Search results

Despite large bodies of research related to the impacts of e-commerce on last-mile logistics and sustainability, there has been limited effort to evaluate urban freight using an equity lens. Therefore, this study proposes a modeling framework that enables researchers and planners to estimate the baseline equity performance of a major e-commerce platform and evaluate equity impacts of possible urban freight management strategies. The study also analyzes the sensitivity of various operational decisions to mitigate bias in the analysis.

The model adapts empirical methodologies from activity-based modeling, transport equity evaluation, and residential freight trip generation (RFTG) to estimate person- and household-level delivery demand and cargo van traffic exposure in 41 U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs).

Evaluating 12 measurements across varying population segments and spatial units, the study finds robust evidence for racial and socio-economic inequities in last-mile delivery for low-income and, especially, populations of color (POC). By the most conservative measurement, POC are exposed to roughly 35% more cargo van traffic than white populations on average, despite ordering less than half as many packages. The study explores the model’s utility by evaluating a simple scenario that finds marginal equity gains for urban freight management strategies that prioritize line-haul efficiency improvements over those improving intra-neighborhood circulations.

Presents a first effort in building a modeling framework for more equitable decision-making in last-mile delivery operations and broader city planning.

Conversations around diversity, race and science fiction and fantasy films/television have sparked in response to recent casting decisions made in the upcoming live-action The Little Mermaid, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and Star Wars' Obi-Wan Kenobi (Deggans, 2022; Romano, 2022). Backlash against casting of actors of Color in these genres highlights racial projects where a cultural memory of whiteness comes up against multicultural change. The authors of this paper feel that there is great potential in using current-day racial issues around fantasy films/television to explore these racial projects with students in social studies classes (Omi and Winant, 2014).

Using a qualitative textual analysis (Peräkylä, 2005), the authors examined online news media outlets addressing the casting of actors of Color in the aforementioned media pieces. After reviewing over twenty articles, the authors determined two major themes that would serve as the findings.

In this paper, themes of nostalgia for an imagined ‘way things were’ and future-based fears of how things will become emerged from the analysis, revealing a need for engaging students in the history of sci-fi and fantasy media, and the existing, diverse histories of storytelling featuring multiple races.

The authors argue that examining racial projects found in contemporary sci-fi and fantasy casting are chances for students to understand complex racial histories and how they blend into current-day cultural landscapes, and are opportunities to practice analysis of real-life racial histories and richly-imagined fantasy worlds, noticing how and why the two often collide when it comes to race.

Three-dimensional (3D)printed skulls for neurosurgical training are increasingly being used due to the widespread access to 3D printing technology, their low cost and accuracy, as well as limitations and ethical concerns associated with using human cadavers. However, little is known about the risks of airborne particles or volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released while drilling into 3D-printed plastic models. The aim of this study is to assess the level of exposure to airborne contaminants while burr hole drilling.

3D-printed skull samples were produced using three different materials (polyethylene terephthalate glycol [PETG], white resin and Bone^STN) across three different 3D print processes (fused filament fabrication, stereolithography [SLA] and material jetting). A neurosurgeon performed extended burr hole drilling for 10 min on each sample. Spot measurements of particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) were recorded, and air samples were analysed for approximately 90 VOCs.

The particulate matter for PETG was found to be below the threshold value for respirable particles. However, the particulate matter for white resin and Bone^STN was found to be above the threshold value at PM10, which could be harmful for long periods of exposure without personal protective equipment (PPE). The VOC measurements for all materials were found to be below safety thresholds, and therefore not harmful.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the safety of 3D-printed materials for burr hole surgical drilling. It recommends PETG as a safe material requiring minimal respiratory control measures, whereas resin-based materials will require safety controls to deal with airborne particles.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a new and useful formulation of relevance.

This paper is formulated as a conceptual argument. It makes the case for the utility of considering relevance to be function of use in creative processes.

There are several corollaries to formulating relevance as a function of use. These include the idea that objects by themselves cannot be relevant since use assumes interaction; the affordances of objects and how they are perceived can affect what becomes relevant but are not in themselves relevant; relevance is not an essential characteristic of objects; relevance is transient; potential relevance (what might be relevant in the future) can be distinguished from what is relevant in use and from what has been relevant in the past.

The paper shows that its new formulation of relevance brings improved conceptual and terminological clarity to the discourse about relevance in information science. It demonstrates that how relevance is articulated conceptually is important as its conceptualization can affect the ways that users are able to make use of information systems and, by extension, how information systems can facilitate or disable the co-production of creative outcomes. The paper also usefully expands investigative opportunities by suggesting relevance and creativity are interrelated.

Our goals were to explore the pedagogies applied by instructors that supported Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) student learning in a leadership course and the leadership behaviors BIPOC students identified as being applicable after the course.

Through survey research and qualitative data analysis, three prominent themes emerged.

High-quality, purposeful pedagogy created opportunities for students to learn. Second, a supportive, interactive community engaged students with the instructor, each other and the course material to support participation in learning. As a result, students reported experiencing big shifts, new growth and increased confidence during their leadership courses.

We discuss our findings and offer specific recommendations for leadership educators to better support BIPOC students in their leadership courses and classrooms and for further research with BIPOC students.

This study aims to test the effect of Seattle’s discontinuous sidewalk requirement, on the number of housing units per construction permit.

This study uses discontinuity linear regression (DLR) on a database of Seattle’s housing construction permits during January-2015 to January-2018, controlled by 51 socioeconomic, planning and geographic variables. The sidewalk requirement is continuous inside the designated urban villages; however, it is spatially and quantitatively discontinuous in the rest of the city: certain blocks at certain locations require sidewalks’ design and construction in permits with six or more housing units. DLR detects the effect of the discontinuity while controlling for a vast array of confounding variables.

The primary finding is that the discontinuous requirement reduces the number of housing units in about 75% of a housing unit per permit, which at the aggregate level amounts to around 335 fewer housing units during the period of analysis.

The database is relatively small, which has limited a more thorough specification process and robustness tests.

Besides directly testing the effect of a discontinuous in-kind development contribution, the research setup allows to discuss a wider, more structural problem: the possibility of contributions avoidance due to spatial substitution. In contrast, spatially continuous (i.e. city-level) contributions cannot be avoided by performing spatial substitution, and they are internalized by the housing supply side (market-neutral).

Every business company deals with the dilemma of how much to invest in long-term (LT) versus short-term (ST) problem (LTvST problem). LT operations increase the reputation of the company, and revenue is rewarded in the future. In contrast, ST operations result in immediate rewards. Thus, every organization faces the dilemma of how much to invest in LT versus ST activities. The former deals with the “what” or effectiveness, and the latter deals with the “how” or efficiency. The role of managers is to solve this dilemma; however, they often fail to do so, mainly because of a lack of knowledge. This study aims to propose a dynamic optimal control model that formulates and solves the LTvST problem.

This study proposes a dynamic optimal control model that formulates and solves the dilemma whether to invest in short- or LT operations.

This model is illustrated as an example of an academic institute that wants to maximize its reputation. Investing in effectiveness in the academy translates into investing in research, whereas investing in efficiency translates into investing in teaching. Universities and colleges with a good reputation attract stronger candidates and benefit from higher tuition fees. Steady-state conditions and insightful observations were obtained by studying the optimal solution and performing a sensitivity analysis.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first one to explore the optimal strategy when trying to maximize the short and LT activities of a company and solve the LTvST problem. Furthermore, it is applied on universities where teaching is the ST activity and research the LT activity. The insights gleaned from the application are relevant to many different fields. The authors believe that the paper makes a significant contribution to academic literature and to business managers.

Research indicates that inconsistent gender norm presentations are met with backlash, which is particularly damaging to women. With social media use in selection rising, it is important to understand if this remains consistent for job applicants on social media.

In two experiments, this study investigates hiring managers' reactions to job applicant (in)consistent gender norm-based communication on Facebook (n = 197) and YouTube (n = 203). Participants located in the United States were asked to review social media materials, reported perceptions of task and social attraction, and make hiring recommendations.

Inconsistent with work on backlash in face-to-face settings, results demonstrated that masculine communication styles on social media may be detrimental to job seekers, and this was more pronounced for male job seekers. Feminine presentation styles had more favorable results.

The findings challenge the long-held understanding that men have more leeway to behave in agentic ways in job seeking contexts. While this may remain true in face-to-face settings, these findings suggest that social media, lacking media richness, may be a context in which males experience backlash for agentic behavior.

The research offers a novel perspective investigating traditional gender expectations in the digital realm, paving the way for a more comprehensive understanding of gender in employment contexts. This study contributes to the growing body of research on online behavior and expands understanding of how hiring managers react to gender norms in the era of social media.

This paper aims to study antiques enthusiasts’ perspectives on the recent stagnancy in the antiques market, along with their suggestions on how the antiques trade can forge a more secure path forward.

Using a qualitative analysis approach through netnography, this paper examines archived comments of antiques enthusiasts on a “r/antiques” subreddit.

This research studies connoisseurs’ insights into the reduction in antiques sales experienced by a wide cross-section of sellers, particularly independent and small business retailers. Specifically, the results of this paper’s discourse analysis show that technological advances on one hand and socioeconomic factors (e.g. income, family structure and lifestyle) on the other hand have had a significant negative impact on demand for antiques. In addition, specific attributes such as authenticity and sustainability emerged as potential key marketing elements for invigorating the broader public’s interest in purchasing antiques.

Despite their significant insights into the antiques market, antiques enthusiasts have not received the academic attention they deserve. Through discourse analysis of comments in an online antiques community, this paper draws attention to the vulnerabilities of antiques markets to a protracted climate of slow sales, while highlighting potential strategies on how to turn the tide for struggling antiques stores.

The current study examines the effects of race, agency and environment on traffic stops in rural and non-rural spaces.

Using traffic stop data collected in a Midwest US County from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2021, the current study uses logistic regression to examine racial disparities in traffic stops.

The results indicate that police decision-making in traffic stops may be influenced by other factors besides a driver’s race or ethnicity. In other words, the police officer’s decision making in a traffic stop varies between small and large agencies as well as rural and non-rural places.

This study provides one of the few examinations of racial disparities in traffic stops in rural places.