INVESTIGATING A QUALITY OF SERVICES INTHE PUBLIC SECTOR: EVIDENCE FROM NORTHERN CYPRUS

The current study aims is to investigate the service quality delivered by public enterprises in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and level of customer satisfaction as well as word of mouth (WOM) in return. A convenient sampling method has been employed by using the service quality (SERVQUAL) instrument which is used to gather customers’ excellent public service and compared those with their perceptions of the service delivered by Public Sectors which are operating in TRNC. Results of the study revealed that dimensions of reliability and assurance exert positively significant effects on Customer Satisfaction in the public sector. Moreover, the level of Customer Satisfaction from public services exerts positively significant effect on positive word of mouth. Finally, with the light of findings, the current study will also attempt to provide some recommendations about possible quality reforms and rearrangements to the policy makers for the public enterprises in TRNC

Shear strengthening of concrete members with TRM jackets: Effect of shear span-to-depth ratio, material and amount of external reinforcement

An experimental work on reinforced concrete (RC) rectangular beams strengthened in shear with textile reinforced mortar (TRM) jackets is presented in this paper, with focus on the following investigated parameters: (a) the amount of external TRM reinforcement ratio, ρf, by means of using different number of textile layers and different types of textile fibre materials (carbon, glass, basalt); (b) the textile geometry, and (c) the shear span-to-depth ratio, a/d. In total, 22 tests were conducted on simply supported rectangular RC beams under (three-point bending) monotonic loading. The experimental results revealed that: (1) TRM is very effective when the failure is attributed to debonding of the TRM jacket from the concrete substrate; (2) the trend of effective strains for carbon, glass and basalt TRM jackets is descending for increasing values of the TRM reinforcement ratio, ρf, when failure is associated to debonding of the jacket; (3) the effect of textile geometry is significant only for low values of ρf, resulting in variances in the capacity enhancement and the failure modes, and (4) the shear span-to-depth ratio has practically no effect to the failure mode nor to the TRM jacket contribution to the total shear resistance of the RC beams

Feasibility of the industrialization of natural gas in Bolivia and the sustainability of supply to markets beyond its borders

Esta Dissertação de Mestrado pretende realizar uma análise exaustiva do problema energético da Bolívia a partir do Gás Natural, avaliando possíveis cenários de aproveitamento racional deste recurso, contemplando princípios de equidade e desenvolvimento sustentável em base, à exploração deste recurso natural. Para isso, a partir do estado de arte da indústria energética boliviana, será avaliada a capacidade interna e de países vizinhos no contexto da nova Lei de Hidrocarbonetos e as políticas energéticas no novo cenário de desenvolvimento. Desta maneira, estará garantida a disponibilidade energética deste insumo na exportação aos países vizinhos. Apesar de que a nova Lei de Hidrocarbonetos tenha sido regulamentada recentemente (final de junho de 2005), todavia existe e existirá no médio prazo, a necessidade de buscar a estratégia que a cadeia produtiva do gás natural seguirá na Bolívia. Nela se agregam as diferentes posições políticas que amadureceram, desde o ano eleitoral de 2002. A Nova Lei é a culminação de um processo político e eleitoral na indústria dos hidrocarbonetos na Bolívia. É evidente que se a Bolívia conseguir estabelecer uma estratégia sustentável vinculada ao aproveitamento de suas reservas de gás, pode dar um salto em seu desenvolvimento e ser um país com poder de compra per capita que facilite a consolidação da estabilidade na região. Internamente, se percebe a necessidade urgente de uma política nacional de gás, coerente com uma melhor distribuição da renda mensal e uma política energética para que Bolívia possa ter melhores relações com seus futuros clientes de gás natural.This Dissertation of Mastery, it tries to realize an exhaustive analysis of the energetic problem of Bolivia from the Natural Gas, evaluating possible scenes of rational utilization of this resource, contemplating beginning of equity and sustainable development in base, to the exploration of this natural resource. For this, from the state of the art of the energetic Bolivian industry, it will be evaluated, the internal and cross-border capacity in the context of the new Law of Hydrocarbons and, the political energetic ones in the new scene of development. Hereby, there will be guaranteed the energetic safety of this input in the exportation to the neighboring countries. In spite of the fact that the new Law of Hydrocarbons has been regulated recently (end of June, 2005), still it exists and it will exist in the medium term, the need to look for the strategy that the productive chain of the natural gas will continue in Bolivia. Of her there take form the different political positions that came maturing from the electoral year of 2002. The New Law, it is the culmination of a process of politicization of the industry of the hydrocarbons in Bolivia. It is evident that if Bolivia manages to establish a sustainable strategy linked to the utilization of his reserves of gas, a jump can give in his development and be a country with purchasing power per-cápita, that facilitates the consolidation of the stability in the region. Internally, there is perceived the urgent need of a national politics of the gas, coherent by a better monthly income distribution and, an energetic politics in order that Bolivia could have better relations with his future clients of the natural gas

Numerical Solution of Sylvester Equation Based on Iterative Predictor-Corrector Method

The inspiration of the study concerns an iterative predictor-corrector method with order of convergence p=45 for computing the inverse of the coefficient matrix Λ=In⊗A+BT⊗Im, which is obtained by the Sylvester equation AX+XB=C. The numerical solutions of three examples by predictor-corrector algorithm are given. The final numerical results also support the applicability, fast convergency, and high accuracy of the method for finding matrix inverses

Numerical Investigation of the Two-Dimensional Fredholm Integral Equations of the Second Kind by Bernstein Operators

In this study, the numerical solutions of linear two-dimensional Fredholm integral equations of the second kind via Bernstein operators are considered. The method is presented with illustrative examples for regularized-equal and Chebyshev collocation points. The obtained numerical results from illustrative examples show that the proposed numerical algorithm is accurate and efficient for solving linear two-dimensional Fredholm integral equation of the second kind.</jats:p

Numerical Investigation of the Two-Dimensional Fredholm Integral Equations of the Second Kind by Bernstein Operators

In this study, the numerical solutions of linear two-dimensional Fredholm integral equations of the second kind via Bernstein operators are considered. The method is presented with illustrative examples for regularized-equal and Chebyshev collocation points. The obtained numerical results from illustrative examples show that the proposed numerical algorithm is accurate and efficient for solving linear two-dimensional Fredholm integral equation of the second kind

High order iterative methods for matrix inversion and regularized solution of fredholm integral equation of first kind with noisy data

The motivation of the present work is to propose high order iterative methods with a recurrence formula for approximate matrix inversion and provide regularized solution of Fredholm integral equation of first kind with noisy data by an algorithm using the proposed methods. From the given family of methods of orders p = 7,11,15,19 are applied to solve problems of Fredholm integral equation of first kind. From the literature, iterative methods of same orders are used to solve the considered problems and numerical comparisons are shown through tables and figures

Dos nuevas especies de Phrynopus (Anura: Leptodactylidae) de los bosques nublados de Bolivia

We describe two new species of Phrynopus from cloud forests in Cochabamba, Bolivia. The new species are assigned to the P. peruanus group and are characterized by the presence of basal webbing, distinctive coloration, and by having the first finger shorter than the second. The first of these new species was collected near Montepunko in Parque Nacional Carrasco and is known from eight males and six females. Among its distinctive characteristics are round cream-colored glands on its flanks. A second species is known from one male and one female collected near “Zona de Aguirre” near the northwest border of the park. V and X-shaped blotches and a dorsum that is smooth except for dorsolateral and scapular folds characterize this species. Musculature has rarely been described for species of Phrynopus. The species from Montepunko has unusual gular and thigh musculature that is quite unlike other species of the genus