Franck Mastrippolito, Stephane Aubert, Frédéric Ducros and Martin Buisson
This paper aims to improve the radial basis fuction mesh morphing method. During a shape optimization based on computational fluid dynamic (CFD) solvers, the mesh has to be…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to improve the radial basis fuction mesh morphing method. During a shape optimization based on computational fluid dynamic (CFD) solvers, the mesh has to be changed. Two possible strategies are re-meshing or morphing. The morphing one is advantageous because it preserves the mesh connectivity, but it must be constrained.
Design/methodology/approach
RBF mesh deformation is one of the most robust and accurate morphing method. Using a greedy algorithm, the computational cost of the method is reduced. To evaluate the morphing performances, a rib shape optimization is performed using the NSGA-II algorithm coupled to kriging metamodels based on CFD. The morphing method is then compared to a re-meshing strategy.
Findings
The authors propose a method, based on Schur complement, to speed-up the greedy process. By using the information of the previous iteration, smaller linear systems are solved and time is saved. The optimization results highlight the interest of using a morphing-based metamodel regarding the resolution time and the accuracy of the interpolated solutions.
Originality/value
A new method based on Schur complement is addressed to speed-up the greedy algorithm and successfully applied to a shape optimization.
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Anna Griffith, Mary Brigit Carroll and Oliver Farrell
This paper focuses on the donation in 1888 of a Sèvres Vase to the Education Department of Victoria after the International Exhibition in Melbourne. Using the vase as its focus…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper focuses on the donation in 1888 of a Sèvres Vase to the Education Department of Victoria after the International Exhibition in Melbourne. Using the vase as its focus the paper reflects on what this donation may be able to tell us about the impact, primarily on education, of a series of International Exhibitions held both in Australia and internationally between 1851 and 1900. The life of the Sèvres vase highlights the potential of the Exhibitions for the exchange of ideas internationally, the influence of the International Exhibition movement on education and the links between a 19th-century gift and the teaching of Art in 1930s Melbourne.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper examines one object in relation to education in its wider historical context through a reading of the archival records relating to the Melbourne Teacher’s Training College and Melbourne High School.
Findings
The influence of the educational exhibits of the 1888 Centennial International Exhibition held in Melbourne are shown to have had an impact on the design of the Melbourne Teachers Training College.
Originality/value
This paper provides a new and original perspective on the Melbourne Teachers Training College and its foundation through its library and museum collections.
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Sylwia Przytuła, Susanne Rank and Katarzyna Tracz-Krupa
Due to the global labor market challenges, international companies react and adjust fast to these circumstances by implementing digital solutions into all business processes…
Abstract
Due to the global labor market challenges, international companies react and adjust fast to these circumstances by implementing digital solutions into all business processes. Organizational ambidexterity is seen as the response of digital transformation and it can be divided into structural, contextual, and sequential dimensions. In this context, organizations representing the smart industry will need employees with specific competencies which let them meet technological challenges.
This chapter aims to clarify the state of opinion on expectations towards, and preparedness for, the impact of Industry 4.0 on human resources management and the implementation of various types of ambidexterity in these companies. We have conducted interviews with key HR informants from manufacturing companies operating in Germany and Poland. We have found that Industry 4.0 has a significant impact on HR practices. In both international companies, various digital solutions in employee recruitment, development, and performance, have been implemented. There have also been mature examples in both companies of structural, contextual, and sequential ambidexterity.
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Julienne Meyer, Hazel Heath, Cheryl Holman and Tom Owen
This paper highlights the need for researchers to work across disciplinary boundaries in order to capture the complexity that care practitioners have to engage with everyday in…
Abstract
This paper highlights the need for researchers to work across disciplinary boundaries in order to capture the complexity that care practitioners have to engage with everyday in care home settings. Drawing on findings from a literature review on the complexity of loss in continuing care institutions for older people, the case is made for less victim blaming and more appreciative approaches to research. The way this thinking informed the development of a further literature review on quality of life in care homes (My Home Life) is discussed. Findings from this second study are shared by illustrating key messages with quotes from older residents, relatives and staff living, visiting and working in care homes. These best practice messages focus on: transition into a care home; working to help residents maintain their identity; creating community within care homes; shared decision‐making; health and health services; end‐of‐life care; keeping the workforce fit for purpose, and promoting positive culture. The importance of collaborative working in both research and practice is discussed. The paper is likely to be of interest to all those concerned with improving and developing evidence‐based practice in the care home sector, including users and service providers, managers, commissioners and inspectors, policy‐makers, researchers and teachers.
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This article seeks to consider the lessons from one of the worst failures in adult protection in the UK in recent times: the abuse of a number of patients with learning…
Abstract
Purpose
This article seeks to consider the lessons from one of the worst failures in adult protection in the UK in recent times: the abuse of a number of patients with learning disabilities or autism and challenging behaviour over a number of years at Winterbourne View private hospital in the outskirts of Bristol. The abuse persisted, irrespective of a number of attempts to alert a broad range of regulatory authorities and health professionals about the situation.
Design/methodology/approach
The article provides a detailed analysis of the lessons for professionals responsible for adult protection by one of the journalists most responsible for exposing the abuse at Winterbourne View private hospital. Drawing on information the BBC uncovered during the making of its two films about the subject, the author shares details of relevance to professionals responsible for adult protection and considers the implications of the catastrophic failure to protect vulnerable people.
Findings
This article shows how the lessons from the abuse at Winterbourne View have permeated only to some areas and professionals, not necessarily to where those lessons are most needed. The author suggests that further efforts are required to prevent another, similar scandal happening elsewhere in the UK.
Originality/value
The paper is a unique piece, sharing experiences from a journalist involved with exposing a scandal directly with professionals responsible for adult protection.
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Paul R. Drake and Bethan M. Davies
This paper aims to help public sector managers that are formulating strategies for outsourcing home care from the independent sector.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to help public sector managers that are formulating strategies for outsourcing home care from the independent sector.
Design/methodology/approach
A review was performed of relevant literature on the outsourcing of home care and its political drivers in the UK. This indicates that the future of home care services, taking into consideration outsourcing and how Best Value will be achieved, has not been researched widely. Therefore, an exploratory approach to research was adopted here using in‐depth analysis of a small number of particularly informative local authorities and private providers selected by purposive/judgemental (extreme and critical case) sampling. Personal contact was deemed necessary in order to perform an intensive investigation to pursue in‐depth information.
Findings
The British Government's Best Value regime is driving local authorities towards increasing levels of outsourcing in the provision of home care. A local authority may choose to outsource all of its home care or maintain some in‐house provision based on capacity or capabilities that are complementary to those provided by the independent sector. The 100 per cent outsourcing strategy places enabling demands on the local authority, whereas the alternative strategy requires decisions to be made on what should be outsourced. Across the authorities surveyed, six strategies for creating a mixed economy of care have been identified, with the mix being based on complementary capacity and/or capabilities. With Best Value driving authorities to consider lower‐cost options, the outcome may be a reduction in the amount of complementary capacity provided in‐house, in favour of strategies involving complementary capabilities that deliver the Best Value possible. Re‐enablement is emerging as a common, complementary or core capability that is remaining in‐house. Outsourcing also requires decisions to be made on the number of independent providers to be used and the type of contracts to be employed. This paper considers the decisions that have been made in the local authorities surveyed and critiques the alternative home care outsourcing strategies so derived.
Research limitations/implications
To date, the research has focused on Wales in general plus a few local authorities in England. The next stage will be to survey England in more detail along with other countries that are implementing substantial outsourcing of home care, such as Canada.
Practical implications
This paper provides timely guidance to public sector and health care managers seeking Best Value in home care through outsourcing.
Originality/value
Little has been found in the literature on strategies for outsourcing home care, yet such strategies are needed urgently in the UK to achieve Best Value. The World Health Organization stresses that strategies should be drawn up for providing support to patients and carers at community level in order to avoid costly institutional care.
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In this paper culture is considered by marketers to have a profound influence on consumer behaviour, yet explanations of tenure preference ignore or dismiss culture as a factor…
Abstract
Purpose
In this paper culture is considered by marketers to have a profound influence on consumer behaviour, yet explanations of tenure preference ignore or dismiss culture as a factor underlying such preferences. This paper therefore aims to examine the attitudes of retirement housing purchasers to tenure, the effect of culture on these attitudes, and contrast some of the results of the research.
Design/methodology/approach
In the paper data were collected by questionnaire. A sample of about 200 respondents was selected from all purchasers of retirement housing in the West Midlands region of the UK.
Findings
The findings in this paper demonstrate that culture is an important factor affecting retirement housing purchasers' attitudes to housing tenure and that home ownership is part of their way of life.
Originality/value
It is argued in this paper that culture cannot be dismissed or ignored when debating the tenure preferences of older people and the factors affecting these preferences; and that it is probably the prime factor underlying a “natural preference” for home ownership.
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Israa Elbendary and Gamal Mohamed Shehata
The study investigates the mediating effect of HR flexibility in the relationship between capacity-enhancing HR practices and job performance in small and medium-sized enterprises…
Abstract
Purpose
The study investigates the mediating effect of HR flexibility in the relationship between capacity-enhancing HR practices and job performance in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in Egypt.
Design/methodology/approach
On the basis of the literature review, the results imply a quantitatively tested conceptual model. The model is empirically validated using the partial least squares method to structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) with survey data from 270 SME owners and managers in Egypt. The sample was selected using a quota sampling approach for small and medium-sized businesses and a proportionate stratification sampling method for the industry and region.
Findings
Findings for the sample revealed that capacity-enhancing HR practices affected job performance positively and significantly. The findings also revealed a direct, positive and significant impact of capacity-enhancing HR practices on HR flexibility and HR flexibility on job performance. Functional flexibility was identified as a significant mediator of the capacity-enhancing HR practices-job performance link, whereas behavioural and skill flexibility were not significant mediators for such a relationship.
Research limitations/implications
The study's cross-sectional design is an evident weakness. All variables were self-reported; this may raise issues regarding method bias. Other limitations include the generalisability of the study's findings outside the setting in which it was conducted. The accuracy of the field study results would have been enhanced if they had not been limited exclusively to the geographical confines of Egypt.
Originality/value
The paper proposes many implications emphasising the role of HR flexibility in enhancing the performance of SMEs. The study developed a mediation model to understand how SMEs boost the performance of human resources by focusing on flexibility dimensions. Accordingly, companies may strategically employ flexible practices and provide an environment that encourages skill and behavioural development.
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The Royal Commission appointed “to inquire into the relation of human and animal tuberculosis” has issued its final report, just ten years after it commenced its work.
This article explores how personalised technology could have the potential to change the behaviour of people with learning disabilities, enabling them to take more control of…
Abstract
This article explores how personalised technology could have the potential to change the behaviour of people with learning disabilities, enabling them to take more control of their lives and increase their independence. Hft investigates unforeseen outcomes in its work with people with learning disabilities and personalised technology and asks whether personalised technology could be used as a training tool?