Truc Thanh Ngo and Bradley Chase
Environmental sustainability and social contexts are becoming increasingly important concepts. The infusion of sustainability and humanitarian engineering (HE) into the academic…
Abstract
Purpose
Environmental sustainability and social contexts are becoming increasingly important concepts. The infusion of sustainability and humanitarian engineering (HE) into the academic core curriculum is often challenging. This study aims to provide an understanding of students’ perceptions and attitudes toward the incorporation of active learning of sustainability and humanitarian concepts into engineering education.
Design/methodology/approach
A project-based sustainability course was developed and offered to engineering undergraduates. A HE international field experience was also provided to students as an extracurricular activity. Pre- and post-surveys were conducted to assess students’ perceptions and attitudes toward sustainability and HE project learning experience. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to determine the statistical significance of the results and demographic influences on students’ experiences.
Findings
Both project-based and international field learning experiences positively influenced the students’ perceptions of sustainable practices, social change and appreciation of the engineering profession. Multidisciplinary learning also helped students become more motivated, engage in sustainability-promoted activities and community work and improve their social interactions. Students gained practical engineering skills that they did not typically receive in traditional classroom settings and recognized the global and social responsibilities that are core to sustainable development education.
Originality/value
The study demonstrates a mixed undergraduate educational model in which students acquired sustainability concepts through a project-based engineering course and practiced social responsibility through international HE projects. The findings help engineering educators understand students’ perceptions toward sustainability and HE, providing insight into effective curriculum design and strategic inclusion of social responsibility in traditional engineering education.
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Evaluating the political influence of a teachers’ union is, necessarily, a somewhat subjective task. It appears to me that the teacher unions’ power, as measured by their…
Abstract
Evaluating the political influence of a teachers’ union is, necessarily, a somewhat subjective task. It appears to me that the teacher unions’ power, as measured by their membership strength, has remained healthy and in fact increased slightly since 1988. The most recent public figures for the NEA and the AFT indicate that the two organizations are collectively nearing four million members – counting the NEA’s membership of 2.7 million and the AFT’s just over one million (Newman, 2000). As a measure of the unions’ ability to mobilize teachers, however, those numbers may overstate the case for power. In the AFT, approximately half of its membership now comes from teacher aides and other non-teaching personnel such as school bus drivers (Keller, 2002). Even so, the number of teachers who are members of the NEA and AFT is considerable, and any explanation of a diminished political influence on the part of those unions must deal with the issue of their large memberships.
Charles Taylor Kerchner and Julia Koppich
Teacher unions’ departures from industrial organizing are documented in a series of case studies and collections on reform-minded locals’ practices and contracts (see Johnson &…
Abstract
Teacher unions’ departures from industrial organizing are documented in a series of case studies and collections on reform-minded locals’ practices and contracts (see Johnson & Kardos, 2001; Kerchner & Koppich, 1993). Recently, investigators have collected data on union locals that belong to the Teacher Union Reform Network (TURN), a group of NEA and AFT locals. For example, William Harju (2003), retired executive director of the San Diego Teachers Association, visited most of the TURN locals (working from a document collection schedule and case study format similar to the one in Kerchner & Koppich, 1993). Kerchner and Koppich, in recent unpublished work, visited Minneapolis, Columbus, and Rochester and made additional inquiries by telephone interview.1 TURN locals by no means represent the totality of union reform, and no encyclopedia of union reforms in the United States exists, but TURN locals are certainly among those with the longest experience and most extensive reforms.
Thalia Anthony, Juanita Sherwood, Harry Blagg and Kieran Tranter
David Manry and David Stangeland
This research uses accounting information to supplement abnormal returns evidence in order to gauge the performance of greenmailed firms. Our results support the management…
Abstract
This research uses accounting information to supplement abnormal returns evidence in order to gauge the performance of greenmailed firms. Our results support the management entrenchment hypothesis; target firm earnings are poor relative to industry in the years surrounding the greenmail event, and earnings do not significantly improve as would be expected under the shareholders' interest hypothesis. This result holds after adjusting for greenmail premia net of tax effects. Evidence on investment spending suggests firms that pay greenmail differ substantially from their industries, but in a negative direction. In contrast, the industry‐adjusted earnings of non‐greenmail repurchasing firms are significantly greater than the earnings of greenmailed firms. Together, these results are consistent with the contention that greenmailed firms are not managed in shareholders' interests; they underperform their industry, the poor operating results are not attributable to higher investment outlays associated with a long‐term strategic focus, and performance does not improve. This is consistent with observed negative abnormal returns being attributable to both a lost takeover premium and a lost opportunity for improved corporate performance.
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The NEA did not begin as a teachers’ organization, as such. Rather, the organization began in 1870 as a federation of four organizations representing distinctly different…
Abstract
The NEA did not begin as a teachers’ organization, as such. Rather, the organization began in 1870 as a federation of four organizations representing distinctly different perspectives: the American Normal School Association, the National Association of School Superintendents, the Central College Association, and the National Teachers Association (Elsbree, 1939, pp. 264–265, 500). Only the last of these groups, the NTA, formed in 1857 from 10 state teachers’ associations, actually represented teachers, and for roughly the first 100 years of its existence, the NEA was controlled by administrators rather than teachers, frequently worked against teachers’ interests (especially when they conflicted with administrative or supervisory priorities), and opposed collective bargaining. Although the NEA lobbied fairly effectively on the state level on issues such as increasing expenditures on education, consolidating and professionalizing administration of school districts, and establishing certification and standards for teachers, its unwillingness or inability to support candidates for federal elections made it relatively less successful on the national level.
Joel L. Hartman and Ellen I. Watson
The Bradley Library Information Support System (BLISS) is a comprehensive local area network designed to provide library users with an array of electronic information access and…
Abstract
The Bradley Library Information Support System (BLISS) is a comprehensive local area network designed to provide library users with an array of electronic information access and management services to support Bradley University's curriculum, research, and scholarly activities. The LAN is designed in a client/server architecture, with function‐specific Unix servers operating over an Ethernet network, to support a range of services both within the library and campuswide. BLISS workstations are available to both patrons and staff and located throughout the library; some BLISS resources are network‐accessible to the general campus community. A menu interface lists the resources available and establishes a transparent connection between the user and the selected resource. BLISS is a joint project of the library and computing services, providing a platform for the development of cohesive electronic information services and for the training, documentation, and mediation serices necessary to effectively use them.
Jesper Normann Asmussen, Jesper Kristensen, Kenn Steger-Jensen and Brian Vejrum Wæhrens
Significant transitions in firms (e.g. outsourcing) may impact the relative importance of production and inventory assets, affecting the hierarchical separation of planning…
Abstract
Purpose
Significant transitions in firms (e.g. outsourcing) may impact the relative importance of production and inventory assets, affecting the hierarchical separation of planning decisions. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to planning literature by investigating how the production system and the planning environment influence the performance difference between hierarchical and monolithic planning. Further, it seeks to reduce the prevailing theory-practice gap in tactical planning.
Design/methodology/approach
Through an action research study, a monolithic model integrating tactical production planning decisions, subject to upstream supply chain constraints, with strategic investments decisions was developed, tested and implemented in a global OEM. Using the developed model and a measure of the capital cost of production assets relative to the cost of holding inventory, it is numerically examined how the production system and planning environment influence the performance of hierarchical and monolithic planning.
Findings
The research demonstrates the potential of integrating decisions and reveals significant performance differences between hierarchical and monolithic planning for firms with low capital cost relative to inventory holding cost.
Research limitations/implications
The findings suggest a fit between planning processes, the production system and planning environment. Future research should empirically validate the findings and propositions.
Originality/value
The paper combine capital investments and production planning decisions, which usually transpire at different hierarchical levels and on different time-horizons, and investigates the consequences of hierarchical separation through a real-life validated case and numerical analysis.
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This paper presents evidence that the valuation consequences of targeted share repurchase announcements are positively related to the size of the firms' pre‐repur‐chase free cash…
Abstract
This paper presents evidence that the valuation consequences of targeted share repurchase announcements are positively related to the size of the firms' pre‐repur‐chase free cash flows and to the firms' pre‐repurchase build‐up of liquid assets. The paper further reports that the level of liquid assets declines permanently following the share repurchases. The results suggest that a share repurchase is a viable means to cut down surplus cash and that such decision can increase shareholder wealth by reducing agency costs of free cash flows.