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The UK construction industry has approached the application of quality assurance with some confusion. This is due in part to the traditional methods of procurement which have tended to separate the responsibility for design from that of production, quite unlike manufacturing industries for which the quality systems standard BS 5750/ISO 9000 was developed. This article describes why the design and build method of procurement ‐ which offers a single point of responsibility for both design and production ‐ supports the successful application of quality management to a building. It is based on Reading University research into quality systems, and experience gained from the SERC‐funded Teaching Company Scheme at Kyle Stewart Ltd.

VR games like VRChat offer players the opportunity to construct avatars mirroring their real-world identity, encompassing various facets including makeup, fashion style, body proportions and skin tone. This chapter explores how the real-life identity of players and the persona crafted within VRChat are related to one another and to what extent the avatar relates to self-perception. Avatar appearance can significantly affect how individuals interact with others in virtual environments. Appearance can also affect the degree to which the player can use the digital space for self-expression. Expressing self-identity through avatar design is therefore critical in establishing embodiment and presence in VR environments. Avatar design influences how individuals form social connections, build relationships and collaborate online, increasingly important in VR games like VRChat. Utilising Goffman's theory of self-presentation, this chapter draws on interview data from 20 VRChat users to understand the motivations and influences affecting avatar design. These choices are assessed in the context of creating an embodied actor in VR. The interview findings emphasise the role of avatar customisation in manifesting users' ideas of their authentic selves in the virtual realm. Supported by survey data, the insights highlight users' motivations based on personality traits, interests, social and personal identities, and cultural aesthetics derived from real-life experiences. This chapter underscores the complex interplay between real and virtual identities, highlighting the significant influence of cultural and social foundations on identity manifestation within VR environments.

Discusses quality in all its various guises and expounds the theory that if there are untapped resources in the different areas amongst the various processes and types of worker, then an increase in quantity and productivity can ensue from these. It is the capability of people as much as anything which is important and higher quality performance from all activities therein which should then occur. Good financial management is also required to develop the capability of production and organization to provide consistently what is desired for basic success.

The following classified, descriptive list of titles is intended to provide reference librarians with a current checklist of new reference books, and is designed to supplement the RSR review column, “Recent Reference Books,” by Frances Neel Cheney. “Reference Books in Print” includes all additional books received prior to the inclusion deadline established for this issue. Appearance in this column does not preclude a later review in RSR. Publishers are urged to send a copy of all new reference books directly to RSR as soon as published, for immediate listing in “Reference Books in Print.” The prevailing policy of including all reference books received has temporarily allowed the listing of titles with imprints older than two years; with increased receipt of more current titles from a longer list of publishers, this policy will soon be discontinued (with the exception of older books newly acquired for distribution by another publisher). An additional copy of any title specifically requested by Mrs. Cheney should be sent to her for review. A decision to review titles appearing in the present column will then be made by Mrs. Cheney at her own discretion.

This study aims to broaden the current literature by examining the relationships between organizational identity, knowledge sharing and creativity with moderating role of perceived organizational support.

Data were collected from 291 teachers working in vocational high schools by using a survey method. After data collection, construct validity and reliability were assessed and direct relationships were examined by using structural equation modeling (SEM). In addition, a hierarchical moderated regression analysis was conducted.

It was found that (1) organizational identity is positively related to knowledge sharing, (2) organizational identity is positively associated with creativity, (3) knowledge sharing does not mediate the relationship between organizational identity and creativity and (4) perceived organizational support positively moderates the relationship between organizational identity and knowledge sharing whereas it does not moderate the relationship between organizational identity and creativity.

Drawing on social identity theory (SIT) by integrating social exchange theory (SET), this research broadens the current literature by empirically showing the untapped effects of organizational identity on knowledge sharing and creativity and the role of perceived organizational support as a moderator on these relationships. This study confirms the effect of organizational identity on creativity and knowledge sharing. In addition, this research is the first that investigates the moderating role of perceived organizational support on the effect of organizational identity on knowledge sharing and creativity. Therefore, this study provides a deep understanding of these relationships and contributes to the literature.

Zika virus (ZIKV) statistics in Honduras are the highest among countries in Central America. National risk communication strategies have primarily focused on vector control and are integrated into existing approaches for Dengue and Chikungunya. Given the new evidence on ZIKV, there is a need to revamp risk communication strategies so that they are informed by dynamic listening methods such as knowledge, attitudes, and practices. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

A cross-sectional survey was administered to 604 respondents in 21 designated Honduran communities using a two-stage, 30-cluster sampling method.

Almost eight out of ten Hondurans knew that Zika can be transmitted by the bite of a mosquito; however, only 2 and 0.1 percent, respectively, were aware that Zika can be spread by sexual intercourse and from a pregnant woman to her fetus. In total, four out of ten Hondurans knew that there is a causal relationship between Zika and microcephaly in newborns, and three out of ten knew that there is an association between Zika and Guillian-Barré syndrome. Overall, 50 percent of respondents said that they did not have enough information about the disease.

The findings of this study clearly identify information priority gaps that need to be urgently addressed by national stakeholders involved in public health activities to protect the most vulnerable population against Zika disease and its complications.

This study is the first of its kind in Central America to inform any national risk communication strategy since the inception of the ZIKV response, particularly among at risk populations.

A collection of essays by a social economist seeking to balance economics as a science of means with the values deemed necessary to man′s finding the good life and society enduring as a civilized instrumentality. Looks for authority to great men of the past and to today′s moral philosopher: man is an ethical animal. The 13 essays are: 1. Evolutionary Economics: The End of It All? which challenges the view that Darwinism destroyed belief in a universe of purpose and design; 2. Schmoller′s Political Economy: Its Psychic, Moral and Legal Foundations, which centres on the belief that time‐honoured ethical values prevail in an economy formed by ties of common sentiment, ideas, customs and laws; 3. Adam Smith by Gustav von Schmoller – Schmoller rejects Smith′s natural law and sees him as simply spreading the message of Calvinism; 4. Pierre‐Joseph Proudhon, Socialist – Karl Marx, Communist: A Comparison; 5. Marxism and the Instauration of Man, which raises the question for Marx: is the flowering of the new man in Communist society the ultimate end to the dialectical movement of history?; 6. Ethical Progress and Economic Growth in Western Civilization; 7. Ethical Principles in American Society: An Appraisal; 8. The Ugent Need for a Consensus on Moral Values, which focuses on the real dangers inherent in there being no consensus on moral values; 9. Human Resources and the Good Society – man is not to be treated as an economic resource; man′s moral and material wellbeing is the goal; 10. The Social Economist on the Modern Dilemma: Ethical Dwarfs and Nuclear Giants, which argues that it is imperative to distinguish good from evil and to act accordingly: existentialism, situation ethics and evolutionary ethics savour of nihilism; 11. Ethical Principles: The Economist′s Quandary, which is the difficulty of balancing the claims of disinterested science and of the urge to better the human condition; 12. The Role of Government in the Advancement of Cultural Values, which discusses censorship and the funding of art against the background of the US Helms Amendment; 13. Man at the Crossroads draws earlier themes together; the author makes the case for rejecting determinism and the “operant conditioning” of the Skinner school in favour of the moral progress of autonomous man through adherence to traditional ethical values.

This research study aims to develop regular cylindrical pore network models (RCPNMs) to calculate topology and geometry properties of explosively created fractures along with their resulting hydraulic permeability. The focus of the investigation is to define a method that generates a valid geometric and topologic representation from a computational modelling point of view for explosion-generated fractures in rocks. In particular, extraction of geometries from experimentally validated Eulerian smoothed particle hydrodynamics (ESPH) approach, to avoid restrictions for image-based computational methods.

Three-dimensional stabilized ESPH solution is required to model explosively created fracture networks, and the accuracy of developed ESPH is qualitatively and quantitatively examined against experimental observations for both peak detonation pressures and crack density estimations. SPH simulation domain is segmented to void and solid spaces using a graphical user interface, and the void space of blasted rocks is represented by a regular lattice of spherical pores connected by cylindrical throats. Results produced by the RCPNMs are compared to three pore network extraction algorithms. Thereby, once the accuracy of RCPNMs is confirmed, the absolute permeability of fracture networks is calculated.

The results obtained with RCPNMs method were compared with three pore network extraction algorithms and computational fluid dynamics method, achieving a more computational efficiency regarding to CPU cost and a better geometry and topology relationship identification, in all the cases studied. Furthermore, a reliable topology data that does not have image-based pore network limitations, and the effect of topological disorder on the computed absolute permeability is minor. However, further research is necessary to improve the interpretation of real pore systems for explosively created fracture networks.

Although only laboratory cylindrical rock specimens were tested in the computational examples, the developed approaches are applicable for field scale and complex pore network grids with arbitrary shapes.

It is often desirable to develop an integrated computational method for hydraulic conductivity of explosively created fracture networks which segmentation of fracture networks is not restricted to X-ray images, particularly when topologic and geometric modellings are the crucial parts. This research study provides insight to the reliable computational methods and pore network extraction algorithm selection processes, as well as defining a practical framework for generating reliable topological and geometrical data in a Eulerian SPH setting.