Unpacking the perceived opportunity to misbehave: The influence of spatio-temporal and social dimensions on consumer misbehavior

Purpose This study aims to use opportunity as a theoretical lens to investigate how the spatio-temporal and social dimensions of the consumption environment create perceived opportunities for consumers to misbehave. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on routine activity theory and social impact theory, the authors use two experiments to demonstrate that spatio-temporal and social dimensions can explain consumer theft in retail settings. Findings Study 1 reveals mixed empirical support for the basic dimensions of routine activity theory, which posits that the opportunity to thieve is optimised when a motivated offender, suitable target and the absence of a capable formal guardian transpire in time and space. Extending the notion of guardianship, Study 2 tests social impact theory and shows that informal guardianship impacts the likelihood of theft under optimal routine activity conditions. Originality/value The study findings highlight important implications for academicians and retail managers: rather than focusing on the uncontrollable characteristics of thieving offenders, more controllable spatio-temporal and social factors of the retail environment can be actively monitored and manipulated to reduce perceived opportunities for consumer misbehaviour.

Drivers of the accuracy of developers' early stage cost estimates in residential construction

Purpose – Preliminary cost estimates for construction projects are often the basis of financial feasibility and budgeting decisions in the early stages of planning and for effective project control, monitoring and execution. The purpose of this paper is to identify and better understand the cost drivers and factors that contribute to the accuracy of estimates in residential construction projects from the developers’ perspective. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a literature review to determine the drivers that affect the accuracy of developers’ early stage cost estimates and the factors influencing the construction costs of residential construction projects. It used cost variance data and other supporting documentation collected from two case study projects in South East Queensland, Australia, along with semi-structured interviews conducted with the practitioners involved. Findings – It is found that many cost drivers or factors of cost uncertainty identified in the literature for large-scale projects are not as apparent and relevant for developers’ small-scale residential construction projects. Specifically, the certainty and completeness of project-specific information, suitability of historical cost data, contingency allowances, methods of estimating and the estimator’s level of experience significantly affect the accuracy of cost estimates. Developers of small-scale residential projects use pre-established and suitably priced bills of quantities as the prime estimating method, which is considered to be the most efficient and accurate method for standard house designs. However, this method needs to be backed with the expertise and experience of the estimator. Originality/value – There is a lack of research on the accuracy of developers’ early stage cost estimates and the relevance and applicability of cost drivers and factors in the residential construction projects. This research has practical significance for improving the accuracy of such preliminary cost estimates.

The social consequences of control: Accounting for indentured labour in Fiji 1879 - 1920

Purpose: This is a study of the social consequences of accounting controls over labour. It examines the system of tasking used to control Indian indentured workers using a governmentality approach in the historical context of Fijian sugar plantations during the British colonial period, from 1879 to 1920. Method/ Methodology: Archival data consisting of documents from the Colonial Secretary’s Office, reports and related literature on Indian indentured labour was accessed from the National Archives of Fiji. In addition, documented accounts of the experiences of indentured labourers over the period of the study give voice to the social costs of the indenture system, highlighting the social impact of accounting control systems. Findings: Accounting and management controls were developed to extract surplus value from Indian labour. The practice of tasking was implemented in a plantation structure where indentured labourers were controlled hierarchically through a variety of calculative monitoring practices. This resulted in the exploitation and consequent economic, social and racial marginalisation of indentured workers. Originality: The paper contributes to the growing body of literature highlighting the social effects of accounting control systems. It exposes the social costs borne by indentured workers employed on Fijian sugar plantations. Practice/ Research Implications: The study promotes better understanding of the practice and impact of accounting as a technology of government and control within a particular institutional setting, in this case the British colony of Fiji. By highlighting the social implications of these controls in their historical context, we alert corporations, government policy makers, accountants and workers to the socially damaging effects of exploitive management control systems.

Predictive technology and natural hazards: Risk for Australian planning authorities?

Purpose The object of this paper is to examine whether the improvements in technology that enhance community understanding of the frequency and severity of natural hazards also increased the risk of potential liability of planning authorities in negligence. In Australia, the National Strategy imposes a resilience based approach to disaster management and stresses that responsible land use planning can reduce or prevent the impact of natural hazards upon communities. Design/methodology/approach This paper analyses how the principles of negligence allocate responsibility for loss suffered by a landowner in a hazard prone area between the landowner and local government. Findings The analysis in this paper concludes that despite being able to establish a causal link between the loss suffered by a landowner and the approval of a local authority to build in a hazard prone area, it would be in the rarest of circumstances a negligence action may be proven. Research limitations/implications The focus of this paper is on planning policies and land development, not on the negligent provision of advice or information by the local authority. Practical implications This paper identifies the issues a landowner may face when seeking compensation from a local authority for loss suffered due to the occurrence of a natural hazard known or predicted to be possible in the area. Originality/value The paper establishes that as risk managers, local authorities must place reliance upon scientific modelling and predictive technology when determining planning processes in order to fulfil their responsibilities under the National Strategy and to limit any possible liability in negligence.

Inspiration sources for Australian fast fashion design: Tapping into consumer desire

Purpose The research purpose was to identify both the inspiration sources used by fast fashion designers and ways the designers sort information from the sources during the product development process. Design/methodology/approach This is a qualitative study, drawing on semi-structured interviews conducted with the members of the in-house design teams of three Australian fast fashion companies. Findings Australian fast fashion designers rely on a combination of trend data, sales data, product analysis and travel for design development ideas. The designers then use the consensus and embodiment methods to interpret and synthesise information from those inspiration sources. Research limitations/implications The empirical data used in the analysis were limited by interviewing fashion designers within only three Australian companies. Originality/value This research augments knowledge of fast fashion product development, in particular designers’ methods and approaches to product design within a volatile and competitive market.

Performance Evaluation of Distance-Hop Proportionality on Geometric Graph Models of Dense Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks can often be viewed in terms of a uniform deployment of a large number of nodes on a region in Euclidean space, e.g., the unit square. After deployment, the nodes self-organise into a mesh topology. In a dense, homogeneous deployment, a frequently used approximation is to take the hop distance between nodes to be proportional to the Euclidean distance between them. In this paper, we analyse the performance of this approximation. We show that nodes with a certain hop distance from a fixed anchor node lie within a certain annulus with probability approach- ing unity as the number of nodes n → ∞. We take a uniform, i.i.d. deployment of n nodes on a unit square, and consider the geometric graph on these nodes with radius r(n) = c q ln n n . We show that, for a given hop distance h of a node from a fixed anchor on the unit square,the Euclidean distance lies within [(1−ǫ)(h−1)r(n), hr(n)],for ǫ > 0, with probability approaching unity as n → ∞.This result shows that it is more likely to expect a node, with hop distance h from the anchor, to lie within this an- nulus centred at the anchor location, and of width roughly r(n), rather than close to a circle whose radius is exactly proportional to h. We show that if the radius r of the ge- ometric graph is fixed, the convergence of the probability is exponentially fast. Similar results hold for a randomised lattice deployment. We provide simulation results that il- lustrate the theory, and serve to show how large n needs to be for the asymptotics to be useful.

On isometries of the Kobayashi and Caratheodory metrics

This article considers C-1-smooth isometries of the Kobayashi and Caratheodory metrics on domains in C-n and the extent to which they behave like holomorphic mappings. First we provide an example which suggests that B-n cannot be mapped isometrically onto a product domain. In addition, we prove several results on continuous extension of C-0-isometries f : D-1 -> D-2 to the closures under purely local assumptions on the boundaries. As an application, we show that there is no C-0-isometry between a strongly pseudoconvex domain in C-2 and certain classes of weakly pseudoconvex finite type domains in C-2.

银鲫卵黄原的诱导、分离纯化及其生化鉴定

以雄性银鲫为实验材料 ,通过雌二醇 (Estradiol- 1 7β,E2 )的多次诱导 ,使得 E2 诱导产物成为血清中的主要蛋白。而后 ,在快速蛋白液相色谱 (FPL C)系统上 ,利用高交换量的阴离子交换层析 Q柱 ,成功的从血清中提纯了与雌性特异蛋白相一致的 E2 诱导产物。糖、磷、脂蛋白分析表明 ,它是一类糖磷脂蛋白大分子。同时 ,它能被 Mg2 + - Ethylenediamine tetraaceticacid(Mg2 + - EDTA)部分沉淀 ,这进一步证明 ,与雌性特异蛋白相一致的

Boron isotopic fractionation during seawater evaporation

IEECAS SKLLQG

Strong temperature dependence and no moss photosynthesis in winter CO2 flux for a Kobresia meadow on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau

We examined the CO2 exchange of a Kobresia meadow ecosystem on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau using a chamber system. CO2 efflux from the ecosystem was strongly dependence on soil surface temperature. The COZ efflux-temperature relationship was identical under both light and dark conditions, indicating that no photosynthesis could be detected under light conditions during the measurement period. The temperature sensitivity (Q(10)) of the COZ efflux showed a marked transition around -1.0 degrees C; Q(10) was 2.14 at soil surface temperatures above and equal to -1.0 degrees C but was 15.3 at temperatures below -1.0 degrees C. Our findings suggest that soil surface temperature was the major factor controlling winter COZ flux for the alpine meadow ecosystem and that freeze-thaw cycles at the soil surface layer play an important role in the temperature dependence of winter CO2 flux. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

控制热力学条件下的矿物、岩石电学性质研究

电导率是重要的地球物理参数。模拟地球内部条件下的矿物、岩石电导率测量是了解地球内部物质组成及物理化学性质的有效手段，同时，还可以为野外大地电磁测量结果的解释提供依据。在YJ-紧装式六面顶压机上，对原有的矿物、岩石电性测量系统进行了进一步的改进；建立了一套以Solartron 1260阻抗／增益一相位分析仪为测试仪器，使用Mo电极和Mo盾来控制样品氧逸度的测量系统，该系统的氧逸度环境为Mo-MoO2，接近Iw缓冲对。石英（人造水晶）、橄榄石、纯橄榄岩、辉石岩、二辉橄榄岩、巨晶辉石的电导率测量是在新的测量系统下获得的，而辉长岩的电导率测量是基于LCR仪为测量仪器的测试系统下获得的。在压力为1-3GPa、温度为675K-160OK、频率为106-0.1Hz、氧逸度为Mo-MoO2的条件下，对不同方向石英（人造水晶）的电学性质进行了研究。复阻抗平面上出现了反映样品本身性质的阻抗弧和反映样品与电极之间扩散的直线。石英的电导率随温度增加而增加，随压力的变化比较微弱。石英的导电机制主要为离子导电，载流子可能为碱金属离子和氢离子，这些碱金属离子和氢离子主要在平行于光轴的通道中运动。在相同的温度和压力条件下，a石英的电导率和c轴的夹角有关，石英的电导率随着夹角的增大而减小，表现出了强烈的各向异性。对“各个方向石英在发生了相变前后的电导率进行了研究，发现Q石英转变为p石英后，电导率并没有突变，仍然随着温度的增加而增加。在压力为1-2GP。、温度为563-1173K、频率为12-105Hz的条件下研究了辉长岩的阻抗。结果发现辉长岩复阻抗的实部随频率的增加而减小，而虚部随频率增加先增大后减小；相角随频率增加而减小。在复阻抗平面上出现了反映颗粒内部的阻抗弧，该阻抗弧出现在高频段。实验室获得辉长岩在地壳的压力和温度（1.0GP。和893K）条件下的电导率值为1.77×-4S／m，而高导层的电导率值为0-01-0-15S／m，二者相差了2-3个数量级，推断辉长岩不能在下地壳形成高导层。在压力为3.0GPa、温度为1299-1600K、频率为106-0.1Hz、氧逸度为Mo-MoO2条件下，对不同颗粒粒度的橄榄石电导率进行了测量。在复阻抗平面上均出现了反映颗粒内部电响应的阻抗弧，这些阻抗弧随着温度的增加而减小。而反映颗粒边界导电机制的阻抗弧并不明显，两种阻抗弧出现在不同的频率范围内，反映颗粒内部导电机制的阻抗弧出现在频率较高的范围内，而反映颗粒边界导电机制的阻抗弧出现在频率相对低的范围内。不同粒度橄榄石在3.0GPa条件下的电导率随着温度的增加而增加，它们的激化烩介于1.03-2.11ev之间。在压力为1-3GPa、温度为1282-1544K、频率为0.1-106Hz、氧逸度为MO-MoO2的条件下，对纯橄榄岩的电导率进行了测量。在复阻抗平面上出现了反映颗粒内部电响应和颗粒边界电响应的阻抗弧。反映颗粒内部导电的阻抗弧出现在较高的频率段，随着温度的增加，这些阻抗弧逐渐收缩。颗粒边界的阻抗弧出现在相对低的频率段。纯橄榄岩的电导率随着温度增加而增加，随压力变化比较微弱。对颗粒边界的电导率研究表明，颗粒边界的电导率高于颗粒内部的电导率，总电导率则小于颗粒内部和颗粒边界的电导率，颗粒边界并没有增强总电导率。纯橄榄岩的激化能为1，62eV，而激化体积为0.67cm3／mol，指前因子为5125加。利用实验所获得的拟合参数，建立了地球内部200-40Okm处的电导率模型，并同地球物理模型进行了对比，在温度和氧逸度的合理波动范围内，实验室电导率模型和地球物理模型吻合的很好。在压力为1-2GPa、温度为1228-1584K、频率为0.1-106Hz、氧逸度为MO-MoO2条件下，测量了天然和热压辉石岩、热压巨晶辉石、二辉橄榄岩的电导率。结果发现，在复阻抗平面上出现了反映颗粒内部电响应和颗粒边界电响应的阻抗弧，反映颗粒内部导电的阻抗弧出现在较高的频率段，随着温度的增加，这些阻抗弧逐渐收缩。颗粒边界的阻抗弧出现在相对低的频率段。辉石岩、二辉橄榄岩、巨晶辉石电导率随着温度增加而增加，随压力变化比较微弱。天然辉石岩和热压辉石岩颗粒边界的电导率高于它们各自颗粒内部的电导率，而总电导率则小于颗粒内部和颗粒边界的电导率，颗粒边界并没有增强总电导率。辉石岩一二辉橄榄岩一纯橄榄岩的电导率依次减小，这可能是与它们的铁含量有关。天然辉石岩的电导率与热压辉石岩的电导率的差异可能与样品中的水（氢）含量的不同有关。