bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Networking: a male dominated game
Authors: Socratous Maria 
Published: January 2018

Purpose
Using primary data from an online survey in addition to 29 semi-structured interviews among chartered accountants and academics in Cyprus, originally collected for the purposes of a PhD research, this paper aims to investigate the importance of networking with regards to women’s progression in the workplace, as well as the barriers women are faced with in their attempt to “play” the networking game in according to the male rules.

Design/methodology/approach
The use of an inductive approach was considered appropriate since there is little existing research on gender issues in Cypriot organisations. For the purposes of the study, a two-step qualitative approach was taken. Step 1 was an online survey with both closed and open-ended questions delivered to employed Cypriot men and women. Step 2 of the study comprised semi-structured, in-depth interviews. The interviews were conducted with specific, preselected employees, both men and women, comprising chartered accountants from the BIG Four companies in Cyprus and academics working at the University of Cyprus.

Findings
The research reported in this paper suggests that while there is the perception that men and women share the same opportunities within the workplace and women do not progress by choice, there appear to be various structural and cultural influences at play. It is clear that women are restricted from networking opportunities either intentionally or due to cultural and societal norms and this results in minimising their chances of breaking the glass ceiling and progressing to the top of the organisational ladder.

Originality/value
The research focuses on the impediments women in Cyprus are faced with in their attempt to network. There is no previous research on this subject in Cyprus.
Participation of student authors in reports on sustainability
Authors: Schoeps Andreas , Hemmer Ingrid 
Published: January 2018

Purpose
Since 2012, the University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt has been publishing an annual report on sustainability as part of its whole institution approach (WIA). This study aims to examine the participation in writing this report as it is experienced by the student stakeholders involved. The overall goal is to gain expertise concerning further improvement of students’ participation in sustainability-related aspects as part of WIAs.

Design/methodology/approach
The research is based on an explorative, qualitative study conducted at the Roman Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt. Students who have been involved in writing the university’s report on sustainability were interviewed, using in-depth, semi-structured interviews.

Findings
Various categories relevant for a successful participation have been found. Foremost, there are no general barriers seen which are hindering students from participating in writing the reports. Specific students’ motivation can be gained from work-related experiences and sustainability-related university classes. Students perceived the effects of their work as mostly restricted to the university. Their intellectual contribution was regarded as limited owing to structures given and their student worker status. Positive effects included an increased awareness of sustainability-related activities at the university and increased competences regarding research and writing. Suggestions for improvement comprised the instalment of databanks, special sustainability report-writing classes and motivational measures.

Originality/value
Very few studies have addressed the issue of student participation within the WIAs towards sustainable universities. Students’ involvement in writing university reports on sustainability has so far been neglected. Given this, the study presented provides insight into students’ participation and reveals fields needing further development to ensure successful WIAs.
Archiving the archives
Authors: Beard Fred 
Published: January 2018

Purpose
When advertising historians began searching for substantial collections and archives of historical advertisements and marketing ephemera in the 1970s, some reported such holdings were rare. This paper aims to report the findings of the first systematic attempt to assess the scope and research value of the world’s archives and collections devoted to advertising and marketing ephemera.

Design/methodology/approach
Searches conducted online of the holdings of museums, libraries and the internet led to the identification and description of 179 archives and collections of historical significance for historians of marketing and advertising, as well as researchers interested in many other topics and disciplines.

Findings
The lists of archives and collections resulting from the research reported in this article represent the most complete collection of such sources available. Identified are the world’s oldest and largest collections of advertising and ephemera. Also identified are quite extraordinary collections of historically unique records and artifacts.

Research limitations/implications
The online searches continued until a point of redundancy was reached and no new archives or collections meeting the search criteria emerged. There remains the likelihood, however, that other archives and collections exist, especially in non-Western countries.

Originality/value
The findings make valuable contributions to the work of historians and other scholars by encouraging more global and cross-cultural research and historical analyses of trends and themes in professional practices in marketing and advertising and their consequences over a longer period than previously studied.
Bundling strategies for complementary products in a horizontal supply chain
Authors: Xu Qingyun , Xu Bing , Wang Ping , He Yi 
Published: January 2018

Purpose
This paper aims to address the following problems: What are the firms’ optimal pricing and quality policies under three scenarios (no bundling, pure bundling and mixed bundling)? In what condition will one bundling strategy dominate the others? How does the degree of complementarity affect the firms’ decision?

Design/methodology/approach
Using the game theory, this study first establishes three models of bundling strategies: no bundling, pure bundling and mixed bundling and then obtains the optimal prices and quality decisions. This study uses numerical analysis to explore the relationships between the prices (demands and profits) and some key parameters and to obtain some valuable management complications.

Findings
Some interesting and valuable management implications are established: regardless of the degree of complementarity, adopting a pure bundling or mixed bundling strategy is better than separately selling an individual product; a high degree of complementarity leads to reduced profit in the no bundling and mixed bundling scenarios, whereas the condition in the pure bundling strategy is the opposite; and when the degree of complementarity is adequately large, choosing pure bundling strategy is more profitable.

Research limitations/implications
On the one hand, this study does not calculate the profit sharing ratio, and hence, the equilibrium profit sharing ratio can be explored in future work. On the other hand, marketing efforts (e.g. advertising and promotion) can be included in the study.

Practical implications
This study derives the necessary conditions for the most effective bundling strategy that maximizes firm’s profits, and these conclusions can provide a decision reference to the bundling decisions of firms.

Originality/value
First, the optimal bundling strategies in a horizontal supply chain consisting of two firms is considered. Under the pure and mixed bundling strategies, the two firms sell the bundled product by building a cooperative program. Second, both the pricing policies and quality decisions of supply chain members under the different bundling strategies are studied.
A system-cybernetic approach to the study of political power. Introductory remarks
Authors: Kasianiuk Krzysztof 
Published: January 2018

Purpose
This paper aims to provide introductory conceptual tools for studying political power in a complex multi-level environment. In particular, it is intended to answer the question of how concepts provided by cybernetics and general systems theory (GST) could serve to foster the study of political power.

Design/methodology/approach
The objective is realized through a reconsideration of a set of the basic concepts of cybernetics, GST and political science. Two system identification models – black box and white box – along with Marian Mazur’s concept of steering are used to deconstruct the classic definition of power formulated by Max Weber. Next, a two-phase procedure for empirical power analysis is proposed. Rudimentary in its scope, the article shows a path of more comprehensive and transformative analyses of key notions.

Findings
It seems that system identification models help uncover structural and functional aspects of political power, which aids the process of analysis of different mechanisms of political power.

Originality/value
The article supports the argument for a conceptual isomorphism between cybernetics and political science. The value of the proposed approach is derived from the combination of two features. First, two aspects of system operation – functional and structural – help to focus research attention on different problems of political power analysis. Second, the interrelation and interdependence of both aspects of systems operation serve as a practical means in the analysis of communication and behavior of actors in the political power processes.
Cluster approach integrating weighted geometric aggregation operator to appraise industrial robot
Authors: Sahu Nitin Kumar , Sahu Atul Kumar , Sahu Anoop Kumar 
Published: January 2018

Purpose
Robot appraisement under various dimensions and directions is a crucial issue in real-time manufacturing scenario. Logistic robots are programable-independent movable devices capable of transporting stuffs in a logistic cycle. The purpose of this paper is to opt for the most economical robot under chains of criteria, which is always considered as a sizzling issue in an industrial domain.

Design/methodology/approach
The authors proposed a cluster approach, i.e. ratio analysis, reference point analysis and full mutification form, embedded type-2 fuzzy sets with weighted geometric aggregation operator (WGAO) to tackle the elected problem of industrial robot. The motive to use WGAO coupled with type-2 fuzzy sets is to effectively undertake the uncertainty associated with comprehensive information of professionals against defined dimensions. Furthermore, the cluster approach is used to carry out the comparative analysis for evaluating robust scores against candidate robot’s manufacturing firms, considering 59 crucial beneficial and non-beneficial dimensions. A case research study is carried out to demonstrate the validity of the proposed approach.

Findings
The most challenging task in real-time manufacturing scenario is robot selection for a particular industrial application. This problem has become more complex in recent years because of advanced features and facilities that are continuously being incorporated into the robots by different manufacturers. In the past decade, robots have been selected in accordance with cost criteria excluding other beneficial criteria, which results in declined product quality, customer’s expectation, ill productivity, higher deliver time, etc. The proposed research incorporates the aforesaid issues and provides the various important attributes needed to be considered for the optimum evaluation and selection of industrial robots.

Research limitations/implications
The need for changes in the technological dimensions (speed, productivity, navigation, upgraded product demands, etc.) of robot was encountered as a hardship work for managers to take wise decision dealing with a wide range of availability of robot types and models with distinct features in the manufacturing firms. The presented work aids the managers in taking their decisions effectively while dealing with the aforesaid circumstances.

Originality/value
The proposed work suggests chains of dimensions (59 crucial beneficial and non-beneficial dimensions) that can be used by managers to measure the economic worth of robot to carry out logistic activities in updated manufacturing environment. The proposed work evolves as an effective cluster approach-embedded type-2 fuzzy sets with WGAO to assess manufacturing firms under availability of low information.
Optimising pin-in-paste technology using gradient boosted decision trees
Authors: Martinek Péter , Krammer Oliver 
Published: January 2018

PurposeThis paper aims to present a robust prediction method for estimating the quality of electronic products assembled with pin-in-paste soldering technology. A specific board quality factor was also defined which describes the expected yield of the board assembly.Design/methodology/approachExperiments were performed to obtain the required input data for developing a prediction method based on decision tree learning techniques. A Type 4 lead-free solder paste (particle size 20–38 µm) was deposited by stencil printing with different printing speeds (from 20 mm/s to 70 mm/s) into the through-holes (0.8 mm, 1 mm, 1.1 mm, 1.4 mm) of an FR4 board. Hole-filling was investigated with X-ray analyses. Three test cases were evaluated.FindingsThe optimal parameters of the algorithm were determined as: subsample is 0.5, learning rate is 0.001, maximum tree depth is 6 and boosting iteration is 10,000. The mean absolute error, root mean square error and mean absolute percentage error resulted in 0.024, 0.03 and 3.5, respectively, on average for the prediction of the hole-filling value, based on the printing speed and hole-diameter after optimisation. Our method is able to predict the hole-filling in pin-in-paste technology for different through-hole diameters.Originality/valueNo research works are available in current literature regarding machine learning techniques for pin-in-paste technology. Therefore, we decided to develop a method using decision tree learning techniques for supporting the design of the stencil printing process for through-hole components and pin-in-paste technology. The first pass yield of the assembly can be enhanced, and the reflow soldering failures of pin-in-paste technology can be significantly reduced.
Fine line screen printed silver electrodes for copper electrodeposition
Authors: Drabczyk Kazimierz 
Published: January 2018

Purpose
In this paper, results of the studies on the copper deposition on screen-printed fine-line front electrode of the solar cell were presented. The silver consumption is an important problem according to growing silver prices. The proposed solution of those problems might be printing of a very thin silver seed layer and subsequent copper plating. This process can be an alternative for typically used screen printing. The purpose of this study was the optimization of the finger path fabrication process to obtain required geometric of fingers for copper deposition.

Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, double-step metallization process was analyzed. The first step of an electrode formation is screen printing, the second one is copper electrodeposition. Presented investigations were focused on the optimization of the finger path fabrication process to obtain required geometric dimensions and sharp border of fingers. The morphology of the electrodes was characterized by scanning electron microscope before and after copper deposition. The X-ray analysis of elemental arrangement and cross-section profiles of fingers were made using energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometer.

Findings
Presented investigations were focused on the optimization of the finger path fabrication process to obtain required geometric dimensions and sharp border of fingers without any silver particles. The main problem of non-uniform silver paste distribution close to the border of printed finger paths was eliminated by selection of appropriate paste and printing parameters. The obtained coatings were soft, ductile and bright.

Originality/value
The novelty of the presented approach is modification of the printing parameters, especially for copper deposition. In this paper, the reasons of the widening of electrodes during the copper deposition process is analyzed.
Linking biological soil crust attributes to the multifunctionality of vegetated patches and interspaces in a semiarid shrubland
Authors: Garibotti Irene A. , Gonzalez Polo Marina , Tabeni Solana 
Published: January 2018

AbstractUnderstanding the importance of biotic community structure on ecosystem functioning, and whether communities inhabiting different microhabitats in highly heterogeneous areas provide different ecological functions is a challenge in ecological research in the face of biodiversity and habitat loss. Biological soil crusts (BSCs) have been largely treated as unique entities, and have been mostly examined in interspaces between perennial plants, limiting current understanding of their role as drivers of ecosystem functioning and their relative contribution in comparison to vascular plants.We assessed the role ofBSCs on ecosystem functioning in vegetated patches and interspaces, and how individual soil functions and ecosystem multifunctionality are related to changes inBSCspecies‐ and community‐level attributes. We contemplated nine ecosystem functions associated with soil water dynamics, nutrient cycling and erosion potential.We found that vegetated patches improve infiltration rates, soil stability and net potential nitrogen (N) mineralization compared to interspaces, and thus dominate multifunctionality. However, well‐developedBSCs improve soil moisture and N pool in both microsites, and are multifunctional stabilizing soils and regulating soil moisture and infiltration in the interspaces.BSCsurface microstructure, including changes in total cover, species richness, morphological functional groups and surface discontinuities, has significant effects on soil moisture. Differences in soil N and phosphorous are mostly related to the presence ofBSC‐lichens. The effect ofBSCs on multifunctionality varies in dependence of the particular set of functions that are sought to simultaneously maximize.Our results suggest that vascular plants andBSCs have idiosyncratic effects on different key ecosystem functions and multifunction, andBSCs substitute vascular plants in stabilizing soils and regulating water dynamics in the interspaces.BSCs greatly contribute to small‐scale heterogeneity in the functioning of vegetated patches and interspaces, hence consideration ofBSCs in different microsites is essential for enhancing our understanding of their functional relevance at a regional scale. In addition, quantification ofBSCmicrostructure is crucial, owing to the contrasting effects ofBSCspecies‐ and community‐level attributes on different functions and multifunction.Aplain language summaryis available for this article.
Forecasting tillage and soil warming effects on earthworm populations
Authors: Johnston Alice S. A. , Sibly Richard M. , Thorbek Pernille 
Published: January 2018

Abstract

Healthy soils are crucial for sustainable food production, but tillage limits the biological regulation of essential ecosystem services. Better understanding of the mechanisms driving management effects on soil ecosystem engineers is needed to support sustainable management under environmental change.

This paper presents the Energy–Environment–Earthworm (EEEworm) model, a mechanistic individual‐based model of Lumbricus terrestris populations. Lumbricus terrestris is a dominant earthworm species in undisturbed habitats and is closely associated with numerous ecosystem services such as water flow regulation, soil structure and crop production. In reduced tillage agriculture, a decline in mechanical disturbance allows for L. terrestris proliferation, whilst the activities of L. terrestris can replace many of the soil functions provided by tillage.

Extensive EEEworm validation with eight published studies (average R2 = .84) demonstrates a mechanistic approach which can extrapolate between diverse soil, management and weather conditions. EEEworm simulation experiments elucidate that a combination of direct and indirect tillage effects leads to population declines in tilled fields, with litter removal from the soil surface being the main driver.

We investigate the effects of different tillage intensities under historical and projected soil warming conditions and find that future warmer and drier soils in our simulation exacerbate the effects of deep ploughing on L. terrestris population declines. These effects result from warmer and drier soil conditions increasing individual metabolic rates and tillage reducing food availability to meet energy demands.

Synthesis and applications. Pre‐emptive strategies to mitigate climate change impacts on soil health in agroecosystems should focus on decreasing tillage intensity and retention of crop residues following tillage. Energy–Environment–Earthworm (EEEworm) has the potential to benefit land managers, policy makers, risk assessors and regulators by providing a tool to forecast how soil systems respond to combinations of land management and environmental change. To allow better cost–benefit analysis of contrasting land management systems, a future aim of mechanistic models like EEEworm is to incorporate the links between earthworm populations, soil functions and ecosystem services.
Responses of interspecific associations in mixed‐species bird flocks to selective logging
Authors: Borah Binod , Quader Suhel , Srinivasan Umesh 
Published: January 2018

Abstract

Non‐trophic interactions (or, inter‐species associations) play a prominent role in determining community structure and function. Mixed‐species bird flocks are networks of non‐trophic associations that confer foraging and anti‐predator benefits to participant species. Yet, the responses of these interspecific associations to anthropogenic environmental changes are poorly understood.

Selective logging is pervasive in the tropics, and can affect associations in mixed‐species bird flocks by altering resource availability and/or predation risk, or through the altered abundances of species participating in mixed flocks. Across a gradient of logging intensity, we examined how the number and strength of associations in two different mixed‐species flock types responded to logging intensity, while simultaneously controlling statistically for changes in the abundances of species in response to logging.

Across the logging gradient, we used network analyses to: (1) quantify the proportion of potentially realizable associations, and (2) measure the strengths of these realized associations. For both these analyses, we used null models to investigate whether changes in the network properties of mixed flocks were simply abundance‐driven, or congruent with expectations of how flock properties might be modified by selective logging.

In understorey flocks, after controlling statistically for changing abundances of participant species, the proportion of realized associations decreased with increasing logging intensity, whereas mean association strength did not show any relation with logging intensity. In midstorey flocks, both the proportion and mean strength of realized associations increased with increasing logging intensity.

Synthesis and applications. By statistically separating abundance and behaviour‐mediated effects, we show that interspecific associations in mixed‐species bird flocks respond to potential resource and/or predation changes from logging, but that their functional roles persist in logged forest. We show that logged forests can conserve not only community richness, but also function. Thus, these logged forests must be prevented from ongoing conversion into non‐forest habitats such as agriculture and plantation.