Paper Looks (paper + look)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Distribution within Humanities and Social Sciences


Selected Abstracts


Inter-organizational use of EMSs in supply chain management: some experiences from Poland and Sweden

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 5 2008
Dagmara Nawrocka
Abstract The paper investigates the possibility of using environmental management systems (EMSs) as a tool for the environmental management of supply chains. Based on interviews with environmental managers of selected companies, the paper highlights the importance of taking a long-term perspective in terms of both the cooperation with suppliers and developing the supply chain perspective for EMSs. The role of cultural influence from foreign partner companies in building the proactive environmental focus and stimulating the spread of EMSs is underlined here. In addition, the paper looks at the development, use and control of supply chain environmental requirements and their possible integration into the buyer's and supplier's EMSs. Finally, important shortcomings of EMSs, such as the lack of enforcement forbearance and the credibility of ISO 14001 certification, are discussed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


Islam and CSR: a study of the compatibility between the tenets of Islam, the UN Global Compact and the development of social, human and natural capital

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2007
John Zinkin
Abstract Previous research has found that Muslims score elements that are assumed to matter in determining socially responsible business behaviour less highly than people of other religions. This paper looks at whether the tenets of Islam are the reason for this lower score by comparing and contrasting the UN Global Compact's ten principles with those of Islam in the affected areas. In so doing, the paper reconstructs the principles according to their impact on social, human and natural capital and explores whether Islam is supportive of responsible behaviour in these three areas. The paper concludes that, with the possible exception of Islam's focus on personal responsibility and non-recognition of the corporation as a legal person, which could undermine the concept of corporate responsibility, there is no divergence between the tenets of the religion and the principles of the UN Global Compact. Focusing on this convergence of values could help avert the threatened ,clash of civilizations'. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


Project PASCALEA , public and stakeholder consultation in developing high-profile corporate environmental strategy

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2004
Linda Collins
This paper looks at corporate social responsibility in the context of public and stakeholder dialogue and engagement. It demonstrates how this can contribute to the development of a long-term environmental management strategy. It shows how government, stakeholder and economic pressure can encourage companies to positively engage their stakeholders. Using an example from the nuclear industry the paper describes how the importance of engaging in stakeholder dialogue and consultation has been recognized and how this can contribute to more positive stakeholder relationships. In 2002, AWE plc commissioned a major independent public and stakeholder consultation exercise (Project PASCALEA). Environmental Consultants from NNC Ltd. were commissioned to manage and execute the project, together with recognized consultation specialists from the IEPPP, Lancaster University. The case study gives an insight into the consultation methodology adopted and evaluates how the outcomes from the project contributed towards the successful delivery of AWE's corporate environmental management goals. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


Defending Contingentism in Metaphysics

DIALECTICA, Issue 1 2009
Kristie Miller
Metaphysics is supposed to tell us about the metaphysical nature of our world: under what conditions composition occurs; how objects persist through time; whether properties are universals or tropes. It is near orthodoxy that whichever of these sorts of metaphysical claims is true is necessarily true. This paper looks at the debate between that orthodox view and a recently emerging view that claims like these are contingent, by focusing on the metaphysical debate between monists and pluralists about concrete particulars. This paper argues that we should be contingentists about monism and pluralism, and it defends contingentism against some necessitarian objections by offering an epistemology of contingent metaphysical claims. [source]


Stopping petrol sniffing in remote Aboriginal Australia: key elements of the Mt Theo Program

DRUG AND ALCOHOL REVIEW, Issue 3 2006
KARISSA PREUSS Manager
Abstract Petrol sniffing is a major form of substance misuse in Aboriginal communities across Australia. This practice has detrimental effects on the health and wellbeing of individual sniffers, their families, communities and wider society. There are few examples of programmes that have successfully stopped petrol sniffing. This paper looks at the Mt Theo Program, regularly cited as ,the success story' in petrol sniffing interventions. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate key elements that have contributed towards Mt Theo Program's rare achievement: (1) initially, a multi-faceted approach including an outstation and youth programme, (2) community-initiated, operated, owned basis of the organisation, which incorporates (3) strong partnership between Indigenous and non-Indigenous team members and (4) an ability to operate beyond crisis intervention. [source]


Clinical issues in using buprenorphine in the treatment of opiate dependence

DRUG AND ALCOHOL REVIEW, Issue 3 2000
Dr A. Chadderton MB
Abstract This paper looks at the current role of buprenorphine in the treatment of opiate dependence. It suggests that buprenorphine is a useful alternative to methadone and that in at least some cases it may be the preferred option. Buprenorphineis a partial agonist and a partial antagonist with a ceiling of opiate activity probably approximately equal to 30mg methadone. It achieves this at a dose of 10-12mg, although there is considerable individual variation. Because of its ceiling effect it has a good safety profile compared to full agonists such as methadone although some overdose deaths, particularly in conjunction with benzodiazepine abuse, have been reported in France. Induction of buprenorphine may take slightly longer than for methadone and there is a higher dropout rate compared to methadone in the first 2 weeks. This is probably due to the antagonist action of buprenorphine causing more withdrawal symptoms in comparison to methadone. Also, the ceiling effect for buprenorphine means that some clients do not experience sufficient opiate activity to satisfy them. Buprenorphine has a long half-life and dissociates slowly from opiate receptors. Most clients can be dosed second-daily but some find this unacceptable due to mood swings and/or withdrawal symptomson the second day. For these clients daily dosing is required. Transferring from buprenorphine to methadone is straightforward and well tolerated by clients. Transferring from methadone to buprenorphine, however, is more difficult because of the partial antagonist action of buprenorphine. Clients experience withdrawal symptoms that can take up to 2 weeks to settle. Most clients find these symptoms unacceptable when transferring from doses of over 30mg of methadone. The optimum method for transferring from methadone to buprenorphine is still to be determined. Withdrawal from buprenorphine appears to be relatively easier than from methadone. This is presumably due to buprenorphine's partial agonist effect at mureceptors. It is expected that during 2000 buprenorphine will be approved for use in Australia for the treatment of opiate dependence. It may well becomea first-line choice for opiate replacement in heroin dependence. It is also likely to be useful in assisting detoxification fromboth methadone and heroin. [source]


Private Pension Arrangements and Retirement in Britain,

FISCAL STUDIES, Issue 1 2005
James Banks
Abstract This paper looks at the policy debate surrounding private pensions and retirement patterns in the UK. Recent increases in longevity have led not only to increased pressures in public pensions but also to corresponding increases in the importance of private pensions in the UK and changes in the way in which they are structured. We consider the economic implications of these changes, and in particular the increased importance of defined contribution plans. In addition, we discuss the prospects for future trends in retirement ages. [source]


User involvement, research and health inequalities: developing new directions

HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE IN THE COMMUNITY, Issue 4 2007
Peter Beresford BA(Hons) PhD FRSA AcSS DipWP
Abstract Placed in the context of broader discussions and developments about service user involvement in research and evaluation, this paper looks at the role that user involvement research may play in health inequalities research. It examines the pressures for and against such user involvement research, its different expressions and ideological relations, and what particular contribution it may have to offer in researching health inequalities. In considering how it may help in developing substantive understandings of these issues and the role it may play in the future, particular attention is paid to the issue of enabling the diverse involvement of service users in order not to reinforce existing exclusions and barriers in research, policy and practice. [source]


The evaluation of health and social care partnerships: an analysis of approaches and synthesis for the future

HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE IN THE COMMUNITY, Issue 5 2006
Helen Dickinson MA BAArticle first published online: 17 AUG 200
Abstract At a time when health and social care partnerships are continuing to occupy a central role within the UK government's policy strategy, researchers are increasingly being required to evaluate such organisational entities. This paper looks at a wide range of approaches which have been utilised to evaluate health and social care partnerships, and suggests that theory-led strategies are better able to address the complexities associated with such forms of evaluation. In particular, the author suggests that a combination of theories of change and realistic evaluation seems to be the most fruitful in tackling the evaluation difficulties associated with partnerships. Despite both being theory-led evaluation strategies, they fulfil quite different and complementary roles. However, both these approaches have been found to have some limitations in practice. Therefore, this paper suggests that interpreting these approaches through a framework of critical realism may overcome a number of these difficulties. [source]


Scope and scale inefficiencies in physician practices,

HEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 11 2004
Robert Rosenman
Abstract Using a national data set, this paper looks at the efficiency of physician practices, focusing on scopes of service by comparing single specialty groups and multispecialty groups. An analysis of efficiency using DEA indicates that there are scope inefficiencies from combining different types of providers into a single practice. Most of the inefficiency is due to technical rather than allocative reasons. In addition, we find that larger practices are able to capture efficiencies of scope, but incur inefficiencies of scale. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Monetary policy's effects during the financial crises in Brazil and Korea

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FINANCE & ECONOMICS, Issue 1 2003
Charles Goodhart
This paper looks at the effect of monetary policy changes on asset prices in the foreign exchange and equity markets of Brazil and Korea. We were searching for evidence whether monetary policy tightening may have had (adverse) counterproductive effects on such asset markets. In common with other authors we find only weak or sporadic evidence for this hypothesis. Using a theoretical model of financial market imperfections, we show that the failure to find monetary policy effectiveness during a crisis can come about not only because of the endogeneity caused by a ,leaning against the wind' policy reaction but also, independently, if there are large and correlated risk premia in the financial markets in which interest rates and determined. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Management development in small firms

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT REVIEWS, Issue 3 2006
Nerys Fuller-Love
This paper is a review of the literature concerning management development in small firms. It looks at the benefits in terms of growing a small firm and whether the lack of management skills contributes to their failure. In addition, this paper looks at some of the barriers to management development, including the attitudes and characteristics of the entrepreneur, and also looks at learning models that may be appropriate for small firms. The paper also looks at the authors' views on the effectiveness of management development for small firms, the barriers to learning as well as the skills required. Management development programmes are now widely accepted as a means of improving the competitiveness of firms and the economy as a whole. Although management education and training has, in the past, been designed mainly for larger firms, there is a growing awareness of the requirements of small businesses. Government initiatives designed to encourage start-ups and to boost the growth of small firms have emphasized the importance of management development. This review of the literature shows that, on balance, management development programmes are effective for small firms. The main benefits appear to be survival and growth, reduction in failure and improvement in performance. The skills required include leadership and management, developing management systems and techniques and team building. Other skills include planning, delegation and financial management. The paper concludes that there is a need for further research into the effectiveness of management development programmes, the skills required and the barriers to learning in small firms and, also, whether they have an impact on the survival, growth and profitability of small firms. [source]


Higher education: marketing in a quasi-commercial service industry

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NONPROFIT & VOLUNTARY SECTOR MARKETING, Issue 2 2003
Mari Brookes
The UK Government is promoting widening participation and asking universities to develop their student intake of 18,30 year-olds by 50 per cent by 2010. The financing of these changes is encouraging a marketing emphasis shift, as funding is reduced and alternative revenue methods sought. Traditional marketing of charitable educational institutions sought to ensure sufficient student enrolments for solely government-funded core activities. Further marketing is now seen in quasi-commercial activities. This paper investigates the need for a further marketing approach to satisfy these government policy changes. Using the comparative method, the paper looks at the complexity of the issues around US and UK higher education and their revenue value conflicts, marketing perspectives and, finally, the differences in perspectives and expectations between commerce and education. As the matter is current and ongoing, the main form of collecting evidence is through personal interview and recent media releases. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications [source]


The marketing and public relations practices of Australian performing arts presenters

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NONPROFIT & VOLUNTARY SECTOR MARKETING, Issue 2 2002
Heath McDonald
Although arts organisations are often said to be underdeveloped in marketing and management areas, it is unclear whether this is actually an intentional response to the atypical environment in which they exist, or simply a result of limited skills and resources. This paper looks at performing arts presenters (PAPs) in two Australian States, profiling what they do in the way of marketing, how sophisticated they are at it and the reasons they behave the way they do. In-depth interviews with marketing managers indicated that PAPs are confused about the role of marketing, relying instead mainly on public relations. While it was widely acknowledged that marketing would be beneficial, the marketing that is executed is generally ad hoc and basic. This lack of marketing action is due primarily to a paucity of skills and resources and a historical preference for public relations, not as a considered response to the arts environment. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications [source]


Protecting the Old in a Young Economy: Old Age Insurance in the West Bank and Gaza Strip

INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SECURITY REVIEW, Issue 3 2000
Markus Loewe
Taking the West Bank and Gaza Strip as a reference point, this paper looks at social protection in developing economies, which are beset by economic stagnation, widespread poverty and unemployment. If the main breadwinner dies, is unable to work or is an older person, these factors are prime causes of absolute poverty. This is hardly surprising, since private and public systems of social security are totally inadequate in this area in particular. Current thinking on social security suggests that what is needed is the rapid introduction of a comprehensive system of retirement provision, comprising a mandatory capital-funded insurance component, with defined contributions, administered on a decentralized basis; and a state-administered pay-as-you-go basic insurance component with lump-sum transfers to safeguard the poorest. A system of this kind works to prevent poverty in old age by redistributing funds from some individuals to others and ensuring an income for life, and it represents a compromise between a fair return on what people have contributed and a fair distribution over society as a whole. It is thus a major force for stability in society. [source]


Europe in the Political Imagination

JCMS: JOURNAL OF COMMON MARKET STUDIES, Issue 4 2010
JONATHAN WHITE
Perceptions of the EU tend to be studied by examining responses to targeted opinion polls. This paper looks instead at how citizens draw Europe into a wider discussion of politics and political problems. Based on a series of group discussions with taxi-drivers in Britain, Germany and the Czech Republic, it examines the motifs speakers use to explain the origins of problems, the assumptions they make about their susceptibility to address, and how, when these patterned ways of speaking are applied to the EU, they serve to undermine its credibility as a positive source of political agency. [source]


Is the complexity of care a paradox?

JOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING, Issue 5 2000
Merren Stockdale RN BN GradDip(Geront)
Is the complexity of care a paradox? This paper looks at the phenomenon known as care and the medium through which it is expressed , caring. It explores some of the meanings of these terms but focuses particularly on nursing care. Superficially, nurses and society have a broad understanding of what ,care' means but common usage of the word belies its complexity. When examined alongside the writings of scholars the inconsistent nature of care and caring emerges. We reflect on the difficulties this presents for both the nurse and the cared for when, on the one hand care is promoted as the essence of nursing, while on the other there is no acceptable definition of care on which to base this claim. Encompassed within our discussion is the underlying theme that although care is an appropriate ideal for nursing it does not capture all of the day-to-day realities and hence it is not an overriding ideal. Care in nursing in this sense is contradictory and we describe it as paradoxical. [source]


New frontiers for arch models

JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECONOMETRICS, Issue 5 2002
Robert Engle
In the 20 years following the publication of the ARCH model, there has been a vast quantity of research uncovering the properties of competing volatility models. Wide-ranging applications to financial data have discovered important stylized facts and illustrated both the strengths and weaknesses of the models. There are now many surveys of this literature. This paper looks forward to identify promising areas of new research. The paper lists five new frontiers. It briefly discusses three,high-frequency volatility models, large-scale multivariate ARCH models, and derivatives pricing models. Two further frontiers are examined in more detail,application of ARCH models to the broad class of non-negative processes, and use of Least Squares Monte Carlo to examine non-linear properties of any model that can be simulated. Using this methodology, the paper analyses more general types of ARCH models, stochastic volatility models, long-memory models and breaking volatility models. The volatility of volatility is defined, estimated and compared with option-implied volatilities. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


User Behavior and the "Globalness" of Internet: From a Taiwan Users' Perspective

JOURNAL OF COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION, Issue 2 2002
Chun Chou Liu
It is believed that the cyberworld knows no borders and boundaries. Users from all corners of the world are connected. However, the literature stops short of telling us how meaningful and valuable its "borderless" nature actually is to the Internet users themselves. Have they taken full advantage of whatever freedom is available to them in roaming the cyberworld? Do they venture beyond their language and/or cultural group to interact with those whoM they normally would have little opportunity to meet otherwise? To what extent do they take advantage of the opportunity to venture beyond the limits of their "real" worlds? Taiwan houses one of the most vigorous information industries in the world. This paper looks at the general patterns of Internet use in Taiwan, including online activities for communication, information access, and e-commerce. Secondly, a special effort is made to examine the "globalness" of Taiwan users' Internet behavior, and the factors contributing to these patterns of use. In Taiwan, the Internet as a medium may indeed be "global," yet the user continues to live within the "local," the "place" one relates to, where his/her needs and desires are generated, and where one feels a sense of belonging. One may briefly venture out of this locality to accomplish a task, fulfill a goal, or simply satisfy his/her curiosity; however, as pointed out by Wang and Servaes (2000), the importance, significance, and relevance of the global are not as great as that of the local. [source]


The treatment of psychological trauma from the perspective of attachment research

JOURNAL OF FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 4 2006
Felicity De Zulueta
This paper looks at the implications of attachment research for the treatment of psychological trauma. This is particularly important in the field of family therapy given that PTSD both impacts on the immediate family system and can be transmitted down the generations. After an initial review of current research in the field, the paper focuses on the assessment and treatment of PTSD, emphasizing the importance of integrating techniques from different models that enable clients to modulate their emotions as part of the therapeutic process. The paper concludes by emphasizing the importance of support and supervision for the therapists in order to avoid secondary traumatization. [source]


The Transformation of the Educational Semantic within a Changing Society: A Study of the Westernization of Modern Chinese Education1

JOURNAL OF HISTORICAL SOCIOLOGY, Issue 4 2009
MEIYAO WU
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the process of westernization of Chinese education , of the Chinese educational "system", was marked by ongoing conflicts between traditional Chinese and modern western culture. This paper looks at the process by which, within the larger context of the "world-society," educational thought was constituted or reconstituted (regenerated) in modern China, thus taking on a more hybrid form. My analysis is guided by a Luhmannian approach which focuses on the distinction between the educational system and its environment, and on the changing concept of "education" throughout an important period in the history of modern China. I will try to analyze the historical description of the distinction between traditional Chinese and modern Western educational ideas. [source]


Religious Identity as an Historical Narrative: Coptic Orthodox Immigrant Churches and the Representation of History

JOURNAL OF HISTORICAL SOCIOLOGY, Issue 2 2006
GHADA BOTROS
This paper looks at how the Coptic Church narrates this history particularly as it transcends the national boundaries of Egypt to serve migrant Copts in Western societies. The historical narrative of the Coptic Church celebrates its contributions to early Christianity; defends its stance in the Chalcedon Council in 451 CE; and celebrates a legacy of triumph and survival after the Arab conquest. Building on theories on collective memory, this paper shows how the present and the past shape one another in a very complex way. The paper is based on interviews with both lay and clerical members of Coptic immigrant communities in Canada and the United States and on textual analysis of books, bulletins and websites launched on and by the Church. [source]


There's more to life than money: Exploring the levels/growth paradox in income and health,

JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, Issue 1 2009
Charles Kenny
Abstract This paper discusses historical and recent cross-country evidence relating income to measures of health. After a review of the literature on income and the quality of life, the paper looks at long-term historical evidence on the link between income change and health indicators. Using data on life expectancy, infant mortality and income for a small subset of largely wealthy countries over the 1913,1999 period, the paper examines correlations between income and health at period start and end as well as using the growth of the variables. Using a larger set of data over the period 1975,2000, the paper repeats these tests, as well as looking for any evidence of a larger impact of income, when different data are used or the sample is split. Results suggest a strong cross-country link between income and health and considerable evidence of global improvements over time, but a comparatively weak relationship between improvements in income and improvements in health, even over the very long term. The paper discusses a model based on technology and institutions that might account for such results as well as some preliminary evidence in favour of such a model. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


NGOs, gender and indigenous grassroots development

JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, Issue 6 2002
Janet Henshall Momsen
This paper looks at two very similar efforts by indigenous communities to develop a tourist attraction based on their own culture and to market it in two very different environments: California and Mexico. Both groups have been displaced from their traditional areas, are being advised by a woman consultant and are expecting women community members to provide cultural performances and crafts for sale to visitors. Unlike the NGOs involved, the communities see this tourism activity as a reclamation and reaffirmation of a culture that has been almost lost, rather than as an exercise in local economic development. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Disability Rights Commission: From Civil Rights to Social Rights

JOURNAL OF LAW AND SOCIETY, Issue 4 2008
Agnes Fletcher
This paper argues that, although originally conceived as part of the ,civil rights' agenda, the development of disability rights in Britain by the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) is better seen as a movement towards the realization of social, economic, and cultural rights, and so as reaffirmation of the indissolubility of human rights in the round. As such, that process of development represents a concrete exercise in the implementation of social rights by a statutory equality body and a significant step towards the conception of disability rights as universal participation, not just individual or minority group entitlement. The paper considers the distinctive features of that regulatory activity. It asks what sort of equality the DRC set out to achieve for disabled people and where, as a result, its work positioned it on the regulatory spectrum. From the particular experience of the DRC, the paper looks forward to considerations of general relevance to other such bodies, including the new Equality and Human Rights Commission. [source]


Performing Buddhist Modernity: The Lumbini Festival, Tokyo 1925

JOURNAL OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY, Issue 2 2009
JUDITH SNODGRASS
This paper looks at the 1920s Tokyo transformation of hanamatsuri (the celebration of the Buddha's birthday) from a local observance to a mass public spectacle. The Lumbini Festival was a performance of Buddhist modernity orchestrated to promote links between Japan and Asia and present Japan as leader of Asia. The Lumbini Festival appeared in 1925, the same year as did the Young East, an English language journal published in Tokyo to promote the trans-Asian Buddhist fellowship. Neither was a state initiative, but both nevertheless contributed to the formation and naturalisation of links between Japan and its Asian neighbours and the development of the Japanese empire. The Lumbini festival naturalised Buddhist brotherhood in Tokyo; the Young East, by reporting it through Asia and the West, promoted ideas of their shared Buddhist heritage, and of a Buddhist basis for social reform and Asian modernity. [source]


Forests, marketization, livelihoods and the poor in the Lao PDR

LAND DEGRADATION AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 2 2006
J. D. Rigg
Abstract The Lao PDR is making the transition from subsistence to cash, and command to market. Rural communities are being drawn ever more tightly into the embrace of the market economy and of the central state. The construction of roads, schools and health centres, the provision of credit and new crops and technologies, and the arrival of traders and the panoply of the consumer economy are all, in their different ways, remoulding rural economy and society. This paper looks at one aspect of this multi-stranded process of agrarian transformation: the role and place of forests and, in particular, non-timber forest products, in rural people's lives and livelihoods. The paper highlights the contradictory and uneven livelihood-eroding/enhancing effects of these transformations. In many upland areas of Laos livelihoods are being squeezed from ,below' by environmental degradation and from ,above' by the operation of government policies and, more generally, by evolving market relations. While market pessimists see market integration as a largely destructive process, the paper highlights the opportunities that market integration can provide through diversification and livelihood reorientation. The challenge is that these opportunities are unequally available and are likely to promote social differentiation. Some households find themselves in a position to embrace new opportunities while others are forced to continue to rely on a declining and degrading forest resource. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Conspicuous consumption and the positional economy: policy and prescription since 1970

MANAGERIAL AND DECISION ECONOMICS, Issue 3-4 2000
Roger MasonArticle first published online: 27 MAR 200
In more recent years, the social significance of consumption has increased to such an extent that activity in the so-called ,positional economy' is now seen to threaten prospects for sustainable, long-term economic growth. In particular, the demand for status goods, fuelled by conspicuous consumption, has diverted many resources away from investment in the manufacture of more material goods and services in order to satisfy consumer preoccupations with their relative social standing and prestige. This paper looks at the policies and prescriptions which have been proposed in order to reduce levels of ,conspicuous waste' in the positional sector, and to redirect resources back into more productive economic activity. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Many-player rendezvous search: Stick together or split and meet?

NAVAL RESEARCH LOGISTICS: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 8 2001
L.C. Thomas
Abstract Rendezvous search finds the strategies that players should use in order to find one another when they are separated in a region. Previous papers have concentrated on the case where there are two players searching for one another. This paper looks at the problem when there are more than two players and concentrates on what they should do if some but not all of them meet together. It looks at two strategies,the stick together one and the split up and meet again one. This paper shows that the former is optimal among the class of strategies which require no memory and are stationary, and it gives a method of calculating the expected rendezvous time under it. However, simulation results comparing both strategies suggest that in most situations the split up and meet again strategy which requires some memory leads to faster expected rendezvous times. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 48:710,721, 2001 [source]


Human nature: a foundation for palliative care

NURSING PHILOSOPHY, Issue 2 2008
Beverly J. B. Whelton PhD MSN RN
Abstract, The Aristotelian-Thomist philosopher holds that human intellectual knowledge is possible because of the order in the world and natural human capacities. It is the position of this paper that there is a shared human form or nature that unites all humanity as members of the same kind. Moral treatment is due to every human being because they are human, and is not based upon expression of abilities. Humans have substantial dynamic existence in the world, an existence which overflows in expressive relationships. As both patient and health professional are human, human nature forms the natural foundation of health care. This paper looks towards human nature for moral guidance. The therapeutic relationship is seen as a part of the interpersonal moral space formed by human relationality, which tends towards community , in this case, the healthcare system. The therapeutic relationship is also a source of moral responsibility, as illness makes the patient vulnerable, while knowledge and nursing capacities generate in the nurse a duty to care. Nursing theory serves to connect philosophical reflection and nursing practice. Imogene King's conceptual system and theory of Goal Attainment is the theory that follows from the perspective of human person being presented. This synthesis of philosophy and theory is developed with the goal of shedding light on healthcare decisions in palliative care. The article concludes with the acknowledgement that the complexity of contextualized individual decisions requires the insight and discipline of the moral practitioner, and provides some thoughts on how education, development, and refinement transform an individual into a nurse. [source]