University students’ strategies and criteria during self-assessment: instructor’s feedback,rubrics, and year level effects

European Journal of Psychology of Education - This study explores the effects of feedback type, feedback occasion, and year level on student self-assessments in higher education. In total, 126...     

Teachers of learners with ASD in mainstream schools and classrooms in Spain: attitudes towards inclusive education

This study analyses the attitudes of teachers in Spain towards the inclusion of learners with autism spectrum disorder in mainstream education settings and their relationship with the perceived benefits of inclusion. The ex post facto prospective design included 180 teachers from 14 schools. Data were collected using a questionnaire on teachers' attitudes towards inclusive education and a second questionnaire on the benefits of inclusion developed for the specific purposes of this study. The results show teachers' positive attitudes towards inclusion as well as the benefits perceived. This study demonstrates the fundamental role of teachers' previous experience. Implications for inclusive cultures and practices in schools are discussed.     

Relationship of executive functioning and memory to autism symptomology and adaptive functioning: Implications for reducing future underemployment

Understanding the relationship between executive functioning and its connection to working memory and adaptive functioning can inform planning and employment efforts. This study explored the relationship between memory and adaptive functioning with a sample of Autistic youths/young adults. Participant mean age was 21.3 (SD = 3.0). Of the 22 participants, 17 were male, and 19 white, non-Hispanic/Latina/o/x. All but one lived with their parent(s). Participants were administered a full battery assessing cognitive ability (WAIS-IV), memory and executive functioning (WMS-IV and DKEFS), autism symptomatology (ADOS-II), and adaptive functioning (SIB-R). A multivariate lasso regression model was used. Memory, especially as measured on the WMS-IV, was found to be significantly related to adaptive functioning and autism symptomatology. There appears to be continuing evidence that memory is highly related to adaptive functioning and autism symptomatology. Interventions involving auditory and immediate memory could be helpful in promoting more mutually effective social interactions necessary for positive employment outcomes.     

Code-switching 101: Black women counselor educators’ personal and professional identity development

The perceptions of personal and professional identity development from four Black women counselor educators were examined through a collaborative autoethnography methodology. Themes identified include (a) intentionality of code-switching, (b) inextricable identities, (c) fight for and with authenticity, and (d) mutual development of personal and professional identities.     

Natural surface design for sliding mode control with multiple discontinuous inputs

It is well known that sliding mode control is based on the definition of an invariant manifold, where the system dynamics are forced to in a finite time. Such a manifold is somewhat arbitrarily defined, as long as the system dynamics are stable on it. Computational and control effort may vary depending on selected manifold. Obviously, if a system has naturally acceptable stable dynamics around a desired equilibrium point, no control is needed unless uncertainties or disturbances are present. It would be desirable that if such a system had uncertainties or disturbances, the control effort be designed only to overcome the effect of such factors. For a system with first order dynamics and affine control input, designing a sliding mode control overcoming only such uncertainties or disturbances is a trivial task. When a higher order dynamics system is involved, unit control may be used, where the input control signals are not discontinuous, but when only discontinuous control inputs are available, a design approach is not readily available. In this paper, taking advantage of the natural stable dynamics of a system, a sliding mode control approach is introduced for designing multiple discontinuous control inputs, where the control effort overcomes only uncertainties, disturbances or unstable dynamics. Two illustrative examples are given in order to show the feasibility of the method.     

Multinational subsidiary knowledge protection—Do mandates and clusters matter?

International knowledge spillovers, especially through multinational companies (MNCs), have recently been a major topic of academic and management debate. However, most studies treat MNC subsidiaries as relatively passive actors. We challenge this assumption by investigating the drivers of knowledge protection intensity of MNC subsidiaries. We argue that knowledge protection intensity is determined by MNC subsidiary mandates and by opportunities and risks originating from the host region. We hypothesize that not just competence-creating but also competence-exploiting mandates increase knowledge protection intensity. In addition, technological cluster regions in the host country can be expected to provide opportunities for knowledge sourcing and MNC subsidiaries may be willing to protect knowledge less intensively to participate in cluster networks. We test our hypotheses using a dataset of 694 observations of 631 MNC subsidiaries in Germany and develop recommendations for research, managers and policy makers.     

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.     

Social capital as a driver of local knowledge exchange: a social network analysis

The objective of this paper is to take an in-depth look, from a network perspective, at the role that social capital plays in improving knowledge exchange between organizations. To do this, we consider the three dimensions of social capital: the structural dimension, as measured by the position of firms bridging structural holes; the relational dimension, as gauged by the level of trust and friendship in each relationship; and the cognitive dimension, as estimated by the presence of a shared culture. We also evaluate the level of organizational and human capital present in terms of the firms in the network. Empirical evidence has been gathered from the Madrid Science Park in Spain by applying the social network analysis methodology. The results show that the three dimensions of social capital play a significant role in increasing knowledge exchange in this network, while human and organizational capital differences are only significant for a sub-sample.     

Critical elements for product innovation at Portuguese innovative SMEs: an intellectual capital perspective

Knowledge Management Research & Practice - The general purpose of this research is to study interaction effects between intangible assets and product innovation. More specifically, the authors...     

The relationships among consumers’ ethical ideology,risk aversion and ethically-based distrust of online retailers and the moderating role of consumers’ need for personal interaction

Consumer distrust is only recently beginning to be perceived as an important e-commerce issue and, unlike online trust, the nature and role of distrust is much less established. This study examines the influence of two important consumer characteristics (ethical ideology and risk aversion) on consumer’s ethically-based distrust of online retailers. Also, the moderating role of consumer’s need for personal contact with sales staff is tested. Results from 409 online consumers confirm that both relativist-based ethical ideology and risk aversion are strongly and positively related to consumers’ distrust. Interestingly, our findings show that positive effects of relativism and risk aversion on consumer’s distrust are moderated by consumers’ need for personal interaction, which is more pronounced for those consumers with a high need for personal interaction with retail salespeople.