The purpose of this paper is to offer an explanation of the predominance of austerity policies in Europe based on distinct crisis narratives and their underlying market metaphors…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to offer an explanation of the predominance of austerity policies in Europe based on distinct crisis narratives and their underlying market metaphors in public speeches and addresses of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to a broader audience of economic decision-makers.
Design/methodology/approach
The author uses discourse and metaphor analysis of speeches and addresses of Angela Merkel in the aftermath of the crisis applying cognitive metaphor theory in combination with a corpus linguistic approach.
Findings
Dominant conceptual metaphors in Merkel’s crisis narrative subordinate policy-making to superior “market mechanisms”, which are attributed with human and natural characteristics. Moral focus of crisis narrative of “living-beyond-ones-means” forces austerity policies.
Research limitations/implications
The analysis is restricted to public speeches of Merkel, whereas the impact on public discourses was not analyzed.
Social implications
The paper offers an explanation for the prevalence of neoliberal policies in the Eurozone and the uneven balances of political power in public economic discourses.
Originality/value
Study of the role of “market metaphors” in crisis narratives of influential political leaders as well as an analysis of the impact of discursive manifestations and conceptual market metaphors for economic crisis policies.
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G.B. Ihde and H.H. Merkel
One of the significant features of modern economies is the extensive use of technical equipment throughout production and consumption. Defects and malfunctioning of technical…
Abstract
One of the significant features of modern economies is the extensive use of technical equipment throughout production and consumption. Defects and malfunctioning of technical products result in various extra costs in terms of interrupted production as well as lost utility and additional expenses in private households. These consequences of product failures are amplified by the interdependencies within our economic system. Following an initiative by the Federal Association of Logistics Germany (Bundesvereinigung Logistik e.V.) an investigation of spare part logistics systems (SPLSs) in a number of West German industries was just completed. The research concentrated particularly on car, truck, and farming vehicle manufacturing, household appliances, audio and television equipment, and machinery. Our attention was focused on the structure and the functioning of SPLSs, in particular, whether to make or to buy a SPLS, which efficiency standards are employed and what kind of reorganisation had taken place during recent years.
The religious tradition of male circumcision has come increasingly under attack across a number of European states. While critics of the practice argue that the problem is about…
Abstract
The religious tradition of male circumcision has come increasingly under attack across a number of European states. While critics of the practice argue that the problem is about children’s rights and the proper relationship between secular and religious traditions, Jews tend to see these attacks within the longer history of attempts to assimilate and remake them according to the norms of the majority. Using the 2012 German legal controversy concerning the issue as my vantage point, I explore how contemporary criticism of male circumcision remains entangled with ambivalence toward Judaism and the Jews as the “other.” Through a close reading of the arguments, I show how opponents use the seemingly neutral language of universal human rights to (re)make Jewish difference according to the norms of the majority. I conclude by arguing that such an approach to this issue runs the risk of turning Jews once again into strangers at a time when cultural anxieties are troubling European societies.
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In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of…
Abstract
In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.
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Abd Jalil Hassan, Sobri Harun and Tarmizi Ismail
Time of concentration (Tc) is one of the main inputs in rainfall–runoff model which depends on catchment length, slope, soil properties and surface cover. Factor such as…
Abstract
Time of concentration (Tc) is one of the main inputs in rainfall–runoff model which depends on catchment length, slope, soil properties and surface cover. Factor such as floodplain also has a significant contribution on the flood wave travel time. Floodplain which influences the flow and the travelling time is not possible to be calculated using common Tc formulae. One approach to handle this complex behaviour is to deploy the hydrodynamic model as part of the rainfall–runoff model. This chapter explains the application of hydrodynamic approach to determine Tc for large catchment with the effect of floodplain. A hydrodynamic river model for Sg Relai was developed as part of the rainfall–runoff model covering 460 km2 catchment area. It includes channels covering 90 km long which is extended to the floodplain based on the digital terrain model. The simulation results show that once the flood water spill to the floodplain, the channel travelling time is delayed by several hours. The delay of the travel time increases as the rainfall intensity increase which demonstrates that hydrodynamic modelling with the integration of floodplain is capable to compute the variation of Tc.
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This paper calls for a reconsideration of standard narratives regarding the role of small, independent retailers for twentieth‐century urban communities. The paper aims to discuss…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper calls for a reconsideration of standard narratives regarding the role of small, independent retailers for twentieth‐century urban communities. The paper aims to discuss the issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Taking the German city of Bremen as an example, the paper problematizes the nostalgic treatment of independent “Aunt Emma” (or “mom‐and‐pop”) stores in Germany during the last quarter of the century, by recounting the often conflict‐laden history of small retailers within the urban community. It draws on primary documents from retail associations, the chamber of commerce, municipal administrations, as well as media coverage.
Findings
The romanticization of the corner grocer overlooked the often divisive role of small store‐keepers in the interwar years as well as the social considerations behind some forms of retail modernization.
Originality/value
Beyond the particular examples of Bremen or even Germany, the paper urges historians of modern retailing to critically analyze the everyday role shops and shopkeepers have played within their communities without at the same time embracing a market‐liberal narrative of retail modernization as a function of consumer demand.
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Kamila Sobol and Marilyn Giroux
A fear appeal is a communication tactic designed to scare people into adopting desired behaviors (e.g. wash hands to avoid contracting COVID-19). While it is generally…
Abstract
Purpose
A fear appeal is a communication tactic designed to scare people into adopting desired behaviors (e.g. wash hands to avoid contracting COVID-19). While it is generally acknowledged that fear appeals can be persuasive at motivating behavior, this paper aims to identify how to optimally identify how to optimally frame the focal threat to increase their effectiveness as well as to uncover additional underlying processes.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted four experimental studies.
Findings
This research validates that exposure to fear appeals can strongly motivate behavior. However, this study shows that this effect is moderated by threat specificity. Specifically, this study demonstrates that people are more motivated to engage in behaviors that facilitate threat avoidance after exposure to a personally relevant threat that represents a nonspecific (e.g. aging appearance) rather than a specific outcome (e.g. wrinkles). This effect is mediated by perceptions of assimilation (versus contrast) to the focal threat. This study reliably shows the effect across three threat domains (i.e. aging appearance, weight gain, illness) and for different behaviors.
Originality/value
Theoretically speaking, this study contributes to the fear appeal literature by identifying a new type of message framing that has the potential to increase fear appeal’s persuasive power, and uncovering a distinct mechanism by which fear appeals impact behavior. Practically speaking, the findings confirm that fear appeals have the potential to help marketers mobilize consumer behavior, especially when the communication highlights a nonspecific rather than specific threat.
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This paper aims to a newly designed photoresponsive four-armed graft copolymer was synthesised and characterised. The synthesised polymer contains photochemical group and a…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to a newly designed photoresponsive four-armed graft copolymer was synthesised and characterised. The synthesised polymer contains photochemical group and a greater part of the cross-linkable functional group which is not affected by short wavelength when subject to under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation in film status.
Design/methodology/approach
The four-armed macroinitiator was prepared by reacting diethanol amine with poly [methyl-2-chloro-4-{7-(chloroacetyl) oxy]-2-oxo-2H-chromen-4-yl}-2-methylbutanoate] and acylating the product with chloroacetyl chloride. A grafting reaction with n-butyl methacrylate was carried out in the presence of the four-armed macroinitiator and the catalyst CuBr/2, 2′-bipyridyne at 90°C. All of the synthesised polymers were structurally characterised by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Hydrogen-1 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (1H-NMR) spectra. Gel permeation chromatography was used to obtain the molecular weights of polymer.
Findings
1H-NMR, FT-IR and ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy demonstrated that the four-armed macroinitiator and the graft copolymer was successfully synthesised. The end-functionalised poly(methyl methacrylate) with 7-hydroxyl-4-chloromethyl coumarin was irradiated at the wavelength larger than 300 nm to create the cyclobutane ring in between the 7-hydroxyl-4-chloro methyl coumarin unities. To characterise the polymer and show the transformation of coumarin unities into photodimers, 1H-NMR, FT-IR and UV-Vis spectroscopy were used.
Research limitations/implications
Graft copolymer containing coumarin has involves photocrosslinkable functional group, in which reactive functional group has attracted great interest from both industrial and academic fields. Their synthesis provides the opportunity for a compatible modification of the graft copolymer structure to develop adapted macromolecules for a range of end practices.
Practical implications
A photoresponsive graft copolymer can have a role in an active area of polymer chemistry research due to its uses in the areas of photolithography, liquid crystal, non-linear optical materials, laser dyes, fluorescence materials and future microelectronics.
Originality/value
Graft copolymers containing a photocrosslinkable functional group, and a star polymer may be prepared using the method described in this paper and then used in technological applications. The method discussed here also allows photoinduced reversible self-healing in solid polymers.
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A. Kassab, E. Divo, J. Heidmann, E. Steinthorsson and F. Rodriguez
We report on the progress in the development and application of a coupled boundary element/finite volume method temperature‐forward/flux‐back algorithm developed to solve…
Abstract
We report on the progress in the development and application of a coupled boundary element/finite volume method temperature‐forward/flux‐back algorithm developed to solve conjugate heat transfer arising in 3D film‐cooled turbine blades. We adopt a loosely coupled strategy where each set of field equations is solved to provide boundary conditions for the other. Iteration is carried out until interfacial continuity of temperature and heat flux is enforced. The NASA‐Glenn explicit finite volume Navier‐Stokes code Glenn‐HT is coupled to a 3D BEM steady‐state heat conduction solver. Results from a CHT simulation of a 3D film‐cooled blade section are compared with those obtained from the standard two temperature model, revealing that a significant difference in the level and distribution of metal temperatures is found between the two. Finally, current developments of an iterative strategy accommodating large numbers of unknowns by a domain decomposition approach is presented. An iterative scheme is developed along with a physically‐based initial guess and a coarse grid solution to provide a good starting point for the iteration. Results from a 3D simulation show the process that converges efficiently and offers substantial computational and storage savings.
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G. Kaltenpoth, W. Siebert, X‐M. Xie and F. Stubhan
Flip chip test boards with and without plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition silicon nitride moisture barrier coatings were exposed to high humidity and temperature cycling…
Abstract
Flip chip test boards with and without plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition silicon nitride moisture barrier coatings were exposed to high humidity and temperature cycling conditions. The effect of the stress developed in these environments was investigated and evaluated. The influence of the barrier layers on the extent of underfill delamination and degradation in flip chip assemblies was inspected by C‐mode Scanning Acoustic Microscopy. The moisture barrier layers studied show their potential to enhance the reliability of flip chip assemblies in humid environments.