bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Grand challenges for the Indian construction industry
Authors: Sawhney Anil , Agnihotri Raghav , Kumar Paul Virendra
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– Today, construction sector of most emerging economies, including India, is witnessing sharp growth prospects on the one hand and pressure to effectively and efficiently contribute to the national development on the other. The Indian construction industry is one of the major stimulants of the economic and social growth of the nation. However, the sector is confronted by numerous issues, thereby reducing its efficacy and unhindered growth prospects. The purpose of this paper is to extract various industry impediments and suggest a prioritized listing of challenges faced by the industry using the Grand Challenges Approach (GCA).

Design/methodology/approach

– Motivated by the GCA this study uses the Delphi process for consensus building in the expert panel, comprising of 39 professionals from across various industry stakeholders. A qualitative round was first used to acquire views on the challenges. Consequently two quantitative Delphi rounds were conducted to extract Top-10 Challenges for the industry based on two aspects – priority and impact. A wider industry survey was also carried out, which served as an unscientific validation of the Delphi Study.

Findings

– Grand Challenges facing the Indian construction sector were identified. Addressing these challenges at the national level has the potential of transforming the industry to highly efficient, quality cantered and bullish industry capable of delivering successfully.

Originality/value

– The GCA, used extensively by the health sector internationally, is used for the Indian construction industry in a novel way to set an agenda for enhancing its operational efficiency.
Higher Education and student engagement: implications for a new economic era
Authors: Millican Juliet
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of rising fees and the increasing privatisation of higher education on the expectations of its students. It compares experiences in Canada, Australia and the US with conversations carried out in a UK university in 2012 (after the UK fee rise).

Design/methodology/approach

– The research was informed by Burns Systemic Action research (2007), following emerging lines of enquiry and responding to resonance in these. It brings together conversations held with new undergraduates, second and third year students and staff tasked with introducing engagement into the curriculum.

Findings

– Findings indicate that student expectations are heavily influenced by secondary schooling and a target-driven consumer culture but that change has been gradual over a number of years. Alongside wanting “value for money” and “a good social life and a good degree” students are heavily motivated by experience and keen to be challenged.

Research limitations/implications

– Because of the research approach, the research results may lack generalisability.

Practical implications

– By comparing banking or transactional approaches to teaching and learning with critical pedagogy this paper hopes to highlight the importance of opening up rather than closing down opportunities for social engagement and experiential learning.

Social implications

– This paper makes a plea for social engagement that properly responds to the needs of communities resisting market-driven forces that treat students as consumers and expecting more rather than less from them in return.

Originality/value

– Lecturers are encouraged to rethink the pressures placed upon them by the current economic era and the tensions between competing agendas of employability and engagement.
A critical investigation of the relationship between masculinity, social justice, religious education and the neo-liberal discourse
Authors: Farrell Francis
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to critically investigate a group of year 11 boys’ relationship to RE in response to debates about boys’ underachievement in RE.

Design/methodology/approach

– Qualitative data were collected through observations and semi-structured interviews. Data analysis draws upon pro-feminist and poststructuralist theories of the gendered subject.

Findings

– The data presented in this paper reveals how RE functioned as a political space for the exploration of social justice issues that formed part of the boys’ daily experiences, serving to increase awareness and understanding of diversity.

Research limitations/implications

– At a time of curriculum change where RE has been marginalised by exclusion from the DfE's English Baccalaureate this paper also seeks to contribute to debates about education for social justice through critical, pluralistic RE within a neo-liberal policy context.

Practical implications

– RE is shown to be a potent educational resource for challenging pupils’ negative social practices and producing more reflexive masculine subjects.

Social implications

– The contribution of RE to ensuring greater understanding and dialogue requires reassertion and protection within the curriculum.

Originality/value

– The data presented shows that where RE is taken up by masculine subjects it offers an alternative discourse with potential to create community cohesion and interfaith dialogue.
Convective heat transfer of a single annually finned-tube condenser
Authors: Yuan Z.X. , Chen L.
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to study the thermal and flow characteristics of a single annually finned-tube condenser. The velocity and the temperature field inside the fin channel are revealed. Changes of the heat transfer and the flow resistance for typical fin configurations are analyzed. The optimal combinations of the fin dimension in terms of the enhancement of heat transfer are suggested.

Design/methodology/approach

– The problem has been numerically investigated with the FLUENT software. K-ɛ model is applied in the solution of the turbulent cases. The local and the average feature of the thermal performance and the friction factor are determined. Furthermore, the effect of the fin spacing, the fin height, and the fin thickness on the heat transfer and the flow resistance are verified.

Findings

– The numerical results reveal that the fin spacing is the most influential factor of all fin dimensions not only to the heat transfer but also to the flow resistance. Both the heat transfer and the flow resistance are compared with those related data available in the public literature. On the other hand, the fin height and the fin thickness affect the heat transfer of the condenser in a much less significant way in comparison to that of the fin spacing.

Originality/value

– This paper provides some meaningful information of the fin-dimensional effect on the heat transfer and the flow resistance for a single finned tube condenser. For such kind of heat exchanger, the heat transfer coefficient, the friction factor, and the heat transfer amount per unit length tube are all important to describe the performance feature.
Research on the single scattering albedo of spheroids
Authors: Tang Hong , Li Xian-Xia
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to discuss the light scattering of nonspherical particles that is very important for the research on the aerosol optical properties.

Design/methodology/approach

– In this paper, the authors use the spheroid model as the characteristic particle shape to study the single scattering albedo of real nonspherical particles. Meanwhile, the extinction and scattering cross section of spheroids are calculated with the T matrix method combined with the improved geometric optics approximation method (IGOM).

Findings

– Through this combination, the extinction and scattering cross section of spheroids can be obtained in the larger size range and aspect ratio range. Furthermore, the comparison of the single scattering albedo for the spheroids and their equivalent spheres is conducted in order to investigate the difference of the spherical and nonspherical particles.

Originality/value

– Simulation experiments indicate that the single scattering albedo of spheroids can be calculated well with this combination, and it has some obvious influence on the variation of the aspect ratio, incident wavelength, and complex refractive index of spheroid particles.
Study on the evolution of nanoparticle size distribution due to continuous injection using the sectional method
Authors: Huijie Liu , Mingzhou Yu , Zhaoqin Yin , Ying Jiang , Miaogen Chen
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate competitive effect of source strength and coagulation on the evolution of aerosol size distribution with a continuous source.

Design/methodology/approach

– A theoretical model was proposed in which the nanoparticle population balance equation with respect to particle size was solved by the sectional method.

Findings

– It was found two modes appear when a nanoparticle system was injected by a continuous source.

Originality/value

– Through tracing the evolution of particle size distribution with different source strength, the characteristics of two modes as well as their lag-time to approach steady state were deeply investigated.
Numerical investigation of natural convection in two enclosures separated by anisotropic solid wall
Authors: Salama Amgad , El Amin Mohamed , Sun Shuyu
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– The problem of natural convection in two cavities separated by an anisotropic central solid wall is considered numerically. When the thermal conductivity of the central wall is anisotropic, heat flux and temperature gradient vectors are no longer coincidence. This apparently has interesting influences on the heat and fluid flow patterns in this system. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

– In this work, several flow patterns have been investigated covering a wide range of Rayleigh number up to 108. Several thermal conductivity anisotropy scenarios of the central wall have been investigated including 0, 30, 60, 120 and 150° principal anisotropy directions. The governing equations have been solved using control volume approach.

Findings

– Probably the most intriguing is that, for some anisotropy scenarios it is found that the temperature at the same elevation at the side of the central wall which is closer to the colder wall is higher than that at the side closer to the hot wall. Apparently this defies intuition which suggests the reverse to have happened. However, this behavior may be explained in light of the effect of anisotropy. Furthermore, the patterns of streamlines and temperature fields in the two enclosures also changes as a consequence of the change of the central wall temperatures for the different anisotropy scenarios.

Originality/value

– This work discusses a very interesting topic related to heat energy exchange among two compartments when the separating wall is anisotropic. In some anisotropy scenarios, this leads to more uniform distribution of Nusselt number than the case when the wall is isotropic. Interesting patterns of natural convection is investigated.
How to achieve a high efficiency level of the hotel industry?
Authors: Luo Hao , Yang Yang , Law Rob
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– This paper aims to employ data envelopment analysis (DEA) models to evaluate the efficiency level and the change of efficiency of the hotel industry in major Chinese cities from 2001 to 2011. The study also aims to investigate the determinants of this efficiency.

Design/methodology/approach

– The DEA models were used to calibrate the scores of technical efficiency, pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency in each city, and the Malmquist productivity index was introduced to trace the efficiency change. Furthermore, the panel Tobit and linear regression models were applied to look into various factors contributing to efficiency scores.

Findings

– The inefficiency of the hotel industry generally comes from the pure technical inefficiency. Moreover, the efficiency of the hotel industry has been considerably improved over the research period due to the change in technical efficiency. In addition, it was found that political hierarchy, degree of openness and level of tourism dependence help explain the cross-city differences in efficiency scores, whereas ownership structure dominantly contributes to the improvement of efficiency over time.

Practical implications

– The benchmark analysis of efficiency is of great importance to cities with an unproductive hotel industry, as it helps them make critical adjustments towards the efficiency frontier.

Originality/value

– This study represents one of the first studies to rigorously and systematically investigate the efficiency and efficiency change of the hotel industry in major Chinese cities and identify the possible factors explaining the efficiency score.
Evaluating proactive behavior in lodging revenue management
Authors: A. Beck Jeffrey , Cha JaeMin , Kim SeungHyun , Knutson Bonnie
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– The objective of this study was to confirm the dimensions of revenue managers’ proactive work behavior in the lodging setting and to examine the effect of organizational structure on the degree of proactivity in their work behavior.

Design/methodology/approach

– The data (n= 280) collected from lodging revenue managers was analyzed, using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analyses and multivariate analysis of variance.

Findings

– The four factor model was confirmed – Voice, Individual Innovation, Taking Charge and Problem Prevention. Revenue managers who manage multiple properties were found to have greater proactivity than their single property counterparts.

Research limitations/implications

– A future study can work exclusively with individual companies to better understand the demographics of the Revenue Manager within specific organizations.

Originality/value

– This study enhances our understanding of revenue management activities and behaviors by focusing on the concept of proactive work behaviors, and the complexity of responsibility that revenue managers face. This study is to exhibit a greater measure of proactive work behavior.
Case study of integrated decision-making for deep energy-efficient retrofits
Authors: Gultekin Pelin , J. Anumba Chimay , M. Leicht Robert
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– This paper aims to focus on the decision-making process of integrated system design. Buildings can benefit from different system integration working toward the unified goal of providing the needed conditions and improving the comfort level of occupants. It is important to engage all system needs and priorities in the design by keeping goal into consideration. Even though there is vast potential in the coordination of system design decisions, there is a need to increase the transparency of the decision-making process by developing methods to incorporate multi-dimensional design attributes.

Design/methodology/approach

– This is achieved by considering all system design priorities with respect to decision attributes, as well as the inter-system inputs based on information and knowledge. Data were collected through interviews, collaboration meetings and design document reviews, which helped to facilitate triangulation.

Findings

– This paper presents the findings of a case study of deep retrofit design process that seeks to reduce energy consumption through integrated system decisions with several system combinations. In addition, such design decisions highlighted the fact that the values need to be flexible at the system level.

Research limitations/implications

– This paper presents an in-depth analysis of a single case study. Multiple case studies are being investigated for the future of this research.

Practical implications

– This paper presents the methods used for integrated design process priorities that will enable design teams to make decisions that lead to improved energy performance in retrofit projects.

Originality/value

– The case study building in this paper is a showcase building with cutting edge technologies and techniques, as well as a scalable and collaborative design process. It is an example of a best-in-class retrofit process designed through whole building design principles within the target budget. The paper demonstrates system design selection criteria that are embraced by value prioritization.
Employee’s reciprocation of organizational support and leader – member exchange
Authors: Ahmed Ishfaq , Khairuzzaman Wan Ismail Wan , Mohamad Amin Salmiah
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– This paper aims to investigate the association between leader–member exchange (LMX) and perceived organizational support (POS) and their impact on job involvement, in-role performance and extra-role behavior.

Design/methodology/approach

– Data were collected via questionnaire from 231 employees selected from 40 branches of top ten banks in Pakistan. Banks were selected from the central bank Web site. Sample was selected using multistage sampling technique.

Findings

– Findings of the study reveal that LMX is an important predictor of employees’ perception of organizational support and job involvement. It is also evident that POS mediate the relation of LMX and job involvement. Further inquiry proves that job involvement created due to presence of support increases employees’ in-role performance and positively influences their extra-role behavior.

Originality/value

– This study explores the unveiled association of LMX and POS, and mediation effects of POS on job outcomes.
A microsimulation approach to corporate disclosure policies
Authors: Bonsón Enrique , Flores-Muñoz Francisco
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to present a formalisation of the “online transparency” concept in particular firms’ disclosures, employing basic microeconomics. Relevant literature from the accounting, economics and finance fields, along with specific documents regarding micro-simulation as a technique to capture diversity in data sets, is surveyed.

Design/methodology/approach

– A class of Stone-Geary utility functions is proposed as an analytical tool. A first simulation of public policies is introduced, exploring its impact on corporate firms and their preferences for online disclosure, specifically in Europe. Moreover, the author study corporate firm digital disclosure and compulsory disclosure policy specifically in Europe, exploring whether the size of the firm, country and sector of operation are relevant to explaining the differences in firms’ behaviour and whether these explanatory factors remain after the application of several types of policies.

Findings

– Quantitative policies, using this denomination to refer to those that directly affect the amounts of money dedicated to online disclosure, or its unitary costs, seem to have a less substantial effect than those that the author could call qualitative policies (stating minimum requirements for all companies or promoting broader scrutiny by means of internationalisation).

Research limitations/implications

– These last policies could also be less expensive for public agencies, as the quantitative ones should be supported by some kind of subsidy or tax benefit system. The paper contains certain mathematical assumptions that will need to be relaxed in further works.

Originality/value

– Finally, a full research agenda arises from this first attempt, from which both conceptual and methodological lessons can be learned.
The silent fading of an academic search engine: the case of Microsoft Academic Search
Authors: Orduña-Malea Enrique , Martín-Martín Alberto , M. Ayllon Juan , Delgado López-Cózar Emilio
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to describe the obsolescence process of Microsoft Academic Search (MAS) as well as the effects of this decline in the coverage of disciplines and journals, and their influence in the representativeness of organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

– The total number of records and those belonging to the most reputable journals (1,762) and organizations (346) according to the Field Rating indicator in each of the 15 fields and 204 sub-fields of MAS, have been collected and statistically analysed in March 2014, by means of an automated querying process via http, covering academic publications from 1700 to present.

Findings

– MAS has no longer been updated since 2013, although this phenomenon began to be glimpsed in 2011, when its coverage plummeted. Throughout 2014, indexing of new records is still ongoing, but at a minimum rate, without following any apparent pattern.

Research limitations/implications

– There are also retrospective records being indexed at present. In this sense, this research provides a picture of what MAS offered during March 2014 being queried directly via http.

Practical implications

– The unnoticed obsolescence of MAS affects to the quality of the service offered to its users (both those who engage in scientific information seeking and also those who use it for quantitative purposes).

Social implications

– The predominance of Google Scholar (GS) as monopoly in the academic search engines market as well as the prevalence of an open construction model (GS) vs a closed model (MAS).

Originality/value

– A complete longitudinal analysis of disciplines, journals and organizations on MAS has been performed for the first time identifying an unnoticed obsolescence. Any public explanation or disclaimer note has been announced from the responsible company, something incomprehensible given its implications for the reliability and validity of bibliometric data provided on disciplines, journals, authors and congress as well as their fair representation on the academic search engine.
Library performance continuum and the imperative of meta-evaluation
Authors: Gaspar Pinto Leonor
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to characterize performance evaluation dynamics developed in Lisbon Municipal Libraries Network (LMLN) over a two-decade period (1989-2009), using a specific model and tools of (meta-)analysis.

Design/methodology/approach

– Based on a methodology eminently qualitative supported by a combination of research methods (literature review, construction and application of conceptual models for analysis and case study), the author examined LMLN's performance evaluation progress, focusing on the diachronic study of evaluative processes – the performance evaluation dynamics.

Findings

– Between 1989 and 2009, LMLN developed four main performance evaluation dynamics. The most significant results that emerged from the examination of these dynamics relate to the following elements of the model of analysis Dynamics and Impacts of Library Performance Evaluation (DILPE): evaluation objects and methods; organization; and dissemination of results. The study also emphasized the importance of some factors to dynamics sustainability: the presence of a permanent coordination team, in the direct dependency of the head of library services, with the right competences; the existence of a culture of assessment; and the commitment of leadership with performance evaluation.

Originality/value

– The meta-evaluative approach and particularly the focus on the long-term development of evaluative theories and practices, contributes to the enlargement of the international corpus on library performance evaluation. On the other hand, the analytical model and conceptual tools created might be useful to other researchers/practitioners willing to meta-evaluate library performance evaluation dynamics.
Investigation of novel tri-functional epoxy resin derived from cardanol as partial replacement of BPA based epoxy in zinc rich primer
Authors: Kathalewar Mukesh , Sabnis Anagha , Waghoo Gulzar
Published: November 2014

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the application of triglycidyl resin (TGC) prepared from cardanol as partial replacement of conventional bis-phenol A (BPA) based epoxy resin for zinc rich primers (ZRPs).

Design/methodology/approach

The synthesis of new platform chemicals that are based on renewable resources has been accepted as a strategy to contribute to sustainable development due to the anticipated depletion of fossil oil reserves and rising oil prices. We prepared a tri-functional epoxy resin from cardanol which can be used as partial replacement of BPA based epoxy. The ZRPs were prepared using 50:50 ratio of TGC:BPA epoxy, and the coatings were evaluated for mechanical, chemical and anticorrosive properties.

Findings

The 50 per cent replacement of BPA based epoxy by TGC resulted in at par mechanical, chemical and anticorrosive properties as evaluated by various methods. The successful implementation can thus contribute to sustainable development by “green chemistry” route.

Research limitations/implications

The prepared TGC resin in the current work was studied for application in ZRPs. This can also be explored for high performance coatings, adhesives and other engineering applications.

Practical implications

The TGC binder was prepared by simple two-step reaction. This can successfully be used as binder for coating application without any modifications.

Originality/value

A novel approach of using green and ecofriendly TGC resin as replacement of high cost BPA based epoxy was explored and can be implemented for numerous applications.
Work and organisations in 2020
Authors: Totterdill Peter , Exton Rosemary
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– The report aims to make the case for workplace innovation in an increasingly volatile global environment and outlines the opportunities for the creative and rewarding work that it affords. Work and Organisations in 2020 argues that workplace innovation has a major impact on both the performance of the enterprise and on national economic competitiveness. It boosts productivity, quality and innovation, by making better use of workforce talent and has a profound effect on employees’ learning and development, health, well-being, ageing and wider roles as citizens.

Design/methodology/approach

– Keys issues include: the intrinsic value of work; sustainable workplaces; harmonising technological innovation and human potential; entrepreneurship and developing and utilising skills.

Findings

– The paper considers challenges to sustainable and effective change, and key issues concerning the way forward including responsible globalisation, new roles for public policy, new roles for trade unions and employers’ organisations, a new labour market perspective, listening to the voice of employees and realising the promise of employee ownership.

Originality/value

– The report concludes that there is a way towards a more coherent UK approach to renewing the employment agenda in the UK: an agenda that has often been somewhat fragmented and lacking in a strategic focus capable of guiding the efforts of different actors. At the heart of these values is a commitment to sustainable improvement in economic performance and social well-being, and an explicit rejection of short-termism.
The impact of workplace partnership
Authors: Totterdill Peter , Exton Rosemary
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– This case study aims to demonstrate how the fortunes of companies and plants can be turned around when management and unions work together to release the knowledge, experience and creativity of the workforce.

Design/methodology/approach

– Becton Dickinson (BD) has produced medical devices in Drogheda, Ireland, for 50 years, but during the first decade of this century, the plant seemed to be falling off the parent company’s radar. Substantial job losses and a lack of new investment left a space inside the factory “the size of a football field”. Employment had fallen to less than a hundred and corporate interest was waning.

Findings

– The problem was tackled by the ‘IDEAS Institute’ a trade union initiative developed “to identify ways in which new thinking and new services can be introduced into the workplace for the benefit of employees and the enterprise as a whole”.

Originality/value

– The IDEAS Institute held a series of meetings with BD employees, union representatives and management, leading to the creation of the Joint Union-Management Steering Team (JUMST) where both parties were equally represented. Drawing on inclusive dialogue with employees at every level, JUMST defined the future vision for Drogheda and identified the first cluster of improvement projects designed to show that the factory could again become a key performer within the BD group. The case study offers persuasive evidence that workplace partnership means more than good industrial relations. Unions can play a key role in engaging workers at all levels in innovation and improvement, creating win-win outcomes for employees and their employers.
Rethinking tomorrow
Authors: Totterdill Peter , Exton Rosemary
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– This case study aims to describe Novozymes’ strongly embedded improvement culture and its tradition of employee inclusion. Novozymes is a biotech-based company, headquartered in Denmark and employing approximately 6,000 people in 30 countries. Innovation and sustainability are core to Novozymes’ business values and objectives. The business is also very open in its relations with others in its field with partnering seen as a key competency in the drive towards sustainability and to “effectively create and build businesses that can help change the world.”

Design/methodology/approach

– Novozymes also acknowledges the importance of driving innovation from the bottom up and understands that engaging with the shop floor is good for employees and good for productivity.

Findings

– This case study describes Novozymes’ strongly embedded improvement culture and its tradition of employee inclusion. This evolves round the key elements of engagement, communications, feedback, acknowledgment, training and self-steering teams.

Originality/value

– The company acknowledges workplace innovation as an important idea and sees it evolving from their everyday activity. Where there is a constraint or a problem to solve and that calls for a change in the way that they operate or a new training requirement, they do not theorise about it but get on and do it.
“With every pair of hands, I get a free brain”
Authors: Totterdill Peter
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– This paper aims to discuss the interview held with Professor John Bessant conducted by Professor Peter Totterdill. John Bessant has been active in research, teaching and consultancy in technology and innovation management for over 25 years. He currently holds the Chair in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Exeter University where he is also Research Director.

Design/methodology/approach

– This wide-ranging and insightful interview looks at the challenges of implementing workplace innovation and the realities involved in the process. It covers questions concerning the importance of innovation to businesses coming out of recession and the relationship between employee involvement and innovation.

Findings

– Professor Bessant also discusses the challenge of releasing individual potential and how to harness random creativity. He looks at the “starter conditions” for workplace innovation as well as the factors that mitigate against sustaining it.

Practical implications

– Key to sustaining workplace innovation, he argues, are a number of elements including momentum, self-belief and confidence, appropriate resource, leadership and empowerment. In addition, the implementation of workplace innovation does not occur as one big hit but a series of small steps which evolve and develop.

Originality/value

– New technology via intranets and social media also help to mobilise a lot more participation. Technology now provides the potential to reach every employee and their involvement can be instantaneous. This can create a notion of shared creativity, the Facebook process of “good idea, I like that, why don’t you try that?”
Enterprising behaviour in the UK’s National Health Service (NHS)
Authors: Exton Rosemary
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– This study by Rosemary Exton aims to examine the Improving Working Lives (IWL) programme and finds significant variation in outcomes between 11 National Health Service (NHS) Trusts. Each Trust was required to reach identical standards in improving HR practice over a set period. Achievement of the standards was validated by external peer review, and outcomes contributed significantly to overall performance ratings.

Design/methodology/approach

– In each organisation, implementation was driven by a “lead” from line management, and three of these individuals form the focus of the study.

Findings

– When visited 18 months after the end of the IWL initiative, most Trusts had failed to demonstrate any sustained change despite more than four years’ effort. The ability to achieve effective and sustainable outcomes varies considerably even between NHS Trusts faced with comparable challenges in implementing nationally prescribed targets. This variance is explained in terms of an organisation’s ability to generate structures, processes, individual competence and motivation to enable employees at all levels to act entrepreneurially, with the ability and legitimacy to achieve strategic goals by working creatively in the spaces between formal organisational structures.

Originality/value

– While evidence highlights the importance of entrepreneurial behaviour in the transformation of the NHS, two of the “leads” studied demonstrated in different ways that managerial culture and working practices can inhibit the full engagement of staff, and the use of their knowledge and experience in service improvement and innovation.
Trade unions as knowledgeable participants in workplace innovation
Authors: Totterdill Peter , Exton Rosemary
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– This article aims to demonstrate that trade unions possess unique knowledge of how organisations really work and that they are repositories of experience embracing many different situations and stretching over many years. Closing the gap between best practice and common practice needs knowledgeable advocates to actively demonstrate what workplace innovation is and how it benefits organisations and individuals.

Design/methodology/approach

– This article demonstrates that trade unions possess unique knowledge of how organisations really work and that they are repositories of experience embracing many different situations and stretching over many years. Yet, this experience and understanding is often an underused resource in workplaces.

Findings

– At the frontline, union representatives can release their members’ tacit knowledge and ideas for improvement and innovation. At strategic level, unions can deliver robust advice and consultancy, securing trust from employees and employers alike. Actively involving unions in dialogue about challenges and opportunities is the key to unlocking this potential.

Practical implications

– The paper draws upon examples of collaborative working and the role of unions from the USA, Ireland and Norway, while a more detailed analysis of the “Danish Experience” demonstrates how Ideas, high levels of knowledge and strong relationships between unions and employers able to handle both shared and conflicting interests, impacts on trade unions ability to “stimulate, resource and sustain workplace innovation”.

Originality/value

– The paper concludes with a call to action showing how a mass movement of workplace innovation can be achieved through shared learning case studies and resources and from the creation of the European Workplace Innovation Network Knowledge Bank to help people to share their knowledge and experience.
Knowledge transfer for sustainable development: East-West collaboration?
Authors: Al-Roubaie Amer , Alvi Shafiq
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to discuss the potential impact that collaboration between East and West could have on sustainable development. Greater emphasis in this paper will be placed on the benefit that developing countries gain from building collaborative relations with the West. Obtaining access to knowledge and technology will enable developing countries to speed up the process of socio-economic transformation and sustain development. Developing countries can leapfrog by making use of the existing knowledge in the West.

Design/methodology/approach

– This paper provides descriptive assessment of the relationship between East and West to foster growth and sustain development. The paper uses newly developed ideas to build capacity for knowledge transfer to create linkages and accelerate the process of economic growth. The approach to knowledge-based development requires the creation of an enabling environment driven by skills, innovation, institutions and ICT.

Findings

– The paper suggests that knowledge transfer enables developing countries to sustain development. Access to global/western knowledge allows developing countries to diversify their economic structure and increase productivity. Technological learning and knowledge absorption permit these countries to leapfrog by surpassing several stages in their development.

Practical implications

– Information in this paper provides insight into the merits of the new economy and the potential benefits that developing countries can obtain from participating in the global economy. Indigenous knowledge and local innovation are important for local development, which can be enhanced through technology transfer and knowledge dissemination.

Originality/value

– Unlike traditional economic theories in which capital and labor provide the main inputs in production, this paper discusses a new approach to development where knowledge, skills and innovation represent the main forces behind growth. The paper explores new ideas to generate linkage and sustain development.
Business incubators in the Arab World
Authors: Elmansori Emhamad
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the economic conditions and business strategy in the Arab countries are favourable for business incubation, and to suggest possible directions for establishing and implementing more business incubation in the Arab countries.

Design/methodology/approach

– This study adopts quantitative strategy and uses a snowball approach for the distribution of designed questionnaire to the incubation units in Jordan and the UAE.

Findings

– The findings of the research contribute to the literature of business support services, innovation and entrepreneurship development, which enhances the knowledge and skills within the incubation units.

Practical implications

– The implementation and development of business incubators (BIs) is a key requirement for the high technology industry. As developing countries, Arab countries have to make efforts to accelerate the birth and growth of incubators, aim of catching up with technologically more advanced countries.

Originality/value

– The study ensures the acceleration of successful development of young entrepreneurs and their businesses in the Arab countries through the establishment and implementation directives for BIs.
Technology futures analysis in the Indian biotechnology innovation system
Authors: N. Desai Pranav
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– Technology foresight or technology futures analysis is increasingly being recognised as a tool for planning sustainable development. Similarly, as argued by many, biotechnology could be harnessed for sustainable development. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to map out foresight activities in the Indian biotechnology innovation system.

Design/methodology/approach

– The present paper has adopted a systemic approach to analyse the foresight activities in the Indian biotechnology sector. An online Delphi survey, including interviews, was conducted for 750 biotech units.

Findings

– The greatest need of foresight is felt in the biopharma sector, especially in the small- and medium-sized firms. The methodologies used are only pre-foresight in nature and for short-term time horizons. The output preferred is “setting the R&D planning and priorities”. “Assessing socioeconomic and environment impact” is not accorded a high priority. Most of the regulatory agencies do not carry out foresight exercises.

Originality/value

– The research holds significance for evolving sustainable development policy.
A fast algorithm for 3D azimuthally anisotropic velocity scan
Authors: Hu Jingwei , Fomel Sergey , Ying Lexing
Published: November 2014

The conventional velocity scan can be computationally expensive for large‐scale seismic data sets, particularly when the presence of anisotropy requires multiparameter scanning. We introduce a fast algorithm for 3D azimuthally anisotropic velocity scan by generalizing the previously proposed 2D butterfly algorithm for hyperbolic Radon transforms. To compute semblance in a two‐parameter residual moveout domain, the numerical complexity of our algorithm is roughly as opposed to of the straightforward velocity scan, with N being the representative of the number of points in a particular dimension of either data space or parameter space. Synthetic and field data examples demonstrate the superior efficiency of the proposed algorithm.
Risk factors and clinical outcomes for spontaneous rupture of pyogenic liver abscess
Authors: Jun Chung Hwan , Yoon Jae Hyun , Wi Jin Woo , Park Seon Young , Lee Wan Sik , Jung Sook In , Park Chang Hwan , Joo Young Eun , Kim Hyun Soo , Choi Sung Kyu , Rew Jong Sun
Published: November 2014

Objective

To evaluate the risk factors and clinical outcomes in patients with spontaneous rupture of pyogenic liver abscess (PLA).

Methods

A total of 602 patients diagnosed with PLA between January 2004 and July 2013 were retrospectively analyzed. Among them, 23 patients experienced a spontaneous rupture of liver abscess (SRLA).

Results

The prevalence of SRLA was 3.8%. Using multivariate analysis, liver cirrhosis (OR 4.651, P = 0.009), gas‐forming abscesses (OR 3.649, P = 0.026), abscess ≥6 cm in diameter (OR 10.989, P = 0.002) and other septic metastases (OR 1.710, P = 0.047) were risk factors for SRLA. Regarding the site of rupture, 20 (87.0%) patients had a localized rupture, specifically, subphrenic abscess in 3 (13.0%), peri‐hepatic abscess in 10 (43.5%), localized peritoneal abscess in 3 (13.0%) and empyema in 4 (17.5%); and the other 3 (13%) had peritonitis. Ruptures resulting in peritonitis require urgent surgery, whereas localized ruptures were managed with surgical or percutaneous drainage in addition to appropriate antibiotics. The in‐hospital mortality rate of SRLA was 4.3%.

Conclusion

Patients with cirrhosis, having abscess ≥6 cm in diameter, gas‐forming abscesses and other septic metastases in those with PLA should be monitored closely and may need early intervention for SRLA.
“You can't buy a vote”: Meanings of money in a Mumbai election
Authors: BJÖRKMAN LISA
Published: November 2014

In Mumbai elections, an influx of money is not leading to the commoditization of the vote. Rather, as ethnographic analysis shows, actors involved with moving money have divergent and sometimes‐conflicting aspirations, motivations, and agendas, within which cash plays multiple roles simultaneously. Election‐time cash flow inhabits a deeply political landscape of contestation where issues at the heart of Mumbai's modernity—land use, infrastructural investment, and business prospects—are negotiated and speculated on. These findings critically engage a conceptual terrain that counterposes individual rationality and political choice to traditional forms of authority mediated by relations of patronage, while producing important insights into long‐standing anthropological debates on money and exchange. [exchange, gift, trust, money, democracy, Mumbai]
Systemic panniculitis‐like T‐cell lymphoma with involvement of mesenteric fat and subcutis
Authors: Lester Laura , Ewalt Mark , Warnke Roger , Kim Jinah
Published: November 2014

Subcutaneous panniculitis‐like T‐cell lymphoma (SPTCL) is an uncommon non‐Hodgkins primary cutaneous lymphoma that typically presents as subcutaneous nodules on the extremities or trunk. Here, we report an unusual case of systemic panniculitic T‐cell lymphoma with predominantly mesenteric extra‐cutaneous involvement and an aggressive clinical course with histopathologic and immunophenotypic features that mimic SPTCL. This case serves to expand the body of literature regarding systemic SPTCL‐like disorders with prominent extra‐cutaneous involvement.
The aetiology of neonatal seizures and the diagnostic contribution of neonatal cerebral magnetic resonance imaging
Authors: Weeke Lauren C , Groenendaal Floris , Toet Mona C , Benders Manon J N L , Nievelstein Rutger A J , van Rooij Linda G M , de Vries Linda S
Published: November 2014

Aim

The aim of this study was to delineate aetiologies and explore the diagnostic value of cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in addition to cranial ultrasonography (cUS) in infants presenting with neonatal seizures.

Method

This retrospective cohort study comprised infants (gestational age 35.0–42.6wks) with seizures, confirmed by either continuous amplitude‐integrated electroencephalography (aEEG) or standard EEG and admitted during a 14‐year period to a level three neonatal intensive care unit (n=378; 216 males, 162 females; mean [SD] birthweight 3334g [594]). All infants underwent cUS and MRI (MRI on median of 5 days after birth, range 0–58d) within the first admission period.

Results

An underlying aetiology was identified in 354 infants (93.7%). The most common aetiologies identified were hypoxic–ischaemic encephalopathy (46%), intracranial haemorrhage (12.2%), and perinatal arterial ischaemic stroke (10.6%). When comparing MRI with cUS in these 354 infants MRI showed new findings which did not become apparent on cUS, contributing to a diagnosis in 42 (11.9%) infants and providing additional information to cUS, contributing to a diagnosis in 141 (39.8%). cUS alone would have allowed a diagnosis in only 37.9% of infants (134/354).

Interpretation

Cerebral MRI contributed to making a diagnosis in the majority of infants. In 11.9% of infants the diagnosis would have been missed if only cUS were used and cerebral MRI added significantly to the information obtained in 39.8% of infants. These data suggest that cerebral MRI should be performed in all newborn infants presenting with EEG‐ or aEEG‐confirmed seizures.