bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Collection Development in a digital environment: an imperative for information organizations in the twenty‐first century
Authors: Susana Sánchez Vignau Bárbara , Lourdes Presno Quesada Ileana 
Published: October 2006

PurposeThis paper discusses the topic of Collection Development in a digital environment. Developing digital collections is a logical consequence of inserting information technologies in organizations. The usual route towards other models of libraries has allowed the development of the digital collections as a source of Digital Libraries.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is based on the development of a user‐oriented concept of digital collections.FindingsThe current information society requires Collection Development to guarantee suitable resources in information organizations.Originality/valueThe authors provide a new way of looking at the development of digital collections. In this paper the authors propose a cycle to create a digital collection starting from the established precepts for traditional Collection Development. The creation process is supplemented with an analysis of the term Collection Development starting from the user's focus.
Automatic video surveillance using statistical analysis of temporal posture sequences
Authors: Leo Marco , D'Orazio Tiziana , Spagnolo Paolo , Distante Arcangelo 
Published: October 2006

PurposeThe problem of automatic recognition of human activity is one of the most important and challenging areas of research in computer vision because of the wide range of possible applications, for example surveillance, advanced human‐computer interactions, monitoring. This paper presents statistical computer vision approaches to automatically recognize different human activities.Design/methodology/approachThe human activity recognition process has three steps: firstly human blobs are segmented by motion analysis; then the human body posture is estimated and, finally a temporal model of the detected posture series is generated by discrete hidden Markov models to identify the activity.FindingsThe system was tested on image sequences acquired in a real archaeological site while some people simulated both legal and illegal actions. Four kinds of activity were automatically classified with a high percentage of correct detections.Research limitations/implicationsThe proposed approach provides efficient solutions to some of the most common problems in the human activity recognition research field: high detailed image requirement, sequence alignment and intensive user interaction in the training phase. The main constraint of this framework is that the posture estimation approach is not completely view independent.Practical implicationsResults of time performance tests were very encouraging for the use of the proposed method in real time surveillance applications.Originality/valueThe proposed framework can work using low cost cameras with large view focal lenses. It does not need any a priori knowledge of the scene and no intensive user interaction is required in the early training phase.
Leadership styles in the Palestinian large‐scale industrial enterprises
Authors: As‐Sadeq Hasan A. , Khoury Grace C. 
Published: October 2006

PurposeTo highlight the importance of leadership through identifying the leadership styles and practices in the Palestinian industrial sector and to find out the optimal style most suitable to this country so as to help its business leaders lead their business ventures effectively and efficiently.Design/methodology/approachThe triangulation methodology and Bass' (1985) full range model of leadership was utilized because it covers a full range of leadership behaviors and styles from the highly transformational to the highly avoidant (Avolio and Bass, 1991). The multifactor leadership questionnaire and a structured interview were used as the main instruments to elicit the data of the study.FindingsTransactional leadership style was found to be the most frequently used leadership style; transformational leadership was exhibited less frequently; and laissez‐faire was noted as the least commonly occurring leadership style and more frequently among the leaders with low educational background, low previous managerial experience, and employee leaders. Transformational leadership was found to induce the greatest satisfaction, willingness to exert extra effort, and effectiveness among employees.Research limitations/implicationsThe exclusion of the small and medium scale industries, the exclusion of Gaza Strip from the survey, and the unavailability of a complete and official list of Palestinian industrial companies.Practical implicationsThe utilization of the transactional leadership style in the Palestinian industrial institutions resulted in high degree of dissatisfaction among employees, which in turn, has dangerous effects and consequences on the overall performance of the organizations. This issue should be given the greatest care, concern, and attention of both the leaders of the Palestinian organizations and the related decision makers if they want to develop and enhance the competitive capacity of the Palestinian economy. Additionally, educators in higher management education in Palestinian universities should include the teaching of leadership theory as an important part of the graduate curriculum.Originality/valueMany factors were found to have an important impact on the choice of the leadership style. Among these: education, past experience, culture, political and economic stability, and mutual trust. Another important issue revealed by the study is that transformational leadership can be effectively and efficiently implemented in the transitional economies.
Making it sticky
Authors: Haskins Mark E. , Clawson James G. 
Published: October 2006

PurposeTo provide and describe an inventory or practices executive education (EE) instructors can use to facilitate the transfer of program participants' learning back to their workplace.Design/methodology/approachA number of experienced EE instructor team leaders, from one highly‐ranked business school EE provider, met to share and discuss the mechanisms they use in their EE programs to facilitate the transfer of program participants' learning back to their workplace. This paper presents an overview of each of those mechanisms.FindingsAbout 30 mechanisms for facilitating the transfer of EE program participants' learning back to their workplace are discussed along with an organizing framework intended to focus EE program instructors' attention on the key protagonists and the timing of the facilitating mechanisms.Practical implicationsThis paper provides a number of very specific, readily implementable things EE program instructors can do to facilitate the transfer of program participants' learning back to their workplace.Originality/valuePrior literature has documented: the challenge of EE program participants transferring their program learning back to the workplace, identified barriers to the transfer, and even reported on executives' views regarding generalized ways that might be helpful for this transfer to occur. This paper complements this literature by exploring what one top‐ranked EE institution's program instructors actually do in this regard, all in the context of pertinent adult‐learning concepts.
Knowledge management in the business driven action learning process
Authors: Rolland Nicolas 
Published: October 2006

PurposeUnderstanding what is the role of knowledge management in the action learning process and especially which practices of KM fits with the different phases of the action learning process.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is qualitative: 22 firms were observed and three different types of data were collected.FindingsIt stresses that KM and especially knowledge networks are crucial for an action learning process. Also, it demonstrates that different knowledge management practices have different roles regarding to the phase of the process they are involved. This paper explains the need to understand the organizational context to ensure performing learning.Research limitation/implicationsThe main limit is the use of only qualitative research method on 22 multinationals. No questionnaires and the implication for SMEs is limited.Practical implicationsAcademics will be interested in knowledge transformations through this process and consultants will discover what relevant knowledge management strategies in each phase of the process.Originality/valueThe topics of action learning and knowledge management are crucial for today's companies but have never been studied in the same research.
Antecedents and consequences of employee engagement
Authors: Saks Alan M. 
Published: October 2006

PurposeEmployee engagement has become a hot topic in recent years among consulting firms and in the popular business press. However, employee engagement has rarely been studied in the academic literature and relatively little is known about its antecedents and consequences. The purpose of this study was to test a model of the antecedents and consequences of job and organization engagements based on social exchange theory.Design/methodology/approachA survey was completed by 102 employees working in a variety of jobs and organizations. The average age was 34 and 60 percent were female. Participants had been in their current job for an average of four years, in their organization an average of five years, and had on average 12 years of work experience. The survey included measures of job and organization engagement as well as the antecedents and consequences of engagement.FindingsResults indicate that there is a meaningful difference between job and organization engagements and that perceived organizational support predicts both job and organization engagement; job characteristics predicts job engagement; and procedural justice predicts organization engagement. In addition, job and organization engagement mediated the relationships between the antecedents and job satisfaction, organizational commitment, intentions to quit, and organizational citizenship behavior.Originality/valueThis is the first study to make a distinction between job and organization engagement and to measure a variety of antecedents and consequences of job and organization engagement. As a result, this study addresses concerns about that lack of academic research on employee engagement and speculation that it might just be the latest management fad.
A survey of assessor beliefs and practices related to faking
Authors: Robie Chet , Tuzinski Kathleen A. , Bly Paul R. 
Published: October 2006

PurposeTo gather information on assessor beliefs and behaviors in relation to assessee faking issues on a personality inventory in the individual assessment process.Design/methodology/approachA survey approach was used in this research. Totally 77 experienced assessors who conducted individual assessments for an international consulting firm responded to the survey. Analyses of mean item rankings were used to answer several research questions.FindingsMajor results of the study were: assessors believe faking is a problem; assessors believe they can detect faking; and assessors believe they can effectively eliminate all of the effects of faking when evaluating the candidates.Practical implicationsThe first implication from this research is that assessors believe that they can detect and deal with faking despite a paucity of evidence to support it. The second implication is that organizations may be reluctant to continue to develop effective methods of identifying and dealing with faking if their assessors mistakenly believe they are already successfully doing so.Originality/valueThis study is the first to survey experience assessors regarding their beliefs and perceptions of faking issues in the individual assessment process and is designed to garner immediate practical insights and ideas for future testable hypotheses.
Ambiguous grammars and the chemical transactions of life
Authors: Rocha A.F. , Massad E. 
Published: October 2006

PurposeSince proposed by Darwin, evolution is considered to be dependent on a source of genetic variability that must be constrained by environmental conditions in order to generate stable (adapted) phenotypes. Several sources and causes of this variability have been proposed so far. This paper aims to posit that ambiguity of fuzzy grammars is the main source of genetic variability on which natural selection operates.Design/methodology/approachFormal grammars (FG) were proposed as the tool to deal with human and artificial languages. Fuzzy formal grammars (FFGs) are the extension of the formalism in the Theory of Fuzzy Logic and are ambiguous grammars. Here, the ambiguity of the ordered set of chemical interactions – the so‐called signal transduction pathways (stp), linking membranes events to DNA reading and protein synthesis – is assumed as an inner source of variability that must be constrained by environmental conditions. Fuzzy formal languages (FFL) theory is used to mathematically formalize the biology concept of stp.FindingsThe genome variability is the result of the constraints imposed by the environment on the grammar intrinsic ambiguity.Practical implicationsThe formalism of this model provides a new way to analyze and interpret the findings of the different genome sequencing projects.Originality/valueThe theoretical framework developed here provides a new perspective of understanding the code of life and evolution.
ALVW: an alife behaviour modelling system
Authors: Pina A. , Seron F.J. , Cerezo E. , Gutierrez D. 
Published: October 2006

PurposeSeeks to present here a system that enables the user to design artificial worlds and inhabitants within these worlds.Design/methodology/approachAn alife (artificial life) approach is used in order to obtain complex behaviour as the emergence of a set of basic behaviours which interact within the environment and between them. Through the paper, the reader will find the necessary details to understand the architecture and the computational model of the system, as well as the way to use it in a specific application: modelling behaviour for synthetic cockroaches within his own environment.FindingsA detailed example is given of how this application can be used in simulating ecological environments, where the user can design an inhabited ecosystem and observe (tuning it if necessary) the evolution of the artificial ecosystem. Also outlined is another example of how this research system can be coupled with a commercial 3D computer animation software; the goal in this case is to produce automatically a script for a computer animation, reflecting what is happening in the artificial world.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper describes a technical research system that allows the user to design reactive behaviour modelling for cockroaches. The next natural step is to make a cognitive behaviour modelling and to extend it to other animals.Practical implicationsFusion between research systems and commercial packages (in this case, for example, behaviour modelling and 3D computer animation systems) can be an important issue.Originality/valueThe main interests of the presented system face compared with the existing ones are the coordinated use of several alife techniques, the integral approach (design of both the environment and the inhabitants), a computationally reasonable implementation of the system as an artificial ecosystem, and the possibility of using the results of such a research system as an input for a commercial 3D software in order to obtain 3D realistic computer animations.
Coverage, invariability and orbits by structural functions
Authors: Francesc Esteve‐Calvo Pasqual , Lloret‐Climent Miguel 
Published: October 2006

PurposeBased on some of the results and definitions provided in the paper “system linkage: structural functions and hierarchies” and adding new definitions that are in keeping with the spirit of the same paper, new results have been obtained that explore the utility of the structural input‐output function.Design/methodology/approachOur approach is based principally on the application of graph theory to the study of relationships between variables using specific set theory concepts.FindingsA result such as the fact that A covers B, for example, can be interpreted in terms of the latter set being formed of direct influences from elements in the former set in relation to one or more than one relationships. Analogously, the invariant set concept may be interpreted as the set maintaining its structure and status, remaining constant with respect to any possible relationships.Originality/valueFrom a practical point of view, in the context of the study of networks within an ecosystem, authors (such as Patten et al. and Patten) have demonstrated that indirect effects between the variables of an ecosystem outweigh direct effects. This is the notion that the present authors have borne in mind in order to extend previous results to indirect influences from a discrete perspective.
Modelling regional economic development
Authors: Blažević Branko , Jelušić Adriana 
Published: October 2006

PurposeThe central task is to define the ties, existing between economic dimensions, which can be expressed in specific relations that require special attention during projecting to ensure they are not disrupted. The development of a computer‐based mathematical and economic model makes it possible to constantly monitor the condition of the entire economy of a given region, both from a global aspect, as well as by its individual sectors of activities.Design/methodology/approachEconomics employs a number of scientific disciplines and their methods, making this approach both multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary. Unlike the variables defined in the model–variables such as domestic product, the volume of fixed funds, the volume of new investment and employment, which change from year to year – the model parameters are considered constants for the entire period to which the model is applied. The parameter estimation indicates the extent to which the defined model is acceptable as a model of future regional economic and tourism growth.FindingsProviding the trends of past are unacceptable in the future period, the author proposes the use of structured policies, above all in the field of investments, to guide development in the desired direction. The author has addressed this particular issue through the example of a specific tourist region, and has tested and designed a development model not only for the regional economic system, but also for its tourism subsystem.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough they are suited to certain types of decisions, these methods have shown to be inadequate for other types, long‐term strategic decisions in particular, which require so‐called intuitive methods.Practical implicationsOptimal decision‐making in systems' operations is not possible without predictions pertaining to future economic development. The answers to numerous questions in estimating development factors are being provided by new methods, which seek to incorporate and assert an interdisciplinary approach, that is, a systematic approach in preparing decisions.Originality/valueThis methodology can be used in combination with “classical” methods of research, that will can help to recommend optimum development strategies for regional economic development.
The role of social and self‐conscious emotions in the regulation of business‐to‐business relationships in salesperson‐customer interactions
Authors: Bagozzi Richard P. 
Published: October 2006

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to go beyond the received view, which is solely rational and economic minded, and to introduce the concept of self‐regulation of behavior by salespersons and customers as essential mechanisms for initiating, maintaining, and resolving business‐to‐business exchanges.Design/methodology/approachBy reviewing emerging research, this paper examines the role of positive and negative social and self‐conscious emotions in salesperson‐customer interactions and how salespersons and customers cope with the response of these emotions so as to better function and adapt to their own, their organizations, and the interpersonal needs of their relationships and to do so mindful of the requisites of co‐workers and the common good.FindingsFour positive emotions were singled‐out as essential to salesperson‐customer relations: pride, attachment, empathy, and emotional wisdom. Six negative emotions were highlighted as key processes in salesperson‐customer relations: guilt, shame, embarrassment, envy, jealousy, and social anxiety. Some research was reviewed as well, suggesting that cultural factors in the form of different self‐construal (e.g. independent versus independent‐based self‐images) moderate the expression of felt positive and negative emotions and their effects on performance and relations with customers and co‐workers.Originality/valueThe ideas presented in this paper can complement economic and other extreme rational explanations of salesperson and customer behavior and point to new practices in such managerial areas as staffing, training, coaching, compensating, and promoting employees.
Self‐knowledge, capacity and sensitivity
Authors: Begley Paul T. 
Published: October 2006

PurposeThe article proposes three prerequisites to authentic leadership by school principals: self‐knowledge, a capacity for moral reasoning, and sensitivity to the orientations of others.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual framework, based on research on the valuation processes of school principals and their strategic responses to ethical dilemmas, is used as a practice grounded approach to describing authentic leadership and the acquisition of moral literacy by school leaders.FindingsFour motivational bases for administrative decision making are described: self‐interest/personal preferences, rational consensus, rational consequences, and trans‐rational ethics/principles. The achievement of self‐knowledge, capacity and sensitivity to others can be best achieved in professional settings through strategies of personal reflective practice, and sustained dialogue on moral issues and the ethical dilemmas of educational practice.Practical implicationsPrincipals need the capacity to discriminate actual intentions, within themselves and among others. This is not moral relativism, nor is it value absolutism. It is critical thinking and moral literacy.Originality/valueSeveral resources are provided as tools for principals and scholars to use in support of developing these capacities within themselves and amongst others.