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This study aims to examine the imagining of libraries and the depiction of library services in contemporary science fiction novels. Analyses of libraries in contemporary science fiction may reveal expectations of libraries and the roles they play in future societies. These may, in turn, be used by the library profession to innovate and to discover opportunities to design and improve library services that meet the expectations of library users now and in the future.

This research applied a content analysis approach to examine references to libraries in a purposeful sample of science fiction novels published between 2009 and 2019. The sample consists of 29 novels selected from the 2010–2020 winners of the Hugo Award for Best Novel, The Nebula Award for Best Novel, the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, The Philip K Dick Award and the Arthur C Clarke Award.

This research finds that libraries are a common feature within contemporary science fiction novels, primarily as part of the background setting of the narratives. Libraries are particularly common in peri-apocalyptic novels, often as “reinvented” libraries. This research identifies considerable differences in the way libraries and information access and use are depicted and documented in science fiction worlds of plenty, compared to those of scarcity. Other key themes discussed include freedom of access to information, and the supposedly common negative stereotyping of libraries.

Existing literature indicates anxiety about the future of libraries which the findings of this research do not support. The insights gained suggested instead, the emergence of an image of libraries as being embedded in the fabric of societies. This indicates the expectation of the place and role of libraries in contemporary societies. Libraries and their services must be adeptly placed and woven into the many facets of the societies they serve.

The purpose of this paper is to study the progression of business excellence (BX) in 13 repeat applicants for the New Zealand Business Excellence award over the period 1993‐2007.

A multiple case approach analyses quantitative scoring data along with qualitative interview and secondary data.

Formal, external assessments play a critical role in promoting continuous improvement toward BX. However, effective responses to feedback differ for enabler processes vs results. Achieving improved results requires a fundamental review of measurement approaches, as well as better alignment of performance measures to overall activities. Successful paths to continuous improvement vary depending on the starting point for this journey. Organisations starting with a relatively strong position can use external feedback to target improvement efforts for maximum benefit. Organisations starting at a more basic level of performance need to generalise improvement efforts across their full range of business activities. The research also identified the existence of hurdles along the road to BX.

The New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation, which administers the award scheme in New Zealand (NZ) had adopted the US Baldrige criteria as a whole, and no work has yet been done to validate the criteria for NZ conditions. This paper uses changes in scores between applications as a measure of progress to BX, so there is the possibility of applicants “gaming” the system (e.g. one research participant admitted they gained a large one‐off scoring improvement largely on the basis of writing a better application). Future research could extend this work by: studying the performance over time of a control group using Baldrige‐type criteria for internal assessment only; comparing one‐time applicants with repeat applicants; and studying the extent to which Baldrige criteria are appropriate within other national contexts such as NZ.

This research provides insight and advice into what works and what does not in implementing the Baldrige BX criteria.

This paper analyses a unique data source and contributes to the literature on drivers and barriers to continuous improvement, a key literature within operations management.

Job market shifts, such as workforce mobility and aging societies, cause the exit of knowledgeable personnel from organizations. The ensuing knowledge loss (K-loss) has broad negative effects. This study analyzes the knowledge management literature on K-loss published from 2000 to 2021 and identifies fruitful directions for future research.

The authors conduct a systematic literature review of 74 peer-reviewed articles published between 2000 and 2021. These articles were retrieved from ProQuest Central, Science Direct, EBSCOhost and Emerald databases. The analysis utilizes Jesson et al.’s (2011) six principles: field mapping, comprehensive search, quality assessment, data extraction, synthesis and write-up.

Three sub-topics emerge from the systematic literature review: K-loss drivers, positive and negative impacts of K-loss and mitigation strategies. Over half of the literature addresses mitigation strategies and provides solutions for K-loss already in progress, rather than proposing preventive measures.

This study has limitations related to the time span covered. Moreover, it focuses on articles published in refereed journals. Therefore, important contributions from conference papers, books and professional reports were excluded.

This research comprehensively synthesizes the K-loss literature and proposes future avenues of research to address under-investigated areas and potentially lead to theoretical and empirical advancements in the field. This study also provides suggestions for improving managerial practices.

CSF Buxmont Academy operates eight school/day treatment programs that use restorative practices, which includes a culture in which restorative characterizes staff interaction with students, and staff-to-staff and student-to-student relationships as well. This chapter presents analyses of the outcome experiences from two waves of discharge cohorts: 919 students during school years 1999–2000 and 2000–2001 and 858 during 2001–2002 and 2002–2003. Outcome measures include program completion rates, changes in self-esteem and anti-social attitudes, and the relationship between the length of program participation and post-release recidivism rates after controlling for individual risk factors. Recidivism rates were significantly related to length of program participation.

This paper aims to explore the allocation of the exit value of a start-up company in market equilibrium between an angel investor and an entrepreneur in the very early-stage financing market.

The theoretical model is established based on the two-sided random search theory and the model’s ability to match the empirical data is evaluated via simulation.

The model indicates that the allocation of the final investment outcome is not proportional to the initial investments by the angel investor and the entrepreneur. The simulation results show that the continued investment by the entrepreneur and the private benefit acquired by the angel investor have a more profoundly negative influence on the angel investor’s share of the exit value of the start-up company. Moreover, the market search structure represented by the matching probability of an angel investor to an entrepreneur has a more significant impact on the angel investor’s share than the other model parameters.

The importance of market search friction in the very early-stage financing market is emphasized. The concepts of continued investments and private benefits are introduced and quantified for the first time under the framework of angel investment. The impacts of such model parameters as the matching probability of an angel investor to an entrepreneur, the success rate of a start-up company, the bargaining power of an angel investor and the discount rate on the allocation of the exit value of the start-up company are investigated as well.

This paper aims to propose a novel integrated control method (ICM) for high-power-density non-inverting interleaved buck-boost DC-DC converter. To achieve high power conversion by conventional single phase DC-DC converter, inductor value must be increased. This converter is not suitable for industrial and high-power applications as large inductor value will increase the inductor current ripple. Thus, two-phase non-inverting interleaved buck-boost DC-DC converter is proposed.

The proposed ICM approach is based on the theory of integrated dynamic modeling of continuous conduction mode (CCM), discontinuous conduction mode and synchronizing parallel operation mode. In addition, it involves the output voltage controller with inner current loop (inductor current controller) to make a fair balancing between two stages. To ensure fast transient performance, proposed digital ICM is implemented based on a TMS320F28335 digital signal microprocessor.

The results verify the effectiveness of the proposed ICM algorithm to achieve high voltage regulating (under 0.01 per cent), very low inductor current ripple (for boost is 1.96 per cent, for buck is 1.1) and fair input current balance between two stages (unbalancing current less than 0.5A).

The proposed new ICM design procedure is developed satisfactorily to ensure fast transient response even under high load variation and the solving R right-half-plane HP zeros of the CCM. In addition, the proposed method can equally divide the input current of stages and stable different parallel operation modes with large input voltage variations.

The identification, access, and acquisition of financial resources are critical to the growth of any entrepreneurial venture. To perform better, growth-oriented women entrepreneurs need financial resources. Unfortunately, obtaining financial resources is a greater obstacle for women entrepreneurs than for men entrepreneurs. This chapter considers three different options for growth financing: crowdfunding, angel financing, and venture capital. Suggested strategies for women entrepreneurs seeking to raise money are also offered.

Angel investments are increasingly getting specialized. In recent years, start-ups are raising pre-seed funding before seed-stage funding. Investors in pre-seed and seed-stage companies commonly are angel investors. The purpose of this paper is to understand the differences between these two groups of angel investors.

Data for this study obtained from angel funding deals from the sources such as Venture Intelligence, VCCEdge, Keiretsu Forum, Dealcurry and The Chennai Angels. A total of 732 angel investments made by 405 investors during 2014–18 were used in the analysis. Non-parametric tests and regression estimations were used to identify the differences between angel investors investing in pre-seed and seed-stage ventures. An index was developed to measure the extent of syndication in angel investments and used as an independent variable in the regression.

There are significant differences between angel investors investing in pre-seed and seed-stage ventures. The results show that angels with more industry-specific experience make a higher proportion of investment in seed-stage ventures. Seed-stage ventures attract investors from Tier-1 cities, whereas the pre-seed stage has higher investors from smaller cities. Though the investment size is smaller, the extent of syndication is greater in pre-seed stage investments.

To differentiate the angel investments between pre-seed and seed-stage funding, this study uses data from Indian start-ups. Further, this study develops a composite syndication index to measure the extent of syndication in angel investments and assesses its impact on an angel investor’s choice of pre-seed stage investments.