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The purpose of this paper is to assess the differences pertaining to the resources presently accessible for problem-based learning (PBL) among six colleges of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana.

Data for the study are the cross-sectional type drawn from 1,020 students. Poisson and zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) models were implemented on the data to ascertain the variations regarding the extent of resources available for PBL across the colleges of the university.

The study outlines the specific resources accessible for PBL across college levels of KNUST. On aggregate, 25.7 per cent reported that their respective colleges have sufficient resources, while 74.3 per cent indicated otherwise. The ZIP model exhibited superiority over the Poisson model, when compared under a Vuong test. As per the ZIP model, none of the colleges appeared to differ significantly in terms of having sufficient resource for PBL.

Findings are applicable to informed decision-making which targets achieving quality education through the use of PBL. Access to sufficient resources that meet the needs of colleges or departments of a University is emphasized.

The application of Poisson and ZIP models to aggregated count data in a PBL setting is novel.

The aim of this conceptual paper, predicated on a hermeneutic literature review, is to improve understanding of the nature of value continues to be extensively studied with its ability to create competitive advantage. Understanding what constitutes value improves corporate social responsibility (CSR) comprehension, including managerial CSR values. This paper aligns with studies into value and/or CSR, whether hermeneutic or otherwise.

This study provides a reflexively critical understanding of the value literature. It focuses on the “identifying” stage of a hermeneutic circle (identifying central terms, core journals and seminal authors). A hermeneutic helix is proposed to better reflect the need of constant re-interpretation of the relevant literature.

Themes include value location (value in exchange, value in use, value in meaning and value in context); architecture (pathways, constellations and networks); creation versus determination; and value types.

This paper neither seeks to define value nor delve into the overarching value discourses. It does, however, refer to the antecedents for these areas. As a hermeneutic literature review, it lacks empirical testing.

CSR practices are strongly influenced by personal values. Hence, CSR practitioners must identify the processes involved and differentiate between the sought value and value types.

The paper could engender better understanding gaps between stakeholder attitudes and practices, i.e. consumers self-identifying as “green” may not engage in ecologically sound practices. As discussed herein, the value sought by university students influences where (and what) to study.

Outdated notions such as value propositions are widely used; value may be proposed; however, only stakeholders can take value. What constitutes value is under-represented in the CSR literature. Hence, terms such as value and values (i.e. value types) are incorrectly used interchangeably.

This chapter develops a sketch of a critical social ontology and contrasts it to a theory of sociality as presented in the work of Michael Brown. I argue that the ontology of our social forms requires categories for understanding them descriptively, functionally as well as in evaluative terms. I contend that a theory of power is needed for an understanding of the ontology of our social forms and that this can contribute to the construction of a more critical social ontology. I argue that a critical social ontology is a more attractive and satisfying paradigm for critical theory than current post-metaphysical approaches that emphasize discourse, recognition or other neo-Idealistic aspects of human sociality.

Here, the authors present a case study of how two professors from different disciplines at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock, managed to interweave dialogic components of Paulo Freire’s pedagogy into an institutional context full of requirements and demands that restrict pedagogical choices. Enacting Freire’s ideal of a liberatory epistemology, as Freire calls it, is extremely difficult, because institutional constraints increase the psychological and emotional distance between our students and instructors. In spite of this, the instructors devised ways to create a classroom based on Freire’s dialogic approach to education. Using Martin Buber’s terminology, the authors work to establish their students as “Thous” rather than as “Its.” Together with their students, the authors explore their texts, and generate free discussions based on the notion of co-constructing our classroom and co-constructing what knowledge is and means to us. Establishing this “open space” of inquiry and acceptance involves practicing Freire’s strategies producing authentic dialogue. Here, instructors participate actively with students. They engage in classroom exercises and even write with the students. The atmosphere in the classroom is relational and inter-subjective. Instructors also enact behaviors explained in Julien Mirivel’s Positive Communication model that bridge the gulf of separateness that work to decipher the unknown.

The construction of real estate facilities in emerging markets can be challenging due to a variety of unique constraints rarely apparent to the uninitiated. The process of weaving a thread of efficiency in the disarray that exists, while keeping costs to a minumum can be both frustrating and time consuming. Developing market can pose seemingly insurmountable challenges in construction due to existing economic and financial considerations. A lack of infrastructure, complicated bureaucratic procedures, restricted foreign investment, substandard materials, building standards and design and a lack of competitive market forces are further obstacles to the sector. While a simple lease option may appear a more dependable solution, the financial and operational benefits of constructing a ‘Build‐to‐suit’ facility demand that corporates explore innovative solutions that neutralise the difficulties. The resultant strategy, however, has to be flexible enough to address the myriad possibilities of a company’s growth, its contraction or total withdrawal.

This essay summarizes the formation of the concept of “sociality” as it was developed in The Concept of the Social in Uniting the Humanities and Social Sciences. Its thesis is that if the human sciences are to have a representative discipline – in contrast with a field of largely topical studies – that defines human reality in the course of its work, then that discipline must have a concept of its distinctive reality, and the basic fact that the concept describes must be indisputable: that is, it must be irreducible and irrepressible as well as distinctively human. These qualities are satisfied by the formula “each-dependent-on-All,” where each shows itself as “intra-dependence” and, therefore, as “being-in-the-middle” of a “course of activity without immanent beginning and end.” This concept is then applied to theoretical positions presented or hinted at by the other chapters of this volume in order (1) to see how a given theory might differ from what is conventionally taught as sociological theory when the basic fact is systematically taken into account, and (2) to find among the implications of the concept a dialectic of social progress and societal change that is incompatible with received positive ideas of society, e.g., as an entity, system, or totality and compatible with the idea of such an apparent formation as a project in which the manifold (internal) relations of each-dependent-on-All present social progress as the ongoing reality of human reality.

In the 1980s and beyond, key elements in the formula for bank retailing success will include people, place, plastic and machine strategies designed to effectively mix high‐touch and high‐tech operating modes in order to satisfy customer demand for time and place convenience. A scenario depicting the extensive delivery system of a fictional major multi‐state banking organisation that has evolved through a series of regional mergers and acquisitions (First Southeast Financial) attempts to speculate about the look of an overall delivery system in 1990, and how the operating mix elements will fit together.

The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains features to help the reader to retrieve relevant literature from MCB University Press' considerable output. Each entry within has been indexed according to author(s) and the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus. The latter thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid retrieval. Each article or book is assigned its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. This Volume indexes 29 journals indicating the depth, coverage and expansion of MCB's portfolio.

The impact of the deregulation movement in the United States on commercial banks and other depository institutions is evaluated and their strategic responses to the intensification of non‐bank competition on the financial services industry are considered.