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Libraries need to develop information processing systems for evaluation, budgeting, planning, and operations. Electronic spreadsheets lend themselves to a variety of applications, but are time‐consuming to create. A model template and macros that can be used in many different types of library data analysis have been developed here. The procedures demonstrated here can build an essential set of tools for meeting fundamental goals of administrative efficiency, effective use of library resources, staff motivation, and rational policy making.

Mechanical and chemical properties of acrylic-melamine automotive clear coat in the presence of different percentages of well dispersed nano-layered sodium montmorillonite (Na-MMT) silicate particles were investigated. For this purpose, prepared dry clear coat film samples were subjected to the entire standard test series, usually carried out in automotive coating industry.

Effects of adding different percentages of nano-layered silicate on mechanical and chemical properties of acrylic-melamine automotive clear coat were investigated. To increase the compatibility of nanoclays with polymer matrix of clear coat, the surface of nanoclays was modified by benzalkonium chloride as a cationic surfactant. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used for characterization and comparison between clays before and after modification, and also after dispersion in coating. Prepared dry clear coat film samples subjected to the test series are usually carried out in automotive coating industry.

The results indicated that incorporation of 1 and 2 Wt.% of nano-layered silicate caused desired improvement in chemical and physical properties of the acrylic-melamine clear coat. Increasing the percentage of nanoclay to over 2 Wt.% caused damage in some properties such as hardness, cupping and gloss.

All materials and methods were used in this research are industrial grade. Therefore, the introduced modified clear coat sample has potential for commercial production as an automotive clear coat.

As far as it was searched in the literature, effects of adding nanoclay particles on mechanical and physical properties of different clear coats, such as epoxy clear coat, have been investigated in a few researches, but in this research, common and special tests which are necessary in automotive coating industry have been ignored. In the present study for the first time, acrylic-melamine clear coat was subjected to modification using nano-clay, and also, the most common industrial test methods were used for investigation of mechanical and chemical properties.

The purpose of this paper is to describe how a discrete element model is used to predict the penetration depth and the perforation caused by a non‐deformable missile against a thin reinforced concrete slab.

Initial calibration of the model was done with a series of flat‐nose missile tests. Additional simulations were performed with varying the percentage of reinforcement. The present numerical model is compared to experimental test data provided by the French Atomic Energy Agency (CEA) and the French Electrical Power Company (EDF).

For thin concrete slabs, the evolution of the penetration depth in terms of percentage of reinforcement was compared with experimental results: quantitatively the results are very coherent.

The modeling scale is higher than the heterogeneity scale, so the model may be used to simulate real structures, which means that the discrete element method is mainly used here for its ability to account for discontinuities; an identification process based on quasi‐static tests is used, so the quasi‐static behavior of concrete is reproduced. This identification process is the key point, to allow a complete predictive computation for complex impact configurations, especially when the missile diameter and the thickness of the concrete slab are on the same order in size.

Using data for a set of 32 Sub-Saharan countries over the years 2000, 2005 and 2010, the paper investigates the effects of domestic governmental stability upon emigration and assesses whether education and gender shape the relationship.

The paper adopts instrumental variable (IV) Poisson regressions and two-stage least squares (2SLS) as robustness tests.

The paper suggests that increased governmental stability has a larger impact on the emigration of high-skilled individuals. Nevertheless, once emigrants are partitioned according to both education and gender, the authors find evidence of a larger impact of stability on the emigration of highly educated females.

The empirical findings may lack generalizability because of the chosen research approach. Then, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further.

The paper includes implications that can be drawn for both the growth and the development of Sub-Saharan Africa.

This paper fulfills an identified need to study how both education and gender shape the relationship between domestic governmental stability and emigration.

This paper is concerned with International Accounting Standards (IAS) and their impact upon existing accounting practices for property within the UK. It also anticipates the wider international and European demands for IAS. There are two primary points to consider. First, the European Union (EU) has stated that it expects publicly listed companies quoted on the stock exchanges of EU member states to adopt International Accounting Standards by 2005. Others are encouraged to do so, with an implication that this will become mandatory at some future date. In earlier papers, the authors examined the recent changes within property accounting and the role played by property professionals within that process. This paper examines the requirements of international standards within the context of the British position as explained earlier. Differences are noted, the contrasting debates analysed and suggestions offered for corporate real estate professionals to consider. Secondly, unlike British Accounting Standards, IAS do not recognise property professionals or any professional organisation representing them, such as the International Valuation Standards Committee (IVSC), and none of their regulations are represented within the standards. This situation is examined, and commentary provided upon the repercussions and possible solutions.

We outline an economic theory of choice of organizational form, concentrating on explaining the selection of contractual relations within employee-owned firms. We then test the theory on a new database of U.S. producer cooperatives and find that the theory is largely supported by the data. Our principal conclusion is that producer cooperative formations have been rather strongly responsive to variations in economic conditions. While procyclical theories are clearly rejected, countercyclical theories receive considerable support. Neither political motivations nor legal institutions, especially the existence of cooperative incorporation laws, appear to have accounted for a portion of cooperative formations on a systematic basis. Support organizations have significant positive impacts on the formation rate of new cooperatives.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the key facilitating factors for smart sustainable practices (SSP) and develop a project evaluation model (PEM) for SSP implementation in Nigeria and Hong Kong. SSP is coined from the integration of digital technologies such as Building Information Modelling (BIM) to facilitate sustainability practices.

The study employed a quantitative research design approach using empirical questionnaire surveys to solicit the opinions of 69 and 97 construction practitioners in Nigeria and Hong Kong. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques were used to identify the potential survey respondents. The fuzzy synthetic evaluation technique was used to develop the PEMs.

The findings revealed that adequate technical expertise of the SSP processes is critical in enhancing its implementation in Hong Kong and Nigeria; as well as the provision of training programs for specialists in smart and sustainable initiatives. Meanwhile, the study's findings advocated that for an SSP-enabled construction project, its project performance is mainly influenced by the client's satisfaction level and the early involvement of the project teams.

The study's results are limited to the Nigeria and Hong Kong construction industries.

Construction stakeholders such as the clients, developers, contractors can utilize the PEMs to determine and track SSP initiatives implementation in building projects in a reliable and practical way.

No tool has been developed for evaluating SSP initiatives at the project level in the construction industry. Using case studies of Hong Kong and Nigeria, PEM indices were developed to measure and track SSP implementation in construction projects.

This paper specifies how to construct and validate an instrument based on multi‐item scales for the cataloguing and measurement of managerial and organizational capabilities on the basis of management perceptions. The construction and reduction of the scales have been reinforced by the Delphi and retesting techniques. The use of this methodology was illustrated in a sample of Spanish industrial firms. The paper enhances the value of the instruments for a resource‐based view with regard to the faithful and rigorous measurement of its key concept, distinctive competences. The scales created provide consistent empirical evidence to remove doubts surrounding managerial self‐evaluation, including those arising from problems of self‐esteem and reinforcement effects. In addition, the paper provides empirical evidence to support the predictive ability of distinctive competences on current and long‐term performance variability.

This study aims to explore the institutionalization of value-based healthcare (VBHC) in the public healthcare system in the state of Victoria, Australia.

The empirical part of this paper is based on a content analysis of 34 policy and industry-commissioned reports that have guided the development of health-care strategy in Victoria from 1988 to 2020.

This study sheds light on how VBHC in Victoria has been institutionalized over time, through three key phases (centralization, transitioning and digitalization), how the conceptualization of best value has changed in each phase and the implications each phase has presented for other actors in the health-care system.

This study highlights the key opportunities and challenges for organizational actors that emerge when a health-care system transitions toward VBHC, and derives implications for vendors, health-care procurement, policymakers and governmental agencies.

This study develops a longitudinal analysis that describes the evolution and institutionalization of a VBHC approach in a complex societal system over three decades and highlights the key implications for other organizational stakeholders.

Global imbalances and financial crisis discussed in the preceding chapters were not the only contemporary issues that shaped the current and future landscape of the world economy. Since 2004, many countries also felt a significant shock prompted by a surge in the oil price, forcing them to look for the appropriate policy response that would produce least pain and minimum impact on welfare. The fact that oil remains an important source of energy for many countries, developed and developing alike, a price surge can trigger a new round of global conflicts. Indeed, from the hording of grain in Neolithic times to rivalry over resources in the interimperial wars of the 16th–19th centuries that laid the groundwork for World War I, and to modern nations warring over oil, competition and the desire to have a control over the possession of critical sources of vital materials had always been at the center of conflicts from the very beginning of human story. To prop up their industrialization, for a long period of time developed countries had relied on a stable supply of oil, making their political and strategic relations with oil-producing countries so critical, yet fragile and crisis prone. Conflicts and wars over oil were fought among the oil-producing countries as well.¹ Although it was not admitted by the U.S. administration, at least not publicly, the desire to have greater control over oil was also the primary reason for the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.