell point out, however, those benefits do not automatically accrue to any NPD team that includes representatives from a supplier&#8217;s company. In a study of 60 member companies from the Michigan State University Global Procurement and Supply Chain Electronic Benchmarking Network, they explore the management practices and the environmental factors that relate most closely to successful integration of suppliers into the NPD process.<br />
The study identifies supplier membership on the NPD project team as the greatest differentiator between most and least successful integration efforts. Although the respondents reported only moderate use of shared education and training, the study cites this management factor as another significant differentiator between most and least successful efforts. Respondents listed direct, cross-functional, intercompany communication as the most widely used technique for integrating suppliers into NPD.<br />
To integrate suppliers into NPD, a company must overcome such barriers as resistance to sharing proprietary information, and the not-invented-here syndrome. The results of this study suggest that overcoming such barriers depends on relationship structuring—that is, shared education and training, formal trust development processes, formalized risk/reward sharing agreements, joint agreement on performance measurements, top management commitment from both companies, and confidence in the supplier&#8217;s capabilities. Overcoming these barriers also depends on assett sharing, including intellectual assets such as customer requirements, technology information, and cross-functional communication; physical assets such as linked information systems, technology, and shared plant and equipment; and human assets such as supplier participation on the project team and co-location of personnel.[<a href="#4">4</a>]<br />
Although many new-products professionals may harbor hopes of developing “the next big thing” in their respective industries, most product development efforts focus on incremental innovations. Accordingly, most research on the new-product development (NPD) process focuses on the development of evolutionary products. For new-products professionals seeking insights into the means for achieving breakthrough innovations, a fundamental question remains unanswered: Does the NPD process for discontinuous products differ from the process for incremental, or continuous, products?<br />
To provide a better understanding of managerial practices associated with discontinuous innovation, Robert Veryzer presents findings from an in-depth study of eight discontinuous product development projects. The study explores the key factors that affect the discontinuous NPD process, as well as the methods that the firms in this study use for assessing the radically new products they have in development. From the findings in this study, he develops a descriptive model of the discontinuous product development process, and he offers insights into the requirements for effective management of discontinuous innovation projects.<br />
Although half the firms in the study use a formal process for evaluating radically innovative products, the participants in the study generally do not employ a formal, highly structured process for managing discontinuous NPD efforts. However, these firms do follow a consistent, logical process in the development of radical innovations, and their process differs significantly from incremental NPD processes.<br />
The processes used by the firms in this study are more exploratory and less customer driven than the typical, incremental NPD process. The impetus for all the projects in this study comes from the convergence of developing technologies, various contextual or environmental factors (for example, government regulations), and a product champion or visionary. Starting from these drivers, the discontinuous NPD process focuses on formulating a product application for the emerging technologies. In all cases, these firms developed prototypes at an earlier stage than the typical, incremental NPD process. To aid in the formulation of a new product application from emerging technologies, prototype construction in these discontinuous NPD projects precedes opportunity analysis, assessment of market attractiveness, market research, and financial analysis.[<a href="#5">5</a>]<br />
A key to success in industries populated by entrepreneurial high-technology firms is the rate at which the firm develops new products. Rapid product development creates significant advantages for entrepreneurial firms, including access to early cash flows, external visibility, legitimacy, and early market share. The higher a firm&#8217;s rate of new product development, the more likely the firm is to achieve and maintain these first-mover advantages. This is particularly true in industries such as pharmaceuticals, where the effectiveness of patent protections leads to patent races in which a “winner take all” scenario exists. But even in industries where patent protection is weak, the advantages of being first, in terms of market preemption, reputation effects, experience curve effects, etc., can still be of major importance. We argue that one way an entrepreneurial firm can increase its rate of new product development is by entering into strategic alliances with firms that possess complementary assets.<br />
The basic proposition advanced is that a firm&#8217;s rate of new product development is a positive function of the number of strategic alliances that it has entered. However, the relationship between strategic alliances and the rate of new product development may be nonlinear. Specifically, although strategic alliances may initially have positive effects on the rate of new product development, this relationship may exhibit diminishing returns. Moreover, past some point it is possible that negative returns may set in. Thus, the relationship between the number of alliances and the rate of new product development may be an inverted U-shape.<br />
Two reasons can be given to support such a relationship. First, not all alliances will make an equal contribution to increasing the rate of new product development. The economic “law” of diminishing returns suggests that the more alliances a firm engages in, the more likely it is to enter some alliances whose marginal contribution is relatively minor. Such a phenomenon on its own is enough to suggest diminishing returns.<br />
Second, gaining access to complementary assets through strategic alliances is not without risks. Malperformance may occur when the firm discovers that the complementary assets provided by the partner are a poor match, fail to live up to the promises made by the partner, or a partner may opportunistically exploit an alliance, expropriating the firm&#8217;s know-how while providing little in return. These problems arise because the effectiveness with which the firm can select and manage alliance partners is likely to be negatively related to the number of alliances the firm is managing. Due to information processing requirements, the quality of partner search and the ability to monitor the partners&#8217; actions will decline as the firm increases the number of alliances in which it is involved. This reasoning leads to a prediction that past some point, alliances will be increasingly vulnerable to malperformance. This raises not only the possibility of diminishing returns to the number of alliances, but also negative returns as the number of alliances increases past some critical point.<br />
This proposed relationship between alliances and new product development was tested on a sample of 132 biotechnology firms. The results provide strong evidence to support the inverted U-shaped relationship between the number of strategic alliances and the rate of new product development. Therefore, at low levels strategic alliances are positively related to new product development, but as the number of alliances increases, the benefits begin to decrease, and at high levels the costs of an additional alliance actually outweigh the benefits.[<a href="#6">6</a>]</p>
<h2>Conclusion:</h2>
<p>The whole process of NPD has several stages: Idea Generation, Idea Screening, Concept Development and Testing, Business Analysis, Beta Testing and Market Testing, Technical Implementation, Commercialization and finally New Product Pricing. Once NPD goes through all these stages a new product is created and ready to go on sale (go to <a href="http://www.profitable-small-business-ideas.com/" target="_blank">http://www.profitable-small-business-ideas.com/</a> for professional help).</p>
<h2>References:</h2>
<p>[1]<a name="1"></a> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_product_development<br />
[2]<a name="2"></a> &#8221;Core capabilities and core rigidities: A paradox in managing new product development&#8221; by: Dorothy Leonard-Barton<br />
[3]<a name="3"></a> &#8216;Behmarking the Firm&#8217;s Critical Success Factors in New Product Development&#8221; by: Robert G. Cooper, Elko J. Kleinschmidt<br />
[4]<a name="4"></a> &#8221;ccess Factors for Integrating Suppliers into New Product Development&#8221; by: Gary L. Ragatz, Robert B. Handfield, Thomas V. Scannel<br />
[5]<a name="5"></a> &#8221;Discontinuous Innovation and the New Product Development Process&#8221; by: Robert W. Veryzer Jr.<br />
[6]<a name="6"></a> &#8221;Strategic alliances and the rate of new product development: An empirical study of entrepreneurial biotechnology firms&#8221; by: David L. Deeds , Charles W.L. Hill</p>
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		<title>Intermodal Container Terminal</title>
		<link>http://scilifestyle.com/intermodal-container-terminal.html</link>
		<comments>http://scilifestyle.com/intermodal-container-terminal.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 15 Dec 2011 10:58:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jade</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Industry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Intermodal Container]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terminal]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://scilifestyle.com/?p=549</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Shipping containters are very popular and their usage is wide. They can move from one mode of transport (see http://www.portcontainerservices.com.au/ for more info) into the other without unloading and reloading the content of the container. An intermodal container (also container, freight container, ISO container , shipping container, hi-cube container, box, conex box and sea can) is a [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1047" title="Containers" src="http://www.australianscience.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Containers-300x162.jpg" alt="Containers" width="300" height="162" />Shipping containters are very popular and their usage is wide. They can move from one mode of transport (see <a href="http://www.portcontainerservices.com.au/" target="_blank">http://www.portcontainerservices.com.au/</a> for more info) into the other without unloading and reloading the content of the container.<br />
An intermodal container (also container, freight container, ISO container , shipping container, hi-cube container, box, conex box and sea can) is a standardized reusable steel box used for the safe, efficient and secure storage and movement of materials and products within a global containerized intermodal freight transport system. &#8220;Intermodal&#8221; implies that the container can be moved from one mode of transport to another without unloading and reloading the contents of the container. Lengths of containers, which each have a unique ISO 6346 reporting mark, vary from 8-foot (2.438 m) to 56-foot (17.07 m) and heights from 8-foot (2.438 m) to 9 feet 6 inches (2.9 m). There are approximately seventeen million intermodal containers in the world of varying types to suit different cargoes.[1] Aggregate container capacity is often expressed in twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU / teu) which is a unit of capacity equal to one standard 20 × 8 ft (6.10 × 2.44 m) (length × width) container.<br />
For air freight the alternative and lighter IATA-defined Unit Load Device is used. Non-container methods of transport include bulk cargo, break bulk cargo and tankers/oil tankers used for liquids. [<a href="#1">1</a>]<br />
A decision support system for management of an intermodal container terminal is presented. Among problems to be solved are the spatial allo cation of containers in the terminal yard, the allo cation of resources, and the scheduling of opera tions to maximise a performance function based on economic indicators. These problems are solved using techniques from optimisation, such as job-shop scheduling, genetic algorithms or mixed-integer linear programming. At the termi nal, the same problems are usually solved by the terminal manager, using only his experience. The manager can trust computer-generated solutions only by validating them by means of a simulation model of the terminal. Thus, the simulation tool also becomes a means to introduce new ap proaches into traditional settings. We focus on the resource allocation problem and describe our modules for optimisation of the allocation process and the simulation of the terminal. The former is based on integer linear programming; the latter is a discrete-event simulation tool based on the pro cess-oriented paradigm. The simulator provides a testbed for checking the validity and robustness of the policy computed by the optimisation module. [<a href="#2">2</a>]<br />
In the last four decades the container as an essential part of a unit-load-concept has achieved undoubted importance in international sea freight transportation. With ever increasing containerization the number of seaport container terminals and competition among them have become quite remarkable. Operations are nowadays unthinkable without effective and efficient use of information technology as well as appropriate optimization (operations research) methods. In this paper we describe and classify the main logistics processes and operations in container terminals and present a survey of methods for their optimization. [<a href="#3">3</a>]<br />
In shipping port sector, containers are the most dynamic and complex to manage. To provide adequate strategy for the increasing traffic, ports must either expand facilities or improve efficiency of operations. In investigating ways in which ports can improve efficiency, this paper outlines a container terminal simulation model and gives components architecture that are implemented with Java. Simulator calibration and validation are also presented in the paper. The main goal of the present work is to provide a help tool in a port decision support system. The object oriented software design using UML diagrams is deployed in this project.[<a href="#4">4</a>]<br />
A simulation model must be used to evaluate the impact of new operations policies, not only to validate the policies, but also as a tool to convince the decision-makers of the potential advantages in adopting the proposed enhancements in the management. Terminal resource allocation policies and ship loading/unloading policies are obtained by means of Operations Research techniques for the case study of La Spezia Container Terminal (LSCT); a simulation model of the terminal is designed, implemented and validated. The simulation model is used to test the policies and to assess their robustness in front of the inherent stochasticity of the real world. INTRODUCTION The management of an intermodal container terminal is a complex task, which involves a great number of decisions to be taken at different levels, from strategic development down to the single move of a container. [<a href="#5">5</a>]<br />
The increasing competitiveness of the marine transportation industry has brought about demands that container terminal productivity be improved. MARAD, in cooperation with the National Research Council, has responded by developing a number of quantitative measurements for container terminal productivity. In this paper we discuss the problems and prospects of using such measurements to estimate or compare the productivity of terminals or ports. Because physical or institutional factors, or a combination of the two, act to limit the productivity of every container terminal, quantitative productivity comparisons among terminals or ports may lead to misplaced efforts to improve the productivity of particular operational elements in piecemeal fashion. By contrast, a sensible strategy for managing productivity would involve the linking of productivity and cost data, so that existing productivity constraints can be intelligently shifted from one area of operations to another.[<a href="#6">6</a>]<br />
Shipping container architecture is a form of architecture using steel intermodal containers (shipping containers) as structural element, because of their inherent strength, wide availability and relatively low cost.[<a href="#7">7</a>]</p>
<h2>Conclusion:</h2>
<p>Intermodal Container have undoubted importance in international sea freight transportation. Their use expanded from freight transportation to their usage in architecture as homes and even schools in poor countries.</p>
<h2>References:</h2>
<p>[1]<a name="1"></a> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermodal_container<br />
[2]<a name="2"></a> &#8220;Simulation and Planning of an Intermodal Container Terminal&#8221; by: Luca Maria Gambardella, Andrea E. Rizzoli, Marco Zaffalon<br />
[3]<a name="3"></a> &#8221;Container terminal operation and operations research &#8211; a classification and literature review&#8221; by: Dirk Steenken, Stefan Voß and Robert Stahlbock<br />
[4]<a name="4"></a> &#8220;Object oriented model for container terminal distributed simulation&#8221; by: Maurizio Biellia, Azedine Boulmakoulb, Mohamed Ridab<br />
[5]<a name="5"></a> &#8220;Simulation for the Evaluation of Optimised Operations Policies in a Container Terminal&#8221; by A. E. Rizzoli , L. M. Gambardella , M. Zaffalon , M. Mastrolilli<br />
[6]<a name="6"></a> &#8221;Container terminal productivity: a perspective&#8221; by: T. J. Dowda &amp; T. M. Leschine<br />
[7]<a name="7"></a> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipping_container_architecture</p>
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		<title>Leisure and travel in contemporary societies</title>
		<link>http://scilifestyle.com/leisure-and-travel-in-contemporary-societies.html</link>
		<comments>http://scilifestyle.com/leisure-and-travel-in-contemporary-societies.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 10 Oct 2011 11:50:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jade</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Industry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[leisure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[travel]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://scilifestyle.com/?p=594</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In contemporary society where life is so fast and hectic besides achieving professional success having some free leisure time is important. Contemporary societies have created a real business out of travelling and leisure time with the travel being extremely developed industry today. Basics: Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In contemporary society where life is so fast and hectic besides achieving professional success having some free leisure time is important. Contemporary societies have created a real business out of travelling and leisure time with the travel being extremely developed industry today.</p>
<h2>Basics:</h2>
<p>Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people &#8220;traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes&#8221;. [<a href="#1">1</a>]<br />
<img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-790" title="travel" src="http://www.australianscience.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/travel-300x200.jpg" alt="travel" width="300" height="200" />Leisure, or free time, is time spent away from business, work, and domestic chores. It is also the periods of time before or after necessary activities such as eating, sleeping and, where it is compulsory, education.<br />
The distinction between leisure and unavoidable activities is loosely applied, i.e. people sometimes do work-oriented tasks for pleasure as well as for long-term utility. A distinction may also be drawn between free time and leisure. For example, Situationist International maintains that free time is illusory and rarely free; economic and social forces appropriate free time from the individual and sell it back to them as the commodity known as &#8220;leisure&#8221;.<br />
Cultural differences: Time for leisure varies from one society to the next, although anthropologists have found that hunter-gatherers tend to have significantly more leisure time than people in more complex societies. As a result, band societies such as the Shoshone of the Great Basin came across as extraordinarily lazy to European colonialists. [<a href="#2">2</a>]<br />
Tourism is both an important component of modern life and a highly lucrative industry for many countries, yet its importance has been generally unrecognized in the academic arena. In The Tourist Gaze John Urry examines the concept of tourism from a sociological perspective, demonstrating that tourism is a unique and central element in contemporary society. With his primary focus on the changing nature of tourism, Urry reveals its connection to the broader cultural changes of postmodernism. [<a href="#3">3</a>]<br />
During the last decade, particularly following the publication of Urry’s (1990, TheTourist Gaze: Leisure and Travel in Contemporary Society. London: Sage) text, the perspectival concept of the institutional/professional “gaze” has come into currency in tourism studies. while few reviews of Urry’s important work on the place and significance of tourism in postmodern society pay much attention to the French litero–philosophical construction le regard (which gave rise to the English term “the gaze”), Leiper has produced a useful foundational review of Urry’s debt to Foucauldian thought. This current article endeavours to take over where Leiper left off, and provides a more searching critique of the power of surveillance (le regard) in tourism, as it yields a dialectical inspection of Foucauldian thought concerning the eye-of-power as it acts through the institutions/organisations/agencies of tourism and travel (and of tourism and travel research). Such a power of surveillance – such a power of judgement and governance – is shown to be an authoritative mix of normalising discourse and universalising praxis which routinely privileges certain understandings of heritage/society/the world in and through tourism – as the eye-of-power can do in any institutional, professional, or aggregative setting. Through this Foucauldian vision, the individual who works in tourism (and he/she who travels!) is seen to be homo docilis – i.e., someone who not only participates in the regulation of the world and in the mastery of its social, cultural, natural and geographical environments, but who regulates and thereby constrains himself/herself through the ocular centric out-looks which he/she upholds. The article seeks to reinvestigate the involvement of decision-making individuals in both investigative agendas in tourism research and in development practices in tourism management by hopefully making them much more other-regarded (and also self-aware) in terms of the governing suppositions and presuppositions they work to.[<a href="#4">4</a>]<br />
This article is concerned with exploring some of the connections between time and leisure, arguing in particular that leisure patterns are especially significant for changing notions of time. It is further argued that the once hegemonic clock-time is being supplanted in `disorganized capitalism&#8217; by a mix of instantaneous and glacial times. A variety of empirical indices of these are developed. It is then shown that contemporary leisure patterns are transformed through processes of de-traditionalization and increased reflexivity, processes that presuppose these newer forms of time. In conclusion, some implications for place are briefly developed.[<a href="#5">5</a>]</p>
<h2>Conclusion:</h2>
<p>The tourism is an important component of our lives. It developed into a very lucrative industry and will continue to do so as the interest in spending quality free time travelling (see <a href="http://www.azzurahotelsresorts.com.au/" target="_blank">http://www.azzurahotelsresorts.com.au/</a>) or doing interesting activities is increasing.</p>
<h2>References:</h2>
<p>[1]<a name="1"></a> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism<br />
[2]<a name="2"></a> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leisure<br />
[3]<a name="3"></a> The Tourist Gaze: Leisure and Travel in Contemporary Societies (Theory, Culture and Society Series)<br />
by John Urry<br />
[4]<a name="4"></a> Surveillance of the worlds of tourism: Foucault and the eye-of-power by Keith Hollinshead<br />
[5]<a name="5"></a> Time, Leisure and Social Identity by John Urry</p>
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