Search results

The most general English‐language indexing tool for the literature of physics and astronomy is Physics Abstracts (Science Abstracts, Section A). It aims at worldwide coverage of the physics literature. Emphasis is on physics publications in serial or book form; only selective coverage of technical reports and of astronomical literature is given. Under the name of INSPEC it can be used in computer searches (see below for review of INSPEC concordance).

As was true the previous year, there was no major new standard reference work published for the area of physics; it is notable that most of the reviews which follow are of astronomy reference books. The most important developments in physics reference work continue to concern computerized searching of bibliographic data bases. In the Lockheed Corporation's DIALOG system all three retrospective parts of the INSPEC file, consisting of Physics Abstracts, Electrical and Electronics Abstracts, and Computer and Control Abstracts, have been merged as DIALOG file 12. File 12 holds the data through 1977 for the three abstracting journals, and file 13 is now being used to store the data from 1978 onwards. This rearrangement is convenient for searches that cut across disciplinary lines within physics and engineering, but on the other hand it requires a repeat of each search in order to get the most recent material in file 13.

As mathematical research is a very specialized field with a relatively small number of practitioners, the list of new reference books in a given year or two is predictably short. The 1975/76 period was no exception; in fact some of the recent reference books which are of broadest interest are actually new editions of standard, established works.

Purpose: The purpose of this chapter is to understand adolescent literacy instruction and learning in diverse classrooms.

Approach: A historical account of the evolution of adolescent literacy instruction to what it is today is discussed. The authors then ask the questions, “Who are adolescents today?” and use worked examples of illustrate how to optimally reach their instructional needs.

Findings: The authors believe that knowing what’s hot in adolescent literacy is paramount to effective adolescent literacy instruction. Expanding traditional notions of adolescent literacy instruction can provide a catalyst to academic achievement and engagement.

Practical implications: Designing effective literacy practices for today’s adolescents requires following a basic set of guidelines that considers such factors as student’s backgrounds, experiences, and prior knowledge. These factors are particularly important in determining where to begin instruction with each student, and how to proceed.

In the Coen Brothers’ film, O Brother Where Are Thou?, set in depression‐era southern USA, one of the three convicts on the run is thrown out of a Woolworth’s shop and told never to come back. “Does this mean I’m banned from just this shop or all Woolworth’s?” Delmar, played by Tim Blake Nelson, worries. The joke reflects the affection that existed then, and does still, for a retailer that is seen by many people as being cheap and cheerful. However, loved or not “Woolies” is in crisis. When Trevor Bish‐Jones was appointed chief executive in March last year he took over a retailer facing huge problems.

Families conduct their affairs through processes that are built upon those of previous generations and also social capacities such as culture, class, oppression and poverty. The media has played a part in stereotyping the lower classes through their portrayal on the television programmes such as Benefits Street and Jeremy Kyle and tabloid newspaper stories. This chapter is a case study of two families who are at the opposing ends of the social scale, the Horrobin/Carter and Aldridge families. The two families were chosen due to them being linked by marriage in the younger generation. Through the use of genograms, we explore how the families differ in their attitudes towards relationships within their individual families, and also how they relate to each other as separate family groups. Despite the many differences, there are also a number of key similarities, particularly regarding the key females in the families, in terms of family background and snobbery. We also show that there is little family loyalty in the more privileged family and a power differential between the two families (oppressors vs. oppressed) in terms of the crimes committed.

The purpose of the paper is to present a case example of the power struggles and gender issues one daughter faced when she became a partner, and future successor, in the family business. This paper uses an ethnographic approach in order to study a small family farm in England. The case focuses on a small family farm, these businesses are unique in terms of their values and expectations for succession (Haberman and Danes, 2007), and identified by Wang (2010) as a fruitful avenue for research on daughter succession.

The empirical work was gathered through the use of a single site ethnographic case study involving participant observation as the researcher worked on the family farm and semi-structured interviews with family members over two years.

The results shed light on some of the social complexities of small family farms and power struggles within the family exacerbated by perceived gender issues. The work also highlights the potential threat to the daughter’s position as a partner, from her father’s favouritism of male employees.

Institutions that provide help to family farm businesses need to be aware of the potential power issues within the family specifically related to gender, particularly in terms of succession planning.

Using ethnography in family firms allows the researcher to be a part of the real-life world of family farmers, providing rich data to explore daughter succession.

This paper aims to empirically explore the evolution of servitization and how platforms affect the transition between the stages of servitization.

The authors conducted an in-depth case study of a Chinese manufacturer (i.e. Haier) using a longitudinal design. Three rounds of data collection were conducted between 2014 and 2020. The authors carried out 50 semi-structured interviews and 11 workshops to collect data from senior and middle managers of Haier and its business partners.

The authors found that Haier’s servitization journey includes three stages (i.e. product-oriented solution, integrated solution and smart connected solutions) that evolve in the target of the services and the digital components of the solutions. Haier has also developed three types of platforms (i.e. service platform, supply chain platform and platform ecosystem) to support the implementation of servitization. The empirical evidence reveals that platforms can address the complexities that emerged when Haier implements the different stages of servitization as well as enable Haier to transition from one stage of servitization to the next.

This study enhances the current understanding of the evolution of servitization and the roles of digital technologies in the transition between the stages of servitization. It also provides empirical evidence regarding how the platform approach enables the development of servitization. By clarifying the interplay between servitization and platforms, this study provides guidelines for managers on how to develop platforms to both advance and benefit from servitization.

Information systems (IS) play a substantial role in managing reverse logistics (RL) processes. However, the RL literature rarely takes a holistic approach to examining the “success” of IS employment. Drawing on the rich literature base from the IS field, the authors explore IS Success theory in the context of RL. Considering Diffusion of Innovation theory, the authors also examine the effect of motivation on IS utilization. In doing so, the authors provide scholars and practitioners with insight into the factors affecting the success of a RL IS. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Based upon DeLone and McLean's IS Success theory, the authors develop the model to consider information quality, IS utilization, and RL cost effectiveness (as a proxy for net benefits). The authors disaggregate RL into two processes and thus consider the model from two perspectives: the process of receiving returns from customers (inbound) and the process of returning products to suppliers (outbound). The authors survey 136 RL professionals and employ partial least squares modeling for data analysis.

For both inbound and outbound path models, information quality is significantly and positively related to IS utilization; in turn, IS utilization is a significant predictor of net benefits. For inbound, RL goals provide significant motivation to drive IS utilization. For outbound, RL challenges provide significant motivation for IS utilization.

The authors bring IS Success theory into the context of RL. Additionally, by investigating the topic from both inbound and outbound perspectives, the findings suggest differences between inbound and outbound RL processes.