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To describe the development of and experience with a system that tracks the position of knocks and taps atop a large sheet of glass for use as an inexpensive retrofit that can make large windows into interactive interfaces.

The structural‐acoustic wavefront coming from the impact is simultaneously recorded by four contact piezoelectric pickups mounted near the sheet's corners. A digital signal processor extracts relevant characteristics from these signals, such as amplitudes, frequency components, and differential timings, which are used to estimate the location of the hit and derive other parameters, including a degree of confidence in the position accuracy, the strike intensity and the nature of each hit (e.g. knuckle knock, metal tap, or fist bang – our system responds to any kind of impact). A set of heuristically‐guided rules are employed to compare the waveforms recorded by different sensors and determine the differential timing.

Across sensitive areas ranging up to 2×2 m, we have obtained position resolutions of σ=2.5 cm for 1/4 in. tempered glass and σ=3‐4 cm for 1 cm thick shatterproof glass. Our system delivers 65 ms latency, hence is essentially real time. The system has been installed in several public settings, and has proven to be very robust.

Suggestions are given for doing everything in software and not using the DSP. Analytical compensation of the dispersion would probably yield better precision but require more computation time.

As this system requires only simple hardware, it needs no special adaptation of the glass pane, and allows all tracking transducers to be mounted on the inner surface, hence it is quite easy and inexpensive to deploy as a retrofit to existing windows. This opens many applications, such as an interactive storefront, with content controlled by knocks on the display window, an interactive museum display case, or a vending machine where one can select by tapping directly above the desired item.

As large displays become less costly and more common, systems like these can make them interactive. This paper details our approach.

Presents over sixty abstracts summarising the 1999 Employment Research Unit annual conference held at the University of Cardiff. Explores the multiple impacts of globalization on work and employment in contemporary organizations. Covers the human resource management implications of organizational responses to globalization. Examines the theoretical, methodological, empirical and comparative issues pertaining to competitiveness and the management of human resources, the impact of organisational strategies and international production on the workplace, the organization of labour markets, human resource development, cultural change in organisations, trade union responses, and trans‐national corporations. Cites many case studies showing how globalization has brought a lot of opportunities together with much change both to the employee and the employer. Considers the threats to existing cultures, structures and systems.

Man has been seeking an ideal existence for a very long time. In this existence, justice, love, and peace are no longer words, but actual experiences. How ever, with the American preemptive invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq and the subsequent prisoner abuse, such an existence seems to be farther and farther away from reality. The purpose of this work is to stop this dangerous trend by promoting justice, love, and peace through a change of the paradigm that is inconsistent with justice, love, and peace. The strong paradigm that created the strong nation like the U.S. and the strong man like George W. Bush have been the culprit, rather than the contributor, of the above three universal ideals. Thus, rather than justice, love, and peace, the strong paradigm resulted in in justice, hatred, and violence. In order to remove these three and related evils, what the world needs in the beginning of the third millenium is the weak paradigm. Through the acceptance of the latter paradigm, the golden mean or middle paradigm can be formulated, which is a synergy of the weak and the strong paradigm. In order to understand properly the meaning of these paradigms, however, some digression appears necessary.

Presents a special issue, enlisting the help of the author’s students and colleagues, focusing on age, sex, colour and disability discrimination in America. Breaks the evidence down into manageable chunks, covering: age discrimination in the workplace; discrimination against African‐Americans; sex discrimination in the workplace; same sex sexual harassment; how to investigate and prove disability discrimination; sexual harassment in the military; when the main US job‐discrimination law applies to small companies; how to investigate and prove racial discrimination; developments concerning race discrimination in the workplace; developments concerning the Equal Pay Act; developments concerning discrimination against workers with HIV or AIDS; developments concerning discrimination based on refusal of family care leave; developments concerning discrimination against gay or lesbian employees; developments concerning discrimination based on colour; how to investigate and prove discrimination concerning based on colour; developments concerning the Equal Pay Act; using statistics in employment discrimination cases; race discrimination in the workplace; developments concerning gender discrimination in the workplace; discrimination in Japanese organizations in America; discrimination in the entertainment industry; discrimination in the utility industry; understanding and effectively managing national origin discrimination; how to investigate and prove hiring discrimination based on colour; and, finally, how to investigate sexual harassment in the workplace.

The reflections in this chapter explore the genesis of tourism geography in the Netherlands and Belgium marked by political and linguistic constraints, plus historical, political, and cultural factors, as well as the footprints of some pioneers. The dual language use of French and Dutch/Flemish has often been offered as an excuse for the low profile of the region’s universities in international knowledge networks. However, thanks to the involvement in thematic networks and a growing pressure for researchers to publish internationally in peer-reviewed journals, the research landscape in tourism has definitely changed. Geographical and spatial approaches to tourism have led to a colorful research landscape today.

Although Leutwiler's initiative in taking to the field has been well-documented by scholars and the University of Illinois alike, the role of the UPenn figure, “Benjamin Franklin” or alternately in Illinois narratives “William Penn,” has received little attention (Spindel, 2001; King & Springwood, 2001). Leutwiler's adoption of the “Chief Illiniwek” persona, which will be discussed in-depth later, was not a response to inquiries by the UPenn band who hoped to utilize their articulated personae of “Benjamin Franklin” during a halftime skit as other scholars have suggested. Leutwiler adopted the untitled personae that became the basis for the “Chief” two years earlier during experiences as a Boy Scout and for performances at his alma mater, Urbana High School.⁶ Although the University of Pennsylvania solicited the Illinois band and assistant director Raymond Dvorak in particular, to create its own figure to interact with “Benjamin Franklin” in a show of “good sportsmanship,” Lester Leutwiler was already performing as an “Indian” before the supposed 1926 inception.⁷ In fact, his performance was so well known to his classmates at Urbana High School that the yearbook contained multiple references to Leutwiler's penchant for dressing as his Indian persona at school events (Urbana High School, 1925). Importantly, then the UPenn invitation can be read as the opening of a new arena for performances of Indianness – the sports field – not as an inciting event in the creation of “Chief Illiniwek.” Focusing on “Chief Illiniwek” as a sports mascot has eroded the larger cultural context of performances of Indianness that was being undertaken in local and national venues including Urbana High School.

In previous efforts the author has examined the various “men” of economics or human‐nature assumptions of “economic thinkers” as a way of treating the history and philosophy of the discipline. Here, under the thematic penumbra of “Man as the Centre of the Social Economy”, and hoping to incorporate the fruits of further inquiry into the matter, those “creatures” and their fashioners are critically reconsidered with a view towards arriving at a more adequate conception of a truly human “economiser” and – accordingly – science of human economy. In Part II, having presented homo oeconomicus in both his/her “impudent” and “honourable” versions, we shall attempt to transcend homo socioeconomicus and even our own (former) homo oeconomicus humanus as well.

The media have changed forever. Potential audiences are now dispersed among a plethora of media, extremely segmented, and much harder to pin down for extended periods. Information must now be tailored, rather than “one size fits all”. Audiences are interrelated as never before. Information is moving unpredictably and without true source credibility. In this brave new world where the economy is driven by information, the public relations (PR) industry is the navigator, the primary communications opportunity, having bumped advertising from its long‐held position. To win the race, PR now has to earn the trust of end users and deliver on its promise to be the arbiter among multiple stake‐holders, a purveyor of credible information and the facilitator of interactive dialogue.

The study aims to examine the potential benefits of integrating nature-based solutions (NbS) in the housing sector.

The approach adopted was a systematic literature review aided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews criteria and the VOSviewer software. Abductive reasoning was used to analyze the collected data, which was then subjected to content analysis through an iterative read-and-review procedure.

The study identified green walls, indoor greenery, porous pavement and landscaping, rainwater harvesting and water purification and green roofs as elements of buildings where NbS should be incorporated. Although nature-based research on integrated greenery facades and roof applications was noted, rainwater harvesting and water purification-oriented research remained dominant. These findings demonstrate the advantages of implementing NbS in the housing sector, including energy efficiency, environmental development, flood prevention and sustainable water management. Integrating NbS into housing designs can considerably contribute to the creation of more resilient, eco-friendly and comfortable living environments. However, the adoption of NbS faces hurdles, including a lack of awareness, limited policy support and economic constraints.

This study recommends that NbS be mainstreamed into housing development and knowledge exchange opportunities between sub-Saharan Africa and Europe, as well as other regions, to promote the adoption of NbS through research and collaborations. Also, it contributes to the discourse of sustainable affordable housing in the Global South while addressing United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 11, 12, 13 and 15. This study offers valuable guidance to stakeholders, thereby fostering the development of more sustainable and resilient housing practices and policies.

The study used VOSviewer software visualization to identify structural patterns and track prominent research frontiers, allowing for a more thorough yet concise mapping and capture of a scientific knowledge domain.