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The purpose of this paper is to present an exploratory analysis of campus community member (i.e. students, faculty, staff) definitions of sustainability, their perceptions of select elements of sustainability culture and the relationship between the two.

Researchers implemented a cross-sectional design where participants from two higher education institutions in the USA completed an online survey. The 352 respondents from James Madison University and 349 respondents from Wofford College included students, faculty and staff members. Descriptive statistics were used to examine patterns in the quantitative data, and an inductive theme approach was used to analyze the qualitative data.

This study provides evidence that sustainability is often viewed from an environmental lens, and personal definitions of sustainability may impact perceptions of campus sustainability culture elements. Generally, the highest rated elements of culture examined (i.e. university actions, signs and symbols and institutional commitments) were all aligned with the environment dimension of sustainability and consistent across sustainability definitions. However, respondents with a more integrative definition of sustainability expected to see elements of culture that aligned with the social dimension of sustainability at a considerably higher rate than the respondents who reported more narrow definitions of sustainability.

Lack of generalizability, low response rates and self-selection bias are some of the limitations of the study.

Personal definitions of sustainability may impact campus community member perceptions of sustainability culture and progress on their campuses. Practitioners may use this study to inform development of more effective strategies for creating and assessing the culture of sustainability that colleges and universities are pursuing.

The empirical analysis of campus community members on two very different campus communities responds to Owens and Legere (2015) who argue for further studies to understand the concept of sustainability at other higher education institutions that are at different stages of pursuing sustainability. This paper links research about sustainability definitions to the emergent research on campus sustainability culture, filling a gap between these two areas.

The purpose of this paper is to conceptually and empirically explore issues that explain why women entrepreneurs access only a small percentage of venture capital (VC) investment in the USA.

The focus is on the situations women entrepreneurs face, and the strategies they adopt, to successfully fund their high‐growth businesses with venture funding. Rather than looking for answers at the individual level (men v women), the authors focus on the construct of gender and the way that the socially constructed business practices and processes of access to capital may appear neutral and natural but, in fact, may deliver differential consequences to women and men. When entrepreneurs and capital providers are interacting around the terms and particulars of a business venture, they are also participating in a less obvious conversation – an interaction that is call the Shadow Negotiation. Through interviews with women who have been successful or are in the process of accessing VC for their businesses, patterns of women's awareness and strategic responses that illustrate this phenomenon are identified and their implications discussed.

Women are actors with agency, taking control over situations that may be stacked against them. The analysis suggests that women entrepreneurs vary in the degree to which they identify the gendered landscape they are navigating, and the level of attention and care that management of this landscape demands.

This study complements existing research, both theoretically and prescriptively.

In this chapter, my aim is to describe and analyse conceptually and provide direction for the identification, selection and use of assistive technologies (ATs) to support the education and development of young children with disabilities. The chapter discusses the quality of early intervention practices and the pragmatic role of ATs in delivering effective early intervention impacts. In making this case, the chapter draws upon Vygotsky's cultural-historical theory to illuminate how ATs can be selected and used effectively in schools to enable all young children to thrive in their learning and development in inclusive classrooms.

After the COVID-19 epidemic, educational paradigms experienced radical changes, especially in the way that architecture was taught. This chapter explores how architecture education evolved because of the current economic crisis, and how COVID-19 has affected instructional approaches. The main goal is to expose emerging educational strategies and their consequences for encouraging flexibility and resilience in architectural instructors and students. The study used a mixed-methods research methodology to gather information from stakeholders, educators, and students of architecture by combining document analysis of academic theses and publications with semi-structured interviews. Data analysis techniques such as thematic coding and pattern recognition revealed distinct categories of influencing factors, such as technological advancements, pedagogical modifications, student engagement and support, curriculum changes, faculty development, resource allocation, assessment and evaluation, as well as global and cultural considerations. The results highlight the varied and dynamic character of the pandemic’s effect. The crisis sparked a faster adoption of digital technologies, bringing forth blended learning and novel pedagogical approaches. As a significant result, resilience helped instructors and students overcome uncertainty by enhancing flexibility and using transdisciplinary methods. It also demonstrates how architectural education has persevered in the face of the COVID-19 epidemic and has the potential to spur larger changes in education. The possibility of sample bias and the crisis’s dynamic character are limits, though. Future research might examine the long-term effects of these emerging methods beyond crisis situations to expand the study’s results and influence the ongoing development of architectural pedagogy in a continuously changing global environment.

Influencer marketing in the traditional sense is changing and taking on a new and creative form. Previously, classic influencers were real, human people, now there is a rise in fake, artificial influencers who are opening up innovative means for brand–influencer collaborations over a variety of platforms. Computer-generated imagery influencers (CGIIs) are blurring the lines between the concept of real and fake people and with that numerous brands have begun creatively integrating them into both their marketing strategies and campaigns. This chapter contributes to the largely unexplored phenomena of CGIIs with a focus on the social media platform Instagram. Following a qualitative approach, the research provides a first detailed classification of CGIIs according to the categories demographics, positioning, behaviour and brand collaborations, and followers. As a frame of analysis, the current top 20 CGIIs (those with the most followers on Instagram) were investigated according to the top rankings outlined by HypeAuditor in 2019. The research resulted in the findings that CGIIs from their profile tend to be mostly female, of Asian origin, aged between 18 and 25 years old, and their content is most predominantly related to lifestyle and fashion. Also discussed in this chapter are six case studies evaluating creative brand collaborations with CGIIs in order to gain insights, as well as a first guideline to best practices. These collaborations can be seen across a spectrum of multiple different industries, such as luxury, home and interior, service, people, technology, and fashion.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an efficient method for solving the magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) boundary layer flow of an upper-convected Maxwell (UCM) fluid over a porous isothermal stretching sheet.

The paper applied a collocation approach based on rational Legendre functions for solving the third-order non-linear boundary value problem, describing the MHD boundary layer flow of an UCM fluid over a porous isothermal stretching sheet. This method solves the problem on the semi-infinite domain without transforming domain of the problem to a finite domain.

This approach reduces the solution of a problem to the solution of a system of algebraic equations. The numerical values of the skin friction coefficient are presented and analyzed for various parameters of interest in the problem. The authors also compare the results of this work with some recent results and show that the new method is efficient and applicable.

The method solves this problem without use of discrete variables and linearization or small perturbation. Also it was confirmed by the theorem and figure of absolute coefficients that this approach has exponentially convergence rate.

Purpose – Obesity has reached epidemic levels in the United States and many other affluent countries and is a growing problem in some developing countries. World Health Organization estimates that the global rate will reach 13 percent by 2015. Because obesity increases the risk of many diseases ranging from type 2 diabetes and asthma to cardiovascular disease and some cancers, it threatens to undermine twentieth-century gains in life expectancy. This chapter offers a theoretical model of obesity that postulates the epidemic is a latent dysfunction of macro-structural changes initiated by industrialization that have decreased the physical activity of everyday life and promoted a nutrition transition to a high-calorie diet.

Methodology/approach – Comparative and historical population data are presented that generally support the conceptual model, although some significant cultural differences are found in particular race/ethnic groups.

Findings – The finding that structural changes in society created and continue to support the obesity epidemic will make it difficult to control by focusing only on health education campaigns aimed at changing individual behaviors.

Contribution to the Field – This chapter offers data and analysis that can support policy making needed to change the structural influences.

The authors presented the time-dependent flow of an upper-convected Maxwell (UCM) fluid in the presence of chemical reaction, thermal-diffusion and diffusion-thermo effects. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Recent technique namely homotopy analysis method (HAM) is utilized to compute the solution of the problem.

Chemical reaction has opposite effects on the concentration field for the destructive and constructive cases. The Deborah number acts as a retarding agent.

Combined effects of thermal-diffusion, diffusion-thermo and chemical reaction are analyzed.

This paper aims to report on the University of Denver Penrose Library's Research Center, a new reference service model created to respond to the changing needs of students and to strengthen the connection between research and writing.

An increase in reference questions requiring more time, a financial gift to the university which provided an opportunity to propose a new vision of integrating research and writing, and the opening of a new Writing Center in the library prompted the reference librarians to implement a consultation model in fall quarter 2008. A highly visible, dedicated space for one‐on‐one, in‐depth consultations, the Research Center reinforces skills learned in library instruction sessions and effectively promotes reference services.

A successful new Research Center reaches a larger segment of the university community, better serves student research needs, and enhances library instructional services. During the course of the academic year, 856 consultations were provided to students and faculty, attesting to the popularity of the service.

More robust assessment data are needed to establish the impact of the Research Center on student learning.

The paper outlines a successful method of delivering research services that leverages existing staff resources, increases the visibility of library services, and provides more personalized, in‐depth research consultations to the university community.

Adapted from the Writing Center consultation model, the Research Center's prominent location and configuration encourage active learning interactions, complement the library instruction program, and actively promote consultations with subject‐specialist librarians.