Laughing at leadership

Laughing at leadership reconsiders an early chapter in the intellectual history of theories of leadership. This paper draws on British novelist Henry Fieldings forgotten attempt to evaluate political leaders against standards of leadership in his 1743 satirical novel Jonathan Wild, which models political leadership on the exploits of noted English thief-taker general Jonathan Wild, who was hanged in 1725. This work is a pioneer in leadership studies: it dates from the beginning of modern studies of the chief political executive, with a biting satire on the emerging power of the British prime-ministership under Walpole. Fielding was politically active as a member of the loyal opposition triggered into formation by Walpoles unprecedented pre-eminence as a party and parliamentary leader and his remarkable 21 year tenure as head of government (1721-42). Is Fielding laughing simply at Walpole, or at the office of the prime ministership or at political leaders as such? What is the standard of greatness against which Fielding measures political leadership? What constructive models of great political leadership would pass the laughter test

CIMAWA : development and implementation of a text-based association measuring method

Die vorliegende Arbeit stellt die Entwicklung und Anwendung einer textbasierten Assoziations - Berechnungsmethode vor. Das Verfahren trägt den Titel CIMAWA (Concept for the Imitation of the Human Ability of Word Association) und berechnet die Stärke der Beziehungen zwischen Worten. CIMAWA orientiert sich dabei an der menschlichen Wortassoziation und versucht diese möglichst exakt nachzubilden. Basierend auf großen Textsammlungen, werden statistische Auswertungen über gemeinsames Vorkommen von Worten und deren Häufigkeit dazu verwendet, die Stärke der Assoziationen zwischen Begriffen zu berechnen. Die Ergebnisse der CIMAWA-Berechnungen werden in mehreren Fallstudien mit Assoziationstests an menschlichen Probanden verglichen. Zusätzlich wurden aus der Literatur bekannte Assoziations – Berechnungsmethoden implementiert und in ihrer Leistungsfähigkeit bewertet. Die detaillierte Erläuterung der Berechnung und die Herleitung der Parameter werden komplettiert durch die Darstellung der konzeptuellen Unterschiede zwischen den bekannten Berechnungsverfahren und CIMAWA. Die vielseitige Anwendbarkeit und praktische Relevanz der CIMAWA-Assoziationsberechnung wird durch vier Umsetzungen aus verschiedenen Anwendungsgebieten gezeigt. Die erste Anwendung zeigt, wie CIMAWA zur Erkennung von Multi-Themenstrukturen in Textdokumenten eingesetzt wird. Die Metaanalyse von Textdokumenten im Instandhaltungsmanagement wird zum Gegenstand der zweiten Anwendung und die kontextbasierte Bereitstellung von Texten im Produktverbesserungsprozess ist im dritten Beispiel behandelt. Ein assoziatives Suchverfahren für die Wissensbasis von Unternehmen bildet die abschließende CIMAWA-Anwendung.The present work discusses the development and application of a novel method for text-based word association measuring. The method is entitled as CIMAWA which stands for the ‘Concept for the Imitation of the Human Ability of Word Association‘. CIMAWA calculates the strength of the relationship between words. Taking into account the human ability of word association as an archetype, CIMAWA is aimed at simulating the existing but not necessarily discovered associations. It applies statistical analysis to detect co-occurring terms and frequencies based on huge collections of texts, and uses the outcomes for the calculation of the strength of the relation. CIMAWA is verified in several case studies, especially in comparison with free association tests of human test subjects. In addition the literatures of association measuring are reviewed and the most common methods are implemented and compared with CIMAWA’s outcomes. A detailed explanation of the calculation and the parameters are given, as well as a demonstration of the conceptual differences between CIMAWA and other measurement methods. The multilateral areas of application and the practical adaptability are shown in four independent software applications. The first application shows how CIMAWA is utilized to detect multi-topic structures in text documents. The second discusses the meta-analysis of text documents in maintenance management. The third presents a CIMAWA based recommender system for text documents towards improving quality of industrial goods. Finally, the fourth application is developed for associative search engine in companies

Infrações contra a Flora e Multas Aplicadas : Análise Espacial para o Brasil

O objetivo do artigo é analisar a dependência e distribuição espacial das infrações contra a flora. Adicionalmente, estudase a relação espacial entre estas e a forma mais comum de punição aplicada aos agentes infratores, a multa. Utiliza-se a Análise Exploratória de Dados Espaciais (AEDE) através do cálculo das estatísticas Global e Local de Moran (LISA), Índice de Geary e Índice de Getis globais e estatística G local. A base de dados compreende a quantidade de autuações registradas pelo IBAMA e os valores das respectivas multas aplicadas para os anos de 1998 a 2012, em nível municipal. Assim como o desmatamento, as infrações contra a flora apresentam uma forte natureza espacial. Além disso, este trabalho aponta para a mesma relação espacial entre violações e multas aplicadas. Este artigo inova ao utilizar uma base de dados inédita em pesquisa econômica e espacial.This article aims to analyze the dependence and spatial distribution of offenses against the Brazilian flora. Additionally, we study the spatial relationship between them and the most common form of punishment applied to offenders, the fine. We use the Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA) by calculating the Global and Local Moran (LISA) statistics, global Geary and Getis indexes, and local G statistic. The database comprises the amount of assessments recorded by IBAMA and the values of imposed fines for the years 1998-2012, at municipal level. Just as deforestation, violations against flora exhibit a strong spatial nature. Additionally, this work points to the same spatial relationship between violations andimposed fines. This paper innovates by using an unprecedented database in economic and spatial research

Impacting Positive Breastfeeding Attitudes of Prelicensure Nursing Students Using an Evidence-based Breastfeeding Module

Background: Robust evidence demonstrates optimal breastfeeding behaviors provide unmatched short- and long-term health outcomes. Therefore, breast milk feeding is more than a feeding decision; it is a significant public health concern. Breast milk is species-specific nutrition for a developing infant. The health impact of providing breastmilk extends to the lactating parent. However, the existing breastfeeding education is often inadequate to support the care of the breastfeeding dyad. The dissertation examines the role breastfeeding plays in prelicensure nursing education and analyzes the use of an evidence-based breastfeeding educational module (EBBM) on breastfeeding attitudes.Method: An integrative review analyzed the current state of breastfeeding education for prelicensure nursing students. An evidence-based breastfeeding educational module (EBBM) was developed and evaluated using a quasi-experimental study design. The study used a pretest-posttest approach and was conducted in two university settings examining the breastfeeding attitudes of prelicensure nursing students (PNS). Results: The Iowa Infant Feeding Attitude Scale (IIFAS) measured the breastfeeding attitudes of the PNS. A statistically significant increase was found between the pretest breastfeeding attitude of PNS and the posttest breastfeeding attitude (t = 11.761, df = 72, p \u3c .001]. Conclusion: The EBBM based on the United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC) Core Competencies in Breastfeeding Care for All Healthcare Providers effectively improved the positive attitudes of PNS in the study sample. The study’s findings establish a viable educational intervention to impact the breastfeeding education of PNS. The implementation of a standardized breastfeeding education can be achieved by the nursing program accreditation organization. The systematic approach can require the inclusion of vital breastfeeding instruction. Nurses are uniquely positioned to impact the care of the breastfeeding dyad in all healthcare settings

Studies in Australian Political Rhetoric

This edited collection includes eleven major case studies and one general review of rhetorical contest in Australian politics. The volume showcases the variety of methods available for studying political speech, including historical, theoretical, institutional, and linguistic analyses, and demonstrates the centrality of language use to democratic politics. The chapters reveal errors in rhetorical strategy, the multiple and unstable standards for public speech in Australia, and the links between rhetoric and action. The length of Australian political speech is traversed, from pre-Federation to the Gillard minority government (2010–13), and the topics similarly range from Alfred Deakin’s nation building to Kevin Rudd’s Apology to the Stolen Generations. This fresh collection is intended to stimulate and advance the study of political rhetoric in Australia

Acquiring Rules for Need-Based Actions Aided by Perception and Language

The CHILDLIKE system is designed to learn about objects, object qualities, relationships among objects, and words that refer to them. Once sufficient visual-linguistic associations have been established, they can be used as foundations for a) further learning involving language alone and b) reasoning about the effect of different actions on perceived objects and relations, and internally sensed need levels. Here, we address the issue of learning efficient rules for action selection. A trial-and-error (or reinforcement) learning algorithm is used to acquire and refine action-related rules. Learning takes place via generation of hypotheses to guide movement through sequences of states, as well as modifications to two entities: the weight associated with each action, which encodes the uncertainty underlying the action, and the potential value (or vector) of each state which encodes the desirability of the state with respect to the current needs. CHILDLIKE is described, and issues relating to the handling of uncertainty, generalization of rules and the role of a short-term memory are also briefly addressed