Search results

This study aims to examine the direct effect of compensatory health beliefs (CHBs), environmental self-identity and perceived environmental responsibility (PER) towards consumers' pro-environmental behaviour (PEB). Moreover, this study also investigates the mediating role of PER.

Data were collected from nutricosmetics consumers in Malaysia. A questionnaire survey was carried out in three major shopping complexes in Klang Valley areas, which generated 448 completed usable responses. The partial least square technique (SmartPLS, version 3) was used to analyse the data and to test the study hypotheses.

The results revealed that CHBs, environmental self-identity and environmental perceived responsibility positively affect consumers’ PEB in nutricosmetics consumption. Additionally, data supported the mediating role of PER in the relationship between CHB, environmental self-identity and PEB.

It is expected that the study findings will provide significant insights to help marketers and policymakers about consumers’ nutricosmetic products consumption. It will help the marketers to plan for effective marketing strategies to produce environmentally friendly products and to serve the green consumer segment effectively. Moreover, companies attempting to launch new nutricosmetics brands may find the results helpful in understanding PEB.

This study is among the pioneers to examine consumers’ PEB of nutricosmetics products. Moreover, there is a dearth of studies that have investigated the PEB of consumers in regard to the CHBs, environmental self-identity and PER towards nutricosmetics consumption. Additionally, this study examines the mediating role of PER between “CHBs and PEB” and “environmental self-identity and PEB”, which are yet to examine in the past literature in the field.

The purpose of this paper is to determine opportunities, resources, and capacity building supports that enable volunteer capacity to participate in localized health planning processes.

A case study methodology is employed in this study. A range of qualitative research methods including focus groups, individual interviews, observation and document analysis is used to gather detailed data about the experience of the health volunteers. They engage in an in‐depth analysis of this experience. A thematic analysis of volunteer accounts informs the explanation of the case and the study findings.

The development of partnerships between health systems and communities is advocated as a means of enhancing overall community capacity to address priority health concerns, and to reduce escalating health care costs and inequities. The process of building health partnerships is complex, requiring extensive assessment of both health system and community readiness. Health volunteers have many capacities well suited to collaborative activity; these are more likely to find expression when barriers are minimized and facilitative conditions are maximized. The study finds that dialogue is a key mechanism for assessing community and system readiness, and for building trust and mutual understanding in such health partnerships. This case study introduces facilitated dialogue as a mechanism for assessing volunteer readiness and timely capacity building resources and supports, in line with the developmental needs of volunteers. Assessing health system readiness involves consideration of health system goals and definitions of participation, and overall commitment to developing and resourcing this kind of system‐wide change where the outcomes are longer term in nature. This commitment entails training of health professionals in the relevant health promotion knowledge and skills. This extends to mobilizing, nurturing, and supporting volunteer capacity to work with the health system to make informed decisions about the health needs of their community.

A health system perspective on this question should be explored to identify other complex challenges associated with managing this kind of system‐wide change.

The paper provides detailed insights into the experience of health volunteers in a health planning context. These insights potentially inform concrete strategies for assessing community strengths and readiness, and for minimizing barriers to volunteer participation, particularly in a rural context.

The paper provides insights about how health system structure and environmental processes can be adapted to create an environment conducive to community participation.

This paper aims to contribute to the discussion of the experimental campaigns on Cultural Heritage buildings. By adopting integrated procedures it is possible to limit the invasiveness of the destructive techniques leading to reliable results. The purpose is the proper definition of the structural system, which represents the starting point of the following analysis's phases, not treated in this work. A methodology based on normative references and acknowledged non-destructive and partial destructive strategies has been conceived. The latter aims to an accurate comprehension of the structural information.

An integrated approach for the structural assessment of cultural heritage buildings is presented. The methodology defines an interdisciplinary procedure based on normative references, non-destructive and minor-destructive techniques. A funnel-shaped workflow is developed to characterize the structural system of the buildings. The non-destructive campaigns are widely extended. Then, in-depth analysis concerning partial demolitions and minor-destructive tests are performed. The dynamic identification of the building is executed to detect its global response. The final validation of the assumed mechanical values is obtained by comparing the experimental modes coming from the ambient vibrations and the analytical modes of the structural modelling.

This research belongs to the Protocol signed between the Municipality of Florence and Department of Earth's Science and Department of Architecture of the University of Florence for the seismic vulnerability assessment of relevant and strategic buildings.

The descripted methodology is targeted for monuments and special buildings where the use of destructive techniques is not possible or unrecommended.

Social implications are related to the conservation of Heritage buildings. The latter deals with: (1) risk assessment of the targeted buildings towards different hazard sources (e.g. earthquakes, floods); (2) knowledge path developed through non-invasive diagnostic campaigns oriented to the conservation of the manufact. Furthermore, the paper encourages towards the recognition of non-destructive techniques and ambient vibration tests for the achievement of higher knowledge levels.

This paper defines a funnel-shaped procedure defining hierarchical roles between the different available strategies. The originality of this contribution is firstly related to the methodological flowchart. It is targeted to limit the invasive tests and consequently achieving accurate levels of knowledge. Secondly, some novelty can be found in the adoption of improvement parameters from a regional database adopting a Bayesian approach.

Multilevel inverter (MLI) is an established design approach for inverter applications in medium-voltage and high-voltage range of applications. An asymmetric design synthesizes multiple DC input voltage sources of unequal magnitudes to generate a high-quality staircase sinewave comprising a large number of steps or levels. However, the implications of using sources of unequal magnitudes results in the requirements of a large variety of inverter switches and higher magnitudes of the total blocking voltage (TBV) rating of the inverter, which increase the cost. The purpose of this study is to present a solution based on algorithms for establishing DC source magnitudes and other design parameters.

The approach used in this study is to develop algorithms that bring an asymmetric cascaded MLI (ACMLI) design close to symmetric design. This approach then reduces the variety of switch ratings and minimizes the TBV of the inverter. Thus, the benefits of both asymmetric design (generation of a large number of voltage levels in the output waveform) and symmetric design (modularity) are achieved. The proposed algorithms can be applied to a number of ACMLI topologies, including classical cascaded H-bridge (CHB). The effectiveness of the proposed algorithms is validated by simulation in Matlab-Simulink and experimental setup.

Two new algorithms are proposed that reduce the number of variety of switches to just three. The variety can further be reduced to two under a specified condition. The algorithms are compared with the existing ones, and the results are promising in minimizing the TBV rating of the inverter, which results in cost reduction as well. For a specific case of four CHBs, the proposed Algorithm-1 produced 27% and Algorithm-2 produced 53% higher levels. Moreover, the presented algorithms produced minimum values of the TBV and resulted in minimum cost of inverter.

The proposed algorithms are novel in structure and have achieved the targeted values of minimized switch variety and reduced TBV ratings. Due to less variety, the inverter achieves a near symmetric design, which enables to attain the added advantages of modularity and reduced difference of power sharing among the DC sources.

This study investigates the potential of actor‐network theory (ANT) for theory development on information technology project escalation, a pervasive problem in contemporary organizations. In so doing, the study aims to contribute to the current dialogue on the potential of ANT in the information systems field. While escalation theory has been used to study “runaway” IT projects, two distinct limitations suggest a potential of using ANT: First, there is a need for research that builds process theory on escalation of IT projects. Second, the role of technology as an important factor (or actor) in the shaping of escalation has not been examined. This paper examines a well‐known case study of an IT project disaster, the computerized baggage handling system at Denver International Airport, using both escalation theory and ANT. A theory‐comparative analysis then shows how each analysis contributes differently to our knowledge about dysfunctional IT projects and how the differences between the analyses mirror characteristics of the two theories. ANT is found to offer a fruitful theoretical addition to escalation research and several conceptual extensions of ANT in the context of IT project escalation are proposed: embedded actor‐networks, host actor‐networks, swift translation and Trojan actor‐networks.

Advertising is the most visible element of modern marketing, however it is often accused by its critics of being intrusive and pervasive, and neither of these accusations can be refuted by a worldwide industry which spends billions of dollars each year reaching and persuading its target markets through daily bombardment of hundreds, if not thousands, of advertisements in most developed countries. In this article a conceptual framework of “acceptable advertising” is presented, discussed, and used to analyse the regulation of advertising in five countries around the world. The exercise succeeds in enhancing our understanding about how to improve the acceptability of advertising in contemporary societies.

Previous research has concluded that there is consumer desire for nutrition information to be provided on restaurant menu items and restaurant customers presented with this information will make healthier menu choices (Mills & Thomas, 2008). Limited research has been performed in a restaurant setting measuring real rather than intended behavior. The purpose of this research experiment is to measure consumer response, in a full-service restaurant setting, to nutrition information on menu items and subsequently determine if consumers will use this information in their menu item choice. An experiment was conducted with 264 restaurant customers at a full-service a la carte restaurant. Customers chose from menu items labeled with or without a Healthy Choice® label. A logistic regression model was used to predict whether people would choose Healthy Choice menu items. Fifty-four percent of restaurant customers chose the healthy choice menu item. The logistic regression confirms that those people who desire nutrition information also use this information in their menu choice. The study concludes with recommendations for the industry on directing consumer menu choice toward healthier items.

Provides results from a recent empirical study of US‐based international freight forwarders (IFFs). Compares IFF demographics with those from previous empirical research and finds that the IFF industry is still dominated by small companies and that IFFs continue to diversify their revenue bases. Presents information concerning contemporary issues affecting the forwarding industry and finds that IFFs generally view the Internet as a complement to, rather than a substitute for, EDI.

This paper examines the diversification of services and activities by freight forwarders in the UK. Following similar studies conducted in the USA, the paper analyses the trends towards service and revenue diversification that has been observed in this sector.

The study is based on a survey of 100 UK‐based freight forwarders‐based and empirically tests the firms' respective revenue generation structures, as well as the range of services offered. The survey is complemented by semi‐structured interviews at a further four companies in order to provide additional contextual explanations of the empirical findings.

The results show that diversification appears to be closely related to both company size and a diversified asset base. The motivation for diversification stems mainly from a perceived erosion of the traditional freight forwarding revenue streams, as companies are seeking higher profit margins outside their traditional core business, while addressing the increasingly comprehensive needs of their customers at the same time. The findings show that, although diversification is much less prominently seen in their revenue structures, companies are quite diverse in terms of the services offered. Service diversification was found to be a strategy predominantly followed by the larger companies with wider asset bases.

The freight forwarding industry is experiencing significant volatility as a result of technological advances, regulatory changes, customer pressures and increased competition. This study provides the empirical clarification needed for freight forwarding companies to derive a business strategy appropriate to their respective settings.

Previous studies have largely reported findings from research conducted in North America, which features a structurally very different population of freight forwarders and logistics operators. This study presents the status quo and trends of diversification in the UK, which features a population of considerably smaller firms and thus requires a different decision framework towards adopting a diversification strategy.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how Swiss public libraries are experiencing a normative revolution connected to new cataloging standards, such as RDA and the FRBRization of catalogs.

Thanks to semi-structured interviews, the paper analyzes the current positioning of Swiss public libraries on the “bibliographic transition” issue by using a case study of the network of municipal libraries in Geneva.

In Switzerland, the federal and multi-linguistic structure of the library networks increases the organizational obstacles to the adoption of new cataloging principles and formats. At the local level, the Swiss municipal libraries have to cope with this complexity to transform their structures and continue to offer competitive and effective services to their users.

The paper proposes six scenarios of technology watershed for the analyzed case study and their consequences for cataloging standards and rules.

The paper shows how the adoption of technological and conceptual innovations has to be done in the face of real organizational and administrative constraints, especially in the case of public lending libraries.

The paper analyzes at the empirical and theoretical levels how, especially in Switzerland, the variety of governance levels and linguistic areas have made strategizing more complex for public lending libraries.