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1 – 10 of 58Robert Holmgren and David Sjöberg
The purpose of this study is to explore Swedish police education teachers’ informal workplace learning and its perceived value for their professional development. Two categories…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore Swedish police education teachers’ informal workplace learning and its perceived value for their professional development. Two categories of teachers, police teachers and university teachers, with different professional knowledge and experience, work together at the police education unit.
Design/methodology/approach
The method used was in-depth interviews with teachers working at a Swedish police education unit.
Findings
Informal workplace learning was perceived by both teacher groups to be of great value for gaining knowledge about the local practice and for their professional development. Their learning emerged in discussions, observations and practically oriented activities in their daily work. Four conclusions: firstly, the teachers’ informal workplace learning was socially and practice-oriented and learning emerged in a collaborative, reciprocal and active process. Secondly, the embodied nature of the learning is evident in the teachers’ joint activities in the teaching practice. Thirdly, it takes time and active involvement in the local practice to become a professional teacher in this kind of education. Fourthly, an educational structure where academic knowledge and experience can be integrated with police knowledge and experience constitutes an important basis for teachers’ professional development in police education and training.
Originality/value
The study’s focus on police education and the professional development of teachers in this specific practice contributes to increased knowledge of the social, practice-oriented and embodied nature of informal workplace learning.
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Teresa Di Filippo, Lucia Parisi and Michele Roccella
Impairment of intelligence in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients was described by Duchenne de Boulogne himself in 1868. Further studies report intelligence disorders with…
Abstract
Impairment of intelligence in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients was described by Duchenne de Boulogne himself in 1868. Further studies report intelligence disorders with mayor impairment of memory. The aim of the present study was to assess the presence of affective and personality disorders in a group of children affected by DMD. Twenty six male DMD patients, mean age eleven and four months years old, were assessed for their affective and personality disorder. Only eight subjects had a total IQ below average with major difficulties in verbal and visual-spatial memory, comprehension, arithmetic and vocabulary. All the subjects presented some disorders: tendency to marginalization and isolation, self-depreciation, sense of insecurity, hypochondriac thoughts and marked state of anxiety. These disorders are often a dynamic prolongation of a psychological process which starts when the diagnosis is made and continues, in a slow and latent fashion, throughout the evolution of the disease.
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Stephen Oduro, Alessandro De Nisco and Luca Petruzzellis
This study aims to draw on cue utilization and irradiation theories to: determine the extent to which country-of-origin image and its sub-dimensions exert an aggregate and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to draw on cue utilization and irradiation theories to: determine the extent to which country-of-origin image and its sub-dimensions exert an aggregate and relative influence on consumer brand evaluations; and identify the contextual and methodological factors that account for between-study variance in the focal relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
A random-effects model was used to examine 166 empirical articles encompassing 499,563 observations, and 282 effect sizes from 1984 to 2020 using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software.
Findings
Results show that country-of-origin image has a positive, moderate effect on consumer brand evaluations. Moreover, findings reveal that each dimension of country-of-origin image – general country image, general product country image, specific product country image and partitioned country image – significantly influences consumer brand evaluation, but the effect of general product country image is the largest. What’s more, the aggregate impacts of country-of-origin image on consumer brand evaluation – brand commitment, brand-specific associations and general brand impressions – show that the effect on brand commitment is the largest. Finally, findings show that contextual factors (brand source, product sector, culture [individualism vs collectivism], brand origin continents and respondents’ continent) and methodological factors (cues, sampling unit, publication year and sample size) significantly account for between-study variance.
Originality/value
This study provides the first meta-analytic review of the relationship between country-of-origin image and consumer brand evaluation to help clarify mixed findings and balance out the literature, which has only seen quantitative reviews on product evaluation and purchase decisions.
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Since the financial crisis, East Asian countries have worked on bilateral/regional Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). Currently, East Asian countries are working on over 30 FTAs. So…
Abstract
Since the financial crisis, East Asian countries have worked on bilateral/regional Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). Currently, East Asian countries are working on over 30 FTAs. So far, the United States (U.S.) has exerted its considerable political and economic power in East Asia, but its political and diplomatic position is increasingly shaky for many reasons-emergence of China’s economic and military strength, growing regionalism in East Asia, weakening influence of the Asia Pacific Economic Conference (APEC) forum, and growing anti-American sentiment after the anti-terrorism war. The U.S. will be even more concerned about the development of FTAs in East Asia, since the country will suffer economic and non-economic losses when the East Asian regionalism is developed. This article evaluates a U.S.-Korea FTA in terms of U.S. involvement in East Asian regionalism, and tries to provide an economic assessment of the FTA. This article points out that the U.S. should take advantage of the U.S.-Korea FTA to secure its interests in East Asia and to avoid exclusion from East Asian regional economic integration.
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Stefan Scheidt, Carsten Gelhard, Juliane Strotzer and Jörg Henseler
While the branding of individuals has attracted increasing attention from practitioners in recent decades, understanding of personal branding still remains limited, especially…
Abstract
Purpose
While the branding of individuals has attracted increasing attention from practitioners in recent decades, understanding of personal branding still remains limited, especially with regard to the branding of celebrity CEOs. To contribute to this debate, this paper aims to explore the co-branding of celebrity CEOs and corporate brands, integrating endorsement theory and the concept of meaning transfer at a level of brand attributes.
Design/methodology/approach
A between-subjects true experimental design was chosen for each of the two empirical studies with a total of 268 participants, using mock newspaper articles about a succession scenario at the CEO level of different companies. The study is designed to analyse the meaning transfer from celebrity CEO to corporate brand and vice versa using 16 personality attributes.
Findings
This study gives empirical support for meaning transfer effects at the brand attribute level in both the celebrity-CEO-to-corporate-brand and corporate-brand-to-celebrity-CEO direction, which confirms the applicability of the concept of brand endorsement to celebrity CEOs and the mutuality in co-branding models. Furthermore, a more detailed and expansive perspective on the definition of endorsement is provided as well as managerial guidance for building celebrity CEOs and corporate brands in consideration of meaning transfer effects.
Originality/value
This study is one of only few analysing the phenomenon of meaning transfer between brands that focus on non-evaluative associations (i.e. personality attributes). It is unique in its scope, insofar as the partnering relationship between celebrity CEOs and corporate brands have not been analysed empirically from this perspective yet. It bridges the gap between application in practice and the academic foundations, and it contributes to a broader understanding and definition of celebrity endorsement.
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Hassan Saleh Mahdi, Hind Alotaibi and Hind AlFadda
This study aims to examine the effects of using mobile translation applications for translating collocations.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the effects of using mobile translation applications for translating collocations.
Design/methodology/approach
The study followed an experimental design where 47 students of English as foreign language in a Saudi university were randomly categorized into two groups. Both the groups were given a translation task consisting of 30 sentences with fixed, medium-strength and weak collocations. The participants in the experimental group (n 23) were asked to use a mobile App (Reverso) to translate the sentences, while the control group (n 24) was allowed to use only paper-based dictionaries. The translations were scored and analyzed to measure if there was any significant difference between the two groups.
Findings
The results indicated that the mobile translation application was more effective in translating fixed and medium-strength collocations than weak collocations, and in translating collocations in both translation directions (i.e. from Arabic into English or vice-versa).
Originality/value
The findings suggest that integrating translation technologies in general and mobile translation applications in particular in translation can enhance the translation process. Students can utilize mobile translation applications to enhance their translation skills, especially for translating collocations.
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Hoyon Hwang, Jaeyoung Cha and Jon Ahn
The purpose of this paper is to present the development of an optimal design framework for high altitude long endurance solar unmanned aerial vehicle. The proposed solar aircraft…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present the development of an optimal design framework for high altitude long endurance solar unmanned aerial vehicle. The proposed solar aircraft design framework provides a simple method to design solar aircraft for users of all levels of experience.
Design/methodology/approach
This design framework consists of algorithms and user interfaces for the design of experiments, optimization and mission analysis that includes aerodynamics, performance, solar energy, weight and flight distances.
Findings
The proposed sizing method produces the optimal solar aircraft that yields the minimum weight and satisfies the constraints such as the power balance, the night time energy balance and the lift coefficient limit.
Research limitations/implications
The design conditions for the sizing process are given in terms of mission altitudes, flight dates, flight latitudes/longitudes and design factors for the aircraft configuration.
Practical implications
The framework environment is light and easily accessible as it is implemented using open programs without the use of any expensive commercial tools or in-house programs. In addition, this study presents a sizing method for solar aircraft as traditional sizing methods fail to reflect their unique features.
Social implications
Solar aircraft can be used in place of a satellite and introduce many advantages. The solar aircraft is much cheaper than the conventional satellite, which costs approximately $200-300m. It operates at a closer altitude to the ground and allows for a better visual inspection. It also provides greater flexibility of missions and covers a wider range of applications.
Originality/value
This study presents the implementation of a function that yields optimized flight performance under the given mission conditions, such as climb, cruise and descent for a solar aircraft.
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Jingrui Ge, Kristoffer Vandrup Sigsgaard, Julie Krogh Agergaard, Niels Henrik Mortensen, Waqas Khalid and Kasper Barslund Hansen
This paper proposes a heuristic, data-driven approach to the rapid performance evaluation of periodic maintenance on complex production plants. Through grouping, maintenance…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper proposes a heuristic, data-driven approach to the rapid performance evaluation of periodic maintenance on complex production plants. Through grouping, maintenance interval (MI)-based evaluation and performance assessment, potential nonvalue-adding maintenance elements can be identified in the current maintenance structure. The framework reduces management complexity and supports the decision-making process for further maintenance improvement.
Design/methodology/approach
The evaluation framework follows a prescriptive research approach. The framework is structured in three steps, which are further illustrated in the case study. The case study utilizes real-life data to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed framework.
Findings
Through a case study conducted on 9,538 pieces of equipment from eight offshore oil and gas production platforms, the results show considerable potential for maintenance performance improvement, including up to a 23% reduction in periodic maintenance hours.
Research limitations/implications
The problem of performance evaluation under limited data availability has barely been addressed in the literature on the plant level. The proposed framework aims to provide a quantitative approach to reducing the structural complexity of the periodic maintenance evaluation process and can help maintenance professionals prioritize the focus on maintenance improvement among current strategies.
Originality/value
The proposed framework is especially suitable for initial performance assessment in systems with a complex structure, limited maintenance records and imperfect data, as it reduces management complexity and supports the decision-making process for further maintenance improvement. A similar application has not been identified in the literature.
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Peter G. Kelly, Benjamin H. Gallup and Joseph D. Roy-Mayhew
Many additively manufactured parts suffer from reduced interlayer strength. This anisotropy is necessarily tied to the orientation during manufacture. When individual features on…
Abstract
Purpose
Many additively manufactured parts suffer from reduced interlayer strength. This anisotropy is necessarily tied to the orientation during manufacture. When individual features on a part have conflicting optimal orientations, the part is unavoidably compromised. This paper aims to demonstrate a strategy in which conflicting features can be functionally separated into “co-parts” which are individually aligned in an optimal orientation, selectively reinforced with continuous fiber, printed simultaneously and, finally, assembled into a composite part with substantially improved performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Several candidate parts were selected for co-part decomposition. They were printed as standard fused filament fabrication plastic parts, parts reinforced with continuous fiber in one plane and co-part assemblies both with and without continuous fiber reinforcement (CFR). All parts were loaded until failure. Additionally, parts representative of common suboptimally oriented features (“unit tests”) were similarly printed and tested.
Findings
CFR delivered substantial improvement over unreinforced plastic-only parts in both standard parts and co-part assemblies, as expected. Reinforced parts held up to 2.5x the ultimate load of equivalent plastic-only parts. The co-part strategy delivered even greater improvement, particularly when also reinforced with continuous fiber. Plastic-only co-part assemblies held up to 3.2x the ultimate load of equivalent plastic only parts. Continuous fiber reinforced co-part assemblies held up to 6.4x the ultimate load of equivalent plastic-only parts. Additionally, the thought process behind general co-part design is explored and a vision of simulation-driven automated co-part implementation is discussed.
Originality/value
This technique is a novel way to overcome one of the most common challenges preventing the functional use of additively manufactured parts. It delivers compelling performance with continuous carbon fiber reinforcement in 3D printed parts. Further study could extend the technique to any anisotropic manufacturing method, additive or otherwise.
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Kabir Ibrahim, Fredrick Simpeh and Oluseyi Julius Adebowale
Construction organizations must maintain a productive workforce without sacrificing their health and safety. The global construction sector loses billions of dollars yearly to…
Abstract
Purpose
Construction organizations must maintain a productive workforce without sacrificing their health and safety. The global construction sector loses billions of dollars yearly to poor health and safety practices. This study aims to investigate benefits derivable from using wearable technologies to improve construction health and safety. The study also reports the challenges associated with adopting wearable technologies.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopted a quantitative design, administering close-ended questions to professionals in the Nigerian construction industry. The research data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.
Findings
The study found that the critical areas construction organizations can benefit from using WSDs include slips and trips, sensing environmental concerns, collision avoidance, falling from a high level and electrocution. However, key barriers preventing the organizations from adopting wearable technologies are related to cost, technology and human factors.
Practical implications
The time and cost lost to H&S incidents in the Nigerian construction sector can be reduced by implementing the report of this study.
Originality/value
Studies on WSDs have continued to increase in developed countries, but Nigeria is yet to experience a leap in the research area. This study provides insights into the Nigerian reality to provide directions for practice and theory.
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