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Green Supply Chain Management in Chinese Electronic Manufacturing Organisations; An analysis of senior managements’ perceptions.
No full textGreen supply chain management has emerged as a key area of research interest. Recent environmental regulations have also stimulated interest in this field. However, information sharing is a prerequisite to effective supply chain and, compared to developed Western companies, was argued to be 10-20 years behind in China (Li and Yuan, 2009). This barrier needs to be addressed if China is going to maintain and grow its manufacturing position in the world.
The paper explores the perceptions of senior management toward green supply chains and information sharing in Chinese electronic manufacturers. Semi-structured interviews of eighteen senior managers of electronic manufactures in Jiangsu province China were conducted. Thematic analysis is applied and the findings contrasted to other research. The paper provides insight to the current status of managers’ views to information sharing and green supply chain initiatives. This allows for the potential for the initial exploratory findings to inform a deeper piece of work that could lead to optimal intervention. The paper also proposes some initial recommendation for future development in order to mitigate this barrier. Future research directions are also considered. Research limitations are delineated with regard to the non-cross sectional qualitative approach undertaken in a specific Chinese province
Information Technology Usage in SMEs in a Developing Economy
No full textnformation communication technology adoption is well advanced in Nigerian SMEs, but further development is hampered by poor infrastructure and corruption
Information Technology Usage in SMEs in a Developing Economy
No full textInformation communication technology adoption is well advanced in Nigerian SMEs, but further development is hampered by poor infrastructure and corruption
Diabetes in poeple with intellectual disabilities: a systematic review of the literature
No full textOBJECTIVE - To present an analysis of the evidence related to the prevalence of diabetes in people with intellectual disabilities (ID), their experiences of their condition and treatment and those of their carers.
MATERIALS AND METHODS - A systematic literature review was conducted. A total of 22 studies exploring diabetes prevalence and 5 exploring views and experiences of diabetes in people with ID were identified and included. A narrative synthesis approach was utilised to amalgamate data extracted from the included studies regarding some 49, 046 participants with ID and diabetes and 31 care professionals and family members across Europe, North America, New Zealand, Australia, China and Hong Kong.
RESULTS - Prevalence rates of diabetes in people with ID were highly varied, ranging from 0.4% to 25%. 7 studies reported significantly higher rates of diabetes in people with ID than the general population. People with ID reported a basic understanding of diabetes and wanted to know more. Carers reported that they lack diabetes knowledge and do not routinely encourage diabetes self-management skills. Several studies neglected to report vital demographic information such as participants' level of ID (13 studies) and diabetes type (16 studies) and the quality of included prevalence studies was variable.
CONCLUSIONS – Further research in this field is required, notably prevalence studies which control for participant demographics and personal situations to obtain more accurate diabetes prevalence rates in this population group. People with ID and diabetes should be encouraged to participate in future research and we recommend exploring the feasibility of adapting current mainstream diabetes management programmes for these individuals.
Key words: intellectual disabilities; learning disabilities; developmental disabilities; diabetes; prevalence; views; opinions; diabetes management; systematic revie
Development of stabilised brick and mortar using biomass waste
No full textThis paper reports the potential of using cereal ash and bottom ash waste generated from biomass combustion plants for the manufacture of stabilised bricks and sustainable masonry mortar for brick joints and plaster. For the stabilised brick production, the cereal ash waste and bottom ash waste were used as full substitutes for primary clay, while magnesium oxide ash was used as a partial substitute for conventional stabilisers. The blending for the production of the masonry mortar was accomplished by the partial replacement of Portland cement, quicklime or hydraulic lime with large volumes (up to 70%) of cereal ash waste. The properties investigated under this study include material characterisation and compressive strength and durability using freeze–thaw tests. The results obtained suggest that there is potential for the manufacture of sustainable construction materials such as bricks and mortar from cereal ash, bottom ash and magnesium oxide ash waste streams
Rewriting the nation: a comparative study of Welsh and Scottish women's fiction from the wilderness years to post-devolution
No full textSince devolution there has been a wealth of stimulating and exciting literary works by Welsh and Scottish women writers, produced as the boundaries of nationality were being dismantled and ideas of nationhood transformed. This comparative study brings together, for the first time, Scottish and Welsh women writers’ literary responses to these historic political and cultural developments.
Chapter one situates the thesis in a historical context and discusses some of the connections between Wales and Scotland in terms of their relationship with ‘Britain’ and England. Chapter two focuses on the theoretical context and argues that postcolonial and feminist theories are the most appropriate frameworks in which to understand both Welsh and Scottish women’s writing in English, and their preoccupations with gendered inequalities and language during the pre- and post-devolutionary period. The third chapter examines Welsh and Scottish women’s writing from the first failed referendum (1979) to the second successful one (1997) to provide a sense of progression towards devolution. Since the process of devolution began there has been an important repositioning of Scottish and Welsh people’s perception of their culture and their place within it; the subsequent chapters – four, five, six and seven – analyse a diverse body of work from the symbolic transference of powers in 1999 to 2008. The writers discussed range from established authors such as Stevie Davies to first-time novelists such as Leela Soma. Through close comparative readings focusing on a range of issues such as marginalised identities and the politics of home and belonging, these chapters uncover and assess Welsh and Scottish women writers’ shared literary assertions, strategies and concerns as well as local and national differences.
The conclusions drawn from this thesis suggest that, as a consequence of a history of sustained internal and external marginalization, post-devolution Welsh and Scottish women’s writing share important similarities regarding the politics of representation. The authors discussed in this study are resisting writers who textually illustrate the necessity of constantly rewriting national narratives and in so doing enable their audience to read the two nations and their peoples in fresh, innovative and divergent ways
Heat of hydration of Portland Cement-Metakaolin-Fly ash (PC-MK-PFA) blends
No full textIn the present study two pozzolanic materials are used, Metakaolin (MK) and Fly Ash (PFA), as binary and ternary partial replacement binders with Portland cement (PC) to investigate their effect on the rate of heat evolution (dQ/dt in J/gh) during hydration, and the heat of hydration, (Q(t) in J/g). For binary PC–PFA blends PC hydration is enhanced in the very early stages of hydration, but at extended periods (up to 120 h) an increase in PFA replacement level causes a systematic reduction in heat output. For binary PC–MK blends the results suggest that the MK initially diminishes PC hydration but the subsequent pozzolanic reaction of MK increasingly contributes to the heat output causing some blends to exceed the heat output of the PC control. For both systems a principal controlling factor in the PC hydration rate (and the heat evolution rate) is the water requirement of the pozzolan, but for PC–MK blends the pozzolanic reaction of the MK makes a significant contribution to the heat output. However this reaction is controlled both by the availability of water and the supply of Ca2+ ions from the hydrating PC which introduces an increasing level of complexity to the heat output versus time profiles. When combining MK and PFA in ternary PC–MK–PFA blends the MK has a dominant influence on the heat output versus time profiles
Using liminality to understand mothers’ experiences of long-term breastfeeding: ‘Betwixt and between’, and ‘matter out of place’
No full textBreastmilk is widely considered as the optimum nutrition source for babies and an important factor in both improving public health and reducing health inequalities. Current international/national policy supports long-term breastfeeding. UK breastfeeding initiation rates are high but rapidly decline, and the numbers breastfeeding in the second year and beyond are unknown. This study used the concept of liminality to explore the experiences of a group of women breastfeeding long-term in the UK, building on Mahon-Daly and Andrews. Over 80 breastfeeding women were included within the study, which used micro-ethnographic methods (participant observation in breastfeeding support groups, face-to-face and online-asynchronous interviews via email). Findings about women’s experiences are congruent with existing literature, even though it is mostly dated and from outside the UK. Liminality was found to be useful in providing insight into women’s experiences of long-term breastfeeding in relation to both time and place. Understanding women’s experience of breastfeeding beyond current usual norms can be used to inform work with breastfeeding mothers and to encourage more women to breastfeed for longer
Sustainable Packaging: Regulations and operational challenges in a manufacturing SME
No full textThe issue of sustainability has attracted considerable attention over the last decade and has been accompanied by the development of stringent packaging material legislation for firms. Drawing on a single case approach, this paper examines the operational challenges faced by manufacturing SMEs as they strive to meet the expectations and requirements of increasingly demanding sustainable packaging regulations.
The findings highlight the internal costs and complexities that are faced by manufacturing firms when complying with the regulations. It suggests that some firms may face financial and technical constraints that prevent them from reporting the significant efforts that they are making to improving packaging materials. More significantly it identifies the seemingly insurmountable problems that are faced by SMEs when confronted with powerful upstream or downstream supply chain partners that are resistant to improvement initiatives. This can result in organisations acting in a self-interested manner and consequently, the cumulative environmental impact of the supply chain is greater than it may be if organisations were more environmentally cooperative
Profiling the resiliency and sustainability of UK manufacturing companies
No full texturpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the tools, methods and models that UK
manufacturing companies adopt and apply in order to achieve resiliency and economic sustainability.
The results of this work can assist in developing the foundations for defining a new joint resiliency/
sustainability paradigm to assist industry.
Design/methodology/approach – Through a detailed, triangulated secondary data analysis and
industry survey, the authors initially identify and then analyse the key resiliency and sustainability
characteristics surrounding manufacturing operations. This paper initially reviews key literatures
around resiliency and sustainability models and frameworks and subsequently draws out their
key features and weaknesses. The work then details the research survey undertaken in to
manufacturing companies aimed at identifying the resiliency/sustainability approaches that are
adopted in companies. A sample of 72 manufacturing companies are used in the survey and from
which the results are based.
Findings – Through analysing the fundamental business data of sales and manufacturing costs for
72 manufacturing companies, the authors cluster the companies in to four key manufacturing
profiles. The work then shows through a more detailed analysis of the profiles that companies
which are sustainable and more resilient in nature are, better engaged and connected to the
development and application of resiliency and sustainability models. It was found that companies
who seem to struggle in achieving economic sustainability or lack the ability to bounce back from
various set-backs either do not employ such models or at best apply tools and techniques in an ad
hoc manner.
Research limitations/implications – The paper provides key insights in to the adoption of
tools, techniques and models surrounding the achievement of resiliency and sustainability in
manufacturing companies. In so doing, the paper offers a new view on these issues and with the
profiling exercise undertaken, companies will be able to identify their position in relation to
the survey companies. This can be of benefit to the wider industrial and academic community.
The development of a qualitative assessment around a relatively small sample size has its
obvious limitations and it is crucial that further work with a range of companies in the area
of manufacturing sustainability is key to developing (and also validating) a comprehensive set of
resiliency and sustainability characteristics.
Practical implications – The paper highlights the issues surrounding existing academic resiliency/
sustainability models and through the industry survey, it provides further information on where UK
manufacturing companies are on adopting specific resiliency/sustainability models. The work
suggests that the resiliency/sustainability landscape of UK manufacturing companies is much more
complex and that a single strategic approach towards achieving improved manufacturing performance
is somewhat dated and ineffective.
Originality/value – The development of a set of resiliency/sustainability profiles including the
identification of the specific tools and techniques adopted by industry is aimed at tackling directly the issues of improving company performance and is considered by the authors as one of a kind.
The results of the survey provide essential information on the resiliency/sustainability landscape of UK
manufacturing companies