bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Studies on performance of young African goats fed diets containing sulphur additive
Authors: Oluwakemi Bawala Toheeb , Olaleye Akinsoyinu Akintunde , Olanrewaju Yusuf Azeez 
Published: July 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to determine the effect of dietary sulphur supplementation from elemental sulphur on the growth performance, nitrogen (N) and sulphur (S) utilisation, rumen microbial volatile fatty acids production, acid/base balance, serum biochemical status and haematological profile of young West African dwarf and Red Sokoto (Maradi) goats, with a view of improving their nutrition for greater performance.Design/methodology/approachTwenty‐four (12 of each) growing West African dwarf and Red Sokoto goats were fed isonitrogenous (17 per cent) and isocaloric (3.98 Mcal/kgDM) treatments containing varying levels of elemental sulphur at (percentage DM) 0.00, 0.15 and 0.20 in a 2×3 factorial arrangement within randomized complete block design. After a 61 day feeding trial, the performances of the goats were assessed and compared.FindingsThe results showed that S supplementation increased (p<0.05) weight gain and feed efficiency in the fed goats with those on 0.20 per cent S level recorded highest values. Similar trends were observed for N and S retention, haematological and serum biochemical studies. S supplementation did not influence (p>0.05) ruminal pH, lactate and acid/base balance. Increased dietary S inclusion increased (p<0.05) molar proportions of acetate and priopionate.Practical implicationsOwing to the outstanding performances of goats fed 0.15 and 0.20 per cent S dietary levels relative to their contemporaries on an unsupplemented (0.00 per cent) S diet, inclusion of S in the diet of growing animals becomes necessary for optimal production.Originality/valueThe paper provides information on the influence of sulphur on animal performance as poor nutrition constitutes a limiting factor to animal production.
Food and happiness
Authors: Blades Mabel 
Published: July 2009

PurposeThis short paper seeks to examine some concepts on food and happiness.Design/methodology/approachAn examination of information on the subject from conferences, web sites, books, magazines and the literature was examined.FindingsWhile there is relatively little information on food and happiness in the literature, some conclusions on food and happiness could be made.Originality/valueThis paper provides a brief overview and some conclusions on the relationship of food and happiness.
Investigation of antiwear additives for diester
Authors: Wu Hua , Ren Tian 
Published: July 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study tribological properties of two novel additives in the diester and provide adequate information on the relationship between the diester and the additives.Design/methodology/approachThe two 2‐mercaptobenzothiazole derivatives, referred to as BZIA, BZOA, are synthesized with one pot; their tribological performances are evaluated using a four‐ball friction and wear tester, and the worn surface was analysed with scanning electron microscope and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).FindingsThe two compounds as the additives in the diester possess excellent load‐carrying capacities, rather good anti‐wear (AW) and friction reduction properties. According to the XPS results, both the additives reacted with counter‐face metal and generated a sulphur‐containing inorganic film and a complex adsorption film. The inorganic film obtained with the additive BZOA consisted of FeS2, FeSO4 and Fe2(SO4)3, whereas the inorganic film obtained with the additive BZIA consisted of FeS2 or FeS. The adsorption layer for the two additives contained N‐containing compounds.Research limitations/implicationsThe interaction of the two additives with the diester needs to be further explored.Practical implicationsTwo useful, environmentally friendly, AW lubricating oil additives are synthesized with one pot.Originality/valueThe paper provides a study of some N, S‐containing heterocyclic compounds as environmentally friendly lubricating oil additives.
The frictional behavior of composite materials under horizontal vibration
Authors: Asaduzzaman Chowdhury Mohammad , Helali Maksud 
Published: July 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present the frictional behaviour of composite materials under external horizontal vibration. Variation of friction coefficient is investigated experimentally when mild steel pin slides on composite materials such as glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) and cloth reinforced ebonite (commercially known as gear fiber).Design/methodology/approachA pin‐on‐disc apparatus having the facility of vibrating the test samples in a horizontal direction is designed and fabricated. Horizontal vibration is created along (longitudinal direction), and perpendicular (transverse direction) to, the sliding direction. The experimental set‐up has the facility to vary the amplitudes and frequencies of vibration while velocity of vibration is kept constant.FindingsThe relative frictional behaviour of these materials and their dimensional analysis are yet to be investigated. Therefore an attempt is made to investigate the relative frictional property of the GFRP and cloth reinforced ebonite (commercially known as gear fiber) and the results of these composite materials are analyzed by dimensional analysis under horizontal vibration.Practical implicationsIt is expected that the applications of these results will contribute to the improvement of different concerned mechanical systems.Originality/valueIt can also be noted that there are no clear correlations between friction‐ and other vibration‐related operating parameters. Considering the above conclusion and lack of correlation, the paper meant to find out a suitable correlation and a way of observing the response of friction force by applying known frequency and amplitude of vibration in a particular direction. It is expected that the application of these results will contribute to the improvement of different concerned mechanical systems.
Frictional behavior investigation on three types of PTFE composites under oil‐free sliding conditions
Authors: Yang Xue‐Bin , Jin Xin‐Qiao , Du Zhi‐Min , Cui Tian‐Sheng , Yang Shao‐Kan 
Published: July 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the frictional behavior of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) composites under oil‐free sliding conditions.Design/methodology/approachThe friction force and power consumption of pressure packing seals, which were, respectively, made of common filled PTFE, 30 wt% CF (carbon fiber) + PTFE and C/C (carbon/carbon) + PTFE, are studied in a reciprocating oil‐free compressor arrangement. Their coefficient of friction is tested on a block‐on‐ring type tribometer.FindingsThe results indicate that influence of mean sliding velocity on filled PTFE composites is apparently more predominant than the others. The friction force curvilinear path of 30 wt% CF+PTFE is hardly influenced by changing crankshaft turn angle. For C/C+PTFE, the effect of mean piston velocity on friction force is not evident. The results also indicate that the friction coefficient of C/C+PTFE is lower than that of 30 wt% CF+PTFE if their applied normal force exceeds 9.8 N. Furthermore, their variation curve of friction force is little different and the power consumption of C/C+PTFE is slightly higher than that of 30 wt% CF+PTFE.Research limitations/implicationsNeither the effect of real contact area on friction coefficient measured in a tribometer nor the influence of the temperature on friction force and power tested in a compressor is not taken into consideration here.Practical implicationsOwing to its good mechanical performances and frictional behaviors, C/C+PTFE is an optimum and promising material under conditions with sealing pressure up to 10 MPa and sliding velocity exceeding 4.0 m/s.Originality/valueA novel material called C/C+PTFE is considered to make packing rings for oil‐free reciprocating compressors and its friction behaviour is tested on a refitted compressor.
Investigation of load carriage capacity of journal bearings by surface texturing
Authors: Sinanoglu Cem 
Published: July 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate and discuss the influence of the pattern, size and orientation of textures on journal bearing load carriage capacity. An important development in load carriage capacity of journal bearings can be obtained by forming regular surface structure in the form of threaded on their shaft surfaces. This is performed both theoretically and experimentally using shafts with textured (threaded) and untextured surfaces. Each screw thread can serve either as a micro‐hydrodynamic bearing in cases of full or mixed lubrication or as a micro reservoir for lubricant in cases of starved lubrication conditions.Design/methodology/approachThe pressure distribution and the load‐carrying capacity are predicted using feed forward architecture of neurons. The inputs to the neurons are a collection of experimental data. These data are used to train the network using the delta‐bar‐delta, batch‐backprop, backprop, and backprop‐rand algorithms. The proposed neural model outperforms the available experimental system in predicting the pressure as well as load‐carrying capacity.FindingsTheoretical models are developed using a neural network approach, and tests are performed, to investigate the potential of threaded textured surfaces in tribological components like mechanical seals, piston rings and journal bearings. In these tests, load carriage capacity is significantly increased with threaded textured shaft surfaces to the shafts with non‐textured surfaces.Originality/valueThe paper discusses a new modelling scheme known as artificial neural networks. A neural network predictor has been employed to analyze the effects of shaft surface profiles in hydrodynamic lubrication of journal bearing.
Study of a novel anti‐wear additive used in ashless anti‐wear hydraulic fluid
Authors: Longhua Zhang 
Published: July 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop novel ashless additives and to meet the need for formulating ashless anti‐wear (AW) hydraulic fluid or other industrial lubricating oils. This paper also aims to investigate the tribological behaviours and mechanism of an acrylate of dialkyl dithiophosphoric acid (ADDP), as an additive in some group I/II base oils compared with some traditional s‐p containing AW additives.Design/methodology/approachADDP is synthesized in the laboratory. The chemical composition and structure of the lubricating additive are analyzed by means of infrared spectroscopy. Its extreme pressure (EP), AW and friction reduction properties as additive in base oils, compared with some traditional s‐p containing AW additives, are investigated using a four‐ball machine according to relative testing standards. The tribological mechanism is discussed according to the scanning electron microscope (SEM) analytical data.FindingsThe results indicate that the four‐ball PB value of the prepared ADDP in HVIWH650 is better than that of the IRGLUBE 353; the thermal stability of ADDP is equivalent to the zinc dialkyl dithiophosphate (ZDDP) and the SEM data show that the prepared ADDP additive could form a layer of uniform film on the worn surface serving as lubricant and protective film. This may be the chief reason why the prepared ADDP possesses better AW property than ZDDP.Research limitations/implicationsHowever, more experimental studies such as the synergic effect with other additives should be performed, from which it could be learned whether the novel AW additive would be applicable in industrial oils.Practical implicationsThe results may be useful for the researchers to formulate some ashless industrial oils.Originality/valueA novel additive was synthesized in the laboratory; it would find a promising industrial application as an ashless AW additive.
In search of balance – managing the dualities of HRM: an overview of the issues
Authors: Boselie Paul , Brewster Chris , Paauwe Jaap 
Published: July 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the human resource management (HRM) literature that builds up to our current concern with dualities, paradoxes, ambiguities, and balance issues; and to introduce the six papers in this special issue on managing the dualities in HRM.Design/methodology/approachThe paper presents a literature review taking a historical look at the development of the HR field up to the present awareness of the complexity of the concept and practice of HRM.FindingsAlmost 30 years on, is being found now increasing evidence of the dualities, paradoxes, and ambiguities entailed in HRM.Research limitations/implicationsThe literature review starts with the personnel management (PM)‐HRM and industrial relations‐HRM debates in the 1980s. Earlier work on traditional PM is not debated in this paper.Practical implicationsAfter reading this general review practitioners might gain more insights in the potential tensions, ambiguities, and conflicts of interest that are characteristic for the field of HRM in practice.Originality/valueFirst, this paper highlights the interest of the pluralist perspective in contrast to the dominating unitarist approaches in contemporary human resource studies. Second, this overview presents methodological challenges for example, with regard to multi‐level and multi‐actor research. Finally, the paper presents alternative theories for future research including new institutionalism, strategic balance theory, and health psychology theories.
Framing the implementation of HRM innovation
Authors: Bondarouk Tanya , Kees Looise Jan , Lempsink Bart 
Published: July 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present the concept of human resource management (HRM) frames, to identify frame domains, and to explore their role in implementing HRM innovation. HRM innovation implementation is considered through the theoretical lens of social cognitive theory, and defined as a process for achieving the appropriate and committed use of HRM innovation by targeted employees.Design/methodology/approachAn explorative case study in a construction company is conducted to illustrate the role of HRM frames in the implementation of HRM innovations. Interviews are held with 21 line managers and human resource (HR) specialists, and intensive document analysis added further data. Respondents described their understanding, assumptions and expectations of a new HRM programme, which enabled analysis of the contents of interview transcripts.FindingsFour HRM frame domains are identified: strategic motivation, essence of HRM innovation, HRM innovation‐in‐practice and ownership. Where the HRM frames are significantly different, difficulties and conflicts in HRM innovation implementation are observed. Empirical findings illustrated how the nature, value and reasons behind the HRM innovation are interpreted by HR specialists and line managers, and that incongruent frames resulted in outcomes that deviated from those expected.Originality/valueThis paper takes a process‐based approach and considers the implementation of HRM in organisations rather than focusing on factor‐based research into HRM practices. It shows how the implementation of HRM is constructed through social‐cognitive interpretations by organisational members.
Institutional pressures and HRM: developing institutional fit
Authors: Boon Corine , Paauwe Jaap , Boselie Paul , Den Hartog Deanne 
Published: July 2009

PurposeResearch in strategic human resource management (HRM) has focused mainly on the effects of HRM practices or systems on organizational effectiveness. However, institutional theory argues that besides being financially successful, organizations also need legitimacy to survive. Owing to the tension between competitive and institutional pressures, organizations balance between the degree of conformity and the degree of differentiation from competitors regarding HRM. The purpose of this paper is to address how institutional pressures help shape HRM.Design/methodology/approachUsing the concepts of leeway, human agency and strategic choice, differences in three types of institutional fit are highlighted: innovative, conformist and deviant. A comparative case study approach is used in order to illustrate the framework, using document analysis and 43 interviews in three organizations in The Netherlands.FindingsThis paper shows how balancing competitive and institutional pressures in organizations affects HRM. The cases illustrate the proposed theoretical framework, showing leeway, human agency, strategic choice and the nature of institutional fit. The organizations each illustrate a type of institutional fit. Moreover, not the institutional context itself, but the organization's response seems to make a difference for the nature of institutional fit.Originality/valueWhile previous studies focus on the effects of HRM on organizational effectiveness, this paper examines how the balance between competitive and institutional pressures affects HRM and aims to show that institutional fit can contribute to strategic HRM by providing insight in this more balanced goal setting of organizations.
Cross‐level effects of high‐performance work practices on burnout
Authors: Kroon B. , van de Voorde K. , van Veldhoven M. 
Published: July 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of management practices – specifically, high‐performance work practices (HPWPs) – on employee burnout. Two potential mediating mechanisms that counterbalance each other in the development of burnout are compared: a critical mechanism that states that HPWPs intensify job demands (which increases burnout) and a positive mechanism that states that HPWPs increase fairness among employees (which reduces burnout).Design/methodology/approachQuestionnaire data are gathered among 393 employees working in 86 Dutch organizations. Human resource managers provide information about HPWPs while employees were inquired about their perceptions of job demands, fairness, and burnout. Multilevel regression analyses were conducted to test the assumptions.FindingsThe analyses reveal a slightly positive relationship between HPWPs and burnout, which is completely mediated by job demands. Fairness was associated with the experience of less burnout, but the results do not sustain the idea that HPWPs contributed to procedural justice. Although the data do not support the idea that justice and intensified job demands counteract each other in the development of burnout under systems of HPWPs, the results do support a critical “employee exploitation” oriented perspective on HPWPs.Originality/valueMost studies on HPWPs focus on mechanisms that explain positive employee well‐being outcomes. A more critical perspective, which predicts increased employee strain as a result of demanding work practices, is also valid. The results of this paper indicate that the critical perspective on HPWPs receives empirical justification and requires further elaboration in future research.
Flexibility practices, wages and productivity: evidence from Norway
Authors: van der Meer Peter H. , Ringdal Kristen 
Published: July 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to test whether the use of numerical and functional flexibility practices in firms affect their performance.Design/methodology/approachA combined employer/employee Norwegian data set is used to estimate production function like equations. The data stem from a questionnaire among Norwegian work organizations conducted in 2003 and are supplemented by register data from Statistics Norway about the organizations and their employees.FindingsNumerical flexibility measures are negatively associated with wages and productivity per employee, although the association is stronger with wages than with productivity. This supports the idea that numerical flexibility fits with a low‐cost strategy. It is also found that a negative association between functional flexibility and wages and productivity per employee, with the association once again stronger with wages than with productivity, contrary to the hypothesis. The idea that high‐commitment human resource (HR) management has positive effects on wages and productivity was confirmed by other indicators of HR management.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper is limited by a cross‐sectional design and its relatively simple indicators of numerical and functional flexibility, which only show whether certain practices are used, rather than the intensity of their use.Originality/valueThis is one of the first studies that tests the effects of both numerical and functional flexible work practices on wages and productivity in a regulated labour market.
Translating national policy changes into local HRM practices
Authors: van Gestel Nicolette , Nyberg Daniel 
Published: July 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore how a national policy on sickness absence management is translated by HR managers into local human resource management (HRM) practices by developing and applying an analytical framework with three dimensions: individual preferences, strategic reframing, and local grounding.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on policy documents and interviews with HR managers in Dutch law firms. The theoretical scope is the debate on HRM and institutional contexts.FindingsThe paper uncovers a variety of individual preferences among HR managers' interpretations of the national policy. However, in strategically reframing the policy, the organizations act upon it from a mainly “managerialist” perspective: they focus on reducing absence through increased control of employees, rather than reforming organizational practices that may adversely affect the health of workers. The local groundings reinforce unequal power relations between different categories of employees: HR managers/line managers; professionals/administrative personnel; men/women. The paper contributes to the understanding of how changes in institutional contexts are translated into organizations and the role of HR managers within this process.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper explores the translation process in a particular setting. It would be fruitful to broaden the scope to other institutional contexts and organizations and to include a diverse range of actors to develop additional knowledge of the interaction in the translation process.Originality/valueThe paper develops both empirical and theoretical conclusions on the translation, that is, the sense making of HRM in an uncertain environment of changing national institutions.