696 research outputs found
Food Justice: An Empirical Analysis of Food Landscapes and Population Health in a Large U.S. City
This study examines the challenge of âfood justiceâ by investigating the relationships between food landscapes and the health and wellbeing of local communities in a large urban setting. We identify and discuss the implications of these relationships for advancing the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals of ending hunger, improving health and wellness for all, and promoting sustainable agriculture. Empirical results show that controlling for several health-related variables, rates of obesity in a community coincide with the incidence of food outlets with no or low produce available. That is, urban neighborhoods with higher numbers of stores selling mostly unhealthy food options and little or no fresh fruits and vegetables are characterized by higher rates of obesity. Lack of access to healthy foods is a symptom of food injustice. Implications for social entrepreneurs, business and government leaders, and public health professionals are discussed along with ways to address the pervasive global challenge of food injustice
Local government in times of global challenges: the implications of the financial crisis since 2007 on public finances at the municipal level in the Netherlands
The Financial Crisis since 2007 is one of the most
important challenges in recent decades. Starting with financing problems in
the United Statesâ real estate market, the financial difficulties developed
into a major crisis affecting nearly all economic sectors in industrial
countries. Next to citizens and private companies, the public sector was â
and partially still is â affected by the Financial Crisis, thereby implying a
variety of direct and indirect implications for public budgets.On closer inspection, the impact of and responses to the Financial Crisis
involved all levels of government, depending on the division of tasks and
responsibilities within systems of multi-level governance. While the roles of
the national, supranational, and international levels during the Crisis were
widely reported in news coverage and academic research, the implications for
sub-national government has received far less attention.The main intentions of this study are to analyse how the Financial Crisis
affected the financial situation of the local level of government in the
Netherlands and its approximately 400 municipalities and to identify the
factors that determined variation. By following a multidisciplinary approach,
the study combines theoretical considerations from the academic disciplines
of public administration, political science, economics, law, psychology, and
sociology.
The politics and administration of institutional chang
Organizational Alignment and Performance: Past, Present and Future
Purpose
â The purpose of this paper is to identify and define the types of organizational alignment â vertical and horizontal; to examine the evidence for the alignmentâperformance relationship, and propose research questions and practical implications to advance the theory and practice of managing alignment.
Design/methodology/approach
â The study is a conceptual examination based on a thorough review of both theoretical and empirical research.
Findings
â The paper finds that vertical alignment has received considerably more attention in the literature. Studies of horizontal alignment within organizations are less common. When horizontal alignment is studied, the focus tends to be dyadic â between two functional areas. The limitations posed by the dyadic approach suggest gaps in the research and opportunities for future research. As firms grow and diversify, becoming multiâbusiness organizations, the importance of horizontal alignment will be elevated.
Research limitations/implications
â Research on vertical alignment should focus on developing larger sets of moderating variables, such as the morale of the workforce, or the life cycle of the firm or industry. Research on horizontal alignment should explore multiâpoint horizontal alignment.
Practical implications
â Managers in organizations with multiple strategic business units could use the application questions in the study to assess the state of alignment in their respective units and the organization as a whole.
Originality/value
â The paper documents existing literature on the concept of organizational alignment and identifies new opportunities to continue to build and expand the research stream. It also provides a list of application questions that may be used to assess organizational alignment in organizations
Jet-torus connection in radio galaxies: Relativistic hydrodynamics and synthetic emission
High-resolution Very-Long-Baseline Interferometry observations of active
galactic nuclei have revealed asymmetric structures in the jets of radio
galaxies. These asymmetric structures may be due to internal asymmetries in the
jet, could be induced by the different conditions in the surrounding ambient
medium including the obscuring torus, or a combination of the two. In this
paper we investigate the influence of the ambient medium (including the
obscuring torus) on the observed properties of jets from radio galaxies. We
performed special-relativistic hydrodynamic (RHD) simulations of over-pressured
and pressure-matched jets using the special-relativistic hydrodynamics code
\texttt{Ratpenat}, which is based on a second-order accurate finite-volume
method and an approximate Riemann solver. Using a newly developed emission code
to compute the electromagnetic emission, we have investigated the influence of
different ambient medium and torus configurations on the jet structure and
subsequently computed the non-thermal emission produced by the jet and the
thermal absorption due to the torus. To better compare the emission simulations
with observations we produced synthetic radio maps, taking into account the
properties of the observatory. The detailed analysis of our simulations shows
that the observed asymmetries can be produced by the interaction of the jet
with the ambient medium and by the absorption properties of the obscuring
torus.Comment: 14 pages, 17 figures, submitted to A&
Competitive Priorities and Strategic Consensus in Emerging Economies: Evidence from India
Purpose
â The purpose of this paper is to understand the competitive priorities of manufacturers in India, and examine the level of agreement or strategic consensus between senior executives and manufacturing managers on manufacturing competitive priorities in light of the prevalent culture.
Design/methodology/approach
â Survey data collected from 156 respondents from 78 manufacturing units based on a national sample in India are used to test the hypotheses using the paired samples tâtests and multivariate analysis of variance.
Findings
â A relatively high emphasis by both levels of managers on quality, compared to the other three competitive priorities, is noteworthy and consistent with the global trends. The emphasis on delivery is a close second. Differences in competitive priorities exist across managerial levels in India despite the high power distance and low individualism.
Research limitations/implications
â The effect of ownership as private or public company was examined and no significant differences found, but data could not be collected on the ownership structure such as wholly owned domestic firms, foreign subsidiaries, or joint ventures. and whether a firm is a supplier to a multinational company. It may also be noted that a majority of the manufacturing companies in this paper came from three industries â chemicals, fabricated metals, and electronic and electrical equipment â and, hence, the findings of the paper might have been unduly influenced by the prevalent practices in these industries.
Practical implications
â The paper informs global managers and firms seeking to outsource to, or invest in, India that the Indian managers place significantly high emphasis on quality and delivery, but not as much on product variety or ability to make frequent changes to product design and production volume. The managers in India need to take note of prevailing differences in managerial priorities and efforts need to be made such that the priorities are aligned and manufacturing strategy may be unified and coordinated.
Originality/value
â In the Indian context, this is the first study that deployed multiple respondents to understand the manufacturing competitive priorities, and also the first to examine strategic consensus in operations strategy
Hoeveel liberalisme krijg ik voor mijn lokale stem? Over bezuinigingen en de mate partij-politisering van het Nederlandse gemeentelijk bestuur
The politics and administration of institutional chang
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