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The present work aims at developing the laser cladding technology by means of an active fiber laser source applicable for hardfacing of martensitic steel turbine blades. It also aims to investigate two process parameter conditions to reproduce two different heat inputs, in order to highlight the effect of the thermal input on the thermal alteration and dilution of the substrate material and clad layer.

The experimentation was performed initially at a sample level, reproducing the material and thickness of the blade leading edge, then on an industrial real component. Cladding process parameters were experimentally selected and two different process parameter conditions, at different specific energy, were determined. The microstructural and geometrical features of the clad samples were analyzed both by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, in this latter case combining the information supplied by different probes, among which the EDX microanalysis to obtain chemical profiles. Hardness distribution was also evaluated by means of Vickers hardness tester.

All the two investigated conditions were suitable for laser cladding of the blade leading edge, since a crack and pore free clad layer with a strong metallurgical bond to the substrate was obtained. The experimented two different heat inputs affected the extension of the HAZ as well the chemical and geometrical dilution. The clad integrity was preserved in both cases. The condition at higher specific energy was chosen to clad the turbine blade. The high specific energy condition was preferred because the iron dilution in the clad layer was inferior.

Further research is needed to correlate the chemical dilution and the thermal alteration introduced by the laser cladding process on such a kind of substrate at different process parameter conditions to the wear and corrosion resistance of the turbine blade.

Laser cladding process with an innovative active fiber laser source of the leading edge of a steam turbine blade was developed. Progress achieved in laser cladding technology development is of practical value for manufacture of turbine blades, made of martensitic steels.

The paper investigates the effect of different energy input on the laser cladding of steam turbine blades, mainly used in coal, gas and nuclear plants to produce electricity by heating water to create steam. The laser cladding process is an effective technology to increase the steam blades toughness and resistance to creep, stress and corrosion. This increase in the turbine blade properties contributes to extend the life of such a critical components, decreasing cost and time of substitution and ensuring better service conditions.

The most original aspect of the paper is related to the focus on the difference between the chemical and the geometrical dilution, being the first one mainly related to the corrosion and wear resistance of the clad layer, while the later mainly regards the clad layer adhesion to the substrate. More in general the paper presents one of the first experiments accomplished while making use of the active fiber laser source.

The purpose of this paper is to perform a comparative study of two propagation models and a prediction of proximity distances among the space objects based on the two-line element set (TLEs) data, which identifies potentially risky approaches and is used to compute the probability of collision among the spacecrafts.

At first, the proximities are estimated for the mentioned satellites using a precise propagation model and based on a one-month simulation. Then, a study is performed to determine the probability of collision between two satellites using a formulation which takes into account the object sizes, covariance data and the relative distance at the point of closest approach. Simplifying assumptions such as a linear relative motion and normally distributed position uncertainties at the predicted closest approach time are applied in estimation.

For the case of Iridium-Cosmos collision and the prediction of a closest approach using available TLE orbital data and a propagation model which takes into account the effects of the earth’s zonal harmonics and drag atmospheric, the maximum probability of about 2 × 10 −6 was obtained, which can indicate the necessity of enacting avoidance maneuvers regarding the defined a probability threshold by satellite’s owner.

The contribution of this paper is to analyze and simulate the 2009 prominent collision between the Cosmos2251 and Iridium33 satellite by modeling their orbit propagation, predicting their closest approaches and, finally, assessing the risk of the possible collision. Moreover, an enhanced orbit determination can be effective to achieve an accurate assessment of the ongoing collision threat to active spacecrafts from orbital debris and preventing, if necessary, the hazards thereof.

Musina municipality is one of the driest regions in Limpopo Province, South Africa. It is, like many rural communities within the country, a low-income area. Nonetheless, being embedded within the tourism-orientated landscape of the Vhembe district in Limpopo, it possesses the potential for community-based tourism. This study aims to review the perception and application of tourism development policy in the Municipality using primary and secondary data. The study discovered poor enforcement of tourism development policy paired with a substandard knowledge of sustainable and responsible tourism principles. Consequently, the negative environmental impacts of tourism activities had exacerbated. The study recommends a need for improved policy implementation and strategies to advance local communities’ livelihoods while also managing natural resources.

While uncertainty during emergency response operations necessitates adaptive performance, emergency response organizations, such as the fire service, tend to constrain adaptive behaviors due to their highly formalized bureaucratic structures. Structural theories suggest that leaders can empower employees to bypass these constraints.

Using survey data from four US fire departments, this research tests whether mid-level supervisors can empower firefighters by increasing their ability to improvise during complex emergency response operations, and whether this enhances department adaptive performance. Moderated mediation is also performed to assess whether senior leaders must also be effective, empowering leaders in order to achieve heightened levels of empowerment and subsequent adaptive performance, as many senior leaders in the fire service are criticized for being overly bureaucratic, risk averse, and resistant to change.

The findings support compensatory effects and show how immediate supervisors are key to overcoming senior leader deficiencies and producing adaptive performance during conditions of high uncertainty and complexity.

The lack of response organizations’ success during complex incidents is often attributed to senior leaders who are risk averse, overly bureaucratic, and resistant to change (Wankhade and Patnaik, 2020). This study is the first to show how empowering leadership can help overcome these constraints to enhance adaptive performance under complex conditions in the fire service.

Agile methods are increasingly being applied in the contexts of innovation beyond traditional information technology (IT) and physical product development projects, such as when process improvements are being implemented. Nevertheless, this phenomenon is still recent and little addressed in the literature, with few descriptions of empirical cases. This study aims to address this gap.

This multiple case study aims to present and discuss the application of Agile practices embedded in large companies’ innovation value chains, focusing on improvements of business processes. The following research question is pursued: How are large companies applying elements of Agile methods to their innovation processes when implementing incremental improvements in their operational processes? Based on the idea that the Agile-Stage-Gate model is an alternative to this challenge, this study investigates the application of this hybrid model in two large Brazilian companies by presenting their idiosyncrasies, lessons learned, adaptations, challenges and benefits.

Overall, it was observed that the experience with the application of the Agile-Stage-Gate model is positive for these companies, with better customer engagement, easier project control and increased productivity of the project team.

For those aiming to implement the Agile-Stage-Gate model, this paper identifies the main adaptations made in order to combine the purist approaches and critical success factors for its implementation.

This paper aims to explore the introduction of teamwork in two health call centres, NHS Direct and NHS24, and intervenes in the emergent debate over teamwork in call centres. Although within the call centre work environment there is no obvious functional rationale for teamwork, teams can be “accounted for” with reference to other purposes, including performance management, normative control, governmentality and institutional isomorphism/management fads. This research provides additional explanations for the use of teamwork in such an adverse work environment.

The paper is based on qualitative data (interviews and non‐participant observations) from NHS Direct and NHS24, the English and Scottish tele‐nursing organisations in the UK.

In the two tele‐nursing case studies analysed, teamwork was introduced as an expression of managers' aspirations to emulate private sector practices and to reinforce new public management ideals. However, informal teamwork, which cut across organisationally prescribed forms, provided both emotional support and spontaneous knowledge sharing among nurses.

This is an innovative study because teamwork has not been thoroughly explored in a health call centre environment.

This chapter contributes to a corpus of legal–anthropological studies concerning the role of cultural experts in legal institutions. It begins by identifying the reasons behind the fragile collaboration between Italian courts and cultural experts and outlining some of the consequences of this relationship. It then presents a collection of cases involving cultural experts including a focus on the L’Aquila trial recounted from first-hand experience by Antonello Ciccozzi, the anthropologist who acted as expert consultant. The conclusions attempt to summarize the “state of the art” of cultural expertise in Italian courts today and call for greater collaboration between law and anthropology as a means of guaranteeing a fair trial.

The idea of Simon according to which instructions are premises for further decisions is formalized with respect to informationally decentralized organizations. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The paper is built on the economic theory of teams by Marschak and Radner. Team theory is particularly suited to the analysis of informationally decentralized systems. Teams are composed of agents who strive for a common aim, but are informed of different parameters that characterize the state of nature. In particular, the members want to maximize the team payoff function that depends on both the actions of the members and the state of nature.

For teams à la Marshack-Radner, since every member needs to compute optimal action rules, the paper shows that two types of expertise are required: forecasting expertise (as competence over the randomness of the parameters that affect the team payoff function) and organizational expertise (as comprehension of the relevant characteristics of the other members). When the members are supposed to have complete expertise, the only role of orders is the communication of information about the state of nature. Instead, when instructions report actions under the control of the senders, the team population can be classified into ranks, each one having a particular computational problem to solve. The paper analyzes the conditions under which instructions can correspond to different and ordered degree of intelligibility of the team operations. Through instructions non-decodable information is built directly into the decision rules chosen by the receivers, and instructions can realize economies in the use of expertise.

Instructions are formally shown to play a crucial role when expertise is differently distributed across agents.

This editorial seeks to explore changes in both teamwork and developments in teamwork research over the last decade.

The editorial review importantly focuses on the key debates that emerge from the papers covered in this special issue.

A review of the papers in this special issue, as well as historical analysis of teamwork research, indicate that while traditionally, analysis of teamwork was embedded in a manufacturing archetype, much of the contemporary research on teamwork is centred on service sector work where issues of cultural diversity, customer service, and lack of normative integration or task interdependence are increasingly apparent. This editorial suggests that we need to take account of the expansion of the service sector when attempting to conceptualise teamwork and the challenges that collective forms of working in such an environment bring.

This editorial and the special issue more generally provide an important contribution to the development of understanding of how changes in the workplace have had an impact on organisational and academic interest in teamwork.