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41 – 50 of over 1000
Article
Publication date: 1 January 1990

Thomas O. Nitsch

The new rich of the nineteenth century were not brought up to large expenditures, and preferred the power which investment gave them to the pleasures of immediate consumption. In…

Abstract

The new rich of the nineteenth century were not brought up to large expenditures, and preferred the power which investment gave them to the pleasures of immediate consumption. In fact, it was precisely the inequality in the distribution of wealth which made possible those vast accumulations of fixed wealth and of capital improvements which distinguished that age from all others. … The immense accumulations of fixed capital which, to the great benefit of mankind, were built up during the half century before the war, could never have come about in a Society where wealth was divided equitably. [Sic!] — John Maynard Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the Peace (1919/20; Chap. II, sec. III), “Europe before the War,” “The Psychology of Society.”

Details

Humanomics, vol. 6 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0828-8666

Abstract

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Propping up the Performative School: A Critical Examination of the English Educational Paraprofessional
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83982-243-8

Article
Publication date: 3 August 2015

Ribeka Takahashi, David T. Fullwood, Travis M. Rampton, Darrell J. Skousen, Brent L. Adams and Christopher A. Mattson

Microstructure-sensitive design (MSD), for optimal performance of engineering components that are sensitive to material anisotropy, has largely been confined to the realm of…

Abstract

Purpose

Microstructure-sensitive design (MSD), for optimal performance of engineering components that are sensitive to material anisotropy, has largely been confined to the realm of theory. The purpose of this paper is to insert the MSD framework into a finite element environment in order to arrive at a practical tool for improved selection and design of materials for critical engineering situations.

Design/methodology/approach

This study applies the recently developed Hybrid Bishop-Hill (HBH) model to map the yield surface of anisotropic oxygen free electronic copper. Combining this information with the detailed local stresses determined via finite element analysis (FEA), a “configurational yield stress” is determined for the entire component. By varying the material choice/processing conditions and selecting the directionality of anisotropy, an optimal configuration is found.

Findings

The paper provides a new FEA-based framework for MSD for yield-limited situations. The approach identified optimal directionality and processing configurations for three engineering situations that are particularly sensitive to material anisotropy.

Research limitations/implications

The microstructure design space for this study is limited to a selection of eight copper materials produced by a range of processing methods, but is generalizable to many materials that exhibit anisotropic behavior.

Originality/value

The introduction of MSD methodology into a finite element environment is a first step toward a comprehensive designer toolkit for exploiting the anisotropy of general materials (such as metals) in a way that is routinely undertaken in the world of fiber-based composite materials. While the gains are not as sizeable (due to the less-extreme anisotropy), in many applications they may be extremely important.

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Engineering Computations, vol. 32 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-4401

Keywords

Abstract

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Contingent Valuation: A Critical Assessment
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-860-5

Article
Publication date: 30 May 2008

Wendell Bell

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the reasons, especially the assertions about the future, given by the US administration under President Reagan, to justify the decision to

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the reasons, especially the assertions about the future, given by the US administration under President Reagan, to justify the decision to attack and invade the Caribbean island of Grenada.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology is analysis of existing records and reports on the assertions, events, and decisions leading to the invasion.

Findings

The Reagan administration gave three main reasons for the invasion. They claimed that Americans on Grenada, particularly the students attending the St George's University Medical School, would be harmed from continuing social disruption on Grenada; that the militarization of Grenada was intended as a means for the future export of terrorism or revolution to its Caribbean neighbors; and that the planned international airport at Point Salines was intended to be a future Soviet‐Cuban military base. Each was false.

Research limitations/implications

Decision making includes assumptions about the future and invites the use of foresight. Such foresight, of course, can be presumptively true and, thus, useful. But also it can be wrong, sometimes deliberately manipulated, leading to wrongheaded actions and devastating consequences.

Practical implications

An analysis of the 1983 American invasion of Grenada illustrates the power of authority to distort the truth and corrupt morality, processes that re‐occurred 20 years later with much greater consequences in the case of the 2003 American‐led invasion of Iraq.

Originality/value

The case study of the American invasion of Grenada can be used by decision makers and others to improve future decision‐making situations. Before doing violence to other people, we need to ask what violence we are doing to truth.

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Foresight, vol. 10 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-6689

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 December 2011

Christine Sherlock

The purpose of this paper is to describe the journey of a young person with severe and complex communication needs from no formal expressive communication system, to a point where…

796

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe the journey of a young person with severe and complex communication needs from no formal expressive communication system, to a point where he is motivated and able to use a text based voice output communication aid for a range of communication functions, in a variety of settings, and with a range of communication partners.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is a descriptive single case study, documenting long‐term changes in speech, language, and communication needs and use, and discontinuation of use, of range of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) tools.

Findings

The paper describes the different AAC interventions and their success or otherwise in supporting the young person. It also describes key educational and therapeutic aspects of his management. Changes in the young person's interaction, language and literacy skills, and how his family and the professionals around him perceived the changes in his communication are highlighted.

Research limitations/implications

The paper is a description of one person without a known underlying diagnosis of his severe and complex communication impairment and might, therefore, be of restricted use when generalized.

Originality/value

There are few published longitudinal descriptions concerning how, why, and when young people use or discard AAC tools. This paper highlights the multiple and various factors of the factors that can be at work when actually providing intervention.

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Journal of Assistive Technologies, vol. 5 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1754-9450

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 6 December 2013

Domen Bajde

The purpose of the chapter is to engage with the relationship between the gift and the market in the context of philanthropic micro-lending. We seek to move beyond theorizing…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the chapter is to engage with the relationship between the gift and the market in the context of philanthropic micro-lending. We seek to move beyond theorizing separate, ex-ante gift or market regimes and transactors who independently navigate between oppositional modes of transaction.

Methodology/approach

We turn to recent efforts of hybridizing charity and venture finance, exemplified by microfinance platforms such as Kiva.org. We combine data from an existing study of Kiva and its online community, with additional participant observation and third-party accounts detailing the evolution and workings of microfinance.

Findings

We illustrate how market-like elements are productively and problematically deployed in philanthropic giving and address the need to consider a broader range of socio-material relations involved in the framing of transactions.

Research limitations/implications

A complex network of actors and (trans)actions needs to be assembled for the philanthropic loan to be enacted. We touch upon the making and role of the socio-material devices that actively participate in such enactment only tangentially. Further research is needed to flesh out the respective transaction complex, taking additional note of the work of borrowers, local loan officers, and other less visible actors.

Practical implications

Organizations need to recognize and creatively address the complex interplay of gift and market elements. They need to pay attention and take advantage of the tensions and synergies emergent in hybrid gift-market contexts.

Originality/value of chapter

We engage with a complex, less studied transaction context. The chapter shows that philanthropic gift relations can be reproduced through market-like elements and arrangements. Such production entails complex socio-material networks mobilizing a broad array of human and nonhuman actors.

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Consumer Culture Theory
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78190-811-2

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 1996

Barry Myers

It says something of the current state of public discourse that the inclusion of a paper on the social teachings of an organized religion as part of a Conference on…

Abstract

It says something of the current state of public discourse that the inclusion of a paper on the social teachings of an organized religion as part of a Conference on Ethico‐Economics must be explained. Theology and Religion, once at the center of any discourse on public policy, has become marginalized in such discussions. There are those who associate the decline of theology with the era of the Cold War. That conclusion is at least debatable. “Economic Man”, in the context of the post‐war period, was very much a social being for whom government and public institutions, a pro‐Keynesian economics, were essential allies. Adam Smith, accepted as the founder of classical Economics, wrote his seminal work, The Wealth of Nations, when he was Professor of Moral Philosophy. Smith's concept of markets was framed as a social and ethical instrument. The Reagan and Thatcher regimes did succeed in undermining economic policy as a social instrument to the extent that most industrial nations and the important international organizations now give pre‐eminence to the balanced budget as the vehicle for corporate interests. The elimination of deficits and the efficacy of financial markets are seen in some quarters not only as ends in themselves but also as means to facilitate each other. The critics of these policies are presently weak and unpopular but they are not silent. This disparate group between them embrace a range of social, cultural, and ethical values. They seek to establish that some ends and some means must be rejected as being ethically unacceptable. It is this context that this paper seeks to position the social teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.

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Humanomics, vol. 12 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0828-8666

Article
Publication date: 16 September 2013

Paul Andrew Caulfield

Corporations and businesses have been a major influence on society since before the industrial revolution, but academic focus on corporate responsibilities is a recent phenomenon…

3467

Abstract

Purpose

Corporations and businesses have been a major influence on society since before the industrial revolution, but academic focus on corporate responsibilities is a recent phenomenon which focuses predominantly on globalised multi-national corporations of the late twentieth century. The purpose of this paper is to consider the evolution of the corporate responsibility and community involvement tracing the development of corporate behaviours in the UK from medieval guilds to the modern form of corporation seen at the end of the last century.

Design/methodology/approach

The analysis considers the institutional forces which have shaped responsible business behaviours in a context of changing power and influence.

Findings

Drawing on Weber's notion of the ideal-type, this paper demonstrates that many “modern” corporate social responsibility (CSR) concepts such as codes of conduct, stakeholder consultation, and corporate donations have considerable heritage.

Originality/value

This paper develops an important precedent by examining the evolution of CSR and other aspects of corporate engagement. It develops a long-term instrumental context for corporate donations, whilst revealing that practices such as employee volunteering are considerably more recent, and less institutionally developed.

Details

EuroMed Journal of Business, vol. 8 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1450-2194

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 August 2008

Qiulin Ke, David Isaac and Peter Dalton

This paper seeks to investigate the factors influencing the business performance of estate agency in England and Wales.

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to investigate the factors influencing the business performance of estate agency in England and Wales.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper investigates the effect of housing market, company size and pricing policy on business performance in the estate agency sector in England and Wales. The analysis uses the survey data of Woolwich Cost of Moving Survey (a survey of transactions costs sponsored by the Woolwich/Barclays Bank) from 2003 to 2005 to test the hypothesis that the business performance of estate agency is affected by industry characteristics and firm factors.

Findings

The empirical analysis indicates that the business performance of estate agency is subject to market environment volatility such as market uncertainty, housing market liquidity and house price changes. The firm factors such as firm size and the level of agency fee have no explanatory power in explaining business performance. The level of agency fee is positively associated with firm size, market environment and liquidity.

Research limitations/implications

The research is limited to the data received and is based on a research project on transaction costs designed prior to this analysis.

Originality/value

There is little other research that investigates the factors determining the business performance of estate agency, using consecutive data of three years across England and Wales. The findings are useful for practitioners and/or managers to allocate resources and adjust their business strategy to enhance business performance in the estate agency sector.

Details

Property Management, vol. 26 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-7472

Keywords

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