J.O. NYLANDER, F. MASSZI and P.A. TOVE
A computer model of silicon‐on‐sapphire MESFETs has been developed in order to help the construction and technology work of novel complementary MES digital circuit building…
Abstract
A computer model of silicon‐on‐sapphire MESFETs has been developed in order to help the construction and technology work of novel complementary MES digital circuit building blocks. The modelling work is based partly on physical simulation by solving the semiconductor partial differential equations, and partly on development of a large‐signal MESFET model with an arbitrary doping profile input, implemented on a nonlinear circuit analysis program. The results showed cover investigations of both DC and transient behaviour of CMES inverters.
This paper aims to shed light on how offshore wind park business networks can orchestrate dynamic capabilities to enable innovation for the competitive advantage of renewable…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to shed light on how offshore wind park business networks can orchestrate dynamic capabilities to enable innovation for the competitive advantage of renewable offshore wind energy.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is based on a qualitative multiple-case study of operation and maintenance activities in offshore wind parks, starting in June 2014 with a pilot qualitative case study and the main qualitative multiple-case research conducted via in-depth interviews with 20 enterprises. The preliminary findings were presented for the qualitative triangulation of comments in a seminar in May 2015.
Findings
The findings explain the need for collaboration across the business network through the use of an open innovation platform for orchestrating dynamic signature capabilities in combination with ordinary capabilities. Both locally distributed leadership and central leadership in knowledge creation are necessary ingredients. The model developed from the research findings shows the need to change the competitive advantage criteria within business networks to VRIS (valuable, rare, imitable, substitutable) in contrast to the traditional criteria for individual enterprises of VRIN (valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable, non-substitutable).
Research limitations/implications
The research is focused on offshore wind park business networks, and therefore, the generalizability of this qualitative case study to other contexts can be limited. Further research is thus needed to verify the findings.
Originality/value
A three-fold contribution is made to the understanding of the integrated combination of orchestrating dynamic capabilities in the offshore wind energy sector. Business networks, academia and policy bodies are given a model for enacting the competitive advantage of renewable offshore wind energy for the benefit of society.
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This paper aims to reveal how larger enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can enable innovation collaboration for enhanced competitiveness of the offshore…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to reveal how larger enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can enable innovation collaboration for enhanced competitiveness of the offshore wind energy sector.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is based on a longitudinal qualitative study starting in 2011 with a project-based network learning course with 15 SME wind farm suppliers and follow-up interviews with 10 SMEs and continued with interviews conducted with 20 individual enterprises within operation and maintenance conducted in 2014-2015.
Findings
The findings reveal challenges as well as opportunities for innovation collaboration between larger enterprises and SMEs to contribute to the innovation and competitiveness of the offshore wind farm sector. A glass ceiling is revealed for demand-driven positions if the SME does not possess rare and specific valuable knowledge. There are opportunities revealed in general for supplier-driven positions if SME suppliers can collaborate and develop interesting solutions for larger enterprises. If SMEs succeed in either of these aims, the SMEs have an opportunity to attain partner-driven collaboration. However, challenges are present according to the understanding of the different organisational approaches in SMEs and larger enterprises and in the different business approaches.
Research limitations/implications
The research is limited to the offshore wind energy sector. Further research is needed for verification of the findings in other energy sectors.
Originality/value
A fourfold contribution is made to enhance the understanding of innovation collaboration and to enable competitiveness for the offshore wind energy sector. SMEs, larger enterprises, academic researchers and policy bodies are provided with a model for action within the four positions for innovation collaboration.
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This paper aims to offer an improved understanding of trust challenges in online trade, providing examples of issues that should be addressed for a trustworthy online environment…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to offer an improved understanding of trust challenges in online trade, providing examples of issues that should be addressed for a trustworthy online environment. It also aims to illustrate how records and recordkeeping can contribute in terms of enabling trust and accountability.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on results from a self-ethnographic study of online trade (Engvall, 2017); the results are analyzed further. Kelton, Fleischmann and Wallace’s (2008) model for trust is used to gain a better understanding of the characteristics of the challenges and where they should be addressed.
Findings
This paper recognizes that there are different types of trust challenges at different levels – individual, between clients and businesses and at a societal level – that should be addressed at these levels in different ways.
Originality/value
This paper provides an understanding of trust challenges in the online environment.
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Tove Lafton and Anne Furu
The purpose of this paper is to discuss how kindergarten, as a learning arena equal to a university college, creates learning spaces that engage or intervene in the professional…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss how kindergarten, as a learning arena equal to a university college, creates learning spaces that engage or intervene in the professional learning of student teachers in early childhood education.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on narratives from students in work-based education.
Findings
The paper addresses the complexity of education by outlining how the concept of learning is applied in earlier research on work-based learning (WBL).
Research limitations/implications
This earlier understanding is complemented this with two theoretical lenses (sociocultural and sociomaterial thinking) to analyse a constructed narrative from the students.
Originality/value
The two theoretical positions open up to examine knowledge development and potentially enrich the picture of learning spaces in experiential WBL, going beyond the student as an individual learner.
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Bernardo Villarreal, Jose Arturo Garza-Reyes and Vikas Kumar
The improvement of routing operations performance has been of great concern for organisations. This has led to the development of alternative lean-based methods, however the…
Abstract
Purpose
The improvement of routing operations performance has been of great concern for organisations. This has led to the development of alternative lean-based methods, however the literature research on the applications of lean thinking in the transportation sector is still considered rather limited. The purpose of this paper is to present a lean thinking and simulation-based approach to improve the efficiency of warehousing and routing operations.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews the existing literature in the area of lean transportation and then presents and applies a novel approach to improve the vehicle routing operations of a Mexican firm. The proposed approach suggests the classification of wastes into those relevant to transport operations, their identification through a transportation value stream mapping study, and the use of the transportation overall vehicle effectiveness (TOVE) index for the measure of the overall performance of the transport operations.
Findings
The results obtained from the case study indicate that the proposed approach is an effective alternative for the improvement of vehicle routing operations as the number of routes decreased from 30 to 22 and the distance travelled by 32 per cent. Similarly, the average number of clients served by each route increased by 23 per cent as well as the TOVE index increased from 6.9 to 19.3 per cent. The TOVE component measures of vehicle performance and operating availability efficiencies also increased significantly while quality issues, in the form of number of customers not served per route, were reduced from six to zero.
Originality/value
The improvement of routing operations performance has been traditionally addressed through operations research and mathematical modelling approaches. This paper presents an alternative and novel lean thinking and simulation-based approach to improve the efficiency of routing operations.
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Hilde Thygesen, Astrid Gramstad, Lene A. Åsli, Linda Stigen, Trine A. Magne, Tove Carstensen and Tore Bonsaksen
Student satisfaction is an important indicator of educational quality in higher education institutions. Learning environment factors are assumed to play a role in determining…
Abstract
Purpose
Student satisfaction is an important indicator of educational quality in higher education institutions. Learning environment factors are assumed to play a role in determining student satisfaction. The purpose of this study is to examine the intrinsic relationships between five learning environment scales embedded within one measure; and examine the associations between each of these scales and an overall measure of education program satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
In this cross-sectional study, 175 first-year occupational therapy students in Norway completed sociodemographic information and the Course Experience Questionnaire. The data were analyzed with Pearson’s correlation coefficient r and with linear regression.
Findings
All intrinsic associations between the learning environment scales were positive. In the adjusted analysis, higher education program satisfaction was significantly associated with higher scores on “clear goals and standards,” “emphasis on independence” and “good teaching.” The final model accounted for 45.0% of the outcome variance, of which the scores on the learning environment scales contributed 41.8%.
Originality/value
The learning environment is vital for student satisfaction. More specifically, efforts to improve student satisfaction may include strengthening student-focused teaching, strengthening the autonomy of the students, and ensuring that the goals and standards of courses are clear and easy to understand.
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Tove Sohlberg and Patrik Karlsson
Health promotion strategies often attempt to change people’s behavior through targeting their risk perceptions. These perceptions may, however, be moderated by other factors. This…
Abstract
Purpose
Health promotion strategies often attempt to change people’s behavior through targeting their risk perceptions. These perceptions may, however, be moderated by other factors. This study therefore aimed at investigating the trustworthiness and consistency of risk information, as well as respondent perceptions of the adequacy of amount received among a representative sample of former smokers, and how this information is related to gender, age, education level and whether using nicotine or not.
Design/methodology/approach
The respondents are part of a seven-year follow-up of former smokers in Sweden. Initially, 1400 respondents were contacted, whereof 705 (response rate 50%) answered a Web-survey. The majority (85 %) was still nicotine-free but some made use of nicotine in different forms. The data analysis includes descriptive statistics and logistic regressions.
Findings
Most respondents trusted risk information whether offered by the public authorities or came from other sources such as media, and generally perceived that there was an adequate amount. However, there were some differences between the products, where quite a few distrusted information on Nicotine Replacement Therapies (NRTs) and some perceived the information on snus and NRTs as contradictory and too little.
Originality/value
Knowledge about how former smokers perceive information regarding negative aspects of cigarette use may facilitate more effective risk communication with current smokers, and it may also be important for communicating information about other nicotine products to those who are trying to or who already have quit smoking.
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Jeppe Nicolaisen and Tove Faber Frandsen
Citation analysis as a method for studying scientific communication is frequently criticized for being based on biased citation practices. Questionable motives for the reference…
Abstract
Purpose
Citation analysis as a method for studying scientific communication is frequently criticized for being based on biased citation practices. Questionable motives for the reference selection have been suggested including the claim that authors tend to cite hot papers in order to show-off. In this study, the authors investigate the claim that authors tend to cite the recent literature in order to show-off.
Design/methodology/approach
Following Moed and Garfield (2004), the authors investigate the claim by analyzing the proportion of recent references as a function of the length of the reference lists of citing papers. The authors analyze reference lists of citing papers in the fields of biomedical engineering, economics, medicine, psychology and library and information science between 2010 and 2019. From each of these fields, a number of journals are included in the analysis to represent the field. In total, 42 journals are included in the analyses comprising a selection of almost 65,000 journal articles. The proportion of recent references is calculated using two citation windows. The proportion of recent references as a function of the length of the reference lists is calculated through simple linear regressions to predict the share of recent references based on the number of references.
Findings
The results of the linear regressions indicate that in most cases, there are a statistically significant relationship between the share of recent references and the number of references. This study’s results show that when authors display selective referencing behavior, references to the recent literature tend to be only marginally increased, and some results even display the opposite tendency (marginally overciting the older literature).
Originality/value
This study of the claim that authors tend to cite the recent literature in order to show-off does not confirm the hypothesis.
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Tove Faber Frandsen, Kristian Møhler Sørensen and Lyngroes Fladmose Anne
Libraries are increasingly trying to communicate the library's contributions and telling the library stories. Stories can be a component of impact assessment and thus add nuance…
Abstract
Purpose
Libraries are increasingly trying to communicate the library's contributions and telling the library stories. Stories can be a component of impact assessment and thus add nuance to an assessment. Evaluations of libraries can include collecting and presenting stories of change, which can serve as evidence in impact assessments. The narrative field allows for many different approaches to a narrative perspective in the study of libraries, but the existing literature provides little overview of these studies. The purpose of this study is to introduce the narrative field and present a systematic review of the existing studies of libraries that use narrative approaches.
Design/methodology/approach
The methods in this study comprise of a systematic review of publications reporting narrative approaches to studying libraries. To retrieve the relevant studies, Library and Information Science Abstracts, Scopus, Web of Science and Proquest Dissertation were searched. Furthermore, the authors examined reference lists and performed citation searches. Study selection was performed by two reviewers independently. Using designed templates, data from the included studies were extracted by one author and confirmed by another.
Findings
The database searches retrieved 2,096 records across the four databases which were screened in two steps, resulting in 35 included studies. The authors identify studies that introduce narrative enquiries in library studies as well as studies using narrative approaches to the study of libraries.
Originality/value
Exploring narratives and stories for understanding and evaluating the library's worth is a promising field. More work is needed, though, to develop theoretical and methodological frameworks. Several of the included studies can serve as examples of the potential of a narrative perspective in the study of libraries.