Rodolfo Rodrigues Rocha, Daniel Faria Chaim, Andres Rodriguez Veloso, Murilo Lima Araújo Costa and Roberto Flores Falcão
Food socialization is the process of influences that forms children's eating habits and preferences, affecting their well-being for life. The authors' study explores what children…
Abstract
Purpose
Food socialization is the process of influences that forms children's eating habits and preferences, affecting their well-being for life. The authors' study explores what children and adolescents eat and how they obtain food at school, aiming to describe the deleterious food socialization phenomenon. The authors focused on understanding how deleterious food socialization influences children's food well-being within the school environment.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors developed a mixed methodology using structured questionnaires with open and closed questions. The authors also took pictures of the schools' canteens, which allowed deepening the understanding of the school environment. The data collection occurred in two Brazilian private schools. The schools' teachers were responsible for collecting 388 useful questionnaires from students between 10 and 14 years old.
Findings
The authors found statistically significant differences between food originating at home and school. The amount of ultra-processed foods and beverages consumed at home and taken by children and adolescents from home to school is smaller than what they buy in the school canteen or get from their colleagues. Thus, the authors suggest that the school environment tends to be more harmful to infant feeding than the domestic one.
Originality/value
This study coins the concept of deleterious food socialization: situations or environments in which the food socialization process negatively impacts one's well-being. The authors' results illustrate the deleterious food socialization phenomenon in the school environment.
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Roberto Flores, Enrique Ortega and Eugenio Onate
The purpose of this paper is to describe a set of simple yet effective, numerical method for the design and evaluation of parachute-payload system. The developments include a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe a set of simple yet effective, numerical method for the design and evaluation of parachute-payload system. The developments include a coupled fluid-structural solver for unsteady simulations of ram-air type parachutes. The main features of the computational tools are described and several numerical examples are provided to illustrate the performance and capabilities of the technique.
Design/methodology/approach
For an efficient solution of the aerodynamic problem, an unsteady panel method has been chosen exploiting the fact that large areas of separated flow are not expected under nominal flight conditions of ram-air parachutes. A dynamic explicit finite element solver is used for the structure. This approach yields a robust solution even when highly nonlinear effects due to large displacements and material response are present. The numerical results show considerable accuracy and robustness.
Findings
A simple and effective numerical tool for the analysis of parachutes has been developed.
Originality/value
An analysis code has been developed which addresses the needs of ram-air parachute designers. The software delivers reasonably accurate results in a short time using modest hardware. It can therefore assist the design process, which nowadays relies on empirical methods.
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Guilherme Homrich, Aly Ferreira Flores Filho, Paulo Roberto Eckert and David George Dorrell
This paper aims to introduce an alternative for modeling levitation forces between NdFeB magnets and bulks of high-temperature superconductors (HTS). The presented approach should…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to introduce an alternative for modeling levitation forces between NdFeB magnets and bulks of high-temperature superconductors (HTS). The presented approach should be evaluated through two different formulations and compared with experimental results.
Design/methodology/approach
The T-A and H-ϕ formulations are among the most efficient approaches for modeling superconducting materials. COMSOL Multiphysics was used to apply them to magnetic levitation models and predict the forces involved.The permanent magnet movement is modeled by combining moving meshes and magnetic field identity pairs in both 2D and 3D studies.
Findings
It is shown that it is possible to use the homogenization technique for the T-A formulation in 3D models combined with mixed formulation boundaries and moving meshes to simulate the whole device’s geometry.
Research limitations/implications
The case studies are limited to the formulations’ implementation and a brief assessment regarding degrees of freedom. The intent is to make the simulation straightforward rather than establish a benchmark.
Originality/value
The H-ϕ formulation considers the HTS bulk domain as isotropic, whereas the T-A formulation homogenization approach treats it as anisotropic. The originality of the paper lies in contrasting these different modeling approaches while incorporating the external magnetic field movement by means of the Lagrangian–Eulerian method.
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Ana Paula Zanatta, Ben Hur Bandeira Boff, Paulo Roberto Eckert, Aly Ferreira Flores Filho and David George Dorrell
Semi-active suspension systems with electromagnetic dampers allow energy regeneration and the required control strategies are easier to implement than the active suspensions are…
Abstract
Purpose
Semi-active suspension systems with electromagnetic dampers allow energy regeneration and the required control strategies are easier to implement than the active suspensions are. This paper aims to address the application of a tubular linear permanent magnet synchronous machine for a semi-active suspension system.
Design/methodology/approach
Classical rules of mechanics and electromagnetics were applied to describe a dynamic model combining vibration and electrical machines theories. A multifaceted MATLAB®/Simulink model was implemented to incorporate equations and simulate global performance. Experimental tests on an actual prototype were carried out to investigate displacement transmissibility of the passive case. In addition, simulation results were shown for the dissipative semi-active case.
Findings
The application of the developed model suggests convergent results. For the passive case, numerical and experimental outcomes validate the parameters and confirm system function and proposed methodology. MATLAB®/Simulink results for the semi-active case are consistent, showing an improvement on the displacement transmissibility. These agree with the initial conceptual thoughts.
Originality/value
The use of linear electromagnetic devices in suspension systems is not a novel idea. However, most published papers on this subject outline active solutions, neglect semi-active ones and focus on experimental studies. However, here a dynamic mechanical-electromagnetic coupled model for a semi-active suspension system is reported. This is in conjunction with a linear electromagnetic damper.
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Young Hoon Kim, Sangyung Lee and Nelson Barber
With dining out increasing globally, policy making and research have been on menu labeling as a source for meaningful nutrition information. Yet, despite attempts to mandate menu…
Abstract
Purpose
With dining out increasing globally, policy making and research have been on menu labeling as a source for meaningful nutrition information. Yet, despite attempts to mandate menu labeling and the studies examining consumer's perception of menu nutritional information and how this perception impacts dining behavior and intention to consume, concerns for obesity and malnutrition continue to be at the forefront of public health discussions. This study attempts to comprehend consumers' nutritional goals, intention and food choice behavior, thereby suggesting how to leverage this information for change.
Design/methodology/approach
Using survey data and a proposed and validated theoretical model, the study identified the different aspects of consumer's food choice by analyzing the relationship of consumer's perceived importance toward nutrition information, food choice and healthy daily behavior, and intention to improve health.
Findings
Consumers who perceive higher importance of nutrition information are more likely to choose healthy food when dining out and have stronger health improvement intention. The results also suggested healthy food choice and healthy daily behavior positively influenced health improvement intention.
Originality/value
Despite the previous studies on menu labeling and the numerous policy mandates, there is still concern about the food choice behavior of consumers while eating out. No serious effort exists to regulate food service providers similar to the regulation of other consumer products, whereby consumers are generally protected from harm. This study suggests through education, promotional marketing and industry partnerships, motivating and leveraging consumers' desire for healthy food choices could move food service providers and policy makers to change what information is provided.
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Niels Ketelhöhn, Roberto Artavia, Ronald Arce and Victor Umaña
This paper is a historical account of the process by which Michael Porter and INCAE Business School put together a regional competitiveness strategy for Central America that was…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper is a historical account of the process by which Michael Porter and INCAE Business School put together a regional competitiveness strategy for Central America that was officially adopted by the governments of five participating countries, and implemented through a series of Presidential Summits that occurred between 1995 and 1999. The paper provides a unique case study on the adoption of the concepts put forth by Porter in his book “The Competitive Advantage of Nations” (1990) at the highest level of government. The study arrives at a series of practical implications for policy makers that are particularly relevant for the implementation of supra-national regional strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conduct an extensive literature review of 190 policy papers produced by INCAE Business School, that are used to recreate the historical evolution of the regional competitiveness strategy. The effect of Porter’s intervention is also assessed by comparing the main economic indicators of each participating country with those of 2005-2010. One of the authors was the main protagonist in the successful implementation of the strategy, and the paper relies partially on his accounts of events.
Findings
This study describes how economic policy in Central America was profoundly influenced by Michael Porter’s thinking in the second half of the 1990s. These policy changes promoted international competition of Central American clusters and firms, and opened the region for international investment and tourism. The region experienced important increases in its economic integration, its international trade, foreign direct investment and tourist arrivals. Gross domestic product growth was accelerated in Honduras and Nicaragua.
Research limitations/implications
Like all case studies, this study has limits related to the generalizability of its conclusions. Additionally, it is not possible to determine the precise nature of the relation between the implementation of the regional economic strategy, and the impact on economic growth, integration, FDI attraction and exports.
Practical implications
The paper has several practical implications that relate to the design of regional economic strategies. First, it identifies policy areas that are more effective as part of regional strategies, and distinguishes them from those that should be resolved at the national level. Second, it suggests a process that can facilitate execution. Finally, it provides an example of the coordinating role that can be assumed by an academic institution such as INCAE.
Originality/value
The Central American Competitiveness Initiative provides a unique setting to study the implementation of competitiveness policy for several reasons. First, in all countries in Central America, Michael Porter’s diamond framework (1990) and cluster theory were officially adopted at the highest level of government. Second, in addition to their individual competitiveness strategies, all countries adopted a regional strategy for cooperation and economic integration. Finally, the Central American Competitiveness Initiative was founded on one of the first competitiveness think tanks of the world.
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Kathryn M. Nowotny, Jennifer L. Fackler, Gianncarlo Muschi, Carol Vargas, Lindsey Wilson and Joseph A. Kotarba
We report on an ethnographic study of four established music scenes in which Latino music is produced, performed, experienced, and celebrated in Houston, Texas: conjunto…
Abstract
We report on an ethnographic study of four established music scenes in which Latino music is produced, performed, experienced, and celebrated in Houston, Texas: conjunto, mariachi, salsa, and Latin jazz. This paper builds upon previous work that has examined emergent music scenes in Houston by incorporating three distinctly interactionist concepts – the scene, idioculture, and place – to illustrate established scenes. Our examination demonstrates that authenticity is a distinctly sociological concept, one that provides valuable insight into understanding the meanings that music has for the everyday actor.
This essay aims at retracing the intellectual and biographical events of the economist Gino Arias (1879–1940), examining more in detail the two seasons at the opposite ends of his…
Abstract
This essay aims at retracing the intellectual and biographical events of the economist Gino Arias (1879–1940), examining more in detail the two seasons at the opposite ends of his life: the early one that saw him considerably committed to the Zionist cause and the one that, thirty years later, would force him to confront the racial laws of the Fascist regime.
Despite the seeming tragic continuity of these two phases, Arias’s case is a real historiographical paradox since, over the long span between the opposite ends of his biography, not only did he distance himself from the Zionist movement, but he also gradually laid the foundations for his upcoming and immediate dedication to Fascism; indeed, within the Fascist regime he would stand out as an authoritative and influential theorist of corporatism, the institutional solution Mussolini tried to exploit to organize the national economic life.
After carefully examining Arias’s early contributions to the Zionist cause (that include the establishment of the Florentine Zionist Group and that led him toward strongly nationalistic stances), this essay sums up Arias’s intellectual biography during the next years and then, thanks to unprecedented documents from the Italian Ministry of Interior, closely looks into his fate after his conversion to Catholicism in 1932 and up against the racial laws of 1938, as well as into his attempts to escape persecution. A few final observations will then try to highlight the dramatic exemplarity of his case.
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Roy Boyd, Maria Eugenia Ibarrarán and Roberto Vélez-Grajales
Felix Mata, Miguel Torres-Ruiz, Roberto Zagal, Jacobo G. González León and Rolando Quintero
This chapter presents a combined approach of social and open data to evaluate a hybrid education model with online and face-to-face classes. The study consists of a sample of 310…
Abstract
This chapter presents a combined approach of social and open data to evaluate a hybrid education model with online and face-to-face classes. The study consists of a sample of 310 students from the UPIITA-IPN college. Thus, a grouping model was applied based on each student's profile and academic performance in various subjects to identify patterns and learning styles. In addition, a social sensor of emotions was implemented to measure reactions in online and face-to-face classes. It helped to identify which strategies and methods are most significant for student performance. Data were collected from forms and the Twitter social network, filtering data by general opinions about learning and experiences in class. Considering trends and patterns, we identified four types:
Pattern (1) personalization of learning: This group stood out because online teaching allows you to work at your own pace and on your own schedule. In addition, a trend toward a more individualized learning approach or the versatility of personalizing learning was observed. Pattern (2) an excessive number of channels and information: This group of students was characterized by feeling overwhelmed by the amount of information they must process in an online environment, in addition, to using various communication channels (messaging, Classroom, Zoom, Teams, email, among others) this was associated with a feeling of isolation and a lack of commitment. Pattern (3) inequality and asynchronous learning: Students with difficult access to adequate resources at home (connection, own computer, etc.). They were characterized by not being able to have the same performance in the different learning activities and expressed that the content must be adapted to the individual needs of the students. Technical problems, such as Internet connection failures or problems with electronic devices, interrupted the learning process and generated frustration for students and teachers. Pattern (4) lack of social interaction: This affected the student's ability to develop social and emotional skills. Moreover, it generates difficulties for the students to collaborate, slowing the development of social and emotional skills. It concluded that a hybrid model is successful, having schemes combined with 65% face-to-face sessions and 35% online.