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The purpose of the paper is twofold. The first purpose is to provide a synthesis of the dominant cross-cultural models and to present the more recent tri-axial model as a promising alternative that responds well to the limitation of prevailing models. Consequently, the second purpose is to employ the model to explore key differences in the culture and values of public service organisations in old and new EU member states.

The paper surveyed public sector employees in four different countries, two old EU (OEU) states (Germany, The Netherlands) and two new EU (NEU) states (Estonia, Lithuania). The employees were asked to classify 60 values on the three axes of the tri-axial model and to select the five most important values in their organization. The survey replies were analyzed and mapped to facilitate comparison of the tri-axial cultural profile of the two EU clusters.

The results show differences in value orientation between the two groups of countries: the public sector in the OEU member states appears to be more ethically and less pragmatically oriented than in the NEU member states. Findings show that in the new member states, value congruence is very high across demographic groups, in contrast to the situation encountered in the OEU member states.

Further research should include more countries before generalising the conclusions of this study to the rest of the OEU and NEU countries. Furthermore, although collecting data from a homogeneous unit (e.g. public sector) suggests more valid comparison, in the future, research should strive to also examine additional units, for example private companies.

The conclusions derived from this exploratory cultural mapping provide useful knowledge for improving international collaboration across public sector organizations.

This study is the first study that maps the values in the public sector using the tri-axial model.

The purpose of the paper is to explore the values in the public sector in Italy using the tri-axial model and explore the reasons why these values are important for the Italian public sector.

An online questionnaire was prepared in Italian and sent to the public sector employees all over Italy.

The findings demonstrate that Italian public sector is 100 percent economic-pragmatic according to the tri-axial model. One of the reasons of this result is the reforms made in the public sector which have stressed the importance of values like efficiency and professionalism.

The main limitation of the study is the sample size. Further research should focus on increasing the number of the sample as well as compare the regions in Italy.

The conclusions derived from this research suggest that Italian public sector employees perceive themselves as economic-pragmatic.

This study is the first study that maps the values in the public sector in Italy using tri-axial model.

The purpose of this study is to examine values among public sector employees. Furthermore, this study will identify differences according to several demographical variables with relevant policy making implications.

Once the literature review on public sector values and the description of the tri-axial model is presented, analysis based on a survey of 3,018 public sectors will be undertaken. The sample consists of employees working in the Government of Andalusia, Spain.

Results reveal the domination of pragmatic values, as well as values connected to the ethical axis. The study also shows how these values vary according to several demographic characteristics of the respondents, especially when considering their level of education and their respective tenure.

When managing employees from public organizations, emphasis should be given to the development of an organizational culture that represents a configuration of both pragmatic and ethical axes.

This study was tested with relatively a large sample size (more than 3,000 observations), thus adding significant and original value to the empirical test of the tri-axial model.

PLASTIC buckling of plates and shells has been worked out by Bijlaard, Ilyushin, Stowell, Handelman and Prager, Gerard and others. Some investigators have assumed deformation type stress‐strain laws while others have used incremental type (flow type) stress‐strain laws. The present work is an extension of the work started by Gerard along the lines initiated by Stowell.

The exploratory study introduced the tri-axial model as a basic framework of cultural value to Chinese public sectors. The study tries to display value mapping of the Chinese public sectors and to examine the relationship between the identified values with organizational outcome variables, which is normally characteristic of an exploratory research. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

404 civil servants were asked to classify 62 cultural values into three axes, emotional, economical and ethical, and to attain the importance of the 62 values.

Five cultural values including happiness, belonging, harmony, achievement, and efficiency are identified to be the most important values in Chinese public sectors. Harmony and achievement were found to affect organizational outcome variables.

Sample size is relatively small, and more cultural differences have been neglected within Chinese culture. And the paper collected data twice and used different means, but analyzed the combined data, which could be problematic.

The findings suggest that Chinese civil servants pay much attention on emotional-developmental type of cultural values. Ethic-related culture needs to be emphasized more on culture building behaviors both at the organizational level and at the national level.

This is the first time the tri-axial model was introduced into Chinese culture. Testing with Chinese samples, the tri-axial model appears to address some of the important limitations of previous models that were summarized before. The paper successfully grouped all the cultural values into three pre-defined axes. The most important values are identified.

The paper aims to identify the prevailing values of the public sector in Brazil, based on the tri-axial model. The study proposes to capture the dynamics between different values axes of Brazilian public sector as well as to detect cultural differences between genders, level of commitment, and nature of work. An additional contribution is expected in understanding Brazilian values at public sector as a necessary approach to obtain a new order of public administration based on efficiency.

The paper opted for an exploratory study developed within the scope of a larger study aiming to understand the meaning of values in different cultures with an exclusive focus on the public sectors. Using a pre-validated questionnaire, 137 respondents, who work on Brazilian public sector, participated in the survey. A frequency analysis was conducted for various demographic variables. Descriptive statistics were used to understand the profile of the respondents in Brazil's survey. We have used the criteria recommended to all countries that participated in the study.

This empirical work demonstrate that the methodology based on the tri-axial model was able to capture the dynamics between different values axes of Brazilian public sector as well as to detect cultural differences between genders, level of commitment and nature of work. The dominant values perceived in almost every analysis, belong to pragmatic-economic axis such as professionalism, teamwork, adventure, knowledge, and challenge. This strong orientation to pragmatism is consistent with the needs of the Brazilian public sector to have a more entrepreneurial vision and focus on optimization the use of the financial resources.

Because of the chosen sample approach, the research results may lack generalizability.

The paper includes implications for a management based on values as a model to obtain efficiency at public sector in Brazil

This research is part of an international project interesting in investigating values within different countries and cultures. It provides data from a country that belongs to an emergent group of world economy such as BRICs and has different scenery compared to traditional actors of global business.

The purpose of this paper is to discretely model rockfill materials considering the irregular shape of the particles and their crushability. The scientific goal was to investigate the influence of particle crushability and shape on the mechanical behavior of rockfill materials.

The method of generating irregular-shaped particles was based on the observation that most rockfill grains can be approximately circumscribed by an ellipsoid. Two shape descriptors were used to make the virtual particles closely replicate the geometric features of natural rockfill grains. The combined finite-discrete element method (FDEM) was used to numerically simulate a drained, tri-axial compression test. The particle assemblies were subjected to tri-axial compression under strain controlled conditions while a constant confining pressure was maintained.

The non-breakable particles showed a remarkable ability to dilate as a result of a higher inter-particle locking effect. Dilation forces the particles to move from a lower potential energy state to a higher potential energy state, which causes the micro-structure to become less stable, resulting in a dramatic decline in the angle of friction from the peak state to the residual state. In addition, the elongated particles enhance the interlocking effect, but breakage is also more likely to occur. The net effect of those two mechanisms controls the overall shearing resistance of rockfill materials.

After calibration using a few micro-parameters, the combined FDEM was able to reproduce the typical behavior of rockfill materials without requiring a description of the complex relationship that exists between constituents; this relationship must be described in continuum mechanics. The simulation results showed that this approach is predictive. The combined FDEM also provides an opportunity for a quantitative study of the micro-structure of granular materials, and this study will help us to better understand the mechanical characteristics of rockfill materials.

The purpose of this research is to identify and analyze the core values of the Peruvian public sector in the particular context of recent public management reforms.

After distinguishing between traditional private and public sector values, the paper compared the presence of each of these types of values in two very different sources of data: input from employees' values survey and formal values statements of Peruvian public sector organizations. The analysis includes both a comparison of the presence of traditional public and private sector values in the two sources of data and the identification of the cultural profile of the public sector of Peru using the tri-axial model.

The findings indicate a large gap between values at the theoretical level and values at the practical level. While values statements of public organizations in Peru clearly reflect traditional public sector values, in practice, public sector employees appear to follow a mixture of public and private sector values. Strengthening this conclusion is the finding that the cultural tri-axial profile of the sector is purely economic-pragmatic, which suggests that ethical and emotional values are positioned lower on the values hierarchy.

This paper provides the first evidence of two important cultural phenomena in the Peruvian public sector: a broad adoption of private sector values and a gap between the values that are proposed as ethical guidelines (ideal) and the values that are followed in practice (real). The combination of these two phenomena suggests a potential risk to the ethical functioning of the public administration. This risk is especially significant in a developing country like Peru, where many of its poor citizens depend on government support. The paper discusses both the research and practical implications of this study.

The purpose of this paper is to present a novel data glove which can capture the motion of the arm and hand by inertial and magnetic sensors. The proposed data glove is used to provide the information of the gestures and teleoperate the robotic arm-hand.

The data glove comprises 18 low-cost inertial and magnetic measurement units (IMMUs) which not only make up the drawbacks of traditional data glove that only captures the incomplete gesture information but also provide a novel scheme of the robotic arm-hand teleoperation. The IMMUs are compact and small enough to wear on the upper arm, forearm, palm and fingers. The calibration method is proposed to improve the accuracy of measurements of units, and the orientations of each IMMU are estimated by a two-step optimal filter. The kinematic models of the arm, hand and fingers are integrated into the entire system to capture the motion gesture. A positon algorithm is also deduced to compute the positions of fingertips. With the proposed data glove, the robotic arm-hand can be teleoperated by the human arm, palm and fingers, thus establishing a novel robotic arm-hand teleoperation scheme.

Experimental results show that the proposed data glove can accurately and fully capture the fine gesture. Using the proposed data glove as the multiple input device has also proved to be a suitable teleoperating robotic arm-hand system.

Integrated with 18 low-cost and miniature IMMUs, the proposed data glove can give more information of the gesture than existing devices. Meanwhile, the proposed algorithms for motion capture determine the superior results. Furthermore, the accurately captured gestures can efficiently facilitate a novel teleoperation scheme to teleoperate the robotic arm-hand.