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Poor maintenance management leads to non-negligible economic, environmental and social impacts and obstacles to the sustainable manufacturing paradigm. Studies evaluating maintenance impacts on sustainability underline growing interest in the topic, but reports on the industrial field are lacking. Therefore, this paper investigates the industrial environment and the indicators that manufacturing companies use for measuring their maintenance impacts.

In this pilot survey study, several stakeholders of production enterprises in the south of Italy were interviewed to unveil the spread of the measurement of maintenance impacts on sustainability and the indicators used by those companies.

The interview results showed a low level of awareness among stakeholders about maintenance impacts on sustainability. Maintenance stakeholders are mainly focused on technical and economic factors, whereas environmental, quality and safety stakeholders are becoming more aware of maintenance impacts on environmental and social factors. However, both groups need guidelines to define sustainability indicators to assess such impacts.

This exploratory study allowed us to investigate the current situation in industrial organisations and achieve the first variegated and diversified vision of the awareness of company stakeholders on maintenance impacts on the sustainability of several business functions. This paper provides a valuable contribution to “maintenance and sustainability” research area in production contexts and sheds light on non-negligible maintenance impacts on sustainability, providing preliminary insights on the topic and an effective basis for defining future research opportunities. Moreover, this study enables increased awareness among internal and external manufacturing company stakeholders on the role of maintenance in sustainable production.

This study aims at identifying various socioeconomic variables that influence the development of work alienation among Indian bank employees.

Data were collected from a sample of 552 employees working in ten public and ten private sector banks in Punjab. Statistical techniques such as the independent sample t-test, Welch’s F-test and Games–Howell procedure were used for data analysis.

Results of this study indicated that socioeconomic variables, namely, age, educational qualification, monthly income and work experience, significantly influence work alienation among bank employees. In contrast, gender, marital status, type of bank and cadre did not have any significant relationship with work alienation.

This study is one of the limited research studies that has examined the linkage between socioeconomic variables and work alienation in the context of the banking sector of a developing nation like India.

During the evaluation of European Capital of Culture (ECoC) Aarhus 2017, the evaluation organisation rethinkIMPACTS 2017 formulated a set of “dilemmas” capturing the main challenges arising during the design of the ECoC evaluation. This functioned as a framework for the evaluation process. This paper aims to present and discuss the relevance of the “Evaluation Dilemmas Model” as subsequently applied to the Galway 2020 ECoC programme evaluation.

The paper takes an empirical approach including auto-ethnography and interview data to document and map the dilemmas involved in undertaking an evaluation in two different European cities. Evolved via a process of practice-based research, the article addresses the development of and the arguments for the dilemmas model and considers its potential for wider applicability in the evaluation of large-scale cultural projects.

The authors conclude that the “Evaluation Dilemmas Model” is a valuable heuristic for considering the endogenous and exogenous issues in cultural evaluation.

The model developed is useful for a wide range of cultural evaluation processes including – but not limited to – European Capitals of Culture.

What has not been addressed in the academic literature is the process of evaluating ECoCs; especially how evaluators often take part in an overall process that is not just about the evaluation but also planning and delivering a project that includes stakeholder management and the development of evaluation criteria, design and methods.

Non-uniform rational B-splines (NURBSs) are the de facto standard for representing objects in computer-aided design (CAD). The purpose of this paper is to discuss how to stick to this standard in all phases of the additive manufacturing (AM) workflow, from the CAD object to the final G-code, bypassing unnecessary polygonal approximations.

The authors use a commercial CAD system (Rhino3D along with its programming environment Grasshopper) for direct slicing of the model, offset generation and trimming. Circular arcs are represented as quadratic NURBSs and free-form geometry as quadratic or cubic polynomial B-splines. Therefore, circular arcs are directly expressible as G2/G3 G-code commands, whereas free-form paths are rewritten as a succession of cubic Bézier curves, thereby admitting exact translation into G5 commands, available in firmware for AM controllers, such as Marlin.

Experimental results of this paper confirm a considerable improvement in quality over the standard AM workflow, consisting of an initial polygonization of the object (e.g. via standard tessellation language), slicing this polygonal approximation, offsetting the polygonal sections and, finally, generating G-code made up of polyline trajectories (G1 commands).

A streamlined AM workflow is obtained, with a seamless transfer from the initial CAD description to the final G-code. By adhering to the NURBS standard at all steps, the authors avoid multiple representations and associated errors resulting from approximations.

This paper aims to understand what drives people – their motivations, autonomous learning attitudes and learning interests – to volunteer as mentors for a program that helps families to ideate technological solutions to community problems.

A three-phase method was used to build volunteer mentor profiles; elicit topics of interest and establish relationships between those. The mentor profiles were based on self-assessments of motivation, attitude toward lifelong learning and self-regulated learning strategies. The topics of interest were elicited through content analysis of answers to reflection questions. Statistical methods were applied to analyze the relationship between the interests and the mentor profiles.

Bottom-up clustering led to the identification of three mentor groups (G1 “low”; G2 “high” and G3 “medium”) based on pre-survey data. While content analysis led to identifying topics of interest: communication skills; learning AI; mentoring; prototype development; problem-solving skills; working with families. Analyzing relationships between mentor profile and the topics of interest, the group G3 “medium,” with strong intrinsic motivation, showed significantly more interest in working with families. The group with the overall highest scores (G2 “high”) evidenced also substantial interest in learning about AI, but with high variability between members of the group.

The study established different types of learning interests of volunteer mentors and related them to the mentor profiles based on motivation, self-regulated learning strategies and attitudes toward lifelong learning. Such knowledge can help organizations shape the volunteering experience to provide more value to volunteers. Furthermore, the reflection questions can be used by volunteers as an instrument for reflection and by organizations to elicit the learning interests of volunteers.

Preservice teacher (PST) professional development programs are crucial for cultivating high-quality STEAM teachers of the future, significantly impacting the quality of regional STEAM education. The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, as a region of cross-border cooperation, integrates the resources and advantages of Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao, possessing rich cultural heritage and innovative capabilities. Transdisciplinary Education for Cultural Inheritance (C-STEAM) is an effective approach to promoting educational collaboration within the Greater Bay Area, facilitating the integration of both technological and humanities education. This study aims to develop a Technology-Enabled University-School-Enterprise (T-USE) collaborative education model and implement it in the Greater Bay Area, to explore its role as a support mechanism in professional development and its impact on C-STEAM PSTs' professional capital.

Adopting a qualitative methodology, the study interviewed PSTs who participated in a C-STEAM teacher education course under the T-USE model. Thematic coding is used to analyze their knowledge acquisition, interaction benefits with community members, and autonomous thinking and decision-making in theoretical learning and teaching practice.

The findings show that the T-USE model significantly enhanced the PSTs' human capital, including teaching beliefs, knowledge, and skills. In terms of social capital, PSTs benefited from collaboration with PST groups, university teaching teams, in-service teachers, and enterprises, though challenges such as varying levels of expertise among in-service teachers and occasional technical instability emerged. For decisional capital, the T-USE model provided opportunities for autonomous thinking and promoted teaching judgment skills through real teaching challenges and scenarios. Reflective practice activities also supported PSTs' professional growth.

This study reveals the effectiveness and internal mechanism of the T-USE model in C-STEAM PST training, offering significant theoretical and practical references for future PST education.

The research paper aims to explore how tour guides can contribute to regenerative tourism and the ways in which natureculture guiding practices align with stakeholder interests and the perspectives of tourism futures.

The ethnographic study used a multispecies approach to nature-based tourism in Arctic Norway and Sápmi, incorporating a Sámi methodology and non-human relationality.

The tour guides recognise that they are part of a more-than-human world and practice ethics that are responsible for their relations to non-human actors. Transformative experiences that are active learning opportunities can strengthen a sense of care within the tourists and pose as potential regenerative incomes in local communities, instead of extractive industries. Local knowledge and Sámi ways of being have a vital role in the tour guides' natureculture practices, which can revitalise cultural heritage and strengthen Indigenous empowerment.

The article suggests that tourism management and local governments must prioritise the support of tour guide initiatives involving restorative properties for socio-ecological systems. Citizen science and cultural activities are some ways that can generate a thriving ecosystem and create meaningful interactions between local communities and tourists.

The research highlights the unique role of tour guides as intermediaries who can translate regenerative principles into action, communicate the essence of place and take part in innovative collaborations. Tour guide practices align with the stakeholder view that tourism futures should benefit the communities and respect ecological limits.

The purpose of this paper is to eliminate the fluctuations in train arrival and departure times caused by skewed distributions in interval operation times. These fluctuations arise from random origin and process factors during interval operations and can accumulate over multiple intervals. The aim is to enhance the robustness of high-speed rail station arrival and departure track utilization schemes.

To achieve this objective, the paper simulates actual train operations, incorporating the fluctuations in interval operation times into the utilization of arrival and departure tracks at the station. The Monte Carlo simulation method is adopted to solve this problem. This approach transforms a nonlinear model, which includes constraints from probability distribution functions and is difficult to solve directly, into a linear programming model that is easier to handle. The method then linearly weights two objectives to optimize the solution.

Through the application of Monte Carlo simulation, the study successfully converts the complex nonlinear model with probability distribution function constraints into a manageable linear programming model. By continuously adjusting the weighting coefficients of the linear objectives, the method is able to optimize the Pareto solution. Notably, this approach does not require extensive scene data to obtain a satisfactory Pareto solution set.

The paper contributes to the field by introducing a novel method for optimizing high-speed rail station arrival and departure track utilization in the presence of fluctuations in interval operation times. The use of Monte Carlo simulation to transform the problem into a tractable linear programming model represents a significant advancement. Furthermore, the method’s ability to produce satisfactory Pareto solutions without relying on extensive data sets adds to its practical value and applicability in real-world scenarios.

To protect information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure and resources against poor cyber hygiene behaviours, organisations commonly require internal users to confirm they will abide by an ICT Code of Conduct. Before commencing enrolment, university students sign ICT policies, however, individuals can ignore or act contrary to these policies. This study aims to evaluate whether students can apply ICT Codes of Conduct and explores viable approaches for ensuring that students understand how to act ethically and in accordance with such codes.

The authors designed a between-subjects experiment involving 260 students’ responses to five scenario-pairs that involve breach/non-breach of a university’s ICT policy following a priming intervention to heighten awareness of ICT policy or relevant ethical principles, with a control group receiving no priming.

This study found a significant difference in students’ responses to the breach versus non-breach cases, indicating their ability to apply the ICT Code of Conduct. Qualitative comments revealed the priming materials influenced their reasoning.

The authors’ priming interventions were inadequate for improving breach recognition compared to the control group. More nuanced and targeted priming interventions are suggested for future studies.

Appropriate application of ICT Code of Conduct can be measured by collecting student/employee responses to breach/non-breach scenario pairs based on the Code and embedded with ethical principles.

Shared awareness and protection of ICT resources.

Compliance with ICT Codes of Conduct by students is under-investigated. This study shows that code-based scenarios can measure understanding and suggest that targeted priming might offer a non-resource intensive training approach.

This research aims to investigate the factors that can influence Bumiputera contractors’ acceptance of the Contractor’s All Risks (CAR) takāful (Islamic insurance) product using the theory of reasoned action (TRA).

Using the method of quantitative surveys, 414 questionnaires were collected from targeted Bumiputera contractors in Malaysia (grade G1 to grade G7), except in Sabah and Sarawak, that are registered with the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) and are also members of Persatuan Kontraktor Melayu Malaysia (PKMM). The data was analysed using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique.

The findings from the PLS-SEM analysis show that attitude, subjective norm, religiosity and awareness have a positive relationship with Bumiputera contractors’ acceptance of the CAR takāful product. Religiosity appeared to be the most significant factor influencing Bumiputera contractors’ acceptance of the CAR takāful product.

The respondents in this study only comprised Bumiputera contractors in Peninsular Malaysia, excluding those from Sabah and Sarawak. Therefore, it is not possible to generalise the findings to a broader population.

Takāful operators and their sales and marketing departments need to act proactively in promoting the benefits of investing in CAR takāful that follows Sharīʾah (Islamic law) rules and principles. They should create mechanisms to market CAR takāful better, thus accelerating its acceptance rate among contractors.

The paper uses the proposed extended TRA model, which includes the variables of religiosity and awareness in the TRA model. These variables were successfully integrated in the model, and the findings show that they have significantly contributed to the acceptance of the CAR takāful product among Bumiputera contractors.