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1 – 10 of 26A consortium of UK companies has developed a high speed, high accuracy 3D shape acquisition system called Photoform that can dramatically speed up prototype production in a whole…
Abstract
A consortium of UK companies has developed a high speed, high accuracy 3D shape acquisition system called Photoform that can dramatically speed up prototype production in a whole range of industries. The system uses a fibre optic laser delivery system to project interference fringes on to a 3D surface, which is then viewed by a camera and analysed to give 12‐micron measurement accuracy over the surface.
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The paper aims to look at the need for businesses become energy efficient in order to face the challenges posed by climate change in the light of a government White Paper…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to look at the need for businesses become energy efficient in order to face the challenges posed by climate change in the light of a government White Paper advocating the reduction of carbon emmisssions.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper looks at research carried out by npower business.
Findings
The paper finds that the benefits of a progressive, long‐term energy management program come not only in cost savings, by reducing consumption and avoiding levies associated with carbon emissions, but in being able to demonstrate an on‐going commitment to carbon reduction and the reputational benefits this brings.
Originality/value
The paper provides interesting information on the need for corporate energy management.
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This paper sets out to examine how social and personality factors influence Chinese consumers' attitudes towards counterfeits of luxury brands and how these two sets of variables…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper sets out to examine how social and personality factors influence Chinese consumers' attitudes towards counterfeits of luxury brands and how these two sets of variables influence purchase intention. It provides a profile of buyers and non‐buyers of counterfeits of luxury brands.
Design/methodology/approach
A self‐administered questionnaire was designed using established scales. A survey was conducted in downtown Shanghai through the “mall intercept” method. A variety of statistical techniques were used to analyze the data.
Findings
Status consumption and integrity are strong influencers of purchase intention, whereas normative susceptibility, information susceptibility, personal gratification, value consciousness, and novelty seeking had weaker influencing relationships. The attitude towards counterfeits of luxury brands is found to influence purchase intention. Collectivism does not influence attitudes nor purchase intentions towards counterfeits of luxury brands.
Research limitations/implications
The findings are limited to Chinese consumers in Shanghai, which cannot be generalized across the whole of China or other international markets. Further, only luxury brands are considered. Other cultural contexts and product categories should be investigated in the future.
Practical implications
The research provides an in‐depth understanding of Chinese consumers' attitudes towards counterfeits of luxury brands. The research findings can be used to formulate strategies for academia, practitioners and, more importantly, policy makers to help eradicate, or at the very least curb, counterfeiting activities.
Originality/value
The majority of previous studies focused on counterfeiting and piracy of music and other optical media, whereas this paper focused exclusively on luxury brands. Status consumption is also added as an antecedent towards attitudes and purchase intention of counterfeits.
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The aim of this chapter is to survey present globally present societal trends in the era of globalization, which are creating a new context for education and for the field of…
Abstract
The aim of this chapter is to survey present globally present societal trends in the era of globalization, which are creating a new context for education and for the field of Comparative and International Education. The trends include the ecological crisis, the population explosion and demographic dynamics, increasing mobility, the technological revolution, especially the ICT revolution, growing affluence, the neo-liberal economic revolution, the rise of a knowledge society, the fourth industrial revolution, changing social relations, democratization, the demise of the once omnipotent nation-state, the persistent but new presence of religion, and the rise of the Creed of Human Rights. These powerful, interrelated set of societal changes, which are getting spread worldwide on the wings of globalization, is creating a new world, of (in Comparative Education nomenclature) an unprecedented new context, forcing the scholars in the field to tread unknown territory. These forces depicted in this chapter constitute a framework for subsequent chapters in the book, where the response of humanity in the education sector, to meet the challenges these forces constitute, will be the theme.
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This paper revisits the claim of Vinten (1993) in this journal that whistleblowing is achieving prominence as a question of social policy.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper revisits the claim of Vinten (1993) in this journal that whistleblowing is achieving prominence as a question of social policy.
Design/methodology/approach
It examines literature from social and health policy to focus on the importance of whistleblowing and the policies that may encourage whistleblowing. However, it finds little extant academic literature in social policy, and so it turns to examine documents on whistleblowing in the British National Health Service such as NHS Inquiries, Parliamentary Debates, Parliamentary Committee Reports and government documents.
Findings
It is found that whistleblowing has not achieved prominence as a question of social policy in nearly 30 years since Vinten's argument. However, it argues that whistleblowing should be an issue for social policy as it is clear that whistleblowing can save lives.
Practical implications
It supports the growing Parliamentary agenda for legislative change for whistleblowers.
Originality/value
This is one of the first articles on whistleblowing in a Social Policy journal for nearly 30 years and provides an argument that the discipline should pay more attention to a topic that can save lives.
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Chris McGoldrick, Giles Andrew Barrett and Ian Cook
The purpose of this paper is to share the findings of a research evaluation into a Befriending and Re-ablement Service (BARS) which offers a host of positive outcomes such as…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to share the findings of a research evaluation into a Befriending and Re-ablement Service (BARS) which offers a host of positive outcomes such as reduced loneliness and keeping as well as possible for a growing segment of the world’s population. The recent increase in longevity is one of humanity’s great success stories. But ageing comes at a price, and decision takers worry about the stresses and strains of an ageing society.
Design/methodology/approach
Following a literature review, this paper presents the findings of an evaluation of an alternative innovative form of support for older people, namely BARS, that has been developed on Merseyside. Semi- and unstructured interviews were carried out with stakeholders including service users and carers. A cost-benefit analysis is also reported. Finally the theoretical and policy implications of this research are explored.
Findings
Befriending and re-ablement officers is both a socially and economically cost effective means of enhancing independent living among older people, reducing loneliness and isolation that can contribute to ill health. The research shows that funding for the BARS scheme should be sustained and expanded, despite or because of the current era of cutbacks in UK and international service provision.
Originality/value
The paper highlights the value, role and importance of both befriending and re-ablement in a time of acute public and voluntary sector funding pressures. The paper is of value to a range of stakeholder groups such as older people, local and central governments and health care commissioners.
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Ian G. Cook and Paresh Wankhade
Although the concept of social capital is rightly associated with Putnam (2000), arguably its roots lie further back in the nineteenth century, but were first articulated in a…
Abstract
Although the concept of social capital is rightly associated with Putnam (2000), arguably its roots lie further back in the nineteenth century, but were first articulated in a “contemporary sense” in 1916 (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2001, p. 41). The authors begin their analysis by summarizing the main types of capital: economic, social, political, human, cultural and symbolic, before exploring the different types of social capital, including bonding, bridging and linking. These are then linked to a variety of related concepts, including: social enterprise, social networks, social value, community development, community resilience and sociability (Cook, Halsall, & Wankhade, 2015). It is argued that social capital is central to these, and is of increasing importance across the globe within the context of the threats and opportunities posed by globalization on the one hand (including the spread of COVID-19) and of potential deglobalization on the other, in part as a reaction to COVID-19 and pre-existing nationalist trends toward limitation of global interactions. The discussion is supported by examination of a range of case studies drawn from societies of contrasting types, including the UK, USA, China, Bangladesh and South Africa. The authors conclude their analysis via consideration of how social capital can be expanded further in order to help meet contemporary and future challenges from whichever direction it arises.
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Alan Day, Quentin Bibble, James Herring, Tony Wills and Blaise Cronin
BROWSING in a new edition of Sequels remains a stable and unceasing pleasure in an unstable world. Nevertheless there is cause for disquiet at the way it is evolving, there is a…
Abstract
BROWSING in a new edition of Sequels remains a stable and unceasing pleasure in an unstable world. Nevertheless there is cause for disquiet at the way it is evolving, there is a distinct change of emphasis, a clear difference in direction, and this is not just a nostalgic regret that things are not what they used to be.
The film approach to history in this paper I want to consider the film as source material for history in the sense that palimpsest and parchment, hieroglyph and rune, clay tablet…
Abstract
The film approach to history in this paper I want to consider the film as source material for history in the sense that palimpsest and parchment, hieroglyph and rune, clay tablet and manorial roll are source materials—fragments, sometimes fragments of fragments, often defaced by time, and applied to purposes of historical reconstruction rarely contemplated by the original authors. For the most part I shall not be particularly concerned with the various philosophies of history—whether it is the job of the historian to lay material dispassionately before the student so that he can make up his own mind about what happened in the past, or to digest source material in order to arrive at the truth—that is, what the historian may hope is the whole incontrovertible real truth, or to digest source material, as Macaulay and Carlyle digested it, in order to justify something in contemporary life or thought. All that need be said here for the moment is that films can be used, as other historical source material can be used, for various and different historical purposes.