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21 – 30 of over 1000Lin Fu, Zhe Ji, Xiangyu Y. Hu and Nikolaus A. Adams
This paper aims to develop a parallel fast neighbor search method and communication strategy for particle-based methods with adaptive smoothing-length on distributed-memory…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to develop a parallel fast neighbor search method and communication strategy for particle-based methods with adaptive smoothing-length on distributed-memory computing systems.
Design/methodology/approach
With a multi-resolution-based hierarchical data structure, the parallel neighbor search method is developed to detect and construct ghost buffer particles, i.e. neighboring particles on remote processor nodes. To migrate ghost buffer particles among processor nodes, an undirected graph is established to characterize the sparse data communication relation and is dynamically recomposed. By the introduction of an edge coloring algorithm from graph theory, the complex sparse data exchange can be accomplished within optimized frequency. For each communication substep, only efficient nonblocking point-to-point communication is involved.
Findings
Two demonstration scenarios are considered: fluid dynamics based on smoothed-particle hydrodynamics with adaptive smoothing-length and a recently proposed physics-motivated partitioning method [Fu et al., JCP 341 (2017): 447-473]. Several new concepts are introduced to recast the partitioning method into a parallel version. A set of numerical experiments is conducted to demonstrate the performance and potential of the proposed parallel algorithms.
Originality/value
The proposed methods are simple to implement in large-scale parallel environment and can handle particle simulations with arbitrarily varying smoothing-lengths. The implemented smoothed-particle hydrodynamics solver has good parallel performance, suggesting the potential for other scientific applications.
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Evelyne Vanpoucke and Scott C. Ellis
To build resilient supply chains, buyers should implement risk mitigation tactics. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the risky decision-making process that…
Abstract
Purpose
To build resilient supply chains, buyers should implement risk mitigation tactics. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the risky decision-making process that underlies buyers’ decisions to adopt supply risk mitigation tactics for creating supply-side resilience.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors employ experimental scenarios to simulate supply disruptions of low and high likelihood. The authors then assess buyers’ decisions to adopt supply risk mitigation tactics in response to these scenarios.
Findings
The authors find that buyers’ perceptions of supply disruption likelihood are positively related to their adoption of buffer- and process-oriented risk mitigation tactics and preference for process-oriented risk mitigation tactics. Conversely, risk propensity negatively affects buyers’ adoption of buffer- and process-oriented mitigation tactics.
Originality/value
Beyond risk perceptions, the authors consider how risk propensity also affects the risky decision-making process. Moreover, whereas previous studies often focus on a single mitigation tactic, the authors study buyers’ adoption of multiple buffer- and process-oriented risk mitigation tactics to create supply-side resilience.
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Sebastian Galiani, Patrick J. McEwan and Brian Quistorff
This chapter analyzes a geographic quasi-experiment embedded in a cluster-randomized experiment in Honduras. In the experiment, average treatment effects of conditional cash…
Abstract
This chapter analyzes a geographic quasi-experiment embedded in a cluster-randomized experiment in Honduras. In the experiment, average treatment effects of conditional cash transfers on school enrollment and child labor were large – especially in the poorest experimental blocks – and could be generalized to a policy-relevant population given the original sample selection criteria. In contrast, the geographic quasi-experiment yielded point estimates that, for two of three dependent variables, were attenuated. A judicious policy analyst without access to the experimental results might have provided misleading advice based on the magnitude of point estimates. We assessed two main explanations for the difference in point estimates, related to external and internal validity.
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Bin Srinidhi and Giri Kumar Tayi
There is extensive literature on the benefits of manufacturing control arising from minimal inventory policies of just in time (JIT). Operations management literature has focused…
Abstract
There is extensive literature on the benefits of manufacturing control arising from minimal inventory policies of just in time (JIT). Operations management literature has focused on controlling set‐up, lead and changeover times to streamline the operations and achieve low optimal inventory levels. Our paper first expands these models to include information and incentive effects. We then develop a model in which JIT focuses attention on process imbalances and derive the compensation contract that induces managers to be more creative in managing the process. We show that the loss of controllability decreases the benefits of JIT and increase the benefits of traditional buffer inventory. If, as on 11 September 2001, the loss or gain of controllability occurs quickly and unexpectedly, organizations need to develop the agility to switch between minimal inventory and buffer inventory systems.
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Despoina Xanthopoulou, Arnold B. Bakker, Maureen F. Dollard, Evangelia Demerouti, Wilmar B. Schaufeli, Toon W. Taris and Paul J.G. Schreurs
The purpose of this paper is to focus on home care organization employees, and examine how the interaction between job demands (emotional demands, patient harassment, workload…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to focus on home care organization employees, and examine how the interaction between job demands (emotional demands, patient harassment, workload, and physical demands) and job resources (autonomy, social support, performance feedback, and opportunities for professional development) affect the core dimensions of burnout (exhaustion and cynicism).
Design/methodology/approach
Hypotheses were tested with a cross‐sectional design among 747 Dutch employees from two home care organizations.
Findings
Results of moderated structural equation modeling analyses partially supported the hypotheses as 21 out of 32 (66 per cent) possible two‐way interactions were significant and in the expected direction. In addition, job resources were stronger buffers of the relationship between emotional demands/patient harassment and burnout, than of the relationship between workload/physical demands and burnout.
Practical implications
The conclusions may be particularly useful for occupational settings, including home care organizations, where reducing or redesigning demands is difficult.
Originality/value
The findings confirm the JD‐R model by showing that several job resources can buffer the relationship between job demands and burnout.
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Donald J. Shemwell and J. Joseph Cronin
Because services cannot be stored, temporary imbalances between supplyand demand present a difficult challenge for managers of service firms.Though marketing and management…
Abstract
Because services cannot be stored, temporary imbalances between supply and demand present a difficult challenge for managers of service firms. Though marketing and management strategies for dealing with foreseen disequilibrium situations are discussed, focuses primarily on stratagems for dealing with situations where demand or supply fluctuations are not foreseen. Discusses two categories of strategies: foresee the unforeseen by improving market intelligence; and lessen the intensity of the negative consequences of supply/demand disequilibriums by increasing flexibility and sharing risks.
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Nicolas Reigl and Lenno Uusküla
This paper aims to complement to standard Basel countercyclical capital buffer framework by suggesting additional measures for credit gaps that can be used to measure the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to complement to standard Basel countercyclical capital buffer framework by suggesting additional measures for credit gaps that can be used to measure the financial cycle and to decide on countercyclical capital buffers for banks.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper concentrates on European Union countries with the data starting from 1970. The authors check whether the newly suggested buffers are in place and sizable before financial distress periods.
Findings
The new measures are: the change in the credit-to-GDP ratio over two years; the growth in credit compared to the eight-year moving average of growth in nominal GDP over two years; the growth in credit compared to annual nominal growth of 5% over two years; and growth in credit relative to the nominal GDP trend value over two years. They behave similarly to the gaps calculated with the standard Basel one-sided Hodrick–Prescott filter in long samples.
Originality/value
The main contribution of the paper is to suggest new alternative measures of credit cycles that can be used in short samples and in case of structural breaks. New measures correlate well with actual countercyclical capital buffers in place in 2018.
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Discusses experiences from the design of parallellized flow assemblysystems. Also discusses factors influencing the performance ofcollective work and relates these to the flow…
Abstract
Discusses experiences from the design of parallellized flow assembly systems. Also discusses factors influencing the performance of collective work and relates these to the flow parameters in the Saab Automobile′s final assembly plant in Malmö and the Volvo Uddevalla final assembly plant. Illustrates this discussion by empirical data from the shopfloor of the Volvo Uddevalla plant. Focuses mainly on the evolution of the intra‐group work pattern from the start in the training workshop to the final intra‐group work pattern and the assembly performance achieved before the closing down of the plant. Reports on management′s initial design assumptions communicated during the design of the Uddevalla plant. Comments on and revises these design assumptions, since they were far too simple and lacked the support of theoretical analysis and empirical evidence. The lack of a scientific explanation for the production and work organization principles communicated within Volvo might be one of the reasons for the closing down – it certainly was not the performance of the plant.
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Luke Keele, Scott Lorch, Molly Passarella, Dylan Small and Rocío Titiunik
We study research designs where a binary treatment changes discontinuously at the border between administrative units such as states, counties, or municipalities, creating a…
Abstract
We study research designs where a binary treatment changes discontinuously at the border between administrative units such as states, counties, or municipalities, creating a treated and a control area. This type of geographically discontinuous treatment assignment can be analyzed in a standard regression discontinuity (RD) framework if the exact geographic location of each unit in the dataset is known. Such data, however, is often unavailable due to privacy considerations or measurement limitations. In the absence of geo-referenced individual-level data, two scenarios can arise depending on what kind of geographic information is available. If researchers have information about each observation’s location within aggregate but small geographic units, a modified RD framework can be applied, where the running variable is treated as discrete instead of continuous. If researchers lack this type of information and instead only have access to the location of units within coarse aggregate geographic units that are too large to be considered in an RD framework, the available coarse geographic information can be used to create a band or buffer around the border, only including in the analysis observations that fall within this band. We characterize each scenario, and also discuss several methodological challenges that are common to all research designs based on geographically discontinuous treatment assignments. We illustrate these issues with an original geographic application that studies the effect of introducing copayments for the use of the Children’s Health Insurance Program in the United States, focusing on the border between Illinois and Wisconsin.
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Niharika Gaan and Yuhyung Shin
This study explores the moderated mediation effect, wherein collective mindfulness attenuates the hypothesised relationship between customer incivility, service sabotage and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study explores the moderated mediation effect, wherein collective mindfulness attenuates the hypothesised relationship between customer incivility, service sabotage and psychological well-being and is supported by the conservation of resources (COR) theory.
Design/methodology/approach
Multiwave and multisource data were collected from 315 frontline employees (FLEs) working in 32 Indian bank branches. Using HLM 7.00, the authors tested a multilevel model in which branch-level collective mindfulness moderated the association amongst individual-level customer incivility, psychological well-being and service sabotage.
Findings
A higher level of collective mindfulness had a profound cross-level effect on the association between customer incivility and service sabotage through psychological well-being.
Originality/value
Distinct from prior research that focussed on individuals' personal resources as a buffer against customer incivility, the authors' study identified branch-level collective mindfulness as a boundary condition that helps employees experiencing customer incivility decrease service sabotage. By uncovering a branch-level variable that reduces the negative impact of customer incivility on service sabotage, the authors' study offers valuable insights for banks to enhance customer service at their branches.
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