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The University of Hannover has studied the fundamental factors affecting the process of vibratory feeding. From this research a step‐by‐step procedure for the design of vibratory bowl feeders has been derived.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, working from home (WFH) has become the norm for many employees and their families in Germany. Although WFH has been suggested as a form of flexible work to foster work–life integration (especially for workers with greater care responsibilities), studies have also pointed to its risks when the boundaries between these two life spheres become blurred. To help disentangle these inconsistent findings in relation to work–family conflict, this study focuses on two main concerns: the relevance of additional forms of flexibility for those who work from home (i.e., temporal flexibility, job autonomy, fixed rules about availability) and the implications of WFH for employees’ social relationships with co-workers and supervisors. Based on linked employer–employee data collected in the spring of 2021, the study examined work-to-family conflict (WFC) and family-to-work conflict (FWC) among a sample of 885 employees who worked from home. The results indicate that three factors – temporal flexibility, job autonomy, and fixed rules about availability as a way to set boundaries between work and family life – are important predictors of fewer work–family conflict. This equally applies to employees with caring obligations who overall experience more work–family conflicts while WFH. For those who cared for relatives, autonomy contributed even to fewer work–family conflicts. Supportive relationships with supervisors and co-workers are certainly directly beneficial when it comes to avoiding conflict, but they also reinforce the positive implications of flexible work, whereas poor relationships counteract the benefits of such flexibility. Thus, employers need to provide additional forms of flexibility to employees who work from home and should pay attention to social relationships among their employees as a way to support families and other individuals.

Purpose: Ethical investing is considered to be the pinnacle of embedding environmental considerations in investing. Environmental considerations form a major part of corporate social responsibility (CSR), and CSR is considered to have a positive effect on investment returns. The purpose of this chapter is to assess the degree of environmental considerations embedded in faith-based funds investment criteria. The comparative analysis between principles and practice through faith-based investing is undertaken.

Design/Methodology: Prospectuses of selected faith-based mutual funds and other information around investment strategies provided on the Funds’ websites have been analyzed in detail. Content analysis has been undertaken in order to evaluate the existence and types of environmental related criteria demonstrated by the Funds. The criteria are compared to the faith principles on environmental responsibility.

Findings: It is generally assumed that CSR requirements form the premise of socially responsible investing. The authors find that faith-based investing criteria are narrowly defined and that they represent biases which do not promote environmentally responsible investing.

Implications: The major implication is that inspite of the availability of faith-based environmental responsibility principles, faith-based funds represent a case of economic returns prioritization over environmental considerations. Environment accountability principles that exist need to be promoted regularly so that they become an essential element of every day decision-making including faith-based economic decision-making.

Originality: This study contributes to the debate on ethical investing from the perspective of faith-based mutual funds.

This paper aims to explore how sustainability practices were implemented in a higher education institution within a local setting in the Gulf and Arab Emirates Region. This study examined the impact of social and cultural requirements on the development of the master plan for the New Kuwait University campus with regards to sustainability to illustrate how current social and cultural requirements impact the design of a future learning environment whilst highlighting the essential role of organisational actors in this implementation process.

Using an in-depth case study approach, the authors conducted 21 semi-structured interviews with educators and administrative staff who had been involved in the sustainability implementation process at Kuwait University. These participants were involved at different stages in the implementation of a major sustainability project at Kuwait University. The interviews were further supplemented by analysing supporting documents and communications.

The analysis reveals that sustainability was embedded in a narrative that was repeated at the practice level; this directed the setting of objectives for the project and its various sub-tasks. It also helped actors to develop their understandings of practice and the importance of social emotions, self-intentions and patterns of culture in the process. This study further reveals that participants mainly focused on environmental issues regarding saving paper/electricity and overlooked aspects of a wider concepts and core values of sustainability, and there is a significant amount of lack of knowledge and awareness on matters about sustainability, especially with the understanding of its definition.

This study draws on practice-organisation framework used by Schatzki (2002, 2010), suggesting that sustainability implementation is a process led by rules, practical understanding, general understanding and teleoaffective structures, to highlight the role of agency and change among various actors in implementing sustainability. A practice-theory framing is used to signpost the roles played by various actors in establishing goals and tasks for the project while taking account of local understanding and independence in the implementation of sustainability practices. Engaging with practice theory framework offers us theoretical basis that is fundamentally different from the theories of interaction-oriented approaches in sustainable design.

Although the use of management control systems (MCS) is known to support organizational strategic success, the role played by MCS to monitor stakeholder satisfaction, thus minimizing stakeholder relationship severance, during uncertain events such as business succession remains underexplored. Thus, the authors investigate why succession creates uncertainty and how can stakeholders' concerns assist in contingently adapt the family businesses (FB) MCS to assist decision-making during succession.

The authors use a qualitative approach and a multiple-case study design. The authors conducted 30 in-depth interviews within 6 Australian FB SMEs. Interviewees included owners, successors, senior managers, customers and suppliers.

The authors' findings suggest that owners' perceptions, that intergenerational succession causes minimal stakeholder disruption, results in MCS not adapting to monitor the uncertain event. Other stakeholders, on the contrary, highlight the need for MCSs to evolve and adapt during the process to assist owners monitor stakeholder-derived success factors to secure the long-term sustainability of the FB.

The novelty of this research is based on the inclusion of non-family stakeholders, such as customers and suppliers, as part of the sample. This approach allowed for stronger conclusions and a broader overview of the succession issue.

Nobody concerned with political economy can neglect the history of economic doctrines. Structural changes in the economy and society influence economic thinking and, conversely, innovative thought structures and attitudes have almost always forced economic institutions and modes of behaviour to adjust. We learn from the history of economic doctrines how a particular theory emerged and whether, and in which environment, it could take root. We can see how a school evolves out of a common methodological perception and similar techniques of analysis, and how it has to establish itself. The interaction between unresolved problems on the one hand, and the search for better solutions or explanations on the other, leads to a change in paradigma and to the formation of new lines of reasoning. As long as the real world is subject to progress and change scientific search for explanation must out of necessity continue.

The purpose of this paper is to study the performance of transportation infrastructure of Thailand. A set of performance indicators of Thailand’s transportation infrastructure is proposed and gathered. The relationship between existing transportation infrastructure performance and Thailand’s economy is investigated.

The framework for determining Transportation Infrastructure Performance Index (TPI), proposed by the US Chamber of Commerce, is adapted for assessing the efficiency of Thailand’s transportation infrastructure. The analytical hierarchy process is employed in the process of constructing Thailand TPI. The relationship between TPI and Thailand’s economic growth is examined using multiple regression analysis.

The performance of Thailand’s transportation infrastructure had been continuously increased from 19.69 in 2005 to 61.52 in 2010. Great emphasis on improvement of the transportation infrastructure system should be placed as an increase in one unit of TPI results in the improvement by Baht449.420 of Thailand’s GDP per capita.

The most critical issue arisen in the data collection process is the unavailability of data for some indicators in the TPI framework. Consequently, some indicators that contain insufficient data were excluded.

The proposed set of indicators is practical and instrumental in assessing the transportation infrastructure performance of Thailand, and investigating its relationship with the economy.

This research proposes a framework for quantifying the performance of transportation infrastructure, and develops the first national composite index to account for the overall performance.