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Article
Publication date: 11 April 2016

David Howden and Joakim Kampe

The authors begin with an admittedly simplistic statement: “civilization” is best represented by the increased availability of utility providing goods and services. In other…

Abstract

Purpose

The authors begin with an admittedly simplistic statement: “civilization” is best represented by the increased availability of utility providing goods and services. In other words, civilization is synonymous with economic development. The purpose of this paper is to concern three questions. First, how does civilization develop? Second, what is time preference and how does it affect the development of civilization, or what the authors call the “process of civilization.” Third, what factors affect time preference, and how do changes in time preference affect this civilizing process? Through these three questions, the authors provide the theoretical answer to why civilization developed, instead of the more common historical how civilization actually developed.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors survey a variety of theories of civilization, and then develop an alternative that answers the question of “how civilization develops” rather than the more common “how did civilization develop.”

Findings

Endogenous reductions in time preference are determined to be the best explanation of the spark that instigates the process of civilization. It also allows for other approaches to fall under its umbrella, thus providing one general theory in place of the current-specific theories.

Originality/value

The value lies in the creation of a general theory of civilization, against which other theories looking at specific factors can be gauged.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 43 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 May 2016

Laura Davidson and Walter E Block

– The purpose of this paper is to clarify definitions in economics.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to clarify definitions in economics.

Design/methodology/approach

To apply the insights of Austrian economics to terms widely used in the profession.

Findings

The authors find that the Austrian approach brings clarification to communication.

Originality/value

The authors know of no other such attempt. Therefore this paper presumably has some originality.

Details

Journal of Economic and Administrative Sciences, vol. 32 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1026-4116

Keywords

Abstract

Details

The Political Economy of Policy Reform: Essays in Honor of J. Michael Finger
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-44451-816-3

Article
Publication date: 11 January 2016

Joyce Sternheim

The purpose of this paper is to propose that to survive and thrive the library needs to aim for a more active role in people’s lives and in the communities that surround them…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose that to survive and thrive the library needs to aim for a more active role in people’s lives and in the communities that surround them. Public libraries are places of learning. They strive to enrich, empower and inspire people to support their full participation in society. But our fast-changing society (Pink, 2005) requires people to develop new competencies, such as creativity, empathy, collaboration and big-picture thinking. However, current processes of the public library are still primarily aimed at providing and improving access to information produced by others. Although of great importance, these processes are fundamentally passive and do not actively stimulate people to share knowledge and insights or to engage in conversations. It explores how this can be done and what effect this change might have on library space based on the ideas and perspective of the Dutch Ministry of Imagination.

Design/methodology/approach

The Ministry, a cooperation between architect Jan David Hanrath and librarians Rob Bruijnzeels and Joyce Sternheim, conducts research and realizes new types of libraries and library architecture. To turn the public library into a more dynamic and active social setting, the Ministry has developed a new work process supported by matching criteria for the layout of library space.

Findings

The new concept has been brought into practice in the Chocolate Factory in Gouda, The Netherlands, which since then has become a permanent testing ground for new library work.

Originality/value

This paper is a thought piece that will be of interest not only to those concerned with public libraries, but also to everyone who is searching for ways to turn the library into a learning environment in which a continuous process of knowledge creation takes place, through interaction with the collection, but – most importantly – through interaction between people.

Article
Publication date: 12 November 2020

Seyed Mohammad Javad Hosseini, Bahman Arasteh, Ayaz Isazadeh, Mehran Mohsenzadeh and Mitra Mirzarezaee

The purpose of this study is to reduce the number of mutations and, consequently, reduce the cost of mutation test. The results of related studies indicate that about 40% of…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to reduce the number of mutations and, consequently, reduce the cost of mutation test. The results of related studies indicate that about 40% of injected faults (mutants) in the source code are effect-less (equivalent). Equivalent mutants are one of the major costs of mutation testing and the identification of equivalent and effect-less mutants has been known as an undecidable problem.

Design/methodology/approach

In a program with n branch instructions (if instruction) there are 2n execution paths (test paths) that the data and codes into each of these paths can be considered as a target of mutation. Given the role and impact of data in a program, some of data and codes propagates the injected mutants more likely to the output of the program. In this study, firstly the error-propagation rate of the program data is quantified using static analysis of the program control-flow graph. Then, the most error-propagating test paths are identified by the proposed heuristic algorithm (Genetic Algorithm [GA]). Data and codes with higher error-propagation rate are only considered as the strategic locations for the mutation testing.

Findings

In order to evaluate the proposed method, an extensive series of mutation testing experiments have been conducted on a set of traditional benchmark programs using MuJava tool set. The results depict that the proposed method reduces the number of mutants about 24%. Also, in the corresponding experiments, the mutation score is increased about 5.6%. The success rate of the GA in finding the most error-propagating paths of the input programs is 99%. On average, only 7.46% of generated mutants by the proposed method are equivalent. Indeed, 92.54% of generated mutants are non-equivalent.

Originality/value

The main contribution of this study is as follows: Proposing a set of equations to measure the error-propagation rate of each data, basic-block and execution path of a program. Proposing a genetic algorithm to identify a most error-propagating path of program as locations of mutations. Developing an efficient mutation-testing framework that mutates only the strategic locations of a program identified by the proposed genetic algorithms. Reducing the time and cost of mutation testing by reducing the equivalent mutants.

Details

Data Technologies and Applications, vol. 55 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2514-9288

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 September 2009

Jerome Krase

This essay employs a visual approach to explore some of the ways that spatial practices become markers of a globalising and glocalizing world. Images are offered that reflect some…

Abstract

This essay employs a visual approach to explore some of the ways that spatial practices become markers of a globalising and glocalizing world. Images are offered that reflect some of the symbolic competition created by more and less recent migrants as they lay claim to ‘contested terrains’ by changing what they look like. Although often dismissed as mere “marking” of territory, such ordinary practices by migrants of symbolic home or community building are crucial to understanding global cities. One indicator of their importance is the, often hostile reactions by the dominant society to them. A brief review of some of the most important theoretical perspectives on these interrelated phenomena, such as those of Saskia Sassen, David Harvey, and Manuel Castells, isolates common expectations about the visibility of resulting competing spatial practices in shared multiethnic residential and commercial environments. It is argued that many of the contradictions created by the concentration of global capital can be seen in the neighborhood streetscapes of global cities. From Georg Simmel, through Henri Lefebvre, and Lyn H. Lofland, the visible, and the symbolic, have been central to urban analysis. Therefore, the ubiquitous aspects of what Jackson called ‘vernacular landscapes,’ such as commercial signs and graffiti in Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, London, New York, and Rome are addressed.

Details

Open House International, vol. 34 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0168-2601

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 1954

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).

Abstract

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).

Details

Aslib Proceedings, vol. 6 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0001-253X

Article
Publication date: 1 November 1983

The deck‐landing qualification test series on Aerospatiale's Dauphin SA 365N (naval version) helicopter have just been successfully completed off the coast of Brest.

Abstract

The deck‐landing qualification test series on Aerospatiale's Dauphin SA 365N (naval version) helicopter have just been successfully completed off the coast of Brest.

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. 55 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0002-2667

Article
Publication date: 1 June 2010

David Ormandy

After ten years of development, the English government adopted the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) as the prescribed method for assessing housing conditions. Prior…

Abstract

After ten years of development, the English government adopted the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) as the prescribed method for assessing housing conditions. Prior to 2006, the assessment was based on the condition of the building and the presence of necessary facilities. Being ‘building focussed’, the basis of the severity of the condition was the extent and cost of any remedial works considered necessary to make the dwelling ‘fit for human habitation’. The HHSRS shifts the focus to the potential threat to health and safety from any defects and deficiencies. The assessment takes account of the likelihood of a hazardous occurrence, and the probable severity of harm that could result from such an occurrence. This approach acknowledges that defects that would be relatively inexpensive to deal with can pose a serious threat to health and/or safety.

Work on the development of the HHSRS included matching data on housing conditions with data on health outcomes. The analyses of the matched database provided information on, among other factors, the range and severity of harm outcomes associated with particular hazards. As the health data used was that available from hospitals and general practitioners, it meant that the health outcomes were those serious enough for the victim to seek medical attention. It has now been realised that it is possible to compare the one-off cost of works to remove or reduce housing hazards with the estimated annual saving to the health service. Using this approach, it has been estimated that poor housing in England is costing the health service around £600 million a year. This cost to the health service is estimated to be around 40% of the total cost of poor housing to society.

Details

Open House International, vol. 35 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0168-2601

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 1 March 2000

73

Abstract

Details

Property Management, vol. 18 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-7472

Keywords

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