Traditional Support Structures Research Articles

A new type support structure introduction and its contrast study with traditional support structure used in tunnel construction

Referencing the design method of frame-core wall structure used in super high-rise building, a new type supporting system of grid steel frame-core tube was designed, and the structure composition and assembly method for each element were illustrated. A field test was conducted in Jinpingyan tunnel located in the area influenced by 2008 Wenchuan earthquake and the settlement of surrounding rock, internal displacement of surrounding rock, pressure between surrounding rock and primary support, internal force of support arch, axial force of rock bolts, pressure between primary support and secondary lining, and strain of secondary lining were measured to compare under two different support arches of common I-shape steel arch and new type support structure. Moreover, a 3D numerical analyses using FLAC3D software were conducted and the numerical results were compared with results of field test. It was suggested that the new type support structure played a significant role to control the large deformation of surrounding rock.

Designing a Peer-Based Support System to Support Shakedown

Many problems of software implementations appear after roll-out during the shakedown phase. Research have shown that peer advice ties are more effective and preferred by users than traditional IT support structures. However, large organizations are often shrouded in anonymity and individuals often don’t know which peer to ask for advice, resorting to help desks as a last resort. The paper addresses the challenges of peer advice ties as support structure by presenting a peer-based support system (PBSS) design to address emerging problems of individuals during shakedown. By applying design science research and theory of interaction as explanatory theory for peer advice to derive design requirements. Based on the informational, timeliness and contextual advantages of peer advice ties, we develop tentative design principles, which aids in identifying and creating interaction among peers. The contribution lies in prescriptive knowledge on how systems should be designed to support peer advice as support structures.

Challenges and opportunities for ELSI early career researchers.

BackgroundOver the past 25 years, there has been growing recognition of the importance of studying the Ethical, Legal and Social Implications (ELSI) of genetic and genomic research. A large investment into ELSI research from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Human Genomic Project budget in 1990 stimulated the growth of this emerging field; ELSI research has continued to develop and is starting to emerge as a field in its own right. The evolving subject matter of ELSI research continues to raise new research questions as well as prompt re-evaluation of earlier work and a growing number of scholars working in this area now identify themselves as ELSI scholars rather than with a particular discipline.Main textDue to the international and interdisciplinary nature of ELSI research, scholars can often find themselves isolated from disciplinary or regionally situated support structures. We conducted a workshop with Early Career Researchers (ECRs) in Oxford, UK, and this paper discusses some of the particular challenges that were highlighted. While ELSI ECRs may face many of the universal challenges faced by ECRs, we argue that a number of challenges are either unique or exacerbated in the case of ELSI ECRs and discuss some of the reasons as to why this may be the case. We identify some of the most pressing issues for ELSI ECRs as: interdisciplinary angst and expertise, isolation from traditional support structures, limited resources and funding opportunities, and uncertainty regarding how research contributions will be measured. We discuss the potential opportunity to use web 2.0 technologies to transform academic support structures and address some of the challenges faced by ELSI ECRs, by helping to facilitate mentoring and support, access to resources and new accreditation metrics.ConclusionAs our field develops it is crucial for the ELSI community to continue looking forward to identify how emerging digital solutions can be used to facilitate the international and interdisciplinary research we perform, and to offer support for those embarking on, progressing through, and transitioning into an ELSI research career.

Exploring the relationship between reflexivity and reflective practice through lesson study within initial teacher education

Purpose– A priority for initial teacher education (ITE) is the development of reflection by pre-service teachers (PSTs) in preparation for transition towards qualified teacher status. Whilst much literature exists on the practice of reflection, little attention has been placed on under-standing and developing the processes that inform this practice. Drawing upon the concepts of strong structuration theory (SST), the purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the role Lesson Study can play in developing PSTs’ processes of reflexivity whilst enhancing their reflective practice.Design/methodology/approach– Participants were two cohorts of Secondary Physical Education PSTs (n=40), completing a Postgraduate Certificate in Education course (PGCE). Action research methodology was adopted during school placements, when PST dyads engaged in cycles of Lesson Study. Data obtained through group discussion boards, questionnaires, group and individual interviews, were subjected to inductive analysis, comparing key patterns to locate themes.Findings– Drawing upon illustrations collated when exploring the enhancement of their reflective practice, the findings illustrate how PSTs (agents-in-focus) were able to pre-reflectively and critically draw upon embodied dispositions and practices to engage with the external structural elements of their training programme. Such interactions enabled them to demonstrate enhanced forms of active agency and knowledge, developing practices beyond traditional support structures of the training programme.Originality/value– In drawing upon these illustrations, this paper explores how the application of SST further enhances understanding of the underlying reflexive processes that shape PST’s interaction with the structures of ITE. Furthermore, it draws attention to the part Lesson Study can play in developing creative, confident and reflective pedagogy by PSTs. In doing so this paper contributes to the growing body of literature that illuminates how Lesson Study may enhance the experiences and professional development of PSTs.

Investigating the Effectiveness of Traditional Support Structures & Self-organizing Entities within the ERP Shakedown Phase

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems can offer plentiful benefits for organization, yet the endeavour may be in vain if the project is not handled carefully. While the majority of ERP research focus on the effect of users’ characteristics and skills on implementation success; however, this literature review article focuses on how the employees are affected by the ERP system after it has been taken into production by the organization. This phase in the ERP lifecycle is known as the shakedown phase and is seldom addressed in literature. Through a review of the existing literature, this research also explores how organizations can better support their employees in learning and adapting to the new system. Our findings suggest that job satisfaction, technostress, and job stress can be highly affected by the up-and-running ERP system during the shakedown phase. In addition, this research recommends that self-organizing entities, like knowledge management and advice networks, could provide better information quality, at the right time, and in the correct context to employees rather than the traditional support structures (TSS), which in turn could serve as moderators to decrease the negative effects and enhance the prospect of user adoption of the ERP system inside organizations.

Design and analysis of liquid hydrogen storage tank for high-altitude long-endurance remotely-operated aircraft

Liquid hydrogen is seen as an outstanding candidate for the fuel of high altitude, long endurance unmanned aircraft. The design of lightweight and super-insulated storage tanks for cryogenic liquid hydrogen is since long identified as crucial to enable the adoption of the liquid hydrogen. The basic structural design of the airborne cryogenic liquid hydrogen tank was completed in this paper. The problem of excessive heat leakage of the traditional support structure was solved by designing and using a new insulating support structure. The thermal performance of the designed tank was evaluated. The structure of the tank was analyzed by the combination of the film container theory and finite element numerical simulation method. The structure of the adiabatic support was analyzed by using the Hertz contact theory and numerical simulation method. A simple and effective structure analysis method for the similar container structure and point-contact support structure was provided. Bases for further structural optimization design of cryogenic liquid hydrogen tank were provided also. Research results showed that: the insulating support can reduce the heat leakage of the support structure more than 85%, while the maximum stress of point-contact supports structure can be 9 times larger than conventional support structure; the tank designed in this paper can meet the structural and thermal requirements for aerospace applications.

Geometric consideration of support structures in part overhang fabrications by electron beam additive manufacturing

Powder bed electron beam additive manufacturing (EBAM) has emerged as a potentially cost-effective process for high-value, small-batch productions for biomedical and aerospace applications. In EBAM, the process would not require support structures for overhang geometry because a build part is immersed in the powder bed. However, support structures are indeed needed in practice for an overhang; without it, the overhang area will have defects such as warping, which are due to the complex thermomechanical process in EBAM. In this study, a numerical approach is introduced to simulate the thermomechanical responses in the EBAM process of overhang structures. The objective of this study was to develop a 2D thermomechanical model, using a finite element method (FEM), to evaluate temperature induced deformation on different overhang support patterns in the EBAM process. The major results are summarized as follows. (1) The thermomechanical model is able to simulate the deformation of overhang parts in EBAM. The overhang length noticeably affects the overhang deformation. (2) As a traditional support structure, solid columns can reduce the overhang warping; further, the size of the column may be minimized to satisfy a deformation constraint, and meanwhile, reduce the amount of support materials. (3) Including a solid piece beneath the overhang, acting as a heat sink, may also reduce the overhang deformation; however, an appropriate gap must be incorporated so as not to fuse to the overhang area, while still effectively reducing the deformation.

Migration Experiences of the “Trailing Wives” of Professional and Highly Skilled NRI's in Durban, KwaZulu Natal

This paper is based on research among a group of 20 Indian national women, the so-called ‘trailing wives’ of professional and highly skilled NRI's (non-resident Indians) residing in Durban, KwaZulu Natal. Borrowing from Radhakrishnan's (2008) notion of ‘global Indianness’ and the role of diasporic women in embodying the cultural ideals of Indian family life, the study is grounded in a transnational and social networks approach (Wellman, 1984; Lauringand Selmar, 2010). Traditional literature on expatriate workers is preoccupied with the migrant's work experience and more specifically, tends to construct highly skilled migrants as individual economic actors, neglecting the family that accompanies them. However, more recent studies acknowledge the impact a ‘trailing spouse’ may contribute to the transnational experience (Louring & Selmer, 2010; Gupta, Banerjee, & Gaur, 2012). Expatriate employees and their spouses can face multiple challenges in the relocation process, including a lack of support from employers, leaving family and friends behind, adapting to a host society, and the difficulty of raising children where traditional support structures do not exist. By casting an anthropological lens on the diverse forms and functions of social ties and networks the families of highly skilled migrants create, the embodied reality of migration is foregrounded.

Support Structures and Their Impacts on Employee Outcomes: A Longitudinal Field Study of an Enterprise System Implementation

Despite the impressive progress in understanding the benefits and challenges related to enterprise system (ES) implementations--such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems--little is known about how the support structures traditionally used by organizations to help employees cope with a new ES affect employee outcomes related to the system and their jobs. Likewise, little is known about how existing peer advice ties in the business unit influence these outcomes after an ES implementation. Understanding employee outcomes is critical because of their ramifications for long-term ES success. This paper examines the impacts of four traditional support structures (namely, training, online support, help desk support, and change management support), and peer advice ties on four key employee outcomes (namely, system satisfaction, job stress, job satisfaction, and job performance). This paper also seeks to show that it is peer advice ties that best fill the complex informational needs of employees after an ES implementation by providing the right information at the right time and in the right context. The proposed model was tested in a field study conducted in one business unit of a large telecommunications company and gathered data from 120 supplier liaisons over the course of a year. Both traditional support structures and peer advice ties were found to influence the various outcomes, even after controlling for pre-implementation levels of the dependent variables. In all cases, peer advice ties was the strongest predictor, thus underscoring the importance of this critical internal resource.

Zero in the court of nine to one: patronage and tactical weakness in coping with violence

This article examines how young people living in the Kivu provinces, Democratic Republic of Congo, attempt to engage with existing social support in their efforts to cope with protracted structural and political violence. Through an examination of narrative, visual and written data, this article describes how decades of violence have broken down traditional support structures, leaving young people with few options for effective coping beyond engaging in patronage relationships. This article examines how young people situate themselves in positions of weakness in order to gain material support and protection as they attempt to cope with a lack of material resources and other forms of insecurity.

Fostering supportive community connections through mothers' groups and playgroups.

The aim of this study was to explore the ways that mothers' groups and playgroups support families with children aged 0-5 years and foster community connectedness in newer residential communities in Perth, Western Australia. The transition to parenthood is a time of increased support need. Changing community demography has resulted in a loss of traditional support structures and an increased need for local community initiatives to support families with young children. A qualitative descriptive design was used for this initial phase of a mixed methods sequential exploratory study. Data were collected between December 2011-August 2012. Interviews and focus groups conducted with 39 mothers provided insights from 16 mothers' groups and 13 playgroups. In addition, interviews were undertaken with three child health nurses and four local government early childhood staff. For the participants in this study, mothers' groups and playgroups provided opportunities to learn about parenting, to build a supportive network, to forge friendships and a connectedness to the local community. The families who relocated often experienced isolation until new groups and social networks were found. In general, where participation in mothers' groups and playgroups facilitated relationships with others from the local community, connectedness to that community was reported by participants to be enhanced. Mothers' groups and playgroups provide important community development opportunities and appear to help reduce potential isolation for mothers with young children. The findings are of interest to nurses and other health professionals working with families with young children.

Academic advising via Facebook: Examining student help seeking

The influx of technology into institutions of higher education has demanded changes to the traditional support structures at colleges and universities. Higher education students are using technology as a means to communicate with, and seek help from, university personnel, including academic advisors. This study focuses on how six university students used and understood an electronic social network to seek help from an academic advisor. Results indicate that participants used the social network site to seek prescriptive academic advising help and acquire information about university academic matters. Findings indicate that participants considered use of the electronic social network beneficial for seeking help and were receptive to interacting with higher education personnel electronically.

Research on Modeling and Simulation of the Trafficability of Vertical Screw Conveyors Intermediate Support Based on EDEM

Vertical screw conveyor is a kind of main equipments of bulk handing and delivery, and the intermediate support structure is one of the key parts of this equipment. It is necessary to make a research on it for improving the design and optimization to improve bulk delivery efficiency. Degree of freedom theory, analysis software of EDEM with discrete element and setting periodic boundary model are applied in this paper to simulate the vertical screw conveyors grain (rice) delivery process under different intermediate support structure. The results show that traditional intermediate support structure is three times statically indeterminate structure, while the degrees of freedom of new intermediate support is 1; The vertical screw transmission capacity of new type of vertical screw axis machine which uses intermediate spokes structure is slightly decreased, and the driving power required to drive screw axis increases slightly at the same time. The materials axial transport speed is not affected, but the requirement is greatly reduced for the manufacture and installation accuracy.

Faircloth, C.Militant Lactivism? Attachment Parenting and Intensive Motherhood in the UK and France, Oxford: Berghahn Books. 2013. ISBN: 9780857457585

Faircloth, C.Militant Lactivism? Attachment Parenting and Intensive Motherhood in the UK and France, Oxford: Berghahn Books. 2013. ISBN: 9780857457585

Getting a job as a favor in the Russian post-socialist labor market

The literature on social networks in labor markets often assumes that hiring through a network is a token in a reciprocal favor exchange. Yet, the scope and mechanisms of this phenomenon remain unclear. I propose a general theoretical framework that initially takes the stand-alone favor, rather than reciprocity, as a mode of economic allocation and identifies its institutional support structures. Markets and hierarchies shape favor-doing alongside social networks, often as a byproduct of their other functions. I find empirical evidence for social networks and market pricing as support structures for favors in the Russian post-socialist labor market of the 1990s. The mechanisms behind social networks are prior history and the general norm of reciprocity, while market pricing induces favors by those employers positioned in the middle of the wage distribution and thus exhibiting simultaneously two qualities: a willingness to do favors, because the jobs they have to offer are not sufficiently lucrative to attract the very best talent, and an ability to ask for favors, because nevertheless those jobs remain attractive enough for job seekers at large. Overall, this study shows how labor market institutions, originally set up to support competitive exchanges, affect the likelihood of favors in hiring, in tandem with the traditional support structure, social networks. Favor-doing in emerging markets is understood better as a broadly conceived institutionalized process having a variety of support structures, not just networks, that must be explored from the bottom up in each specific setting.

Project Lungisela: Supporting Young People Leaving State Care in South Africa

This paper focuses on appropriate responses to the unique challenges faced by young people at risk who are transitioning out of state care in South Africa. Specific lessons are drawn from Project Lungisela, a youth leaving care programme created to assist young people leaving state care in Khayelitsha, Cape Town. Project Lungisela was initiated by Mamelani Projects, a local non-governmental organisation, in response to the need for support services for youth transitioning out of care, particularly from State children's homes. Support for this target group is neither a well-established nor adequately funded service in South Africa. Most of the children who have participated in the programme have at some stage in their life lived on the street, and many have survived through petty crime with accompanying substance abuse and little or no traditional family support structures. All have exited state care at age 18, as mandated by state regulations for minors attaining the legal age of majority. This paper examines the particular needs of these young people at risk, the interventions implemented to adequately prepare them for leaving state care, the type of support services offered in moving towards independence, the challenges experienced, as well as relevant programme components. The skill of interdependent living is specifically highlighted in preference to independent living skills. This shifts the focus away from young people meeting all of their own needs, to being able to connect them with other young people, to develop networks of support, and to access resources in their community to meet their various needs. This approach has recently been adapted for work with youth who have grown up in foster care. Lessons learnt from working with both target groups are shared in this paper.

“Last among equals”: Irish Travellers and change in the 21st century

The case of Irish Travellers presents a particular challenge to Travellers and to policy and health officials reinforcing the distinctive and unique needs of a vulnerable section of the population. Travellers pride themselves on being private and self-supporting. However, traditional support structures and networks have eroded and now tend to be extremely limiting as Travellers have become increasingly polarised in modernity. Traditional skills that Travellers relied on and survived with have also largely gone, causing increased hardship, and deprivation. This has had implications not only for Traveller culture but also for their health and health chances.

Community-oriented support and research structures

Coordinated by the Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE) Europe is restructuring and strengthening its high-performance computing infrastructure with the aim to create a model HPC ecosystem. At the tip of the pyramid, up to six centres are envisaged that will operate systems of the highest performance class. The HPC Research Infrastructure (HPC-RI) will comprise European, national and regional centres. Science communities are integral partners, strong links will include Grid and Cloud users. The HPC-RI strives at providing scientists all over Europe, on the one hand, with unlimited and independent access to state-of-the-art computer resources in all performance classes and, on the other hand, with a world-class pan-European competence and support network.While the hardware-oriented buildup of the infrastructure is making progress, high-quality user support and software development in the upcoming era of unprecedented parallelism and exascale on the horizon have become the imminent challenges. This has been clearly recognized by the European Commission, who will issue calls for proposals to fund petascale software development in summer 2009. Although traditional support structures are well established in Europe's major supercomputing centres, it is questionable if these structures are able to meet the challenges of the future: in general, support structures are based on cross-disciplinary computer science and mathematics teams; disciplinary computational science support usually is given in an ad-hoc, project-oriented manner.In this paper, we describe our approach to establish a suitable support structure–Simulation Laboratories (SL). SLs are currently being established at the Jülich Supercomputing Centre of the Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ) and at the Steinbuch Centre for Computing (SCC) of the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT) in Germany. While SLs are community-oriented, i.e. each SL focusses on a specific community, they are structured in a strictly interdisciplinary manner, comprising mathematicians, computer scientists and technicians along with disciplinary scientists. SLs are led by a disciplinary scientist, and representatives of the respective disciplines give guidance to its operation. This concept is proposed as a model for and might become an integral element of a future pan-European HPC support and software research structure.

Information management and service integration at German universities

Purpose – Customers do not like to deal with maintenance problems and responsibilities for academic support facilities. They prefer service portfolios that integrate services for an easy and comfortable use. This paper aims to describe the organisational changes needed in the computer centres and libraries of German universities.Design/methodology/approach – The article describes how several German universities are setting up an integrated information management system to improve cooperation between institutions that provide academic support in the areas of information, communication and media services.Findings – The largely traditional support structures of German universities are in transition. The problems and challenges posed by information management and service integration, which Anglo‐American universities introduced during the mid‐1980s, are now a key issue at German universities and are being tackled with ever‐greater energy.Originality/value – This article gives an overview of the current state ...

Displaced persons and HIV care: challenges and solutions

No abstract available.