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This study had five objectives: explain the initial steps that led to the construction of the Ethical Leadership Questionnaire (ELQ); analyze the items and verify the ELQ reliability using item response theory (IRT); examine its factorial structure with a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and an exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) approach; test the item bias of the ELQ; assess the relation between the ELQ dimensions and ethical sensitivity. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Study 1 and Study 2 involved 200 and 668 respondents, respectively. Step 1 consisted in IRT; Step 2 in CFA and ESEM analysis; Step 3 in invariance of the ELQ items across gender, and Step 4 in structural equation modeling.

Results indicated the presence of the three types of ethic in the resolution of moral dilemmas, validating Starratt's model. The factor structure was gender invariant. Ethic of critique was significantly related to ethical sensitivity.

More replications will be needed to fully support the ELQ's validity. Given that the instrument may be used in diverse cultural contexts, invariance across cultures would be warranted.

As educational organizations become aware of the crucial need for more ethical leaders, they will need to pay particular attention to the ethic of critique as it appears to play a significant role in the development of ethical sensitivity.

Results presented in this paper answer a vital need for more ethical skills in educational leadership.

The ELQ provides a validated measure of Starratt's conceptual framework and highlights the key role played by ethical sensitivity and the ethic of critique.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the Paulhus Deception Scales (PDS) (Paulhus, 1998) for use in the UK. Given the forensic use of the PDS, this study aimed to examine whether the subscales of impression management (IM) and self-deception enhancement (SDE) predict anti-social personality and narcissistic personality, respectively.

A UK general population sample completed the PDS and the International Personality Disorder Examination personality screening tool (Loranger, 1999). Findings were compared to original Canadian/US norms. Exploratory structural equation modelling (ESEM) and factor analytic techniques were applied to the data.

Average total and IM scores were significantly higher in the UK than in the original sample. The tool demonstrated good internal consistency. The initial two-factor model showed relatively poor fit, which was significantly improved by application of the novel ESEM approach. Higher IM scores significantly predicted lower anti-social personality. Higher SDE scores significantly predicted narcissistic personality.

The PDS is applicable in the UK, however, users should use UK norms. When assessing people, especially in a “high stakes” forensic setting, IM should not be considered socially deviant. Those with high-SDE scores have been found to be narcissistic; consequently, in clinical practice, high-SDE scorers may need further violence or personality evaluation.

Much of prior research focused on the dimensionality of the part of Job Diagnostic Survey that measures the core job characteristics, with mixed findings. The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate an instrument assessing core job characteristics.

Public school teachers (n=685) serving in elementary and secondary schools filled in the Core Job Characteristics Inventory (CJCI). CJCI comprises 29 items to assess job autonomy, task significance, task identification, skill variety and feedback from the job. The development of the CJCI undergone the following stages: development of an initial pool of items, examination of its content validity by ten experts and a pilot study.

Exploratory factor analysis revealed five factors with satisfactory internal consistency. Confirmatory factor analysis showed mixed results. Application of exploratory structural equation modeling procedures revealed that a correlated five-factor model yielded an adequate fit to the data. Associations among the five work features were significant, positive and yielding moderate values. Correlations among the five-core job characteristics and two affective job responses (job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion) provided evidence of CJCI concurrent validity.

Human resources managers can use CJCI to measure core job characteristics or to evaluate interventions in the work places.

A new instrument was developed to measure core job characteristics, and to address previous shortcomings reported in the literature. The rigorous methodological procedure, which followed for the development of the CJCI combined with a cross-validation approach best guarantees its applicability.

The influence of flood conditions upon traditional cob construction is little understood. This paper aims to investigate the ability of cob materials to resist flood situations and documents basic failure mechanisms. This work also seeks to investigate the wettability characteristics of cob materials utilising environmental scanning electron microscopy.

This paper takes the form of a literature review and case study underpinning laboratory experiments.

Cob walls that are suitably compacted, straw reinforced and are composed and manufactured of the correct materials appear to have the ability to resist total failure when subjected to initial flood conditions, however, the duration to which these structures will remain intact has still to be ascertained, and testing is ongoing. A correlation appears to exist between the rate of cob material's compaction and the duration to which the structural integrity of the walls was retained when the samples were submerged in water. In addition, the use of straw reinforcing increased the duration to which the wall could be submerged before failure. Un‐reinforced cob walls that were submerged in simulated floodwaters, exhibited an undercutting pattern of deterioration prior to failure. The materials for cob construction exhibited both hydrophobic and hydrophilic characteristics. This would have an influence on the material's ability to saturate and dehydrate, and also have an impact on moisture transfer mechanisms. Unsaturated cob wall/samples developed surface tension between hydrophilic surfaces and this is believed by the authors to increase inter‐particle bond strength within the material by the suction effect.

This paper is believed to be the first preliminary investigation into the effect of flooding on cob structures. Additionally, it utilises environmental scanning electron microscopy to reveal information about the surface characteristics of the materials and uses wettability studies to assess the hydrophilic and hydrophobic nature of the aforementioned.

Detecting precursory signals is critical to increasing the resilience of megaprojects to crises. This study aims to investigate key crisis precursors to better apprehend traces of megaproject crises and proactively respond to approaching crises, thereby increasing project resilience.

Drawing on the theory of weak signals, 25 potential precursors of megaproject crises are extracted. Using exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM), four models were tested to identify key crisis precursors based on a questionnaire survey of 168 megaproject participants in China. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was employed to examine the differences in participants’ perceptions of key crisis precursors.

Four key crisis precursors were identified: Imbalance of Benefits and Costs, Irresponsible and Unqualified Key Participants, Regulatory Mechanisms Lacking Transparency and Flexibility, and Information Uncertainty and Asymmetry. Compared with senior executives, team members think that key crisis precursors related to regulatory mechanisms and key participants are more likely to trigger crises, which affects responsive actions toward detected crisis precursors. The findings help identify problems at an early stage and enable timely intervention to mitigate crises.

Detection of key crisis precursors allows for proactive and targeted actions to mitigate crises. Megaproject development is affected by institutional mechanisms. The influence of institutions on the effectiveness of crisis management needs further investigation.

Limited attention has been paid to recognizing precursors of megaproject crises. This study identifies four key crisis precursors by uncovering the interrelationships among potential precursors, which enables rapid adaptation to future crises.

This paper aims to investigate the effect of acidity on the morphology of archeological paper, especially in the presence of colors and whether natural pigments play a role in the process of degradation.

The morphological changes in the cellulosic fibers of the manuscripts because of acidity were investigated using environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM). Ten historical samples were collected from different manuscripts suffering from acidity. X-ray diffraction was used to identify the inks and pigments that were used in some samples. Additionally, Fourier transform infrared microscopy was used to identify the binding medium.

The results confirmed that carbon ink, ultramarine, cinnabar and gold pigments were applied to some manuscripts with Arabic gum. As for ESEM investigation, the results proved that acidity badly affected the integrity of the cellulosic fibers resulting in their embrittlement. The micrographs showed differences in fiber degradation according to pH value. The presence of inks and pigments increased the degradation extent resulting from acidity.

This paper addresses a specific need to study the behavior of degradation in paper manuscripts, thus helping the conservators find solutions to the phenomenon.

Several trillion cigarettes produced worldwide annually lead to many thousands of kilograms of toxic waste. Cigarette butts (CBs) accumulate in the environment due to the poor biodegradability of the cellulose acetate filters. This paper presents some of the results from a continuing study on recycling CBs into fired clay bricks. The results show that the density of fired bricks was reduced by up to 30%, depending on the percentage of CBs incorporated into the raw materials. Similarly, the compressive strength of bricks tested decreased according to the percentage of CBs included in the mix. Nevertheless, by increasing mixing times, better quality bricks can be produced, even with the inclusion of high percentages of CBs. Longer mixing times increased dry density and compressive strength, equivalent to about 53% and 11% respectively. Microstructure observation using ESEM confirm the result by showing the apparent size of pores is reduced drastically and the distribution of pores becomes more uniform as the mixing time increases from 5 to 15 minutes, hence decreasing the porosity in the clay body which subsequently leads to a denser product with higher strength.

The purpose of this paper is to present the results from work on a project aimed at evaluating six different copper alloy substrates coated with pure tin for tin whisker growth. The influence of intermetallic growth between the copper alloy substrate and the tin‐plating on the growth of tin whiskers has been investigated.

The experiment consisted of six substrates of different alloys of copper, plated with bright tin including copper beryllium, cartridge brass, phosphor bronze, Cu‐Ni‐Si “7025” and Cu‐Ni‐Sn “spinodal”. The samples were mechanically stressed and then subjected to temperature humidity storage conditions for 1,000 h. These samples were then evaluated for tin whisker growth and intermetallic layer thickness.

Of the six samples five showed tin whisker growth. For these samples the intermetallic layer thickness has little effect on tin whisker growth. Sample with Cu‐Ni‐Sn “spinodal” alloy substrate showed very low whisker density and comparatively lower maximum whisker length than the other tested substrate material.

More samples per condition should be evaluated to bolster the conclusions. For the sample without tin whisker growth, holes on the surface of the plating were observed. The holes in the plating provide an opportunity for stress relaxation after the plating process. Since stress in the plating layer is low, tin whiskers are not formed on the sample surface.

The paper details the tin whisker growth on six tin plated copper substrate samples. The intermetallic layer thickness for each copper alloy substrate is calculated. The relationship between the intermetallic layer thickness and tin whisker growth for the six substrates are discussed.

Non‐woven laminates have begun to gain recognition in the electronics industry because they are generally thinner and flatter than woven laminates. This study characterizes the mechanical and thermo‐mechanical properties of non‐woven, randomly dispersed, short fiber laminates, and identifies potential failure mechanisms which must be addressed in the design and utilization of printed circuit boards using non‐woven technology.

The development of micro‐electro‐mechanical systems (MEMS) for use in military and consumer electronics necessitates an analysis of MEMS component reliability. The understanding of the reliability characteristics of SCSi within MEMS structures should be improved to advance MEMS applications. Reliability assessments of MEMS technology may be used to conduct virtual qualification of these devices more efficiently. The purpose of this paper is to create a simple, inexpensive test methodology to use the dynamic fracture strength of a MEMS device to predict its reliability, and to verify this method through experimentation.

The dynamic fracture strength of single crystal silicon (SCSi) was used to model MEMS devices subjected to high shock loading. Experimentation with SCSi MEMS structures was performed following the proposed test methodology. A probabilistic distribution for bending of Deep Reactive Ion Etching (DRIE) processed SCSi around the <110> directions was generated as a tool for assessing product reliability.

Post shock test inspections revealed that failures occurred along {111} planes. Additional experiments provided preliminary estimates of the fracture strength for bending of DRIE processed SCSi around the <100> directions in excess of 1.1 GPa.

This paper proposes a test methodology for an efficient method to assess the reliability of processed SCSi based on dynamic fracture strength.