2,362 research outputs found
An investigation into the legal performance of small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs), encompassing compliance levels, the impact and effectiveness of environmental legislation and improving SME environmental compliance control systems
No full textThere has been a great deal written about the difficulties faced by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) compared to larger businesses. SMEs face difficulties complying with environmental legislation, particularly because of the amount of complex law. This can result in the ‘environment’ being treated as less of a priority even though SMEs collectively have a significant environmental impact. Over the past few years, the UK has been focused towards achieving ‘better regulation’. In particular, Hampton highlighted the need for more strategic thinking when it comes to developing regulation. Hampton suggested that regulators should use a risk-based model similar to that used by the England and Wales Environment Agency (EA). This view is shared by Local Authorities and other environmental regulators; however, there has been criticism from some commentators who suggest that certain legislation is not successfully enforced.The increased use of risk assessment by the EA has reduced the number of inspections resulting in more ‘pressure’ being put on remaining inspections as well as there being less opportunity to identify non-compliance. In addition, those businesses not included under direct regulatory regimes are unlikely to be audited for compliance against any environmental legislation; consequently a significant portion of all businesses go un-inspected and uncontrolled. Because of the number of SMEs, there needs to be an effective system of regulation that controls activities and targets those businesses that pose a risk to the environment, without unnecessarily over-burdening SMEs. It is clear from the coalition Government’s planned austerity measures in 2011 that management of the environment will have to be done with less resource than before. This thesis draws together findings from research conducted between 2005-2011. Previous research on compliance with legislation has often been conducted in isolation with little research comparing compliance across a range of legislation, and certainly not using triangulation methods to assess SMEs’ overall legal performance.This study aimed to investigate the legal performance of UK SMEs with a range of environmental legislation. This study identifies: • the level of compliance (‘spirit’ and ‘letter’ of the law) with environmental legislation;• the impact and effectiveness of environmental legislation; and• ways of improving the environmental compliance control systems for SMEs.The study incorporated a wide range of environmental legislation, including that covering:waste management/ transfer, environmental permitting (including waste exemptions), site waste management plans, WEEE, RoHS, packaging, oil storage as well as identifying other potential environmental offences. Detailed compliance audits were conducted with 44 SMEs from 5 different sectors from the north-west of England. Interviews with SME management, site staff, regulators, Government policy officials and support organisations; in total 99 individuals were interviewed. The study indicates: • Low levels of compliance with the ‘letter’ and ‘spirit’ of the law.• Knowledge and understanding of environmental legislation was poor; no single SME, regulator or support organisation appreciated ‘environmental compliance’ as a whole.• Enforcement activity and surveillance of the SMEs audited was very low; this reflected nation enforcement figures.• The impact of environmental legislation on SMEs is overstated. The impact increased commensurate with ‘effort to comply’ and ‘enforcement action’.• There was evidence of direct and indirect environmental harm as a result of noncompliance.• Regulation can only be effective if it is complied with; measuring the link between the legislation and environmental protection must be accompanied by a clear understanding of compliance levels.This study produces an initial assessment methodology for SMEs, compliance performance indicators and recommendations to improve SME compliance controls
Immune-mediated phagocytosis and killing of Streptococcus pneumoniae are associated with direct and bystander macrophage apoptosis
No full textApoptosis of macrophages may be a pathogen-directed mechanism of immune escape or may represent appropriate host response to infection. Human monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs) from healthy donors (C-MDMs) exhibited low-level constitutive apoptosis, but culture of MDMs with opsonized serotype I Streptococcus pneumoniae (I-MDMs) for 20 h resulted in significantly increased apoptosis. I-MDM apoptosis was associated with phagocytosis of bacteria and intracellular killing that was blocked by the caspase inhibitor z-VAD-fmk but not by Fas-blocking antibody. Paraformaldehyde-fixed I-MDMs induced apoptosis in uninfected syngeneic monocytes at levels greater than those in monocytes incubated alone or incubated with fixed C-MDMs. Apoptosis of syngeneic monocytes was blocked by anti-Fas antibody. The immune response of macrophages to S. pneumoniae includes a novel form of apoptosis that is associated with successful phagocytosis and bacterial killing. This response in vivo may regulate the inflammatory response to infection during a successful host response against S. pneumoniae
Environmental (waste) compliance control systems for UK SMEs
No full textWhile the ‘environment’ is often perceived as a heavily regulated area of business, in reality, directly-regulated businesses represent a small proportion of the business community. This study aimed to evaluate and outline potential improvements to compliance controls for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), particularly those involved in the waste sector. Forty-four SMEs from England were interviewed/audited between April-September 2008. Using a UK-based system as a case-in-point, the Environment Agency’s (EA) Operational Risk Appraisal (‘Opra’)/Compliance Assessment Report (CAR) system was analysed. Environmental compliance performance indicators and an initial assessment methodology for SMEs were developed. The study showed:• Compliance with permitting legislation was poor in many areas.• Regulatory authorities are either unable/failing to implement their enforcement policies or unable/failing to identify non-compliances due to the infrequency or limited nature of their inspections.• Improvements are needed to the EA Opra/CAR system – control measures are not fully taken into account when calculating risk.Recommendations to improve SME compliance controls include using internationally applicable general and specific compliance and non-compliance performance indicators, re-designing the Opra system and using an initial assessment methodology based on understanding the hazardousness of SME categories, compliance levels and operator competency.<br/
Accelerated norm-optimal iterative learning control
No full textThis paper proposes a novel technique for accelerating the convergence of the previously published norm-optimal iterative learning control (NOILC) methodology. The basis of the results is a formal proof of an observation made by the first author, namely that the NOILC algorithm is equivalent to a successive projection algorithm between linear varieties in a suitable product Hilbert space. This leads to two proposed accelerated algorithms together with well-defined convergence properties. The results show that the proposed accelerated algorithms are capable of ensuring monotonic error norm reductions and can outperform NOILC by more rapid reductions in error norm from iteration to iteration. In particular, examples indicate that the approach can improve the performance of NOILC for the problematic case of non-minimum phase systems. Realisation of the algorithms is discussed and numerical simulations are provided for comparative purposes and to demonstrate the numerical performance and effectiveness of the proposed methods
Anti-racist (moral) education: a review of approaches, impact and theoretical underpinnings from 2000 to 2015
No full textRacism is a moral issue and of concern for moral educators, with recent social movements such as #BlackLivesMatter highlighting how far we are from obliterating racial oppression and the unearned privilege
whiteness confers. To contribute to a more formalised approach to anti-racist moral education, this article systematically reviews 15 years of peer-reviewed scholarship concerned with anti-racist education, to
establish the definitions and aims of anti-racist education drawn on, the theoretical frameworks underpinning these, the methods used in education efforts, and their intended impact. It also considers the geopolitical aspects of knowledge production in the field, such as author country location and implementation context of empirical studies. It
concludes with implications for moral education in classroom and community contexts and advocates for anti-racist moral education that comprise three interconnected components - making visible systemic oppression (visibilising), recognising personal complicity in oppression through unearned privilege (recognising) and developing strategies to transform structural inequalities (strategising).
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The Life and Work of D.H. Hyers, 1913-1997
No full textThe following is a sketch of the life and work of Donald Holmes Hyers, Professor Emeritus from the University of Southern California. The theorem put forth by Hyers in 1941 concerning linear functional equations has gained a great deal of interest over the past two decades. Hundreds of articles have been written citing his works, many of which have furthered the theorem. This paper contains a brief description of Hyers’ theorem, a biographical essay and an extensive bibliography of Hyers’ work and works citing the Hyers theorem or the D.H. Hyers–S.M. Ulam–Th.M. Rassias theorem or related subjects of almost the last three decades. The author of this paper is the grandson of D.H. Hyers
Influencing the phosphorus quality of green manure with phosphate rocks in organic farming systems
No full textPlant-available phosphorus (P) deficiency in organically managed soils is of increasing concern. This field study examines the combined use of green manure (GM) grown with phosphate rock (PR) as a source of P on organic farms. Buckwheat ('Fagopyrum esculentum') GM was grown with five PRs on two organic farms and one conventional farm. The PRs of varying North American origin where characterized for their reactivity and heavy metal content. GM yield was not affected; however, GM P content was enhanced by applications of the more reactive PRs. GM mulch increased soil P flux by 56% and 0.5 M NaHCO3-extractable P by 24% in the following spring. Residual PR also increased cumulative soil P flux by 63% in the year following initial application. However, ryegrass ('Lolium multiflorum') yield and tissue P content was not improved. Total initial GM P content explained 74% of the variation in P supply from the GM residues. Further research into soil P transformations following field application of organic materials is required to improve the P status in organically managed soils
The treatment of Italy and Italians in D.H. Lawrence's writings
No full textThis thesis was scanned from the print manuscript for digital preservation and is copyright the author.
Researchers can access this thesis by asking their local university, institution or public library to
make a request on their behalf. Monash staff and postgraduate students can use the link in the References field
The Importance Of Sex In Marriage Reflected In D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover Novel (1928): A Psychoanalytic Perspective
No full textThis study is about the importance of sex in marriage in Lady Chatterley’s Lover. The objectives of the study are conducted to identify the indicators of the need for sex of the major character, to describe the major character attempt to meet the need, and to reveal the underlying reason of why the major character did viewed from the psychoanalytic perspective. The object of the study is Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence. It used psychoanalytic perspective. This research is a descriptive qualitative research. The type of data in this study is a text that consists of words, phrases and sentences. There are two data sources in this study. The primary data source is Lady
Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence. The secondary data source consists of the other data, which have a relationship with the study, such as some biography of
the author, and other relevant information. The result of the study shows the following conclusions. First, based on the structural analysis the author wants to deliver a message that the meeting of sexual need is important in marriage. Second, based on the psychoanalytic perspective, it clear that in this novel D.H. Lawrence describes psychological phenomena in which one is seeking for the sexual satisfaction from a person other than one‟s spouse
DELTA.M: A tool for metropolitan designing systems
No full textThis research deals with the development of a tool to enable designers, decision-makers and citizens to jointly shape the physical environments they inhabit, through interaction and communication via electronic networks. The designing of physical environment becomes the collective responsibility of all interested societal actors, who together form a "designing system". This research defines a 'designing system' as a temporary alliance of people responsible for decisions about the spatial development of an area, consisting of public and private investors, and citizens. This research involved the integration of theoretical knowledge, empirical knowledge and information communication technologies (ICT) in order to develop a tool, the decision support system called "Delta M."Architectur
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