Green intellectual capital and environmental product innovation: the mediating role of green social capital

Although the importance of intellectual capital has already been highlighted in the management literature, few articles have focused on the importance of its green counterpart, green intellectual capital. Nowadays, when environmental concerns cannot be ignored by firms, it is therefore time to explore the role of green intellectual capital in environmental improvement. For that reason, our research aims to explore the relationships between green intellectual capital components and the environmental performance of the firms. In particular, we try to show the importance of green organizational and social capital in the development of environmental product innovations, which are vital to the development and implementation of environmental strategies since, as scholars have pointed out, they generate some of the greatest environmental impacts. The empirical results show that green organizational capital has an indirect impact on environmental product innovation through green social capital, meaning that the latter is a significant mediator of that relationship, and at the same time emphasizing that informal relationships play a key role in the improvement of the environmental performance of the firm and, more specifically, in the development of environmental product innovations.     

Learning,innovation and firm performance: knowledge management in small firms

This study aims to examine the relationships between managerial learning as a facet of knowledge absorption (KA), firm innovation as a facet of knowledge exploitation (KE), and performance of small firms (i.e., firms with fewer than 50 employees). It builds on the knowledge-based view of the firm and the upper echelons theory to describe the effects of KA on KE, and that of KE on firm performance, in the small-firm context. Using survey data of 1441 small firms in New Zealand, the study applies a partial least squares approach to structural equation modelling to test the main hypotheses of the study. The main findings show the positive and significant effects of three types of managerial learning, namely, practice-based, proximal, and distal learning, on innovation and on innovation in firm performance. However, the curvilinear relationships suggest rather that the effects are finite and, potentially, confounded by factors unaccounted for in the models.     

Kinematic differences of elite and high-performance tennis players in the cross court and down the line forehand

This study identified and compared the full body kinematics of different skill levels in the forehand groundstroke when balls were hit cross court and down the line. Forty-three three-dimensional retro-reflective marker trajectories of six elite and seven high-performance players were recorded using an eight-camera 400 Hz, Vicon motion analysis system. The six highest horizontal velocity forehands with reliable kinematics of all participants were analysed for each specific situation (a total of 156 analysed shots). Significant differences (p < 0.01) and large effect sizes were observed between elite and high-performance players in linear velocity of the shoulder (2.0 vs. 1.2 m/s), angular velocity of the pelvis (295 vs. 168 °/s), and angular velocity of the upper trunk (453 vs. 292 °/s) at impact. The elite group showed a tendency towards higher racquet velocities at impact (p < 0.05). No significant differences were found in angular displacement of the racquet, hip alignment, or shoulder alignment at the completion of the backswing; nor did angular displacement vary significantly at impact. Irrespective of the group, different shoulder, hip, and racquet angles were found at impact, depending on the situation. The results should assist coaches when striving to improve their players' forehand.     

A plea for mixed methods approaches in research on teaching in physical education

Research on teaching in Physical Education (RT-PE) comprises a great deal of complex phenomena. These can be understood at a more profound level by using mixed methods research approaches (MMR). Hence, the aim of this paper is to analyze potentials and limitations of mixed methods research in RT-PE, also trying to generate an additional value for MMR.     

Chemistry for whom? Gender awareness in teaching and learning chemistry

Marie Ståhl and Anita Hussénius have defined what discourses dominate national tests in chemistry for Grade 9 in Sweden by using feminist, critical didactic perspectives. This response seeks to expand the results in Ståhl and Hussénius’s article Chemistry inside an epistemological community box!—Discursive exclusions and inclusions in the Swedish national tests in chemistry, by using different facets of gender awareness. The first facet—Gender awareness in relations to the test designers’ own conceptions—highlighted how the gender order where women are subordinated men becomes visible in the national tests as a consequence of the test designers internalized conceptions. The second facet—Gender awareness in relation to chemistry—discussed the hierarchy between discourses within chemistry. The third facet—Gender awareness in relation to students—problematized chemistry in relation to the students’ identity formation. In summary, I suggest that the different discourses can open up new ways to interpret chemistry and perhaps dismantle the hegemonic chemistry discourse.     

Effects of muscle-tendon length on joint moment and power during sprint starts

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of muscle-tendon length on joint moment and power during maximal sprint starts. Nine male sprinters performed maximal sprint starts from the blocks that were adjusted either to 40 degrees or 65 degrees to the horizontal. Ground reaction forces were recorded at 833 Hz using a force platform and kinematic data were recorded at 200 Hz with a film camera. Joint moments and powers were analysed using kinematic and kinetic data. Muscle - tendon lengths of the medial gastrocnemius, soleus, vastus medialis, rectus femoris and biceps femoris were calculated from the set position to the end of the first single leg contact. The results indicated that block velocity (the horizontal velocity of centre of mass at the end of the block phase) was greater (P < 0.01) in the 40 degrees than in the 65 degrees block angle condition (3.39 +/- 0.23 vs. 3.30 +/- 0.21 m . s(-1)). Similarly, the initial lengths of the gastrocnemius and soleus of the front leg in the block at the beginning of force production until half way through the block phase were longer (P < 0.001) in the 40 degrees than in the 65 degrees block angle condition. The initial length and the length in the middle of the block phase were also longer in the 40 degrees than in the 65 degrees block angle condition both for both the gastrocnemius (P < 0.01) and soleus (P < 0.01-0.05) of the rear leg. In contrast, the initial lengths of the rectus femoris and vastus medialis of the front leg were longer (P < 0.05) in the 65 degrees than in the 40 degrees block angle condition. All differences gradually disappeared during the later block phase. The peak ankle joint moment (P < 0.01) and power (P < 0.05) during the block phase were greater in the 40 degrees than in the 65 degrees block angle condition for the rear leg. The peak ankle joint moment during the block phase was greater (P < 0.05) in the 40 degrees block angle for the front leg, whereas the peak knee joint moment of the rear leg was greater (P < 0.01) in the 65 degrees block angle condition. The results suggest that the longer initial muscle-tendon lengths of the gastrocnemius and soleus in the block phase at the beginning of force production contribute to the greater peak ankle joint moment and power and consequently the greater block velocity during the sprint start.     

A general approximation framework for direct optimization of information retrieval measures

Recently direct optimization of information retrieval (IR) measures has become a new trend in learning to rank. In this paper, we propose a general framework for direct optimization of IR measures, which enjoys several theoretical advantages. The general framework, which can be used to optimize most IR measures, addresses the task by approximating the IR measures and optimizing the approximated surrogate functions. Theoretical analysis shows that a high approximation accuracy can be achieved by the framework. We take average precision (AP) and normalized discounted cumulated gains (NDCG) as examples to demonstrate how to realize the proposed framework. Experiments on benchmark datasets show that the algorithms deduced from our framework are very effective when compared to existing methods. The empirical results also agree well with the theoretical results obtained in the paper.     

Motion characteristics of novel floating foundation for offshore wind turbine

A novel floating foundation to support the NREL offshore 5 MW wind turbine was designed conceptually by combining the characteristics of barge and Spar. The main focus was structural design and hydrodynamic modelling. Based on this novel floating foundation, the hydrodynamic performance was investigated in the frequency domain and time domain by using the wave analysis software HydroD and DeepC from Det Norske Veritas. The frequency domain analysis was conducted to investigate the effects of the incident wave angle and water depth. The time-domain analysis was carried out to evaluate the response of the floating foundation under a selected operational condition. The hydrodynamic performances of this floating foundation with respect to time series and response spectra were also investigated in this study.     

The Multiple Faces of Visual Arts Education

This article identifies recent, mainly Nordic, research approaches to visual arts education. A concept map was developed as a heuristic tool in order to highlight salient traits and blind spots. Contemporary research typically has its origin either in education or in the art world, with an emphasis either on art as language or on art as text. These two dimensions were used to organise the studies and to select representative exemplars in different domains. The framework helped to chart the knowledge base of, and research approaches to, visual arts education. However, the result of blending subject matter and pedagogy tended to be a ‘mixture’ of viewpoints rather than emerging domains of subject‐specific pedagogical knowledge (Lee Shulman: an ‘amalgam’).