A comparison of bearing life in new and refurbished railway axle boxes

A simple linear dynamical model shows that at normal running speeds of freight wagons, forced oscillations due to periodic track compliance are transferred to the overlying unsprung mass and significantly amplified. Due to these oscillations, a small gap opens and closes between the collar of a journal bearing and the axle box many times every second. The forces between these components reach peaks of over 10 tonnes. This is an environment in which wear of the soft spherical graphite iron of the axle box will eventually take place. Due to repeated unloadings of the weight on the bearing during oscillations, the bearing collar may slowly slip against the axle box wall. Although our calculations show that abrasive wear due to this slippage is negligible, the calculation raises general principles that apply to other possible wear mechanisms. If lifetime is proportional to hardness, we can estimate relative lifetimes of refurbished and new boxes. Although the resleeve material is softer than the original, the cost to lifetime ratio would favour refurbishment under this assumption. Important unanswered questions are identified and a specific integrated program of field, laboratory, and theoretical study is suggested

Wet gum labelling of wine bottles

It is shown that bubbling on wine bottle labels is due to absorption of water from the glue, with subsequent hygroscopic expansion. Contrary to popular belief, most of the glue's water must be lost to the atmosphere rather than to the paper. A simple lubrication model is developed for spreading glue piles in the pressure chamber of the labelling machine. This model predicts a maximum rate for application of labels. Buckling theory shows that the current arrangement of periodic glue strips can indeed accommodate paper expansion. Some recommendations follow on the paper, the glue, the labelling rate and the drying environment

Senior Careers in Retailing: an exploration of male and female executives' career facilitators and barriers

Purpose Retailing as a sector employs many women and serves a female dominated customer base. It also employs proportionately more women in management positions than in other occupational sectors. However, at senior levels, the proportion of women to men diminishes. This article examines the perceived facilitators and problems of senior retail managers’ career development in order to see if it offers any insights for others to achieve senior managerial positions. Design/methodology/approach The main research instrument was a quantitative questionnaire with 124 UK senior retail managers. Findings The findings revealed that apparently more similarities than differences were reported by the men and women senior retail managers. These findings need to be treated with some caution however given that retailing operates in a strong masculine culture. Therefore to assume that men and women encounter similar facilitators and problems ignores that they are being compared against a norm of male characteristics and values. Practical implications The senior women may have achieved their positions by ignoring their feminine characteristics and putting their career before their personal lives; they may have adopted the male cultural norms and developed a style top management are more comfortable with, else they may have more characteristics that are closer to the male norms than the average woman. Men further down the hierarchy may also suffer and may not achieve senior positions because they too are not prepared to conform to idealised and outdated male cultural norms. Originality/valu

Window dressing? Women, careers and retail management

Via the submission of six published papers, this thesis draws together the body of work by Broadbridge on retail management and women’s careers. It reveals the factors that continue to be problematic for women’s careers and why in 2010 they continue to be under-represented in the retail management hierarchy. A contextual background to the selected papers is provided in three chapters which summarise some wider issues for the non specialist reader: an introduction to career development models, the gendered processes in management and a contemporary overview of retail employment in the UK. Of the six papers presented, each adopts a different theoretical perspective and so cumulatively a comprehensive understanding of the reasons for women’s continued under-representation in retail management positions is gained. The overall findings from the papers indicated that the main reasons for women’s and men’s differential experience in the retail management hierarchy can be located in issues of male control. Retail management is male dominated, male identified and male centred. This can present itself in a variety of different ways, and through overt or covert means of behaviour and underlying organisational cultures. Key theoretical contributions to the thesis are located in three sets of theory: the sexual division of labour and the organisation of retail work; the gendered retail career, and work-life balance and multiple role demands. Empirical and methodological contributions come from the corpus of data and the use and refinement of a mixed methods approach to understanding the subject area

Random spherical hyperbolic diffusion

The paper starts by giving a motivation for this research and justifying the considered stochastic diffusion models for cosmic microwave background radiation studies. Then it derives the exact solution in terms of a series expansion to a hyperbolic diffusion equation on the unit sphere. The Cauchy problem with random initial conditions is studied. All assumptions are stated in terms of the angular power spectrum of the initial conditions. An approximation to the solution is given and analysed by finitely truncating the series expansion. The upper bounds for the convergence rates of the approximation errors are derived. Smoothness properties of the solution and its approximation are investigated. It is demonstrated that the sample H\"older continuity of these spherical fields is related to the decay of the angular power spectrum. Numerical studies of approximations to the solution and applications to cosmic microwave background data are presented to illustrate the theoretical results.Comment: 30 pages, 15 figures. Updated file. Some misprints are correcte

Dominated by Women: Managed by Men? The career development process of retail managers

Purpose: The aim of the paper is to explore some issues regarding the career development of men and women retail managers and provide an overview of the main issues these present for retailers in the future. Methodology/approach: The research utilised combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods. Data were collected via a questionnaire survey with 286 male and female UK retail managers. Findings: Managers generally reported satisfaction with their current jobs and were highly ambitious to develop their careers. Factors managers particularly associated with facilitating their careers to date were attributed to own efforts and attitudes towards their work. Problems in their careers to date were associated with factors outside of their own control. The findings demonstrated that the culture of retailing is still perceived to be dominated by male norms and values and this has implications for the way in which men and women managers experience their jobs and career opportunities. Practical implications: Managerial recommendations include the provision of meaningful mentoring relationships, the creation of developmental opportunities not bounded by a linear structure and re-examination of organisational cultural attitudes and practices. The importance of reconsideration of working arrangements and the 1 provision of flexible working arrangements at all levels of the management hierarchy is emphasised. Originality/value: The paper contributes to current understanding of the career issues experienced by UK retail managers in the 21st Century