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1 – 10 of over 1000Vikas Ghute and Mahesh Deshpande
The paper aims to identify the effect of ignorance of correlatedness among process observations and to implement new sampling schemes; skip and mixed sampling, in order to reduce…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to identify the effect of ignorance of correlatedness among process observations and to implement new sampling schemes; skip and mixed sampling, in order to reduce the effect of autocorrelation on process capability index (PCI)
Design/methodology/approach
Autocorrelated observations are generated using autoregressive process of order two (AR (2)) using Monte Carlo simulations. The PCI is computed based on these observations assuming the independence. The skip and mixed sampling schemes are then used to form sub-groups among correlated observations. The PCI obtained using sub-groups from skip and mixed sampling schemes are assessed using sample mean and sample standard deviation.
Findings
The paper provides empirical insights into how the effect of autocorrelation decreases in the estimated value of PCI
Originality/value
This paper fulfills an identified need to study how to reduce the effect of autocorrelation on PCI
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Bethany R. Mather and Jeremy D. Visone
This study explored teachers' perceptions of a specific, collaborative peer observation structure, collegial visits, and collegial visits' connection to collective teacher…
Abstract
Purpose
This study explored teachers' perceptions of a specific, collaborative peer observation structure, collegial visits, and collegial visits' connection to collective teacher efficacy (CTE). The research question was: how do teachers perceive collegial visits, particularly with respect to their influence on CTE?
Design/methodology/approach
Within this qualitative descriptive study, 13 K-12 educators from three northeastern USA schools (one urban high school and a suburban middle and elementary school) were interviewed individually and/or in a focus group.
Findings
Utilizing social cognitive theory as a framework for analysis, the authors found a theme of a shift from uninformed to informed perceptions of the collective. Results demonstrated that collegial visits foster positive CTE beliefs.
Practical implications
Since collegial visits were found to increase participants' CTE, a construct others have associated with increased student achievement, school leaders should consider implementing collegial visits as a professional learning structure in their schools after considering their specific context.
Originality/value
Though there has been recent scholarship connecting peer observations and CTE, there has been no research, to date, to examine the effect of the specific structure of collegial visits on CTE.
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Erik L. Lachance and Milena M. Parent
Pressures from non-profit sport organizations’ (NPSOs) external environment influence governance structures and processes. Thus, this study explores the impact of external factors…
Abstract
Purpose
Pressures from non-profit sport organizations’ (NPSOs) external environment influence governance structures and processes. Thus, this study explores the impact of external factors on NPSO board decision making.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a sample of six NPSO boards (two national, four provincial/territorial), data were collected via 36 observations, 18 interviews, and over 900 documents. A thematic analysis was conducted via NVivo 12.
Findings
Results identified two external factors impacting NPSO board decision making: the sport system structure and general environment conditions. External factors impacted NPSO board decision making in terms of duration, flow, interaction, and scrutiny.
Originality/value
Results demonstrate the need for NPSO boards to engage in boundary-spanning activities whereby external information sources from stakeholders are incorporated to make informed decisions. Practically, NPSO boards should harness virtual meetings to continue their operations while incorporating risk management analyses to assess threats and opportunities.
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Arthur Allen, Laurie Corradino and Brian McAllister
The authors examine whether limitations in Form 990 result in zero or understated fundraising and administrative expenses for organizations supported by related organizations…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors examine whether limitations in Form 990 result in zero or understated fundraising and administrative expenses for organizations supported by related organizations. Form 990 does not consolidate financial information of legally separate related organizations, resulting in fundraising and administrative expenses being reported by supporting organizations but not by the supported organization.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use the IRS Statistics of Income Sample Data Files and compare charities receiving support from related organizations (supported) to non-supported charities.
Findings
The authors find evidence that supported organizations are likely to report zero or understated fundraising expenses and zero administrative expenses. Those receiving related donations are more likely to have zero or understated fundraising expense while those receiving related compensation are more likely to have zero and understated fundraising and administrative expenses. The authors also find evidence that supported organizations receiving greater amounts of related donations and related compensation are also more likely to report zero and understated fundraising expenses as well as zero administrative expenses while greater amounts of related compensation are also associated with understated administrative expense.
Practical implications
Since donors and other stakeholders use Form 990 to evaluate nonprofits, its unconsolidated nature could result in a lack of comparability across organizations and misinformed resource allocation (e.g. donation) decisions. The results also have implications for researchers who use zero and understated fundraising and administrative expenses as proxies for low quality reporting or interpret them as data errors.
Originality/value
The paper examines the extent to which zero or understated fundraising expense reporting (i.e. the fundraising expense puzzle) is associated with supported organizations receiving financial support from related organizations. The authors also expand their examination to zero and understated administrative expenses.
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The qualitative approach was applied the discover the optimum answers to the research objectives, which are (1) to understand the cultural and hedonistic characteristics of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The qualitative approach was applied the discover the optimum answers to the research objectives, which are (1) to understand the cultural and hedonistic characteristics of the (Lanna) Songkran festival; and (2) to examine the dilemma between cultural rituals and hedonistic activity for tourism.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a case study of the Songkran festival in Chiang Mai to examine the dilemma between cultural rituals and hedonism for tourism, which brings lost or misperceived cultural values and identities. The semi-structured interview (SSI) with senior locals and participant observation during the festival was conducted in Chiang Mai, Thailand, to obtain the in-depth phenomena of the existing celebration pattern at the festival.
Findings
The study findings show three crucial phenomena that explain characteristics of unsynchronized cultural rituals and hedonistic activities for tourism: (1) the parallel phenomenon between cultural values and celebration practice, (2) the movement of local culture and(3) the hedonistic characteristics of the festival.
Practical implications
The study extends the knowledge on the interplay phenomena between cultural festivals and tourism; also, the involved stakeholders, such as local communities, public sectors and private sectors, can use the study findings in creating policies for using cultural festivals to promote a destination and urban economic development that will minimise cultural values distort while increase tourism economic values.
Originality/value
This study was conducted qualitatively, including SSIs and participant observation at the Songkran festival in Chiang Mai. The study findings were analysed, based on the empirical data, into significant themes representing the characteristics of dilemma phenomena within the festival.
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Xiaona Wang, Jiahao Chen and Hong Qiao
Limited by the types of sensors, the state information available for musculoskeletal robots with highly redundant, nonlinear muscles is often incomplete, which makes the control…
Abstract
Purpose
Limited by the types of sensors, the state information available for musculoskeletal robots with highly redundant, nonlinear muscles is often incomplete, which makes the control face a bottleneck problem. The aim of this paper is to design a method to improve the motion performance of musculoskeletal robots in partially observable scenarios, and to leverage the ontology knowledge to enhance the algorithm’s adaptability to musculoskeletal robots that have undergone changes.
Design/methodology/approach
A memory and attention-based reinforcement learning method is proposed for musculoskeletal robots with prior knowledge of muscle synergies. First, to deal with partially observed states available to musculoskeletal robots, a memory and attention-based network architecture is proposed for inferring more sufficient and intrinsic states. Second, inspired by muscle synergy hypothesis in neuroscience, prior knowledge of a musculoskeletal robot’s muscle synergies is embedded in network structure and reward shaping.
Findings
Based on systematic validation, it is found that the proposed method demonstrates superiority over the traditional twin delayed deep deterministic policy gradients (TD3) algorithm. A musculoskeletal robot with highly redundant, nonlinear muscles is adopted to implement goal-directed tasks. In the case of 21-dimensional states, the learning efficiency and accuracy are significantly improved compared with the traditional TD3 algorithm; in the case of 13-dimensional states without velocities and information from the end effector, the traditional TD3 is unable to complete the reaching tasks, while the proposed method breaks through this bottleneck problem.
Originality/value
In this paper, a novel memory and attention-based reinforcement learning method with prior knowledge of muscle synergies is proposed for musculoskeletal robots to deal with partially observable scenarios. Compared with the existing methods, the proposed method effectively improves the performance. Furthermore, this paper promotes the fusion of neuroscience and robotics.
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Carlos González and Daniel Ponce
This paper aims first to describe the most prevalent teachers’ and students’ behaviors in synchronous online classes in emergency remote teaching; second, to discern behavior…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims first to describe the most prevalent teachers’ and students’ behaviors in synchronous online classes in emergency remote teaching; second, to discern behavior profiles and third, to investigate what features explain the observed behaviors.
Design/methodology/approach
An adapted COPUS observation protocol was employed to observe 292 online classes from 146 higher education teachers.
Findings
The most prevalent behaviors were: Presenting for teachers and Receiving for students, followed by Teachers Guiding and Students Talking to Class. Furthermore, cluster analysis showed two groups: Traditional and Interactive. The variables that better explained belonging to the Interactive lecture group were disciplinary area – social sciences and humanities –and teaching in technical institutions.
Practical implications
In a context where higher education institutions intend to project the lessons learned into post-pandemic learning experiences, this study provides observational evidence to realize the full potential expected from online and blended teaching and learning.
Originality/value
Despite the prevalence of synchronous online lectures during COVID-19, there is a paucity of observational studies on the actual behaviors that occurred in this context. Most research has been based on surveys and interviews. This study addresses this gap.
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This study investigates human behavior, specifically attitude and anxiety, toward humanoid service robots in a hotel business environment.
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates human behavior, specifically attitude and anxiety, toward humanoid service robots in a hotel business environment.
Design/methodology/approach
The researcher adopted direct observations and interviews to complete the study. Visitors of Henn-na Hotel were observed and their spatial distance from the robots, along with verbal and non-verbal behavior, was recorded. The researcher then invited the observed hotel guests to participate in a short interview.
Findings
Most visitors showed a positive attitude towards the robot. More than half of the visitors offered compliments when they first saw the robot receptionists although they hesitated and maintained a distance from them. Hotel guests were also disappointed with the low human–robot interaction (HRI). As the role of robots in hotels currently remains at the presentation level, a comprehensive assessment of their interactive ability is lacking.
Research limitations/implications
This study contributes to the HRI theory by confirming that people may treat robots as human strangers when they first see them. When a robot's face is more realistic, people expect it to behave like an actual human being. However, as the sample size of this study was small and all visitors were Asian, the researcher cannot generalize the results to the wider population.
Practical implications
Current robot receptionist has limited interaction ability. Hotel practitioners could learn about hotel guests' behavior and expectation towards android robots to enhance satisfaction and reduce disappointment.
Originality/value
Prior robot research has used questionnaires to investigate perceptions and usage intention, but this study collected on-site data and directly observed people's attitude toward robot staff in an actual business environment.
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Barbara Hanfstingl and Thomas Andreas Ogradnig
The first-aid courses organized by the Youth Red Cross Carinthia (Austria) had a quality problem, necessitating a professionalization in teaching and time structure. This research…
Abstract
Purpose
The first-aid courses organized by the Youth Red Cross Carinthia (Austria) had a quality problem, necessitating a professionalization in teaching and time structure. This research aimed to enhance the quality and effectiveness of these courses by implementing modified lesson studies with non-professional trainers. The paper presents the realization process, empirical research and results obtained by applying the first-aid curriculum.
Design/methodology/approach
Around 22 lesson study first-aid courses (14 classes with 2 cycles, 8 with 3 cycles) were conducted and evaluated in different Austrian school types. An observation sheet was created to evaluate attention and competencies. Interviews were conducted with both teachers and students to validate the results.
Findings
The research findings demonstrate that lesson studies can significantly enhance the quality and effectiveness of first-aid courses. Inexperienced and experienced first-aid teachers significantly improved their teaching skills. Newly educated first-aid teachers showed substantial improvement, leading to the introduction of an induction period and coaching opportunity within the Youth Red Cross Carinthia.
Originality/value
This is the first lesson study conducted in a non-academic context. It highlights the adaptation process of Carinthian first-aid courses. It illustrates how lesson studies impact lesson clarity, instructional variety, student engagement in the learning process, student outcome, student feedback and teaching effectiveness in a non-academic context. It contributes to the literature on the application of lesson study in first-aid education and provides insight into the benefits of this approach in enhancing the quality of first-aid training.
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Wray Bradley and Li Sun
The purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of asset redeployability on the level of corporate cash holdings.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of asset redeployability on the level of corporate cash holdings.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use regression analysis to examine the relation between asset redeployability and corporate cash holdings.
Findings
Using a large panel sample of US public firms from 1990 to 2020, the authors find a significant positive relation between asset redeployability and cash, which suggests that firms with more redeployable assets hold more cash.
Originality/value
The authors contribute to a growing literature in accounting and finance that investigates the impact of asset redeployability on firm characteristics and also contribute to the literature on the determinants of cash holdings.
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