Nottingham Trent University

About: Nottingham Trent University is a education organization based out in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 4702 authors who have published 12862 publications receiving 307430 citations. The organization is also known as: NTU & Trent Polytechnic.

Work‐life balance, travel‐to‐work, and the dual career household

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the underlying conflicts associated with current work‐life balance and travel‐to‐work policies, as employed in organisations in the UK.Design/methodology/approach – A mixed method approach is used to ascertain whether professional work‐group cultures limit the effectiveness of work‐life balance policy, and the extent to which spill‐over is present between work‐life balance and transport preferences, especially car use. These concerns are explored empirically using an in‐depth local level quantitative‐qualitative case study of Greater Nottingham (a regional employment centre in the East Midlands region of England).Findings – The evidence presented in this paper suggests: work‐group cultures prevent employees, especially women, from achieving work‐life balance; there is spill‐over between work and non‐work activities, creating time allocation challenges, and stress, for dual career households attempting to achieve desired work‐life balance; and specific c...

Unveiling barriers to sustainable public procurement in emerging economies: Evidence from a leading sustainable supply chain initiative in Latin America

Abstract: In light of the Theory of Ecological Modernisation, this is the first work to explore the organisational barriers affecting one of the most significant sustainable public procurement initiatives in Latin America: the Brazilian Environmental Agenda for Public Operations Management (the ‘A3P Programme’). This article explores the barriers to sustainable procurement in a Brazilian context, inspired by the work of Brammer and Walker (2011). Based on the results of a survey of programme managers, our first recommendation is to group the barriers to sustainable procurement into five categories: organisational culture, motivation, economic uncertainty, market, and operations. Amongst these, it was found that organisational culture stands out as a particular barrier to sustainable public procurement. This work also highlights Ecological Modernisation Theory as a useful tool for understanding why variables related to cost and budget are not barriers to implementing sustainable public procurement initiatives. Consequently, the main implication of this study is that government should consider cultural change management when developing sustainability management initiatives.

Meditation Awareness Training (MAT) for Psychological Well-Being in a Sub-Clinical Sample of University Students: A Controlled Pilot Study

Abstract: Mindfulness has been practiced in the Eastern world for over twenty-five centuries but has only recently become popular in the West. Today, interventions such as “Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy” are used within the Western health setting and have proven to be successful techniques for reducing psychological distress. However, a limitation of such interventions is that they tend to apply the practices of mindfulness in an “out of context” manner. To overcome this, a newly formed Meditation Awareness Training (MAT) program focusses on the establishment of solid meditative foundations and integrates various support practices that are traditionally assumed to effectuate a more sustainable quality of well-being. The aim of this pilot study was to assess the feasibility and effectiveness of MAT for improving psychological well-being in a sub-clinical sample of higher education students with issues of stress, anxiety, and low mood. Utilizing a controlled design, participants of the study (n = 14) undertook an 8-week MAT program and comparisons were made with a control group (n = 11) on measures of self-assessed psychological well-being (emotional distress, positive affect, and negative affect) and dispositional mindfulness. Participants who received MAT showed significant improvements in psychological well-being and dispositional mindfulness over controls. MAT may increase emotion regulation ability in higher education students with issues of stress, anxiety, and low mood. Individuals receiving training in mindfulness meditation may benefit by engendering a broader, more ethically informed, and compassionate intention for their mindfulness practice.

4D printed tunable mechanical metamaterials with shape memory operations

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to introduce tunable continuous-stable metamaterials with reversible thermomechanical memory operations by four-dimensional (4D) printing technology. They are developed based on an understanding on glassy-rubbery behaviors of shape memory polymers and hot/cold programming derived from experiments and theory. Fused decomposition modeling as a well-known 3D printing technology is implemented to fabricate mechanical metamaterials. They are experimentally tested revealing elastic-plastic and hyper-elastic behaviors in low and high temperatures at a large deformation range. A computational design tool is developed by implementing a 3D phenomenological constitutive model coupled with a geometrically non-linear finite element method. Governing equations are then solved by an elastic-predictor plastic-corrector return map procedure along with the Newton-Raphson and Riks techniques to trace non-linear equilibrium path. A tunable reversible mechanical metamaterial unit with bistable memory operations is printed and tested experimentally and numerically. By a combination of cold and hot programming, the unit shows potential applications in mimicking electronic memory devices like tactile displays and designing surface adaptive structures. Another design of the unit shows potentials to serve in designing self-deployable bio-medical stents. Experiments are also conducted to demonstrate potential applications of cold programming for introducing recoverable rolling-up chiral metamaterials and load-resistance supportive auxetics.

Rail movement and ground waves caused by high-speed trains approaching track-soil critical velocities

Abstract: The increased speeds of modern trains are normally accompanied with increased transient movements of the rail and ground, which are especially high when train speeds approach some critical wave velocities in the track-ground system. These transient movements may cause large rail deflections, as well as structural vibrations and associated noise in nearby buildings. There are two main critical wave velocities in the track-ground system: the velocity of the Rayleigh surface wave in the ground and the minimum phase velocity of bending waves propagating in the track supported by ballast, the latter velocity being referred to as the track critical velocity. Both these velocities can be exceeded by modern high-speed trains, especially in the case of very soft soil where both critical velocities become very low. The discussion in this paper focuses on the effects of transient rail deflections on associated ground vibrations in the cases of train speeds approaching and exceeding Rayleigh wave and track critical velocities. The obtained theoretical results are illustrated by numerical calculations for TGV and Eurostar high-speed trains travelling along typical tracks built on soft soil.