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The purpose of this paper is to develop a nuanced interpretative frame that can help global managers with recommendations to avoid misapplied power with group and organizational situations.

Embodied metaphor is applied in analysis of the theory-praxis nexus to reconceive the bases, processes and resources associated with group and organizational power. Identified are patterns of relations in organizational bases and circuits of power, as expressed through literal and symbolic aspects of human hands and fingers. The paper does not revolve around gesticulations; instead focusing upon a novel, meta-cultural development of touchlines of the human hand, revealing conceptual relationships with the implementation of influence.

A differentiated understanding of the touchline powers of technology, information, self-awareness, relation to others and access to money can respectively improve decisions and actions. Insights are provided in the areas of controlling people to achieve objectives, demeaning others, managing change and resistance for personal gain, negotiating contracts, advancing personal interests and coordinating reward or punishment.

Choosing one metaphor may contribute to the exclusion of other perspectives, however, the embodied nature of the hand and touchlines tends to cross cultures and may assist further research to address the embedded nature of abuses of organizational power.

The contribution is in the theory-praxis nexus to assist global managers in addressing the risk of potential misuse of power and influence in organizations and to respond to calls for ancient indigenous epistemological systems to assume a role in contemporary management studies.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the possibilities of mechanical switch replacement by capacitive film touch sensor in applications requiring high reliability and short response time. Advantage of replacing mechanical switch by capacitive touch sensor is no mechanical wear and possible implementation of sensor in application where the switch could not be used or where the flexibility of the sensor substrate is required. The aim of this work is to develop a capacitive touch sensor with the advantage of maximum mechanical resistance, short response time and high sensitivity.

Based on various possible sensors layouts, the authors realized 18 different (14 self-capacitance and four mutual capacitance) topologies of capacitive sensor for touch applications. Three different technologies – PCB, LTCC and polymer technology – were used to characterize sensor’s behaviour. For precise characterization of different layouts realized on various substrates, the authors used integrated circuit FDC2214 capacitance-to-digital converter.

Sensing range of the capacitive touch (proximity) sensor is affected by the per cent of area covered by the sensor, and it does not depend on topology of sensor. The highest sensing range offers PCB technology. Flexible substrates can be used as proper substituent to rigid PCB.

The novelty of this work lies in finding the touch capacitive sensors that allow shorter switching times compared to standard mechanical switches.

The use of mobile devices in handling our daily activities that involve the storage or access of sensitive data (e.g. on-line banking, paperless prescription services, etc.) is becoming very common. These mobile electronic services typically use a knowledge-based authentication method to authenticate a user (claimed identity). However, this authentication method is vulnerable to several security attacks. To counter the attacks and to make the authentication process more secure, this paper aims to investigate the use of touch dynamics biometrics in conjunction with a personal identification number (PIN)-based authentication method, and demonstrate its benefits in terms of strengthening the security of authentication services for mobile devices.

The investigation has made use of three light-weighted matching functions and a comprehensive reference data set collected from 150 subjects.

The investigative results show that, with this multi-factor authentication approach, even when the PIN is exposed, as much as nine out of ten impersonation attempts can be successfully identified. It has also been discovered that the accuracy performance can be increased by combining different feature data types and by increasing the input string length.

The novel contributions of this paper are twofold. Firstly, it describes how a comprehensive experiment is set up to collect touch dynamics biometrics data, and the set of collected data is being made publically available, which may facilitate further research in the problem domain. Secondly, the paper demonstrates how the data set may be used to strengthen the protection of resources that are accessible via mobile devices.

Electronic textiles are a major new development in the field of smart technology. There are many potential applications for electrically active textiles (EAT). The purpose of this paper is to present state‐of‐the‐art knitted switches based on EAT technology.

The switches operate with double electrodes, and they are designed to be operated by a human finger, with or without a glove. In this study, these switches were manufactured based on EAT technology by generating conductive areas as electrodes.

A custom‐made impedance analyzer was developed to identify the electrical characteristics of the switches. The deriving circuits were designed to operate the switches according to their impedance characteristics.

The switch working with glove and bare hand is novel.

Various types of sensors such as tactile, proximity and visual, have been developed to give robots flexibility and adaptability. It is argued that for complex tasks the individual sensors need to be integrated into a total system. In this article a variety of sensors developed by the authors are presented as modules and a design approach for a total system is discussed.

The paper aims to describe the sensors used for interfacing with consumer electronic devices.

The paper describes the types of sensors employed in user‐interface devices such as trackballs, mice, touch pads, touch screens and gesture‐based systems. It concludes with a brief consideration of brain‐computer interface technology.

It is shown that a diverse range of sensors is used to interface with consumer electronics. They are based on optical, electrical, acoustic and solid‐state (MEMS) technologies. In the longer term, many may ultimately be replaced by sensors that interpret thought by detecting brain waves.

The paper provides a timely review of the sensors used to interface with consumer electronics. These constitute a very large and rapidly growing market.

Presents a basic idea about a flexible robotic hand for handling fabric pieces in garment manufacture, which is multi‐functional and useful for picking a fabric piece up correctly, transferring and setting it without slipping to any three‐dimensional point. The robotic hand employs a strain gauge sensor and is capable of sensing touch, of measuring the thickness of fabric and its tension. Robotic hands have more applications in computer integrated manufacturing.

The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into whether “more sense makes sense” when attempting to encourage consumers to purchase retail products using technology; that is, does engaging senses in addition to visual and aural senses, such as haptic touch, through interactive retail technology lead to an easier and more enjoyable consumption experience of retail products for consumers, while also enhancing service provider outcomes? To test this assumption (“more sense makes sense”), this study empirically examines whether differences are present in the consumer experience (usefulness, ease of use and customer-perceived value) and service provider outcomes (satisfaction and purchase intentions) across retail technologies with and without haptic touch enabled.

The study randomly allocated participants to either the haptic touch (haptic touch, visual and aural senses, n = 135) or no haptic touch (visual and aural senses only, n = 182) interactive retail technology condition. The data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance.

The data provide support for the use of high-interactive technology achieved through the inclusion of haptic touch by showing it to provide a more visually appealing, easy to use, enjoyable and entertaining experience. However, the results also provide insight into boundaries of where the use of haptic touch does not significantly increase outcomes. Overall, the results suggest high-interactive retail technology using haptic touch provides a more entertaining experience for consumers, which leads to increased satisfaction with service providers, but this does not translate into a significant increase in purchase intentions.

This study examines the consumer and service provider benefits and limitations of using haptic touch in interactive retail technology. The effects of haptic touch for both the consumer and service provider have not previously been empirically examined thoroughly in a technological setting.

The tactile sensor with array structure normally has the defects of existing nondetection zone, complex and nonstretchable structure. It is difficult to seamlessly attach to the surface of the robot. For this reason, this paper proposes a method to prepare nonarray structure tactile sensor directly on the surface of the robot by spraying process.

Based on the principle of gradient potential distribution, the potential fields are constructed in two different directions over the conductive film in time-sharing. The potentials at touching position in the two directions are detected to determine the coordinate of the touching point. The designed tactile sensor based on this principle consists of only three layers. Its bottom layer is designed as a weak conductive film made of graphite coating and used to construct the potential field. It can be sprayed either on PET substrate or directly on robot surface.

The radial basis function neural network is used for remodeling the potential distribution, which can effectively solve the problem of nonlinear potential distribution caused by irregular sensor shape, and uneven conductivity at different points of the spraying coating. The simulation and experimental results show that the principle of the proposed tactile sensor used for touching position detection is feasible to be applied to complex surfaces of the robot.

This paper proposed a nonarray customizable tactile sensor based on the spraying process. The sensor has a simple structure, and only five lead wires are needed to realize the coordinate detection of the touch position.

The attributes of laser discs are reviewed, as are the “traditional” objections to the use of audiovisual materials — including their lack of specificity to precise objectives. Use of authoring systems is described as a means of tailoring laser disc programs to meet those precise objectives, as well as updating aging materials. The flexibility and power of the Video Nova Authoring System is explained and illustrated. A sidebar at the end of the article evaluates the Sony SMC‐70 microcomputer.