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The heady system of high‐pressure Continental air that drifted across the Atlantic and collided with the traditional cyclonic patterns of U.S. literary academe in the mid‐1960s precipitated a “Theory Revolution” that has brought a couple of decades of stormy and stimulating weather to the campus. The collision has produced occasionally furious debate and resulted for higher education in the kind of public attention customarily reserved for athletic scandals; it has kept tenuring processes in turmoil and publish‐or‐perish mills working round the clock.

Because mobile manipulators are unable to climb stairs, the elevator operation is a crucial capacity to help those kinds of robot systems work in modern multifloor buildings. Here, the elevator button manipulation is considered as an efficient approach to fulfill that requirement. Previously, some studies presented elevator button recognition algorithms while some others designed schemes for the button manipulation work. However, the mobile robot, the manipulator and the camera in their robot systems are asynchronous. Besides, the time-consuming calibration for the camera is inevitable, especially in changeable environments. This paper aims to present an alternative method for the elevator button manipulation to overcome mentioned shortcomings.

In this paper, the elevator button manipulation is conducted by using the visual-based self-driving mobile manipulator in which the autonomous mobile robot, the manipulator and the camera cooperate more efficiently. Namely, the mobile robot does not need to be located exactly in front of the elevator panel as the manipulator has the ability to adjust the initial frame of the camera based on the system kinematic synchronization. In addition, the proposed method does not require the real world coordinates of elevator buttons, but uniquely using their pixel positions. By doing this, not only is the projection from two-dimensional pixel coordinates to three-dimensional (3D) real world coordinates unnecessary, but also the calibration of the camera is not required.

The proposed method is experimentally verified by using a visual-based self-driving mobile manipulator. This robotic system is the integration of an autonomous mobile robot, a manipulator and a camera mounted on the end-effector of the manipulator.

Because the surface of the elevator button panel is usually mirror-like, the elevator button detection is easily affected by the glare and the brightness of the environmental light condition.

This robot system can be used for the goods delivery or the patrol in modern multifloor buildings.

This paper includes three new features: simultaneously detecting and manipulating elevator buttons without the projection from pixel coordinates to 3D real world coordinates, a kinematic synchronization to help the robot system eliminate accumulated errors and a safe human-like elevator button manipulation.

The purpose of this paper is to study the psychometric properties of different versions of Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) in the Indian context in terms of factorial validity, scale reliability, descriptive statistics and construct validity.

The data collected through a cross-sectional survey among 467 women employees from banking sector in India and structural equation modeling has been performed for the analysis.

Confirmatory factor analysis revealed a better fit for the three-factor model of UWES-9 than the other versions. Work engagement is positively related to in-role performance and negatively related to turnover intention.

The study recommends further longitudinal studies in this area.

More studies and practical investigations can be conducted in organizations, academics and societies since the current study explored the appropriate version of UWES in the Indian context.

This is a key study which analyses psychometric properties of UWES in Indian banking sector by considering all its versions.

This chapter deals with different perspectives and structural transformations between capitalist society and indigenous ways of life. I approach the A’uwẽ-Xavante myth of the theft of the jaguar’s fire, one of many versions of the story of the bird-nester, which Lévi-Strauss interprets as the acquisition of culture through cooking technique. I compare it with Proudhon’s study on property as the theft of collective force which he treats as the groundwork of the manufacturing process in capitalist society. This highlights the difference between Proudhon’s ideal mutualism, based on free access to means of production and polytechnic education, and the A’uwẽ-Xavante’s acquisition of power and its technical reproduction. Proudhon’s mutualism envisages auto-organization of collective force in cooperative work favoring its collective appropriation by the workers; while in the A’uwẽ-Xavante way of life, there is an off-centered collective force from which technical acquisition is redistributed. In common with Proudhon’s ideal labor mutualism, A’uwẽ-Xavante’s ways welcome outsiders to their means of production of people; but unlike Proudhon’s, this welcome is not for free: they have to prove their generosity and personal commitment to the game.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the position of education for sustainable development in the UK Higher Education (HE) sector with respect to the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) and Higher Education Academy (HEA) Guidance for education for sustainable development (ESD).

By means of a mixed-method approach underpinned by a concurrent triangulation design strategy, this research presents evidence from an online questionnaire survey and in-depth semi-structured interviews.

Insights are presented from case studies of a group of UK Higher Education Institute (HEIs) which have made significant progress in embedding ESD in the curricula.

Central to this study is an exploration of the ESD integration process of this group including a description of the approaches to integration, the challenges faced and overcome and the critical success factors. It examines the role of a guidance instrument in simplifying and accelerating the ESD curricular integration process. The results of the study show that there is a multitude of integration approaches applied varying in their emphasis.

The main challenge HEIs face is engaging staff that may question the relevance of the ESD concept, and that lack an understanding regarding its implications for their discipline. Critical success factors identified are institution-wide people support, high-level institutional support and funding. The QAA and HEA guidance has successfully supported HEIs in developing their ESD commitments.

The results of this research can support HEIs in developing their own approach to ESD, as they learn from similar UK HE providers, particularly with respect to overcoming barriers and enhancing critical success factors to ESD curricular integration.

In 2006, Saks (2006) published one of the first empirical studies of the antecedents and consequences of employee engagement. Since then dozens of studies on engagement have been published and most of them have used the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) to measure work engagement. The purpose of this paper is to revisit Saks (2006) to try and address some issues that have arisen during the last ten years and to assess the generalizability of his findings and model using the UWES measure of work engagement and single-item measures of job and organization engagement.

Additional analyses was conducted using the data from Saks (2006) including measures of each job characteristic, the use of the UWES measure of work engagement, and single-item general measures of job engagement and organization engagement. In addition, a review of engagement research was conducted as well as research that used Saks’ (2006) measures of job engagement and organization engagement.

The results indicate that skill variety is the main job characteristic that predicts job engagement. The results of the analysis using the UWES measure of work engagement found that job characteristics and perceived organizational support are significant predictors of work engagement, and work engagement predicts job satisfaction, organizational commitment, organizational citizenship behavior and intentions to quit and mediates the relationship between the antecedents and the consequences. Similar results were found using the single-item measures of job engagement and organization engagement. A review of the engagement literature indicates general support for the Saks (2006) model of the antecedents and consequences of employee engagement and for his measures of job and organization engagement. A revised and updated model is provided with additional antecedents and consequences.

The results indicate that organizations can drive employee engagement by focusing on skill variety as well as providing social support, rewards and recognition, procedural and distributive fairness, and opportunities for learning and development. In addition, organizations can assess employee engagement more frequently and easily by using single-item measures of job and organization engagement.

This paper provides an update and revision of the Saks (2006) model of employee engagement and suggests that the main findings are similar when using the UWES measure of work engagement and single-item general measures of job engagement and organization engagement.

T-shaped cavities occur by design in many technical applications. An example of such a stator cavity is the side space between the guide vane carriers and the outer casing of a steam turbine. Thermal conditions inside it have a significant impact on the deformation of the turbine casing. In order to improve its prediction, the purpose of this paper is to provide a methodology to gain better knowledge of the local heat transfer at the cavity boundaries based on experimental results.

To determine the heat transfer coefficient distribution inside a model cavity with the help of a scaled generic test rig, an inverse heat conduction problem is posed and a method for solving such type of problems in the form of linear combinations of Trefftz functions is presented.

The results of the calculations are compared with another inverse method using first-order gradient optimization technique as well as with estimated values obtained with an analytic two-dimensional thermal network model, and they show an excellent agreement. The calculation procedure is proved to be numerically stable for different degrees of complexity of the sought boundary conditions.

This paper provides a universal and robust methodology for the fast direct determination of an arbitrary distribution of heat transfer coefficients based on material temperature measurements spread over the confining wall.

Within the new public management (NPM) context, this paper aims to examine the inclusion of equity issues in pricing policy development and implementation in the water industry in Australia.

A review of literature relevant to the pricing of water shows equity issues have four dimensions which tend to be, at best, only implicitly considered. An empirical illustration employing a transaction cost framework is provided of a case in which change in pricing mechanisms was strongly suggested.

An equity paradox emerges as an explanation of why 63.7 per cent of Queensland urban water entities chose not to adopt the user-pays pricing mechanism for water. This suggests that the balance between “equity” and “efficiency” continues to be required in policy development for water pricing. Equity of access and that of distribution continue to be significant factors. As well, equity of interest and of return must be considered, especially under a user-pays pricing mechanism.

In respect of NPM considerations, it is argued that consideration of the four dimensions of equity in the implementation of a water pricing policy will resolve contradictions with, and paradoxes met in dealing with efficiency.

The argument used in the paper is interdisciplinary. References and terms used include those which are social, economic, and environmental from an accounting and management perspective.

The valuation and management of landed properties owned by public authorities provides a useful case study for developing arguments relating to the “test of a good valuation” and in particular the inter‐relationship between purpose and method of valuation. The paper reviews the changing requirements placed on the valuation process and the growing and recognised need for valuers to be cognisant of the difference between the concepts of value‐in‐exchange (market price valuations) and value‐in‐use (calculations of worth) and to question the underlying purpose of valuations in the management process. Research work by the authors highlights the difficulties in accommodating these changes in the field of publicly‐owned leisure properties. The paper concludes that such valuations as have been prepared for leisure properties do not aid good management and are peripheral to the management decision‐making process. It suggests that for valuations to gain relevance to managers of owner‐occupied property, new concepts should be debated. In the public sector, “social value” is postulated as one avenue worthy of exploration.

The development of the ResIDe Electronic Library at the University of the West of England, Bristol, is traced from its origins as an eLib funded research project. Different aspects of the system are analysed through their potential to increase economy, efficiency and effectiveness in library services. This analysis is related to the utility that it can provide to differing sponsors and the likelihood of their making supporting resources available. While economy and efficiency are relatively easy concepts to define and use, effectiveness can be both contested and multifaceted, varying in accordance with both subjective preference and interests represented. Competing views of effectiveness needed to be balanced whilst emphasising those aspects of the system that would appeal to senior UWE management in a time of the rising “audit society” in higher education.