scholarly journals An Adaptable Conceptual Model for Construction Technology Transfer: The BRI in Africa, the Case of Ethiopia

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3376
Author(s):  
Zahra Abdulhadi Shukra ◽  
Ying Zhou ◽  
Lingling Wang
Keyword(s):  
Technology Transfer ◽  
Conceptual Model ◽  
The Body ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Construction Technology ◽  
Infrastructure Development ◽  
Host Countries ◽  
Developmental Relationships ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
Construction Firms

Unlike other developmental relationships, BRI is the most promising icon in transforming the construction industry and built environment in Africa; the infrastructure developments like highways, bridges, skyscrapers, and aviation take in advanced construction technologies, methods, and skills. However, the technological capability of Chinese construction firms is not transferred in the highest capacity to the host countries. Nevertheless, the main focus is on delivering modern railways, highways, and skyscrapers. Thus, this research aimed to propose an adaptable technology transfer model by identifying the theoretical concepts in the body of knowledge, exploring the prior technology transfer models and the best experiences. The findings indicated that the BRI inclusive countries in Africa benefit from infrastructure development with an investment amount of more than US$33 billion with potential technology spillovers, but in an unplanned, and not best suited to their conditions because of the lack of a single-country-based technology, transfer model ahead of project implementation. Using a systems thinking approach and a causal loop diagram tool, the authors created a conceptual model to guide the Africa’s construction technology transfer through BRI. The research also examined case study projects in Ethiopia to assert the new model’s practicability over the existing processes. Moreover, the university–industry linkage structures, can facilitate the process through R&D and innovation in the whole project life cycle.

scholarly journals Digital Construction Technology and Job-site Equipment Demonstration: Modelling Relationship Strategies for Technology Adoption

Buildings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sepasgozar ◽  
Davis
Keyword(s):  
Technology Adoption ◽  
Conceptual Model ◽  
New Technology ◽  
The Body ◽  
Construction Technology ◽  
Clustering Techniques ◽  
Construction Companies ◽  
Technology Market ◽  
Technology Demonstration ◽  
Job Site

The construction technology market is competitive and complicated, due to the high-risk of digital technology utilisation in construction projects and the conservative character of construction companies. This complexity affects the process of job-site technology dissemination and adoption in which construction companies make decisions to purchase and utilise the new technology. The complexity is one of the reasons that many new remote technologies, positioning and locating systems, lasers and drones, 3D printing, and robots are not widely adopted in the short term, despite vendors making determined efforts to overcome this. Three objectives are investigated in this paper: (i) to define criteria for examining patterns of vendors’ strategies to support technology adoption; (ii) to present fact-based evidence of different vendors’ demonstration methods; and (iii) to present examples of different technology groups based on their required strategies. This paper presents the results of a longitudinal investigation of the construction technology market, including patterns of technology demonstration and a conceptual model of classifying vendors and their technologies in construction market places. The model involves the three most important factors that distinguish technology exhibitors: Physical appearance, Interpersonal relationship and Technology demonstration. Data was collected from technology exhibitions, involving randomly selected vendors. This data was analysed using hierarchical and c-means clustering techniques. The hard-clustering techniques resulted in vendors being placed in five classes based on the elements of the PIT framework. Fuzzy analysis shows how these classes fit into an underlying strategy spectrum. Understanding the strategies used in each class enables new vendors to select their own dissemination strategies based on their own particular circumstances. The practical implication of this study is to present a set of dissemination strategies to new technology stakeholders involved in Industry 4.0. The identified patterns of technology vendor strategies and the novel conceptual model contribute to the body of knowledge in technology diffusion.

scholarly journals Digital Platform Ecosystems as Living Labs for Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Innovation: A Conceptual Model Proposal

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6494
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Baran ◽  
Aleksandra Berkowicz
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Real Life ◽  
The Body ◽  
Innovation Development ◽  
Sustainable Entrepreneurship ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Digital Platform ◽  
Living Labs ◽  
Platform Ecosystems ◽  
The Relationship

The main idea of the paper is to combine modern research methods (as living labs that enable research in a real-life setting) with the new technological opportunities for entrepreneurship and innovation development (as digital platforms) to search for innovative solutions, while addressing the sustainable development problems. Thus, the paper aims to explain how real value for society is created within digital platform ecosystems and how they employ to this end novel solutions that better address existing social problems. Consequently, it proposes a conceptual framework to research and develop sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation with the use of digital platforms. This research study takes a synthesizing conceptual approach that seeks to integrate the existing knowledge drawn on two major streams of research: living labs as a methodology and digital platform ecosystems to enrich the theory of sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation development. The paper contributes to the body of knowledge by proposing a novel conceptual model of digital platform ecosystems as living labs for sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation. The model depicts digital platform ecosystems examined as living labs and the implicit processes that include platform users in problem-solving and value-creation in real-life settings. The novelty of the model stems from framing these processes that capture the relationship between individuals and opportunities as the foundations of entrepreneurship and the relationship between the problem space and the solution space, where the opportunities occur.

Understanding Semantic Web: a conceptual model

2015 ◽  
Vol 64 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 82-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Calaresu ◽  
Ali Shiri
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Web ◽  
Conceptual Model ◽  
The Body ◽  
Three Dimensional Model ◽  
Conceptual Approach ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Software Applications ◽  
Web Architecture ◽  
The Web

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to explore and conceptualize the Semantic Web as a term that has been widely mentioned in the literature of library and information science. More specifically, its aim is to shed light on the evolution of the Web and to highlight a previously proposed means of attempting to improve automated manipulation of Web-based data in the context of a rapidly expanding base of both users and digital content. Design/methodology/approach – The conceptual analysis presented in this paper adopts a three-dimensional model for the discussion of Semantic Web. The first dimension focuses on Semantic Web’s basic nature, purpose and history, as well as the current state and limitations of modern search systems and related software agents. The second dimension focuses on critical knowledge structures such as taxonomies, thesauri and ontologies which are understood as fundamental elements in the creation of a Semantic Web architecture. In the third dimension, an alternative conceptual model is proposed, one, which unlike more commonly prevalent Semantic Web models, offers a greater emphasis on describing the proposed structure from an interpretive viewpoint, rather than a technical one. This paper adopts an interpretive, historical and conceptual approach to the notion of the Semantic Web by reviewing the literature and by analyzing the developments associated with the Web over the past three decades. It proposes a simplified conceptual model for easy understanding. Findings – The paper provides a conceptual model of the Semantic Web that encompasses four key strata, namely, the body of human users, the body of software applications facilitating creation and consumption of documents, the body of documents themselves and a proposed layer that would improve automated manipulation of Web-based data by the software applications. Research limitations/implications – This paper will facilitate a better conceptual understanding of the Semantic Web, and thereby contribute, in a small way, to the larger body of discourse surrounding it. The conceptual model will provide a reference point for education and research purposes. Originality/value – This paper provides an original analysis of both conceptual and technical aspects of Semantic Web. The proposed conceptual model provides a new perspective on this subject.

scholarly journals Safe Duration Of A Person Soaking Inside A Hot Tub: Theoretical Prediction of Temperature Elevations in Human Bodies Using A Whole Body Heat Transfer Model

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myo Min Zaw ◽  
Manpreet Singh ◽  
Ronghui Ma ◽  
Liang Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Human Body ◽  
Energy Balance Equation ◽  
The Body ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Transient Temperature ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Bioheat Equation ◽  
Arterial Blood

In this study, we first develop a whole body model based on measurements of a human body, with realistic boundary conditions incorporated before and after a person jumps into a hot tub. For the transient heat transfer simulation, the initial condition is the established steady state temperature field of the human body with appropriate clothing layer to ensure the thermal equilibrium of the body with its surroundings. Once the person is inside a hot tub, the Pennes bioheat equation is used to simulate the transient temperature elevations of the body, and the rising of the arterial blood temperature is solved by an energy balance equation modeling thermal exchange between body tissue and the blood in the body. The safe duration of soaking in hot tubs is then determined as affected by the hot tub water temperatures.

Affordable housing and clean technology transfer in construction firms in Brazil

2021 ◽  
Vol 67 ◽  
pp. 101768
Author(s):  
Rolando-Arturo Cubillos-González ◽  
Grace Tibério Cardoso
Keyword(s):  
Technology Transfer ◽  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Clean Technology ◽  
Construction Firms

scholarly journals Host-Country Market Environment, Intra-Firm Technology Transfer Performance and Corporate Sustainability: A Conceptual Study

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 91
Author(s):  
Syed Ali Fazal ◽  
Sazali Abdul Wahab ◽  
Abu Sofian Bin Yaacob ◽  
Nur Fadiah Mohd Zawawi
Keyword(s):  
Technology Transfer ◽  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Host Country ◽  
Practical Implication ◽  
Market Competition ◽  
Corporate Sustainability ◽  
The Body ◽  
Market Environment ◽  
Transfer Of Technology ◽  
Country Market

<p>Technological innovations have emerged as crucially significant factor for sustaining market competition and achieving sustainable competitive advantage in the 21st century. The Multinational Corporations (MNCs) as celebrities of innovation play significant role in diffusing technological knowledge throughout firms both nationally and internationally. Although numerous studies exist on technology transfer the majority of existing literature addresses the issues related to inter-firm transfer of technology only while the area related to intra-firm transfer of technology has been largely underexposed; study of which is believed to be ideal for fruitful exploration of profitability in technology transfer projects. By exploring the existing relevant literature, the current study would attempt to posit a new model in regards to the effect of host-country market factors on the performance of technology transferred by the MNCs and its subsequent impact on corporate sustainability. In the present study the relative influence of two market environment factors of the host-country, competitive intensity and market dynamism have been focused on and the study is thereby expected to contribute both theoretically in the body of knowledge and also in terms of practical implication for policy makers and MNCs and hence enriching the existing intra-firm literature simultaneously.</p>

scholarly journals No Power without Knowledge: A Discursive Subjectivities Approach to Investigate Climate-Induced (Im)mobility and Wellbeing

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Rapid Growth ◽  
Human Mobility ◽  
The Body ◽  
Environmental Migration ◽  
Human Decision

During the last few decades we have seen a rapid growth in the body of literature on climate-induced human mobility or environmental migration. Meanwhile, in-depth people-centred studies investigating people’s (im)mobility decision-making as a highly complex and sociopsychological process are scarce. This is problematic as human decision-making behaviour and responses—including their success or failure—closely align with people’s wellbeing status. In this article, elaborations around why these under-representations of research narratives and existing methods will guide us towards a solution. The article proposes a conceptual model to help fill this gap that is inspired by Michel Foucault’s power and knowledge relationship and discursive subjectivities. The conceptual idea introduced by the article offers as a replicable approach and potential way forward that can support widening empirical research in the area of climate-induced (im)mobility decision-making and wellbeing.

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