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Examines the tenth published year of the ITCRR. Runs the whole gamut of textile innovation, research and testing, some of which investigates hitherto untouched aspects. Subjects discussed include cotton fabric processing, asbestos substitutes, textile adjuncts to cardiovascular surgery, wet textile processes, hand evaluation, nanotechnology, thermoplastic composites, robotic ironing, protective clothing (agricultural and industrial), ecological aspects of fibre properties – to name but a few! There would appear to be no limit to the future potential for textile applications.

Describes one of the most frequently occurring processes in automated garment manufacture – the picking and placing of fabric panels. This can be carried out using pinch grippers which comprise two pegs that are pushed down on to the top of the fabric. The pegs are then brought together so that the fabric buckles up and is secured between them. It is essential that this operation has very high reliability and repeatability as an error can result in distorted, badly placed or misaligned fabric panels, which would then lead to the production of a faulty garment. The important parameters are the frictional characteristics of the peg surface/supporting surfaces combined with the weight and bending stiffness of the fabric, the opening distance of the pegs and the downward pressure applied to them. Describes a model for these relationships and uses experimental data on frictional and bending properties to predict the gripping behaviour for a given gripper design and gripping strategy. The predictions are compared with experimental results.

Examines the ninth published year of the ITCRR. Runs the whole gamut of textile innovation, research and testing, some of which investigates hitherto untouched aspects. Subjects discussed include cotton fabric processing, asbestos substitutes, textile adjuncts to cardiovascular surgery, wet textile processes, hand evaluation, nanotechnology, thermoplastic composites, robotic ironing, protective clothing (agricultural and industrial), ecological aspects of fibre properties – to name but a few! There would appear to be no limit to the future potential for textile applications.

This paper aims to quantify the impact of craft worker shortage on construction project safety performance.

A database of 50 North American construction projects completed between 2001 and 2014 was compiled by taking information from a research project survey and the Construction Industry Institute Benchmarking and Metrics Database. The t-test and Mann-Whitney test were used to determine whether there was a significant difference in construction project safety performance on projects with craft worker recruiting difficulty. Poisson regression analysis was then used to examine the relationship between craft worker recruiting difficulty and Occupational Safety and Health Administration Total Number of Recordable Incident Cases per 200,000 Actual Direct Work Hours (TRIR) on construction projects.

The result showed that the TRIR distribution of a group of projects that reported craft worker recruiting difficulty tended to be higher than the TRIR distribution of a group of projects with no craft worker recruiting difficulty (p-value = 0.004). Moreover, the average TRIR of the projects that reported craft worker recruiting difficulty was more than two times the average TRIR of projects that experienced no craft recruiting difficulty (p-value = 0.035). Furthermore, the Poisson regression analysis demonstrated that there was a positive exponential relationship between craft worker recruiting difficulty and TRIR in construction projects (p-value = 0.004).

The projects used to construct the database are heavily weighted towards industrial construction.

There have been significant long-term gains in construction safety within the USA. However, if recent craft shortages continue, the quantitative analyses presented herein indicate a strong possibility that more safety incidents will occur unless the shortages are reversed. Innovative construction means and methods should be developed and adopted to work in a safe manner with a less qualified workforce.

The Poisson regression model is the first model that quantifiably links project craft worker availability to construction project safety performance.

Examines studies into the automated handling of flexible materials such as fabrics, paper and food products and the behaviour of such materials during handling, concentrating on the two most crucial aspects of presentation and gripping. Looks at the problems caused by lack of obvious reference points with many flexible materials and looks at solutions involving overhead cameras and multiple cameras. Outlines the various types of grippers which can be used for non‐rigid materials, covering mechanical action grippers, intrusive grippers and surface attraction grippers. Concludes that understanding the properties of the material to be handled is very important when selecting both presentation strategies and gripping technology.

Looks at the eighth published year of the ITCRR and the research, from far and near, involved in this. Muses on the fact that, though all the usual processes are to the fore, the downside part of the industry is garment making which is the least developed side. Posits that the manufacture of clothing needs to become more technologically advanced as does retailing. Closes by emphasising support for the community in all its efforts.

Modeling of long‐range world trends began in a rigorous way in 1968, when the Club of Rome initiated the Forrester and Meadows studies which resulted in the computer models Worlds 1, 2, and 3. Publication of the results in popular form in Limits to Growth catalyzed worldwide discussion of the finiteness of the earth with respect to explosive growth in population and technological civilization. While these first‐generation world models had a profound effect on how many people now view social progress and the future of mankind, they were criticized for being over aggregated and failing to take into account sufficient human factors, such as social and political organization, values, and the force of secular and religious traditions.

The purpose of this paper is to find Batak Toba society’s local wisdom of mutual cooperation in Toba Lake area: a linguistic anthropology study.

This research employed qualitative paradigm. As a qualitative research, it employed four methods of data collection, namely in-depth open-ended interview, direct participatory observation, focus group discussion which is often abbreviated as FGD, and written documents. In-depth and open-ended interviews were applied to obtain data from the informants who understand the local wisdom of mutual cooperation, the traditional expressions as the collective memory of mutual cooperation, and the terms of mutual cooperation in Batak Toba society.

Based on the research findings, Batak Toba society has terms for gotong royong (mutual cooperation). They are marsirimpa or marsirumpa (cohesive, in unison, and together). It means that the basic rule of gotong royong (mutual cooperation) in Batak Toba society is the cohesion, synchrony, and togetherness. In other words, gotong royong (mutual cooperation) in Batak Toba society is working cohesively, in unison, and together, which is practiced in the life cycles, livelihood cycles, and public works.

This paper presents a new and significant contribution to the social and economic activity, especially socio-anthropology. People do not consider the implementation of mutual cooperation anymore. They forget that marsirimpa (the local term for mutual cooperation) can be used as a non-material capital to improve the socio-economic development. Marsirimpa can improve the social activity because its main principles are based on the “solidarity” and “harmony.” This research gives contribution economically to the people in the research area (Tippang village) compared to the neighboring area (Bakkara village). People in Tippang village get better income because they believe that many works, for instances, irrigating, paddy planting, until paddy cutting should be done together; they do not need to spend money for workers. Each clan has its own representative to manage irrigation. The activities of land digging and paddy cutting are collectively done. In relation to social anthropology, the tradition around the research area is still maintained because it makes people value the social interaction.

This paper aims to highlight myriad accomplishments of C. Bertrand Thompson, who is perhaps most well known as a scientific-management bibliographer and a Taylor disciple, in the belief that his contributions as a pioneer management theorist and consultant in Europe deserve to be more widely known and more deeply appreciated.

Archival, primary and secondary sources were used in the research.

Thompson was among the first to bring management consulting to Europe. He understood the importance of adapting scientific-management principles to meet the diverse needs of each client for whom he consulted. Thompson’s strong belief and value system remained constant throughout his life.

Understanding the needs of customers or clients and adapting systems to meet those needs is essential in achieving success as a consultant.

By drawing on rarely accessed published and unpublished materials, this paper discusses Thompson’s many contributions to management thought and practice, most of which previously have not been highlighted in the referent literature.