bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Psychological Contract in Call Centres: An Employee Perspective
Authors: Cross Christine , Barry Gillian , Garavan Thomas N.
Published: March 2008

The call centre industry is a relatively recent phenomenon, which has changed the face of the service sector (Frenkel et al., 1998). For a comparatively new contender it has created a large share of internal human resource problems. Common issues of contention for call centres include high levels of churn, high levels of absenteeism, issues with motivation and commitment, lack of career progression opportunities and loss of agents following investment in training and development (Bain and Taylor, 2000). Many of these issues may be attributed to both a lack of understanding and violation of the psychological contract. This article specifically examines the psychological contract, through the use of a case study and analysis of interviews conducted with call centre agents. A number of interesting issues arose with regard to the formation, causes and consequences of their psychological contracts. The main finding is that two types of psychological contract coexisted. While everyone interviewed for this research was employed to perform the same role, the terms of their employment contracts differed greatly and this carried through to the type of psychological contract on offer to them. Permanent employees generally enjoyed relational psychological contract with expectations, content and consequences that reflect this model of the contract. While contract workers were subject to a transitional model with minimal mutual obligations. Implications for practice and further research are explored in light of these findings.
Learning to Control: Training and Work Organization in Australian Call Centres
Authors: Smith Andrew , Smith Erica
Published: March 2008

The organization of work in call centres has been the centre of study and debate for a number of years. This article explores the adoption of nationally-recognized training (based on formal qualifications) in Australian call centres, which is now becoming quite widespread, and its relationship to work organization and human resource management practices. The article draws on a national research project that explored the take up of nationally recognized training by Australian employers. A number of call centres were included in this study that forms the basis for the present article. One of the major attractions for call centre employers, apart from the financial incentives involved in adoption, is the close fit between nationally recognized training and work organization. Because of its on-job nature, such training fits the close quantitative controls that characterize almost all call centres. Because of its integration into the workplace and into work organization, nationally recognized training seems to be moving human resource management processes towards an increased emphasis on employee development.
Call Centres and the Quality of Work Life: Towards a Research Agenda
Authors: Hannif Zeenobiyah , Burgess John , Connell Julia
Published: March 2008

Concerns about job quality have become more widespread, crossing all industries and occupations. The call centre sector in particular has risen to the forefront of discussions about job quality because of the rapid growth and development of these new forms of work organization over the past two decades. However, despite there being an extensive quality of work life literature, and emerging research on call centre job quality, there is yet to be a study that systematically links the quality of work with employment in the call centre context. This article outlines current debates, highlighting the importance of bringing together and marrying these two branches of research. A qualitative research agenda constituting case study analysis of two call centres is introduced. A framework grounded in a job characteristics approach, comprising 10 key job-quality elements is also proposed as a means of examining the quality of work life in this context.
Unions in the Information Economy: Info-service Work and Organizing in Australian Call Centres
Authors: Russell Bob
Published: March 2008

Recent analyses of the labour movement in Australia have focused on declining densities and the loss of trade union influence and power. While some attention has been paid to the challenges posed for organizing in new economic sectors, less work has been done on the opportunities that such sectors may offer. This article focuses on info-service work in call centres. Although the labour processes, human resource management policies and labour market strategies of call centres have been subjected to considerable debate, little attention has been paid to the determinants of trade union representation in call centres. This article provides an analysis of worker perceptions of trade unions across 20 different centres and some of the factors that influence the decision to join or refrain from joining a trade union.
Location Matters: The Impact of Place on Call Centres
Authors: Paulet Renee
Published: March 2008

This article explores the economic geography of call centres. It argues that the technology utilized results in geographic flexibility, highlighting the importance of place in relation to call centres. Drawing on economic geography concepts of space, place and the socio-spatial dialectic the article presents the findings from research conducted in three case studies. It was found that factors unique to each place, such as community, job market and history, impact on and shape the call centres' HRM policies and practices. This article concludes that place is an important aspect in understanding HRM in call centres and advocates for increased consideration to be given to the issue of place in research on work and employment more generally.
Non-standard Employment and Promotions: A Within Genders Analysis
Authors: Zeytinoglu Isik U. , Cooke Gordon B.
Published: March 2008

This article examines promotion experiences of workers in nonstandard employment as compared to those in regular full-time employment. Since females dominate non-standard employment, we analyse the female and male labour forces separately. Non-standard employment refers to regular part-time, temporary full-time, and temporary part-time employment. Data comes from the Workplace and Employee Survey (1999) of Statistics Canada. Results are generalized to Canadian workers. Results show that within the female labour force, workers in all three types of non-standard employment are less likely to be promoted than workers in regular full-time employment. Within the male labour force only those in temporary part-time employment are less likely to be promoted. Working in regular part-time or temporary full-time contracts has no impact on promotion for male workers. Overall results suggest that all three types of non-standard work adversely affect females' promotion experiences but for males only those in temporary part-time jobs are adversely affected.
The Australian Charter of Employment Rights: The Missing Dimensions
Authors: Standing Guy
Published: March 2008

Just prior to the 2007 General Election, a group of labour lawyers and economists, broadly sympathetic to the Labor Party, produced a Charter of Employment Rights. This article examines the Charter's proposals and its underlying framework, and suggests significant aspects of work and labour have been omitted. It contends that the Charter would have been improved if it had not retained an artificially stretched definition of workers as employees, in which the only relationship worthy of inclusion in a Charter is that between the direct employer and employee. The framework and language of the Charter convey a paternalistic approach and an outdated focus on industrial labour, while ignoring aspects of the emerging global system of work linked to the concept of occupation.
Investigating the role of psychoticism and sensation seeking in predicting emotional reactions to music
Authors: Rawlings David , Leow Shoen Hwa
Published: March 2008

Recent studies have examined reactions to music within the framework of the circumplex model of emotion. The present study employed questionnaire measures of psychoticism (P) and impulsive sensation seeking (ISS) to explore the relationship between personality and reactions to music selected to produce the emotions in the quadrants of the circumplex. The 65 female and 27 male undergraduate students listened to four excerpts of music representing each of the four quadrants, with music in each quadrant selected to reflect classical/contemporary and familiar/unfamiliar distinctions. Participants rated each excerpt with respect to liking, familiarity, pleasantness and arousal potential, and on seven pairs of emotion-related adjectives. P was associated with the tendency to enjoy music that was unsettling and boring: that is, in the `unpleasant' half of the circumplex. P was also linked with negative emotional responses to music that was relaxing and exciting: that is, in the `pleasant' half of the circumplex. There were few significant correlations with ISS, although high scorers reported being sadder, and less happy, than low scorers when listening to relaxing/peaceful music. The results provided general support to previous studies relating psychoticism to liking for music sometimes characterized as `problem' or `deviant'.
Thinking through work: complex inequalities, constructions of difference and trans-national migrants
Authors: McDowell Linda
Published: March 2008

This paper raises questions — rather than providing answers — about the theorization of intersectionality: the complex inequalities that result from connections between gender, class, ethnicity and other dimensions of identity in the making of subjects. I draw on Ong's work on cultural citizenship and notions of subjectification from Foucault and Butler to think through feminist theorizations of intersectionality and the philosophical status of different approaches to complexity and difference. I also address methodological issues. While this is not primarily an empirical paper, I use the example of the labour market position of recent migrants into the UK as an examplar of intersectionality at work.
Spaces of every-night life: for geographies of sleep, sleeping and sleepiness
Authors: Kraftl Peter , Horton John
Published: March 2008

Over one third of most human lives — and hence one third of human geographies — is spent asleep. It is our contention in this paper that human geographers should take sleep, sleeping and sleepiness more seriously as topics for theoretical, empirical and critical research than has hitherto been the case. This paper provides a preliminary indication of potentially fruitful directions for geographical research on sleep, reviewing salient extant work in geography and (especially) in cognate disciplines in order to develop a case for research and enquiry in four domains: sleep and consumption; sleep and health; sleep and difference; sleep and bodily practice. The potential ramifications of `sleepy geographies' for prevailing assumptions habitually underpinning wakeful, cognate geographies (ie, the vast majority of human geographies to date) are also considered.
Industrial ecosystems? The use of tropes in the literature of industrial ecology and eco-industrial parks
Authors: McManus Phil , Gibbs David
Published: March 2008

Industrial ecology is often promoted as a practice to close industrial production loops and reduce waste, thereby making better use of resources and preventing the overuse of raw materials. Eco-industrial parks (EIPs) are the spatial concentrations of businesses that use the by-products of one industrial process as inputs to another. Both sets of practices are based on particular tropes involving nature. This paper explores the use of various tropes in the literature of industrial ecology and EIPs. It highlights the need better to understand the pre-theoretical and theoretical bases of industrial ecology and to increase the potential for practical implementation by applying insights from the literatures of urban planning, social science and economic geography.
A Randomized Clinical Trial Comparing Open to Arthroscopic Acromioplasty with Mini-Open Rotator Cuff Repair for Full-Thickness Rotator Cuff Tears
Authors: Mohtadi Nicholas G. , Hollinshead Robert M. , Sasyniuk Treny M. , Fletcher Jennifer A. , Chan Denise S. , Li Feng X.
Published: March 2008

Background

Rotator cuff tears affect patients’ quality of life. The evolution toward less invasive operative techniques for rotator cuff repair requires appropriate comparisons with the standard open procedure, using validated outcomes in a randomized fashion.

Hypothesis

There is no difference in disease-specific quality of life outcomes at 2 years between an open surgical repair (open) versus an arthroscopic acromioplasty with mini-open (scope mini-open) repair for patients with full-thickness rotator cuff tears.

Study Design

Randomized controlled trial; Level of evidence, 1.

Methods

Patients with unremitting pain, failed nonoperative treatment, and imaging indicating full-thickness rotator cuff tears were included in the study. Massive irreparable cuff tears were excluded. Patients were assessed using the disease-specific Rotator Cuff-Quality of Life index, which produces a maximum score of 100, representing a high quality of life. Secondary shoulder-specific outcomes (American Shoulder and Elbow Society, Shoulder Rating Questionnaire, and Functional Shoulder Elevation Test) were also measured at baseline, 3 and 6 months, and 1 and 2 years.

Results

The mean Rotator Cuff-Quality of Life scores at an average follow-up of 28 months were not statistically different: open, 86.9 (95% confidence interval: 81.8–92.0); and scope mini-open, 87.2 (95% confidence interval: 80.6–93.8). At 3 months, the patients who underwent scope mini-open showed statistically significantly better outcomes (55.6 vs 71.3; P = .005). The baseline to 3-month difference in Rotator Cuff-Quality of Life scores between the scope mini-open and open groups was also statistically significant.

Conclusion

Patient outcomes improved from baseline to all postoperative measurement intervals. There was no difference in outcome at 1 and 2 years after surgery between the scope mini-open and open procedures. The quality of life of patients undergoing the arthroscopic acromioplasty with mini-open rotator cuff repair improved statistically significantly and clinically at 3 months compared with the open group.
Primary Anatomic Double-Bundle Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction
Authors: Fu Freddie H. , Shen Wei , Starman James S. , Okeke Nnamdi , Irrgang James J.
Published: March 2008

Background

The anterior cruciate ligament consists of 2 functional bundles, the anteromedial bundle and the posterolateral bundle. Single-bundle anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction is the current standard for the treatment of anterior cruciate ligament deficiency. However, a significant subset of patients continues to report residual symptoms of instability after such reconstruction.

Hypothesis

Anatomic double-bundle anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction may more closely restore normal kinematics of the knee by reproducing the native anatomy.

Study Design

Case series; Level of evidence, 4.

Methods

We report the current clinical outcomes of the initial 100 consecutive patients who underwent anatomic double-bundle anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction with an average follow-up of 2.1 ± 0.5 years. All patients were prospectively followed to document range of motion, ligamentous laxity, and functional strength, as well as activity and sports participation.

Results

Side-to-side difference in range of motion was 2° ± 3° for extension and 2° ± 5° for flexion. Sixty-five percent of patients had a normal Lachman test result, and 33% were nearly normal. For the pivot-shift test findings, 94% were normal, and 6% were nearly normal. The average side-to-side difference in the KT-2000 arthrometer test was 1.0 ± 2.3 mm. There were 8 graft failures, 7 of which had subsequent revision surgery. No patients reported pain, swelling, or instability during activities of daily living, and 73% to 78% had no symptoms during very strenuous or strenuous sports activities. The scores of the International Knee Documentation Committee Subjective Knee Form, Activities of Daily Living, and Sports Activity Scores of the Knee Outcome Survey were 85.0, 91.8, and 87.0, respectively, and were similar compared with patients undergoing single-bundle anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, which we have previously reported. Fifty-one percent described their current activity level as normal, and 35% reported it as nearly normal.

Conclusion

Anatomic double-bundle anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction results in good restoration of joint stability and patient-reported outcomes when evaluated 2 years after surgery.
Cervical Spine Alignment in the Youth Football Athlete
Authors: Treme Gehron , Diduch David R. , Hart Jennifer , Romness Mark J. , Kwon Michael S. , Hart Joseph M.
Published: March 2008

Background

Substantial literature exists regarding recommendations for the on-field treatment and subsequent transportation of adult collision-sport athletes with a suspected injury to the cervical spine.

Purpose

To develop an evidence-based recommendation for transportation of suspected spine-injured youth football players.

Study Design

Descriptive laboratory study.

Methods

Three lateral radiographs were obtained in supine to include the occiput to the cervical thoracic junction from 31 youth football players (8-14 years). Each child was imaged while wearing helmet and shoulder pads, without equipment, and with shoulder pads only. Two independent observers measured cervical spine angulation as Cobb angle from C1 to C7 and subaxial angulation from C2 to C7. We calculated intraclass correlation coefficients for intraobserver reliability analysis and compared Cobb and C2 to C7 angles between equipment conditions with t tests.

Results

Interobserver analysis showed excellent reliability among measurements. Cobb and subaxial angle measurements indicated significantly greater cervical lordosis while children wore shoulder pads only, compared with the other 2 conditions (no equipment and helmet and shoulder pads) (P < .001). There was no statistically significant difference in either Cobb or C2-C7 angles between fully equipped (helmet + shoulder pads) and no-equipment conditions (P >.05).

Conclusions

Equipment removal for the youth football athlete with suspected cervical spine injury should abide by the “all or none” policy that has been widely accepted for adult athletes. Helmet and shoulder pads should be left in place during emergency transport of the suspected spine-injured youth athlete.

Clinical Relevance

Despite differences in head to torso size ratios between youth and adult players, helmet removal alone is not recommended for either during emergency transportation.
Tensile Properties of Polycarbonate-Coated Natural Fabric Hildegardia populifolia
Authors: Jagadeesh Dani , Varada Rajulu A. , Guduri B.R.
Published: March 2008

The uniaxial natural fabric Hildegardia populifolia was coated with polycarbonate and its tensile strength, modulus and percent elongation at break were determined. The effect of alkali treatment and a coupling agent on the tensile properties of the fabric was also studied. The tensile properties were enhanced by alkali treatment and polymer coating in the presence of the coupling agent.
Kapok/Glass Polyester Hybrid Composites: Tensile and Hardness Properties
Authors: Venkata Reddy G. , Venkata Naidu S. , Shobha Rani T.
Published: March 2008

The mechanical properties of short uniaxially-oriented intimately-mixed kapok/glass fabric-reinforced polyester hybrid composites were investigated with reference to the fabric content, keeping the volume ratios of kapok to glass at 1:0, 3:1, 1:1, 1:3, and 0:1. The 9 vol% of fabric for kapok/glass was optimized. Hybrid composite materials were made by hand layup technique. The mechanical properties like tensile and hardness properties of the composites were studied. Best results were obtained for composites having increased glass fabric content in kapok/glass. The effect of alkali treatment of fabrics on the mechanical properties of these kapok/glass hybrid composites has also been studied. A significant improvement was observed in tensile and hardness properties of these composites by alkali treatment. Tensile properties were found to be better in composites having volume ratios of kapok to glass at 1:3 ratios. The hybrid composites exhibited good properties compared to the single kind of fabric/polyester composites.
Implementation of Taguchi Design for Erosion of Fiber-Reinforced Polyester Composite Systems with SiC Filler
Authors: Patnaik Amar , Satapathy Alok , Mahapatra S.S. , Dash R.R.
Published: March 2008

With the increased use of fiber/filler-reinforced polymer composites in erosive work environments, it has become extremely important to investigate their erosion characteristics intensively. This article describes the development of a multi-component composite system consisting of thermoplastic polyester resin reinforced with E-glass fiber and SiC particles, and studies its erosion behavior under different operating conditions. A room temperature erosion test facility and Taguchi's orthogonal arrays are used for experimentation. It identifies significant control factors influencing the erosion wear and also outlines significant interaction effects. Finally, optimal factor settings for minimum wear rate have been determined using a genetic algorithm.
Investigation of the Effect of Z-Pin Reinforcement on the Collapse of Foam-Cored Sandwich Panels
Authors: Long D. , Guiqiong J. , Tao H.
Published: March 2008

Z-pin reinforced foam core sandwich is fabricated by reinforcing lightweight foam with a truss network of pultruded carbon fiber rods, and then laminated between composite facesheets to produce sandwich structure. Experimental and analytical studies on this novel sandwich composite under three-point bending were presented in this paper, and the failure models were investigated and compared with that of the unreinforced one. It is found that the bending properties of foam core sandwich are enhanced significantly by pins. The predictor formulas were developed to obtain the collapse loads of Z-pinned sandwich, and then the influence of pins on the flexural properties were presented. The collapse load is clearly affected by the inclination angle, volume fraction and Young's modulus of pin. The Z-pinned core was subsequently optimized from a minimized weight standpoint subjected to various failure constraints.
Neuropsychiatric Disorders in Males With Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy: Frequency Rate of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorder, and Obsessive—Compulsive Disorder
Authors: Hendriksen Joseph G. M. , Vles Johan S. H.
Published: March 2008

Using a questionnaire-based study, we assessed the parent-reported prevalence of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADHDs), autism spectrum disorders, and obsessive—compulsive disorders in a group of 351 males with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Of the 351 males with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, 11.7% were reported to have a comorbid diagnosis of ADHD, 3.1% had autism spectrum disorder, and 4.8% had obsessive—compulsive disorder. It can be concluded that the incidence of these neuropsychiatric disorders is higher in Duchenne males than in the normal population. This finding, together with recent reports on the higher prevalence of cognitive and learning problems in Duchenne, supports the view that Duchenne muscular dystrophy is not only a muscular disorder but also a disorder affecting the brain. It is important for clinical practice to take in account this heightened association. More research is needed to examine this association and its consequences.
Simultaneous Guillain-Barré Syndrome and Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis in the Pediatric Population
Authors: Bernard Geneviève , Riou Émilie , Rosenblatt Bernard , Dilenge Marie-Emmanuelle , Poulin Chantal
Published: March 2008

Few cases of simultaneous acute demyelination of the peripheral and central nervous systems are reported. Four patients diagnosed as having Guillain-Barré syndrome and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis during the same hospitalization are described herein. Two patients manifest an atypical form of Guillain-Barré syndrome, with magnetic resonance imaging of the head showing acute disseminated encephalomyelitis. A third patient has acute disseminated encephalomyelitis and develops Guillain-Barré syndrome during his hospitalization. A fourth patient demonstrates transverse myelitis that evolves into Guillain-Barré syndrome, with demyelination seen on brain magnetic resonance imaging. All patients are treated with intravenous immunoglobulins or corticosteroids. Three patients have a favorable outcome; 1 patient has a chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy. Guillain-Barré syndrome and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis can occur simultaneously in the pediatric population. This may be explained by a shared epitope between peripheral and central nervous system myelin. Further research is necessary to better describe this entity and its prognosis.
Intracranial Hypertension in 2 Children With Marfan Syndrome
Authors: Hilhorst-Hofstee Yvonne , Kroft Lucia J. M. , Pals Gerard , van Vugt Jeroen P. P. , Overweg-Plandsoen Wouterina C. G.
Published: March 2008

Two unrelated children with Marfan syndrome presented with recurrent intracranial hypertension. Both children complained of headache, nausea, and vomiting and one of them had papilledema. Both had increased cerebrospinal fluid pressure, and their complaints disappeared after lumbar puncture. Although severe headache has been reported in Marfan syndrome due to intracranial hypotension, this is to our knowledge the first report of intracranial hypertension in Marfan patients.
Accomplishing Knowledge
Authors: Kuhn Timothy , Jackson Michele H.
Published: March 2008

This article proposes a shift in how researchers study knowledge and knowing in organizations. Responding to a pronounced lack of methodological guidance from existing research, this work develops a framework for analyzing situated organizational problem solving. This framework, rooted in social practice theory, focuses on communicative knowledge-accomplishing activities, which frame and respond to various problematic situations. Vignettes drawn from a call center demonstrate the value of the framework, which can advance practice-oriented research on knowledge and knowing by helping it break with dubious assumptions about knowledge homogeneity within groups, examine knowing as instrumental action and involvement in a struggle over meaning, and display how patterns of knowledge-accomplishing activities can generate unintended organizational consequences.
The Intermingling of Aesthetic Sensibilities and Instrumental Rationalities in a Collaborative Arts Studio
Authors: Harter Lynn M. , Leeman Mark , Norander Stephanie , Young Stephanie L. , Rawlins William K.
Published: March 2008

This article argues for the theoretical and practical incorporation of aesthetic sensibilities into the communicative management of hybrid organizing. Using Dewey's Art as Experience as a conceptual framework, it explores imaginative and aesthetic practices as knowledge-producing resources for organizing and social change. The analysis centers on the complex and contradictory ways that artful capacities and instrumental rationalities interweave to achieve the organizational order of a collaborative art studio. Using discourses from multiple stakeholders, this article examines in detail three themes: art as creation and vocation, art as ephemeral integration, and art as survival and social change. Findings are discussed in the context of other scholarship committed to recovering and fostering alternative logics for organizing.
What's in a Name? Targum and Taxonomy in Cave 4 at Qumran
Authors: Shepherd David
Published: March 2008

Although Cave 4's textual contribution to the Qumran corpus of ancient Aramaic Bible translations is quite limited when compared to that of Cave 11 (11QarJob), the potential significance of the Cave 4 fragments should not be underestimated. In offering us evidence of two additional translations (4QarJob, 4QarLev), Cave 4 presents us with the opportunity not only to assess the relationship between the Qumran Aramaic versions, but also locate with greater specificity the Qumran tradition(s) within the diversity of translational approaches which eventually emerged in Jewish and Christian communities in antiquity.
Beyond Risk: Premediation and the Post-9/11 Security Imagination
Authors: De Goede Marieke
Published: March 2008

In the context of the `war on terror', techniques of imagining the future have taken on new political significance. Richard Grusin has coined the term `premediation' to describe the way in which news media and cultural industries map and visualize a plurality of possible futures. This article examines the relation between the politics of risk and premediation as a security practice. Premediation simultaneously deploys and exceeds the language of risk. Its self-conscious deployment of imagination in security practice feeds economies of both anxiety and desire.
Risking Lives: AIDS, Security and Three Concepts of Risk
Authors: Elbe Stefan
Published: March 2008

This article analyses the conjunctures of risk and security that have recently emerged in the securitization of HIV/AIDS. Although these partially corroborate Ulrich Beck's notion of risk society, important elements of the securitization of HIV/AIDS resist his understanding of risk as a `danger of modernization'. The article therefore turns to François Ewald's alternative theorization of risk as a `neologism of insurance', and shows that insurance is a risk-based security practice widely used to manage the welfare of populations. Such a biopolitical approach to risk is also valuable for analysing the securitization of HIV/AIDS, which, even though it is unfolding outside the domain of insurance, similarly draws upon multiple risk categories (`security risks', `risk groups' and `risk factors') in efforts to improve the collective health of populations. Analysed through a wider concept of risk as a `biopolitical rationality', the conjuncture of risk and security in the securitization of HIV/AIDS thus emerges as a principal site where the institutions of sovereign power in international relations are being absorbed and integrated within a wider biopolitical economy of power.
Securing the Political Imagination: Popular Culture, the Security Dispositif and the Biometric State
Authors: Muller Benjamin J.
Published: March 2008

What is the relationship between popular culture and the reliance on risk management as a framework for governance in the emerging security dispositif? Furthermore, how is one to understand the influence of culture and cultural forces in relation to the emerging biometric state and the alleged security imperatives therein? This article contends that the emerging security dispositif, and the associated imaginations and cultural performances that sustain and shape it, are vital to the production of what is referred to here as the `biometric state'. Motivated by an obsession with technologies of risk and practices of risk management, the biometric state is defined by the prevalence of virtual borders and reliance on biometric identifiers such as passports, trusted-traveller programmes and national ID cards, as well as the forms of social sorting that accompany these manoeuvres. Raising the marriage of convenience that connects two related dispositifs of security — geopolitics and biopolitics — the article considers the relationship between their referent objects: the state and everyday life, respectively. More specifically, popular culture integral to sustaining the emerging security dispositif forms the core of the analysis, as the article asserts the constitutive possibilities of popular culture.
Terrorism, Risk and International Security: The Perils of Asking 'What If?'
Authors: Mythen Gabe , Walklate Sandra
Published: March 2008

In this article, we explore the ways in which cross-disciplinary theories of risk can enable us to grasp salient issues that arise out of the construction, assessment and regulation of terrorism in contemporary society. First, we demonstrate how risk society theory can be utilized to unpack the changing nature of terrorism. Second, deploying Furedi's work on the culture of fear, we show how the discourse of terrorism nestles into a broader politics of risk that is disproportionately directing economic and political policies and encouraging a climate of public anxiety. Third, utilizing the tools of the governmentality perspective, the linkages between measures designed to combat the terrorist threat and authoritarian domestic law and order policies are elucidated. We go on to analyse the contents and practices of the `war on terror', arguing that the offensive and pre-emptive strategies that it legitimates are wedded to a creeping shift in risk assessment from retrospective estimations of harm to an outlook based on futurity. It is posited that this shift ushers in a number of contradictions and dilemmas around the political deployment of discourses of risk.
Governing the Future: The Paradigm of Prudence in Political Technologies of Risk Management
Authors: Diprose Rosalyn , Stephenson Niamh , Mills Catherine , Race Kane , Hawkins Gay
Published: March 2008

Increasingly, governmental responses to incalculable, but high-consequence, threats to life and security are framed by what has been described as the `precautionary principle' (Ewald), `preparedness' (Collier, Lakoff & Rabinow) or `pre-emption' (Derrida). This article redescribes features common to these characterizations as the paradigm of prudence and examines how this approach to risk management is playing out in the context of fears that feature within the Australian political imaginary. We explore how the approach to the future entailed in the paradigm enframes `life' and stifles democratic participation and innovation in ways of living. Three case studies (in biosecurity, bioecology and biomedicine) demonstrate not only how the paradigm pervades the government of everyday life, but also how it is challenged by human `agents', material `life' and the dynamic relations between these two. By formulating what this involves, we point to a concept of the political more conducive to democratic pluralism, diversity of life and innovative culture.
Underwriting Security
Authors: Dillon Michael
Published: March 2008

This article enframes `risk' as a biopolitical security technology. It explains how biopolitics of security take life as their referent object of security; how the grid of intelligibility for biopolitics is economic; and how, in the second half of the 20th century, life also came to be understood as emergent being. Contingency is constitutive especially of the life of emergent being, and so the article argues that a biopolitics of security that seeks `to make life live' cannot secure life against contingency but must secure life through governmental technologies of contingency. Risk is one of these technologies. The article also explains how risk has come to pervade the biopolitics of security of the 21st century, and how, through the way in which it is traded on the capital markets, it has begun to acquire the properties of money. The article closes by describing how the biopolitics of security differ from traditional prophylactic accounts of security, and how these biopolitics of security exceed the liberal political thinking that rationalizes and legitimates them.
Examining the Agreement of Direct Behavior Ratings and Systematic Direct Observation Data for On-Task and Disruptive Behavior
Authors: Riley-Tillman T. Chris , Chafouleas Sandra M. , Sassu Kari A. , Chanese Julie A. M. , Glazer Amy D.
Published: March 2008

The purpose of this study was to replicate previous findings indicating a moderate association between teacher perceptions of behavior as measured by direct behavior ratings (DBRs) and systematic direct observation (SDO) conducted by an external observer. In this study, data regarding student on-task and disruptive behavior were collected via SDO from trained external observers and via DBRs from classroom teachers. Data were collected across 15 teachers and three observation sessions, and the agreement between the two methods was compared as a way to examine concurrent validity. Results supported previous work suggesting that DBRs are significantly correlated with SDO data, thereby suggesting that the DBR might be used as a compatible tool with SDO. Implications for practice, limitations of the study, and directions for future research are discussed.
Choice-Making as Intervention for Public Disrobing in Children With Developmental Disabilities
Authors: Carlson Jane I. , Luiselli James K. , Slyman Amy , Markowski Andrea
Published: March 2008

The authors describe a choice-making intervention with two children who had developmental disabilities and demonstrated public disrobing in school settings. The children also urinated in their clothing, apparently to gain access to new and more preferred apparel. The intervention gave the children a choice to change into high-preference clothes at scheduled opportunities during the day. Evaluated in a multiple baseline design, intervention decreased and eliminated incidents of public disrobing and urinary incontinence with both children. Scheduling acceptable opportunities to change clothes appears to have functioned as an abolishing operation that lessened each child's motivation to disrobe. Clinical implications of these findings are discussed.
The `blogosphere' as a market research tool for tourism destinations: A case study of Australia's Northern Territory
Authors: Carson Dean
Published: March 2008

Monitoring the attitudes of visitors has been an important but problematic task for destination marketing organizations (DMOs). Standard approaches have included tick box surveys and focus groups, in-depth interviews and other qualitative methods. The former are relatively cheap to administer but provide generally poor data, while the latter may provide rich data but can be expensive to implement. Consumer generated web content (including, but not limited to `blogs') may offer a way for destinations to monitor visitor attitudes. There may be particular value in a blog based market research tool because the content is provided in a less artificial setting than in surveys or interviews. The research examined different sources of consumer generated web content about travel to Australia's Northern Territory and evaluated the authorship and readership as well as the nature of the content itself. The findings suggest that valuable data can be drawn from travel blogs, but that locating and analysing relevant content is time consuming. The author proposes a targeted approach to monitoring blogs that takes into account the market segments likely to engage in blogging and the aspects of the destination likely to come under scrutiny.
Blogs in tourism: Changing approaches to information exchange
Authors: Schmallegger Doris , Carson Dean
Published: March 2008

The continuing rise of the internet as a communications tool for travel and tourism presents challenges for destination marketing organizations and tourism enterprises. Previous research has suggested that the internet contributes to five key functions — promotion, product distribution, communication, management and research. This paper examines how Web 2.0 applications, and specifically the increasing number of travel blogs, might influence these functions. The research reviewed the published literature and real-life examples of destination marketing organizations and tourism enterprises using blogs as part of their business strategy. Some interesting examples were found for each of the functions, which may point the way to more effective use of user generated content by the tourism industry, while also revealing challenges to achieving this.
Believe it or not: Credibility of blogs in tourism
Authors: Mack Rhonda W. , Blose Julia E. , Bing Pan
Published: March 2008

This study examines the use of blogs as a means of tourism marketing communication. Using a scenario-based approach, an online experiment was conducted to test whether consumers perceive corporate and personal blogs to be credible sources of information and to compare the perceived credibility of blogs to that of traditional word-of-mouth. The findings suggest that while consumers do not generally equate the overall credibility of blogs with that of traditional word-of-mouth, some consumers do appear to attribute similar levels of authoritativeness, a dimension of credibility, to them.
Tourism Blog Visualizer for better tour planning
Authors: Sharda Nalin , Ponnada Mohan
Published: March 2008

This paper presents the rationale for building a Blog Visualizer, and elaborates on its conceptual model. Blog Visualizer is a system that uses the information present in blogs, such as images, video, and audio, to create an audio-visual interactive presentation for the user. The Blog Visualizer brings together and makes use of relevant data stored in the form of Sharable Content Objects (SCOs). The most relevant SCOs are converted into an audio-visual presentation that can play out on a variety of user devices, with the content repurposed according to device parameters and user preferences. The Blog Visualizer will provide potential tourists with a virtual experience of the trip to support better tour planning.
A practitioner's report on blogs as a potential source of destination marketing intelligence
Authors: Pühringer Stefan , Taylor Andrew
Published: March 2008

A primary role of Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) is to facilitate industry access to market intelligence and to ensure that operators understand their markets (both existing and emerging). Web logs, or blogs, are a relatively new form of market intelligence arising from peer to peer communication over the internet. The extent to which the content of blogs may augment DMO activities is unknown but is likely to depend on operator predisposition to e-strategies in general. This study reports on a survey of Kitzbühel Tourism operator's current online strategies andtheir level of awareness about blogs. The results show, while a core of businesses already monitor blogs in a strategic way, they may be struggling to meaningfully apply the fruits of these activities. A role for DMOs like Kitzbühel Tourism in moving operators forward in this area is identified. It is hoped that the practitioner's articulation of this role will provide other DMOs with ideas for the strategic use of what is currently a relatively untapped source of market information.
Analysis of travel bloggers' characteristics and their communication about Austria as a tourism destination
Authors: Wenger Anita
Published: March 2008

Travel blogs are becoming an increasingly important mechanism for exchanging information among tourists, and for destinations and businesses to learn about the attitudes of their markets. The purpose of this research was to analyse blog entries relating to trips to Austria posted to www.travelblog.org. The research sought to establish similarities and differences between those posting blog entries and Austria's tourism markets. It analysed the content of blog entries to identify positive and negative perceptions of Austria as a tourism destination, and compared these with other research into Austria's destination image. The research found a largely homogenous population of blog authors that had quite different demographic and touristic characteristics from Austria's total population of visitors. Blog authors were visiting Austria as part of a larger European tour, and they provided relatively few insights that might assist in understanding Austria's destination image. The value of monitoring blogs may depend on locating blog authors who are more likely to influence key markets.
A net advantage? The internet, grassroots activism and American Middle-Eastern policy
Authors: Marmura Stephen
Published: March 2008

The uses to which social movements and other grassroots actors put the internet have gained considerable attention from researchers. Often, the internet's role in helping some activists to attain their goals has been cited as evidence that internet technology offers greater benefits to marginal interests than to those already enjoying access to mainstream political and media institutions. This article investigates the possibility that activist networks striving to alter American state policies towards Israel and Palestine will enjoy relatively greater advantages from their use of the internet than those working to uphold the political status quo. Evidence suggests that while the internet has become indispensable for the social movement organizations under consideration, it is unlikely to help them overcome the most significant barriers to influencing government policies and/or public opinion.
The aftermath of the ICT revolution? Media and communication technology preferences in Finland in 1999 and 2004
Authors: Räsänen Pekka
Published: March 2008

It has been predicted that new information and communication technologies (ICTs) will be adopted for increasingly diversified purposes. In general, it has been argued that earlier forms of communication and mass media are being replaced by new ones. Before the early 1990s, however, neither mobile phones nor the internet were widely available to consumers. It is reasonable to ask whether the relatively recent implementation of ICT has shaped our daily practices already as much as many social scientists believe. Is it true that the new forms of technology are considered to be more important than the older ones? What differences can be observed between population groups? This article examines the perceptions of different mass media forms and communication technologies in Finland before and after the turn of the millennium. The data consist of two nationally representative postal surveys conducted in 1999 and 2004.
Public life and the internet: if you build a better website, will citizens become engaged?
Authors: Coleman Renita , Lieber Paul , Mendelson Andrew L. , Kurpius David D.
Published: March 2008

This study links uses and gratifications theory to a theory that addresses civic engagement and then applies it to create an electronic public sphere designed to encourage citizens to participate in civic life. An experimental website on the topic of the state budget was created and tested to assure maximum usability by citizens. It found that the site designed to conform to users' wants and needs in content, navigation and appearance did indeed foster positive attitudes toward civic engagement. Participants who saw the usable site were significantly more likely to have positive attitudes toward civic engagement than those who saw a site not designed for usability. The site features under the control of website creators, such as story content and site appearance, showed strong correlations with civic engagement attitudes.
Modeling the impact of online cancer resources on supporters of cancer patients
Authors: Beaudoin Christopher E. , Tao Chen-Chao
Published: March 2008

This article considers the impact of internet use and online social capital on the health outcomes of supporters of cancer patients. Structural equation modeling offers support for the following three-step model: internet use online social capital stress and depression. Specifically, asynchronous online communication and offline communication stimulated by online communication had direct positive paths to social interaction and social support which, in turn, were both predictive of healthier or lower levels of stress and depression. These findings support previous research, which has indicated positive associations between mass media use and social capital and between social capital and health outcomes. In contrast, internet information-seeking by information type had a negative direct path to social support and negative indirect paths to stress and depression, indicating that information-seeking online has a detrimental impact on social capital and the health indicators.