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Field Research (field + research)
Selected AbstractsContribution to Promoting Cancer Epidemiology in Japan and to the Activities of the UICC and Others in Cancer Epidemiology and PreventionCANCER SCIENCE, Issue 7 2001Kunio Aoki On the occasion of being awarding the 5th Nagayo Mataro Prize for contributions to promoting cancer epidemiology and international involvement in the UICC (International Union against Cancer), the Monbusho Overseas Field Research (International Scientific Research)-Special Cancer Study and others, it is my pleasure to give a concise description of activities in which I have played a role. My achievements in administration and management are only a small part of the whole of what has been accomplished in cancer epidemiology and prevention, but I hope that a comprehensive coverage of the projects in which it has been my good fortune to participate may provide orientation and suggest priorities for research in the coming decades. I have taken part in many meetings that stimulated the interest of young scientists and physicians in epidemiology and prevention. It can be said that efficient administration and management are indispensable for modern scientific research in order to promote information collection and exchange. I, therefore, humbly hope that my experience may be illuminating. [source] The Need to Look Beyond the Production and Provision of Relief Seed: Experiences from Southern SudanDISASTERS, Issue 4 2002Richard B. Jones Free distribution of seeds in selected areas of southern Sudan has been widespread as a way of increasing food security. Field research in areas targeted for seed relief found that farmer seed systems continue to meet the crop and varietal needs of farmers even following the 1998 famine. Donor investments in seed multiplication of improved sorghum have not been sustained due to a lack of effective demand for the improved seed beyond that created by the relief agencies. The article argues that rather than imposing outside solutions, whether through seed provisioning or seed production enterprises, greater attention needs to be given to building on the strengths of existing farmer systems and designing interventions to alleviate the weaknesses. The case is made to support dynamically the process of farmer experimentation through the informed introduction of new crops and varieties that can potentially reinforce the strength and diversity of local cropping systems. [source] Better land husbandry in Honduras: towards the new paradigm in conserving soil, water and productivityLAND DEGRADATION AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2002J. Hellin Abstract Land shortages are forcing more smallholder farmers to cultivate tropical steeplands. Resulting accelerated soil erosion is being countered by the promotion of soil conservation (SC) technologies, such as cross-slope barriers, which aim to reduce soil loss and preserve land productivity. However, farmer adoption rates tend to be low. This is often attributed to the farmers' conservatism or lack of education. Research in Honduras's steeplands demonstrates that farmers value SC, provided that it promotes agricultural production. Field research from 1995,98, involving farmed test plots on slopes greater than 35 per cent (19 degrees), demonstrates that at least one typical SC technology,live barriers of Vetiveria zizanioides (vetiver grass),has little or no impact on maize yield. This means that farmers see little benefit from their investment in the SC method. They find that erratic rainfall, pests and diseases and a lack of economic resources are far greater threats to their livelihoods than soil erosion. Consequently, SC has a low priority. Keeping soil in place avoids major off-farm disbenefits. However, the SC technique tested here made no discernible difference to slope foot sediment yields during the life of this study. In sum, a new approach is needed. Promoting ,Better Land Husbandry' strategies, which seek to combine farmers' concerns about productivity with conservationists' concerns about reducing soil erosion,often via cover-management,seem to be the best way forward. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Late Weichselian glacial history and postglacial emergence of Phippsøya, Sjuøyane, northern Svalbard: a comparison of modelled and empirical estimates of a glacial-rebound hinge lineBOREAS, Issue 1 2000STEVEN L. FORMAN Field research on Phippsøya, the largest island in the Sjuøyane archipelago, defines the course and timing of postglacial emergence, documents past-glacier movements, and reinterprets deglacial sedimentary sequences. Previously described tills were not identified in sections exposed along the northeast shore of Phippsøya, but instead sublittoral sediments with rock-fall concentrations derived from the adjacent slope. A glacio-isostatically higher sea level >40 ka deposited sublittoral sediment and is possibly correlative to a deglacial event in oxygen isotope stage 4 or 5 identified at other sites on Svalbard. The postglacial marine limit is 22 ± 1 m aht and occurs as an escarpment or washing limit into a stony drift. This drift contains granite and quartzite erratics from Nordaustlandet that indicate coverage by a northward flowing ice sheet during the Late Weichselian. Datable material on the raised-beach sequence was rare and a 14C age of c. 9.2 ka on an articulated Balanus balanus from 10 m aht provides a minimum constraining age on the marine limit. A mild transgression occurred by 6.2 ka, with sea level falling close to present levels by c. 5.0 ka. The zone of zero emergence (hinge line) lies 10 to 20 km north of Sjuøyane and is approximately coincident with the last glacial maximum limit on the continental shelf. There is an approximately 75 to 100 km offset between observed and modelled zone of zero emergence, indicating a need to refine earth rheology-based ice-sheet models. [source] Dialogic mediation in conflict resolution educationCONFLICT RESOLUTION QUARTERLY, Issue 4 2010Claudio Baraldi Conflict resolution education is an interesting field for both teachers and experts. This contribution tries to understand how conflict management can be productive in the interaction between adults and children. For this purpose, the results of field research are presented; they concern videotaped interaction in classrooms and formal groups of children coordinated by adults trying to support children's conflict management. The data show the adults' dialogic actions, which may promote children's conflict management, as well as the problems and limitations of these actions, highlighting coordination between adults' dialogic actions and children's agency in conflict resolution education. [source] Trade Linkages in Shrimp Exports: Japan, Thailand and VietnamDEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 3 2006Masahiro Kagawa Considerable attention has been devoted to the social and environmental consequences of shrimp farming in the tropics, but relatively little has been given to the relationships involved in international trade in processed shrimp. Based on extensive field research, this article addresses this gap in the literature by examining the nature of the linkages between Japan, a major importer, and two major exporting countries, Thailand and Vietnam, underlying which are informal agreements rather than formal contractual relationships. It examines the rationale and operation of such informal agreements in the context of a dynamic market characterised by an international division of labour between Thailand (with an advanced food products industry) and Vietnam (just emerging into the world market). [source] A tale of two cities: restoring water services in Kabul and MonroviaDISASTERS, Issue 4 2009Jean-François Pinera Kabul and Monrovia, the respective capitals of Afghanistan and Liberia, have recently emerged from long-lasting armed conflicts. In both cities, a large number of organisations took part in emergency water supply provision and later in the rehabilitation of water systems. Based on field research, this paper establishes a parallel between the operations carried out in the two settings, highlighting similarities and analysing the two most common strategies. The first strategy involves international financial institutions, which fund large-scale projects focusing on infrastructural rehabilitation and on the institutional development of the water utility, sometimes envisaging private-sector participation. The second strategy involves humanitarian agencies, which run community-based projects, in most cases independently of the water utilities, and targeting low-income areas. Neither of these approaches manages to combine sustainability and universal service. The paper assesses their respective strengths and weaknesses and suggests ways of improving the quality of assistance provided. [source] Democratic Republic of the Congo: undoing government by predationDISASTERS, Issue 4 2006Edward B. Rackley Abstract This paper draws on two periods of field research, conducted in 2004, to consider the state of governance in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The first measures the paralysing impact of illegal taxation on riverine trade in the western provinces; the second documents civilian attempts to seek safety from violence in the troubled east, and evaluates third-party efforts to provide protection and security. Analysis of study findings suggests that the DRC's current governance crisis is neither historically novel nor driven exclusively by mineral resources, extraction rights or trafficking. Rather, government by predation is an endemic and systematic feature of the civil and military administration, ensuring the daily economic survival of soldiers and officials, who are able to wield their authority in a ,riskfree' environment, without oversight or accountability. The paper's conclusion tries to make sense of the persistence of corruption in social and political life, and assess the capacity of ordinary citizens to reverse their predicament. [source] Where do Swainson's hawks winter?DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS, Issue 5 2008Satellite images used to identify potential habitat ABSTRACT During recent years, predictive modelling techniques have been increasingly used to identify regional patterns of species spatial occurrence, to explore species,habitat relationships and to aid in biodiversity conservation. In the case of birds, predictive modelling has been mainly applied to the study of species with little variable interannual patterns of spatial occurrence (e.g. year-round resident species or migratory species in their breeding grounds showing territorial behaviour). We used predictive models to analyse the factors that determine broad-scale patterns of occurrence and abundance of wintering Swainson's hawks (Buteo swainsoni). This species has been the focus of field monitoring in its wintering ground in Argentina due to massive pesticide poisoning of thousands of individuals during the 1990s, but its unpredictable pattern of spatial distribution and the uncertainty about the current wintering area occupied by hawks led to discontinuing such field monitoring. Data on the presence and abundance of hawks were recorded in 30 × 30 km squares (n = 115) surveyed during three austral summers (2001,03). Sixteen land-use/land-cover, topography, and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) variables were used as predictors to build generalized additive models (GAMs). Both occurrence and abundance models showed a good predictive ability. Land use, altitude, and NDVI during spring previous to the arrival of hawks to wintering areas were good predictors of the distribution of Swainson's hawks in the Argentine pampas, but only land use and NDVI were entered into the model of abundance of the species in the region. The predictive cartography developed from the models allowed us to identify the current wintering area of Swainson's hawks in the Argentine pampas. The highest occurrence probability and relative abundances for the species were predicted for a broad area of south-eastern pampas that has been overlooked so far and where neither field research nor conservation efforts aiming to prevent massive mortalities has been established. [source] Reconciliation in Wolves (Canis lupus): New Evidence for a Comparative PerspectiveETHOLOGY, Issue 3 2008Giada Cordoni Social animals gain benefits from cooperative behaviours. However, social systems also imply competition and conflict of interest. To cope with dispersal forces, group-living animals use several peace-keeping tactics, which have been deeply investigated in primates. Other taxa, however, have been often neglected in this field research. Wolves (Canis lupus) with their high sociality and cooperative behaviour may be a good model species to investigate the reconciliation process. In this study, we provide the first evidence for the occurrence of reconciliation in a group of zoo-kept wolves. The conciliatory contacts were uniformly distributed across the different sex-class combinations. We found a linear dominance hierarchy in the colony under study, although the hierarchical relationships did not seem to affect the reconciliation dynamics. Moreover, both aggressors and victims initiated first post-conflict affinitive contact with comparable rates and both high- and low-intensity conflicts were reconciled with similar percentages. Finally, we found that coalitionary support may be a good predictor for high level of conciliatory contacts in this species. [source] Ethnography, Comparison, and Changing TimesETHOS, Issue 4 2005ROBERT I. LEVY This article, based on Levy's Distinguished Lecture at the 2001 meeting of the Society for Psychological Anthropology, summarizes his views on how the psychologies of actors and the community forms and structures in which they are embedded, dancers and their dances, are mutually constituted. In particular, he contrasts two distinct communities where he did field research: Piri, a small village in French Polynesia; and Bhaktapur, a religious city in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal, suggesting that the particular cultures of these two places give rise to different forms of public life and childrearing, resulting in differing kinds of learning during childhood and ultimately in distinctive experiences of the self. [source] More Peace for Less Money: Measurement and Accountability in the Swedish Armed ForcesFINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY & MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2005Bino Catasús Studies of measurement and accountability are leading public sector transformation. By examining military work, this paper addresses the relationship between measurements and accountability by highlighting the measurements. Evidence was gathered from documents, political statements and field research. Several layers of accountability systems were found in the organisation. The principal can be the weak link in an accountability relationship if the measurement agenda is in the hands of the agent. The problems seem to go beyond performance and output, and a more fundamental question is challenging the public sector: `Are we doing the right things?' Or an even more dramatic existential question arises: `Why do we exist?' [source] Rapid detection of fungal endophytes in grasses for large-scale studiesFUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY, Issue 4 2006S. KOH Summary 1Standard visual screening methods for determining the qualitative and quantitative presence of fungal endophytes are too time-consuming for large-scale ecological studies. 2We investigated whether commercially available immunoblot kits, using monoclonal antibody techniques and designed for rapid-screening of the presence of Neotyphodium endophytes in fresh samples of the pasture grasses Festuca arundinacea and Lolium perenne, could be used for Neotyphodium detection using other grasses and preserved samples. We also determined whether immunoblot kits could provide quantitative information about the amount of Neotyphodium in the grass. 3The kits accurately detected endophyte presence in F. rubra, F. ovina, F. pratensis and F. altaica, in both preserved samples (dried and fixed), including 12-year-old stored, dried samples of F. rubra. 4Endophytes were detected in 7-day-old seedlings of Lolium perenne, 3 days (30%) earlier than previously recognized. 5The intensity of the coloured tissue prints on scanned immunoblot cards was significantly positively correlated with hyphal density, demonstrating a previously unrecognized accurate quantitative application. 6These findings greatly reduce logistical barriers to large-scale field research into the broader ecological significance of Neotyphodium in temperate and arctic grasses in non-agricultural ecosystems (particularly in remote areas) and suggest potential for estimating historical infection rates using stored and herbarium specimens. [source] CLAIMING PLACE: THE PRODUCTION OF YOUNG MEN'S STREET MEETING PLACES IN ACCRA, GHANAGEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES B: HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, Issue 3 2008Thilde Langevang ABSTRACT This article discusses the social significance of the street to young men through a case study of their street meeting places, ,the bases' in Accra, Ghana. Drawing on field research in a suburb of Accra, the paper explores how such meeting places are produced, claimed and defended. The aim is to contribute to discussions of the relationship between the marginalization of young men in Africa, the appropriation of street space and the production of youth identities. The article illuminates how bases are produced in an urban landscape characterized by rapid change, in which young men are excluded from meaningful work and influence, and tend to be represented as a problem. Describing how these meeting places are interpreted both from the outside and from within, the article illustrates the heterogeneous character of such places and the multiple meanings ascribed to them. While hordes of young men hanging out on the street tend to be viewed by the surrounding world as either potentially dangerous or as a sign of marginalization and immobility, the paper stresses that for the young men themselves, these places are also full of motion and serve to orient their lives socially and materially. [source] The Governance of Global Production Networks and Regional Development: A Case Study of Taiwanese PC Production NetworksGROWTH AND CHANGE, Issue 1 2009DANIEL YOU-REN YANG ABSTRACT This article applies a global production networks (GPN) perspective to the trans-border investments of Taiwanese personal computer (PC) companies in the Northern Taiwan, Greater Suzhou and Greater Dongguan regions. The findings of extensive field research are used to illustrate two conceptual arguments. First, we show the on-the-ground complexity of inter-firm governance arrangements within the PC industry, thereby casting doubt upon attempts to reduce notions of governance to simplistic, industry-wide categorisations. Second, by comparing Greater Suzhou and Greater Dongguan, we demonstrate that even within a single production system, there is geographical variation in the nature of the strategic coupling between the GPN and local institutional formations. We argue that conceptualising such geographical and organisational complexity is critical to understanding the regional development potential of GPNs. [source] The Potential and Precariousness of Partnership: The Case of the Kaiser Permanente Labor Management PartnershipINDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, Issue 1 2008THOMAS A. KOCHAN In 1997, the Kaiser Foundation Health Care and Hospitals, the Permanente Medical Federation, and a coalition of unions signed a national agreement creating one of the most ambitious labor management partnerships in U.S. history, initially covering some 58,000 employees. Based on field research and archival data, this paper analyzes the first eight years of this partnership in light of three strategic challenges,initiating, governing, and sustaining partnership,and the organizational challenge of partnership in a highly decentralized organization. [source] (Re)presenting experience: a comparison of Australian Aboriginal children's sand play in two settingsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED PSYCHOANALYTIC STUDIES, Issue 1 2008Ute Eickelkamp Abstract This paper examines how Australian Aboriginal children present and re-present experience in their symbolic play. Based on anthropological field research in one location and therapeutic work in another, it reports from a psychodynamic perspective how the Indigenous children create meaning on the personal and social level in two distinctive play forms. These are a traditional sand story game played by Anangu Pitjantjatjara girls in a remote Western Desert community in Central Australia, and the European sand play therapy that was introduced as part of an intervention program in a Tiwi Islands community off the northern coast. In phenomenological terms, both techniques draw on the symbolizing activity of the lived body (Schilder, 1950, 1951; Merleau-Ponty, 1961; Scheler, 1973) or, in the language of organismic-developmental theory, physiognomizing processes (Werner and Kaplan, 1984). These processes are seen to rest on the primary human capacity for imagination (Castoriadis, 1987). However, the schematizing activity that creates a meaningful relationship between symbol and referent (Werner and Kaplan, 1984) is specific to each play form. Set up retrospectively as a comparison, the discussion leads to the observation that the self-directed play in the natural social setting is of a higher symbolic order (re-presentational) than the externally induced play in the artificial social setting that indicates spontaneous linkages between symbol and referent (presentational). It is suggested that this raises certain questions about the potentially therapeutic effect of children's symbolic play. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Cognitive impairment in depressed outpatients as measured with the Dementia Checklist: a simple method for primary care and in field researchINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF METHODS IN PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH, Issue 1 2002M. Linden Abstract The Dementia Checklist is a 12-item dementia rating scale for physicians who, for whatever reason, cannot be specifically trained. It addresses symptoms of cognitive decline that can easily be identified, and that are typical for different stages of cognitive impairment. This allows an easy classification of the severity of dementia. In a first study, the dementia checklist was used in 937 geriatric outpatients who were treated by neuropsychiatrists for depression. All items contribute to the accuracy of measurement (Cronbach's , = 0.84). Differences in cognitive impairment depending on age (,2 = 51.7; p , 0.001) and depression (,2 = 47.6; p , 0.001) indicate external validity of the dementia checklist and 5.7% of the outpatients were rated as demented. The Dementia Checklist provides a very economical and easy-to-use assessment of cognitive decline. Copyright © 2002 Whurr Publishers Ltd. [source] Toward a Critical Phenomenology of "Illegality": State Power, Criminalization, and Abjectivity among Undocumented Migrant Workers in Tel Aviv, IsraelINTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, Issue 3 2007Sarah S. Willen ABSTRACT Given the vast scope and magnitude of the phenomenon of so-called "illegal" migration in the present historical moment, this article contends that phenomenologically engaged ethnography has a crucial role to play in sensitizing not only anthropologists, but also policymakers, politicians, and broader publics to the complicated, often anxiety-ridden and frightening realities associated with "the condition of migrant illegality," both of specific host society settings and comparatively across the globe. In theoretical terms, the article constitutes a preliminary attempt to link pressing questions in the fields of legal anthropology and anthropology of transnational migration, on one hand, with recent work by phenomenologically oriented scholars interested in the anthropology of experience, on the other. The article calls upon ethnographers of undocumented transnational migration to bridge these areas of scholarship by applying what can helpfully be characterized as a "critical phenomenological" approach to the study of migrant "illegality" (Willen, 2006; see also Desjarlais, 2003). This critical phenomenological approach involves a three-dimensional model of illegality: first, as a form of juridical status; second, as a sociopolitical condition; and third, as a mode of being-in-the-world. In developing this model, the article draws upon 26 non-consecutive months of ethnographic field research conducted within the communities of undocumented West African (Nigerian and Ghanaian) and Filipino migrants in Tel Aviv, Israel, between 2000 and 2004. During the first part of this period, "illegal" migrants in Israel were generally treated as benign, excluded "Others." Beginning in mid-2002, however, a resource-intensive, government-sponsored campaign of mass arrest and deportation reconfigured the condition of migrant "illegality" in Israel and, in effect, transformed these benign "Others" into wanted criminals. By analyzing this transformation the article highlights the profound significance of examining not only the judicial and sociopolitical dimensions of what it means to be "illegal" but also its impact on migrants' modes of being-in-the-world. [source] Two Logics of Labor Organizing in the Global Apparel IndustryINTERNATIONAL STUDIES QUARTERLY, Issue 3 2009Mark Anner What factors account for labor strategies in global industries? While some scholars point to economic factors and others look to political opportunity structures, an examination of union actions in the Central American apparel export industry over a 14-year period suggests that activists' historical experiences and ideological orientations also strongly influence union dynamics. Left-oriented unions tend to form unions through transnational activism whereas conservative unions most often turn to plant-level cross-class collaboration. Moreover, these two union strategies are interconnected. Successful transnational activism facilitates conservative union formation through a "radical flank" mechanism; the threat of left-union organizing motivates employers to accept unionization by conservative unions to block left unions from gaining influence in the plant. To examine these arguments, this article employs pooled time-series statistical analysis, structured interviews with labor organizers, and process tracing that draws on nine months of field research in Honduras and El Salvador. [source] Catholic and Non-Catholic Theologies of Liberation: Poverty, Self-Improvement, and Ethics Among Small-Scale Entrepreneurs in Guatemala CityJOURNAL FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGION, Issue 1 2002Henri Gooren In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Catholic liberation theology seemed poised to become a mass movement in Latin America, whereas evangelical Protestantism did not seem likely to ever receive broad popular appeal. This paper will explore possible reasons why most of the poor in Latin America preferred to join non-Catholic churches, instead of the so-called Christian Base Communities (CEBs) or other grassroot groups connected with liberation theology. It does so by a review of scientific literature and by presenting empirical data from field research in Guatemala City. Using a neo-Weberian approach, I will argue that various non-Catholic churches foster elements of asceticism and self-improvement, which provide an important asset for the poor in Guatemala in their quest to better their lives both economically and spiritually. [source] Doing Field Studies of Religious Movements: An AgendaJOURNAL FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGION, Issue 3 2001Susan Pitchford Although the social scientific study of religion has seen the accumulation of numerous case studies, comparative work involving substantial numbers of cases is rare. In the absence of an accepted agenda for field research, field studies contain information relevant to the study at hand, but do not add systematically to a cumulative database. By contrast, field studies in anthropology may contain idiosyncratic information relevant to the author's interests, but an existing research agenda defines information researchers are expected to include, which has produced an expanding cross-cultural database. In this paper, we propose elements of a research agenda for the study of religious movements, including information related to movements' organizational history and context, mobilization, organization, governance, and outcomes. While this preliminary agenda is subject to refinement by others, it provides a starting point for the accumulation of comparable cases, and a basis for the comparative study of religious movements. [source] Changing Views of Serpent Handling: A Quasi-Experimental StudyJOURNAL FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGION, Issue 3 2000Ralph W. Hood Knowledge about serpent handling sects (SHS) even among social scientists and legislators has been largely influenced by biased media reports. Our own field research suggests that factual knowledge about SHS is effective in changing stereotypes about serpent handling and in altering views as to the rights of believers to handle serpents in church. In a quasi-experimental study, participants were pretested with respect to both prejudicial and reasoned evaluative views about SHS. Participants saw either a video of contemporary SHS in which handlers demonstrated and explained their faith, or a control tape in which contemporary SHS were shown but serpent handling was neither demonstrated nor defended. As predicted, viewing the serpent handling video was effective in reducing stereotyping of SHS and in changing attitudes regarding the sincerity of the believers and the right of SHS to practice their faith without legal constraints. Appropriate controls indicated that changes were not simply a function of a pretest by treatment interaction. The relevance of these data for altering laws against the practice of serpent handling is discussed. [source] Guilt and Shame in Chinese Culture: A Cross-cultural Framework from the Perspective of Morality and IdentityJOURNAL FOR THE THEORY OF SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR, Issue 2 2003Olwen Bedford Olwen Bedford and Kwang-Kuo Hwang, Guilt and Shame in Chinese Culture: A Cross-cultural Framework from the Perspective of Morality and Identity, pp. 127,144. This article formulates a cross-cultural framework for understanding guilt and shame based on a conceptualization of identity and morality in Western and Confucian cultures. First, identity is examined in each culture, and then the relation between identity and morality illuminated. The role of guilt and shame in upholding the boundaries of identity and enforcing the constraints of morality is then discussed from the perspective of each culture. The developed framework is then applied the emotions of guilt and shame in Chinese culture drawing on previous field research. Implications for future research are discussed. [source] Are German, Japanese and Anglo-Saxon Strategic Decision Styles Still Divergent in the Context of Globalization?*JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, Issue 6 2005Chris Carr abstract Issues of globalization and divergence in terms of national systems and cultures are equally contentious, yet equally important, in the context of increasing cross-continental co-operation. This article investigates comparative strategic decision styles in Britain, the USA, Germany and Japan. An industry at an advanced stage in terms of globalization, vehicle components manufacture, was selected in order to explore the extent of convergence and whether this has changed. Between 1989 and 1998, field case studies were made of 100 strategic investment decisions (SIDs) by manufacturers in these four countries. Longitudinal judgements were supplemented by earlier comparative strategy field research carried out in 60 suppliers between 1980 and 1983, and two longitudinal case studies, one from the UK and one from Japan, interviewed throughout both these periods and again in 2002. Two competing hypotheses, derived from rich research literatures, are investigated. The first (H1) suggests that national institutional and cultural factors exert profound differences, and should therefore be afforded more significance as globalization proceeds further. The second (H2) is apparently contradictory and emphasizes that institutions and organizations are likely to respond to convergence pressures, spurred by global capital markets and competition on the one hand, and a diffusion of ,professional management' practices on the other. Japanese firms generally, and German family firms in particular, were still found to exhibit deep-rooted differences from the Anglo-Saxon model, which appears to confirm H1. However study of German public companies reveals that their strategic approaches are far less divergent from what is now an increasingly consistent Anglo-Saxon model than they were a decade ago, which appears to confirm the competing hypothesis H2. [source] The predictive and interactive effects of equity sensitivity in teamwork-oriented organizationsJOURNAL OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR, Issue 3 2001Mark N. Bing Many studies have investigated the relationship between equity sensitivity and other variables of organizational importance. Although theoretical grounds support a link between equity sensitivity and job performance, to date no studies have found equity sensitivity to be a valid predictor of non self-reported job performance in field research. The two field studies reported here empirically support this link and demonstrate that equity sensitivity may also interact with personality traits in predicting job performance. Limitations of the current investigations and future research are discussed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Redox potential of bulk soil and soil solution concentration of nitrate, manganese, iron, and sulfate in two GleysolsJOURNAL OF PLANT NUTRITION AND SOIL SCIENCE, Issue 1 2004Tim Mansfeldt Abstract While the reduction of nitrate-N, Mn(III,IV), Fe(III), and sulfate-S in soil has been studied intensively in the laboratory, field research has received only limited attention. This study investigated the relationship between redox potential (EH) measured in bulk soil and concentrations of nitrate, Mn2+, Fe2+, and sulfate in the soil solution of two Gleysols differing in drainage status from the Marsh area of Schleswig-Holstein, Northern Germany. The soils are silty-sandy and developed from calcareous marine sediments. Redox potentials were monitored weekly with permanently installed Pt electrodes, and soil solution was obtained biweekly by ceramic suction cups from 10, 30, 60, and 150,cm depth over one year. Median EH at 10, 30, 60, and 150,cm depths was 470, 410, 410, and 20 mV in the drained soil and 500, 480, 30, and ,170 mV in the undrained soil, respectively. A decrease in EH below critical values was accompanied in the soil solutions (pH 7.4 to 7.8) by disappearance of nitrate below 0 to 200 mV, appearance of Mn2+ below 350 mV, and Fe2+ below 0 to 50 mV. Both metals disappeared from soil solution after aeration. In the sulfide-bearing environment of the 150,cm depth of the undrained soil, however, the sulfate concentrations were highest at such EH values at which sulfate should be unstable. This discrepancy was reflected in the fact that at this depth bulk soil EH was about 400 mV lower than soil solution EH (250 mV). When investigating the dynamics of nitrate, Mn, and Fe in soils, bulk soil EH provides semi-quantitative information in terms of critical EH ranges. However, in sulfidic soil environments the interpretation of EH measured in bulk soil is uncertain. Redoxpotenzial des Bodens und Bodenlösungskonzentrationen von Nitrat, Mangan, Eisen und Sulfat in zwei Kalkmarschen Während die Reduktion von Nitrat-N, Mn(III,IV), Fe(III) und Sulfat-S in Böden intensiv im Labor untersucht worden ist, haben Felduntersuchungen sich damit kaum beschäftigt. In dieser Arbeit wurde die Beziehung zwischen dem Redoxpotenzial (EH) der Bodenmatrix und den Bodenlösungskonzentrationen von Nitrat, Mn2+, Fe2+ und Sulfat in zwei unterschiedlich drainierten Kalkmarschen Schleswig-Holsteins untersucht. Die Böden sind schluffig-sandig und haben sich aus kalkhaltigen marinen Sedimenten entwickelt. Über ein Jahr wurden in 10, 30, 60 und 150,cm Tiefe die EH wöchentlich mit permanent installierten Pt-Elektroden gemessen und die Bodenlösung zweiwöchentlich mittels keramischer Saugkerzen gewonnen. Der Medianwert des EH betrug in 10, 30, 60 und 150,cm Tiefe 470, 410, 410 und 20 mV im drainierten Boden und 500, 480, 30 und ,170 mV im nicht drainiertem Boden. Ein Abfall im EH unter kritische Werte war in der Bodenlösung (pH 7,4 bis 7,8) von einem Verschwinden des Nitrats unterhalb 0 bis 200 mV und einem Auftreten des Mn2+ unterhalb 350 mV und des Fe2+ unterhalb 0 bis 50 mV begleitet. Beide Metalle verschwanden nach Belüftung aus der Bodenlösung. Im sulfidhaltigen Milieu in 150,cm Tiefe des nicht drainierten Bodens waren die Konzentrationen des Sulfats jedoch bei solchen EH -Werten am höchsten, bei denen das Sulfat instabil sein sollte. Diese Unstimmigkeit spiegelt sich darin wieder, dass das EH in dieser Bodentiefe um ungefähr 400 mV niedriger war als das EH der Bodenlösung (250 mV). Wenn die Dynamik von Nitrat, Mn und Fe in Böden untersucht wird, stellt das in der Bodenmatrix gemessene EH semiquantitative Informationen im Sinne kritischer EH -Bereiche zur Verfügung. Im sulfidhaltigen Bodenmilieu ist die Interpretation des in der Bodenmatrix gemessenen EH jedoch unsicher. [source] Imperative ideals and the strenuous reality: focusing on acute psychiatryJOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC & MENTAL HEALTH NURSING, Issue 1 2001J. K. Hummelvoll RPN RNT BA DrPH The aim of this study was to describe the complexity of the working situation on an acute psychiatric ward as well as how nurses balance tensions between ideals and the reality of daily work. By means of field research, the study aimed to arrive at a deeper understanding of the reality that nursing staff and patients experience. The analysis shows that the acute and unpredictable character of the working situation in combination with short hospital stays results in a tentative and summary nursing care characterized by ,therapeutic superficiality'. This constitutes a hindrance to encountering the patient as a person. The demand on ,treatment effectiveness' creates work-related stress. Hence, a partly articulated conflict develops between the professional and humanistic ideals of psychiatric nursing and the strenuous reality that the staff have to adjust to. This conflict is solved in various ways, depending on whether they belong to the pragmatic, idealist, traditionalist or enforcer attitude in relation to the ward's mandate. The demand on treatment effectiveness seems to promote a medical model in the daily work, even though a humanistic and existential approach can be traced in the nurses' caring philosophy. [source] The Reality of Virtual Reality: The Internet and Gender Equality Advocacy in Latin AmericaLATIN AMERICAN POLITICS AND SOCIETY, Issue 3 2005Elisabeth Jay Friedman ABSTRACT This article examines the internet's potential to democratize gender equality advocacy in Latin America. Based on field research in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico, it challenges the assumption that the internet's horizontal organization and widespread dissemination inherently or inevitably lead to greater democratization. It advances two interrelated arguments. First, the internet's potential to foster democratic relations and effective strategies in civil society depends on the consciousness with which advocates adopt, share, and deploy the technology. Second, the internet is a critical resource for marginalized or socially suspect groups and subjects, providing a unique means to express and transmit often ostracized ideas and identities. [source] Backing into the FutureMEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY QUARTERLY, Issue 4 2001Charles Leslie The professionalization of anthropology was grounded in a naturalistic tradition of field research. The empirical particularism of fieldwork wedded aesthetic and humanistic concerns with those of science in a discipline that assumed a species-wide and long-time perspective while focusing on the description and comparisons of local variations. Scientific progress has occurred in anthropology over the past century despite the distortions of colonialism, the Cold War, and other historical circumstances. Controversies about good and bad scientific work and about the humanistic character of anthropology have been an ongoing aspect of our discipline. The historical development of medical anthropology and important recent publications in this specialty illustrate the nature of the encompassing discipline and provide the ground on which 21st-century scholars will carry the science forward, [anthropological tradition, scientific progress, humanistic science] [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||