Jane Magee and Elisabeth Thomas
The purpose of this paper is to discuss customizing an open‐source program called the Assignment Calculator into a tool designed specifically to serve the needs of students at…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss customizing an open‐source program called the Assignment Calculator into a tool designed specifically to serve the needs of students at California State University, Fresno, and at San José State University. The paper aims to discuss information literacy standards, students' need for convenient access to resources, time‐management and research help and the technical issues involved in such a project.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents how the steps and content of the open‐source tool were connected to the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Information Literacy Competency Standards. Subject matter was researched and evaluated from other tutorials to find the most valuable instructional concepts based on assessment of their students' needs. The paper discusses ways to customize, maintain and continue to revise the Assignment Calculator to keep it relevant and beneficial.
Findings
The customized online tool can help improve understanding of the library's role in information literacy and provides opportunity for librarians and faculty to collaborate. Statistics and a survey can yield information on usage and usefulness.
Originality/value
This case study reviews current research in incorporating information literacy concepts into an online tool. It describes the process for librarians to research and customize an open source tool and concludes that while it is initially time‐consuming, it is ultimately a rewarding experience which will improve students' understanding of these concepts.
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Alycia Jacob, Damhnat McCann, Penny Buykx, Brodie Thomas, Evelien Spelten, Rebecca Schultz, Leigh Kinsman and Elisabeth Jacob
This paper aims to illustrate the complexity of understanding and managing violent behaviour in health care. The authors will show how different perceptions of the reasons for…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to illustrate the complexity of understanding and managing violent behaviour in health care. The authors will show how different perceptions of the reasons for violent behaviour, and linkages between violent behaviour and illness have contributed to the creation of a wicked problem and added significant complexity to the management of violence towards staff within health-care settings. This paper will conclude with a call for strong multi-disciplinary action to address this ongoing issue.
Design/methodology/approach
A narrative review was undertaken to explore the ways that violence has been perceived in health care and the ways in which the concept of violence has moved from being seen as a criminal issue to being within the realms of disease. This paper will show the importance of understanding who is perpetrating violence in health care, why and in what settings. It will expound on the idea that considering violence as a consequence of disease necessarily adds a layer of complexity to both individual and organisational responses to violence towards health-care staff.
Findings
Understanding the complexity in preventing and managing violence against health-care staff can assist policymakers and managers to develop multi-faceted approaches to violence prevention, including better recognition and understanding of perpetrators of violence.
Originality/value
This paper provides a unique perspective on thinking about violence in health care and the implications of its complexity.
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Yoann Eulalie, Elisabeth Fournier, Philippe Gilotte, David Holst, Shaun Johnson, Christian Navid Nayeri, Thomas Schütz and Dirk Wieser
This paper aims to present an experimental investigation of an active flow control solution mounted at rear of a sport utility vehicle (SUV) with the objective of drag reduction…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present an experimental investigation of an active flow control solution mounted at rear of a sport utility vehicle (SUV) with the objective of drag reduction, thanks to a selection of flow control parameters leading to a pressure increase on the tailgate.
Design/methodology/approach
A flow control design of experiments was conducted with a pulsed jet system mounted on the top and sides of the rear window of the vehicle. The wall pressure, instantaneous velocity and drag were measured with this prototype in a wind tunnel. A dynamic modal decomposition (DMD) analysis of the pressure enables to describe the pressure fluctuations. Fluid dynamic computations show relation between pressure and velocity fields.
Findings
Measurements with this prototype in the wind tunnel revealed small improvements in drag for the best flow control configurations. This small benefit is because of the core of the upper span wise vortex further away from the rear window than the lower span wise vortex. These small improvements in drag were confirmed with pressure measurements on the rear window and tailgate. The DMD analysis of the surface pressure showed a low frequency pendulum oscillation on the lower area of the tailgate, linked with low velocity frequencies in the shear layers near the tailgate.
Originality/value
Experimental and numerical results show interest to increase pressure at bottom of the rear end of this SUV prototype. The dynamic description of the wall pressure shows importance of flow control solutions reducing pressure fluctuations at low frequencies in the lower area of the tailgate.
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Elisabeth Christine Brüggen, Thomas Post and Katharina Schmitz
People around the world are not sufficiently capable or willing to engage in retirement planning. New technological tools have been proposed as a promising solution to foster…
Abstract
Purpose
People around the world are not sufficiently capable or willing to engage in retirement planning. New technological tools have been proposed as a promising solution to foster involvement and consequently encourage retirement planning. This paper aims to test whether an interactive online pension planner can improve participants’ behaviour, behavioural intentions, attitude, knowledge and perceived ease of use, usefulness and enjoyment.
Design/methodology/approach
In collaboration with a company specialised in technologically advanced pension planners, three different versions of an online pension planner were created. The control condition only allowed participants to check their pension situation and the composition of future retirement income. In the medium interactivity level, participants could choose to modify certain variables affecting their pension income, on top of the features from the control. The highly interactive planner additionally included an interactive budget tool and showed whether the accumulated pension income was sufficient to cover the desired spending. Data were collected with the help of an online panel (N = 285).
Findings
This paper finds a positive effect of interactivity on behaviour within the planner, that is, the number of clicked options, as well as on participants’ intention to check their personal pension situation in the upcoming three to six months. Moreover, this paper finds gender differences: male participants prefer a high level of interactivity, while women prefer a medium level.
Research limitations/implications
An interesting modification to the current research design would be to use personal, self-relevant data in the online pension planner. Moreover, conducting the study in a computer laboratory could increase concentration on the task, and hence involvement. Next to gender, there might be other factors that possibly influence the results. It would be interesting to investigate other measures of behaviour such as the time spent on the pension planner. Further research should also study the effects of other features that shape user’s perception of interactivity, which include human-to-human interactivity.
Practical implications
The results show that technological services, such as advanced online pension planners, can positively affect engagement with retirement planning. Thus, pension providers are encouraged to use interactive online pension planners. The results with respect to gender suggest tailoring pension planners to match specific preferences of recipients. New service technologies provide novel opportunities to cater to individual differences by, for example, integrating less interactive features for women than for men in a pension planner. Moreover, cognitive involvement should be stimulated by integrating relevant, interesting and valuable information.
Social implications
Lack of engagement with retirement planning is an important challenge to Western societies. People who do not sufficiently search for information about their expected pension benefits may encounter significant pension gaps resulting in detrimental welfare effects at retirement. This problem is enhanced by the fact that increasingly, the risks and responsibility for retirement planning are being shifted towards pension plan participants themselves. Thus, finding ways to increase engagement with retirement planning by making use of advances in service technologies brings benefits to society.
Originality/value
First, this paper contributes to the customer engagement literature by studying how new technological interfaces improve user experiences, knowledge and engagement within the low involvement context of retirement planning. Second, this paper advances service research by zooming in on customer heterogeneity in using the technology-based online pension planner and studying the moderating effect of involvement and gender more closely. Third, this paper contributes to the financial services literature by studying how new service technologies can help to increase attitudes, knowledge and engagement with retirement planning.
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Julia Brannen, Rebecca O’Connell and Kia Ditlevsen
This chapter contributes to the literature on domestic food provisioning and food insecurity in contemporary Europe, focusing on lone-parent households living with a disability or…
Abstract
This chapter contributes to the literature on domestic food provisioning and food insecurity in contemporary Europe, focusing on lone-parent households living with a disability or long-term health condition, either of a parent and/or a child, in the United Kingdom and Denmark. Taking a comparative case approach, it examines parents' strategies to achieve food security through practices of ‘domestic food provisioning’ that draw on resources within and outside the household. Taking account of the multiple layers of context in which provisioning practices are embedded, this chapter identifies factors or mechanisms that enhance or reduce food security for families living with a disability or long-term health condition. At the micro-level of food preparation, these families experience challenges including cooking and requirements for labour-saving equipment, providing meals that meet the needs of selective eaters (often children), the need to rely on their children's help and for outsourced domestic labour through buying ready-made foods. At the meso-level of procurement and ‘physical access’ to shops, transport is crucial, with households experiencing differences in service provision. At the macro-level of national welfare systems and ‘economic access’ to food, this chapter points to evidence that Britain provides insufficient financial provision for those with a disability or long-term health condition compared with Denmark, differences reflected in the depth and rates of poverty and food insecurity between these countries. However, as the cases in both countries demonstrate, welfare benefits provide insufficient financial resources to access adequate nutritious food or meet customary norms.
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Wiebke Eberhardt, Thomas Post, Chantal Hoet and Elisabeth Brüggen
The authors develop and validate a conceptual model, the retirement engagement model (REM), to understand the relationships between behavioral engagement (retirement information…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors develop and validate a conceptual model, the retirement engagement model (REM), to understand the relationships between behavioral engagement (retirement information search), cognitive factors and engagement (e.g. beliefs and financial knowledge), emotional engagement (e.g. anxiety), and socio-demographic factors. Approach: The authors derive the REM through a three-step procedure: (1) an extensive literature review, (2) interactive feedback sessions with experts to confirm the model's academic and managerial relevance, and (3) an empirical test of the REM with field data (N = 583). The authors use a partial least squares (PLS) structural equation model and examine heterogeneity through a finite mixture model.
Design/methodology/approach
Around the globe, people are insufficiently engaged with retirement planning. The customer engagement literature offers rich insights into antecedents, outcomes, and barriers to engagement. However, customer engagement literature lacks insights into cognitive, emotional and behavioral factors that drive engagement in retirement planning, a utilitarian service context, which is important for financial well-being.
Findings
Beliefs such as perceived susceptibility, severity, benefits, barriers, and self-efficacy, together with trust and retirement anxiety, explain people's search for pension information. These factors can be used to define three clear, actionable segments of consumers.
Originality/value
The findings advance the customer engagement and transformative service research literature by generating insights on engagement with retirement planning, a utilitarian rather than hedonic service context that is especially relevant for financial well-being. The findings inform managerial practice and emphasize the relevance of including cognitive and emotional engagement factors that trigger behavioral engagement. The REM can help to improve pension communication. For example, the results indicate that marketers should stress the benefits of, rather than the barriers to, acquiring information.
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Howard Thomas, Helen Ougham and Dawn Sanders
The present paper aims to examine the concept of “plant blindness” in the context of current sustainability debates. “Plant blindness” was the term introduced in 1999 by the…
Abstract
Purpose
The present paper aims to examine the concept of “plant blindness” in the context of current sustainability debates. “Plant blindness” was the term introduced in 1999 by the botanists and educators James H Wandersee and Elisabeth E Schussler to describe what they saw as a pervasive insensitivity to the green environment and a general neglect of plants on the part of biology education.
Design/methodology/approach
The fundamental importance of plants for life on Earth and the socio-educational challenges of redacted awareness of this importance are considered. Also, the diverse physiological, psychological, philosophical, cultural and geopolitical origins and consequences of indifference to plants in relation to aspects of sustainability agendas are examined with special reference to education.
Findings
An examination of the outcomes of a range of research and practical initiatives reveals how multidisciplinary approaches to education and public engagement have the potential to address the challenge of “plant blindness”. The need for these opportunities to be reflected in curriculums is not widely appreciated, and the socio-economic forces of resistance to confronting plant neglect continue to be formidable.
Originality/value
Plant blindness is a relatively new field of research, and the full breadth of its implications are only gradually becoming apparent. If the present paper contributes to positioning plants as an essential element in sustainability education and practice, it will have met its objective.
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Scott J. Niblock and Elisabeth Sinnewe
The purpose of this paper is to examine whether superior risk-adjusted returns can be generated using monthly covered call option strategies in large capitalized Australian equity…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine whether superior risk-adjusted returns can be generated using monthly covered call option strategies in large capitalized Australian equity portfolios and across varying market volatility conditions.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors construct monthly in-the-money (ITM) and out-of-the-money (OTM) S&P/ASX 20 covered call portfolios from 2010 to 2015 and use standard and alternative performance measures. An assessment of variable levels of market volatility on risk-adjusted return performance is also carried out using the spread between implied and realized volatility indexes.
Findings
The results of this paper show that covered call writing produces similar nominal returns at lower risk when compared against the standalone buy-and-hold portfolio. Both standard and alternative performance measures (with the exception of the upside potential ratio) demonstrate that covered call portfolios produce superior risk-adjusted returns, particularly when written deeper OTM. The 36-month rolling regressions also reveal that deeper OTM portfolios deliver greater risk-adjusted returns in the majority of the sub-periods investigated. This paper also establishes that volatility spread variation may be a driver of performance for covered call writing in Australia.
Originality/value
The authors suggest that deeper OTM covered call strategies based on large capitalized portfolios create value for investors/fund managers in the Australian stock market and can be executed in volatile market conditions. Such strategies are particularly useful for those seeking market neutral asset allocation and less risk exposure in volatile market environments.