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This study aims to explore the ways that social enterprises (SE) create value by embedding themselves in networks through the process of social innovation (SI). The processes of achieving common social missions were studied through selected organizations using an open approach to SI. Novel operational structures as well as unique forms of created value were explored.

Two organizations embedded in local and international networks were studied and were chosen due to their SI profiles. The study was based on qualitative exploratory research. In-depth analysis was conducted through interviews, open discussions, document analysis as well as personal observation to understand the dynamic interrelatedness of the main factors influencing success of SI ventures.

This paper identified the role of SI in SEs embedded in networks. Furthermore, the social value creation processes of these organizations as well as the value they create were explored. Based on the findings, SI is rooted in the personality of the included members of the network. The tools of collaboration are platforms that connect the network members to each other. The embedded organizations apply the concept of community sharing with the aim of social value creation.

By focusing mainly on system design principles, the sample consists of mainly those at the core of organizations in facilitator roles, leaving peripheral actor perceptions to be determined by secondhand observations.

While providing a general summary of factors influencing SI activities from extent literature, the paper mainly contributes by providing deeper insight into complex models of SI practices used by SEs. The paper further contributes to popularizing the growing role of SI activities in SEs.

Metal matrix composites (MMCs) are commonly used in many aerospace and industrial applications. MMCs possess significantly improved properties including high specific strength, specific modulus, damping capacity and good wear resistance compared to unreinforced alloys. The purpose of this paper is to describe the tribological studies of Al-Si alloy–fly ash composites manufactured using powder metallurgy technique.

Al-Si (12 Wt.%) alloy–fly ash composites were developed using powder metallurgy technique. Al-Si alloy powder was used as matrix material, and the fly ash was used as reinforcement. The particle size of Al-Si alloy powder was in the range of 75-300 μm, and the fly ash was in the range of 1-15 μm. The friction and wear characteristics of the composites were studied using a pin-on-disc set up. The test specimen was mated against cast iron disc, and the tests were conducted with the loads of 10, 20 and 30 N, sliding speeds of 0.5, 1 and 1.5 m/s for a sliding distance of 2,000 m.

The effects of load and sliding speed on tribological properties of the base alloy and Al-Si alloy–fly ash composites pins on sliding with cast iron disc are evaluated. The wear rate of Al-Si alloy–fly ash composites is lower than that of base alloy, and it increases with increasing load and sliding speed. The coefficient of friction of Al-Si alloy–fly ash composites is increased as compared with base alloy.

The development of Al-Si alloy–fly ash composites produced by powder metallurgy technique will modernize the automobile and other industries because near net shape at low cost and good mechanical properties are obtained.

There are few papers available on the development and tribological studies of Al-Si alloy–fly ash composites produced by powder metallurgy technique.

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the growth dependence of InN on Si substrate with different orientation through RF reactive magnetron sputtering in ambient temperature.

The authors fabricated indium nitride (InN) thin films by radio frequency (RF) sputtering. The InN thin films were deposited on Si (100), Si (110) and Si (111) substrates at room temperature. The crystalline structure and surface morphology of the InN films were characterized by X‐ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy (EDX) and atomic force microscopy (AFM).

X‐ray diffraction results revealed that the wurtzite InN with preferential (101) orientation are deposited. Through the Scherrer structural analysis revealed nanocrystalline structure for InN films grown on Si (110), Si (100) and Si (111) orientation with crystallite size of 42.3, 33.8 and 24.1, respectively. The optical properties of InN layers were examined by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and micro‐Raman reflectance spectroscopy at room temperature. The observation of the E1(TO), A1(LO), and E2(high) phonon modes of the InN from the IR and Raman results confirmed that the deposited InN thin film has hexagonal structure.

Si (110) surface is not isotropic and it may offer a unique orientation plane for the nitride films which could reduce the defect density and the resulting tensile stress responsible for film cracking. Therefore, it is absolutely worth exploring the growth of InN on Si (110) by using relatively simple and cheap reactive sputtering technique.

Sound microstructure components are necessary for reliability and safety; hence, these components are used in aircraft, satellite, automobiles and ships, where many commercial alloys are not suitable. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

AA6082/Si₃N₄ and AA6082/SiC composites were fabricated using the stir-casting process considering 5, 10 and 15 vol.% of reinforcement particles. Density and porosity of AA6082/Si₃N₄ and AA6082/SiC composites were calculated. Characterization was done using an X-ray (EDX) detector, attached to SEM. The effect of addition of Si₃N₄ and SiC particulates in the AA6082 was investigated.

Results showed that Si₃N₄ and SiC particulates had good wettability with AA6082 and were uniformly distributed in AA6082 matrix. No adverse effects of reactions were noticed in the microstructure of AA6082/Si₃N₄ and AA6082/SiC composites.

AA6082 with more than 15 vol.% of Si₃N₄ and AA6082/SiC reinforcement particles do not find industrial application where high hardness and tensile strength are required.

Components made from AA6082/Si₃N₄ and AA6082/SiC composites find their application where high hardness with better tensile strength is required.

Naturally and locally available materials are utilized for fabrication.

Little work is available in the literature on fabrication and characterization of AA6082/Si₃N₄ and AA6082/SiC composites. The authors have identified the process parameters at which proper fabrication is done and sound microstructure is obtained.

This study aims to explore the feasibility of adding Si₃N₄ nanoparticles to Sn58Bi and provides a theoretical basis for designing and applying new lead-free solder materials for the electronic packaging industry.

In this paper, Sn58Bi-xSi₃N₄ (x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0 Wt.%) was prepared for bonding Cu substrate, and the changes in thermal properties, wettability, microstructure, interfacial intermetallic compound and mechanical properties of the composite solder were systematically studied.

The experiment results demonstrate that including Si₃N₄ nanoparticles does not significantly impact the melting point of Sn58Bi solder, and the undercooling degree of solder only fluctuates slightly. The molten solder spreading area reached a maximum of 96.17 mm², raised by 19.41% relative to those without Si₃N₄, and the wetting angle was the smallest at 0.6 Wt.% of Si₃N₄, with a minimum value of 8.35°. When the Si₃N₄ nanoparticles reach 0.6 Wt.%, the solder joint microstructure is significantly refined. Appropriately adding Si₃N₄ nanoparticles will slightly increase the solder alloy hardness. When the concentration of Si₃N₄ reaches 0.6 Wt.%, the joints shear strength reached 45.30 MPa, representing a 49.85% increase compared to those without additives. A thorough examination indicates that legitimately incorporating Si₃N₄ nanoparticles into Sn58Bi solder can enhance its synthetical performance, and 0.6 Wt.% is the best addition amount in our test setting.

In this paper, Si₃N₄ nanoparticles were incorporated into Sn58Bi solder, and the effects of different contents of Si₃N₄ nanoparticles on Sn58Bi solder were investigated from various aspects.

The Center for Academic Success (CAS) at Louisiana State University (LSU), certified as a Center of Excellence by the National College Learning Center Association, has utilized Supplemental Instruction^© (SI) for the past 20 years to provide student support for historically difficult courses – those courses with D, F, or withdrawal rates of greater than 30%. In this model, peers called “SI leaders” facilitate study sessions outside of class time to help the enrolled students develop effective learning strategies and better understand and master course concepts. SI relies upon collaboration with faculty and is supported by cognitivism and social constructivism learning theories.

Benefits of the successful model include supporting students to become self-directed independent learners, reducing the stigma associated with using academic support and reducing the demands for tutoring. Outcomes observed at LSU include positive correlations between the course-passing rates and six-year graduation rates of women, underrepresented minorities and first-generation college students who participated in SI compared to the peers who participate less frequently and those who do not participate.

The basic idea of this chapter is to utilize spiritual information in empirically exploring how its purported source beings view the impacts of such information upon various phenomena. This chapter aims at discovering and describing the most central effect dimensions in this context and, by so doing, at building theoretical constructs. The empirical work was done during 2005–2009 in Finland. Because of the relative novelty of the research topic, an inductive approach was applied. The research data were composed of a representative sample of 62 spiritual texts (printed books and articles, as well as Web and e-mail articles). The chapter examines the discovered categories and their subcategories, shows the most salient connections between them and discusses the findings in the context of previous research. The investigation explored two dimensions: the targets and actuality of the impacts of spiritual information. The impact targets were classified as organisms (human individuals, human communities, extraterrestrials, spirits), things (parts of beings, objects, information, situations), processes (events, practices, life) and spaces (areas, Earth, universe). The actuality of the impacts of spiritual information fell under these categories: desired (implicitly desired, intended, explicitly desired, requisitioned) impacts, real (possible, believed, factual, alternative) impacts, nonexistent (hypothetical, no) impacts, as well as conditional (on supernatural sender, information, humans, situation) and unconditional impacts. This inquiry revealed several new varieties of information impact and even built whole new typologies, because quite little was known about both the targets and actuality of the impacts of information before the present study.

The main objective of this study is to analyze the impact of spiritual intelligence (SI) based on its four dimensions (critical existential thinking (CET), personal meaning production (PMP), transcendental awareness (TA) and conscious state expansion (CSE)) on teachers' turnover intention (TI) through sanctification of work (SoW) and job satisfaction (JS).

Drawing from multiple intelligence theory, this study adopted a cross-sectional design to explore the hypothesized relationships. Copies of the questionnaire were distributed to 367 teachers working in public schools in Plateau State, Nigeria, and 290 out of the retrieved copies were useable. The data collected were analyzed using variance-based structural equation modeling (SEM), Smart-PLS 4.

The results suggest that SI does not significantly influence TI, while SoW and JS mediate the relationship between SI and TI.

The result suggests that SoW and JS are significant mechanisms through which SI predicts teachers' TI. This highlights the need for educational policymakers to integrate spiritual literature as well as imbibe spiritual practices such as prayers, meditations and yoga either at work or privately to enhance the development of SI among teachers.

The results offer an insightful understanding of SI and how it influences work outcomes. The mechanism roles of SoW and JS explain the process by which one's perceived numinous object, activity event and job experience influence a job decision.

Both the history and the historiography of SI show that multiple “different definitions and boundaries” have been applied to the subject of study (Atkinson & Housley, 2003, p. vii). Yet, despite the commonly agreed-upon understanding of SI's heterogeneity, in practice the institutional and disciplinary core of SI unmistakeably resides in its American heartland. For instance, Reynolds and Herman-Kinney (2003a, 2003b, p. ix) preface their fine Handbook of Symbolic Interactionism by aiming at making it “a fine addition to the sociological literature” (my emphasis). Maines (2001, 2003) himself – the most visible critic of the dissolution of SI – focuses on the growing invisibility of interactionism across American sociological theory and research while Fine (1993) and Sandstrom and Fine (2003, p. 1041) find that the “glorious triumph” of SI is due to its successes in “social psychology, medical sociology, deviance, social problems, collective behavior, cultural studies, media studies, the sociology of emotions, the sociology of art, environmental sociology, race relations, social organization, social movements, and political sociology” – hardly an interdisciplinary outlook.

Supplemental Instructions (SIs) were introduced into the San Francisco State University College of Science & Engineering curriculum in 1999. The goal was to improve student performance and retention and to decrease the time to degree in STEM majors. While for the most part we followed the structure and activities as developed by the International Center for Supplemental Instruction at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, we discovered several variations that significantly improved our outcomes. First and foremost, we created SI courses that require attendance, which results in higher students’ performance outcomes compared to drop-in options. Second, at SFSU the SI courses are led by pairs of undergraduate student facilitators (who are all STEM majors) trained in active learning strategies. Each year, more than half of our facilitators return to teach for another year. Thus, each section has a returning “experienced” facilitator who works with a new “novice” facilitator. Third, the SI courses were created with a distinct course prefix and listed as courses that generate revenue and make data access available for comparison studies. Results are presented that compare SI impact by gender and with groups underrepresented in STEM disciplines.