School librarians as literacy educators within a complex role

Librarians in schools are expected to play an important role as literacy educators, and have a positive impact on young people’s literacy learning. However in the context of their diverse workload, relatively little is known about how this aspect of their role sits within its competing demands, and the exact scope of the literacy educator requirements. Using a hybrid approach to content analysis, this article analyses 40 recent job description documents to identify the nature and prevalence of different aspects of the role, and to explore the literacy educator aspect of this profession. Findings suggest that while the literacy educator aspect is one of the most common role requirements, it sits within a complex workload, and the literacy educator aspect is itself multi-faceted and demanding

Advancing international human resource management scholarship on paternalistic leadership and gender: the contribution of postcolonial feminism

This article aims to inspire international human resource management (IHRM) scholarship that incorporates postcolonial feminist theory, using the under-researched topic of paternalistic leadership and gender to illustrate the opportunities and challenges such an endeavour can present. Paternalistic leadership is utilised because it represents one of the most widely used indigenous frameworks for examining leadership in Chinese contexts. The principal theoretical contribution of this article centres on providing IHRM scholars with postcolonial feminist ideas, perspectives and sites of inquiry for cultivating future research on gender and paternalistic leadership. The salience of postcolonial feminism resides in its capacity to address the representation of non-western women in feminist theory as a universal, transhistorical category, to centralise cultural difference in theorising gender, to shatter binaries reproduced by colonialism and imperialism (e.g. ‘West/East’, 'Western/Third World Woman') and to generate indigenous, localised knowledge on non-western women. Three sites of inquiry are discussed: 1) Chinese feminisms and genders; 2) Chinese cultures and gender norms; 3) voice, agency and the subaltern woman. This article provides research propositions for IHRM scholars seeking to translate postcolonial feminist ideas into empirical research. The article concludes by outlining implications for practice and providing research questions to guide future IHRM scholarship

A study on truss bolt mechanism in controlling stability of underground excavation and cutter roof failure

The truss bolt reinforcement system has been used in controlling the stability of underground excavations in severe ground conditions and cutter roof failure in layered rocks especially in coal mines. In spite of good application reports, working mechanism of this system is largely unknown and truss bolts are predominantly designed based on past experience and engineering judgement. In this study, the reinforcing effect of the truss bolt system on an underground excavation in layered rock is studied using non-linear finite element analysis. Different indicators are defined to evaluate the reinforcing effects of the truss bolt system. Using these indicators one can evaluate the effects of a reinforcing system on the deformation, loosened area, failure prevention, horizontal movement of the immediate layer, shear crack propagation and cutter roof failure of underground excavations. Effects of truss bolt on these indicators reveal the working mechanism of the truss bolt system. To illustrate the application of these indicators, a comparative study is conducted between three different truss bolt designs. It is shown that the design parameters of truss bolt systems, including tie-rod span, length, and angle of the bolts can have significant effects on the reinforcing capability of the system