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The hydrologic losses due to net evaporation in the Aral Sea have interesting analogs in the interior-drainage basins of the American West. Each of the three places discussed here – the Salton Sea, Owens Lake, and Mono Lake – has its own unique historical and geographic circumstances, but the story of each place has certain parallels to the Aral Sea disaster. Each place experienced dramatic water losses during much of the 20th century, but the emergence of environmental science and law in recent decades has caused significant policy changes. The Salton Sea is still declining, and modest efforts by state and federal agencies to halt the decline are inadequate. A proposal to build dikes to save part of the water body and convert the rest to salt evaporation ponds cited the Aral Sea as a model for the Salton Sea's future. The dry Owens Lake bed yields windblown dust that exceeds the Clean Air standard for fine particulate matter (PM 10), so Los Angeles is now required to release additional water back into the basin to create more shallow wetlands. In Mono Lake, a negotiated settlement has reversed the water loss while protecting vital interests of all parties, and a substantial ecological restoration plan is being implemented. The history of the American analogs to the Aral Sea, especially the success story of Mono Lake, may indicate potential pathways to progress in reducing problems caused by large-scale water diversion.

The study explores the influence of shopping channels on the hedonic shopping experience, contributing to subjective well-being (SWB) based on the purchased branded product. It also assesses the variations in these effects according to brand luxury. The purpose of the paper is to provide strategic suggestions for building luxury apparel distribution tactics that balance maintaining brand luxury with business growth through both physical stores and digital stores (e-retail).

Based on 418 samples collected in Japan, consumers' perceptions of hedonic shopping value and SWB are examined according to two channel factors, such as physical retail vs e-retail and mono-brand stores vs multi-brand stores. Additionally, the moderation effects of brand luxury are discussed.

Multi-group path analyses reveal that physical mono-brand stores contribute to hedonic shopping value. In addition, this experiential value is found to increase SWB, especially when the brand luxury level is high.

These findings suggest that managers should place a high level of importance on consumers' shopping experiences via physical direct retail especially in the case of a higher luxury level, even in today's highly developed digital environment.

The current study uniquely discusses the effects of shopping channels and experiences on SWB based on an acquired branded product, i.e., an evaluation of the outcome of shopping behavior and product acquisition. The study also reinforces the importance of physical stores suggested in previous luxury research.

Currently on additive manufacturing, extensive research is directed toward mitigating the main challenges associated with multi-material in fused filament fabrication which has a weak bonding strength between dissimilar materials. Low interfacial bonding strength leads to defects, anisotropy and temperature gradient in materials which negatively impact the mechanical performance of the multi-material prints. The purpose of this study was to assess the performance of different interface geometry designs in terms of the mechanical properties of the specimens.

Tensile test specimens were printed using: mono-material without a boundary interface, mono-material with the interface geometries (Face-to-face; U-shape; T-shape; Dovetail; Encapsulation; Mechanical interlocking; and Overlap) and multi-material with the interface geometries. The materials chosen with high and low compatibility were Tough polylactic acid (PLA) and TPU.

The main results of this study indicate that the interface geometries with the mechanical constriction between materials provide better structural integrity to the specimens. Moreover, in the case of the mono-material parts, the most effective interface design was the mechanical interlocking for both Tough PLA and TPU. On the other hand, in the case of multi-material specimens, the encapsulation showed the highest ultimate tensile strength, whereas the overlap and T-shape presented more robust bonding.

This study examines the mechanical performance, particularly tensile strength, strain at break, Young’s modulus and yield strength of different interface designs which were not studied in the previous studies.

Springs are an integral part of mechanisms and can benefit from additive manufacturing’s (AM) increased design freedom. Given the limited literature on the subject, the purpose of this paper is to develop guidelines for fabricating helical springs using three-dimensional (3D) printing.

Polylactic acid (PLA) is the main material investigated, with ULTEM™ 9085 used as a comparison. The experimental procedure is to vary the spring parameters, print the springs and test them in tension or compression using constant velocity. Plots of the force and displacement are used to measure the linear and post-deformation spring constants. Loading of the springs is done both to breakage and cyclically. Cyclic loading is also used to observe the plastic behaviour of the springs. Parameters that are varied include wire and coil diameters, pitch, wire cross-section, in-fill and layer height.

A square wire cross-section is used, instead of a circle because it produces more consistent coils. In-fills make no significant difference in the elastic stiffness of the springs but the mono in-fill breaks at a greater extension, so it is recommended. Tension and compression springs are confirmed to behave the same when in the elastic regime. ULTEM™ 9085 produces consistently weaker springs compared to PLA. Variation of layer height shows that thinner layers increase the stiffness of the springs.

This study investigates the behaviour of 3D printed helical springs in tension and compression. Three guidelines are created: square wire cross-section, mono-directional in-fill and thin layers are recommended.

The purpose of this paper is to examine teaching approaches adopted by teachers in ex-Model C English medium secondary schools (former mono-ethnic White Schools) currently in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, after schools became desegregated in 1994 and changed from being mono-ethnic to multi-ethnic.

This study was conducted through a qualitative research approach against the backdrop of a phenomenological design according to the interpretivist paradigm. Data were elicited through in-depth semi-structured interviews with 16 teachers from four ex-Model C English medium secondary schools (former White schools) who had experiences of teaching both pre-1994, when schools were mono-ethnic, and post-1994 when the schools were multi-ethnic. The interviews were transcribed, and the data were analysed and categorised into themes and sub-themes.

The findings indicated that although the teachers were positive towards teaching in multi-ethnic contexts, the majority of them tended to adopt approaches that militated against multicultural education in their classes; such as assimilationist, colour blind and business-as-usual approaches, while a minority incorporated various aspects of multicultural education in their teaching to a limited degree.

The study is original in the sense that it focused on the application of Castagno’s framework of typologies to teachers’ approaches to teaching in multi-ethnic classes. Research of this nature, which explored teachers’ approaches to diversity within their multi-ethnic contexts according to Castagno’s framework, has not been previously undertaken in South Africa.

The mine sequencing problem is NP-hard. Therefore, simplifying it is necessary. One way to do this is to employ clusters as input instead of individual blocks. The mining cut clustering problem has been little addressed in the literature, and the solutions used are almost always heuristic. We solve the mining cut clustering problem, which is NP-hard, through single- and multi-objective optimization, finding results that are local optima in acceptable computational time.

We first elaborate an ILP-based model to address the mining cut clustering problem. We employ a mono-objective approach and two multi-objective approaches, solving all these models by constraint programming. To choose the best solutions generated by multi-objective approaches, we employ two multi-criteria decision analysis approaches, considering different weight configurations. We developed a case study using real data.

We verified that the approaches based on multi-objective optimization performed better than the mono-objective approach for the economic return criterion. The weighted-sum multi-objective approach presented the best results considering all objective functions used. Once viable solutions were obtained through multi-objective optimization, multi-criteria decision analysis approaches almost always selected the same solution. We obtained solutions that are local optima in acceptable computational time.

This study solves an instance with 80 blocks. Consequently, it is aimed at short-term mine planning. The methodology has not yet been evaluated in large instances related to medium- and long-term mine planning.

This is the first time that multi-objective optimization has been employed to solve the mining cut custering problem. Even other problems related to mine planning were, at most, solved by goal programming, so that multi-objective optimization is a knowledge that is not widespread among mining researchers. The results are consistent, and the study achieves the objective of finding quality solutions to an NP-hard problem in an acceptable computational time.

Recent developments in powder handling systems are featured in two comprehensive new publications from Mono Pumps (Engineering) Ltd, a member of Mono Group. The company offers two basic arrangements in the powder handling field; powder pumping and dosing systems with transfer rates up to 3,000kg (6,600lb) per hour and the Bloflo system with transfer rates up to 12,000kg (11·5 tons) per hour.

This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of organizational conflict management from a multicultural perspective in the context of higher education institutions (HEIs).

Besides a theoretical discussion about multiculturalism and leadership, a case study based extensively, but not exclusively, on oral history has been undertaken within a unit of a HEI in Brazil. The case study, which illustrates the cost when multicultural leadership is absent, is based on a combination of first‐hand information and facts reconstruction.

The research discussed in this paper showed that the system of constructing “otherness” and isolating it can actually be characterized as workplace bullying condoned by extremely mono‐cultural leaders. An alternative scenario with more multiculturally competent leaders is discussed, providing possible tools and avenues for organizational conflict management.

HEIs should be viewed as multicultural organizations, not only for the purpose of developing multicultural curricula but also for reviewing the impact of institutional practices and leadership on the organizational climate. Leaders should be ethically and multiculturally accountable for ensuring an institutional identity that is open to cultural plurality and to the challenge of the institutionalization of differences.

This paper goes beyond multicultural issues restricted to individual and group identities and incorporates institutional cultural climate and the role of multicultural leaders in organizational conflict management in the context of HEIs, hitherto not much discussed, which may open up new debates in the area.

The purpose of this paper is to theoretically develop the idea that the intangible value of the collaboration between firms and the banking system can influence the probability of default (PD) on the part of firms and, therefore, their rating. The authors also propose that collaboration between banks and firms has a positive effect not only on the access to credit but also on the innovation activities and on the intervention of foreign capital in the ownership of Italian businesses.

As pointed out by the literature on smaller businesses finance, investments widely rely on credit availability. Tests using data on a sample investigation involving 5,587 firms, operating in 17 manufacturing sectors in Italy, support the majority of the proposed ideas.

The empirical investigation shows that only some aspects of the collaboration between enterprises and banks influence the PD, the investments in R&D and the internationalisation of ownership of the enterprises. In particular, the three stated variables are positively influenced both by the intensity of the credit relationship and by the level of information exchange with the credit system.

Further development of this research, as more empirical data become available, should allow explaining why the level of information exchange with the credit system has the greatest influence on the dependent variables analyzed.

This paper aims to extend the current understanding on how the local banking system is developed and is able to increase access to credit after gathering all the information about firms asking for funds.