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Article
Publication date: 3 February 2020

Feras Korkees, James Allenby and Peter Dorrington

3D printing of composites has a high degree of design freedom, which allows for the manufacture of complex shapes that cannot be achieved with conventional manufacturing…

Abstract

Purpose

3D printing of composites has a high degree of design freedom, which allows for the manufacture of complex shapes that cannot be achieved with conventional manufacturing processes. This paper aims to assess the design variables that might affect the mechanical properties of 3D-printed fibre-reinforced composites.

Design/methodology/approach

Markforged Mark-Two printers were used to manufacture samples using nylon 6 and carbon fibres. The effect of fibre volume fraction, fibre layer location and fibre orientation has been studied using three-point flexural testing.

Findings

The flexural strength and stiffness of the 3D-printed composites increased with increasing the fibre volume fraction. The flexural properties were altered by the position of the fibre layers. The highest strength and stiffness were observed with the reinforcement evenly distributed about the neutral axis of the sample. Moreover, unidirectional fibres provided the best flexural performance compared to the other orientations. 3D printed composites also showed various failure modes under bending loads.

Originality/value

Despite multiple studies available on 3D-printed composites, there does not seem to be a clear understanding and consensus on how the location of the fibre layers can affect the mechanical properties and printing versatility. Therefore, this study covered this design parameter and evaluated different locations in terms of mechanical properties and printing characteristics. This is to draw final conclusions on how 3D printing may be used to manufacture cost-effective, high-quality parts with excellent mechanical performance.

Article
Publication date: 1 February 2011

Jennifer K. Parkin, Simon A. Austin, James A. Pinder, Thom S. Baguley and Simon N. Allenby

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of two different academic office environments in supporting collaboration and privacy.

2935

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of two different academic office environments in supporting collaboration and privacy.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach takes the form of case studies involving post‐occupancy questionnaire surveys of academic occupants.

Findings

The combi‐office design was found to be associated with higher levels of occupant satisfaction than the open‐plan office design, with respect to support for collaboration and privacy.

Research limitations/implications

The findings highlight the importance of understanding user requirements and the role of office space as a cognitive resource.

Practical implications

Designers should consider the default location of occupants when designing academic and other creative workspaces.

Social implications

Academic creativity and innovation are seen to be important for society. However, there needs to be a better understanding of how to support this through workspace design.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the small but growing body of research on academic office design and creative workspaces in general.

Details

Facilities, vol. 29 no. 1/2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-2772

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 July 2021

Shekhar Shukla and Ashish Dubey

Quantitative objective studies on the problem of celebrity selection are lacking. Furthermore, existing research does not recognize the group decision-making nature and the…

1011

Abstract

Purpose

Quantitative objective studies on the problem of celebrity selection are lacking. Furthermore, existing research does not recognize the group decision-making nature and the possibility of customer involvement in celebrity or influencer selection for social media marketing. This study conceptualizes celebrity selection as a multi-attribute group decision-making problem while deriving the final ranking of celebrities/influencers using interactive and flexible criteria based on the value tradeoff approach. The article thus proposes and demonstrates a quantitative objective method of celebrity selection for a brand or campaign in an interactive manner incorporating customer's preferences as well.

Design/methodology/approach

Each decision-maker's preferences for celebrity selection criteria are objectively captured and converted into an overall group preference using a modified generalized fuzzy evaluation method (MGFEM). The final ranking of celebrities is then derived from an interactive and criteria-based value tradeoff approach using the flexible and interactive tradeoff method.

Findings

The approach gives a different ranking of celebrities for two campaigns based on group members' perceived importance of the selection criteria in different scenarios. This group includes decision-makers (DMs) from the brand, marketing communication agency and brand's customers. Further, each group member has an almost equal say in the decision-making based on fuzzy evaluation and an interactive and flexible value tradeoff approach to celebrity selection for receiving a rank order.

Research limitations/implications

The approach uses secondary data on celebrities and hypothetical scenarios. Comparison with other methods is difficult, as no other study proposes a multi-criteria group decision-making approach to celebrity selection especially in a social media context.

Practical implications

This approach can help DMs make more informed, objective and effective decisions on celebrity selection for their brands or campaigns. It recognizes that there are multiple stakeholders, including the end customers, each of whose views is objectively considered in the aspects of group decision-making through a fuzzy evaluation method. Further, this study provides a selection mechanism for a given context of endorsement by objectively and interactively encapsulating stakeholder preferences.

Originality/value

This robust and holistic approach to celebrity selection can help DMs objectively make consensual decisions with partial or complete information. This quantitative approach contributes to the literature on selection mechanisms of influencers, celebrities, social media opinion leaders etc. by providing a methodological aid that encompasses aspects of interactive group decision-making for a given context. Moreover, this method is useful to DMs and stakeholders in understanding and incorporating the effect of nature or context of the brand and the campaign type in the selection of a celebrity or an influencer.

Details

Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, vol. 16 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-7122

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 May 2006

G.M. Rynja and D.C. Moy

To describe a new approach to the performance evaluation and benchmarking of analytical laboratory services and their associated supply chains.

1525

Abstract

Purpose

To describe a new approach to the performance evaluation and benchmarking of analytical laboratory services and their associated supply chains.

Design/methodology/approach

Life cycle and industrial process approaches are adapted for consideration of the environmental performance of multidisciplinary laboratories as found in large multifunctional facilities. Models are developed to facilitate performance evaluation.

Findings

The laboratory product model (LPM) considers laboratory service delivery from a whole‐of‐life perspective. It defines an information product as a standard unit of production that facilitates performance evaluation of laboratories using both normalised and absolute values. Performance evaluation boundaries are extended beyond the internal laboratory processes to incorporate the supply chain, i.e. from sample collection to the end use of the information product.

Research limitations/implications

Application of the research is limited by the availability of relevant corporate data. Future work could address routine collection of data appropriate to environmental performance evaluation so as to reduce the need for extensive life cycle inventories.

Practical implications

Focus is on a practical approach to improving the environmental performance of laboratory services through objective evaluation of laboratory and facility performance. The research provides a means of comparing laboratories founded in different disciplines, e.g. chemistry and microbiology.

Originality/value

Addresses laboratory supply chain issues by providing new tools for performance evaluation and benchmarking of laboratories. It uses new approaches to laboratory performance evaluation that help achieve sustainability.

Details

Benchmarking: An International Journal, vol. 13 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-5771

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 June 2018

Sneha Kumari and Yogesh B. Patil

The purpose of this paper is to dig out enablers of sustainable industrial ecosystem to develop a framework.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to dig out enablers of sustainable industrial ecosystem to develop a framework.

Design/methodology/approach

To test the framework statistically, a structured questionnaire was designed. Measures for the questionnaire were adopted from an extensive literature review. Further, the questionnaire was pretested and further pilot study was conducted. Adding to this, the reliability and validity of the constructs was examined using confirmatory factor analysis followed by covariance-based structural equation modeling to test research hypotheses.

Findings

The statistical analyses suggest that the model exceeds the threshold limit for goodness of fit after undergoing through few iterations. Normative pressure has a low effect than rest of the factors.

Originality/value

The present study is a unique contribution in terms of its theoretical implications and practical use. Finally, research findings are concluded and further research directions is outlined.

Details

Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, vol. 30 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-7835

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1928

WE hope that all London librarians will give full consideration to the project of the London Branch of the Library Association to provide a union catalogue of the non‐fiction…

Abstract

WE hope that all London librarians will give full consideration to the project of the London Branch of the Library Association to provide a union catalogue of the non‐fiction Stocks of Metropolitan libraries. They are to be asked if they will co‐operate in the scheme by providing cards of their Stock of uniform size, or by making some contribution (a more difficult matter this) to the cost of the catlogue. Such a catalogue kept at the Central Library for Students, combined with the telephone and general goodwill, would bring about a co‐ordination of libraties on a voluntary basis with results in good as yet scarcely realized. The idea is not novel; it was rejected a score of years ago as visionary or impractable. It may have been visionary then; it is not so now. Modern librarians simply must get together if they wish to avoid being made to do so.

Details

New Library World, vol. 30 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4803

Article
Publication date: 1 July 1971

ELEVEN YEARS have passed, we were reminded at the Hague Congress last month, since a handful of people met a few kilometres away and agreed to bring together all concerned with…

Abstract

ELEVEN YEARS have passed, we were reminded at the Hague Congress last month, since a handful of people met a few kilometres away and agreed to bring together all concerned with work study through the medium of a European Federation. The tenth assembly of that body gave at least one member of that original group an opportunity to consider the present position.

Details

Work Study, vol. 20 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0043-8022

Article
Publication date: 1 May 1969

The next month or two behind us and this decade will have passed, to merge in the drab background of the post‐war years, part of the pattern of frustration, failure and fear. The…

Abstract

The next month or two behind us and this decade will have passed, to merge in the drab background of the post‐war years, part of the pattern of frustration, failure and fear. The ‘swinging sixties’ some called it, but to an older and perhaps slightly jaundiced eye, the only swinging seemed to be from one crisis to another, like the monkey swinging from bough to bough in his home among the trees; the ‘swingers’ among men also have their heads in the clouds! In the seemingly endless struggle against inflation since the end of the War, it would be futile to fail to see that the country is in retreat all the time. One can almost hear that shaft of MacLeodian wit christening the approaching decade as the ‘sinking seventies’, but it may not be as bad as all that, and certainly not if the innate good sense and political soundness of the British gives them insight into their perilous plight.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 71 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Article
Publication date: 30 May 2019

Usman Umar Akeel, Sarah Jayne Bell and John E. Mitchell

The purpose of this study is to present an assessment of the sustainability content of the Nigerian engineering curriculum in universities.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to present an assessment of the sustainability content of the Nigerian engineering curriculum in universities.

Design/methodology/approach

Content analysis is used to generate and analyse data from three engineering documents, namely, the Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards for Engineering Programmes in Nigeria and the engineering handbooks of two Nigerian higher education institutions.

Findings

The Nigerian engineering curriculum is revealed to have a low sustainability content, with environmental concepts being the most cited themes and social topics as the least stated issues.

Research limitations/implications

The sustainability assessment approach adopted in the study is constrained by the question of what constitutes a sustainability syllabus. Expert-derived sustainability themes used in the study are unavoidably incomplete and may limit the conduct of an exhaustive sustainability content assessment.

Practical implications

Based on the research outcome, the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria and other stakeholders can consider ways to adequately incorporate sustainability themes in the Nigerian engineering curriculum.

Originality/value

The research is an effort to determine the presence of sustainability issues in the Nigerian engineering education, which has hitherto been scarcely documented. This study provides a baseline and a rationale for sustainability education interventions in the Nigerian engineering curriculum. It also presents a methodology for analysing sustainability content in university curriculum and contributes to the continuing sustainability education discourse, especially in relation to sub-Saharan Africa.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 20 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 July 2008

Wendy Stubbs and Chris Cocklin

This paper seeks to describe a framework used to help MBA students understand and reconcile the different sustainability perspectives.

7095

Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to describe a framework used to help MBA students understand and reconcile the different sustainability perspectives.

Design/methodology/approach

A review of the corporate sustainability literature is undertaken to develop the sustainability framework.

Findings

The sustainability framework relates basic concepts and assumptions within the ecocentric, ecological modernization and neoclassical paradigms to organizational practice and behavior. For the most part, the MBA students have only been exposed to neoclassical economic thinking within the other MBA subjects. The aim of the sustainability framework is to shift the students' thinking by engaging with sustainability from different perspectives, rather than presenting one version of sustainability to them. The framework has proven to be useful in developing critical and reflective thinking and discussion.

Originality/value

The paper provides a summary of sustainability concepts as applied to business practices and describes how this is used in teaching sustainability to business students.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 9 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

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