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1 – 10 of 176Jon Coaffee, Jonathan Clarke and Peadar T. Davis
Resilience is a topical concept in many academic disciplines world-wide and also among practitioners. In Europe, however, the current conceptualisations of urban resilience are…
Abstract
Purpose
Resilience is a topical concept in many academic disciplines world-wide and also among practitioners. In Europe, however, the current conceptualisations of urban resilience are highly specific to institutional contexts, national cultures and traditions and emergent risks faced in particular countries and their urban areas. The differences in how urban resilience is understood and applied are important, and yet such differences are only scarcely addressed in current resilience literature. This paper draws from the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration security project HARMONISE – A Holistic Approach to Resilience and Systematic Actions to Make Large Scale Built Infrastructure Secure.
Design/methodology/approach
The project develops a comprehensive, multifaceted, yet mutually reinforcing concept for the enhanced security, resilience and sustainability of urban infrastructure and development. As part of the project, 61 experts were interviewed in six European countries (UK, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Spain and Finland) to establish a comprehensive understanding of the current role and position of resilience in urban-built infrastructure. These interviews elicit the current views of professionals from a number of contributory and competing disciplines.
Findings
Results indicate that there is no shared holistic understanding of urban resilience in Europe. The definitions of the concept vary across disciplines. The research identifies that there are a number of existing theoretical and practice gaps that require to be addressed.
Originality/value
This paper presents a number of research and practice “gaps” which are being addressed in the HARMONISE project and which require to be addressed by the wider academic and practice communities.
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Jeanne Hardacre, Robert Cragg, Hugh Flanagan, Peter Spurgeon and Jonathan Shapiro
While the need for leadership in health care is well recognised, there is still the need to better understand how leadership contributes to improving healthcare services. The body…
Abstract
While the need for leadership in health care is well recognised, there is still the need to better understand how leadership contributes to improving healthcare services. The body of knowledge concerning improvement has grown significantly in recent years, but evidence about links between leadership and health services improvement remains poor, especially within the UK National Health Service. It remains unclear how and why leadership is important to service improvement, and how leadership development can optimise service improvement.This paper describes a study commissioned by The Health Foundation, exploring the links between leadership behaviours reported by clinicians and managers in NHS organisations and their service improvement work. The study highlights leadership behaviours that appear to be positively associated with NHS improvement work. This paper provides insights into which aspects of leadership are used for different types of improvement work and considers lessons for leadership development.
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This paper sets out to describe the development of problem‐structuring methods within operations research (OR) and to suggest that these might define new areas of collaborative…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper sets out to describe the development of problem‐structuring methods within operations research (OR) and to suggest that these might define new areas of collaborative activity between library management and OR modellers.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper identifies a requirement for the twenty‐first century academic library to be flexible, inclusive and responsive to rapidly changing environments. The use of problem‐structuring methods provides OR modellers with a methodological approach that can assist decision making under just these conditions, and so a management approach that places problem‐structuring methods firmly within library planning processes is suggested.
Findings
Since the rapid growth of library OR in the 1960s and 1970s (using primarily statistical and quantitative techniques) there has been a significant downturn in new applications and model developments within the last 20 years. This has coincided with a debate on the future of OR that has moved it away from the application of quantitative techniques, and the new paradigms evolving from that debate could stimulate a regeneration of interest in library OR.
Originality/value
The paper explores a possible future for library OR. The application of OR methods within libraries has undoubtedly had its successes and a wider appreciation of the potential use of problem‐structuring methods within library management could resolve many of the issues associated with planning library operations on the brink of the second decade of the twenty‐first century.
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This chapter describes the growth and decline of Library Operational Research (Library OR) since the first descriptions of such activity appeared in the 1960s. The changing nature…
Abstract
This chapter describes the growth and decline of Library Operational Research (Library OR) since the first descriptions of such activity appeared in the 1960s. The changing nature of OR and of the academic library is discussed and a case is made for recognition of a new paradigm in Library OR. First explored are the origins of OR and its application to academic libraries, summarizing some of the critical assessments of Library OR from those active in the field, and exploring some of the literature that relates to the development of OR itself, the academic library as an entity, and the modeler/library–practitioner interaction. Each indicates that a new way of working in Library OR is required if it is to deliver the results that OR has delivered in other contexts. The growth and decline of Library OR has been very marked. The decline has coincided with a reevaluation of the nature and contribution of OR itself, particularly in relation to modeling activities. New modeling approaches have evolved involving problem structuring, and these new paradigms extend naturally to Library OR and would help ease a number of concerns raised against the use of traditional OR models. Practical implications of this chapter are that academic libraries are facing an era of unprecedented change and some of the issues to be addressed relate to identifying and managing strategy and managing change. The adoption of new paradigms could enliven the practice and contribution of Library OR.
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Abstract
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The first half of this volume is on the theme of library operations and management. The second half covers three different topics which point toward trends and implications for…
Abstract
The first half of this volume is on the theme of library operations and management. The second half covers three different topics which point toward trends and implications for libraries, education, and the use of electronic texts by humanities researchers.
Gregory J. Gibbons and Robert G. Hansell
The aim of this study is to demonstrate the benefit of design flexibility afforded by the Arcam free‐form fabrication process in the direct manufacture of injection mould inserts…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is to demonstrate the benefit of design flexibility afforded by the Arcam free‐form fabrication process in the direct manufacture of injection mould inserts with complex cooling channel configurations and the process efficiency and quality gains achieved through using such inserts.
Design/methodology/approach
The manufacturing process of a flood cooled injection mould insert using the Arcam EBM S12 layered manufacturing process is presented. The insert is then evaluated against two other inserts (one un‐cooled and one traditionally baffle cooled (BC)) in the manufacture of test components, with the temperature of the insert and components recorded. The process conditions were adjusted (reduced cooling time) to increase the core and component temperatures to identify the operational limits of the inserts. Thermal imaging was employed to visualize the thermal distribution within the BC and flood cooled (FC) inserts.
Findings
The cooling efficiency of the FC insert was found to be significantly higher than that of the other two inserts, and the homogeneity of the heat distribution of the FC insert was more even than the BC insert. It was possible to manufacture non‐deformed components using the FC insert with zero cooling time (ejection immediately after removal of holding pressure), this was not possible with the BC insert.
Research limitations/implications
Provides a basis for the development of more efficient and thermally homogeneous inserts through the Arcam EBM process.
Practical implications
Provides a technology/process for the manufacture of highly efficient core inserts for injection moulding, offering the industry a competitive advantage through the potential for time and cost savings and higher quality components.
Originality/value
This is the first direct comparison of an Arcam EBM manufactured insert with complex cooling geometries against traditionally cooled inserts, particularly novel is the thermal imaging analysis of the cooling efficiency and distribution.
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Ji Li, Thomas Wasley, Duong Ta, John Shephard, Jonathan Stringer, Patrick J. Smith, Emre Esenturk, Colm Connaughton, Russell Harris and Robert Kay
This paper aims to demonstrate the improved functionality of additive manufacturing technology provided by combining multiple processes for the fabrication of packaged electronics.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to demonstrate the improved functionality of additive manufacturing technology provided by combining multiple processes for the fabrication of packaged electronics.
Design/methodology/approach
This research is focused on the improvement in resolution of conductor deposition methods through experimentation with build parameters. Material dispensing with two different low temperature curing isotropic conductive adhesive materials was characterised for their application in printing each of three different conductor designs, traces, z-axis connections and fine pitch flip chip interconnects. Once optimised, demonstrator size can be minimised within the limitations of the chosen processes and materials.
Findings
The proposed method of printing z-axis through layer connections was successful with pillars 2 mm in height and 550 µm in width produced. Dispensing characterisation also resulted in tracks 134 µm in width and 38 µm in height allowing surface mount assembly of 0603 components and thin-shrink small outline packaged integrated circuits. Small 149-µm flip chip interconnects deposited at a 457-µm pitch have also been used for packaging silicon bare die.
Originality/value
This paper presents an improved multifunctional additive manufacturing method to produce fully packaged multilayer electronic systems. It discusses the development of new 3D printed, through layer z-axis connections and the use of a single electrically conductive adhesive material to produce all conductors. This facilitates the surface mount assembly of components directly onto these conductors before stereolithography is used to fully package multiple layers of circuitry in a photopolymer.
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