6,710 research outputs found

    UMSL Bulletin 2023-2024

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    The 2023-2024 Bulletin and Course Catalog for the University of Missouri St. Louis.https://irl.umsl.edu/bulletin/1088/thumbnail.jp

    Cyber Conflict and Just War Theory

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    An empirical investigation of the relationship between integration, dynamic capabilities and performance in supply chains

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    This research aimed to develop an empirical understanding of the relationships between integration, dynamic capabilities and performance in the supply chain domain, based on which, two conceptual frameworks were constructed to advance the field. The core motivation for the research was that, at the stage of writing the thesis, the combined relationship between the three concepts had not yet been examined, although their interrelationships have been studied individually. To achieve this aim, deductive and inductive reasoning logics were utilised to guide the qualitative study, which was undertaken via multiple case studies to investigate lines of enquiry that would address the research questions formulated. This is consistent with the author’s philosophical adoption of the ontology of relativism and the epistemology of constructionism, which was considered appropriate to address the research questions. Empirical data and evidence were collected, and various triangulation techniques were employed to ensure their credibility. Some key features of grounded theory coding techniques were drawn upon for data coding and analysis, generating two levels of findings. These revealed that whilst integration and dynamic capabilities were crucial in improving performance, the performance also informed the former. This reflects a cyclical and iterative approach rather than one purely based on linearity. Adopting a holistic approach towards the relationship was key in producing complementary strategies that can deliver sustainable supply chain performance. The research makes theoretical, methodological and practical contributions to the field of supply chain management. The theoretical contribution includes the development of two emerging conceptual frameworks at the micro and macro levels. The former provides greater specificity, as it allows meta-analytic evaluation of the three concepts and their dimensions, providing a detailed insight into their correlations. The latter gives a holistic view of their relationships and how they are connected, reflecting a middle-range theory that bridges theory and practice. The methodological contribution lies in presenting models that address gaps associated with the inconsistent use of terminologies in philosophical assumptions, and lack of rigor in deploying case study research methods. In terms of its practical contribution, this research offers insights that practitioners could adopt to enhance their performance. They can do so without necessarily having to forgo certain desired outcomes using targeted integrative strategies and drawing on their dynamic capabilities

    The automatic processing of multiword expressions in Irish

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    It is well-documented that Multiword Expressions (MWEs) pose a unique challenge to a variety of NLP tasks such as machine translation, parsing, information retrieval, and more. For low-resource languages such as Irish, these challenges can be exacerbated by the scarcity of data, and a lack of research in this topic. In order to improve handling of MWEs in various NLP tasks for Irish, this thesis will address both the lack of resources specifically targeting MWEs in Irish, and examine how these resources can be applied to said NLP tasks. We report on the creation and analysis of a number of lexical resources as part of this PhD research. Ilfhocail, a lexicon of Irish MWEs, is created through extract- ing MWEs from other lexical resources such as dictionaries. A corpus annotated with verbal MWEs in Irish is created for the inclusion of Irish in the PARSEME Shared Task 1.2. Additionally, MWEs were tagged in a bilingual EN-GA corpus for inclusion in experiments in machine translation. For the purposes of annotation, a categorisation scheme for nine categories of MWEs in Irish is created, based on combining linguistic analysis on these types of constructions and cross-lingual frameworks for defining MWEs. A case study in applying MWEs to NLP tasks is undertaken, with the exploration of incorporating MWE information while training Neural Machine Translation systems. Finally, the topic of automatic identification of Irish MWEs is explored, documenting the training of a system capable of automatically identifying Irish MWEs from a variety of categories, and the challenges associated with developing such a system. This research contributes towards a greater understanding of Irish MWEs and their applications in NLP, and provides a foundation for future work in exploring other methods for the automatic discovery and identification of Irish MWEs, and further developing the MWE resources described above

    Against Imperial Arbitrators: The Brilliance of Canada\u27s New Model Investment Treaty

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    Investment treaty arbitration has become politically “toxic” even in states that pioneered the development of investment treaties. There is consensus on the need for reform. But there is a dearth of historical research on what went wrong with investment treaties, when it happened, or how to find the way forward in light of the past. As a result, reform efforts have a stumbling quality. One can see this in multilateral fora, such as the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), where over four years of study and negotiations have produced little consensus. One can also see it in the investment treaty practice of individual states, such as Canada, which has recently lurched across the spectrum from investment treaty arbitration to a permanent international investment court, to the abandonment of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), and back to investment treaty arbitration. This article fills the gap in understanding by explaining what went wrong with investment treaty arbitration and when it happened. It demonstrates that the customary international law on state responsibility for injuries to aliens evolved during the 19th century to protect foreign investors against exceptional failures of the nightwatchman and rule-of-law states. As the consensus regarding customary international law standards of treatment unraveled during the 20th century due to the spread of communism, decolonization, and economic nationalism, capital-exporting states turned in bilateral investment treaties (BITs) to uphold traditional principles regarding the protection of foreign investment. Starting in the late 1990s, however, an unexpected surge of claims brought under NAFTA’s investment chapter fortuitously opened the door to the central problem of modern investment treaty practice: the rise of “imperial arbitrators” who do not merely police exceptional failures of the nightwatchman and rule-of-law states, but who choose to second-guess the normal operations of modern regulatory states without any meaningful checks or balances. Although the NAFTA Parties nipped that development in the bud, the rise of imperial arbitrators leapt to the broader universe of investment treaty arbitration, where it flourished until claims against developed states for measures such as the phaseout of nuclear power brought investment treaty arbitration to a crisis point. Seeking a way forward in light of the past, the article examines Canada’s recent experimentation with investment treaty reforms, including the development of a permanent international investment court in relations with the EU, the complete elimination of ISDS in relations with the United States, and a return to traditional investment treaty arbitration in a new model investment treaty coupled with substantive reforms that virtually eliminate opportunities to second-guess the normal operations of modern regulatory states. The article describes the last option as the most brilliant because it is the only one that substantively eliminates toeholds for imperial arbitrators while preserving arbitration as a safeguard against the exceptional failures of the nightwatchman and rule-of-law states. Seeking a way forward in light of the past, the article examines Canada’s recent experimentation with investment treaty reforms, including the development of a permanent international investment court in relations with the EU, the complete elimination of ISDS in relations with the United States, and a return to traditional investment treaty arbitration in a new model investment treaty coupled with substantive reforms that virtually eliminate opportunities to second-guess the normal operations of modern regulatory states. The article describes the last option as the most brilliant because it is the only one that substantively eliminates toeholds for imperial arbitrators while preserving arbitration as a safeguard against the exceptional failures of the nightwatchman and rule-of-law states

    Trade Union Effectiveness in the UK Hospitality Sector: A Case Study Approach

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    This study investigates how union representation, management attitude, union membership, collective bargaining, and technological revolution affect trade union effectiveness in the UK hospitality industry. It specifically explores how internal organisational factors and trade union factors impact the effectiveness of trade unions in the UK hospitality sector, as well as how improvement in such effectiveness can benefit employers and employees in this sector. An analysis of seven case studies of hotels in the UK was conducted, which included a total of 71 interviews with employees and hotel managers, seven meeting observations, and an analysis of documents from each hotel. All these data were analysed thematically using NVivo 12. Key findings revealed that two hotels were strongly unionised while the rest were weakly unionised. The unionised hotels had strong union representation, bargaining power and an adequate and growing union membership. The weakly unionised hotels had weak bargaining power and declining membership. Workers from weakly unionised hotels began to turn to management efficiency to seek resolutions for their concerns. Conversely, workers from strongly unionised hotels sought union representation to resolve their issues with the management. The study contributes a proposed conceptual framework of trade union effectiveness applied to the seven case organisations

    The integration of circular economy within corporate sustainability reporting: towards a framewok

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    Apesar da adoção crescente de iniciativas de desenvolvimento sustentável, as economias baseadas no consumo e na extração de materiais e energia não conseguem abordar questões globais como o esgotamento de recursos, as alterações climáticas e a perda de biodiversidade. Como resultado, académicos e decisores políticos têm procurado vias alternativas para a criação de valor económico e social, e que ao mesmo tempo minimizem os impactes ambientais negativos. O modelo de economia circular (EC) de produção e consumo, que promete transformar os sistemas económicos lineares, tem vindo a ser rapidamente integrado nas iniciativas de sustentabilidade organizacional. As empresas estão cada vez mais sensibilizadas para a transição para a EC, encarando como uma oportunidade para implementar práticas inovadoras de responsabilidade social. Este compromisso crescente das empresas em melhorar a implementação de estratégias e práticas de EC exige o desenvolvimento de directrizes para assegurar uma comunicação externa consistente e eficaz. Os relatórios de sustentabilidade permitem às empresas mostrar não só ocompromisso com a sustentabilidade, mas também aumentar a transparência das actividades empresariais. À medida que os modelos de EC ganham presença no sector privado, os relatórios continuam a ser um canal de interação privilegiada com as partes interessadas, assegurarando que as empresas estão a ser responsabilizadas pela implementação dosobjectivos de sustentabilidade assumidos. Na ausência de directrizes “normalizadas” para avaliar e comunicar a internalização da circularidade na organização, não está a ser aproveitado todo o potencial da utilização de relatórios como instrumento de apoio à transição para a sustentabilidade organizacional. As evidências existentes sugerem uma baixa inclusão da EC nos relatórios de sustentabilidade, e reforçam a existência de lacunas de investigação significativas sobre a intersecção da EC com os relatórios de sustentabilidade. Neste contexto, o presente trabalho de investigação visa explorar e apoiar a a integração da EC nas práticas e abordagens associadas a relatórios de sustentabilidade nas empresas. Para atingir este objectivo principal, foram equacionados quatro objectivos específicos de investigação: 1) investigar como é que a literatura existente e as abordagens metodológicas associadas à conceção e operacionalização de relatórios de sustentabilidade orientam as empresas na integração das questões de EC nos relatórios de sustentabilidade; 2) analisar o conteúdo relacionado com EC presente nos relatórios de sustentabilidade de empresas classificadas em rankings de sustentabilidade; 3) explorar as perspectivas e experiências das empresas que divulgam conteúdos de EC nos relatórios de sustentabilidade; 4) propor recomendações para melhorar o a comunicação dos conteúdos de EC pelas empresas. Este trabalho segue uma concepção interpretativa e indutiva da investigação, utilizando métodos qualitativos e quantitativos para a recolha e análise de dados. Mais especificamente, as estratégias de investigação incluiram uma revisão sistemática da literatura, análise de conteúdo, inquéritospor questionário, entrevistas semi-estruturadas e grupos focais. A investigação ao ter sido baseada em métodos mistos, incluindo a utilização de diferentes métodos de recolha de dados, permitiu reforçar as principais conclusões obtidas neste estudo. Os principais resultados deste trabalho de investigação são consubstanciados em três artigos científicos, com o objectivo de contribuir para as discussões teóricas e práticas sobre EC em relatórios de sustentabilidade de organizações empresariais. Dos resultados do primeiro objectivo de investigação, verificou-se que a EC foi incluída apenas em cinco dos quinze modelos e abordagens de relatórios de sustentabilidade analisados, e na maioria das vezes incluídos como: i) um tema incluído voluntariamente e, apresentado como material suplementar; ou ii) discutidos dentro de um único tópico: gestão de recursos ou resíduos. Além disso, a EC é mais comummente descrita através da definição da Fundação Ellen MacArthur e a responsabilidade pela selecção dos dados da EC continua a ser da responsabilidade exclusiva da empresa, uma vez que não existem diretrizes ou normas para este efeito. As conclusões sugerem também que as empresas que procuram aconselhamento a partir destes modelos de apresentação de relatórios não irão muito provavelmente reportar as questões da EC ou descreverão apenas qualitativamente as actividades da EC sob uma perspectiva restrita, normalmente focada na gestão de resíduos. Os resultados do segundo objectivo revelaram que, embora a EC esteja a ser explicitamente mencionada em quase todos os relatórios de sustentabilidade analisados, o conteúdo de EC é muito limitado e não está presente nas diferentes componentes do relatório de sustentabilidade. Especificamente, CE é descrita na mensagem do presidente executivo em apenas 20% das empresas, e em 28% das avaliações de materialidade da empresa. Além disso, observou-se que as empresas efetuam uma ligação superficial do conteúdo da EC com os Objetivos do Desenvolvimento Sustentável, e sem qualquer justificação quantitativa para a maioria dos casos. Relativamente a objectivos e indicadores de EC, menos de um terço das empresas revelaram objectivos que focam sobretudo iniciativas de circularidade de nível estratégico e indicadores que avaliam sobretudo práticas de circularidade de escala operacional. Globalmente, estas conclusões destacam duas visões de EC no âmbito das estratégias empresariais: 1) EC é um pilar importante; ou 2) EC é uma extensão (ou substituição) de temas associados às áreas de resíduos e/ou de gestão. No âmbito do terceiro objectivo, as empresas investigadas destacaram sete factores críticos para reportar EC, bem como identificaram vários desafios e benefícios associados à comunicação externa dos dados de EC. Em relação à relevância e exequibilidade do reporte de EC, as empresas evidenciaram que, em geral, o conteúdo de EC é relevante para todos os elementos-chave do conteúdo dos relatórios de sustentabilidade, contudo, consideraram os elementos de "Riscos e Oportunidades" e "Desempenho de Sustentabilidade" como os menos exequíveis para desenvolver e divulgar dados da EC. Os resultados do quarto objectivo de investigação traduziram-se por uma série de recomendações práticas, relevantes para os profissionais que trabalham com questões de EC, de relatórios de sustentabilidade e ainda aqueles envolvidos com a sustentabilidade organizacional em geral. Em particular, as empresas devem dar prioridade à identificação de riscos e oportunidades relacionadas com a EC, e reconhecer a hierarquia das estratégias da EC ao medir e divulgar os respetivos dados. Devem ainda reconhecer a EC como uma poderosa ferramenta de reporte no contexto da criação de valor empresarial e assegurar que as metas relacionadas com a EC são acompanhadas por indicadores relevantes para evitar potenciais alegações de ”greenwashing”. No conjunto, os resultados desta investigação fornecem vários contributos para a concretização do objectivo central: explorar e apoiar a necessária integração da EC no âmbito das práticas e modelos de relatórios de sustentabilidade das empresas. Os principais resultados demonstram que a integração da EC não só é uma evidência, como está em rápida evolução no âmbito da elaboração de relatórios de sustentabilidade das empresas. Esta investigação conclui com reflexões teóricas sobre as percepções corporativas da EC e a sua relação com a sustentabilidade que emerge nos relatórios de sustentabilidade. Além disso, os resultados revelam várias sinergias e limitações entre as percepções de valor dentro dos processos de EC e de criação de valor empresarial. Esta investigação apresenta um primeira contributo para apoiar a integração da EC nos processos de reporte da sustentabilidade das empresas, estabelecendo uma visão geral das actuais tendências e fraquezas dos relatórios, ao mesmo tempo que destaca numerosas oportunidades de trabalho futuro para facilitar e impulsionar a transparência na transição para uma EC.Despite the mainstreaming of sustainable development initiatives, overconsuming and extractive economies fail to address global issues such as resource depletion, climate change and biodiversity loss. As a result, academics and policymakers have been looking for alternative pathways to creating economic and societal value, whilst minimising adverse environmental impacts. The circular economy (CE) model of production and consumption, which promises to transform linear economic systems, is then rapidly being integrated within organisational sustainability initiatives. Companies are increasingly viewing the transition towards CE as an opportunity to implement innovative social responsibility practices. This increased commitment from companies to improving their CE implementation demands the development of guidelines to ensure meaningful and consistent external communication. Sustainability reports allow companies to display not only their commitment to sustainability but increase transparency of their business activities. As the CE model gains momentum in the private sector, reporting remains a viable pathway for stakeholders to ensure companies are being held accountable for achieving their sustainability objectives. With an absence of standardised guidelines for assessing and publishing progress towards circularity, the full potential of reporting as a tool to facilitate change towards improved corporate sustainability is not being realised. Early evidence suggests a low uptake of CE within sustainability reports and significant research gaps exist concerning the intersection of CE and sustainability reporting. Within this context, this research aims to explore and support the emergence of CE within corporate sustainability reporting practices and approaches. To achieve this aim, four research objectives are offered: 1) investigate how existent sustainability reporting approaches and literature guide companies to include CE issues within their corporate sustainability reports, 2) explore CE-related content within the corporate sustainability reports of sustainably-ranked companies, 3) capture the perspectives and experiences of companies disclosing CE within their corporate sustainability report and 4) provide recommendations to improve the feasibility of companies disclosing CE content. This thesis follows an interpretivist and inductive research design, utilising both qualitative and quantitative methods for data collection and analysis. More specifically, strategies include a systematic literature review, multiple content analyses, semi-quantitative surveys, semistructured interviews and focus groups. By conducting a mixed methods study with multiple data collection methods, the overall conclusions have been strengthened. The main results from this thesis constitute three appended research articles, aiming to contribute findings to both academic and industry discussions on CE. Within the outcomes of the first objective, CE was found to be included within only five of the fifteen sustainability reporting frameworks and approaches reviewed and most often included as: i) a voluntary issue within supplementary material; or ii) discussed within a single topic: resource or waste management. Furthermore, CE is most commonly described using the definition from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the responsibility for CE-data selection remains the responsibility of the company. The findings also suggest that companies seeking advice from these reporting frameworks will most likely not report CE issues at all or only qualitatively describe CE activities from a narrow waste management perspective. The outputs of the second objective determined that whilst CE is being explicitly mentioned within almost all of the sustainability reports analysed, very few integrated CE-content within each of the examined sustainability report elements. Specifically, CE was described in the CEO’s message of only 20% of companies and in 28% of the company’s materiality assessments. Moreover, companies were observed to be linking CE content superficially with the SDGs, with most instances being void of any quantitative justification. With respect to targets and indicators for CE, less than one third of companies were found to disclose them, with targets mostly measuring high-ranking circularity strategies and indicators mostly low-ranking circularity strategies. Overall, these findings signal two main representations of CE within corporate strategies: 1) CE is a major pillar; or 2) CE is an extension (or replacement) of existing waste and/or management issues. Within the third objective, investigated companies highlighted seven critical factors for CE disclosure, as well as several challenges to- and benefits of- externally communicating their CE data. With respect to relevance and feasibility, companies determined that generally, CE-content is relevant to all key content elements of sustainability reports, however, found the elements of ‘Risks and Opportunities’ and ‘Sustainability Performance’ to be the least feasible to develop and disclose CE data for. The outcomes of the fourth objective propose a number of practical recommendations relevant for practitioners of CE, sustainability reporting and those involved with general corporate sustainability. In particular, companies should prioritise identifying CE-related risks and opportunities, acknowledge the hierarchy of CE strategies when measuring and disclosing CE data, recognise CE as a powerful storytelling tool within corporate value creation and ensure that CE-related targets are accompanied by relevant indicators to avoid potential claims of greenwashing. Collectively, the chapters within this thesis provide numerous insights on achieving the central aim: to explore and support the emergence of CE within corporate sustainability reporting practices and approaches. In general, the findings of this research demonstrate that the integration of CE is not only evident but rapidly evolving within corporate sustainability reporting. This thesis concludes with theoretical reflections on the corporate perceptions of CE and its relationship with sustainability emerging within sustainability reports. Additionally, results reveal various synergies and limitations between perceptions of value within a CE and corporate value creation processes. This research presents a first attempt to support the integration of CE within corporate sustainability processes, establishing an overview of current reporting trends and shortcomings whilst also highlighting numerous opportunities for future work to facilitate and drive transparency within the transition towards a CE.This research was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 765198
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