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1 – 10 of over 16000The present paper describes a Fortran library FLIPP constituting arun‐time environment that is linked to scientific applications software(such as finite‐element analysis programs…
Abstract
The present paper describes a Fortran library FLIPP constituting a run‐time environment that is linked to scientific applications software (such as finite‐element analysis programs) to support programming of interactive program control and use of persistent user‐defined dynamic data structures. The system consists of control and data definition and manipulation subsystems. The FLIPP routines are fully‐portable standard Fortran 77 procedures and the use of FLIPP leads the programmer to information hiding, e.g. as in object‐oriented systems. Program design and maintenance are facilitated to a considerable degree, while at the same time the performance of the programs using the FLIPP system remains fairly good as demonstrated by the examples.
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Zengxi Pan and Hui Zhang
This paper aims to present the critical issues and methodologies to improve robotic machining performance with flexile industrial robots.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present the critical issues and methodologies to improve robotic machining performance with flexile industrial robots.
Design/methodology/approach
A complete solution using active force control is introduced to address various issues during the robotic machining process.
Findings
Programming complex couture parts without a CAD model is made easy by using force control functions such as lead‐through and path‐learning. The problem of process control is treated with a novel methodology that consists of stiffness modeling, real‐time deformation compensation for quality and controlled material removal rate for process efficiency.
Originality/value
Experimental results showed that higher productivity as well as better surface quality can be achieved, indicating a promising and practical use of industrial robots for machining applications that is not available at present.
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How Green is Cybernetics? At a recent conference of systems and cybernetics a delegate asked: How Green is Cybernetics? No‐one was quite sure what the question really meant. Did…
Abstract
How Green is Cybernetics? At a recent conference of systems and cybernetics a delegate asked: How Green is Cybernetics? No‐one was quite sure what the question really meant. Did it suggest that cybernetics as a multidisciplinary subject was not being used to the full to save the world's threatened environment or, perhaps, that cyberneticians and systemists were not researching into areas that could benefit our society? An editorial in International Journal of Environmental Studies, Vol. 37, 1991, pp. 1–3, says that:
In 2006, the United Nations established the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. Simultaneously, the UN has adopted the sustainable development goals in 2015 and…
Abstract
Purpose
In 2006, the United Nations established the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. Simultaneously, the UN has adopted the sustainable development goals in 2015 and the 17 goals must be achieved by member states by 2030. Regionally, countries within the Caribbean community have formulated the Kingston Accord (2004) and the Declaration of Petion Ville (2013). Both of these two instruments outlined a regional framework on the issue of persons with disabilities (PWDs). The media, therefore, have axiological roles to play in educating and informing all the stakeholders of these programmes, policies and legislation. It is within this context that this researcher did a qualitative assessment of how the media within Caribbean societies have been aiding the process of developmental transformation for PWDs. The main purpose of this paper therefore; is to show that if the varied programmes and policies relating to PWDs within the Anglophone Caribbean are to be successfully implemented, digital and traditional media will have to play a lead role through their social and ethical responsibilities in changing attitudes of non-disabled individuals towards the members of this vulnerable group. The main purpose of this paper therefore; is to show that if the varied programmes and policies relating to PWDs within the Anglophone Caribbean are to be successfully implemented, digital and traditional media will have to play a lead role through their social and ethical responsibilities in changing attitudes of non-disabled individuals towards the members of this vulnerable group.
Design/methodology/approach
The central argument guiding this paper is that if the varied programmes and policies relating to PWDs within the Caribbean are to be successfully implemented, the media, in all its forms, will have to play a lead role through their social and ethical responsibilities in changing attitudes of non-disabled individuals towards the members of this vulnerable group. The unequivocal questions that have been answered are how and what are the media doing to aid in the transformation of the lives of PWDs in the Caribbean? Are they fulfiling their social and ethical responsibilities?
Findings
The major finding is that the media in the Anglophone Caribbean has significant work to do to fulfil one of its social and ethical responsibilities in aiding the developmental transformation of PWDs in the region.
Research limitations/implications
The research is limited by the fact that there is serious data scarcity on the population of PWDs in the region. Serious research on the population is just emerging and this will change significantly over the next few years.
Practical implications
The practical implication of this study is that it will bring to the forefront of the media in the Caribbean, the importance of placing issues relating to PWDs on the development agenda in a consistent manner.
Social implications
PWDs will be brought in the mainstream of Caribbean society over time.
Originality/value
This is an original study and will undoubtedly contribute to a greater understanding of the media and PWDs in the Caribbean.
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Julien Pollack, Jane Helm and Daniel Adler
The Iron Triangle, also called the Triple Constraint, is a central concept to project management research and practice, representing the relationship between key performance…
Abstract
Purpose
The Iron Triangle, also called the Triple Constraint, is a central concept to project management research and practice, representing the relationship between key performance criteria. However, there is disagreement about which criteria should be represented on the vertices of this triangle. The purpose of this paper is to explore which concepts are part of the Iron Triangle, and how these concepts have changed over time.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper explores 45 years of project management research, drawing on a database of 109,804 records from 1970 to 2015. Three corpora were constructed, representing the project management and Time, Cost, and Quality Management literature. Time and Cost are consistently identified as part of the Iron Triangle. However, the status of quality is contested. Key concepts in the project management literature were explored using scientometric research techniques, to understand the relationship between these concepts.
Findings
Significant links were found between Time, Cost, and Quality, verifying these concepts as the vertices on the Iron Triangle. These links were significantly stronger than links to alternatives, such as Scope, Performance, or Requirements. Other concepts that are core to the Iron Triangle were also identified, and how these have changed over time.
Originality/value
This research develops the understanding of a key project management concept by clarifying which concepts are part of the Iron Triangle, based on evidence of how the concept is used in research. This paper also reveals the context in which this concept is used, and how this has changed over the last 45 years.
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Lindsay Portnoy, Ash Sadler and Elizabeth Zulick
Amidst continued calls for the democratization of access to higher education for historically underrepresented populations alongside the first global health crisis in a century…
Abstract
Purpose
Amidst continued calls for the democratization of access to higher education for historically underrepresented populations alongside the first global health crisis in a century lies the opportunity to address persistent societal needs: increasing access for underrepresented minority students to educational pathways that lead to careers in lucrative fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
Design/methodology/approach
Student participants enrolled in the biotechnology pathway Associates, Bachelors and Masters programs share programmatic experience in an accelerated biotechnology program through a bi-annual survey grounded in the central tenets of social-cognitive career theory aimed at understanding requisite academic, social and financial support for student success.
Findings
The pathway program described in this paper emerged to address the need to support underrepresented students in degree attainment and taking on roles in the growing field of biotechnology through a novel, multi-degree, multi-institutional pathway to STEM degree attainment and career success.
Social implications
This work has advanced understanding about how to effectively align higher education institutions with each other and with evolving STEM labor market demands while documenting the impact of essential academic, career and social supports recognized in the literature as high impact practices in broadening participation and increasing retention of underrepresented minority students in lucrative STEM careers.
Originality/value
Pathway programs which best support student success include robust mentoring, experiential learning and robust student scholarship support, part of the design of this unique pathway program. The authors share how this program utilizes high impact practices to provide low-income, underrepresented minority students with supportive, accelerated biotechnology degrees in preparation for success in the job market. What's more, of all our BS-level graduates thus far, 100% are employed and 93% within the biotechnology field. For many, the opportunity to raise their family out of poverty via a stable, high paying job is directly tied to their successes within this program.
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Various types of short training programmes exist in Germany. This article aims to evaluate short training courses for welfare recipients and to detect which programme type works…
Abstract
Purpose
Various types of short training programmes exist in Germany. This article aims to evaluate short training courses for welfare recipients and to detect which programme type works best with respect to different outcome indicators.
Design/methodology/approach
The author measures the impact of six short training programmes on the participants. She uses propensity score matching and large‐scale administrative data to find suitable comparison groups. She compares treatment to non‐participation as well as participation in different training types directly.
Findings
The results demonstrate that in‐firm training has large positive effects on individual employment prospects and stability. Furthermore, classroom skill training is more effective than other classroom types while application training is rather ineffective. Treating some of the application training participants with an alternative sub‐programme would improve the effectiveness.
Research limitations/implications
The results show which training types work best. However, the results do not imply macro or cost‐benefit effects.
Practical implications
Several of the short training courses, mostly occupation‐specific sub‐programmes, are short and relatively inexpensive options to activate welfare recipients.
Originality/value
The paper analyses the effects of six short training programmes for welfare recipients that have not been analysed before. The sensitivity of the results is examined using a wide range of estimators and different outcomes.
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The purpose of the paper is to describe the Long Island University Brooklyn Campus Library's experience with a Smart Space Project. This paper recounts how the library creates new…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to describe the Long Island University Brooklyn Campus Library's experience with a Smart Space Project. This paper recounts how the library creates new instructional spaces, through the use of smart technologies. This study illustrates challenges facing the library, recounts collaboration with other campus units, and describes support service provided by Library Information Technology. This account contributes to the sharing and discussion of experiences among modern academic libraries regarding needs assessment, space planning, and utilization of technology to support library services.
Design/methodology/approach
The literature review includes space planning, building renovation and construction, and instructional technology. Various aspects of the Smart Space Project are described and analyzed. Studies and experiences from other academic libraries are also discussed.
Findings
Space renovation projects may be complex, requiring a systematic approach encompassing vision, needs assessment, funding, planning, technological considerations, and collaboration with other campus units. Creativity, flexibility, open‐mindedness, and attention to details are keys to the success of renovation projects.
Research limitations/implications
In the areas of library space, student learning behaviour, utilization of technology, and smart technology's impacts on online/distance library instruction, more research needs to be conducted.
Practical implications
This account provides useful information and first‐hand experience for library administrators and faculty planning instructional space projects.
Originality/value
This article provides a snapshot of the efforts of a mid‐sized urban library to address issues of limited space, budgetary constraints, growing collections, and increasing user needs. It provides practical lessons and suggestions for other library administrators and faculty seeking to make building and instructional technology improvements. It also offers valuable information for library information technology units implementing smart instructional projects.
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Four term‐weighting schemes are used to detect information‐rich passages in texts and the results are compared. It is demonstrated that word categories and frequency‐derived…
Abstract
Four term‐weighting schemes are used to detect information‐rich passages in texts and the results are compared. It is demonstrated that word categories and frequency‐derived weights have a close correlation but that weighting according to the first mention theory or the cue‐method shows no correlation with frequency‐based weights.
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Nikitas N. Karanikolas and Michael Vassilakopoulos
The purpose of this paper is to compare the use of two Object-Relational models against the use of a post-Relational model for a realistic application. Although real-world…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to compare the use of two Object-Relational models against the use of a post-Relational model for a realistic application. Although real-world applications, in most cases, can be adequately modeled by the Entity-Relationship (ER) model, the transformation to the popular Relational model alters the representation of structures common in reality, like multi-valued and composite fields. Alternative database models have been developed to overcome these shortcomings.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the ER model of a medical application, this paper compares the information representation, manipulation and enforcement of integrity constraints through PostgreSQL and Oracle, against the use of a post-Relational model composed of the Conceptual Universal Database Language (CUDL) and the Conceptual Universal Database Language Abstraction Level (CAL).
Findings
The CAL/CUDL pair, although more periphrastic for data definition, is simpler for data insertions, does not require the use of procedural code for data updates, produces clearer output for retrieval of attributes, can accomplish retrieval of rows based on conditions that address composite data with declarative statements and supports data validation for relationships between composite data without the need for procedural code.
Research limitations/implications
To verify, in practice, the conclusions of the paper, complete implementation of a CAL/CUDL system is needed.
Practical implications
The use of the CAL/CUDL pair would advance the productivity of database application development.
Originality/value
This paper highlights the properties of realistic database-applications modelling and management that are desirable by developers and shows that these properties are better satisfied by the CAL/CUDL pair.
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