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The paper describes an efficient method to extract the B‐H nonlinear characteristic from the experimental flux‐current Φ‐I data obtained using a non‐uniform magnetic field device. Both functions are monotonically piecewise linear approximated with the same number of breakpoints. The method was successfully applied to characterize the ribbon core material of a fluxset magnetic field sector. In this case the hysteresis loop and the lumped magnetic circuit were extracted. Comparison with experimental results validates the proposed method.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of firm-, industry- and country-level determinants on real annual sales growth in the context of a cross-classified multilevel perspective.

The authors studied 11,381 firms from 17 industries in six Latin American countries based on the data collected up to 2015. Since the data are nested in two levels (level 1: firms; level 2: cross-classification of industries and countries), the authors use a cross-classified multilevel model. The significant variability in all levels of analysis confirms the option for the multilevel model.

Differences in industries account for the largest proportion of variance (77.2 percent). This finding indicates that industry-level characteristics should be explored in the sales growth literature (it seems to the authors that they were neglected). This finding also calls attention to the roles of policy-makers in facilitating firm growth. The final model indicates that the considered variables explain approximately 55 percent of the differences in real annual sales growth in the same industry and country after having accounted for the impacts of the differences in firms. After accounting for the impacts of the differences in firms’ and countries’ characteristics, 43 percent of the variation in average real annual sales growth is due to differences in industries. The obtained results indicate that while firms from countries with higher GDP growth and more effective corporate boards present higher real annual sales growth, firms that operate in commodity producer industries have worse performance in this indicator. With respect to firm’s characteristics, larger firms (contradicting Gibrat’s law) and exporters grew less. Some results could be explained by the decrease in commodities’ prices and global purchases between 2012 and 2015.

The paper fills some gaps in the firm growth literature by testing Gibrat’s law in non-developed countries (not yet done, to the best of the authors’ knowledge) and exploring variables other than size in the explanation of firm growth (rarely used, to the best of the authors’ knowledge). Moreover, the adopted model correctly estimated the origin of the variability in firm growth in its natural cross-classified distinct levels.

Looks at the problems and methods of providing companies with detailed information about their own sales and marketing costs. Shows how a database can be constructed using the concept of marketing cost analysis. Describes profitability analysis for customers, products and any market segment required. Discusses potential problems with accuracy and the marginal cost approach, going on to show how the database should be expanded to form a complete marketing information system.

The paper is concerned with exploration of sensor signals in differential electronic nose. It is a special type of nose, which applies double sensor matrices and exploits only their differential signals, which are used in recognition of patterns associated with them. The purpose of this paper is to study the application of differential nose in dynamic measurement of aroma of 11 brands of cigarettes.

The most important task in pattern recognition using electronic nose is its resistance to the noise corrupting the measurement. The authors will analyze and compare the performance of the nose in the noisy environment by applying two classifier systems: the support vector machine (SVM) and random forest (RF) of decision trees.

On the basis of numerical experiments the authors have found that application of SVM as the classifier in the electronic nose is more advantageous than RF, especially at high level of noise and small number of measuring sensors. Its application allowed to recognize 11 brands of cigarettes with the accuracy close to 100 percent.

Thanks to application of two identical sensors working in a differential mode the authors avoid the baseline estimation and thus the solution is well suited for on-line dynamic measurements of the process.

The paper has studied the advantages and limitations of the differential electronic nose following from the existence of the noise, corrupting the measurements. It has pointed an important role of the applied classifier system in getting the electronic nose of the highest quality.

Following a review of the methods used in the electronics industry to study the corrosivity of fluxes for soft soldering, two procedures have been developed based on a proposal published by W. Rubin and B.M. Allen. In the first test, the loss in strength of anodically polarised copper wires coated with soldering flux residues is measured after exposure to humid conditions for 24 hours. The second test uses a printed circuit board carrying a copper track test pattern which is coated with soldering flux residues and held in a humid environment. Tracks on the test circuit are polarised anodically at 250 V and changes in their electrical conductivity are monitored. These give an indication of the progress of corrosion through a ‘corrosion factor’, Fc(t), derived from:

A DSIR Sponsored Research Programme on the Development and Application of the Matrix Force Method and the Digital Computer. The present issue gives a summary of the basic theory of the matrix force method together with some necessary extensions for the fuselage problem. The equilibrium conditions for the idealized structure are then examined in detail and the relevant equations of equilibrium established in matrix form.

The purpose of this paper is to offer an exploratory case study of how the UK’s leading retailers are addressing sustainable consumption.

The paper begins with a discussion of the growing awareness of the importance of sustainable consumption and of the role that retailers can play in promoting more sustainable patterns of consumption. This is followed by a short literature review of current thinking on sustainable consumption. The paper draws its empirical information from the top ten UK retailers’ corporate websites and from an observational survey conducted in these retailers’ largest stores in the town of Cheltenham in the UK. The paper concludes with some reflections on how the UK’s leading retailers are addressing sustainable consumption and on how the concept fits into their business models.

The findings reveal that the UK’s top ten retailers make very limited public corporate commitments to sustainable consumption and that while some of these retailers were offering customers some information which might encourage more sustainable shopping behaviour, such information was systematically undermined by marketing messages which were designed to encourage rather than restrict consumption. More critically the paper concludes that the leading retailers’ commitments to sustainable consumption are couched within existing business models centred on continuing growth and that as such they are effectively ignoring the fact that present levels of consumption are not sustainable.

This paper provides an accessible review of the extent to which the UK’s leading food retailers are addressing sustainable consumption and communicating sustainable consumption agendas to their customers within stores, and, as such, it will be of value to academics, practitioners, consumer organizations and policymakers interested in the role retailers can play in promoting sustainable consumption.

The purpose of this commissioned paper is to offer some personal reflections on sustainability within the hospitality industry.

The paper opens by identifying sustainability as a teasing paradox for the hospitality industry and a short discussion of the characteristics of sustainability. It then explores the growing interest in corporate sustainability and offers a review of the range of academic research into sustainability within the hospitality industry literature. More generally, the authors suggest three fundamental sets of issues that currently face the industry, namely, defining sustainability within the industry, materiality and independent external assurance and sustainable consumption and the industry’s commitment to continuing economic growth.

In addressing these three sets of issues, the authors make a number of suggestions. First that definitions of sustainability within the hospitality industry can be interpreted as being constructed around business imperatives rather than an ongoing commitment to sustainability. Second that materiality and external assurance are not treated comprehensively within the industry, which undermines the credibility of the sustainability reporting process. Third that the concept of sustainable consumption and any critique of the industry’s commitment to economic growth are conspicuous by their absence in the both the research literature on sustainability and in sustainability reporting within the industry.

The paper suggests that the hospitality industry may need to examine how it defines sustainability, to extend its sustainability reporting to embrace materiality and external assurance and to address the issues of sustainable consumption and continuing economic growth if it is to demonstrate a worthwhile and enduring commitment to sustainability.

The paper provides some accessible personal reflections on sustainability within the hospitality industry and, as such, it will be of interest to academics, students and practitioners interested in the hospitality industry and more widely within the business and management community.

The purpose of this practice briefing paper is to provide an exploratory review of the sustainability agendas being addressed and publicly reported by the UK's leading data centre operators.

The paper begins with a short discussion of the characteristics of sustainability and an outline of the origins and development of data centres within the UK. The paper draws its empirical material from the most recent information on sustainability posted on the UK's leading data centre operators' corporate web sites.

The findings reveal that all the UK's leading data centre operators provide only limited information on their commitment to sustainability with the dominant focus being on its environmental dimension and with little attention being paid to social and economic issues. More critically the authors argue that these commitments are driven more by the search for efficiency gains, that they are couched within existing business models centred on continuing growth and that as such the UK's leading data centre operators are pursuing a “weak” rather than a “strong” model of sustainability.

The paper suggests that leading data centre operating companies may need to extend their sustainability reporting and to introduce external assurance procedures.

The paper provides an accessible review of the sustainability agendas being pursued by the UK's leading data centre operators and as such it will interest academics, students and practitioners interested in both sustainability and data centre operations and developments.

This brief note sheds light on the links between Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) codes and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations.

Three alternative methods based on keyword overlap to establish links between SDGs and JEL codes are presented.

These simple linkages illustrate that the themes of SDGs have corresponding closely related JEL classification codes.

The mappings presented in this note are based on simple keyword overlap and are therefore necessarily imperfect and incomplete. There is plenty of room for further development.

Despite the demonstrated possibility of linking SDGs to existing JEL codes, introducing a specific JEL code for each SDG would reduce search costs for those searching for economic research related to specific SDGs.

The first and preliminary attempt to link SDGs and JEL codes.