Simulation of thermal and mechanical performance of laser cladded disc brake rotors

Open access via Sage agreement Funding The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article. Acknowledgements The authors are grateful for the contributions provided by Fabrizio Girolimetti on simulation development.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Quantifying Muscle Fatigue of the Low Back during Repetitive Load Lifting Using Lyapunov Analysis

Background: Occupational low back disorders are often associated with exposure to work-related physical risk factors such as muscle fatigue in the low back.Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the possible relationship between the divergence of the kinematic trajectories of the low back system and the different stages of fatigue during the execution of a repetitive lifting task.Methods: The patterns of the low back system were recorded using markers on specific vertebras during the repetitive load lifting from the floor to a 0.75 m height table. The maximum Lyapunov exponent, λmax of the recorded patterns was calculated from the x and y coordinates of the lower back markers using the algorithm proposed by Wolf.Results: The results of the λmax values determined three different sections of muscle fatigue which were also in agreement with the Borg’s clinical scale of perceived fatigue results. The assessment of the λmax values between the three different sections showed a descriptive point where the muscle fatigue accumulation may have resulted in a change of the low back control.Conclusion: Lyapunov exponent methodology could be a reliable methodology for ergonomists to provide an index to design the work/rest ratio ergonomically

Internationalization, Tacit Knowledge and the Top Management Teams of MNCs

This study investigates the effects of several dimensions of internationalization on the behavior of MNCs' top management teams. The effects include top executives' personal presence in foreign markets, their participation in meetings about international strategic issues, and their tacit knowledge of the firms' international business activities.© 2000 JIBS. Journal of International Business Studies (2000) 31, 471–487

Founder centrality effects on the Mexican family firm's top management group: firm culture, strategic vision and goals, and firm performance

Using social networks, we examined the founder's influence on key strategic behaviors in Mexican family business. First, we drew on a sample of 42 Mexican family businesses and 201 managers to show how founder centrality affects the top management group (TMG) members' cohesiveness. TMG members' cohesiveness was examined in terms of the firm's culture, its strategic vision, and strategic goals. Second, we examined how founder centrality and top management member group cohesiveness are related to performance in terms of financial, social and family-oriented objectives. Significant relationships were found between a founder's centrality and the TMGs strategic behavior. Further, significant results connect different aspects of the founder's centrality and the TMGs strategic behavior to financial, social and family-oriented objectives.Family-business Founder centrality Top management team Strategic planning Strategic decision making Social networks

The skeleton of a straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) and other large mammals from the Middle Pleistocene butchering locality Marathousa 1 (Megalopolis Basin, Greece): preliminary results

In this article, we present the first results on the large mammal fauna from the new open-air Lower Palaeolithic locality Marathousa 1 (MAR-1) (Megalopolis Basin, Peloponnesus, Greece). MAR-1 belongs to the Marathousa Member of the Choremi Formation and its large mammal faunal list (collection 2013–2016) includes the castorid Castor fiber, the mustelids Mustela sp. and Lutra simplicidens, the felid Felis sp., the canids Vulpes sp. and Canis sp., the elephantid Palaeoloxodon antiquus, the hippopotamid Hippopotamus antiquus, the bovid Bison sp., and the cervids Dama sp. and Cervus elaphus. This faunal association is common in the Galerian (Middle Pleistocene) mammal communities of Europe (ca. 0.9–0.4 Ma). The MAR-1 fauna is consistent with a temperate climate and is indicative of a landscape with substantial woodland components with more open areas, close to permanent and large freshwater bodies. Of particular interest are an elephant cranium and numerous postcranial elements, which were found in close anatomical association and are attributed to a single individual of the straight-tusked elephant Palaeoloxodon antiquus. The skeleton belonged to a male individual in its late adulthood close to or in its sixties, with live skeletal height around 3.7 m at the shoulder and body mass around 9.0 tonnes. The good state of preservation of the MAR-1 bones allows the identification of taphonomic modifications. Cut marks on the elephant skeleton, and on other elephant and mammal bones, indicate human exploitation by means of butchering activities, in accordance with the traits of the lithic assemblage and its spatial association with the bones. Carnivore activity is also recorded on some elephant and cervid bones. Marathousa 1 is among the oldest elephant butchering sites in Europe and the only one known in Southeastern Europe

Testing Alternative Cultural Explanations of Managers’ Values across the U.S.-Canada Border

Research about the implications that cultural differences have for managers in different parts of Anglophone Canada and the United States, like management studies of regional culture throughout the world, have been based on varied, narrowly focused theories and have reached varied conclusions. Here, we identify and compare theories about immigrant group characteristics and contemporary socioeconomic characteristics that figure strongly in research comparing Canada, the United States, and their regions. We summarize the predictions that each immigration theory and each socioeconomic characteristic makes for the two implications of culture that are most prominent in regional studies of North America – self-reliance and deference to authority. We conclude with thoughts about the potential contributions of culture research about North American regions along with theories of culture emergence and change that need to be revised or added to them to advance research about cultural regions of Europe