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Bearings in field applications with high dynamic loading, e.g. wind energy plants, suffer from sudden failure initiated by subsurface material transformation, known as white etching cracks in a typical scale of μm, preferably around the maximum Hertzian stress zone. Despite many investigations in this field no precise knowledge about the root cause of those failures is available, due to the fact that failure under real service conditions of wind energy plants differs from what is known from test rig results in terms of contact loading, lubrication or dynamics. The purpose of this paper is to apply Barkhausen noise measurement to a full bearing test ring running under conditions of elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) with high radial preload.

Full bearing tests are carried out by use of DGBB (Deep Grove Ball Bearings) with 6206 specification, material set constant as 100Cr6, martensitic hardening, 10‐12 percent maximum retained austenite and radial preload of 3500 MPa. Speed is set 9000 rpm, temperature is self setting at 80°C by test conditions. For tests, synthetic hydrocarbon base oil (Poly‐α‐Olefine) with a 1 percent amount of molydenum‐dithiophosphate (organic chain given as 2‐ethylhexyl) was used.

Non‐destructive fractal dimension analyses by use of Barkhausen noise measurements is of versatile value in terms of recording bearing manufacturing processes, but can also be part of non‐destructive condition monitoring of bearings in field applications, where predictive reactive maintenance is crucial for availability of the plant.

Barkhausen noise signal recording may also be valuable for case studies related to microstructure changes of steel under operation conditions. Bearings are exposed in plenty of conditions to phenomena such as straying currents, subsequently straying magnetic fields. Hardly anything is known about how microstructure of bearing steel is susceptible to such conditions. This will be part of further studies.

Results given in the paper show that sudden bearing failure, according to formation of subsurface material property changes might be driven by activities of dislocations. Since those activities start with sequences of stress field‐induced formation of domains, later by formation of low‐angle subgrains, and at least phase transformation, recording of the Barkhausen signal would lead to real predictive condition monitoring in applications where a highly dynamic loading of the contact, even with low nominal contact pressure leads to sudden failure induced by white etching.

The paper compares the introduction of universal long‐term care schemes and the regulations of migrant care work within the framework of multi‐level governance in Austria and Germany. The aim of the paper is twofold. First, it reveals the characteristics of country‐specific universal policy schemes and second, it explains their designs – the new type of universalism and its completion by regulations of migrant care work within the family framework – by the policy‐making process.

Conceptually, the paper combines approaches within long‐term care research to define dimensions of universalism, as well as on multi‐level governance and new‐institutionalism to examine the policy‐making process. Empirically, Austria and Germany are selected as two cases.

The findings reveal the significant dimensions of the new type of universalist policy design and of policies towards migrant care work. The country differences are explained by the policy‐making process within countries and with cross‐border effects. In particular, the impact of the disability movement in Austria and the coalition between the political parties in Germany resulted in a country‐specific definition of universalism. The integrated approach towards migrant care work in Austria is contrasted with the fragmented approach in Germany. In both countries, the regulations of migrant care work question the idea of universalism.

The impact of societal actors and their ideas on the creation of a new type of universalism and the interrelated regulation of migrant care work has only rarely been examined. The analysis contributes to an understanding of the policy‐making process and its interrelationship with selected policy designs.

The strategic importance of the purchasing function increases, as its task become more dynamic in various interfaces with different suppliers. Changes in these customer–supplier interfaces pose specific challenges. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the purchasing function handles the interplay of interface changes.

This study applies a qualitative single case study design. Data are collected through observations and interviews conducted before, during and after a concrete change of interface taking place between a buying firm and its suppliers and customers.

Three main findings are identified to redefine the tasks of the purchasing function. The first concerns the new ways of defining the purchasing tasks. The main issue is to balance tasks with the simultaneous changes influencing other interfaces and relationships. The second is the division and alignment of tasks in intra- and inter-organizational networks with regards to who decides and coordinates what. Third, the inter-connected performance relates to how other actors perform their tasks. For the purchasing function, managing supplier interfaces influences and is influenced by how the firm simultaneously manages its user interface.

For management, a new way to evaluate the performance of the purchasing function is needed by including relationship management and interactive capabilities.

This study contributes with new insights into how managing the dynamics of changing interfaces requires interactively defined purchasing tasks, division and alignment of tasks and inter-connected performance vis-à-vis others in the wider network setting.

This paper aims to explain the effect of flow, game repetition and brand familiarity on players’ brand attitude and purchase intention in the context of mobile advergaming.

Data from 227 participants who played a mobile advergame were analysed. Structural equation modelling with partial least squares was used to test the research model.

The results reveal that the independent variables (i.e. game repetition and brand familiarity) significantly influence the dependent variables explored in this study (i.e. brand attitude and purchase intentions of players). Results also show that brand familiarity influences players’ flow experience, which in turn significantly affects players’ purchase intentions.

The findings of this study are important for advertising practitioners and advergames’ developers as understanding the determinants of mobile advergaming effectiveness is crucial for designing successful advergames that persuade players the most.

This study contributes to the literature in two ways. First, it provides new insights into the effectiveness of mobile advergames, which is an under-researched area. Second, it offers empirical evidence of the effects of game repetition, flow and brand familiarity on mobile advergaming effectiveness.

The purpose of this paper is to identify specific drivers of value creation in secondary buyouts. While this type of private equity deal has risen in importance in recent years, it is not yet well understood. Through an in-depth analysis of the acquisition of Brenntag by BC Partners, we develop propositions on the value creation profile of secondary buyouts.

We use a single case study design to explore the information-rich context of a secondary buyout. The Brenntag case epitomizes the development of a company from forming part of a large conglomerate to being private-equity owned after the primary and secondary buyout, to its final disposition of public listing. Our analysis is based on ten semi-structured interviews with key protagonists and observers, as well as analysis of primary company data and additional secondary data sources.

We propose that even if the investment management and monitoring skills of the primary and secondary private equity group are similar, there is still potential to realize operational improvements in a secondary buyout, due to either early exit of the primary private equity group or measures that further enhance management incentives. In addition, the Brenntag case shows that low information asymmetries can lead to higher leverage and that opportunities for multiple expansions are limited in secondary buyouts.

While a secondary buyout has become a common exit route in recent years, we are the first to undertake an in-depth case analysis of a secondary buyout. Our study helps researchers and practitioners enhance their understanding of drivers behind the value creation profile of secondary buyouts.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze how long-run unemployment of former apprentices depends on the size of their training firm and their ability.

The authors use a large administrative data set that follows graduated apprentices during their working life. They show that training in large and medium-sized firms is associated with considerably less unemployment. This, however, may simply be the result of sorting processes, i.e. larger training firms with higher wage levels attract and choose the most able young workers. Therefore, the authors use a proxy for ability to estimate and control for the impact of ability on long-run unemployment. They assume that rank-order tournaments for the most attractive training positions take place and take into account an institutional peculiarity of the German training system, the empirically observable regional immobility of apprentices. Accordingly, they use a region-specific ranking based on training plants’ size or median wages, respectively, to proxy for apprentices’ ability.

The negative association between training plant size and long-run unemployment is muted but still statistically well determined even after controlling for the rank of an individual’s training firm in the local plant size distribution or the local wage distribution, respectively. Thus, the rank itself is a predictor for long-run unemployment of apprentices. The fact that the position in the local size distribution matters conditional on plant size shows that there is a local competition for training places.

Lacking mobility may increases aggregate unemployment, as mobility reduces the risk of unemployment.

The results imply that supporting regional mobility of young workers, e.g., by informing them better about existing mobility subsidies and dormitories for apprentices and by creating additional mobility incentives is warranted.

This is the first study to investigate long-run unemployment of former apprentices. Furthermore, the authors develop new variables to proxy for ability.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the influence of top management team diversity on academic excellence in universities. Academic excellence is conceptualized as successfully gaining funds for inter-organizational research collaborations, interdisciplinary graduate schools and high-ranked scientific reputation.

The study applies upper echelon theory to universities. Three hypotheses are developed: (overall) top management team heterogeneity is positively associated with successful funding of excellence clusters, (overall) top management team heterogeneity is positively associated with successful funding of graduate schools and (overall) top management team heterogeneity is positively associated with academic reputation. The empirical study is based on a cross-sectional dataset with a time lag, covering characteristics of 75 German public universities from 2008 to 2013. Multiple-regression analysis is applied to test the hypotheses.

Our results indicate that disciplinary and educational diversity of upper echelons has a positive effect on the outcomes. Other top management team characteristics (age, gender, etc.) show no significant effects. Besides top management team composition, we find that a high number of faculties and a broad inclusion of internal status groups (students, tenured faculty, academic and administrative staff) and external stakeholders in decision making processes may enhance academic excellence of universities.

First, the study contributes to the body of literature concerned with higher education. It is situated at the crossroads of management studies and higher education research, unlocking strategic management theorizing for the public context. Furthermore, the study contributes to the body of literature on strategic leadership in pluralistic organizations. It highlights the importance of heterogeneous governance structures and modular organization designs for achieving academic excellence.

The paper may inform practitioners in administrative or leading positions and policy-makers concerned with higher education. The more diverse a top management team is in terms of multiple disciplinary backgrounds, the more likely they succeed in driving the university toward academic excellence.

The study is among the first to evaluate the influence of top management teams in universities with a quantitative research design.

OWING to the comparatively early date in the year of the Library Association Conference, this number of THE LIBRARY WORLD is published so that it may be in the hands of our readers before it begins. The official programme is not in the hands of members at the time we write, but the circumstances are such this year that delay has been inevitable. We have dwelt already on the good fortune we enjoy in going to the beautiful West‐Country Spa. At this time of year it is at its best, and, if the weather is more genial than this weather‐chequered year gives us reason to expect, the Conference should be memorable on that account alone. The Conference has always been the focus of library friendships, and this idea, now that the Association is so large, should be developed. To be a member is to be one of a freemasonry of librarians, pledged to help and forward the work of one another. It is not in the conference rooms alone, where we listen, not always completely awake, to papers not always eloquent or cleverly read, that we gain most, although no one would discount these; it is in the hotels and boarding houses and restaurants, over dinner tables and in the easy chairs of the lounges, that we draw out really useful business information. In short, shop is the subject‐matter of conference conversation, and only misanthropic curmudgeons think otherwise.

The Covid-19 pandemic has profoundly affected urban communities, generating the need for an immediate response from local governance. The availability of urban data platforms in some smart cities helped the relevant actors to develop various solutions in an innovative and highly contextual way. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of data platforms in smart cities in the context of the Covid-19 crisis.

A total of 85 studies were identified using the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science electronic library. After applying exclusion and inclusion criteria, 61 publications were considered appropriate and reasonable for the research, being read in-depth. Finally, only 52 studies presented relevant information for the topic and were synthesized following the defined research questions. During the research, the authors included in the paper other interesting references found in selected articles and important information regarding the role of data in the fight against Covid-19 in smart cities available on the Internet and social media, with the intention to capture both academic and practical perspectives.

The authors' main conclusion suggests that based on their previous expertise in collecting, processing and analyzing data from multiple sources, some smart cities quickly adapted their data platforms for an efficient response against Covid-19. The results highlight the importance of open data, data sharing, innovative thinking, the collaboration between public and private stakeholders, and the participation of citizens, especially in these difficult times.

The city managers and data operators can use the presented case studies and findings to identify relevant data-driven smart solutions in the fight against Covid-19 or another crisis.

The performance of smart cities is a social concern since the population of urban communities is continuously growing. By reviewing the adoption of information technologies-based solutions to improve the quality of citizens' life, the paper emphasizes their potential in societies in which information technology is embedded, especially during a major crisis.

This research re-emphasizes the importance of collecting data in smart cities, the role of the diversity of their sources and the necessity of citizens, companies and government synergetic involvement, especially in a pandemic context. The existence of smart solutions to process and extract information and knowledge from large data sets was essential for many actors involved in smart cities, helping them in the decision-making process. Based on previous expertise, some smart cities quickly adapted their data platforms for an efficient response against Covid-19. The paper analyzes also these success cases that can be considered models to be adopted by other municipalities in similar circumstances.

The study explores the effect of game flow, game enjoyment and game customization on consumers' attitudes toward the game (ATG). It also examines the relationship between consumers' ATG and attitude toward the in-game advertising (IGA) brand.

The study used SEM and PROCESS MACRO to analyze the results.

The study asserts the significant role of game flow, game customization and game enjoyment as antecedents of consumers' ATG. Furthermore, psychological ownership and perceived IGA invasiveness were found to be significant moderators between attitude toward game and attitude for the IGA brand.

The study examines how players’ attitude toward the game influences their attitude toward the IGA brand due to the player's ownership perceptions over the game and invasiveness perceptions for IGA. The study used psychological ownership and psychological reactance theory in the gamification context. The study findings present pertinent implications for game developers and brands interested in using IGA tools.