Training to Improve New Product Sales Performance: The Case of Samsung in China

The authors report a case study conducted with over 8,000 Samsung salespeople in the Chinese market. Using research‐oriented, evidence‐based, and systematic approaches, training professionals contributed to Samsung's business outcomes at multiple levels. The case highlights the valuable impacts of training on salespeople's behaviors and new product sales performance and provides meaningful implications for trainers as they strive to be relevant to their business partners.     

‘Teaching between the lines’: discussing,interpreting and writing stories together / ‘El aula entre líneas’: hablamos,interpretamos y escribimos historias conjuntamente

Abstract

The purpose of our study was to carry out a writing workshop in a collaborative setting in which the teacher and the 14 year-old students made up stories while being observed by a researcher. We used a qualitative methodology similar to the Ethnography of Communication and Discourse Analysis, in which narrative and analytical analyses are seen as complementary, in order to interpret all aspects of the participants’ activities. The analysis of the conversations held in the different working situations defined by the presence or absence of the teacher shows that the guiding role played by the teacher is essential in terms of the students’ acquisition of knowledge concerning the generalization of meanings, the organization of social relations and the structuring of the task. Likewise, within a group of peers involved in working towards a common goal, one or several of them tend to take on the guiding role when the teacher is not present.     

A QUALITATIVE STUDY OF FACILITATORS AND BARRIERS RELATED TO COMPREHENSIVE AND INTEGRATED SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGICAL SERVICES

Recent studies indicate that the majority of school psychologists’ time continues to be dedicated to SPED related activities. Despite ongoing calls for school psychologists to expand their roles, why many practitioners do not deliver more comprehensive services is not well understood. This qualitative study investigated facilitators of and barriers to comprehensive and integrated services using the National Association of School Psychologists Model for Comprehensive and Integrated School Psychological Services as the guiding framework. Thirteen full‐time, school‐based practitioners from across the US participated in semi‐structured interviews. Constant‐comparative analysis was used to generate themes. Results indicated that practitioners experienced a number of systemic barriers to (e.g., heavy caseload; inconsistent district policies, priorities, and role definitions; lack of stakeholder involvement) and facilitators of (e.g., resources, graduate training and professional development) comprehensive and integrated service delivery. Participants’ perspectives regarding changes needed to expand their services focused on systemic issues as well. Implications for research and practitioners’ efforts to advocate for systems change are discussed.     

Numerical investigation of penetration performance of non-ideal segmented-rod projectiles

The design of a segmented-rod projectile is often simplified into an ideal one in theoretical analysis for the convenience of modeling of its performance. But the actual performance of non-ideal segmented-rod projectiles over the impact velocity range in practical applications was rarely explored. AUTODYN numerical code is used to investigate the influence of the component design upon the penetration performance of non-ideal segmented-rod projectiles over a wide range of impact velocities, which can be used to guide the optimal design of weaponry segmented-rod projectiles.     

Compressive Strength of Hydrostatic-Stress-Sensitive Materials at High Strain-Rates

Many engineering materials demonstrate dynamic enhancement of their compressive strength with the increase of strain-rate, which have been included in material models to improve the reliability of numerical simulations of the material and structural responses under impact and blast loads. The strain-rate effects on the dynamic compressive strength of a range of engineering materials which behave in hydrostatic-stress-sensitive manner were investigated. It is concluded that the dynamic enhancement of the compressive strength of a hydrostatic-stress-sensitive material may include inertia-induced lateral confinement effects, which, as a non-strain-rate factor, may greatly enhance the compressive strength of these materials. Some empirical formulae based on the dynamic stress-strain measurements over-predict the strain-rate effects on the compressive strength of these hydrostatic-stress-sensitive materials, and thus may over-estimate the structural resistance to impact and blast loads, leading to non-conservative design of protective structures.     

Left-handed materials in magnetized metallic magnetic thin films

INTRODUCTION Veselago (1968) showed that if both the permit- tivity ε and the magnetic permeability μ of a material are negative, the propagation direction of an elec- tromagnetic (EM) wave will be opposite to its energy flow direction. Such media are called left-handed materials (LHMs) since the electric field E, magnetic field H, and wave vector k in these media form a left-hand triplet of vectors, instead of a right-hand triplet observed in conventional materials. For a long time, …     

Design Research as a Mechanism for Consultants to Facilitate and Evaluate Educational Innovations

Schools across the nation are implementing innovative practices; however, questions remain regarding how to facilitate quality implementation. Research designs that emphasize high degrees of control over independent variables result in findings with internal validity, but that may not generalize to complex, dynamic educational systems. The purpose of this article is to propose a design research framework as a mechanism for consultants to facilitate and evaluate innovation implementation. Information on design research principles and processes is provided, and issues to consider when applying the framework are discussed. An illustration of how a design research framework was applied in a large-scale initiative to implement and evaluate Response to Intervention (RtI) implementation is also provided. Finally, issues and questions to consider relative to consultants' use of design research principles are explored.