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1 – 10 of 152Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to better understand the changing contours of corporate responsibility. This is accomplished by determining what kind of American is…
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to better understand the changing contours of corporate responsibility. This is accomplished by determining what kind of American is interested in socially responsible investing (SRI).
Methodology/Approach – Analyzing nationally representative survey data, I explore what factors are associated with self-proclaimed interest in SRI.
Findings – I find that interest in SRI is generally not patterned along class or religious lines. Instead, the power to “do good” is more evenly distributed across American society.
Research limitations – Future surveys should measure behavioral involvement in SRI and provide better religious affiliation measures.
Social implications – Higher levels of SRI involvement should bolster the SRI industry's ability to pressure corporate America to behave more ethically.
Originality/Value – This is the first analysis of nationally representative data on interest in SRI.
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R. Brahme and A. Mahdavi
It is important to provide building performance feedback to the designer as early as possible in the design process. However, many aspects of building performance are…
Abstract
It is important to provide building performance feedback to the designer as early as possible in the design process. However, many aspects of building performance are significantly affected by the design of the building’s technical systems (e.g., heating, airconditioning), which are typically configured in detail only in the later stages of design. The challenge is thus to find a method to use detailed simulation tools even during the early stages of design when values for many of the variables for the building’s technical systems are not yet available. In this paper, we demonstrate how this problem can be partially solved by use of differential representation for building and technical system, homology‐based automatic mapping of relevant information from the building to the technical system representation, and generative design agents which, with a minimal user‐input, can design and model the technical system. We conclude the paper with illustrative examples of detailed performance analysis of complex buildings and their heating, ventilation, and air‐conditioning systems, performed in early stages of design.
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Matthew Hanchard, Peter Merrington, Bridgette Wessels and Simeon Yates
This paper focuses on patterns of film consumption within cultural consumption more broadly to assess trends in consumerism such as eclectic consumption, individualised…
Abstract
This paper focuses on patterns of film consumption within cultural consumption more broadly to assess trends in consumerism such as eclectic consumption, individualised consumption and omnivorous/univorous consumption and whether economic background and status feature in shaping cultural consumption. We focus on film because it is widely consumed, online and offline, and has many genres that vary in terms of perceived artistic and entertainment value. In broad terms, film is differentiated between mainstream commercially driven film such as Hollywood blockbusters, middlebrow “feel good” movies and independent arthouse and foreign language film. Our empirical statistical analysis shows that film consumers watch a wide range of genres. However, films deemed to hold artistic value such as arthouse and foreign language feature as part of broad and wide-ranging pattern of consumption of film that attracts its own dedicated consumers. Though we found that social and economic factors remain predictors of cultural consumption the overall picture is more complex than a simple direct correspondence and perceptions of other cultural forms also play a role. Those likely to consume arthouse and foreign language film consume other film genres and other cultural forms genres and those who “prefer” arthouse and foreign language film have slightly more constrained socio-economic characteristics. Overall, we find that economic and cultural factors such income, education, and wider consumption of culture are significant in patterns of film consumption.
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The idea that criminal behavior is a function of the offender's personality, also called the Homology hypothesis, has a long history in forensic psychology and criminology. This…
Abstract
Purpose
The idea that criminal behavior is a function of the offender's personality, also called the Homology hypothesis, has a long history in forensic psychology and criminology. This assumption, however, has been decried as lacking empirical support. In spite of much social concern relative to sexual offenses, there is virtually no research looking at the stability of offending pattern in sex offenders of adult women. This paper aims to fill some of the gaps.
Design/methodology/approach
Latent structure analyses were conducted on a secondary dataset including 145 serial rapists. A cross‐sectional, discrete time‐series design was used including a sequence of three offenses.
Findings
Moderate support was found for the three main assumptions underlying the Homology hypothesis. Offenses tended to share a relatively similar underlying structure, with the victimology and aggression components being more prominent than the sexual dimension. The three primary profiles identified, labeled “Passive”, “Stranger‐aggressive”, and “Antisocial”, were found to be about 50 percent stable across the sequence. Finally, the presence of significant dysfunction in the family of origin predicted membership in the “Antisocial” class, as well as increased the specificity and stability of this profile. The presence of early maladjustment was not related to any of the states.
Research limitations/implications
Based on the results, it is proposed that future research incorporates contextual‐environmental elements in order to increase the validity of the findings.
Originality/value
This study represents a unique attempt at documenting patterns of stability and variations across incidents of rape, using an institutional sample. Furthermore, it illustrates the use and potential benefits of latent structure models in criminological research.
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This chapter seeks to contribute to an ongoing discussion about Asian Canadian identities, model minority stereotypes, and structural racism against Asian Canadian youth in the…
Abstract
This chapter seeks to contribute to an ongoing discussion about Asian Canadian identities, model minority stereotypes, and structural racism against Asian Canadian youth in the Canadian education system. Using a Bourdieusian lens, this narrative study explores how to understand the experiences of Asian Canadian youth who are streamed into STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)-related occupational trajectories. Using data obtained from semi-structured interviews, I explore how streaming in high schools affects the identity formation of these youth. I argue there is an insight to be gained by paying closer attention to homologies between racial tensions and disciplinary tensions within the public school system. Doing so opens up new ways of framing and recognizing partial and diffuse acts of resistance among Asian Canadian youth who would otherwise appear to have internalized dominant stereotypes and norms.
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Saku Suuriniemi, Jari Kangas and Lauri Kettunen
The paper addresses various ways of driving a magneto‐quasi‐static coupled field‐circuit problems, starting with the underlying assumptions of this problem class. It focuses on…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper addresses various ways of driving a magneto‐quasi‐static coupled field‐circuit problems, starting with the underlying assumptions of this problem class. It focuses on problem consistency, supporting both conceptual understanding, and translation into software.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper proceeds from a precisely defined problem class and analyze its consistency with homology theory.
Findings
Precise notion of “driving a problem,” extensive discussion of modeling assumptions and decisions, and classification and consistency analysis of various driving methods.
Practical implications
Helps modelers systematically pose consistent coupled field‐circuit problems. The computation of homology groups can be automated to help pose problems and detect consistency problems.
Originality/value
Starting from the basic underlying assumptions, the paper summarizes logically the application of homology to consistency analysis. The style is tutorial for modelers, with numerous particular cases.
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Saku Suuriniemi and Lauri Kettunen
Finite element‐based PDE solver software systems are typically method‐driven. The user has to supply the data in a particular form required by a numerical method. The method…
Abstract
Finite element‐based PDE solver software systems are typically method‐driven. The user has to supply the data in a particular form required by a numerical method. The method refuses to start if the data is in incorrect format, and breaks down if correctly formatted data is insufficient or inconsistent. However, software can be made more flexible with data‐driven approach. The decisions on existence and uniqueness of the solution, as well as the choice of suitable computing methods are based on the data. This calls for a new stage of data processing for a solver, which is not essentially an expert system. The questions are formalizable and their solution must be based on efficient and robust computational techniques. We present an elementary computational technique for automatic treatment of topological problems arising from potential theory, boundary condition inspection, and coupled problems. The approach is based on computing Smith normal form of the non‐oriented boundary operator matrices, whose elements are from the ring N mod 2, i.e. only 0s and 1s, instead of the integers. This approach obviates the problems of excessive computation time and risk of overflow in integer computations.
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Gunn Elisabeth Birkelund and Yannick Lemel
To compare France and Germany, we will take a new approach to the discussion on lifestyles and social stratification. Instead of anchoring our definition of social stratification…
Abstract
To compare France and Germany, we will take a new approach to the discussion on lifestyles and social stratification. Instead of anchoring our definition of social stratification in predefined concepts, such as social class and status, we will empirically explore the latent patterns of social stratification and lifestyles. Our strategy allows us to investigate whether social stratification is best measured by one, two, or more dimensions; and then to map the associated patterns of lifestyles onto this/these dimension(s).
As indicators of social stratification, we use education, household income, and occupational status; and to measure lifestyles, we use data from two surveys on lifestyles and cultural consumption (Media og kulturforbruksundersøkelsen 2004, Norway; and module Pratiques culturelles et sportives, Enquête Permanente sur les Conditions de Vie 2003, France). We limit our analysis to occupationally active respondents, 20–64 years of age.
We would expect our findings to differ somewhat between the two countries; but given that social stratification is a pervasive element of all modern societies, we would also expect to find common empirical patterns that may be of relevance to the way we conceptualize lifestyles and social stratification.
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The paper aims at justifying the operational rule “a voltmeter's reading is the electromotive force, as it existed before branching it, along the path γ traced out by the…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims at justifying the operational rule “a voltmeter's reading is the electromotive force, as it existed before branching it, along the path γ traced out by the connectors between the contact points”.
Design/methodology/approach
A simple application of Faraday's law is enough to make the result plausible. Then it is shown that by an asymptotic analysis with the radius of the leads (assumed perfectly conductive) as small parameter that the current derived by the voltmeter is negligible.
Findings
The rule is valid in spite of the considerable modification of the electric field that branching a voltmeter entails.
Originality/value
“Voltage drop”, between A and B simply does not make sense. The threads of a voltmeter should carefully be placed in order to measure exactly what one has in view. This is explained by a few examples.
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