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1 – 10 of over 23000Wylie H. Wan, Sarah N. Haverly and Leslie B. Hammer
This chapter focuses on military couples and factors that affect their experiences of work, stress, and health using a life course perspective. An introduction to the definition…
Abstract
This chapter focuses on military couples and factors that affect their experiences of work, stress, and health using a life course perspective. An introduction to the definition of military couples is provided followed by a brief review of previous research on marital quality and divorce among military couples. The core of the chapter describes the advantages of using a life course perspective to examine the military life course for couples, and two critical transitions of military life are more fully examined. Specifically, periodic relocation and deployment and their impacts on military couples are reviewed in detail. Future directions for research on military couples are provided, and the use of the Convoy Model of Social Relations as an integrative approach to examine military personnel and family members’ stress and health across the military life course is introduced.
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Peter Paul Beran, Elisabeth Vinek and Erich Schikuta
The optimization of quality‐of‐service (QoS) aware service selection problems is a crucial issue in both grids and distributed service‐oriented systems. When several…
Abstract
Purpose
The optimization of quality‐of‐service (QoS) aware service selection problems is a crucial issue in both grids and distributed service‐oriented systems. When several implementations per service exist, one has to be selected for each workflow step. This paper aims to address these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors proposed several heuristics with specific focus on blackboard and genetic algorithms. Their applicability and performance has already been assessed for static systems. In order to cover real‐world scenarios, the approaches are required to deal with dynamics of distributed systems.
Findings
The proposed algorithms prove their feasibility in terms of scalability and runtime performance, taking into account their adaptability to system changes.
Research limitations/implications
In this paper, the authors propose a representation of the dynamic aspects of distributed systems and enhance their algorithms to efficiently capture them.
Practical implications
By combining both algorithms, the authors envision a global approach to QoS‐aware service selection applicable to static and dynamic systems.
Originality/value
The authors prove the feasibility of their hybrid approach by deploying the algorithms in a cloud environment (Google App Engine), that allows simulating and evaluating different system configurations.
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Abstract
Discusses the quality strategy deployment (QSD) processes, and addresses how service organizations identify customers’ needs in relation to the development of viable strategies and deployment of quality services using the quality function deployment (QFD) and the hoshin kanri techniques. An integrated QFD/hoshin approach is proposed to help develop viable strategies and attain service quality deployment. An implementation case of the approach is presented based on a recent QSD study in a typical engineering service organization – the Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory (MEL) of City University of Hong Kong. Incorporating the findings of the study, this paper sets forth the identification of the voice of customers (VOC), the building of a house of quality (HOQ), and the deployment of organizational strategies. Besides, a generic 13‐step guideline of QSD process is elaborated for assisting service organizations to attain continuous performance improvement. Effective implementation of the QFD/hoshin guideline and monitoring the QSD process must garner organizational support and commitment.
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The primary purpose of this study is to examine the implications of consolidation in the US cable industry in terms of deployment of advanced broadband services in local markets.
Abstract
Purpose
The primary purpose of this study is to examine the implications of consolidation in the US cable industry in terms of deployment of advanced broadband services in local markets.
Design/methodology/approach
This study estimates a cable operator's deployment of advanced broadband services using a binary probit model of profits from advance broadband services.
Findings
This study finds that larger and more powerful multiple system operators are limited in the transfer of efficiency deployment of advanced broadband services in local markets; therefore, the implications of the efficiency of horizontal integration do not have significant meaning.
Originality/value
Previous literature examined the relationship between horizontal integration, rates and the quality of traditional video services. By examining the relationship between horizontal integration and deployment of advanced cable services in local markets and making a policy suggestion for further consolidations in the US cable industry, this study fills a gap in extant cable industry research.
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Qiang Wang, Ilan Oshri and Xiande Zhao
This study aims to examine value cocreation in terms of interfirm collaborations between service firms, their business customers and business partners at different stages of a new…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine value cocreation in terms of interfirm collaborations between service firms, their business customers and business partners at different stages of a new service development (NSD) process.
Design/methodology/approach
The study develops and tests hypotheses that examine the roles played by business customers and partners in NSD, assuming resource dependency of the focal firm during three NSD stages (ideation, development and deployment). Empirical data were collected from 200 NSD projects and structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The results show that business customer collaboration has a positive effect on ideation performance and development performance, whereas business partner collaboration has a positive effect on deployment performance. These finding support the notion that the value cocreating roles of business customers and partners vary across NSD stages.
Research limitations/implications
Future research should focus on how business partners can be actively involved in the NSD process and how the interests of different parties can be safeguarded. The use of longitudinal data will allow a better examination of the process dynamics.
Practical implications
The study provides managerial implications for service managers in terms of acquiring and allocating resources needed from business customers and partners during different NSD stages.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the growing literature on value cocreation in NSD by empirically demonstrating the respective performance contributions of business customers and partners during different stages of NSD. Moreover, the results also shed light on interfirm collaboration mechanisms from the perspective of resource dependence theory.
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Hamidreza Nasiriasayesh, Alireza Yari and Eslam Nazemi
The concept of business process (BP) as a service is a new solution in enterprises for the purpose of using specific BPs. BPs represent combinations of software services that must…
Abstract
Purpose
The concept of business process (BP) as a service is a new solution in enterprises for the purpose of using specific BPs. BPs represent combinations of software services that must be properly executed by the resources provided by a company’s information technology infrastructure. As the policy requirements are different in each enterprise, processes are constantly evolving and demanding new resources in terms of computation and storage. To support more agility and flexibility, it is common today for enterprises to outsource their processes to clouds and, more recently, to cloud federation environment. Ensuring the optimal allocation of cloud resources to process service during the execution of workflows in accordance with user policy requirements is a major concern. Given the diversity of resources available in a cloud federation environment and the ongoing process changes required based on policies, reallocating cloud resources for service processing may lead to high computational costs and increased overheads in communication costs.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents a new adaptive resource allocation approach that uses a novel algorithm extending the natural-based intelligent water drops (IWD) algorithm that optimizes the resource allocation of workflows on the cloud federation which can estimate and optimize final deployment costs. The proposed algorithm is implemented and embedded within the WokflowSim simulation toolkit and tested in different simulated cloud environments with different workflow models.
Findings
The algorithm showed noticeable enhancements over the classical workflow deployment algorithms taking into account the challenges of data transfer. This paper made a comparison between the proposed IWD-based workflow deployment (IWFD) algorithm with other proposed algorithms. IWFD presented considerable improvements in the makespan, cost and data transfer in most situations in the cloud federation environment.
Originality/value
An extension for WorkflowSim to support the implementation of BPs in a federation cloud space regarding BP policy. Optimize workflow execution performance in Federated clouds by means of IWFD algorithm.
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Because of the high-risk deployments into Afghanistan, soldiers’ parents have become more important in public opinion as well as in activities of family support groups. Although…
Abstract
Because of the high-risk deployments into Afghanistan, soldiers’ parents have become more important in public opinion as well as in activities of family support groups. Although their voice is heard louder than ever before, research into parents’ experiences in the course of deployment is sparse. This study among 1,098 parents of Dutch soldiers reveals, among other things, that the relationship between service members and their parents can be described as strongly cohesive and may even be strengthened by a deployment. Moreover, parent–child cohesion and parents’ appraisal of their child's deployment predict parents’ support for the armed forces and its missions.
Antti Ylä-Kujala, Damian Kedziora, Lasse Metso, Timo Kärri, Ari Happonen and Wojciech Piotrowicz
Robotic process automation (RPA) has recently emerged as a technology focusing on the automation of repetitive, frequent, voluminous and rule-based tasks. Despite a few practical…
Abstract
Purpose
Robotic process automation (RPA) has recently emerged as a technology focusing on the automation of repetitive, frequent, voluminous and rule-based tasks. Despite a few practical examples that document successful RPA deployments in organizations, evidence of its economic benefits has been mostly anecdotal. The purpose of this paper is to present a step-by-step method to RPA investment appraisal and a business case demonstrating how the steps can be applied to practice.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology relies on design science research (DSR). The step-by-step method is a design artefact that builds on the mapping of processes and modelling of the associated costs. Due to the longitudinal nature of capital investments, modelling uses discounted cashflow and present value methods. Empirical grounding characteristic to DSR is achieved by field testing the artefact.
Findings
The step-by-step method is comprised of a preparatory step, three modelling steps and a concluding step. The modelling consists of compounding the interest rate, discounting the investment costs and establishing measures for comparison. These steps were applied to seven business processes to be automated by the case company, Estate Blend. The decision to deploy RPA was found to be trivial, not only based on the initial case data, but also based on multiple sensitivity analyses that showed how resistant RPA investments are to changing circumstances.
Practical implications
By following the provided step-by-step method, executives and managers can quantify the costs and benefits of RPA. The developed method enables any organization to directly compare investment alternatives against each other and against the probable status quo where many tasks in organizations are still carried out manually with little to no automation.
Originality/value
The paper addresses a growing new domain in the field of business process management by capitalizing on DSR and modelling-based approaches to RPA investment appraisal.
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Jeremy D. Moeller, Erica D. Culler, Mallori D. Hamilton, Keith R. Aronson and Daniel F. Perkins
Military-connected students experience a high rate of parental absence due to their parents’ military obligations. Military work-related parental absences can affect school-aged…
Abstract
Purpose
Military-connected students experience a high rate of parental absence due to their parents’ military obligations. Military work-related parental absences can affect school-aged children’s emotional and behavioural health and overall academic functioning. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
The current review identified research studies that explored the effects of military-connected parental absence on school-aged children. Specifically, quantitative and qualitative research studies that examine the impact of military parental absences on dependent variables related to internalising and externalising behaviours and academic functioning were of interest. In all, 26 studies were identified for inclusion in the review.
Findings
Overall, military-connected students who experience a parental absence due to military service are more likely to exhibit an increase in problem behaviours and a decrease in academic functioning compared to civilian peers or military-connected peers who were not experiencing parental absence.
Originality/value
The current review elucidates parental absence within the military context, highlighting key factors that may contribute to increased and decreased behavioural and academic functioning of military-connected students. Results from the review in relation to risk and protective factors for military-connected students, future research and school programming directions are discussed.
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