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(1) What are Volkswagen's plans for the Spanish car manufacturer Seat, which it acquired in 1986?

Fused deposition modelling (FDM) is increasingly being explored as a commercial fabrication method due to its ability to produce net or near-net shape parts directly from a computer-aided design model. Other benefits of technology compared to conventional manufacturing include lower cost for short runs, reduced product lead times and rapid product design. High-performance polymers such as polyetherimide, have the potential for FDM fabrication and their high-temperature capabilities provide the potential of expanding the applications of FDM parts in automotive and aerospace industries. However, their relatively high glass transition temperature (215 °C) causes challenges during manufacturing due to the requirement of high-temperature build chambers and controlled cooling rates. The purpose of this study is to investigate the mechanical properties of ULTEM 1010, an unfilled polyetherimide grade.

In this research, mechanical properties were evaluated through tensile and flexural tests. Analysis of variance was used to determine the significance of process parameters to the mechanical properties of the specimens, their main effects and interactions. The fractured surfaces were analysed by scanning electron microscopy and optical microscopy and porosity was assessed by X-ray microcomputed tomography.

A range of mean tensile and flexural strengths, 60–94 MPa and 62–151 MPa, respectively, were obtained highlighting the dependence of performance on process parameters and their interactions. The specimens were found to fracture in a brittle manner. The porosity of tensile samples was measured between 0.18% and 1.09% and that of flexural samples between 0.14% and 1.24% depending on the process parameters. The percentage porosity was found to not directly correlate with mechanical performance, rather the location of those pores in the sample.

This analysis quantifies the significance of the effect of each of the examined process parameters has on the mechanical performance of FDM-fabricated specimens. Further, it provides a better understanding of the effect process parameters and their interactions have on the mechanical properties and porosity of FDM-fabricated polyetherimide specimens. Additionally, the fracture surface of the tested specimens is qualitatively assessed.

To explain how the components of attraction theory work in unison to prompt students to take an initial stimulus and progress through critical thinking processes and into knowledge acquisition, organization, and synthesis.

Although schema theory has an important role in understanding knowledge acquisition, it does not provide directives for how to plan instruction so students can build their understandings and comprehension of subject matter. This chapter outlines a pedagogical approach to the implementation of a new theory of learning that builds on cognitive science, affect, and interest.

Students can become re-attracted to learning through effective teaching inclusive of a jolt, curiosity, retrieving explanations, counterexamples, clarifications, and embedding that information within schemata.

Proactive investigations and continued research on attraction theory can enrich our understanding of teaching and learning, provide answers for what works in the classroom, and equip us with tools from which to select for unique classroom circumstances.

This article aims to present a systematic review and synthesis of evidence on the experiences, role and use of IPE in IH fields by using a meta-ethnographic approach including key concepts, reciprocal and refutational translation and lines of argument. Inclusion health (IH) practice suggests that the needs of excluded groups are more effectively addressed through collaborative working. Interprofessional education (IPE) occurs when two or more professions engage in shared practice and learning, resulting in improved collaboration and quality of care. Studies on IPE to train staff in fields relating to IH exist, but without a settled consensus on the best approaches/activities to foster inclusive practice.

This synthesis is underpinned by a meta-ethnographic approach. It provides explicit stages of data collection and interpretation, while providing space to engage with emerging themes and concepts iteratively (reflecting on author experiences) and inductively (reasoning and interpretation). This study made use of electronic databases and journals for English language peer reviewed articles between 2000 and 2020. Of the 2217 articles, 19 papers were included. The lead author and reviewer completed the review process and a second reviewer reviewed 10% at each stage. The quality was assessed using a modified CASP checklist. Iterative analysis involved PPI and staff stakeholders.

A total of 16 concepts embedded in 19 papers provide insight into the nature of IPE in IH (IH) for staff. It was found that IPE in IH covers a broad group of practitioners and is a complex activity involving individual and organisation readiness, practical and pedagogical factors, influenced by setting, method, curriculum, lived experience, reflection and a learner-driven approach. Barriers to design, implementation and translation into practice were also found to exist.

Most studies used a combination of core learning and group work. Educational modes include mentoring or coaching, reflective practice, immersive learning and people lived experience of exclusion involved in or facilitation thematically centred in trauma-informed informed care, cultural competence, communities of practice and service learning. The aim of these methods was to promote collaboration through identifying shared experiences, problems and tensions and critical reflection of services and organisations. Such transformative learning is reported to challenge stigma, discrimination and misinformation and promote collective empowerment to address social injustice through human connection. Effective models of IPE re-instated the therapeutic relationship and alliances between patients and staff.

This review also calls for the development of health and care workers’ professionalism in relation to their own reflexivity, establishing anti-racist curricula, challenge stigma and ensuring clinicians are aware of and able to negotiate tension and difference identified within the consultation and between themselves. Apart from developing generalist skills, this analysis suggests that IPE in IH may be able to challenge stigma and discrimination towards IH groups by destabilising existing norms and siloed working with the aim of achieving robust interprofessional practice.

IPE in IH is a complex activity affected by individual and organisation readiness, setting, experiential, practical and pedagogical factors. Models of teaching are focused on re-instating the therapeutic relationship. There are no systematic reviews in this field and previously there was no settled consensus on the best approaches and learning activities to foster inclusive and collaborative practice.

This paper aims to present a conceptual framework for the emerging field of green energy platform economics.

The authors develop a conceptual framework based on a careful review of the existing literature, and research into the current provider landscape and insights from academic and industry experts. The authors also examine the implications for the energy sector’s value chain and derive a research agenda based on those areas where research still needs to be pursued.

The framework combines the spatial characteristics of platform models (residential/mobile) with the different types of platform business model (B2C/C2C/C2Grid). Using this framework, the authors illustrate how green energy platforms can fundamentally disrupt the conventional electricity value chain by enabling prosumers to market their assets, creating new arenas for trading and collaboration, and by increasing transparency and competition in the sector. The authors also identify areas where more research is required, particularly empirical studies into energy forms other than electricity and analyses of currently underrepresented aspects such as user interfaces and social interactions.

Green energy platforms have the potential to contribute meaningfully to the energy sector’s decarbonization, digitalization and decentralization, and hence to the deceleration of climate change.

This paper is among the first to provide a holistic perspective on platformization in the energy sector. It also offers a new perspective on platform economics in general that is based on the unique characteristics of energy as an economic good (intangibility, homogeneity, credence good).

Purpose – The author examines the implementation and characteristics of teacher evaluation and explores their associations with improvement in teachers’ practice of constructivist instruction.Methodology – This quantitative study uses statewide longitudinal Teachers’ Opportunity to Learn survey data collected in 2009 and 2010 from middle school mathematics teachers in Missouri and estimates a series of value-added models with two-level Hierarchical Linear Modeling.Findings – Teachers in this study were mainly evaluated by principals who conducted classroom observations and held face-to-face meetings to evaluate teaching practice and professional development activities. The study provides empirical evidence and support for the use of multiple evaluators with multiple evaluation data and outcomes in teacher evaluation. Additionally, it highlights the potential benefits of focusing on teachers’ instructional data instead of student achievement in teacher evaluation in order to improve their teaching practice.Research limitations – This study focused on middle school mathematics teachers in a single state in the United States. Whether these findings can be generalized to teachers of other subject areas or grades, or to states with different policy contexts, or to countries with country-specific structural, cultural, and social differences is unknown.Value – This study is the first effort to systematically examine teacher evaluation practices across a single state and provide empirical evidence on the relationships between the implementation characteristics of teacher evaluation and improvement in teachers’ instructional practice. Findings of this study provide school, district, state, federal, and international policymakers and administrators with important, up-to-date information on teacher evaluation at the middle-school level in the United States.

The purpose of this paper is to establish the relationship of emotional intelligence with the cultural quotient (CQ) and change readiness of Indian managers in the service sector.

Using purposive sampling, data were collected from 109 middle-level managers of the Indian service sector, comprising of top five contributing industries to the GDP of India (retail, real estate, banking and insurance, information technology and tourism). Emotional quotient (EQ) was measured by using the Emotional Intelligence Scale by Singh (2004), Cultural Intelligence Scale by Ang and Dyne (2008) was used to calculate CQ, and for measuring change readiness, Change Readiness Questionnaire developed by Kriegel and Brandt (1996) was used.

EQ has a significant and positive relationship with CQ (r=0.537) and the subscales of CQ are positively related with EQ. EQ is significantly positively related with change readiness (r=0.513) and the subscales of change readiness are also positively related with EQ.

The research is limited to only 109 middle-level Indian managers of the service sector.

Training of managers on Emotional Intelligence can lead to better handling of conflict and erase misunderstandings because of cultural diversities and could also help managers to deal with change more effectively and appropriately.