Banking on bullshit: indifferences towards truth in corporate social responsibility

Purpose: This study aims to identify and deconstruct bullshit in banks' corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication to advance the management rhetoric research space, which has been characterised by an indifference to truth and meaning. Design/methodology/approach: Based on the management rhetoric theory, the study provides a typology of bullshit phenomena overview in the banking sector and follows McCarthy et al.'s (2020) Currency, Reliability, Authority, and Purpose/Point of View (C.R.A.P.) framework to showcase how bullshit can be comprehended, recognised, acted against and prevented. Findings: This paper puts a spotlight on written and spoken language to detect bullshit in banks' CSR statements. It provides actionable insights into how stakeholders can act against and prevent bullshit statements from occurring in the future. Research limitations/implications: Future research is warranted to assess the use of still imagery, events and video materials in corporate communications and non-financial reporting. Further rigorous assessment of actual CSR initiatives must be undertaken to assess claimed contributions. Practical implications: Monitoring mechanisms and independent assurance statements prepared by authorised third parties may strengthen the motivation and ethicality of CSR activities. Originality/value: This viewpoint is the first to follow the C.R.A.P framework and critically assess indifferences towards truth in banks' CSR communications

Entwicklung von Methoden zur optischen 3D-Vermessung in Bewegung

Zur dreidimensionalen Vermessung makroskopischer Objekte eignen sich optische Techniken unter anderem aufgrund ihres berührungslosen und damit zerstörungsfreien und unveränderlichen Vorgehens für eine Vielzahl von Anwendungen, die von Archäologie über Medizintechnik bis hin zu Soll-Ist-Vergleichen in der Qualitätssicherung und dem sogenannten „Rapid-Prototyping“ reichen. Der stereoskopischen Erfassung geht grundsätzlich eine Projektion temporärer Musterverteilungen in die Messszene zur Bereitstellung der Ansichtenverknüpfung voraus, wobei die Basis präziser Oberflächenrekonstruktionen eine Vielzahl paarweise verschiedener Musterverteilungen ist. Dabei besteht insbesondere für die Abbildung dynamischer Prozesse ein Zielkonflikt mit dem zur Ansichtenverknüpfung benötigten Stillstand während der Mustersequenz. Existierende Ansätze zur Auflösung dieses Zielkonfliktes lassen sich einerseits in hardwareorientierte und auf Algorithmik basierte Ansätze andererseits untergliedern. Hardwareseitig kommen primär Hochgeschwindigkeitskomponenten zum Einsatz, die eine Reduktion der Relativbewegung zwischen Messobjekt und 3D-Sensor während der simultanen Musterprojektion und Bildaufnahme realisieren. Alternativ bietet sich algorithmisch unter der Akzeptanz von Genauigkeitseinbußen die Verkürzung der Mustersequenz an. Erstmalig wird mit der vorliegenden Arbeit ein Vorgehen zur Bewegungsdetektion mit anschließender -kompensation beschrieben, um Standardhardware im Zusammenhang mit den Vorteilen ausgedehnter Mustersequenzen nutzen zu können. Dabei erfolgt die Bewegungsschätzung im dreidimensionalen Raum und unterliegt keinen Einschränkungen hinsichtlich der Bewegungsgeschwindigkeit und der Anzahl verwendeter, paarweise verschiedener Projektionsmuster mit trigonometrischer Intensitätsverteilung. Zur Verifikation des anschließenden Vorgangs der 3D-Bewegungskompensation werden zahlreiche Untersuchungen an synthetischen Datensätzen wie auch Aufnahmen eines 3D-Tischdigitalisierers gezeigt

Start-ups in the logistics industry: Advancing a framework for the disruptive potential of digital freight forwarder platforms (DFFs)

Digital platforms play an increasing role in the logistics industry and start-ups are challenging traditional logistics providers with new business models. It is, however, not clear whether these platforms have the potential to disrupt current industries. As a response, this paper contributes a more nuanced view on the notion of disruption and disruptive innovation and is concerned with digital freight forwarders (DFFs) in particular. To distinguish between disruptive and sustained innovations, we develop a framework from literature that allows characterizing digital platforms and their disruptive potential along the initial target market, the value contribution, the ecosystem network and the industry supervision. We apply this framework to a comparative dual-case study of two DFFs and reveal important differences. Beyond its very contribution, the paper invites researchers to expand on the given approach, in particular to advance the predictive ability of the proposed framework

An application of the sports logistics framework: the case of the Dallas Cowboys

Global, national and regional sport organizations heavily rely on logistics management practices in their operations. However, scientific research in sports logistics is in its infancy, with conceptualizations of the sport logistics domain proposed only recently. In response and by using a reoccurring professional sport event as a case, this study applies the Sports Logistics Framework (SLF) to systematically assess logistics activities, organizational structures, resources and components. Based on semistructured interviews, unstructured participant observation, internal documents and additional secondary data, our findings not only provide insights into the logistics operations behind a matchday of one of the leading and most valuable sport competitions in the world, but also contextualize, illustrate and refine the logistical tasks of the SLF, thereby providing a template which can be used for further comparison and examination of logistics activities at similar sport events

The role of pragmatics for grammatical change: the case of preverbal non

What is the role of pragmatics in the evolution of grammatical paradigms? It is to maintain marked candidates that may come to be the default expression. This perspective is validated by the Jespersen cycle, where the standard expression of sentential negation is renewed as pragmatically marked negatives achieve default status. How status changes are effected, however, remains to be documented. This is what is achieved in this paper that looks at the evolution of preverbal negative non in Old and Middle French. The negative, which categorically marks pragmatic activation (Dryer 1996) with finite verbs in Old French, loses this value when used with non-finite verbs in Middle French. This process is accompanied by competing semantic reanalyses of the distribution of infinitives negated in this way, and by the co-occurrence with a greater lexical variety of verbs. The absence of pragmatic contribution should lead the marker to take on the role of default, which is already fulfilled by a well-established ne ... pas, pushing non to decline. Hard empirical evidence is thus provided that validates the assumed role of pragmatics in the Jespersen cycle, supporting the general view of pragmatics as supporting alternative candidates that may or may not achieve default status in the evolution of a grammatical paradigm

Regeneration of Fe(II) during EIFeX and SOFeX

Investigations into Fe(II) cycling during two Southern Ocean mesoscale iron enrichment experiments, SOFeX and EIFeX, clearly show the importance of Fe(II) to iron speciation during these experiments. In both cases the added Fe(II) persisted significantly longer than its expected oxidation time indicating a significant Fe reduction process at work. During EIFeX diel studies showed a strong photochemically induced cycle in Fe(II) production in sunlit surface waters. Our results suggest that the photochemical cycling of iron may also be important in unfertilized waters of the Southern Ocean

Impact of eddy–wind interaction on eddy demographics and phytoplankton community structure in a model of the North Atlantic Ocean

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2010. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Dynamics of Atmospheres and Oceans 52 (2011): 80-94, doi:10.1016/j.dynatmoce.2011.01.003.Two eddy-resolving (0.1-degree) physical-biological simulations of the North Atlantic Ocean are compared, one with the surface momentum flux computed only from wind velocities and the other using the difference between air and ocean velocity vectors. This difference in forcing has a significant impact on the intensities and relative number of different types of mesoscale eddies in the Sargasso Sea. Eddy/wind interaction significantly reduces eddy intensities and increases the number of mode-water eddies and “thinnies” relative to regular cyclones and anticyclones; it also modifies upward isopycnal displacements at the base of the euphotic zone, increasing them in the centers of mode water eddies and at the edges of cyclones, and decreasing them in the centers of cyclones. These physical changes increase phytoplankton growth rates and biomass in mode-water eddies, bringing the biological simulation into better agreement with field data. These results indicate the importance of including the eddy/wind interaction in simulations of the physics and biology of eddies in the subtropical North Atlantic. However, eddy intensities in the simulation with eddy/wind interaction are lower than observed, which suggests a decrease in horizontal viscosity or an increase in horizontal grid resolution will be necessary to regain the observed level of eddy activity.LAA and DJM gratefully acknowledge the support of NASA grant 07-CARBON07-17. SCD and IDL gratefully acknowledge support from the NSF Center for Microbial Oceanography, Research and Education (C-MORE; NSF EF-0424599)

Processes and patterns of oceanic nutrient limitation

Microbial activity is a fundamental component of oceanic nutrient cycles. Photosynthetic microbes, collectively termed phytoplankton, are responsible for the vast majority of primary production in marine waters. The availability of nutrients in the upper ocean frequently limits the activity and abundance of these organisms. Experimental data have revealed two broad regimes of phytoplankton nutrient limitation in the modern upper ocean. Nitrogen availability tends to limit productivity throughout much of the surface low-latitude ocean, where the supply of nutrients from the subsurface is relatively slow. In contrast, iron often limits productivity where subsurface nutrient supply is enhanced, including within the main oceanic upwelling regions of the Southern Ocean and the eastern equatorial Pacific. Phosphorus, vitamins and micronutrients other than iron may also (co-)limit marine phytoplankton. The spatial patterns and importance of co-limitation, however, remain unclear. Variability in the stoichiometries of nutrient supply and biological demand are key determinants of oceanic nutrient limitation. Deciphering the mechanisms that underpin this variability, and the consequences for marine microbes, will be a challenge. But such knowledge will be crucial for accurately predicting the consequences of ongoing anthropogenic perturbations to oceanic nutrient biogeochemistry. © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved

Incorporating a prognostic representation of marine nitrogen fixers into the global ocean biogeochemical model HAMOCC

Nitrogen (N2) fixation is a major source of bioavailable nitrogen to the euphotic zone, thereby exerting an important control on ocean biogeochemical cycling. This paper presents the incorporation of prognostic N2 fixers into the HAMburg Ocean Carbon Cycle model (HAMOCC), a component of the Max Planck Institute Earth System Model (MPI‐ESM). Growth dynamics of N2 fixers in the model are based on physiological characteristics of the cyanobacterium Trichodesmium. The applied temperature dependency confines diazotrophic growth and N2 fixation to the tropical and subtropical ocean roughly between 40°S and 40°N. Simulated large‐scale spatial patterns compare well with observations, and the global N2 fixation rate of 135.6 Tg N yr−1 is within the range of current estimates. The vertical distribution of N2 fixation also matches well the observations, with a major fraction of about 85% occurring in the upper 20 m. The observed seasonal variability at the stations BATS and ALOHA is reasonably reproduced, with highest fixation rates in northern summer/fall. Iron limitation was found to be an important factor in controlling the simulated distribution of N2 fixation, especially in the Pacific Ocean. The new model component considerably improves the representation of present‐day N2 fixation in HAMOCC. It provides the basis for further studies on the role of diazotrophs in global biogeochemical cycles, as well as on the response of N2 fixation to changing environmental conditions