Search results

This paper is mainly aimed at the structural performance of compound cold-formed galvanised steel beams under fire conditions based on the results of a large programme of experimental tests and numerical simulations. The main objective of this research was to assess the critical temperature and time of the studied beams. Other important goals of this research work were to investigate the influence of the cross-sections (C, lipped-I, R and 2R beams) and, above all, of the axial restraint (0, 0.45, 3, 7.5, 15, 30, ∞ kN/mm) to the thermal elongation of the beam and the rotational restraint at beam supports (0, 15, 80, 150, 300, 1,200 and ∞ kN.m/rad) on the fire resistance of this kind of beams.

This paper still provides details of the simulation methodology for achieving numerical stability and faithful representation of detailed structural behaviour and compares the simulation and experimental results, including beam failure modes, measured beam axial forces and beam mid-span deflections.

Good agreement between Abaqus simulations and experimental observations confirms that the finite element models developed with the Abaqus/standard solver are suitable for predicting the structural fire behaviour of restrained cold-formed steel beams.

The results showed above all that the effect of the stiffness of the surrounding structure seems to decrease with the increasing slenderness of the beams.

This paper aims to present the results of a study on the behaviour of cold-formed galvanized steel beams subjected to fire, using the results of a large programme of experimental tests.

The research investigated the influence of web stiffeners in the sections and the stiffness of the surrounding structure, including the axial and rotational restraining to the thermal elongation, on the flexural behaviour of the beams in case of fire. In other words, the structural response of different open cold-formed steel beams, with and without web stiffeners, was compared in case of fire.

The results showed that a good choice between using cold-formed steel beams, with and without web stiffeners, may depend on the section shape and the internal forces generated in these members during a fire.

Temperatures in the furnace and at several points of the beams, as well as deformations and restraining forces and moments, were measured to achieve those goals and consequently to assess the critical time and temperature of these beams.

Nowadays, circular concrete-filled tubular (CFT) columns are largely used in construction because of structural and architectural advantages such as high load bearing capacity and aesthetic appearance. The behavior of CFT columns at ambient and high temperatures is good; however, there are problems related to their behavior in fire when inserted in a real building structure, as for example, the influence of the restraining to thermal elongation that have to be addressed in order to improve their design. This study aims to present the results of a numerical study on the behavior of CFT columns with restrained thermal elongation in case of fire.

The parameters tested in the numerical simulations included column slenderness, load level, surrounding structure stiffness and steel reinforcement ratio. A sequentially coupled thermal stress analysis was carried out. The numerical model was validated with results from a large series of fire resistance tests carried out at Coimbra University, in Portugal. From these, simple equations to evaluate CFT column critical times were derived.

The results were also compared with the ones obtained from the current EN 1994-1-2:2005 simplified calculation and tabulated data methods. For the analyzed cases, it was verified that, while the simplified calculation method led to safe results on the evaluation of the fire resistance of CFT columns with restrained thermal elongation, the tabulated data method led, in certain cases, to unsafe results. This research showed also lower critical times than those from literature on similar type of columns.

The influence of the stiffness of the surrounding structure on the behavior of CFT columns subjected to fire was not yet clear in the major part of the studies already carried out. So, this paper has the originality to consider this parameter in the numerical simulations of this type of columns.

This paper aims to address the discussion on the credit disbursement of US$28.6bn from Brazilian National Economic and Social Development Bank (BNDES) to Brazilian state governments during the period from 2009 to 2014. They try to identify the main drivers of the credit allocation in both cross state and time.

The authors use a dynamic balanced panel to estimate the role of technical and socioeconomic variables.

The results suggest that the states’ need for financing via BNDES exhibits neither inertial nor explosive behavior. The authors find an efficiency elasticity of this resource of 0.20. In addition, the impact of a positive change in the state fiscal status leads to an increase of 2.5 per cent in the indebtedness capacity. Finally, they find that wealthier states are more successful in demanding credit from BNDES.

This analysis of resource allocation is useful for modeling the determinants of international financial institutions as central planners. The authors also invite researchers to discuss the decision-making processes that characterize the federative pact in Brazil.

Although a burgeoning body of literature has examined the role of BNDES as a creditor institution for firms, its relationship with the public sector, in special subnational governments, has been rarely studied.

The present study aims to examine the mediating role of (in)voluntariness in teleworking in explaining the relationship between employees’ fit to telework and work well-being (i.e. work engagement and exhaustion).

A cross-sectional survey design was used in this study. The sample comprised 222 individuals performing telework in Portugal. Statistical analyses employed were descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation, confirmatory factor and structural equation analyses, and mediation analysis using Hayes Process macro.

The findings confirmed the hypothesis that employees’ fit to telework raises the voluntariness in telework and decreases involuntariness in telework. However, contrary to expectations, no significant relationships were found between voluntariness in telework, work engagement and exhaustion. Yet, involuntariness in telework showed a significant role in decreasing work engagement and increasing workers’ exhaustion. The mediating role of involuntariness in telework was confirmed in explaining the relationship between employees’ fit to telework and exhaustion.

Managers in global firms can draw from the results to understand how employees’ fit to telework directly and/or indirectly contributes to work well-being and develop human resource (HR) management practices aiming to increase employees’ fit to telework.

Although teleworking is already studied, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no studies have analyzed the same conceptual model employees’ fit to telework, (in)voluntariness in teleworking and work well-being.

Firefighters are daily confronted with adverse, unpredictable and demanding situations. It is a dangerous profession that puts firefighters at risk of developing burnout. Although the literature has already identified personal and work-related factors of burnout, the examination of specific factors explaining burnout among volunteer and career firefighters is still needed. The purpose of this study is to investigate the explaining role of personal and work-related factors on volunteer and career firefighters’ burnout.

A nonrandom convenience sample of 250 firefighters (67% volunteer; M_age = 31.88) completed a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory, the Proactive Coping Scale and a standard of living subscale item. Hierarchical multiple linear regression models were tested. Fisher’s criterion was considered, with p-values lower than 0.05 interpreted as statistically significant.

Personal and work-related factors accounted for 18% of volunteer and 31% of career firefighters’ variations in burnout. Personal factors offered a greater contribution explaining volunteer and career firefighters’ burnout. Still, variations in the role played by age, family responsibilities, proactive coping and satisfaction with standard of living on burnout were found among volunteer and career firefighters. Taking the work-related factors into account, working in rotative shifts constituted a risk factor for career firefighters’ burnout.

This study advances the understanding about the role of personal and work-related factors in volunteer and career firefighters’ burnout.

This study adds information about specific factors explaining burnout among voluntary and career firefighters. It deepens existing knowledge on variations in the role played by age, family responsibilities, work conditions, proactive coping and satisfaction with standard of living on the burnout of volunteer and career firefighters.

This study aims to examine the relationship between perceived overqualification, perceived employability, perceived job insecurity and global psychological needs satisfaction, considering the moderating role of age groups.

A cross-sectional survey design with a sample of 350 individuals was used in this study.

A cross-sectional survey design with a sample of 350 individuals was used in this study.

By addressing the moderating role of age, this study is original and has practical implications for age diversity management.

Este estudo tem como objetivo estudar a relação entre a sobrequalificação, a empregabilidade, a insegurança no trabalho percebidas e satisfação das necessidades psicológicas globais, considerando o papel moderador dos grupos etários.

Foi utilizado neste estudo um desenho de pesquisa transversal com uma amostra de 350 indivíduos.

A sobrequalificação percebida, a empregabilidade percebida e a insegurança no trabalho percebida estão, em geral, significativamente relacionadas com a satisfação das necessidades psicológicas globais. No entanto, essas relações diferem entre as faixas etárias. Ou seja, para os indivíduos mais jovens, foi observada uma relação negativa entre a perceção de sobrequalificação e a satisfação das necessidades psicológicas globais, e para os indivíduos de meia-idade, a empregabilidade percebida está positivamente relacionada à satisfação das necessidades psicológicas globais, enquanto a insegurança no trabalho percebida e a sobrequalificação percebida estão negativamente relacionadas à satisfação das necessidades psicológicas globais. Finalmente, para os indivíduos mais velhos, a insegurança no trabalho percebida e a sobrequalificação percebida estão negativamente relacionadas à satisfação das necessidades psicológicas globais.

Ao abordar o papel moderador da idade, este estudo é original e tem implicações práticas para a gestão da diversidade em função do grupo etário.

Este estudio examina la relación entre la sobrecualificación percibida, la empleabilidad percibida, la inseguridad laboral percibida y la satisfacción de las necesidades psicológicas globales, considerando el papel moderador de los grupos de edad.

En este estudio se utilizó un diseño de encuesta transversal con una muestra de 350 individuos.

La sobrecualificación percibida, la empleabilidad percibida y la inseguridad laboral percibida estaban, en general, significativamente relacionadas con la satisfacción de las necesidades psicológicas globales. Sin embargo, estas relaciones difieren entre los grupos de edad. En concreto, para los individuos más jóvenes, se observó una relación negativa entre la sobrecualificación percibida y la satisfacción de las necesidades psicológicas globales, y para los individuos de mediana edad, la empleabilidad percibida se relacionó positivamente con la satisfacción de las necesidades psicológicas globales, mientras que la inseguridad laboral percibida y la sobrecualificación percibida se relacionaron negativamente con la satisfacción de las necesidades psicológicas globales. Finalmente, para los individuos de mayor edad, la inseguridad laboral percibida y la sobrecualificación percibida se relacionaron negativamente con la satisfacción de las necesidades psicológicas globales.

Al abordar el papel moderador de la edad, este estudio es original y tiene implicaciones prácticas para la gestión de la diversidad de edad en el contexto de las políticas de RRHH de las organizaciones.

The purpose of this research is to review literature about the performance assessment (PA) in urban fire departments (FDs) to gain state-of-the-art of the fire departments' performance assessment (FDPA) and identify its most applied methods and indicators.

A five-stage structured literature review (SLR) is conducted to review the FDPA-related studies; then, the statistical analysis is applied to reveal more information from the extracted data and design a general framework for FDPA.

The systematic literature review resulted in 336 independent variables for FDPA and finding the data envelopment analysis (DEA) as the most applied FDPA method among the mathematical and statistical models in the reviewed papers. By using analysis outcomes, a general conceptual framework for FDPA is proposed.

The reviewed studies were limited to assessments at the strategic level and urban fire protection services.

The results of this research can support fire protection service managers, decision-makers, PA researchers and academicians to have a better understanding of FDPA and state-of-the-art in this field.

A considerable number of studies have been done about the FDPA to provide methods to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of FDs. Although there are reviews about PA in fire service areas, to the best of our knowledge, no study has been done about FDPA.

This study analyzes earnings management among Brazilian public firms during the 2016 Presidential Impeachment.

The sample comprises, as a treatment group, 721 firm-quarter observations relating to Brazilian listed firms. It also considers a control group of listed firms from Mexico, which were not affected by the exogenous shock analyzed (i.e. the 2016 Presidential Impeachment in Brazil). The firms' quarterly financial data cover the period between 2013 and 2018.

Considering several proxies related to earnings management by accruals, the main findings suggest a negative relationship between the 2016 impeachment event and the level of discretionary accruals, suggesting that Brazilian firms tended to reduce their earnings management levels during the impeachment process. The results are robust whether the control group is considered or not.

This study brings new empirical evidence to the literature on accounting information quality about the role of the economic and political environment in earnings management, especially in weak institution countries characterized by institutional voids and higher levels of corruption.