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The purpose of the study was to explore heat-accumulative and thermal-conductive characteristics of copper-graphene composite film (Cu-G film) while applying it to a human-skin analogue.

In the preliminary experiment, the authors evaluated the thermal conductive characteristics of the Cu-G film in three covered conditions (no film, copper film, and Cu-G film conditions). For the first factorial experiment, the heat-accumulative properties over heated pig skin were compared at air temperatures of 10, 25 and 35°C. For the second factorial experiment, 105 trials were conducted on pig skin by combining air temperatures, trapped air volumes, and numbers of film layers.

The results from the preliminary experiment showed that the Cu-G film distributed the surface heat to the outside of the Cu-G film, which resulted in even distribution of heat inside and outside the Cu-G film, whereas the copper film accumulated heat inside the copper film. The human-skin analogue of pig skin, however, showed the opposite tendency from that of the plastic. The pig-skin temperatures beneath the Cu-G film were higher than those beneath the copper film, and those differences were remarkable at the air temperature of 10°C. The accumulative heat was affected by the trapped air volume, fit to the skin, and number of Cu-G film layers.

In conclusion, the Cu-G film more effectively accumulated heat on the human-skin analogue than copper film, and those effects were more marked in cold environments than in mild or hot environments.

This chapter aims to build a systematization of the current theoretical and empirical academic contributions on smart working (SW) in the organization studies domain and to examine which are the main paths that researchers are concerning themselves with, with specific attention being paid to the new meaning that the work itself has acquired in the model proposed by SW. Particular consideration is devoted to an analysis of the characteristics of the present debate on this construct and the meaning of SW, identifying two different – and contrasting – approaches: one considers it as a totally new concept; the other is notable for its continuity with previous arrangements such as telework. Further, some relevant concepts, strictly related to that of SW in working environments are considered. In the last part of the chapter, some key points for further research are proposed to create stimuli for discussion in the community of organization studies and HRM scholars and among practitioners, given from the perspective of deepening the change in progress, the relevance for which there is general consensus.

Seeking to build a deeper understanding of a higher level of hospitality in terms of employee task performance, this study aimed to explore different person–environment (P–E) fit types and the corresponding effects on hotel employees’ emotions and task performance, evaluated by both the employees themselves and their supervisors.

Frequency analysis, reliability analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, correlation analysis and structural equation modeling method.

The results indicated that person–organization fit was associated with emotions toward the organization, the team and the job. However, this study did not provide empirical support for hypotheses that person-team fit affected emotions. Person–job fit was also associated with positive emotions toward the organization and the job, unlike with the team. Organization emotion had positive effects on both task performances, whereas no effect was reported between team emotion and task performances.

The study suggests that hotels’ human resource administrators may want to focus on developing and strengthening P–E fit and emotional responses.

This research illustrates the impact of three types of P–E fit on self-rated and supervisor-rated performance and examines the significant mediating role of three types of emotion.

The purpose of this paper is to establish the effects of service quality of sports centers on customer loyalty and intention to adhere to exercise.

In total, 500 questionnaires were distributed to five sports centers located in the city of Seoul, of which 472 were returned and used in the data analysis. The collected data were subjected to frequency analysis, exploratory factor analysis, a reliability test, and structural equation model analysis using SPSS 21.0 and AMOS 18.0.

The results show that, first, service quality, comprising the two factors of the facilities of sports centers and instructors, positively influences customer loyalty. Second, the service quality of sports centers positively influences the intention to adhere to exercise, and, third, so does customer loyalty.

Management needs to make more efforts to strengthen service quality, comprising facilities and instructors, in order to increase customer loyalty, represented by the sense of closeness with and attachment of customers using sports centers, as well as to increase the need for exercise.

Previous studies on the service quality of sports centers have been limited to customer satisfaction, customer trust, reuse intention, recommendations to others, consumption behavior, and relationship commitment. Since the research on the direct relationship between service quality of sports centers and exercise adherence is still limited, this study provides data and implications relevant to the management of sports centers by investigating the relationship among service quality of sports centers, customer loyalty, and intention to adhere to exercise.

Six-axis force sensors play an important role in civilian and military fields because of their multifunctionality. In the context of sensor structure design, sensitivity and sensitivity isotropy are often considered. This paper aims to study the possible relationship between the sensitivity/sensitivity isotropy and structural parameters of an 8/4–4 parallel six-axis force sensor. A comprehensive evaluation index and structural optimization design scheme are suggested in the end.

Based on the conditional number of the Jacobian matrix spectral norm, the sensitivity and sensitivity isotropy of the sensor are derived. Orthogonal experiments are used to determine the degree of primary and secondary factors that have a substantial effect on the sensor characteristics. The relationship between the performance indices and the structural parameters is analyzed by the performance atlas method. The comprehensive evaluation index lays the foundation for the structural optimization design of an 8/4–4 parallel six-axis force sensor.

The variation in each performance index of the sensor for each of the structural parameters is analyzed, and the structural parameters of the sensor with the desired performance indices can be easily selected from the performance atlases. A comprehensive performance evaluation index with a target value of 1 is proposed, and the overall influence of the structural parameters on the sensor performance index is investigated. A simulation example shows the feasibility of the proposed evaluation index.

The importance of each structural parameter of the 8/4–4 parallel six-axis force sensor is determined through orthogonal experiments in this paper. Relations among the structural parameters meeting the performance indices are derived and shown in the performance atlases. A comprehensive evaluation index is proposed to analyze the overall sensor performance.

This paper aims to explore the effect of interlocking directorates on agency conflicts and corporate performance in the shipping industry.

The authors use social network analysis to discover central nodes in the network of personal and corporate connections in an international sample of 110 listed shipping companies.

Assessing network structure, the authors find that the network of corporate leaders is denser than the network of shipping companies. The network of shipping companies is populated with many isolated nodes; the network of shipping executives and directors is populated with many cohesive groups in which the longest distance between two corporate leaders is two companies. The authors find that interlocking corporate leadership can help resolve agency conflicts in the shipping industry, bearing a negative effect on the magnitude of agency costs. The extent of leadership overlaps is associated with board size, financial leverage and profitability. The relationship between profits and interlocks is bidirectional, implying that interlocking directorates bear a positive effect on asset returns.

The authors map the relational structures in the social networks of companies and company leaders in the shipping industry and discover the cross-sectional determinants of interlocks in the shipping industry. The finding about the effect of interlocks on profitability and agency costs bears policy implications for the design of corporate governance in the shipping industry.

The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of heat treatment (HT) applied to an API X60 steel in corrosion resistance and stress corrosion cracking (SCC) susceptibility through slow strain rate tests (SSRT) in NS4 solution and congenital water (CW) to assess external and internal SCC, respectively.

API X60 steel was heat treated at a temperature of 1,200°C for 30 min followed by water quenching. Specimens from this steel were machined according to NACE TM 198. SSRT were performed in a constant extension rate tests (CERT) machine at room temperature at a strain rate of 1 × 10^–6 s^–1. For this purpose, a glass cell was used. Corrosion behavior was evaluated through polarization curves (PCs).

The SCC index obtained from SSRT indicates that the steel heat treated could be susceptible to SCC in CW and NS4 solution; the mechanism of SCC was hydrogen embrittlement. Thus, CW may promote the SCC phenomenon in pipelines. HT improves the steel corrosion resistance. Higher corrosion rate (CR) was observed when the steel is exposed to CW. The corrosion process in X60 steel shows that the oxidation reaction in the anodic branch corresponds to an activation process, and the cathode branches reveal a diffusion process.

The purpose of the heat treatment applied to X60 steel was to generate a microstructure of acicular ferrite to improve the corrosion resistance and SCC behavior.