A configurational analysis of cultural dimensions of sustainability performance

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Human comfort response to random motions with a dominant vertical motion

Subjective ride comfort response ratings were measured on the Langley Visual Motion Simulator with vertical acceleration inputs with various power spectra shapes and magnitudes. The data obtained are presented

The Correlation of Selected Malady Concepts of Psychotherapy with Their Theological Counterparts, as Evidenced in the Pastoral Counseling Literature of 1945-1957

The basic concern of this paper is whether or not psychotherapy and theology have anything to do with each other. There is much feeling in Christian tradition about the extent to which extra-theological studies relate to theology. The present paper will not deal with the efforts which have been made to point out a dissimilarity between these fields. Rather it hypothesizes that psychotherapy and theology are, in some sense, related, and that this can be demonstrated in the terminology and meanings of pastoral counseling

Trust in client-service provider relationships

In the age of rapidly changing and competitive environments, companies are forced to build strong and long-lasting relationships with their customers. Over the last decades, marketing theory and practice developed a plethora of attempts to describe relevant factors, underlying correlations and complex constructs, explaining the relationship between buyer and seller. For several disciplines, which are part of, describe or influence the relationship between buyer and seller such as a) marketing, b) customer purchase behaviour and c) sales management and personal selling, it appears that trust has a strong impact and therefore is an important variable for building long-lasting relationships. Although there is an extensive source of literature available on appropriate response to trust and its influence on buyer seller relationships, few of these writings contain guidance specifically related to financial services. The objectives of this study are I) to determine general differences regarding the impact of trust in a finance and insurance advice setting, ii) to determine difference of the general importance of trust towards three dimensions, iii) to analyse through which antecedents client-trust is build towards these three dimensions and iv) to identify the role of trust in future interactions between a financial service company and its clients. To achieve these objectives, quantitative research was undertaken in Germany by conducting a mail survey to 1.394 existing clients of an independent financial advisory institution. The phases of research cover a broad literature review combined with informal background research to identify variables that build trustlinvoke the trust building process to examine differences and/or additional variables to the descriptions in the literature. Prospective clients seem to generally support variables provided by the literature findings. The main research phase involves a mail survey to 1.394 existing clients with 321 responses. It is aimed at identifying relevant answers to the issues i)-iv) as described above. The results of the mail survey suggest differences between different client segments according to e. g. their educational background as well as their stage on the life cycle of financial services. Additionally, to validate the empirical findings, interviews were performed with 20 independent financial advisors which are aimed at identifying relevant answers to the above mentioned issues ii)-iv) from an advisor's point of view. The results suggest differences within the group of advisors according to e. g. demographic criteria. The results indicate that trust seems to be an important factor for the relationship between client, advisor and financial service provider.N evertheless,d ifferencesc oncerningt he influenceo f trust on the interpersonal relationship between the client and the financial advisor as well as its influence on the organisational relationship between client and financial service organisation can be observed and have to be addressed in the future. Moreover, also the differences related to the relevance of trust for the internal relationship between the financial service advisor and its organisation needs further attention. A framework of three dimensions of relationship marketing activities is introduced which may assist financial service companies to Implement a trust based relationship marketing approach. This should cover 1) an internal relationship marketing dimension, ii) an external relationship marketing dimension and iii) an interactive relationship marketing dimension. As a result, the company should become more trustworthya nd further more be enabledt o build strongerr elationshipsw ith their clients.Finanzund Versicherungsmakler GmbH, MOnster Str. 111,48155 MOnster, German

Management of annual reported income in the UK: the search for indicators

The main purpose of this research was to ascertain whether users of reported income are receiving measurement of past activity that is free from management bias.This research consisted of two major parts, namely the theoretical and the empirical.In the theoretical part, attempts were made: (i) to determine the roots of the theoretical propositions for empirical investigation and (ii) to examine, theoretically, the assertion that managers are able to manipulate reported results through acceptable accounting means.In this part, it was argued that managers of listed firns are more likely to smooth reported income and bias their accounting policies towards income-increasing methods, while managers of unlisted firms are more likely to bias their accounting policies towards income-decreasing methods. Also it was argued that managers are able to manipulate reported income through acceptable accounting means.In the empirical part, an attempt was made to determine the relative adherence of listed and unlisted firms to one of three reporting strategies, namely smoothing of, increase of anddecrease of reported income. In this regard, two principal hypotheses were developed and tested.The first hypothesis stated that the proportion of listed firms with relatively smooth income streams is significantly higher than that of unlisted firms. The empirical findings are consistent with this hypothesis for all objects of smoothing considered in this research. Furthermore, the results suggest that ordinary income is the most common object of smoothing among listed firms.The second hypothesis was that there is a significant difference in the means of the profitability rate between the two sets of firms.The empirical findings are consistent with this hypothesis. Also,, the magnitude and the direction of the differences in the profitability rates indicate that listed firms report higher profitability rates than unlisted firms and the observations of the profitability rates among listed firms are more concentrated around their means than those of unlisted firms.Based on the findings of this research, it is justifiable to conclude that users of reported income are receiving measurement of past activity that is not free from management bias

1980-1982 Xavier University College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business Administration, College of Continuing Education, Graduate School Course Catalog

https://www.exhibit.xavier.edu/coursecatalog/1119/thumbnail.jp

The Development of Religious Pluralism in Brazil

This thesis considers the character and growth of religious pluralism in Brazil and the direction and status this plurality has taken and acquired in the C20th. Attention is focused on the development and formation of folk Catholicism, the Afro cults and Spiritualist oriented religions - Macumba, Umbanda and Kardecism. Primarily, it delineates and describes those specific historical and contemporary socio-structural and religious circumstances in which the differing religious groups have emerged, maintained themselves, and become modified. Secondly, it considers transformative implications that the various religious groups have had for Brazilian society, and discusses the role of these groups as initiators or mediators of change. On the one hand, it explains the religions varied attempts to make paradoxical or incomprehensible aspects of daily life intelligible and morally acceptable, and describee their efforts to relate both ordinary and unexpected occurrences in the natural and social universe to imminent or transcendent principles of order. On the other hand, this thesis is also concerned with the politico-economic conservative or radical qualities of these religious innovations. Although membership of the various religious groups in Brazil does improve the social status of the individual amongst his peers and often within wider society, I consider whether such improvements tend generally to act as bulwarks against change at a more extensive level, or can be explicitly directed to action in the political sphere. Initially, these above considerations are introduced through an analytical framework that uses the observations of Peter Berger, Mary Douglas and Victor Turner as a theoretical base. Thus in chapters I and II, I explain how the specific, internal dynamic, or the internal articulation, construction and maintenance of a religious organisation and its corresponding beliefs, is the focal point for illustrating how a particular religious group is both a "model of" and a "model for" the social conditions out of which it originally arose. In contrast, chapters IV, V, VI, VII and VIII describe the effect and impact that this peculiar development of Brazilian Catholicism has had on the emergence of alternative religious groups and their followings over the centuries. Finally, chapter IX assesses the main conclusions reached in this thesis. Although it is demonstrated that the responses of alternative religious groups in Brazil have been limited and restricted by background socio-structural conditions and are constantly being modified in light of differing socio-economic experiences, folk Catholicism, the Afro cults and the Spiritualist groups have all asserted alternative world views which reject the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. All have their own religious framework of beliefs about the supernatural and salvation, and all advocate correct patterns of religious and secular social relationships and roles through which these concepts are made tangible and meaningful. These beliefs provide the ethical and intellectual grounds for concrete existential and moral judgements on the appropriate action necessary to bridge the gap between experiences and aspirations. The problems associated with the former therefore become either tolerable or alterable, and moral imperatives make difficult situations endurable. This thesis affirms that a consonance of structure exists between the actual construction of a religious group (the articulation of its beliefs and organisation) and the character of its socio-structural origins. In general, the less structured a group of people (e. g. folk catholics and the Afro cult members) in relation to the whole of Brazilian society, the less formal and organised their religious response, and therefore the less influential their religion on wider social structures. For the most part, the consonance displayed between the internal dynamics of these groups and their socio-structural origins brings about social change only at the individual level within the established status quo and acts as a brake or conservative force on religious resolutions or proposals for change at the wider secular level. However, the Spiritualist religions of Umbanda and Kardecism have a wider social influence and are currently gaining popular and middle class support, over and a gainst official Roman Catholicism. Although their political and economic transformative potential is limited by State surveillance, these Spiritualist groups today are beginning to gain a greater national following that fosters a growing awareness of their adherents social and political positions within Brazil. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)

An experimental investigation of the quantitative effects of postural support on man's systemic stress mechanism during sustained visual task performance

The primary aim of this investigation was to examine experimentally the systemic stress effects produced by systems used to support the body in sedentary tasks. In the main experiment subjects were required to carry out a simple reading and writing task, for three hours, under two conditions. In one (T1) condition subjects were provided with a sedentary support and work surface arrangement which represented an average, dimensionally, of those found in offices. In the other condition (T2) a sedentary support-work surface configuration was individually fitted to each subject in conformity with ergonomics principles. The effects of the treatments were compared using the following: (a) biochemical responses, including total white cell and eosinophil blood counts, and urinary corticosteroid determinations; (b) visual and postural behaviour; (c) subjective comfort response; and (d) performance at the reading and writing task. [Continues.