Spray coating apparatus having a rotatable workpiece holder

A spray coating apparatus is provided for rotating a workpiece relative to a spray station to obtain a uniform coating of the workpiece. In a typical example, the workpiece comprises a ceramic tile which is to be coated with a ceramic coating and the tile is to be used as a reusable component of the thermal protection system for a space shuttle. The apparatus for rotating the workpiece includes a base support having a first rotatable stage for rotation in the horizontal plane and a second rotatable stage for rotation in a second plane inclined at an angle, such as 45 degrees, to the horizontal plane and the workpiece is supported on this second stage. Thus the workpiece is rotatable in both of two planes of rotation

Strategic corporate social responsibility in tourism and hospitality

Tourism businesses engage in strategic corporate social responsibility (CSR) when they integrate responsible behaviours in their operational practices (Camilleri, 2015, 2019a; Carroll & Shabana, 2010; Porter &Kramer, 2006, 2011; Van Marrewijk, 2003; Vogel, 2005). Strategic CSR activities may usually improve their bottom line, whilst taking into account their legitimate stakeholders' interests (Garay & Font, 2012;Kang, Lee, & Huh, 2010). For instance, various hotels and restaurants are increasingly communicating about their business activities that are having an effect on their stakeholders, including their employees, patrons, guests, suppliers, local communities, the environment, regulatory authorities and the community at large. Their non-financial reports(CSR reports, sustainability reports, or integrated reports) can identify the operational practices that are satisfying their stakeholders' expectations (Inoue & Lee, 2011; Lantos, 2001). The hospitality businesses' strategic CSR behaviours can improve their employees' working conditions, as they provide: decent employment to locals and migrant workers, health and safety in their workplace environments, adequate compensation and recognition of all employees, ongoing training and development opportunities, work-life balance, and the like (Camilleri, 2016). More-over, they may address the environmental issues by: offering local, fresh, and sustainable food to their patrons; engaging in circular economy behaviours, reducing food waste; decreasing energy consumption, reducing the carbon footprint, and greenhouse emissions; using eco-responsible products, et cetera (Camilleri, 2019a, 2019b). Various hotel chains are stepping in their commitment for sustainability issues as they set their own policies to implement strategic CSR practices (Falck & Heblich, 2007; Garay & Font, 2012). Very often, they rely on the non-governmental organisations' regulatory instruments and tools like the Global Reporting Initiative's process and performance-oriented standards, or they align their practices with the Integrated Reporting framework (Camilleri, 2018).Many companies are increasingly recognising that there is a business case for CSR (Carroll & Shabana, 2010; Porter & Kramer, 2006).Their motivation behind their engagement in strategic CSR practices is to increase their profits and to create value to society(Camilleri, 2017; Lantos, 2001). However, the extant academic literature has yielded different findings on the relationships between the corporate social performance and their financial performance (Bird,Hall, Momentè, & Reggiani, 2007; Inoue & Lee, 2011; Kanget al., 2010; Kim & Pennington-Gray, 2017; Lee, Kim, & Ham, 2018;Orlitzky, Schmidt, & Rynes, 2003; Wang, 2014; Youn, Hua, &Lee, 2015). Relevant research has shown that companies did well by doing good (Falck & Heblich, 2007; Porter & Kramer, 2011). The businesses' laudable activities can help them build a positive brand image and reputation (Rhou, Singal, & Koh, 2016). Hence, there is scope for the hospitality businesses to communicate their CSR behaviours to their stakeholders. Their financial performance relies on the stake-holders' awareness of their social and environmental responsibility(Camilleri, 2016). Currently, there are still a few contributions, albeit a few exceptions, that have focused on strategic CSR practices within the hospitality industry. Therefore, this special issue will include but is not limited to the following topics:• Destination branding through sustainability marketing;• Ethical issues in hospitality;• Global issues, climate change, and the environmental awareness of hospitality businesses;• Mobilities and sustainable tourism destinations;• Policies and regulatory instruments on sustainable and responsible tourism; Responsible procurement practices within the hospitality industry;• Stakeholder engagement within the hospitality industry;• Strategic practices in agri-/eco- tourism;• Strategic practices for sustainable tourism;• Sustainability marketing;• Sustainability and mass destinations;• Sustainable and responsible tourism destinations;• The business case for responsible and sustainable tourism;• The circular economy and the hospitality industry;• The communication of responsible and sustainable tourism practices;• The consumer awareness of responsible and sustainable tourism products;• The corporate citizenship and sustainable practices of hospitality businesses;• The environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosures of hospitality businesses;• The marketing of sustainable destinations;• The planning and organisation of CSR activities of hospitality businesses;• The promotion of socially/environmentally responsible practices of hospitality businesses;• The promotion of the eco-tourism and sustainable practices;• The provision of education and training on responsible and sustain-able tourism practices;• The responsible corporate governance of hospitality businesses;• The responsible supply chain of hotels and restaurants;• The sustainability of niche tourism markets;• The use of eco labels by hospitality businesses;• The use of technologies to promote responsible and sustainable practices.peer-reviewe

Finite-difference distributions for the Ginibre ensemble

The Ginibre ensemble of complex random matrices is studied. The complex valued random variable of second difference of complex energy levels is defined. For the N=3 dimensional ensemble are calculated distributions of second difference, of real and imaginary parts of second difference, as well as of its radius and of its argument (angle). For the generic N-dimensional Ginibre ensemble an exact analytical formula for second difference's distribution is derived. The comparison with real valued random variable of second difference of adjacent real valued energy levels for Gaussian orthogonal, unitary, and symplectic, ensemble of random matrices as well as for Poisson ensemble is provided.Comment: 8 pages, a number of small changes in the tex

PT-symmetry broken by point-group symmetry

We discuss a PT-symmetric Hamiltonian with complex eigenvalues. It is based on the dimensionless Schr\"{o}dinger equation for a particle in a square box with the PT-symmetric potential $V(x,y)=iaxy$. Perturbation theory clearly shows that some of the eigenvalues are complex for sufficiently small values of $|a|$. Point-group symmetry proves useful to guess if some of the eigenvalues may already be complex for all values of the coupling constant. We confirm those conclusions by means of an accurate numerical calculation based on the diagonalization method. On the other hand, the Schr\"odinger equation with the potential $V(x,y)=iaxy^{2}$ exhibits real eigenvalues for sufficiently small values of $|a|$. Point group symmetry suggests that PT-symmetry may be broken in the former case and unbroken in the latter one

Severity of disease and risk of malignant change in hereditary multiple exostoses. A genotype-phenotype study

We performed a prospective genotype-phenotype study using molecular screening and clinical assessment to compare the severity of disease and the risk of sarcoma in 172 individuals (78 families) with hereditary multiple exostoses. We calculated the severity of disease including stature, number of exostoses, number of surgical procedures that were necessary, deformity and functional parameters and used molecular techniques to identify the genetic mutations in affected individuals. Each arm of the genotype-phenotype study was blind to the outcome of the other. Mutations EXT1 and EXT2 were almost equally common, and were identified in 83% of individuals. Non-parametric statistical tests were used. There was a wide variation in the severity of disease. Children under ten years of age had fewer exostoses, consistent with the known age-related penetrance of this condition. The severity of the disease did not differ significantly with gender and was very variable within any given family. The sites of mutation affected the severity of disease with patients with EXT1 mutations having a significantly worse condition than those with EXT2 mutations in three of five parameters of severity (stature, deformity and functional parameters). A single sarcoma developed in an EXT2 mutation carrier, compared with seven in EXT1 mutation carriers. There was no evidence that sarcomas arose more commonly in families in whom the disease was more severe. The sarcoma risk in EXT1 carriers is similar to the risk of breast cancer in an older population subjected to breast-screening, suggesting that a role for regular screening in patients with hereditary multiple exostoses is justifiable. ©2004 British Editorial Society of Bone and Joint Surgery

Practical applications of interactive voice technologies: Some accomplishments and prospects

A technology assessment of the application of computers and electronics to complex systems is presented. Three existing systems which utilize voice technology (speech recognition and speech generation) are described. Future directions in voice technology are also described

Minimizing Strong Telluric Absorption in Near Infra-red Stellar Spectra

We have obtained high resolution spectra (R = 25000) of an A star over varying airmass to determine the effectiveness of telluric removal in the limit of high signal to noise. The near infra-red line HeI at 2.058 microns, which is a sensitive indicator of physical conditions in massive stars, supergiants, HII regions and YSOs, resides among pressure broadened telluric absorption from carbon dioxide and water vapor that varies both in time and with observed airmass. Our study shows that in the limit of bright stars at high resolution, accuracies of 5% are typical for high airmass observations (greater than 1.9), improving to a photon-limited accuracy of 2% at smaller airmasses (less than 1.15). We find that by using the continuum between telluric absorption lines of a ro-vibrational fan a photon-limited 1% accuracy is achievable.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in PAS

The Influence of Network Topology on Sound Propagation in Granular Materials

Granular materials, whose features range from the particle scale to the force-chain scale to the bulk scale, are usually modeled as either particulate or continuum materials. In contrast with either of these approaches, network representations are natural for the simultaneous examination of microscopic, mesoscopic, and macroscopic features. In this paper, we treat granular materials as spatially-embedded networks in which the nodes (particles) are connected by weighted edges obtained from contact forces. We test a variety of network measures for their utility in helping to describe sound propagation in granular networks and find that network diagnostics can be used to probe particle-, curve-, domain-, and system-scale structures in granular media. In particular, diagnostics of meso-scale network structure are reproducible across experiments, are correlated with sound propagation in this medium, and can be used to identify potentially interesting size scales. We also demonstrate that the sensitivity of network diagnostics depends on the phase of sound propagation. In the injection phase, the signal propagates systemically, as indicated by correlations with the network diagnostic of global efficiency. In the scattering phase, however, the signal is better predicted by meso-scale community structure, suggesting that the acoustic signal scatters over local geographic neighborhoods. Collectively, our results demonstrate how the force network of a granular system is imprinted on transmitted waves.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures, and 3 table

Individual Values and SME Environmental Engagement

We study the values on which managers of small and medium-sized enterprises draw when constructing their personal and organizational-level engagement with environmental issues, particularly climate change. Values play an important mediating role in business environmental engagement but relatively little research has been conducted on individual values in smaller organizations. Using the Schwartz Value System (SVS) as a framework for a qualitative analysis, we identify four ‘ideal-types’ of SME managers and provide rich descriptions of the ways in which values shape their constructions of environmental engagement. In contrast to previous research, which is framed around a binary divide between self-enhancing and self-transcending values, our typology distinguishes between individuals drawing primarily on Power or on Achievement values, and indicates how a combination of Achievement and Benevolence values is particularly significant in shaping environmental engagement. This demonstrates the theoretical usefulness of focusing on a complete range of values. Implications for policy and practice are discussed