Search results

Purpose – To investigate the potential of the semantic web as a source of information about social networks within academia, as well as more widely for webometric investigations.

Methodology – The functionality of five semantic search engines were analyzed to determine their suitability for webometric investigations, with the most suitable, Sindice.com, then being used to investigate the use of Friend of a Friend (FOAF) within UK academic web space.

Findings – In comparison to the web of documents, the semantic web is still a small part of online content. Even the well-established FOAF social vocabulary was not found on the majority of academic web sites, let alone being found to represent the majority of academics, and provided little indication of social networks between institutions. Nonetheless from a webometric perspective the study does show the potential of a semantic web for a far wider range of webometric investigations, and demonstrates that, unlike the traditional web, there are currently useful tools available.

Implications – Having established that there are appropriate tools available for webometric investigations of the semantic web, and acknowledging the potential of the semantic web for far more detailed webometric investigations, there is a need for additional studies to determine the specific strengths and limitations of the tools that are available, and investigate those areas where webometric investigations can provide the most useful insights.

Originality/value – The research applies established webometric methodologies to the social semantic web, demonstrating the potential of a whole new area for future webometric investigation.

Since the 1980s agricultural biotech investments by the public sector have increased substantially in both China and India. In the last two decades there has also been a dramatic increase in private section investment in agricultural biotechnology particularly in India. The promise of major benefits of Bt cotton identified in early socioeconomic studies of Bt cotton has proven to be true. Bt cotton has spread to at least 66% and 85% of total cotton areas of China and India, respectively – wherever bollworm is a major problem. Bt cotton continues to control bollworm in both countries, and farmers continue as major beneficiaries rather than biotech or seed companies. The major impacts have been yield increases in India and reduced pesticides consumption in China. In China, evidence also suggests that Bt cotton has suppressed the bollworm population so that non-Bt cotton growers and producers of other crops that are susceptible to bollworm are also benefitting.

The chapter also provides evidence that in the near future Bt rice and Bt eggplant could have major positive impacts by reducing pesticide use and farmers’ exposure to chemical pesticides and increasing yields. Both crops were approved for commercial production by government biosafety regulators, but are not yet available for commercial cultivation.

Purpose – Obesity has reached epidemic levels in the United States and many other affluent countries and is a growing problem in some developing countries. World Health Organization estimates that the global rate will reach 13 percent by 2015. Because obesity increases the risk of many diseases ranging from type 2 diabetes and asthma to cardiovascular disease and some cancers, it threatens to undermine twentieth-century gains in life expectancy. This chapter offers a theoretical model of obesity that postulates the epidemic is a latent dysfunction of macro-structural changes initiated by industrialization that have decreased the physical activity of everyday life and promoted a nutrition transition to a high-calorie diet.

Methodology/approach – Comparative and historical population data are presented that generally support the conceptual model, although some significant cultural differences are found in particular race/ethnic groups.

Findings – The finding that structural changes in society created and continue to support the obesity epidemic will make it difficult to control by focusing only on health education campaigns aimed at changing individual behaviors.

Contribution to the Field – This chapter offers data and analysis that can support policy making needed to change the structural influences.

Culture is a central concept broadly studied in social anthropology and sociology. It has been gaining increasing attention in economics, appearing in research on labor market discrimination, identity, gender, and social preferences. Most experimental economics research on culture studies cross-national or cross-ethnic differences in economic behavior. In contrast, we explain laboratory behavior using two cultural dimensions adopted from a prominent general cultural framework in contemporary social anthropology: group commitment and grid control. Groupness measures the extent to which individual identity is incorporated into group or collective identity; gridness measures the extent to which social and political prescriptions intrinsically influence individual behavior. Grid-group characteristics are measured for each individual using selected items from the World Values Survey. We hypothesize that these attributes allow us to systematically predict behavior in a way that discriminates among multiple forms of social preferences using a simple, parsimonious deductive model. The theoretical predictions are further tested in the economics laboratory by applying them to the dictator, ultimatum, and trust games. We find that these predictions are confirmed overall for most experimental games, although the strength of empirical support varies across games. We conclude that grid-group cultural theory is a viable predictor of people’s economic behavior, then discuss potential limitations of the current approach and ways to improve it.

Basing himself on the premise that present economic progress cannot follow the ‘Business as usual paradigm’ and hope for continued and unlimited progress, the author holds that we need to look into the larger dimensions of growth and development, which include social, environmental and other complex factors. So in this chapter, the author makes some pertinent suggestions for a sustainable growth model inspired by green growth and degrowth.

The first section evaluates the salient features of green growth and its drawbacks. It is followed by a discussion on the notion of degrowth, with its challenge to change the direction of growth (economic, ecological, social and cultural), without which human civilisation, as we know it today, may not survive. Finally, in the concluding chapter, based on these two notions of green growth and degrowth, an all-inclusive and sustainable regrowth model is propounded.

By creating an awareness of the need to shift development goals and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the author argues that we could use economic regrowth strategically and responsibly to make the world more sustainable and viable. Responsible corporates will make their contribution to such an organic, resilient and sustainable regrowth and their CSR activities could be the starting point for this change, without which humanity's future is seriously threatened.

Finally, the author acknowledges that humanity has profited from the tremendous technological and economic progress we have made in the last four centuries, learnt from its mistakes and are ready to reorient ourselves individually and collectively towards a sustainable economic regrowth.