bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Numerical investigations on delaminated Glare under uni-axial tension
Authors: Bhat Sunil , Narayanan S. 
Published: June 2016

Purpose
– Since failure of laminated composites by delaminations is common, the purpose of this paper is to present a numerical procedure to check the stability of delaminations in fiber metal laminate (Glare), with different possible damage configurations, under uni-axial tension. Deformation behavior of the laminate is also examined. Influence of the type and the extent of damage, represented by varying sizes and number of delaminations, on delamination driving force and laminate deformation is found.

Design/methodology/approach
– Delaminated Glare is modeled by finite element method. Interface cohesive elements are used to model the delaminations. Finite element results provide the deflection/deformation characteristics of the laminate. Driving forces of delaminations are estimated by J integrals that are numerically obtained over cyclic paths near delamination tips. Laminates with different types of delaminations are also fabricated and externally delaminated for measurement of their interlaminar fracture toughness. The delamination is considered to be stable if its driving force is less than corresponding interlaminar fracture toughness of the laminate.

Findings
– Delaminations are found to be stable in laminates with lower number of delaminations and unstable in laminates with higher number of delaminations. Increase in size of delaminations increases the deformations but reduces the delamination driving force whereas increase in number of delaminations increases both deformations and driving forces. The trends change in case of laminates with symmetrical damage. Shape of delamination is also found to influence the deformations and driving forces. The finite element model is validated.

Research limitations/implications
– There is scope for validating the numerical results reported in the paper by theoretical models.

Practical implications
– Checking the stability of delaminations and their effect on deformation behavior of the laminate helps is assessment of safety and remaining life of the laminate. If failure is predicted, preemptive action is taken by using repair patch ups at identified critical locations in order to avoid failures in service conditions.

Originality/value
– The paper offers the following benefits: use of cohesive zone method that is readily possible in finite element procedures and is relatively simple, fast and reasonably accurate is demonstrated; suitability of using J integrals over paths crossing non-homogeneous and property mismatched material layers is tested; and influence of the type and the extent of damage in the laminate on its deformation behavior and delamination driving forces is found. This type of work has not been reported so far.
Improvement in head blast-protection via the use of polyurea-augmented advanced combat helmet
Authors: Grujicic Mica , Ramaswami S , Snipes Jennifer , Yavari Ramin , Dudt Philip 
Published: June 2016

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to optimize the design of the advanced combat helmet (ACH) currently in use, by its designers in order to attain maximum protection against ballistic impacts (fragments, shrapnel, etc.) and hard-surface/head collisions. Since traumatic brain injury experienced by a significant fraction of the soldiers returning from the recent conflicts is associated with their exposure to blast, the ACH should be redesigned in order to provide the necessary level of protection against blast loads. In the present work, augmentations of the ACH for improved blast protections are considered. These augmentations include the use of a polyurea (a nano-segregated elastomeric copolymer)-based ACH external coating/internal lining.

Design/methodology/approach
– To demonstrate the efficacy of this approach, instrumented (unprotected, standard-ACH-protected, and augmented-ACH-protected) head-mannequin blast experiments are carried out. These experimental efforts are complemented with the appropriate combined Eulerian/Lagrangian transient non-linear dynamics computational fluid/solid interaction analysis.

Findings
– The results obtained indicated that: when the extent of peak over-pressure reduction is used as a measure of the blast-mitigation effectiveness, polyurea-based augmentations do not noticeably improve, and sometimes slightly worsen, the performance of the standard ACH; when the extent of specific impulse reduction is used as a measure of the blast-mitigation effectiveness, application of the polyurea external coating to the standard ACH improves the blast-mitigation effectiveness of the helmet, particularly at shorter values of the charge-detonation standoff distance (SOD). At longer SODs, the effects of the polyurea-based ACH augmentations on the blast-mitigation efficacy of the standard ACH are inconclusive; and the use of the standard ACH significantly lowers the accelerations experienced by the skull and the intracranial matter. As far as the polyurea-based augmentations are concerned, only the internal lining at shorter SODs appears to yield additional reductions in the head accelerations.

Originality/value
– To the authors’ knowledge, the present work contains the first report of a combined experimental/computational study addressing the problem of blast-mitigation by polyurea-based augmentation of ACH.
Women’s participations in economic and NGO activities in Bangladesh
Authors: Khan Hafiz T.A. , Rahman Twyeafur 
Published: June 2016

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine key factors affecting the economic involvement of women in Bangladesh and women’s involvement with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) particularly in microcredit operating in that country.Design/methodology/approach– The study uses nationally representative data set. Quantitative analysis was utilised to explore data contained in the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Surveys 2007 and 2011.Findings– The findings indicate that age, marital status, number of children living in the household, place of residence, geographical location, education, partner’s education and the wealth index are important factors in enabling women’s involvement in economic activities. In other words, the key findings emerged from the study are first, the low level of women’s economic activities in Bangladesh with a majority involved in farming, agriculture and poultry; second, those women involved in the labour market generally tended to come from poor backgrounds, have very little education, live in the Northwest geographical region and have a large family living in the same house; and finally, age, currently married, having a higher number of children, living in rural areas, from the Northwest region with almost no education and belonging to the poor wealth index quintile are found to be associated more with NGO activities in Bangladesh.Social implications– The findings indicate there are potential barriers that are preventing Bangladeshi women from engaging in the labour market that could reinforce the case for reshaping the government’s labour policies. The study reveals that the recent economic crisis has no significant impact on the women labour force participation as well their involvement in NGO activities in Bangladesh. It is generally understood that enhancing women’s economic participation and NGO activities has a positive impact at family, community and country levels. The study concludes that investing in women, particularly in creating employment opportunities including NGO sectors can help the country as a safeguard even during the economic crisis. It is anticipated that the findings will help policy-makers in enhancing female labour force participation as well as encouraging them to engage in NGO activities in Bangladesh.Originality/value– The research paper is original in terms of conceptual framework, research design and statistical analysis.
The business value of cloud computing: the partnering agility perspective
Authors: Liu Sen , Yang Yang , Qu Wen Guang , Liu Yuan 
Published: June 2016

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to focus on the value creation potential of cloud computing in inter-firm partnerships. It examines how cloud-based IT infrastructure capabilities in flexibility and integration contribute to partnering agility and, consequently, firm performance. This study also introduces business lifecycle and market turbulence as internal and external context variables, respectively, to investigate the different roles of cloud computing in value creation.Design/methodology/approach– A questionnaire was used to collect data from 184 client firms of the largest cloud computing services provider in China (Alibaba Cloud). The theoretical model was tested using PLS analysis.Findings– Cloud infrastructure (CI) flexibility has a positive effect on partnering agility, while the effect of CI integration on partnering agility is moderated by business lifecycle and market turbulence.Research limitations/implications– The surveyed firms are all Alibaba Cloud clients, which may limit the generalization of the findings.Practical implications– The study suggests that besides the cost benefits, the value creation aspect of cloud computing should also be emphasized in research and practice. The study provides a new perspective to understand the business value of cloud computing in inter-firm partnerships.Originality/value– The study suggests that the flexibility-related and integration-related features of cloud computing can create value for firms by facilitating inter-firm collaboration in exploiting business opportunities.
Insight from the horsemeat scandal
Authors: Tse Ying Kei , Zhang Minhao , Doherty Bob , Chappell Paul , Garnett Philip 
Published: June 2016

Purpose
– Social media has become an important part of daily interpersonal communication in contemporary society. The purpose of this paper is to explore the attitudes of UK consumers by identifying the hidden information in tweets, and provide a framework which can assist industry practitioners in managing social media data.

Design/methodology/approach
– Using a large-scale dataset of tweets relating to the Horsemeat scandal of 2013, a comprehensive data analysis framework, which comprises multidimensional scaling and sentiment analysis, alongside other methods, was applied to explore customers’ opinions.

Findings
– Making jokes in social media was a main trend in the tweets relating to Tesco during the Horsemeat scandal. Consumer sentiments were overall negative and burgers were the most mentioned product in the week-long period after the story broke. The posting of tweets was correlated with the timing of news coverage, which indicates that the traditional media is still crucial to public opinion formation.

Practical implications
– This paper presents a progressive tweet-mining framework that can serve as a tool for academia and practitioners in crisis management. The proposed framework indicates the significant importance of timely categorising the topics, identifying the sentiment of tweets and understanding the changes of consumer opinions over time in a crisis.

Originality/value
– The research presented in this paper is one of the limited social media research to focus on a UK food fraud issue and adds to the limited body of literature investigating consumer social media use from the side of industry practitioners.
Antecedents to effective sales and operations planning
Authors: Swaim James Anthony , Maloni Michael , Bower Patrick , Mello John 
Published: June 2016

Purpose
– Sales and Operations Planning (S
&
OP) serves as the essential cross-functional process for organizations to match supply in the form of production, inventory, and procurement with customer demand. Given recent studies revealing that S
&
OP is ineffective for most firms, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the critical antecedents of effective S
&
OP.

Design/methodology/approach
– Drawing on agency theory and stewardship theory, the authors develop and test a conceptual model that includes organizational integration, organizational priorities, standardized processes, and organizational engagement. The authors apply partial least squares structural equation modeling of survey data from S
&
OP practitioners to test the model.

Findings
– The results confirm the relationships among S
&
OP antecedents. Organizational integration positively influences a standardized S
&
OP process, and both the S
&
OP process and prioritization lead to stronger organizational S
&
OP engagement. Ultimately, organizational S
&
OP engagement is positively linked to enhanced operational, market, and profitability outcomes.

Practical implications
– The findings create a strong practical foundation for executing S
&
OP. The results also reveal a formal process for operationalizing the link between organizational integration and firm performance that is espoused but not detailed in existing literature.

Originality/value
– Existing research supports the potential performance impacts of S
&
OP but has yet to validate how to specifically operationalize S
&
OP.
How TOMS’ “one day without shoes” campaign brings stakeholders together and co-creates value for the brand using Instagram as a platform
Authors: Roncha Ana , Radclyffe-Thomas Natascha 
Published: June 2016

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the power of social media networks, namely Instagram, in building brand communities and co-creating value for brands. By analysing the 2015 campaign #withoutshoes by TOMS, the authors intend to demonstrate how the value creation process can be extended to involve all stakeholders and raise the effectiveness of a brand’s communication campaign.Design/methodology/approach– A qualitative approach was taken to enable an understanding of online consumer behaviour. A series of qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with retail and marketing professionals from the TOMS brand to explore brand strategy. The TOMS Instagram account was analysed for a specific marketing communications event and summative content analysis was applied to the brand’s Instagram profile in order to allow for an in-depth exploration of the co-creation process. Triangulation was used for the multiple sources of evidence in order to build the study and to establish the convergence of data results, to diminish bias and to increase accuracy of the research data (Saunderset al., 2009).Findings– Through a detailed overview of the campaign developed by TOMS, this paper explores how TOMS fosters the formation of consumer-brand-relationships as well as maps out the advantages of value co-creation. The research findings support the literature on co-creation, which argues that the way to achieve innovation and value creation in the changing and challenging marketing landscape is through co-creation. This study adds to the findings that co-creation strategies are a privileged manner of nurturing customer relationships and of lowering costs for marketing and research and development (Sawhneyet al., 2005; Prandelliet al., 2006).Originality/value– There are a relatively limited number of studies focusing on the Instagram platform, and of those carried out thus far most concentrate on how the platform interprets cultural issues, rather than how it can be used effectively as a marketing strategy and how it can leverage user’s preferences. Also, not a lot of studies have focused on the relationship between value co-creation and its relevance and impact on brands through engagement processes and the role of experience in brand building. Brand value co-creation through human experiences can provide considerable implications for brand management (Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2004a) as well as be a key component in the building process of customer experiences. This study suggests new approaches to getting useful insights about how brands can use social media to further engage with their target audience though an integrative framework of brand value co-creation with theoretical underpinning.
HR managers’ decision-making processes: a “reflective practice” analysis
Authors: Walger Carolina , Roglio Karina De Dea , Abib Gustavo 
Published: June 2016

PurposeHuman resources (HR) department managers play an important role in the processes of defining and implementing organizational strategies. From this perspective, decisions made by HR managers directly influence organizations’ competitiveness. There is a gap in the literature related to decision-making processes by these managers, particularly with respect to the subjective elements involved in them. This paper’s aim is to analyze HR managers’ strategic decision-making processes from the perspective of reflective practice.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative study was conducted based on an analysis of five HR department managers’ strategic decision-making processes.FindingsThe results indicate that reflection-in-action is one possibility for narrowing the gap between action and reflection in management practice, as this could contribute to improving strategic decisions; HR managers’ decisions are delimited by internal and external organizational issues; and these decisions involve intensive information sharing.Research limitations/implicationsThe results of this research contribute to extend the existing knowledge on reflection, one of the subjective elements that influences decision-making processes, and which has been identified as a subject in need of research by several authors (Eisenhardt and Zbaracki, 1992; Hambrick, 2007; Langleyet al., 1995; Nutt, 2010).Practical implicationsA better understanding of HR managers’ decision-making processes, particularly in the Brazilian context, which other organizations can use as examples of alternative choices for HR departments strategic management. For managers, reflection-in-action facilitates an effective decision-making process, increases self-knowledge, contributes to the processes of individual and organizational learning and improves managers’ global overview of their organizations.Originality/valueThese results represent a development in understanding one of the subjective elements of HR department managers’ decision-making processes – reflection – and should help to improve the results of strategic decisions by these managers and by managers of other organizational departments.
Effect of stoichiometric ratios for synthesized epoxy phenolic novolac (EPN) resins on their physicochemical, thermomechanical and morphological properties
Authors: Das Abhishek , Sarkhel Gautam 
Published: June 2016

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of various stoichiometric ratios for synthesised epoxy phenolic novolac (EPN) resins on their physicochemical, thermomechanical and morphological properties.

Design/methodology/approach
In the present study, EPN (EPN-1, EPN-2, EPN-3, EPN-4 and EPN-5) resins were synthesised by varying five types of different stoichiometric ratios for phenol/formaldehyde along with the corresponding molar ratios for novolac/epichlorohydrin. Their different physicochemical properties of interest, thermomechanical properties as well as morphological properties were studied by means of cured samples with the variation of its stoichiometric ratios.

Findings
The average functionality and reactivity of EPN resin can be controlled by controlling epoxy equivalence as well as cross-linking density upon its curing as all of these factors are internally correlated with each other.

Research limitations/implications
Epoxy resins are characterised by a three-membered ring known as the epoxy or oxirane group. The capability of the epoxy ring to react with a variety of substrates imparts versatility to the resin. However, these resins have a major drawback of low toughness, and they are also very brittle, which limits their application in products that require high impact and fracture strength.

Practical implications
Epoxy resins have been widely used as high-performance adhesives and matrix resins for composites because of their outstanding mechanical and thermal properties. Because of their highly cross-linked structure, the epoxy resin disables segmental movement, making them hard, and it is also notch sensitive, having very low fracture energy.

Social implications
Epoxy resin is widely used in industry as protective coatings and for structural applications, such as laminates and composites, tooling, moulding, casting, bonding and adhesives.

Originality/value
Systematic study has been done for the first time, as no exact quantitative stoichiometric data for the synthesis of EPN resin were available on the changes of its different properties. Thus, an optimised stoichiometric composition for the synthesis of the EPN resin was found.
Social capital: mediator of financial literacy and financial inclusion in rural Uganda
Authors: Okello Candiya Bongomin George , Ntayi Joseph Mpeera , Munene John C. , Nkote Nabeta Isaac 
Published: June 2016

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of social capital in financial literacy and financial inclusion relationship in rural Uganda. The major aim is to establish the role of social capital in the relationship between financial literacy and financial inclusion.

Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopts and uses MedGraph programme (Excel version 3.0), Sobel and Kenny and Baron tests to test the mediation effect of social capital in the relationship between financial literacy and financial inclusion.

Findings
The results reveals that social capital is a significant mediator in the relationship between financial literacy and financial inclusion of rural poor in Uganda. Financial literacy did not have a direct effect on financial inclusion, but through full mediation of social capital. Existence of social capital into the relationship boosts the relationship between financial literacy and financial inclusion by 61.6 per cent among rural poor households in Uganda. Thus, the finding suggests that with the absence of social capital, financial literacy may fail to enhance the level of financial inclusion among rural poor households in Uganda.

Research limitations/implications
This study adopted only single research approach using a questionnaire. However, future research through interview may be of importance. Besides, for the purpose of triangulation, a study involving financial institutions’ staff may be viable. Moreover this study was limited by the fact that it was cross-sectional. Furthermore, a longitudinal study may be useful in future to investigate the mediating impact of social capital spanning over a long period of time.

Practical implications
Managers, policymakers and financial inclusion practitioners should advocate and embark on building social capital among rural communities, so as to improve on the level of financial inclusion.

Originality/value
While a large body of research has been carried out on financial literacy, this paper is the first to test the mediating role of social capital in the relationship between financial literacy and financial inclusion, especially in rural Uganda. This study generates evidence and contributes to the powerful influence of social capital in enhancing the level of financial inclusion based on financial literacy.