The unique complexity of social phenomena and the uses of social science knowledge

The assertion about the peculiarly intricate and complex character of social phenomena has, in much of social discourse, a virtually uncontested tradition. A significant part of the premise about the complexity of social phenomena is the conviction that it complicates, perhaps even inhibits the development and application of social scientific knowledge. Our paper explores the origins, the basis and the consequences of this assertion and asks in particular whether the classic complexity assertion still deserves to be invoked in analyses that ask about the production and the utilization of social scientific knowledge in modern society. We refer to one of the most prominent and politically influential social scientific theories, John Maynard Keynes' economic theory as an illustration. We conclude that, the practical value of social scientific knowledge is not necessarily dependent on a faithful, in the sense of complete, representation of (complex) social reality. Practical knowledge is context sensitive if not project bound. Social scientific knowledge that wants to optimize its practicality has to attend and attach itself to elements of practical social situations that can be altered or are actionable by relevant actors. This chapter represents an effort to re-examine the relation between social reality, social scientific knowledge and its practical application. There is a widely accepted view about the potential social utility of social scientific knowledge that invokes the peculiar complexity of social reality as an impediment to good theoretical comprehension and hence to its applicability.

The uses of whiteness: what sociologists working on Europe can draw from US research on whiteness

Whiteness studies are trans-disciplinary, but here the focus is principally on sociology and social history. Firstly, I identify, elucidate and synthesize the major ways in which whiteness in this literature has hitherto been problematized, to provide a sociological view of the multidisciplinary work so far. Five interpretations are identified; whiteness as absence, as content, as a set of norms, as resources and as a contingent hierarchy. Secondly, I make some proposals regarding the whiteness problematic’s degree of pertinence to European settings, with a brief discussion of the Irish case. Finally, I argue that whiteness is useful if conceptualized in a way that sets it within the parameters of studies of racism.

Uses of frontier efficiency methodologies and multi-criteria decision making for performance measurement in the energy sector

Guest editorial Ali Emrouznejad is a Senior Lecturer at the Aston Business School in Birmingham, UK. His areas of research interest include performance measurement and management, efficiency and productivity analysis as well as data mining. He has published widely in various international journals. He is an Associate Editor of IMA Journal of Management Mathematics and Guest Editor to several special issues of journals including Journal of Operational Research Society, Annals of Operations Research, Journal of Medical Systems, and International Journal of Energy Management Sector. He is in the editorial board of several international journals and co-founder of Performance Improvement Management Software. William Ho is a Senior Lecturer at the Aston University Business School. Before joining Aston in 2005, he had worked as a Research Associate in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His research interests include supply chain management, production and operations management, and operations research. He has published extensively in various international journals like Computers & Operations Research, Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence, European Journal of Operational Research, Expert Systems with Applications, International Journal of Production Economics, International Journal of Production Research, Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, and so on. His first authored book was published in 2006. He is an Editorial Board member of the International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology and an Associate Editor of the OR Insight Journal. Currently, he is a Scholar of the Advanced Institute of Management Research. Uses of frontier efficiency methodologies and multi-criteria decision making for performance measurement in the energy sector This special issue aims to focus on holistic, applied research on performance measurement in energy sector management and for publication of relevant applied research to bridge the gap between industry and academia. After a rigorous refereeing process, seven papers were included in this special issue. The volume opens with five data envelopment analysis (DEA)-based papers. Wu et al. apply the DEA-based Malmquist index to evaluate the changes in relative efficiency and the total factor productivity of coal-fired electricity generation of 30 Chinese administrative regions from 1999 to 2007. Factors considered in the model include fuel consumption, labor, capital, sulphur dioxide emissions, and electricity generated. The authors reveal that the east provinces were relatively and technically more efficient, whereas the west provinces had the highest growth rate in the period studied. Ioannis E. Tsolas applies the DEA approach to assess the performance of Greek fossil fuel-fired power stations taking undesirable outputs into consideration, such as carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide emissions. In addition, the bootstrapping approach is deployed to address the uncertainty surrounding DEA point estimates, and provide bias-corrected estimations and confidence intervals for the point estimates. The author revealed from the sample that the non-lignite-fired stations are on an average more efficient than the lignite-fired stations. Maethee Mekaroonreung and Andrew L. Johnson compare the relative performance of three DEA-based measures, which estimate production frontiers and evaluate the relative efficiency of 113 US petroleum refineries while considering undesirable outputs. Three inputs (capital, energy consumption, and crude oil consumption), two desirable outputs (gasoline and distillate generation), and an undesirable output (toxic release) are considered in the DEA models. The authors discover that refineries in the Rocky Mountain region performed the best, and about 60 percent of oil refineries in the sample could improve their efficiencies further. H. Omrani, A. Azadeh, S. F. Ghaderi, and S. Abdollahzadeh presented an integrated approach, combining DEA, corrected ordinary least squares (COLS), and principal component analysis (PCA) methods, to calculate the relative efficiency scores of 26 Iranian electricity distribution units from 2003 to 2006. Specifically, both DEA and COLS are used to check three internal consistency conditions, whereas PCA is used to verify and validate the final ranking results of either DEA (consistency) or DEA-COLS (non-consistency). Three inputs (network length, transformer capacity, and number of employees) and two outputs (number of customers and total electricity sales) are considered in the model. Virendra Ajodhia applied three DEA-based models to evaluate the relative performance of 20 electricity distribution firms from the UK and the Netherlands. The first model is a traditional DEA model for analyzing cost-only efficiency. The second model includes (inverse) quality by modelling total customer minutes lost as an input data. The third model is based on the idea of using total social costs, including the firm’s private costs and the interruption costs incurred by consumers, as an input. Both energy-delivered and number of consumers are treated as the outputs in the models. After five DEA papers, Stelios Grafakos, Alexandros Flamos, Vlasis Oikonomou, and D. Zevgolis presented a multiple criteria analysis weighting approach to evaluate the energy and climate policy. The proposed approach is akin to the analytic hierarchy process, which consists of pairwise comparisons, consistency verification, and criteria prioritization. In the approach, stakeholders and experts in the energy policy field are incorporated in the evaluation process by providing an interactive mean with verbal, numerical, and visual representation of their preferences. A total of 14 evaluation criteria were considered and classified into four objectives, such as climate change mitigation, energy effectiveness, socioeconomic, and competitiveness and technology. Finally, Borge Hess applied the stochastic frontier analysis approach to analyze the impact of various business strategies, including acquisition, holding structures, and joint ventures, on a firm’s efficiency within a sample of 47 natural gas transmission pipelines in the USA from 1996 to 2005. The author finds that there were no significant changes in the firm’s efficiency by an acquisition, and there is a weak evidence for efficiency improvements caused by the new shareholder. Besides, the author discovers that parent companies appear not to influence a subsidiary’s efficiency positively. In addition, the analysis shows a negative impact of a joint venture on technical efficiency of the pipeline company. To conclude, we are grateful to all the authors for their contribution, and all the reviewers for their constructive comments, which made this special issue possible. We hope that this issue would contribute significantly to performance improvement of the energy sector.

Current and future uses of IT in Europe and the Far East:achieving competitive advantage with 3PL

Current and future IT applications effecting supply chains in Europe and Pacific Asia are investigated. 3PL providers increasingly use IT systems for logistics, to enhance supply chain collaboration with business partners. Advanced systems are not always immediately profi table. Most companies already implement IT systems for processing transactions but motivations vary and barriers remain since 3PL providers incompletely understand clients' IT requirements. Long-term productivity gains require sophisticated IT systems to streamline cycles and improve supply chain visibility to facilitate, plan and make decisions. RFID and advanced integration systems, including Business Process Management, are probably the next trend in IT logistics systems. Copyright © 2012 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Exploring the relation between the qualitative and quantitative uses of the determiner some

This article attempts to repair the neglect of the qualitative uses of some and to suggest an explanation which could cover the full range of usage with this determiner - both quantitative and qualitative - showing how a single underlying meaning, modulated by contextual and pragmatic factors, can give rise to the wide variety of messages expressed by some in actual usage. Both the treatment of some as an existential quantifier and the scalar model which views some as evoking a less-than-expected quantity on a pragmatic scale are shown to be incapable of handling the qualitative uses of this determiner. An original analysis of some and the interaction of its meaning with the defining features of the qualitative uses is proposed, extending the discussion as well to the role of focus and the adverbial modifier quite. The crucial semantic feature of some for the explanation of its capacity to express qualitative readings is argued to be non-identification of a referent assumed to be particular. Under the appropriate conditions, this notion can give rise to qualitative denigration (implying it is not even worth the bother to identify the referent) or qualitative appreciation (implying the referent to be so outstanding that it defies identification). The explanation put forward is also shown to cover some's use as an approximator, thereby enhancing its plausibility even further. © Cambridge University Press 2012.

Personal uses and perceived social and economic effects of advertising in Bulgaria and Romania

Purpose - The objective of this paper is to uncover the underlying dimensions of, and examine the similarities and differences in, personal uses of advertising, perceived socio-economic effects of advertising, and consumer beliefs and attitudes toward advertising in Bulgaria and Romania. Moreover, it aims to identify the relative importance of the predictors of attitudes toward advertising in the two countries. Design/methodology/approach - The paper draws upon findings of previous research and theoretical developments by Bauer and Greyser, Sandage and Leckenby, and Pollay and Mittal. The study uses a stratified random sample of 947 face-to-face interviews with adult respondents from major urban areas in Bulgaria (507) and Romania (440). Variables are measured on multi-item scales as a typical application of the reflective indicator model. Findings - Results show that there are significant differences between Romanian and Bulgarian respondents in terms of their attitudes toward advertising. Romanians are more positive about advertising as an institution than the instruments of advertising. Romanians seem to accept the role of advertising in a free market economy, but have less confidence in advertising claims and techniques. Bulgarian respondents seem more sceptical toward advertising in general and are less enthusiastic about embracing the role of advertising as an institution. Moreover, Bulgarians are highly negative towards the instruments advertising uses to convey its messages to consumers. Research limitations/implications - The research findings reflect the views of urban dwellers and may not be generalisable to the wider population of the two countries. Interviewer bias was reduced by eliminating verbal or non-verbal cues to the respondents, and by the use of stratified random sampling. Practical implications - The paper suggests that the regulatory role of codes of advertising practice and industry regulating bodies should be enhanced, and their ability to protect consumers enforced. Marketing campaigns should be more inclusive to involve diverse social groups and reflect generally-accepted social norms. Originality/value - This study reveals that, while general attitudes toward advertising may be similar, attitudes toward the institution and instruments of advertising may differ even in countries with geographic proximity and low cultural distance. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Data analysis methods in optometry Part 4: an introduction to analysis of variance (ANOVA)

In any investigation in optometry involving more that two treatment or patient groups, an investigator should be using ANOVA to analyse the results assuming that the data conform reasonably well to the assumptions of the analysis. Ideally, specific null hypotheses should be built into the experiment from the start so that the treatments variation can be partitioned to test these effects directly. If 'post-hoc' tests are used, then an experimenter should examine the degree of protection offered by the test against the possibilities of making either a type 1 or a type 2 error. All experimenters should be aware of the complexity of ANOVA. The present article describes only one common form of the analysis, viz., that which applies to a single classification of the treatments in a randomised design. There are many different forms of the analysis each of which is appropriate to the analysis of a specific experimental design. The uses of some of the most common forms of ANOVA in optometry have been described in a further article. If in any doubt, an investigator should consult a statistician with experience of the analysis of experiments in optometry since once embarked upon an experiment with an unsuitable design, there may be little that a statistician can do to help.

NMR spectroscopy in the presence of ultrasound and other perturbations

The work described in this thesis has been concerned with exploring the potential uses of ultrasound in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, The NMR spectra of liquids provide detailed structural information that may be deduced from the chemical shifts and spin-spin coupling, that are evident in the narrow resonances, arising from some of the nuclear broadening interactions being reduced to zero. In the solid state, all of the nuclear broadening interactions are present and broad lines in the NMR spectrum are observed. Current techniques employed to reduce the line widths in solids are based on coherent averaging techniques such as MAS NMR1,2 which can remove first order interactions. Recently DOR3 and DAS4 have become available to remove higher order interactions. SINNMR (Sonically Induced Narrowing of the NMR spectra of solids) has been reported by Homer et al5 and developed by Homer and Howard6 to reduce the line widths of solids. The basis of their work is the proposal that a colloidal suspension of solid particles can be made to move like large molecules by using ultrasonic agitation. The advantage of the technique is that the particles move incoherently removing all of the nuclear interactions responsible for broad lines. This thesis describes work on the extension of SINNMR by showing that the line width of 27AI and 11B for the glass Na20/B203/AI203 can be reduced by placing solid particles in a colloidal suspension. Further line width reduction is possible by applying ultrasound, at 2 MHz, of sufficient intensity. It is proposed that a cavitation field is responsible for imparting sufficient rotational motion to the solid particles to partially average the nuclear interactions responsible for broad lines. Rapid stirring of the colloidal suspension generates turbulent flow, however, the motion is insufficient to narrow the line widths for 27AI in the glass. Investigations of sonochemical reactions for in situ rate measurements by NMR have been made. 8y using the Weissler reaction7, it has been shown that ultrasonic cavitation is possible up to 10MHz. Preliminary studies have been carried out into the rate of ultrasonic polymerisation of methylmethacrylate by NMR. Long range order in liquid crystals can imposed when they are aligned in the presence a magnetic field. The degree of alignment can be monitored by NMR using, for example a deuterated solute added to the liquid crystal8. Ultrasonic streaming can then be employed to deflect the directors of the liquid crystal from their equilibrium position, resulting in a change In the NMR spectrum. The angle of deflection has been found for the thermotropic liquid crystal (I35) to be ca, 35° and for the lyotropic (ZLI-1167) to be ca, 20°, Mechanical stirring can used to re- orientate the liquid crystal but was found to give a smaller deflection, In a separate study, that did not use ultrasound, it has been found that the signal to noise ratio of 13C NMR signals can be enhanced by rapidly stirring a Iiquid. Accelerating the diffusion of nuclei out of the coil region enables M0 to be re-established more rapidly than the normal relaxation process. This allows the pulse repetition rate to be reduced without saturating the spin system. The influence of varying the relaxation delay, acquisition time and inter-pulse delay have been studied and parameters optimised. By studying cholesterol the technique was found to be most effective for nuclei with long relaxation times, such as quaternary carbon sites. Key Worde: NMR, Ulf.rasciund, 1,.lqi.fi!:l cryllltalt!h SCll1C1otlemlstryl I!r1hano~d algnflllf

The isolation and identification of dermatologically active constituents of coal tar

The production and uses of coal tar are reviewed as are the uses of steroids and cytotoxic agents in the treatment of psoriasis with a review of the condition also. An attempt was made to improve the efficaciousness and cosmetic acceptability of a low temperature tar, by screening fractions of this tar, derived from a variety of separation procedures. The most efficacious fraction was the highest boiling acid fraction, which is believed to consist mainly of mono- and di-hydric phenols. A time and concentration study showed that the optimum regime was the application of a 10% concentration in 5% wool fat in soft, yellow paraffin daily for 21 days. The mouse tail skin was selected as an experimental model, to ascertain the efficaciousness of fractions, because of the similarities between this skin and the psoriatic lesion. The activity of a fraction was monitored by the inducement of a granular layer in the mouse tail epidermis. Because coal tar is not an easy medium to work with, and the active fractions showed no increase in cosmetic acceptability over the parent coal tar, likely coal tar constituents were selected for screening on the basis of phenolic character, and the molecular weight range elucidated by mass spectroscopy. 32 potential anti-psoriatic agents were screened on mouse tail. Two catechols, 3,5-di-t-butyl and 4-t-butyl catechols were active. Other structures showed little or no activity. 24 catechols were screened and two extremely active catechols were discovered, 3-methyl-5-t-octyl and 5-methyl-3-t-octyl catechols. The screening of catechol-rich coal tar fractions and a coal tar fraction which had had the catechols removed by oxidation, showed that some anti-psoriatic activity was contained in the catechol fraction of coal tar. Attempts to elucidate the mode of action of these two compounds met with little success, but two modes of action are suggested.

Designing a model for a corpus-driven dictionary of academic English

University students encounter difficulties with academic English because of its vocabulary, phraseology, and variability, and also because academic English differs in many respects from general English, the language which they have experienced before starting their university studies. Although students have been provided with many dictionaries that contain some helpful information on words used in academic English, these dictionaries remain focused on the uses of words in general English. There is therefore a gap in the dictionary market for a dictionary for university students, and this thesis provides a proposal for such a dictionary (called the Dictionary of Academic English; DOAE) in the form of a model which depicts how the dictionary should be designed, compiled, and offered to students. The model draws on state-of-the-art techniques in lexicography, dictionary-use research, and corpus linguistics. The model demanded the creation of a completely new corpus of academic language (Corpus of Academic Journal Articles; CAJA). The main advantages of the corpus are its large size (83.5 million words) and balance. Having access to a large corpus of academic language was essential for a corpus-driven approach to data analysis. A good corpus balance in terms of domains enabled a detailed domain-labelling of senses, patterns, collocates, etc. in the dictionary database, which was then used to tailor the output according to the needs of different types of student. The model proposes an online dictionary that is designed as an online dictionary from the outset. The proposed dictionary is revolutionary in the way it addresses the needs of different types of student. It presents students with a dynamic dictionary whose contents can be customised according to the user's native language, subject of study, variant spelling preferences, and/or visual preferences (e.g. black and white).

Can incident reporting improve safety? Healthcare practitioners' views of the effectiveness of incident reporting

OBJECTIVE: Recent critiques of incident reporting suggest that its role in managing safety has been over emphasized. The objective of this study was to examine the perceived effectiveness of incident reporting in improving safety in mental health and acute hospital settings by asking staff about their perceptions and experiences. DESIGN: /st>Qualitative research design using documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews. SETTING: /st>Two large teaching hospitals in London; one providing acute and the other mental healthcare. PARTICIPANTS: /st>Sixty-two healthcare practitioners with experience of reporting and analysing incidents. RESULTS: /st>Incident reporting was perceived as having a positive effect on safety, not only by leading to changes in care processes but also by changing staff attitudes and knowledge. Staff discussed examples of both instrumental and conceptual uses of the knowledge generated by incident reports. There are difficulties in using incident reports to improve safety in healthcare at all stages of the incident reporting process. Differences in the risks encountered and the organizational systems developed in the two hospitals to review reported incidents could be linked to the differences we found in attitudes to incident reporting between the two hospitals. CONCLUSION: /st>Incident reporting can be a powerful tool for developing and maintaining an awareness of risks in healthcare practice. Using incident reports to improve care is challenging and the study highlighted the complexities involved and the difficulties faced by staff in learning from incident data.

A tale of two analyses: the use of archived qualitative data

This article provides a unique contribution to the debates about archived qualitative data by drawing on two uses of the same data - British Migrants in Spain: the Extent and Nature of Social Integration, 2003-2005 - by Jones (2009) and Oliver and O'Reilly (2010), both of which utilise Bourdieu's concepts analytically and produce broadly similar findings. We argue that whilst the insights and experiences of those researchers directly involved in data collection are important resources for developing contextual knowledge used in data analysis, other kinds of critical distance can also facilitate credible data use. We therefore challenge the assumption that the idiosyncratic relationship between context, reflexivity and interpretation limits the future use of data. Moreover, regardless of the complex genealogy of the data itself, given the number of contingencies shaping the qualitative research process and thus the potential for partial or inaccurate interpretation, contextual familiarity need not be privileged over other aspects of qualitative praxis such as sustained theoretical insight, sociological imagination and methodological rigour. © Sociological Research Online, 1996-2012.

A corpus-assisted study of the discourse marker well as an indicator of judges' institutional roles in court cases with litigants in person

In this paper, I concentrate on court cases with litigants in person (lay people who act on their own behalf in legal proceedings without a counsel or solicitor) and discuss the challenges of building a corpus of courtroom discourse where it is crucial to distinguish between speakers due to their distinct institutional roles. The corpus incorporates seven sub-corpora of verbatim transcripts from different court cases with litigants in person and comprises over eleven-million tokens. The focus of this paper is on the interplay between the legal and lay discourse types and how judges project their institutional roles through well-initiated turns directed at litigants in person and counsels. As a versatile discourse marker, well provides a good opportunity to explore how judges have to adapt their roles to ensure lay litigants in person receive the necessary support and that their lack of competence does not impede on the fairness of the proceedings. Given the breadth and importance of the topic of litigation in person, I discuss how the tools and approaches of corpus linguistics can be helpful in this multi-disciplinary area where multiple functions and uses of individual linguistic features need to be explored in depth.