Basic Dilemma Research Articles

Information Society, E-Records and the New Archival Science

The study shows how information society is reflected in e-records (volatility, dynamism, mixed private and public spheres), how it transformed the records themselves (no physical aspect, complicated structure, separated elements), and how it conquered the human memory. The basic dilemma of long term preservation is that erecords are dependent upon hardware and software which change rapidly, therefore we are unable to preserve them unchanged. The study talks shortly about integrity and authenticity of e-records which are basic requirements, and then outlines the major preservation strategies (migration, emulation, technology preservation, post-custodial archives, cloud computing) used by archives. In the digital world archival science adopted a lot from information science which caused that standards (ISADg, EAD, OAIS) are the new milestones of archival science. The greatest „yield” of this cooperation is that the data management and procedures are automatable. However, archivists must keep their classical synthetic work in digital world, too: to know and describe the record creator agency, its economic, political and societal environment, to build the system of fonds, etc.

Students’ experiences of ability-based streaming in vocational education

Purpose – Since 2007, it has been mandatory for all vocational schools in Denmark to assess the prior qualifications of all students when they begin at the school and to use this assessment to divide students into different ability-based courses (streaming) with the aim of increasing the retention of students. The purpose of this paper is to explore students’ experiences of being placed on a low-ability course by using case studies of two classes from separate vocational schools in Denmark with different practices regarding the streaming of students. Design/methodology/approach – The study draws on theories of student drop-out and engagement (Rumberger, 1993; Finn, 1989) and on the differentiation-polarization theory (Gamoran, 2010) concerning the effects of streaming students into ability-based classes. Two cases are described, representing on the one hand predominately positive experiences of streaming (better relations to teachers and peers) and on the other hand predominately negative experiences of streaming (low teacher expectations and negative peer-learning). Findings – The study shows that the two schools have organized streaming differently and that the students have very diverse experiences of being placed in a low-ability class depending on the way the schools organize streaming. Originality/value – The paper discusses the basic dilemma that schools face when they have to teach students with very diverse backgrounds and levels of engagement. The study shows that the division of students into separate streams involves a risk of reducing the level of engagement among students in the low-ability courses, but it also suggests how streaming can be organized to increase the engagement of students and possibly reduce their risk of dropping out of vocational education.

The Idea of Awakening: Giorgio Agamben and the Nāgārjuna References

This essay discusses the distinction and the basic dilemma of constituting power and constituted power. The predicament encountered in keeping these two concepts theoretically distinct repeats the problem embedded in the paradox of sovereignty which Agamben has placed at the centre of his political inquiry. Around this problem, we can explain the relation between Agamben and Carl Schmitt and, following the Negri’s thesis, the shift from the politics to the ontology. The movement from politics to ontology opens a pathway for reconsidering the relation between actuality and potentiality, the central feature of Agamben’s philosophy. Once at this point, this paper proposes a not obvious link between Agamben and Buddhism.

Electoral Cycles and Turnout in Multilevel Electoral Systems

This article differentiates between three ways in which electoral cycles may impact on participation in elections. First, it identifies a simultaneity effect – turnout increases to the extent that elections are held on the same date. A second effect is voter fatigue – turnout declines when another election has just been held before. Poll voting is a third effect. It suggests that turnout increases when another election is to be held shortly after. On the basis of a novel dataset that includes 2,915 regional elections held in 317 regions and 18 countries from 1945 to 2009, evidence is found for all three effects. The results point towards a basic dilemma in multilevel electoral systems: increase turnout by holding elections on the same date but accept high vote congruence across elections or decouple election cycles, which decreases vote congruence but lowers participation rates.

Signal representation, uncertainty principles and localization measures

The following collection of articles addresses one of the most basic problems in signal and image processing, namly the search for function systems (basis, frames, dictionaries) which allow efficient representations of certain classes of signals/images. Such representations are essential for decomposition and synthesis of signals, hence they are at the core of almost any application (coding, compression, pattern matching, feature extraction, classification, etc.) in this field. Accordingly, this is one of the best-studied topics in data analysis and a multitude of different concepts also addressing discretization/algorithmic issues has been investigated in this context. The starting point for reviving activities in this field was a recently rediscovered inconsistency in the concept of constructing optimally localized basis functions by minimizing uncertainty principles. In this short introductory note, we shortly sketch the basic dilemma, which was the starting point for this research approximately three years ago. However, the subsequent investigations presented in this collection of papers cover a much wider range of more general localization measures, discretization concepts as well as discussing algorithmic efficiency and stability.

Lifestyle hotels: New paradigm of modern hotel industry

The practice of modern hotel industry introduced to professional community the term 'lifestyle' hotel. The paper deals with the essential meaning of this term. This raises the question of the difference between the lifestyle and boutique hotels which are in practice often identified. The paper aims to resolve the basic dilemma - whether lifestyle hotel can be treated as a special type of hotel, or all types of hotels under certain conditions can fit into a group called 'lifestyle'. Closer defining of the term 'lifestyle' is a starting point for further discussion. This paper makes an attempt to overcome the uncritical use of the term 'lifestyle' in tourism and hospitality practice. Providing a clearer definition is necessary to establish standards for the typology of lifestyle hotels. These standards are primarily based on the criteria of market segmentation. Among them, psychographic criteria occupy a special place. To make lifestyle hotel more than a promotional slogan, it is necessary to confirm its market position. This means identifying specific target groups differentiated according to the main features of the lifestyle.

Situating Standards in Practices: Multi Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis Treatment in India

Public health care needs to cope with a basic dilemma between providing standardized care within public programmes across entire and at times resource-constrained countries and adapting this care locally when responding to individual needs. This tension between standardization and local adaptation becomes particularly obvious for the prolonged and complicated treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). Situated standardization, as introduced by Zuiderent-Jerak [2007a, 2007b] offers a way out of this dilemma. It helps to focus on how standards need to be situated in practice rather than viewing standardization and local adaptation as mutually exclusive practices. How do actors relate standardization and individual care in their practices of treating MDR-TB? Results from qualitative fieldwork at the first MDR-TB treatment sites of the Indian TB programme show that actors situate standards in a particular way. They assess the role of guidelines in a particular situation and on that basis recognize the core recommendations of guidelines or go beyond the guidelines. This allows actors to negotiate how standards should be situated and reconciles the dilemma between local adaptation and standardization. Having guidelines internalized, as is common for Indian TB control, bears both promises and pitfalls for engaging in standardization processes in a situated manner. The results contribute to science and technology study scholarship on guideline development. They highlight how actors coordinate the situating of standards and how this depends upon cultures of control. This illustrates the potential of qualitative studies on local adaptation for guideline developers by revealing existing practices of relating and negotiating local adaptation and standardization.

Taking Leaves out of the International Criminal Court Statute: The Direct Application of International Criminal Law by Military Courts in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Article 215 of the Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the entry point for international law into the DRC legal complex. It provides that international treaties and agreements duly ratified by the state predominate over Acts of Parliament. Cases and studies involving the direct effect or self-executing norms of international law in domestic cases are rare in the DRC. The correct ways of applying Article 215 of the Constitution and international law in domestic cases have not yet been authoritatively settled. The basic dilemma is whether courts should read the provisions of relevant international treaties into disputed provisions of DRC laws or read the disputed provisions in the light of the relevant treaty provisions.Using as a case study the emerging practice of DRC military courts of directly applying international criminal law in domestic cases, the article argues that carelessly cutting and pasting formulations found in international treaties into the texts of applicable municipal laws infringes state sovereignty. Instead, the article proposes a strategy that would avoid unpleasant friction between international criminal law and municipal law, while encouraging cultural pluralism and the judicious intervention of international law in municipal law.

W obronie marketingu politycznego

The immediate cause of the article was the discussion launched by the editors of “Refleksje”. Its theme was the subject of knowledge in political science. The main reason for taking this issue was a book by Ryszard Skarzyński – The Basic Dilemma of Political Science: The Discipline of Science and Conventional Knowledge about Society. The Tradition of the University and the Demarcation of Knowledge. The main objective of the article is the reconstruction of views on political marketing and the politics. The article contains a review of the various theoretical positions on this subject. It is clear that political marketing is not just a “governance engineering” or “manipulation of people” but first and foremost a comprehensive set of the prospects for political parties, which only justifies the need to analyze this complex process.

Growing Rods in Early-Onset Scoliosis

Early-onset scoliosis (EOS) when progressive presents a significant challenge for the treating pediatric orthopedist. The basic dilemma of controlling a deformed spine over a prolonged time, while allowing growth of the child and maximizing long-term functional outcome is fraught with complications. Although traditional treatment methods, such as braces and casts, can be extremely helpful in this patient population, often factors such as curve magnitude, patient health, congenital malformations, and patient tolerance make these methods difficult to use in a long-term manner. The standard classification of scoliosis into age-based categories of infantile (3 years), juvenile (3-9 years), and adolescent (9 years) is somewhat useful in guiding treatment; however, it does not account for the natural growth of the spine. Data looking at the growth of the spine have shown children undergo their most rapid spinal growth between birth and 5 years old, thus making this period vital for the treatmentofscoliosiswhenpresent. 1 Additionally,theimmature lung increases the number of alveoli during the first 8 years of life, again demonstrating the importance of this time in maintaining a straight spine and adequate chest volume. 2 With this information and the understanding of the important link between early spinal growth, chest wall, and lung development, and ultimately lung function, the term “early

Morality and the prevention of corruption: action or intent – a new look at an old problem

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to address the established dilemma of action versus intent as explanations of the basis of ethical behaviour. In essence it aims to pose the question “If one had a choice between an executive who acted from cold calculated intent, and behaved ethically as it was profitable – compared to someone with excellent intent who consistently got it ethically wrong – who would you choose – the psychopathic ethicist or the well‐intentioned bumbler?”. The intended contribution of this paper is to add some further considerations to that debate.Design/methodology/approachThis paper notes the basic dilemma of moral choice, action or intent: it also adds to the debate by a consideration of several lesser points, including different meanings of “outcome” and the awareness that morals refer to an underpinning value choice. Its analytic path touches short‐term versus long‐term perspectives, commonsense, the theoretical debate, idealism and utilitarianism, equitability, morals and the law, morality and genes, unintended consequences and paradox of compliance.FindingsThe paper acknowledges that moral values are values that may be derived from wider elements, and that moral choices are such that they should be expressed in principles that transcend special times, place, or special pleading. There is an expressed need for consistency of approach.Research limitations/implicationsThe debate, still alive and well, needs to extend to include contemporary issues. The present writers are inclined to the view that a raised awareness of the issue, and its application to real life situations, is critical. The discussed issues would certainly benefit from further speculation.Practical implicationsMorals must operate in a real world, and that clearly implies desirable outcomes: good intent is recognised as powerful – but does not do as much to foster moral behaviour as does an orientation to outcome. It is such qualifications that need to be borne in mind when considering the complementary roles of moral decision making in any context, including that of business and of crime. It is hoped that directorial and managerial decisions will be invested with this understanding.Originality/valueThe major contributions that this paper seeks to make is that the distinction between intent and consequences may be a false dichotomy; that the notion of outcome has more than one meaning; and that so often our intentions have paradoxical outcomes.

From the Stockholm Accords to communicative equations: a fresh look to public relations role in network organizations

Everyday in mainstream and specialized media we find references to the many changes that network society is provoking across different sectors, changing values, reshaping professions, etc. Public Relations is not exempt from this impact. This is one of the starting points for the Stockholm Accords approved at the worldwide assembly of PR professional associations present at the Global Alliance’s World Public Relations Forum in Stockholm, Sweden, in June 2010. The accords sustain that PR concepts and practices need to evolve in order to be relevant in the new reality of network society and network organizations and they suggest that PR is more likely to evolve into a discipline whose strategic value lies in the facilitation of an effective governance of stakeholder relationships and in helping manage the new reality of “communicative organizations”. In this article I will try to conceptualize the idea of a ‘communicative equation’, understood as a basic dilemma PR professionals deal with in their daily work. In the network society, it’s not possible to sustain the traditional vision of stakeholders and issues as discrete concepts without carefully considering their dynamic inter relationships. The ‘communicative equation’ helps understand the interconnectedness between interests, problems, agendas, communicative behaviours and communicative groups, thus providing a strategic ability to design resilient and network friendly strategies.

Basic Skills Programming at California Success Centers

While students at both four-year institutions and community colleges enroll in remedial coursework, policymakers look to community colleges to be the main, if not sole, providers of basic skills education. Policy makers argue that community colleges are the most cost-efficient and appropriate places to provide this instruction (Bettinger & Long, 2005). As states continue to move towards concentrating basic skills courses in their community college systems, the number of community college students who will require at least some remediation is expected to increase (Moss & Yeaton, 2006). Research on community college students indicates that low-income, Latino, Native American, African American, and undocumented students lag behind their White, Asian, and more affluent peers in entering, persisting, and completing many community college programs (Dougherty & Keinzl, 2006; Horn & Nevill, 2006; Leinbach & Bailey, 2006). As a result, basic skills education in such states as California is especially important for helping underprivileged, low-income, and minority students catch up, or reduce the achievement gap. In the context of this basic skills dilemma, we sought to identify and understand educational practices that help students progress through basic skills coursework with a particular emphasis on practices that show promise to close the achievement gap. This examination of a California community college basic skills program identifies those educational practices, as well as the players, that contribute to student attainment and to the closing of the achievement gap.

Martin Luther and John Henry Newman

Martin Luther and John Henry Newman sought to re-envision university education at unique times in history. While Newman set out to architect a truly Catholic University that co-opted facets of the Protestant ethic without falling into the "heresies" of Lutheranism, Luther and his circle of gifted academics sought to craft a distinctly Evangelical concept of the university that would shield studentsfrom the corruption of worldly values thought to have infiltrated the Catholic Church, Those concemed with ethical, comprehensive education for all face similar challenges today. How do we create an educational system of universal accessibility without discarding the moral foundation provided by a faith-based model? Luther's and Newman's ideas suggest that private colleges and universities will serve students and society well where they remain true to their theological traditions, while public institutions contribute by taking seriously the challenge of moral education and taking advantage of available religious resources. If the basic dilemma in the postmodem university is the lack of balance between heart and mind—the moral and the pragmatic, "ought" and "is "—then Newman's dialectical approach in particular offers an excellent first step toward the restoration of that balance.

Ustaljivanje međunarodne nadležnosti perpetuatio iurisdictionis

International jurisdiction, like a special type of jurisdiction, provides the answer to the question whether domestic court is competent to act in a specific legal issue. International jurisdiction, therefore, represents a portfolio of one justice, rights and duties of an administration of justice to act in certain matters that contain foreign element. Due to the presence of a foreign element, the perpetuation of competence perpetuation iurisdictionis is one of the most important specific procedural situations that require a special regulation. The court assesses ex officio immediately upon receipt of the lawsuit, whether it is competent and in which composition on the basis of allegations in the lawsuit and based on the facts known to the court. If during the procedure circumstances on which it is based jurisdiction of the court change, or if the prosecutor reduce the claim, the court that had jurisdiction at the time of filing the lawsuit remains in charge and if the result of these changes was assigned to another court of same type - perpetuation fori. On the absolute jurisdiction of the court and on the direct international jurisdiction the court officially watches during the whole procedure. In the Yugoslav legislation, however, there were no special provisions on the basis it could be concluded which element is essential for the evaluation of the international jurisdiction of national courts and whether the retention of the jurisdiction applies to the situations in which complex changes in the facts leads to loss of jurisdiction of the courts in Yugoslavia regarding matters with a foreign element to the entry into force of ZMPP. The dilemma, then, is whether the principle perpetuatio fori acts in the form perpetuatio iurisdictionis. Here we are asking which is the essential element for assessing the international jurisdiction of the Yugoslav Tribunal and whether the change of the facts that causes a loss of the Yugoslav judicial jurisdiction leads Yugoslav courts declaring itself incompetent, or leads to the stabilization of the jurisdiction, as well as it is the ZPP in the internal affairs. Article 81 of the ZMPP after which for the responsibility for assessing the local justice are important the facts that are there at a time when litigation starts (according to our low it is the moment of handing over the suit to the accused), however, made the position based on the regulations of the ZPP regarding the possibility of stabilization of the international jurisdiction. The basic dilemma that this rule opened is whether the legislator has deliberately left the criteria of the moment that contains the ZPP and moved it to the later time moment, the moment of the handing over the suit to the accused, or is it editorial clumsiness that introduced in domestic international procedural law institute perpetuetio iurisdictionis. Therefore these issues were concerned by some authors. The first group would include authors who have a negative attitude towards the perpetuetio iurisdictionis, and in another, the authors who believe that ZMPP adopts controversial principle.

On Sraffa, post-Keynesian theories of pricing and capitalist competition: Some observations

The paper explores the implications of the 1920s ›cost controversy‹ for heterodox economic theory (here limited to post-Keynesian and Sraffian analysis). It argues that neither neoclassical nor heterodox theories have found viable solutions to the basic dilemma posed by the ›cost controversy‹, namely how to reconcile a general theory of price with that of growth and accumulation. The a priori commitment of neoclassical theory to a symmetric theory of exchange and production means that the impasses met by Walrasian general equilibrium theory and by the New Endogenous Growth Theory cannot be resolved, while also preserving explanatory power. For the case of post-Keynesian and Sraffian theory, it is suggested that, while a claim to »a general theory of everything« is also unsustainable, a reconsideration of the methodological roots of Sraffa's own analysis and of core aspects of classical theories of competition, might open an avenue to providing an empirically relevant heterodox theory of contemporary corporate capitalism.

On the Very Idea of Brandom’s Pragmatism

Although Brandom is critical of some features of narrowly conceived classical pragmatism, at the same time he explicitly embraces a version of pragmatism, both in his overall philosophical outlook, and in his philosophy of language. Brandom’s distinctive theoretical approach is based on what he calls rationalist pragmatism, which is a version of fundamental pragmatism. Within the philosophy of language it takes the form of semantic pragmatism. The paper briefly discusses Brandomian version of fundamental pragmatism and its semantic underpinning, and subsequently formulates a basic dilemma it encounters there.

A Customer Management Dilemma

This study attempts to answer a basic customer management dilemma facing firms: when should the firm use behavior-based pricing BBP to discriminate between its own and competitors' customers in a c...

Why Security Doesn't Work

In the last decade, a series of books have been published that have sparked the popular imagination. The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbooks (Piven and Borgenich 1999) deal with managing crisis situations from everyday domestic circumstances to travel and natural disasters and they have sold in the hundreds of thousands worldwide. They appeal to a human tendency to want to be forearmed and the desire to contemplate disaster from the perspective of a comfortable armchair. The same tendency to be fascinated and repulsed by tragedy was identified as fundamental to the human psyche by Aristotle over two millennia ago. “All tragedy creates pity and terror in the human observer.” This article addresses a fundamental problem: How is it possible for organizations to plan effectively for the worst-case scenario? It focuses on a basic dilemma for organizations wishing to establish effective protective measures to mitigate security risks, which can be identified as two propositions: (1) It is crucially important to find a cost-effective way of securing susceptible assets, but security measures implemented on the basis of unspecified risk may be both costly and counterproductive. (2) It is the nature of risk that past risk or crisis events may prove no adequate predictor of future risks.

Course Research: Using the Case Method to Build and Teach Management Theory

Some in the Academy have questioned the usefulness of case studies in teaching sound management theory (Shugan, 2006). Our research and experience suggest exactly the opposite that case studies can unite the development of theory with the teaching of it in a single enterprise we'll call research. Conclusions such as those that Shugan and others have reached stem from misconceptions about the relationship of research, theory, case studies, and teaching. In fact, the proper use of case studies in teaching can help faculty resolve a basic dilemma of academia: Promotion is often based upon our published research, and we find that responsibilities to teach detract from the mandate to publish. When approached properly, case studies can transform teaching into research, which enrolls students as course researchers, whose class participation can be exceptionally valuable in the theory-building process.