39,193 research outputs found
The structural contradictions and constraints on corporate social responsibility: Challenges for corporate social irresponsibility
Purpose - This chapter engages critically with the ideas of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and irresponsibility (CSI) in order to examine their utility for the purposes of realizing more socially just and environmentally sustainable social and economic practices. Methodology/approach - The chapter develops Marx's understanding of the twin pressures of class struggle and inter-capitalist competition in setting the limits of agency for corporate actors. It is thus theoretical and discursive in nature. Findings - The findings of the chapter suggest that the scope for corporate agency in relation to responsibility/irresponsibility is severely limited by inter-capitalist competition and capitalist social relations. It therefore argues that those interested in social justice and environmental sustainability should focus on these structural pressures rather than theorizing corporate agency. Social implications - The research suggests that the focus of academic and government attention should be on resolving the contradictions and exploitative social relations inherent in capitalism. Without this emphasis activism, corporate agency and government action will not eradicate the types of problem that advocates of CSR/CSI are concerned about. Originality/value of paper - The value of the paper is that it contests and engages critically with the utility of the notion of CSR and the emergent concept of CSI. It asks proponents of these concepts to think seriously about the structural pressures and constraints within which business and policy makers act. Copyrightr © 2012 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Tether fundamentals
Some fundamental aspects of tethers are presented and briefly discussed. The effects of gravity gradients, dumbbell libration in circular orbits, tether control strategies and impact hazards for tethers are among those fundamentals. Also considered are aerodynamic drag, constraints in momentum transfer applications and constraints with permanently deployed tethers. The theoretical feasibility of these concepts are reviewed
Zeeman-Tomography of the Solar Photosphere -- 3-Dimensional Surface Structures Retrieved from Hinode Observations
AIMS :The thermodynamic and magnetic field structure of the solar photosphere
is analyzed by means of a novel 3-dimensional spectropolarimetric inversion and
reconstruction technique. METHODS : On the basis of high-resolution,
mixed-polarity magnetoconvection simulations, we used an artificial neural
network (ANN) model to approximate the nonlinear inverse mapping between
synthesized Stokes spectra and the underlying stratification of atmospheric
parameters like temperature, line-of-sight (LOS) velocity and LOS magnetic
field. This approach not only allows us to incorporate more reliable physics
into the inversion process, it also enables the inversion on an absolute
geometrical height scale, which allows the subsequent combination of individual
line-of-sight stratifications to obtain a complete 3-dimensional reconstruction
(tomography) of the observed area. RESULTS : The magnetoconvection simulation
data, as well as the ANN inversion, have been properly processed to be
applicable to spectropolarimetric observations from the Hinode satellite. For
the first time, we show 3-dimensional tomographic reconstructions (temperature,
LOS velocity, and LOS magnetic field) of a quiet sun region observed by Hinode.
The reconstructed area covers a field of approximately 12000 by 12000 km and a
height range of 510 km in the photosphere. An enormous variety of small and
large scale structures can be identified in the 3-D reconstructions. The
low-flux region (B_{mag} = 20G) we analyzed exhibits a number of "tube-like"
magnetic structures with field strengths of several hundred Gauss. Most of
these structures rapidly loose their strength with height and only a few larger
structures can retain a higher field strength to the upper layers of the
photosphere.Comment: accepted for A&A Letter
Guidebook for analysis of tether applications
This guidebook is intended as a tool to facilitate initial analyses of proposed tether applications in space. The guiding philosophy is that a brief analysis of all the common problem areas is far more useful than a detailed study in any one area. Such analyses can minimize the waste of resources on elegant but fatally flawed concepts, and can identify the areas where more effort is needed on concepts which do survive the initial analyses. The simplified formulas, approximations, and analytical tools included should be used only for preliminary analyses. For detailed analyses, the references with each topic and in the bibliography may be useful
Detecting and quantifying stellar magnetic fields -- Sparse Stokes profile approximation using orthogonal matching pursuit
In the recent years, we have seen a rapidly growing number of stellar
magnetic field detections for various types of stars. Many of these magnetic
fields are estimated from spectropolarimetric observations (Stokes V) by using
the so-called center-of-gravity (COG) method. Unfortunately, the accuracy of
this method rapidly deteriorates with increasing noise and thus calls for a
more robust procedure that combines signal detection and field estimation. We
introduce an estimation method that provides not only the effective or mean
longitudinal magnetic field from an observed Stokes V profile but also uses the
net absolute polarization of the profile to obtain an estimate of the apparent
(i.e., velocity resolved) absolute longitudinal magnetic field. By combining
the COG method with an orthogonal-matching-pursuit (OMP) approach, we were able
to decompose observed Stokes profiles with an overcomplete dictionary of
wavelet-basis functions to reliably reconstruct the observed Stokes profiles in
the presence of noise. The elementary wave functions of the sparse
reconstruction process were utilized to estimate the effective longitudinal
magnetic field and the apparent absolute longitudinal magnetic field. A
multiresolution analysis complements the OMP algorithm to provide a robust
detection and estimation method. An extensive Monte-Carlo simulation confirms
the reliability and accuracy of the magnetic OMP approach.Comment: A&A, in press, 15 pages, 14 figure
Spot evolution on the red giant star XX Triangulum. A starspot-decay analysis based on time-series Doppler imaging
Solar spots appear to decay linearly proportional to their size. The decay
rate of solar spots is directly related to magnetic diffusivity, which itself
is a key quantity for the length of a magnetic-activity cycle. Is a linear spot
decay also seen on other stars, and is this in agreement with the large range
of solar and stellar activity cycle lengths? We investigate the evolution of
starspots on the rapidly-rotating ( 24 d) K0 giant XX
Tri, using consecutive time-series Doppler images. Our aim is to obtain a
well-sampled movie of the stellar surface over many years, and thereby detect
and quantify a starspot decay law for further comparison with the Sun. We
obtained continuous high-resolution and phase-resolved spectroscopy with the
1.2-m robotic STELLA telescope on Tenerife over six years. For each observing
season, we obtained between 5 to 7 independent Doppler images, one per stellar
rotation, making up a total of 36 maps. To quantify starspot area decay and
growth, we match the observed images with simplified spot models based on a
Monte Carlo approach. It is shown that the surface of XX Tri is covered with
large high-latitude and even polar spots and with occasional small equatorial
spots. Just over the course of six years, we see a systematically changing spot
distribution with various timescales and morphology, such as spot fragmentation
and spot merging as well as spot decay and formation. An average linear decay
of = 0.022 0.002 SH/day is inferred. We found evidence of an
active longitude in phase toward the (unseen) companion star. Furthermore, we
detect a weak solar-like differential rotation with a surface shear of
= 0.016 0.003. From the decay rate, we determine a turbulent diffusivity
of = (6.3 0.5) 10 cm/s and predict a
magnetic activity cycle of 26 6 years
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