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The purpose of this study was to develop a three-dimensional (3D) finite element modeling (FEM) technique using the commercially available program ABAQUS to predict the thermal and structural behavior of composite beams under fire loading.

The model was benchmarked using experimental test data, and it accounts for temperature-dependent material properties, force-slip-temperature relationship for the shear studs and concrete cracking.

It was determined that composite beams can be modeled with this sequentially coupled thermal-structural 3D FEM to predict the displacement versus bottom flange temperature response and associated composite beam failure modes, including compression failure in the concrete slab, runaway deflection because of yielding of the steel beam or fracture of the shear studs.

The Eurocode stress-strain-temperature (σ-ε-T) material model for structural steel and concrete conservatively predict the composite beam deflections at temperatures above 500°C. Models that use the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) stress-strain-temperature (σ-ε-T) material model more closely match the measured deflection response, as compared to the results using the Eurocode model. However, in some cases, the NIST model underestimates the composite beam deflections at temperatures above 500°C.

This paper presents a qualitative assessment of the influence of the composite floor system and shear-tab connections on the stability behavior of a typical mid-rise (10-story) steel building subjected to corner compartment fires. A ten-story steel building with composite floor systems was designed following the design practices in the US. The building had an interior core of reinforced concrete (RC) shear walls to resist the lateral loads. Effects of gravity loads and fire conditions were simulated using the finite element method and numerical analysis techniques. The concrete material model used in the numerical simulations was benchmarked using experimental data from concrete slab thermal tests. The results from the numerical investigations indicated that at elevated temperatures, the composite beam undergoes elongation, sagging and rotation at the beam ends. This results in additional rotation and compression demands on the connections at the ends. The shear-tab connections provided significant negative moment resistance at the beam ends at elevated temperatures. This negative moment resistance at the shear-tab connections increased the flexural capacity of the composite beam by effectively redistributing the moment demands due to the applied gravity loads.

This paper delineates the distinctive nature of appraisal politics perceptions (referenced to organizational politics) experienced by appraisees (APAP) as a form of hindrance work stressor that is more episodic than chronic, salient during the PA rating and reward decisions. The study argues and attempts to establish empirically that due to its distinct nature, it causes both short-term episodic strain and long-term chronic strain. Further, the study investigates the distinctive role played by appraisee's hard and soft influence behaviour as a coping mechanism moderating the influence of APAP as a stressor on strain variables in Indian organizational context that ferments politics.

The data was collected using self-reports from 407 employees in Indian organizations using survey method. Multivariate analyses including moderating tests were used for testing the hypotheses.

Only the episodic components of the APAP-appraiser's rating politics and pay and promotion politics were significantly related to anxiety felt by appraisees during PA – an episodic measure of strain. All three APAP components were significantly related to the chronic strain measure of dissatisfaction. There was modest support for the role of influence tactics (IT) as a coping mechanism attenuating the negative relation of APAP with the dissatisfaction variables as chronic strain measures. Contrary to the hypothesis, softer tactics exacerbated the APAP–PA anxiety relation, indicating the episodic nature of stressor and strain.

The study contributes significantly to enhance the understanding about the nature of Appraisal politics.

The purpose of this paper is to report the first of four planned fire experiments on the 9.1 × 6.1 m steel composite floor assembly as part of the two-story steel framed building constructed at the National Fire Research Laboratory.

The fire experiment was aimed to quantify the fire resistance and behavior of full-scale steel–concrete composite floor systems commonly built in the USA. The test floor assembly, designed and constructed for the 2-h fire resistance rating, was tested to failure under a natural gas fueled compartment fire and simultaneously applied mechanical loads.

Although the protected steel beams and girders achieved matching or superior performance compared to the prescribed limits of temperatures and displacements used in standard fire testing, the composite slab developed a central breach approximately at a half of the specified rating period. A minimum area of the shrinkage reinforcement (60 mm²/m) currently permitted in the US construction practice may be insufficient to maintain structural integrity of a full-scale composite floor system under the 2-h standard fire exposure.

This work was the first-of-kind fire experiment conducted in the USA to study the full system-level structural performance of a composite floor system subjected to compartment fire using natural gas as fuel to mimic a standard fire environment.

This study aims to show how major service developments in China, India and Singapore offer different perspectives on how cost-effective service excellence (CESE) can be achieved in health care. Resulting research opportunities are highlighted.

The study is based on the authors’ in-depth experience in these three countries.

Digital platforms and related technologies seem more advanced in China than in most western economies in terms of their application, user acceptance and market penetration. The resulting digital ecosystem enabled innovation that provides CESE in digital health care. Second, India benefitted from a large health care market without excessive regulation, litigation risks and interlocking stakeholders. These allowed a number of organizations to achieve CESE through new business models and frugal innovation. Likewise, Singapore is a global leader in health outcomes while it also has one of the lowest health care cost per capita. This is achieved through focus on costs and productivity, standardization and digitization while being intensely focused on health outcomes and the patient experience.

The three countries stand out in the ways they achieved CESE in health care and offer interesting research opportunities. China has fully integrated digital platforms with rapid innovation capabilities, India has extremely high volumes that met focused service factory and frugal service innovation approaches, and Singapore is a tightly controlled health care market with high levels of discipline, both facilitated by its culture and small size. These markets invite research to explore their successes in more depth and deduct lessons for CESE in health care elsewhere.

Together, the author team has decades of managerial, executive teaching and research experience related to service in Asia. The observations and reflections in this study originate from this unique perspective.

The study investigates the performance of a three-story unprotected steel moment-resisting frame (SMRF) designed for high seismic demand in the fire-only (FO) and post-earthquake uniform and traveling fires (PEF). The primary objective is to investigate the effects of seismic residual deformation on the structure's performance in horizontally traveling fires. The traveling fire methodology, unlike conventional fire models, considers a spatially varying temperature environment.

Multi-step finite element simulations were carried out on undamaged and damaged frames to provide insight into the effects of the earthquake-initiated fires on the local and global behavior of SMRF. The earthquake simulations were conducted using nonlinear time history analysis, whereas the structure in the fire was investigated by sequential thermal-structural analysis procedure in ABAQUS. The frame was subjected to a suite of seven ground motions. In total, four horizontal traveling fire sizes were considered along with the Eurocode (EC) parametric fire for a comparison. The deformation history, axial force and moment variation in the critical beams and columns of affected compartments in the fire heating and cooling regimes were examined. The global structural performance in terms of inter-story drifts in FO and PEF scenarios was investigated.

It was observed that the larger traveling fires (25 and 48%) are more detrimental to the case study frame than the uniform EC parametric fire. Besides, no appreciable difference was observed in time and modes of failure of the structure in FO and PEF scenarios within the study's parameters.

The present study considers improved traveling fire methodology as an alternate design fire for the first time for the PEF performance of SMRF. The analysis results add to the much needed database on structures' performance in a wide range of fire scenarios.

This paper aims to explore the relationship between owner-manager or leader’s ambidextrous leadership style and its effect on human resource management (HRM) practices, contextual ambidexterity and knowledge-intensive small- and medium-enterprises (SMEs) strategic agility.

This study presents an in-depth qualitative case study analysis of two knowledge-intensive SMEs from India’s information technology and health-care products industry serving a range of global clients. Using the theoretical lenses of empowerment-focused HRM practices, ambidextrous leaders, contextual ambidexterity and strategic agility, semi-structured interview data of leaders, managers and employees of the case organizations were analysed. Through a two-staged analytical process, we abductively developed a novel conceptual framework at the intersection of the above theoretical lenses.

The findings suggest that the knowledge-intensive SME’s strategic agility, ambidexterity and empowerment-focussed HRM approach was influenced by the owner-manager or leader’s ambidextrous leadership style and their philosophy towards managing people and had a positive impact in creating a culture of trust, participation, risk-taking and openness, and led to delivering innovative products and services as well as several positive employee-level outcomes.

Recent literature reviews on HRM In SMEs highlight several gaps, including the impact of owner-manager or leader’s philosophy of managing people in shaping HRM practices and employee outcomes. This paper thus adds to the existing literature on HRM and knowledge-intensive SMEs.

The objective of this study is to understand the linkages among executive compensation, corporate governance and performance of the Indian family and non-family firms. Further, the study also analyzes the level of shareholding pattern of the Indian family firms on their performance and the executive compensation.

The authors have collected panel data of the companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Limited. The data set consists of 284 companies (both family and non-family) for the period 2005–2014. The authors have made use of a dynamic panel data model with generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation to formulate the hypotheses and used fixed-effects regression model to check the robustness of our findings.

The authors find support for the agency theory, stewardship theory and resource dependence theory in the paper. Specifically, variables related to executive compensation, corporate governance (board size, proportion of independent directors on board, chief executive officers duality and other directorships held by the executive directors outside the company), firm performance (Tobin’s Q), leverage and shareholding pattern of the family are significant in this study.

The study has practical implications for all stakeholders of the family and non-family firms, especially in the emerging market economies. It can be used as a reference guide by various other stakeholders of the family firms, viz., customers, educators, tax authorities, government and society.

The authors confirm that their research is original and provides valuable insights on the Indian family firms. The authors study cross-holding of directorships, inter alia, in the Indian family business groups. As most of the previous studies in the Indian context ignored this important aspect, this study is unique in nature.

The impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on architectural education (AE) was investigated, and a framework was proposed to reduce the impacts' negative consequences.

Systematic literature review, bibliometric and content analyses were combined to gain an in-depth understanding of the effects of the pandemic on AE and projections for its future. Relevant documents were extracted from the Web of Science (WoS) database. Bibliometric connections in the context of AE and COVID-19 pandemic were explored using text-mining and content analysis was performed.

The challenges, development tendencies and collaboration networks in AE during the pandemic were quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed. The most influential articles, journals, authors and countries/regions were highlighted using a bibliometric analysis. The analysis of keyword tendencies and clusters indicates that new concepts have emerged in AE research during the pandemic involving online, in-person and hybrid education. Using content analysis of 57 subtopics, 39 (18) were categorized as having negative (positive) effects. A comprehensive mitigation framework was designed to reduce the impact of the pandemic on AE.

The study findings can enable practitioners to construct effective solutions to COVID-19- and other disaster-related problems regarding AE. The implications, obstacles and mitigation framework presented can help identify gaps in the literature and guide further research.

This paper presents the first bibliometric and content analysis of AE and COVID-19 pandemic-related studies published from January 2020 to June 2022 to highlight several research directions and academic development within the field.

This study aims to investigate the drivers of the internationalization scope of born global from the digital and software solution sector in an emerging economy context, which presents an unexplored avenue of research. This study endeavors to understand the individual and market-level drivers of internationalization scope. Relying on the effectuation and causation framework and reactive/proactive driver typology, this paper sheds light on the individual decision-maker’s makeup and market conditions that influence the changes between strategies in the internationalization process.

A qualitative multiple case study approach is used to explore drivers of the internationalization scope of born globals. Seven born globals from the digital and software solution sectors were depicted, and interviews with their founders were conducted.

Study findings support the utilization of effectuation theory in explaining the scope of internationalization of born globals. Furthermore, the findings attest that the two decision-making logics are interchangeable. On the market level, several context-specific factors have stirred the diversity of markets pursued by born globals. The findings evince that the founders of the born globals perceive the domestic market as small and underdeveloped; therefore, they seek more developed, easily accessible, distant markets.

The study contributes to a better understanding of the internationalization of born globals in an emerging economy context. We find that born globals change their strategies iteratively with the stage of internationalization.