bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Alert services as an approach to satisfy researchers' current awareness needs
Authors: Jabr Naeema H. 
Published: November 2008

PurposeAs the internet has become the biggest virtual library of digital libraries and publishers have become the e‐agents of online knowledge, large integrated online databases have been developed. On the other hand, most libraries put their library systems on their parent organizations' server to facilitate direct use by end‐users of the sytem to which libraries subscribe. With such a transformation, information services such as the SDI have been changed, becoming e‐type services using e‐mail to inform readers and databases' indexes when matching users' interests as reflected by searching subjects. Moreover, users themselves find from these e‐sources, specifically e‐journals, the most important, up‐to‐date sources of information where they can browse and retrieve the contents from their desktop connection through the organization's servers. The current study aims to explore the following: how far do researchers at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) use e‐journals and databases available at the University libraries? The paper also seeks to explore whether researchers are knowledgeable about these services and choose to use them.Design/methodology/approachTo determine the respondents' experience with the main e‐journals features as related to alert services and whether or not they are using them, as well as the level of their usage, a questionnaire was adopted from the Stanford E‐Journal User Survey and modified to fit the purposes of the research. The questionnaire was then distributed to 100 SQU faculty members who were relatively familiar with electronic journals and the alert services available through the databases to which SQU libraries subscribed and its system on the local area network.FindingsThe results indicate that 50 percent of researchers depend on the University libraries' subscriptions, while only 19 researchers subscribe personally to e‐journals related to their field for free access to full‐text articles published in these journals. According to those who have not yet subscribed to new e‐journal functions (basically an alerting service), they would rather use general purpose search engines such as Google and Yahoo! This group of respondents suffers from numerous, irrelevant, and uninteresting results.Originality/valueThe study provides a comprehensive overview of researchers' perspectives towards the use of e‐journals and e‐services provided by Sultan Qaboos University.
Total quality management in library and information sectors
Authors: Galyani Moghaddam Golnessa , Moballeghi Mostafa 
Published: November 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present an overview of total quality management (TQM) in the library and information sectors.Design/methodology/approachA review of the literature on TQM concepts was carried out. Focusing on TQM implementation in the library and information sectors, the experiences of libraries adopting this method are also reviewed.FindingsTQM was initially applied as a management philosophy in the manufacturing sector. Following its enormous success, this philosophy is increasingly being applied in the service sector, including libraries.Originality/valueThe paper provides a useful overview of TQM implementation in the library and information sectors.
Establishing a baseline for assessing the frequency of auditors' comments concerning perceived client integrity
Authors: Bernardi Richard A. 
Published: November 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine whether comments made by Big‐Six auditors about their post‐audit perceptions of the client's integrity were influenced by their firm's rating of the client's integrity prior to the start of the current audit.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses an established fraud detection case study with a manipulation of client integrity. The participants include 152 managers and 342 seniors from five of the then Big‐Six firms.FindingsThe findings indicates that auditors were insensitive to client integrity ratings in the audit planning/risk assessment stage of the audit.Practical implicationsThe very foundation of corporate governance and the value of the audit are weakened when client integrity is questionable and may not result in implementing more rigorous audit procedures suggested by Mautz and Sharaf.Originality/valueThe existent literature cannot be used to determine whether or not Auditing Standards enacted since 1991 have had any effect on the practice of auditing in this area. Consequently, this paper contributes to the literature by establishing a 1991 (i.e. before Statement of Auditing Standards 82) baseline for evaluation purposes. (A baseline being a point of reference to compare the results of future research.)
A comparison of auditor and non‐auditor performance evaluations
Authors: Buchheit Steve , Pasewark William R. , Strawser Jerry R. 
Published: November 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate whether audit professionals exhibit greater performance evaluation bias compared to non‐accounting professionals.Design/methodology/approachBoth audit and non‐accounting professional subjects read a case study and evaluated the performance of a hypothetical subordinate. Two factors were manipulated the subordinate's work performance history and the subordinate's current performance relative to a budget.FindingsIt was found that reputation bias and hindsight bias are prevalent in both professional groups. The groups exhibit no difference with respect to reputation bias; however, it was found that public accountants exhibit significantly greater hindsight bias relative to non‐accounting professionals.Practical implicationsThe paper provides evidence that accountants are relatively harsh critics of subordinate performance. Importantly, the paper investigates accountant vs non‐accountant comparisons where subordinates' ex ante decisions are consistent with superiors' ex ante guidance (i.e. ex post performance being either favorable vs unfavorable is purely outcome‐effect driven). If the findings are robust, this study provides a fundamental reason why employee retention in public accounting is relatively low.Originality/valueThis paper is the first to make direct comparisons of performance evaluation bias effects between auditors and similarly experienced working professions.
Risk reporting
Authors: Amran Azlan , Manaf Rosli Bin Abdul , Che Haat Mohd Hassan Bin 
Published: November 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the availability of risk disclosures in the annual reports of Malaysian companies by focusing on the non‐financial section of the reports. In addition, the paper aims to empirically test the sampled companies' characteristics and to compare the levels of risk faced by these companies with the disclosures made.Design/methodology/approachThe method used in this study is content analysis. A total of 100 listed companies' annual reports were analyzed in order to trace the extent of risk disclosure and the relationship against firm characteristic and diversification strategy were tested. Stakeholder theory was used in explaining the linkages between the variables.FindingsThe total number of sentences dedicated for discussion of risk information by the sampled Malaysian companies is very much less when compared to a 2006 study done by Lisley and Shrives in the UK. Size does matter and proven significant by the regression results. This finding is expected and explainable from stakeholder theory.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research is encouraged to look deeper into the different variables that may be involved. The development of a local risk measurement checklist will help researchers to better reflect on the findings in the local context.Practical implicationsFindings in regards of the current state of risk disclosure should be of concern to relevant reg ulatory bodies.Originality/valueThis paper provides an initial understanding of risk management disclosure practices in Malaysia. The government, through various relevant parties, should devise the means to enhance companies' involvement in risk management disclosure practices.
Management accounting practices in the Greek hospitality industry
Authors: Pavlatos Odysseas , Paggios Ioannis 
Published: November 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to report the level of adoption and the benefits derived from traditional and contemporary management accounting practices in the Greek hospitality industry.Design/methodology/approachAn empirical survey via questionnaires was conducted on a sample of 85 leading hotels in Greece. Descriptive statistics on the adoption level, the relative benefits and future emphasis of individual practices provide the basis for discussion.FindingsThe adoption rates for many recently developed practices were very satisfactory. Overall, traditional management accounting techniques (e.g. budgeting practices, profitability measures, product profitability analysis, customer profitability analysis absorption costing, and nonfinancial measures for performance evaluation) were found to be more widely adopted than recently developed tools. It is concluded that traditional management accounting is very much alive and well. Many hotels intended to place greater emphasis on more recently developed techniques in the future, particularly activity based costing techniques (activity based costing, activity based budgeting, and activity based management), balanced scorecard and benchmarking.Research limitations/implicationsThe study, examined a large array of items since, as with all surveys, it is possible that respondents may have misinterpreted some elements. Second, the findings of this study should be interpreted bearing in mind that the survey included the largest Greek hotels and not the general population of hotel enterprises. Finally, this research was limited to the Greek hotel sector.Originality/valueThe survey provides a unique detailed examination of the management accounting practices and an indication of future trends.
Behaviour of electrochemical migration with solder alloys on printed circuit boards (PCBs)
Authors: Noh Bo‐In , Jung Seung‐Boo 
Published: November 2008

PurposeThis study seeks to investigate the electrochemical migration (ECM) behaviour of printed circuit boards (PCBs) with Sn‐37Pb and Sn‐3.0Ag‐0.5Cu (wt.%) solders under various factors such as the distance between the electrodes and bias voltage.Design/methodology/approachThis study investigated the ECM phenomena with different surface finishes of Sn‐37Pb and Sn‐3.0Ag‐0.5Cu solders using water drop (WD) and temperature and humidity bias (THB) tests. After the WD and THB tests, the dendrite phase was identified using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS).FindingsThe ECM resistance of the conventional Sn‐37Pb alloy was lower than that of the Pb‐free Sn‐3.0Ag‐0.5Cu alloy. The dendrites grew at the cathode electrodes on the PCB and expanded to the anode electrode. The main elements in the dendrites on the Sn‐37Pb and Sn‐3.0Ag‐0.5Cu finished PCBs were tin and lead, respectively.Originality/valueThis study evaluates the ECM phenomena of representative solder alloys on PCBs.
Towards a PCB production floor metric for go/no go testing of lossy high speed transmission lines
Authors: Gore Brandon , Mellitz Richard , Loyer Jeff , Gaudion Martyn , Burnikell Jean , Carre Paul 
Published: November 2008

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to demonstrate that root impulse energy (RIE) testing is a practical and robust “go/no go” test technique for PCB material losses that can be deployed on the PCB production floor.Design/methodology/approachThe study used the RIE method, employing time domain reflectometry techniques on industry standard impedance test coupons modified to include short reference lines and longer test lines. Practical considerations for the use of the methodology on the production floor, such as coupon design, probe layout and environmental conditions were investigated.FindingsRIE with a 250 ps reflected risetime appears suitable for discerning significant differences in material loss properties provided proper coupon design is incorporated into the panel design and frequencies of interest are limited to a limit commensurate with high reliability and repeatability.Research limitations/implicationsThe RIE test proposed does not replace conventional impedance control techniques that are currently in use. However, a suitable standard for loss and cross test equipment calibration is key and will need to be established before this new measurement technique can gain widespread trust throughout the industry.Originality/valueThe paper shows RIE testing is a practical and achievable test method; it is easily deployed and offers repeatable, reliable discrimination between PCBs fabricated with a range of varying base material loss characteristics.
Application of a woodpile superstrate for directivity enhancement of antennas
Authors: Frezza F. , Pajewski L. , Paulotto S. , Ponti C. , Schettini G. 
Published: November 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of electromagnetic band‐gap (EBG) materials in the enhancement of antennas' directivity.Design/methodology/approachAn analysis of a woodpile EBG material is performed, which points out its band properties. Woodpile cavities are then considered, obtained by interrupting the periodicity of the crystal. A woodpile cavity is then superimposed to a double‐slot antenna, resulting in a compound radiating device. The behavior of the EBG and of the radiating structure are simulated through Ansoft HFSS V11.FindingsThe woodpile EBG, when used as a cavity, acts as a spatial filter for the radiation coming from the antenna. The directivity of the new radiator is considerably increased, since now the illumination covers an area larger than the antenna.Originality/valueUsing new materials to obtain high‐directivity and compact radiators.
Analysis and design of photonic crystal fibers
Authors: Selleri S. , Cucinotta A. 
Published: November 2008

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to show the effectiveness of the finite element method (FEM) to study the properties of different kinds of photonic crystal fibers (PCFs), presenting results which highlight the FEM flexibility, exploited according to the particular PCF feature under investigation.Design/methodology/approachThe FEM has been applied to a new emerging class of optical fibers, the so‐called PCFs, also known as microstructured or holey fibers.FindingsIt has been shown how to design and customize the PCF cross‐section to achieve desired values of dispersion, confinement loss, nonlinear or amplification properties. Reported examples prove the FEM ability to deal with complex geometries, arbitrary refractive index steps and distribution, and to be integrated with other approaches for a better and accurate analysis of the considered fiber.Research limitations/implicationsLimitation in the FEM use can be given by the required computation effort in terms of memory occupancy and time, even if computational power of modern workstations can attenuate this aspect.Practical implicationsThe FEM can be a very powerful tool to investigate and design actual structures to be used in several fields, as telecom, sensing, fiber lasers, spectroscopy.Originality/valueThe novelty of the paper is given by the exploitation of the FEM feature to design a new emerging class of optical fibers, considering all numerical aspects given by the unusual characteristics of the domain and problem under investigation.
FE‐DD based permittivity tolerance analysis in microwave waveguide filters
Authors: Guarnieri Giacomo , Pelosi Giuseppe , Rossi Lorenzo , Selleri Stefano 
Published: November 2008

PurposeThe paper's aim is to devise a fast method for microwave waveguide filter permittivity tolerance analysis.Design/methodology/approachA 2D finite elements (FEs) formulation is combined via a Schur complement‐based domain decomposition (DD) technique to reduce the tolerance affected part of the analysis to a smaller domain.FindingsThe paper shows how to combine FEs and DD in an efficient way for material parameters tolerance analyses in microwave waveguide filters, showing speedup results.Research limitations/implicationsThe formulation here presented is 2D but can be easily extended to 3D.Originality/valueThe application of DD to solve numerically large problem is well‐known, the idea and organization of the algorithm to allow iteration on parameter values on a single sub‐domain is here proposed.
Numeric simulation of a therapeutic processing
Authors: Bisceglia Bruno , De Vita Assunta , Sarti Maurizio 
Published: November 2008

PurposeA complete analysis for illustrating the various factors responsible for electrical stimulation can provide insight about some interaction effects relationship. The paper aims to evaluate the electric field and current density distributions inside the various tissues of two simplified models of arm and spine, when a external electric signal is applied using external electrodes in contact with the skin.Design/methodology/approachElectrical stimulation is a widely used clinical method in which fracture non‐unions are treated with low‐level electric fields and currents in order to stimulate fracture repair. The physical methods for bone growth stimulation discussed in this paper is referred to technique with capacitively coupled electric fields (CCEF) at the fracture site.FindingsA series of experiments demonstrated that bone is piezoelectric, electro stimulation is often used to promote and expedite healing. The results of numeric simulation improve the understanding of healing mechanism and bone rebuilding.Originality/valueElectric and magnetic fields can influence biological functions. The algorithm should be useful in calculating the response of biological materials subject to excitation including modelling and electrical stimulation.
An assessment by a commercial software of the accuracy of electromagnetic finite element simulators in the presence of metamaterials
Authors: Oliveri Giacomo , Raffetto Mirco 
Published: November 2008

PurposeThe paper's purpose is to deduce additional information on the accuracy of finite element simulators for electromagnetic problems involving effective models of metamaterials.Design/methodology/approachThe objective is achieved by solving, with a well known commercial simulator, many different configurations of two types of electromagnetic problems: a free‐space scattering by a sphere and a waveguide discontinuity problem. Such problems are known to be able to point out the difficulties of numerical simulators. On the other hand, they are representative of two important classes of problems and can provide indications on what can happen in other cases.FindingsThis analysis confirms that the numerical errors can be important just in close proximity of the interface between metamaterials and standard media. Small values of loss tangents can be sufficient to obtain very accurate results. Adaptive mesh generators should not be used in the presence of negligible values of the loss tangents. For more uniform meshes the results are satisfactory, with sufficiently fine meshes. When the magnitude of the real parts of the effective dielectric permittivity of a metamaterial and of the adjacent standard media are significantly different, the accuracy is satisfactory in any case.Research limitations/implicationsThe results are obtained by considering problems of two types. There is no guarantee that all the deductions apply to other models.Practical implicationsTo design practical devices involving metamaterials reliable electromagnetic simulators are necessary. The reported results seem to indicate that it is possible to adopt some countermeasures against the possible lack of accuracy of finite element simulators in the presence of effective models of metamaterials.Originality/valueFor the first time, to the best of authors' knowledge, an extensive analysis on the accuracy of finite element simulators for critical problems involving metamaterials has been carried out. Some simple suggestions to improve their reliability in these cases are provided.
BEM analysis of electromagnetic components filled with unconventional materials
Authors: Emanuel Lauro Sebastian , Bilotti Filiberto , Toscano Alessandro , Vegni Lucio 
Published: November 2008

PurposeTo devise a parametric study using a new application of the boundary element method (BEM) and to propose an efficient approach for speeding up the computation time of the BEM based on neural networks (NNs).Design/methodology/approachA 3D finite elements formulation is combined with radial basis function NNs to speeding up the computation time.FindingsThe paper shows how to estimate the role of thin slabs filled with unconventional media in order to increase the coupling values when placed between two metallic strips in a coupled microstrip line layout or to improve the shielding properties when used as absorber.Research limitations/implicationsThe numerical results here presented are not bianisotropic but can be easily extended to take into account bianisotropic media.Originality/valueThe formulation is one of the only with the potential for investigating unconventional bianisotropic media like Chiral materials which are seen as one possible route to achieving double negative media.
Hybrid finite element/finite difference (FE/FD) model to analyze thermal transients in biological vascularized tissues
Authors: De Santis Valerio , Feliziani Mauro , Maradei Francescaromana 
Published: November 2008

PurposeThe aim of the paper is to apply a numerical dosimetry procedure to a biological tissue with an embedded discrete vascularisation in order to evaluate the temperature increase produced by radio‐frequency (RF) exposure.Design/methodology/approachThe blood temperature inside thin vessels is analysed by a 1D finite difference procedure to solve the convection‐dominated heat problem. The tissue temperature inside the remaining 3D domain governed by the heat diffusion equation is calculated by the finite element method. Then, the two separate numerical methods are coupled by an iterative time domain procedure.FindingsThe main advantage of the proposed hybrid method is found to be the considerable reduction of the number of unknowns respect to other traditional numerical techniques.Research limitations/implicationsIn this paper, only the numerical model of the new hybrid procedure has been proposed. In future work realistic biological regions will be examined and the proposed model will be improved by considering the artery/vein coupled structure.Originality/valueThe originality of the proposed method regards the solution of the bio‐heat equation by means of a new hybrid finite element/finite difference procedure. This procedure is applied inside a vascularized region considering a discrete blood vessel structure.