Search results

As exposure to psychosocial hazard at work represents a substantial risk factor for employee health in many modern occupations, being able to accurately assess how employees cope with their working environment is crucial. The workplace is generally accepted as being a dynamic environment, therefore, consideration should be given to the interaction between employees and the acute environmental characteristics of their workplace. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of both acute demand and chronic work-related psychosocial hazard upon employees through ambulatory assessment of heart rate variability and blood pressure.

A within-subjects repeated measures design was used to investigate the relationship between exposure to work-related psychosocial hazard and ambulatory heart rate variability and blood pressure in a cohort of higher education employees. Additionally the effect of acute variation in perceived work-related demand was investigated.

Two dimensions of the Management Standards were found to demonstrate an association with heart rate variability; more hazardous levels of “demand” and “relationships” were associated with decreased standard deviation of the normal-to-normal interval. Significant changes in blood pressure and indices of heart rate variability were observed with increased acute demand.

This is the first attempt to combine the Health and Safety Management Standards Indicator Tool with physiological assessment of employees. The results provide evidence of associations between scores on the indicator tool and ambulatory heart rate variability as well as demonstrating that variation in acute perceived work-related demand is associated with alterations to autonomic and cardiovascular function. This has implications not only for employee health and workplace design but also for future studies employing ambulatory physiological monitoring.

Based on journal articles that focused on epistemological issues in the field (e.g. the field's nature, purposes, borders, knowledge base, uniqueness, etc.), this paper seeks to outline the intellectual discussions in the field of educational administration (EA) since the foundation of its major journals and suggest some lessons for the state of the field at the present time.

The review is based on all papers, scholarly, historical or empirical, that observed philosophical, epistemological and methodological issues and concerns in this field. The papers were analyzed and coded by their purposes, arguments, epistemological questions, criticism, findings and insights.

The major concluding epistemological message of this historical account is of “recycling,” i.e. the field is typically embedded with debates over similar ideas, assumptions, and insights about EA as a field of study throughout the last five decades. Therefore, it is a time for radical changes in the understanding of the field's intellectual missions and boundaries.

The historical overview is likely both to acquaint one with the historical scholarly streams, trends and debates in knowledge development of EA as a field of study, and help international field members understand and mould their professional identity.

JUST over a hundred years ago began what was truly described as the “slaughter” of the hoards of books collected by Richard Heber, whom Thomas Campbell called “the fiercest and strongest of the bibliomaniacs.” The thousands and thousands of volumes were treated by Heber's executors simply as property to be promptly turned into cash in the auction‐room so that the estate could be wound up. They were dumped on the market and, naturally, prices slumped.

This paper aims to provide a review of available published literature in which nanostructures are incorporated into AM printing media as an attempt to improve the properties of the final printed part. The purpose of this article is to summarize the research done to date, to highlight successes in the field, and to identify opportunities that the union of AM and nanotechnology could bring to science and technology.

Research in which metal, ceramic, and carbon nanomaterials have been incorporated into AM technologies such as stereolithography, laser sintering, fused filament fabrication, and three‐dimensional printing is presented. The results of the addition of nanomaterials into these AM processes are reviewed.

The addition of nanostructured materials into the printing media for additive manufacturing affects significantly the properties of the final parts. Challenges in the application of nanomaterials to additive manufacturing are nevertheless numerous.

Each of the AM methods described in this review has its own inherent limitations when nanoparticles are applied with the respective printing media. Overcoming these design boundaries may require the development of new instrumentation for successful AM with nanomaterials.

This review shows that there are many opportunities in the marriage of AM and nanotechnology. Promising results have been published in the application of nanomaterials and AM, yet significant work remains to fully harness their inherent potential. This paper serves the purpose to researchers to explore new nanomaterials‐based composites for additive manufacturing.

Most investors' retirement portfolios have inter‐period cash inflows. The standard time‐weighted mean return (or geometric mean return) is generally used to report returns on investors' retirement portfolios. The purpose of this paper is to examine the standard time‐weighted mean return and point out additional deficiencies in the time‐weighted mean in this situation, which have not been addressed in the literature.

The paper provides examples that point out additional deficiencies that arise using geometric mean returns as estimates of an individual investor's performance.

With inter‐period cash flows the dollar‐weighted return can be affected by both timing and the sequence of the asset return series even if the investor has constant inflows or outflows of capital. In contrast for these same asset return arrays, the time‐weighted mean return measure may be unaffected by these important variations in the return arrays, and thus may misrepresent actual investor results. This is an important point that has not been addressed in the literature.

With inter‐period cash flows the dollar‐weighted return can be affected by both timing and the sequence of the asset return series even if the investor has constant inflows or outflows of capital. In contrast for these same asset return arrays, the time‐weighted mean return measure may be unaffected by these important variations in the return arrays, and thus may misrepresent actual investor results. This is an important point that has not been addressed in the literature.

Reviews the literature on the Pygmalion effect and in particular its implications for workplace learning and training. The article considers the wide ranging debate within the education literature on the value of the Pygmalion concept and also considers research conducted in training and workplace settings. The implications of the concept for learning design, trainee self‐esteem, trainer behaviours, and workplace learning are considered.

Considers rhetoric and discourse in financial accounting and how rhetoric/discourse was employed by the directors of a New Zealand property company. The particular case cited is that of the New Zealand Land Company 1882‐1890. Shows how land may be transferred from indigenous owners and redistributed by means of various discursive and accounting techniques. The sources used include archival records, parliamentary reports and articles from contemporary colonial newspapers. Concludes that the accounting information available provided a legitimizing discourse, which enabled some to benefit at the expense of others. Many of these observations are believed to be timeless.

The Bureau of Economics in the Federal Trade Commission has a three-part role in the Agency and the strength of its functions changed over time depending on the preferences and ideology of the FTC’s leaders, developments in the field of economics, and the tenor of the times. The over-riding current role is to provide well considered, unbiased economic advice regarding antitrust and consumer protection law enforcement cases to the legal staff and the Commission. The second role, which long ago was primary, is to provide reports on investigations of various industries to the public and public officials. This role was more recently called research or “policy R&D”. A third role is to advocate for competition and markets both domestically and internationally. As a practical matter, the provision of economic advice to the FTC and to the legal staff has required that the economists wear “two hats,” helping the legal staff investigate cases and provide evidence to support law enforcement cases while also providing advice to the legal bureaus and to the Commission on which cases to pursue (thus providing “a second set of eyes” to evaluate cases). There is sometimes a tension in those functions because building a case is not the same as evaluating a case. Economists and the Bureau of Economics have provided such services to the FTC for over 100 years proving that a sub-organization can survive while playing roles that sometimes conflict. Such a life is not, however, always easy or fun.

The Journal of Educational Administration enters its twentieth year of publication with this edition. In this anniversary statement the Editor briefly examines the original “mission” of the Journal and commits it to a continuation of its international orientation. The history of the Journal encompasses a period of great development in the study of educational administration. In many respects the Journal has been uniquely situated to monitor this exciting growth. It has witnessed the establishment of international organizations and programs, new associations, training programs, and journals. Some of the criticisms of the Journal are considered and commitments for the future are made.