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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of consumers’ expectations and their antecedents on beliefs, attitude and behavioral intentions when they respond to new corporate social responsibility (CSR) information about a service firm.

Empirically, the authors measure prior beliefs, and then calibrate how those beliefs change in response to a piece of news. The authors develop a conceptual model articulating the nature and antecedents of three types of expectations: would, could and should. The authors use structural equation modeling to test how these expectations influence the consumer evaluation process.

The results show that the effect of could expectations on the evaluation process is felt via their influence on would expectations; that is, would expectations fully mediate the relationship between could expectations and attitude toward news. Similarly, attitude toward news fully mediates the relationship between would and should expectations and updated beliefs about the firm.

In the selected service industry, the findings show that expectations are mediated by the new information that consumers receive when they are updating their prior beliefs. The authors demonstrate the ability to understand the antecedents of expectations, which provides a vehicle by which the organization can influence the consumer evaluation process.

In practice, managers can identify the antecedents of consumer expectations and thus influence the reference points against which those consumers will evaluate news about their product.

CSR has important implications for multiple stakeholders and the authors calibrate the determinants of how news about the organization’s performance on it may affect consumer decision processes.

The paper introduces “could” expectations into the services literature, examines the antecedents of the different types of expectations, and studies how their effect is felt through the evaluation process.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate damaging processes in TaN thin film absorbers under action of high-voltage electrical pulse of nanosecond duration. Despite having mechanical origin of crack opening, estimation based on the readings from oscillograms shows uncharacteristically high velocities of the crack propagation.

Microscopic images of damaged absorbers showing the final result of the damaging process provided initial information about its geometrical peculiarities. Then, to clarify the dynamics of the process, the authors create the model of the crack, having elements of self-similarities and multiple stage opening. The influence of heating induced by current concentration at crack tip and of magnetic stress of this concentrated current are both included in the model.

Using physical parameters of TaN layers with flowing current and performing calculations the authors define the conditions required to initiate the damaging process and to sustain it. Danger of such damage is relevant for high-T_c superconducting thin films after their switching to normal state which is induced by the high-voltage pulse.

There were made recommendations to manufactures aiming to improve electrical durability of the absorbers in an effort to prevent the damaging influence of power nanosecond electrical pulses.

Three stage opening model implies the appearance of zone of high-energy dissipation that can lead to detonation-like destruction of the film and, therefore, explain the high velocities of crack propagation.

The purpose of this study is to test the relationship between mall relevance dimensions [(functional relevance (FNR), symbolic relevance (SYR), social relevance (SOR) and environmental relevance (ENR)] and shoppers' well-being (SWB), which in turn influences mall loyalty (ML). In addition, this study aims to investigate the moderating effect of social media celebrities (SMCs) on the association between SWB and ML.

A mall intercept survey was used to collect responses from mall shoppers. The authors received 426 valid responses from mall shoppers in Pakistan's three metropolitan cities (i.e. Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad). To test the hypotheses, partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used.

Findings reveal that FNR, SYR, ENR and SOR significantly and positively influence SWB. Similarly, SWB significantly affects ML. Moreover, SMCs moderate the positive relationship between SWB and ML.

This study is one of the pioneer studies examining mall relevance dimensions on SWB. In addition, this study contributes to the retailing literature by testing the moderation effect of SMCs on the relationship between SWB and ML. Likewise, this study provides insights for mall administration to focus on mall relevance in terms of FNR, SYR, ENR and SOR to enhance the current and prospects' SWB. Next, SMCs play a key role in enhancing SWB and ML.

This study aims to present a state-of-the-art review of building information modelling (BIM) in the Swedish construction practice with a focus on wood construction. It focuses on examining the extent, maturity and actual practices of BIM in the Swedish wood construction industry, by analysing practitioners’ perspectives on the current state of BIM and its perceived benefits.

A qualitative approach was selected, given the study’s exploratory character. Initially, an extensive review was undertaken to examine the current state of BIM utilisation and its associated advantages within the construction industry. Subsequently, empirical data were acquired through semi-structured interviews featuring open-ended questions, aimed at comprehensively assessing the prevailing extent of BIM integration within the Swedish wood construction sector.

The research concluded that the wood construction industry in Sweden is shifting towards BIM on different levels, where in some cases, the level of implementation is still modest. It should be emphasised that the wood construction industry in Sweden is not realising the full potential of BIM. The industry is still using a combination of BIM and traditional methods, thus, limiting the benefits that full BIM implementation could offer the industry.

This study provided empirical evidence on the current perceptions and state of practice of the Swedish wood construction industry regarding BIM maturity.

This paper aims to explore the motivation and job satisfaction of employees in the hospitality industry in Dubai, using Herzberg’s two-factor theory of motivation.

This qualitative research encompassed 20 interviews with employees at four different job levels from a 4-star hotel in Dubai, selected through purposive and quota sampling.

Findings show that achievement, recognition and responsibility are essential motivators. However, these were sources of dissatisfaction amongst employees from the lower job levels. Leader quality is crucial to hygiene. Moreover, it is a key motivator and a powerful source of job satisfaction.

This cross-sectional study entailed a small sample size of 20 employees from one hotel in Dubai. Therefore, the only generalisation to theory is permitted and not to a broader population, such as hospitality workers from other hotels in Dubai or any of the other six United Arab Emirates.

The two specific human resource programmes and practices presented in this paper can exert a positive influence on employees’ motivation and job satisfaction. This, in turn, will bring the hotel in a strong position to compete for motivated and competent human capital to deliver high quality guest services to gain a competitive advantage in the hospitality industry in Dubai.

This paper contributes to the literature first, by identifying the type of motivation of the hotel’s employees as follows: “prosocial motivation”, evoked by satisfaction with motivators and hygienes. Second, by presenting a “Satisfier and Hygiene model for Prosocial Motivation and Job Satisfaction”, illustrating the reciprocal relation between prosocial motivation and job satisfaction.

Outlines previous research on company failure prediction and discusses some of the methodological issues involved. Extends an earlier study (Tan 1997) using artificial neural networks (ANN) to predict financial distress in Australian credit unions by extending the forecast period of the models, presents the results and compares them with probit model results. Finds the ANN models generally at least as good as the probit, although both types improved their accuracy rates (for Type I and Type II errors) when early warning signals were included. Believes ANN “is a promising technique” although more research is required, and suggests some avenues for this.

Breast cancer has become the largest cancer in the world today. Health problems for women with breast cancer need to be addressed urgently. This study aims to select the best method for preparing temperature-sensitive sports underwear, and to verify the feasibility of using K-type thermocouple threads in underwear fabrics.

In the experiments, two samples were designed for temperature-sensitive performance tests and the effects produced by different outer layer structures were investigated. In the second step, K-type thermocouple wires were integrated into sports underwear. The comfort and feasibility of the temperature-sensitive underwear were investigated.

It was finally verified to obtain the best comfort and temperature-sensing performance of K-type thermocouple filaments integrated into sports underwear with plain stitching.

The underwear has a certain prospect for the application of smart apparel based on breast cancer health monitoring, which is of some significance for monitoring smart apparel.

A high-fidelity simulation platform helps to verify the feasibility of the controller and reduce the cost of subsequent experiments. Therefore, this paper aims to design a high-fidelity hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation platform for the tail-sitter vehicles.

The component breakdown approach is used to develop a more reliable model. Thruster dynamics and ground contact force are also modeled. Accurate aerodynamic coefficients are obtained through wind tunnel tests. This simulation system adopts a mode transition method to achieve continuous simulation for all flight modes.

Simulation results are in good agreement with the flight log and successfully predict the state of the vehicle.

First, the effects of the propeller slipstream are considered. Second, most researchers ignore the parasitic drag caused by the landing gear and other appendages, which is discussed in this study. Third, a ground contact model is implemented to allow a realistic simulation of the takeoff and landing phases. Fourth, complete wind tunnel tests are conducted to obtain more accurate aerodynamic coefficients. Finally, a mode transition method is deployed in the HIL simulation system to achieve continuous simulation for all flight modes.

This paper aims to design a global controller that is operational throughout all flight modes and less dependent on an accurate model.

By adopting the interconnection and damping assignment passivity-based control (IDA-PBC) technology and compensating extra inputs for handling the unknown dynamics and time-varying disturbances, a model-free control (MFC)-based global controller is proposed.

Test results indicate that the designed controllers are more suitable for actual flight as they have smaller position tracking errors and energy consumption in all flight phases than the excellent model-free controller intelligent-PID.

The designed global controller, which works in all flight modes without adjusting its structure and parameters, can realize a stable and accurate tracking control of a tail-sitter and improve the resistance to unknown disturbances and model uncertainties.

The newly-designed controller is considered as an enhanced version of the traditional MFC. It further improves the control effect by using the poorly known dynamics of the system and choosing the IDA-PBC as the control auxiliary input. This method eliminates the unnecessary dynamics to continuously stabilize the vehicle with suitable energy consumption covering its entire flight envelope.