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The paper aims to explore the relationship between office occupier work activity and workplace provision. It tests the proposition that location-fixed office workers are not well-supported in the working environment as location-flexible office workers. The research also explores the perceptions of the workplace provision based upon the types of tasks completed at the desk-location, whether this was collaborative or focussed.

The research adopts a cross-sectional approach using an online questionnaire to collect data from several offices in the Middles East. The dataset consists of 405 responses. One-way analysis of variance was conducted to understand the relationship between location flexibility and perception of productivity. In addition, a series of t test were used to evaluate the relationship between work activities and office environment.

The results show that those workers who were location-fixed perceived the workplace provision to have a more negative impact on their productivity than those who had a greater level of location-flexibility, particularly with regards to noise levels and interruptions. In terms of types of activities, those that undertook more collaborative tasks valued the facilitation of creativity and interaction from the workplace provision.

The research has limitations as data collection was at one-point in time and therefore lacks the opportunity to undertake longitudinal analysis. However, the research gives greater insights into the alignment of office environments based on flexibility and work activity.

The paper identifies implications for the design and development of office environments by identifying the need for office occupier activity profiles. These profiles can underpin data-led design which should promote a tailored choice appropriate work setting that can maximise productivity.

This paper contributes to the research area of workplace alignment. It establishes that optimal workplace alignment requires a better understanding of office occupier needs based on location-flexibility and work activity.

This paper seeks to understand how strategic information systems (IS) alignment takes place in small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs).

The paper employs a qualitative and quantitative analysis of data from 27 cases.

A contingent model allows re‐interpretation of earlier findings that appear to be inconsistent. First, benefit realisation depends on alignment between IS and business strategies. Second, IS investment is frequently limited to supporting operations and transactions. Third, organizations with more sophisticated IS tend to perform less successfully than those with less complex systems, the greatest alignment and highest performance are reported for systems to improve efficiency, and organizations that adopt a low‐cost approach are unlikely to use IS strategically.

The paper extends understanding of the contingent nature of SMEs' investment in, and use of, IS, and of the effect of market position on IS management. It provides guidelines by describing the dominant paths to alignment. The limitations are that the SME sample is not random, the scoring protocols rely on author coding, whether the research identifies cycles of alignment, alternative interpretations of path hierarchy, and if an SME's location uniquely defines its alignment path.

Performance is a function of the alignment between IS strategy and other business domains. However, prior research has focused on outcomes, rather than the processes by which alignment is developed. Using multiple case data, this paper investigates alignment in SMEs, explaining why different SMEs follow different paths to alignment. Four paths are identified, with the path chosen contingent on an SME's market position.

To improve the operational efficiency and intelligence of live operation robots in dynamic-unstructured operation environments, this paper aims to propose a fuzzy logic-based method for the autonomous search and visual localization control of a manipulator end effector applied to a drainage plate bolt on a high-voltage transmission line. The proposed approach is based on a four-way video image information output from a dual-operation manipulator.

First, based on the structural characteristics of the drainage line, an autonomous search method for the drainage plate bolt and a mapping relationship between the autonomous search control parameters and the relative posture of the operation manipulator-drainage line are proposed. The posture control parameters of the dual manipulators can then be obtained, and a two-dimensional fuzzy controller is designed with the posture offset distance and the posture offset angle as its input signals. This enables the localization control of the bolt and nut alignment to be realized through a visual process.

The proposed fuzzy control algorithm is used for bolt location control, and its performance is compared with that of the conventional approach. The simulation results indicate that the fuzzy control algorithm greatly improves the localization accuracy and operational efficiency of live operation robots.

Field operation experiments on actual transmission lines verify that the fuzzy control-based visual localization control of the robot manipulator has great engineering practicality. Therefore, the proposed method further improves operational intelligence compared with conventional algorithms.

Based on the investigation of large length measurement and alignment techniques in 3D construction, a laser diode alignment system for boat assembly is presented. In the system, a horizontal laser diode beam and a vertical light plane formed by a rotating pentagonal prism are used as a measuring datum. The system is of low cost, reliable, safe and convenient to be used on‐line in small boatyards with reasonable accuracy. The synthesised error of the system is analysed. The application of the system in boat assembly and some considerations of the system design are described.

By providing interoperability users can be supported in sharing and reusing vocabularies and knowledge. Ontology alignment plays an important role in the context of semantic interoperability. Usually ontology alignment tools generate results that are difficult to understand or assess. In order to enable users to check and improve alignment results and to understand their consequences information visualization techniques are used. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the relevant quality aspects in ontology alignment as well as current activities and available tools.

Based on a literature study quality measures for ontology alignment identified and requirements for visual ontology alignment are defined. As a proof of concepts a prototype called AlViz was developed.

Information visualization offers appropriate methods for the assessment of ontology alignment results. Different levels of detail and overview help users to navigate and understand the alignments. The assessment of semi‐structured resources by users involves learning activities. The neighborhood of the entity under investigation bears relevant semantic information. Therefore, assessment may include crisscrossing acquisition of knowledge representations and their semantics.

Along a comprehensive framework alignment assessment tasks are identified and visualization tool is introduced and applied which aims at making ontology alignment results manageable and comprehensible.

This study aims to advance a sub-national perspective within the OLI Paradigm by analyzing how and to what extent the Eclectic Paradigm can serve as a general model to capture region-specific aspects of the location determinants of FDI, encompassing institutional effects that extend beyond the quality of institutions.

The authors conducted a systematic literature review of 41 selected papers published between 1990 and 2019. Using inductive content analysis, they investigated the theoretical choices used to support analyses of the effects of institutional factors on MNEs' location decisions at the sub-national level.

It was found that, when changing from the national to the sub-national level of analysis, there is no need to change the main assumptions used in the literature, although a different perspective must be adopted. The Eclectic Paradigm permeates most of the studies revised and can serve as a general model to capture the sub-national perspective. It offers a foundation for new perspectives on the dynamics of institutional and political factors and their effects on location strategies and determinants at the sub-national level. Adopting the OLI Paradigm with a sub-national approach could widen the IB literature's prevailing focus on traditional economic factors and institutional quality.

The authors contribute to extant International Business literature Their paper enhances the literature on FDI location determinants by providing a more specific approach to development of a sub-national perspective within the OLI Paradigm, extending the institutional effects to capture more region-specific factors influencing the location of FDI. Study limitations are related to our analytical focus on the location dimension, excluding motives for FDI or firm-level location strategies. Rather than limiting analysis to quantitative studies, future research that includes qualitative studies and also covers the other dimensions of the OLI Paradigm could open additional new research avenues for advancing the sub-national perspective within the field of IB.

The authors’ main findings suggest that MNEs' location strategies should include a sub-national perspective, which means that firms need to assess different levels of the location and understand their interaction with nationwide constraints and limitations, as it may affect firms' ability to effectively conduct their value-adding activities. They also contribute elements that can support sub-national governments' actions and policies aiming to enhance locational advantages to attract and retain FDI.

This review specifically analyzes the location determinants of FDI at the sub-national level, in studies published in a broad set of journals, from a variety of fields, prioritizing articles that investigate sub-national institutional determinants. The authors derive implications for the International Business literature and propose that the sub-national dimension should be incorporated into the Eclectic paradigm in order to better understand the influence of institutional sub-national determinants.

The purpose of this study is to address the concept and the step-by-step procedure of a high-precision optical alignment test for spacecrafts using digital theodolites. The proposed scheme focuses on the non-contact alignment qualification of spacecraft components during the integration and test phases until the launch event.

The proposed approach is based on the exploitation of the auto-collimation feature of theodolites and several prisms attached to the requested component and satellite configuration. As soon as the misalignment measurement including the difference between the real and desired attitude or position aberration of an instrument is made, the results must be transformed from the component level to the system level for misalignment error identification in the spacecraft dynamic model.

The paper introduces the main instruments, the defined coordinate systems and the architecture of the optical spacecraft misalignment test. Moreover, the guideline of the test implementation and the resulting data process have been presented carefully.

There is no limitation associated with this method because the procedure is applicable for high-precision typical missions.

This paper describes a fully implementable scheme to examine any possible inaccuracy in mounting of the spacecraft components both in position and orientation. The test can be performed without the need for a huge budget or complicated hardwares.

The contribution of this work revolves around illustrating the context and procedure of the spacecraft misalignment test which has remained unknown in literature despite the frequent implementation in the different satellite projects.

There has been a surge of overseas investment from China, both to developing and developed countries. However, there is limited understanding of the impact the internationalization of these firms has on their value creation. This paper seeks to draw on the reconciled FSA/CSA framework with Dunning's four motives to differentiate two types of FDI: traditional FDI and strategic asset-seeking FDI. Further, the paper draws on Verbeke's FSA/CSA recombination process model to analyze the differentiated value creation of traditional FDI and strategic asset-seeking FDI for the Chinese MNEs.

The paper adopts event study methodology to measure the value created by Chinese MNE's FDI projects and hierarchical linear regression to test the hypotheses. The sample consists of 121 FDI projects publicly announced by Chinese listed companies during 2001-2009.

Both traditional and strategic asset-seeking FDI create value and traditional FDI creates more value than strategic asset-seeking FDI for Chinese MNEs. In addition, the paper empirically demonstrates that traditional FDI into developing countries creates more firm value than traditional FDI into developed countries or strategic asset-seeking FDI into developed countries.

This research makes the following original contributions: it contributes to the growing body of literature on internationalization of Chinese firms by investigating whether international expansion creates firm value and how the alignment between types of FDI and location strategies influences firm value creation; the study contributes to the literature by providing insights into the performance implications of emerging economy enterprises (EEEs); and the research contributes to FDI theory building by incorporating learning concepts in internationalization theories and by extending the context of internationalization theories to that of EEEs.

In the vision of pervasive computing, numerous heterogeneous devices, various information services, and users performing daily activities are physically co‐located in a environment. How can we coordinate the services and devices to assist a particular user in receiving a particular service so as to maximize the user’s satisfaction? To solve this human‐centered coordination issue, we propose an agent‐based service coordination framework for pervasive computing. It is called location‐aware middle agent framework. The middle agent takes account of the user location in cognitive way (based on location‐ontology), and determines best‐matched services for the user. Based on this coordination framework, we have developed a multi‐agent architecture for pervasive computing, called CONSORTS (Coordination System of Real‐world Transaction Services). In this paper, we first outline some requirements of the human‐centered service coordination in pervasive computing. Secondly, we describe location‐aware middle agent framework to fill the requirements. Lastly, we outline CONSORTS, an prototype of location‐aware middle agent framework, and two applications of CONSORTS, location‐aware information assistance services in a museum and wireless‐LAN based location systems on FIPA agent Networks.

The role of the primary mental health worker (PMHW) is relatively new within child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). Different organisational structures have emerged and it is important to study the advantages and disadvantages associated with different PMHW practice models. The current study uses a large, representative sample of PMHWs and operationalises practice models according to the PMHWs' self‐reported location and team alignment thus identifying three models (namely CAMHS outreach, primary care based, and dedicated PMHW team). Comparisons between the models are made in relation to organisation and management, inter‐agency links, and job satisfaction with the aim of exploring the strengths and weaknesses of each model. The results suggest that each model meets the aims of the role and there is greater similarity than dissimilarity between models. However, it also indicates that attention should be paid to improving the working environments and training and development opportunities for all PMHWs irrespective of model, but with particular consideration given to improving the support available to PMHWs working in primary care based models.