Search results

This study aims to collect empirical data and observe the type of influences that were causing impact to the implementation of information technology governance (ITG) mechanisms in Malaysia’s technical universities. This study enhanced the understanding on the status of ITG implementation and revealed internal and external influences that were shaping the types of ITG mechanisms implemented within universities and present a new perspective through the lens of resource-based view and continuous improvement.

This study focused on two Malaysia’s technical universities belongs under same university’s network. Five IT leaders involved in the implementations of ITG from each university were interviewed. Qualitative content analysis was used as the main analyzing method to extract categories and themes from the transcripts. Final results were produced after multiple efforts of refining categories and themes in ITG implementations.

The findings revealed that both Malaysia’s technical universities had more soundly implementations in structure mechanisms than relational and process mechanisms. The shaping of implemented mechanisms was influenced by environment surrounding the universities, internally and externally. The findings proposed that the internal and external factors are best addressed with the growth of internal ITG expertise.

This research was conducted on two of Malaysia’s technical universities that were under a university network. Although both universities had presented the exact trend in the type of ITG mechanisms implemented in the universities, more empirical data were needed to further solidify the findings from this study. Other than that, the major respondents for this research were middle-level IT officers and leaders in the universities. Further research could be conducted specifically on top-level managements to further understand the point of views of top managements in the aspect of ITG mechanisms implementations in universities.

This study discussed how each factor could influence the types of ITG mechanisms implemented in Malaysia’s technical universities and concluded the attentions needed to improve the overall environment for ITG implementations in universities through the lens of resource-based view and continuous improvement.

Based on the perspective of knowledge management, this study aims to discuss how to build cross-city emergency management collaboration mechanism in major emergencies and explore the important role of knowledge management in emergency management collaboration.

Based on the theoretical analysis of knowledge management and the typical case study of cross-city emergency management collaborative rescue, this study provides an in-depth analysis of how these cities achieve high emergency management performance through multidimensional and multilevel knowledge collaboration, thus revealing the mechanism of knowledge transfer, integration and sharing in achieving high emergency management performance.

Through analyzing typical cases, this study finds that building a smooth mechanism for multichannel emergency rescue information can promote the diversification of knowledge transfer methods, building a platform-based integration mechanism for emergency rescue information can enhance knowledge integration capabilities and building a linkage mechanism for emergency rescue materials between cities can promote knowledge-sharing level, thereby improving emergency management performance level.

This study has great significance for how to build cross-city emergency management collaboration mechanism in the digital era. In the future, the authors need to further discuss the following two aspects in depth: research on the impact of cross-city emergency management collaboration mechanism on improving the knowledge management capabilities of government emergency management departments; and research on the impact mechanism of knowledge management capabilities on city resilience.

Through case analysis of cross-city emergency management collaborative rescue for major emergencies in China in recent years, this study proposes three specific strategies for cross-city emergency management (smooth, integration and linkage mechanisms) and reveals that these three strategies are essentially aimed at improving the government’s knowledge management level.

This paper aims to develop a wave-transmitting mechanism for a travelling-wave-type omnidirectional mobile robot. Existing omnidirectional mechanisms are prone to movement instability because they establish a small contact area with the ground. The authors have developed a novel omnidirectional mobile robot that achieves stable movement by a large ground-contact area. The proposed robot moves by a wave-transmitting mechanism designed for this purpose.

To achieve stable movement, a spiral-type travelling-wave-propagation mechanism that mimics the locomotion mechanism of a snail was developed. The mechanism was applied to an omnidirectional mobile robot.

The practicality of magnetic attraction was verified in experiments of the wave-transmitting mechanism. Moreover, omnidirectional movement was confirmed in a robot prototype adopting this mechanism.

The proposed robot will eventually be deployed in human spaces such as factories and hospitals. A mechanically improved version of the robot will be evaluated in load-driving experiments and equipped with control systems.

This paper proposes an omnidirectional mobile robot with a large ground contact area that moves by continuous travelling waves. The practicability of this mechanism was experimentally confirmed, and a prototype robot achieved omnidirectional movement.

The purpose of this paper is to describe how the performance of a system is determined.

Systems with the same structure or function often have different performances. What makes the difference? Within a system, the various actors make their decisions by their own and their actions depend on the mechanism of the system. The actors' strategy selection under different mechanisms and the mechanism design are precisely in the range of Game Theory. This paper compares two different pricing mechanisms, the Stackelberg Game and Cournot Game, in a linear supply chain. And the obtained result of the different behavior (Pm*, Pr*) and different performance (Um*, Ur*) of the supply chain obviously approves our proposition that the operational mechanism is of great importance to the performance of the system, the same as structure.

It is the structure of the system and operational mechanism which determines the performance of the system.

The paper's limitations lie in the fact that it is not yet based on experimental evidence from real‐world systems.

Game Theory is one of the most effective methods to study the systematic mechanism, especially the mechanism designs, because it reveals the inherent nature of the systematic mechanism.

This paper points out that the mechanism which restricts each behavioral subject determines the performance of these systems. It puts forward a new region for the research of general system theory.

The main purpose of this study is to develop a systematic method that can minimize joint clearance for non‐assembly mechanism fabrication using a layer‐based fabrication technology.

Joint clearance is one of the key factors affecting a mechanism's performance. Hertz theory is adopted to analyze the joint clearance‐penetration displacement relationship and the impact force‐displacement relationship. This analysis has indicated the importance of reducing joint clearance. To reduce joint clearance in layer‐based fabrication, a drum‐shaped roller is proposed for pin joint design in non‐assembly mechanism fabrication. Compared to cylindrical pin joint design, a drum‐shaped roller joint results in less impact force in mechanism operation. Furthermore, the joint clearance can also be drastically reduced.

Large joint clearance could introduce instability into the dynamic behaviour of a mechanism. By applying a drum‐shaped roller, the instability could apparently be alleviated. This has been demonstrated by both simulation and fabrication of a number of mechanisms with and without drum‐shaped pin joints.

Since the proposed joint design can reduce the joint clearance in rapid fabrication of non‐assembly mechanisms, it is possible to expand layer‐based rapid fabrication techniques for more mechanism design applications.

Layer‐based fabrication technologies have two distinct advantages: building parts without geometry restriction; and building sub‐systems (static or mobile) without the need for assembly. Only very few previous studies have investigated the applications that can benefit from the second advantage due to the limited accuracy of layer‐based technologies in making joints of a mechanism. Through the proposed drum‐shaped roller pin joint design together with the proposed joint design guidelines, joint clearance can be reduced significantly. Thus, sub‐systems or mechanisms built using layer‐based technologies could have accuracy close to the design specification. This will expand the application of layer‐based technologies to more mechanism or mobile mechanical system studies.

The purpose of this paper is to present the direct kinematic analysis of a heavy‐payload forging manipulator. In the grasping stage, the manipulator is equivalent to a 3‐DOF under‐actuated mechanism. In order to deal with the direct position kinematics of the under‐actuated mechanism, the analysis is performed in two steps.

The paper analyzes the direct position kinematics of the 3‐DOF under‐actuated mechanism as follows: first, the authors add a virtual constraint on the mechanism, convert it to a 2‐DOF fully actuated mechanism and calculate the direct kinematics of the constrained mechanism. Then, the constraint is applied to many different positions and the corresponding direct kinematics of the constrained mechanism are calculated, respectively. Finally, the mechanism with lower gravitational potential energy than any other constrained mechanism is chosen, and its direct position is what is needed for the 3‐DOF underactuated mechanism.

The paper provides a solution for the direct kinematic analysis of a heavy‐payload forging manipulator in the grasping stage. Furthermore, the simulation and experiment results confirm the effectiveness of the solution.

The paper proposes a methodology to deal with the direct position kinematics of the 3‐DOF under‐actuated mechanism in two steps.

This study comparatively examines the collaborative policy mechanisms for interlocal cooperation (ILC) utilized by municipal managers in Nebraska, USA, and Norway. The research addresses differences in ILC, factors of national setting and implications for ILC management in public service delivery.

Over a seven-year period, the researchers collected data from 16 communities in the two countries to observe perceptions and usages of ILC. Using a policy tools theoretical framework, the authors apply a typology of collaborative mechanisms for comparative analysis.

The findings suggest that institutional orientations in the USA and Norwegian systems of government affect managerial approaches to collaborative service delivery, namely the operationalization of local governments within federal and unitary structures may influence perceptions toward the formality and specificity of ILC policy mechanisms.

This study offers further understanding of ILC mechanisms for public sector management. Theoretical and practical implications of ILC in a comparative international context of governmental systems for collaboration are explored.

This chapter describes two change efforts involving participatory action research within the pharmacy operations division of Kaiser Permanente. Focus is on a parallel learning mechanism that has been used to support communications and change during two large-scale information technology interventions. It begins with basic background information on participatory action research in organizations. Since the case setting is Kaiser Permanente, the chapter provides some information on the U.S. healthcare industry context and then shifts to Kaiser’s communication forum, a learning mechanism that has been in place for 35 years. Cognitive, structural, and procedural aspects of the learning mechanism are explored, and the chapter features interviews with some of the key forum players. Both in the forum’s infancy and in its current more institutionalized state, the pharmacy organization has been in crisis. Implications for the use of parallel learning structures on a long-term basis to support long-term participatory action research are explored along with contributions to theory on insider/outsider action research.

Why do some ventures grow to become dominant market players while most new ventures that do not fail limp along more modest trajectories? In comparison with our knowledge regarding determinants of venture creation or survival, the phenomenon of venture growth has been relatively neglected, both theoretically and empirically. Venture growth is a multi-level phenomenon co-occurring at different analytical and temporal levels. In this chapter we develop a theoretical model that accounts for venture growth as a process, drawing upon the mechanism-based theorizing approach. We offer nine social mechanisms that lead to venture growth, providing a foundation for empirical exploration and further theory building.