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The first major nickel alloy introduced to the industry, about 100 years ago, was a Ni‐Cu alloy 400. This alloy is still widely used in a variety of industries and will continue to be used in this current century. Over the past 100 years, especially in the last 50 years, improvements in alloy metallurgy, melting technology, and thermo‐mechanical processing, along with a better fundamental understanding of the role of various alloying elements has led to new nickel alloys. These have not only extended the range of usefulness of existing alloys by overcoming their limitations, but are reliable and cost‐effective and have opened new areas of applications. This paper briefly describes the various nickel alloy systems developed during the last 100 years and comments on what the future holds for the newer alloys developed in the last 20 years and on the competition faced by these alloys in the new millennium. High‐temperature alloys are not discussed in this paper.

This is a study of ethical climates in nonprofit and government sectors in Japan, the aim of which is to determine the extent to which similarities (and differences) exist in ethical climate dimensions, what drives the differences and what are the implications for the sectors in this country.

Using survey data and structural equation modeling techniques, the factors structure equivalence and measurement invariance of ethical climates in the two sectors were tested. The original sample was made by 1,012 participants (500 public officials and 512 nonprofit executive directors). Due to some missing values, a net sample of 441 questionnaires (for nonprofit) and 321 questionnaires (for government) were used for the final analysis.

Results of this study indicate that there was a significant overlap in shared perception of all ethical climates in the two sectors. There should be an effort to continue building on these commonalities so as to provide an effective framework to build trusting relationships between the two sectors.

This study provides important insights that would allow policy makers in government to better understand the implications of using nonprofit partners to deliver services. It would also provide a theoretical and empirical starting point from which government‐nonprofits relationships in Japan can be better understood.

This was the first time that such a type of research was conducted in Japanese nonprofit and government sectors. Furthermore, among all the empirical studies on ethical climate, this is based on one of the largest sample of respondents in both sectors.

Purpose – this chapter contrasts the ethical climates in government and nonprofit organizations (npos) in japan, a setting where the relationship between these two sectors has been recognized as close and long-lasting (estevez-abe, 2003; hirata, 2002; ritu, 2008). Yet, there has been little comparison of the value difference (or congruence) or discussion of how this may influence their interaction over time. This chapter explains why nonprofit partners may be more attractive partners for governmental contracts, notwithstanding the dangers of “mission drift” (young & denize, 2008) and/or high monitoring costs (malloy & agarwal, 2008).

Design/methodology/approach – Using survey data from matched samples of nonprofits (441, 86% response rate) and governmental organizations (321, 64%), the factor structure equivalence and measurement invariance of ethical climates in these two sectors were rigorously tested.

Findings – The findings extend prior typologies of ethical climate from for-profit and nonprofit organizations to governmental organizations. The chapter revisits the notion of opportunism, which continues to be pervasive and problematic in third-sector studies (Hawkins, Gravier, & Powley, 2011) to suggest that significant overlap in ethical climates between nonprofit and governmental organizations rules out value differences as a possible source of opportunism.

Originality/value – This study contributes a deeper awareness of the similarities and differences in ethical perceptions between nonprofit and governmental organizations that can inform policy makers in government to better understand the implications of using nonprofit partners to deliver services.

The purpose of this paper is to show how, by looking within one group of nonprofits, perceptions of ethical climate may differ in the nonprofit sector, both within and between separate country contexts.

Executive directors in two groups of social services nonprofits in the UK and Japan were surveyed, and several subsequently interviewed, in accordance with the Ethical Climate Scale developed by Agarwal and Molloy.

The paper finds that perceptions of the ethical climate types relating to “independence” and “law and codes” were polarized, with executive directors in the UK being more likely to base moral decisions on the evaluation of rights, values or principles than on public opinion. In Japan, however, such decisions were predominantly focused on how they would impact on others, both within and outside the organization, in the context of personal responsibility to society and the maintenance of social order.

Social service nonprofits nowadays occupy a major role in the delivery of services which the state used to provide alone. It has therefore become essential for governments to be able to assess the internal culture of nonprofits in order to determine their trustworthiness and reliability, and the best yardstick for this is ethical climate. This research will help state and local government policy makers toward a better understanding of their contractors.

The originality of this study lies primarily in the fact that it was the first time that this type of research had compared similar nonprofit organizations in different countries.

The present study aims to examine the relationship between techno-ethical orientation and ethical decision-making (EDM) in Indian supply chain companies during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also aims to explore the moderating role of technological frames (TF) in the relationship between techno-ethical orientation and EDM.

The relationship between techno-ethical orientation and EDM is examined using correlation and regression analysis. The moderating effect of five dimensions of TFs (personal attitude, application value, organisational influence, supervisor influence and industry influence) is analysed using structural equation modelling.

The correlation coefficient between techno-ethical orientation and EDM is 0.513. Also, the regression coefficient (β = 0.213) is significant at 0.05, establishing a positive linkage between the two. R-square values showed a 45.2% variation in EDM is explained by techno-ethical orientation. Similarly, all variables of TFs have a positive and significant moderating effect on the relationship between techno-ethical orientation and EDM.

This is one of the pioneer studies exploring techno-ethical orientation’s impact on EDM in supply chain companies.

Using public universities as research setting, this study explored whether perception of the prevalence of instrumental ethical climate (IEC) differ among employees based on their gender, age, education levels, job tenure and status.

Structured survey questionnaires were used in collecting data, and responses from a final sample of 101 senior level university employees were used in the analysis.

Results of independent t-tests and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that although participants had a high overall perception of the presence of IEC in their organisations, statistically significant differences in perception were only found for the gender and education level groups. Furthermore, this research concludes that females are more perceptive of, and sensitive to, the existence of unethical decision-making conditions in their work place, compared to males employees; and that employees with low levels of education are more likely to perceive stronger levels of IECs in their work environment, compared to their more educated counterparts.

Although the sample size is large enough for the kind of inferential analytical method employed in this study, it may not be representative of all the public universities in Nigeria. Furthermore, given that private organisations may encourage different ethical work climates than public establishments, the generalisability of our findings is limited.

To reduce unethical practices in public universities, more women should be encouraged to take up top decision-making positions.

Compared to the general business and public service fields, the current study is one of very few studies that empirically examined individual-level antecedents of ethical climate in African Universities.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between ethical work climates (EWCs) and supplier selection decisions (SSDs), and the moderating roles of party politics and personal values on this relationship.

A total of 600 senior-level personnel from 40 Nigerian public organizations were surveyed using structured questionnaires. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses developed for the study after assessing construct reliability and validity.

Results show that both high and low levels of external political pressures significantly reduce the perception that organizational SSDs are ruled based and pro-social in nature. Furthermore, regardless of the level of perception of instrumental personal values by employees, instrumental ethical climates significantly determine SSDs; principled/cosmopolitan climate and benevolent/cosmopolitan climate only become significant perceptible determinants when there is less room for the accommodation of personal goals during SSD processes.

This study only examined the relationship between ethical climate perceptions and SSDs without controlling for the effects of some important possible intervening variables on this relationship. Therefore, the study encouraged future researcher to enhance the generalizability of the findings by incorporate relevant control variables in the model, as well as examining other decision phases in the public buying process.

This study is original to the extent that only a few studies in the literature are devoted to perceptions of EWCs in African organizations, and no previous studies have examined this phenomenon in relation to SSDs in Nigerian public firms.

Bimetallic composite pipe consists of a corrosion resistance alloy (CRA) layer for corrosion resistance and carbon steel for mechanical properties, which shows a promising prospect of gathering pipeline with its effective-cost and reliable corrosion resistance. However, the corrosion resistance of composite pipe is determined by the quality of its welding gap. This paper aims to investigate the TIG welding gap corrosion resistance of X52/825 metallurgical clad pipe in H₂S/CO₂ environment.

Corrosion tests of X52/825 welding gap were performed in a stimulated gas field solution containing both 1 MPa CO₂ and 1.5 MPa H₂S at 70°C for 720 h in a self-designed high temperature and high pressure autoclave. The anti-stress corrosion cracking (SCC) performance of X52/825 clad pipe ring root welding gap was investigated in both NACE A solution and the stimulant gas field solution by four point bending testing and constant load test. Then the experiments were rerun in XX high sour gas well. In addition, the alloy diffusion and microstructure characteristics of TIG welding gap were analyzed through scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy technologies.

The results reveal that the root welding gap is almost not corroded in the stimulant gas field solution, and no micro-cracks were observed by electron microscope. Anti-SCC test results show the root welding gap does not break, indicating a good resistance to environmental-cracking in H₂S/CO₂ environment. The transition layer can be obviously observed in the root welding zone, and the alloy content of transition layer is diluted. However, the transition layer does not penetrate into the inner of CRA layer, which illustrates its good anti-corrosion performance. Therefore, TIG welding technology can be well used in the welding process of composite pipe.

This paper may provide theoretical reference for manufacturing and application of clad pipe.

This review aims to give an overview about zinc oxide (ZnO) based gas sensors and the role of doping in enhancing the gas sensing properties. Gas sensors based on ZnO thin film are preferred for sensing applications because of their modifiable surface morphology, very large surface-to-volume ratio and superior stability due to better crystallinity. The gas detection mechanism involves surface reaction, in which the adsorption of gas molecules on the ZnO thin film affects its conductivity and reduces its electrical properties. One way to enhance the gas sensing properties is by doping ZnO with other elements. A few of the common and previously used dopants include tin (Sn), nickel (Ni) and gallium (Ga).

In this brief review, previous works on doped-ZnO formaldehyde sensing devices are presented and discussed.

Most devices provided good sensing performance with low detection limits. The reported operating temperatures were within the range of 200̊C –400̊C. The performance of the gas sensors can be improved by modifying their nanostructures and/or adding dopants.

As of yet, a specific review on formaldehyde gas sensors based on ZnO metal semiconductors has not been done.