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Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) is one of the growing technologies in additive manufacturing, that can be used in a number of applications. In this method, process parameters can be customized and their simultaneous variation has conflicting impacts on various properties of printed parts such as dimensional accuracy (DA) and surface finish. These properties could be improved by optimizing the values of these parameters.

In this paper, four process parameters, namely, print speed, build orientation, raster width, and layer height which are referred to as “input variables” were investigated. The conflicting influence of their simultaneous variations on the DA of printed parts was investigated and predicated. To achieve this goal, a hybrid Genetic Algorithm – Artificial Neural Network (GA-ANN) model, was developed in C#.net, and three geometries, namely, U-shape, cube and cylinder were selected. To investigate the DA of printed parts, samples were printed with a central through hole. Design of Experiments (DoE), specifically the Rotational Central Composite Design method was adopted to establish the number of parts to be printed (30 for each selected geometry) and also the value of each input process parameter. The dimensions of printed parts were accurately measured by a shadowgraph and were used as an input data set for the training phase of the developed ANN to predict the behavior of process parameters. Then the predicted values were used as input to the Desirability Function tool which resulted in a mathematical model that optimizes the input process variables for selected geometries. The mean square error of 0.0528 was achieved, which is indicative of the accuracy of the developed model.

The results showed that print speed is the most dominant input variable compared to others, and by increasing its value, considerable variations resulted in DA. The inaccuracy increased, especially with parts of circular cross section. In addition, if there is no need to print parts in vertical position, the build orientation should be set at 0° to achieve the highest DA. Finally, optimized values of raster width and layer height improved the DA especially when the print speed was set at a high value.

By using ANN, it is possible to investigate the impact of simultaneous variations of FFF machines’ input process parameters on the DA of printed parts. By their optimization, parts of highly accurate dimensions could be printed. These findings will be of significant value to those industries that need to produce parts of high DA on FFF machines.

Using intersectionality and introducing newer developments from critical cross-cultural management studies, this paper aims to discuss how diversity is applicable to changing cultural contexts.

The paper is a conceptual paper built upon relevant empirical research findings from critical cross-cultural management studies.

By applying intersectionality as a conceptual lens, this paper underscores the practical and conceptual limitations of the business case for diversity, in particular in a culturally diverse international business (IB) setting. Introducing newer developments from critical cross-cultural management studies, the authors identify the need to investigate and manage diversity across distinct categories, and as intersecting with culture, context and power.

This paper builds on previous empirical research in critical cross-cultural management studies using intersectionality as a conceptual lens and draws implications for diversity management in an IB setting from there. The authors add to the critique of the business case by showing its failures of identifying and, consequently, managing diversity, equality/equity and inclusion (DEI) in IB settings.

Organizations (e.g. MNEs) are enabled to clearly see the limitations of the business case and provided with a conceptual lens for addressing DEI issues in a more contextualized and intersectional manner.

This paper introduces intersectionality, as discussed and applied in critical cross-cultural management studies, as a conceptual lens for outlining the limitations of the business case for diversity and for promoting DEI in an IB setting in more complicated, realistic and relevant ways.

We conceptualized the novel phenomenon of COVID-induced virtual teams and its implications and provided researchers with the required information on how to conduct a phenomenon-based study for conceptualizing novel phenomena in relevant ways.

This article stems from phenomenon-based and, thus, theory-building and grounded qualitative research in the German industrial sector. We conducted 47 problem-centered interviews in two phases (February–July 2021 and February–July 2022) to understand how team members and team leaders experienced COVID-induced virtual teamwork and its subsequent developments.

Empirically, we found COVID-induced virtual teams to be characterized by a high relevance of shaping positive team dynamics via steering internal moderators; crisis is a novel external moderator and transformation becomes the key output factor to be leveraged. Work-from-home leads to specific configuration needs and interrelations between work-from-home and on-site introduce additional dynamics. Methodologically, the phenomenon-based approach is found to be highly suitable for studying the effects of such novel phenomena.

This article is explorative. Thus, we advocate further research on related novel phenomena, such as post-COVID-hybrid and work-from-home teams. A model of how to encourage positive dynamics in post-COVID-hybrid teams is developed and lays the groundwork for further studies on post-COVID teamwork. Concerning methodology, researchers are provided with information on how to conduct phenomenon-based research on novel phenomena, such as the COVID-induced virtual teams that we studied.

Companies receive advice on how to encourage positive dynamics in post-COVID teamwork, e.g. on identifying best practices and resilient individuals.

In a country such as Germany that faces labor shortages, our insights might facilitate better labor-market integration for those with care-work obligations and international workers.

We offer a first conceptualization of a relevant novel phenomenon, namely COVID-induced virtual teams. We exemplify the phenomenon-based approach as a suitable methodology that serves to build relevant theory using active categorization.

Companies are increasingly struggling with the costs of absenteeism due to their employees’ physical and increasing psychological illnesses. At the same time, employers should recognize the value of healthy employees in terms of greater productivity and the development of positive organizational attitudes. Many organizations have implemented workplace health promotion (WHP) programs; however, we still have limited knowledge about the effectiveness of various measures. The present study is an examination of 18 WHP activities and their effect on employees’ perceived health support and actual absence rates.

I organized 112 German companies into four groups based on their subjective (employee perception of health promotion) and objective (absence rate) performance. Applying multinomial regression analysis, I assessed a company’s likelihood of falling into one of the four clusters if a specific measure was not implemented in it.

I identified five measures that significantly differ between company clusters: healthy food offerings, sports offerings, having fitness rooms, systematically evaluating WHP programs and smoking cessation courses. Investing in occupational health management can be a strategic asset for organizations. The study results give companies recommendations on how to address WHP and how to implement these concrete measures.

The study’s originality lies in the incorporation of 18 concrete WHP measures and the comparison of their effects in objective and subjective terms. It shows that employers can enhance employee well-being by using simple WHP activities.

Network coverage is crucial for the adoption of advanced Smart Home applications. The commonly used log-based path loss model is not able to accurately estimate WiFi signal strength in different houses, as it does not fully consider the impact of building morphology. To better describe the propagation of WiFi signals and achieve higher estimation accuracy, this paper studies the basic building morphology characteristics of houses.

A new path loss model based on a decision tree was proposed after measuring the WiFi signal strength passing through multiple housing units. Three types of regression models were tested and compared.

The findings demonstrate that the log-based path loss model fits small houses well, while the newly proposed nonlinear path loss model performs better in large houses (area larger than 125 m2 and area-to-perimeter ratio larger than 2.5). The impact of building design on path loss has been proven and specifically quantified in the model.

Proposed an improved model to estimate indoor network coverage. Quantify the impacts of building morphology on indoor WiFi signal strength. Improve WiFi signal strength estimation to support Smart Home applications.

This study aims to investigate the effect of political turmoil on the firm financial performance, particularly in presence of politically affiliated board of directors.

The study applied panel regression analyses on a data set of Pakistan’s listed companies ranged over 14 years, spanning from 2007 to 2021. Political turmoil was first gauged through three determinants, i.e. political protest, government election and constitutional reform, and thereafter, economic uncertainty index was used as a proxy for political turmoil. For the purpose of political connection, the study used political affiliation of the board of directors.

The study finds that political turmoil has deleterious effect on the return on assets and Tobin’s Q. The study further unveils that politically affiliated firms are relatively insulated from the volatility posed by the political uncertainty and exhibit significantly better financial outcomes.

Findings of the study suggest that appropriate composition of the board is imperative in offsetting the risk posed by the political turmoil. Hence, the results are useful for investors, policymakers and regulators to ensure financial soundness of firms in the wake of political turmoil.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that investigates the moderating impact of political connection on the performance of companies in presence of political turmoil.

As populations are ageing and the global average life expectancy is rising, the provision of care for older people is an increasingly salient issue. This paper aims to focus on family-provided care for older immigrants, examining how older immigrants and care providers experience and construct family caregiving.

Based on interviews with care recipients, family care providers, municipal staff and representatives for migrant organisations in Sweden, this study presents a typology of family caregiving for older immigrants.

The authors found three caregiving types, namely, solely family-provided care and a combination of family care and public care (predominantly one or the other). The decision to select family-provided or publicly-funded care depends on personal and institutional factors.

The paper makes three empirical contributions to the literature on care provision for older immigrants. Firstly, this study provides insights into the structural and personal factors that shape care-giving arrangements for older immigrants. Secondly, this study examines the perspectives of care recipients and care providers on family-provided care. Care expectations differ between both groups and sometimes result in intergenerational disagreement. Thirdly, in terms of institutional support, this study finds that the Swedish state’s notion of individual needs does not match the needs of immigrant elderly and their caregivers. The paper places the care types in a broader discussion about eldercare provision in the Swedish welfare state, which has experienced a decline in publicly funded care services and an increase in family caregiving in the past 30 years. In addition, it addresses questions of dignified ageing from a minority perspective.

While past research has explored how opting-out enables mothers to break free from masculinist organizational cultures, less attention has been given to how they resist disciplinary power that constitutes and governs their subjectivities. This paper aims to add to the discussion of opting-out as a site of power and resistance by proposing the concept of “constructive resistance” as a productive vantage point for investigating opted-out mothers' subversive practices of self-making.

This Malaysian case study brings together the notion of constructive resistance, critical narrative analysis and APPRAISAL theory to examine the reflective stories of eighteen mothers who exited formal employment. These accounts were collected through an open-ended questionnaire and semi-structured email interviews.

The mothers in the sample tend to construct themselves in two main ways, as (1) valuable mothers (capable, tireless, caring mothers who are key figures in their children's lives) and (2) competent professionals. These subjectivities are parasitic on gendered and neoliberal ideals but allow the mothers to undermine neoliberal capitalist work arrangements that were incongruent with their personal values and adversely impacted their well-being, as well as refuse organizational narratives that positioned them as “failed” workers.

Whereas power is primarily seen in previous opting-out scholarship as centralized and constraining, this case study illustrates how the lens of constructive resistance can be beneficial for examining opted-out mothers' struggles against a less direct form of power that governs through the production of truths and subjectivities.

The unique institution of waqf that was ignored during the colonization of the Muslim areas has to be revived to play its role in shared growth, social inclusion and cohesion in society. This research paper aims to explore the role of waqf as an instrument for a sustainable growth system and to suggest a model for socioeconomic development in an economy like that of Pakistan.

This qualitative research is based on analytical methods to arrive at the frameworks and a model that could facilitate the revival of waqf for community development/social inclusion in economies like that of Pakistan.

As most of the OIC member states like Pakistan are facing serious financial problems due to debt servicing obligations, promoting Waqf for various socioeconomic and cultural functions is a vital requirement for such economies. The inability of the state institutions in providing necessary civic, health and education facilities to the public is causing serious harm to the balance of the society. It requires promoting a formal system of charity and using FinTech for waqf-based donations and financing the micro businesses. The perpetuity complimented by the profitability of the waqf properties makes the waqf institutions sustainable and effective when compared to individual charities.

This is conceptual research discussing the potential of waqf in light of its historical role. Researchers may undertake empirical studies on awqaf operations in various jurisdictions and their role in the empowerment of the poor.

The research will provide the researchers with insight into the potential of waqf as a tool for community development. Besides, it will enable policymakers and implementation authorities to socialize charity for sustained benefits and welfare.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first major research that discusses the role of waqf in economies facing budgetary and trade deficits in the eradication of poverty and the promotion of social and economic entrepreneurship in realizing the community development targets for the economies like that of Pakistan.