Search results

1 – 10 of over 1000
Open Access
Article
Publication date: 23 April 2018

Minna A. Sorsa, Irma Kiikkala and Päivi Åstedt-Kurki

Mothers with a dual diagnosis (mental ill health and substance use) have delays in accessing services, or their care may be interrupted prior to therapeutic relationships being…

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Abstract

Purpose

Mothers with a dual diagnosis (mental ill health and substance use) have delays in accessing services, or their care may be interrupted prior to therapeutic relationships being formed. The purpose of this paper is to explore and describe how engagement merges in the context of mothers with a dual diagnosis.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a qualitative, focused ethnographic study at a low-threshold service for substance abusing families. The data contain interviews, observations, field notes, and reflections. The analysis followed several systematic steps.

Findings

Engagement is the co-creation of possibilities between workplace staff and the client in different interfaces. It is not a single act, emotion, or verbal communication, but a complex intertwined system of events that can awaken or enable the client to get a grasp on life. The sensitivity of the worker is one tool for engaging the client in manifold ways in different interfaces: even the smallest events with connection are viewed as valuable. Engagement involves the intentional client in the process of interaction: the client needs to participate and become an acting and sensing part of the change, which occurs on an experiential level. The process is described with the metaphor of a seed.

Originality/value

Engagement as inner involvement challenges the current working methods, and requires sensitivity, because the mothers with a dual diagnosis may not have verbalisable goals when arriving to the services.

Details

Advances in Dual Diagnosis, vol. 11 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-0972

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 7 December 2022

T.O.M. Forslund, I.A.S. Larsson, J.G.I. Hellström and T.S. Lundström

The purpose of this paper is to present a fast and bare bones implementation of a numerical method for quickly simulating turbulent thermal flows on GPUs. The work also validates…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a fast and bare bones implementation of a numerical method for quickly simulating turbulent thermal flows on GPUs. The work also validates earlier research showing that the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) method is suitable for complex thermal flows.

Design/methodology/approach

A dual lattice hydrodynamic (D3Q27) thermal (D3Q7) multiple-relaxation time LBM model capable of thermal DNS calculations is implemented in CUDA.

Findings

The model has the same computational performance compared to earlier publications of similar LBM solvers. The solver is validated against three benchmark cases for turbulent thermal flow with available data and is shown to be in excellent agreement.

Originality/value

The combination of a D3Q27 and D3Q7 stencil for a multiple relaxation time -LBM has, to the authors’ knowledge, not been used for simulations of thermal flows. The code is made available in a public repository under a free license.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 33 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 7 July 2022

Sirilak Ketchaya and Apisit Rattanatranurak

Sorting is a very important algorithm to solve problems in computer science. The most well-known divide and conquer sorting algorithm is quicksort. It starts with dividing the…

1260

Abstract

Purpose

Sorting is a very important algorithm to solve problems in computer science. The most well-known divide and conquer sorting algorithm is quicksort. It starts with dividing the data into subarrays and finally sorting them.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, the algorithm named Dual Parallel Partition Sorting (DPPSort) is analyzed and optimized. It consists of a partitioning algorithm named Dual Parallel Partition (DPPartition). The DPPartition is analyzed and optimized in this paper and sorted with standard sorting functions named qsort and STLSort which are quicksort, and introsort algorithms, respectively. This algorithm is run on any shared memory/multicore systems. OpenMP library which supports multiprocessing programming is developed to be compatible with C/C++ standard library function. The authors’ algorithm recursively divides an unsorted array into two halves equally in parallel with Lomuto's partitioning and merge without compare-and-swap instructions. Then, qsort/STLSort is executed in parallel while the subarray is smaller than the sorting cutoff.

Findings

In the authors’ experiments, the 4-core Intel i7-6770 with Ubuntu Linux system is implemented. DPPSort is faster than qsort and STLSort up to 6.82× and 5.88× on Uint64 random distributions, respectively.

Originality/value

The authors can improve the performance of the parallel sorting algorithm by reducing the compare-and-swap instructions in the algorithm. This concept can be used to develop related problems to increase speedup of algorithms.

Details

Applied Computing and Informatics, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2634-1964

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 18 January 2021

Hongxing Wang, LianZheng Ge, Ruifeng Li, Yunfeng Gao and Chuqing Cao

An optimal solution method based on 2-norm is proposed in this study to solve the inverse kinematics multiple-solution problem caused by a high redundancy. The current research…

1052

Abstract

Purpose

An optimal solution method based on 2-norm is proposed in this study to solve the inverse kinematics multiple-solution problem caused by a high redundancy. The current research also presents a motion optimization based on the 2-Norm of high-redundant mobile humanoid robots, in which a kinematic model is designed through the entire modeling.

Design/methodology/approach

The current study designs a highly redundant humanoid mobile robot with a differential mobile platform. The high-redundancy mobile humanoid robot consists of three modular parts (differential driving platform with two degrees of freedom (DOF), namely, left and right arms with seven DOF, respectively) and has total of 14 DOFs. Given the high redundancy of humanoid mobile robot, a kinematic model is designed through the entire modeling and an optimal solution extraction method based on 2-norm is proposed to solve the inverse kinematics multiple solutions problem. That is, the 2-norm of the angle difference before and after rotation is used as the shortest stroke index to select the optimal solution. The optimal solution of the inverse kinematics equation in the step is obtained by solving the minimum value of the objective function of a step. Through the step-by-step cycle in the entire tracking process, the kinematic optimization of the highly redundant humanoid robot in the entire tracking process is realized.

Findings

Compared with the before and after motion optimizations based on the 2-norm algorithm of the robot, its motion after optimization shows minimal fluctuation, improved smoothness, limited energy consumption and short path during the entire mobile tracking and operating process.

Research limitations/implications

In this paper, the whole kinematics model of the highly redundant humanoid mobile robot is established and its motion is optimized based on 2-norm, which provides a theoretical basis for the follow-up research of the service robot.

Practical implications

In this paper, the whole kinematics model of the highly redundant humanoid mobile robot is established and its motion is optimized based on 2-norm, which provides a theoretical basis for the follow-up research of the service robot.

Social implications

In this paper, the whole kinematics model of the highly redundant humanoid mobile robot is established and its motion is optimized based on 2-norm, which provides a theoretical basis for the follow-up research of the service robot.

Originality/value

Motion optimization based on the 2-norm of a highly redundant humanoid mobile robot with the entire modeling is performed on the basis of the entire modeling. This motion optimization can make the highly redundant humanoid mobile robot’s motion path considerably short, minimize energy loss and shorten time. These researches provide a theoretical basis for the follow-up research of the service robot, including tracking and operating target, etc. Finally, the motion optimization algorithm is verified by the tracking and operating behaviors of the robot and an example.

Details

Assembly Automation, vol. 41 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-5154

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 18 March 2022

Nancy Kurland

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the role a full range of activities can play to combat mission drift in a social enterprise. In doing so, it expands understanding of…

1515

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the role a full range of activities can play to combat mission drift in a social enterprise. In doing so, it expands understanding of integrated activities to recognize the role of indirect support activities and an activity ecosystem to sustain mission. This paper also provides practical implications about the process for creating such an ecosystem.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper relies on an in-depth qualitative study of a for-profit company that later in life became an employee-owned benefit corporation. Data include interviews, informal and formal company documents and a site visit.

Findings

This paper expands the definition of activity integration to recognize indirect mission support, highlights the role an activity ecosystem plays to ensure the viability of these activities, and identifies a set of rules and a three-step process to create the reinforcing ecosystem.

Originality/value

Commonly, activities are integrated if the company earns revenues through pursuit of its social mission and differentiated if the company earns revenues not related to its social mission. By comparison, this paper argues for a more nuanced definition of activities to recognize indirect mission support and its role in reinforcing a dual mission.

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 13 April 2018

Dana-Nicoleta Lascu, Lalita A. Manrai, Ajay K. Manrai and Allison Gan

Natural and cultural tourism are important motivators for international tourism. Spain has impressive tourist attractions that are outstanding on the natural and cultural tourism…

10928

Abstract

Purpose

Natural and cultural tourism are important motivators for international tourism. Spain has impressive tourist attractions that are outstanding on the natural and cultural tourism dimensions. The purpose of this paper is to identify traits of the most attractive destinations in Spain and to understand the relative importance of natural, cultural, and dual (natural and cultural) attractions to target consumers.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors compare the level of tourism in the 17 major regions of Spain and identify the key natural, cultural, and dual attractions using a two-step cluster analysis to ascertain the relative importance of the three types of attractions.

Findings

The findings of the cluster analysis suggest that natural attractions had the highest importance, followed by dual attractions, with cultural attractions having the lowest importance in affecting the level of tourism in a region. The study identified four categories of regions resulting from “high vs low” total number of attractions by “high vs low” levels of tourism (operationalized via the number of tourist-nights). The regions with high levels of tourism were either located in the bodies of water (a group of islands) or on ocean/sea(s) surrounding Spain. The study suggests placing greater emphasis on promoting cultural attractions in Spain.

Practical implications

The findings suggest that there is a need to put more emphasis on promoting the cultural attractions in Spain. Spain is a diverse country with huge potential for tourism from people all over the world, due to its diverse geography and rich history.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that analyzes 17 regions of Spain in relation to their tourism characteristics, identifying attractions that are not sufficiently leveraged, and suggesting strategies for identifying opportunities for the tourism industry in Spain.

Details

European Journal of Management and Business Economics, vol. 27 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2444-8494

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 1 December 2022

Keisuke Kaneko, Fumihito Sasamori, Masao Okuhara, Suchinda Jarupat Maruo, Kazuki Ashida, Hisaaki Tabuchi, Hisaki Akasaki, Kazuki Kobayashi, Yuya Aoyagi, Noriaki Watanabe, Tomoyuki Nishino and Koji Terasawa

This study aims to evaluate a human rights-informed dementia prevention program promoting better health and social care among older adults. In this study, the authors examined…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to evaluate a human rights-informed dementia prevention program promoting better health and social care among older adults. In this study, the authors examined whether a dual-task training would improve cognition in healthy older adults.

Design/methodology/approach

Individuals attending the systematic health education program for older adults based in Japan were recruited for study inclusion, and divided into a dual-task training group (TG) and a control group (CG). The TG underwent 90 min of a weekly dual-task training for 12 weeks. Severity of dementia was measured using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) test. Brain function was assessed using a go/no-go task paradigm, during which cerebral blood flow was additionally measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy to quantify oxyhemoglobin (oxy-Hb).

Findings

MMSE total score, number of errors in the go/no-go tasks and oxy-Hb values showed significant improvements in the TG.

Research limitations/implications

Owing to the small number of participants allocated to the CG, the results must be interpreted with caution. Replication and further validation based on large-scale, randomized-controlled trials is warranted.

Practical implications

This study highlights potential benefits of incorporating an early prevention training for dementia into a human rights-friendly health education program.

Social implications

This study suggests a potential means to reduce costs of social security and health care by introducing a human rights-informed dementia prevention program.

Originality/value

The results suggest that dual-task training may improve cognitive function in healthy older adults, thereby contributing to better health and improvement of social health care, based on a human rights-informed health education program for the prevention of dementia.

Details

International Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2056-4902

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 20 December 2023

Martina Fuchs and Johannes Westermeyer

The purpose of this paper is to explore the scope for action of local human resource managers, who are employed in foreign subsidiaries of multinational companies (MNCs), for…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the scope for action of local human resource managers, who are employed in foreign subsidiaries of multinational companies (MNCs), for implementing training activities. These managers are situated in relationships to headquarters and the local environment. Related to this is the question whether MNCs contribute to the local skill base by implementing training activities or whether they exploit the existing skill formation system.

Design/methodology/approach

This study focusses on German subsidiaries of MNCs with headquarters in the USA and the UK, France, China and Japan. The study is based on 107 expert interviews with subsidiary managers and representatives of local stakeholder organisations, such as educational organisations, chambers, economic promotion agencies and governmental bodies in Germany.

Findings

The study reveals that headquarters introduce general schemes for training. In addition to these MNC-internal trainings, local managers use their information advantage over headquarters to implement dual training activities.

Research limitations/implications

The training activities of subsidiaries are dependent on the institutional settings of the host country.

Practical implications

Albeit dual training activities are laborious and tie the local managers down for the medium and long term, the future need of the subsidiary for adequately skilled workforce prompts local managers’ engagement in implementing dual training activities.

Social implications

Subsidiaries contribute to the local skill base and do not act in a free-rider position, at least in the German variety of capitalism.

Originality/value

The study deepens insights on distanced relations within and how subsidiaries generate scope for action by using this kind of relationships.

Details

Critical Perspectives on International Business, vol. 20 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1742-2043

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 7 August 2019

Trang Nguyen, Taha Chaiechi, Lynne Eagle and David Low

Growth enterprise market (GEM) in Hong Kong is acknowledged as one of the world’s most successful examples of small and medium enterprise (SME) stock market. The purpose of this…

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Abstract

Purpose

Growth enterprise market (GEM) in Hong Kong is acknowledged as one of the world’s most successful examples of small and medium enterprise (SME) stock market. The purpose of this paper is to examine the evolving efficiency and dual long memory in the GEM. This paper also explores the joint impacts of thin trading, structural breaks and inflation on the dual long memory.

Design/methodology/approach

State-space GARCH-M model, Kalman filter estimation, factor-adjustment techniques and fractionally integrated models: ARFIMA–FIGARCH, ARFIMA–FIAPARCH and ARFIMA–HYGARCH are adopted for the empirical analysis.

Findings

The results indicate that the GEM is still weak-form inefficient but shows a tendency towards efficiency over time except during the global financial crisis. There also exists a stationary long-memory property in the market return and volatility; however, these long-memory properties weaken in magnitude and/or statistical significance when the joint impacts of the three aforementioned factors were taken into account.

Research limitations/implications

A forecasts of the hedging model that capture dual long memory could provide investors further insights into risk management of investments in the GEM.

Practical implications

The findings of this study are relevant to market authorities in improving the GEM market efficiency and investors in modelling hedging strategies for the GEM.

Originality/value

This study is the first to investigate the evolving efficiency and dual long memory in an SME stock market, and the joint impacts of thin trading, structural breaks and inflation on the dual long memory.

Details

Journal of Asian Business and Economic Studies, vol. 27 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2515-964X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 28 July 2021

John F. Hulpke and Michael P. Fronmueller

A topic currently receiving significant academic and practitioner attention is called evidence-based management. The purpose of this paper is to suggest that this approach is…

2873

Abstract

Purpose

A topic currently receiving significant academic and practitioner attention is called evidence-based management. The purpose of this paper is to suggest that this approach is sometimes over-sold and may be a fad. Additionally, evidence-based management fails to fully recognize the importance of tacit knowledge, what Kahneman calls system 1. Evidence-based management does provide tools to better use what Kahneman calls system 2, rationality. Decision-makers need to take advantage of both rational and beyond rational processes.

Design/methodology/approach

This is an essay, it is not a report of a study. At this point in time, this paper needs thinking, reflection, pondering, more than a data-based study.

Findings

Advocates promote evidence-based management in part to help avoid fads, yet evidence-based management itself has many of the characteristics of a fad. Evidence-based management is based on an objective rational view of the world and suggests highly rational methods of decision-making. However, a rational fact-based might not give sufficient credit to instinct and feelings. Decision-makers should take into account facts, evidence, when making decisions, but not ignore intuition, hunches and feelings. This study is learning that decisions use a galaxy of approaches, with both cognitive and affective flexibility.

Research limitations/implications

As with any opinion-based paper, this lacks empirical support. Proponents ask us to believe in evidence-based management. Neither we, the authors of this paper, nor the proponents of evidence-based management can empirically support the ideas offered. An additional limitation is that the paper is written in one language, English. Translation into another language might yield different meanings.

Practical implications

There are advantages for scholars and practitioners to look at the best available evidence. There can be disadvantages in overlooking non-quantifiable factors.

Social implications

Those who use evidence-based management should also take into account feelings, ethics, aesthetics, creativity, for the betterment of society. To solve wicked problems one needs more than facts and rational analysis.

Originality/value

The overwhelming majority of those writing about evidence-based management are supporters. This study offers a different view. This paper brings new ideas and new thinking to both the extensive fad literature and the huge evidence-based management literature. Evidence-based management is discussed widely. Google Scholar lists more than two million papers in 2019, 2020 and 2021 on evidence-based management. Readers of this journal should critically evaluate this popular set of ideas.

Details

International Journal of Organizational Analysis, vol. 30 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1934-8835

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 1000