How Not to Incorporate Voluntary Standards into Smart Regulation: ISO 14001 and Ontario\u27s Environmental Penalties Regulations

In June, 2007 the province of Ontario, Canada, released environmental penalties (EPs) regulations. EPs (or administrative penalties, as they are called in the US) are the environmental equivalent of speeding tickets for facilities that violate pollution laws. They are found in numerous jurisdictions and are widely understood as part of a move toward smart regulation. The Ontario regulations offer reduced EPs to facilities with an environmental management system (EMS) that meets the requirements of ISO 14001 or the chemical industry\u27s Responsible Care initiative. We argue that non-governmental, consensus-based standards such as ISO 14001 can and should play a constructive role in smart regulation and the pursuit of sustainability, but that the Ontario government\u27s attempt to incorporate them into its EPs regulations was anything but smart. We present six tips for how to incorporate voluntary standards into official regulation. First, don\u27t reinvent the wheel. If a standard exists that fulfills the objectives of a proposed regulation, and the standard was developed by a recognized standards body through a multi-stakeholder consensus process, regulators should incorporate the standard into the regulatory scheme as far as possible and appropriate, rather than drafting a new standard from scratch. Second, avoid unexplained discrepancies between the regulation and the standard. Third, if an existing widely accepted standard does not, on its own, meet all the public policy goals of the proposed regulation, indicate clearly how the standard is deficient and what more is required to meet public policy objectives. Fourth, should consult relevant standards development committees when developing regulations. Fifth, take advantage of ongoing opportunities to participate in the work of relevant standards development committees, to keep abreast of developments and influence the content of standards. Finally, and this is the biggest challenge, both regulators and standards development bodies should address the special characteristics and challenges of small businesses

Remediation of Contaminated Soils by Solvent Flushing

Solvent flushing is a potential technique for remediating a waste disposal/spill site contaminated with organic chemicals. This technique involves the injection of a solvent mixture (e.g., water plus alcohols) that enhances contaminant solubility, reduces the retardation factor, and increases the release rates of the contaminants. A simulation model is developed to predict contaminant elution curves during solvent flushing for the case of one‐dimensional, steady flow through a contaminated medium. Column experiments are conducted with a Eustis fine sand that is initially equilibrated with an aqueous naphthalene solution, and then eluted with different methanol‐water mixtures to remove the naphthalene. The model simulations, based on parameter values estimated from literature data, agree well with the measured elution profiles. Solvent flushing experiments, where the soil was initially equilibrated with a solution of naphthalene and anthracene, show that compounds with different retardation factors are separated at low cosolvent contents, while coelution of the compounds occurs at higher contents. In general, the smaller the retardation factor in water and the higher the cosolvent fraction, the faster the contaminant is recovered. The presence of nonequilibrium conditions, soil heterogeneity, and type of cosolvent will influence the time required to recover the contaminant.\u

Slogans as Persuasive Accelerants of Electronic Word-of-Mouth Communication: A Preliminary Conceptual Model

Brands have been conceptualized as being made up of three different components: name, logo and slogan (Keller 1993, Dass, Kumar, Kohli, & Thomas, 2014). Slogans are short, memorable phrases that are often used to sign off on advertisements. They characterize a large proportion of brand advertising and are designed to attract consumer attention, crystallize brand positioning, increase advertising memorability, and improve brand affinity (Keller, 1993). Slogans have been part of our world for millennia, and a staple in the advertising world since its inception. Less complex messages – i.e., slogans – have been associated with improved advertising effectiveness (Lowrey 1998). Research into electronic word of mouth has grown rapidly. One reason is that online WOM elasticity has been found to be 2x larger than advertising’s (Hewett et. al, 2016). One recent advancement in creating and testing models of the eWOM process examined the relationship between several source and message characteristics on amplification and engagement Gourinovitch et. al (2019). The current paper will build upon this source-and-message model (see Figure 1). Slogans have rhetorical qualities that aid in gaining acceptance and dampening critique of the persuasive content (McQuarrie and Mick 1999). In some cases, their simple rhetorical nature may serve more as social expression of unified purpose than as communication to an intended audience. Slogans seem to be interpreted differently than textual information (Holbrook and Moore 1981; Holbrook 1982) and give the illusion of logical strength. We propose that because good slogans have persuasive strength and emotional elements, they can act as “accelerants” of eWOM. In social media, slogans most often appear in the form of hashtags, defined here as a word or phrase preceded by the symbol # that classifies or categorizes the accompanying text (such as a tweet). Not all hashtags include slogans, but slogans often do appear as hashtags in social media - for example: e.g., #Yeswecan, #Justdoit, #MAGA. Current models of word-of-mouth (WOM) persuasion and factors help explain the spread of electronic WOM (eWOM). However, little prior research has considered how rhetorical devices such as slogans may accelerate social media message acceptance and retransmission. The proposed model builds on prior theoretical work in source and message characteristics and their influence on eWOM in social media. The model predicts that message acceptance and retransmission is accelerated by high quality slogans – which often take the form of hashtags in social media – because they serve as a persuasive rhetorical device similar to enthymeme. We propose that how consumers perceive the quality of the slogan will determine if eWOM spreads slowly or quickly - a moderating effect. Our proposed model is shown in Figure 2. Future research will include a test of the full model using Twitter data. ABOUT THE AUTHORS Theo Lynn is Professor of Digital Business at Dublin City University Business School. Professor Lynn specializes in the role of digital technologies in transforming business processes. Pierangelo Rosati is an Assistant Professor in Business Analytics at Dublin City University Business School and a Co-Deputy Director of the Irish Institute of Digital Business (IIDB). Charles Wood is Professor of Marketing at the University of Tulsa

The Role of Email Communications in Determining Response Rates and Mode of Participation in a Mixed-mode Design

This article is concerned with the extent to which the propensity to participate in a web-face-to-face sequential mixed-mode survey is influenced by the ability to communicate with sample members by email in addition to mail. Researchers may be able to collect email addresses for sample members and to use them subsequently to send survey invitations and reminders. However, there is little evidence regarding the value of doing so. This makes it difficult to decide what efforts should be made to collect such information and how to subsequently use it efficiently. Using evidence from a randomized experiment within a large mixed-mode national survey, we find that using a respondent-supplied email address to send additional survey invites and reminders does not affect survey response rate but is associated with an increased proportion of responses by web rather than face to face and, hence, lower survey costs

Measured and Calculated Distributions of Fluometuron and Water During Infiltration

Agronom