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1 – 10 of 50Brian McBreen, John Silson and Denise Bedford
In this chapter, the authors build upon the value and the gaps of the traditional model to propose a more strategic and comprehensive framework for designing and conducting…
Abstract
Chapter Summary
In this chapter, the authors build upon the value and the gaps of the traditional model to propose a more strategic and comprehensive framework for designing and conducting intelligence work. The future of intelligence work in the knowledge economy requires a new approach. The new framework includes four primary intelligence capabilities, including design, analysis, automation and operationalize, and accelerate. The framework applies to any organization operating in any economic sector.
R. Maule, G. Schacher and S. Gallup
Government agencies carry out many events each year designed to determine future requirements and capabilities. These events include field experiments, surveys, interviews…
Abstract
Government agencies carry out many events each year designed to determine future requirements and capabilities. These events include field experiments, surveys, interviews, simulations and workshops. Similar themes are evident across many of these events. Unfortunately, mechanisms for passing information from one event to the next, or for developing bodies of knowledge in the topical areas they address, have yet to be fully developed. The task is difficult on two fronts. In response to this need a knowledge management capability was developed to help provide structure for dynamic and static data and thereby, aid in the analysis of complex experimentation. The system warehouses qualitative and quantitative data and supports mining operations through a number of traditional and artificial intelligence‐based techniques. Described are the information architecture of the system, the knowledge processing methodologies, and the structure of the thematic data sets that form the knowledge ontologies.
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Examines the twelfth published year of the ITCRR. Runs the whole gamut of textile innovation, research and testing, some of which investigates hitherto untouched aspects. Subjects…
Abstract
Examines the twelfth published year of the ITCRR. Runs the whole gamut of textile innovation, research and testing, some of which investigates hitherto untouched aspects. Subjects discussed include cotton fabric processing, asbestos substitutes, textile adjuncts to cardiovascular surgery, wet textile processes, hand evaluation, nanotechnology, thermoplastic composites, robotic ironing, protective clothing (agricultural and industrial), ecological aspects of fibre properties – to name but a few! There would appear to be no limit to the future potential for textile applications.
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Examines the eleventh published year of the ITCRR. Runs the whole gamut of textile innovation, research and testing, some of which investigates hitherto untouched aspects…
Abstract
Examines the eleventh published year of the ITCRR. Runs the whole gamut of textile innovation, research and testing, some of which investigates hitherto untouched aspects. Subjects discussed include cotton fabric processing, asbestos substitutes, textile adjuncts to cardiovascular surgery, wet textile processes, hand evaluation, nanotechnology, thermoplastic composites, robotic ironing, protective clothing (agricultural and industrial), ecological aspects of fibre properties – to name but a few! There would appear to be no limit to the future potential for textile applications.
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Iris Reychav and Jacob Weisberg
This paper seeks to present an innovative scale that sheds light on the ways in which intentions to share explicit and tacit knowledge impact actual knowledge‐sharing behavior.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to present an innovative scale that sheds light on the ways in which intentions to share explicit and tacit knowledge impact actual knowledge‐sharing behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data were collected from a total of 278 hi‐tech workers. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to assess the research model.
Findings
SEM shows that the intention to share explicit knowledge influences explicit knowledge‐sharing behavior to an equal extent both directly and indirectly. By contrast tacit knowledge‐sharing behavior is influenced directly to a greater extent by the intention to share tacit knowledge and less indirectly by the intention to share explicit knowledge.
Research limitations/implications
The study provides a potential tool that may be applied by managers for the purpose of measuring explicit and tacit knowledge‐sharing intention and behavior. Its limitations are due to the limited socio‐economic and geographic variability of the companies and people that were studied, which may need further studies to substantiate.
Originality/value
Whereas there is a consensus as to the need for and the benefits of sharing knowledge, there are no tools for measuring the roots of sharing behavior. The scale presented here captures the underlying intention, measures it, and assesses the resulting behavior.
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Marie Schacher, Youssef Haïkel, Stéphane Berger, Laurence Schacher and Dominique C. Adolphe
For years, the main reason for using textiles in the health care sector was to protect the patient from the medical staff. Nowadays, the garment has to play another role and…
Abstract
Purpose
For years, the main reason for using textiles in the health care sector was to protect the patient from the medical staff. Nowadays, the garment has to play another role and protect the wearer. For dentists, risks can come from saliva which is considered potentially infectious because it frequently contains blood. This paper aims to define dentist gown specifications according to the new situation, and to propose new garments providing safety protective function as well as comfort.
Design/methodology/approach
Enquiries, direct interviews as well as internet forums have been used to extract dentists' requirements taking into account their need of barrier and their comfort concerns. Studies of the spraying area on the gowns have been performed to define the location of the required protection. A study of the warmer zone of the garment via IR camera has been done. Two prototypes have then been constructed and tested.
Findings
Images of impacts of drops that could cause cross‐infection allow defining the zones which are to be specifically protected. Thermographic images provide maps of hot zones of the garment when worn in working conditions, and information is obtained of desired open space zones which have been designed to create preferential ventilation required for comfort improvement. A second prototype was designed to improve results of the first one.
Practical implications
Replacement of current dentists garment in routine situation.
Originality/value
Dentists' gowns used in dental care have not been studied and not been redesigned yet, whereas new dentists are facing new risks and eagerly looking for personal protective equipment providing safety protective function as well as comfort.
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Selsabil El‐Ghezal Jeguirim, Mahdi Sahnoun, Amal Babay Dhouib, Morched Cheickrouhou, Laurence Schacher and Dominique Adolphe
The purpose of this paper is to model the relationship between manufacturing parameters, especially finishing treatments and instrumental tactile properties measured by Kawabata…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to model the relationship between manufacturing parameters, especially finishing treatments and instrumental tactile properties measured by Kawabata evaluation system.
Design/methodology/approach
Two soft computing approaches, namely artificial neural network (ANN) and fuzzy inference system (FIS), have been applied to predict the compression and surface properties of knitted fabrics from finishing process. The prediction accuracy of these models was evaluated using both the root mean square error and mean relative percent error.
Findings
The results revealed the model's ability to predict instrumental tactile parameters based on the finishing treatments. The comparison of the prediction performances of both techniques showed that fuzzy models are slightly more powerful than neural models.
Originality/value
This study provides contribution in industrial products engineering, with minimal number of experiments and short cycles of product design. In fact, models based on intelligent techniques, namely FIS and ANNs, were developed for predicting instrumental tactile characteristics in reference to finishing treatments.
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E. Strazdienė, S. Ben Saïd, M. Gutauskas, L. Schacher and D.C. Adolphe
The aim of presented investigation was to test developed testing device Griff tester, created for the objective evaluation of textile hand and to compare the obtained data with…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of presented investigation was to test developed testing device Griff tester, created for the objective evaluation of textile hand and to compare the obtained data with sensory evaluation results of textiles, subjected to different final treatments.
Design/methodology/approach
The effect of two finishing products, i.e. the crease‐resistant finishing Knittex® “K” and the softener macro silicone Ultratex® “Ul” upon 100 per cent cotton plain weave fabric was studied by two methods – objective evaluation and sensory analysis. Objective evaluation was done using Griff tester device where disc shaped specimen was extracted through a rounded hole of the stand. Sensory analysis was performed by the panel of 11 trained persons.
Findings
Investigations have shown that both treatments changed the hand of the fabric in the expected direction. Meantime, two experimental methods (objective and sensory approach) have shown their effectiveness to evaluate the textile touch, respectively.
Practical implications
The obtained results proved that criterion Q can be used for sensitive and vivid detection of differences between fabrics, affected by different final treatment operations. The effects of finishing products' concentrations were found to be in accordance with the manufacturer's technical specifications and with the finishing industrialist's expectations.
Originality/value
Investigation results obtained by Griff tester revealed the possibility of fabric hand evaluation on the basis of one relative criterion Q. These results can be linked with some attribute issued of the sensory analysis applied to the characterisation of the tactile feeling.
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Ming Fu, Wenguo Weng and Hongyong Yuan
– The purpose of this paper is to measure the thermal insulation of protective clothing with multilayer gaps in low-level heat exposures.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to measure the thermal insulation of protective clothing with multilayer gaps in low-level heat exposures.
Design/methodology/approach
Nine different combinations of protective clothing systems with multiple air gaps are used to measure the thermal insulation by a self-designed bench-scale test apparatus in different levels of an external thermal radiation of 2-10 kW/m2. The outside and inside surface temperatures of each fabric layer are also measured to calculate the local thermal insulation of each fabric layer and each air gap.
Findings
The results show that the total thermal insulation of protective clothing under thermal radiation is less than that in normal environments, and the exposed thermal radiation will worsen the total thermal insulation of the multilayer fabric systems. Air gap plays a positive role in the total thermal insulation, and thus provides the enhanced thermal protection. It is also suggested that the local resistance of the air gap closer to the external thermal radiation is more easily affected by the thermal radiation, due to the different heat transfer ways in the fabric system and the external thermal radiation.
Originality/value
Effects of air gap on the thermal insulation of protective clothing, and contribution of the local thermal resistance of each fabric layer and each air gap to the total thermal insulation.
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Ikhlaq ur Rehman, Uzma Majeed and Shabir Ahmad Ganaie
Continuous professional development (CPD) plays a crucial role in the library workplace by equipping library and information science (LIS) professionals with the skills and…
Abstract
Purpose
Continuous professional development (CPD) plays a crucial role in the library workplace by equipping library and information science (LIS) professionals with the skills and technical knowledge to bridge the theory-praxis gap, assuring that library practitioners and their organisations continue to innovate and stay successful and tailored to the requirement of their users. The aim of the study was to investigate the channels of CPD for LIS professionals working in the university libraries of Northern India. Also, it explored the motivations and barriers related to the LIS professionals’ CPD.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopted a quantitative research design followed by the survey research method. The study population included LIS professionals working in the university libraries of Northern India. Data was gathered from 177 respondents via the census sampling method.
Findings
LIS professionals engaged in CPD activities through multiple channels. Intrinsic factors primarily governed the motivation for CPD. Similarly, time and finance were significant challenges for LIS CPD. Lastly, most libraries were headed by in-charge librarians (non-professionals). De-professionalisation, or the deliberate de-skilling of professional roles, threatens the basis upon which librarians establish their credibility as professionals.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the study is the first of its kind from the perspective of a developing country, adding to the CPD literature in academic libraries.
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