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1 – 10 of over 3000The purpose of this paper is to explore the interaction between a liminal rural Australian city (Lithgow) and the development of higher education options across the city's…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the interaction between a liminal rural Australian city (Lithgow) and the development of higher education options across the city's history. The paper proposes a nuanced interaction between national, social, religious, political, regional and local forces to explain why an industrial city such as Lithgow, with obvious educational strengths, would be overlooked while others (such as Wollongong and Bathurst) were not.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper takes the form of a longitudinal study of educational institutions, placed in their historical contexts, in order to demonstrate the fluctuation of educational vision with the rise and fall of socio-economic contributors to the town's fortunes.
Findings
The paper finds that the city's formation and dependence on war-related industries created boom-bust cycles which negatively impacted on its entrepreneurial, managerial and working class elites, and so on its ability to bring cultural and political influence to bear in the formation of local higher education options, across a period in which higher education becomes an increasingly federal responsibility.
Practical implications
The paper suggests policy ramifications for the support of higher education options in the city.
Social implications
The paper supports the interpretation that it is not merely that education itself promotes social mobility, but that what type of education is important, along with an eye to how education contributes to the overall well-being and cross-class profile of the city of Lithgow.
Originality/value
This paper fills a gap in historical knowledge about Lithgow's educational institutions, the study of which heretofore has tended to be located with either labor historical or heritage approaches. This paper takes a socio-cultural and longitudinal/holistic approach which brings together a variety of approaches previously not treated.
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Michael Pitt, Andrew Brown and Andrew Smith
The aviation industry worldwide has a reputation for being a major polluter. This paper examines the ways in which airports address the issue of the environment through examining…
Abstract
The aviation industry worldwide has a reputation for being a major polluter. This paper examines the ways in which airports address the issue of the environment through examining both the problems and the strategies adopted in disposal. The paper concludes that a more co‐ordinated approach to environmental strategy is needed across the industry and that this is best produced at government level.
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Heidi Sundin and David Andrew Brown
The purpose of this paper is to adopt an agency theory approach to investigate the integration of environmental issues into management control systems (MCS). Prior environmental…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to adopt an agency theory approach to investigate the integration of environmental issues into management control systems (MCS). Prior environmental accounting research has focussed on increasing organisations’ environmental accountability by “monitoring” through external reporting to stakeholders. However, this overlooks the alignment of agents’ interests within the firm.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative case study is undertaken in a large Australian listed property trust to investigate how agents’ interests may be integrated with environmental objectives through the use of MCS.
Findings
From the case an analytical framework is developed to illustrate how environmental issues are incorporated into organisational behaviour through MCS. The findings include, single objective environmental MCS; multiple objective MCS, which include priorities that specify environmental and economic trade-offs; and balancing MCS, which provide overarching decision-making principles without priorities.
Practical implications
The findings provide examples of how an organisation may integrate environmental issues across a range of MCS and the things to consider in doing so.
Originality/value
This paper draws on an agency perspective as an approach to incorporate environmental issues into MCS and to align behaviour. It explains a new way in which tensions can be managed. This study is one of the first to adopt the control package approach in investigating the incorporation of environmental issues in MCS.
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the remediation of contaminated land has been damaged, perhaps immeasurably, in a period of devastating and crushing austerity.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the remediation of contaminated land has been damaged, perhaps immeasurably, in a period of devastating and crushing austerity.
Design/methodology/approach
A legal doctrinal and regulatory analysis of the contaminated land regime under Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act (EPA) 1990 was used to investigate the extent to which austerity changes have affected future contaminated land identification and remediation.
Findings
Austerity changes have impacted upon Part 2A of the EPA 1990, the planning system and development incentives. The recent changes are going to contribute to the problem of the under-resourcing of local authorities and are likely to reduce voluntary remediation by developers. As a result, future contaminated land clean-up is going to decrease.
Originality/value
Originality/value is assured because, as far as the author is aware, there is no other literature in this research area dealing specifically with the coalition’s adverse impact on Part 2A; this paper fills the knowledge gap that existed in the research field.
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The facilities at airports are extensive, diverse in nature and are core to future income and therefore future profitability. Current forecasts indicate a probable growth in air…
Abstract
The facilities at airports are extensive, diverse in nature and are core to future income and therefore future profitability. Current forecasts indicate a probable growth in air travel of approximately 100 per cent over the next 20 years. It is unlikely that such growth will be accommodated without considerable expansion of the built facilities presently found at existing airports. However, airports are notoriously poor environmental performers. Any growth or expansion must be accompanied by improvements in relation to environmental impact. Argues that facilities management has a significant role to play in ensuring that future airport expansion is sustainable. The role of the facilities management profession in this regard is investigated and a conceptual evaluation framework designed to measure the likely sphere of influence of the airport facilities manager is developed. While the framework presented herein is designed to understand the role of the FM in the context of airport facilities, the analytical technique underpinning it is applicable to designing evaluation models to perform analyses of the FM influence in the case of other facilities. The paper’s relevance thus extends beyond airport management.
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Andrew Brown, John Hinks and John Sneddon
The value of the consultant project manager is questionable when the recent track record of project delivery within the UK construction sector is examined. Clearly, a new building…
Abstract
The value of the consultant project manager is questionable when the recent track record of project delivery within the UK construction sector is examined. Clearly, a new building which does not adequately satisfy a client’s business needs (in relation to time, cost and quality objectives) is not capable of contributing optimally to a client’s core business function. The business process expertise that the facilities manager should possess, together with the core skills related to managing operational building assets, mean that it is reasonable to suggest that the facilities management role could be extended to include responsibility for project delivery. Some facilities managers are presently undertaking this role. This paper explores this issue, concentrating upon the failure of the project management discipline to perform adequately. A review of literature is presented and a number of case studies are appraised. These are used to contrast the management of project delivery when conducted by the project manager with that conducted by the facilities manager.
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Craig Bennell, Brittany Blaskovits, Bryce Jenkins, Tori Semple, Ariane-Jade Khanizadeh, Andrew Steven Brown and Natalie Jennifer Jones
A narrative review of existing research literature was conducted to identify practices that are likely to improve the quality of de-escalation and use-of-force training for police…
Abstract
Purpose
A narrative review of existing research literature was conducted to identify practices that are likely to improve the quality of de-escalation and use-of-force training for police officers.
Design/methodology/approach
Previous reviews of de-escalation and use-of-force training literature were examined to identify promising training practices, and more targeted literature searches of various databases were undertaken to learn more about the potential impact of each practice on a trainee's ability to learn, retain, and transfer their training. Semi-structured interviews with five subject matter experts were also conducted to assess the degree to which they believed the identified practices were relevant to de-escalation and use-of-force training, and would enhance the quality of such training.
Findings
Twenty practices emerged from the literature search. Each was deemed relevant and useful by the subject matter experts. These could be mapped on to four elements of training: (1) commitment to training (e.g. securing organizational support for training), (2) development of training (e.g. aligning training formats with learning objectives), (3) implementation of training (e.g. providing effective corrective feedback) and (4) evaluation and ongoing assessment of training (e.g. using multifaceted evaluation tools to monitor and modify training as necessary).
Originality/value
This review of training practices that may be relevant to de-escalation and use-of-force training is the broadest one conducted to date. The review should prompt more organized attempts to quantify the effectiveness of the training practices (e.g. through meta-analyses), and encourage more focused testing in a police training environment to determine their impact.
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Garrison N. Stevens, Sez Atamturktur, D. Andrew Brown, Brian J. Williams and Cetin Unal
Partitioned analysis is an increasingly popular approach for modeling complex systems with behaviors governed by multiple, interdependent physical phenomena. Yielding accurate…
Abstract
Purpose
Partitioned analysis is an increasingly popular approach for modeling complex systems with behaviors governed by multiple, interdependent physical phenomena. Yielding accurate representations of reality from partitioned models depends on the availability of all necessary constituent models representing relevant physical phenomena. However, there are many engineering problems where one or more of the constituents may be unavailable because of lack of knowledge regarding the underlying principles governing the behavior or the inability to experimentally observe the constituent behavior in an isolated manner through separate-effect experiments. This study aims to enable partitioned analysis in such situations with an incomplete representation of the full system by inferring the behavior of the missing constituent.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents a statistical method for inverse analysis infer missing constituent physics. The feasibility of the method is demonstrated using a physics-based visco-plastic self-consistent (VPSC) model that represents the mechanics of slip and twinning behavior in 5182 aluminum alloy. However, a constituent model to carry out thermal analysis representing the dependence of hardening parameters on temperature is unavailable. Using integral-effect experimental data, the proposed approach is used to infer an empirical constituent model, which is then coupled with VPSC to obtain an experimentally augmented partitioned model representing the thermo-mechanical properties of 5182 aluminum alloy.
Findings
Results demonstrate the capability of the method to enable model predictions dependent upon relevant operational conditions. The VPSC model is coupled with the empirical constituent, and the newly enabled thermal-dependent predictions are compared with experimental data.
Originality/value
The method developed in this paper enables the empirical inference of a functional representation of input parameter values in lieu of a missing constituent model. Through this approach, development of partitioned models in the presence of uncertainty regarding a constituent model is made possible.
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The importance of innovation has been increasingly highlighted in construction as a large and complex industry sector that is more challenging than ever before. To bridge the…
Abstract
Purpose
The importance of innovation has been increasingly highlighted in construction as a large and complex industry sector that is more challenging than ever before. To bridge the knowledge gap about how firm size affects innovation in construction, the purpose of this paper is to explore firm-level innovation through an empirical investigation and compare innovation in construction firms of different sizes in terms of drivers and strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
This research adopts a combination of a literature review, a group of qualitative interviews and a quantitative questionnaire survey. In this research, the questionnaire survey is the main instrument to collect empirical data. Main contractors, subcontractors and specialist contractors as well as suppliers of labor, material and equipment are used in this research to represent construction firms of different sizes. On the other hand, client organizations, design firms and management consultants are not included in this research.
Findings
This research provides clear evidence for the embrace of innovation in construction. Many forces can drive construction firms to innovate and many strategies can be applied to construction innovation. Innovation drivers can be either internal or external. On the other hand, innovation strategies fall into four categories: technology, resource, marketing and management. For innovation drivers and strategies, both commonalities and differences can be found among construction firms of different sizes.
Originality/value
The finding of commonalities describes the general trend of innovation development in construction. It also encourages all construction firms to innovate regardless of firm size. On the other hand, the finding of differences enables construction firms of different sizes to realize what forces better drive their innovation and what strategies are more appropriate for their innovation. A thorough understanding of innovation drivers and strategies offers an important framework for construction organizations and practitioners to pursue best practice.
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Stephanie M. Monaco, Amy Ward Pershkow, Leslie S. Cruz, Peter M. McCamman, Andrew D. Getsinger and Adam Kanter
To explain a guidance update issued in February 2017 by the staff of the Division of Investment Management (Staff) at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on how…
Abstract
Purpose
To explain a guidance update issued in February 2017 by the staff of the Division of Investment Management (Staff) at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on how robo-advisers may meet their disclosure, suitability and compliance obligations under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (Advisers Act).
Design/methodology/approach
Examines the update’s guidance on three areas – the substance and presentation of disclosures, the provision of suitable investment advice, and the adoption and implementation of effective compliance programs – and then raises practical considerations for robo-advisers.
Findings
The update reflects the Staff’s increasing concern about the potential risks of the robo-adviser platform and provides a listing of key issues that the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) – which recently added “electronic investment advice” as a new focus for its 2017 examinations – may zero in on when examining robo-advisory firms.
Practical implications
Robo-advisers should carefully review the Staff’s update to evaluate whether their firms’ operations address the guidance.
Originality/value
Practical advice from experienced securities regulatory lawyers.
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