Idunn Bøyum, Katriina Byström and Nils Pharo
The purpose of this study is to investigate why users turn to the university library’s reference desk and whether librarians make use of the opportunity to conduct reference…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate why users turn to the university library’s reference desk and whether librarians make use of the opportunity to conduct reference interviews to disclose any unexpressed information needs.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents the results from a qualitative exploration study where interactions between librarians and users were observed in authentic situations at the reference desk and analyzed using a modified version of Radford and Connaway’s (2013) categorization of inquiries.
Findings
Most inquiries were seemingly easy to answer and pertained to collections and procedures in the library. Lending out desk supplies accounted for a high proportion of the activity. Only a small number of requests were subject-oriented and reference interview techniques were only used in 5% of the recorded inquiries. This means that the users’ information needs were not probed in the vast majority of the interactions.
Research limitations/implications
The study is exploratory and mirrors the activity that takes place in one specific library. The low number of reference interview techniques used may indicate a lack of interest in users’ information needs, which signifies a risk of the reference desk being reduced to an arena for instrumental and superficial interaction between librarians and users.
Originality/value
This study illustrates current developments in work at a physical library desk. Few recent studies address face-to-face interactions between librarians and users.
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Subhajit Pahari, Anupam Bandyopadhyay and Atanu Manna
This study investigates advertising avoidance behavior among consumers, specifically in the realm of meta-platforms. It explores the impacts of digital burnout, advertising…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates advertising avoidance behavior among consumers, specifically in the realm of meta-platforms. It explores the impacts of digital burnout, advertising clutter, perceived advertising risk, and goal impediment on cognitive and behavioral ad avoidance.
Design/methodology/approach
With a sample of 410 respondents, the research employs a comprehensive analysis approach with SEM and CFA, integrating Avoidance Motivation Theory. It examines direct and indirect influences on ad avoidance, mediated by consumer emotions and attitudes. The study highlights the moderating role of content quality in shaping these relationships.
Findings
Significant links were found between digital burnout, clutter, perceived advertising risk, and goal impediment with cognitive and behavioral ad avoidance. The study emphasizes the importance of content quality and suggests strategies that focus on emotional resonance, user alignment, and reduced intrusion.
Practical implications
For advertisers and marketers in digital spaces, the findings recommend strategies promoting healthy technology usage, streamlined advertising content, transparent communication aligned with user goals, and emotionally resonant campaigns to mitigate ad avoidance behaviors.
Social implications
Understanding consumer sentiments aids policymakers in creating conducive advertising models, benefiting both consumers and businesses. This enhances user experiences in digital environments.
Originality/value
The paper distinctively applies the Avoidance Motivation Theory to the context of avoiding social media advertisements, thereby uncovering the causes of negative consumer emotions and attitudes, and highlighting the crucial role of content quality as a means to counteract these adverse reactions.
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Amit Bandyopadhyay, Kakoli Das, Jeff Marusich and Seyi Onagoruwa
Al‐alumina interconnected phase composites were processed using the direct fused deposition process. These materials with tailored microstructures can find applications as…
Abstract
Purpose
Al‐alumina interconnected phase composites were processed using the direct fused deposition process. These materials with tailored microstructures can find applications as structural materials with gradient properties.
Design/methodology/approach
In this process, feedstock material with fused silica as a starting material was compounded at a high shear mixer and then extruded as a filament using a single screw extruder. Extruded filaments were used with a commercial fused deposition modeler, FDM 1650, to process controlled porosity green ceramic structures. Porous green ceramic preforms were subjected to binder removal and sintering cycles in furnace air. Controlled porosity sintered ceramic structures were infiltrated with Al 5052 metal by pressureless reactive metal infiltration to form an in situ Al‐alumina structured composite.
Findings
The main advantage for this approach is to control distribution of both metal and ceramic phases in the composite. During metal infiltration good bonding was observed between the metal and the ceramic phases. Composites were tested under both quasi‐static and dynamic shock loading to evaluate their mechanical properties. Compression strength of these composites was 689±95 MPa.
Originality/value
This paper describes application of the direct fused deposition process for fabrication of ceramic/metal composites where both macrostructure as well as microstructure can be controlled simultaneously. The paper also focuses on one of the potential application area for 5052‐Al alloy.
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Tamal Mandal, Chanchal Chatterjee and Arunava Bandyopadhyay
This study introduces influential-female-directors as a board-gender-diversity variable that captures not only the female representation on the board but also their position on…
Abstract
Purpose
This study introduces influential-female-directors as a board-gender-diversity variable that captures not only the female representation on the board but also their position on the informal-boardroom-hierarchy. Further, this study investigates whether such directors have a significant influence on the dividend-payout-decisions of leading firms in an emerging economy, India, where concentrated ownership is prevalent and explores the moderation effect they exert on dividend–ownership relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses generalized methods of moments (GMM) to tackle the issues put forth by the sample of 450 firm-year observations.
Findings
This study finds that influential-female-directors have a significant influence on the dividend-payout-decisions of the firm. Additionally, the presence of female directors in the audit-committee makes the board more vigilant and encourages foreign institutional investors to expect more dividends. Furthermore, domestic institutional investors expect a return on their investments through share price appreciation rather than dividends, and the influence of promoters in dividend-payout-decisions is reduced in the presence of such directors.
Originality/value
This study pioneers the use of influential-female-directors as a board-gender-diversity metric and carries an in-depth analysis of the influence and moderation effect they exert on the dividend-payout-decisions of the board and the dividend expectations of different institutional investors, respectively.
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Arijit Ukil, Soma Bandyopadhyay, Abhijan Bhattacharyya, Arpan Pal and Tulika Bose
The purpose of this paper is to study lightweight security scheme for Internet of Things (IoT) applications using Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP). Resource-constrained…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study lightweight security scheme for Internet of Things (IoT) applications using Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP). Resource-constrained characteristics of IoT systems have ushered in compelling requirements for lightweight application protocol and security suites. CoAP has already been established as the candidate protocol for IoT systems. However, low overhead security scheme for CoAP is still an open problem. Existing security solutions like Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) is not suitable, particularly due to its expensive handshaking, public key infrastructure (PKI)-based authentication and lengthy ciphersuite agreement process.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper proposes a lightweight security scheme in CoAP using Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 128 symmetric key algorithm. The paper presents an object security (payload embedded)-based robust authentication mechanism with integrated key management. The paper introduces few unique modifications to CoAP header to optimize security operation and minimize communication cost.
Findings
It is resilient to number of security attacks like replay attack, meet-in-the-middle attack and secure under chosen plaintext attack. This scheme is generic in nature, applicable for gamut of IoT applications. The paper proves efficacy of our proposed scheme for vehicle tracking application in emulated laboratory setup. Specifically, it compares with DTLS-enabled CoAP to establish the lightweight feature of our proposed solution.
Research limitations/implications
This paper mainly focuses on implementing in-vehicle tracking systems as an IoT application and used CoAP as the application protocol.
Practical implications
Such a lightweight security scheme would provide immense benefit in IoT systems so that resource constraint-sensing devices and nodes can be made secure. This would impact IoT eco systems to a large extent.
Originality/value
Such kind of security suite that provides both robustness and lightweight feature is hitherto not known to the authors, particularly in CoAP for IoT applications.
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Keywords
T.F. McNulty, F. Mohammadi, A. Bandyopadhyay, D.J. Shanefield, S.C. Danforth and A. Safari
A new family of thermoplastic binders has been developed for usage in fused deposition of ceramics (FDC). Mixtures were formulated consisting of a base binder, tackifier, wax, and…
Abstract
A new family of thermoplastic binders has been developed for usage in fused deposition of ceramics (FDC). Mixtures were formulated consisting of a base binder, tackifier, wax, and plasticizer. The resultant formulation was chosen based on mechanical, rheological, and thermal property requirements. A formulation consisting of 100 parts base binder (by weight), along with 20 parts tackifier, 15 parts wax, and five parts plasticizer exhibited an optimized compromise of mechanical, rheological, and thermal properties. This formulation was compounded with 55 vol. per cent lead zirconate titanate (PZT) powder, and extruded into filaments with a diameter of 1.75mm and a length of approximately 50 (+/‐10) cm. The resulting filaments were used to fabricate functional piezoelectric ceramic devices via FDC. The binder development process is described, along with the associated mechanical, rheological, and thermal property data.
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A. Bandyopadhyay, R.K. Panda, T.F. McNulty, F. Mohammadi, S.C. Danforth and A. Safari
Reviews the inherent advantages, i.e. design flexibility and processing, of manufacturing piezoelectric ceramics and composites with numerous architectures via rapid prototyping…
Abstract
Reviews the inherent advantages, i.e. design flexibility and processing, of manufacturing piezoelectric ceramics and composites with numerous architectures via rapid prototyping techniques. Reports on processing in which piezoelectric ceramics and composites with novel and conventional designs were fabricated using rapid prototyping techniques. Fused deposition of ceramics, fused deposition modeling, and Sanders prototyping techniques were used to fabricate lead‐zirconate‐titanate ceramics and ceramic/polymer composites via, first, direct fabrication and, second, indirect fabrication using either lost mold or soft tooling techniques.
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Abhay Kumar Chaubey, Ajay Kumar and Anupam Chakrabarti
This paper aims to present a new mathematical model for laminated rhombic conoids with reasonable thickness and depth. The presented model does not require the shear correction…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a new mathematical model for laminated rhombic conoids with reasonable thickness and depth. The presented model does not require the shear correction factor, as transverse strain variation through the thickness was assumed as a parabolic function. The zero transverse shear stress provision at the bottom and the top of rhombic conoids was enforced in the model. The presented model implemented a C0 finite element (FE) model, eliminating C1 continuity requirement in the mathematical model. The proposed model was validated with analytical, experimental and other methods derived from the literature.
Design/methodology/approach
A novel mathematical model for laminated composite skew conoidal shells has been proposed. Parabolic transverse shear strain deformation across thickness is considered. FE coding of the proposed novel mathematical model was done. Slope continuity requirement associated with present FE coding has been suitably avoided. No shear correction factor is required in the present formulation.
Findings
This is the first attempt to study the bending response of laminated rhombic conoids with reasonable thickness and depth. After comparisons, the parametric study was performed by varying the skew angles, boundary conditions, thickness ratios and the minimum rise to maximum rise (hl/hh) ratio.
Originality/value
The novelty of the presented model is reflected by the simultaneous addition of twist curvature in the strain field as well as the curvature in the displacement field allowing the accurate analysis of reasonably thick and deep laminated composite rhombic conoids. The behavior of conoids differs from that of usual shells such as cylindrical and spherical due to the conoid’s inherent twist curvature with its complex geometry and different location of maximum deflection.
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Michal Indrák and Lenka Pokorná
The Moravian Library has noted a long-term decline in the total number of visitors and the number of books either lent or used for reference, a phenomenon, which is generally…
Abstract
Purpose
The Moravian Library has noted a long-term decline in the total number of visitors and the number of books either lent or used for reference, a phenomenon, which is generally explained by the increased availability of digitised books and a wider selection of electronic services in general. This paper aims to examine whether this is indeed the case, comparing the usage of the physical and digital libraries. The study also examines whether all the elements of library usage change accordingly with the digital transformation of the library’s services, what are the actual implications of this trend for research libraries in general, determining an ideal model for such a library; it proposes possible solutions to the challenges digital transformation brings about. At the same time, the study attempts to answer the question whether the overall number of library users is actually decreasing or increasing and what impact digital transformation has on the reach of library services.
Design/methodology/approach
Comparative analysis of data with offline usage statistics on one hand and data obtained via backend logging and Google analytics on the other, and an evaluation of a questionnaire survey among digital library users.
Findings
The data analysis demonstrates that it is not only possible but also even desirable, to gradually replace traditional library services with a digital infrastructure without major complications.
Originality/value
The case study provides statistically substantiated examples of a successful partial digital transformation in a research library in the Czech Republic.
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Keywords
M.A. Jafari, W. Han, F. Mohammadi, A. Safari, S.C. Danforth and N. Langrana
In this article we present the system that we have developed at Rutgers University for the solid freeform fabrication of multiple ceramic actuators and sensors. With solid free…
Abstract
In this article we present the system that we have developed at Rutgers University for the solid freeform fabrication of multiple ceramic actuators and sensors. With solid free form fabrication, a part is built layer by layer, with each layer composed of roads of material forming the boundary and the interior of the layer. With our system, up to four different types of materials can be deposited in a given layer with any geometry. This system is intended for fabrication of functional parts; therefore the accuracy and precision of the fabrication process are of extreme importance.