James Caldwell and Chi‐Keung Chiu
In this report, we study the numerical solution ofmelting/solidification problems in cylindrical geometry by the heatbalance integral method. The heat balance method can be…
Abstract
In this report, we study the numerical solution of melting/solidification problems in cylindrical geometry by the heat balance integral method. The heat balance method can be applied to a range of problems, particularly to problems with symmetric geometries (cylindrical and spherical), and the accuracy obtained is usually sufficient for most practical situations. Good accuracy can be obtained by using a linear temperature profile with spatial sub‐divisions. We also discuss ways of improving the accuracy of the solutions and efficiency of the computations. The heat balance method also can be used when there is a singularity in the problem to provide small time approximation solutions.
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David F. Caldwell and James L. Koch
The use of portable computers connected to high-speed networks is changing the way groups do their work. Such systems reduce the need for teams to be co-located by allowing team…
Abstract
The use of portable computers connected to high-speed networks is changing the way groups do their work. Such systems reduce the need for teams to be co-located by allowing team members to communicate with one another and access a wide range of databases. Despite the growing use of such systems, relatively little research has looked broadly at how these systems affect aspects of group process and performance. We interviewed individuals in 10 firms that are implementing mobile computing in work groups. Based on those interviews, we describe how mobile computing is changing interdependent work and speculate on how it may influence job scope and team empowerment, group composition, supervisory practices, and socialization processes. We also conclude that attention to both the functional and informal characteristics of knowledge management systems associated with mobile computing can influence group processes and performance.
A new director and general manager has been appointed for the Dunlop Precision Rubbers Division of the Dunlop Aerospace Group of BTR Industries.
Eitan Naveh and Zvi Stern
Given the enormous size of the health care industry, the problem of developing high‐quality, cost‐effective health care delivery systems is growing in importance. There is general…
Abstract
Purpose
Given the enormous size of the health care industry, the problem of developing high‐quality, cost‐effective health care delivery systems is growing in importance. There is general consensus that health care systems require a continuous process of quality improvement (QI). Less agreement, however, surrounds the mechanisms to be implemented so that such a process is effective. This study aims to bring empirical evidence to support the hypothesis that a QI program in a general hospital – a special context of the health care delivery system – does not necessarily lead to better overall organizational performance results.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was done at the hospital level, and included all acute care hospitals in Israel. Data was collected in 16 of the country's 23 hospitals, a 70 percent response rate. The study compared hospital performance before and after the QI program implementation.
Findings
The study shows that QI creates meaningful improvement events. In addition, the research supports the hypothesis that increasing the number of QI activities (items) included in the QI program brings about more improvement events. The results do not support the hypothesis that high, rather than low, intensive implementation of QI activities leads to more improvement events.
Originality/value
The special context of general hospitals decreases the effects of a QI program on overall hospital performance, whereas QI activities function as triggers in initiating improvement events.
THE greatly increased interest in historical studies since the second world war has been, I hope, a welcome challenge to librarians, but it has been very difficult to meet it…
Abstract
THE greatly increased interest in historical studies since the second world war has been, I hope, a welcome challenge to librarians, but it has been very difficult to meet it. That the librarians of our new universities should have had little research material to offer was only to be expected. Unfortunately, research scholars have discovered that our older libraries were also deficient, that source materials had either not been purchased, in the years when they were readily available, or had been acquired only to be discarded at a later date. Recently, therefore, both old libraries and new have found themselves in competition for a small and dwindling supply of out‐of‐print publications.
Cork stoppers may taint as many as one in 33 bottles of all domestic US wines. Yet, because tradition is thought to play such an important role in shaping expectations regarding…
Abstract
Cork stoppers may taint as many as one in 33 bottles of all domestic US wines. Yet, because tradition is thought to play such an important role in shaping expectations regarding acceptable premium wine packaging, marketers have felt little need to test whether cork closures are indeed a critical consumer expectation. This paper serves as a guide toward understanding the obstacles which must first be overcome by those producers who wish to adopt cork substitutes for fine wines. This paper also offers insight into grappling with the implementation of problem solutions; shows why desirable solutions may not always be practical; and provides insight into why conflicting intrafirm departmental viewpoints, consumer expectations, and the competitive environment in which the firm or industry operates, can combine to lead the marketer to reject money‐saving superior product innovations. Preliminary work indicates that consumers reject label message conditions as a means of achieving acceptance of cork alternatives. The main objective of future research should therefore be to provide specific findings on how much positive and negative impact is likely to occur by changing the product design.
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Jason Chen, Vicky Arnold and Steve G. Sutton
Companies frequently use Internet Financial Reporting (IFR) to distribute financial and nonfinancial information to stakeholders. Research suggests that companies often distribute…
Abstract
Companies frequently use Internet Financial Reporting (IFR) to distribute financial and nonfinancial information to stakeholders. Research suggests that companies often distribute information via the web for impression management purposes in order to diffuse potential negative reactions and/or to promote positive reactions to corporate policies and actions. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether web disclosure of environmental information and the presentation format influences the outcomes of litigation awards. Results indicate that even a partial web disclosure of pending environmental sanctions on a company’s financial statement reduces the compensatory and punitive damages that jurors award when shareholders suffer losses as a result of environmental sanctions. The results also indicate that firms using enhanced presentation formats when disclosing environmental information further reduce the amount of damages awarded against them. These results have implications for users and preparers of IFR, and for policy makers weighing mandates for disclosure of nonfinancial information in annual reports.
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The James Fund at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Lally School of Management is a small, recently established, course-driven student-managed investment fund (SMIF). The purpose…
Abstract
Purpose
The James Fund at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Lally School of Management is a small, recently established, course-driven student-managed investment fund (SMIF). The purpose of this paper is to provide insight to new and existing funds in improving individual fund operation and structure.
Design/methodology/approach
The James Fund seeks to outperform an 80/20 equity/fixed income benchmark by investing exclusively in exchange traded funds and to move primary emphasis away from idiosyncratic risk and individual equity valuation back toward asset allocation, the most significant driver of portfolio performance. Buy and sell decisions must receive a three-fifths majority in voting among students and adhere with the investment policy statement.
Findings
Groupthink, a common problem in student-managed funds, is observed in trade proposal and manager voting patterns.
Originality/value
Groupthink is partially addressed through the use of instructor feedback on individual student trade diaries. Student managers transition each semester; therefore, the portfolio must meet dormant period criteria limited to a specific list of broadly diversified ETFs, mitigating potential problems from knowledge transfer between management teams that are largely unexamined in the context of SMIFs.
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Peter Boettke, Solomon Stein and Virgil Henry Storr
When Beyond Positivism was published 35 years ago, it presented a compelling case for methodological change in the economics profession. That case remains equally compelling in…
Abstract
When Beyond Positivism was published 35 years ago, it presented a compelling case for methodological change in the economics profession. That case remains equally compelling in the present day as, tragically, economics remains largely without the methodological pluralism at the heart of Beyond Positivism’s message. Among the costs of an environment of methodological myopia are widespread misinterpretations and the diversion of scholars from efforts at economic understanding to methodological wrangling, which we illustrate using the experience of Austrian economics in the 20th century. Beyond Positivism, we suggest, continues to provide the intellectual case for a pluralist discipline of economics, but one that requires complementary institutional reforms to come to fruition.