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1 – 10 of over 13000Damian Gordon, Ioannis Stavrakakis, J. Paul Gibson, Brendan Tierney, Anna Becevel, Andrea Curley, Michael Collins, William O’Mahony and Dympna O’Sullivan
Computing ethics represents a long established, yet rapidly evolving, discipline that grows in complexity and scope on a near-daily basis. Therefore, to help understand some of…
Abstract
Purpose
Computing ethics represents a long established, yet rapidly evolving, discipline that grows in complexity and scope on a near-daily basis. Therefore, to help understand some of that scope it is essential to incorporate a range of perspectives, from a range of stakeholders, on current and emerging ethical challenges associated with computer technology. This study aims to achieve this by using, a three-pronged, stakeholder analysis of Computer Science academics, ICT industry professionals, and citizen groups was undertaken to explore what they consider to be crucial computing ethics concerns. The overlap between these stakeholder groups are explored, as well as whether their concerns are reflected in the existing literature.
Design/methodology/approach
Data collection was performed using focus groups, and the data was analysed using a thematic analysis. The data was also analysed to determine if there were overlaps between the literature and the stakeholders’ concerns and attitudes towards computing ethics.
Findings
The results of the focus group analysis show a mixture of overlapping concerns between the different groups, as well as some concerns that are unique to each of the specific groups. All groups stressed the importance of data as a key topic in computing ethics. This includes concerns around the accuracy, completeness and representativeness of data sets used to develop computing applications. Academics were concerned with the best ways to teach computing ethics to university students. Industry professionals believed that a lack of diversity in software teams resulted in important questions not being asked during design and development. Citizens discussed at length the negative and unexpected impacts of social media applications. These are all topics that have gained broad coverage in the literature.
Social implications
In recent years, the impact of ICT on society and the environment at large has grown tremendously. From this fast-paced growth, a myriad of ethical concerns have arisen. The analysis aims to shed light on what a diverse group of stakeholders consider the most important social impacts of technology and whether these concerns are reflected in the literature on computing ethics. The outcomes of this analysis will form the basis for new teaching content that will be developed in future to help illuminate and address these concerns.
Originality/value
The multi-stakeholder analysis provides individual and differing perspectives on the issues related to the rapidly evolving discipline of computing ethics.
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Vineeth Dharmapalan, William J. O’Brien, Douglas Morrice and Minhyuk Jung
Stakeholders of construction projects exhibit different perceptions regarding the visibility of materials in the supply chain, which affects the timely delivery and installation…
Abstract
Purpose
Stakeholders of construction projects exhibit different perceptions regarding the visibility of materials in the supply chain, which affects the timely delivery and installation of materials. This study aims to quantitatively investigate the differences in viewpoints of owners, contractors, designers and suppliers about the visibility of materials at supply chain locations and different material types during the construction of industrial projects.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data about visibility at nine typical supply chain locations and three common material types were collected from owner, contractor, designer and supplier groups and analyzed using frequency statistics, relative importance index and tests for equality of odds.
Findings
Offsite Tier-2 supplier, ports and kitting site shows the lowest visibility level for the owner, contractor, supplier and designer groups. Also, the supplier group tends to have adequate to extreme visibility at the Tier-2 supplier, kitting site and during transportation compared to owner, contractor and designer groups. An example finding concerning the visibility of material types is that owners and contractors perceive prefabricated material requires higher visibility than all other material types.
Research limitations/implications
The findings are limited to construction projects in the industrial sector. Further, the survey participants were based in North America at the time of participation.
Practical implications
The study’s findings indicate how visibility is spread across supply chain locations and for material types for the owners, contractors, suppliers and designers of industrial projects. As such, academia and industry’s research and investment efforts can be more focused on locations and material types that need improvement.
Social implications
Industrial projects play an essential part in improving society’s daily lives, and this study’s findings contribute to improving the efficiency of the supply chain during construction of industrial projects.
Originality/value
Although previous studies mentioned the need and importance of visibility improvement, none have sought to understand the perception of leading supply chain stakeholders about visibility at supply chain locations and of material types. This study’s findings provide specific insights and directions for advancing in these areas with regard to supply chain visibility.
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Kristin A. Horan, Mary T. Moeller, R. Sonia Singh, Rachel Wasson, William H. O’Brien, Russell A. Matthews, Steve M. Jex and Clare L. Barratt
This purpose of this paper is to investigate the possibility of non-linear relationships between supervisor support for stress management and intervention process ratings from a…
Abstract
Purpose
This purpose of this paper is to investigate the possibility of non-linear relationships between supervisor support for stress management and intervention process ratings from a workplace stress management intervention to highlight how context shapes intervention experience.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from 37 nurses and nurse aides assigned to the treatment group in an occupational stress management intervention were analyzed using polynomial regression in SPSS.
Findings
A quadratic function with a U-shape best explained variance in process variables for the relationship between supervisor support for stress management at baseline and ratings of intervention relation reactions and overall perceptions of session helpfulness in both sessions and for task reactions in session 1. Those with low and high supervisor support for stress management tended to perceive the intervention favorably, which is framed in terms of the intervention compensating for or complimenting their work environment, respectively.
Research limitations/implications
Although exploratory and based on a small sample, this paper lays the groundwork for future theoretically-grounded investigations of relationship between intervention context and process.
Practical implications
Results provide a rationale for training supervisors in stress management support as a supplement to a workplace intervention.
Originality/value
This paper investigates a novel molar supervisor support construct and challenges previous research that assumes that the relationship between context and intervention process or outcomes always conform to a simple linear relationship.
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Vassiliki Demetracopoulou, William J. O'Brien, Nabeel Khwaja, Jeffrey Feghaly and Mounir El Asmar
Over the last three decades, construction projects have increasingly been delivered through alternative delivery methods. As a result, many owners have a range of delivery methods…
Abstract
Purpose
Over the last three decades, construction projects have increasingly been delivered through alternative delivery methods. As a result, many owners have a range of delivery methods to choose from and aim to use the right one for each of their projects. Researchers have developed several tools and decision-support processes to facilitate this selection procedure. The purpose of this study is to review and discuss differences and common themes across selection tools developed by academic researchers and project owners.
Design/methodology/approach
The study reviews prominent selection processes and tools used for infrastructure projects by conducting an in-depth literature review and using the content analysis method to elicit findings on the methodologies and criteria presented in the literature.
Findings
This study presents three principal findings. First, findings show three common themes emerge within the selection criteria—characteristics, goals and risks. Second, while academic studies most commonly suggest employing multi-attribute analysis, this study reveals that, in practice, selection tools most frequently employ a staged or gated evaluation based on the type of criteria and their importance to the decision. Finally, this review further highlights the importance of institutional context in decision-making.
Originality/value
This work contributes to the body of knowledge by providing guidance to practitioners and opening new directions for researchers around the way selection criteria are categorized in the relevant literature and the institutional context considerations when structuring or evaluating a selection process or tool.
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WILLIAM H. DESVOUSGES, F. REED JOHNSON, RICHARD W. DUNFORD, K. NICOLE WILSON and KEVIN J. BOYLE
Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Term. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are…
Abstract
Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Term. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.
IT is fitting that a new series of this magazine should be introduced by some reflections on the whole question of book selection, both for the general public and libraries.
A collection of essays by a social economist seeking to balanceeconomics as a science of means with the values deemed necessary toman′s finding the good life and society enduring…
Abstract
A collection of essays by a social economist seeking to balance economics as a science of means with the values deemed necessary to man′s finding the good life and society enduring as a civilized instrumentality. Looks for authority to great men of the past and to today′s moral philosopher: man is an ethical animal. The 13 essays are: 1. Evolutionary Economics: The End of It All? which challenges the view that Darwinism destroyed belief in a universe of purpose and design; 2. Schmoller′s Political Economy: Its Psychic, Moral and Legal Foundations, which centres on the belief that time‐honoured ethical values prevail in an economy formed by ties of common sentiment, ideas, customs and laws; 3. Adam Smith by Gustav von Schmoller – Schmoller rejects Smith′s natural law and sees him as simply spreading the message of Calvinism; 4. Pierre‐Joseph Proudhon, Socialist – Karl Marx, Communist: A Comparison; 5. Marxism and the Instauration of Man, which raises the question for Marx: is the flowering of the new man in Communist society the ultimate end to the dialectical movement of history?; 6. Ethical Progress and Economic Growth in Western Civilization; 7. Ethical Principles in American Society: An Appraisal; 8. The Ugent Need for a Consensus on Moral Values, which focuses on the real dangers inherent in there being no consensus on moral values; 9. Human Resources and the Good Society – man is not to be treated as an economic resource; man′s moral and material wellbeing is the goal; 10. The Social Economist on the Modern Dilemma: Ethical Dwarfs and Nuclear Giants, which argues that it is imperative to distinguish good from evil and to act accordingly: existentialism, situation ethics and evolutionary ethics savour of nihilism; 11. Ethical Principles: The Economist′s Quandary, which is the difficulty of balancing the claims of disinterested science and of the urge to better the human condition; 12. The Role of Government in the Advancement of Cultural Values, which discusses censorship and the funding of art against the background of the US Helms Amendment; 13. Man at the Crossroads draws earlier themes together; the author makes the case for rejecting determinism and the “operant conditioning” of the Skinner school in favour of the moral progress of autonomous man through adherence to traditional ethical values.
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We deeply regret to announce the death, on October 4th, of Mr. William Thomson, F.R.S., F.I.C., Director of the Royal Institution Laboratory, Manchester, and Public Analyst for…
Abstract
We deeply regret to announce the death, on October 4th, of Mr. William Thomson, F.R.S., F.I.C., Director of the Royal Institution Laboratory, Manchester, and Public Analyst for Stockport.—Mr. Thomson was associated with the “BRITISH FOOD JOURNAL” from the time when the Journal was established, and was a member of the Consulting Scientific Staff of the British Analytical Control.