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The purpose of this paper is to study well-being among the internationally mobile work force by exploring the relationships between international business traveling, work-family conflict (WFC), and health issues. In this study, these relationships are examined on the basis of the health impairment process of the job demands-resources model. More specifically, the study examines the role of WFC as a mediator between international business travel and sleep problems using a full panel design.

The data for this study are drawn from Finnish employees whose work involved international business travel (n=868) and who answered two surveys with a one-year time lag.

The results showed that international business travel in terms of the number of travel days per year, while not predicting sleep problems directly over time, did significantly increase WFC, which in turn increased sleep problems. Thus, WFC functioned as a mediator in the relationship between business travel and subsequent sleep problems.

The results indicate that family-friendly HR policies and practices might help international business travelers (IBTs) reduce levels of WFC, which could in turn protect them from harmful health effects, particularly sleep problems.

The study examines the understudied professional group of IBTs and contributes to the knowledge on their well-being and WFC issues.

The purpose of this paper is to present a new instrument for measuring cultural intelligence in the business context (BCIQ).

The paper describes the process of the conceptualization of the model and the development of the instrument, the sample, as well as the validation of the instrument. Directions on the use of the instrument and future research are discussed.

The instrument shows good psychometric properties and good predictive power and outperforms other publicly available CQ measures on a number of dimensions.

The unique features and advantages of the present instrument are as follows: first, a refined factor structure compared to existing CQ instruments; second, use of objective cultural knowledge measures; third, applicability in the business and workplace contexts, thus rendering the instrument suitable for assessing cultural intelligence among expatriates, employees, and global virtual team members; and fourth, improved reliability and validity as compared to other Cultural Intelligence Quotient measures.

The study investigates the effects of core self-evaluations on project managers' competencies. The study further examines the moderating effect of cultural intelligence between core self-evaluations and competencies.

In this study, with a descriptive-survey approach, necessary data were collected from a sample of project managers of Iran's Ministry of Communication and Information Technology through questionnaires. The conceptual framework of the study was tested according to structural equation modeling by PLS software.

Findings show that core self-evaluations have positive and significant effects on project managers' competencies among which psychological stability has the greatest effect. Furthermore, the moderating role of cultural intelligence in the relationship between core self-evaluations and project managers' competencies was confirmed. According to the calculated coefficient, motivational cultural intelligence had the greatest role.

The data were collected using a questionnaire at a single point in time, and thus, not allowing cause–effect inferences. Also, the demographic variables were not controlled.

The results of this study provide some implications for HRM professionals and project managers interested in promoting a system of HR practices that contributes to enhancing project managers' competencies and effectiveness.

This study advances our understanding of the factors that have an effect on project managers' competencies, specifically on a list of main competencies necessary for project managers' performance. Moreover, it suggests that project managers' competencies will benefit from cultural intelligence, which will display a greater effect when embedded in highly diverse cultural contexts.

Prisons can be epicentres of infectious diseases. However, empirical evidence on the impact of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic in prison is still scarce. This study aims to estimate the seroprevalence rates of anti-SARS-CoV-2 in the largest and most crowded Swiss prison and compare them with the seroprevalence rate in the general population.

A cross-sectional study was conducted in June 2020, one month after the first wave of SARS-CoV-2 in Switzerland. Groups included: people living in detention (PLDs) detained before the beginning of the pandemic (n = 116), PLDs incarcerated after the beginning of the pandemic (n = 61), prison staff and prison healthcare workers (n = 227) and a sample from the general population in the same time period (n = 3,404). The authors assessed anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies.

PLDs who were incarcerated before the beginning of the pandemic had a significantly lower seroprevalence rate [0.9%, confidence interval (CI)95%: 0.1%–5.9%] compared to the general population (6.3%, CI 95%: 5.6–7.3%) (p = 0.041). The differences between PLDs who were incarcerated before and other groups were marginally significant (PLDs incarcerated after the beginning of the pandemic: 6.6%, CI 95%: 2.5%–16.6%, p = 0.063; prison staff CI 95%: 4.8%, 2.7%–8.6%, p = 0.093). The seroprevalence of prison staff was only slightly and non-significantly lower than that of the general population.

During the first wave, despite overcrowding and interaction with the community, the prison was not a hotspot of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Preventive measures probably helped avoiding clusters of infection. The authors suggest that preventive measures that impact social welfare could be relaxed when overall circulation in the community is low to prevent the negative impact of isolation.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a stochastic optimisation model for integrating service and maintenance policies in order to solve the queuing problem and the cost of maintenance activities for public transport services, with a particular focus on urban ropeway system.

The authors adopt the following approaches: a discrete-event model that uses a set of interrelated queues for the formulation of the service problem using a cost-based expression; and a maintenance model consisting of preventive and corrective maintenance actions, which considers two different maintenance policies (periodic block-type and age-based).

The work shows that neither periodic block-type maintenance nor an age-based maintenance is necessarily the best maintenance strategy over a long system lifecycle; the optimal strategy must consider both policies.

The maintenance policies are then evaluated for their impact on the service and operation of the transport system. The authors conclude by applying the proposed optimisation model using an example concerning ropeway systems.

This is the first study to simultaneously consider maintenance policy and operational policy in an urban aerial ropeway system, taking up the problem of queuing with particular attention to the unique requirements public transport services.

The goals of this review are to identify key theories, constructs and themes in the international business travel (IBT) literature and to propose a model based on findings, theories and constructs drawn from adjacent research literature.

The authors reviewed the business travel (BT) literature to identify conceptual and empirical articles on IBT published from 1990 to 2022. Only 53 publications were suitable for review. The authors reviewed them using an open coding system.

The IBT literature is dispersed across several disciplines that use different methods, focus on different aspects of travel and emphasize different positive and negative outcomes that IBT engenders. The publications employed a diverse range of methods, including review and conceptual (11), quantitative (28) and qualitative methods (14). The samples were diverse in country, age, marital status and tenure. Many publications were descriptive and exploratory. The few that based their research on theory focused on two stress theories: Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) theory and conservation of resources (COR) theory.

Experimental and longitudinal designs are needed to reduce the causal ambiguity of this body of mostly correlational and cross-sectional research. The authors discuss the impact of emerging advances in virtual global communication technology on the future of IBT.

More research is needed on positive aspects of IBT. Human resource (HR) people should be aware of these issues and are encouraged to decrease the deleterious aspects of the international trips and increase the positive ones.

Increasing well-being of international business travelers is important for the travelers, their families and the organization.

This is the first IBT review focused on the theoretical underpinnings of research in the field. The authors offer a model for IBT and introduce adjustment and performance as important constructs in IBT research. The authors encompass crossover theory to add the reciprocal impact of travelers and spouses and label IBT a “double-edge sword” because it arouses both positive and negative outcomes.

A systematic study of a lotus's leaf area is described through the genetic improvement of Lotus glaber, an induced tetraploid population known as, Leonel, was obtained. Initial assessment showed an increase in dry material in comparison with a diploid population. The aim was to evaluate whether the increased production of forage found in the tetraploid population Leonel was due to increased foliolae sizes.

Three populations were studied L. glaber: diploid cytotype: seeds from a naturalised population of La Pampa Deprimida (Azul, Argentina); Tetraploid cytotype C1 seeds from the Leonel population, and Lotus corniculatus (Italia) seeds from Italy. Analysis of variance was carried out with a random design using a single factor, for the variables of area, length and width of the central foliolae. Linear and non‐linear model families were determined to estimate the area of the central foliolae. The selection criteria applied were: the best R², good efficiency, the greatest simplicity of the model and its stability.

The widths of the L. glaber diploid foliolae were less than those of L. corniculatus tetraploide and these were longer. The areas of the L. glaber foliolae were greater than those of the tetraploid L. corniculatus, and the areas of the foliolae of the diploid cytotype were slightly superior to the induced tetraploid cytotype L. Leoner. The best model was that which estimated the area of the central foliolae according to their width.

Non‐destructive estimates of foliar area were obtained for different species of the Lotus genus. The methodology chose provides a useful example of a systemic approach.

The variables studied are significant morphophysiological characteristics that can be used in programmes for the genetic improvement of L. glaber and L. corniculatus.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how cultural intelligence (CQ) and language proficiency are related to cross‐cultural adjustment, expatriate satisfaction, and expatriate desires towards the future, to further what is known about CQ.

A quantitative survey was developed and administered to 140 native English‐speaking expatriates living in Japan who were participating in the Japan Exchange and Teaching program. The survey was designed to measure CQ, language proficiency, cross‐cultural adjustment, satisfaction with their work and life in Japan, and their attitudes towards future expatriate assignments.

In total, there were eight criterion variables used in the study. Results from a series of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that the four CQ factors and language proficiency to various degrees were able to predict the various criterion variables. Motivational CQ was the only predictor variable that was able to predict all criterion variables.

This paper provides solid quantitative research into CQ. However, since the data come from self‐report surveys, its limitations in terms of common method bias are recognized.

This study identifies both language ability and CQ as predictive of expatriate adjustment. This information enables organizations to better prepare their members for expatriate assignments.

Although prior research has investigated a number of these issues separately on various types of samples, this paper is the first to combine all the variables into one study using expatriates.

Brewer's spent grain (BSG) is the main by-product of the brewing industry, holding significant potential for biomass applications. The purpose of this paper was to determine the effective thermal conductivity (k_eff) of BSG and to develop an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to predict k_eff, since this property is fundamental in the design and optimization of the thermochemical conversion processes toward the feasibility of bioenergy production.

The experimental determination of k_eff as a function of BSG particle diameter and heating rate was performed using the line heat source method. The resulting values were used as a database for training the ANN and testing five multiple linear regression models to predict k_eff under different conditions.

Experimental values of k_eff were in the range of 0.090–0.127 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹, typical for biomasses. The results showed that the reduction of the BSG particle diameter increases k_eff, and that the increase in the heating rate does not statistically affect this property. The developed neural model presented superior performance to the multiple linear regression models, accurately predicting the experimental values and new patterns not addressed in the training procedure.

The empirical correlations and the developed ANN can be utilized in future work. This research conducted a discussion on the practical implications of the results for biomass valorization. This subject is very scarce in the literature, and no studies related to k_eff of BSG were found.

The main purpose of this paper is to develop a study of the determination of the most appropriate execution steps, necessary for the construction of modelling, simulation and optimization for the specific area of slaughter line balancing. And through the developed model to demonstrate the application of simulation to increase productivity in a large-size swine slaughterhouse, focusing on operator stations balancing. The built model may be applied to support the management of the plant, allowing to evaluate and decide the optimized scenario that meets current needs considering operational cost, production demand and productivity.

For the research development, the selected software supports the characteristics of the evaluated process, in this case, a discreet simulation with stochastics variables. The studied plant was modelled door by door, from the swine reception until the packaging area. The research methodology was based on lean manufacturing (LM) principles, particularly in workstations balancing, by optimizing the idle time of the operators, comparing with the cycle time of each task, in the evaluated workstations.

The achieved result with the modelling and simulation was the increase of 11.89% in plant productivity through manpower optimization. The study indicates that the simulation applied with LM concepts as operative stations balancing and value stream map can be a very useful tool to support decision-making for productivity improvement.

This study approaches how modelling and simulation can support decision-making to implement improvements associated to workforce balancing optimization, especially in the studied area (agribusiness, animal slaughter). The studied process presents great variability associated with the processing time of each phase, making the analysis and modelling more complex. The number of workstations involved, with more than 800 employees, is an important point in the research, considering that cases with higher values than the case presented were not identified in literature.