Social Responsibility and Consensus Orientation in Public Governance: a Content Analysis

Over the past two decades, social responsibility (SR) has become a key principle of many private sector entities that aim for business excellence. Similarly, in the public sector, the latest public governance models (PGMs) are based on the selected public governance principles (e.g. consensus orientation, participation, equity and inclusiveness) directed at connecting and including all types of stakeholders in decision-making and carrying out the activities of public sector organisations. Yet, there is insufficient reliable empirical evidence with respect to the relationship between social responsibility and the underlying principles of PGMs. The principal goal of the article is thus to identify the relationship between the concept of social responsibility and consensus orientation, which is one of the main theoretically and practically grounded principles of PGMs. This goal is addressed by applying the QDA Miner software package and analysing the contents of the 100 most relevant scientific papers from the Web of Science database. Specifically, the relationship between occurrence of the ‘consensus orientation’ principle and SR is identified and quantified, revealing the importance of the latter. Moreover, different PGMs are analysed in terms of consensus orientation and SR enforcement, providing tangible guidelines to help advance theory and practice in the domain of public governance

UWE Celebrating Bristol Green Capital 2015 - Activities portfolio (supporting document for UWE Celebrating Bristol Green Capital 2015 activities catalogue)

This Activities Portfolio details projects, events and initiatives which represent the work of hundreds of UWE staff and students during Bristol's year as European Green Capital in 2015. It is the working file to accompany the UWE Green Capital 2015 Activities Catalogue

UWE - Celebrating Bristol Green Capital 2015 activities catalogue

This catalogue showcases and celebrates examples of the work of the hundreds of UWE staff and students who contributed to Bristol Green Capital 2015

A Multi-Faceted Software Reusability Model: The Quintet Web.

Over the past decade, problems in software development and maintenance have increased rapidly. The size of software has grown explosively, complexity of software applications has increased, the nature of software applications has become more critical, and large quantities of software to be maintained have accumulated. During the same time, the productivity of individual software engineers has not improved proportionally. Software reusability is widely believed to be a key to help overcome the ongoing software crisis by improving software productivity and quality. However, the promise of software reusability has not yet been fulfilled. We present a multi-faceted software reusability model, a Quintet Web, that enables designers to reuse software artifacts from all phases. The Quintet Web consists of links of five types of reuse support information among existing document blocks: semantic, horizontal, hierarchical, syntactic, and alternative relationships. The five types of reuse support information are named the Semantic Web, the Horizontal Web, the Vertical Web, the Syntactic Web, and the Alternative Web. The Semantic Web defines the operational functionality of each software block. The Horizontal Web links functionally identical blocks of all phases. The Vertical Web identifies hierarchical relationships of software blocks. The Syntactic Web forms a chain from the declaration of each variable to its uses for all variables. The Alternative Web enables software developers to select an alternative algorithm for an identical functionality. The Quintet Web supports both software development and maintenance. When the Quintet Web is applied to development process, it provides software developers a means to check the consistency of the software being developed. The Quintet Web model is independent of a specific software development method

DECENTRALIZING THE INTERNET OF MEDICAL THINGS: THE INTERPLANETARY HEALTH LAYER

Medical mobile applications have the potential to revolutionize the healthcare industry by providing patients with easy access to their personal health information, enabling them to communicate with healthcare providers remotely and consequently improving patient outcomes by providing personalized health information. However, these applications are usually limited by privacy and security issues. A possible solution is to exploit decentralization distributing privacy concerns directly to users. Solutions enabling this vision are closely linked to Distributed Ledger Technologies that have the potential to revolutionize the healthcare industry by creating a secure and transparent system for managing patient data without a central authority. The decentralized nature of the technology allows for the creation of an international data layer that is accessible to authorized parties while preserving patient privacy. This thesis envisions the InterPlanetary Health Layer along with its implementation attempt called Halo Network and an Internet of Medical Things application called Balance as a use case. Throughout the thesis, we explore the benefits and limitations of using the technology, analyze potential use cases, and look out for future directions.Medical mobile applications have the potential to revolutionize the healthcare industry by providing patients with easy access to their personal health information, enabling them to communicate with healthcare providers remotely and consequently improving patient outcomes by providing personalized health information. However, these applications are usually limited by privacy and security issues. A possible solution is to exploit decentralization distributing privacy concerns directly to users. Solutions enabling this vision are closely linked to Distributed Ledger Technologies that have the potential to revolutionize the healthcare industry by creating a secure and transparent system for managing patient data without a central authority. The decentralized nature of the technology allows for the creation of an international data layer that is accessible to authorized parties while preserving patient privacy. This thesis envisions the InterPlanetary Health Layer along with its implementation attempt called Halo Network and an Internet of Medical Things application called Balance as a use case. Throughout the thesis, we explore the benefits and limitations of using the technology, analyze potential use cases, and look out for future directions

Chapter 1 Constructing knowledge for food sovereignty, agroecology and biocultural diversity

Contestations over knowledge – and who controls its production – are a key focus of social movements and other actors that promote food sovereignty, agroecology and biocultural diversity. This book critically examines the kinds of knowledge and ways of knowing needed for food sovereignty, agroecology and biocultural diversity. ‘Food sovereignty’ is understood here as a transformative process that seeks to recreate the democratic realm and regenerate a diversity of autonomous food systems based on agroecology, biocultural diversity, equity, social justice and ecological sustainability. It is shown that alternatives to the current model of development require radically different knowledges and epistemologies from those on offer today in mainstream institutions (including universities, policy think tanks and donor organizations). To achieve food sovereignty, agroecology and biocultural diversity, there is a need to re-imagine and construct knowledge for diversity, decentralisation, dynamic adaptation and democracy. The authors critically explore the changes in organizations, research paradigms and professional practice that could help transform and co-create knowledge for a new modernity based on plural definitions of wellbeing. Particular attention is given to institutional, pedagogical and methodological innovations that can enhance cognitive justice by giving hitherto excluded citizens more power and agency in the construction of knowledge. The book thus contributes to the democratization of knowledge and power in the domain of food, environment and society

Sustainable Development and Postmodern International Law: Greener Globalization?

The second session of the Global Preparatory Committee for the World Summit on Sustainable Development opened on January 28, 2002, in New York. Three observations emerge from ten days of plenary meetings and “side events,” cacophony and sound bites, visions of a vibrant, pristine world in the dimly lit United Nations (“UN”) basement, dingy with cigarette smoke. First, there was no big picture, no meta-narrative of sustainable development. There is no grand theory, no neat framework to which a coherent set of rules can be applied, and under which subcategories can be organized and responsibilities allocated. These three observations correspond to three concepts widely viewed as characteristically postmodern. First, the absence of a big picture corresponds to Jean-Francois Lyotard\u27s definition of postmodernism as “incredulity toward meta-narratives.” Second, the mad proliferation of projects reflects what geographer David Harvey describes as “the most startling fact about postmodernism...its total acceptance of...ephemerality, fragmentation, discontinuity, and the chaotic.” Third, the contrast between the United States\u27 key role in globalization, and its marginal role in the WSSD process, exemplifies critic Fredric Jameson\u27s description of postmodernism as “the cultural logic of late capitalism.” These three distinct but related concepts provide a working definition of postmodern international law (“PIL and show how PIL can be used to define, albeit contingently, and to encourage greener globalization. From a postmodern perspective, to paraphrase Stanley Fish, there is no such thing as global governance, and it is a good thing, too. This does not mean that there is no governance, nor does it mean that additional (or improved) mechanisms for governance might not be useful. It does mean, however, that centralized, unified, global governance is unlikely to further “sustainable development,” especially as understood by the global have-nots. It also means that terms like “governance” and “improved” may themselves be problematic and subject to dispute. Thus, it may well be more constructive to deconstruct at this point, and PIL offers an array of tools for deconstruction and even subversion. Subversion is necessary, at least in part, because of the recalcitrance of the United States. The richest and most powerful country on the planet is unlikely to “do the right thing” as long as it is perceived as political suicide for democratically elected leaders o try to persuade the American people to significantly lower their standard of living

Measuring the stars and observing the less visible: Australia’s participation in the Astrographic Catalogue and Carte du Ciel

Australia’s 1887 decision to participate in a major international astronomical project to produce an Astrographic (Star) Catalogue and Carte du Ciel (Chart of the Sky) ultimately involved Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth observatories. Participation in this project promised to bring international recognition of Australia’s capability in astronomy and access to the latest photographic technology and methods, within a network comprised of leading astronomers and observatories from around the globe. This was not a straightforward process; obtaining the resources required to successfully participate was fraught in terms of seeking support from governments that did not necessarily understand the significance of the projects, the lack of an appropriately trained workforce, and the sheer volume of work to catalogue the star-rich sky of the Southern Hemisphere. The challenges of participating in major and extensive international projects, during a period when astronomy within Australia wavered between state and federal control, were enormous. The techniques and technologies were not consolidated and often difficult to obtain, due to the impact of two world wars. Recessions and a major depression, along with colonial attitudes to science, made the resources required for progress at times unaffordable within meagre State Observatory budgets. The participating observatories have been examined through archival research to reveal not only the significance of this star catalogue to the development of astronomy in Australia, but the momentous and unacknowledged contribution made by women in its production. I have investigated the participation of seven women in the projects through in-depth interviews and primary sources, including log books of star positions and magnitudes and observation log books not previously recognised as their work. This thesis reveals the Astrographic Catalogue as pivotal to the introduction of women into paid astronomical work in Australia.«br /» The Astrographic Catalogue and Carte du Ciel are interrogated as products of colonialist ambitions to chart territory. Actor–network theory, centres of calculation and circulation models developed by sociology of science theorists, including Bruno Latour and Michel Callon, have been applied to analyse the control over the participating state observatories by colonial astronomy networks. My research has uncovered evidence of the interference of the Colonial Secretaries and Astronomers Royal, and the sometimes catastrophic impact of economic, social and political upheavals. This thesis argues that modernist ideals of automation and global standardisation provided momentum for the techniques of observation to change, and the eye of the astronomer was replaced by the eye of the human star measurer, predominantly women, who became the new point of contention at which individual variation occurred. I reveal that the involvement of women in Australia on the Astrographic Catalogue and Carte du Ciel was of greater significance than previously recognised; in addition, whilst they were restricted due to their gender, these women had agency in the scientific practice, workplace behaviour and employment conditions within the observatory. Furthermore, the creation of sex-specific roles in astronomy developed through the labour requirements of the large data sets for the Astrographic Catalogue, and the historical invisibility of women’s work in science, have had contemporary consequences for the status and participation of women in astronomy

Institutional Strengthening of the Water Sector in Kerala, India

This thesis explains how concerns over water problems in development contexts led me to explore human activity systems, using Kerala Water Authority as a basis for empirical study of water management and governance issues. This research aimed to find out how water institutions can be strengthened and the role of participatory systemic approaches in organisational development and change initiatives. The main focus relates to the role that management capacity plays in institutional strengthening. Qualitative systems methods are used to frame and interpret the research. The study draws on a range of organisational and systems theories and is informed by analysis of discourses of the processes of organisational learning and the use of systems methods in practice. A project-based inquiry is used to research a synthesis of three interrelated areas: institutional strengthening and capacity building in development situations, water management and governance, and systemic organisational learning methods. This inquiry explores methods suited to tackling ‘complex’ or ‘messy’ organisational problems involving multiple stakeholders. A systemic approach to capacity-building and institutional strengthening is developed from a sustainability perspective that has elements of novelty both in its synthesis of ideas and in its application in the Kerala context. This approach emerged from purposeful participation of stakeholders and was used to trigger enthusiasm for further activity. This work has led to a new appreciation by the Kerala Water Authority of the issues at stake, and has encouraged this organisation to operationalise systemic approaches for future change interventions. The research reveals the importance of actively involving stakeholders who either seek or would benefit from change initiatives and of appreciating local situated knowledge and value systems within the organisation undergoing development. The study also reveals the importance of understanding problems from different stakeholder perspectives and of accommodating viewpoints through a process of engagement and debate. The thesis concludes that the approach developed can offer a potential vehicle for sustainable change in organisational development and behaviour. On the basis of this study a model of the approach is provided and characteristics for a capacity-building initiative that might help strengthen institutions in the water sector are proposed