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The purpose of this paper is to figure out in which way a hinterland-based inland depot model can help a shipping company in solving the empty container problem at a regional level. The repositioning of empty containers is a very expensive operation that does not generate profits. Consequently, it is very important to provide an efficient empty container management.

In this paper, the empty container problem is discussed at a regional repositioning level. For solving this problem, a mixed-integer linear optimization model is developed and validated by using the German hinterland as a case.

The findings show that the hinterland-based solution is able to reduce the total system costs by 40 per cent. In addition, total of truck kilometres could be reduced by more than 30 per cent too.

This research is based on German data only.

This paper closes the gap in empty container repositioning research by looking at the hinterland dimension from a single shipping company point of view.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a report of the world first robotized cellular production system developed by IDEC Corporation.

The work is based on an interview with the development team of IDEC Corporation.

The paper finds that the IDEC system is a success that paved a way to the future automated cellular production system that enables high‐mix, low‐volume production.

The paper provides an up‐to‐date insight into how to automate high‐mix low‐volume production.

The paper elaborates how a robotized cellular production system is realized.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the integration of Okala curriculum into Interior Design coursework. Okala, as a teaching package, is utilized extensively in industrial design education. However, this study examines the expansion and insertion of Okala modules in an existing interior design curriculum. The Okala modules included were: broad ecological information, eco‐design history, and strategies and processes for ecological design implementation. To interpret if the integration was effective, an online survey was developed and distributed to students enrolled in the course.

The survey was administered at the end of the spring 2009 semester. To evaluate the effectiveness of Okala modules and the perceived perceptions of the students' awareness toward the environment – ecologically, economically and sustainably – the researchers used the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) questionnaire. Developed by Dunlap and Van Liere in 1978, the NEP has been a reliable instrument in several previous studies, has measured other populations' attitudes toward the environment, and correlates well with the intent of researching Okala modules.

The key findings suggest that the incorporation of Okala modules: heightened students' confidence that humans' ability to produce environmentally‐friendly technologies will not allow for environmental collapse; equalized students' feelings about humans' and nature's rights; and did not change students' perception about Earth's capabilities and limits. Overall, the study had successfully determined students' environmental feelings prior to and after course instruction.

This paper exposes the importance of integrating sustainable development and interdisciplinary coursework into the content of a curriculum‐required course.

Aims to describe the new tendency of Japanese robotic industry observed at the International Robot Exhibition 2005 in Tokyo.

Reports new robots, robotic systems and research.

Finds that Japanese robotics is trying to support the future direction of the nation.

Introduces an approach to study what is going on in the Japanese robotic community based on the social needs of the country.

In this study, an interdisciplinary research team at a Midwest US University collaborated with a local county to co-envision interior design strategies for five county buildings: three libraries and two government buildings to reduce in-person contact in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The authors' interdisciplinary team used a community-based participatory design process which focused on creating consensus, while seeking out divergent perspectives among stakeholders to serve the needs of diverse users. The design process involved meetings with stakeholders remotely and analyzing survey results from the target occupants collected by the county.

The county with a population of 550,321 is the second most populous and diverse county in the state. The authors' collaborative efforts resulted in short-and long-term recommendations for the interior space planning to promote health, safety, and well-being for the county's diverse user groups of young children, adults, elderly and vulnerable populations. The short-term recommendations focus on service redesigns that can be implemented as the state shifts out of the stay-at-home order and the community returns to the county's public-facing buildings. The long-term recommendations focus on experiences and design strategies that can be carried forward to future-proof buildings in a post-COVID era and provide models for other counties.

One limitation is the dynamic nature of how rapidly our team responded to a critical need in the community to develop tangible interior design solutions during the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic for the county. The solutions we proposed were based on the scientific evidence available earlier on during that phase of the pandemic. The authors hope to conduct further studies in the future and conduct assessments of our rapid design responses.

This paper documents a dynamic experience during a once in a lifetime pandemic and thus contributes to further the body of knowledge about the role of interior design in shaping health and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The article presents a timely interdisciplinary response to the COVID-19 pandemic to promote community safety inside public buildings at the county. The interior design solutions reflected intensive literature reviews, critical space planning, innovative use of lighting, and thoughtful furniture/material selections.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse and compare the serving sizes and energy values reported on the nutrition information of all processed and ultra-processed dairy products in their regular and diet/light versions available for sale in a large supermarket in Brazil.

A check was done for associations between the compliance of reported serving sizes, energy values per serving and energy density for regular foods and foods advertised at “diet/light” (with reduced fat and calories).

The data included information from 451 dairy product labels. Most of the products had serving sizes smaller than the reference set by Brazilian law. A high variability of serving sizes was found for similar products. “Diet/light” foods tend to report serving sizes that are even smaller and more inadequate. Moreover, the energy density of these products was similar to that of the regular foods. Smaller serving sizes may be being presented on “diet/light” foods in order to report lower energy values and on similar foods to show non-existent differences in energy values. These results point to the importance of standardizing serving size information on food labels so that consumers have access to clear and accurate information about food products.

This was the first census-type study to analyse the serving size information of dairy products at a supermarket of one of the ten largest supermarket chains in Brazil. This work extends the scope of current food labelling and contributes to the discussion about how nutrition labelling has been presented to Brazilian consumers and its possible consequences for food choices and the guarantee of consumer rights.

The purpose of this paper is to comprehensively explore the current situation of lesson study (LS) implementation and practice among Mathematics Teacher Educators (MTEs) in Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs) across the country in Laos. Moreover, the study investigates MTEs’ professional learning through LS experience, the difficulties they encountered during practicing LS and their urgent needs to deepen their comprehension in the context of LS.

Data were collected through semi-structured interview with 45 MTEs from 7 TTCs in February/March 2018 (seven weeks). The study also collected 14 LS reports, 7 LS posters from the respondents and observed one cycle of LS practice in 2 TTCs. The data were systematically analyzed using inductive category formation through the procedure of transcribing and reading the transcription, thematic coding and categorizing and interpreting the meaning of thematic ideas (Mayring, 2015; Merriam, 2009). Licensed software MAXQDA 10 was used for this qualitative study.

The study argued based on LS practice in LS model 1 and model 2. MTEs that followed LS model 1 practiced LS in a superficial aspect and quantitatively relied upon the results from the checklists. They majorly satisfied the immediate measurement of teacher teaching’s behavior and student learning’s behavior. Frequently, time constraints, writing LS reports and collaboration were the great challenges. In contrast, MTEs that followed LS model 2 practiced LS in order to deepen understanding of students’ mathematical thinking. Although LS helped them by adjusting appropriate learning task, they encountered difficulty to innovate it effectively. LS also helped them in offering students’ autonomy to explore mathematical ideas, but they failed to understand the values of utilizing students’ mathematical ideas.

The findings from this study are beneficial for LS practice in the country and similar LS initiatives to find a measure to enhance the effectiveness of LS in schools and TTCs. The study suggested providing clear details of each step, the essential aspect and the core concept of LS to MTEs for successful transposition of LS to a non-Japanese context. Providing LS advisors who have had great experience in conducting LS not just high teaching or working experience only is highly recommended. This study has a limitation in observing LS practices from all seven TTCs.

Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) recognizes the significance of implementing LS in TTCs to enhance the quality of teaching-learning, though the progress of LS in those TTCs has not yet been addressed. Current situation of LS revealed in this study is valuable for similar initiatives, MoES and Japan International Cooperation Agency to make an effort in order to move LS forward.

The paper's aim is to analyze excess returns generated by Canadian sell‐offs and their links to changes in firms' internal capital allocation efficiency to test the efficiency of internal capital markets after assets divestitures.

This study investigates the relationship between the level of the excess returns subsequent to sell‐offs and changes in the capital allocated through internal capital markets. The authors measure excess returns by calculating buy‐and‐hold abnormal (BHAR) returns up to three years after divestitures and test whether changes in value are related to changes in investment efficiency. The paper uses the relative value added by allocation (RVA) as developed by Rajan et al. to measure the variation in allocational efficiency of the internal capital market.

The study reveals that on average assets divestitures enable Canadian firms to keep up with the performance of their peers of the same industrial sector during the long‐run post divestiture period. A closer look at the results shows that the variation of long‐run post divestitures performance among Canadian firms is significantly and positively linked to changes in the allocational efficiency of the internal capital markets. These results suggest that dismantling some parts of the internal capital market does lead to improvements in firm value in the long run.

The sample is limited to a group of firms that sell off a portion of their assets. Further research could be conducted to determine whether other divestiture methods (spin‐off, sell‐off or equity carve‐out) have any impact on internal capital allocation efficiency and long run financial performance.

The paper adds to other studies examining the source of gains from divestitures by documenting the effects of changes in internal capital allocation efficiency on the creation of long‐term shareholder wealth.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the compulsory quarantine of many of the world's inhabitants, and by staying at home, several functional developments emerged in residential spaces in Jeddah that affected the role of the house as a contributor to individuals' quality of life under the pressures of quarantine. Given the necessity of the apartments to adapt to these emerging developments, this study explores the determinants associated with the flexibility of residential apartments by looking at the extent to which they meet the new psychological, social and cultural roles required by their users post-COVID-19.

The qualitative approach (1) extracted concepts related to the flexibility of housing from the available literature and (2) extrapolated the flexibility of the residential apartments from the participants' study (12 families) in different areas of Jeddah by analyzing the results of targeted interviews.

There is a gap in the participant's understanding of the quality of housing and the level of satisfaction with a housing design that differs before and after their quarantine experience. The participant's adaptation to self-quarantine was mainly through furniture distribution, and housing flexibility was less reliant on the physical transformation of the place than on the change in the inhabitants' perceptions. There was an indication that the deficiencies of flexibility in design relates to the functional, cultural and structural aspects of residential buildings.

This study generated suggestions to develop the foundations for flexible housing design and activate its role under the post-quarantine context according to social and cultural variables. Some proposals should become future requirements for residential apartments to benefit officials and stakeholders to develop housing flexibility.

This study empirically examines the role of the Internet in global business‐to‐business (B2B) marketing strategies of Multinational Corporations (MNCs) based in the United States and Australia. The results demonstrate that uses of the Internet in a global B2B setting often parallel its domestic uses but that variables that facilitate or inhibit its implementation for global operations are somewhat different in global markets. The findings suggest that MNCs in the two countries are using the Internet in their global B2B operations predominantly for business enhancement purposes as compared to revenue enhancement. Results also show that for global B2B operations, the Internet is viewed by MNCs as a tool to enhance competitive intelligence, streamline operations, and enhance the marketing processes. It is also deemed essential for a firm’s long‐term competitive stance by large as well as small and medium‐sized MNCs.