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The purpose of this paper is to synthesize the accumulated body of research on Lean in higher education, draw conclusions to help guide successful Lean implementations and propose future research directions to establish a rich base of knowledge that informs both practice and research.

This literature review examines the academic literature regarding the use of Lean in higher education across 64 publications. EBSCO definitions were used to assess and present the synthesized results, which are detailed at the department/unit level and at the organizational level.

Overall, Lean appears to have significant and measurable value when used to improve academic and administrative operations in higher education. Such improvements are effective at the department/unit level or throughout the entire institution. However, implementing Lean within an institution is a serious undertaking that is most impactful if it involves long-term, strategic planning.

The groundwork has been established for the development of conceptual frameworks to further guide Lean initiatives in higher education. Such frameworks, together with further integration of organizational development and change management literature will define best practices when implementing Lean locally and throughout the institution.

At the time of this writing, there has been no systematic review or integration of the published literature about Lean in higher education. This review provides a highly useful starting point for researchers interested in further developing theory about quality in academic institutions.

The purpose of this paper is to suggest a definition of genetic information by taking into account the debate surrounding it. Particularly, the objections raised by Developmental Systems Theory (Griffiths, 2001; Oyama 1985; Griffiths and Knight 1998) to Teleosemantic endorsements of the notion of genetic information (Sterelny et al. 1996; Maynard Smith, 2000; Jablonka, 2002) as well as deflationist approaches which suggest to ascribe the notion of genetic information a heuristic value at most, and to reduce it to that of causality (Godfrey-Smith, 2000; Boniolo, 2003, 2008).

The paper presents the notion of genetic information through its historical evolution and analyses it with the conceptual tools offered by philosophical theories of causation on one side (“causation as influence,” Woodward, 2010; Waters, 2007; Lewis, 2000) and linguistics on the other (“double articulation” Martinet, 1960).

The concept of genetic information is defined as a special kind of cause which causes something to be one way rather than another, by combining elementary units one way rather than another. Tested against the notion of “genetic error” this definition demonstrates to provide an exhaustive account of the common denominators associated with the notion of genetic information: causal specificity; combinatorial mechanism; arbitrariness.

The definition clarifies how the notion of information is understood when applied to genetic phenomena and also contributes to the debate on the notion of information, broadly meant, which is still affected by lack of consensus (Floridi, 2013).

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in numerous innovative engineering design solutions, several of which leverage the rapid prototyping and manufacturing capabilities of additive manufacturing. This paper aims to study a subset of these solutions for their utilization of design for AM (DfAM) techniques and investigate the effects of DfAM utilization on the creativity and manufacturing efficiency of these solutions.

This study compiled 26 COVID-19-related solutions designed for AM spanning three categories: (1) face shields (N = 6), (2) face masks (N = 12) and (3) hands-free door openers (N = 8). These solutions were assessed for (1) DfAM utilization, (2) manufacturing efficiency and (3) creativity. The relationships between these assessments were then computed using generalized linear models to investigate the influence of DfAM utilization on manufacturing efficiency and creativity.

It is observed that (1) unique and original designs scored lower in their AM suitability, (2) solutions with higher complexity scored higher on usefulness and overall creativity and (3) solutions with higher complexity had higher build cost, build time and material usage. These findings highlight the need to account for both opportunistic and restrictive DfAM when evaluating solutions designed for AM. Balancing the two DfAM perspectives can support the development of solutions that are creative and consume fewer build resources.

DfAM evaluation tools primarily focus on AM limitations to help designers avoid build failures. This paper proposes the need to assess designs for both, their opportunistic and restrictive DfAM utilization to appropriately assess the manufacturing efficiency of designs and to realize the creative potential of adopting AM.

Technology offers great potential to gifted, talented, and creative (GCT) students, including students who are twice exceptional (i.e., students who are GCT as well as identified with a disability). However, little research exists regarding the use and evidence-base base of technologies for these populations. This chapter presents technology to support students who are GCT as well as students identified as twice exceptional, including assistive technology to support students in content area instruction. Although, an evidence-base is needed for using technology in education for GCT and twice-exceptional students, existing research supports using the Internet and Web 2.0 technologies with these students.

The purpose of this study is to examine the latent structure of stalking. Stalking can be defined as a pattern of repeated and unwanted behaviours that cause another person to be afraid. The consequences for the victims can be severe and potentially happen over a long period of time. While stalking is considered as a taxon, empirical evidence and an absence of pathognomonic criteria point towards a dimensional structure.

The aim of this study is to examine the latent structure of stalking using taxometric analyses on the Severity of Stalking Behaviours Scale. Analyses were conducted on a sample of N = 1,032 victims’ accounts, who had contacted the National Stalking Helpline in the UK.

Taxometric analyses revealed that stalking presents a dimensional structure, and no taxonic peaks emerged. The results were consistent across analyses (MAMBAC, MAXEIG and L-Mode), indicators (CCFI, curves) and measures (items, factors).

A dimensional structure implies that individual variation is a matter of intensity, and the present results suggest that the conceptualization of stalking should be modified. Understanding stalking from a dimensional perspective provides support to study stalking in non-clinical populations. Scales that measure stalking should provide discrimination along the entire continuum rather than focusing on putative taxonic boundaries and arbitrary threshold.

This paper is proposing the first set of taxometric analyses on stalking. The results are providing empirical support to the idea that stalking exists on a continuum. It also strengthened the validity of previous findings in non-clinical populations and their applications all along the continuum, including with clinical populations.

Generally, theory and research investigating the effectiveness of mentoring has offered little resounding evidence to attest to mentoring programmes being a strategic initiative that make a real difference in reducing the educational inequities many minority students endure. In contrast to this existing research base, the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME) has often been cited as one of the most successful mentoring initiatives within Australia. It is the purpose of this chapter to examine how AIME may impact on the educational aspirations and school self-concept of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

A series of multi-group analyses were centred around Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling techniques that sought not only to explore the psychometric validity of the measures utilized within this study, but also to identify how the measures may be related after accounting for background variables (e.g. gender, parental education).

The results found that the measures utilized held strong psychometric properties allowing an increased level of confidence in the measures used and the conclusion that may be drawn from their use in analyses. Overall, the results suggested that AIME is an effective tool for increasing not only the educational aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students but also their levels (and utility) of School Self-concept and School Enjoyment.

The implications suggest that not only is AIME an essential tool for closing the educational gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Aboriginal students, but also our understanding of mentoring must be extended well beyond simplistic notions of role-modelling.

The chapter reconstructs the methodological trajectory of Polly Hill. Crossing the boundaries between economics and anthropology, Hill’s work was simultaneously an epistemic challenge to development economics, and a testimony to the complexity and richness of economic life in what she called the “rural tropical world.” Drawing inspiration from the process that Mary Morgan referred to as “seeking parts, looking for wholes,” the chapter explores the evolving relationship between observational practice and conceptual categories in Hill’s work on West Africa and India. It is argued that fieldwork, the central element in Hill’s methodological reflection, served two main functions. Firstly, it acted as the cornerstone of her views on observation and induction, framing her understanding of the relationship between “parts” and “wholes.” Secondly, Hill used fieldwork as a narrative trope to articulate her hopeful vision for an integration of economics and anthropology, and later express her feelings of distance and alienation from the ways in which these disciplines were actually practiced.

This paper examines some of the most difficult barriers that hotel chains must overcome when trying to expand internationally. It argues for the importance of the role of well educated hotel management trainees and new graduates in this process.

The methodology was to compare the problems faced by three major international hotel chains (Mövenpick, Kempinski, and Radisson) when expanding into emerging markets with those of a “base case”: The Moscow Aerostar Hotel. Data were obtained through interviews and processed in a comparative manner, contrasting it with the contents of the main case.

Having identified the common issues that the companies interviewed had to resolve when expanding, which skills educators in hospitality management should enhance in order to produce professionals who are mentally equipped to face current and future challenges with regards to the internationalisation of hotels were determined.

The recommendations arising from this piece will be of use to educators in hospitality management when designing programmes of study and curricula to meet the needs of the labour market. Equally, it will warn practitioners of the common problems to be faced when breaking into international hotel markets based on the experience of colleagues in the industry.

Both practitioners and educators in the hospitality domain will benefit from the synthesis offered in this paper, as it puts together convergent views on what currently worries major players in the field during this time of challenging, but unavoidable globalisation.

The notion of sexual health has become a buzzword across various spheres, including the scientific, political, and social arenas. In a similar manner, discussions about the subject of disability and sexuality are commonly articulated through the lens of sexual health and “healthy sexualities.” Greater focus has been placed on issues of protection, abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, and unplanned pregnancy. Opportunities to talk about sex, desire, and pleasure is missing in this discourse. Drawing on my experience conducting studies about disability and sexuality, I interrogate the (over)reliance and unproblematized use in terms of the language of sexual health and healthy sexuality when it comes to people labeled/with intellectual disabilities.

Conducting research with children and youth has become increasingly challenging in recent years. At times these difficulties come in the form of restrictions by Institutional Review Boards, funding agencies, and parents. Additionally, changes in youth culture and behavior, specifically regarding online activities and digitally mediated communications, impact the access that researchers have to children and youth communities in significant ways. In this chapter, I propose that the use of an emerging methodological technique, digital ethnography, may provide researchers with new data sources on children and youth culture. Digital ethnography combines ethnographic techniques of observation, participation, and interview with content analysis to collect rich data about online behavior, norms, expectations, and interactions. This technique not only provides researchers with sources of data that allow insight into youth culture by acknowledging the increasing importance of online and digital interactions in youth culture but may also address some of the concerns raised by IRBs and other interested parties about conducting research with children and teens. This chapter provides practical and ethical considerations of this method, as well as a discussion of limitations of data collection and access as it highlights new ways of studying youth culture, using emerging data collection techniques in innovative research projects.