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This paper aims to compare the costs of deploying different wireless terrestrial broadband technologies in the Andes and Amazon Regions of Peru. These areas are representatives of different and challenging geographic regions throughout the globe that currently are severely underserved or unserved for vital broadband services necessary to bridge the “Digital Divide”.

The broadband technologies studied include Wi-Fi, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), long term evolution (LTE), TVWS and new stratospheric platforms (super-pressure balloons). This study conducts a technical analysis (design and simulation) of wireless broadband networks, and a bottom-up engineering cost analysis to estimate and compare the deployment and operating costs of the networks over a 10-year period. The analysis also identifies potential regulatory barriers to deployment associated with spectrum allocation licenses and overbooking requirements intended to improve quality of service.

Comparison of the capital and operating expenses of these options over a 10-year period finds that LTE and Wi-Fi can be the lowest cost alternatives, though significantly, stratospheric balloons have the lowest initial costs for the first few years and can factor as a low-cost broadband catalyst early in deployment. Finally, the lowest cost technology broadband roadmap for the 10-year period is presented, which includes using stratospheric balloons (carrying micro-LTE base stations) for the first years and deploying complementary terrestrial LTE networks for the rest of the 10-year period.

This study presents detailed technical and engineering cost analysis results of wireless access network deployments, including advanced wireless technologies and new unmanned aerial systems, to expand broadband services to rural areas in mountainous (Andes Region) and rainforest (Amazon Region) geographies to reduce the digital divide in emerging countries. Results aim to aid governments, regulators, internet service providers (incumbents and competitive) and content providers to assess current alternatives to expand broadband service in these rural areas.

Reports on selected presentations at the WiLSWorld conference, held in July 2004 at the University of Wisconsin‐Madison.

My focus in this paper is on the meaning that rock music has for fans of Lou Reed. I use the comments following his death as my primary data. These data were posted on the New York Times website in the comments section following the report “Outsider Whose Dark, Lyrical Vision Helped Shape Rock ‘n’ Roll.” From these data I develop what I call “the marginal self” in reference to how rock music helps self-identified marginalized persons to deal with their social exclusion and alienation. Drawing on Kotarba’s (2012) analytic categories of the self, I will show how these data give insight into a wide range of existential meanings related to the music of Lou Reed. For many who wrote these comments their reading of Lou Reed has been an essential transformative part of their life in similar ways to baby boomers as outlined in Kotarba’s (2012) Baby Boomers Rock ‘n’ Roll Fans: The Music Never Ends. I first show how Kotarba’s (2012) core concepts of the musical self provide insight into how fans of Lou Reed develop a sense of self through Reed’s music. I then turn to a discussion of the marginalized self as a development of Kotarba’s (2012) categories of “authenticity work” and “becoming of the self.” Suggestions for future research are noted.

This paper reports on a seminar organised as part of an ESRC‐funded series on older people and care homes that focused on the period of transition into a care home and the experiences of older people immediately before and after they made the move. The papers presented suggested that there were ways in which older people could exercise choice and control over the process, but that problems existed, ranging from the ways in which assessment and referral systems were crisis or service led, to how people were supported after their move. This paper outlines these arguments, and concludes that such processes need to be addressed if the quality of care at this difficult period is to be improved.

The thought process that this paper describes originated in the author's time as a corporate public relations consultant. All too often chief executives complain that their business strategy is misunderstood by the financial markets, legislators and other stakeholders. The reality is usually that their strategy is unclear — even to themselves. Before embarking on any communications activity, therefore, the first step has to be to work with the board to develop a statement of corporate strategic direction. The process of doing so frequently leads not only to a clearer articulation of strategy but also to a renewed focus on the priorities that the strategy demands. Because the board knows precisely what it has to achieve it is more able to concentrate on the issues which really count. This paper deals mainly with the specific example of Whitbread plc. In the early 1990s the company was at the beginning of a major corporate transformation from its origins in braving to becoming a diversified leisure group. To illustrate the degree of change, the percentage of profit derived from brewing has been reduced from over 50 per cent to about 10 per cent in just over a decade, even though the company's beer market share is at its highest level. Beginning with research to establish stakeholder perceptions, this paper traces how corporate values were codified and corporate objectives were written leading to a programme of communication activities designed to secure support for the change process.

Historically, Panama has always been “a place of transit.” While technically the isthmus formed part of Colombia in the nineteenth century, it was linked geopolitically to the United States soon after the California gold rush, beginning in the late 1840s. The first attempt at building a canal ended in failure in 1893 when disease and poor management forced Ferdinand de Lesseps to abandon the project. The U.S. undertaking to build the canal could only begin after Panama declared itself free and broke away from Colombia in 1903, with the support of the United States.

It is generally believed that the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act (SHTA) of 1930 was an electoral response on the part of the Republican Party to Midwestern farmers’ concerns in the 1928 general election which via the legislative process (pork-barreling and log-rolling) was transformed into a generalized upwards tariff revision. There are, however, problems with this view, not the least of which is the fact that the farmers themselves were well aware of the fact that higher tariffs would not improve their lot, and hence favored the price support/equalization measures found in the Haugen–McNary Farm Relief Bill. This paper presents an alternative explanation. Specifically, it is argued that the SHTA had its origins in manufacturing states where the demand for a comprehensive upward revision of tariffs was transformed via the electoral process – and not the legislative process – into an omnibus upward tariff revision that included agriculture. The omnibus nature of the bill, it is argued, was intended as both (i) an electoral strategy and (ii) a hedge against near-certain revolt in rural America over anticipated higher prices for manufactures. We show that while successful electorally (i.e., in the 1928 presidential election), the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Bill fell apart in the legislature in the summer of 1929 when 13 Insurgent Republicans broke with the party to vote with the Democrats to lower tariffs on manufactures.

Since gaining a mass following in the mid‐1990s, companies have poured millions into customer relationship management (CRM) software and solutions. Over the next few years analysts predict that this high spend is set to continue. But why the explosion in investment? Can CRM offer long‐term value, and if so how? The basics of CRM have been around ever since the birth of commerce. At the heart of every business transaction lies the process of interaction between customer and vendor. Managing this interaction so that customers willingly return should be the goal of every customer‐facing organization.

Imagine walking into your local bank to be greeted by a friendly assistant who, after asking only for your name (no account code or reference number), then has access to all of your details enabling him or her to serve you immediately. While you are being served, the assistant observes that you have recently called the customer service department on two occasions and asks whether you are completely satisfied at present. When you say that actually you are thinking of switching companies, the assistant is able immediately to recommend a range of products more suited to your banking needs, thanks to the information in front of them. All the advice given is relevant to you as an individual. You are no longer just a number.