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Laurie Borchard, Michael Biondo, Stephen Kutay, David Morck and Andrew Philip Weiss
This study aims to examine Public Knowledge Project (PKP) Open Journal Systems (OJS) for its overall web accessibility and compliance with the Federal Electronic and Information…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine Public Knowledge Project (PKP) Open Journal Systems (OJS) for its overall web accessibility and compliance with the Federal Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility and Compliance Act, also known as Section 508.
Design/methodology/approach
Twenty-one individual web pages in the CSUN test instance of PKP’s OJS version 2.4.0 used in three back-end journal development user roles were examined using three web-accessibility tools (WAVE, Fangs, Functional Accessibility Evaluator). Errors in accessibility were then logged and mapped to specific Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) criteria.
Findings
In all, 202 accessibility errors were reported across the 21 OJS pages selected for testing. Because of this, the OJS cannot be efficiently utilized by assistive technologies and therefore does not pass the minimal level of acceptability as described in the WCAG 2.0. However, the authors found that the types of errors reported in this study could be simply and effectively remedied.
Research limitations/implications
Further studies will need to corroborate, on a larger scale, the problems of accessibility found in the specific pages. Only three user roles were examined; other roles will need to be analyzed for their own problems with accessibility. Finally, although specific errors were noted, most can be easily fixed.
Practical implications
There is an important need for accessible software design. In the case of CSUN, one of the campus partners will be better served by improving the web accessibility of the authors’ online open access journals.
Originality/value
Although many studies and analyses of Section 508 compliance of front-facing web resources have been conducted, very few appear to address the back-end of such tools. This is the first to examine what problems in accessibility journal users with disabilities might encounter as OJS system administrators, journal managers or journal editors.
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The purpose of this paper is to report on a quantitative study of massive digital library (MDL) Google Books' coverage of Hawaiian and Pacific books.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report on a quantitative study of massive digital library (MDL) Google Books' coverage of Hawaiian and Pacific books.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 1,500 books were randomly selected from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa's Hawaiian, Pacific, and general stacks collections. Their level of access was then determined in Google Books by observing whether the books had a metadata record, were full‐text searchable, and whether they were available as in snippet, preview, or full‐text views.
Findings
Results show that Google Books has a sizable number of metadata records for Hawaiian and Pacific books, but has only a limited number available for full‐text searching. In contrast, a larger number of books from the general stacks were available for full‐text searching.
Research limitations/implications
Because of the small sample size, margins of error remain quite large. The field would benefit from a larger size of collection sample.
Practical implications
Diversity in librarianship is a major concern for libraries both within the USA, as in the case of historically underrepresented groups as well as in non‐English‐speaking countries.
Social implications
Diversity in librarianship also concerns the central mission of libraries to provide the basic human right of access to information. Digital libraries must be held to the same standards.
Originality/value
Massive digital libraries such as Google Books need to be more carefully examined; this study contributes to this need.
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This paper is the first to present empirical evidence consistent with models of signaling through unemployment and to uncover a new stylized fact using the 1988–2006 Displaced…
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This paper is the first to present empirical evidence consistent with models of signaling through unemployment and to uncover a new stylized fact using the 1988–2006 Displaced Worker Supplement (DWS) of the Current Population Survey (CPS), namely that, among white-collar workers, post-displacement earnings fall less rapidly with unemployment spells for layoffs than for plant closings. Because high-productivity workers are more likely to be recalled than low-productivity ones, they may choose to signal their productivity though unemployment, in which case the duration of unemployment may be positively related to post-displacement wages. Identification is done using workers whose plant closed as they cannot be recalled, and no incentives to signal arise.
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For approximately a century and a half after their dramatic deflation, the South Sea and Mississippi Bubbles of 1710–1720 had discredited finance. With the exception of government…
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For approximately a century and a half after their dramatic deflation, the South Sea and Mississippi Bubbles of 1710–1720 had discredited finance. With the exception of government bond markets and a few chartered companies, the rapid rise and fall of fortunes associated with the South Sea Company, in Britain, and the Mississippi Company in France, had made the joint stock system of corporate finance almost synonymous with fraud and financial debauchery. (The most authoritative account of these schemes is given in Murphy, 1997.) The joint stock system of finance was seen as seriously flawed, and an indictment of the theories on credit money of the schemes’ instigator, John Law. During those one hundred and fifty years, classical political economy rose and flowered. Not surprisingly finance then came to be considered for its fiscal and monetary consequences. This pre-occupation left its mark on twentieth-century economics in an attitude that the fiscal and monetary implications of finance, eventually its influence on consumption, are more important than its balance sheet effects in the corporate sector. This attitude is apparent even in the work of perhaps the pre-eminent twentieth century critical finance theorist, John Maynard Keynes.
Through a survey of 200 employees working in five of the thirty establishments analysed in previous research about the microeconomic effects of reducing the working time (Cahier…
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Through a survey of 200 employees working in five of the thirty establishments analysed in previous research about the microeconomic effects of reducing the working time (Cahier 25), the consequences on employees of such a reduction can be assessed; and relevant attitudes and aspirations better known.
William L. Weber and Michael Devaney
Outlines the characteristics of Japanese keiretsu (vertically integrated firms interlinked through industrial groups) and reviews the history of financial keiretsu and associated…
Abstract
Outlines the characteristics of Japanese keiretsu (vertically integrated firms interlinked through industrial groups) and reviews the history of financial keiretsu and associated research. Compares the performance of Japanese and US banks 1989‐2000; and examines Japanese bank profit inefficiency by developing a mathematical model and applying it to 1992‐1999 bank data. Shows a “zig‐zag” pattern of profitability change over the period and concludes that the Japanese banking industry is “barely holding its own in profitability”. Points out the particular importance of this to the real economy in Japan and briefly considers the implications for government policy.
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Peter Koveos and Dipinder Randhawa
The objective of this study is to analyze the framework within which microfinance institutions (MFIs) deliver their services and provide an assessment of their operations and…
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The objective of this study is to analyze the framework within which microfinance institutions (MFIs) deliver their services and provide an assessment of their operations and financial management. These institutions are examined because of their current importance to a special group of consumers, primarily the poor and disenfranchised in the developing world, and of their future promise as an economic development solution. Since the objective of these institutions is somewhat unique, the manner of their assessment must also differ from that used to assess the performance of traditional financial intermediaries. In particular, assessment of MFIs must recognize their dual (bank and development instrument) status. Their efficiency, then, must be analyzed in terms of its economic (or financial) dimension as well as its social dimension. The first dimension may be examined with traditional measures, while examination of the second requires measures that reflect the MFI’s social objectives. In order to accommodate the special nature of MFIs, this study proposes the use of a Balanced Scorecard approach. It contributes to the study of financial institution performance by examining a non‐traditional group of institutions using a variety of assessment measures. The findings should be of value to those interested in the financial sector as well as those involved in public policy decision making.
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Abstract
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To promote stable mental well‐being during childhood (from birth to 19‐years‐old) should be a major priority for governments. This is the time within the lifespan when children…
Abstract
To promote stable mental well‐being during childhood (from birth to 19‐years‐old) should be a major priority for governments. This is the time within the lifespan when children will learn and develop the most, so positive influences are greatest at a young age. This paper reports recommendations suggested by a workshop held in London in 2006, organised by the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London. The workshop considered the core components of effective methods of integrating mental health within health (and other public sector) reforms, which would be relevant to future strategic planning in diverse, national settings. One of the key policy topics considered by the workshop was child mental health. Recommendations were made by the group for incorporating developmentally appropriate actions, at multiple levels: in family, school and community environments.