Long Thang Van Nguyen, Donna Cleveland, Chi Tran Mai Nguyen and Corinna Joyce
This study explores how problem-based learning (PBL) programs can address Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) via the higher education (HE) curriculum, teaching materials and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study explores how problem-based learning (PBL) programs can address Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) via the higher education (HE) curriculum, teaching materials and relevant assessments, supporting learning at scale for HE institutions.
Design/methodology/approach
Employing SDGs and their indicators as the coding framework, our two-phase study evaluates the curriculum and teaching materials of seven PBL programs at a leading higher education institution (HEI). The first phase involved a content analysis to assess the degree of sustainability integration in 156 relevant courses. The second phase applied a semi-automated mapping protocol to analyze learning and teaching materials in 120 relevant courses.
Findings
The school aligns with 17 SDGs (100%), covering 94 indicators (55.62%). On average, each program within the school addresses over ten of these goals and incorporates more than 24 associated indicators. However, the study reveals an imbalance in the incorporation of SDGs, with some goals not yet deeply and comprehensively embedded in the curriculum. While there is a substantial focus on sustainability theories, the practical implications of SDGs in emerging countries, particularly through case studies and assessments, require significant enhancement.
Practical implications
Mapping SDGs allows HEIs to identify strengths and gaps in SDG integration, thereby improving the PBL approach to enhance student work readiness in sustainability-focused careers.
Originality/value
Through the lens of transformative learning theory, this study provides evidence of SDG integration into PBL curricula. It highlights a mapping methodology that enables HEIs to evaluate their sustainability readiness in curriculum, teaching materials and relevant assessments.
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With the objective of encouraging the use of standard processes for exploring offenders' narratives two complementary procedures are discussed. One is a development of McAdams…
Abstract
With the objective of encouraging the use of standard processes for exploring offenders' narratives two complementary procedures are discussed. One is a development of McAdams explorations with highly effective individuals, describing their life as if it were a book. This is a structured interview protocol that has been specifically produced for use with offenders, in which they describe their life as a film (LAAF). A number of studies with male and female incarcerated individuals as well as those without convictions have revealed important differences between people in how they give a free account of their past and future lives. This allows the differentiation of LAAF narratives and reveals the existence of dominant narrative forms in offenders' responses. These relate to those initially elaborated by Frye (1957) for fiction, namely tragedy, comedy, adventure and romance. The second method is the Narrative Role Questionnaire (NRQ) which elicits the inherent role that offenders saw themselves as playing during specific crimes. Completion of the NRQ by various samples reveals important differences between offences in the narratives that provide the agency for their criminal actions. The roles central to these narratives have also been found to embody distinct emotional components that maintain offending. Taken together the NRQ and the LAAF provide a framework for examining offence narratives which enables the main narratives of relevance to criminality to be identified and their implications for theory and practice to be elaborated.
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Although most aetiological theories of crime assume that offenders are a distinct subset of the population, there is evidence that many illegal acts are committed by people who…
Abstract
Purpose
Although most aetiological theories of crime assume that offenders are a distinct subset of the population, there is evidence that many illegal acts are committed by people who have no convictions and are therefore not regarded as criminals. The question consequently arises as to whether there are aspects of illegal actions that set convicted offenders apart. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
To answer this, a 45-item self-report questionnaire was administered to two samples (males 15-29 years): 185 prisoners and 80 young men without convictions.
Findings
The results draw attention to a distinguishing psychological dimension of instrumentality operating across the range of offence forms. Convicted offenders are more likely to commit crimes for direct gratification with intent when compared with the sorts of illegal activities that non-convicted respondents report they have done.
Research limitations/implications
Careful matching of convicted criminals and those without convictions is extremely difficult. Future research that explores other non-criminal samples would therefore be of value.
Practical implications
Interventions with people who commit crimes need to carefully distinguish between those who are determined criminals and those whose activities are more likely to be part of an opportunistic culture.
Originality/value
The results challenge conceptualisation of criminals and criminality as something always distinct from those without convictions. It thus has implications for what theories of crime should seek to explain. The significance of instrumentality also give further force to the legal emphasis on men's area.
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Gene Deszca and Linda M. Ament
Perhaps the single most powerful competitive edge any company canhave over the next decade is – providing superlative service. Astechnology progresses at a rapid pace and the…
Abstract
Perhaps the single most powerful competitive edge any company can have over the next decade is – providing superlative service. As technology progresses at a rapid pace and the benefits of any organization or product bear remarkable similarity to a competitor′s, the one sustainable, competitive edge which remains is – service. Service, however, requires skill and in most organizations a cultural transition. It is in this area where training can become the driving force and make signficant impact on profitability.
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Sameer Kumar, Cindy Massie and Michelle D. Dumonceaux
The cosmetic industry is a very lucrative, innovative, and fast paced industry where product innovation is the key to success. The purpose of this paper is to present a detailed…
Abstract
Purpose
The cosmetic industry is a very lucrative, innovative, and fast paced industry where product innovation is the key to success. The purpose of this paper is to present a detailed analytical (qualitative) study of cosmetic industry in the global marketplace with a focus on the four market leaders in this industry relative to their business and innovation strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
Business analyses include Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT), Porter's value chain and five forces, and financial applied to the four industry leaders.
Findings
Each of these cosmetic companies is unique. They each offer something different to the industry; selling method, marketing strategy, product line, and distribution channel.
Practical implications
The industry trends indicate that the future of cosmetics may move towards more joint ventures between drug companies, cosmetic companies and nutritional/food companies as cosmetic companies look for new ways to be innovative.
Originality/value
The research provides an in‐depth business analyses of cosmetic industry using SWOT, Porter's value chain and five forces and financial with results obtained that are generalizable to the entire cosmetic industry. Projections on the future of cosmetic industry are also presented.
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Responding to the increased visibility of populist demagogues in the critical and cultural discourses of contemporary Western society, recent activity within the academy has…
Abstract
Responding to the increased visibility of populist demagogues in the critical and cultural discourses of contemporary Western society, recent activity within the academy has sought to clarify, develop and (re)define populism as a phenomenon. Via analyses of Aliens (Cameron, 1986), The Running Man (Glaser, 1987) and Robocop (Verhoeven, 1987), this chapter draws upon these conceptualisations to revisit a sample of action heroes from the eighties action cinema. Exploring the intersection of these gendered identities with the aesthetics of ideational populism, the chapter demonstrates how such texts have helped shape the nature of the action cinema genre from the outset. In doing so, the chapter considers (1) how these narratives construct a duality of homogenous antagonistic groups, organised around a virtuous people and corrupt self-serving elite, thereby mirroring the fundamental conditions of populism, (2) how the super-objectives guiding the principles and actions of characters operate as gendered and thin-centred ideologies which fail to offer meaningful solutions to the wider socio-political issues encountered, and (3) how Richards, Ripley and Robocop are positioned as self-appointed demagogues, who pursue personal, rather than common, solutions and often operate without conventional societal constraints.