Matthew P. Watters and Michelle L. Bernhardt
This paper presents findings from a study examining curing procedures to improve the compressive strength and hardness properties of specimens while maintaining surface quality…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper presents findings from a study examining curing procedures to improve the compressive strength and hardness properties of specimens while maintaining surface quality. All specimens were created from a standard grey, acrylic-based photopolymer and fabricated using stereolithography technology. This paper aims to investigate the effects of printing layer thickness and print orientation on specimen compressive strength, as well as the effects of thermal and light curing methods. In addition, the post-print curing depth was investigated.
Design/methodology/approach
The effects of layer thickness and print orientation were investigated on 10 × 20 mm cylinders by determining the ultimate compressive strength once cured. The compressive strength of cylinders subjected to varying thermal and light settings was also investigated to determine the optimal curing settings. The effective depth of curing was investigated on a 25.4-mm cuboidal specimen, which received both thermal and light curing.
Findings
To achieve the highest compressive strength, specimens shall be printed with the minimal layer thickness of 25 µm. Increasing temperatures up to 60° C during curing provided a 0.75-MPa increase in compressive strength per degree Celsius. However, increasing temperatures above 60° C only provided a 0.15-MPa increase in compressive strength per degree Celsius. Furthermore, curing temperatures above 110° C resulted in degraded surface quality noted by defects at the layer laminations. Specimens required a minimum light curing exposure time of four hours to reach the maximum cure at which point any increase in exposure time provided no substantial increase in compressive strength.
Originality/value
This study provides recommendations for printing parameters and curing methods to achieve the optimum mechanical properties of cured stereolithography specimens.
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Matthew P. Watters and Michelle L. Bernhardt
This paper aims to present a new curing protocol which improves part strength and provides better repeatability for full-part infiltration by varying binder saturation levels. The…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a new curing protocol which improves part strength and provides better repeatability for full-part infiltration by varying binder saturation levels. The fully infiltrated parts were then investigated for their resistance to water.
Design/methodology/approach
Cylinders and spheres generated using various curing procedures and binder saturation levels were subjected to uniaxial compression to determine the effects on the resulting part strength. Additionally, fully cured parts were submerged in water for varying durations to determine the resistance to water. Parts were also weighed prior to and after submersion in water to determine any change in mass.
Findings
Increased part infiltration and improved strength were achieved using a modified curing protocol with a higher oven temperature during curing. Spheres cured following the modified curing protocol resulted in a 300 per cent increase in the average force required to crush spheres. Parts were shown to have repeatable infiltration depths from 8.8 mm to 10.1 mm. Additionally, fully cured parts submerged in water for durations longer than 12 hours developed a reduction in strength.
Originality/value
This study provides key methods to improve part strength and demonstrates a limitation on maximum dimensions of parts which should be considered to behave homogeneously. Parts generated following these guidelines can be effectively used in laboratory and engineering applications where high strength and homogeneous behavior is important.
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This paper seeks to examine the milieu of reporting in two villages operating on Koro Island, Republic of Fiji Islands. It aims to analyse how both western‐narrow and traditional…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to examine the milieu of reporting in two villages operating on Koro Island, Republic of Fiji Islands. It aims to analyse how both western‐narrow and traditional reporting offers rural villages extensive opportunities to discharge responsibilities of stewardship, accountability and accounts of the activities of farmers and stores in an agrarian setting, whether the activities are subsistence‐ or cash‐based.
Design/methodology/approach
Fieldwork was conducted in two villages of Koro Island, Nacamaki and Nabuna, to ascertain the milieu of reporting, and open‐ended interviews were conducted with villagers from both villages. The “view from the centre” is adopted here, rather than the “view from the periphery”.
Findings
The study shows that people of both Nacamaki and Nabuna villages have adapted their specific reporting styles according to the circumstances facing them. Despite being only 5 km apart, two sharply contrasting village reporting milieux emerge. One relies greatly on the use of both Traditional oral and Western‐narrow hand‐written reports to fulfil accounts of entities (co‐operative and individual farmers) operating in the village. The other prefers oral communication to any form of written communication to raise accounts of villagers' collectivist and independently charged, agrarian‐based activities.
Research limitations/implications
The study raises three sets of policy issues that are central to the development of reporting in Eastern Fijian villages. Numerous resources are unnecessary in presenting a western‐narrow account of transactions when the accounts are supplemented by a traditional reporting mien. Western‐narrow reporting appears to be well received by co‐operative members and individually oriented farmers. In the absence of Western‐narrow reporting, Traditional reporting seems to serve the needs of both communally oriented and individualistically inclined villagers. The results of the study underlie both the complexity of village life in determining systems of reporting and the fragility of written reporting in Eastern Fijian outer island villages.
Practical implications
The study shows the way in which Eastern Fijian villages resolve subsistence and cash exchanges at the social level, taking into account local conventions, customs, laws, rituals and values.
Originality/value
The originality of the paper rests in considering villagers' own reporting through internal points of reference, providing space for interrelations between traditional Fijian values, the island landscape and the cultural geography.
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Ann Boyd Davis, Richard Rand and Robert Seay
As more students take online courses as part of their college curricula, the integrity of testing in an online environment becomes increasingly important. The potential for…
Abstract
Purpose
As more students take online courses as part of their college curricula, the integrity of testing in an online environment becomes increasingly important. The potential for cheating on exams is generally considered to be higher in an online environment. One approach to compensate for the absence of a physical proctor is to use a remote proctoring service that electronically monitors the student during the examination period.
Methodology/approach
We examined the exam grades for 261 students taking two different upper division accounting courses to determine if a computer-based remote proctoring service reduced the likelihood of cheating, measured through lower exam scores, as compared to classroom proctoring and no proctoring. We examined both online and on-campus courses.
Findings
In qualitative and quantitative accounting courses, evidence shows that grades were significantly lower for students who were proctored using a remote proctoring service compared to students who were not proctored. In the quantitative course, remote proctoring resulted in significantly lower final exam scores than either classroom or no proctoring. However, in the qualitative course, both remote proctoring online and live proctoring in a classroom resulted in significantly lower final exam scores than no proctoring, and they are not statistically different from each other.
Originality/value
Academics and administrators should find these results helpful. The results suggest that the use of proctoring services in online courses has the potential to enhance the integrity of online courses by reducing the opportunities for academic dishonesty during exams.
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Matthew Fish and Olivia Fakoussa
Pre- and post-immigration trauma and stress make refugees a particularly vulnerable group in terms of mental health and well-being. The purpose of this paper is to describe a…
Abstract
Purpose
Pre- and post-immigration trauma and stress make refugees a particularly vulnerable group in terms of mental health and well-being. The purpose of this paper is to describe a listening project undertaken in Plymouth, UK, which sought the views of 17 service users (n=12) and staff (n=5) from four local support organisations, for people with refugee and asylum seeker status and those with diverse cultural backgrounds. Aims of the project were to expand Western-centric understandings regarding beneficial support and the promotion of good mental health and well-being in this population.
Design/methodology/approach
Responses were subjected to thematic analysis, co-conducted with a service user. Participants were asked about their personal understandings of mental health and well-being and what supports or hinders well-being.
Findings
The findings enabled the development of a model incorporating 10 threads which support and 9 holes that can hinder well-being.
Research limitations/implications
The relatively small numbers of participants compared with the numbers of asylum seekers and refugees in Plymouth may not be fully representative of the general population in Plymouth and the UK.
Originality/value
Despite increasing cultural diversity within the UK population, available mental health services exist mainly as developed from a Western psychological model of mental distress and treatment. This research provides services with a more informed understanding of mental health for asylum seekers and refugees. As such it is of value towards future service design in Plymouth and the UK. Findings also contributed to a successful funding bid to set up a peer-led support project in the city.
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BRIAN VICKERY and ALINA VICKERY
There is a huge amount of information and data stored in publicly available online databases that consist of large text files accessed by Boolean search techniques. It is widely…
Abstract
There is a huge amount of information and data stored in publicly available online databases that consist of large text files accessed by Boolean search techniques. It is widely held that less use is made of these databases than could or should be the case, and that one reason for this is that potential users find it difficult to identify which databases to search, to use the various command languages of the hosts and to construct the Boolean search statements required. This reasoning has stimulated a considerable amount of exploration and development work on the construction of search interfaces, to aid the inexperienced user to gain effective access to these databases. The aim of our paper is to review aspects of the design of such interfaces: to indicate the requirements that must be met if maximum aid is to be offered to the inexperienced searcher; to spell out the knowledge that must be incorporated in an interface if such aid is to be given; to describe some of the solutions that have been implemented in experimental and operational interfaces; and to discuss some of the problems encountered. The paper closes with an extensive bibliography of references relevant to online search aids, going well beyond the items explicitly mentioned in the text. An index to software appears after the bibliography at the end of the paper.
The following bibliography focuses mainly on programs which can run on IBM microcomputers and compatibles under the operating system PC DOS/MS DOS, and which can be used in online…
Abstract
The following bibliography focuses mainly on programs which can run on IBM microcomputers and compatibles under the operating system PC DOS/MS DOS, and which can be used in online information and documentation work. They fall into the following categories:
The study investigates the linkage between personality traits and firm performance. It examines the role of the pursuit of excellence, perseverance, a proactive mindset and formal…
Abstract
Purpose
The study investigates the linkage between personality traits and firm performance. It examines the role of the pursuit of excellence, perseverance, a proactive mindset and formal education in determining the entrepreneurial success of MSMEs.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 432 MSME entrepreneurs using a structured questionnaire from India's two major industrial towns to analyze the impact of personality traits on firm performance. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to assess the direct and indirect relationships with the help of mediation analysis.
Findings
The findings assert that personality traits improve firm performance and determine the success of MSMEs. The results reveal that the need for achievement, a proactive mindset and the pursuit of excellence are crucial to firm performance. In addition, formal education mediates between perseverance and the pursuit of excellence personality attributes on the one side and firm performance on the other.
Research limitations/implications
The research has various theoretical and practical implications for entrepreneurs, financial institutions and policymakers. The results could be productively used to nurture the entrepreneurial ecosystem in India.
Originality/value
Although research on personality traits as a driver of firm performance is growing, the pursuit of excellence, perseverance and proactive mindset attributes as enablers of firm performance have not garnered much attention. The study presents a precise conceptual model by integrating the aforementioned dimensions in the backdrop of an emerging market.