Search results

Metadiscourse is an important dialogue technique used in productive knowledge building to help a group evaluate and advance their knowledge progress. Previous studies have identified and defined various types of metadiscourse. However, there is scant knowledge about how different metadiscourse types emerge among different groups or what implicit correlations lie between progressive discourse and metadiscourse. Moreover, research on how different types of metadiscourse influence groups' knowledge advancement and artifacts is still inadequate. Therefore, this study aims to further examine the roles that different types of metadiscourse play in the collaborative knowledge building community on both a fine-grained (i.e. progressive discourse) and coarse-grained (i.e. group knowledge advancement and group artifacts) level.

Data for this study are drawn from the behaviour of undergraduate students participating in a 12-week course at a key university in China. On the fine-grained level, epistemic network analysis (ENA) is applied to illustrate how metadiscourse promotes the development of progressive discourse. On the coarse-grained level, two different chi-square tests are conducted to examine the roles of different types of metadiscourse in groups' knowledge advancement and artifacts.

The analysis allowed several conclusions to be drawn. First, the types of metadiscourse that students most often adopted were reflecting on ideas development (RD) and commenting on ideas (CI); they less frequently adopted setting group goals (SG) and making group plans (MP). Second, most types of metadiscourse correlated with developments in progressive discourse, particularly RD and CI. Third, the metadiscourse types RD, CI and coordinating group efforts (CE) played essential roles in knowledge advancement. Fourth, higher-quality artifacts could be created by using the metadiscourse type reviewing the state of knowledge building progress (RP).

A more profound comprehension of the role that metadiscourse plays in the collaborative knowledge building community not only contributes to the literature in the knowledge building field but also carries a significant meaning in regulating community, promoting learner agency and sustained knowledge, and consequently improving collaborative learning performance.

When the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic seriously hit the USA, a lot of cities/states announced their lockdowns, in some cases forbidding employees to go to work. But workers in the so called “essential sectors” were exempt from the order, and on the contrary were required to remain on the job in order to maintain the services and functions considered vital to the community. If they have not been paid well in comparison to those in the other sectors, there would be a stronger case for granting them a special hazard pay during the pandemic. This paper aims to design a way to measure the “importance” or being “essential” of the different sectors in the economy, and then investigates whether the actual pay of the workers in these sectors is consistent with the measured importance.

At least two policy issues emerged from such an arrangement: (1) How can one define the “essential sectors” objectively instead of the authorities preparing a list according to their administrative procedure? (2) How well have been the workers in the essential sectors paid before the pandemic strike? The concept of a revised Leontief forward linkage effect will be used in an input–output model to gauge the relative “importance” of the different sectors in the US economy. Then the measured importance will be compared with the average compensation of the employees in these sectors.

It is found that for some sectors such as agriculture, retail trade, and repair and installation of machinery and equipment the ratio of workers' compensation relative to the national average is substantially lower than the relative importance of the sectors employing them. That is, many of them have been substantially underpaid in spite of their importance.

The scope of this study is limited to one country, the USA, but the methodology can be applied to other countries as well.

This study is an original research that contributes to an improved understanding of the importance of the workers engaged in different sectors in the USA during COVID-19.

Innovation is a key factor in assessing organizational success. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the organizational culture and operations strategy impact organizational innovation. It explores the influence of various combinations of organizational cultures and operations strategies on a firm’s ability to innovate both in process and product.

A conceptual model is developed which attempts to explain how the reciprocal and dynamic interactive relationship between organizational culture and operations strategy and innovation is structured. In total, 233 valid questionnaires were collected from 17 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Taiwan. Structural equation modeling was used to investigate the direction and strengths of the relationships and develop a comprehensive picture to illustrate the drivers of successful innovation.

The analysis and conclusions confirm the suitability of Culture–Strategy–Innovation Model and the detailed results demonstrate that a combination of innovative organizational culture and flexibility-oriented operations strategy has the strongest influence on a firm’s innovation process thereby improving their innovative organizational outcomes.

Although based on Taiwanese manufacturing industries these results provide useful insights for manufacturing industries in general. In alternative contexts, the combination of different dimensions of culture and strategy can be expected to cause different levels of success in innovation. This study provides robust evidence to explain the organizational climate needed to guide the innovative and flexibility considerations needed for SMEs in the manufacturing industry.

This is an empirical study which specifically investigates the activities of SMEs in the metal/plastic manufacturing industry in Taiwan and in particular examines organizational culture, operations strategies and innovation. The research model proposed and confirmed offers a new multi-dimensional structure of culture and strategy linked with their various related dynamic interrelationships and the drivers that impact organizational innovation.

Circular economy (CE), as a new economic paradigm, has gained traction in recent years. Cities' role in driving CE forward has been perceived as being increasingly important to achieve sustainable development (SD). For this reason, there is an urgency to understand what a circular city is and how it might be composed. This research explores the ways in which the city-state of Singapore is transitioning to a CE.

A systematic literature review on CE and cities was carried out using a bibliometric review and a snowballing technique. This review was performed on academic and on non-academic papers.

This research has confirmed the lack of robust circular cities case studies. As Singapore has already begun its journey towards circularity, this article examines its current efforts and offers recommendations in the design and implementation of CE policies that may be valuable not just for Singapore but also for high-density and rapidly expanding cities around the world that require a new development pathway to emulate.

This manuscript is the first detailed, independent and comprehensive review of Singapore's approach to CE.

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a study that examines the influence of leader–member exchange (LMX) on employees' turnover intention and presenteeism with the mediating role of perceived organizational support in the context of the semiconductor industry.

An empirical study based on a sample of 124 department managers and 241 team members in five high-tech companies in Taiwan. Structural equation modelling analysis was used for hypothesis testing.

The results reveal that perceived organization support significantly relates to employees' turnover intention and mediates the relationship between LMX and turnover intention. Additionally, employees' presenteeism is influenced by perceived LMX.

The results of the study are of high importance for high-tech companies, which continuously strive for innovation efficiency and sustainability. Managers and practitioners could benefit from better understanding regarding the importance of perceived organization support and LMX in affecting employee behaviours and company performance.

The present study finds a significant positive relationship between LMX and presenteeism, which is contrary to the previous research.

We modified a basic dye, which carries a positive charge, by inducing an exchange with clay, and then analysed the results by using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The intercalation of basic dye into clay modifies the thermal properties of the dye, and the dyes become more stable as more clay is added. The colour of the modified dyes does not change with the addition of more clay, although its absorption decreases, thereby conferring improved sunlight colour fastness on the modified dyes.

The majority of quality control charts are employed for normally distributed data. In reality this assumption is not always valid. This paper aims to consider an alternative the truncated normal.

Having derived integral equations for the average run length (ARL), a key measure of the performance of a control chart, approximate solutions are derived using Gaussian quadrature.

Polynomials closely approximating the ARL for the three most popular control charts, using their usual parameterization, are obtained.

An obvious extension is to other distributions and hopefully this work will encourage real world applications.

These charts are widely applicable within engineering, finance, medicine, environmental statistics, and many other fields. These problems are typically said to fall in the domain of risk management. It is hoped that this paper will add to the body of practitioners already employing this technique.

Control charts are widely employed, however applications are usually restricted to the normal distribution. This is the first time it has been applied to the truncated normal distribution and original polynomials derived for the ARL.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a long‐term assessment of Pakistan's electricity policy in the context of both environmental and resource constraints. To increase the sustainability of energy supply, the Government of Pakistan introduced a series of reforms in the electricity supply sector during 1990‐1995. In response to these policy incentives, most of the independent power producer offers included coal, oil, and/or gas‐based power plants. Considering that Pakistan produces only up to 40 percent of its oil demand domestically and thermal power generation causes CO₂ emissions, there is a great need for an assessment of the existing electricity policy.

Drawing on system dynamics methodology, this study presents and utilizes a dynamic simulation model that captures the dynamics of the sectors underlying the electricity supply system including investments, capital, production, resources, financial resources, and the environment.

The key findings of this study are: policy incentives encouraged thermal‐based generation at the potential expense of hydro power generation; and the evolution of electricity supply related CO₂ emissions exhibits an exponential growth.

While there are other emissions related to the electricity supply system with potentially severe environmental concerns, for example SO₂, this study focuses only on CO₂ emissions.

The paper offers a system dynamics model and provides some useful policy insights for the electricity supply sector of Pakistan.

The wide range of steel pipe sections with complex geometry, as well as that of their cast iron components (fittings, valves and pumps) poses a real problem to installation designers who must achieve a consistent level of long‐term corrosion resistance. In that case, Rilsan, Polyamide 11 coating gives the opportunity to engineering companies and subcontractors who are concerned both with the corrosion protection of pipes and with the quality of drinking water supplies to solve complex problems, such as the pipes which equip water treatment, purification and pumping stations. The application of specification and standards such as WIS 4‐52‐01(*) and NF A 49713 is the key for a long‐term solution.

This study aims to demonstrate the positive effect of human capital disclosure on firm performance, and to specify the boundary conditions of the relationship.

The study applies the signaling and stakeholder perspectives and uses a one‐year lag design to avoid reverse causality in exploring the human capital disclosure and performance link. Content analysis of annual reports and hierarchical regression are applied.

Human capital disclosure positively impacts on organizational performance such as market‐to‐book ratio and ROA. Organizational size negatively moderates the relationship between disclosure of human capital information and firm performance. Knowledge intensity has curvilinear positive moderation effect between the relationship above.

Human capital disclosure can help communicate to various stakeholders. Organizational performance can thus be enhanced through the communication process. Disclosure in the context of higher knowledge intensity is more beneficial.

The paper theoretically and empirically links up human capital disclosure and organizational performance. It also identifies both the diminishing return and increasing return moderation effects by organizational size and knowledge intensity between the human capital disclosure and performance link.