Drama and discounting in the relational dynamics of corporate social responsibility

Employing theoretical resources from Transactional Analysis (TA) and drawing from interviews with managers dealing with social or environmental issues in their role, we explain how CSR activity provides a context for dramas in which actors may ignore, or discount aspects of self, others, and the contexts of their work as they maintain and reproduce the roles of Rescuers, Persecutors and Victims. In doing so, we add to knowledge about CSR by providing an explanation for how the contradictions of CSR are avoided in practice even when actors may be aware of them. Specifically, we theorise how CSR work can produce dramatic stories where adversity is apparently overcome, whilst little is actually achieved at the social level. We also add to the range of psychoanalytic tools used to account for organisational behaviours, emphasising how TA can explain the relational dynamics of CSR

Improved magnetization in sputtered dysprosium thin films

50nm thick nanogranular polycrystalline dysprosium thin films have been prepared via ultra-high vacuum DC sputtering on SiO2 and Si wafers. The maximum in-plane spontaneous magnetization at T = 4K was found to be MS4K = 3.28T for samples deposited on wafers heated to 350C with a Neel point of TN = 173K and a ferromagnetic transition at TC = 80K, measured via zero field cooled field cooled magnetization measurements, close to single crystal values. The slightly reduced magnetization is explained in the light of a metastable face centered cubic crystal phase which occurred at the seed interface and granularity related effects, that are still noticeably influential despite an in-plane magnetic easy axis. As deposited samples showed reduced magnetization of MS4K = 2.26T, however their ferromagnetic transition shifted to a much higher temperature of TC = 172K and the antiferromagnetic phase was completely suppressed probably as a result of strain.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figure

Trace elemental status of plants used in tribal medicine

Medicinal plants enhanced with minerals are tested to determine whether these elements could be used as a new source of mineral dietary supplements that provide essential minerals in a more available form than current, inorganically based mineral supplements. The tribe Kanikaran or Kani of Agasthiar Hills has the sound knowledge on medicinal plants, which leads to the present investigation on the five selected plants, Amorphophallus paeonifoliius (Areaceae), Phyllanthus polyphyllus Willd (Euphorbiaceae), Fluggea leucopyrus (Euphorbiaceae), Stephania wightii Dunn (Menispermaceae) and Ventilago Madaraspatana (Rhamaceae). The Calcium content is high in Ventilago Madaraspatana, Iron content is more in Amorphophallus paeoniifolius, Manganease value is higher in Phyllanthus polyphyllus, and the values of potassium, Sodium, Barium, Copper,and Zinc are higher in Stephania wightii Dunn. The present study shows that Stephania wightii Dunn root is highly nutritive. This study can bring out many different clues for the development drugs to treat human diseases.</jats:p

Antecedents Of Outsourcing Intensity And Success For Banking Automated Teller Machine Operations In Malaysia

Rising global competition, escalating operational costs and customers’ demands have resulted in banks considering outsourcing to reduce costs. This research seeks to examine the key components and the antecedents of outsourcing intensity (i.e. percentage of the key component outsourced) of ATM Operations in Malaysia. In addition, the study also investigates whether service quality and relationship quality moderate and mediate between outsourcing intensity and outsourcing success. This study utilizes sequential explanatory mixed methods. In the first phase, a survey approach was used to collect data from ATM operations personnel, data collected via online resulted in 142 usable survey questionnaires responses from ATM operations personnel (40.2 percent response rate) across 22 banks that operated in Malaysia. The survey data was then analyzed using a SMART PLS®. For the second phase, semi- structured interviews were conducted with 31 ATM personnel to further explore in more depth the related outsourcing issues to provide clearer explanations for the research questions posed in the study, NVIVO® was used to decipher the interview abstracts and form themes. The findings from both the quantitative and qualitative approaches were then triangulated to address the research questions

Direct Wafer Fusion of GaAs Thin Film on InP by Chemical and Plasma Activation

Abstract not Available.</jats:p