To provide a technical and practical analysis of the interactive floor plan developed by and for the law library at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.
Abstract
Purpose
To provide a technical and practical analysis of the interactive floor plan developed by and for the law library at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.
Design/methodology/approach
The different steps in the development process are described, from original idea to conclusion.
Findings
Though some steps in the process are described fairly technically and detailed, the paper is by no means a step‐by‐step guide to developing similar applications, it briefly touches the principles and concepts that make the application work.
Originality/value
This paper describes the conception and development of a new type of library application. A truly interactive floor plan, unlike traditional static floor plans found on most web sites, was developed to create an actual virtual library. The concepts and techniques described in this paper could prove useful for other libraries wanting to create a similar application.
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Ada Hiu Kan Wong, Joyce Oiwun Cheung and Ziguang Chen
Working-from-home (WFH) practice has been adopted by many companies of a variety of industries in a diverse manner; however, it is not until the recent outbreak of the coronavirus…
Abstract
Purpose
Working-from-home (WFH) practice has been adopted by many companies of a variety of industries in a diverse manner; however, it is not until the recent outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic WFH gains worldwide popularity. With so many different views out there and based on work–family balance theory, this study aims to find out the factors which affect peoples' WFH effectiveness and whether they want the extended WFH practice when the pandemic crisis is over.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper adopted an online survey approach by posting questionnaires on the university website and different social media channels to collect views from full-time Hong Kong workers who have had WFH experience during the coronavirus outbreak. A total of 1,976 effective responses were collected for the data analysis.
Findings
The findings of this study indicate that WFH effectiveness is improved by personal and family well-being but reduced by environmental and resource constraints. When workers are experiencing higher WFH effectiveness, they have a higher preference for WFH even after the pandemic; the female workers preferred WFH twice per week, while the male workers more often preferred WFH once per week. Finally, workers from the management and the self-employed levels demonstrated a lower preference for WFH, compared to the front-line and middle-grade workers.
Originality/value
This paper fulfils to provide a timely reflection on workers' post-pandemic WFH preference, the factors affecting their WFH effectiveness and the demographic differences inducing to the differentiated preferences.
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Bert Smit and Roy C. Wood
– This paper aims to develop an understanding of the potential for application of facilities management concepts and principles in the context of the “zoo sector”.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to develop an understanding of the potential for application of facilities management concepts and principles in the context of the “zoo sector”.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is a conceptual one and begins with a narrative designed to provide sufficient background to understanding key issues relevant to the practice of facilities management in zoological and similar institutions, including the implications of conservational/scientific and display imperatives of zoological facilities for facilities management. We then consider how these issues can be worked through in the context of four broad dimensions of facilities management: strategies for the management of stakeholder behaviour (non-human animals, personnel and visitors); building and environmental design (including space usage); safety, security and health; and “miscellaneous” services. The paper concludes by providing a provisional framework for further research into facilities management in the zoo sector.
Findings
As a conceptual paper, there are no empirical findings. Conceptually, the paper offers an initial and simple framework for interpreting the possible application of facilities management in zoological and related facilities.
Originality/value
In a search of the two principal journals in the field of facilities management, nothing could be found of direct relevance to the management of facilities in zoological and similar organizations. This paper is thus a singular contribution to the field. Conceptually, the authors attribute neglect of the topic to the distinctive traditions in the study of facilities management, which, at the risk of caricature, emphasise either the pre-eminence of a building and building services approach to facilities management, or an approach which is almost exclusively focused on the “human” dimensions to the discipline.
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Samuel Dawa and Jonathan Marks
This paper aims to explain the occurrence of sustainable entrepreneurship in the underresearched sub-Saharan Africa context and to improve the understanding of how effectuation…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explain the occurrence of sustainable entrepreneurship in the underresearched sub-Saharan Africa context and to improve the understanding of how effectuation manifests in this context.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a qualitative research approach based on multiple case studies. Responses were sourced from owners, employees, suppliers, the community and customers of sustainable entrepreneurial firms. Data collection methods included in-depth interviews, document reviews and observations. The Gioia analytical approach was used.
Findings
Overall, the authors find the concept of effectuation to be well-suited to capturing the processes through which individuals with limited means seek to engage in sustainable entrepreneurship. The authors also identify three pervasive practices that are key to understanding effectuation in the developing country context: complementation of indigenous knowledge with modern science, compassion and pluriactivity.
Practical implications
This study underscores the importance of co-creation, diversification of revenue sources and the role of emotional awareness and interpersonal skills in entrepreneurial endeavors.
Originality/value
This study, therefore, contributes new knowledge about the mechanisms through which entrepreneurs faced with resource constraints use control as opposed to prediction strategies to exploit sustainable entrepreneurship opportunities. In so doing, this study contributes to entrepreneurship theory by proposing the integration of cognitive and affective dimensions in realizing sustainable entrepreneurship goals.
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Samar Ali Shilbayeh and Sunil Vadera
This paper aims to describe the use of a meta-learning framework for recommending cost-sensitive classification methods with the aim of answering an important question that arises…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to describe the use of a meta-learning framework for recommending cost-sensitive classification methods with the aim of answering an important question that arises in machine learning, namely, “Among all the available classification algorithms, and in considering a specific type of data and cost, which is the best algorithm for my problem?”
Design/methodology/approach
This paper describes the use of a meta-learning framework for recommending cost-sensitive classification methods for the aim of answering an important question that arises in machine learning, namely, “Among all the available classification algorithms, and in considering a specific type of data and cost, which is the best algorithm for my problem?” The framework is based on the idea of applying machine learning techniques to discover knowledge about the performance of different machine learning algorithms. It includes components that repeatedly apply different classification methods on data sets and measures their performance. The characteristics of the data sets, combined with the algorithms and the performance provide the training examples. A decision tree algorithm is applied to the training examples to induce the knowledge, which can then be used to recommend algorithms for new data sets. The paper makes a contribution to both meta-learning and cost-sensitive machine learning approaches. Those both fields are not new, however, building a recommender that recommends the optimal case-sensitive approach for a given data problem is the contribution. The proposed solution is implemented in WEKA and evaluated by applying it on different data sets and comparing the results with existing studies available in the literature. The results show that a developed meta-learning solution produces better results than METAL, a well-known meta-learning system. The developed solution takes the misclassification cost into consideration during the learning process, which is not available in the compared project.
Findings
The proposed solution is implemented in WEKA and evaluated by applying it to different data sets and comparing the results with existing studies available in the literature. The results show that a developed meta-learning solution produces better results than METAL, a well-known meta-learning system.
Originality/value
The paper presents a major piece of new information in writing for the first time. Meta-learning work has been done before but this paper presents a new meta-learning framework that is costs sensitive.