25,520 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
From the Roman Republic to the American Revolution: readings of Cicero in the political thought of James Wilson
No full textAs a classical scholar and prominent founding father, James Wilson was at once statesman, judge, and political thinker, who read Cicero as an example worthy of emulation and as a philosopher whose theory could be applied to his own age. Classical reception studies have focused on questions of liberty, civic virtue, and constitutionalism in the American founding, and historians have also noted Wilson’s importance in American history and thought. Wilson’s direct engagement with Cicero’s works, however, and their significance in the formulation of his own philosophy has been long overlooked. My thesis argues that Wilson’s viewpoint was largely based on his readings of Cicero and can only be properly understood within this context. In the first two chapters of my thesis I demonstrate that Wilson not only possessed a wide-ranging knowledge of the classics in general, but also that he borrowed from Cicero’s writings and directly engaged with the texts themselves. Building upon this foundation, chapters three and four examine Cicero’s perspective on popular sovereignty and civic virtue, situate Wilson’s interpretations within contemporary discussions of Roman politics, and analyse the main ways in which he adapts Cicero’s arguments to his own era. Wilson retains a broader faith in the common people than seen in Cicero’s opinions, and he abstracts from Cicero a doctrine of sovereignty as an indivisible principle that is absent in the text; nevertheless, Cicero’s conception of a legitimate state and his insistence on the role of the people provided the foundation for Wilson’s thought and ultimately for his legitimization of the American Revolution. At the same time, like Cicero, Wilson views the stability of the state as resting in the personal virtue of the individual. While his enlightenment philosophy imparts optimism to his conception of the good citizen, his definition of virtue closely follows that of Cicero. As the final chapter of my thesis concludes, their individual interpretations of these theories of popular consent and virtue were instrumental in forming Cicero’s and Wilson’s justifications of civil disobedience
John Wilson AKA Christopher North
No full textJohn Wilson (pseudonym: Christopher North) was a Scottish writer
FIGURE 186 in GEORGE D.F. WILSON & CHRISTOPHER L. HUMPHREY (2020) The Eophreatoicus Nicholls 1926 species flock from Kakadu and Arnhem Land, with a description of a new genus of Amphisopidae (Crustacea: Isopoda: Phreatoicidea). Zootaxa, 4854: 001-303.
No full textFIGURE 186. Eophreatoicus balbun sp. nov., pereopod I. Paratype male, AM P.76453: A–D, pereopod I entire, enlargement of distal articles, palm setae lateral and palm medial. Paratype female, AM P.76454: E–H, pereopod I entire, enlargement of palm and proximal dactylus, palm setae lateral and palm setae medial. Scales 1 mm.Published as part of <i>Wilson, George D.F. & Humphrey, Christopher L., 2020, GEORGE D.F. WILSON & CHRISTOPHER L. HUMPHREY (2020) The Eophreatoicus Nicholls 1926 species flock from Kakadu and Arnhem Land, with a description of a new genus of Amphisopidae (Crustacea: Isopoda: Phreatoicidea). Zootaxa, 4854: 001-303., pp. 600-600 in Zootaxa 4890 (4)</i> on page 600, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4890.4.12, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/4306443">http://zenodo.org/record/4306443</a>
FIGURE 186 in GEORGE D.F. WILSON & CHRISTOPHER L. HUMPHREY (2020) The Eophreatoicus Nicholls 1926 species flock from Kakadu and Arnhem Land, with a description of a new genus of Amphisopidae (Crustacea: Isopoda: Phreatoicidea). Zootaxa, 4854: 001-303.
No full textFIGURE 186. Eophreatoicus balbun sp. nov., pereopod I. Paratype male, AM P.76453: A–D, pereopod I entire, enlargement of distal articles, palm setae lateral and palm medial. Paratype female, AM P.76454: E–H, pereopod I entire, enlargement of palm and proximal dactylus, palm setae lateral and palm setae medial. Scales 1 mm.Published as part of Wilson, George D.F. & Humphrey, Christopher L., 2020, GEORGE D.F. WILSON & CHRISTOPHER L. HUMPHREY (2020) The Eophreatoicus Nicholls 1926 species flock from Kakadu and Arnhem Land, with a description of a new genus of Amphisopidae (Crustacea: Isopoda: Phreatoicidea). Zootaxa, 4854: 001-303., pp. 600-600 in Zootaxa 4890 (4) on page 600, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4890.4.12, http://zenodo.org/record/430644
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/
Interview with Nicholas Christopher, author of Somewhere in the Night: Film Noir and the American City
Full text linkInterview with Nicholas Christopher, author of Somewhere in the Night: Film Noir and the American Cit
Christopher Wilson, DO 2020
No full textPhiladelphia DO Class of 2020 portrait.https://digitalcommons.pcom.edu/portraits_2020/1249/thumbnail.jp
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