Geographically touring the eastern bloc: British geography, travel cultures and the Cold War

This paper considers the role of travel in the generation of geographical knowledge of the eastern bloc by British geographers. Based on oral history and surveys of published work, the paper examines the roles of three kinds of travel experience: individual private travels, tours via state tourist agencies, and tours by academic delegations. Examples are drawn from across the eastern bloc, including the USSR, Poland, Romania, East Germany and Albania. The relationship between travel and publication is addressed, notably within textbooks, and in the Geographical Magazine. The study argues for the extension of accounts of cultures of geographical travel, and seeks to supplement the existing historiography of Cold War geography

Whodunnit? Electrophysiological correlates of agency judgements.

Sense of agency refers to the feeling that "I" am responsible for those external events that are directly produced by one's own voluntary actions. Recent theories distinguish between a non-conceptual "feeling" of agency linked to changes in the processing of self-generated sensory events, and a higher-order judgement of agency, which attributes sensory events to the self. In the current study we explore the neural correlates of the judgement of agency by means of electrophysiology. We measured event-related potentials to tones that were either perceived or not perceived as triggered by participants' voluntary actions and related these potentials to later judgements of agency over the tones. Replicating earlier findings on predictive sensory attenuation, we found that the N1 component was attenuated for congruent tones that corresponded to the learned action-effect mapping as opposed to incongruent tones that did not correspond to the previously acquired associations between actions and tones. The P3a component, but not the N1, directly reflected the judgement of agency: deflections in this component were greater for tones judged as self-generated than for tones judged as externally produced. The fact that the outcome of the later agency judgement was predictable based on the P3a component demonstrates that agency judgements incorporate early information processing components and are not purely reconstructive, post-hoc evaluations generated at time of judgement

"Don't try to teach me, I got nothing to learn": Management students' perceptions of business ethics teaching

[EN] Interest is growing towards including business ethics in university curricula, aiming at improving ethical behaviour of future managers. Extant literature has investigated the impact of ethics education on different ethics-related students' cognitive and/or behavioural outcomes, considering variables related to training programmes and students' demographic aspects. Accordingly, we aim at assessing students' understanding of business ethics issues, by focusing on the differences in students' perceptions depending on gender, age, work experience, and ethics courses taken. Testing our hypotheses on a sample of 307 management students at a Polish university, and controlling for social desirability bias, we obtained mixed and partially surprising results. We found significant differences in students' understanding of business ethics depending on their gender and age (female and older students showed more ethical inclinations), but not depending on having taken ethics courses-actually perceptions of such courses worsened after taking them. Besides, work experience was not a significant variable. Moreover, course exposure intensiveness (i.e., number of ethics courses completed), and time passed since completion of the latest course, did not confirm hypothesized effects on most of the dependent (sub)variables. These findings stimulate further questions and challenges for future research (e.g., around course design and methodology, and social/cultural/contextual issues).Tormo-Carbó, G.; Oltra, V.; Klimkiewicz, K.; Seguí-Mas, E. (2019). "Don't try to teach me, I got nothing to learn": Management students' perceptions of business ethics teaching. 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K., & Karri, R. (2005). Exposure to Ethics Education and the Perception of Linkage between Organizational Ethical Behavior and Business Outcomes. Journal of Business Ethics, 61(4), 353-368. doi:10.1007/s10551-005-1548-7Macfarlane, B., & Ottewill, R. (2004). Business Ethics in the Curriculum: Assessing the Evidence from U.K. Subject Review. Journal of Business Ethics, 54(4), 339-347. doi:10.1007/s10551-004-1823-zMaclagan, P., & Campbell, T. (2011). Focusing on individuals’ ethical judgement in corporate social responsibility curricula. Business Ethics: A European Review, 20(4), 392-404. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8608.2011.01634.xMadison, R. L., & Schmidt, J. J. (2006). Survey of Time Devoted to Ethics in Accountancy Programs in North American Colleges and Universities. Issues in Accounting Education, 21(2), 99-109. doi:10.2308/iace.2006.21.2.99Malinowski, C., & Berger, K. A. (1996). Undergraduate student attitudes about hypothetical marketing dilemmas. 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E., Watts, L. L., Mulhearn, T. J., Steele, L. M., Mumford, M. D., & Connelly, S. (2017). What is Working, What is Not, and What We Need to Know: a Meta-Analytic Review of Business Ethics Instruction. Journal of Academic Ethics, 15(3), 245-275. doi:10.1007/s10805-017-9281-2Nguyen, N. T., & Biderman, M. D. (2008). Studying Ethical Judgments and Behavioral Intentions Using Structural Equations: Evidence from the Multidimensional Ethics Scale*. Journal of Business Ethics, 83(4), 627-640. doi:10.1007/s10551-007-9644-5O’Fallon, M. J., & Butterfield, K. D. (2005). A Review of The Empirical Ethical Decision-Making Literature: 1996–2003. Journal of Business Ethics, 59(4), 375-413. doi:10.1007/s10551-005-2929-7Pan, Y., & Sparks, J. R. (2012). Predictors, consequence, and measurement of ethical judgments: Review and meta-analysis. Journal of Business Research, 65(1), 84-91. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2011.02.002Peppas, S. C., & Diskin, B. A. (2001). 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The Mediterranean diet for Polish infants: a losing struggle or a battle still worth fighting?

The Mediterranean diet is well known for its health-promoting effects. Among its key ingredients, olive oil is the most characteristic. Processing industries have been successfully manufacturing and marketing jarred baby foods with the use of vegetable oils, including olive oil, as well as other sources of visible fat. We aimed to survey manufacturer claims concerning added fat in jarred infant foods supplied to the Polish market. A total of 124 kinds of infant foods from six suppliers were analyzed. Corn, canola, and soybean oil occupied the first three positions, respectively, in rank order of vegetable oils used in jarred baby foods. In our sample, only one type of ready-to-eat jars with vegetables contained olive oil. 11% of products contained cow milk butter or cream. 61% of jarred “dinners” contained poultry or fish, which are typical sources of animal protein in the Mediterranean diet. Given that commercial baby foods currently available in the Polish market contain no olive oil, we advocate considering home preparation of infant foods with the use of visible fat. Medical professionals should encourage food manufacturers to return to the concepts of the Mediterranean diet for young consumers, aimed at long-term health

Elite Conflict Orientations in Polish and US Cities

This paper analyzes the values of local leaders in Poland and the United States. A matched subset of cities is used. Interview data were collected in the 1983-84 period. The focus is on elite views about political conflict. Striking differences were found in the types of problems seen as serious in their communities. Yet, similar proportions perceived and tolerated conflicts today as in 1966. Individual level data on leadership position, party affiliation or status, length of tenure and age revealed differences. And in both countries community differences were considerable.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66987/2/10.1177_019251218901000402.pd

Small donors in world politics: The role of trust funds in the foreign aid policies of Central and Eastern European donors

The Central and Eastern European (CEE) EU member states have emerged as new donors of international development assistance since the turn of the millennium. The literature has tended to focus on the bilateral components of these policies, and neglected CEE multilateral aid. This paper contributes to filling this gap by examining how and why CEE donors contribute to trust funds operated by multilateral donors. The aim of the paper is twofold: First, it provides a descriptive account of how CEE countries use trust funds in the allocation of their foreign aid. Second, it explains this allocation using data from qualitative interviews with CEE officials. CEE countries make much less use of trust funds than might be expected. This is due not only to the loss of visibility and control over their resources, but also to how CEE companies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) rarely achieve funding successes at multilateral organisations

Results and Limits of Time Division Multiplexing for the BICEP Array High Frequency Receivers

Time-Division Multiplexing is the readout architecture of choice for many ground and space experiments, as it is a very mature technology with proven outstanding low-frequency noise stability, which represents a central challenge in multiplexing. Once fully populated, each of the two BICEP Array high frequency receivers, observing at 150GHz and 220/270GHz, will have 7776 TES detectors tiled on the focal plane. The constraints set by these two receivers required a redesign of the warm readout electronics. The new version of the standard Multi Channel Electronics, developed and built at the University of British Columbia, is presented here for the first time. BICEP Array operates Time Division Multiplexing readout technology to the limits of its capabilities in terms of multiplexing rate, noise and crosstalk, and applies them in rigorously demanding scientific application requiring extreme noise performance and systematic error control. Future experiments like CMB-S4 plan to use TES bolometers with Time Division/SQUID-based readout for an even larger number of detectors.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, Submitted to Journal of Low Temperature Physic

The role of open-air inhalatoria in the air quality improvement in spa towns

Objectives: The present study was aimed at evaluating microbiological contamination of air in Ciechocinek and Ino­wro­cław – Polish lowland spa towns. Additionally, the impact of open-air inhalatoria on the quality of air was evaluated. Material and Methods: Air samples were collected seasonally in the urban areas, in the recreation areas and in the vicinity of inhalatoria in both towns using impaction. The numbers of mesophilic bacteria, staphylococci, hemolytic bacteria and actinomycetes were determined on media according to the Polish Standard PN-86/Z-04111/02. The number of moulds was determined on media according to the Polish Standard PN-86/Z-04111/03. Results: While the highest numbers of microorganisms were noted at the sites located in the urban areas, the lowest numbers were noted in the vicinity of the open-air inhalatoria. In all the investigated air samples the values of bioaerosol concentrations were below the recommended TLVs (≤ 5000 CFU×m–3 for both bacteria and fungi in outdoor environments). Location of the sampling site was invariably a decisive factor in determining the number of microorganisms in the air. Conclusions: The aerosol which is formed in the open-air inhalatoria has a positive influence on microbiological air quality. Owing to a unique microclimate and low air contamination, Ciechocinek and Inowrocław comply with all necessary requirements set for health resorts specializing in treating upper respiratory tract infections