Davide Crivelli, Mark Eaton, Matthew Pearson, Karen Holford and Rhys Pullin
The purpose of this paper is to study the feasibility on the use of alternative parameters for representing acoustic emission (AE) and acousto-ultrasonic (AU) signals, using a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the feasibility on the use of alternative parameters for representing acoustic emission (AE) and acousto-ultrasonic (AU) signals, using a wavelet-based approach and the computation of Chebyshev moments.
Design/methodology/approach
Two tests were performed, one on AE artificial signals generated on a CFRP plate and one on an AU setup used for actively detecting impact damage. The waveforms were represented using a data reduction technique based on the Daubechies wavelet and an image processing technique using Chebyshev moments approximation, to get 32 descriptors for each waveform.
Findings
The use of such descriptors allowed in the AE case to verify that the moments are similar when the waveforms are similar; in the AU setup the correlation coefficient of the descriptors with respect to a reference data set was found to be linked to the delimitation size.
Practical implications
Such a data reduction while retaining all the useful information will be positive for wireless sensor networks, where power consumption during data transmission is key. With having to send only a reliable set of descriptors and not an entire waveform, the power consumption is believed to be reduced.
Originality/value
This paper is a preliminary study that fulfils a need for a more reliable data reduction for ultrasonic transient signals, such as those used in AE and AU.
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Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.
Abstract
Purpose
Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.
Design/methodology/approach
Scans the top 400 management publications in the world to identify the most topical issues and latest concepts. These are presented in an easy‐to‐digest briefing of no more than 1,500 words.
Findings
The UK is a rapidly ageing society, by the year 2020 more than half the adult population will be over 50, and the same holds true for most of Europe. It is therefore not surprising that there are equally rapidly growing demands for far greater considerations of all issues associated with product and service usability.
Practical implications
Provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.
Originality/value
The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy‐to‐digest format.
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Samuel Wayne Appleton and Christodoulos Pavlou
The purpose of this research is to develop theory, thereby attending to the existing knowledge gap regarding the impact of family firms on entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs)…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to develop theory, thereby attending to the existing knowledge gap regarding the impact of family firms on entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs). Reducing such a gap is both timely and relevant given the ubiquity of family firms across the globe and the lack of theoretical development at the intersection of EE and family firm literatures. By employing social capital theory in a propositional theorizing approach, this article presents unique propositions that enrich current understanding of the EE phenomenon.
Design/methodology/approach
Our method adopts a three-step propositional theorizing approach. The first step outlines our conceptualization, drawing on social capital theory and identifying multiple levels of analysis pertaining to EEs and family firms. The second step precisely identifies the constructs used for the theorization process, drawing upon relevant literature. The third step involves proposition building, which produces our findings.
Findings
As a result of our propositional theorizing method, we developed 10 theoretical propositions to explain interactions between family members, nonfamily entrepreneurs, family firms and new ventures in the EE, thereby focusing on the social elements of the EE and reducing its conceptual complexity while extending the explanatory power of family social capital in the EE.
Research limitations/implications
Despite being increasingly relevant in research, policy and practice discourse, EEs remain under theorized. By theorizing in this context, we provide explanations of the mechanisms to explain social interactions between family members, nonfamily entrepreneurs, family firms and new ventures and how such interactions are likely to provide better access to the untapped resources in the EE. Furthermore, our theorization also identifies underexplored research areas paving the way for future scholars.
Practical implications
This article is relevant to practitioners and policymakers interested in creating balanced, inclusive and effective EE policies and interventions. Our theorization generates insights that complement a bottom-up approach where the state assumes a facilitating role for actors such as family firms to positively impact their EE. This research is both timely and necessary because, if unaddressed, it will lead to ineffective and potentially exclusionary policies and EE interventions.
Originality/value
We contribute to the literature by synthesizing the two domains and thereby advancing knowledge at the intersection of EE and family firm literatures. We strengthen the link between two burgeoning research areas through a propositional theorizing mode of theory development. Under the assumptions of a grand theory, social capital theory, we highlight the benefits that derive from social interactions in the EE between family firms and other EE actors.
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This article reports the outcomes of a study on communication support, commissioned to develop a borough‐wide strategy in 2003 by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.The research…
Abstract
This article reports the outcomes of a study on communication support, commissioned to develop a borough‐wide strategy in 2003 by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.The research stems from a recognition of communication as a key to successful delivery of public services and enhancement of a multicultural community.The focus is on ‘communication’ (rather than ‘language’), since it captures issues beyond the exchange of information through words: interpersonal interactions and relationships, techniques and modes of organising information exchange. Language is a key component within the broad ambit of communication mechanism and skills. Hence interpretation and translation are perceived as models of communications support alongside advocacy, integrated team, multilingual professional team, family/friends and minors, supported language, symbols and signs, and Plain English.While engaging in the debate and highlighting some of the broader issues concerning communication support services, the focus is on the following main issues:• policy frameworks and guiding principles in communication support• methods and techniques for needs assessment, monitoring and evaluation of communication support• communication support provision in Tower Hamlets including quantifying need, actual state of provision and users' perceptions.Probably among the first of its kind, the strategy draws on existing knowledge and good practice to develop a common framework for public services in Tower Hamlets. It is believed that it will serve a pioneering role in co‐ordinated existing and developing coherent approaches to communication support.
– The purpose of this paper is to look in more depth at what motivates bank managers and bank employees to commit fraudulent offences at work.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to look in more depth at what motivates bank managers and bank employees to commit fraudulent offences at work.
Design/methodology/approach
This exploratory study adopts both quantitative and qualitative methods to better comprehend what motivates bank managers and employees to commit fraud at work. Evidence is taken from a sample of 64 cases of fraud from the UK financial sector. The sample cases were then subdivided in relation to the occupational status of the offender and classified based on the motives of the offender.
Findings
The research findings from this study indicate that, as with other sorts of white-collar crimes, financial pressures play a hugely significant role in motivating bank employees and managers to commit fraudulent offences at work. However, the nature of these financial pressures appears to differ significantly depending on what role the offender occupies within the bank. Thus, for cashiers and those in lower positions, personal pressures generally act as the motive, whereas for more senior management offenders, personal financial considerations tend to come second to those of the organisation as a whole.
Research limitations/implications
The preliminary findings from this paper emphasises that there is a need for more research to be conducted on occupational fraud in the financial sector as to better understand what motivates insiders in the banking profession to commit financial fraud and other criminal offences.
Practical implications
This paper will help accountants and financial regulators to better understand what motivates those in the financial sector to commit fraudulent offences at work. This, in turn, will enable them to better assess fraud risks and establish improved preventive and detective measures.
Originality/value
The paper fills a gap in the fraud literature by providing an in-depth study that focuses exclusively on what motivates those inside the financial sector to commit fraudulent offences at work.
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Luu Trong Tuan and Luu Thi Bich Ngoc
Clinical governance effectiveness is built on the responsibility of clinical members towards other stakeholders inside and outside the hospital. Through the testing of the…
Abstract
Purpose
Clinical governance effectiveness is built on the responsibility of clinical members towards other stakeholders inside and outside the hospital. Through the testing of the hypotheses on the relationships between clinical governance and its antecedents, this paper aims to corroborate that emotional intelligence is the first layer of bricks, ethics and trust the second layer, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) the third layer of the entire architecture of clinical governance.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 409 responses in completed form returned from self-administered structured questionnaires dispatched to 705 clinical staff members underwent the structural equation modeling (SEM)-based analysis.
Findings
Emotional intelligence among clinicians, as the data reveals, is the lever for ethics of care and knowledge-based or identity-based trust to thrive in hospitals, which in turn activate ethical CSR in clinical activities. Ethical CSR in clinical deeds will heighten clinical governance effectiveness in hospitals.
Originality/value
The journey to test research hypotheses has built layer-by-layer of CSR-based model of clinical governance in which high concentration of emotional intelligence among clinical members in the hospital catalyzes ethics of care and knowledge-based or identity-based trust, without which, CSR initiatives to cultivate ethical values cannot be successfully implemented to optimize clinical governance effectiveness in Vietnam-based hospitals.
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Jane Moriarty, Rosalind Jones, Jennifer Rowley and Beata Kupiec‐Teahan
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of marketing in small hotels specifically, and, more generally, to the area of SME or entrepreneurial marketing.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of marketing in small hotels specifically, and, more generally, to the area of SME or entrepreneurial marketing.
Design/methodology/approach
A deductive‐inductive approach based on interviews with 15 small hotel owner‐managers, supported by web site analysis and three in‐depth case study interviews, was used to provide a profile of marketing activities in small hotels in North Wales.
Findings
The application of Carson's levels of activity model to characterise and classify the marketing strategies and activities of the respondent hotels suggested that for these small hotels an additional category would be helpful in characterising marketing activities, inexpert marketing. On this basis, five of the hotels were in the non‐marketing category, eight in the inexpert category, and two in the implicit category; none were in Carson's sophisticated category. Further, any one hotel might fall into different categories on the basis of their engagement with different areas (such as marketing knowledge, or promotion).
Originality/value
These findings suggest that, whilst the search for a definition of entrepreneurial marketing is useful in articulating the difference between what SMEs do and marketing theory, there is also a need to recognise that there is a spectrum of different styles of and approaches to marketing adopted by different SME owner‐managers even within a specific sector, such that it is important not to neglect to develop models which help owner/managers, advisors, consultants and academics to understand the diversity in this sector.
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The purpose of this study is to attempt to suggest an adjustment in Iran's national publication strategy based on the country‐specific Matthew core journals. It investigates…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to attempt to suggest an adjustment in Iran's national publication strategy based on the country‐specific Matthew core journals. It investigates Iran's performance in its national journal set, and proposes a more prominent journal subset.
Design/methodology/approach
A citation analysis method is applied to study Iran's scientific performance in its national journal set. The data were extracted from the Science Citation Index at Web of Science and JCR and imported to SPSS for further refinement and analysis.
Findings
The results showed that Iran experienced comparatively considerable citation loss. Surplus citations are concentrated in a small number of journals, presented as Iran's positive Matthew core journals. The results also confirm a relatively poor publication strategy adopted by Iranian scientists and that a publication concentration does not necessarily enhance the chance of being widely cited.
Research limitations/implications
These findings imply that Iran needs to watch more vigilantly the functioning of its science system. To improve its presence at the international level, Iran should re‐orient its publication strategy towards a more prominent one. This may be the case for similar science systems, where the emphasis is given to quantity rather than quality.
Originality/value
Country‐specific Matthew core journals, with serious citation competition, can serve as an important criterion to monitor the functioning of science systems regarding publication strategy. This is the first empirical study to employ the concept to suggest improvements in a country's publication strategy.