Private Means Research Articles

The Aesthetic Experience of Product Design: A Case Study of the Consumption of Earphones in Hong Kong

Aesthetics is omnipresent in all aspects of our life, and an aesthetic perspective of design concerns the living emotions, feelings, and shared passions among consumers and designers. We empirically investigate how the meanings that consumers infer from earphone designs reveal their personal notion of the ‘aesthetic’ in everyday life and how this notion affects the aesthetic judgement of consumers and their preferences for product designs. This study provides product designers with the implications of comprehensive knowledge behind the design in the form of a story to engage consumers into learning, understanding, and associating their consumption experience with both private and social meanings that constitute the aestheticization of everyday life.

Entrepreneurial Religion in the Age of Neoliberal Urbanism

AbstractThe introduction to this symposium on entrepreneurial religion and neoliberal urbanism discusses leading scholarly approaches to religion and urban theory, arguing that, despite their merits, these approaches are in need of refinement. Theories on religion and urban theory too often describe religion as a reactionary phenomenon. Religious movements and spaces are generally defined as pockets of resistance and shelter against retreating or failing states under neoliberal restructuring programmes in the shadow of consumption dreams. Although religious actors and ideologies unquestionably form part of urban groups that are denied access to public and private means to wealth and security, the contributors to this symposium argue that within a global, comparative perspective, the entwinement of religion, state and market reveal more complicated configurations. Through a comparison of Islamic gated communities in Istanbul, Pentecostal prayer camps in Lagos and Pentecostal grassroots movements in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, this symposium demonstrates that urban religion should also be regarded as a constitutive force of contemporary capitalism and should therefore be placed at the heart of the neoliberal construction of urban space instead of at its margins.

Conversion and the Real: The (Im)Possibility of Testimonial Representation.

Although the spiritual vibration of conversion can be felt (by the curious outsider) through what conversion performers say in their testimonial discourse, what transforms the convert ‘on stage’ into a ‘new being’ and what is ‘the real’ (le réel) in conversion performance remain unclear. An important question in this connection is, What is ‘real’ in a conversion representation, both with respect to the convert’s interaction with the audience and to the construction of social reality? Following Lacan’s tripartite register of the imaginary, the symbolic, and the real, in this essay I argue that through testimonial discourse converts construct social reality as an answer to the impossibility of ‘the real’ in their performative discursive practice. In the first part, I question the constructed nature of testimonial representations—as well as some academic knowledge production that has governed conversion research in the last few decades—and how these representations encourage ‘outsiders’ to read the narrative repertoire as a negation or mirroring ‘the real’ of the conversion experience. In the second part, I apply Roland Barthes’ analytic reflections on photography to conversion research, especially the notions of the studium (the common ground of cultural meanings) and the punctum (a personal experience that inspires private meaning). This brings me to a number of theorists (mostly never used in the field of religious conversion)—Jacques Lacan, Roland Barthes, and Slavoj Žižek—who are important to the perspective that is developed in this essay.

Rights at Work: Fairness in Personal Work Relations and Restorative Labour Market Regulation

By desire or necessity, virtually all of us work for a considerable portion of our lives. Work defines our social status, determines our degrees of health and happiness and underpins our sense of self. The productivity, efficiency and economic significance of the work we do, in aggregate terms, are critical to the prosperity of the societies in which we live. Moreover, fair treatment in our workplaces is an important aspect of our individual well-being and a mark of the civility and decency of our communities. Many of us expect the law to ensure fairness in our work relations; but increasingly, legal arrangements governing labour market regulation are not up to the task. In developed economies, legal rules dealing with rights at work vary dramatically in terms of their institutional context, substantive content and breadth of applicability across varying forms of productive or remunerated personal activity. However, a widespread current concern in many jurisdictions, including Canada, is that “rights at work” often hinge upon a worker’s status as an “employee” in a “standard employment contract” and do not inure to the benefit of those personally performing work for others in a broad range of other legal arrangements, and who are thus left vulnerable to exploitation. In the globalized new economy, legal regulation to support or ensure fairness through domestically legislated rights at work has become increasingly problematic. There has also developed a full blown scholarly crisis about the scope and content of labour and employment law, which has engulfed the global academy in the wake of the collapse of the post-war economic, political and social consensus over the welfare state. Finding ways around the apparent problems is not simple or easy – conceptually, economically, socially or politically. In part, this is because the values which underpin rights at work are contested terrain. But in large measure also, because this context requires a re-conceptualization of worker rights along the full gamut of personal work relations with a commensurate effort to understand how such thinking connects to broader labour market regulation. A myriad of legal structures regulate labour markets which are outside the confines of traditional labour and employment law as understood by most lawyers. That wider playing field is provides the background parameters for this paper. The paper’s purpose is to explore schematically ways to improve the fairness of the legal construction of personal work relations within an integrated, efficient and restorative approach to labour market regulation. Part I sets out the shifting contexts for reflection on rights at work as they have evolved in recent decades. It focuses on changing labour market realities, the collapse of the post-World War II welfare state, the abandonment of the intellectual consensus in which labour and employment law were imbedded, and the new normative tensions over rights at work in the globalized, post-modern economic, social and political environment. It highlights the prevalence of precarious employment, and its attendant devaluation of rights at work and benefits gained through work, as a potential precursor to significant political instability. Part II identifies ways of rethinking fair work relations and improved labour market regulation. It reviews advances in human capability development theory which provide a new normative framework for re-casting work relations and labour market regulation. It outlines the value of a relational understanding of rights in moving beyond the standard employment contract as the primary legal construct for the regulation of personal work relations. It then tackles principles of responsive or restorative regulation as procedural approaches for achieving integrated labour markets which enhance economic competitiveness while respecting fair work relations. Lastly, it contemplates possibilities for stability and social justice through greater rights at and through work, and for competitive but fair labour market regulation. If these ambitions are to be attained, it will involve harnessing both public and private means at national and international levels in the context of deliberative democracy.

Comparative Analysis as an Autonomization Strategy in International Commercial Arbitration

The article explores the unique character of international commercial arbitration as a globalized phenomenon, where universalizing and harmonizing effects have largely been achieved by private means and spontaneous expansion, outside the States’ direct intervention and control. The evolution of arbitration in recent decades from an alternative to the core mechanism of deciding cross-border commercial controversies is considered. Privatization of this area of dispute resolution is examined in the context of its growing autonomization, marked — as observed by Emmanuel Gaillard — by notable changes in its theoretical representations and narratives.This specific conceptual, institutional, and procedural framework of commercial arbitration reflects the demands of decision-making exercised in a legally, linguistically, and culturally diversified environment. Interpretation and application of law in arbitral cases requires skillful navigation between the rules of domestic, international and transnational origin, performed not only on the level of substantive norms, but also on those involving conflict of laws and procedure. As a consequence, comparative analysis plays a critical and complex role in arbitral decision-making, reaching beyond the mere demands of rendition of relevant provisions, and has been defined sensu largo as a ‘comparative mindset’, characteristic to international commercial arbitration. The article examines this phenomenon and its mechanics, challenges for legal professions and the effect of transnationalization of relevant domestic rules. It also explains the role of comparative analysis as an important instrument, used strategically in the processes of autonomization of commercial arbitration.

Born of Water and Spirit: The Baptist Impulse in Kentucky, 1776–1860 by Richard C. Traylor

Reviewed by: Born of Water and Spirit: The Baptist Impulse in Kentucky, 1776–1860 by Richard C. Traylor Joseph Super Born of Water and Spirit: The Baptist Impulse in Kentucky, 1776–1860. By Richard C. Traylor. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2015. Pp. ix, 278.) The academy has recently exhibited renewed interest in the role of Protestantism in American history. Scholars readily saw the influence of centralized groups, such as Presbyterians and Methodists. Decentralized organizations, such as Baptists, have proven more difficult to analyze, their distinctives precluding generalizations. In Born of Water and Spirit, Richard Traylor, using these very defining qualities, which he terms “the Baptist impulse,” maps the development of Baptists between the Revolution and the Civil War, depicting how the denomination grew along with the nation while remaining true to these central tenets. The analysis concentrates on Kentucky Baptists, who are representative of who Baptists were and were becoming between 1776 and 1860. They were united with their coreligionists by four foundational principles: the believer’s baptism by immersion, the ability of any individual to have a direct relationship with God, the importance and autonomy of the local church, and the simultaneous priority and equality of the preacher (7, 8). These constituted the “Baptist impulse.” The book’s seven chapters mix chronological and thematic coverage of the topic. Chapters 1 to 3 examine the facets of the impulse and explore their manifestations in Kentucky. With a strong command of the literature, both historical and theological, and insightful primary documents from early America, Traylor explores the ways in which public rituals such as baptism, communion, and weekly prayer and worship held deep private meanings for individual parishioners, balancing and fulfilling the needs of individuals and the community (34, 35). Chapters 4 to 6 turn to practical matters that highlight the intersection of an intensely egalitarian religious outlook with the realities of antebellum life. Theological disagreements tore Kentucky Baptists apart, while the pressures of social respectability prompted self-examination from a different direction. In the midst of these convulsions, women and blacks asserted themselves as makers and preservers of the Baptist impulse. Each group contended with subordination in society, and while these views pervaded the church, the democratic ethos of the church allowed them considerable room to form their own identities within the Baptist impulse (156, 180). The final chapter acts as a conclusion, while pointing forward to the next phase of the Baptist experience. It looks at how the Baptists saw themselves as the Civil War loomed, leaving the split over slavery in the background. The slavery crisis did not dampen Baptist enthusiasm, nor did it give [End Page 187] them pause about their future. It was their very success since 1776 that gave rise to the very denominational mind-set that served as a necessary precondition for dividing over slavery (185). At the same time, new internal pressures divided Baptists again. However, the Baptist impulse persevered, and continued to unite believers throughout the nation. This book is about identity. It goes beyond many of the standard checkpoints of religious history, such as the Second Great Awakening and the denominational split. By using these four particular characteristics as a prism, Traylor peers into the very heart of what it meant to be a Baptist and lays an important theological and theoretical framework for better understanding the more well-known narratives about religious enthusiasm, social reform, and slavery. Traylor largely ignores other literature that offers a list of core Baptist characteristics; however, most historians will overlook this historiographic oversight, as it in no way imperils this analysis. The author does utilize primary and secondary sources to handle skillfully the complex theological disputes that divided Baptists in early America. He places priority on their internal meaning for Baptists, then deftly shifts to how they projected the impulse into the secular sphere. Glossing over such things as the differences between Separate and Regular Baptists, the major events of the Second Great Awakening, and the arguments leading to the formation of the Southern Baptist Convention could cause some confusion. However, those versed in Baptist thought and/or American religious history will recognize the considerable historiographic contribution this book makes: it clarifies the role...

Climate adaptation in ‘new world’ cultural landscapes: The case of Bay of Fundy agricultural dykelands (Nova Scotia, Canada)

North America has few cultural agricultural landscapes, and often commensurately poor governance arrangements for managing change in such settings. This research uses the Acadian dykelands of Nova Scotia, Canada, as an opportunity to explore the social and governance limits to coastal climate adaptation in ‘new world’ cultural agricultural landscapes, as well as inform local decision-making. Approximately half of Nova Scotia’s coastal wetlands were converted to dykeland in the 1600s, lowering local resilience to the increased frequency and storm severity anticipated with climate change. Today, dykelands protect a diversity of public and private interests, meanings and values, yet are controlled by the agricultural sector, which can no longer afford to maintain them all to 2050 climate projections. We report here on a representative online Q-methodology survey of 183 adult Nova Scotians in the spring of 2015. Respondents sorted 34 statements along a normal distribution about whether they prefer dykeland maintenance or wetland restoration, and under what governance arrangements. Four factors were derived: the dominant discourse was local, female and strongly pro-dykeland, indicating the likelihood for local resistance to dykeland removal on for cultural, recreational and farming reasons. The second factor was supportive of wetland restoration for reasons of efficiency, not wetland affinity, but characterized by those in positions of management power. The two minority viewpoints were less informed about dykelands, characteristic of outsiders, and concerned more with governance. More education is needed about the challenges facing dykelands, the benefits of coastal wetlands, and the management options, but this research shows proposals to change landscape should emphasize flood mitigation over cost-saving. Cultural values and status quo bias are clearly barriers to adaptation planning, even when discussing the removal of man-made structures. The factors were surprisingly polarized, suggesting the forced-normal distribution affects the space available to convey nuanced perspectives. Large p-set Q-method of this kind is likely most useful for characterizing the emergent discourses demographically, and understanding their prevalence; the same discourses had emerged within a much smaller pilot study.

Optimized ECC Implementation for Secure Communication between Heterogeneous IoT Devices

The Internet of Things is integrating information systems, places, users and billions of constrained devices into one global network. This network requires secure and private means of communications. The building blocks of the Internet of Things are devices manufactured by various producers and are designed to fulfil different needs. There would be no common hardware platform that could be applied in every scenario. In such a heterogeneous environment, there is a strong need for the optimization of interoperable security. We present optimized elliptic curve Cryptography algorithms that address the security issues in the heterogeneous IoT networks. We have combined cryptographic algorithms for the NXP/Jennic 5148- and MSP430-based IoT devices and used them to created novel key negotiation protocol.

David Doherty, co-founder of 3G Doctor

D Doherty co-founded 3G Doctor in 2006 as a means of providing patients with a means of private and economical access to the attentions of informed registered doctors. D Doherty’s role involves bringing together feedback from patients and carers, the public, developer communities and technologists to learn how to improve the patient experience, bake in kindness and begin to understand ways in which 3G doctor can deliver and support new care experiences. Interact with D Doherty on Twitter: @mHealth.

Dispersed Losses in Tort Law – An Economic Analysis

From a law and economics perspective tort law is to serve two important functions: deterrence of wrongdoers and victim compensation. We can easily construct examples of torts leading to small and widespread harm for which it is questionable whether a rational victim will initiate an individual lawsuit. This is mainly true because of rational apathy, free-riding problems and information asymmetries. In this paper we assess various funding and insurance options that are available with a view to improving the individual’s risk ratio and the potential of out-of-court dispute resolution mechanisms to capture small claims. Next, we consider the attribute ‘widespread’ and, therefore, look at any solution that would involve grouping claims, thereby leading to cost-reductions for the individual. Public law enforcement functions in a way similar to grouping claims because a collective matter is dealt with in one proceeding and individuals are relieved of (most of) the litigation costs. Combinations of public and private means are likewise possible. Throughout the analysis we will differentiate cases of small and widespread and very small and widespread harm. For the latter the threat of collective compensation claims is neither credible nor economically feasible. This calls for an investigation of alternative remedies to compensation, such as skimming off procedures, fines or punitive damages that uphold the deterrent effect. In addition to the theoretical analysis, we will refer to current EU policy where applicable.

Select Document: the Case of Robert Ayleway esqr, late Comptroller of the Artillery in Ireland, 1692

Abstract This article examines a petition drawn up by Robert Ayleway, an official within the Irish fiscal-military state in 1692, in connection with charges of corruption and incompetence during the Williamite Wars (1689–91). Ayleway’s petition, and his wider career, demonstrate that he was part of a process of English and Irish state formation that had begun well before 1688, driven by informal patronage networks as much as by formal bureaucratic developments, creating an entrenched interest group of officials that nevertheless came into conflict after 1689 with new officers, many of them foreign, who came to Ireland in William III’s train. Both sides suspected the loyalty of the other, but the petition reveals that Ayleway saw himself, with some justice, as a competent and loyal official who had used his private means to serve the public in a way that had also advanced his own private interests, suggesting something of the ethos of officials within the new Irish (and English) fiscal-military state.

Markets as Mere Means

There has been a remarkable shift in the relationship between market and state responsibilities for public services like health care and education. While these services continue to be financed publicly, they are now often provided through the market. The main argument for this new institutional division of labor is economic: while (public) ends stay the same, (private) means are more efficient. Markets function as ‘mere means’ under the continued responsibility of the state. This article investigates and rejects currently existing egalitarian liberal theories about this division of labor and it presents and defends a new theory of marketization, in which social rights and democratic decision-making occupy center-stage.

Feasibility Study of the Bicycle Sharing System as a Mode for Internal Movement of Employees: A Case Study

Bicycle sharing systems allow people to hire a bicycle from a docking station for short-distance movement, typically one way, providing a substitute to the conventional means of movement, that is, private or public carriers (autos, taxies, etc.). In an integrated manufacturing industry, employees generally use private vehicles or company transport for internal movement within the organization, and the organization has to invest huge sums of money for purchasing or hiring of vehicles or has to pay T.A to the employees using their own means of transport. This paper attempted to show the effectiveness and feasibility of the bicycle sharing system in an integrated industry, which has a scattered layout. We also showed its effect on the cost of internal movement of employees in terms of fuel expenses.

Dispersed Losses in Tort Law – An Economic Analysis

From an economic perspective tort law is to serve two important functions: deterrence of wrongdoers and victim compensation. We can easily construct examples of torts leading to small and widespread harm for which it is questionable whether a rational victim will initiate an individual lawsuit. This is mainly true because of rational apathy, free-riding problems and information asymmetries. In this paper we assess various funding and insurance options that are available with a view to improving the individual’s risk ratio and the potential of out-of-court dispute resolution mechanisms to capture small claims. Next, we consider the attribute “widespread” and, therefore, look at any solution that would involve grouping claims, thereby leading to cost-reductions for the individual. Public law enforcement functions in a way similar to grouping claims because a collective matter is dealt with in one proceeding and individuals are relieved of (most of) the litigation costs. Combinations of public and private means are likewise possible. Throughout the analysis we will differentiate cases of small and widespread and very small and widespread harm. For the latter the threat of collective compensation claims is neither credible nor economically feasible. This calls for an investigation of alternative remedies to compensation, such as skimming off procedures, fines or punitive damages that uphold the deterrent effect. In addition to the theoretical analysis, we will refer to current EU policy where applicable.

Colombia: Vigilancia, seguridad privada y manejo de armas 1994-2013

La cultura del control de los comportamientos en defensa de la vida es tan antigua como la interacción social. Las dos guardan una necesaria relación para lograr la convivencia, la seguridad y la justicia, según los pactos establecidos en cada sociedad. En el Estado moderno la Declaración Universal de los Derechos del Hombre y del Ciudadano motivó la institucionalización de la fuerza pública para el logro de tales objetivos, que para el mundo occidental opera desde el postulado del “monopolio de la violencia física legítima” planteada por Weber y que es el dispositivo político para la distribución y conservación del poder.Pero, las grandes transformaciones “en la segunda mitad del siglo XX, desde los mercados económicos globales y el sistema de los Estados nacionales hasta la vida cotidiana y la dinámica psicológica de las familias y los individuos”, según David Garland (2005, p. 141) generó el cambio en los asuntos a cargo del Estado entre ellos la seguridad de las personas, su tranquilidad, el cuidado de sus bienes y de los elementos del entorno que hacen posible la vida.En Colombia, la fuerza pública concentra la atención, predominantemente, en los delitos de alto impacto y muy poco en los conflictos ciudadanos que afectan la convivencia. Mientras tanto, la vigilancia y la seguridad privada crecen vertiginosamente para cuidar la integridad y los bienes de los particulares, a través de mecanismos y medios como las armas, antes de uso exclusivo de los miembros de la seguridad pública.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5377/rpsp.v4i1.1576

A construção da história e da memória em empresas privadas no Brasil dos anos 1990 e 2000

In Brazil, in the decades of 1990 and 2000, there was a phenomenon never before observed of interest of private companies in history and memory. Several companies now create documentation centers, memorials and museums, experiencing a real “boom” of memory and heritage in private means. In this paper, we propose to analyze this historical phenomenon from the publications produced by some of the largest private companies that have invested in the construction and dissemination of a version of his past and his identity. We propose to analyze the interests that guide the choices made by these companies and the social practices that intend to generate.

Governmentality, Social Policy and the Social Construction of Old Age in England

This article looks in more detail at the incidence and consequence of social policies for older people through the distinctly French post-structuralist lens of governmentality (Foucault, 1977). This will enable us to consider the implications of the re-figuring of the relationship between the state, older people and social work. This re-figuring constructs an ambiguous place for older people: they feature either as a resource - captured in the idea of the „active citizen‟, as affluent consumers, volunteers or providers of child care - or as a problem in the context of poverty, vulnerability and risk. In many ways, policy provides three trajectories for older people: first, as independent self-managing consumers with private means and resources; second, as people in need of some support to enable them to continue to self-manage; and third, as dependent and unable to commit to self-management. Governmentality provides the theoretical framework through which to view policy and practice that is largely governed by discourses of personalisation, safeguarding, capability and risk.

Puritan Conference: “A Kinde of Paradise”

The spirituality of the 16th- and 17th-century English Puritans was nurtured by a number of both private and public means of grace. Puritan Conferences were the types of conversations that focused on growing biblical knowledge and caring for the souls of others. Whether these occurred in private meetings of individuals, serendipitous encounters along the road, or through written communication, there was wide acceptance of this exercise as a common Puritan practice of piety. Primary sources affirm the benefits enjoyed by the participants. A relevant and practical application of this exercise is proposed for contemporary small groups.

Transnational Consumer Law: Co-Regulation of B2C-E-Commerce

The nation states provide workable contract enforcement institutions for domestic commerce. Due to a lack of international cooperation the same does not hold true when it comes to cross-border situations. Thus, the institutional organization of international commerce is characterized by its reliance on private ordering or private legal services. Many believe that the emergence of a New Law Merchant can be observed in international commercial arbitration. This trend towards the privatization of commercial law, however, is believed to be limited to the sphere of corporate actors or merchants. When it comes to the protection of weaker contract parties like consumers, self-regulation is not held to be a viable option. In fact, consumers do shop increasingly across borders when engaging in e-commerce, often without noticing. The 1999 OECD Guidelines proposed to tackle the resulting consumer protection concerns by means of co-regulation. In this article, I intend to examine the potential role of private ordering and co-regulation in the area of cross-border consumer contracts. I start with a survey of the different mechanisms of private ordering, which have developed in e-commerce. This illustrates that electronic market places fulfil an essential role in bundling different means of private ordering into what I call transnational civil regimes for consumer protection. Finally, I aim at demonstrating how states, industry, and civil society actors can jointly contribute to the establishment of a civil constitution for such regimes.

Bitkoin — private cryptocurrency or means of payment of the worldwide after capital ism

In this work as authors one of scenarios of development of the worldwide after transition to a post-capitalist state is considered for the present not received an extensive discussion in scientific community. In article the description of today’s economic space which is on the verge of disorder and uncertainty is given. The idea of formation of absolutely new world market with the network states in the conditions of globalization is reduced to a question of creation of the mechanism of implementation of the international payments. Authors of article see the future behind the cryptocurrencies, capable to provide requirements of already created post-capitalist society. In this regard the relations of the governments of various countries of the world to information innovation were analyzed, and also recommendations are stated to the government of Russia on introduction of virtual currencies in payment system. The article is published within a grant of Autonomous non-profit organization of higher education of the «Institute of Political and Mediametric Studies» («IPMS»)