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Article
Publication date: 1 February 1988

Seventeen Linde H25 fork lift trucks, specially painted with the ICI corporate roundel and the famous Dulux old English sheep‐dog design were recently delivered by Linde…

Abstract

Seventeen Linde H25 fork lift trucks, specially painted with the ICI corporate roundel and the famous Dulux old English sheep‐dog design were recently delivered by Linde distributors to ICI Paints Division. A further 5 H25 trucks will be delivered shortly to the long established Birmingham company, Arthur Holden Ltd., a subsidiary of ICI.

Details

Pigment & Resin Technology, vol. 17 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0369-9420

Article
Publication date: 3 November 2021

Jerome de Laborderie, Cedric Babin and Fabrizio Fontaneto

The present paper aims at evaluating the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) on a high-subsonic high-pressure compressor stage at nominal regime.

Abstract

Purpose

The present paper aims at evaluating the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) on a high-subsonic high-pressure compressor stage at nominal regime.

Design/methodology/approach

The studied configuration corresponds to the H25 compressor operated in a closed-loop test rig at the von Karman Institute. Several operating points are simulated with LBM for two grids of successive refinements. A detailed analysis is performed on the time-averaged flow predicted by LBM, using a comparison with experimental and existing RANS data.

Findings

The finest grid is found to correctly predict the mean flow across the machine, as well as the influence of the rotor tip gap size. Going beyond time-averaged data, some flow analysis is performed to show the relevance of such a high-fidelity method applied to a compressor configuration. In particular, vortical structures and their evolution with the operating points are clearly highlighted. Spectral analyses finally hint at a proper prediction of tonal and broadband contents by LBM.

Originality/value

The application of LBM to high-speed turbomachinery flows is very recent. This paper validates one of the first LBM simulations of a high-subsonic high-pressure compressor stage.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 32 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 6 September 2000

Adam Karp

Discrimination law has evolved from litigating or prosecuting overt, individual cases of egregious behavior solely by means of anecdotal evidence and eyewitness testimony…

Abstract

Discrimination law has evolved from litigating or prosecuting overt, individual cases of egregious behavior solely by means of anecdotal evidence and eyewitness testimony. Statistical evidence came to bear the imprimatur of the United States Supreme Court in the Seventies as a probative means of discerning guilt or liability, and has been used to shore up patterns of prejudice at a systemic level since. Courtrooms of the Twenty-First Century have struggled to define discrimination through a quantitative lens, nonetheless relying on qualitative evidence to assist the factfinder in rendering a verdict. Some definitions carry more precision and accuracy than others. Consider the inflammatory National Law Journal's indictment of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (‘EPA’) as an example of the latter. In 1992, the National Law Journal ran a Special Investigation of the EPA, claiming that the federal government had fostered a racist imbalance in hazardous site cleanup and its pursuit of polluters. Kudos to the columnists for bringing environmental equity into the spotlight of public debate and for forewarning and encouraging the EPA to conduct its enforcements reflectively, in order to avoid being on the receiving end of a Title VI lawsuit. Nonetheless, the methodology used by the National Law Journal belies a total understanding of the bureaucratic structure that pursued these actions and of the notion of statistical significance. This Article confines itself to Region X's actions between 1995 and 1999, applying linear regression and other statistical tests to determine whether biases, found using the National Law Journal's naive methodology, stand after due consideration of chance. The NLJ approach finds evidence of bias, but the author also conducts more complicated and appropriate analyses, such as those contemplated by the National Guidance. After issuing some provisos, the author dismisses charges of racism or classism. While the National Guidance represents a positive first step in identifying environmental justice communities, those with an above-average proportion of lower-class or non-Caucasian inhabitants, it lacks statistical sophistication and econometric depth. This Article concludes by recommending the use of normalized racial distributions, Gini coefficients, and Social Welfare Functions to the EPA and to other organizations conducting environmental justice analysis.

Details

Research in Law and Economics
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-022-7

Article
Publication date: 16 August 2021

Soujata Rughoobur-Seetah and Zuberia Aminah Hosanoo

Technology acceptance research in the L&T contexts has a necessity for enabling the significant inclusion of technology in educational settings (Scherer et al., 2019). Despite the…

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Abstract

Purpose

Technology acceptance research in the L&T contexts has a necessity for enabling the significant inclusion of technology in educational settings (Scherer et al., 2019). Despite the propensity for information communication and technology to enhance the teaching and learning process, the acceptance or rejection of learning technology is essential. Technological acceptance model (TAM) has evolved to become a key model to depict the predictors of human behaviour towards prospective rejection or acceptance of technology (Granic and Marangunic, 2019). In their recent systematic review of the extensive literature on TAM, Granic and Marangunic (2019) found that most of TAM research originate from Asia (Taiwan, Malaysia, South Korea and China), Europe, North America, Middle East and Africa. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, research on TAM has been very scarce in small island economies. This study aims to guide the empirical model of Al-Fraihat et al. (2020), which wants to uncover the quality of learning by understanding the intentions and satisfaction of tertiary education learners on the acceptance and use of information technology (IT) for e-learning, during the confinement period.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopted a quantitative approach. The proposed framework was borrowed from Al-Fraihat et al. (2020) and amended based on the contextual aspect of the study. The model proposed by Al-Fraihat et al. (2020) takes into consideration the quality of e-learning through technical system quality, information quality, service quality, educational system quality, support system quality, learner quality and instructor quality. The framework has as the basis the TAM where the perceived satisfaction, perceived usefulness, use and benefits of E-learning have been evaluated. This current study evaluated the quality of the e-learning platform from the students’ perspective in the confinement period. The service quality construct has been broken into three different dimensions, namely, service quality from an IT perspective, service quality from an administration perspective and service quality from the faculty represented by the Head of Departments. Another dimension has been added so as to evaluate the learner’s point of view when studying during confinement, namely, confinement and learning quality.

Findings

The findings of this study did not support H25, that is the hypothesis that perceived usefulness has a positive relationship with perceived satisfaction, in contradiction to similar previous studies that confirmed the relationship (Al-Sabawy et al., 2011; Al-Fraihat et al., 2020). However, interestingly, the findings of this research supported the relationship between perceived satisfaction and benefits (H26). This means that the greater the satisfaction of the learner, the greater the benefits on students. The results of this study further supported that there is a positive relationship between perceived usefulness and benefits (H27); there is a positive relationship between perceived usefulness and use (H28); and finally, there is a positive relationship between use and benefits (H29). Such relationships were also found in the existing literature (Al-Sabawy et al., 2011; Cidral et al., 2018; Al-Fraihat et al., 2020). The perception of the usefulness of the e-learning system determines the benefits, usefulness and system use. When the learners feel that the system is enhancing their learning, learning activities and performance, hence learning more effectively, they tend to see the e-learning system as useful and they are more likely to use the e-learning system/tool. The use of the tool/system, thus positively impacts the benefits that the learners derived from the system.

Originality/value

The COVID-19 and overnight decision for a country-wide lockdown drastically changed the education sector. School and all teaching institutions were closed. However, most universities had to review their teaching and learning models to introduce e-learning to ensure the semester’s progress. Hence, the use of the various LMS tools became a necessity overnight. This study on e-learning in Mauritius uses the TAM as the theoretical foundation because the theory has long been extensively used to investigate the quality of learning eg. Davis (1989), Scherer et al. (2019), Al-Fraihat et al. (2020).

Details

Quality Assurance in Education, vol. 29 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0968-4883

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1987

D.A. BELL and H. JENKINS

Recent methods of data organisation have sought to preserve the original sequence of keys in the address space yet this often also results in the wastage of valuable storage space…

Abstract

Recent methods of data organisation have sought to preserve the original sequence of keys in the address space yet this often also results in the wastage of valuable storage space as a consequence of the simultaneous preservation of gaps in the sequence. The method of key space compression using forbidden zones seeks to minimize such wastage by removing those gaps in the sequence corresponding with keys which the designer knows beforehand cannot occur.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 16 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 September 2004

Christopher Selvarajah

In 1996, there were about six hundred and fifty overseas‐trained medical doctors who had immigrated to New Zealand but were unable to practice their profession even though the New…

Abstract

In 1996, there were about six hundred and fifty overseas‐trained medical doctors who had immigrated to New Zealand but were unable to practice their profession even though the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) had assessed their medical qualifications as equivalent to similar qualifications in New Zea land. These immigrants were subjected to structural discriminator practices of the medical Council of New Zealand (MCNZ) by which qualified medical doctors from non BASIC (Britain, Australia, South Africa, Ireland and Canada) countries were not allowed to register as medical practitioners in New Zealand. The privilege conferred on the MCNZ by the 1968 Medical Practitioners Act allows it to be selective in re cognising medical qualifications. As a consequence of this discriminatory practice many of the foreign trained doctors were unemployed while others worked as process workers, taxi drivers, petrol pump dispensers and pizza deliverymen in the period covered in this article (Selvarajah, 1997). This article provides a case history between 1995 and 2000 on the concerns and conditions of a group of foreign‐trained medical professionals (doctors and specialists) whose application to settle in New Zealand was processed by the New Zealand government prior to June 1995.

Details

Equal Opportunities International, vol. 23 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0261-0159

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 February 2023

Varun Mahajan, Sandeep Kumar Mogha and R.K.Pavan Kumar Pannala

The main purpose of this paper is to determine the bias-corrected efficiencies and rankings of the selected hotels and restaurants (H&Rs) in India.

Abstract

Purpose

The main purpose of this paper is to determine the bias-corrected efficiencies and rankings of the selected hotels and restaurants (H&Rs) in India.

Design/methodology/approach

The data for the Indian H&R sector are collected from the Prowess database. The bootstrap data envelopment analysis (DEA) based on a constant return to scale (CRS), variable return to scale-input oriented (VRS-IP) and variable return to scale-output oriented (VRS-OP) are applied on H&Rs to obtain the bias-corrected efficiencies.

Findings

It is found that relative efficiencies using basic DEA methods of all the 45 H&Rs of India are overestimated. These efficiencies are corrected using bias correction through bootstrap DEA methods. The bounds for the efficiencies of each H&R are computed using all the adopted methods. All H&Rs are ranked using bias-corrected efficiencies, and the linear trend between ranks suggests that the H&Rs are ranked almost similarly by all the adopted methods.

Practical implications

To improve efficiency, Indian H&R companies must rethink their personnel needs by enhancing their workforce management capabilities. The government needs to extend more support to this sector by introducing a liberal legislation framework and supporting infrastructure policies.

Originality/value

There is a paucity of studies on H&Rs in India. The current study focused on measuring bias-corrected efficiencies of the selected H&Rs of India. This study is one of the few initiatives to explore bias-corrected efficiencies extensively using the bootstrap DEA method.

Details

Benchmarking: An International Journal, vol. 31 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-5771

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 10 October 2014

Shinichi Ishizuka

The number of reported cases for Japanese Penal Code offenses amounted to 2.5 million in 1997 and increased every year, reaching 3.6 million in 2002 and 2003. However, the number…

Abstract

Purpose

The number of reported cases for Japanese Penal Code offenses amounted to 2.5 million in 1997 and increased every year, reaching 3.6 million in 2002 and 2003. However, the number decreased from 2004 to 2008 to 2.5 million. Almost throughout the same period, the number of cases and persons cleared remained comparatively steady between 1.3 and 1.5 million and 1 and 1.2 million respectively, but the latter finally fell below one million in 2011. In this chapter I describe such a rise and fall as a “Mt. Fuji-line” that appears as a mountain-shaped curve on a graph.

Design/methodology/approach

The Japanese government reacted to the increase of crimes, which was seen as a reflection of a weakened or broken security and safety. The most effective policy, it was thought therefore, was to increase the number of policemen. This policy followed the strategy of New York City, made famous by its then Mayor Giuliani, who declared “A War on Crimes” and increased the number of police officers by ten thousand to revive New York from “A Crime City.” As criminologists have experienced so-called “labeling shocks” and learned from the approach of symbolic interactionism, criminologists can no longer simply accept that statistical data reflect weakened or broken security issues. Agencies of criminal justice, especially police officers, use such data as statistical evidence to show that the crime situation got worse.

Findings

I argue that the rise and fall of crimes, especially the increasing and decreasing number of reported cases, reflects changes of crime control policies. I analyze the Mt. Fuji-line from 1998 to 2011. The increase of crimes as well as the weakened or broken security and safety functioned as evidence that justified the reinforcement of police power and a new criminal justice shift for a lay judge system in the rising phase (1998–2003). Since the concept of a bigger justice system needs, however, lots of personnel and material sources, the Japanese government eventually gave up sustaining it. Agencies used their discretion to skip petty crimes and divert suspects because of a reduction of excessive burdens and inappropriate prison population, but they stepped into a new stage to adjust their burdens, keeping their own empowered framework of criminal justice system. These changing policies resulted in the reduction of crime in a falling phase (2004–2011).

Originality/value

These phenomena are explained from the viewpoint of Jürgen Habermas’ crisis theory. I conclude that the framework and capacity of the Japanese criminal justice system grew far bigger and that original functions of crime control through criminal procedure became weaker by being outsourced to other peripheral social systems and agencies. Thus the crime control system has been successful in bringing about a net-widening effect.

Details

Punishment and Incarceration: A Global Perspective
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78350-907-2

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 18 December 2016

Yaron Lahav and Galla Salganik-Shoshan

Our study concentrates exclusively on the domestic effective tax rate (ETR), with the purpose of finding and characterizing their financial determinants. Using data on almost…

Abstract

Our study concentrates exclusively on the domestic effective tax rate (ETR), with the purpose of finding and characterizing their financial determinants. Using data on almost 5,000 US companies between fiscal years 2003 and 2010, we use regression analysis to find that the domestic ETR is affected by company size (as measured by sales), the extent to which the company is leveraged, level of fixed assets intensity, and the state of the economy. In addition, we find that domestic ETRs are also affected by the company’s level of internationality, which counterintuitively implies that the greater the company’s international activity, the less domestic taxes it pays for every dollar of US income. Both financial managers and policy makers can use our findings to reduce tax liabilities domestically, and to improve corporate tax regulations. While several attempts are made in the literature to compare ETRs of corporations that reside in different geographic locations, this is the first to characterize ETR determinants.

Details

Advances in Taxation
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78635-001-5

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 15 May 2023

Oleksandr Fedirko and Nataliia Fedirko

Purpose: Evaluation of the reform of public policy of digital economy taxation in Ukraine under conditions of military threats.Need of the Study: The global digital transformation…

Abstract

Purpose: Evaluation of the reform of public policy of digital economy taxation in Ukraine under conditions of military threats.

Need of the Study: The global digital transformation of the economy gives the IT sector priority positions in shaping public policy goals. The world community is searching for optimal models of digital business taxation, which can enhance its global investment attractiveness. In 2021, Ukraine introduced new tax rules on digital services; however, the war launched on 24 February 2022 made irreversible changes for businesses. The Ukrainian government started a new special tax regime, whose impact on the business environment needs to be thoroughly studied.

Methodology: This research is based on the content analysis of the legal framework of state policy on taxation of digital economy services.

Findings: The authors found that the reforms in the taxation of digital economy services carried out in Ukraine are designed to create incentives for attracting foreign IT companies and can create an effective tax competitive advantage for our country. At the same time, the special facilitated tax regime for the period of martial law in Ukraine creates a certain buffer in counteracting the threatening economic consequences of the war in Ukraine.

Practical Implications: The study summarises major taxation amendments and special conditions under martial law in Ukraine that affect the development of the digital economy, which allows for assessing the consequences for the business environment in the national IT sector.

Details

Contemporary Studies of Risks in Emerging Technology, Part B
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80455-567-5

Keywords

1 – 10 of 88