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An intelligent gas sensor has been developed using thick‐film techniques to create a semiconducting oxide surface with carefully varied catalytic properties. An integral heater causes the surface to react with combustible gases and the resulting resistance map of the surface forms a signature that can be related to the functional groups present in the gas. For example, alcohols, ketones and alkanes have distinct, recognisable signatures on one sensor model.

The purpose of this paper is to based upon the joining and characterization (mechanical and metallurgical) of ferritic stainless steel (SS)-430 using a microwave hybrid heating (MHH) phenomenon.

The preliminary experiments were conducted using nickel-based powder as interface material using a domestic microwave oven at a frequency of 2.45 GHz and 900 W power for 720 s. The processed joint was metallurgically characterized by means of X-ray diffraction, Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and Field emission scanning electron microscopy. Mechanical characterization was done by means of tensile and Vickers’ microhardness testing to check the hardness and strength of the joint.

The metallurgical study revealed that the microstructure and formation of numerous phases of Fe₂Si₃ accompanied by chromium and nickel carbides. The average hardness of 359 Hv at the center of the joint and 637 Hv around the boundaries of the joint was observed. The tensile strength of the joint was observed to 471 MPa with an elongation of 9.02%. The worn surface of the joint signifies the presence of plastic deformation and it was limited due to the presence of harder phases such as Ni₃Si and Ni₃C.

The concept of microwave joining of metals is a very challenging task as the temperature can not be controlled in the inert atmosphere of the microwave. It has been also observed that at certain elevated temperatures, the material starts absorbing the microwaves; which is unknown. So, a more intensive study is required to overcome these kinds of limitations.

MHH technique can be used to process different materials such as ceramics, composites and polymers. SS-430 joined by microwave heating is highly corrosion resistive and has wide applications in refrigerators cabinet panels, dishwasher linings, chimney liners, lashing wires, etc.

As of the author’s best knowledge, no work has been reported on the joining of SS-430 which has huge potential in the industries. Also, no work has been reported on the characterization of microwave joined SS-430.

This paper aims to present an open‐ended microwave curing system for microelectronics components and a numerical analysis framework for virtual testing and prototyping of the system, enabling design of physical prototypes to be optimized, expediting the development process.

An open‐ended microwave oven system able to enhance the cure process for thermosetting polymer materials utilised in microelectronics applications is presented. The system is designed to be mounted on a precision placement machine enabling curing of individual components on a circuit board. The design of the system allows the heating pattern and heating rate to be carefully controlled optimising cure rate and cure quality. A multi‐physics analysis approach has been adopted to form a numerical model capable of capturing the complex coupling that exists between physical processes. Electromagnetic analysis has been performed using a Yee finite‐difference time‐domain scheme, while an unstructured finite volume method has been utilized to perform thermophysical analysis. The two solvers are coupled using a sampling‐based cross‐mapping algorithm.

The numerical results obtained demonstrate that the numerical model is able to obtain solutions for distribution of temperature, rate of cure, degree of cure and thermally induced stresses within an idealised polymer load heated by the proposed microwave system.

The work is limited by the absence of experimentally derived material property data and comparative experimental results. However, the model demonstrates that the proposed microwave system would seem to be a feasible method of expediting the cure rate of polymer materials.

The findings of this paper will help to provide an understanding of the behaviour of thermosetting polymer materials during microwave cure processing.

Adopting a quantitative explorative research design, we employed a sample of 770 foreign market entries in the period 2005–2015 to investigate whether particular entry mode strategies such as joint venture or wholly owned subsidiary are differently chosen by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large firms. Various tests have been carried out revealing that SMEs show some different features compared to large firms when selecting their entry mode. SMEs react differently to economic downturns, and the diversification level is a crucial determinant for their entry choices while it is not for large firms. Moreover, we found for a set of other factors affecting the entry choice of large firms, not being significant for SMEs. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Global Mindset (GM) is a multifaceted construct that has received broad interest among practitioners and academics. It is a fragmented construct at this point in time, due to definitional overlap with other constructs such as global leadership and cultural intelligence. This overlap has created complexity for research that attempts to understand GM in isolation. Lack of clear boundaries in defining and conceptualizing this construct challenges researchers who are attempting to capture fully what constitutes GM. Our work seeks to better understand and explain what underlines the individual GM construct and how does this impact the development of global competencies in individual managers.

We systematically review and analyze the individual GM literature thematically to provide an overview of the extant research from a broad array of scholarly sources dating from 1994 to 2017. Our work offers a thematic analysis that provides a visual guide to GM by tracking the corpus of individual-level GM studies. We categorize the research according to its theoretical groundings and basic concepts and proceed review how GM has been operationalized at the individual level and measured. Next, we integrate major dimensions in the GM research and propose a framework to enhance understanding of the phenomenon. Finally, we discuss the implications of our review for the development of GM for practitioners, coaches and trainers.

This study aims to examine Taiwanese male and female police officers' perceived stress during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Data were analyzed based on surveys conducted with 1,671 officers in various cities and counties between May and July of 2021, during the period of level 3 alert of COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan.

It was found that officers who perceived poor inter-agency coordination and higher risk of infection, and those who were assigned to home quarantine duty and stationed in the metropolitan areas of Taipei, which suffered the worst spread of infected cases, were more likely to exhibit a higher level of stress. On the other hand, police identity, COVID-19 self-legitimacy, supervisor support, COVID-19 information and adaptive emotion regulation were found to be associated with an enhanced level of mental health.

The surveys were conducted at the beginning of the community outbreak. Given the cross sectional nature of the data, the findings may not reflect officers' mental health at different phases of the pandemic.

Such study can add a cross-national perspective that can be utilized to generalize about policy perspectives related to police mental health at times of health crises, such as COVID-19 pandemic.

Purpose – Emergency situations are known to have significant effects on public attitudes toward the police. However, little is known about these effects over prolonged periods of time, and how they vary across different types of attitudes. Moreover, it is unclear what the root causes of fluctuations in public sentiments of the police in emergency situations are. The present chapter reviews the findings of a research project designed to address these questions.

Methodology/Approach – A three-wave panel survey carried out in Israel in the first three peaks (and corresponding lockdowns) of the COVID-19 pandemic: April, September and December, 2020.

Findings – Following what appears to be a rise in support for the police at the first peak of the pandemic, the authors find a significant drop in numerous types of attitudes in the second peak. Between the second and the third peaks, broad evaluations of the police (not directly related to the pandemic) stabilized, while some pandemic-specific attitudes continued to deteriorate. The drop in diffused support for the police was associated with participants’ assessments of the government’s performance in handling the pandemic.

Originality/Value – Beyond shedding light on fluctuations in public attitudes toward the police over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, these findings add to our more general understanding of what happens to the relationship between the police and the public in emergency situations.

Purpose – We investigate the impact of overlapping crises of COVID-19 and the George Floyd protests on one major US police department, focusing on staffing and officer proactivity.

Methodology/Approach – The study investigates the impact of the two crises on operational capacity. Using Bayesian interrupted time-series analysis, the authors investigate if officer proactivity levels were adversely impacted in the short and long terms.

Findings – A statewide stay-at-home order (SAHO) was associated with a sharp decline in proactive contacts, but that effect dissipated quickly. However, the Floyd protests were associated with a sharp decline in proactivity, which persisted throughout the study period.

Originality/Value – The findings of this study contribute to ongoing research agendas that seek to understand the impact of dual, overlapping crises on US police departments and the communities they serve. The authors demonstrate a methodological approach capable of disentangling both crises’ effects on police activity levels.

Within the literature of global mindset there has been much discussion of antecedents. Few attempts have been made, however, to analyze the outcomes of a global mindset. Our chapter undertakes a thematic analysis of global mindset antecedents and outcomes in the 1994–2013 literature. Adopting an inductive approach and borrowing methods from international business and managerial cognition studies, we map, assess, and categorize 42 empirical and 10 theoretical studies thematically. We focus on the antecedents and outcomes at individual, group, and organizational levels. We conceptualize corporate global mindset as a multidimensional construct that incorporates global mindset at the individual level and is dependent on a robust communications infrastructure strategy for its cultivation throughout the organization. Our study categorizes antecedents and outcomes by level and identifies the gaps in global mindset outcomes and firm performance for future researchers to address.

System dynamics is a whole-system modelling and learning approach, useful for tackling non-linear problems, such as sustainable urban development. The purpose of this paper is to review system dynamics applications in the simulation of sustainable urban development over a period from 2005 to 2017.

The analysis reveals that the number of applications of system dynamics modelling in the area of urban sustainable development increased in the analysed period. Research has changed its focus from the modelling of environmental problems to more complex models, portraying the multidimensional socio-economic processes that have an impact on the sustainability of urban development. Analysed case studies most often use the behaviour reproduction test for model validation, but without a unified approach. In most cases, modelling has been done in China, Germany and the USA, while urban development in the Eastern European countries, Africa and Latin America has not often been investigated. This paper indicates the knowledge gaps and suggests future research directions.

Papers that report the use of system dynamics modelling reveal a wide range of applications in urban sustainability. The analysis shows significant emphasis on environmental problems, while the interest for modelling social problems has been increasing during the last several years. Most of the modelled problems examine the sustainability of resources (land, water) and waste management, which are used for insights into the reasons for the system behaviour, forecasting future behaviour and policy testing.

The presented models were developed in most cases for the purpose of understanding the phenomena examined, as well as the future use of the models in policy planning. This brings us back to the need for greater stakeholder involvement, not only in the initial phase, but also during the whole modelling process, which could increase understanding, use and ownership of the models in the future, and thus increase their practical application.