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The purpose of this paper is to examine the issue of at‐risk students in a rural district in Midwestern USA.

This field‐based research study used a qualitative embedded case study of a middle and high school informed by an appreciative inquiry theoretical research perspective to identify a positive core of teacher and administrator experiences related to at‐risk students. At‐risk students are those who under‐perform in mandated academic assessments as well as school‐related academic achievement. Social capital and appreciative inquiry served as theoretical perspectives. Focus groups, semi‐structured interviews, and an online survey were the primary data‐gathering methods.

Three findings illustrated the gap between present practice and the ideal state. The research team concluded that there was a foundation of positive core experiences from which to build on the espoused theory of caring professed by teachers and administrators.

The study's results can further teachers' and administrators' understanding of their problem‐based language that emphasizes the deficits of at‐risk students and their parents.

This study aims to review the recent advancements in high entropy alloys (HEAs) called high entropy materials, including high entropy superalloys which are current potential alternatives to nickel superalloys for gas turbine applications. Understandings of the laser surface modification techniques of the HEA are discussed whilst future recommendations and remedies to manufacturing challenges via laser are outlined.

Materials used for high-pressure gas turbine engine applications must be able to withstand severe environmentally induced degradation, mechanical, thermal loads and general extreme conditions caused by hot corrosive gases, high-temperature oxidation and stress. Over the years, Nickel-based superalloys with elevated temperature rupture and creep resistance, excellent lifetime expectancy and solution strengthening L12 and γ´ precipitate used for turbine engine applications. However, the superalloy’s density, low creep strength, poor thermal conductivity, difficulty in machining and low fatigue resistance demands the innovation of new advanced materials.

HEAs is one of the most frequently investigated advanced materials, attributed to their configurational complexity and properties reported to exceed conventional materials. Thus, owing to their characteristic feature of the high entropy effect, several other materials have emerged to become potential solutions for several functional and structural applications in the aerospace industry. In a previous study, research contributions show that defects are associated with conventional manufacturing processes of HEAs; therefore, this study investigates new advances in the laser-based manufacturing and surface modification techniques of HEA.

The AlxCoCrCuFeNi HEA system, particularly the Al0.5CoCrCuFeNi HEA has been extensively studied, attributed to its mechanical and physical properties exceeding that of pure metals for aerospace turbine engine applications and the advances in the fabrication and surface modification processes of the alloy was outlined to show the latest developments focusing only on laser-based manufacturing processing due to its many advantages.

It is evident that high entropy materials are a potential innovative alternative to conventional superalloys for turbine engine applications via laser additive manufacturing.

This paper aims to examine the link between information systems (IS) agility, HR performance management systems and job satisfaction using organizational information processing theory. The objective of this study answers the following questions: How does use of different IS agility impact HR systems and job satisfaction? What are the connecting pathways by which IS agility affects HR systems and job satisfaction?

The authors developed a theoretical framework based on the organizational information processing theory and collected primary data through an online-based questionnaire. Following these procedures, the authors analyzed the data using structural equation modeling (SEM).

SEM analysis of the data from 150 respondents supports the organizational information processing theory. The authors proposed eight hypotheses, and only one was rejected.

The data were collected from South Africa only, which is an emerging economy, and these cross-sectional data were gathered from the perspectives of the respondents.

The present paper empirically tests the conceptual model through the lens of organizational information processing theory.

Trade and investment flows into less-advanced economies could bring about important technological spillovers that could boost firm-level productivity and bolster their long-term economic growth. However, learning by doing and various forms of innovation activities are typically underprovided in a laissez faire policy environment. This brief paper outlines some of the motivations for public sector interventions to support learning by doing and stronger technological spillovers. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

To accomplish this, the paper provides a brief discussion of three key areas for policy attention, covering: the features that make international production networks fertile platforms for these spillovers; the opportunities for technology spillovers in the services sector; and the challenges associated with policies to link SMEs into these sectors that are fertile ground for technology spillovers and innovation.

This paper concludes by presenting a few possible guidelines on innovation and technology policy based on the lessons of industrialization attempts in the last several decades. A key insight tying these strategies together is that of creating incentives to compete and innovate, and ensuring that support is outcome oriented and temporary.

This paper contributes to the literature and practitioner-oriented scholarship by providing a clear framework for thinking about how to promote technology spillovers from trade and investments, as part of new industrial policies.

The examination of products of aqueous and non aqueous corrosion is carried out to obtain information about one of a combination of aspects such as composition, hardness, stress level, adhesion to basis metal and other mechanical properties (figure 1). A number of techniques are avialable to investigate corrosion products and some of these techniques have found greater application with products of aqueous corrosion and some with products of gaseous corrosion. This paper presents the technqiues available for obtaining information about the various aspects mentioned above and discusses the main characteristics, nature of data obtainable, advantages and limitations of some of the less know techniques.

Polymer Structure. A number of articles describe basic research on polymers of interest to the paint industry. Thus Sperling [Journal of Polymer Science, Macromolecular Reviews, 12 (1977) p. 141] describes interpenetrating polymer networks as structures which result when a crosslinked polymer is swelled by a monomer which contains also a crosslinking or polymerising agent. The monomer is thus polymerised in situ, presumably in the voids and intersticies provided by the initial crosslinked polymer. In this way, Sperling describes the morphology and mechanical properties of interpenetrating polymer networks.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how agile project management can foster creativity in project teams.

The study is based on an extensive literature review of agile project management and team creativity and is matching these two to answer the following research questions: (1) how agile project management approach can foster creativity in project teams? and (2) which principles and practices promoted by the most popular agile methodologies enhance creativity in project teams?

Five creativity-conducive spaces in agile project management were identified and integrated into a conceptual framework, namely, a space for generative social interactions, a space for learning, a space for change and adaptation, a space for exploration and a space promoting team members' well-being. In the next step, based on a thorough analysis of seven widespread agile project management methods, a large number of agile principles and practices were mapped into each of the five conceptual spaces.

This study provides new insights into how agile project management can foster creativity in project teams. The conceptual framework developed in this paper might be utilized to enhance creativity in agile teams, it can also serve as a starting point for future research.

The craft guilds of old are prototypes for the legend of European craftsmanship. This paper discusses three managerial principles used by the guilds: regulation, standards of accomplishment, and apprenticeship. The rationale behind, and the implementation of, each principle is outlined with reference to historical sources on guild operations. A consistent weakness of guild administration on these principles has been a bias toward self‐interested conservatism. As science and technology progressed, society has responded by abandoning guild administration in favor of independent professional organizations. The paper concludes by noting that, while independent professionalism is progressive, it also minimizes the benefits that guilds obtained from experience‐based knowledge.

The authors evaluate the preferences of retail investors with regard to the investment in structured financial products. The purpose of the paper is an analysis of the relative importance of key product attributes namely the issuing bank, the product structure, the associated costs and the disclosed risk.

The authors conduct a choice-based conjoint analysis, based on an online experiment. Participants judge their preferences for products which are presented by shortened key information documents according to the requirements of EU regulation.

Investors consider the costs and the product structure to be most important, whereas the issuer and information on risk are of less interest. Their preferences depend on their (self-evaluated) expertise: while inexperienced retail investors concentrate on costs, experienced investors pay more attention to the product structure.

The study is limited to a subsegment of the market, the discount certificates. For these products, issuing banks gain insight into the attractiveness of their products. Furthermore, the study carries implications for regulators: since investors emphasize the costs in their decisions, an unbiased disclosure of costs should be enforced.

While the recent literature has studied preferences for the investment in mutual funds, this is the first paper which directly analyzes the drivers of an investment in structured retail products.