Otávio Cavalett and Enrique Ortega
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the soybean agricultural production system and the subsequent industrialization processes in order to assess the environmental…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the soybean agricultural production system and the subsequent industrialization processes in order to assess the environmental sustainability of the soybean chain in Brazil and, also, to evaluate the amount emergy exchanged in the soybean trade.
Design/methodology/approach
The emergy accounting methodology was used as analysis tool in this paper.
Findings
The main findings were, first, the distribution of emergy flows inputs according to soybean chain stages, being 94 percent used by the agricultural production system, 1 percent used by transport to industry, 4 percent used by crushing, and 1 percent for oil refining. Second, emergy indicators showed negative sustainability trends trough the soybean chain stages. Third, the emergy exchange ratio demonstrated that the soybean farmers are delivering around five times more emergy with the soybean sold that the emergy they are receiving with the money paid for it and, thereby, depleting its local natural resources.
Practical implications
The agricultural production stage uses the highest amount of resources. Therefore, any improvement in the management of this stage will result in improvement of the whole soybean chain. In this context, the adoption of more sustainable soybean agricultural production systems becomes fundamental for the long‐term environmental sustainability of the soybean chain. Organic production models and agro‐forestry technologies should be used toward more sustainable soybean chain because it can help to decrease the dependence of the soybean production systems on external non renewable resources.
Originality/value
Emergy accounting methodology provides a very comprehensive tool to complement and complete energy, economic and social information about the soybean chain in Brazil. The emergy exchange ratio provides information to access and enrich the discussion about soybean fair trade.
Details
Keywords
Roberto Flores, Enrique Ortega and Eugenio Onate
The purpose of this paper is to describe a set of simple yet effective, numerical method for the design and evaluation of parachute-payload system. The developments include a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe a set of simple yet effective, numerical method for the design and evaluation of parachute-payload system. The developments include a coupled fluid-structural solver for unsteady simulations of ram-air type parachutes. The main features of the computational tools are described and several numerical examples are provided to illustrate the performance and capabilities of the technique.
Design/methodology/approach
For an efficient solution of the aerodynamic problem, an unsteady panel method has been chosen exploiting the fact that large areas of separated flow are not expected under nominal flight conditions of ram-air parachutes. A dynamic explicit finite element solver is used for the structure. This approach yields a robust solution even when highly nonlinear effects due to large displacements and material response are present. The numerical results show considerable accuracy and robustness.
Findings
A simple and effective numerical tool for the analysis of parachutes has been developed.
Originality/value
An analysis code has been developed which addresses the needs of ram-air parachute designers. The software delivers reasonably accurate results in a short time using modest hardware. It can therefore assist the design process, which nowadays relies on empirical methods.
Details
Keywords
Avant‐propos sous les auspices de l'Institut international de Coopération intellectuelle, paraissait en 1934 le t. I, consacré à l'Europe, du Guide international des Archives. Le…
Abstract
Avant‐propos sous les auspices de l'Institut international de Coopération intellectuelle, paraissait en 1934 le t. I, consacré à l'Europe, du Guide international des Archives. Le questionnaire envoyé à tous les États européens comportait sous les points 4 et 6 les questions suivantes: ‘Existe‐t‐il un guide général pour les diverses catégories d'Archives ou des guides particuliers pour l'une ou l'autre d'entre elles?’ et ‘Existe‐t‐il des catalogues imprimés, des publications tant officielles que privées, susceptibles de constituer un instrument complet de référence pour tout ou partie importante des fonds d'archives?’ Les réponses des divers pays à ces questions, malgré leur caractère très inégal, ont fait du Guide international un bon instrument d'information générale sur les Archives. Malheureusement les circonstances ont empêché la publication du volume consacré aux États non européens, tandis que le temps qui s'écoulait tendait à rendre périmés les renseignements fournis sur les Archives européennes.
César Lenin Navarro-Chávez, Odette V. Delfin-Ortega and Enrique Guardado Ibarra
The purpose of this paper is to determine the level of technical efficiency of the main oil countries worldwide during the period 2010–2017.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine the level of technical efficiency of the main oil countries worldwide during the period 2010–2017.
Design/methodology/approach
The use of the network data envelopment analysis model (NDM) is proposed, in which the technical efficiency of each node is calculated. For the development of the model, three main nodes were identified: exploration and production, industrial transformation and commercialization. Finally, NDM for the international oil industry will be structured, and efficiency will be calculated at the global level and at each node.
Findings
The analysis of the results of the application of the NDM raised that the most efficient node was exploration and production, whereas the efficient oil countries were the USA, France, the United Arab Emirates and Angola.
Research limitations/implications
The limitation presented in this investigation was the availability of data.
Practical implications
The practical implications of this type of study are that, through the results obtained, proposals can be made in the oil industry to improve each of the nodes or areas in which efficiency was not reached, as well as make better use of the resources available to this industry in each country.
Social implications
The social implications of this study are the basis for developing energy policies in the oil industry to help improve the quality of life of users.
Originality/value
The value and originality of this study is based on the joint implementation of the NDM methodology.
Details
Keywords
Eva M. Pertusa‐Ortega, José F. Molina‐Azorín and Enrique Claver‐Cortés
The contingency theory holds that organizations in fit have higher performance levels than those in misfit. However, the results obtained in previous research works are far from…
Abstract
The contingency theory holds that organizations in fit have higher performance levels than those in misfit. However, the results obtained in previous research works are far from homogeneous. The purpose of this study is to compare various fit perspectives seeking to check whether or not the divergence in results might derive from the use of different types of fit. The findings in this paper largely fail to confirm the fit‐performance links described in the traditional contingency theory. Some arguments are proposed in an attempt to explain this fact.
Details
Keywords
José Luis Ortega, Enrique Orduña-Malea and Isidro F. Aguillo
Title and URL mentions have recently been proposed as web visibility indicators instead of inlink counts. The objective of this study is to determine the accuracy of these…
Abstract
Purpose
Title and URL mentions have recently been proposed as web visibility indicators instead of inlink counts. The objective of this study is to determine the accuracy of these alternative web mention indicators in the Spanish academic system, taking into account their complexity (multi-domains) and diversity (different official languages).
Design/methodology/approach
Inlinks, title and URL mentions from 76 Spanish universities were manually extracted from the main search engines (Google, Google Scholar, Yahoo!, Bing and Exalead). Several statistical methods, such as correlation, difference tests and regression models, were used.
Findings
Web mentions, despite some limitations, can be used as substitutes for inlinks in the Spanish academic system, although these indicators are more likely to be influenced by the environment (language, web domain policy, etc.) than inlinks.
Research limitations/implications
Title mentions provide unstable results caused by the multiple name variants which an institution can present (such as acronyms and other language versions). URL mentions are more stable, but they may present atypical points due to some shortcomings, the effect of which is that URL mentions do not have the same meaning as inlinks.
Practical implications
Web mentions should be used with caution and after a cleaning-up process. Moreover, these counts do not necessarily signify connectivity, so their use in global web analysis should be limited.
Originality/value
Web mentions have previously been used in some specific academic systems (US, UK and China), but this study analyses, in depth and for the first time, an entire non-English speaking European country (Spain), with complex academic web behaviour, which helps to better explain previous web mention results.
Details
Keywords
Enrique Orduña-Malea, Juan M. Ayllón, Alberto Martín-Martín and Emilio Delgado López-Cózar
Google Scholar Citations (GSC) provides an institutional affiliation link which groups together authors who belong to the same institution. The purpose of this paper is to…
Abstract
Purpose
Google Scholar Citations (GSC) provides an institutional affiliation link which groups together authors who belong to the same institution. The purpose of this paper is to ascertain whether this feature is able to identify and normalize all the institutions entered by the authors, and whether it is able to assign all researchers to their own institution correctly.
Design/methodology/approach
Systematic queries to GSC’s internal search box were performed under two different forms (institution name and institutional e-mail web domain) in September 2015. The whole Spanish academic system (82 institutions) was used as a test. Additionally, specific searches to companies (Google) and world-class universities were performed to identify and classify potential errors in the functioning of the feature.
Findings
Although the affiliation tool works well for most institutions, it is unable to detect all existing institutions in the database, and it is not always able to create a unique standardized entry for each institution. Additionally, it also fails to group all the authors who belong to the same institution. A wide variety of errors have been identified and classified.
Research limitations/implications
Even though the analyzed sample is good enough to empirically answer the research questions initially proposed, a more comprehensive study should be performed to calibrate the real volume of the errors.
Practical implications
The discovered affiliation link errors prevent institutions from being able to access the profiles of all their respective authors using the institutions lists offered by GSC. Additionally, it introduces a shortcoming in the navigation features of Google Scholar which may impair web user experience.
Social implications
Some institutions (mainly universities) are under-represented in the affiliation feature provided by GSC. This fact might jeopardize the visibility of institutions as well as the use of this feature in bibliometric or webometric analyses.
Originality/value
This work proves inconsistencies in the affiliation feature provided by GSC. A whole national university system is systematically analyzed and several queries have been used to reveal errors in its functioning. The completeness of the errors identified and the empirical data examined are the most exhaustive to date regarding this topic. Finally, some recommendations about how to correctly fill in the affiliation data (both for authors and institutions) and how to improve this feature are provided as well.
Details
Keywords
Enrique Orduña-Malea, Alberto Martín-Martín, Juan M. Ayllon and Emilio Delgado López-Cózar
The purpose of this paper is to describe the obsolescence process of Microsoft Academic Search (MAS) as well as the effects of this decline in the coverage of disciplines and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the obsolescence process of Microsoft Academic Search (MAS) as well as the effects of this decline in the coverage of disciplines and journals, and their influence in the representativeness of organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
The total number of records and those belonging to the most reputable journals (1,762) and organizations (346) according to the Field Rating indicator in each of the 15 fields and 204 sub-fields of MAS, have been collected and statistically analysed in March 2014, by means of an automated querying process via http, covering academic publications from 1700 to present.
Findings
MAS has no longer been updated since 2013, although this phenomenon began to be glimpsed in 2011, when its coverage plummeted. Throughout 2014, indexing of new records is still ongoing, but at a minimum rate, without following any apparent pattern.
Research limitations/implications
There are also retrospective records being indexed at present. In this sense, this research provides a picture of what MAS offered during March 2014 being queried directly via http.
Practical implications
The unnoticed obsolescence of MAS affects to the quality of the service offered to its users (both those who engage in scientific information seeking and also those who use it for quantitative purposes).
Social implications
The predominance of Google Scholar (GS) as monopoly in the academic search engines market as well as the prevalence of an open construction model (GS) vs a closed model (MAS).
Originality/value
A complete longitudinal analysis of disciplines, journals and organizations on MAS has been performed for the first time identifying an unnoticed obsolescence. Any public explanation or disclaimer note has been announced from the responsible company, something incomprehensible given its implications for the reliability and validity of bibliometric data provided on disciplines, journals, authors and congress as well as their fair representation on the academic search engine.
Details
Keywords
Eva M. Pertusa‐Ortega, Enrique Claver‐Cortés and José F. Molina‐Azorín
The purpose of this paper is to jointly analyse external adjustment (environment‐strategy) and internal adjustment (strategy‐structure), and their influence on firm performance in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to jointly analyse external adjustment (environment‐strategy) and internal adjustment (strategy‐structure), and their influence on firm performance in a set of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of a European‐Mediterranean region in order to check whether models mainly validated in US firms are applied in this context.
Design/methodology/approach
Following a quantitative methodological approach, a survey was applied to a sample of 91 SMEs of Alicante (Spain) from different industries in order to contrast nine hypotheses. Various statistical procedures were used, such as cluster analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Moreover, external and internal adjustment indices have been created.
Findings
Findings show that traditional theoretical models are not exactly applicable in a context of European‐Mediterranean SMEs. Cost leadership strategy is not associated with a favourable environment, and innovation differentiation strategy is not associated with organic structures. The relationship between adjustment and performance is partially confirmed.
Research limitations/implications
The caveats normally associated with survey methods apply, as do those related to the use of cross‐sectional and managerial perceptions data. Besides, the findings are limited to SMEs.
Practical implications
Implications for SME managers regarding the fit between environment, strategy, structure and its effect on performance are addressed. The results can serve as guidelines that will help managers in the formulation and adoption of their strategies.
Originality/value
The interest of this paper is that two issues often treated separately are now jointly analysed: internal and external adjustments. Moreover, it supplies empirical evidence of these issues in a European‐Mediterranean region, in which no similar studies have been carried out until now.