Narrow Results

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of Qi therapy (QT) on the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), including fatigue and complications. QT affected the experience of mental and emotional relaxation in the subjects of these case studies, who also gained strength to overcome their pain and fatigue. Although the results of these two case studies may not constitute conclusive evidence, they provide a foundation for the exploration of QT as a complementary therapy in the reduction of negative symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome.

We present the rationale, description, and critique of a first course in image computing that is not a traditional computer vision principles-and-tools course. "Visual Interfaces to Computers" is instead complementary to standard Computer Vision, User Interface, and Graphics courses; in fact, VI:CV::UI:G. It is organized by case studies of working visual systems that use camera input for data or control information in service of higher user goals, such as GUI control, user identification, or automobile steering. Many CV scientific principles and engineering tools are therefore taught, as well as those of psychophysics, AI, and EE, but taught selectively and always within the context of total system design. Course content is derived from conference and journal articles and Ph.D. theses, augmented with video tapes and real-time web site demos. Students do two homework assignments, one to design a "visual combination lock", and one to parse an image into English. They also do a final paper or project of their own choosing, often in teams of two, and often with surprisingly deep results. The course is assisted by a custom C-based tool kit, "XILite", a user-friendly (and comparatively bug-free) modification of Sun's X-windows Image Library for our lab's camera-equipped Sun workstations. The course has been offered twice to a wide audience with good reviews.

Drawing on the previous research on context and family involvement in entrepreneurial growth, this study examines the impact of households on the creation and growth of a rural enterprise. We aim to investigate how household strategies affect the development of new enterprise, how household dynamics influence enterprise growth strategy decisions, and how household manage and create business portfolios. To address these questions, we conducted comparative case studies utilising information from four business households situated in rural areas of Uttarakhand. In all four cases, a thematic interview approach was employed to explore consistent themes, such as business operations, household requirements, motivations for initiating and running a business, and community interactions. The findings illustrate how household contribute to the development and growth of rural enterprise, how these business change over time, the collaborative efforts of families in business venture and how they build and expand their business activities. The study identified three main themes: the close connection between household and business; how family and kinship act as valuable resources in enterprise growth; and how households effectively manage risk and uncertainty through entrepreneurial bricolage. These results highlight the role of households and household strategy in shaping enterprise growth, in contrast to earlier studies that focused on individual aspirations and business strategy. By focusing on farm family businesses and the resource-based view, this study offers valuable insights into the strategies employed by agripreneurial households to manage and leverage their resources effectively.

The adsorption of small organic molecules on silicon surfaces has been long a subject of investigations, as it provides the fundamental basis of silicon-based technologies in many fields. Several approaches were used, both theoretical and experimental, on many types of adsorbate-substrate systems aiming at determining preferential sites and geometries of adsorption, stable configurations, transition barriers, adsorption mechanisms, electronic structures among others. The research efforts, though, did not always bring to conclusive arguments and on some systems investigations are still going on following the evolution of the experimental techniques and computational methods. In this review, two case studies are reported: benzene and methanol on Si(100)2$\times$1, i.e. examples of a molecular and a dissociative adsorption. The adsorption of benzene on Si(100)2$\times$1 is still an open case, as it may adsorb in di-$\sigma$ or tetra-$\sigma$ bonded configurations, but contrasting evidences have been reported so far, on which of the two is the most stable one and the debate is still open. The adsorption of methanol is less controversial and it is widely accepted it is dissociative with breakage of the O–H at low coverages. But also in this case, investigations are going on to elucidate the adsorption mechanism.

To date, very few publications have been found that describe how small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are adopting knowledge management (KM). The same is true concerning attempts to develop a framework to help them implement it. To redress this, this paper presents the results of four case studies conducted in UK SMEs to examine their KM implementation effort. In addition, a new integrated framework developed by the authors was evaluated to determine its applicability in this business sector. The methodology employed to conduct the studies is described and each of the cases is then presented. The results are analysed and key lessons or findings gathered from the companies are highlighted. Comments received from the companies with respect to the integrated framework were positive and favourable. It is hoped that the information accrued from the case studies, together with the integrated framework, will help to pave the way for SMEs to accomplish KM.

The activity of private investigations by fraud examiners is a business of lawyers, auditors and other professionals who investigate suspicions of financial crime by white-collar criminals. Private investigations represent an interesting and unique field of knowledge management. In this paper, a number of private internal investigation reports or cases are evaluated in terms of their knowledge management approaches. The core message from all cases evaluated is that a contingent knowledge management approach is needed in internal investigations. The situation should determine what kind of knowledge to apply in a specific investigative challenge. Legal knowledge seems to dominate many investigations, where forensic accounting knowledge and management consulting knowledge might have been more appropriate.

Eigenvector analysis can be performed to determine the shapes of the undamped free vibration modes of a system. Eigenvector analysis involves solving the generalized eigenvalue problem, which considers the stiffness and mass matrix of a structure. For a geometric nonlinear study, both parts of the total stiffness matrix are required. As modal analysis depends on the stiffness, the effect of its reduction on the modal shape of vibration of the structure must be determined. Case studies were evaluated using the finite element method, considering and neglecting the geometric portion of the stiffness matrix. Mathematic functions were applied for comparison.

Innovation within logistics organizations does not occur in isolation. Most innovation occurs in response to environmental factors outside the direct control of management. Factors such as the location of the organizations, the available technologies, the accessibility of knowledge and globalization can all have an impact on how a business responds in innovative ways that ensure it can remain competitive. The logistics function is increasing in its strategic importance as more and more firms in developed economies such as Singapore and Australia are forced to complete globally to survive. In such a dynamic environment, logistics business must innovate; and to benefit from innovative technologies, systems, processes and practices they must consider the external contingencies that will have the greatest impact on the business operation. This paper provides important lessons from managers in logistics organisations in Australia and Singapore; and demonstrates how contingent factors can affect how firms differ in their strategies and capacities to innovate.

The last two decades have seen a remarkable increase in both interest and reactions to the concept of preserving the environment. This can be attributed to the increasing statutory and regulatory requirements of government and the pressure from consumers and the life-threatening of global ecosystem deterioration. Therefore, organizations are constantly under pressure to develop and implement Environmental Management System (EMS). While some sincere efforts have been made by the Indian organizations to implement EMS and their performance have been very good, still countrywide efforts are not adequate. This paper presents the adoption of EMS in Indian organizations, extent of EMS elements used and the status of implementation of cleaner production activities by the industries. This paper also presents the benefits accrued by the Indian industries based on 56 industries feedback who are either ISO 14001 certified companies or in the advance stage of ISO 14001 implementation. This has been supplemented by some case studies of the leading Indian organizations. Most of the Indian organizations feel that EMS has a positive effect in their performance. It is observed that Indian organizations are more inclined towards getting ISO 14001 certification rather than taking full advantage of EMS However, it is evident from the statistical analysis that overall adoption of cleaner production activities are at the low level. The majority of the organizations seem to be implementing EMS out of pressure from competition, customer, government, domestic and export market. The paper concludes that though environmental awareness is on the increase in India, and commitment as well as compliance levels are far higher than before, India still lags behind in the implementation and has to go a long way. The investigation and research findings are still exploratory. Future research can focus on the organizations that are at the initial stage of EMS implementation and comparison can be drawn. Future research can focus on sector wise performance. Broadly based and larger sample size would provide better picture of EMS implementation status in Indian organizations. Analysis is based on questionnaire based feedback. The study has been able to identify the extent of the usage of key EMS elements, implementation of cleaner production activities and drivers for the implementation of EMS. The findings have been supported by the select Indian case studies.

The external triggers cause transitions; to stay competitive, organizations create, respond to change, and shape the environment they interact with. The interactions manifest their traits as characteristics. Like biological species, organizations possess memes (or genotypes), memes mature as ideas or innovations, their interactions with the environment manifest as characteristics (phenotypes). IT organizations experience fast changes, for better response to change adopted agile software development (ASD). When phenotypes involve the development of affordances and display plasticity (agility), apart from cost-benefit criteria, it contributes to co-evolution among organizations and the environment. To examine the phenomena of co-evolution with diverse analytic and heuristic views, the author used multiple ASD case-studies from IT product$/$services organizations. The author noted that organizations increase the height of their fitness landscape, i.e., competitive advantage, by either developing and$/$or acquiring phenotypes. Acquisition meets cost-benefit criteria, but does not assist in sustaining the height, co-evolution, and$/$or cumulate as stable designs, thereby, there are inappropriate responses to external triggers.

In today's challenging economic climate it is more important than ever for companies to acquire comparable competitive advantage in their market. While previous research has investigated the performance measurement of R&D as a whole organization, very little research has been done into the performance management for just the research function itself. This, however, is of particular interest to larger organizations. This paper (1) introduces a framework for performance measurement for industrial research, and (2) presents a set of clusters, representing the content dimension for measuring research organizations. Based on the clusters, we were able to evaluate the extent to which performance measurement in practice in different companies can be compared. We discovered that the clusters follow a particular consistent distribution across organizations when the clusters are ranked by importance. For this empirical analysis, data was collected through in-depth case studies including more than 60 interviews and thorough document analyses.

In recent years crowdsourcing has increased in popularity as a method for gathering ideas for new innovations and providing solutions to existing problems. This means that firms apply the wisdom of crowds to certain tasks and challenges. Various crowdsourcing initiatives and platforms seem to provide new channels and ways to enable this in practice. The purpose of this paper is to examine how business-to-business (B2B) firms can interact with different groups of contributors in order to receive new ideas, feedback and solutions for improving their products and services. Based on theoretical conceptualization, combined with empirical evidence, we propose a layered framework for approaching crowdsourcing in a B2B context. The empirical results of this paper reveal benefits but also practical challenges to overcome before crowdsourcing can be effectively utilized in the B2B sector.

Since 1988, the Russian Federation has required that laws, plans, programs and all kind of projects undergo an environmental assessment. A mandatory component of the EIA in Russia is public participation. In this paper different case studies are used to find out to what extent public could influence environmental decision making processes from the early eighties until 2002. The cases selected include several where the public was passive or where it had limited activities, but also some where the participation was strong and projects were improved or stopped. As far as these case studies highlighted, the civil society in Russia can be described as an organized and sometimes strong factor in the approval process. The behaviour displayed by decision-makers, however, revealed at times a remarkable democratic deficit.

Computing with words (CWW) is an intelligent computing methodology for processing words, linguistic variables, and their semantics, which mimics the natural-language-based reasoning mechanisms of human beings in soft computing, semantic computing, and cognitive computing. The central objects in CWW techniques are words and linguistic variables, which may be formally modeled by abstract concepts that are a basic cognitive unit to identify and model a concrete entity in the real world and an abstract object in the perceived world. Therefore, concepts are the most fundamental linguistic entities that carries certain meanings in expression, thinking, reasoning, and system modeling, which may be formally modeled as an abstract and dynamic mathematical structure in denotational mathematics. This paper presents a formal theory for concept and knowledge manipulations in CWW known as concept algebra. The mathematical models of abstract and concrete concepts are developed based on the object-attribute-relation (OAR) theory. The formal methodology for manipulating knowledge as a concept network is described. Case studies demonstrate that concept algebra provides a generic and formal knowledge manipulation means, which is capable of dealing with complex knowledge and their algebraic operations in CWW.

In recent years crowdsourcing has increased in popularity as a method for gathering ideas for new innovations and providing solutions to existing problems. This means that firms apply the wisdom of crowds to certain tasks and challenges. Various crowdsourcing initiatives and platforms seem to provide new channels and ways to enable this in practice. The purpose of this paper is to examine how business-to-business (B2B) firms can interact with different groups of contributors in order to receive new ideas, feedback and solutions for improving their products and services. Based on theoretical conceptualization, combined with empirical evidence, we propose a layered framework for approaching crowdsourcing in a B2B context. The empirical results of this paper reveal benefits but also practical challenges to overcome before crowdsourcing can be effectively utilized in the B2B sector.

Climate change is the outstanding survival and ethical issue of our time, and requires urgent action if our descendants are to inherit a livable world. Substantial opportunities exist in the transition to a renewable economy provided through climate action. Reliable, relevant, and accessible information is key…

In this technological era, programming skill has become highly valuable across IT and non-IT sectors. Teaching programming can be challenging, requiring a deep understanding of the subject and effective communication skills. Traditional pedagogy, focused on lectures, textbooks, and written assessments, tends to emphasize content over student-centered learning, resulting in limited practical application and knowledge retention. This chapter explores the potential of “Game-Based Learning” (GBL) and gamification as an alternative pedagogy to improve learner’s engagement, problem-solving skills, and learning skills. This chapter provides insights on GBL and its application in programming education, which enables instructors to make better decisions in their teaching practices for programming courses and improve students’ learning experiences.

Recent technological trends have changed how people live, consume, and interact. New emerging technologies have disrupted the way of doing business. The “digital transformation of supply chain (SC)” refers to complex organizational changes using emerging digital technologies to create new forms of revenue and business value through a customer-centric platform that captures and maximizes the utilization of real-time information emerging from various sources, enabling performance optimization and risk minimization. Companies are under common pressure to reform as new technological trends continue to emerge, but their pace of transformation is slow, especially in Indian organizations. Owing to the slow adoption rate of digital SC in India, this chapter attempts to identify the transformation factors pertinent to expanding their implementation in India. In view of this, a questionnaire-based survey has been conducted to assess the current status of the digital transformation of SC in Indian organizations and other issues related to it. Several hypotheses have also been developed and tested, which present valuable insights to organizations in digitalizing their SCs.

Technological innovations and interventions are guiding today’s business environment. Disruptions in existing business models have enabled newer forms of production and consumption trends. Applications of new-age technology like artificial intelligence and blockchain in the services sector are vastly visible. However, the path to digital transformation of different services marketing environments is unclear.

This chapter uses multiple case studies (from data available in the public domain) of four service companies from India to help understand the digital transformation strategies of service companies in general. It examines the digital transformation of marketing of services given their unique characteristics of heterogeneity (service offered by other staff will be perceived differently by customers), intangibility (service cannot be owned or seen, it is only experienced), inseparability (service is produced and consumed at the same time), perishability (service experience cannot be stored), demand fluctuation and service quality measurement.

Finally, it draws on the Indian ethos and wisdom to suggest a comprehensive framework to pull together a digital transformation program for services marketing with organizational and technological implications.