bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Tribological characteristics of AA8090-WC-ZrC metal matrix composites prepared by stir casting process for Aerospace applications
Authors: A Kalaiyarasan , S Sundaram , K Gunasekaran , J. Bensam Raj 
Published: August 2021

Purpose
Aerospace field is demanding a material with superior strength and high resistance against wear, tear and corrosion. The current study aimed to develop a new material with high performance to be applicable in aerospace field

Design/methodology/approach
A metal matrix composite AA8090-WC-ZrC was fabricated using stir casting method and its tribological behavior was investigated. Totally, five composites viz. AA/Z, AA/W, AA/WZ (1:3), AA/WZ (1:1) & AA/WZ (3:1) were prepared. Micro hardness, tensile and wear study were performed on the fabricated composites and the results were compared with AA8090 alloy

Findings
Vickers hardness test resulted that the AA/W composite showed the higher hardness value of 160 HB compared to other materials due to the reinforcing effect of WC particles with high hardness. Tensile test reported that the AA/W composite displayed the maximum tensile strength of 502 MPa owing to the creation of more dislocation density. Further, wear study showed that the AA/W composite exhibited the least wear rate of 0.0011 mm3/m because of the more resisting force offered by the WC particles. Furthermore, the AA/W composite showed the slightest mass loss of 0.0028 g and lower COF value of 0.31 due to the hinder effect of WC particle to the movement of atoms in AA8090 alloy

Originality/value
This work is original in the field of aerospace engineering and materials science which deals with the fabrication of AA8090 alloy with the reinforcement particles such as tungsten carbide and zirconium carbide. The impact of the combination of hybrid particles and their volume fractions on the tribological properties has been investigated in this work. This work would provide new scientific information to society.
Exploring the paths to big data analytics implementation success in banking and financial service: an integrated approach
Authors: Hajiheydari Nastaran , Delgosha Mohammad Soltani , Wang Yichuan , Olya Hossein 
Published: August 2021

PurposeBig data analytics (BDA) is recognized as a recent breakthrough technology with potential business impact, however, the roadmap for its successful implementation and the path to exploiting its essential value remains unclear. This study aims to provide a deeper understanding of the enablers facilitating BDA implementation in the banking and financial service sector from the perspective of interdependencies and interrelations.Design/methodology/approachWe use an integrated approach that incorporates Delphi study, interpretive structural modelling (ISM) and fuzzy MICMAC methodology to identify the interactions among enablers that determine the success of BDA implementation. Our integrated approach utilizes experts' domain knowledge and gains a novel insight into the underlying causal relations associated with enablers, linguistic evaluation of the mutual impacts among variables and incorporating two innovative ways for visualizing the results.FindingsOur findings highlight the key role of enabling factors, including technical and skilled workforce, financial support, infrastructure readiness and selecting appropriate big data technologies, that have significant driving impacts on other enablers in a hierarchical model. The results provide reliable, robust and easy to understand insights about the dynamics of BDA implementation in banking and financial service as a whole system while demonstrating potential influences of all interconnected influential factors.Originality/valueThis study explores the key enablers leading to successful BDA implementation in the banking and financial service sector. More importantly, it reveals the interrelationships of factors by calculating driving and dependence degrees. This exploration provides managers with a clear strategic path towards effective BDA implementation.
The influence of firm, industry and concentrated ownership on dynamic capital structure decision in emerging market
Authors: Haron Razali , Nomran Naji Mansour , Abdullah Othman Anwar Hasan , Md Husin Maizaitulaidawati , Sharofiddin Ashurov 
Published: August 2021

Purpose
This study aims to evaluate the impact of firm, industry level determinants and ownership concentration on the dynamic capital structure decision in Indonesia and analyses the governing theories.

Design/methodology/approach
This study uses the dynamic panel model of generalized method of moments-System (one-step and two-step) by using a panel data from 2000 to 2014 to examine the relationship between the determinants and leverage. The results are robust to the various definitions of leverage, heterogeneity, autocorrelation, multicollinearity and endogeneity concern.

Findings
Growing firms and firms operating in a highly concentrated industry use high level of debt, taking advantage of the tax shield (trade-off theory). However, if the firms are operating in a highly dynamic environment, they take on less debt as to avoid bankruptcy risk. Firms in Indonesia opt for debt financing perhaps to act as a controlling mechanism to mitigate agency conflicts that may exist between the large controlling shareholders and the minority. Aged and highly profitable firms with high tangible and intangible assets and liquidity level operating in a high dynamic environment follow the pecking order theory.

Research limitations/implications
This study does not perform each industry regression individually. All the industries are pooled together, as the main focus of this study is to examine the factors affecting leverage of firms in general without giving particular attention to individual industry.

Originality/value
The insights on the impact of ownership concentration and industry characteristics are novel especially on Indonesia, thus fill the gap in the literature.
Measuring social skills: cultural adaptation and validation of the SSI-Del Prette
Authors: Fundinho João Filipe , Ferreira-Alves José , Braz Ana Carolina , Del Prette Zilda Aparecida Pereira , Del Prette Almir 
Published: August 2021

Purpose
Identifying and assessing social skills has been a powerful way of linking human behaviour and human interaction with their consequences at significant developmental levels. There are some data connecting social skills with interpersonal violence but not yet with elder abuse. The reason might be the scarcity of quick and easy-to-apply measures of social skills. This study aims to adapt and validate the social skills inventory (SSI) (Del Prette and Del Prette, 2001) to the Portuguese population.

Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted two studies. In Study 1, the authors gathered the psychometric characteristics of the SSI-Del-Prette through exploratoryfactor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). In Study 2, the authors correlated the new measure with measures of depression and empathy to test for divergent and concurrent validity.

Findings
The obtained version of the SSI-Del-Prette showed a good model fit and internal consistency. This measure presented six factors: conversation and social confidence, easiness of self-exposure, self-expression of positive affect, coping assertively with risk, defending interests and opinions and giving and receiving praise. The indicators of convergent and divergent validity supported the integrity of the measure.

Research limitations/implications
The adaptation of this measure of social skills opens new possibilities for studying these skills.

Originality/value
This paper provides an adaptation of a measure of six social skills expanded to the older adult population.
Its scouse soldier’s lad init! An examination of modern Urban street gangs on Merseyside
Authors: Hesketh Robert Francis 
Published: August 2021

Purpose
This paper aims to discuss the emergence of the contemporary Urban Street Gang (USG) on Merseyside. In terms of gang scholarship in the UK, Merseyside has been greatly neglected despite regular reports in national mainstream media that suggest Merseyside USGs represent some of the most criminally active and violent members in the UK.

Design/methodology/approach
A specific methodology has been omitted because the author while providing a viewpoint from Hesketh (2018), also wishes to encapsulate observations from the remaining two pieces of research conducted on Merseyside (Smithson et al., 2009; Robinson, 2018). For this reason, a summary of the methods used in each of the three studies is provided.

Findings
The paper will highlight observations drawn from all three research studies that were prevalent with USG members throughout the Merseyside county at the time of each study. They include aspects surrounding territoriality, belonging and identity through dress style as well as USG structures and motivation for joining. In particular, the paper will address also address the role of drugs which has transformed the structural make-up of many Merseyside USGs from relatively loosely knit-street corner groups involved in anti-social behaviour (ASB) to more structural-deviant entrepreneurial enterprises.

Research limitations/implications
The paper calls for more research to be carried out on Merseyside. Limitations would include the omission of young women in each of the three studies.

Practical implications
The practical implications are as follows: a need to focus on the impact of bridging within excluded communities; a need to focus on emphasising that drug dealing is a crime that carries serious consequences, and not a form of work (grafting); a need to focus on young women and criminal involvement; and a need to concentrate on developing strategies that counter the allure and attraction of risk-taking behaviour.

Social implications
The paper addresses the impact of social exclusion and the need for equality to counter young people becoming involved in criminality and gangs as well as adult organised crime groups.

Originality/value
The paper is based on what have been so far the only three in-depth studies carried out on Merseyside.
Wind flow on and around U-shaped buildings
Authors: Inan Gunaydin Tugba 
Published: August 2021

Purpose
This paper presents the numerical examination of wind pressure distributions on U-plan shaped buildings having four different depth ratios (DR) as 0.5, 1, 2 and 4 over wind incidence angle (WIA) of 0°. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of irregular building form, DRs, distances from the reentrant corner, wind velocity values on and around wind pressure distributions of the buildings. With this aim, ANSYS Fluent 20.0 Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) program is used for the analysis.

Design/methodology/approach
Four U-shaped buildings having the same height, width and wing length but having different DR in plan were analyzed by the application of CFD package of ANSYS 20. With this purpose, wind pressure distributions on and around U-plan shaped buildings were analyzed for the wind velocity values of 2 and 5 m/s over WIA of 0°. Comprehensive results were obtained from the analyses.

Findings
While the change in the DR values did not create a significant change in positive pressure coefficients on A and E surfaces, negative pressure values increased as the DR decreased. The negative pressure coefficients observed on the A and E surfaces become higher than the positive pressure coefficients with the decrease in the DR. On contrary to that condition, with the decrease in the DR, G surfaces take higher positive pressure coefficients than the negative pressure coefficients. The reason for this is that the DR decreases and negative pressure values on G surface significantly decrease. The effect of the DR on the pressure coefficients is remarkable on B and D surfaces. The negative pressure coefficients on the B and D surfaces tend to increase as the DR decreases.

Research limitations/implications
This study focused on DRs and wind velocity values effect on pressure coefficients to limit variables. Different building wing dimensions did not take into account.

Originality/value
Although there are a number of studies related to wind behavior of irregular plan shaped buildings, irregular building forms have not been extensively investigated parametrically, especially in terms of the effect of DR on wind pressures. This study is therefore designed to fill this gap by analyzing impacts of various parameters like building shape with various DRs, WIA and wind velocity values on wind pressure distributions and velocity distributions on and around the building.
A confirmatory factor analysis of the challenges of effective management of construction workforce in South Africa
Authors: Aghimien Lerato Millicent , Aigbavboa Clinton Ohis , Anumba Chimay J. , Thwala Wellington Didibhuku 
Published: August 2021

Purpose
The South African construction industry (SACI) is a huge employer of labour as the industry depends mostly on human resources to carry out its activities. However, the industry has also been noted for its poor workforce management and lack of attention to human resource management (HRM) issues. Therefore, this study aims to assess the challenges facing the effective management of the construction workforce in South Africa with a view to improving HRM activities in the industry and improve overall service delivery through an effectively managed workforce.

Design/methodology/approach
A pragmatic philosophical view using a mixed-method research design was adopted. The study’s qualitative strand was achieved through a Delphi, whilst the quantitative strand was achieved through a questionnaire survey. In addition, descriptive and inferential statistics such as mean item score, Kruskal-Wallis H-test, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were adopted for data analysis.

Findings
With high reliability, construct validity and model fit indices, the study found that for effective HRM to be attained within construction organisations, careful attention must be given to issues surrounding the nature of the industry, unhealthy working environment, employee-related issues, diversity and working condition in the industry.

Originality/value
Whilst several studies have been conducted on HRM, there is a lack of studies on the major challenges facing effective HRM in the SACI. The findings also offer future research studies a good theoretical platform to build upon.
Material management practices and factors influencing material conservation on construction sites in Nigeria
Authors: Edike Uche Emmanuel 
Published: August 2021

Purpose
The purpose of this study is to enhance material conservation and further the knowledge of efficient material management practices on construction sites. This study investigated contractors’ material management practices on construction sites in Nigeria. The factors influencing material conservation on construction sites were also examined.

Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected through a survey of 125 contractors who were administered with structured questionnaire, which resulted in 82 valid returned questionnaire. Data collected was analyzed using frequency, importance, utility and severity indexes.

Findings
This study found checking materials delivered to a site for specification, use of security personnel to safeguard materials and analysis of materials as key material management practices used on construction sites. Critical factors influencing material management are materials double-handling, management of surplus materials, subsequent design changes, excessive paperwork and not receiving materials at the expected time.

Practical implications
The implementation of the material management practices identified in this study will support contractors to efficiently manage materials on construction sites. The factors influencing material conservation reported in this study will also help contractors understand the critical factors that may affect material management in their construction sites and make better plans for future projects.

Originality/value
This study has reported key issues confronting contractors on the conservation of materials on construction site and various material management practices suitable for application in a wide range of infrastructure projects. This is significant because the construction industry is recording outrageous cost and time overruns of infrastructure projects, which are vital to economic prosperity of nations. The issues and panaceas presented in this study had received scant consideration in construction literature in the sub-Sahara Africa. This study represents a novel synthesis and adds value to knowledge in a manner that has not been reported in previous studies.
Post occupancy evaluation of thermal comfort and indoor air quality of office spaces in a tropical green campus building
Authors: Yong Nurul Hayati , Kwong Qi Jie , Ong Kok Seng , Mumovic Dejan 
Published: August 2021

Purpose
As suggested in many previous studies, good thermal comfort and indoor air quality (IAQ) played a significant role in ensuring human comfort, health and productivity in buildings. Hence, this study aims to evaluate the thermal comfort and IAQ conditions of open-plan office areas within a green-certified campus building through a post occupancy evaluation.

Design/methodology/approach
Using the field measurement method, environmental dataloggers were positioned at three office areas during office hours to measure the levels of thermal comfort parameters, CO2 concentrations and the supply air rates. At the same time, questionnaires were distributed to the available office staff to obtain their perception of the indoor environment. The findings were then compared with the recommended environmental comfort ranges and used to calculate the thermal comfort indices.

Findings
Results show that the physical parameters were generally within acceptable ranges of a local guideline. The neutral temperature based on the actual mean vote at these areas was 23.9°C, which is slightly lower than the predicted thermal neutrality of 25.2°C. From the surveyed findings, about 81% of the occupants found their thermal environment comfortable with high adaptation rates. A preference for cooler environments was found among the workers. Meanwhile, the air quality was perceived to be clean by a majority of the respondents, and the mean ventilation rate per person was identified to be sufficient.

Research limitations/implications
This study focussed on the thermal environment and air quality at selected office spaces only. More work should be carried out in other regularly occupied workplaces and study areas of the green educational building to allow a more thorough analysis of the indoor air conditions.

Practical implications
This paper highlights on the thermal comfort and air quality conditions of the air-conditioned office spaces in a green-certified campus building and is intended to assist the building services engineers in effective air conditioning control. The findings reported are useful for thermal comfort, IAQ and subsequently energy efficiency improvements in such building type where adjustments on the air temperature set-point can be considered according to the actual requirements. This study will be extended to other green campus spaces for a more exhaustive analysis of the indoor environment.

Originality/value
There is limited information pertaining to the environmental comfort levels in offices of green campus in the tropics. This study is, therefore, one of the earliest attempts to directly explore the thermal comfort and IAQ conditions in such workplace using both on-site physical measurement and questionnaire survey.
A comparative analysis of human capital information opaqueness in South Korea and the UK
Authors: Lim Hyoung Joo , Mali Dafydd 
Published: August 2021

PurposeHuman capital is considered by many to be a firm's most important asset. However, because no international human capital reporting framework exists, firms can decide to include/exclude human capital details on annual reports. Based on legitimacy theory, firms that disclose high levels of human capital information can be considered congruent with the expectations of society. However, firms can also choose to include human capital information on annual reports for symbolic purposes as an image management strategy.Design/methodology/approachUsing 2018 as a sample period, content analysis is used to evaluate the annual reports of the 25 largest British and 25 largest Korean firms to demonstrate the propensity of British/Korean firms to disclose human capital information as numerical and textual data.FindingsThe authors report that South Korean firms provide high levels of human capital information using narrative and numerical data, including value added human capital elements included on integrated reports. British firms on the other hand tend to use primarily positive narrative and limited numerical human capital data to present human capital information.Originality/valueThe results imply South Korean firms provide robust human capital information on annual reports as a legitimacy strategy. On the other hand, the UK's human capital reporting requirement can be considered as a form of image management. The results therefore have important policy implications for legislators, labour unions and firm stakeholders with incentives to enhance human capital information transparency.
Knowledge management and innovative behavior: police reform efforts in Puerto Rico
Authors: Castro Luis , Santos-Corrada Maria , Flecha-Ortiz Jose A. , Lopez Evelyn , Gomez Jose , Aponte Brunilda 
Published: August 2021

PurposeKnowledge management has historically been approached in private firms as a key factor for business management. However, this is not the case for government institutions. The existing literature on the transfer of knowledge appears as a topic little addressed in government and even to a lesser degree within the police forces. This study aims to evaluate the relationship between motivation, knowledge absorption, knowledge transfer and innovative behavior in a public organization such as the Puerto Rico Police.Design/methodology/approachThis quantitative research using the survey technique had the participation of 300 police officers from the 13 police regions of Puerto Rico and the research model was analyzed through partial least squares structural equation modeling.FindingsThe results contribute to the growth of the currently limited literature at identifies how motivation, knowledge absorption, knowledge transfer and institutional support influence innovative behavior.Originality/valueThe study discusses a series of implications on less explore the issue in how the transfer of knowledge becomes a key force to produce change and the success of all reforms. Various implications for the success of public administration in bringing a change from a bureaucratic culture to an advanced one are also discussed.