Search results

Accessibility metadata has been a recurring theme in recent efforts aimed at promoting accessibility of information and communication technology solutions to all, regardless of their disabilities, cultural differences, language, etc. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential of accessibility metadata in improving knowledge discovery and access in digital library environments, discuss developments in creating accessibility terms for resource description, and attempt to relate those developments to the overall purpose of universal design to finally recommend points for improvement.

This is an exploratory study based on review of selected literature and documentations made available by metadata projects. Search for related literature was made using Google Scholar, EBSCO, and Web of Science Databases using terms and combination of terms such as “universal design and metadata,” “accessibility metadata,” “inclusive design,” and “metadata and digital libraries.” Some documentation on metadata projects were obtained through e-mail correspondences.

The overall discussion shows that accessibility metadata can be instrumental in exposing accessible resources to search engines and in augmenting library resource discovery tools for the benefit of users with disabilities. Accessibility metadata would help users to quickly discover materials that fit their needs. However, the notion of indexing resources by their accessibility attributes remains an area that needs further exploration.

The paper gives emphasis to the importance of metadata research in universal design endeavors. It also provides recommendations for practical applications that would improve accessibility in digital library environments.

This study aims to examine the effects of firm performance on chief executive officer (CEO) turnover and the moderating role of CEO attributes on the firm performance–CEO turnover relationship.

Probit regressions were used to examine the relationship between various CEO attributes and CEO turnover and the moderation effect of firm performance on the CEO attributes–CEO turnover relationship. The sample comprises firms from the FTSE 350 Index covering the period 1999–2018.

The results indicate that firm performance negatively and significantly impacts CEO turnover. Further analysis reveals that selected CEO attributes, namely, CEO internal experience, CEO network size and CEO age, moderate the relationship between firm performance and CEO turnover. Specifically, CEO internal experience and performance combine to reduce the likelihood of CEO turnover. However, CEO network size and age when combined with firm performance increase the likelihood of CEO turnover.

The results imply that boards should pay more attention to CEO attributes in their decisions to hire and fire executive managers as these factors may affect a wide variety of firm outcomes.

This paper makes key contributions to the CEO turnover and corporate governance literature by providing evidence of key factors other than performance that can affect the CEO dismissal decision. Specifically, this study shows that CEO attributes such as CEO internal experience, CEO networks and CEO age far outweigh the importance of performance as a factor influencing CEO turnover decisions.

Despite retail digitisation and research efforts focussed on online and omnichannel shopping, there is insufficient knowledge regarding retail patronage formation in the grocery category, where in-store sales dominate. This study analyses the retail patronage formation in grocery in-store fill-in shopping.

The authors designed a questionnaire to measure retail patronage behaviour, consumer satisfaction (CS), store attributes evaluation and e-retail usage. Then, the authors analysed the path structure for retail patronage behaviour formation using structural equation modelling. Additionally, they performed a mediation analysis using the bootstrap method and a moderation analysis based on a chi-square difference test.

This study provides three main findings. First, the authors' model has two ways to increase Share-of-Wallet (SOW). One is to increase Share-of-Visits (SOV) and another is to increase CS amongst non-users of e-retailing. Second, the results of the moderation analysis suggest the influence of customers' use or non-use of e-retailing on SOW formation. Third, service evaluation plays an interesting role in the overall model: the lower the assessment of service, the higher the SOV; the higher the evaluation of service, the greater the CS; the greater the CS, the higher the SOV.

The authors proposed the framework for the relative retail patronage formation in grocery fill-in shopping to examine the relationship between two relative patronage indicators (SOW and SOV) in the path structure and the mediating effect of CS and the moderating effect of e-retailing usage on retail patronage formation.

This study first aimed to investigate the differences in drug driver detection rates between a trial of randomised and targeted enforcement operations. The second aim was to identify which indicator categories are most commonly used by police to target drug drivers and to assess the effectiveness of targeted drug testing. Finally, this study aimed to quantify what specific indicators and cues (of the overarching categories) triggered their decision to drug test drivers and which indicators were most successful.

This research examined the detection rates in a trial comparison of randomised and targeted roadside drug testing (RDT) operations as well as the methods utilised by police in the targeted operations to identify potential drug driving offenders.

Visual appearance was by far the most commonly utilised indicator followed by age, police intelligence on prior charges, vehicle appearance and behavioural cues. However, the use of police intelligence was identified as the most successful indicator that correlated with positive oral fluid testing results. During the randomised RDT operations, 3.4% of all drivers who were tested yielded a positive roadside oral fluid result compared to 25.5% during targeted RDT operations.

The targeted RDT approach, while determined to be an effective detection methodology, limits the overall deterrent effect of roadside testing in a more general driving population, and the need for a balanced approach to ensure detection and deterrence is required. This study highlights that by focussing on night times for randomised RDT operations and the identified effective indicators for targeted operations, an effective balance of deterrence and detection could be achieved.

While the presence of a single indicator is not indicative of a drug driver, this study highlights for police which indicators currently used are more effective at detecting a drug driver. As a result, police could adapt current RDT procedures to focus on the presence of these indicators to support drug driver detection.

This is a world-first study that examines both randomised and targeted roadside drug testing. This study controls for location and time of day while using the same police unit for roadside testing, thus is able to make direct comparisons between the two methodologies to determine the effectiveness of police targeting for roadside drug testing. Furthermore, this study highlights which indicators used by police results in the highest rate of positive roadside drug tests.

There are various temperature measuring systems presented in the literature and on the market today. Over the past number of years a range of luminescent‐based optical fibre sensors have been reported and developed which include fluorescence and optical scattering. These temperature sensors incorporate materials that emit wavelength shifted light when excited by an optical source. The majority of commercially available systems are based on fluorescent properties.Design/methodology/approach – Many published journal articles and conference papers were investigated and existing temperature sensors in the market were examined.Findings – In optical thermometry, the light is used to carry temperature information. In many cases optical fibres are used to transmit and receive this light. Optical fibres are immune to electromagnetic interference and are small in size, which allows them to make very localized measurements. A temperature sensitive material forms a sensor and the subsequent optical data are transmitted via optical fibres to electronic detection systems. Two keys areas were investigated namely fluorescence based temperature sensors and temperature sensors involving optical scattering.Originality/value – An overview of optical fibre temperature sensors based on luminescence is presented. This review provides a summary of optical temperature sensors, old and new which exist in today's world of sensing.

Identifying the patterns of retail institutional change has piqued the interest of retail academics for nearly a century. The Big Middle hypothesis is one of the most recent and hybridized versions of similar theories. According to it, retailers seeking a dominant position in retailing can migrate into the Big Middle, the largest market segment, by specializing in a large market with a broad product assortment or by focusing on a specific product category and simultaneously catering for multiple segments at the same time. This study provides empirical evidence for the latter proposition by employing fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) on the case of UNIQLO, a Japanese clothing specialist retailing giant.

The authors devised a survey to assess (1) consumers' perceptions of UNIQLO's store attributes and (2) their perceived distance between the UNIQLO and potential competitors. The authors used fsQCA procedures to identify multiple confluences of causal conditions that led to a high level of consumer patronage for UNIQLO from various market segments.

The findings show that UNIQLO's dominance in the Big Middle stems not only from capturing a sizable homogeneous market but from aggregating multiple heterogeneous market segments with disparities of various types. This finding explains how a specialty store retailer achieves its Big Middle position.

The findings gleaned from fsQCA are not statistically generalisable. It, therefore, is essential to ensure whether similar phenomena are observed under different spatiotemporal settings. Concerning the scope of the research, this study's finding is pertinent to only one part of the Big Middle hypothesis. Future studies are required to cover other dimensions of the Big Middle, including the generalist retailer's cases of the Big Middle.

The results of this study may present a valuable tool to deepen retailers' understandings on; (1) the multiple causal recipes of customer patronages to their retail offerings, (2) who the pure fans of their stores are, (3) who their principal rivals are in the mind space of the consumers, and (4) their overall market position upon aiming to realise the Big Middle. It will give retail managers an insight into how to design, implement, and churn an efficient and effective RBM.

The study's originality is in empirically scrutinizing and elaborating a part of the mechanism of retail change heralded by the Big Middle hypothesis.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments of different countries to implement unprecedented strategies with the aim of reducing the rate of contagion and mitigating its economic and social effects. In this scenario, the purpose of this paper is to analyze four fundamental strategies, namely, testing and diagnosis, macroprudential, labor market and social assistance, based on the crisis management theory.

This research note is based on a review of the principal official legislations regarding the strategies implemented during the first 80 days from the first zero case registered in the Pacific Alliance countries.

The review shows that the Pacific Alliance countries have implemented similar strategies regarding macroprudential and labor market measures. On the other hand, there are differences among the strategies related to testing and diagnostic and social assistance.

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected Latin American countries due to their economic and social problems. In this sense, the reporting and analysis of the principal strategies implemented by the Pacific Alliance countries constitute a baseline to understand the effectiveness of these strategies in mitigating the negative effects of the pandemic.

La pandemia de COVID-19 ha obligado a gobiernos de diferentes países a implementar estrategias sin precedentes con el objetivo de reducir la tasa de contagio y mitigar sus efectos económicos y sociales. En este escenario, el propósito de esta nota de investigación es analizar cuatro estrategias fundamentales: testeo y diagnóstico, macro-prudencial, mercado laboral y asistencia social, con base en la Teoría del Manejo de Crisis.

Esta nota de investigación se basa en una revisión de las principales legislaciones oficiales sobre las estrategias implementadas durante los primeros 80 días desde el primer caso registrado en los países de la Alianza del Pacífico.

La revisión muestra que los países de la Alianza del Pacífico han implementado estrategias similares con respecto a medidas macro-prudenciales y del mercado laboral. Por otro lado, existen diferencias entre las estrategias relacionadas con las pruebas y el diagnóstico, y la asistencia social.

La pandemia de COVID-19 ha afectado significativamente a los países de América Latina debido a sus problemas económicos y sociales. En este sentido, el reporte y análisis de las principales estrategias implementadas por los países de la Alianza del Pacífico constituyen una línea de base para comprender la efectividad de estas estrategias en la mitigación de los efectos negativos de la pandemia.

A pandemia COVID-19 obrigou governos de diferentes países a implementarem estratégias sem precedentes com o objetivo de reduzir a taxa de contágio e mitigar seus efeitos econômicos e sociais. Neste cenário, o objetivo desta nota de pesquisa é analisar quatro estratégias fundamentais: testagem e diagnóstico, macro-prudencial, mercado de trabalho e assistência social, com base na Teoria de Gestão de Crises.

Esta nota de pesquisa é baseada em uma revisão da principal legislação oficial sobre as estratégias implementadas durante os primeiros 80 dias a partir do primeiro caso registrado nos países da Aliança do Pacífico.

A análise mostra que os países da Aliança do Pacífico implementaram estratégias semelhantes com respeito as medidas macro-prudenciais e do mercado de trabalho. Por outro lado, há diferenças entre as estratégias relacionadas a testagem e diagnóstico, e assistência social.

A pandemia COVID-19 afetou significativamente os países latino-americanos devido a seus problemas econômicos e sociais. Nesse sentido, o relatório e a análise das principais estratégias implementadas pelos países da Aliança do Pacífico constituem uma linha de base para entender a eficácia dessas estratégias na mitigação dos efeitos negativos da pandemia.

The rise in malaria deaths discloses a decline of global malaria eradication that shows that control measures and fund distribution have missed its right of way. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to study and evaluate the impact and control of malaria on the independent states of the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) region over the time period of 2010–2017 using Deng’s Grey incidence analysis, absolute degree GIA and second synthetic degree GIA model.

The purposive data sampling is a secondary data from World Developmental Indicators indicating the incidence of new malaria cases (per 1,000 population at risk) for 45 independent states in SSA. GIA models were applied on array sequences into a single relational grade for ranking to be obtained and analyzed to evaluate trend over a predicted period.

Grey relational analysis classifies West Africa as the highly infectious region of malaria incidence having Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Benin, Liberia and Gambia suffering severely. Also, results indicate Southern Africa to be the least of all affected in the African belt that includes Eswatini, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Mozambique. But, predictions revealed that the infection rate is expected to fall in West Africa, whereas the least vulnerable countries will experience a rise in malaria incidence through to the next ten years. Therefore, this study draws the attention of all stakeholders and interest groups to adopt effective policies to fight malaria.

The study is a pioneer to unravel the most vulnerable countries in the SSA region as far as the incidence of new malaria cases is a concern through the use of second synthetic GIA model. The outcome of the study is substantial to direct research funds to control and eliminate malaria.

Proposing a new type of water-lubricated thrust bearing meets the load-bearing requirements of high-power shaft-less rim driven thrusters.

The designs were tested by establishing a bearing thermal-fluid-magnetic comprehensive simulation model and developing bearing fluid film force and magnetic simulation. Lubrication performance tests were carried out on the bearing test rig.

The Halbach array of magnet blocks is able to reach the maximum magnetic force. The material of sheath can help increase the magnetism. The magnetism is able to reduce wear during low-speed and the start-stop phase, while the eddy current loss at high speeds will lead to a decrease in magnetic force. The experiment found that the bearing was more stable at low speeds and would not demagnetize due to the temperature rise, but it is necessary to pay attention to the running stability at high speeds to prevent rubbing and impact.

An innovative combination of hydrodynamic pressure and permanent magnetic repulsion was observed to form a magnetic-liquid double suspension bearing with large bearing capacity.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-08-2020-0295

The objective of this study is to investigate how country risk, different political actions from the government and bureaucratic behavior influence the activities in industry supply chains (SCs) in emerging markets. The main objective of this study is to investigate the influence of these external stakeholders’ elements to the demand-side and supply-side drivers and barriers for improving competitiveness of Ready-Made Garment (RMG) industry in the way of analyzing supply chain. Considering the phenomenon of recent change in the RMG business environment and the competitiveness issues this study uses the principles of stakeholder and resource dependence theory and aims to find out some factors which influence to make an efficient supply chain for improving competitiveness. The RMG industry of Bangladesh is the case application of this study. Following a positivist paradigm, this study adopts a two phase sequential mixed-method research design consisting of qualitative and quantitative approaches. A tentative research model is developed first based on extensive literature review. Qualitative field study is then carried out to fine tune the initial research model. Findings from the qualitative method are also used to develop measures and instruments for the next phase of quantitative method. A survey is carried out with sample of top and middle level executives of different garment companies of Dhaka city in Bangladesh and the collected quantitative data are analyzed by partial least square-based structural equation modeling. The findings support eight hypotheses. From the analysis the external stakeholders’ elements like bureaucratic behavior and country risk have significant influence to the barriers. From the internal stakeholders’ point of view the manufacturers’ and buyers’ drivers have significant influence on the competitiveness. Therefore, stakeholders need to take proper action to reduce the barriers and increase the drivers, as the drivers have positive influence to improve competitiveness.

This study has both theoretical and practical contributions. This study represents an important contribution to the theory by integrating two theoretical perceptions to identify factors of the RMG industry’s SC that affect the competitiveness of the RMG industry. This research study contributes to the understanding of both external and internal stakeholders of national and international perspectives in the RMG (textile and clothing) business. It combines the insights of stakeholder and resource dependence theories along with the concept of the SC in improving effectiveness. In a practical sense, this study certainly contributes to the Bangladeshi RMG industry. In accordance with the desire of the RMG manufacturers, the research has shown that some influential constructs of the RMG industry’s SC affect the competitiveness of the RMG industry. The outcome of the study is useful for various stakeholders of the Bangladeshi RMG industry sector ranging from the government to various private organizations. The applications of this study are extendable through further adaptation in other industries and various geographic contexts.