bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The past and future of trade unionism
Authors: Nowak Paul
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to offer a broad practitioner’s overview of recent trade union history in the UK, and to investigate organised labour’s prospects in the decades ahead.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper is based on a review of relevant literature and trade union documentation from the period 1964 to 2014.

Findings

– This paper concludes that the past 50 years has been a period of change and turbulence for the movement, and suggests that this is likely to remain the case in the decades to come. Although external political and economic factors will have a significant bearing on unions’ prospects, the paper argues that unions remain powerful agents of change in their own right and that a revival of organised labour is not beyond question.

Originality/value

– The paper is written with unique practitioner insight from the UK’s trade union centre.
Conflict: trends and forms of collective action
Authors: Kelly John
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to review the state of knowledge on strikes and collective action.

Design/methodology/approach

– Review of theoretical and empirical literature, including comparative literature.

Findings

– Both strike activity and other forms of collective action have declined in many advanced capitalist countries. There has been a rise in the number of strike ballots and in tribunal claims but these trends do not constitute a straightforward vindication of the displacement hypothesis. However there is evidence of an increase in general strikes in parts of Western Europe and of protest campaigns involving coalitions of unions and civil society organizations.

Originality/value

– The paper tries to summarize the current state of knowledge and to map out directions for future research.
Employment relations over the last 50 years: confrontation, consensus or neglect?
Authors: Emmott Mike
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to discuss significant changes in the concept and practice of employment relations over the last 50 years. It does so from both public policy and management perspectives and highlights the continued failure to align these two perspectives.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper draws on the author’s research as an adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, and his previous experience as a civil servant in the Employment Department. A range of published sources are relied on, including quantitative, survey based and qualitative, case-study and other evidence.

Findings

– The over-riding need to tackle inflation led governments in the 1960s and 1970s to make repeated attempts to build a stronger legal framework around collective bargaining, and to intensifying incomes policies which brought governments into frequent conflict with the trade unions. This was followed by incremental reform of trade union legislation under Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, to which there has subsequently been no serious challenge. The question is posed whether the author is nearing the end of the road for trade union voice in the UK, or whether there is scope for a “new deal” under which trade unions can join with other key stakeholders in making a positive contribution towards economic regeneration. Looking forward, the paper discusses shifts in trade union approaches to industrial action and major challenges for employers, including managing individual conflict and employee voice.

Originality/value

– The paper suggests that the ambiguity of the term “employee relations” means the author needs to ask what are the specific challenges facing employee relations practitioners today. Employee relations managers are undertaking a wide range of jobs. Their current focus on employee relations reflects a shift from the defensive attitudes that characterised the earlier part of the period to a more positive one. The paper concludes by arguing the case for a national forum bringing together employers, trade unions and other key stakeholders to advise government on workplace issues.
How did the publication of the bookThe Machine That Changed The Worldchange management thinking? Exploring 25 years of lean literature
Authors: Samuel Donna , Found Pauline , Williams Sharon J.
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to take a critical, analytical approach to explore the growth and spread of Lean through the academic and practitioner community over the last 25 years to understand the impact of the bookThe Machine that Changed the Worldon management thinking.

Design/methodology/approach

– A comprehensive and systematic review of the extant literature of lean was undertaken and analysed critically to observe patterns and trends that could explain the acceptance of Lean as an operations management philosophy. The review spans from 1987 to 2013. To enable us to effectively manage and understand the diffusion of this literature a database, the Lean Publications Database, was constructed. The number of publications has been adjusted to compensate for growth in the total number of articles published in the same period.

Findings

– Lean has evolved to be one of the best-known, yet fiercely debated, process improvement methodologies. It emerged during a proliferation of such methodologies in the business and management literature. Lean has developed from a generic description of Toyota Production System (TPS) to a particular type of organisational and management intervention focused on best practice and process improvement methodologies.

Research limitations/implications

– This paper provides the first comprehensive review of the Lean literature, from the perspective of Lean as the unit of analysis. It covers both sides of the academic debate and categorises the progression of Lean from its origins as a generic description of TPS to a movement that has changed management systems in many and diverse sectors.

Practical implications

– This paper demonstrates how Lean research, application and thinking has evolved over 25 years from its origins in Japanese auto-manufacturing to a holistic value system that is applicable to all business sectors, both private and public.

Originality/value

– In most empirical studies on Lean, the unit of analysis is the organisation. In this study, the unit of analysis is the Lean phenomenon itself. This paper examines the impact ofThe Machine that Changed the Worldon management thinking. In addition, it presents a step to developing an underpinning theory by linking Lean to theTheory of Swift, Even Flow. As such it is of interest to academics in the field of operations management and offers a contribution to knowledge. It is also likely to be of interest to policy makers. Considerable amounts of public money have been spent, and continue to be spent, on promoting Lean. Taxpayers and policymakers are likely to be interested in whether that expenditure is justifiable. 25 years of publications have been analysed to provide clarity around this popular approach to organisational improvement.
The relationship between organizational culture and quality techniques, and its impact on operational performance
Authors: Gambi Lillian Do Nascimento , Boer Harry , Gerolamo Mateus Cecilio , Jørgensen Frances , Carpinetti Luiz Cesar Ribeiro
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate if a firm’s organizational culture affects the set of quality techniques it uses, and if these quality techniques affect the relationship between organizational culture and operational performance.

Design/methodology/approach

– Based on data collected from 250 firms in Brazil and Denmark, structural equation modeling is used to investigate the relationship between organizational culture and the use of quality techniques, and its impact on operational performance. Four quality technique groups, four cultural profiles adopted from the Competing Values Framework and a set of operational performance indicators are used to operationalize the study.

Findings

– Culture does not appear to be an unequivocal predictor of the use of quality techniques. Furthermore, while most quality technique groups contribute indirectly to the total effect on operational performance in the developmental, group and hierarchical cultures, the performance effects are insignificant for all four groups in the rational culture.

Practical implications

– Managers need to be actively aware of the cultural characteristics of their organization before adopting quality techniques, in order to benefit most from the use of these techniques.

Originality/value

– Most previous studies address the relationships between culture, quality management and performance at the level of quality practices. This study takes the unitarist-pluralist discussion to the level of quality techniques and extends that discussion to what should be its core, namely, the influence of quality techniques on the performance impact of culture.
Design variables and constraints in fashion store design processes
Authors: Haug Anders , Münster Mia Borch
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– Several frameworks of retail store environment variables exist, but as shown by this paper, they are not particularly well-suited for supporting fashion store design processes. Thus, in order to provide an improved understanding of fashion store design, the purpose of this paper is to identify the most important store design variables, organise these variables into categories, understand the design constraints between categories, and determine the most influential stakeholders.

Design/methodology/approach

– Based on a discussion of existing literature, the paper defines a framework of store design variables and constraints between these. The framework is investigated through six case studies of fashion store design projects.

Findings

– Through a discussion of literature and empirical studies, the paper: identifies the most important store design variables, organises these variables into categories, provides an understanding of constraints between categories of variables, and identifies the most influential stakeholders. The paper demonstrates that the fashion store design task can be understood through a system perspective, implying that the store design task becomes a matter of defining a set of subsystems, while considering their mutual interdependencies.

Research limitations/implications

– The proposed framework may be used as a point of departure and a frame of reference for future research into fashion store design.

Practical implications

– The paper may support retail designers and retail managers in fashion store design processes by clarifying which store design variables to consider and providing an understanding of the constraints between them.

Originality/value

– The perspective on the fashion store design task offered by the proposed framework adds a layer of understanding to the way in which existing literature describes the challenges related to store design. The empirical studies of fashion store projects demonstrate that the described system perspective offers a useful way of organising fashion store designers’ experiences from design processes.
Developing an adult safeguarding outcome measure in England
Authors: Norrie Caroline , Cartwright Cher , Rayat Pritpal , Grey Michelle , Manthorpe Jill
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– There are currently no national adult safeguarding outcome measures that focus on people who have been through an adult safeguarding investigation in England. There is a need for local authorities (LAs) and their partners to be able to measure whether the services provided to adults at risk of abuse and neglect are effective. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

– This paper describes the cognitive testing phase of a study to develop and implement a standardised adult at risk outcome measure in adult safeguarding for use by LAs in England. An outcome measure (a set of seven survey questions administered in a face to face interview) was cognitively tested in three LAs with adults at risk (or their carers/advocates) for whom an investigation of abuse had been concluded (n=40), with the aim of assessing whether it was commonly understood. A set of guidance notes was designed and LA staff (n=12) who assisted with the survey were interviewed about its usability and the feasibility of administering the survey.

Findings

– The survey questions required modifications to improve their reliability, validity and comparability. LA staff also suggested improvements were needed in the guidance document and survey. LA managers, adults at risk (and their relatives/carers/advocates) were willing to be involved in the survey and it was considered feasible to proceed with piloting the measure.

Originality/value

– The development of this unique survey is of interest to those working in adult safeguarding, user involvement, survey management and outcome measurement in LAs.
Do mates hate? A framing of the theoretical position of mate crime and an assessment of its practical impact
Authors: Doherty Ged
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore the phenomenon of mate crime and attempts to assess its practical as well as its theoretical implications.

Design/methodology/approach

– It begins with an account of the short history of the concept and then positions mate crime within academic theorising around general hate crime and disability.

Findings

– Particular reference is made to the significance of the issue of vulnerability and how its interpretation might affect understanding of this phenomenon.

Research limitations/implications

– This is followed by some observations on how agencies of social policy and the legislature are responding to the issue of mate crime.

Practical implications

– Particular reference is paid to the impact of safeguarding adults procedures.

Originality/value

– It concludes that, although “mates” can (and do) “hate”, further research is required on the subject in order to gain better knowledge of the issue from both a theoretical and a practice position.
Evidence from meta-analysis about parental involvement in education which supports their children’s learning
Authors: Higgins Steven , Katsipataki Maria
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to contribute to understanding of different ways that parents and schools develop and maintain working partnerships to improve outcomes for children by focusing on quantitative evidence about parental involvement (PI). The key questions for this synthesis are: what is the evidence about the extent of impact of PI on cognitive or academic outcomes for children, and how consistent and reliable is this evidence?

Design/methodology/approach

– This is an “umbrella” review comparing and contrasting findings from 13 meta-analyses across three areas of PI and home/school partnerships: first, general approaches; second, home and family literacy programmes; and finally, targeted interventions focused on individual or specific family need.

Findings

– There is consistent evidence about the extent of impact from general approaches (three to six months average additional gain for children’s educational outcomes) and for targeted intervention (four to six months), but with a wider range of estimates for family literacy (two to eight months average gain). Variation in approaches and evaluation quality make specific recommendations for practice challenging, though some consistent patterns of findings indicate strategies that are likely to be “good bets” to explore and evaluate.

Research limitations/implications

– The quality of the underlying studies makes drawing secure implications for practice difficult. The nature of the review means that it does not capture the most recent studies.

Originality/value

– The paper provides a synthesis of quantitative evidence from 13 meta-analyses to identify where there is consistency in estimates of impact and what is associated with systematic variation in this impact.
Incredible partnerships: parents and teachers working together to enhance outcomes for children through a multi-modal evidence based programme
Authors: Webster-Stratton Carolyn , Bywater Tracey
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore the utility of an evidence-based suite of programmes, The Incredible Years (IY), to enhance outcomes for children using a parent-teacher partnership model.

Design/methodology/approach

– A review of the broad evidence base for the IY parent, teacher and child programmes, uniquely focusing on the inter-relationships between home and school contexts.

Findings

– Evidence suggests that it is beneficial to parents, teachers and children to deliver IY programmes applying a multi-modal approach.

Originality/value

– This paper, read in conjunction with other contributions in this volume, demonstrates the growing viability of partnership strategies that support children, their families and teachers to enhance school readiness, and promote positive child outcomes.
Co-production of family literacy projects to enhance early literacy development
Authors: Nutbrown Cathy , Bishop Julia , Wheeler Helen
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to report on how early years practitioners worked with the ORIM Framework to support work with parents to promote early literacy experiences.

Design/methodology/approach

– Co-produced Knowledge Exchange (KE) was used to develop and evaluate work with parents to facilitate their young children’s literacy. Information was gathered in discussion groups, interviews with parents and practitioners and feedback from all the parties involved.

Findings

– Practitioners and families engaged with each other in the further development of an established literacy programme, and families demonstrated “ownership” of the co-produced knowledge after the end of the project.

Research limitations/implications

– Project design in co-produced research and KE is necessarily flexible. The focus is on practitioners’ knowledge and ownership of the process, sharing knowledge with parents and enhancing children’s experiences.

Practical implications

– Practices that can enhance parental engagement in their children’s early literacy are varied and multiple and ORIM can be used flexibly to plan, develop and evaluate innovative and community – (and family –) specific practices.

Social implications

– Where parents have more knowledge of children’s early literacy development they are in a better position to support them; for learning communities there are implications in terms of future development of work with families to support early literacy development.

Originality/value

– This paper contributes an original approach to the co-production of research with early years practitioners. It also identifies specific issues around the ethics of ownership in co-produced research.
Experiencing information use for early career academics’ learning: a knowledge ecosystem model
Authors: Miller Faye Q.
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore the informed learning experiences of early career academics (ECAs) while building their networks for professional and personal development. The notion that information and learning are inextricably linked via the concept of “informed learning” is used as a conceptual framework to gain a clearer picture of what informs ECAs while they learn and how they experience using that which informs their learning within this complex practice: to build, maintain and utilise their developmental networks.

Design/methodology/approach

– This research employs a qualitative framework using a constructivist grounded theory approach (Charmaz, 2006). Through semi-structured interviews with a sample of 14 ECAs from across two Australian universities, data were generated to investigate the research questions. The study used the methods of constant comparison to create codes and categories towards theme development. Further examination considered the relationship between thematic categories to construct an original theoretical model.

Findings

– The model presented is a “knowledge ecosystem”, which represents the core informed learning experience. The model consists of informal learning interactions such as relating to information to create knowledge and engaging in mutually supportive relationships with a variety of knowledge resources found in people who assist in early career development.

Originality/value

– Findings from this study present an alternative interpretation of informed learning that is focused on processes manifesting as human interactions with informing entities revolving around the contexts of reciprocal human relationships.
Systematic and serendipitous discoveries: a shift in sensemaking
Authors: Liff Roy , Rovio-Johansson Airi
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to enrich the theoretical understanding of the phenomenon of sensemaking where a conceptual shift was provoked by a serendipitous encounter.

Design/methodology/approach

– A theoretical framework consisting of three elements of reflexivity: the cognitive, the social, and the normative, all of which support the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in the investigation of a serendipitous Episode that occurred in a larger research project. This Episode took place at a meeting between a social welfare officer and a psychologist in which they discussed the treatment of a psychiatric patient. When the psychologist left the meeting for a brief period, the researchers, unexpectedly, were able to interview the social welfare officer alone.

Findings

– This interview revealed a deviation from the institutionalized patient treatment procedure that was explained to the researchers in earlier interviews. The study shows that shifts in sensemaking are possible when researchers are open to serendipitous encounters. This shift in sensemaking in this Episode was strategic because it concerned the three most important aspects of the actor’s decision making: how to make diagnosis, treatments, and cooperate around the patient.

Research limitations/implications

– It is recommended that researchers use the theoretical framework of reflexivity to test their sensemaking processes as well as remain open to changes in planned, traditional methodological approaches.

Originality/value

– The study applies apost-hocanalysis with reflections on serendipitous events that may guide researchers when they encounter unanticipated events and make anomalous discoveries.
Slavoj Žižek, Rex Libris, and the Traumatic Real
Authors: Radford Gary P. , Radford Marie L. , Alpert Mark
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to use the work of philosopher Slavoj Žižek to gain insights into representations of the librarian and the library in contemporary popular culture.

Design/methodology/approach

– A psycho-analytic reading of the comic book series Rex Libris using Slavoj Žižek’s treatment of Jacques Lacan.

Findings

– Žižek’s approach can provide novel and previously unconsidered insights into the understanding of librarian stereotypes in particular and representations of the library in general.

Research limitations/implications

– This paper is limited to the representations of the librarian and the library in one comic book series. Its findings need to be generalized to representations in other forms of popular culture.

Originality/value

– As far as the authors know, this is the only paper that has applied the work of Žižek in the library and information science (LIS) literature. As such, not only are the insights into the representations of librarians and libraries important, this paper also acts as a valuable introduction to the work of Žižek for the LIS community of scholars.
Seek, share, or withhold: information trading in MMORPGs
Authors: Harviainen J. Tuomas , Hamari Juho
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to discuss the ways in which information acts as a commodity in massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), and how players pay for items and services with information practices.

Design/methodology/approach

– Through meta-theoretical analysis of the game environment as a set of information systems, one of retrieval and one social, the paper shows how players’ information practices influence their access to game content, organizational status and relationship to real-money trade.

Findings

– By showing how information trading functions in MMORPGs, the paper displays the importance of information access for play, the efficiency of real money trade and the significance of information practice -based services as a relatively regular form of payment in virtual worlds. Players furthermore shown to contribute to the information economy of the game with the way in which they decide not to share some information, so as to prevent others from a loss of game content value due to spoilers.

Originality/value

– The subject, despite the popularity of online games, has been severely understudied within library and information science. The paper contributes to that line of research, by showing how games function as information systems, and by explaining how they, as environments and contexts, influence and are influenced by information practices.
Replacing the ideology of information by exploring domains of knowledge
Authors: Luyt Brendan
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– This paper examines the structure of Philippine historiography as viewed by Filipino historians. The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of the knowledge domain of Philippine history and in particular how its practitioners organize their field of study in terms of periodization. At the end of the paper an application of this analysis is proposed, the development of an online encyclopaedia of Philippine history.

Design/methodology/approach

– Interviews were arranged with willing historians at two of the premier institutions of higher learning in the Philippines: the Ateneo de Manila and University of the Philippines. The historians were asked three general questions: what in their opinion, are the key defining events in Philippine history? What are the key historians for each of those events? And what are the key debates regarding these events? For the purpose of this paper it is the results of the first question that are in focus as it deals with one of the fundamental tools of historical analysis, periodization.

Findings

– Philippine history was found to be periodized in a variety of ways, from the traditional to other approaches that stress either Filipino rather than colonial agency or the uneven trajectories of historical development that depend on region, class, or language group. A final approach viewed Filipino history as a network of relations spanning space and time. Wikis designed around the results of domain analysis make it possible to provide information on topics of importance to a discipline as well as reveal something of its deeper structure. Combined with traditional concerns, such as use of appropriate sources, this would serve to help develop a deeper awareness of the nature of knowledge production.

Originality/value

– This paper represents both a contribution to the study of knowledge domains, as well as an application of that study to the work of information professionals. Putting the spotlight on Philippine historians and history also helps the LIS discipline to move away from its traditional North American and European focus. Studies of knowledge producing bodies in the rest of the world are important and overdue.
Integrating occupational therapy services – playing the long game
Authors: Kelly Janet
Published: September 2015

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore some of the critical areas of work in any long-term strategy to develop integrated occupational therapy services across health and social care for adults who are frail and elderly and living in their local communities. It explores the success that has been experienced in Aneurin Bevan University Health Board over the past eight years or more and proposes “keeping the faith” as a helpful personal strategy in avoiding disillusionment and disengagement in the process when setbacks occur along the way.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is a combination of personal reflection and experience, with reference to the literature and what has been written about others’ professional experiences at bringing services and professional groups together.

Findings

Developing integrated occupational therapy services is not easy. However there are several critical factors, which once understood for their role in the overall process, add weight to the “right thing to do” argument. These “critical factors” provide a continued focus for the work when the challenges inherent in developing integrated services are in danger of outweighing the successes and the pressure is strong to revert to the default position of single agency service delivery.

Originality/value

This paper makes an effort to pursue integrated occupational services to serve as an example of wider attempts to pursue collaboration and integration, highlighting the need for remaining doggedly determined on the final objective – better services for people.
The cost of equity estimation in emerging Europe: the case of Bulgarian REITs
Authors: Kanaryan Nigokhos Krikorov , Chuknyisky Peter , Kasarova Violeta
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– The International Valuations Standards Committee adopts the Capital Asset Pricing Model as a method for estimation of the cost of equity. It has several drawbacks and appraisers in emerging markets need more useful model for cost of equity estimation. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

– The proposed model is a modification of the Salomon Smith Barney model for cost of capital determination. The econometric part of the model incorporates the non-synchronous effect, the thin trading effect, the time varying risk nature, and the systematic country risk.

Findings

– The model estimates the cost of equity of Bulgarian REITs more accurate than the one, who uses the traditionalβestimation.

Practical implications

– The study provides appraisers, business consultants, and investment bankers with a consistent model for cost of equity estimation. The model incorporates most of the features of emerging markets REITs return series and avoids the weaknesses of the single-factor model for cost of equity estimation in emerging markets.

Originality/value

– The proposed model reflects the following characteristics: the degree of diversification of the particular investor (imperfectly diversified); country risk; and time-varying risk nature. The political risk is incorporated by more objective measure of the systematic country risk.
Organizing for sustainability: a cybernetic concept for sustainable renewal
Authors: Schwaninger Markus
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to propose a holistic structural framework for a sustainable renewal that embraces all relevant contexts – individual, organizational, local-regional and worldwide. This should help humanity achieve a future in which society, economy and ecology are united in an evolutionary process based on multiple symbiosis.

Design/methodology/approach

– An integrative concept for sustainable renewal is presented, based on Beer’s Viable System Model (VSM). The core of that concept is a recursive structure, which organizes the tasks necessary for such renewal. The approach is both analytical and synthetic, proposing a design for the levels of recursion, making up a coherent whole.

Findings

– A structure is developed that enables agents at all recursive strata to generate variety in balance with the complexities they face. The organizational architecture based on the VSM, applied to each one of those levels, ensures the necessary and sufficient structural preconditions for the sustainability of the system under study.

Practical implications

– The concept proposed here is ready to be used as a blueprint for organizing the efforts for sustainability. It can help decision makers understand that the quest for sustainable renewal is a recursive issue involving all planes, from individual to global.

Originality/value

– The quest for the ecological sustainability of planet earth at this stage is not at all successful. The cybernetic model used here organizes the efforts for sustainability in a more effective way than conventional approaches. It also delivers powerful clues for sustainable renewal that are new, in particular a key to the sufficient structural preconditions for sustainability. This paper is an extended version of the Ross Ashby Memorial Lecture delivered by the author at the European Meeting of Cybernetics and Systems Research, Vienna, 24 April 2014, under the title “Organizing for Sustainability”.
A cybernetic view on learning curves and energy policy
Authors: Wene Clas-Otto
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that cybernetic theory explains learning curves and sets the curves as legitimate and efficient tools for a pro-active energy technology policy.

Design/methodology/approach

– The learning system is a non-trivial machine that is kept in non-equilibrium steady state at minimum entropy production by competitive, equilibrium markets. The system has operational closure and the learning curve expresses its eigenbehaviour. This eigenbehaviour is analysed not in calendar time but in the characteristic time of the system, i.e., its eigentime. Measured in eigentime, the minimum entropy production in the steady-state learning system is constant. The double closure mechanism described by Heinz von Förster makes it possible for the learning system to change (adapt) its eigenbehaviour without compromising its operational closure.

Findings

– By obeying basic laws of second order cybernetics and of non-equilibrium thermodynamics the learning system self-organises its learning to follow an optimal path described by the learning curve. The learning rates are obtained through an operator formalism and the results explain observed distributions. Application to solar cell (photo-voltaic) modules indicates that the silicon scarcity bubble 2005-2008 produced excess entropy corresponding to costs of the order of 100 billion US dollars.

Research limitations/implications

– Grounding technology learning and learning curves in cybernetics and non-equilibrium thermodynamics open up new possibilities to understand technology shifts through radical innovations or paradigm changes.

Practical implications

– Learning curves are legitimate and efficient tools for energy policy and industrial strategy.

Originality/value

– Grounding of technology learning and learning curves in cybernetic and thermodynamic theory provides a stable theoretical basis for applications in industry and policy.
Collective intelligence: analysis and modelling
Authors: Suárez Valencia Erika , Bucheli Víctor , Zarama Roberto , Garcia Ángel
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to focus on the underpinning dynamics that explain collective intelligence.

Design/methodology/approach

– Collective intelligence can be understood as the capacity of a collective system to evolve toward higher order complexity through networks of individual capacities. The authors observed two collective systems as examples of the dynamic processes of complex networks – the wiki course PeSO at the Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia, and an agent-based model inspired by wiki systems.

Findings

– The results of the wiki course PeSO and the model are contrasted with a random network baseline model. Both the wiki course and the model show dynamics of accumulation, in which statistical properties of non-equilibrium networks appear.

Research limitations/implications

– The work is based on network science. The authors analyzed data from two kinds of networks: the wiki course PeSO and an agent-based model. Limitations due to the number of computations and complexity appeared when there was a high order of magnitude of agents.

Practical implications

– Better understanding can allow for the measurement and design of systems based on collective intelligence.

Originality/value

– The results show how collective intelligence emerges from cumulative dynamics.
Utility-based models and decision making problems for selected network processes
Authors: Jozefczyk Jerzy , Gasior Dariusz
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– The concept of utility was the first time applied in Economics. The purpose of this paper is to report its usefulness for the decision making in complex technological systems, in general and in computer networks, in particular. Three selected decision-making problems are considered, corresponding solution algorithms are explained and results of numerical experiments are presented for the selected real-world case study.

Design/methodology/approach

– Referring to similar decision-making problems in Economics, three problems of different time horizon are investigated: strategic investment planning, short-term network rate allocation and on-line network operating. Deterministic and uncertain versions are taken into account, and the latter one is handled more thoroughly. The formalism of uncertain variables is used to represent the parameter uncertainty which concerns users’ demands for services in computer networks as well as network links’ capacities. Corresponding optimization tasks are presented. Numerical experiments concerning a part of the computer network Pionier working in Poland confirmed the usefulness of the solution algorithms proposed.

Findings

– The carried out numerical experiments verified the importance and worth of the decision-making algorithms for the Pionier computer network. It particularly concerns the game theory-based algorithm solving the on-line network operating problem which enables calculating the rates for computer links distinctly, i.e., separately for every link.

Research limitations/implications

– More case studies should be considered to formulate more general corollaries. The application of utility concept for wireless sensor networks needs further studies on solution algorithms.

Practical implications

– The results can be directly applied to a class of modern computer networks, e.g., content delivery networks, self-managing networks, context aware networks, multilevel virtual networks.

Originality/value

– The paper presents the unified and systematic approach for individual results previously obtained, and it considers one case study.
The Sounds of Intent project: modelling musical development in children with learning difficulties
Authors: Ockelford Adam
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to set out the current status of the Sounds of Intent project, and explains some of the theoretical thinking that has underpinned its development over a period of 12 years. Sounds of Intent maps the musical development of children and young people with learning difficulties. It currently exists as an online resource that offers practitioners a framework for assessment (with an online recording tool), information and downloadable resources.

Design/methodology/approach

– The approach to the development of Sounds of Intent has been through two main phases: first, exploratory, qualitative analysis was used to inform the development of a model setting out how musical abilities and engagement are thought to develop in children and young people with learning difficulties; and second, the framework’s efficacy has been evaluated through gathering data from a number of practitioners in the field that has been analysed principally through quantitative means.

Findings

– The principal findings of the Sounds of Intent project to date are that virtually all children (with the exception of those who are incapable of processing sound or vibration at all) are able to engage with music, whether reactively, proactively or interactively. The great majority have potential for musical development that can be realised over time, given an appropriately rich and engaging environment.

Originality/value

– Sounds of Intent is the first research project in the world to focus on the musical development of children and young people with learning difficulties, and makes the first attempt to set out how this may occur. Since its public launch in 2012, the Sounds of Intent web site has had over 4,000,000 unique hits, with over 500,000 downloads of resources, from people all over the world.
Resource allocation priorities in social care for adults with a learning disability: an analysis and comparison of different stakeholder perspectives
Authors: Davies Sue , Clarkson Paul , Hughes Jane , Stewart Karen , Xie Chengqiu , Saunders Rob , Challis David
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– How resources for social care are allocated to individual service users has long been a concern. There are debates regarding the priority given to certain needs in Resource Allocation Systems (RASs). The purpose of this paper is to compare the views of adults with a learning disability and Directors of Adult Social Care regarding their priorities for resource allocation with priorities arising from observed resource allocation decisions.

Design/methodology/approach

– In a consultation workshop, 12 adults with learning disabilities were asked to rank the perceived importance of eight needs-related outcomes. Directors of Adult Social Care completed an online questionnaire concerning the distribution of resources across the same eight outcomes. Actual resource allocation data from 11 local authorities were also modelled against these outcomes. A variable importance metric (the percentage contribution of each outcome to predicting costs) was used to rank the importance of these outcomes in terms of determining actual resource allocation. Findings from these data collections were compared.

Findings

– There were discrepancies between the views of adults with a learning disability, the perspectives of Directors and actual resource allocation data. Whereas adults with a learning disability perceived psychological well-being as most important, Directors and actual resource allocation data stressed the importance of activities of daily living and carer burden.

Originality/value

– This analysis will prove useful in understanding the concerns of adults with a learning disability and whether these are adequately addressed by current RASs.
Commentary on “Assisting individuals ageing with learning disability: support worker perspectives”
Authors: Stevens Martin
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore some of the themes identified by Wark et al.’s paper and to highlight commonalities and differences between the Australian and the UK social and health care regimes. It also points to evidence about other implications for policy and practice of the increasing numbers of people growing older who have learning disabilities.

Design/methodology/approach

– The commentary analyses some policy and practice documents and identifies a range of other research and commentary on this topic.

Findings

– Wark et al. have identified areas of importance for supporting older people with learning disabilities, particularly access to suitable and acceptable services and the importance of sufficient support worker time. They also identify gaps in the research on people’s needs and service responses. The commentary also highlights other factors for consideration in work with this group of people, particularly the implementation of personalisation policies in social care and integration between health and social care services.

Research limitations/implications

– There is a need for further research into developing policy and practice for health and social care for older people with learning disabilities. Some of the evidence supports the case for specialist involvement, particularly by nursing professionals.

Originality/value

– The paper and this commentary highlight the challenges associated with the increasing number of older people with learning disabilities in contemporary debates about the role of the state and professional specialists.
Dietary Components Affect the Plasma and Tissue Levels of Lutein in Aged Rats with Lutein Deficiency—A Repeated Gavage and Dietary Study
Authors: Sheshappa Mamatha Bangera , Ranganathan Arunkumar , Bhatiwada Nidhi , Talahalli Ramprasad Ravichandra , Vallikannan Baskaran
Published: September 2015

The aim of this study was to find out the influence of selected dietary components on plasma and tissue response of repeated micellar and dietary lutein in aged rats with lutein deficiency. In repeated (16 d) gavage study, micellar lutein was co‐ingested with either phosphatidylcholine (PC), lyso‐phosphatidylcholine (lysoPC), β‐carotene, dietary fiber or vegetable fat (3% soybean oil). In dietary study, rats were fed (4 wk) semi‐synthetic diet either with lutein + PC, lutein + dietary fiber or B. alba (lutein source) + PC. The post‐prandial plasma and tissue response of lutein was measured by HPLC. Results showed that micellar fat, PC and lysoPC significantly (P ≤ 0.05) increased the lutein levels in plasma (31.1%, 26.8%, and 34.9%), liver (27.4%, 29.5%, and 8.6%), and eyes (63.5%, 90.2%, and 86%) compared to the control group (group gavaged micelles with no dietary components studied). Similarly, dietary study showed an enhanced plasma, liver, and eye lutein levels by 44.8%, 24.1%, and 42.0% (lutein + PC group) and 51.7%, 39.8%, and 31.7% (B.alba + PC group), respectively compared to control. The activity of antioxidant enzymes in plasma and liver of both the studies were also affected compared to control. Result reveals, that PC enhance the intestinal absorption of both micellar and dietary lutein which is either in free or bound form with food matrices in aged rats with lutein deficiency. Hence, PC at a concentration used in this study can be considered to improve the lutein bioavailability in lutein deficiency.
Increased aortic wall thickness for the diagnosis of aortitis: a computed tomography‐based study
Authors: Slobodin Gleb , Nakhleh Afif , Rimar Doron , Wolfson Vladimir , Rosner Itzhak , Odeh Majed
Published: September 2015

Aims

To evaluate the usefulness of computed tomography (CT)‐measured aortic wall thickness (AWT) as a sole imaging finding for the confirmation of clinically suspected aortitis.

Methods

CT scans of 20 patients with the diagnosis of aortitis, endorsed by the abnormally thickened aortic wall, as a single imaging finding, and 250 patients without known aortitis were reviewed and AWT manually measured at the levels of thoracic descending aorta, upper abdominal aorta and infrarenal aorta, as well as the level of maximal AWT in patients with diagnosed aortitis. Patients' charts were analyzed and demographic data and data on co‐morbidities extracted. Correlations of measured AWT with patients' demographic data and co‐morbidities were calculated for the control patients. Age‐dependent upper 97.5 percentile points for AWT were calculated for different age groups as a reference. AWT of patients, diagnosed with aortitis, was compared with these reference values.

Results

AWT had significant positive correlation with patient age (P < 0.001), gender (P < 0.03) and presence of aortic wall calcifications (P < 0.001). In nine of 20 patients, with diagnosed aortitis confirmed by the increased CT‐measured AWT, the revised values of AWT were lower than the calculated upper 97.5 percentile points for the relevant age group. In four of these patients, the values of the measured AWT were in the range of mean + SD for AWT for the same age.

Conclusions

The confirmation of suspected aortitis by the increased CT‐measured AWT only may be equivocal and necessitate more specific imaging, particularly in elderly patients.