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The aim of this paper is to explore whether the use of an active learning methodology implemented through a mobile phone can help future teachers to develop more effective reading promotion activities than those based on traditional learning methodologies.

A study was conducted based on the comparison of perceptions of two groups of teacher training students. The experimental group was trained in an active methodology to promote reading on mobile phones, whilst the control group was trained in a classical methodology also using the same devices. Variables were observed using a self-administered questionnaire, and the scores obtained were analysed from their descriptive statistics of the comparison of means of Kruskal–Wallis H test.

The results showed that students perceived significant improvements associated with active learning methodology. The variables with the most remarkable results were those related to better use of the class, participation and satisfaction. However, the ubiquitous variable obtained the fewest differences, maybe because both learning methodologies were applied using mobile devices.

The conclusions of this study clearly suggest that combining active learning methodologies and the use of mobile phones to promote reading could lead to better results than applying traditional learning methodologies. The value of this study paves the way for future research to move forward in the discovery of effective teaching strategies based on active methods and mobile devices.

In many real-life situations ranging from financial to volcanic data, growth is described either by a power law – which is linear in log-log scale or by a quadratic dependence in the log-log scale. The purpose of this paper is to explain this empirical fact.

The authors use natural scale invariance requirements.

In this paper, the authors used natural scale invariance requirement to explain the ubiquity of quadratic log-log dependencies. The authors also explain what to do if quadratic log-log models turn out to be insufficiently accurate. In this case, scale-invariance requirements lead to dependencies which in the log-log scale take cubic, 4th order, etc. form.

To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first theoretical explanation of the empirical quadratic log-log dependence.

A psychiatric population (n=123) was examined on how music preferences had changed after the onset of a mental disorder. Most patients did not change their previous music preference; this group of patients considered music helpful for their mental state, showed more attractivity and enforcement as personality traits and used music more for emotion modulation. Patients who experienced a preference shift reported that music had impaired them during the time of illness; these patients showed less ego-strength, less confidence and less enforcement and used music less for arousal modulation. A third subgroup stopped listening to music completely after the onset of the mental disorder; these patients attribute less importance to music and also reported that music had impaired their mental state. They showed more ego-strength and used music less for emotion modulation. The results suggest that the use of music in everyday life can be helpful as an emotion modulation strategy. However, some patients might need instructions on how to use music in a functional way and not a dysfunctional one. Psychiatrists and psychotherapists as well as music therapists should be aware of emotion modulation strategies, subjective valence of music and personality traits of their patients. Due to the ubiquity of music, psychoeducative instructions on how to use music in everyday life plays an increasing role in the treatment of mental illness.

The purpose of this article is the discussion of a service-learning experience in architecture pedagogy, based on two core courses at a private university in Mexico. The aim is to identify learning opportunities, challenges and implications arising from engaging with inhabitants of an informal urban settlement with limited digital resources in La Campana-Altamira in Monterrey, Mexico.

The methodology selected is a case study approach, chosen for its effectiveness in architectural pedagogy to create knowledge through exposure to a particular phenomenon, as well as highlight positive teaching practices to facilitate replicability. Case-study methodology was also beneficial in this case because its openness and flexibility allowed for research of a variety of phenomena simultaneously, in this case, both the effects in the informal settlement community and in the academic one.

Findings revealed that opportunities outweigh challenges, and meaningful service and learning are possible in an online context, even when the service aspects take longer than the course length if there are long-term relationships between communities and institutions.

The value of the article lies in the need for flexible and sensitive approaches that put communities in the center, a critical path to identifying and understanding their needs and improving their contexts. This holds especially true given the rapid pace of worldwide urbanization and the ubiquity of informal urban settlements. Implementing service-learning approaches in informal settings using online tools, while sanitary restrictions are in place shows that meaningful experiences can be achieved, even when courses are short and resources are limited.

The purpose of this paper is to comment on Professor Ming-Jer Chen’s recent publication titled “Competitive dynamics: Eastern roots, Western growth” and present an asymmetry reversing perspective on the competitive dynamics between two nonobvious, invisible or indirect competitors, namely, how emerging market resource-poor firms compete and outcompete advanced country resource-rich rivals.

The author first identifies an important neglect in Professor Chen’s scholarship on competitive dynamics, i.e., the neglect of the ubiquity of the less visible competition between two actors who initially would not be considered as competitors. Then, the author proposes an asymmetry reversing theory (ART) of competitive dynamics to redress this neglect. The theory is presented in two parts. The first part describes the competitive dynamics between the two actors as a three-stage process of reversing the asymmetry in resource possession and market position between the resource-poor firm and its resource-rich rivals. The second part explains the key success factors for the resource-poor firm to go through each of the three stages.

The growth process of the resource-poor firm can be broadly divided into three stages: surviving, catching-up, and outcompeting. For ambitious yet pragmatic resource-poor firms, in the surviving stage, they often (have to) accept the asymmetry between themselves and their resource-rich rivals in terms of resource possession and market position, and try to avoid any direct competition with the strong incumbents. They often tactically appear to pursue different paths of development from those of the strong incumbents by focusing on particular product categories and market segments. Doing so allows the resource-poor firms to win times and spaces for non-interrupted growth. Once they have accumulated sufficient resources and market experiences, they start to reduce the asymmetry between themselves and their better-endowed rivals by entering the similar or same product categories and market segments. To effectively catch up and outcompete the incumbents, they often differentiate themselves from their rivals by offering cheaper products or services, adding new features to their products, providing extra services to their customers, inventing new business models, etc.

One limitation of this paper is that the ART framework has so far been built on anecdotal evidences. It needs to be tested by empirical studies and refined further in the future. Another limitation is that the proposed theory is based on competitive dynamics between emerging market resource-poor firms and advanced country resource-rich firms. It needs to be tested whether this theory has applicability to any other firms.

This paper fills an important research gap in the competitive dynamics literature by proposing an asymmetry reversing theory of competitive dynamics between a weak latecomer and a strong incumbent in a competitive field.

The paper aims to address the organizational transformation of firms for value creation resulting from cloud computing (CC).

With reference to the theory of organizational fit, we modeled organizational transformation as a function of five aspects of CC practice: functionality, data management, roles and competences of information technology services, control and organizational culture. The output variable was tested against a set of input variables defined with reference to the technology–organization–environment (TOE) and technology acceptance model (TAM). Based on a sample of 487 companies in seven countries in Europe, Asia, and the United States, the authors distinguished two groups of firms: transformational and hyper transformational.

The results highlight the key factors that determine whether a firm falls into one of these two groups, and include perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, complexity and compatibility of CC technology, and adequacy of resources. Top management support and government policy are found to only play a role for the transformational group while, surprisingly, vendor support had no impact for either group.

This research contributes to the literature on the role of digital transformation in value creation and on digitization of firms and organizational design, notably by considering the contribution of CC to the organizational dimension. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to make the link between TOE and TAM models and organizational fit theory, thereby going beyond the general approach to adoption found in information system research.

This integrative literature review aims to explore themes within higher education that may be applicable to leadership education including: descriptions of trauma, trauma-informed practices and trauma-informed practitioners.

Integrative, systematic literature review.

The results suggest that trauma and trauma-informed practices may have a place in leadership education pedagogy.

There is no work being done in trauma informed practice in leadership education. This study provides future direction for both research and practice.

The purpose of this research is to assess the current level of systems literacy of air force logisticians in Nigeria.

This research undertook an assessment of the knowledge of air force logistics officers on systems thinking with the aid of a qualitative questionnaire. The questionnaire featured questions on the level of literacy and application of systems thinking by air force logisticians in Nigeria.

The research finds that the majority of the air force logistics officers have very low levels of knowledge and training in systems thinking.

The research is a unique effort to ascertain the level of systems thinking literacy and training in air force logistics in Nigeria. The study presents a baseline and justification for intervention through an improvement of the logistics curricula used in air force training institutions in Nigeria.