Functional Analysis: Deriving Systems Knowledge From Bibliographic Information Resources

Analyses of particular technology developments provide vital managerial intelligence. Framing of such analyses is key to maximize their managerial value. This paper presents a case analysis of automotive fuel efficiency technologies, posed as a functional analysis, rather than as a technology analysis. This functional perspective provides a systems frame of reference, yielding enhanced managerial knowledge. The case illustrates the use of bibliometric methods to glean systems intelligence from large abstract databases

Accused of an "abominable crime": punishing homosexual blackmail threats in London, 1723–1823

For much of the eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century, the criminal justice system in the United Kingdom operated under “the Bloody Code” in which more than 200 crimes were punishable by death. Despite the apparent severity of this punitive system, the laws around extortion during this period were ambiguous and unclear. Drawing on records from London’s Old Bailey over the century from 1723 to 1823, this research examines the specific offence of threatening to accuse a person of criminalised homosexual acts for the purposes of extortion. Drawing on a range of cases in London over a century, this research examines the varying judicial treatment of crimes committed in person versus extortion conducted in written form — a major distinction under the conditions of the Bloody Code. It highlights the inconsistency in the application of the law, as well as presenting potential explanations as to why similar crimes were punished so differently in Georgian Britain. Based on case file analysis, it comes to an intriguing conclusion about how these cases were handled by the Old Bailey, coming to the conclusion that sentences for homosexual extortion attempts were often mitigated in cases where there was a question as to whether the victim was, in reality, a gay man. This conclusion has serious implications for our understanding of the nexus between homosexuality and the English legal system in this complex period

Functional Analysis: Deriving Systems Knowledge From Bibliographic Information Resources

Analyses of particular technology developments provide vital managerial intelligence. Framing of such analyses is key to maximize their managerial value. This paper presents a case analysis of automotive fuel efficiency technologies, posed as a functional analysis, rather than as a technology analysis. This functional perspective provides a systems frame of reference, yielding enhanced managerial knowledge. The case illustrates the use of bibliometric methods to glean systems intelligence from large abstract databases

Modelling Information Flow for Collaboration

Part 1: Collaborative Networks - IInternational audienceThis paper describes a case study involving the use of a proposed model of information flow, based on complex network theory, to study delivery information flow within a microsystem technology (MST) company. The structure of the company is captured through decision making, teamwork, and coordination networks. These networks were then aggregated and analysed from a sociological and an organisational perspective through measures that reflect connections, interconnectedness, and activity of individuals