Cyclic Behavior of HPFRCC Coupling Beams with Bundled Diagonal Bars

Coupled shear walls are efficient in resisting lateral forces induced by winds and earthquakes. However, it is difficult to construct coupled shear walls particularly because current design codes require complex reinforcing details within coupling beams. The objective of this study was to develop simple reinforcement details for diagonally reinforced coupling beams; reducing transverse steel by use of high-performance fiber-reinforced cementitious composites (HPFRCCs) and bundling diagonal bars are explored. Four coupling beam specimens with length-to-depth aspect ratios of 2.0 or 3.5 were fabricated and tested under cyclic lateral displacements. The test results revealed that HPFRCC coupling beams with bundled diagonal bars and widely spaced transverse reinforcement (one-half the amount of reinforcement required by current seismic codes) exhibited excellent seismic performance compared with ordinary concrete coupling beams having code-required distributed diagonal reinforcement and transverse reinforcement

Self-directed learning and absorptive capacity: the mediating role of trust and human capital

This chapter aims to provide a better understanding of how self-directed learning effects absorptive capacity by examining the influence of two mediators: specifically, affective trust in colleagues and human capital development climate. By using a sample of 181 participants from the creative industries sector, a sequential mediation via a three-step causal chain was conducted. This chapter contributes to human resource development and strategic management literature in showing that self-directed learning does not only have a strong effect on the organisational capability, but it also has an impact at the group-level dynamics involving trust and organisational-level climate. These findings show that organisations need to design jobs that allow discretion and autonomy from staff to shape their own learning and to cultivate an environment that recognises and rewards learning

Innovation Ambidexterity, Resource Configuration and Firm Growth: Is Smallness a Liability or an Asset?

This study examines when small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) benefit from innovation ambidexterity for their growth. We argue that innovation ambidexterity in SMEs is sensitive to resource configuration, necessitating a careful fit assessment among firms??? internal resources (firm size), external resources (customer concentration) and the forms of innovation ambidexterity. Patent and utility model data from 912 firm-years for the 2000???2017 period in the Korean electronic parts industry were analysed using a feasible generalised least squares (FGLS) model. Consistent with our prediction, we establish that firm size is negatively related to the growth effect of balanced innovation ambidexterity (BIA), but positively to that of combined innovation ambidexterity (CIA), and that customer concentration is positively related to the growth effect of CIA. The three-way interaction patterns further demonstrate that smaller firms with high customer concentration achieve the best growth when pursuing BIA, whereas the same configuration can lead to the worst growth if they adopt CIA