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1 – 10 of 218Jill Atkins, Warren Maroun, Barry Colin Atkins and Elisabetta Barone
The purpose of this paper is to explore a possible framework for extinction accounting which builds on but also extends significantly the existing GRI guidelines relating to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore a possible framework for extinction accounting which builds on but also extends significantly the existing GRI guidelines relating to species identified by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red List as under threat of extinction.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper analyses disclosures relating to rhinoceros conservation and protection produced by top South African-listed companies in order to assess the current state of “extinction accounting”. Following this analysis, the authors explore and discuss a potential framework for extinction accounting which may be used by companies to demonstrate their accountability for species and disclose the ways in which they are working alone, and in partnerships, to prevent species extinction.
Findings
Corporate disclosures relating to rhinoceros may be interpreted as emancipatory. The authors identify several disclosure themes dealing with rhinoceros in integrated and sustainability reports of large South African companies and on their websites. Contrary to initial expectations, there is evidence to suggest corporate awareness of the importance of addressing the risk of this species becoming extinct.
Research limitations/implications
The authors have relied on public corporate disclosures and would like to extend the work further to include interview data for a further paper.
Practical implications
An extinction accounting framework may be applied to corporate accounting and accountability for any species under threat of extinction. The framework may also be considered for use as a tool for institutional investors as well as NGO engagement and dialogue with stakeholder companies.
Social implications
The rhinoceros has, from the analysis, significant cultural, heritage, eco-tourism and intrinsic value. Developing and implementing an emancipatory extinction accounting framework to prevent extinction will have a substantial social and environmental impact.
Originality/value
This is the first attempt to the knowledge to explore accounting for extinction and a possible extinction accounting framework. It is also the first attempt to investigate accounting and accountability for the rhinoceros.
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Fiffy Hanisdah Saikim, Bruce Prideaux, Maryati Mohamed and Zulhazman Hamzah
In Sabah, Malaysia, illegal hunting has increased in recent years putting considerable pressure on large mammal populations. The causes for this phenomenon lie in increasing rural…
Abstract
In Sabah, Malaysia, illegal hunting has increased in recent years putting considerable pressure on large mammal populations. The causes for this phenomenon lie in increasing rural poverty, ineffective policies to regulate hunting, as well as a ready market for many wildlife products in the Chinese medicine markets. This paper examines how Community-Based Ecotourism has some potential to be used as a tool to reducing poaching using the Tidong community in Sabah as a case study. The key finding is that successful conservation outcomes for Community-Based Ecotourism projects are only sustainable over the long run if projects are structured to ensure that the local community is able to continue effective management once sponsoring organizations hand over control and that revenue from tourism does not decline. If tourist revenue declines communities may be forced to revert to previous practices reversing any initial conservation gains.
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Çetin Tünger and Şule Taşlı Pektaş
This paper aims to compare designers’ cognitive behaviors in geometry-based modeling environments (GMEs) and parametric design environments (PDEs).
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to compare designers’ cognitive behaviors in geometry-based modeling environments (GMEs) and parametric design environments (PDEs).
Design/methodology/approach
This study used Rhinoceros as the geometric and Grasshopper as the parametric design tool in an experimental setting. Designers’ cognitive behaviors were investigated by using the retrospective protocol analysis method with a content-oriented approach.
Findings
The results indicated that the participants performed more cognitive actions per minute in the PDE because of the extra algorithmic space that such environments include. On the other hand, the students viewed their designs more and focused more on product–user relation in the geometric modeling environment. While the students followed a top-down process and produced less number of topologically different design alternatives with the parametric design tool, they had more goal setting activities and higher number of alternative designs in the geometric modeling environment.
Originality/value
This study indicates that cognitive behaviors of designers in GMEs and PDEs differ significantly and these differences entail further attention from researchers and educators.
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THIS SEPTEMBER marks the seventy‐fifth birthday of J. B. Priestley, the ‘old rhinoceros of English letters’ as C. P. Snow once described him, probably the last of the old‐style…
Abstract
THIS SEPTEMBER marks the seventy‐fifth birthday of J. B. Priestley, the ‘old rhinoceros of English letters’ as C. P. Snow once described him, probably the last of the old‐style writers, professionals to their finger tips, ready at an instant to write whatever was required of them, often at very short notice. More than thirty years ago Priestley outlined his ambitions in this direction. ‘I have a restless nature, easily bored,’ he confessed, ‘and so I flit from one kind of work to another, partly sustained by a very genuine interest in the technical problems of all forms of writing.’ He continued: ‘I have always wanted to be an all‐round man of letters on the eighteenth‐century plan, which allowed or commanded a man to write essay or poem, novel or play, just as he pleased.’
Wael Sheta, Mariam El Hussainy and Sahar Abdelwahab
The fundamental aim of the study is to investigate the implications of labor housing designs in Dubai, with a focus on courtyards and the governing building regulations, on…
Abstract
Purpose
The fundamental aim of the study is to investigate the implications of labor housing designs in Dubai, with a focus on courtyards and the governing building regulations, on daylight performance as an underlying factor impacting laborers’ indoor environmental quality. Several studies shed light on the subject of labor camps and labor migration in Dubai, but few have focused on the subject from the perspective of the environmental performance of these camps. A model that represents one of the labor camps was built using Rhinoceros 7.0 and Grasshopper software packages. Annual daylighting and glare simulations were carried out using the lighting modeling engine RADIANCE 5.0 in conjunction with the “ClimateStudio”.
Design/methodology/approach
The construction sector has emerged as a significant economic development driver, attracting a diverse labor force from a variety of countries to Dubai. As a result, Dubai authorities have implemented several measures to ensure the provision of suitable housing facilities for its labor force. These measures contribute to the reduction of energy costs in labor housing by encouraging the use of renewable energy. While several studies shed light on the subject of labor camps and labor migration in Dubai, few have focused on the subject from the perspective of the environmental performance of these camps.
Findings
The study provided statistical evidence that the current regulations governing courtyards in labor housing resulted in significant changes in daylight levels across different floor levels of the labor housing units. It is suggested that both 2:3 and 3:4 Court Width-to-Height ratios would further contribute to a more consistent daylight Illuminance with marginal statistical differences between floor levels (p > 0.05). The 3:4 ratio, on the other hand, offers a consistent distribution across all floor levels in the North and South with negligible variances, although weakly significant differences can be yet expected between the first and fourth floors in the East and West orientations (p < 0.05). The results of Annual Sunlight Exposure (ASE) suggest excessive solar incidence and a high probability of glare, which remains a problem that must be addressed under the governing building regulations.
Originality/value
This study could serve as a framework for analyzing and contrasting the findings of other studies on labor accommodation, notably in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Such an approach has the potential to enhance living conditions in labor accommodations in Dubai and other areas. It is necessary to meet people' physical and psychological well-being while also addressing sustainability and regulatory compliance.
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Chapter 7 describes research tools that permit zoomorphistic explications of self-viewing of human self-behavior in terms of the behavior of animals. Transference theory…
Abstract
Synopsis
Chapter 7 describes research tools that permit zoomorphistic explications of self-viewing of human self-behavior in terms of the behavior of animals. Transference theory, archetypal, culture, and early experiences propositions also serve to inform the etic interpretations of an informant's zoomorphistic self-report. The chapter describes applications of the forced metaphor-elicitation technique (FMET) that provides case study data including storytelling and paradox resolution by informants. The chapter closes by advocating acceptance of Gigerenzer's proposal that method can drive theory advancement. The discussion reviews relevant literature on examining dual thinking processes by humans — implicit and explicit beliefs, attitudes, decision processes, and behavior. The research evidence helps to decode consumers’ implicit thinking and behavior toward products and brands; such evidence serves to inform ourselves and brand executives of consumers’ dreams about brands and how such dreams become reality — or what prevents consumers from buying the brands playing roles in consumers’ stories crafted through implicit thinking.
Seniye Banu Garip, Orkan Zeynel Güzelci, Ervin Garip and Serkan Kocabay
This study aims to present a novel Genetic Algorithm-Based Design Model (GABDM) to provide reduced-risk areas, namely, a “safe footprint,” in interior spaces during earthquakes…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to present a novel Genetic Algorithm-Based Design Model (GABDM) to provide reduced-risk areas, namely, a “safe footprint,” in interior spaces during earthquakes. This study focuses on housing interiors as the space where inhabitants spend most of their daily lives.
Design/methodology/approach
The GABDM uses the genetic algorithm as a method, the Nondominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II algorithm, and the Wallacei X evolutionary optimization engine. The model setup, including inputs, constraints, operations and fitness functions, is presented, as is the algorithmic model’s running procedure. Following the development phase, GABDM is tested with a sample housing interior designed by the authors based on the literature related to earthquake risk in interiors. The implementation section is organized to include two case studies.
Findings
The implementation of GABDM resulted in optimal “safe footprint” solutions for both case studies. However, the results show that the fitness functions achieved in Case Study 1 differed from those achieved in Case Study 2. Furthermore, Case Study 2 has generated more successful (higher ranking) “safe footprint” alternatives with its proposed furniture system.
Originality/value
This study presents an original approach to dealing with earthquake risks in the context of interior design, as well as the development of a design model (GABDM) that uses a generative design method to reduce earthquake risks in interior spaces. By introducing the concept of a “safe footprint,” GABDM contributes explicitly to the prevention of earthquake risk. GABDM is adaptable to other architectural typologies that involve footprint and furniture relationships.
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R. Edward Freeman, Jared D. Harris, Jenny Mead, Sierra Cook and Trisha Bailey
John Hume, a veteran game farmer and founder of the Mauricedale Game Ranch in South Africa, was deeply troubled by the record upsurge in black rhino poaching incidents and…
Abstract
John Hume, a veteran game farmer and founder of the Mauricedale Game Ranch in South Africa, was deeply troubled by the record upsurge in black rhino poaching incidents and black-market horn thefts in 2010 and 2011. While the endangered black rhino represented only one segment of Mauricedale's hunting and farming businesses in 2011, the animal's survival was an important component of the ranch's and industry's growth potential in the future. As both a businessman and a rhino advocate, John Hume was contemplating an innovative idea that might help stop the decline of the black rhino: the creation of a market for legalized black rhino hunting. As he pondered the possibilities and alternatives to determine what his next move should be, Hume had several questions on his mind: Was the legalization of the international sale and trade of rhino horns a viable solution? Was it Hume's responsibility to save the black rhino, and was the animal a good investment?
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The harbours of Ireland, under threat from deterioration and rising sea levels, are being documented using terrestrial LiDAR augmented by archival research to develop…
Abstract
Purpose
The harbours of Ireland, under threat from deterioration and rising sea levels, are being documented using terrestrial LiDAR augmented by archival research to develop comprehensive histories and timeline models for public dissemination. While methods to extract legible three-dimensional models from scan data have been developed and such operational formats for heritage management are imperative, the need for this format in interpretive visualisations should be reconsidered. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Interpretive visualisations are forms of history making, where factual evidence is drawn together with conjecture to illustrate a plausible account of events, and differentiation between fact and conjecture is the key to their intellectual transparency. A procedure for superimposing conjectural reconstructions, generated using Rhinoceros and CloudCompare, on original scan data in Cyclone and visualised on a web-based viewer is discussed.
Findings
Embellishing scan data with conjectural elements to visualise the evolution of harbours is advantageous for both research and public dissemination. The accuracy and density of the scans enables the interrogation of the harbour form and the irregular details, the latter in danger of generalisation if translated into parametric or mesh format. Equally, the ethereal quality of the point cloud conveys a sense of tentativeness, consistent with a provisional hypothesis. Finally, coding conjectural elements allows users to intuit the difference between fact and historical narrative.
Originality/value
While various web-based point clouds viewers are used to disseminate research, the novelty here is the potential to develop didactic representations using point clouds that successfully capture a provisional thesis regarding each harbour’s evolution in an intellectually transparent manner to enable further inquiry.
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We are currently experiencing what is often called the sixth period of mass extinction on planet Earth, caused undoubtedly by the impact of human activities and businesses on…
Abstract
Purpose
We are currently experiencing what is often called the sixth period of mass extinction on planet Earth, caused undoubtedly by the impact of human activities and businesses on nature. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential for accounting and corporate accountability to contribute to extinction prevention. The paper adopts an interdisciplinary approach, weaving scientific evidence and theory into organisational disclosure and reporting in order to demonstrate linkages between extinction, business behaviour, accounting and accountability as well as to provide a basis for developing a framework for narrative disclosure on extinction prevention.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is theoretical and interdisciplinary in approach, seeking to bring together scientific theories of extinction with a need for corporate and organisational accountability whilst recognising philosophical concerns in the extant environmental accounting literature about accepting any business role and capitalist mechanisms in ecological matters. The overarching framework derives from the concept of emancipatory accounting.
Findings
The outcome of the writing is to: present an emancipatory “extinction accounting” framework which can be embedded within integrated reports, and a diagrammatic representation, in the form of an “ark”, of accounting and accountability mechanisms which, combined, can assist, the authors argue, in preventing extinction. The authors suggest that the emancipatory framework may also be applied to engagement meetings between the responsible investor community (and non-governmental organisations (NGOs)) and organisations on biodiversity and species protection.
Research limitations/implications
The exploratory extinction accounting and accountability frameworks within this paper should provide a basis for further research into the emancipatory potential for organisational disclosures and mechanisms of governance and accountability to prevent species extinction.
Practical implications
The next steps for researchers and practitioners involve development and implementation of the extinction accounting and engagement frameworks presented in this paper within integrated reporting and responsible investor practice.
Social implications
As outlined in this paper, extinction of any species of flora and fauna can affect significantly the functioning of local and global ecosystems, the destruction of which can have, and is having, severe and dangerous consequences for human life. Extinction prevention is critically important to the survival of the human race.
Originality/value
This paper represents a comprehensive attempt to explore the emancipatory role of accounting in extinction prevention and to bring together the linkages in accounting and accountability mechanisms which, working together, can prevent species extinction.
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