Felix Nyffenegger and Christian Bacs
In today's globalized economy, distributed collaboration in engineering is important. Participants of engineering teams, with their specific knowledge situated in different…
Abstract
Purpose
In today's globalized economy, distributed collaboration in engineering is important. Participants of engineering teams, with their specific knowledge situated in different locations, must be able to work together as efficiently and as comfortably as possible to provide an optimum contribution to product development. This paper aims to improve the effectiveness of internet based communication.
Design/methodology/approach
Analysis of the current situation was carried out from different perspectives. First, an in‐depth state‐of‐the‐art study of existing hardware and software concepts was done. Second, these tools were evaluated by collaboration experiments. Finally, a concept for improved internet collaboration was elaborated and implemented.
Findings
The main technical method used in this concept is a data overlay which allows different interactive information levels to be mapped on top of a video stream. In addition, eye‐to‐eye video conferencing hardware and a perceptive user interactions system are combined in an integrated system.
Practical implications
An application framework was developed, which integrates the different technologies. Using this framework, three application scenarios were implemented and tested. One focusing on brainstorming using the metaplan‐technique, second is used to build function‐structures and the third allows engineers to plan a plant on 2D, while it is shown in 3D.
Originality/value
Participants can now interact with digital information objects, yet being able to directly face their colleague and discuss simultaneously with the use of gestures such as pointing on objects. Users are free to adjust dynamically their focus between digital information and video by choosing transparency levels.
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Olatunde Julius Otusanya, Jia Liu and Sarah George Lauwo
The mobilising domestic resources, in particular, taxation, is key to unlocking the resources required for public investment in infrastructure, growth and sustainable finance…
Abstract
Purpose
The mobilising domestic resources, in particular, taxation, is key to unlocking the resources required for public investment in infrastructure, growth and sustainable finance. This study aims to share the perception that the tax arrangements of states and the transnational corporations (TNCs) of developed states have a critical effect on the development prospects of the less powerful states in developing countries.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper locates the role of TNCs tax practice within the broader dynamics of globalisation and the pursuit of profits, to argue that the drive of TNCs for higher profits can enrich our understanding of why some TNCs engage in tax dodging. This paper used publicly available evidence to shed light on the role played by TNCs in tax dodging practices in developing countries.
Findings
The evidence shows that tax havens and offshore financial centres, shaped by globalisation, are major structures facilitating the sophisticated tax schemes of highly mobile TNCs. This paper further shows that the corrosive effect of low-tax jurisdictions (“tax havens”) continues to represent a major obstacle to a regulation of global economic relations, which is required for maintaining sustainable social and economic development of poorer states.
Research limitations/implications
This paper used publicly available evidence to illuminate the role played by TNCs in tax dodging practices in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Practical implications
This paper, therefore, advocates a radical reform that could minimise the attendant problems created by the activities of TNCs and the enabling structures that facilitate these practices.
Social implications
Tax dodging has played a major role in causing serious damage to the economic and social landscape in developing countries. This in turn, has undermined social welfare and also investment in the public services, thereby eroding the quality of life and producing a decline in average life expectancy.
Originality/value
This paper is a general review of literature and evidence on contemporary developmental issues.
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Christian Genova, Wendy Umberger, Suzie Newman and Alexandra Peralta
This study aims to investigate the food choice motivations of rural households using a cross-sectional dataset of 510 households from northwest Vietnam interviewed in 2016.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the food choice motivations of rural households using a cross-sectional dataset of 510 households from northwest Vietnam interviewed in 2016.
Design/methodology/approach
A modified Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ) is used to assess factors related to food choice and explore relationships between food choice factors, diet quality and various sociodemographic characteristics.
Findings
Results show four distinct food choice factors: “Natural and healthy,” “Familiarity,” “Balanced diet” and “Convenience.” Two distinct consumer clusters are identified: “Health-conscious” households and “Pragmatic” households. “Health-conscious” households rank “Balanced diet” and “Natural and healthy” highly, while “Pragmatic” households prioritize “Convenience” and “Familiarity.” “Health-conscious” households have significantly more diverse diets, are wealthier and have a greater geographic concentration in the high vegetable density per capita-high elevation areas (36%). Their main food preparers are more educated and about 13% have Kinh ethnicity.
Research limitations/implications
Further research is warranted to explore the temporal dimension of parental food choice motivations given the changing agrifood system in Vietnam.
Originality/value
This study is one of the few studies that assess the food choice motivations among ethnic minority groups in a rural setting.
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Göran Tegnér, Ingvar Holmberg, Vesna Loncar-Lucassi and Christian Nilsson
Harald Pechlaner, Daniel Zacher, Christian Eckert and Lukas Petersik
The purpose of this paper is to discuss responsibility in tourism destinations. On the basis of a resilience approach, central aspects of leadership and of responsibility in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss responsibility in tourism destinations. On the basis of a resilience approach, central aspects of leadership and of responsibility in destination networks are introduced and, a contribution to a conceptual analysis of the future viability of tourism destinations is made. This contributes to a better understanding of resilience from a destination management organization (DMO) perspective in the context of shared responsibility.
Design/methodology/approach
To achieve this goal, a qualitative interview series was conducted with destination managers in urban and rural areas. The interviews were evaluated using the method of GABEK®, in order to reveal and visualize semantic relationships between the specific statements. This method allows the representation of linkages and relationships of keywords from interview transcripts in the form of network graphs.
Findings
A major result is the existence of a network of leaders who take responsibility for tourism development within a tourism destination. Within this network, the destination manager once again plays a key role by developing and formulating visions, goals and strategies. In this context, the relevant employees of the DMO have an important role to play, since they are an important resource of tourism development due to their experience and competences.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to a practical view on the development of visions and strategies. It analyzes challenges and possible ways to communicate with the required political and public actors of the destination as well as with the service providers to regard destination development as a collaborative task.
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France has a long historic heritage with two world wars: the First World War (1914–1918) and the Second World War (1939–1945). Most people associate French culture with Paris…
Abstract
France has a long historic heritage with two world wars: the First World War (1914–1918) and the Second World War (1939–1945). Most people associate French culture with Paris, which is a centre of fashion, luxury, cuisine, art and architecture, but life outside of Paris is very different in its 96 regions. Concerning demographic and economic aspects, people aged between 15 and 24 accounted for 11.79 per cent of the total French population. France is currently the 22nd most competitive economic country in the world, with a high unemployment rate (24%) among those aged 18 to 25 through, which can explain why the French Generation Z is the most pessimistic about the future in Europe (with a score of 59%). Extremism and global terrorism (81%) are thought to be the greatest threats for the future by the young French people, from which the ‘Generation Bataclan’ got its name to refer to French young, open-minded demographic population traumatised by terrorist attacks. Parents are a pillar for the French Generation Z, with 89 per cent of them reporting that their parents influence the values they hold. Beyond the personal and familial sphere, Generation Z requires a reconsideration of management in the workplace. According to a 2017 ‘Gen Z management’ study conducted among 2,300 French young people (Gentina & Delécluse, 2018), the main important criteria for their future careers are ‘working as a team’ (28.8%), ‘developing skills’ (28.4%) and ‘challenging varied roles’ (16.2%). Moreover, 60 per cent of the French Generation Z reveal that they choose face-to-face meetings as their preferred form of communication, as opposed to emailing (16%) or instant messaging (11%).
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Reports on the September 2004 conference "Learning beyond the classroom: envisioning the information commons’ future" held at the University of Southern California. The two‐day…
Abstract
Reports on the September 2004 conference "Learning beyond the classroom: envisioning the information commons’ future" held at the University of Southern California. The two‐day event overlapped USC’s 7th annual conference on Teaching and learning with technology (TLT), giving both librarians and faculty a unique opportunity to explore the collaborative agenda presented by new academic technologies.
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The interests of Public Health in its medical aspect would seem to have always received support in the Union of South Africa. In the year 1911–12, for instance, the sum of one…
Abstract
The interests of Public Health in its medical aspect would seem to have always received support in the Union of South Africa. In the year 1911–12, for instance, the sum of one hundred thousand pounds was expended; in the year of the influenza epidemic three times that sum. The present rate of expenditure is in the neighbourhood of a quarter of a million. There are many public bodies who concern themselves with health conditions in the Union and they are all in touch with the central authority. The officials of the Public Health Department were eagerly waiting for this new Food and Drugs Act to become operative. The growth of industry in South Africa and its bearing on the future of the nation has been fully recognised if the statute book may be taken as a reliable guide. Thus the system of weights and measures was unified by the Act of 1923; the growth of industry encouraged by such Acts as that of the Iron and Steel Industry Encouragement Act of 1922; industrial machinery has been made to run more smoothly by the Industrial Conciliation Act, 1924, and the Wages Act, 1925. Public Health has been safeguarded by the creation of the Public Health Department and by the Public Health Act, 1919, and the Medical, Dental, and Pharmacy Act, 1928; but it was only six months ago that the Act under review came into operation, and the matter with which this Act is concerned lies at the very foundations of public health. The Bill was introduced by the Minister for Public Health on the 2nd February, 1928; and read for the second time on the 27th February. It received the cordial support of both Senate and House of Assembly. Not a dissentient voice was raised. Everyone was eager to support the urgent representations that had been made by such public bodies as the Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the Board of Trade and Agriculture, the Union Council of Public Health, and all the larger municipalities. The Bill had been drawn up after a careful study of similar Australian, New Zealand, and United States legislation. The existing Acts were hopelessly out of date. The Natal and Free State Acts had been founded on the Cape Province Act, and this in its turn on the English Act of 1875, so that legislation was over fifty years old at the time of repeal. Official figures showed that harmful adulteration might be as high as ten per cent. of the samples submitted and these figures certainly did not give a true idea of the extent of such adulteration. As to adulteration with non‐injurious substances it may be sufficient to state that 27 per cent. of butter samples taken in Cape Town contained from 11 to 6 per cent. of foreign fat. Coffee is almost a universal drink among the Dutch population of South Africa, but owing to the inadequacy of the laws the country had, in the words of a witness in Committee, become “ a dumping ground ” for coffee of such an inferior kind that it is difficult to imagine anyone who could get anything better drinking it. Nevertheless it was described by the vendors in such glowing terms as to call forth protests from the Brazilian consul. Sometimes “ coffee ” was not coffee at all. It might be “ banana skins !” Sometimes it was worse than this. Such was a consignment of coffee from Hamburg. It had been in store for more than two years, and its first use was to nourish a large population of weevils—we understand that coffee must be two years old and over before this can happen. These creatures had made such good use of their opportunity that not much was left of the original coffee. As such stuff was only fit for the rubbish destructor it went to South Africa. The bits of beans plus weevils were embedded in a clay matrix, of the proper shape, to give them coherence, baked, stained, and polished—by the way it may be said that the staining and polishing of coffee had by this time assumed the character and dimensions of a skilled industry. Fortunately at this stage of the proceedings the health authorities at Cape Town intervened. It was stated by the Minister who introduced the Bill, with some reserve, that the incidence of adulteration had reached such proportions that the commercial morality of the Union in general was beginning to deteriorate. We should think so. There was certainly little to encourage the ordinary trader to put Sunday school maxims into practice. Fortunately public patience broke down before public health. On the 1st March the Bill was read for the first time in the Senate. It went into the Committee stage on the 8th. Here the usual revelations were made. Milk had, of course, received its full share of attention. So much so indeed that the Act forbids a milk vendor to carry skim milk or water in the same cart when delivering whole milk. It also appeared in evidence that a dairyman had only to keep two or three cows, which yielded inferior milk, in his herd, water the milk of the lot and plead the cow, when prosecuted, with impunity. More than that such a cow was actually hired out to another milk vendor, whom the authorities were wicked enough to prosecute, so that he might take advantage of the peculiarities of the animal and the weakness of the law. It is said that Huxley had great faith in the elasticity of the Hebrew language in the hands of Biblical commentators, it cannot surpass our belief in the almost infinite possibilities of the cow when milk prosecutions are “ going,” but this new use for old cows had not occurred to us. An important witness stated that in his opinion the 3 per cent. minimum for fat in milk is very low, very little lower indeed than the average standard for milk in Cape Town. Cape Town milk it seems is poorer in fat than up country milk. This has been attributed to the Friesian cattle as in “ short horn ” districts, the fat percentage is always higher. Nevertheless Act No. 13, 1929, Chap. II., Part C. s. 17 (3) still declares the minimum fat content for milk sold for domestic purposes to be 3 per cent. Thus, it seems to us, a good opportunity of raising the minimum legal fat content to the great benefit of everybody has been missed. Most assuredly it will not readily recur. No doubt there would have been strong opposition on the part of the trade had any attempt been made to raise this low standard. There always has been. If we had had any doubt on the subject of trade opposition that doubt would have been removed by the following. The same witnesses stated that all the best brands of herds in the Cape Peninsular, are tested for tuberculosis which is “ very prevalent. ” He agreed that milk from tuberculous cows was “ highly dangerous to infant life. ” In reply as to whether it would not be safer to have all herds compulsorily tested, he said: “ It is a question they are afraid to tackle. ” They have been at it for the last 25 years. “ Q. What is the reason? Is it because ” tuberculosis is too prevalent in the Cape A. “ No. I think it is because it affects so many people. “ Had they started it 25 years ago there would not have been this trouble to‐day. “ During the past few years manufacturers of fruit juices and the like had written asking for particulars of food standards and enclosing copies of analyses. It had to be stated in reply that there were no food standards, but that a draft Food and Drugs Bill had been prepared and would probably be before the House during the next session. The Assistant Health officer of the Union who made this statement added, “ I have had to resort to this method of excluding adulterated food for the last three or four years and cannot carry on much longer. ” To send fruit juices to the land of fruit seems rather like sending coals to Newcastle. However, the addition of pectinous matter to preparations of fruits naturally deficient in pectin is well known, necessary, and permissible. But if this be done with the object of overloading, a jam declared to be made of one kind of fruit with a cheaper undeclared pulp it is a fraud which the Act is drawn to prevent. Chap. V. s. 42 empowers the Minister to make regulations under the Act and publish them in the Gazette. In the issue of the 28th March, p. 9, “jam” is defined. No mineral acid, flavouring substance, nor any vegetable substance save that derived from the varieties of fruits named on the label are permitted, but the jam may contain “a trace” of fruit‐derived malic, citric or tartaric acid, colouring matters as scheduled (p. 4) and added pectin not exceeding 0·3 per cent. calculated as calcium pectate. In “Fruit jelly” this may be 0·6 per cent. It is evident that without this regulation a consumer in this country of South African fruit products would have had no assurance that he was not getting synthetic products of European manufacture in South African fruit tins. As a last instance of the ease with which the law might be evaded and adulteration practiced the following may suffice. An inspector in the Cape Province asked for some “ mixed coffee. ” It was supplied him labelled “ mixed coffee ” with a verbal intimation that it contained 25 per cent. of chicory. It did, and 10 per cent. of ground acorns in addition. The conviction which followed was quashed on appeal by Mr. Justice Solomon on the grounds that acorns cost as much as chicory, that they were not shown to have been added to fraudulently increase the bulk, and that there was no evidence that acorns were injurious to health. It need hardly be said that this decision, extra‐ordinary thought thought it may seem, was in strict accordance with the letter of the law in this case, presumably ss. 6 and 7 of the Cape Province Act. Readers who may have followed us so far will probably by this time have come to the conclusion that any change in the law would have been for the better in the interests of the public health and the commercial reputation of the Union. Moreover as the instances of rascally practice that we have cited do not seem to have been at all “ out of the way, ” the successful continuance of such practice under what really amounted to legal protection would induce a belief that the people who would put up with such things must, in the words of Oriental euphemism, be “ afflicted of God ”; and belief in the existence of this unhappy state of things would have been considerably strengthened by the knowledge that at the very time they were spending thousands every year in the interests of public health, the Department of Public Health itself was almost hopelessly oppressed by the incubus of sub‐fossil legislation fifty years behind the times. That while the country was being advertised as a tourist ground and health resort no one from Cape Town to Johannesburg could be sure that any food product he might buy would not be grossly and harmfully adulterated. That while they were building up an extensive overseas trade in foodstuffs they were content to eat and to drink any rubbish that might be foisted on them. While the delay of the Government in amending the law and so putting an end to a state of things that had apparently become a sort of public scandal is hard to understand. It has taken fourteen years! We recall the action of Mr. Snodgrass in the street row in Ipswich who “ in a truly Christian spirit, and in order that he might take no one unawares, announced in a very loud tone that he was going to begin, and proceeded to take off his coat with the utmost deliberation. ”
Débora Domingo-Calabuig, Javier Rivera-Linares, Laura Lizondo-Sevilla and José Luis Alapont-Ramón
City planning and construction have embraced circular economy principles, converting them into various indicators. Particularly in the European context, the question “what…
Abstract
Purpose
City planning and construction have embraced circular economy principles, converting them into various indicators. Particularly in the European context, the question “what architecture for circularity?” is answered with policies focusing on techniques, materials and disassembling construction. This paper analyzes a new approach to sustainable design and explores the concept of Km0 architecture. The objective is to demonstrate the design strategies of a contemporary architecture based on local resources and knowledge, an architecture that works with the shortest possible loop in circularity, i.e. with the cycle that consumes the least amount of energy.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents two ways of understanding sustainability in architecture: the first as a result of policies and the second associated with the design and innovative-based New European Bauhaus initiative. Within the scope of this last understanding, the authors analyze three cases on the Spanish Mediterranean coast that have recently received media attention and prominence. The selection responds to a specific climate adaption through a certain typological and functional diversity of the works.
Findings
The studied cases exhibit a more equitable and cost-effective circularity based on the time factor, have long life-cycle designs and serve as repositories of cultural identity. Km0 architecture reduces emissions using local resources and mitigates environmental conditions by combining traditional and modern design strategies.
Originality/value
This paper fulfills an identified need to study the local understandings of the built environment that would ensure a more fair and inclusive European green transformation.