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The purpose of this study is to investigate the possibility of soft science measurement of motivation under strict hard science criteria from observations of individual animals and to suggest the conditions under which an observation can be classified as a measurement.

The methodology starts from reconciling second-order cybernetics/radical constructivism (SOC/RC) understanding of the central role of the observer with physical measurements, which accepts the existence of a mind-independent reality. As a result of the reconciliation, parallels were identified between the SOC/RC experiences of as_is and as_if, on the one hand, and the measurement concepts of accuracy and resolution, on the other hand. The scales of physical measurement are defined by criteria of varying strictness, and the scales that meet the strict criterion of concatenation are generally considered hard science and lead to well-defined accuracy and precision. The similarity between SOC/RC and physical measurement suggests that if accuracy and precision can be computed from observations, then the observations can be classified as measurements in a strict hard science fashion; otherwise, the observations are just observations.

A nonlinear dynamic model of motivation is reintroduced as an example for reference in measurements of motivation. If there was an agreement on its use among observers (Ethologists), which in reality is not the case, then empirical data may be collected, and the averages and spreads of parameter estimations will define a reference for an animal species. Later, observers with their own data will calibrate with the reference model, so that new observers will have calculated values of accuracy and precision for their data.

Unlike hard science whose scales of measurement are practically unambiguous, measuring the purpose of behaviour of an animal has inherent ambiguity according to the reintroduced model. The ambiguity cannot be resolved from instantaneous readings. The necessary existence of ambiguity renders the criticism of hard science invalid, that of expecting to measure motivation with a static scale as if it were temperature.

Human observers can be treated as measuring devices of motivation from observing behaviour. Each observer can have characteristic accuracy/precision, or validity/reliability, calculated from empirical data.

This is an inductive, rather than deductive, study of individual animal behaviour; the author believes it is extensible to individual human behaviour and personality studies. However, group behaviour studies are beyond its scope.

The author believes that the suggestion of ambiguity of scales of animal motivation is original, and the suggested link between SOC/RC and a mainstream hard science is new.

In his article “Geld” of 1909 Menger introduces a principal distinction between “outer exchange value of money” (purchasing power as measured by index numbers) and “inner exchange value of money,” which is affected solely “by influences originating on the side of money,” not on the side of the other goods. Menger chooses constancy of the inner value as policy goal to be achieved by appropriately regulating the quantity of money. In a growing economy, the general price level would have a declining tendency if the money supply were kept constant – a consequence which Menger does not make explicit, and even appears not to have been aware of. There is a fundamental inconsistency in his writings, since in his essays on the currency reform of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy of 1892 Menger warned against undesired consequences of deflation and inflation. Menger’s extensive discussion on how effects on purchasing power on the side of goods could be separated from those attributable to the side of money is referred in the light of then available monetary and price statistics. The inconsistency remains enigmatic. The last part of the present contribution gives a brief overview on how authors of later generations of the Austrian School (Wieser, Mises, Schumpeter, and Hayek), who coined the term “neutrality of money” for Menger’s constancy postulate followed or deviated from Menger’s concepts of the value of money.

We investigate whether or not the effects of the subprime financial crisis on 12 Asian economies are similar to those of the Asian financial crisis by examining volatility spillovers and time-varying correlation between the US and Asian stock markets. After pretesting volatility causality and constancy of correlation, we estimate an appropriate smooth-transition correlation VAR-GARCH model for each Asian stock market. First, the empirical evidence indicates stark differences in stock market linkages between the two crises. The volatility causality comes from the crises-originating country. Volatility in Asian stock markets Granger-caused volatility in the US market during the Asian crisis, whereas volatility in the US stock market Granger-caused volatility in Asian stock markets during the subprime crisis. Second, decreased correlations during the period of financial turmoil were observed, especially during the Asian financial crisis. Third, the estimated points of transition in the correlation are indicative of market participants’ awareness of the ensuing stock market crashes in July 1997 and in September 2008.

1.1. Logical Necessity of the Three Dimensions as a Unit of Thought The mathematician does not look kindly on the simple question of why natural space should consist of precisely three dimensions. Instead of giving an answer he assumes a silent smile and shows us a version of space with an infinity of dimensions, as if space were some kind of toy for him to fiddle with to his heart's content.

This paper aims to provide empirically derived insights into trust and its predictors within a cyber-physical system context of a household service.

The methodology comprises an innovative mixed methods design encompassing a videographic animated film portraying a potential “slice of life” household service-system scenario that was subsequently incorporated into a quantitative survey. A total of 400 responses were then used to examine trust dimensions and their hypothesised predictors.

Findings suggest trust is two-dimensional, with “online networking competency”, “perceptions of risk”, “propensity to trust technology in general” and “concerns about security” being significant predictors. Surprisingly, “concerns about privacy” do not have a significant effect.

The contribution of this research is twofold. Firstly, from a theoretical perspective, the paper offers empirical insights into trust and its predictors within a cyber-physical system context of a household service. Secondly, and from a pragmatic perspective, the model derived from this study may aid practitioners in developing trust strategies and trust management systems within such contexts.

The conditions under which forecasts from expert judgement outperform traditional quantitative methods are investigated. It is shown that judgement is better than quantitative techniques at estimating the magnitude, onset, and duration of temporary change. On the other hand, quantitative methods provide superior performance during periods of no change, or constancy, in the data pattern. These propositions were tested on a sample of real business time series. To demonstrate how these propositions might be implemented, and to assess the potential value of doing so, a simple rule is tested on when to switch from quantitative to judgemental forecasts. The results show that it significantly reduces forecast error. These findings provide operations managers with some guidelines as to when (and when not) they should intervene in the forecasting process.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the inclusion of uncertainty variables in the demand for money function can produce a stable relationship in Turkey.

The stability of a money demand function is studied by testing parameter constancy of long‐run money demand function. To this end, the authors perform Nymblom type tests in the context of the Coingtegrated VAR methodology.

The findings show that inclusion of appropriate measure of uncertainty is necessary to estimate a stable and consistent money demand function for Turkey.

The empirical application of Nymblom type stability tests on cointegrated VAR money demand systems is very recent and to the authors' knowledge there has been no application of this methodology on emerging market economies. Therefore, this paper extends the literature to the emerging market economies.

French retailer, Système U, has triggered controversial debates among professionals and parents recently, by inserting images revolutionising gender norms in its Christmas toy catalogue. As children’s perceptions did not feature in these debates, the purpose of this paper is to explore their reactions to this catalogue, its gender-incongruent images and their associated toys.

An exploratory qualitative study was conducted with 27 children aged five to ten, from middle-upper social class. The methodology combined in one session participant observation, interview with visual stimuli and a collage exercise. First, each child was observed as they browsed freely through the catalogue, commenting it. Second, the interview focussed on four gender-incongruent images inside the catalogue to further explore reactions. Finally, they participated to a collage exercise on a mini-questionnaire, aiming at checking their gender-flexibility.

First, all children tend to focus on their own-gender pages only, as they have an intuitive understanding of the catalogue’s gendered structure. Second, incongruent images tend not to be noticed, with an exception being girls aged nine to ten. Third, the children’s acceptance of the gender-incongruent images is influenced by the gender-constancy stage, with the rigidity peak about gender norms at five to six; children’s own-gender-flexibility, between eight and ten; and the collective nature of the game.

This paper reveals children’s reactions to a toy catalogue containing gender-incongruent images. It provides new insights into how children notice, understand and appreciate these images and concludes with practical implications for retailers about how to better adapt catalogues.

This article examines how the three ‘mythic’ elements (public aspiration, flexible language and practical guidance) of these Labour government education policy texts were operationalised in the forms and structures of secondary schooling from 1939. The period of analysis is from the early 1940s to the mid 1990s. The decade since 1994 has seen the trial of various forms of standards based assessment (i.e. unit standards and achievement standards) in the senior secondary school. Moreover, from 2002, a timetable has existed for the replacement of the three terminal national examinations that prevailed for most of the second half of the twentieth century, with the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA).