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1 – 10 of 272Emílio José Montero Arruda Filho, Everaldo Marcelo Souza da Costa and Juliana Cristina dos Santos Miranda
The aim of this research is to identify the characteristics that give rise to motivations to use social apps in light of behavioral concepts related to consumers’ desires and…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this research is to identify the characteristics that give rise to motivations to use social apps in light of behavioral concepts related to consumers’ desires and emotional values.
Design/methodology/approach
Netnography is used as the main methodology to analyze and categorize user profiles of online social networks. These profiles are presented through conceptual headlines, which highlight the main characteristics of each user group.
Findings
The results of the study show that many users have become dependent on the WhatsApp application, either for technological reasons or for social reasons related to fashion and status.
Research limitations/implications
Few consumers actually explained the ways they use mobile social networks in the context of the procedures and level of communication performed. However, the influence of social contexts in the consumer environment is changing perceived values focusing on prestige and status to technological elements that the majority of consumers use.
Practical implications
Practical implications are directly related to forming business connections in a less formal and more hedonic environment, improving market results while fostering user enjoyment. In addition, the ongoing updates to WhatsApp have brought new functionalities and improvements to previously weak features.
Originality/value
Although other applications offer means by which to talk and send messages, WhatsApp continues to be (as of early 2021) the most used platform for conversation in Brazil. The sovereignty of WhatsApp is directly linked to its social value, which is related to the number of consumers who daily interact via the network.
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Cristina Rodrigues dos Santos Ramos and Maciel M. Queiroz
This paper aims to investigate the influence of trust on adopting and implementing blockchain technology in higher education institutions (HEIs) in Brazil.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the influence of trust on adopting and implementing blockchain technology in higher education institutions (HEIs) in Brazil.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses an exploratory qualitative approach to understand the construct of trust in the context of the educational sector. Data were collected through semistructured questionnaires and online interviews.
Findings
The research identified that, for most potential blockchain users, trust positively influences the HEIs, because benefits such as secure data sharing and transaction transparency could optimize the daily routine and avoid fraud in academic documents, providing a cooperative and reliable working environment. In addition, the results suggest that trust is needed to overcome challenges related to issues such as costs and privacy.
Research limitations/implications
This study contributes to the advances in the emerging literature on blockchain in the educational sector as a system with the potential to generate trust, as well as the literature on the technology acceptance models.
Practical implications
For HEI managers and practitioners, this study highlights the need for a greater understanding of the influence of trust in the relationships between HEIs and other stakeholders.
Social implications
This work shows that adopting blockchain technologies would allow users to build social relationships of trust in a cooperative work environment and develop trusted behavior by sharing data securely and transparently.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies on the adoption and implementation of blockchain in the education sector in Brazil.
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Ana Cristina Santos Pérez and Gerardo Belmont Luna
This paper is based on the analysis of a few photographs published by El Heraldo de México in 1968 about the student movement. The purpose of this paper is to consider the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper is based on the analysis of a few photographs published by El Heraldo de México in 1968 about the student movement. The purpose of this paper is to consider the photograph as an act in which the observer is included. From this point of view, the observer could identify a discursive line of the newspaper and build an independent interpretation. The librarian is an observer.
Design/methodology/approach
It is a theoretical description about the objective character of the photographs published by El Heraldo de México in 1968. Considering photography as an act, this paper proposes to empirically identify the whole context of three cases of photographs of the newspaper, as examples.
Findings
Based on the contextualized interpretation (or photograph as an act), the photograph is identified as an information object and, therefore, an epistemological object, too. There is a relation between the image and the building of knowledge, through the interpretation of the observer.
Research limitations/implications
There are many studies about cataloguing and classification of images, but there is no study on the theoretical implications. The theory presented in this document comes from the work of other specialists and from other disciplines.
Practical implications
Learning to read visual information is as necessary as reading texts. The visual world waits to be decoded. And the twenty-first-century librarian knows how to organize, preserve and disseminate documentary collections (as photos). Value is how to find, access, decode and build knowledge over them.
Originality/value
In this document, the authors take a position in the library discussion about the image as an information object. Also, this paper promotes development of theoretical studies about this topic by librarians.
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Gislaine Cristina dos Santos Teixeira and Emerson Antonio Maccari
Accreditation is a growing phenomenon and has begun to permeate scientific studies, most of which are quantitative, since they focus on the process of accreditation and its…
Abstract
Purpose
Accreditation is a growing phenomenon and has begun to permeate scientific studies, most of which are quantitative, since they focus on the process of accreditation and its positive or negative effects. Only a few studies have analyzed this phenomenon from the perspective of institutional theory. As there is no consensus regarding the performance of accreditation agencies, the purpose of this paper is to identify their institutional role in the global orientation of the organizational practices, values and decisions of business schools (BS).
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic literature review enabled us to identify scientific publications since 2002 that have used institutional theory when discussing BS accreditation agencies. An in-depth reading of these articles led us to identify the most frequent, similar and contrasting perspectives. Seven aspects were analyzed in each article: theme, research assumption, theoretical basis, method, research context, result and suggestions for future studies.
Findings
The findings suggest a certain duality in the role of these agencies. If, on the one hand, they are responsible for providing a quality seal, on the other hand, they promote legitimacy in the field by institutionalizing international rules.
Originality/value
By investigating the performance of these agencies as global institutional bodies, the authors extrapolated the traditional discussion on the dynamic of interaction between local actors who both influence the field and are influenced by it, a recurring theme in institutional theory.
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The Wicked Queen in both the Grimm and Disney versions of Snow White exists as a cautionary tale of female vanity. Despite these nefarious beginnings, contemporary versions of the…
Abstract
The Wicked Queen in both the Grimm and Disney versions of Snow White exists as a cautionary tale of female vanity. Despite these nefarious beginnings, contemporary versions of the character in children's and young adult fiction reimagine the Wicked Queen as pitiable. She is still a villain, but her actions are explained as the result of loneliness, parental abuse, and a persistent belief that she is not beautiful enough to be worthy of love. This change in the Wicked Queen's motivations from innate to circumstantial is reflected in the tagline for Valentino's Disney Villains series, ‘Evil Is Made, Not Born’. My reading of these new sympathetic depictions of the Wicked Queen builds on Cristina Santos's discussion of patriarchy and reproduction, as well as other critical discussions of fairy tales and gendered bodies. Focusing specifically on the magic mirror as metaphor, I discuss these new depictions of the Wicked Queen in the context of body dysmorphia. While these novels undo the good/bad and maiden/crone dichotomies of the fairy tale, these readings also shift much of the blame for the Wicked Queen's actions from innate failings of her gender (vanity) to the cultural structures surrounding female body image (dysmorphia). As contemporary reworkings of fairy tales seek to disrupt these narrative patterns and move away from harmful portrayals of gender, sexuality, aging, and physical disability, they risk falling into existing patterns linking mental illness to violence or evil.
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Mitchell A. Petersen, Alex Williamson and Rajiv Chopra
At the end of 2011, one of the largest food retailers in Brazil, Grupo Pão de Açúcar, or GPA (a subsidiary of Companhia Brasileira De Distribuição, or CBD), was reviewing its…
Abstract
At the end of 2011, one of the largest food retailers in Brazil, Grupo Pão de Açúcar, or GPA (a subsidiary of Companhia Brasileira De Distribuição, or CBD), was reviewing its accounts payable terms with suppliers in search of additional value. Manager of analytics Maria Cristina Santos was examining the trade credit terms GPA had with Oalem Ltda, a family-owned melon grower located in northeastern Brazil. Oalem, like most small family businesses, was financed with bank loans and equity that was held predominantly by the family. The case examines how accounts payable (trade credit) terms should be set or negotiated between a large retailer and a small supplier, especially when the bargaining power between the two may not be equal. The case demonstrates that trade credit terms can be as important as the terms of more traditional forms of financing.
After analyzing and discussing the case, students should be able to:
Determine when it is efficient or value-increasing for one nonfinancial firm to borrow from another nonfinancial firm through trade credit, as opposed to borrowing from financial institutions (e.g., banks) or financial markets
Understand how competition or relative bargaining power can influence feasible and optimal trade credit terms
Explain why trade credit can be a cheaper form of financing than the alternative forms of financing available to small family businesses like Oalem Ltda
Determine when it is efficient or value-increasing for one nonfinancial firm to borrow from another nonfinancial firm through trade credit, as opposed to borrowing from financial institutions (e.g., banks) or financial markets
Understand how competition or relative bargaining power can influence feasible and optimal trade credit terms
Explain why trade credit can be a cheaper form of financing than the alternative forms of financing available to small family businesses like Oalem Ltda
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It is easy to imagine some monstrous other embodying the unknown that is under one's bed, but hardly anyone imagines that the monster is the one tucking you into bed. The one you…
Abstract
It is easy to imagine some monstrous other embodying the unknown that is under one's bed, but hardly anyone imagines that the monster is the one tucking you into bed. The one you call mom. Departing from Cristina Santos's work, in this chapter, I will be examining the role of ‘pre-social’ news media (pre-Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) in depicting the ‘monstrous mother’, the mother who kills her own children. The television news medium holds large potential for the construction and maintenance of stagnant hegemonic values. Women, predominately mothers, continue to be characterised in media as nurturing, gentle and comforting. With a strategic absence of discourses surrounding the ‘monstrous mother’ in the early 2000 news media, it is important to consider the ways these mothers are constructed when these sweet caretakers turn into murderous villains. By examining the cases of Patsy Ramsey and Casey Anthony, I will be discussing how their stories were presented in the media as doubly monstrous, since they both committed crimes that contradict the expected role of a mother. Regardless of the time gap between these cases, ultimately, until ideas about women, women's bodies and women's roles change, women and mothers will continue to face constant scrutiny as media reflects current beliefs, ultimately allowing women and mothers to be equated with the monster.
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In the twenty-first century, the family has been turning towards a greater plurality of training paths, situations, family and parental arrangements. However, despite changes in…
Abstract
In the twenty-first century, the family has been turning towards a greater plurality of training paths, situations, family and parental arrangements. However, despite changes in legislation, values, representations and practices, the word family remains inexorably associated with the heterosexual bi-parental model. This paper aims to contribute to the knowledge of the family dynamics of non-heterosexual people, mainly concerning the process of transition to parenting, in relation to family changes in Portuguese society. To do so this study aims to analyze four in-depth interviews1 with young adults, women and men who have a homoconjugality relationship and a project of parenting in mind.
Based on a qualitative methodology the study intends to discuss issues related to the challenge of heteronormativity, equality within the couple, projects and gender representations of parenthood and in particular what it means for the men and women interviewed, to be a father and to be a mother in a same sex couple and how they project themselves as fathers and mothers.
The study discusses all these issues always in relation to the biographical trajectories, the history and life as a couple and the structural and individual resources, such as school and professional qualifications. It also analyzes the main difficulties experienced in revealing their sexuality to the significant others and the difficulties / strategies they anticipate in relation to the parenting project.
The authors conclude that female interviewees show greater independence of a male figure in relation to their parental projects and anticipate less difficulty in their parental skills compared with the gay man interviewed.
To analyze the dynamics of parenting in same-sex couples, this study also points out to the need to construct a model of analysis capable of articulating structural factors, such as job insecurity and heteronormativity, biographies and individual resources and profiles of conjugal interactions.
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Jonas da Silva Oliveira, Graça Maria do Carmo Azevedo, Cláudia da Silva Amaral Santos and Sandra Cristina Santos Vasconcelos
The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it intends to assess the level of comparability of the fair value-based valuation criteria for biological assets of Portuguese dairy…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it intends to assess the level of comparability of the fair value-based valuation criteria for biological assets of Portuguese dairy farms after the adoption of the Portuguese Accounting Standardization System. Second, it presents an innovative valuation model to assess the fair value of dairy herds.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper conducts a multiple case study at dairy farms in the central region of Portugal which had adopted the new Accounting Standardization System. Data were captured through interviews to assess how dairy farms were using the new valuation criteria required by this recent accounting frame of reference. A proposal for a model to measure fair value is presented.
Findings
Main findings indicate that market values for dairy production animals are inconsistent, reducing financial information comparability levels. To solve these problems, the authors propose a new model to assess fair value based on the net present value (NPV) of future cash-flows. This is a possible method to measure bovines that are in a breeding stage and it will assure the comparability of financial statements among dairy farms.
Research limitations/implications
The study is confined to one case study and one country, not allowing generalization.
Originality/value
Results indicate the need to harmonize one possible method for measuring cattle that are in a breeding stage. In order to overcome these shortcomings, a model was designed to calculate the fair value of dairy production based on the NPV of future economic benefits.
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Desktop robots are suitable for production line systems in industrial applications. Despite their capabilities to meet diverse requirements, they have to be programmed off‐line…
Abstract
Purpose
Desktop robots are suitable for production line systems in industrial applications. Despite their capabilities to meet diverse requirements, they have to be programmed off‐line using waypoints and path information. Misalignments in the workspace location during loading cause injuries in the workpiece and tool. Further, in flexible industrial production, machinery must adapt to changing product demands, both to the simultaneous production of different types of workpieces and to product styles with short life cycles. In this paper, visual data processing concepts on the basis of fuzzy logic are applied to enable an industrial desktop robot to raise its flexibility and address these problems that limit the production rate of small industries.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, a desktop robot performing dispensing tasks is equipped with a computer vision system. Visual information is used to autonomously change previously off‐line stored robot programs for known workpieces or to call worker's attention for unknown/misclassified workpieces. A fuzzy inference classifier based on a fuzzy grammar, is used to describe/identify workpieces. Fuzzy rules are automatically generated from features extracted from the workpiece under analysis.
Findings
Different types of workpieces were tested and a good rate performance, higher than 90 per cent, was achieved. The obtained results illustrate both the flexibility and robustness of the proposed solution as well as its capabilities for good classification of workpieces.
Practical implications
The overall system is being implemented in an industrial environment.
Originality/value
The paper reports a piece of solid work which indicates clearly that the work is suitable for industrial utilization.
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