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The level of cross-disciplinarity in cross-disciplinary accounting research: analysis and suggestions for improvement
This study examines the extent of cross-disciplinary accounting research using a self-constructed definitional framework developed from a review of diverse literatures to better understand its meaning and underlying dimensions. The two identifiable dimensions, integration (blending of concepts) and interaction (researcher collaboration), sit along a continuum of relationships creating the potential for new knowledge through cross-disciplinary research. Data analysis using the publication descriptors from three highly regarded cross-disciplinary accounting research journals (AAAJ, AOS, CPA) suggest that cross-disciplinary accounting research is underpinned by conceptual 'integration' but less emphasis is placed on the 'interaction' between researchers of diverse disciplines. The findings also indicate that cross-disciplinarity is associated with higher citations. Interestingly, we found that the interaction dimension has a growing effect, over time, on article citations
Frequency-dependent orthotropic damping properties of Nomex honeycomb composites
In this paper, the orthotropic damping behavior of Nomex honeycomb composites and its causes are investigated. The needed specimen sizes for the measurement of the frequency-dependent transverse shear moduli (TSM) and fundamental damping coefficients of the honeycomb cores were analyzed at first. Then, the effects of cell side length and beam orientation on the orthotropic damping properties were explored. The results reveal that relatively high TSM (GLT) and damping values (ηWT) can be obtained by decreasing the cell side length without adding any additional weight. Damping mechanism analysis indicates that the difference in damping contribution of the interfacial phase to honeycomb core in different directions leads to the orthotropic damping behavior of honeycomb core. This study is helpful to guide the TSM measurement and structure design of honeycomb composites
Individual and organizational psychosocial predictors of hospital doctors’ work-related wellbeing: a multilevel and moderation perspective
Background: The high prevalence of burnout and depression among doctors highlights the need to understand the psychosocial antecedents to their work-related wellbeing. However, much of the existing research has been a-theoretical, operationalized a narrow measurement of wellbeing, and predominantly examined such relationships at the individual level.
Purpose: This study uses a multilevel perspective to examine individual (i.e., job demands and resources) and organizational level psychosocial predictors of three measures of work-related wellbeing: perceived stress, presenteeism and work engagement. The Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) theory underpins the postulated relationships.
Methodology: The 2014 National Health Service Staff Survey was analyzed using multilevel modelling in MPlus. The dataset involved 14,066 hospital-based doctors grouped into 157 English hospital organizations (i.e., Trusts).
Results: Congruent with the JD-R, job demands (workplace aggression and insufficient work resources) were stronger predictors of perceived stress and presenteeism than job resources. Equally, job resources (job control and manager support) were generally stronger predictors of work engagement than job demands. At the organizational level-bed occupancy rates and number of emergency admissions predicted work engagement. No hypothesized individual or multilevel interactions were observed between any of the job demands and resources.
Practical Implications: The findings emphasize that a broader perspective of work-related wellbeing among hospital doctors should be employed, and the empirical value of examining such relationships from a multilevel perspective. Successful health intervention should target the appropriate antecedent pathway, and recognize the role of organizational level factors when trying to manage hospital doctors’ work-related wellbeing
Promoting sustainability through governance of eco-city indicators: a multi-spatial perspective
The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of the latest practice on urban sustainability in China, focusing on the breakdown of city-wide overall indicators to a more controllable spatial level—i.e. individual land plots and individual buildings. We argue the importance of decomposing the indicators to smaller scales by understanding underlying principles such as indicators and their integration in the process of urban governance, i.e. enhancing multi-level policy coordination as an important and effective approach for developing eco-cities. This can provide a common ground of argument to monitor the progress at multiple spatial levels and form a collective effort to move a city towards sustainability. The novelty of this study is to highlight the role of eco-city development at multiple spatial levels and through urban governance. The local government needs to mobilize various stakeholders involved in the urban development process by providing sustainability targets in a transparent way. A collective effort from various stakeholder groups might be formed by linking them to a set of unified but spatial level-based targets
Identifying enablers and barriers to the implementation of the green infrastructure for urban flood management: a comparative analysis of the UK and China
Climate change and urbanization are increasing the urban flood risk, which can cause adverse on socio-economic and environmental impacts. Green Infrastructure (GI) can reduce stormwater runoff and offer multiple benefits that have been initiated in the United Kingdom (UK) and China, namely Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) and Sponge Cities Program (SCP) respectively. Currently, the implementation of GI is restricted to small spatial (site specific) scale and facing several constraints such as financial investment and governance, that limited its fuller functions and potential. This study aims to identify the barriers and enablers for the adoption of GI by investigating SUDS and SCP in the UK and China, through twelve in-depth semi-structured interviews with stakeholders. Our results found that multiple benefits of the SUDS and SCP were identified, as the main enablers in both countries with reducing the stormwater runoff and alleviating peak discharge in the drainage system, also contributing to social well-being and climate adaptations. Some barriers found the current practices are facing challenges from financial, biophysical and socio-political circumstances in both cases. We conclude that it is beneficial to learn the comparative findings and experiences from both countries, which contributes to stakeholders for improving current GI practices, in prior to achieve more sustainable long-term deliverables
A multiobjective single bus corridor scheduling using machine learning-based predictive models
Many real-life optimisation problems, including those in production and logistics, have uncertainties that pose considerable challenges for practitioners. In spite of considerable efforts, the current methods are still not satisfactory. This is primarily caused by a lack of effective methods to deal with various uncertainties. Existing literature comes from two isolated research communities, namely the operations research community and the machine learning community. In the operations research community, uncertainties are often modelled and solved through techniques like stochastic programming or robust optimisation, which are often criticised for their over conservativeness. In the machine learning community, the problem is formulated as a dynamic control problem and solved through techniques like supervised learning and/or reinforcement learning, which could suffer from being myopic and unstable. In this paper, we aim to fill this research gap and develop a novel framework that takes advantages of both short-term accuracy from mathematical models and high-quality future forecasts from machine learning modules. We demonstrate the practicality and feasibility of our approach for a real-life bus scheduling problem and two controlled bus scheduling instances that are generated artificially. To our knowledge, the proposed framework represents the first multi-objective bus-headway-optimisation method for non-timetabled bus schedule with major practical constraints being considered. The advantages of our proposed methods are also discussed, along with factors that need to be carefully considered for practical applications. © 2020, © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
The effect of variable operating parameters for hydrocarbon fuel formation from CO2 by molten salts electrolysis
The emission of CO2 has been increasing day by day by growing world population, which resulted in the atmospheric and environmental destruction. Conventionally different strategies; including nuclear power and geothermal energy have been adopted to convert atmospheric CO2 to hydrocarbon fuels. However, these methods are very complicated due to large amount of radioactive waste from the reprocessing plant. The present study investigated the effect of various parameters like temperature (200–500 oC), applied voltage (1.5–3.0 V), and feed gas (CO2/H2O) composition of 1, 9.2, and 15.6 in hydrocarbon fuel formation in molten carbonate (Li2CO3-Na2CO3-K2CO3; 43.5:31.5:25 mol%) and hydroxide (LiOH-NaOH; 27:73 and KOH-NaOH; 50:50 mol%) salts. The GC results reported that CH4 was the predominant hydrocarbon product with a lower CO2/H2O ratio (9.2) at 275 oC under 3 V in molten hydroxide (LiOH-NaOH). The results also showed that by increasing electrolysis temperature from 425 to 500 oC, the number of carbon atoms in hydrocarbon species rose to 7 (C7H16) with a production rate of 1.5 μmol/h cm2 at CO2/H2O ratio of 9.2. Moreover, the electrolysis to produce hydrocarbons in molten carbonates was more feasible at 1.5 V than 2 V due to the prospective carbon formation. While in molten hydroxide, the CH4 production rate (0.80–20.40 µmol/h cm2) increased by increasing the applied voltage from 2.0–3.0 V despite the reduced current efficiencies (2.30 to 0.05%). The maximum current efficiency (99.5%) was achieved for H2 as a by-product in molten hydroxide (LiOH-NaOH; 27:73 mol%) at 275 oC, under 2 V and CO2/H2O ratio of 1. Resultantly, the practice of molten salts could be a promising and encouraging technology for further fundamental investigation for hydrocarbon fuel formation due to its fast-electrolytic conversion rate and no utilization of catalyst
A multi-port power conversion system for the more electric aircraft
In more electric aircraft (MEA) weight reduction and energy efficiency constitute the key figures. Additionally, the safety and continuity of operation of its electrical power distribution system (EPDS) is of critical importance. These sets of desired features are in disagreement with each other, because higher redundancy, needed to guarantee the safety of operation, implies additional weight. In fact, EPDS is usually divided into isolated sections, which need to be sized for the worst-case scenario. Several concepts of EPDS have been investigated, aiming at enabling the power exchange among separate sections, which allows better optimization for power and weight of the whole system. In this paper, an approach based on the widespread use of multi-port power converters for both DC/DC and DC/AC stages is proposed. System integration of these two is proposed as a multiport power conversion system (MPCS), which allows a ring power distribution while galvanic isolation is still maintained, even in fault conditions. Thus, redundancy of MEA is established by no significant weight increase. A machine design analysis shows how the segmented machine could offer superior performance to the traditional one with same weight. Simulation and experimental verifications show the system feasibility in both normal and fault operations
Designing towards inward-oriented fashion technology: Demo projects
Fashion technology designs typically combine sensing technology and actuators to register and respond to information about the environment and/or the human body. The ways in which designers use and integrate these data into garments, however, varies on a scale from highly theatrical and outward-oriented designs to subtle and inward-oriented applications. This pictorial presents five garment designs created between 2013 and 2020, that occupy the more utilitarian and inward-oriented end of the fashion technology spectrum. We demonstrate five designs that combine sensing and actuation, highlighting the benefits of direct biofeedback and of keeping the personal data within the garment. The selection of projects aims to search the right balance between sensing and actuation
The EU’s stability-democracy dilemma in the context of the problematic accession of the Western Balkan states
The accession of the remaining six Western Balkan states into the EU is shrouded in much uncertainty. Despite Croatia finally traversing the difficult path to eventual membership in 2013, not one of the remaining Western Balkan countries can claim to be on a definite pathway to membership today. An increasingly prevalent argument is that the EU’s engagement with its neighbourhoods has faltered because its strategies have been undermined by an inherent stability-democracy dilemma. This article examines the EU’s engagement with the Western Balkans and finds that although the EU tried to transcend this dilemma, in reality, a tension between stability and democracy was present with the former generally receiving more attention in policymaking. This led to not only a lack of tangible democratization amongst the Western Balkan states, but further uncertainty about their accession prospects. By 2018, it was clear that the EU’s engagement with the Western Balkans needed a rethink, resulting in a new approach: the ‘Six Flagship Initiatives’. However, given the apprehensiveness of some member states (especially France) coupled with the presence of outsiders such as Russia and China in the area, the accession prospects of the six non-EU Western Balkan states remains blurred