This article examines the relevance of marketing and consumption phenomena to the interpretation of meaning in works of art. It suggests that, in general, consumption symbolism…
Abstract
This article examines the relevance of marketing and consumption phenomena to the interpretation of meaning in works of art. It suggests that, in general, consumption symbolism can contribute to the meaning of an artwork and that, in particular, consumer behaviour does work in this manner in at least one paradigmatic case example — namely, Painting Churches by Tina Howe. After tracing the symbolic use of consumption in that illustrative play, the paper concludes that this focus represents a potentially fertile area of enquiry and that, in this spirit, we should “Ask not what Art can do for Marketing and Consumer Research, but what they can do for Art.”
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Mohamed Gouda Alkalla, Mohamed A. Fanni, Abdelfatah M. Mohamed and Shuji Hashimoto
The purpose of this paper is to propose a new propeller-type climbing robot called EJBot for climbing various types of structures that include significant obstacles, besides…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose a new propeller-type climbing robot called EJBot for climbing various types of structures that include significant obstacles, besides inspection of industrial vessels made of various materials, including non-ferromagnetic material. The inspection includes capturing images for important spots and measuring the wall thickness.
Design/methodology/approach
The design mainly consists of two coaxial upturned propellers mounted on a mobile robot with four standard wheels. A new hybrid actuation system that consists of propeller thrust forces and standard wheel torques is considered as the adhesion system for this climbing robot. This system generates the required adhesion force to support the robot on the climbed surfaces. Dynamic simulation using ADAMS is performed and ensures the success of this idea.
Findings
Experimental tests to check the EJBot’s capabilities of climbing different surfaces, such as smooth, rough, flat and cylindrical surfaces like the real vessel, are successfully carried out. In addition, the robot stops accurately on the climbed surface at any desired location for inspection purposes, and it overcomes significant obstacles up to 40 mm.
Practical implications
This proposed climbing robot is needed for petrochemical and liquid gas vessels, where a regular inspection of the welds and the wall thickness is required. The interaction between the human and these vessels is dangerous and not healthy due to the harmful environment inside these vessels.
Originality/value
This robot utilizes propeller thrusts and wheel torques simultaneously to generate adhesion and traction forces. Therefore, a versatile robot able to climb different kinds of structures is obtained.
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Yun Kuei Huang and Wen I. Yang
The aim of this paper was to investigate word-of-mouth communication behavior and other interactions between bloggers writing book testimonials and their community of readers in…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper was to investigate word-of-mouth communication behavior and other interactions between bloggers writing book testimonials and their community of readers in order to develop a method and strategy for enhancing word-of-mouth communication about books.
Design/methodology/approach
This study conducted a netnographic investigation to explore word-of-mouth communication and interactions about new books between bloggers and their community of readers. Netnography is a qualitative approach for exploring the information exchange among online community members.
Findings
It was found that personality traits, testimonials, and the responses of community readers to bloggers affected word-of-mouth related to books. Exposure to testimonials with commercial characteristics will not necessarily hinder the word-of-mouth about books.
Practical implications
These results may provide a reference for publishers or related businesses that sell books or products via blogs during the planning of their marketing strategies.
Originality/value
Businesses value the effects of online communities on marketing communication. This study provides insights into the communication between bloggers and their community of readers by demonstrating how word-of-mouth affects the promotion of books. This could facilitate the selection of relevant recommendations by management.
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Davide Cherubini, Alessandra Fanni, Augusto Montisci and Pietro Testoni
To present a neural network‐based approach to the design of electromagnetic devices.
Abstract
Purpose
To present a neural network‐based approach to the design of electromagnetic devices.
Design/methodology/approach
A neural model is created which reproduces the relationship between the design parameters of the device and the performance parameters, typically field values.
Findings
The neural model is a single hidden layer MLP network, trained by using a set of cases calculated, for example, by means of a finite element analysis. The design problem can be solved by fixing the performance values at the output of the network and by calculating the corresponding input values. The relationship between the input and the output of the neural network is represented by three equations systems. By means of these three systems, we can forward the domain of the input, and we can back propagate the desired output throughout the network layers. In such a way, both the domain of the design parameters and the domain of the desired performances values can be projected in the same space. Whatever point inside the intersection between the two projected domains corresponds to a solution of the design problem.
Originality/value
Presents a procedure which is able to find a point belonging to such an intersection.
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S. Carcangiu, P. Di Barba, A. Fanni, M.E. Mognaschi and A. Montisci
The aim of the paper is to compare two different approaches to multi‐objective optimisation in magnetostatics; in this way, the case study is investigated as a possible benchmark.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of the paper is to compare two different approaches to multi‐objective optimisation in magnetostatics; in this way, the case study is investigated as a possible benchmark.
Design/methodology/approach
A Tabu search method modified with ε‐constraint algorithm is compared with a multi‐objective multi‐individual evolution strategy. The case study is the automated shape design of a magnetic pole. In order to reduce the computational cost of solving the direct problem, which requires repeated analyses of the magnetic field, a neural network has been used to approximate the objective functions that depend on the design variables.
Findings
An approximation of the Pareto front for each method is obtained. A twofold comparison between the two methods is made, based on both the result accuracy and the computational cost.
Originality/value
Two different methods were already tested on a case study proposed as a benchmark for multi‐objective optimization in magnetostatics. The paper represents a contribution to bridge the gap between analytical and numerical benchmarks in electromagnetism.
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María Dolores Capelo Bernal, Pedro Araújo Pinzón and Warwick Funnell
The purpose of this paper is to address both the neglect of non-Anglo-centric accounting gendered practices beyond the predominant professional setting and the controversial roles…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to address both the neglect of non-Anglo-centric accounting gendered practices beyond the predominant professional setting and the controversial roles of women and accounting in power relationships inside the household. Analyzing a Spanish upper-middle class Catholic family in the early nineteenth century, the research focuses on the reciprocal interaction of accounting with practices and processes of daily life in a rigid patriarchal socio-cultural and juridical context.
Design/methodology/approach
This microhistory draws upon several archives, including in Spain the Archivo Histórico Provincial de Cádiz. In England, the Bath Record Office has preserved documents and correspondence, both personal and business related, and the Worcester Record Office preserved notarial documents concerning the family. The large number of letters which have survived has facilitated an in-depth study of the people who were affected by accounting calculations.
Findings
In a juridical context where women were conceived as merely the means for the circulation of property between two families, the evidence shows that accounting provided the proof of women’s patrimony value and the means to facilitate their recovery in this cosification process. Although women had a little involvement in the household’s accounting and management, they demonstrated confidence in accounting, fulfilling a stewardship function for the resources received. Also, evidence shows that by using accounting practices to shield supposedly defenseless women, this reinforced male domination over women and promoted the view that the role of women was as an ornament and in need of a good husband.
Originality/value
Contrasting with the Anglo-Saxon contemporary context, the Spanish law preserved a woman’s property rights, guaranteeing recovery of properties owned by her before marriage should the marriage be legally annulled or be dissolved because one of the spouses’ death. This required a detailed accounting of the wife’s properties brought to her marriage, most especially regarding the dowry provided by her family.
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Mitchell Langbert, Michael Stanchina and Donal Grunewald
This case study aims to illustrate the interaction of organizational culture, human resource (HR) policy and firm performance. It contrasts the cultures of two science‐driven…
Abstract
Purpose
This case study aims to illustrate the interaction of organizational culture, human resource (HR) policy and firm performance. It contrasts the cultures of two science‐driven organizations – the Navy's nuclear submarine force and Merck, the large pharmaceutical firm – and traces the reaction of one individual to two organizations – the United States nuclear navy and Merck & Co., a large pharmaceutical firm.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is a case study based on field interviews and secondary sources.
Findings
The task‐oriented culture of the submarine fleet is compared to Merck's relations and team‐oriented corporate environment. Management skills such as flexibility, power and influence, interpersonal communication, self‐awareness and goal setting can influence career outcomes. Managerial skills are important in all settings, but a given style's efficacy is contingent upon organizational context. Adaptability is important, as is personal mission. Thus, the case examines how organizational culture, HR policies and leadership interact with an individual's career outcomes and organizational performance as well.
Research limitations/implications
Because this is a case study it is not generalizable. However, the issues depicted in the case have been recognized in the managerial skills literature. The case study serves to illustrate and deepen managerial skills concepts.
Practical implications
This case study has illustrative value as well as hypothesis and theory‐building value, but is not generalizable.
Originality/value
There is relatively little research on the specifics of how to apply managerial skills in a corporate setting. Hence, the case covers important, sensitive material of practical and theoretical value.
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Benigno Marco Fanni, Emanuele Gasparotti, Augusto Esposito, Francesca Danielli, Francesca Berti, Sergio Berti, Giancarlo Pennati, Lorenza Petrini and Simona Celi
This study aims to develop a realistic 3D printing-based simulator for the training and planning of the left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) to be used in the cath lab.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to develop a realistic 3D printing-based simulator for the training and planning of the left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) to be used in the cath lab.
Design/methodology/approach
Starting from a pre-operative computed tomography dataset of a patient already treated with LAAO, the model was obtained, consisting in the right and left heart, opportunely assembled to replicate the position and orientation of the patient's anatomy while lying on the cath lab table. Different 3D printing techniques and materials were used to mimic the interaction between the cardiac tissue and the clinical instrumentation. The simulator was tested in the cath lab under proper image guidance by three LAAO expert operators. The clinicians were required to assign a score in terms of realism to each material used to fabricate the fossa ovalis and the LAA.
Findings
The simulated interventions were successfully performed by the operators, who were able to navigate in the system and release the occluder device as during a real procedure. The intraoperative images acquired during the simulations were highly comparable with data from a real intervention, with a mean percentage difference below 10%.
Originality/value
This study demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed simulator to faithfully replicate the LAAO procedure and its potentiality to be used for multiple purposes, including the training of the young clinicians, the evaluation of the most complicated cases and the design of novel occluder devices, in a fully realistic setting.
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The Swedish Dyslexia Campaign had over 70 collaborators. One important collaborator was The Swedish Library of Talking Books and Braille (TPB), which invested a great deal of…
Abstract
The Swedish Dyslexia Campaign had over 70 collaborators. One important collaborator was The Swedish Library of Talking Books and Braille (TPB), which invested a great deal of effort and money in the campaign. In a short‐term evaluation, the result was not quite on a par with the effort but, on the other hand, changing an attitude is not done in a hurry. TPB works through the local libraries and schools, by supporting them with different information materials and interlibrary loans. Its task, to spread the information of talking books, could very well support the campaign task. Subsequently TPB did not have to start new activities. It did what it was already good at, but it did more of it and with a certain focus.
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Fanny Reniou, Elisa Robert-Monnot and Sarah Lasri
Packaging-free shopping disrupts the usual retailing and consumption patterns in which packaging usually plays a central role. When manufacturers no longer offer predetermined…
Abstract
Purpose
Packaging-free shopping disrupts the usual retailing and consumption patterns in which packaging usually plays a central role. When manufacturers no longer offer predetermined packaging, how do retailers and consumers ensure packaging functions? Investigating the way packaging-free actors appropriate packaging functions during use is particularly important because they exert a new power over these functions, which can be challenging to appropriate. The purpose of this study is to contribute to a deeper understanding of why packaging-free shopping can be perceived as constraining.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing from the literature on packaging functions and adopting Miller’s conceptual framework of appropriation, this research uses a qualitative method with a variety of discursive and visual data, including 54 interviews with experts from packaging-free product stores and consumers, 190 Instagram consumer posts and 428 in-store and at-home photographs.
Findings
This research shows that packaging-free actors jointly appropriate packaging functions through two modes of appropriation (assimilation and accommodation) each encompassing distinct strategies and highlights the misappropriation that actors can experience, especially when prioritizing one function over another.
Originality/value
This research contributes to the literature on packaging-free shopping, an emergent and growing trend that challenges conventional shopping models. The research reveals dark sides of packaging-free shopping – namely, the damaging effects on health and the environment and social exclusion. In particular, it discusses the ambivalence of the packaging-free shopping environmental function. This research also deepens insight into how individual acts of appropriation may lead to misappropriation.