In the last three decades of geothermal heat pump (GHP) industry, there has been an urge to present data, especially performance and itemized installation cost, as a plan to reduce the lack of knowledge and trust towards GHP systems for heating and cooling. The potential of GHPs in hot and humid climates is significant [Tao and Zhu, 2012]. However, past research efforts have demonstrated this potential through the use of simulation rather than real-time data. Therefore, the scope of work for this research is to investigate GHP system applications for residential buildings in areas with hot and humid climates. Based on the scope of work, the objective for this research is to determine the cost, energy performance, and the payback period of GHP systems using real data collected from residences in southern Louisiana. To achieve this objective, the research answered the following questions: RQ1: How do geothermal heat pump systems perform in terms of energy usage and costs in hot and humid climates when compared to traditional HVAC systems? RQ2: What is the payback period for installing a GHP system in hot and humid climates for a residential dwelling? A case study protocol was developed to collect building information, HVAC installation cost, financial incentive, energy usage, and end-user satisfaction data from residential buildings in Louisiana, three with GHP systems and two with conventional air-source systems. The electricity consumption and usage cost between the samples was compared using ANOVA in SPSS. This study concludes that tax credits can make GHP systems more affordable to average-size households as the payback period can be four times longer without the tax credits, and although the contractor base for GHPs in southern Louisiana is in its infancy, homeowners feel more satisfied with the performance of a GHP system than with the performance of a conventional air-source system.

No description available.

No description available.

This study aims to determine how the processes of a mobile network operator (MNO) promote or hinder the digital inclusion of vision impaired persons in South Africa. It draws on the Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory and concepts in Inclusive Design, as well as the Social Model of Disability. Viewing the Diffusion of Innovation theory through a social model lens highlights critical gaps and enables the development of a framework for digital inclusion, making a significant contribution in the field accessible ICTs for persons with disabilities. A single case study with an embedded unit is used to identify and describe an MNO's processes in terms of whether they promote or hinder digital inclusion. The study includes documentary sources, semi-structured interviews with MNO management, and focus groups with vision impaired consumers. Findings are presented under two themes, namely ‘inclusive culture' and ‘inclusive design'. The first theme proposes five processes that MNOs should implement to promote an inclusive culture. Firstly, MNOs must frame disability inclusion as a commercial opportunity and not as charity. Secondly, MNOs should distinguish between an integration and an inclusion approach in their processes. Thirdly, top management should display personal leadership when supporting disability inclusion. Fourthly, MNOs must recognise the role played by disability employment in promoting broader consumer inclusion. Fifthly, MNOs must adopt a purpose-led approach to ensure that staff render empathetic customer service. The second theme outlines five key considerations when implementing inclusive design for promoting digital inclusion. Firstly, reliable connectivity and accessible devices are key to digital inclusion. Secondly, affordability is a barrier to digital inclusion for many vision impaired South Africans. Thirdly, vision impaired persons should be viewed as a viable consumer group. Fourthly, education and marketing are essential for raising awareness about accessible technology and services among both MNO staff and the public. Fifthly, promoting digital literacy enables vision impaired persons to use technology optimally. This study proposes that MNOs implement processes that embed inclusion and inclusive design into their culture in order to meet the needs of vision impaired persons. This will ensure that vision impaired consumers not only become part of a connected society, but are also able to participate in it. Keywords: mobile network operators; digital inclusion; processes; vision/visually impaired; accessibility; Global South, information communication technology.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Naval Construction, 1935. / by Leslie E. Richardson. / M.S.

The absence (or lack) of a diverse leadership and workforce in the South African construction industry is hindering innovation in the industry. The result is a weakened ability to respond to a fast paced technologically driven market and economic changes which impacts directly on organisational growth and performance. This further limits the industry's ability to provide inclusive innovative solutions to industry challenges and societal infrastructure challenges. Little is known about the role of leadership in driving, influencing, and managing the relationship between diversity and innovation in the South African construction industry. The construction industry has not been responsive to market changes and consequently, has been slow to innovate and grow. The rapidly evolving societal contextual landscape requires a more diverse workforce to specifically respond to and address these challenges. South Africa is faced with many infrastructure challenges, such as insufficient eroded road and water infrastructure, lack of sufficient housing, high unemployment of construction graduates, that impact negatively on society's most impoverished and marginalised. The exclusivity of South Africa's growth path is further emphasised by a high unemployment rate of 25%, while the comprehensive social welfare system has succeeded in reducing inequalities in access to public services and housing, poverty has remained stagnant, and inequality has remained exceptionally high, underpinned by one of the world's consistently highest unemployment rates. This study investigated the role of leadership in managing the relationship between diversity and innovation in the construction industry by examining how leadership influences, drives, and manages this relationship to advance organisational performance in the South African construction industry. A convergent parallel mixed method approach was used to elicit the views of all the professionals (the construction industry work force) working within the South African construction industry on how they perceive, interact, feel, experience, engage and rate the level of importance of the three elements under investigation. A pilot study was conducted with a small sample to evaluate the comprehensibility of the questions. Thereafter, a questionnaire (survey) was distributed to professionals in various roles and levels within the South African construction industry. To better understand how leaders within the South African construction industry view, interact, feel, experience, engage and rate the level of importance of the three elements, semi-structured interviews were conducted via Microsoft teams concurrently with the questionnaire that was distributed via the survey monkey digital platform. The quantitative data collected was exported from the Survey Monkey digital tool to the SPSS 27 software and analysed using descriptive, inferential and probability tests. The qualitative data was analysed thematically using the NVivo 12 software. The research found that the South African construction industry has the potential and opportunity to contribute to societal infrastructure challenges and that there is a correlation between leadership's ability to drive, influence and manage the relationship between diversity and innovation to advance successful organisational and industry performance. This study provided a framework articulating the mediating influence of leadership on the relationship between diversity and innovation to drive better inclusive societal infrastructure problem-solving in the South African construction industry.

No description available.

This dissertation provides an ad hoc integration methodology to manage and integrate heterogeneous online distributed databases on demand. The problem arises from an impending demand from scientific users to conveniently manage existing Web data along with the complexity involved in the construction of a functional data federation system using existing data integration technologies. We close this gap with a databases management framework accompanying novel Web data specification languages, wrapper generation technologies, and distributed query processing techniques. A major achievement of this dissertation is the establishment of a sound relational data model for Web data. Under this model, the Web becomes a synthetic extension of the traditional database systems. Consequently, a novice user of our system can cheaply integrate a large number of distributed Web sources with in-house databases for daily scientific data analysis purpose. The relational Web modeling leads to a practical ad hoc integration system - the Meteoroid system (a MEthodology for ad hoc inTEgration of Online distributed heteROgeneous Internet Data) - in the context of biological data interoperability. We identify that a main difficulty for ad hoc integration lies in the lack of a fully automated wrapper generation and maintenance technique for general semi-structured data such as HTML, XML and plain text documents. We address this issue through a thorough study of characteristics of online Web data and devise various automated wrapper techniques to facilitate robust data wrapping tasks. With this technique, form-based Web data and table-based Web data can be treated like traditional relational databases. A seamless interoperation environment for Web data and in-house databases is possible. Another difficulty impeding ad hoc integration is in the query processing for heterogeneous distributed sources, where conflict of data is common and on demand mediation of distributed sources is desirable. The dynamicity and unpredictability of Web data further complicate the query processing task. We studied limitations posed by the Web environment for integration query processing and developed innovative techniques to expedite the early appearance of available results. Finally we demonstrate a prototype system for ad hoc integration of heterogeneous biological data. In the system, visual Web-based interfaces guide the integration of heterogeneous data for novice users. A declarative environment is supported for ad hoc querying and management of distributed data sources.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI/Dissertation Abstracts International.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references.