Different Types Of Members Research Articles

Knowledge collaboration and online medical teams’ performance: a multiple participation perspective

PurposeOnline medical teams (OMTs) have emerged as an innovative healthcare service mode that relies on the collaboration of doctors to produce comprehensive medical recommendations. This study delves into the relationship between knowledge collaboration and team performance in OMTs and examines the complex effects of participation patterns.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis uses a dataset that consists of 2,180 OMTs involving 8,689 doctors. Ordinary least squares regression with robust standard error is adopted for data analysis.FindingsOur findings demonstrate a positive influence of knowledge collaboration on OMT performance. Leader participation weakens the relationship between knowledge collaboration and team performance, whereas multidisciplinary participation strengthens it. Passive participation and chief doctor participation have no significant effect on the association between knowledge collaboration and OMT performance.Originality/valueThis study provides valuable insights into how knowledge collaboration shapes OMTs' performance and reveals how the participation of different types of members affects outcomes. Our findings offer important practical implications for the optimization of online health platforms and for enhancing the effectiveness of collaborative healthcare delivery.

Behavior of unrestrained hot-rolled steel I-beams exposed to localized fire: An experimental study

The behaviour of hot-rolled steel I-section beams was studied experimentally and numerically in uniform temperatures in the past, but only limited experimental data are available for localized fire tests. The present paper reports ten experimental tests for short to medium-range laterally unrestrained I-beams of Class 1 section with a non-dimensional slenderness ratio in the range of 0.74 to 1.1. The localized fire behaviour of unrestrained I-beams is experimentally studied with a high thermal zone having a temperature range of 595 to 1200 °C. Three-point loading is provided considering simply-supported boundary conditions with pre-load and peak load (ultimate load) in the range of 0.26 to 0.76 of the design load capacity of a beam member at ambient temperature. The two types of fire scenarios are considered (a) fire concentration at the middle of the span and (b) fire concentration near the support of the beam under steady and transient experimental conditions. The geometrical imperfection is measured using an industrial blue-light optical scanner. A numerical validation study was also conducted using the robust FE modelling software ABAQUS. The experimental study concluded that failure mode can depend on fire location, load ratios, and span length. In the case of localized fire at the middle of the span, lateral torsional buckling happened, and when the fire was near support, local buckling happened at higher load ratios. However, local buckling happened in the beam for lower to mid-load ratios. It is observed that the steady and transient fire tests provided a negligible effect on the response of the beam member. The experimental and numerical results are in good agreement, with a mean percentage variation of 1.5 %, with a maximum value of up to 4.67 %. The study provides quite a simple experimental setup that can easily be replicated for different types of members that enhance the fire safety study of structure. Further, a parametric study is conducted under simply-supported and varying end restraints condition at supports.

Users of Online Child Sexual Abuse Material

Online communities on darknet contribute to sexual violence against children. They provide offender access to Child Sexual Abuse Material and to a group of peers that supports criminal activities. This article sheds light on online child sexual abusers and their justifications for Child Sexual Abuse (CSA). It describes different offender profiles and motivations for CSA, followed by a section on policing these offences. The article then lays out psychological models, such as cognitive distortions, that are used to understand pedophiles’ behavior. The discussion is complemented by direct citations from a darknet community of CSA offenders, showing that these models are not just theoretical considerations. The last part of the article concentrates on online communities of CSA offenders. It describes different types of members of such communities and explains how the communities support individual offenders and how they provide learning models that facilitate criminal behavior. The article concludes with a short reflection of its findings, including novel insights for investigators of these crimes and proposed venues for further research.

Chamber of Commerce Membership: An Explanatory Model of Member Organizations’ Normative, Continuance and Affective Commitments

Organizations join associations to gain a wide range of benefits, such as advocacy in the local community, more expertise, or access to markets and new technologies. However, these benefits do not always result in readily observable positive outcomes as compared to the monetary costs and time investment for businesses. Such value judgements may result in lower commitment to the association and ultimately dropped memberships. The purpose of this study is to better understand the factors that drive member organizations’ commitment to a chamber of commerce. The results of the empirical study show a positive impact of members’ role expectancies and satisfaction with the chamber’s performance on their commitment to the association. Further, resource investment in the association, expressed as participation, length of membership time and organization size, have additional interactive influence on commitment. This study shows the importance of understanding the factors that drive commitment so that associations may design better ways to engage with different types of members.

An Analysis of Irish Dairy Farmers’ Participation in the Bioeconomy: Exploring Power and Knowledge Dynamics in a Multi-actor EIP-AGRI Operational Group

The European Commission’s European Innovation Partnership for Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability (EIP-AGRI), part of the European Commission’s Europe 2020 strategy, aims to ‘achieve more and better from less’ by bringing together a diversity of innovation actors to harness their combined knowledges to creatively achieve sustainability goals. The creation and novel use of biomaterials remains both a significant challenge and opportunity and bringing together all the relevant actors from primary production through to refinement and processing is anticipated to make progress in bringing into practice pilot operational approaches on the ground. For the bioeconomy, a nascent sector, it is a significant challenge for it to become established; grow; innovate and engage all the relevant actors. It has been noted internationally that primary producers, among other cohorts, remain marginalised from bioeconomy activities, which significantly compromises how inclusive and innovative the bioeconomy is likely to be henceforth. In this context, an interesting case study is the Biorefinery Glas Operational Group (OG), located in Ireland. The OG was a ‘small-scale-farmer-led green biorefinery supporting farmer diversification into the circular bioeconomy’. The central research question of this paper concerns the dynamics of farmers’ participation in the OG, focusing specifically on how their knowledges shaped the operation of the OG and bioeconomy activities within it. This paper presents a social network graph illustrating the diverse actors involved in the OG, their relative degrees of connectedness to each other, and an overview of the differing levels of actors’ influence in the network. Interrogating the roles of different actors further, a lens of power theory is used to explore how farmers’ knowledges were used in combination with others’ knowledges to shape the development of the OG and innovation within it. The overall conclusion from an analysis of interviews conducted with farmer and non-farmer participants in the OG is that while farmers were highly connected with other members of the OG and viewed their involvement in the OG positively, the level of influence they had in decision-making processes in some areas of the OG was relatively limited. Different types of members of the OG tended to work in a relatively segmented way, with farmers contributing as input suppliers and on the practical side at the farm level, while other members of the OG such as scientists worked on more technical aspects. This paper concludes by providing conclusions and lessons of relevance to innovation-brokers and practitioners, and for the operation of OGs involving farmers elsewhere.

Online Brand Communities: The Difference between Lurkers, Infrequent Posters, & Frequent Posters

Brand managers are very interested in getting brand communities right because they lead to many positive outcomes, such as increased brand loyalty, purchase intentions, positive word-of-mouth, and many others. The current module discusses the various types of brand community members. Historically, brand community members have been divided into two types. However, recent research indicates that there are, indeed, three different types of members: lurkers, infrequent posters, and frequent posters. These three types of members are discussed regarding their definition, their motivation when joining these brand communities, and why understanding these differences is important to brand managers.

Modern financial control of operations at the enterprise: its essence and features

The purpose of the paper is to improve institutions and legislation on public finance management in Ukraine, to define the concept of "financial control", to consider the process of development and formation of financial control, to highlight the financial control`s features, to justify the need for long-term financial control. Financial control and financial management in the enterprise are very important for every state. The current state of economic improvement in Ukraine should increase the role of the state in regulating the economy in order to identify differences between the law, recognizing the standards and functioning of financial control. At the present stage in Ukraine, the issue of establishing unification of public finance management remains unresolved: there is a discrepancy in state legislation. The Ukrainian economy`s growth leads to an additional need for financial control in a moment. Thus, its role and importance in securing the assets of different types of members’ organizations, the equipment`s efficiency, labour and finance. The paper is devoted to the key issues of finding ways to ensure financial control in the organization and the regulatory framework in this area. The paper presents an overview of financial control by state (local) resource management and their use, as well as financial control of public administration by the state external financial regulator (audit), the Ministry of Finance on behalf of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and public finance management, including internal management and internal audit, which are provided by current legislation. In the paper was presented a study of the financial control`s concept. The main types of financial control, its goals and objectives are researched. The author emphasizes the importance of the organization’s internal financial control and the key stages of its development. The types of external control and features of their application were also researched. In conclusion the Ukrainian financial management`s current state is researched.

Determination of active members and zero-stress states for symmetric prestressed cable–strut structures

A prestressed cable–strut structure is generally flexible and exhibits strong coupling between its stress state and configuration. The zero-stress state offers the basis for design and analysis of cable–strut structures and has significant influence on the prestress state and the load state. Here, a computational method is proposed for seeking zero-stress states of symmetric cable–strut structures. By evaluating distributed static indeterminacy and symmetry representations using group theory, the active member with proper importance index and high-order symmetry is chosen from different types of members. Moreover, natural lengths and the involved elongations of the members are established from the initial prestresses and geometric properties. Then, based on the Newton method and the Moore–Penrose inverse theory, internal forces of the members are actively reduced. The structural configuration and tangent stiffness matrix are iteratively updated during the whole process from the prestress state to the zero-stress state. The feasibility and accuracy of the proposed approach are verified by some numerical examples, whereas the results are compared with analytical solutions and FEM simulation. The results show that one zero-stress configuration is associated with a specific prestress state, and the process between zero-stress state and prestress state is reversible. This work has theoretical significance for the design of novel cable–strut structures and provides a reference for the construction process of prestressed cable–strut structures in practical applications.

THE VILLAGE MODEL, WHAT’S NEXT?

Researchers at UC Berkeley will present some key findings of their research on Villages spanning the last decade. First, results of a longitudinal study of operational Village organizations in the US (conducted in 2009, 2012, and 2016) reveals that the Village model has expanded and developed over time, with some changes in organizational structure. A national survey of Village members (N=2000) shows that Village remain homogeneous, and impact different types of members in different ways, with older, more frail members perceiving more quality of life benefit, while younger, healthier members perceive more benefits in the areas of social engagement. Finally, two studies looking at Village retention/participation show that issues such as lack of diversity, focus on social engagement can be barriers to inclusion, retention and ultimately, scalability of the model.

Consistent damage model and performance-based assessment of structural members of different materials

Structural members of different materials in composite structures have different seismic damage performances. Consequently, a unified standard is required to evaluate the performance levels of structural members of a composite structure in order to determine the behavior and the damage process from member-level to structure-level. Based on the classical Park-Ang damage model, a consistent modification of that model is proposed for structural members of different materials. Furthermore, the specific limit values of this damage model at various performance levels are calculated. Obvious differences have been found between the limit values of different types of members. In order to unify the damage limits that correspond to predefined performance levels such that a comparison between different members can be made directly, normalizing parameters for the different types of members are introduced to build the unified damage model. The finite element method utilizing the proposed damage model and performance levels produces results in good agreement with those of testing.

Are the stock markets “rigged”? An empirical analysis of regulatory change

Volatile events in the stock market such as the 2010 Flash Crash have sparked concern that financial markets are “rigged” in favor of trading firms that use high frequency trading (“HFT”) systems. We analyze a regulatory change implemented by the SEC in 2007 by examining its effect on a key market metric, the bid-ask spread, an investor cost, and find that the regulatory shift, indeed, disadvantages investors. We link the implementation of this change to a shift in the volume of trades from a low-cost venue to a high-cost venue. We argue that this outcome is predicted by the incentives of the venues, non-profit stock exchanges owned by different types of members. The less-volatile, lower-cost New York Stock Exchange was owned by underwriters and included a specialist system that is less vulnerable to HFT tactics that can disadvantage investors.

Numerical analysis and full‐scale experiment on K‐joint deformations in the crank arms of lattice transmission towers

SummaryAfter completion of the construction process including wire stringing of 1,000 kV ultrahigh voltage (UHV) cat‐head electric transmission towers, the outward horizontal K‐joint deformation of one side crank arm may usually exceed 70 mm. Joint slip effects were ignored in the initial structural design of transmission towers, which induced that the calculated K‐joint displacements are much lower and the real deformation cannot meet with the requirement of the acceptant code. First, the shortcomings of the traditional unit load method used to calculate the displacements of transmission towers connected by bolt joints were analyzed. Second, a coefficient for describing the axial force state of bolted joints was proposed. The connection numbers for different types of members in the crank arms of a UHV cat‐head transmission tower were determined. The traditional unit load method was enhanced by importing the force state coefficient and specifying the detailed connection numbers. The K‐joint displacements calculated by the enhanced formula were compared with the experimental results by full‐scale tower experiment. It shows that the enhanced unit load method is suitable for calculating K‐joint deformations in the crank arms of UHV cat‐head transmission towers. Lastly, contribution weight coefficients of different members for K‐joint displacements of the UHV cat‐head transmission tower were calculated by the enhanced unit load method. For bolt joints connected with the tower members with high contribution weight coefficients, the manufacturing accuracy of bolt holes should be improved, and the bolt clearance should be decreased, which can significantly reduce the K‐joint deformation of UHV cat‐head transmission towers.

Online brand communities as heterogeneous gatherings: a netnographic exploration of Apple users

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the different types of members based on their roles within an online brand community dedicated to Apple.Design/methodology/approachDesign/methodology/approach Data are drawn from an 18-month netnographic study, including participant and non-participant observation.FindingsFindings reveal that members of the online brand community share a common goal but they are heterogeneous in many respects. In this research, five different types of brand community members are identified: learner, pragmatist, activist, opinion leader and evangelist. These findings emphasize the heterogeneity of the brand community or the differences of members and subgroups they form in the community.Practical implicationsThis paper offers some insights for brand managers. There are different sub-tribes in online brand communities and these sub-tribes develop their own meanings of the brand. This means that online brand communities do not form one single homogenous target group and can be segmented into subgroups. Findings also offer a deeper understanding of negative characteristics of online brand community members. The role “activist” found in this study may be crucial for marketers, as activists can represent the negative side of online brand communities.Originality/valueThe literature on brand communities has focused predominantly on the homogeneity of these communities. This paper extends the literature by demonstrating the heterogeneity in an online brand community. The paper contributes to the brand community literature by substantiating that online brand community members can be segmented into subgroups based on their roles within the community. In addition, the paper extends the existing literature on brand communities that has overlooked the destructive consumer roles.

Going back to go forwards? From multi-stakeholder cooperatives to Open Cooperatives in food and farming

Many authors have proposed cooperatives as one of the preferred governance structures for realising alternative food systems, being recommended both in farming and also downstream at consumer level. However, recommendations for the cooperative model still draw dividing line between producer and consumer cooperatives. As opposed to conventional agricultural cooperatives (ACs) made up of farmer members only, the multi-stakeholder model brings together producers, consumers and/or restaurateurs under one single enterprise. This paper analyses multi-stakeholder cooperatives’ (MSCs) potential to recreate more sustainable food flows between rural and urban areas and to overcome the limitations of conventional farmer cooperatives focused more on economic than social and environmental benefits. As part of this research, historical data from cooperative archives is used to look at the history and early attempts of multi-stakeholder cooperation in food and farming. Additionally, current supporting evidence from Spain and UK, in the context of European food policy frameworks, is also presented. A four-fold proposal for open cooperatives is discussed and applied to the analysis of the case studies in the framework of global transformative networks and alliances. The introduction of different types of members seems to both complicate and enrich the cooperative mission, both theoretically and in practice. Their networks with other social movements reveal how the MSCs presented are trying to change, rather than adapt to the market economies they struggle to survive in. The findings suggest MSCs in food and farming are striving to achieve more-than-economic benefits and are moving into the arena of the open and pro-commons economy and other global social movements.

Leadership transitions in multisectoral health care alliances: Implications for member perceptions of participation value.

Collaborative forms of organizations such as multisectoral health care alliances play an increasingly prominent role in the U.S. health care system. A key feature of these organizations highlighted in previous research is leadership, yet little research has examined what happens when there is a change in leadership. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between leadership transitions in an alliance and member assessments of the benefits and costs of participation, indicators of the value that members derive from their involvement in the alliance. The study used quantitative data collected from three rounds of surveys of alliance members participating in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Aligning Forces for Quality Program. Qualitative interview data supplemented this analysis by providing examples of why leadership transitions may affect participation benefits and costs. Quantitative analysis indicated that alliance members who experienced a change in leadership reported both higher and lower levels of participation benefits and costs, depending on the type of leadership change (i.e., alliance leader vs. programmatic leader). Qualitative analysis suggested that the scope of responsibilities of different types of leaders plays an important role in how members perceive changes. Likewise, interviews indicated that timing influences how disruptive a leadership transition is and whether it is perceived positively or negatively. Leadership transitions present both challenges and opportunities; whether the effects are felt positively or negatively depends on when a transition occurs and how it is handled by incoming leaders and remaining members. Furthermore, different types of members report higher levels of participation benefits and lower levels of participation costs, suggesting that efforts to maintain a sense of alliance value during times of transitions may be able to target certain types of individuals.

Flexural–torsional buckling of ultra light-gauge steel storage rack uprights

This paper presents an experimental investigation into the behaviour of ultra light-gauge steel storage rack uprights subjected to compression. Two different types of members with varying lengths are tested and while the combined effects of local and distortional buckling are investigated, special attention is given to longer specimens that fail by flexural–torsional buckling in combination with local and distortional buckling. Deformations experienced during testing by all of the specimens were measured and observations regarding failure modes have been documented. In addition, the geometric imperfections of each member were measured before testing, as were the material properties of the cold-rolled sections and the virgin steel from which the sections were formed. This paper details the observed failure modes, the recorded ultimate strengths and the load-deflection responses. Design capacities calculated from AS/NZS 4084 (2012) [1], RMI (2012) [2] and EN 15512 (2009) [3] specifications are then evaluated and compared to the experimental results obtained.The evaluation of international specificationsdetermined that EN 15512 (2009) [3] is more accurate in predicting ultimate loads of sections undergoing interactive buckling than both AS/NZS 4804 (2012) [1] and RMI (2012) [2].

IATEFL

As a charity, IATEFL has an obligation to constantly monitor its activity against its mission of ‘linking, developing, and supporting language teaching professionals worldwide’. With this in mind, we conducted a membership survey at the end of October 2011 to try to gather a picture of how satisfied our members are with the services we offer but also to look at new and different ways to support our mission and deliver quality services to our members. We got 579 responses. Gary Motteram, Chair of the Membership Committee, says: Considering all of the different types of members and memberships we have and the places in which they are located, this is a very good number. I would like to thank all of those who responded. Responses came from a broad range of countries, including Italy, Germany, Switzerland, India, Japan, and Nepal. Many of the respondents were what we call Individual...

A STUDY ON STRESS TRANSFER CHARACTERISTICS AT CONNECTIONS OF HYBRID STRUCTURES

Shield-driven tunneling has been playing a significant role recently as a standard method in urban tunnel construction. As the main road tunnels have to be connected with ramp tunnels efficiently, engineers have sought to develop steel-concrete composite structures using the longitudinal ribs of the steel segment as shear connectors. However, the shear connector at the connection between different types of members has hardly been studied and its stress transfer mechanism is not well understood. The authors carried out fracture experiments with scale down models for this connection, and examined the stress transfer mechanism and the shear transfer capacity carried by shear connectors and studs. A stress-transfer model for easily calculating shear transfer capacity was developed and verified through the comparison with experimental results and analytical results based on the nonlinear finite element method.

Engineering Properties of Recycled Plastic Pins for Slope Stabilization

An ongoing demonstration project has shown the feasibility of using slender (90 mm × 90 mm × 2.4 m) recycled plastic pins (RPPs) for in situ reinforcement of slopes and embankments. The technique uses RPPs driven into the face of the slope in a grid pattern to intercept the sliding surface and “pin” the slope. The engineering properties of the RPPs, including the compressive, tensile, and flexural strength along with creep behavior, dictate the design and construction practice. Constituent materials and manufacturing processes are highly variable among the more than 30 U.S. manufacturers. A specification for acceptance of the members is needed; however, before an effective specification can be developed, the appropriate engineering properties and design requirements for the RPPs must be determined. The engineering properties and driving performance of four different types of members were evaluated and are reported on. Additional evaluations are under way.

An Interactive Graphical Tool for Fatigue Design in Steel Structures

Design of members in steel structures for fatigue loading is highly heuristics, and consequently, is normally performed manually. This paper describes an interactive graphical computer tool for the design of steel members for repeated loading and fatigue, according to the widely-used American Institute of Steel Construction design specifications. The software can be used as a self-tutoring tool for teaching the design of steel members for repeated loadings and fatigue. The advantage of such an educational computer program is that the user can design different types of members and details, trying out various options within a few minutes.