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1 – 10 of 13Alex Mason, Dmytro Romanov, L. Eduardo Cordova-Lopez, Steven Ross and Olga Korostynska
Modern meat processing requires automation and robotisation to remain sustainable and adapt to future challenges, including those brought by global infection events. Automation of…
Abstract
Purpose
Modern meat processing requires automation and robotisation to remain sustainable and adapt to future challenges, including those brought by global infection events. Automation of all or many processes is seen as the way forward, with robots performing various tasks instead of people. Meat cutting is one of these tasks. Smart novel solutions, including smart knives, are required, with the smart knife being able to analyse and predict the meat it cuts. This paper aims to review technologies with the potential to be used as a so-called “smart knife” The criteria for a smart knife are also defined.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reviews various technologies that can be used, either alone or in combination, for developing a future smart knife for robotic meat cutting, with possibilities for their integration into automatic meat processing. Optical methods, Near Infra-Red spectroscopy, electrical impedance spectroscopy, force sensing and electromagnetic wave-based sensing approaches are assessed against the defined criteria for a smart knife.
Findings
Optical methods are well established for meat quality and composition characterisation but lack speed and robustness for real-time use as part of a cutting tool. Combining these methods with artificial intelligence (AI) could improve the performance. Methods, such as electrical impedance measurements and rapid evaporative ionisation mass spectrometry, are invasive and not suitable in meat processing since they damage the meat. One attractive option is using athermal electromagnetic waves, although no commercially developed solutions exist that are readily adaptable to produce a smart knife with proven functionality, robustness or reliability.
Originality/value
This paper critically reviews and assesses a range of sensing technologies with very specific requirements: to be compatible with robotic assisted cutting in the meat industry. The concept of a smart knife that can benefit from these technologies to provide a real-time “feeling feedback” to the robot is at the centre of the discussion.
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Caroline E.W. Glackin and Steven E. Phelan
A recent paper by Morris et al. (2013b) presented evidence that students can develop entrepreneurial competencies through international fieldwork. This paper explores whether the…
Abstract
Purpose
A recent paper by Morris et al. (2013b) presented evidence that students can develop entrepreneurial competencies through international fieldwork. This paper explores whether the same results can be developed in a traditional classroom setting.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is a systematic replication of the Morris study with the addition of a matched pair, quasi-experimental design, with a self-replication. Data were collected on 13 self-reported competencies at the start of a semester from two groups using the Morris instrument. The treatment group was exposed to a curriculum designed to teach entrepreneurial competencies, and both groups were re-surveyed at the end of the semester. The process was then repeated with a different cohort, one year later, to replicate the initial study.
Findings
Five competencies saw significant increases in the first treatment group. However, only three of these competencies increased more in the treatment group than the control group. In the replication study, only one competency was significantly higher in the treatment group, and that competency was not one of the original three.
Practical implications
Educators and policymakers should select a curriculum that is valid and reliable. Entrepreneurship educators and policymaker should devote more time to evaluating the effectiveness of different pedagogical techniques for improving entrepreneurial competencies.
Originality/value
To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the first studies in entrepreneurship education to undertake a matched pair, quasi-experimental design with an in-study replication. The results indicate that serious inferential errors arise if simpler designs are used, even though such designs are the norm in entrepreneurship research.
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Julia Slupska and Leonie Maria Tanczer
Technology-facilitated abuse, so-called “tech abuse,” through phones, trackers, and other emerging innovations, has a substantial impact on the nature of intimate partner violence…
Abstract
Technology-facilitated abuse, so-called “tech abuse,” through phones, trackers, and other emerging innovations, has a substantial impact on the nature of intimate partner violence (IPV). The current chapter examines the risks and harms posed to IPV victims/survivors from the burgeoning Internet of Things (IoT) environment. IoT systems are understood as “smart” devices such as conventional household appliances that are connected to the internet. Interdependencies between different products together with the devices' enhanced functionalities offer opportunities for coercion and control. Across the chapter, we use the example of IoT to showcase how and why tech abuse is a socio-technological issue and requires not only human-centered (i.e., societal) but also cybersecurity (i.e., technical) responses. We apply the method of “threat modeling,” which is a process used to investigate potential cybersecurity attacks, to shift the conventional technical focus from the risks to systems toward risks to people. Through the analysis of a smart lock, we highlight insufficiently designed IoT privacy and security features and uncover how seemingly neutral design decisions can constrain, shape, and facilitate coercive and controlling behaviors.
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Folasade Olabimpe Adeboyejo, Olaide Ruth Aderibigbe, Fehintola Oluwatosin Ojo and Steven Akintomide Fagbemi
Several factors may play critical roles in alterations to product quality during storage of hog plum juice. This study aims to evaluate variations to physicochemical, antioxidant…
Abstract
Purpose
Several factors may play critical roles in alterations to product quality during storage of hog plum juice. This study aims to evaluate variations to physicochemical, antioxidant, anti-nutritional properties and microbial stability of hog plum juice during storage.
Design/methodology/approach
Juice was produced from hog plum fruits and stored for eight weeks at refrigerated and ambient conditions. Physicochemical, antioxidant properties, antinutritional factors and microbial properties of juices were determined using standard procedures
Findings
Degradation of ascorbic acid was higher in juices stored at ambient conditions (64.4%) compared to those stored by refrigeration (44.4%). Trends were similar for total phenolic, total flavonoid and total carotenoid contents. Total phenolic, total carotenoid and lycopene contents of fresh juice were 3.9 mg GAE/mL, 4.0 mg/mL and 1.3 mg/mL, which were not significantly different (at p = 0.08, 0.07 and 0.08, respectively) from the values at two weeks of storage at refrigerated conditions (3.9 mg GAE/mL, 3.9 mg/mL and 1.3 mg/mL). A sharp decrease of more than 40% (p = 0.02) in lycopene was recorded after four weeks, irrespective of storage temperature. Pasteurized hog plum juice showed no microbial growth until after four weeks of refrigerated storage when 1 CFU/mL each of bacterial and fungal growth were recorded. The juices, however, showed higher susceptibility to fungal growth as storage period increased.
Research limitations/implications
Other variables not considered in this study such as nature of packaging materials may have significantly contributed to the observed data set. Further studies may, therefore, widen the scope of discussion to evaluate the associated relationship of these variables. Hog plum juice retained a considerable amount of bioactive components during refrigerated storage, which makes it a viable nutraceutical drink with industrial potentials and possible positive health implications for consumers.
Practical implications
This study provides new information that support the possible classification and use of hog plum juice as a safe functional beverage for human consumption.
Originality/value
Although the effect of storage temperature was significant in most of the properties studied, storage duration seems to have a greater influence on the stability of quality parameters during the storage of hog plum juice.
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Pilar Pazos, María Carmen Pérez-López and María José González-López
Although the importance of teamwork competencies and effective conflict management in entrepreneurship education is recognised, we have limited knowledge of how these factors…
Abstract
Purpose
Although the importance of teamwork competencies and effective conflict management in entrepreneurship education is recognised, we have limited knowledge of how these factors interact to influence performance in entrepreneurial teams. This research explores teamwork competencies as a predictor of entrepreneurial team performance and the moderating effect of emerging cognitive and interpersonal team conflict as levers in entrepreneurship learning.
Design/methodology/approach
A time-lagged survey method was used to collect data from 49 teams (156 individuals) of undergraduate students in an experiential new venture creation course. A predictive model of entrepreneurial team performance through hierarchical regression analyses and moderated-moderation analyses was tested.
Findings
Results reveal that teamwork competencies have a significant and direct influence on entrepreneurial team performance and that intragroup conflict strengthens that relationship when high levels of cognitive conflict and low levels of interpersonal conflict emerge.
Practical implications
The findings have implications for the design of entrepreneurial training programs, which will benefit from interventions aimed at teamwork competency development that incorporate strategies promoting constructive cognitive conflict while preventing the emergence of interpersonal conflict.
Originality/value
This study is a step forward in entrepreneurship education research from the perspective of social and interpersonal processes by identifying the patterns of intra-team conflict that lead to more effective entrepreneurial teams and more productive use of teamwork competencies in a learning-by-doing entrepreneurial context.
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Luca Mulazzani, Laura Piredda, Marija Cerjak and Luca Camanzi
The objective of this study is to assess if Italian fish consumers are sensible to shark protection and if they would contribute paying more for small pelagic fishes coming from…
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of this study is to assess if Italian fish consumers are sensible to shark protection and if they would contribute paying more for small pelagic fishes coming from fisheries that are certified as “shark-free”.
Design/methodology/approach
Contingent valuation is used to estimate willingness to pay with a double approach, including a dichotomous choice and an open-ended question. Inconsistency between the two answers is allowed. This allows the correction of two sources of bias (i.e. preference uncertainty and anchoring effect) and has permitted that the two estimation methods converged to the same result.
Findings
Consumers show interest for the “shark-free” label. Premium price is estimated at +26%. Variables affecting willingness to pay (WTP) in the sample are age, income, environmental attitude, knowledge of organic labels and frequency of small pelagics' consumption. Results need to be confirmed by a replication on a larger (probabilistic) sample and with a different distribution of bids.
Originality/value
Ecosystems provide different benefits to humankind, including non-use services, such as the satisfaction to know that a species is well conserved. Generally, appreciation is higher for what are considered charismatic species. In this paper, the authors investigate if sharks can be considered charismatic species despite their “bad reputation”. The interest in shark survival is measured indirectly using a “shark-free” label on a commercial species like anchovy, allowing to increase the value added of this low-price species.
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Laura K. Taylor and Celia Bähr
Over 60% of armed conflicts re-occur; the seed of future conflict is sown even as a peace agreement is signed. The cyclical nature of war calls for a focus on youth who can…
Abstract
Purpose
Over 60% of armed conflicts re-occur; the seed of future conflict is sown even as a peace agreement is signed. The cyclical nature of war calls for a focus on youth who can disrupt this pattern over time. Addressing this concern, the developmental peace-building model calls for a dynamic, multi-level and longitudinal approach. Using an innovative statistical approach, this study aims to investigate the associations among four youth peace-building dimensions and quality peace.
Design/methodology/approach
Multi-level time-series network analysis of a data set containing 193 countries and spanning the years between 2011 and 2020 was performed. This statistical approach allows for complex modelling that can reveal new patterns of how different youth peace-building dimensions (i.e. education, engagement, information, inclusion), identified through rapid evidence assessment, promote quality peace over time. Such a methodology not only assesses between-country differences but also within-country change.
Findings
While the within-country contemporaneous network shows positive links for education, the temporal network shows significant lagged effects for all four dimensions on quality peace. The between-country network indicates significant direct effects of education and information, on average, and indirect effects of inclusion and engagement, on quality peace.
Originality/value
This approach demonstrates a novel application of multi-level time-series network analysis to explore the dynamic development of quality peace, capturing both stability and change. The analysis illustrates how youth peace-building dimensions impact quality peace in the macro-system globally. This investigation of quality peace thus illustrates that the science of peace does not necessitate violent conflict.
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María Inmaculada Sánchez-Queija, Laura Sánchez-García, Andrew T. Rothwell and Águeda Parra
The present study analyzes differences in self-perceived employability (SPE) among Spanish university and vocational education and training (VET) students. It also aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
The present study analyzes differences in self-perceived employability (SPE) among Spanish university and vocational education and training (VET) students. It also aims to determine whether factors such as gender, work experience and perceptions of the precariousness of the job market have a differential effect on SPE in accordance with the training pathway chosen by emerging adults.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 1,715 university students (64.7% women) and 488 VET students (37.1% women) aged between 18 and 29 years completed a self-administered questionnaire that included measures of perceived employability and precarious employment.
Findings
The results indicate higher SPE among VET students than among their university counterparts. Female university students scored lower also than their male colleagues, an effect that was not observed among VET students. Prior work experience improved internal SPE among students on both training pathways. However, among university students, work experience and precarious employment reduced external SPE, an affect that was not observed among VET students.
Practical implications
The analysis of differences in SPE between university and VET students highlights the importance of an educational curriculum that includes practical competences for enhancing employability. The results also reflect the negative consequences of precarious employment on feelings of employability during this life stage, particularly among those studying at university.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies to analyze the perceived employability of emerging adults on two different training pathways in Spain.
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This paper aims to identify specific challenges and opportunities when crafting literature reviews of qualitative accounting research. In addition, it offers potential remedies to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify specific challenges and opportunities when crafting literature reviews of qualitative accounting research. In addition, it offers potential remedies to frequent challenges when conducting such reviews.
Design/methodology/approach
This piece is based on recent methodological advice on conducting literature reviews and my own experience when conducting and publishing reviews that primarily cover qualitative accounting research.
Findings
The author chart three typical advantages and three typical use cases of literature reviews of qualitative accounting research, as well as the typical process steps and outputs of such reviews. Along with these process steps, The author identifies three overarching specific challenges when conducting such reviews and discusses potential remedies. Overall, this paper suggests that literature reviews of qualitative accounting research feature idiosyncratic challenges but offer specific opportunities at the same time.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is among the first to offer advice on the specific challenges and opportunities when conducting literature reviews of qualitative accounting research.
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Kun Tracy Wang, Guqiang Luo and Li Yu
The purpose of this study is to examine whether and how analysts’ foreign ancestral origins would have an effect on analysts’ earning forecasts in particular and ultimately on…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine whether and how analysts’ foreign ancestral origins would have an effect on analysts’ earning forecasts in particular and ultimately on firms’ information environment in general.
Design/methodology/approach
By inferring analysts’ ancestral countries based on their surnames, this study empirically examines whether analysts’ ancestral countries affect their earnings forecast errors.
Findings
Using novel data on analysts’ foreign ancestral origins from more than 110 countries, this study finds that relative to analysts with common American surnames, analysts with common foreign surnames tend to have higher earnings forecast errors. The positive relation between analyst foreign surnames and earnings forecast errors is more likely to be observed for African-American analysts and analysts whose ancestry countries are geographically apart from the USA. In contrast, this study finds that when analysts’ foreign countries of ancestry are aligned with that of the CEOs, analysts exhibit lower earnings forecast errors relative to analysts with common American surnames. More importantly, the results show that firms followed by more analysts with foreign surnames tend to exhibit higher earnings forecast errors.
Originality/value
Taken together, findings of this study are consistent with the conjecture that geographical, social and ethnical proximity between managers and analysts affect firms’ information environment. Therefore, this study contributes to the determinants of analysts’ earnings forecast errors and adds to the literature on firms’ information environment.
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