Integrated reporting: A structured literature review

This paper reviews the field of integrated reporting () to develop insights into how research is developing, offer a critique of the research to date, and outline future research opportunities. We find that most published research presents normative arguments for and there is little research examining practice. Thus, we call for more research that critiques ’s rhetoric and practice. To frame future research we refer to parallels from intellectual capital research that identifies four distinct research stages to outline how research might emerge. Thus, this paper offers an insightful critique into an emerging accounting practice

Ecology, intellectual property and a five point plan for a sustainable public domain?

At the turn of the century, Harvard evolutionary biologist and all round science polymath Edward O. Wilson wrote that more that 99% of the world's biodiversity was unknown and that we should rectify that state of affairs, since our ignorance was contributing to the destruction of the environment. He outlined a five point plan for doing this. 1. Comprehensively survey the world's flora and fauna. This will need a large but finite team of professionals. 2. Create biological wealth e.g. through pharmaceutical prospecting of indigenous plants. Assigning economic value to biodiversity (e.g. as a source of material wealth as food or medicines or leisure amenities) is a key way to encourage its preservation. 3. Promote sustainable development i.e. 'development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs'. 4. Save what remains i.e. being realistic we are not going to halt environmental degradation overnight. 5. Restore the wild lands e.g. through designating large areas of land as natural reserves like Costa Rica's 50,000-hectare Guanacaste National Park. Could we conceive of a parallel five point plan for protecting the global information store that is the public domain, the diversity of which is potentially endangered by what James Boyle so eloquently argues is a second enclosure movement

The Macropolitics of Microsound: Gender and sexual identities in Barry Truax’s "Song of Songs".

This analysis explores how Barry Truax’s Song of Songs (1992) for oboe d’amore, English horn and two digital soundtracks reorients prevailing norms of sexuality by playing with musical associations and aural conventions of how gender sounds. The work sets the erotic dialogue between King Solomon and Shulamite from the biblical Song of Solomon text. On the soundtracks we hear a Christian monk’s song, environmental sounds (birds, cicadas and bells), and two speakers who recite the biblical text in its entirety preserving the gendered pronouns of the original. By attending to established gender norms, Truax confirms the identity of each speaker, such that the speakers seemingly address one another as a duet, but the woman also addresses a female lover and the man a male. These gender categories are then progressively blurred with granular time-stretching and harmonisation (which transform the timbre of the voices), techniques that, together, resituate the presumed heteronormative text within a diverse constellation of possible sexual orientations

The Macropolitics of Microsound: Gender and sexual identities in Barry Truax’s "Song of Songs".

This analysis explores how Barry Truax’s Song of Songs (1992) for oboe d’amore, English horn and two digital soundtracks reorients prevailing norms of sexuality by playing with musical associations and aural conventions of how gender sounds. The work sets the erotic dialogue between King Solomon and Shulamite from the biblical Song of Solomon text. On the soundtracks we hear a Christian monk’s song, environmental sounds (birds, cicadas and bells), and two speakers who recite the biblical text in its entirety preserving the gendered pronouns of the original. By attending to established gender norms, Truax confirms the identity of each speaker, such that the speakers seemingly address one another as a duet, but the woman also addresses a female lover and the man a male. These gender categories are then progressively blurred with granular time-stretching and harmonisation (which transform the timbre of the voices), techniques that, together, resituate the presumed heteronormative text within a diverse constellation of possible sexual orientations

Negotiated Tutoring: An Approach to Interaction in Intelligent Tutoring Systems

This thesis describes a general approach to tutorial interaction in Intelligent Tutoring Systems, called "Negotiated Tutoring". Some aspects of the approach have been implemented as a computer program in the 'KANT' (Kritical Argument Negotiated Tutoring) system. Negotiated Tutoring synthesises some recent trends in Intelligent Tutoring Systems research, including interaction symmetry, use of explicit negotiation in dialogue, multiple interaction styles, and an emphasis on cognitive and metacognitive skill acquisition in domains characterised by justified belief. This combination of features has not been previously incorporated into models for intelligent tutoring dialogues. Our approach depends on modelling the high-level decision-making processes and memory representations used by a participant in dialogue. Dialogue generation is controlled by reasoning mechanisms which operate on a 'dialogue state', consisting of conversants' beliefs, a set of possible dialogue moves, and a restricted representation of the recent utterances generated by both conversants. The representation for conversants' beliefs is based on Anderson's (1983) model for semantic memory, and includes a model for dialogue focus based on spreading activation. Decisions in dialogue are based on preconditions with respect to the dialogue state, higher level educational preferences which choose between relevant alternative dialogue moves, and negotiation mechanisms designed to ensure cooperativity. The domain model for KANT was based on a cognitive model for perception of musical structures in tonal melodies, which extends the theory of Lerdahl and Jackendoff (1983). Our model ('GRAF' - GRouping Analysis with Frames) addresses a number of problems with Lerdahl and Jackendoff's theory, notably in describing how a number of unconscious processes in music cognition interact, including elements of top-down and bottom-up processing. GRAF includes a parser for musical chord functions, a mechanism for performing musical reductions, low-level feature detectors and a frame-system (Minsky 1977) for musical phrase structures

The relationships between ultimate reality, human being and nature in Korea: a comparison of the ecological theologies of Chiha Kim (1941-), Pomnyun (1953-) and Hyunju Lee (1944-)

During the Korean War (1950-1953), most of the Korean peninsula was devastated by indiscriminate bombing, and those who survived the war suffered poverty and famine in the 1950s. In the 1960s and 70s, industry and the economy became the top priority in the setting of national policies. As a result, water and air was intolerably polluted by industrial and domestic waste and by the smoke emissions of vehicles and factories, and environmental concern consequently became an urgent priority in the 1980s-90s. Although there were some voices of protest from environmental organizations against this indiscriminate industrialisation, their campaigns could not prevent the onslaught.The old Korean proverb "body and land are not two but one (#±T—)", reflects the belief of most Korean people that they cannot live apart from the land of Korea. The contemporary ecological crisis reminds us of a serious question: Can people and nature continue to co-exist in the future? The environmental movement, apart from aiming at protecting the natural world from human beings' exploitation, should seriously find a way to change a world view or one's sense of values which continuously influence people's lifestyle. 'Ecological worldview' in this thesis denotes a religious or philosophical reflection on the way that humanity and all other organisms can co-exist, critically reviewing the failings of the existing world views, which led to the present ecological crisis, and suggesting a relationship model between humanity and other organisms.Shamanism, Taoism, Confucianism, Donghak, Christianity, etc were introduced, accumulated, and shaped the Korean mentality during the course of history and contributed to a unique Korean culture in which various religions co-exist. Presently, Buddhism and Christianity are statistically the major religions of Korea. Shamanism, Taoism, Confucianism, etc have widely influenced the customs of Korean society. In this understanding of the multi-religious context, this thesis examines Korean ecological theology through three thinkers who have their backgrounds in Donghak, Buddhism and Christianity, respectively. Chiha Kim, a poet, writer, and civil activist, Pomnyun, a Buddhist monk and campaigner for South and North Korea unification, and Hyunju Lee, a Methodist minister and writer of children's stories, are all well-known representatives of ecological theology at present.They all argue that understanding the relationship between ultimate reality, humanity, and the natural world can overcome ecological crisis, although they are not satisfied iii with this artificial classification of ultimate relality, humanity, and nature. The basis for the relationship has been described according to their religious backgrounds as 'life', 'dependent origination', and 'incarnation', but they commonly describe it in terms of 'indivisibility', 'interconnectedness', or 'oneness'. 'Life' is described as 'an endless dynamic generation' within all existences (Chiha Kim). 'Dependent origination' is the principle that states that all realities have been endlessly interconnected (Pomnyun). Hyunju Lee argues that all existences are an expression of divine incarnation, and all beings having spirituality cannot exist independent from each other but are one.Korean ecological theology in the multi-religious context point to 'Cheon-ji-in Habil Sasang (Ahi2Aia"-' JSitS, the Idea of the Unity of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity)'. That is, although all realities have their own independent natures and unique forms, they all have 'a triune nature' as their fundamental common nature which can be understood through the concepts of'holistic dynamism', 'organic interconnectedness', and 'spirituality or sociality'. In this understanding, Korean ecological theology rejects any centrism, which may lead to hierarchy because ultimate reality, humanity, and the natural world exist in 'one inseparable community'

From the Galalpagos to Tongariro: Recognizing and saving the most important places in the world

Protected areas are one of the less glamorous areas of international environmental law. They are commonly overshadowed by what are perceived as much more dramatic topics, which capture the public attention to a much greater degree.1 This is a highly ironic situation for three reasons. First, because protected areas are the foremost methods by which species and ecosystems are effectively preserved. Second, because protected areas are tangible, and are not merely theoretical constructs. Third, the obligation to create protected areas is one of the most long-standing goals in numerous environmental treaties. For a long time this goal was not tied to any specific outcomes, and the numbers of protected areas grew slowly. However, in the new century, due to an increased recognition of the above considerations, the international community has not only reiterated the goal to create more protected areas, they also set targets of what they want to achieve. The international interest is this area can be seen with a number of examples, such as marine protected areas and transboundary protected areas. Collectively, such support has lead to the creation, in total, of over 102,000 protected areas spread over the Earth

Introduction to Ecstatic Readings

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In Search of Middle Paths: Buddhism, Fiction, and the Secular in Twentieth-Century South Asia

This study analyzes the centrality of South Asian Buddhist heritages in the articulation of multiple iterations of “the secular” in post-independent Sri Lanka, India, and Pakistan. As contradictory as such a proposition might seem, this project demonstrates that literature was a forum where the category and language of Buddhism were reoriented to fashion new ideas of “the secular” for modern South Asian polities. With this in mind, I turn to the quintessential genres of secularity in South Asia: the twentieth-century novel and short story. These genres reveal how the category of Buddhism, Buddhist ethics and literature were received and used by both Buddhist and non-Buddhist communities to explore possibilities of the secular that converged with the religious. I specifically read the works of Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964), S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike (1899-1959), Martin Wickramasinghe (1890-1976), Intizar Husain (1923-2016), Qurratulain Hyder (1927-2007), and Punyakante Wijenaike (1933-2023) to illustrate that correlations between the category of Buddhism and notions of “the secular” shaped the grammar of secularism as political policy and cultural concept in South Asia. Drawing on a wide range of scholarship, this study not only reveals why existing criticism has thus far overlooked this important correlation, but it also demonstrates that these connections are crucial to understanding contemporary attitudes to both Buddhisms and ideas of the “secular” in South Asia