The purpose of this paper is to present an exploratory survey as part of a presentation for the Bridging Worlds 2008 conference. It seeks to understand how library institutions in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present an exploratory survey as part of a presentation for the Bridging Worlds 2008 conference. It seeks to understand how library institutions in the South East Asia (SEA) region have implemented Web 2.0 technologies – blogs, RSS feeds, wikis, or the use of services like Flickr, YouTube, de.lici.ous.
Design/methodology/approach
Libraries surveyed were in: Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, People's Republic of China, Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan. The survey relied on references in published papers, internet searches and personal contacts.
Findings
The survey found that more academic libraries than public libraries were using Web 2.0. technologies. Blogs and RSS feeds were the most common. Blogs were used mainly as web publishing tools rather than as a means to engage library users.
Research limitations/implications
The survey is not comprehensive. The search relied mainly on English publications and keywords, while the native language of most countries surveyed was non‐English. Future research could comprehensively cover each country, by the type of library or language.
Practical implications
The paper contends that Web 2.0 does not rely on technology, but more on practice and participation. The emphasis should be on relationships rather than transactions. Suggestions are offered on how libraries can adopt a Library 2.0 mindset without focusing on technology. A call is made to establish an East Asian Librarians 2.0 directory.
Originality/value
The paper offers a non‐technological perspective to institutions and practising professionals who are reviewing their Web 2.0 implementation.
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When a solution of cane sugar (sucrose) is warmed with dilute acids it is rapidly hydrolysed to a mixture of two simpler sugars viz. glucose and fructose. Glucose resembles cane…
Abstract
When a solution of cane sugar (sucrose) is warmed with dilute acids it is rapidly hydrolysed to a mixture of two simpler sugars viz. glucose and fructose. Glucose resembles cane sugar in being a dextrorotary compound, but fructose is so strongly laevorotary that the equimolecular mixture of glucose and fructose obtained by hydrolysis rotates the plane of polarization to the left. For this reason the above process is known as the inversion of cane sugar and the mixture of glucose and fructose so obtained as invert sugar. The breakdown of sucrose in this way will be better understood by referring to Figure 1.
Crislaine da Cruz, Ivan Mathias, Mariza Veiga Senk, Gelson Biscaia de Souza and Francisco Carlos Serbena
Lithium disilicate glass-ceramics (LS2 GC) are widely used as dental prosthetics and dental restorations. Based LS2 GC have hardness and translucency similar to that of natural…
Abstract
Purpose
Lithium disilicate glass-ceramics (LS2 GC) are widely used as dental prosthetics and dental restorations. Based LS2 GC have hardness and translucency similar to that of natural teeth. This study aims to investigate the tribological features of LS2 GC with crystalline volume fraction of 64% and different crystal sizes from 8 µm to 34 µm for different counterparts.
Design/methodology/approach
The tribological behavior was investigated using a pin-on-disc tribometer with alumina and tungsten carbide (WC) spheres, applied load of 5 N and sliding speed of 5 cm/s at normal conditions. The coefficient of friction was measured continuously up to 10,000 sliding cycles. The specific wear rate was calculated from tribological and profile measurements. The wear mechanism was investigated by surface morphology analysis.
Findings
The coefficient of friction during running-in varied from 0.8 to 1.0 for the alumina counterpart, because of severe wear. Afterwards, it reduced and reached a stationary regime, characterized by a mild wear regime and the formation of a tribolayer formed by the debris. For the WC counterpart, the coefficient of friction curves increased initially with sliding cycles up to a stationary regime. The samples tested against WC presented the lowest specific wear rate (k), and no variation of wear rate with crystal size was observed. For samples tested against the alumina, crystallization and crystal size increased the wear resistance.
Originality/value
This study evaluated the effect of different counterfaces on the tribological properties of the LS2 GC, an important glass-ceramic base for many dental prosthetics and dental restorations, discussing results in light of the contact mechanics. Different specific wear rates, wear regimes and dependence on the glass-ceramic microstructure were observed depending on the counterpart.
Peer review
The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-08-2019-0352/
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Those who move among the people with their eyes open will not doubt that the number of non‐smokers is increasing, but mostly among older adults. Sales of cigarettes, despite the…
Abstract
Those who move among the people with their eyes open will not doubt that the number of non‐smokers is increasing, but mostly among older adults. Sales of cigarettes, despite the ban on advertising and the grim warning printed on packets, do not reflect this however, which can only mean that those who still smoke are the heavy smokers. This is a bad sign; as is the fact that youngsters, including a high percentage of those at school, openly flaunt the habit. The offence of using tobacco or any other smoking mixture or snuff while handling food or in any food room in which there is open food (Reg. 10(e)), remains one of the common causes of prosecutions under the Food Hygiene Regulations; it has not diminished over the years. The commonest offenders are men and especially those in the butchery trade, fishmongers and stall‐holders, but, here again, to those who move around, the habit seems fairely widespread. Parts of cigarettes continue to be a common finding especially in bread and flour confectionery, but also in fresh meat, indicating that an offence has been committed, and only a few of the offenders end up in court. Our purpose in returning to the subject of smoking, however, is not to relate it to food hygiene but to discuss measures of control being suggested by the Government now that advertising bans and printed health warnings have patently failed to achieve their object.
Mario Iván Tarride and Julia González
To contribute to the search for new viewpoints that will enrich the understanding of the complex organizational phenomenon, in particular by contributing to the development of a…
Abstract
Purpose
To contribute to the search for new viewpoints that will enrich the understanding of the complex organizational phenomenon, in particular by contributing to the development of a method that allows qualifying, in the fullest possible way, whether an organization can be said to be healthy. So the objective of this work has been to experiment with the diagnostic method of the organizational health situation – proposed in a previous paper published in this journal – through applications that allowed backfeeding it and offering a new improved version of it. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The present work takes up the challenge of advancing in the development of the method of determining the health condition of an organization, revising the general homomorphism as well as the information that will be considered, its sources, the way of obtaining it, and the way of making the synthesis that will allow issuing the final overall judgement of healthy or not of the organization that is being studied. To that end, recourse is made to the experience obtained from eight applications made to different kinds of small organizations in the city of Santiago, Chile, from 2008 to 2012.
Findings
The human-being/organization homomorphism was reformulated, going from eight component systems of the human body to 13, by reformulating some and incorporating others. Although a set of indicators may be used in different kinds of organizations, each one of them also presents a specificity that makes it highly complicated to make comparisons; the health situation of an organization is related only to itself. Consequently, the set of indicators that are selected to determine the health condition of an organization depends on itself. Not all the variables, systems and dimensions have the same weight for those interested in the overall health judgement to be issued, so this task of searching for the weights becomes a key aspect of the method: what was found to be most advisable was to set up a group of experts composed of key informants belonging to the organization itself and of external analysts. The symptoms – perceptions of the key informants – must be transformed into signs that allow objectifying the judgement of healthy or not of an organization.
Originality/value
The work contributes new elements that enrich the method for diagnosing organizational health proposed earlier, starting from the homomorphism established between the way in which allopathic physicians study their patients and the way the analyst operates with an organization.
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The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how Dutch society is dealing with its history and why the past is a bad guide to the future.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how Dutch society is dealing with its history and why the past is a bad guide to the future.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is a desk research based on newspaper articles and other literature.
Findings
The paper finds that Dutch society is strongly influenced by its history but past solutions for current societal problems that are based on historical analogies are wrong and even dangerous.
Research limitations/implications
This paper is focused only on Dutch society. It would be interesting to see whether the Dutch situation is also applicable to other Western European countries.
Practical implications
To make the Dutch society more future‐oriented there are four recommendations: make “the future” a subject in schools; extend the Dutch government mandates to eight years; force managers and politicians to measure their investments, plans and ideas against future developments; and the foundation of a future museum and a canon for the future.
Originality/value
Most futures researchers do not oppose history as a guide to the future because they often (wrongly) see the past as a source of information and knowledge that can serve the future.
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One of the major developments of the post‐War years has been the rise of consumer protection ‘watchdog’ committees galore, a flood of legislation and completely changed…
Abstract
One of the major developments of the post‐War years has been the rise of consumer protection ‘watchdog’ committees galore, a flood of legislation and completely changed enforcement methods by existing local authority officers who to all and intents have become a completely new service. Voluntary agencies, national and local, based on the local High Street, have appointed themselves the watchdogs of the retail trade; legislation and central departments, the larger scene. The new service has proved of inestimable value in the changed conditions; it continues to develop. When shopping was a personal transaction, with the housewife making her purchases from the shopkeeper or his staff on the opposite side of the counter; when each was well known to the other and the relationship had usually lasted for many years, often from one generation to the next, things were very different, complaints few, unsatisfactory items instantly replaced, usually without question. This continuing state of equanimity was destroyed by the retail revolution and new methods of advertising and marketing. Now, the numbers of complaints dealt with by consumer protection and environmental health departments of local authorities are truly enormous. We have become a nation of “complainers,” although in all conscience, we have much to complain about. Complaints cover the widest possible range of products and services, of which food and drink form an integral component. The complaints to enforcement authorities include many said to be unjustified, but from the reports of legal proceedings under relevant enactments, it is obvious that the bulk of them now originate from consumer complaints. Not all complainants, however, relish the thought of the case going before the courts. Less is heard publicly of complaints to the numerous voluntary bodies. Enforcement authorities see complaints in terms of infringements of the law, although their role as honest broker, securing recompense to the aggreived customer, has become important; a few departments being able to claim that they secured reimbursements and replacements of value totalling upwards of amounts which annually run into six figures. The broker role is also that adopted by voluntary bodies but with much less success since they lack the supporting authority of legal sanction.
The more recent history of the National Health Service, especially the Hospital Service, has been in the nature of a lumbering from one crisis to another. From the moment of its…
Abstract
The more recent history of the National Health Service, especially the Hospital Service, has been in the nature of a lumbering from one crisis to another. From the moment of its inception it has proved far more costly than estimated and over‐administered, but in the early years, it had great promise and was efficient at ward level, which continued until more recent times. As costs increased and administration grew and grew, much of it serving no useful purpose, there appeared to be a need for reorganisation. In 1974, a three‐tier structure was introduced by the establishment of new area health authorities, the primary object of which was to facilitate — and cheapen — decision making; to give the district bodies and personnel easier access to “management”. It coincided with reorganisation of Local Government, which included the transfer of all the personal health services and abolition of the office of medical officer of health. At the time and in looking back, there was very little need for this and reviewing the progress and advances made in local government, medical officers of health who had advocated the transfer, mainly for reasons of their own status, would have achieved this and more by remainining in the local government service; the majority of health visitors appear to have reached the same conclusion. They constitute a profession within themselves and in truth do not have all that much in common with day‐to‐day nursing. The basic training and nursing qualification is most essential, however. It has been said that a person is only as good a health visitor as she is a nurse.
David Richardson PhD describes the tremendous achievements that have been made during the last twenty years in agricultural production in developing areas of the world. Overall…
Abstract
David Richardson PhD describes the tremendous achievements that have been made during the last twenty years in agricultural production in developing areas of the world. Overall production has increased and yields per hectare have risen three‐ or four‐fold. These advances have been made in a relatively short time scale and the science‐based agricultural technology responsible is popularly known as the Green Revolution