Hearing protectors: a dilemma involving acoustics and personal safety

This thesis is concerned with the optimising of hearing protector selection. A computer model was used to estimate the reduction in noise exposure and risk of occupational deafness provided by the wearing of hearing protectors in industrial noise spectra. The model was used to show that low attenuation hearing protectors con provide greater protection than high attenuation protectors if the high attenuation protectors ore not worn for the total duration of noise exposure; or not used by a small proportion of the population. The model was also used to show that high attenuation protectors will not necessarily provide significantly greater reduction in risk than low attenuation protectors if the population has been exposed to the noise for many years prior to the provision of hearing protectors. The effects of earplugs and earmuffs on the localisation of sounds were studied to determine whether high attenuation earmuffs are likely to have greater potential than the lower attenuation earplugs for affecting personal safety. Laboratory studies and experiments at a foundry with normal-hearing office employees and noise-exposed foundrymen who had some experience of wearing hearing protectors showed that although earplugs reduced the ability of the wearer to determine the direction of warning sounds, earmuffs produced more total angular error and more confusions between left and right. !t is concluded from the research findings that the key to the selection of hearing protectors is to be found in the provision of hearing protectors that can be worn for a very high percentage of the exposure time by a high percentage of the exposed population with the minimum effect on the personal safety of the wearers - the attenuation provided by the protection should be adequate but not a maximum value.

The 'silent dilemma' of transitional justice:silencing and coming to terms with the past in Serbia

This article explores the intersections of silence and transitional justice in Serbia, where, it is often suggested, the general public is silent and indifferent about human rights abuses that took place during the former Yugoslav conflicts. It considers both the 'silent' public and the ways in which transitional justice may be complicit in silencing it. Based on scholarship that suggests silences are not absences but rather sites of silent knowledge or a result of silencing, the article explores some of the dynamics hidden within the public's silence: shared knowledge, secret practices and inability to discuss violence. It also considers the ways in which audiences subvert and resist organized transitional justice initiatives or are caught up in a 'silent dilemma' in which they are unable to speak about the past under the discursive conditions created by transitional justice practitioners.

The productivity dilemma in project-based firms:why do organizations tie their own hands and what can managers do to untie them?

In repetitive operations the productivity dilemma has been widely studied, but there is a lack of research in non-repetitive operations, such as in project-based firms. This paper investigates why project-based firms foster or hinder project flexibility through an embedded multi-case study with six projects within a large German project-based firm. The results suggest that although such firms have projects as their key source of revenue, their focus lies in longevity and survival and this logic is, in some instances, at odds with the temporary nature of the project context.

A diversity dilemma in evolutionary markets

Markets are useful mechanisms for performing resource al- location in fully decentralised computational and other systems, since they can possess a range of desirable properties, such as efficiency, decentralisation, robustness and scalability. In this paper we investigate the behaviour of co-evolving evolutionary market agents as adaptive offer generators for sellers in a multi-attribute posted-offer market. We demonstrate that the evolutionary approach enables sellers to automatically position themselves in market niches, created by heterogeneous buyers. We find that a trade-off exists for the evolutionary sellers between maintaining high population diversity to facilitate movement between niches and low diversity to exploit the current niche and maximise cumulative payoff. We characterise the trade-off from the perspective of the system as a whole, and subsequently from that of an individual seller. Our results highlight a decision on risk aversion for resource providers, but crucially we show that rational self-interested sellers would not adopt the behaviour likely to lead to the ideal result from the system point of view.

The franchise dilemma:entrepreneurial characteristics, relational contracting, and opportunism in hybrid governance

Using franchise data, we identify that entrepreneurial characteristics of franchisees partially impact on their opportunistic tendencies. Further, relational contracting increases franchisee opportunism by strengthening the opportunism-enhancing impact of entrepreneurial characteristics. These findings point to a key dilemma franchisors need to be aware of: Entrepreneurially minded franchisees who might be better at exploiting market opportunities for their units may also behave more opportunistically, if given the chance through a more relational contracting regime. At the same time, if they perceive the contractual framework as being too rigid, they may be less able to leverage their capabilities, become dissatisfied, and exit the system.

Constitutional patriotism, migration and the post-national dilemma

This article addresses the challenges of justifying restrictions on migration given a rejection of nationalism as a defensible mode of political integration. Specifically, it focuses on constitutional patriotism, which is proposed as a means of making robust democratic practice possible in diverse contexts. Given that constitutional patriotism represents a commitment to universal principles as a source of attachment rather than the binding sentiment of nationalism, can we continue to rely on nationally defined and controlled migration practices? This article argues that, appropriately understood, constitutional patriotism implies a commitment to much freer movement of individuals across political boundaries than theorists have previously acknowledged. Applying such an approach, however, provokes some challenges to the sustainability of shared rule informed by principles rather than identity. This seeming paradox may mean that constitutional patriotism is more difficult to implement, and highlights practical challenges surrounding the liberalisation of border controls that are pertinent to theorists concerned with post-national citizenship more broadly conceived.

Uncovering North Korea's energy security dilemma:past policies, present choices, future opportunities

Over the past two decades, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has allegedly developed nuclear energy while suffering near collapse caused by catastrophic economic policies. This article presents an evaluation of North Korea's contemporary energy policies and suggests that despite retaining communist ideals and "Chu'che" policies, North Korea has slowly started to modernise its energy sector and recognises the necessity to start engaging with the international community. While it is argued that Pyongyang's newfound concerns for sustainable development, equity and the environment are a welcomed departure from its usual belligerent rhetoric and present a number of exciting engagement opportunities, the regime has not abandoned its nuclear energy programme.