bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A robust multi response surface approach for optimization of multistage processes
Authors: Moslemi Amir , Shafiee Mahmood 
Published: May 2020

PurposeIn a multistage process, the final quality in the last stage not only depends on the quality of the task performed in that stage but is also dependent on the quality of the products and services in intermediate stages as well as the design parameters in each stage. One of the most efficient statistical approaches used to model the multistage problems is the response surface method (RSM). However, it is necessary to optimize each response in all stages so to achieve the best solution for the whole problem. Robust optimization can produce very accurate solutions in this case.Design/methodology/approachIn order to model a multistage problem, the RSM is often used by the researchers. A classical approach to estimate response surfaces is the ordinary least squares (OLS) method. However, this method is very sensitive to outliers. To overcome this drawback, some robust estimation methods have been presented in the literature. In optimization phase, the global criterion (GC) method is used to optimize the response surfaces estimated by the robust approach in a multistage problem.FindingsThe results of a numerical study show that our proposed robust optimization approach, considering both the sum of square error (SSE) index in model estimation and also GC index in optimization phase, will perform better than the classical full information maximum likelihood (FIML) estimation method.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, there are few papers focusing on quality-oriented designs in the multistage problem by means of RSM. Development of robust approaches for the response surface estimation and also optimization of the estimated response surfaces are the main novelties in this study. The proposed approach will produce more robust and accurate solutions for multistage problems rather than classical approaches.
Socioeconomic effects of pension spending: evidence from Spain
Authors: Bermejo Fernando , Febrero Eladio , Fernandes Tomon Avelino Andre 
Published: May 2020

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to provide broader understanding of the significant role that the pension system has in the Spanish economy by estimating the sectoral production, employment and income sustained by pensioners' consumption.Design/methodology/approachBased on input–output tables by the World Input–Output Database and consumption data from the Household Budget Survey by the Spanish Statistical Office, a demoeconomic model is applied to quantify the direct impacts, indirect impacts from interindustry links and induced impacts from income–consumption connections over a nine-year period (2006–2014). Then, the factors driving the evolution of total output, employment and value added during such period have been examined by using structural decomposition analysis.FindingsThe growing participation of consumption by pensioner households in final demand had proven crucial during the 2008 crisis to alleviate the negative trend in production and employment derived from the collapse in consumption suffered by the rest of households.Practical implicationsDetermining the underlying factors driving changes in both employment and income during the 2008 crisis can be of interest in political decision-making on the sustainability of the Spanish pension system.Social implicationsThe results of estimating both the employment and income supported by pensioners' consumption reveal the significant stabilizing effect of the public spending on pensions, particularly during the 2008 crisis.Originality/valueThe current Spanish approach of attaining the pension system sustainability by merely reducing social protection costs ignores the adverse consequences of a lower pensioners' demand. This paper addresses an alternative view in which pension spending is not considered a burden on economic growth but rather a means of improving the level of production and employment.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at:https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-01-2019-0047
Socio-economic inequality as a barrier on the path of sustainable development: “institutional traps” and perspectives of overcoming them
Authors: Abashidze Aslan Kh. , Inshakova Agnessa O. , Solntsev Alexander M. , Gugunskiy Denis A. 
Published: May 2020

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to study the problem of socio-economic inequality from the positions of the neo-institutional economic theory, to determine the causal connections of emergence and manifestation of this problem as a barrier on the path of sustainable development and to develop institutional measures for its solution based on state regulation.Design/methodology/approachThe scientific and methodological basis of this research is based on regression analysis, which is used for creating and analyzing the regression curves. For the fullest coverage of countries of the world and provision of high representation of the research results, the objects of the research are countries from each category that were distinguished according to their position in the global rating of countries as to the index of sustainable development, calculated and compiled by Sustainable Development Solutions Network (2019).FindingsIt is substantiated that financial inequality is a result of violation of the principles of social justice—primarily, in the labor market. The institutional approach, which is used for studying the problem of socio-economic inequality, allows presenting this problem as a result of the action of social institutes with own system of rules and norms and offering the institutional measures of regulation, which are to influence the rules and norms in society in the labor market. Due to this, the object of regulation is not the consequence but the reasons—and better and long-term results are achieved.Originality/valueIt is proved that social justice is the key condition of overcoming socio-economic inequality, formation of inclusive society and achievement of balance of the global economic system—thus opening a path to sustainable development. Four “institutional traps” are determined, which establish the practices of violation of the principles of social justice in the system of norms and rules of behavior of the labor market's participants. The authors determine perspectives and directions and offer measures of state regulation of the institutes of socio-economic inequality for its overcoming and provision of sustainable development of national economy and the global economy.
A timeline toolkit for cold case investigations
Authors: Keatley David , Clarke David D. 
Published: May 2020

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to outline a variety of related methods for helping with criminal (cold) case investigations. Despite the best efforts of police investigations, many cases around the world run out of leads and go cold. While many police departments around the world have developed specialist groups and task forces, academics have also been developing new methods that can assist with investigations.

Design/methodology/approach
Cold cases, by their very nature, typically comprise incomplete data sets that many traditional statistical methods are not suited to. Groups of researchers have therefore developed temporal, dynamic analysis methods to offer new insights into criminal investigations. These methods are combined into a timeline toolkit and are outlined in the current paper.

Findings
Methods from the timeline toolkit have already been successfully applied to many cold cases, turning them back into current cases. In this paper, two real-world cold cases are analysed with methods from the timeline toolkit to provide examples of how these methods can be applied in further cold cases.

Originality/value
Methods from the timeline toolkit provide a novel approach to investigating current and cold cases. This review provides academics and practitioners with a guide to begin using and developing these methods and forming successful collaborations with police departments and cold case task forces. The methods are also suitable for wider groups and to use in their investigations.
Development of geopolymer cement concrete for highway infrastructure applications
Authors: Dave Niragi , Sahu Vaishali , Misra Anil Kumar 
Published: May 2020

Purpose
The purpose of this work is to study the in-situ performance of ternary geopolymer concrete in road repair work. Geopolymer cement concrete is an attractive alternative to Portland cement concrete owing to environmental, economic and performance benefits. Industrial wastes, such as fly ash (FA) and ground granular blast furnace slag (GGBS), have been extensively used to manufacture unitary and binary geopolymer concrete with heat activation (at different temperature); however, it has indicated a limitation for its application in precast industry only.

Design/methodology/approach
In the present study, efforts have been made to produce a ternary geopolymer concrete mix, using GGBS, FA and Silica fumes (SF) in varied proportion mixed with 8 M sodium hydroxide (NaOH) as alkali activator and cured at ambient temperature. Total ten geopolymer concrete mixes have been prepared and tested for strength and durability properties and compared with control mix of ordinary Portland cement (OPC). Based on the mechanical properties of various mixes, an optimum geopolymer concrete mix has been identified. The control mix and optimum geopolymer have been studied for microstructural properties through scanning electron microscopy.

Findings
The in situ performance of the optimum mix has been assessed when used as a road repair material on a stretch of road. The ternary geopolymer concrete mixes (a) 65% GGBS + 25% FA + 10% SF, (b) 70% GGBS + 20% FA + 10% SF, and (c) 75% GGBS + 15% FA + 10% SF have resulted in good strength at ambient temperature and the mix 75% GGBS + 15% FA + 10% SF have shown good in situ performance when tested for road repair work.

Originality/value
Geopolymer concrete is gaining interest in many fields as an alternative to conventional concrete, as it not only reduces carbon footprint due to huge cement production but also provides a sustainable disposal method for many industrial wastes. This paper focuses on finding some alternative of OPC concrete to reduce dependency on the OPC.
Out to explore the cybersecurity planet
Authors: Bella Giampaolo 
Published: May 2020

PurposeSecurity ceremonies still fail despite decades of efforts by researchers and practitioners. Attacks are often a cunning amalgam of exploits for technical systems and of forms of human behaviour. For example, this is the case with the recent news headline of a large-scale attack against Electrum Bitcoin wallets, which manages to spread a malicious update of the wallet app. The author therefore sets out to look at things through a different lens.Design/methodology/approachThe author makes the (metaphorical) hypothesis that humans arrived on Earth along with security ceremonies from a very far planet, the Cybersecurity planet. The author’s hypothesis continues, in that studying (by huge telescopes) the surface of Cybersecurity in combination with the logical projection on that surface of what happens on Earth is beneficial for us earthlings.FindingsThe author has spotted four cities so far on the remote planet. Democratic City features security ceremonies that allow humans to follow personal paths of practice and, for example, make errors or be driven by emotions. By contrast, security ceremonies in Dictatorial City compel to comply, hence humans here behave like programmed automata. Security ceremonies in Beautiful City are so beautiful that humans just love to follow them precisely. Invisible City has security ceremonies that are not perceivable, hence humans feel like they never encounter any. Incidentally, the words “democratic” and “dictatorial” are used without any political connotation.Originality/valueA key argument the author shall develop is that all cities but Democratic City address the human factor, albeit in different ways. In the light of these findings, the author will also discuss security ceremonies of our planet, such as WhatsApp Web login and flight boarding, and explore room for improving them based upon the current understanding of Cybersecurity.
Agency problems and the value of advertising expenditures in an emerging market: role of product market competition
Authors: Farooq Omar , Pashayev Zakir 
Published: May 2020

PurposeThis paper documents the impact of product market competition on the value of advertising expenditures.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use the data for non-financial firms from India and the pooled regression procedure to test their arguments during the period between 2009 and 2018.FindingsThe results show that advertising expenditures of firms operating in sectors with relatively high competition are more valuable than advertising expenditures of firms operating in sectors with relatively low competition. The results of the study are robust across various proxies of advertising expenditures and firm performance. Furthermore, the results also show that the positive impact of product market competition on the value of advertising expenditures is confined only to firms that already have lower agency problems.Originality/valueThe results of the study highlight the importance of product market competition on the value of advertising expenditure in the emerging market setting, where agency problems are supposed to be high.
Histological, metabolic, and inflammatory changes in the renal tissues of high-fat diet-induced obese rats after vitamin D supplementation
Authors: Avestaei Amir-Hossein , Yaghchiyan Mahdi , Ali-Hemmati Alireza , Farhangi Mahdieh Abbasalizad , Mesgari-Abbasi Mehran , Shahabi Parviz 
Published: May 2020

PurposeObesity is a major risk factor for chronic renal fibrosis and kidneys’ structural and inflammatory impairments. This study aims to examine the possible therapeutic effects of vitamin D supplementation against renal inflammatory and kidney’s structural fibrosis and degeneration.Design/methodology/approachForty male Wistar rats were divided into two groups for 16 weeks: normal diet (ND) and high-fat diet (HFD); then, each group was subdivided into two groups including ND, ND + vitamin D and HFD, HFD + vitamin D. Vitamin D supplementation was done for five weeks at 500 IU/kg dosage. Renal tissue concentrations of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin 6, interleukin 1 beta, monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1 and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β), serum values of lipids, markers of glucose homeostasis and urea, creatinine and uric acid and renal tissue histological and structural changes were determined.FindingsHFD feeding caused remarkable histological and structural changes including higher TNF-α, MCP-1 and TGF-βconcentrations in renal tissues of rats, whereas vitamin D has potent anti-inflammatory effects (P= 0.036, 0.047 and 0.02, respectively). Vitamin D administration also reduced urea and uric acid concentrations (P= 0.023 and 0.049, respectively). Moreover, vitamin D reduced glomerulomegaly, reduced lipid accumulation and limited dilated Bowman’s space in rats and improved glycemic status by increasing insulin (P= 0.04) and reducing insulin resistance (P= 0.006).Research limitations/implicationsThe current study has some limitations. It was better to measure the level of inflammatory cytokines’ expression in the kidney tissues. Additionally, the measurement of baseline values of inflammatory cytokines was not possible because of the possibility of animals’ drop-out.Practical implicationsAccording to the study findings, vitamin D treatment in the current report showed a significant therapeutic role in reducing inflammation, improving glycemic and lipid abnormalities and structural and histological modifications in renal tissues of rats. These findings have a great value because after confirming in a human model, vitamin D can be suggested as a potential therapeutic tool in clinical practice.Social implicationsAfter being confirmed by other animal or human researches, the results of the current work could have great social implications by reducing the prevalence of obesity-related renal complications and highlighting the beneficial roles of vitamin D.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the histological and inflammatory changes in the kidneys and metabolic parameters in the HFD induced rats and also clarified the therapeutic roles of vitamin D in ameliorating the inflammatory, histological, metabolic and functional changes in the kidneys of obese rats.
Considerations on privacy in the era of digitally logged lives
Authors: Gupta Rashmi , Crane Martin , Gurrin Cathal 
Published: May 2020

PurposeThe continuous advancements in wearable sensing technologies enable the easy collection and publishing of visual lifelog data. The widespread adaptation of visual lifelog technologies would have the potential to pose challenges for ensuring the personal privacy of subjects and bystanders in lifelog data. This paper presents preliminary findings from a study of lifeloggers with the aim of better understanding their concerns regarding privacy in lifelog data.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, we have collected a visual dataset of 64,837 images from 25 lifelogging participants over a period of two days each, and we conducted an interactive session (face to face conversation) with each participant in order to capture their concerns when sharing the lifelog data across three specified categories (i.e. Private (Only for Me), Semi-Private (Family/Friends) and Public).FindingsIn general, we found that participants tend to err on the side of conservative privacy settings and that there is a noticeable difference in what different participants are willing to share. In summary, we found that the categories of images that the participants wished to be kept private included personally identifiable information and professional information; categories of images that could be shared with family/friends include family moments or content related to daily routine lifestyle, and other visual lifelog data could potentially be made public).Originality/valueWe analysed the potential differences in the willingness of 25 participants to share data. In addition, reasons for being a volunteer to collect lifelog data and how the lifelogging device affected the lifestyle of the lifelogger are analysed. Based on the findings of this study, we propose a set of challenges for the anonymisation of lifelog data that should be solved when supporting lifelog data sharing.
Business pedagogy: a qualitative analysis to inform library support
Authors: Ireland Ashley , Thompson Dana Statton , Bourke Brian 
Published: May 2020

PurposeThis study seeks to illuminate business instructors' undergraduate pedagogical processes toward developing resources and services to support their teaching.Design/methodology/approachThe authors recruited participants through purposeful sampling and collected data through semi-structured interviews. The transcriptions were coded using a grounded theory approach.FindingsThe findings of this study demonstrate that faculty are motivated to be good teachers and want to engage in opportunities to improve. However, lack of time and teaching with technology pose pedagogical learning curves for faculty. Institutional support for improving teaching is welcomed, but it may also be perceived as white noise against competing priorities and a deluge of information. Lastly, business, as a discipline, may uniquely use informational formats such as multimedia and case studies that may pose a challenge to traditional collection development.Research limitations/implicationsThe project was designed to be exploratory, small-scale and grounded in approach. This study does not purport to be statistically representative nor are the recommendations meant to be prescriptive.Practical implicationsAcademic libraries should be more intentional about positioning subject librarians to provide suggestions for textbooks or other course materials, collecting, organizing and preserving case studies and multimedia and their relationships with publishers that use models that subvert collecting textbooks. Libraries should also partner with technology and pedagogy support units to offer cooperative programming when possible.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the fields of library and information studies, business and education by articulating the unique needs of instructors within the larger contexts of business pedagogy, and the evolving relationship between libraries and undergraduate teaching support.
Assessing old and new individual study desks
Authors: Zaugg Holt , Belliston C. Jeffrey 
Published: May 2020

PurposeThis paper examines student perceptions of new individual study desks (ISDs) and how they improved the students' learning experience.Design/methodology/approachThe study describes the process for developing new ISDs. When about half of the old ISDs were replaced with new ISDs, two parallel surveys were used to understand why students used the ISDs, what their experiences were and any suggested improvements.FindingsResults indicate that the new ISDs were used by students for significantly longer periods of time. They enjoyed the ambiance and amenities of the new desks, including a whiteboard used by over 90% of students. Many students using new ISDs expressed a desire for more new ISDs, so it would not be as hard to find an available one; students using old ISDs called for improvements that would make the old ISDs more like the new ISDs.Practical implicationsThis study has two practical implications. It emphasizes the importance of both engaging student patrons throughout the design process and conducting follow-up assessments to determine if changes make things better.Originality/valueThe value of this study is in understanding the optimal steps for developing new study spaces for students. These steps include integrating student input during development and design, prototyping a change and following up to determine the degree to which a change worked on the changes made.