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Imperfections in manufacturing processes may cause unwanted connections (faults) that are added to the nominal, “golden”, design of an electronic circuit. By fault simulation one simulates all situations. Normally this leads to a large list of simulations in which for each defect a steady-state (direct current (DC)) solution is determined followed by a transient simulation. The purpose of this paper is to improve the robustness and the efficiency of these simulations.

Determining the DC solution can be very hard. For this the authors present an adaptive time-domain source stepping procedure that can deal with controlled sources. The method can easily be combined with existing pseudo-transient procedures. The method is robust and efficient. In the subsequent transient simulation the solution of a fault is compared to a golden, fault-free, solution. A strategy is developed to efficiently simulate the faulty solutions until their moment of detection.

The paper fully exploits the hierarchical structure of the circuit in the simulation process to bypass parts of the circuit that appear to be unaffected by the fault. Accurate prediction and efficient solution procedures lead to fast fault simulation.

The fast fault simulation helps to store a database with detectable deviations for each fault. If such a detectable output “matches” a result of a product that has been returned because of malfunctioning it helps to identify the subcircuit that may contain the real fault. One aims to detect as much as possible candidate faults. Because of the many options the simulations must be very efficient.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the hidden carbon footprint of corporate big data infrastructures and provide guidance for communicators responsible for corporate ESG and reputation.

It is based on a subjective view of the literature on this topic, selecting relevant examples.

The authors found that consciousness within corporations of the carbon footprint of their own information technology infrastructures is low and only a few companies have a strategy for identifying it.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first treatment of this subject from the perspective of the corporate owner of ESG and reputation.

The study provides practice-based vignettes describing career shocks as experienced by executives. It also offers a brief description of the approaches taken by the coach in helping executives to cope with their initial reactions. This work informs the readers about examples of career shocks in the executive population and provides access to normally rarely available information about sensitive aspects of psychological life of executives.

This paper is a qualitative exploration of managers' career shock experiences reflected in executive coaching interventions. It takes an anecdotal look at how executives react to shocks of various valences, and how coaching attempts to assist them by processing their first reactions and choosing a response. The paper particularly looks at managers' responses almost immediately following a shocking event triggering their request for coaching help.

Coaching conversation serves as opportunities for handling immediate emotional reactions to career disruptions. Even shocks with positive valence can cause ambivalent reactions. Processing of career shocks through coaching conversations can activate agency in dealing with abrupt career events. Coaches can offer further support in career deliberations. In one of the cases, an instance of anticipation of a negative career event was associated with positive hopes, and the non-occurrence of the event led to further elaboration about one's career options.

This work is based on a small sample of executives experiencing career shocks.

This work informs executives about opportunities provided by executive coaching in handling difficult reactions to external career events. Coaches or coaches-in-training receive an overview of coaching requests associated with career shocks.

With the increasing instability in careers the paper draws the attention to the helping potential of coaching to those experiencing career shocks. It also contributes to normalization of turning for support in psychologically burdening situations.

This work is a trigger for further consideration of the experiences of career shocks by business executives. It provides a first look into immediate reactions of this career population to unexpected external disruptions. It also offers opportunities for further exploration of the role executive coaching can play in career deliberations.

The present research examined the interactive effect of subordinates' and their supervisors' social value orientations (SVO) on abusive supervision and its consequence for in-role performance.

In study 1, we provided a survey to 420 subordinates and 115 supervisors from 42 organizations. HLM was used to test the hypothesized cross-level moderated mediation model. In study 2, 78 participants were asked to imagine they were a supervisor and responded to a potential scenario where supervisor and subordinate prosocial and proself orientations toward the organization were manipulated (2 × 2 design).

Study 1 showed that when supervisors have a higher prosocial motivation, subordinates who are more self-interested (proself) report more abuse than those with a higher prosocial motivation, with negative consequences for in-role performance. Study 2 replicated the pattern: participants (in the role as supervisor) with induced prosocial goals rated abusive supervision behaviors as more justified and acceptable toward a proself employee than they did toward a prosocial employee.

This research is innovative by bridging SVO and organizational literatures and demonstrating that a dyadic interaction between a proself subordinate and a prosocial supervisor may produce a reactive perpetrator – provocative victim relationship characterized by higher abusive supervision.

There is mixed evidence regarding the efficacy of low-intensity integrated care interventions in reducing the use of emergency services and costs of care. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of a low-intensity intervention formulated for older adults and delivered in an urban medical center serving low-income individuals.

The intervention included an initial evaluation of stress, psychiatric symptomatology and health habits; potential referrals for lifestyle management and psychiatric treatment; and training for physicians about the impact of lifestyle change in older adults. Participants included older adults (at or above 50 years of age) seen as outpatients in an urban medical center serving a low-income community (n=945). Participants were entered into the intervention at any point during this two-year period. Mixed models analyses examined all visits for all enrolled individuals over a two-year period, comparing visits before the individual received the initial intervention evaluation to those received after this evaluation. Outcomes included total health care costs incurred, average cost per visit, and emergency department (ED) usage within the facility.

The intervention was associated with reduced likelihood of emergency department use and reduced costs per visit following the intervention. These effects were seen across all participants.

Limitations of the study include the lack of control group.

This program is easy to disseminate and could improve the quality of care and costs.

This study is among the few available to document a decrease in medical costs, as well as decreased ED utilization following a low-intensity integrated care intervention.

Presents over sixty abstracts summarising the 1999 Employment Research Unit annual conference held at the University of Cardiff. Explores the multiple impacts of globalization on work and employment in contemporary organizations. Covers the human resource management implications of organizational responses to globalization. Examines the theoretical, methodological, empirical and comparative issues pertaining to competitiveness and the management of human resources, the impact of organisational strategies and international production on the workplace, the organization of labour markets, human resource development, cultural change in organisations, trade union responses, and trans‐national corporations. Cites many case studies showing how globalization has brought a lot of opportunities together with much change both to the employee and the employer. Considers the threats to existing cultures, structures and systems.

Some of the major concerns since the implementation of smart meters (prepaid meters) in some parts of Ghana is how electricity consumers have benefited from data obtained from these meters by providing important statistics on electricity-saving advice; this is one of the key demand-side management methods for achieving load reduction in residential homes. Appliance shifting techniques have proved to be an effective demand response strategy in load reduction. The purpose of this paper is therefore to help consumers of electricity understand when and how they can shift some appliances from peak to off-peak and vice versa.

The research uses an analysis technique of Richardson et al. (2010). In their survey on time-of-use surveys to determine the usage of electricity in households as far as appliance shifting was concerned, this study allowed for the assessment of how the occupants’ daily activities in households affect residential electricity consumption. Fell et al. (2014) modeled an aggregate of electricity demand using different appliances (n) in the household. The data for the peak time used in this study were identified from 05:00 to 08:00 and 17:00 to 21:00 for testing the load shifting algorithms, and the off-peak times were pecked from 10:00 to 16:00 and 23:00. This study technique used load management considering real-time scheduling for peak levels in the selected homes. The household devices are modeled in terms of controlled parameters. Using this study’s time-triggered loads on refrigerators and air conditioning systems, the findings suggested that peak loads can be reduced to 45% as a means of maintaining the simultaneous quality of service. To minimize peak loads to around 35% or more, Chaiwongsa and Wongwises (2020) have indicated that room air conditioning and refrigerator loads are simpler to move compared to other household appliances such as cooking appliances. Yet in conclusion, this study made a strong case that a decrease in household peak demand for electricity is primarily contingent on improvements in human behavior.

This study has shown that appliance load shifting is a very good way of reducing electrical consumption in residential homes. The comparative performance shows a moderate reduction of 1% in load as was found in the work done by Laicaine (2014). The results, however, indicate that load shifting to a large extent can be achieved by consumer behavioral change. The main response to this study is to advise policymakers in Ghana to develop the appropriate demand response and consumer education towards the general reduction in electrical load in domestic households. The difficulty, however, is how to get the attention of consumer’s on how to start using appliances with less load at peak and also shift some appliances from off-peak times. By increasing consumer knowledge and participation in demand response, it is possible to achieve more efficiency and flexibility in load reduction. The findings were benchmarked with existing comparison studies but may benefit from the potential production of structured references. However, the findings show that load shifting can only be done by modifying consumer actions.

It should be remembered that this study showed that the use of appliances shifting in residential homes results in load reduction benefits for customers, expressed as savings in electricity prices. The next step will be to build on this cost/benefit study to explain and measure how these reductions transform into net consumer gains for all Ghanaian households.

Load shifting will include load controllers in the future, which would automatically handle electricity consumption from various appliances in the home. Based on the device and user needs, the controllers can prioritize loads and appliance usage. The algorithms that underpin automatic load controllers will include knowledge about the behaviors of groups of end users. The results on the time dependency of activities may theoretically inform the algorithms of automatic demand controllers.

This paper addresses an important need for the country in the midst of finding solutions to an unending energy crisis. This paper presents demand response to the Ghanaian electricity consumer as a means to help in the reduction of load in residential homes. This is a novel research as no one has at yet carried out any research in this direction in Ghana. This paper has some new information to offer in the field of demand in household electricity consumption.

The purpose of this study is to reflect upon the ramifications of two decades of Lean Six Sigma implementations in Dutch healthcare institutions in the light of the current COVID-19 pandemic.

The authors provide an evaluation of the impact that Lean Six Sigma implementations have had on the ability of Dutch healthcare institutions to respond adequately to healthcare needs during the COVID-19 crisis.

Process improvement in healthcare has had a tendency to cut capacity and flexibility which are needed to deal with excessive demand shocks, such as during a pandemic. The main reason for this failure seems to be an overly strong focus on cost reduction instigated by Lean Six Sigma during stable times.

Besides the research method being an inferential procedure, the research focuses on the Netherlands and so the generalizability might be limited. However, using Lean Six Sigma to improve healthcare processes has found broad acceptance, so the implications may well carry over to other countries.

The authors call for a more comprehensive approach of process improvement within healthcare that takes flexibility and buffering in anticipation of excess variability and disruption into greater account. Therefore, this study provides a new perspective on how and to which aim Lean Six Sigma should be applied in healthcare.

An assessment is given of the impact of Lean Six Sigma implementations on the ability to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. This is done by identifying the focus points of improvement projects and considering the impact on the resilience of healthcare operations.

Home buyout programs are typically funded by the federal government and implemented by local agencies. How these agencies design and implement buyouts has considerable impacts on participating households and communities, making understanding the internal processes of implementing agencies a critical component of buyout research. This study addresses this issue by exploring the early design and implementation phases of a buyout program in Harris County, Texas, following Hurricane Harvey.

Data were collected via semi-structured interviews with buyout staff and government stakeholders. Data were analyzed in two phases using grounded theory methodology and holistic coding.

There was considerable tension regarding the role of buyouts in mitigation and recovery. Participants conceptualized buyouts as mitigation programs, but recognized that residents, in contrast, viewed buyouts as a tool for household recovery.

This study adds to questions raised in the literature about the efficacy of buyouts and other relocation efforts implemented in response to disasters and global climate change. Future research should work to build systematic knowledge regarding design, implementation, and impacts of buyouts on affected households and communities.

Tension in the purpose of buyouts may be the cause of consistent shortcomings in buyout implementation including attrition, checkerboarding, and transfer of risk. Funding, timing, and the scale of buyouts do not align with household recovery needs and priorities, limiting the mitigation potential of buyouts.

This study identifies a fundamental tension in the purpose of buyout programs that has yet to be discussed in the literature.

This study examines the mediation role of diversity climate in the relationship between transformational leadership, transactional leadership and job satisfaction from the two-factor perspectives of intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfactions among local government servants in Ghana.

The study uses cross-sectional data from 322 employees in local government service of Ghana in the Greater Accra Region using purposive and stratified sampling methods. Bootstrapping method of mediation estimated using structural equation modelling is employed to test the hypothesized relationships.

The results find a differential effect of leadership behaviours on intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction, where transformation and transactional leadership relate positively to intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction respectively. Furthermore, the empirical findings reveal that diversity climate has mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and intrinsic job satisfaction, implying that diversity climate is an important process through which transformational leadership behaviours can elicit intrinsic job satisfaction among local government servants. Surprisingly, however, diversity climate does not serve as an important transmission mechanism in the relationship between transactional leadership and extrinsic job satisfaction.

This means that public sector leaders or managers can improve intrinsic job satisfaction among local government servants and by extension public sector employees by creating an ideal climate for diversity by transforming the work environment through leadership, specifically, transformational leadership behaviours.

Although studies abound on the link between leadership behaviours (transformational and transactional) and job satisfaction, the mediating effect of diversity climate as a mechanism in this relationship is very scarce and rare to find. Hence, our study has made original contributions to theory and practice by highlighting the role of diversity climate in converting leadership behaviours, specifically; transformational leadership into creating intrinsically satisfied workers in the public sector.