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1 – 10 of 38Dickson M. Nyariki and Steve Wiggins
Despite the widely acknowledged prognosis that the danger of unrelenting hunger and famine looms large in sub‐Saharan Africa and that there is a constant need for donors to…
Abstract
Despite the widely acknowledged prognosis that the danger of unrelenting hunger and famine looms large in sub‐Saharan Africa and that there is a constant need for donors to provide much required food relief, there is a paucity of literature based on comprehensive empirical work at the household or individual level. Based on data collected across two years and two locations in rural Kenya, attempts to develop further the literature on household food security. Food balances are computed and various approaches to food poverty analysis are employed by setting a very low poverty line to determine the proportion of households whose members would require external food support. Results show that per capita food production is low and varies with rainfall, and food poverty and inequality in distribution are high. A great deal could be done, therefore, in the sphere of livelihood opportunities to enhance household purchasing power and hence effective demand and food distribution.
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The purpose of this paper is to argue for the widening of attention in healthcare improvement efforts, to include an awareness of the humanity of people who work in the sector and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to argue for the widening of attention in healthcare improvement efforts, to include an awareness of the humanity of people who work in the sector and an appreciation of the part human connection plays in engagement around good quality work. Theoretical frameworks and research approaches which draw on action-based, interpretive and systemic thinking are proposed, as a complement to current practices.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper describes the early stages of an action research (AR) project, which used the appreciative inquiry “4D” framework to conduct participative inquiry in Hamad Medical Corporation’s ambulance service in Qatar, in which staff became co-researchers.
Findings
The co-researchers were highly motivated to work with improvement goals as a result of their participation in the AR. They, and their managers, saw each other and the work in new ways and discovered that they had much to offer.
Research limitations/implications
This was a small-scale pilot project, from which findings must be considered tentative. The challenges of establishing good collaboration across language, culture and organisational divides are considerable.
Practical implications
Appreciative and action-oriented inquiry methods can serve not only to find things out, but also to highlight and give value to aspects of humanity in the workplace that are routinely left invisible in formal processes. This, in turn, can help with quality improvement.
Originality/value
This paper is a challenge to the orthodox way of viewing healthcare organisations, and improvement processes within them, as reliant on control rather than empowerment. An alternative is to actively include the agency, sense-making capacity and humanity of those involved.
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The very contextual nature of most mitigating evidence runs counter to America’s individualistic culture. Prior research has found that capital jurors are unreceptive to most…
Abstract
The very contextual nature of most mitigating evidence runs counter to America’s individualistic culture. Prior research has found that capital jurors are unreceptive to most mitigating circumstances, but no research has examined the capital sentencing decisions of trial judges. This study fills that gap through a content analysis of eight judicial sentencing opinions from Delaware. The findings indicate that judges typically dismiss contextualizing evidence in their sentencing opinions and instead focus predominately on the defendant’s culpability. This finding calls into question the ability of guided discretion statutes to ensure the consideration of mitigation and limit arbitrariness in the death penalty.
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This review aims to reexamine the main issues of the food problem under a new concept coined as “Four Ss with one F”. It aims to provide a stimulus for thinking food problems…
Abstract
Purpose
This review aims to reexamine the main issues of the food problem under a new concept coined as “Four Ss with one F”. It aims to provide a stimulus for thinking food problems through a simple formula “Four Ss with one F” for getting the “full” story at a glance.
Design/methodology/approach
This descriptive paper is based on an extensive literature review as well as personal observations gained from previous studies.
Findings
The three Ss, security or insecurity, safety, and sovereignty have been major topics in the public agenda for a long time as food‐related problems. When the basic idea “food for all” is considered, these are not inclusive enough. The fourth concept can be described as shareability. These concepts are not competitive but complementary, even overlapping to some extent. Food sovereignty and shareability can be considered opposing concepts to the available free‐market based approaches in the efforts to bring all people food security and food safety. This revision evidenced that despite the many efforts in this field for several decades, present free market oriented approaches have not led to solutions to the problem of food security and providing safe food to all people, i.e. “food for all”. Hunger does not result from a shortage in the food supply as generally argued. The food problem is related to poverty and the inability to purchase food. It is not possible to solve hunger and nutrition problems and maintain a permanent social peace without equality and justice in income distribution throughout the world in such a way that poor people have enough income to access vital basic food needs.
Originality/value
This paper introduces a new concept in food science as shareability along with considering previous concepts of food, security, safety and sovereignty, all together.
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Curriculum design is an essential task that is complex, painstaking, thought provoking, and cognitively demanding. Often, educators leave curriculum design up to the “experts,”…
Abstract
Curriculum design is an essential task that is complex, painstaking, thought provoking, and cognitively demanding. Often, educators leave curriculum design up to the “experts,” such as textbook makers, program directors, and curriculum leaders. Although deference to “experts” can be perceived as the more efficient way to approach curriculum design, it removes the power from the instructors to exert their expertise, content knowledge, pedagogical artistry, and ability to address the needs of their specific students. In turn, students’ learning and ultimate generalization and application of that learning may not be fully realized. This chapter seeks to challenge that deference of power and illustrate that curriculum design should be a fundamental component to any course design and implementation. This chapter will illustrate considerations that instructors must keep at the forefront of their thinking when designing curricula; specifically, the provision of relevant content that serves as a basis for sustained and successful employability and addressing diverse student learning needs. This chapter will also provide reasonable, practical frameworks for educators to use to embark on executing this critical component of teaching and learning.
This article seeks to provide insight into internal control principles within a significant non‐profit organisation.
Abstract
Purpose
This article seeks to provide insight into internal control principles within a significant non‐profit organisation.
Design/methodology/approach
A review of archival and general literature sources.
Findings
The article provides the background to the development of financial administration of The Salvation Army, chronicling early approaches to fund raising and attitudes to public accountability. It also sets out the early framework for regulating financial management and internal controls on financial matters. It presents a detailed account of a major breakdown in controls. It concludes with a brief summary of key guideline breakdowns.
Originality/value
This paper will be of interest to financial administrators in non‐profit organisations.
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Eleonora Pantano and Kim Willems
In confining the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing was key, with traditional, bricks-and-mortar retailing being shut-down for weeks, and have nearly universally moved into…
Abstract
In confining the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing was key, with traditional, bricks-and-mortar retailing being shut-down for weeks, and have nearly universally moved into online channels. At the same time, online players have started to operate physical stores. This chapter provides an analysis of how COVID-19 has accelerated the digitalization of retailing, focusing on the shift towards the online and mobile shopping channel. On the basis of success stories and failures in retail business practice, lessons are distilled for developing effective future phygital scenarios.
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Melissa Schieble and Jody Polleck
English teacher candidates have limited opportunities to examine classroom-based discussions about LGBTQ-themed texts and heteronormativity in teacher education courses. This…
Abstract
English teacher candidates have limited opportunities to examine classroom-based discussions about LGBTQ-themed texts and heteronormativity in teacher education courses. This chapter presents one effort to address this issue using a video-based field experience in the English Methods course that demonstrated a critical unit of instruction about the play, Angels in America. The chapter provides a description of the project and English teacher candidates’ perspectives about what they learned for English educators interested in devising similar projects for their courses.
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Walter Fernando Balser, Steve Diasio and Taylor Kendal
This essay proposes the need to infuse open innovation (OI) and open source (OS) principles and technologies into schools as a means of tackling many of the most pervasive…
Abstract
This essay proposes the need to infuse open innovation (OI) and open source (OS) principles and technologies into schools as a means of tackling many of the most pervasive challenges in education, and by extension, society at large. It is argued that the principles of OI and OS, which are rooted in innovation management and software development, respectively, may be applied to the way we conceive of and approach organizational governance structures related to schooling, particularly in regard to harnessing innovation, updating management processes, and codifying new systems of trust. Whereas OI offers a novel approach to knowledge flow and the open exchange of ideas, communities rooted in OS principles breed tangible and generative effects through peer network democratization. These emergent, digitally defined networks have been proven to maximize innovation potential, expand collaboration, and enable the propagation of highly durable systems of trust and transparency, all catalytic and essential if we are to realize a future learning economy which favors equity, distributed systems, and common goods over profit, centralized decision-making, and proprietorship. It is within this framing that we articulate the core tenets of both OI and OS translationally as a means of stimulating thinking about how core principles of “openness” and the distributed technologies they enable may help to build common ground in an ever-evolving education and information ecosystem.
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