Kevin Brosnan and Robin C. Burgess
Uses Wenger’s learning architecture as a conceptual framework for analysing the design and support of a Web‐based continuing professional development (CPD) course. Describes the…
Abstract
Uses Wenger’s learning architecture as a conceptual framework for analysing the design and support of a Web‐based continuing professional development (CPD) course. Describes the key elements of the learning architecture and discusses their relevance to Web‐based CPD. In particular notes the importance of a design paradigm that focuses on social networks and the support necessary for their development. Using empirical data from a Web‐based course for professionals in health and social care to illustrate aspects of Wenger’s learning architecture, evaluates successful CPD learning against this theoretical framework. The course drew heavily on the participants’ ongoing workplace practice and was significant in shaping that practice. Concludes, on the basis of experience gained through the course, that Wenger’s concepts provide a useful evaluation framework and design paradigm for Web‐based CPD.
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Purpose – Responding negatively to inequity is not a uniquely human trait. Some of our closest evolutionary ancestors respond negatively when treated less well than a conspecific…
Abstract
Purpose – Responding negatively to inequity is not a uniquely human trait. Some of our closest evolutionary ancestors respond negatively when treated less well than a conspecific. Comparative work between humans and other primates can help elucidate the evolutionary underpinnings of humans’ social preferences.
Methodology/approach – Results from studies of nonhuman primates, in particular chimpanzees and capuchin monkeys, are presented in comparison to human results that have been collected during economic game studies in humans, such as in the Ultimatum Game or Impunity Game.
Findings – Among nonhuman primates, a frequent behavioral reaction to inequity is to refuse to continue the interaction. While in some cases this response appears to be caused by the inequitable distribution, in others, it seems to be caused by another individual's inequitable behavior. While these reactions are similar to those of humans, this reaction does not appear to be a sense of fairness in the way that we think of it in humans. Neither nonhuman primate species alters their behavior when they are the benefited individual, and in an experimental situation, chimpanzees do not alter their behavior to obtain food for their partner as well as for themselves.
Originality/value of the chapter – Although there are differences between human and nonhuman primate responses, such studies allow us to better understand the evolution of our own responses to inequity. Given the strong behavioral reactions that even monkeys show to inequitable treatment, it is not surprising that humans are concerned with equity. Such comparisons increase understanding of issues such as healthcare disparities in humans.
Sarah Parsons, Nicola Yuill, Mark Brosnan and Judith Good
There is increasing interest from researchers, teachers and other professionals, individuals with autism, and families about the potential for innovative technologies to transform…
Abstract
Purpose
There is increasing interest from researchers, teachers and other professionals, individuals with autism, and families about the potential for innovative technologies to transform learning experiences and facilitate friendships and social networks. Media accounts have highlighted both the apparently miraculous impacts of technology on supporting communication and learning for people with autism, as well as significant concerns about whether technology use is healthy, safe and socially appropriate for children and young people. Rarely, however, is any evidence reported to support either set of claims. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
This short paper reports on an Economic and Social Research Council-funded seminar series in the UK that is critically reviewing and discussing the field with respect to the research evidence base but also the assumptions that are made about where, how and whether innovative technologies may be useful for people with autism and their families.
Findings
The first seminar in the series focused on whether technologies create a social bubble for people with autism and presented research demonstrating that technology use can be positive, supportive and rewarding.
Originality/value
This paper offers an up-to-date insight into some of key debates about the benefits and limitations of social technologies for people with autism. Its value lies in raising questions about, and discussing evidence that challenges, some of the negative assumptions that are often perpetuated by the media about the potentially harmful effects of technologies.
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Daniel Houser and Kevin McCabe
Neuroeconomics is the study of how the brain makes economic decisions. By its nature neuroeconomics studies the mechanisms of decision-making, assumed to be computational, in…
Abstract
Neuroeconomics is the study of how the brain makes economic decisions. By its nature neuroeconomics studies the mechanisms of decision-making, assumed to be computational, in order to better understand the strategies people use and the choices that people make. The focus of this book is how neuroeconomics connects to health economics in a way that improves our understanding of health care and treatment decisions. This is natural for several reasons. First, the brain and the body are intimately connected to each other and the health of one depends on the other. Second, the health system is inherently about decisions. Decisions to stay healthy, decisions to diagnose illness, decisions to treat, decisions to invest in new treatments, decisions to insure, and decisions to pay. Finally, these decisions can be difficult, as the media's consistent attention to this area attests. In light of this, for this volume we chose to include chapters that review basic research on emotion or social preference that have direct relevance to decisions in health economics. We have also included chapters that refer more specifically to some aspect of people's health care or treatment decisions. In the following we indicate the chapters within each topic area. Although many chapters could arguably fit in multiple categories, we have listed each chapter only once and without particular order.
The enduring popular image of James Bond is (in the words of the theatrical trailer for Dr No) ‘the gentleman agent with the licence to kill’. Yet the screen Bond is hardly a hero…
Abstract
The enduring popular image of James Bond is (in the words of the theatrical trailer for Dr No) ‘the gentleman agent with the licence to kill’. Yet the screen Bond is hardly a hero in the manner of gentlemanly archetypes such as Cary Grant and David Niven (reputedly Ian Fleming’s preferred choice for the role). This chapter will explore how the image of Bond in the films has changed over time both in response to wider social and cultural archetypes of masculinity and due to the different performance styles of the various actors to play the role: Sean Connery, whose rough-hewn Scottishness can be seen as a means of representing the ‘otherness’ of Fleming’s character (‘Bond always knew there was something alien and un-English about himself’); George Lazenby, whose one-off appearance as an emotionally damaged Bond in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service anticipated later portrayals of the character; the parodic variant of Roger Moore; the brooding Byronic hero of Timothy Dalton; the ‘Milk Tray Man’ charm of Pierce Brosnan; and Daniel Craig, whose combination of bull-in-a-china-shop physicality and vulnerable masculinity (literally so in Casino Royale) has by common consent successfully transformed Bond from a cartoon superman into a twenty-first century action hero.
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Kevin Campbell and Magdalena Jerzemowska
The purpose of this paper is to provide an understanding of the importance of socioemotional wealth (SEW) to family firms in Poland viewed through the lens of the events…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide an understanding of the importance of socioemotional wealth (SEW) to family firms in Poland viewed through the lens of the events surrounding the first hostile takeover bid of the post-communist era on the Warsaw Stock Exchange when the clothing company Vistula & Wólczanka (V&W) made an unsolicited, leveraged bid for the family-controlled jewelry company W. Kruk.
Design/methodology/approach
The 2008 takeover and its aftermath are described in the context of the corporate governance and legal environment in Poland. The case study events demonstrate the connection between firm behavior and SEW theory.
Findings
After the acquisition of W. Kruk by V&W, the Kruk family purchased stock in the newly named Vistula Group and gained influence over the supervisory board in concert with a business ally, eventually wresting back control of the company in the style of a Pac-Man “defense.” The case study illustrates the importance of SEW in family firm takeovers.
Research limitations/implications
The case study design has limitations for generalizability. Nevertheless the research highlights the important role of SEW preservation in understanding the market for corporate control of listed family firms in Poland.
Practical implications
Understanding the reaction by family firms to takeover bids requires recognition that there is a tradeoff between financial and SEW considerations, not just financial gains and losses.
Originality/value
The case study demonstrates the importance of SEW to family firms and suggests that the balance of power in takeovers on the Polish stock market rests with incumbent management.
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In 2020, the latest James Bond film will hit cinema screens. The film has been produced by Eon Productions, is based on Ian Fleming’s suave, sophisticated super spy and stars…
Abstract
In 2020, the latest James Bond film will hit cinema screens. The film has been produced by Eon Productions, is based on Ian Fleming’s suave, sophisticated super spy and stars Daniel Craig in the title role. With a troubled production shoot well-documented in the media, Daniel Craig often seeming and contradictorily at odds of being both enamoured and loathing with the role, a director leaving through ‘creative differences’ and numerous screenwriters being drafted in as last-minute replacements or add-ons, it will be interesting to see how the latest Bond adventure fares both critically and financially.
At their heart, the Bond adventures – originally in Ian Fleming’s novels and short stories, and then in their film incarnations before spilling out into newer platforms – offer pure escapism for the reader, viewer, listener and gamer. Set against the backdrop of exoticism in a post-war climate, the stories centre around MI6 Agent, James Bond, stopping enemies of the British Empire in their attempts at world domination. They gave the reader a sense of both an attempt by Fleming/Bond to recapture Britain as an important power on the world stage. Whilst Bond may have sipped martinis as he coolly dispatched the latest despotic tyrant, they also offered up ideas about time, place, culture, the social climate of the period and gender.
This book will focus on numerous aspects of the Bond-catalogue, but in particular paying particular attention to how the portrayal of gender, both in the stories and behind the scenes, has helped shape one of the most significant, important and successful British franchises.
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THE popular image of Ireland is of a land where one can enjoy the perfect holiday. If you are a golfer, fisherman, rambler or if you just enjoy good food and of course the black…
Abstract
THE popular image of Ireland is of a land where one can enjoy the perfect holiday. If you are a golfer, fisherman, rambler or if you just enjoy good food and of course the black nectar for which it is famous, then Ireland is the place to go, take the word of TV Chef, Keith Floyd. Ireland however, unlike many small countries, is not content to base its economy on tourism.