Widening the focus on informal entrepreneurship through the lens of intersectionality

The article explores the struggle of those involve with the entrepreneurial activities in the informal economy, within the challenging socio-economic environments. It investigates the extent to which intersectionality through structural, disciplinary, hegemonic and interpersonal power associated with poor, marginalised groups influence their entrepreneurial actions and rights collectively. Studies either view entrepreneurs through an informality lens, as marginalised populations engaged in low‐quality activities, or through a formality lens, as engaged in relatively higher quality entrepreneurial activities more as a necessity choice. The aim of this paper is to evaluate critically these explanations through intersectionality power in relation to waste pickers entrepreneurs in the informal sector in Colombia

"Fitting in" vs "standing out": How Social Enterprises Engage with Stakeholders to Legitimise their Hybrid Position

We investigate how social enterprises actively engage with their stakeholders to legitimise their hybrid position in addressing both social and businesses audience. This is particularly important in their effort to capturing stability (expectation to ‘fit in’) within an emerging field and at the same time to address change and growth (expectation to ‘stand out’) with their limited resources, in order to be profitable enterprises, while creating social value. We analyse in-depth interviews to senior members of twenty-one UK-based social enterprises, and we find that for many SEs involved in legitimisation exercise through the supportive system, collective system, and stakeholders' impression. By outlining the integrated framework on stakeholder engagement for hybrid legitimacy, we found that (i) legitimisation exercise through collective sharing of SE identity help to build SE image and legitimise SE socially driven mission, while (ii) legitimisation through supportive system (resources and business advantage) help building credibility by demonstrating SE capability to grow economically

Scanning laser source and scanning laser detection techniques for different surface crack geometries

Standard test samples typically contain simulated defects such as slots machined normal to the surface. However, real defects will not always propagate in this manner; for example, rolling contact fatigue on rails propagates at around 25º to the surface, and corrosion cracking can grow in a branched manner. Therefore, there is a need to understand how ultrasonic surface waves interact with different crack geometries. We present measurements of machined slots inclined at an angle to the surface normal, or with simple branched geometries, using laser ultrasound. Recently, Rayleigh wave enhancements observed when using the scanning laser source technique, where a generation laser is scanned along a sample, have been highlighted for their potential in detecting surface cracks. We show that the enhancement measured with laser detector scanning can give a more significant enhancement when different crack geometries are considered. We discuss the behaviour of an incident Rayleigh wave in the region of an angled defect, and consider mode-conversions which lead to a very large enhancement when the detector is close to the opening of a shallow defect. This process could be used in characterising defects, as well as being an excellent fingerprint of their presence

Non-contact ultrasonic detection of angled surface defects

Non-destructive testing is an important technique, and improvements are constantly needed. Surface defects in metals are not necessarily confined to orientations normal to the sample surface; however, much of the previous work investigating the interaction of ultrasonic surface waves with surface-breaking defects has assumed cracks inclined at 90° to the surface. This paper explores the interaction of Rayleigh waves with cracks which have a wide range of angles and depths relative to the surface, using a non-contact laser generation and detection system. Additional insight is acquired using a 3D model generated using finite element method software. A clear variation of the reflection and transmission coefficients with both crack angle and length is found, in both the out-of-plane and in-plane components. The 3D model is further used to understand the contributions of different wavemodes to B-Scans produced when scanning a sample, to enable understanding of the reflection and transmission behaviour, and help identify angled defects. Knowledge of these effects is essential to correctly gauge the severity of surface cracking

Scanning laser techniques for characterisation of different surface breaking defect geometries

Measurements using a laser scanning system consisting of a pulsed Nd:YAG laser to generate surface ultrasonic waves and an interferometer to detect the surface displacement, are presented for different samples and defect geometries. We show, firstly, details of the interaction of Rayleigh waves in thick samples with machined slots inclined at an angle to the surface normal, or with simple branched geometries, scanning the generation source over the defect (SLLS) or scanning the detection point over the defect (SLD). Secondly, we discuss effects of Lamb waves interacting with V-shaped defects in thin samples. The results from these measurements have shown that the signal enhancement found in the near-field in both cases can be used to position the defect and gain an idea of its geometry, and have shown this to be a suitable fingerprint of the presence of the defect

Potential and Electric Field Characteristics of Broken Porcelain Insulator

Overhead line insulators can be damaged for various reasons during their service life. Porcelain or glass insulators once damaged can affect the reliability of power system networks. This paper presents the study of voltage and electric characteristics along the surface of a broken porcelain insulator located in a string of 10 unit insulators. Three models of broken porcelain insulators were being proposed and the analysis results on voltage and electric characteristics were individually collected. The broken porcelain insulator with the most significant effect were then being investigated in the strings of 10 unit insulators. The finite element software of Quickfield was used to analyze the voltage and electric characteristics. Form the presented results, it is proven that the single porcelain insulators with broken shed at the nearest to the electrode terminal gave the most significant effect of voltage and electric field distribution pattern along the creepage distance. However, when this type of broken insulator was included in a string of 10 unit insulators, maximum average value of voltage achieved once the broken insulator was located at the HV terminal. Meanwhile, the highest electric field strength was recorded when the broken insulator was located in the middle of the string

Measuring consumers' understanding of green marketing objective and concept in relation to environmental protection

Green marketing has been an increasingly important element toward the practice of environmental protection. A term coined by marketing gurus, it is a structured topic, essentially offered in academic institutions. However, not every consumer enrols in such courses during their academic years. While some may gain their knowledge academically, others may acquire it through daily interactions with family members, friends, colleagues, business associations, or through the mass or social media. It is believed that the meaning and purpose of green marketing did not reach the general public, questioning the capability of green marketing in becoming a key factor in encouraging consumers to protect the environment. The lack of understanding the objective and concept of green marketing among consumers clearly reflect the unfavourable behaviour and support towards environmental protection. Due to this limitation, the intent of this study is to investigate the level of consumers’ understanding of green marketing objective and concepts through green marketing tools, as well as identify the common medium that contribute to their understanding. This study is also conducted to confirm the measurement items used to examine consumers’ understanding of green marketing particularly its objective and concepts, and tools. Self-constructed survey questionnaire was distributed to consumers, and analysed using a descriptive statistical and factor analysis. As expected, results indicated that consumers’ understanding about protecting the environment is not driven by green marketing objective and concept, but rather from daily interactions with their family members and within the society they are in

Optical properties of diamond like carbon films prepared by DC-PECVD

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) thin films were deposited at different substrate temperatures using methane and hydrogen gas in DC-PECVD at 2x10-1Torr. From the light transmission using UV-VIS spectroscopy it was found that the optical transition had changed from allowed indirect transition to allowed direct transition as the substrate temperature increased. The Optical gap increased with temperature, highest of 3.034 eV was observed at 573 K, beyond which it dropped. Colour of the film changed from light brownish to a colourless transparent film in the higher temperature. The Urbach energy decreased from 1.25 eV to 0.75 eV with increasing substrate temperature till 573 K and a slight increase after it. This trend is attributed to change in sp3/sp2 ratio or change in structure. The cluster size decreases with temperature, resulting in larger band gap and the structure more ordered. Similar pattern is also witnessed in the emission spectrum of the photoluminescence

Comparison on space charge and voltage distribution of high voltage insulator subjected to different contamination levels

This paper presents the study of space charge distribution on high voltage (HV) insulators under different levels of contamination. Two types of HV insulators were used in this work particularly glass and porcelain insulators. A string of 4-unit glass and porcelain insulators with 33 kV of lines voltage was designed and simulated using QuickfieldTM software. Four levels of contamination layer with different thickness have been applied on the surface of insulators to observe the effect of space charge distribution. Simulation results show that different types of insulators used at transmission lines give different effects on charge and voltage distribution. It is also found that the amplitude of charge for a single porcelain insulator is much higher compared to a single glass insulator. Similarly for a string of 4-unit insulators, the voltage distribution along the creepage distance of porcelain insulators is much higher compared to glass insulators under all contamination levels