Newness Against the Grain: Democratic emergence in organisational and professional practice

What is the nature of democratic innovation in a performative culture? The purpose of this chapter is to help answer this question by giving conceptual substance to the notion of democratic emergence as a specific kind of innovation in the context of contemporary governance trends. It is argued that the performative governance which is the product of these trends is not invulnerable to challenge because of deficiencies in the capacity of managerialism and performative governance to improve services, and the creative spaces for agency and initiative created by the valuing of entrepreneurialism and innovation. The chapter draws on existing conceptual work on democratic approaches to school organisation and innovation, relevant literature on entrepreneurialism, and offers a brief insight into an example of democratic innovation in practice

An Analysis of the UK and US on the Perceived Adequacy of Workplace Mental Health Programs

An Analysis of the UK and US on the Perceived Adequacy of Workplace Mental Health Programs Julia Woods, Depts. of Business and Psychology, with Dr Deborah DiazGranados, VCU School of Medicine Research examining employee provided health benefits typically concentrate on evaluating a program’s impact on organizational outcomes such as retention, absenteeism, presenteeism, and cost-effectiveness (Cuffel, Goldman, and Schlesinger, 1999; Munz & Kohler, 1997). The typical methods used for evaluation of these programs tend to be quantitative in nature, however, qualitative methods could help organizations better understand how its employees react to and view such programs. This paper explores employee’s perceptions of health benefits provided by employers, specifically mental health programs, within the United Kingdom and the United States. These countries were chosen because of perceived similarities in culture, labor markets, views of the parity of mental and physical health care, and focus on individual\u27s rights. A review and analysis of major categories of mental health programs were conducted to best capture the cultural context, effectiveness, and employee perception of employee health benefits. The search for literature primarily included online searches of the following databases (e.g., Google Scholar, PsychINFO, PubMed, PsycNET) for literature published between 1995 and 2019. The following key terms were used in different combinations: Mental health programs, mental health benefits, adequacy, employer-provided programs, employee satisfaction, employee perception, either the United Kingdom or the United States. In addition, to highlight a few common employer-provided mental health benefits a targeted search was done for specific benefits (e.g., employee assistance programs, workplace counseling, cognitive behavior therapy, mental health insurance/coverage, and stress management interventions) in combination with the previously listed terms. The initial search resulted in eight publications that were then used for a manual secondary search of reference lists which resulted in three additional publications that were used for the review. Results of the analysis of sources indicate that employer-provided benefits improved employee’s mental well-being, which in turn impacted their work. Interestingly, one study conducted by Elliot and Williams (2002) reported comments like “I haven’t had any panic attacks since counseling ended,” and “my workload is now being dealt with more quickly” by counseling clients. Qualitative reports such as these are particularly interesting when trying to understand how employees view their work after they conclude a mental health program. Future research should consider examining questions such as: 1) what is the overall and longitudinal impact on employee well-being from employer-provided mental health benefits, 2) how do employer-provided mental health programs influence personal well-being, and how does an employee’s personal well-being in turn influence employee productivity, and 3) how do cultural differences and a country’s approach to mental health care inform the employee’s availability/accessibility to mental health care at work.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/uresposters/1352/thumbnail.jp

The syntax of orientation shifting: Evidence from English high adverbs

This paper reviews new data supporting the inclusion of a Speech Act Phrase in the left periphery. Illocutionary and evidential adverbs in English shift orientation from speakers in declarative sentences to addressees in yes-no interrogative sentences. This orientation shift falls out of independently motivated principles: the adverbs contain a logophorically-sensitive PRO subject which is controlled by a syntactic representation of the discourse participants contained in a Speech Act Phrase high in the CP layer. It will be suggested that clause type modulates which discourse participants are available; only speakers are available in declaratives whereas addressees are also available in interrogatives

Intrinsic universality and the computational power of self-assembly

This short survey of recent work in tile self-assembly discusses the use of simulation to classify and separate the computational and expressive power of self-assembly models. The journey begins with the result that there is a single universal tile set that, with proper initialization and scaling, simulates any tile assembly system. This universal tile set exhibits something stronger than Turing universality: it captures the geometry and dynamics of any simulated system. From there we find that there is no such tile set in the noncooperative, or temperature 1, model, proving it weaker than the full tile assembly model. In the two-handed or hierarchal model, where large assemblies can bind together on one step, we encounter an infinite set, of infinite hierarchies, each with strictly increasing simulation power. Towards the end of our trip, we find one tile to rule them all: a single rotatable flipable polygonal tile that can simulate any tile assembly system. It seems this could be the beginning of a much longer journey, so directions for future work are suggested.Comment: In Proceedings MCU 2013, arXiv:1309.104

Men's Words in Women's Mouths: Why Misogynous Stereotypes are Humorous in the Old French Fabliaux

While many scholars have examined the subject of misogyny in Old French fabliaux in a number of contexts, no consensus has yet been reached on how the fabliaux can be considered humorous in the light of the stereotypes found therein. By conducting a close contextualised study of three fabliaux, this paper asserts that the humour of the fabliaux is created out of misogynous stereotypes by investing female characters with the ability to appropriate and subvert masculinist rhetoric and discourse styles. This subversive portrayal of women enjoys a circular relationship with humour; the creation of a clearly defined 'joke-world' within the fabliaux licenses socially outrageous portrayals of female protagonists, which in turn create humour through their incongruity with the realities faced by medieval women of all social classes

Animals as Neighbours: The Past and Present of Commensal Animals by Terry O\u27Connor

Review of Terry O\u27Connor\u27s Animals as Neighbours: The Past and Present of Commensal Animals