bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Reward-based epigenetic learning algorithm for a decentralised multi-agent system
Authors: Mukhlish Faqihza , Page John , Bain Michael 
Published: April 2020

PurposeThis paper aims to propose a novel epigenetic learning (EpiLearn) algorithm, which is designed specifically for a decentralised multi-agent system such as swarm robotics.Design/methodology/approachFirst, this paper begins with overview of swarm robotics and the challenges in designing swarm behaviour automatically. This should indicate the direction of improvements required to enhance an automatic swarm design. Second, the evolutionary learning (EpiLearn) algorithm for a swarm system using an epigenetic layer is formulated and discussed. The algorithm is then tested through various test functions to investigate its performance. Finally, the results are discussed along with possible future research directions.FindingsThrough various test functions, the algorithm can solve non-local and many local minima problems. This article also shows that by using a reward system, the algorithm can handle the deceptive problem which often occurs in dynamic problems. Moreover, utilization of rewards from the environment in the form of a methylation process on the epigenetic layer improves the performance of traditional evolutionary algorithms applied to automatic swarm design. Finally, this article shows that a regeneration process that embeds an epigenetic layer in the inheritance process performs better than a traditional crossover operator in a swarm system.Originality/valueThis paper proposes a novel method for automatic swarm design by taking into account the importance of multi-agent settings and environmental characteristics surrounding the swarm. The novel evolutionary learning (EpiLearn) algorithm using an epigenetic layer gives the swarm the ability to perform co-evolution and co-learning.
Sustainability in management education: a Biggs’ 3P model application
Authors: Kanashiro Patricia , Iizuka Edson Sadao , Sousa Caio , Dias Suzi Elen FeRReira 
Published: April 2020

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the main factors that contribute to teaching and learning sustainability in management education (SiME), which is defined as a body of knowledge that meets the needs of both current and future generations of students.

Design/methodology/approach
The authors adopt the Biggs’ Presage–Process–Product (3P) learning model to guide and categorize the findings from the literature review on SiME. This study provides an overview of journal articles published between 2002 and 2017.

Findings
In the context of SiME, Biggs’ 3P model shows how teaching context and students’ background (presage factors) influence students’ approaches to learning, which can range from surface to deep learning (process) and result in various learning outcomes (products).

Research limitations/implications
The literature review may have excluded important and relevant work from the sample.

Practical implications
This review highlights that personal and institutional commitments are necessary to promote effective learning of sustainability.

Social implications
Effective learning outcomes (deep learning) in sustainability should encourage students to reflect on their personal values and behaviors and to acquire analytical skills aimed at promoting conservation and remediation of social, environmental and economic problems.

Originality/value
This paper provides an application of Biggs’ 3P learning model in the context of sustainability, which highlights the conditions for deep learning as critical given the complexity and urgency of addressing sustainability crises.
Factors affecting consumers' pro-environmental behaviour in nutricosmetics consumption: the role of perceived environmental responsibility as a mediator
Authors: Shahrin Ruzanna , Quoquab Farzana , Mohammad Jihad , Jamil Rossilah 
Published: April 2020

Purpose
This study aims to examine the direct effect of compensatory health beliefs (CHBs), environmental self-identity and perceived environmental responsibility (PER) towards consumers' pro-environmental behaviour (PEB). Moreover, this study also investigates the mediating role of PER.

Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from nutricosmetics consumers in Malaysia. A questionnaire survey was carried out in three major shopping complexes in Klang Valley areas, which generated 448 completed usable responses. The partial least square technique (SmartPLS, version 3) was used to analyse the data and to test the study hypotheses.

Findings
The results revealed that CHBs, environmental self-identity and environmental perceived responsibility positively affect consumers’ PEB in nutricosmetics consumption. Additionally, data supported the mediating role of PER in the relationship between CHB, environmental self-identity and PEB.

Practical implications
It is expected that the study findings will provide significant insights to help marketers and policymakers about consumers’ nutricosmetic products consumption. It will help the marketers to plan for effective marketing strategies to produce environmentally friendly products and to serve the green consumer segment effectively. Moreover, companies attempting to launch new nutricosmetics brands may find the results helpful in understanding PEB.

Originality/value
This study is among the pioneers to examine consumers’ PEB of nutricosmetics products. Moreover, there is a dearth of studies that have investigated the PEB of consumers in regard to the CHBs, environmental self-identity and PER towards nutricosmetics consumption. Additionally, this study examines the mediating role of PER between “CHBs and PEB” and “environmental self-identity and PEB”, which are yet to examine in the past literature in the field.
Commonplace and common language: Kentucky's district mission statements
Authors: Ingle W. Kyle , Greenwell Terra , Woods Justin 
Published: April 2020

PurposeWe sought to identify codes and themes in the mission statements of Kentucky's school districts and examine the relationship between district characteristics and the mission statements.Design/methodology/approachWe undertook a mixed methods design, specifically, a sequential transformative strategy with a theoretical lens overlaying the sequential procedures and guiding the analysis.FindingsAnalysis revealed a range of 1–7 codes per mission statement and a mean of 3.05. Generic student success and individual attention represented the most frequently occurring codes in the mission statements. Chi-square tests of bivariate association yielded no significant differences between districts by locale. Logistic regression analysis revealed that the percentage of students in the district scoring proficient or distinguished in both reading and mathematics was associated significantly (p < 0.05) with the theme of student support.Research limitationsAlthough we cannot establish causation between mission statements content and student outcomes or vice-versa, district mission statement remain a visible and public expression of why an organization exists that should guide actions and decision-making, whether instructional, financial or otherwise.Practical implicationsOur study revealed shared institutional language within mission statements across Kentucky's school district, largely without regard to local context. Our analysis suggests that federal and state policy makers are influencing mission statements more so than those at the local level.Originality/valueOur analysis provides further evidence that suggests that federal and state policy makers are influencing mission statements more so than those at the local level.
Day-ahead load forecasting using improved grey Verhulst model
Authors: Mbae Ariel Mutegi , Nwulu Nnamdi I. 
Published: April 2020

Purpose
In the daily energy dispatch process in a power system, accurate short-term electricity load forecasting is a very important tool used by spot market players. It is a critical requirement for optimal generator unit commitment, economic dispatch, system security and stability assessment, contingency and ancillary services management, reserve setting, demand side management, system maintenance and financial planning in power systems. The purpose of this study is to present an improved grey Verhulst electricity load forecasting model.

Design/methodology/approach
To test the effectiveness of the proposed model for short-term load forecast, studies made use of Kenya’s load demand data for the period from January 2014 to June 2019.

Findings
The convectional grey Verhulst forecasting model yielded a mean absolute percentage error of 7.82 per cent, whereas the improved model yielded much better results with an error of 2.96 per cent.

Practical implications
In the daily energy dispatch process in a power system, accurate short-term load forecasting is a very important tool used by spot market players. It is a critical ingredient for optimal generator unit commitment, economic dispatch, system security and stability assessment, contingency and ancillary services management, reserve setting, demand side management, system maintenance and financial planning in power systems. The fact that the model uses actual Kenya’s utility data confirms its usefulness in the practical world for both economic planning and policy matters.

Social implications
In terms of generation and transmission investments, proper load forecasting will enable utilities to make economically viable decisions. It forms a critical cog of the strategic plans for power utilities and other market players to avoid a situation of heavy stranded investment that adversely impact the final electricity prices and the other extreme scenario of expensive power shortages.

Originality/value
This research combined the use of natural logarithm and the exponential weighted moving average to improve the forecast accuracy of the grey Verhulst forecasting model.
The use of political skill in organizational change
Authors: Waggoner David P. 
Published: April 2020

PurposeThis article explores how recognizing politics may help change agents have better success enacting change.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual paper using systems and practical domains to define a more sophisticated and useful definition of politics for change agents' use.FindingsThe article argues that there is an innate correlation between organizational change and organizational politics.Research limitations/implicationsThis article is a call to action for future empirical study on political skill.Practical implicationsThis paper is a practical invitation for change agents to recognize and adopt the positive aspects of political skill to aid in their efforts.Originality/valueThough organizational politics traditionally receives a negative connotation, there is growing research supporting the positive use of politics. This connection has yet to be fully discovered when one reads the literature. This concept paper is an invitation to begin further study.
Challenges of corporate brand building and management in a state owned enterprise
Authors: Cullinan Justine Alexandra , Abratt Russell , Mingione Michela 
Published: April 2020

PurposeWhile there is a growing body of literature about corporate branding, studies of corporate branding in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are limited despite the important role they play in many economies. The purpose of this paper is to explore how managers perceive the significance and challenge of corporate brand building and management within a state-owned organisation.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative and interpretative research paradigm was used in the form of a case study design. This study focusses on the South African Broadcasting Corporation where executives and managers responsible for corporate branding decisions were interviewed.FindingsFindings highlight the specific purposes, decision making factors, stakeholders and brand portfolio of an SOE corporate brand.Research limitations/implicationsCorporate brands help build brand identity and point out that a SOEs' corporate brand identity is dual in nature. The duality of mission, stakeholders and decision making, triggers brand challenges, namely, unclear corporate identity and fragmented corporate brand strategies, which must be carefully orchestrated over time and across stakeholders.Originality/valueThis study highlights the issues state-run enterprises face in building and managing a corporate brand and proposes an original model for SOEs' corporate brand development process.
Using Mahalanobis distance and decision tree to analyze abnormal patterns of behavior in a maintenance outsourcing process-a case study
Authors: Chen Ssu-Han , Kuo Yiyo , Lin Jin-Kwan 
Published: April 2020

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze abnormal behavior patterns in a maintenance outsourcing process. Based on the results, the managers can focus on the abnormal behavior and the direction of the investigation can be narrowed. The abnormal behavior can be identified more easily.Design/methodology/approachMaholanobis Distance (MD) and Decision Tree (DT) are integrated to analyze for abnormal behavior patterns. To prevent abnormal behaviors, a maintenance outsourcing case must be passed by several managers in different departments. In this research, some criteria for pairs of managers are calculated first. Based on the criteria, the MDs of these pairs can be calculated. Pairs are categorized by their MDs. Any pair whose MD is higher than a threshold is labeled “abnormal” while the remaining are labeled “normal”. After oversampling the minority class of abnormal, a DT is built by Classification and Regression Trees (CART) based on the labeled dataset. Finally, the combination of criteria for abnormal categories is extracted from the tree.FindingsThrough the results from the DT, the combinations of criteria provide obvious characteristics of cases that are categorized as abnormal, and then provide a direction for investigators. Thus, the range of investigation can be narrowed. The empirical results show that the result of the proposed integrated methodology is helpful for abnormal behavior pattern analysis.Practical implicationsThis research is intended to help an organization to enhance their investigation in a large number of maintenance outsourcing cases. About 8,000 cases are collected for analysis.Originality/valueThe integration of MD and DT for analyzing abnormal behavior patterns in a maintenance outsourcing process is not found in the literature. Moreover, the empirical results show that the proposed integrated methodology is helpful in a real application.
Stability analysis of cold-formed channels using mathematical programming techniques
Authors: Bedair Osama 
Published: April 2020

PurposeIn this work, a numerical algorithm is presented for stability analysis of cold-formed steel (CFS) channel sections.Design/methodology/approachA nonlinear optimization problem is formulated using energy-based technique of idealized channel section subject shear, compression and biaxial bending. The total potential energy is minimized with respect to skew angle and half wavelength of the buckling mode. The optimization algorithm is updated sequentially using quadratic approximation until minimum buckling coefficient is attained. The developed algorithm is validated using other numerical techniques.FindingsThe described algorithm is computationally effective and can be utilized in the industry for analysis of CFS channels under any load combination.Practical implicationsThe paper offers a new tool for engineers in practice to analyze channels subject to combined loadings.Originality/valueVery limited literature dealt with the stability of channels under combined loading. A new numerical algorithm is provided to practitioners to utilize in the industry for analysis of channel sections under combined loading. Unlike finite element or finite strip methods, the channel is not discretized into subelements. Mathematical programming technique is used to find the buckling load. Parametric studies are then carried out to highlight influences of geometric interaction of the channel components and to provide useful guidance to the design of CFS channels.
Corporate heritage brand traits and corporate heritage brand identity: the case study of John Lewis
Authors: Sammour Ammar Abdellatif , Chen Weifeng , Balmer John M.T. 
Published: April 2020

PurposeThis paper aims to study the corporate heritage brand traits and corporate heritage brand identity by concentrating on developing key dimensions for the corporate heritage brand dimensions in the retailing industry in the UK. This study advances the corporate brand heritage theory and introduces the theory of corporate heritage brand identity, which is developed from the case study of John Lewis – one of the most respected and oldest retails in the UK established in 1864.Design/methodology/approachThis empirical study has adopted a theory-building case study using qualitative data. It uses semi-structured interviews that were organised and managed by John Lewis Heritage Centre in Cookham. A total of 14 participants were involved in this study. We have used Nvivo.11 software to set the main themes and codes for this study framework.FindingsThis study identifies Balmer’s (2013) corporate heritage brand traits that are essential to be considered for the corporate heritage brands in the retailing industry to sustain their innovativeness and competitiveness. The findings of the case study informed the four dimensions of corporate heritage brand identity, which include price, quality, symbol and design. The findings are incorporated into a theoretical framework of corporate heritage brand identity traits.Practical implicationsThe discussed traits of this study can help brand senior management to enhance their corporate heritage reputation and sustainability through maintaining these (four) traits over their brand, and inform their brand stakeholders about their brand heritage success.Originality/valueThis is one of the few attempts to develop a research framework of corporate heritage brand identity. This framework suggests four dimensions of corporate heritage brand identity traits including brand price, quality, design and symbol. This is one of the first attempts to study corporate heritage branding management traits in the retailing industry sector.
Trial marriage model—Female mate choice under male interference
Authors: Li Meng‐Yao , Geng Zhuo‐Song , Liao Peng , Wang Xiao‐Yang , Yang Tian‐Chang , Wang Jing‐Yuan , Wang Dan‐Dan , Gao Li‐Fang , Du Bo 
Published: April 2020

Abstract

In sexually reproducing animals, the process of mate choice by females is often mixed with the process of male–male competition. Current models of female male choice focus mainly on how females identify the higher quality of males, but neglect the effect of male–male competition on the mate choice of females. Therefore, it remains controversial what is the relative importance of two processes in forming a social bond.

We propose a new ‘trial marriage’ model for females' mate choice. The model assumes that females unconditionally accept any male they first encounter as their mating partner, and then conditionally switch mates to a new male of higher quality than their current partner when male–male competition occurs. This model was tested in the green weevil Hypomeces squamosus by exploring how females switched mates when males' mating interference was experimentally induced.

The likelihood that females switched mates, as well as their conditional acceptance criteria of a new mate, was both raised with the intensity of males' mating interference that was manipulated in an enhanced encounter rate experiment, and in male introduction or stepwise removal experiments. These experimental findings confirm that a ‘trial marriage’ strategy occurs during females' mate choice.

Compared with other strategies, it is more beneficial for females to choose a better mate without paying the costs of identifying males as suggested by the ‘trial marriage’ strategy. More importantly, using the current partner quality as the conditional acceptance threshold of new mates, females can choose better males in future encounters with potential mates. In the green weevils, males' preference for larger females and the higher possibility of the largest male winning an interference are mixed together when males' mating interference reaches a higher intensity. Therefore, the consequence of a male interference will determine which male could be chosen by a female. Under this condition, conditional acceptance of the winner becomes the most beneficial strategy of females in choosing their mates. We thus suggest that the ‘trial marriage’ strategy would be more efficient when males' mating interference becomes the determinant factor of females' mate choice.
PapA, a peptidoglycan‐associated protein, interacts with OmpC and maintains cell envelope integrity
Authors: Wang Yun‐Hao , Chen Hong‐He , Huang Zhou , Li Xiao‐Jing , Zhou Nan , Liu Chang , Jiang Cheng‐Ying , Li De‐Feng , Liu Shuang‐Jiang 
Published: April 2020

SummaryThe bacterial cell envelope is critical to support and maintain cellular life. In Gram‐negative bacterial cells, the outer membrane and the peptidoglycan layer are two important parts of the cell envelope and they harbour abundant proteins. Here, we report the identification and characterization of a previously unknown peptidoglycan‐associated protein, PapA, from the Gram‐negative Comamonas testosteroni. PapA bound peptidoglycan with its C‐terminal domain and interacted with the outer‐membrane porin OmpC. The PapA‐OmpC complex riveted the outer membrane and the peptidoglycan layer, and played a role in maintaining cell envelope integrity. When papA was disrupted, the mutant CNB‐1ΔpapA apparently had an outer membrane partly separated from the peptidoglycan layer. Phenotypically, the mutant CNB‐1ΔpapA lost chemotactic responses and had longer lag‐phase of growth, less flagellation and higher sensitivity to harsh environments. Totally, 1093 functionally unknown PapA homologues were identified from the public NR protein database and they were mainly distributed in Burkholderiales of Betaproteobacteria. Our finding provides a clue that the PapA homologous proteins might function as a rivet to maintain cell envelope integrity in those Gram‐negative bacteria.