The status of research on teleworking and an agenda for future research

Teleworking is a relatively new mode of alternative work arrangements. During its short life, the study of teleworking gained considerable attention in the literature for both its academic relevance and its practical implications for management. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the developments in this area, studying the nature of teleworking, its antecedents, processes and outcomes. Different models and perspectives are presented and analysed with emphasis shared between both positive and negative aspects. Directions for future research on teleworking issues, as well as recommendations for a new research agenda, are offered within a framework of Why , What and How to explore the future of teleworking.     

The determination of enterprise groupings through combined ownership and directorship ties

Recent work on economic structure has tended to focus around discovering general or global mappings to represent complex patterns of binary or multiplex ties. By contrast, this paper seeks to define an intermediate level of structure—the “enterprise ”—and to measure it concretely using a combination of ownership and director/officership or executive board membership ties.In the first section, we outline the theoretical and substantive basis of the concept of “enterprises” as it is used in the literature. Difficulties in the operationalization of this concept are then surveyed and some tentative solutions suggested. In the second section, we describe in detail the methods used to implement our definition of enterprises for a set which includes the 5306 firms which most directly shape the Canadian economy. The third section outlines the impact of the use of four slightly different versions of this definition on arrays of enterprise memberships. Finally, the larger implications of our findings—both for the measurement of intermediate levels of structure and for the study of cross-national economic connections—are discussed.     

Water Quality Failures in Distribution Networks—Risk Analysis Using Fuzzy Logic and Evidential Reasoning

The evaluation of the risk of water quality failures in a distribution network is a challenging task given that much of the available data are highly uncertain and vague, and many of the mechanisms are not fully understood. Consequently, a systematic approach is required to handle quantitative-qualitative data as well as a means to update existing information when new knowledge and data become available. Five general pathways (mechanisms) through which a water quality failure can occur in the distribution network are identified in this article. These include contaminant intrusion, leaching and corrosion, biofilm formation and microbial regrowth, permeation, and water treatment breakthrough (including disinfection byproducts formation). The proposed methodology is demonstrated using a simplified example for water quality failures in a distribution network. This article builds upon the previous developments of aggregative risk analysis approach. Each basic risk item in a hierarchical framework is expressed by a triangular fuzzy number, which is derived from the composition of the likelihood of a failure event and the associated failure consequence . An analytic hierarchy process is used to estimate weights required for grouping noncommensurate risk sources. The evidential reasoning is proposed to incorporate newly arrived data for the updating of existing risk estimates. The exponential ordered weighted averaging operators are used for defuzzification to incorporate attitudinal dimension for risk management. It is envisaged that the proposed approach could serve as a basis to benchmark acceptable risks in water distribution networks.