Search results

This paper aims to investigate the composition and geography of an emerging “creative digital” cluster in London, in the context of cluster theory and emerging creative cluster concepts. This argues that this cluster cannot be divorced from the wider regional creative and digital economy and that its inter-dependence with a small number of “content” industries is critical to its formation. The significance of the “creative digital” firm blending design, communications and technological development is highlighted, as is its unique position in enabling such firms to flourish.

The research combines both quantitative with qualitative methods, based on cluster analysis of firm-level business data using GIS mapping software at a regional level; location quotient (LQ) analysis to reveal firm concentration at a local cluster level; an online questionnaire survey of firms within this cluster; participant observation of firm meet-ups over a three-year period; and face-to-face interviews with a sample of firms/owners.

The evidence generated from this research confirms the distinctive nature of this digital cluster and the benefits of co-location in an industrial district with proximities to a range of advanced producer services and cultural content provision. This has revealed an emerging “techno-creative habitus” (Scott 2010), which has been able to take advantage of market fluidity through a network of communities of interest firms, which have reshaped an existing global hub locally anchored by a highly porous locale.

The research is novel in combining spatial data analysis with qualitative research into firm behaviour and place-based factors that support the growth of this cluster. This has revealed new insights into the hybrid nature of tech firms that integrate content with both hardware and software applications and who innovate and grow through inter-personal cluster networks. This contributes to cluster theory and extends the range of proximities – social, institutional and cultural – that enhance the geographic advantages of clustering in this case.

The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of the relative density and geometric parameters on the homogenised in-plane elasticity modulus of a cellular honeycomb structure using analytical and numerical approaches.

In this work, the mechanical behaviour of a new design of the honeycomb is analysed through a refined analytical model that is developed based on the energy theorems by considering the shearing and stretching effects in addition to bending.

By taking into account the various deformation mechanisms (MNT), the obtained results show that the values of elasticity modulus are the same for low relative densities, but the difference becomes remarkable for higher densities. Moreover, it is difficult to judge the effect of the relative density and anisotropy of the cellular structure on the values of the homogenised elasticity modulus without considering all the three deformation mechanisms in the analytical model. It is shown that conventional models overestimate the elasticity modulus, especially for high relative densities.

In this paper, a refined model that takes into account the three deformation mechanisms (MNT) is developed to predict the in-plane elasticity modulus of a honeycomb cellular material. It is shown that analytical models that describe the anisotropic behaviour of honeycomb cells can be improved by considering the three deformation mechanisms, which are bending, stretching, and shearing deformations.

Why some people are motivated to become leaders is important both conceptually and practically. Motivation to lead compels people to seek out leadership roles and is a distinct predictor of leader role occupancy. The goal of our research is to determine contextual (socioeconomic status and parenting quality), interpersonal (sociometric status), and personal (self-esteem and gender) antecedents of the motivation to lead among young adults.

The authors tested the model using two samples of Canadian undergraduate students (Sample 1: N = 174, M age = 20.02 years, 83% female; Sample 2: N = 217, M age = 18.8 years, 54% female). The authors tested the proposed measurement model using the first sample, and tested the hypothesized structural model using the second sample.

The proposed 5-factor measurement model provided an excellent fit to the data. The hypothesized model also provided a good fit to the data after controlling for potential threats from endogeneity. In addition, gender moderated the relationship between sociometric status and affective-identity motivation to lead, such that this interaction was significant for females but not males.

The findings make a practical contribution in understanding how parents, teachers, and organizations can encourage greater motivation to lead, especially among young adults who have faced poverty and marginalization and tend to be excluded from leadership positions in organizations.

The authors conceptualize and test the contextual, interpersonal, and personal predictors of affective-identity motivation to lead among young adults.

This article reviews some of the more unconventional text retrieval systems, emphasising those which have been commercialised. These sophisticated systems improve on conventional retrieval by using either innovative software or hardware to increase retrieval speed or functionality, precision or recall. The software systems reviewed are: AIDA, CLARIT, Metamorph, SIMPR, STATUS/IQ, TCS, TINA and TOPIC. The hardware systems reviewed are: CAFS‐ISP, the Connection Machine, GESCAN,HSTS,MPP, TEXTRACT, TRW‐FDF and URSA.

Epidemiology is often described as “the basic science of public health” (Savitz, Poole & Miller, 1999; Syme & Yen, 2000). This description suggests both a close association with public health practice, and the separation of “pure” scientific knowledge from its application in the messy social world. Although the attainability of absolute objectivity is rarely claimed, epidemiologists are routinely encouraged to “persist in their efforts to substitute evidence for faith in scientific reasoning” (Stolley, 1985, p. 38) and reminded that “public health decision makers gain little from impassioned scholars who go beyond advancing and explaining the science to promoting a specific public health agenda” (Savitz et al., 1999, p. 1160). Epidemiology produces authoritative data that are transformed into evidence which informs public health. Those data are authoritative because epidemiology is regarded as a neutral scientific enterprise. Because its claims are grounded in science, epidemiological knowledge is deemed to have “a special technical status and hence is not contestable in the same way as are say, religion or ethics” (Lock, 1988, p. 6). Despite the veneer of universality afforded by its scientific pedigree, epidemiology is not a static or monolithic discipline. Epidemiological truth claims are embodied in several shifting paradigms that span the life of the discipline. Public health knowledges and practices, competing claims internal and external to epidemiology, and structural conditions (such as current political economies, material technologies, and institutions) provide important contexts in which certain kinds of epidemiological knowledge are more likely to emerge.

The purpose of this paper is to present a new powder‐based solid freeforming method based on conventional furnace sintering after co‐deposition of mould and part powder materials.

Based on acoustic powder deposition, both mould and part powder materials are delivered simultaneously into the forming area according to the cross section of the 3D computer file. The part is formed in the form of loose powder surrounded by the mould powder again in a loose state. The whole assembly can then be sintered by a conventional method and the mould powder, which has a higher sintering temperature than that of part powder, remains in the loose state after sintering and can be removed.

Complex‐shaped components containing re‐entrant cavities and the capability of being made with 3D functional gradients can be rendered directly as a powder preform suitable for subsequent compaction or direct sintering in a conventional furnace. The flowability and compatibility of the powders need to be selected carefully and the track distance between part/mould powders is important for forming a vertical wall.

The main factors affecting building from powder tracks are identified, including the effect of track distance at an interface on integrity, discontinuous feeding on bends and the effects of fill strategies. The flow rates of the part and mould powder as well as their geometrical maps are controlled computationally. Materials and instrumental aspects are discussed.

This paper describes a method to produce complex‐shaped object without residual stress and expensive lasers and the process could be modified to include 3D functional gradients.

Building on the self-efficacy theory and self-theories, the purpose of this paper is to investigate students working part-time whilst pursuing full-time higher education in Cambodia. It explores individuals’ part-time working activities, career aspirations and self-efficacy.

Data were collected in a cross-sectional survey of 850 business and social sciences degree students, with 199 (23.4 per cent) usable responses, of which 129 (65.2 per cent of the sample) indicated they currently have a job.

Multiple regression analysis confirmed part-time work as a significant predictor of self-efficacy. There was a positive recognition of the value of part-time work, particularly in informing career aspirations. Female students were significantly more positive about part-time work, demonstrating significantly higher career aspirations than males. Results also suggest that students recognise the value that work experience hold in identifying future career directions and securing the first graduate position.

There are potential implications for approaches to curriculum design and learning, teaching and assessment for universities. There are also clear opportunities to integrate work-based and work-related learning experience into the curriculum and facilitate greater collaboration between higher education institutions and employers in Cambodia.

There are implications for recruitment practices amongst organisations seeking to maximise the benefits derived from an increasingly highly educated workforce, including skills acquisition and development, and self-efficacy.

It investigates the importance of income derived from part-time working to full-time university students in a developing South-East Asian country (Cambodia), where poverty levels and the need to contribute to family income potentially predominate the decision to work while studying.

There are three possible outcomes following the undertaking of BPR projects. First, a BPR programme may fail in the short or long term either because it is improperly implemented or because there is no effective follow‐up. Second, a BPR programme may be deemed satisfactory in outcome yet still does not appear to significantly improve bottom‐line performance. Finally, there is the BPR programme which is highly successful and significantly improves the bottom‐line performance. It is identifying the last category which is the subject of this paper. In our view, to maximise the probability of making a major impact on the supply chain bottom line, BPR programmes should be planned to have adequate SCOPE. This is a three‐dimensional model of the change process with breadth, depth and width axes. Our approach to evaluating BPR impact is illustrated by application to the product delivery process of an electronics products supply chain. The prediction of improved performance is demonstrated via a dynamic simulation model of a real‐world supply chain as a function of the particular implementation phase of the BPR programme. The eventual improvement in performance obtained after a number of years progress is very significant. Indeed, in material flow terms, it is now a structurally much improved, robust and internationally competitive supply chain.