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The purpose of this paper is to report the study of vibration energy harvesting from a data center (DC) mainframe computer to power nodes of a wireless sensors network (WSN are used to improve the energy efficiency of a DC).

The piezoelectric vibration energy harvester (VEH) has been designed using an electromechanical analytical model. The VEH is composed of a three-layer cantilever beam with a tip mass. A vibration map (amplitude and acceleration) is presented and the authors show that the optimum frequency is around 90 Hz with maximum amplitude of 1 μm and maximum acceleration of 0.6 m/s2. Modeling results and experimental measurements using an electromagnetic shaker to apply vibrations concord.

The VEH delivers a maximum power of 31 μW on a DC mainframe computer and 2.3 mW at 1g on a test rack. It allows us to use a storage capacitance to successfully power a wireless sensor node for measuring temperature. This paper has been carried out in cooperation with IBM Montpellier and within the framework of the RIDER project financed by the French government and the European Union.

A vibration map (amplitude and acceleration) is presented and the authors show that the optimal frequency is around 90 Hz with maximum amplitude of 1 μm and maximum acceleration of 0.6 m/s2. The VEH delivers a maximum power of 31 μW on DC mainframe computer and 2.3 mW at 1 g on test mounted the shaker. It allows us with a storage capacitance to successfully power a wireless sensor node for measuring temperature.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the professionalism and professionalization of sustainability assurance providers based on the experiences and perceptions of auditors involved in this activity.

The empirical study was based on 38 semi-directed interviews conducted with assurance providers from accounting and consulting firms.

The findings highlight the division of this professional activity between accounting and consulting firms, each of which question the professionalism of the other. The main standards in this area tend to be used as legitimizing tools to enhance the credibility of the assurance process rather than effective guidelines to improve the quality of the verification process. Finally, the complex and multifaceted skills required to conduct sound sustainability assurance and the virtual absence of recognized and substantial training programs in this area undermine the professionalization of assurance providers.

This work has important practical implications for standardization bodies, assurance providers and stakeholders concerned by the quality and the reliability of sustainability disclosure.

This study shows how practitioners in this area construct and legitimize their professional activity in terms of identity, standardization and competences. The work contributes to the literatures on the assurance of sustainability reports, self-regulation through standardization and professionalization.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the perception of HRM practices and the retirement decision of older workers with a low occupational status in the creative industry in the Netherlands using social identity theory.

In total, 30 semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted by telephone. The sample consisted of workers with a low occupational status, aged 50 or above, in the creative industry in the Netherlands, all member of the trade union of this industry.

The relationship between HRM practices and retirement decisions is complex and contradictory. In line with social identity theory, it was found that HRM practices designed for older workers were perceived as a stamp that they belonged to a devalued social group. However, they do want organizations to accommodate their needs, but in a way that they do not feel to require special attention.

The findings show that older workers want organizations to adapt the workplace to their needs, but that the provision of age-specific practices could prevent them from constructing a positive social identity. HR practices can only make older workers extend their working lives if they are provided to all workers regardless occupational status or age.

This paper aims to model the price of cellar tours using a hedonic pricing approach. The authors analyze the complex relationship between the price of an add-on (here, cellar tours) and the price of the reference product (here, wine).

Thanks to a large database containing information on about 1,000 winery experiences, the authors regress the price of cellar tours on wine prices and on a broad set of objective characteristics that are (1) tour specific and (2) common to all tours offered by the winery. These exogenous controls include the type and style of experience offered, amenities and winemaking characteristics.

The authors show that the price of cellar tours follows the price of the most expensive wine sold by the winery, which is a proxy for reputation. The authors find that one of the main determinants of cellar tour prices is visit length: wineries charge more for longer experiences. The number of wines tasted during the visit also increases the price. Prices are higher in places where there is a high level of wine tourism activity, which might be a sign of authenticity.

Wine producers in different countries need to gain insights on how to price cellar tours, which are composite goods. The results can help practitioners price their winery experience according to common practices in different wine regions. The results may also be of interest to professionals in the tourism sector who are in charge of the pricing of by-products (e.g. tee-shirts, books, etc.), or for luxury fashion labels extending their brand in the catering industry with cafes and restaurants.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first empirical analysis that examines the complex relationship between the price of an add-on and the price of the reference product in the context of wine tourism.

Professional development schools (PDSs) advocate links between schools and teacher education programs, but how do mentor teachers in schools experience their role in this? Therefore, this research focuses on mentor teachers to investigate the change brought about by the implementation of a complex-wide PDS.

This qualitative single case study in a newly formed complex-wide PDS is based on surveys and individual interviews with mentor teachers from one school complex area. Activity systems analysis provided the framework to analyze mentor teachers interactions, their role and activities.

Mentor teachers expressed a sense of purpose in educating the next generation of teachers, experienced continuous learning in the collaboration with the teacher candidates and recognized opportunities for professional development offered by teacher education programs.

Schools and teacher education institutes rely on mentor teachers in their support to educate the next generation of teachers. Knowing what activities and values mentor teachers place on their mentoring can guide school administrations and teacher education institutes in their support and recruitment for mentor teachers.

This research contributes to the development of teacher education in the State of Hawaii and has identified helpful structures for meaningful teacher education.

Looks at the changes in management science methodology brought about by other fields of knowledge and how this has influenced the views of researchers. Draws the main lessons to be learned from this and thus paves the way for direct observation. Develops a set of prerequisites for in‐company observation which are capable of providing valid insights for management sciences. Concludes that the advantage of such an approach is researchers receive a greater realism and depth to their study of organisational practices which in turn makes the resulting methodology more useable in practice.

The objective of this work is to provide evidence of customer switching intentions as a complex phenomenon involving a series of firm actions – service quality failures, unfair price, low perceived commitment and anger incidents – and factors relating to the purchase situation or the consumer that also play an important role as moderators in the dissolution process.

An empirical study has been carried out in the case of customers of car‐insurance firms.

Results demonstrate the existence of some factors that have a weak influence on the switching intention – service quality and company commitment – and other factors that have a strong influence and precipitate the consumers' decisions – price changes and critical incidents. This study also underlines the moderator role of knowledge about alternatives and switching costs in this process.

This findings show that a continuing dissatisfaction with the firm as a consequence of a quality that is poorer than expected does not influence individuals as much as a change in the price policy or a one‐off incident in which consumers experience a strong unease.

This work provides empirical evidence about the existence of various determinants of switching: variables that weaken the relationship and variables that precipitate dissolution. These categories had already been discussed theoretically in previous work, but their effect had not been tested. Moreover, it advances in the idea that switching intention may fundamentally be conditioned by consumers' level of involvement and their knowledge about other alternatives.

Helping others use information and communication technologies (ICTs), such as mobile phones, can be beneficial for individuals and communities. In urban refugee communities, displaced and living far from home, collective behaviors with mobile phones can generate a sense of belonging. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential for these offline behaviors to generate a sense of community among urban refugees.

Using quantitative evidence, the authors examined the relationship between collective behaviors, such as sharing or helping with a mobile phone, and sense of community. The authors analyzed survey data collected from urban refugees in Rwanda via multiple regression to test hypotheses related to the impact of collective behaviors on sense of community, as well as the mediating role of ICT self-efficacy and gender.

The findings suggest that collective behaviors with mobile phones have a positive relationship with sense of community, driven primarily by providing assistance as compared to sharing. ICT self-efficacy was positively related to sense of community. However, collective behaviors' impacts differed by gender, suggesting that social dynamics influence this relationship.

While the extant literature highlights the various roles of mobile phones in refugees' lives, less is known about the social aspects of use and its potential to help overcome isolation by fostering a sense of community. The authors extend this literature to a novel context (urban refugees in the Global South), testing a model that incorporates other factors that may play a role (e.g. self-efficacy and gender). These findings are valuable to urban refugees, due to difficulties in re-building a sense of community and increased ICT access.

The purpose of this study was to characterize fruit properties of pomegranate cultivars grown in South Africa in order to provide information to assist in selecting cultivars for food and industrial purposes, as well as to optimize postharvest handling and processing.

The physical, textural and chemical properties as well as volatile profile and free radical scavenging capacity of eight cultivars (cvs “Acco”, “Arakta”, “Bhagwa”, “Ganesh”, “Herskawitz,” “Molla de Elche”, “Ruby”, and “Wonderful”) were quantified to demonstrate the diversity among the characters of the commercially grown cultivars.

Statistically significant differences were found between cultivars for most of the evaluated characters, primarily highlighting the genetic diversity among the cultivars. The classification of fruit cultivars based on quality traits (such as size, texture, colour, soluble solids, acidity, juiciness and phenolics) showed the great potential of the cultivars for processing and fresh market. The relationship among these quality traits was analysed by principal component analysis (PCA) resulting in the separation of the investigated cultivars into two groups (cluster 1=Ruby, Arakta and Ganesh; Class 2=Bhagwa, Acco and Herskawitz) and two ungrouped cultivars (Molla de Elche and Wonderful). Specific understanding about quality traits of each cultivar was established using the correlation coefficients obtained.

This study provides valuable fundamental information that can be useful for commercial and industrial purposes, as well as the development of optimal postharvest handling and processing parameters for the investigated South African grown pomegranate cultivars.

The purpose of this study is to examine how phygital luxury experiences can be generated from mobile-mediated service activities while enabling luxury apparel shoppers to attain status goals and hedonic goals. Phygital luxury experiences are defined in this context as shopping experiences that blend the participative and immersive components of mobile and ubiquitous media with physical luxury servicescapes.

This conceptual research draws on activity theory from the field of human-computer interaction to produce an activity-centric model of phygital luxury experiences. By drawing on activity theory, the authors develop research propositions and build a conceptual model. The conceptual model probes how phygital luxury experiences can be generated from mobile-mediated service activities that enable luxury apparel shoppers to attain status goals and hedonic goals. In turn, service activities are proposed to meld with luxury shopping goals when mobile devices allow luxury apparel shoppers to participate in community-, rules-, and labor-based service activities.

First, the conceptual model demonstrates that social validation and personalization are status and hedonic drivers for community-based service activities (e.g. content-sharing and multiplatform storytelling). Second, special privileges and new comforts are status and hedonic drivers for rules-based service activities (e.g. engaging in pseudo-webrooming, pseudo-showrooming, and seamless and on-demand resources). Third, know-how and domination are status and hedonic drivers for labor-based service activities (e.g. adopting self-service technologies and smart or intelligent displays).

This conceptual model contributes to the well-documented need for research on interactive luxury strategies and luxury retail innovation. Overall, these service activities provide luxury brands and shoppers new opportunities for building elite communities, bending store rules, and altering the division of labor within physical stores. At the same time, this model shows that exclusivity and allure of luxury consumption can be reproduced through luxury apparel shoppers' embodied interactions with salespeople and relevant audiences in connected store environments.