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Continuous exposure and over‐utilization of sensors in harsh environments can lead some sensors to fail, and thereby not covering the service area effectively and efficiently. The purpose of this paper is to propose a two‐level coverage restoration scheme for the failing sensors by the existing sensors deployed in the immediate neighborhood of the failing sensors. The restoration scheme extends the search process to the set of failed sensors' corner neighbors at a second stage, with non‐available immediate active neighboring sensors at its first stage. Thus, the coverage restoration scheme attempts to sustain a maximum area of coverage with failed sensors.

The authors have considered a wireless sensor network (WSN), comprised of sensors deployed in a grid‐based arrangement in an inaccessible arena. The authors have formulated the coverage restoration problem as an optimization problem, to find the nearest and most apt neighbor sensors to reach solutions of maximizing the coverage area with failed sensors, while minimizing the energy consumption. Simulated annealing has been utilized as a search algorithm to find out the neighboring sensors with maximal energy in the vicinity of the failed node to cover its area.

The experimental results within the optimization algorithm have demonstrated that the restoration scheme shows a better trade‐off in maximizing the coverage area up to 90 per cent with a decrease of 26 per cent lifespan. The performance of the algorithm is further improved with extended search space including the corner neighbors in addition to the immediate neighbors.

The proposed coverage restoration can be embedded within applications using WSN to restore the coverage and maintain its functionality with optimized energy consumption.

The paper employs a novel framework to restore the coverage of the failed sensors by doubling the sensing area of the neighborhood sensors, and it utilizes an optimization scheme to search for neighborhood sensors with maximal energy to extend the lifespan of WSN.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the causes behind the failures of virtual banks. This work underscores the importance of the differing financial metrics in the virtual and brick and mortar banking channels, when analyzing bank failures.

“Probit” analysis on the failed virtual banks and the failed brick and mortar banks revealed that the interest incomes in both banks are significantly different. The non‐interest income and non‐interest expense (NIE) of the surviving banks and the failed banks are explored to examine the causes for failure.

Similar to previous research it was found that the brick and mortar banks failed due to bad asset quality, but the failure of virtual banks is mainly due to high NIEs. For virtual banks to succeed, the institutions must focus on controlling the burden.

A larger sample size would have been preferable and non‐availability of data limited the scope of the study. Continuing studies could explore the performance of Internet channels of existing brick and mortar banks.

This study accentuates the importance of the differing business models underlying the two banking channels (virtual banks and brick and mortar banks). These channel specific differences underscore the significance of the financial metrics in operational evaluation.

This is probably the first study to examine the causes of failures of virtual banks and contrast them with brick and mortar banks.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the business-failure-process risk from two perspectives. First, a simplified model of the loss-generation process in a failing firm is developed to show that the linear system embedded in accounting makes financial ratios to depend linearly on each other. Second, a simplified model of the development of the risk during the failure process is developed to introduce a new concept of failure-process-risk line (FPRL) to assess the systematic failure risk of a firm. Empirical evidence from Finnish firms is used to test two hypotheses.

This study makes use of simple mathematical modeling to depict the loss-generation process and the development of failure risk during the failure process. Hypotheses are extracted from the mathematical results for empirical testing. Time-series data originally from 13,082 non-failing and 515 failing Finnish are used to test the hypotheses. Analysis of variance F statistics and Mann–Whitney U test are used in testing of the hypotheses.

The findings show that the linear time-series correlations are generally higher in failing than in non-failing firms because of the loss-generation process. The FPRL depicted efficiently the systematic failure-process risk through the beta coefficient. Beta coefficient efficiently discriminated between failing and non-failing firms. The difference between the last-period risk estimate and FPRL was largely determined by the approximated growth rate of the periodic failure risk.

The loss-generation process is based on a simple cash-based approach ignoring the growth of the firm. In future research, the model could be generalized to a growing firm in an accrual-based framework. The failure-process risk is assumed to grow at a constant rate. In further studies, more general models could be applied. Empirical analyses are based on simple statistical methods and tests. More advanced methods could be used to analyze the data.

This study shows that failure process makes the time-series correlation between financial ratios to increase making their signals of failure consistent and allowing the use of static classification models to assess failure risk. The beta coefficient is a useful tool to reflect systematic failure-process risk. In addition, it can be used in practice to warn a firm about ongoing failure process.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study analyzing systematically business-failure-process risk. It is first in introducing a mathematical loss-generation process and the FPRL based on the beta coefficient assessing the systematic failure risk.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the prevalence of two types of underachieving students (n=246) (active failing (AF) and passive failing (PF)) in Brunei vocational and technical education (VTE) institutions and their patterns of coping.

The field survey method was used to directly reach many participants, administer the instruments and collect the required data.

The authors found 20 AFs (14 males) and 16 PFs (five females) across the VTE courses. More-able and average students scored relatively higher on all six productive coping strategies (e.g. confronting the stressor), while the AFs and PFs scored lower on these attributes. The AFs and PFs scored relatively higher on both dysfunctional coping styles (e.g. distancing) than more-able and average students. Furthermore, the AFs also scored lower on seeking social support (possible reason for not performing well). Internet connection and students’ financial support need to be improved in Brunei VTE institutions.

The study would have been strengthened by the inclusion of an interview component to probe supplement/complement findings from the quantitative survey and the open-ended qualitative instrument (both self-reports).

The study had practical significance in that its findings could be used by instructors and policy makers to improve the achievement of VTE students in Brunei and elsewhere.

This is the first time the phenomena of AF and PF were investigated in Brunei VTE students. Further qualitative research was recommended to gain additional insights and solutions.

Failure plays a pivotal role in entrepreneurial learning. Knowledge of the learning process that enables an entrepreneur to re-emerge stronger after a failure, though considerable, is fragmented. This paper systematically collects relevant literature, assigns it to the stages of the experiential learning process (concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, active experimentation; Kolb, 1984), evaluates the research coverage of each stage and identifies promising avenues for future research.

This systematic literature review follows the guidelines articulated by Short (2009) and Tranfield et al. (2003), using Web of Science and EBSCO as primary data sources. Kolb’s (1984) experiential learning theory provides a basis for organizing the identified material into a framework of entrepreneurial learning from failure.

The literature provides insights on all stages of the process of entrepreneurial learning from failure. Particularly well elaborated are the nature of failure and its triggering effect for reflection, the factors influencing reflection, the contents of the resulting learning and their application in entrepreneurial re-emergence. Other topics remain under-researched, including alternative modes of recovery, the impact of personal attributes upon reflection, the cognitive processes underlying reflection, the transformation of failure-based observations into logically sound concepts and the application of this learning in non-entrepreneurial contexts.

This review provides the most complete overview of research into the process of entrepreneurial learning from failure. The systematic, theory-based mapping of this literature takes stock of current knowledge and proposes areas for future research.

The purpose of the current study is to identify variables that, when integrated into the random effects parametric survival model, could be used to forecast the failure rate of small banks in the USA. A bank’s income production, efficiency and costs were taken into consideration when choosing the internal components. The breakout of the financial crisis, bank regulations that affect how the banking sector operates and the federal funds rate are the primary external variables.

This study uses the random effects parametric survival model to investigate the causes of small bank failures in the USA from 1996 to 2019. The study identifies several characteristics that failed banks frequently display. The main indications that may help to identify the elevated risk of small bank failures include the ROA, the cost of funds, the ratio of noninterest income to assets, the ratio of loan and lease losses to assets, noninterest expenses and core capital (leverage) ratio to assets. Economic disruptions, financial market distress and industry-based regulatory redress by the government exacerbate the financial distress borne by small banks.

The study revealed that a failed bank typically demonstrates a certain number of characteristics. The key factors that might assist identify which bank would be most likely to collapse include the cost of funding earning assets, the yield on earning assets, core Capital (leverage) ratio to assets, loan and lease loss provision to assets, noninterest expense and noninterest income to assets. Additionally, when a financial crisis occurs or the government changes regulations that could raise the cost of compliance for small banks, the likelihood that a bank will fail increases.

Models based on survival theories are more suitable when the authors examine bank failure as a unique event that happens gradually. The authors use a random effects parametric survival model to investigate the internal and external factors that may influence prospective small bank failure. This model has been developed and used in the medicinal research field. The authors do not choose the Cox proportional hazards model because it does not work well with panel data.

This chapter explores what managers in the library and information science workplace can do to keep stress and burnout levels low. The literature on stress and burnout in human services, or the helping professions, is surveyed and the differences between the two phenomena are explained. Research is clear that keeping stress levels low and burnout at bay in the workplace benefits both employees and the organization. Even so, managers are given little training on how to identify and deal with stress and often fail to notice that their employees are chronically stressed. When managers become aware that they do have employees who are seriously stressed or burned out, they are often unsure whether they should address the problem and how to handle it. The author explains the differences between stress and burnout and clarifies how managers can minimize their negative impact by monitoring six areas in which workers are most likely to experience them: (1) the demands of the job which include the quantity of work and the knowledge required to perform; (2) the amount of control employees are permitted to exercise in the workplace; (3) the amount of the social support employee’s feel they have from managers and colleagues; (4) the quality of workplace relationships; (5) the clarity of one’s role on the job; and (6) support and honest communication during times of change. The practical implication of this information aimed at managers is to help them create a better workplace and mentally and physically healthier staff members.

This chapter looks at the sex trade in Japanese society and the manner in which it has been accepted for decades, both socially and legally, as a ‘necessary evil’. This passive and disinterested tolerance of the industry's quasi-legal state, neither banning prostitution completely nor ensuring that it follows the transparent rules and regulations expected of other industries, means that it fails to satisfy either of the primary views on transactional sex: prohibition or legalisation. The result is that the women involved in the industry are subject to various forms of exploitation and abuse that the Japanese government, by failing to take active steps to reform the industry in either direction, becomes complicit to. Shaped by personal interviews with members of the industry and the NGOs that provide them with support, the chapter provides an examination of the industry's historical development, its portrayal in popular media and the prevailing social norms regarding the industry. It then assesses the political and legal responses to the industry and the glaring oversights that exist in their failure to provide adequate support. Finally, it considers, based upon the self-expressed interests of the women working in the industry, in what areas meaningful reform might occur.

This paper presents reliability and availability analyses of a robot‐safety system having one robot and n‐redundant safety units with common‐cause failures. The system failure rates and the partially failed system repair rates are assumed constant, and the failed system repair time is assumed arbitrarily distributed. Markov and the supplementary variable methods were used to perform mathematical analysis of this model. Generalized expressions for state probabilities, system availabilities, reliability, mean time to failure, and variance of time to failure are developed. Some plots of these expressions are shown.

The purpose of this research is to identify the constraints and restrictions and their impact on the construction projects in Saudi Arabia from three key participants' perspectives for the planning stage.

Using a descriptive-analytical approach, this research described and analyzed the frequency and severity of failure factors in construction projects in the planning stage using a five-Likert scale questionnaire in Saudi Arabia construction between 2019 and 2020. A total of 100 experts from contractors, consultants and owners were included in the study.

The findings have shown that time dispute was the major factor affecting the projects to be failed. Similarly, cost overrun and total abandonment have an impact on project failures. The findings have indicated that government officials were involved in delaying the projects while contractors also failed in the project deliveries.

Further research is needed to investigate the relationship between failure characteristics and project success measures in the same stage, in addition to, factors of failure for construction projects' life-cycle stages.

The findings have indicated that government officials were involved in delaying the projects while contractors also failed in the project deliveries.