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Despite several efforts during the last years, the web model and semantic web technologies have not yet been successfully applied to empower Ubiquitous Computing architectures in order to create knowledge‐rich environments populated by interconnected smart devices. In this paper we point out some problems of these previous initiatives and introduce SoaM (Smart Objects Awareness and Adaptation Model), an architecture for designing and seamlessly deploying web‐powered context‐aware semantic gadgets. Implementation and evaluation details of SoaM are also provided in order to identify future research challenges.

Young offenders are disproportionately represented in the Irish Prison Service (IPS) and are a population with complex needs and highest risk of re-offending. Subsets of young offenders in IPS are placed on Protection for their own and/or other’s safety. There is limited research regarding the experiences of young offenders, and there is none on the subjective experiences of young offenders on Protection that could be identified. This study aims to address a limitation of a previous study on the experiences of young offenders in an Irish prison (Hughes et al., 2017) by providing insight into experiences of young offenders on Protection in Mountjoy Prison.

Using a non-experimental, qualitative, semi-structured interview design, a purposive sampling method was used, and six young offenders participated. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim with potentially identifiable information removed to ensure anonymity. An interpretative phenomenological analysis was applied to interpret the data.

Two superordinate themes provided an overview of the young offender’s experiences of Protection in an Irish prison: ‘Social Order on Protection’ and ‘Adjustment on Protection’.

Even though it is a relatively small sample size, this study contributes to existing literature and considers sentence management and clinical implications.

This study helps to address a gap in literature by providing insight into the overall experiences of young male offenders (aged 18–21) on Protection in an Irish prison. The findings are in line with most researches, which highlight additional negative consequences of “restrictive prisons regimes” such as Protection. This study provides information to prisons for the development of best practice guidelines and better sentence management and delivery of services to young offenders on Protection.

Should B&K Distributors implement a Web-based customer portal with an integrated marketing campaign? Asks readers to assist Jim Anfield, business development director for JDA Consulting, and Nancy O'Neil, B&K Distributor's sales VP, in determining the feasibility of this project. They must build the final ROI projections and develop recommendations for B&K's senior management team. Emphasizes the importance of assumptions and the range of possible outcomes. Based on a real-life management decision for a mid-size firm.

To teach ROI analysis best practices for technology project investments, requiring the analysis of several factors to conduct a thorough review of the investment's feasibility.

This study aims to explore the experiences of non-offending partners (NOPs) of men who perpetrated contact and non-contact sexual offences.

In-depth semi-structured interviews were carried out with eight women and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Findings yielded two superordinate themes, eight subordinate themes and an overarching theme. The first superordinate theme “Paying for their Husband’s Transgressions” captured many ways in which the women’s lives were impacted by their husbands offending. The second superordinate theme “Navigating the Darkness” encompassed the women’s experiences of trying to adapt to their new lives. The overarching theme “A Contaminated Life” pertained to the shared experiences of the women who all described encountering instant and profound consequences. This research highlighted the need for immediate signposting to support services for NOPs. The value of a humanistic counselling approach paired with forensic expertise was also identified. Future research with cross-cultural samples and same sex-couples would enrich the current understanding of this experience.

This research highlighted the need for immediate signposting to support services for NOPs. The value of a humanistic counselling approach paired with forensic expertise was also identified.

Qualitative research on the experiences of NOPs of men who perpetrated sexual offences is sparse. Furthermore, existing research focuses on the experiences of women who’s own children were abused, with the partners of men who have perpetrated extra-familial or non-contact offenses remaining largely neglected.

This paper explores the use of the theory of games as a tool for modelling road usage decisions. By explicitly considering the interdependence among road users and their ‘payoffs’ (utility) from road use, an adapted symmetric form of the ‘game of chicken’ is developed. The paper explores the various possible equilibria in this game. The mixed strategy symmetric Nash equilibrium is derived and a probability of road usage by a single user is calculated from this. The latter depends explicitly upon the generalised costs of road usage that include both the monetary and time costs of travel. From the single road user probability of usage, measures of the expected number of users are derived. An examination is made of how these vary with variations in the level of the generalised cost of usage. This provides an insight into how the tools of game theory may aid the understanding of the generation and regulation of road congestion.

The case can be used in strategic management, international business or ethics courses. In strategic management courses, students will be able to identify political relationships as sources of a firm’s competitive advantage. Students will also understand the role of ethics in the firm’s competitive advantage. In international business courses, the students will be able to analyze the role that corruption and bribery play in the analysis of a country’s institutions. Students will also understand how corruption in a host country influences a firms’ decision to internationalize. Finally, students will understand the challenges that firms face when serving customers in other countries. In ethics courses, students will understand the nature of state/business corruption, i.e. the abuse of public office for private gain and the concept of state capture, i.e. managers controlling the political system for their advantage. Students will be able to analyze the decision of whether to collaborate with unethical partners or customers.

Bell Pottinger Private (BPP) was a British public relations (PR) firm with a successful but questionable reputation of helping famous critical figures and despots improve their public image. In 2016, Lord Tim Bell and the other leaders of BPP were asked to create a PR campaign for the Gupta family. The Guptas were a group of businessmen headed by three brothers who migrated from India to South Africa in the early 1990s. By the 2010s, they had built a business empire allegedly thanks to a corrupt relationship with the President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma and his family. The press and prosecutors were increasing their investigations on these relations. The case has two parts, which address two separate challenges and can be taught as standalone cases or in a sequence in two sessions.

MBA and Executive Education.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 5: International business.

We present a legislative background and assessment of approaches to financing the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare services, and focus on issues related to beneficiaries eligible for both VA and Medicare benefits. We refer to a large, VA Medical Center (VAMC) hospital and healthcare complex as a case for comparison of financing approaches. Several legislative proposals had been made to grant the VA funding transfers from Medicare. To date, none has passed in the Congress. Our analysis shows that payments from Medicare would need to be adjusted for the specialized characteristics of VAMC patients, as well as for higher capital costs related to the federal VAMC mandate to maintain reserve capacity for national health emergencies, in order to appropriately apply Medicare payments.

Examines Robofish, a prototype high speed, vision guided robot with an end‐effector that is able to grasp slippery fish and accurately place them within a deheading machine. Describes the vision system, the two fingered gripper and the robot which has two rotating arms. Outlines the software for the robot and gives results of initial trials. Concludes that with careful design, a fish can be grasped reliably and with the necessary accuracy in order to achieve yield improvements on fish deheading exceeding 1 per cent.