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The purpose of this paper was to investigate and evaluate the influence of geometrical and structural design changes in order to reduce shear-lag and increase specific strength and stiffness of thin-walled composite I-beam wing spars.

A detailed FEM model of a cantilevered I-beam spar was used to investigate the influence of increased transition fillet radius and increased web sandwich core thickness on the shear-lag effect at different width to thickness ratios of flanges. Evaluation functions were used to assess specific strength and stiffness of different spar configurations.

Increased web core thickness has greater influence on normal stress distribution and the reduction of the shear-lag than fillet size. Additional weight of thicker core is not compensated enough through reduction of stress concentration. Increased transition fillet and web core thickness increase optimum flanges width to thickness ratio. Shear-lag reduces the strength of the spar more than the stiffness of the spar.

Findings in this study and detailed insight in the shear-lag effect are important for aircraft design when minimum weight of the airframe is of supreme importance.

This combined shear-lag and weight optimization study deals with composite I-beams and loads that are specific for aerospace engineering. This study does not only evaluate the shear-lag phenomena, but primarily analyses fine structural details in order to reduce it, and increases specific strength and stiffness of I-beam spars.

The purpose of this paper is to report on an industry policy implementation case involving around 30 manufacturing firms, where the intellectual capital (IC) lens, and especially the intellectual capital navigator (ICN) approach, was found to be very useful for evaluating alternative servitisation strategies. Servitisation is a form of business model innovation and as such involves restructuring the firm’s resource deployment system including its IC resources.

The ICN was one of several methods and themes used by a sample of manufacturing firms during a 12 month period. Data capture were through video filming, observation, and formal interviewing during and after the interventions.

The ICN is considered to be the third most valuable theme in a strategic and operational servitisation programme for manufacturing firms, primarily in the domain of effectiveness evaluation of alternative resource deployment strategies and as such should be one of the key dimensions in a business model template for manufacturing firms that aim to servitize. This research also illustrates the usefulness of the intellectual capital lens in the policy implementation process.

The findings of this study is limited to the servitization process of SME manufacturing firms in an Anglo-Saxon operating environment which very rapidly have gone from low to high cost.

The development of service-oriented business models for manufacturing firms suffers due to traditional business model frameworks not having a high relevance for servitising manufacturing firm. Consequently it is important to understand the potential contribution that the IC lens through the ICN can make in the servitisation process.

Roma in Croatia are spatially, economically and politically marginalised. There is a social gap between Roma minority and the majority of population. Prejudice and stereotypes against the Roma community are deeply rooted in the mind of the local community due to their insufficient knowledge of the Roma culture. The women of the Roma ethnicity are doubly marginalised, because of their Roma ethnicity and their gender. Roma women, more than Roma men, lack the basic elements necessary for self-realisation: education, healthcare, cultural and political participation. Roma generally have poor access to healthcare, and most of them do not have medical records. The Roma in Croatia most often speak Boyash (bajaški) or Romani chib. They speak both their mother tongue (Romani) and the language of the country they live in – standard Croatian. Students can study the Romani language and culture in higher education, at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Faculty of Teacher Education at the University of Zagreb. Kali Sara, the Roma Association for the promotion of the education of Roma in the Republic of Croatia, organises courses for Roma children and young people on the Romani language, culture and life in general. As for the educational attainment of Roma, data show that Roma children are still rarely included in the preschool education system. A large number of Roma children do not complete compulsory education. They rarely attend secondary school. Very small number of Roma students graduate at the Faculty level.