Covid-19 in Central America: Firm resilience and policy responses on employment

This paper examines how government support interacts with firm-level resilience capabilities in the reduction of layoffs among formal firms in Central America. Our analysis suggests that government support measures play a role in reducing the probability of layoffs among firms with only dynamic resilience capabilities (i.e., those that are developed after the pandemic onset). The effect of government support is not statistically different from the effect of static resilience capabilities alone (i.e., those that were present before the pandemic); thus, in firms with such capabilities, the effect of government support will be marginal. These results hold across sectors - exhibiting a marginally higher treatment effect in service sectors. Our results do not imply that Covid-19 supportive measures are to be disregarded, but instead raise the question of how government support policies could improve the allocation of support among firms in times of crises. Moreover, it underlines the necessity of policies that enhance resilience more broadly – a task that hints at structural issues and requires continuous government support in lieu of ad-hoc measures.     

Consolidation and fragmentation in environmental scanning: A review and research agenda

Environmental scanning is a broadly defined concept, having first received attention from scholars in the late 1960s. Over the years a number of similar and overlapping constructs have emerged in management literature. The aim of this study, via a systematic review and thematic analysis of relevant empirical research, is to consolidate foundation environmental scanning knowledge, demonstrate how scanning research has developed and fragmented over time, and propose an agenda for future research. The first contribution of our review is a new typology of environmental scanning research made up of five discrete research views, which provides a more comprehensive and contemporary overview of the field than previous studies. The second is a proposed agenda for future research that explicitly acknowledges the role of technology, an area that is presently underdeveloped in foundation scanning literature. The third contribution is to signpost future directions for research on scanning and organisational performance using a number of theoretical perspectives. The overall outcome of our review is to move scanning research on from increasingly incremental contributions concerned with context to a place where the changing role of technology and the mechanisms through which environmental scanning contributes to competitive advantage can be more thoroughly understood.     

困境与超越：扶贫工作的政治学分析

扶贫开发是国家治理的重要内容，有着丰富的政治意涵，展示着执政党执政、政府治理的基本过程和价值归属。中国的扶贫工作带有着明显的运动式、项目制、压力型的色彩，在取得巨大成效的同时，也有着走向无序化、无效化的风险。以现代国家建设和政党建设的基本理念，构筑多中心的贫困治理格局，建立现代化的扶贫开发的制度体系，走向法治化、制度化、民主化、规范化是扶贫开发的治本之策。     

对外政治话语中隐喻的功能及其英译

目前对隐喻翻译的讨论普遍聚焦喻体等值转换或意象投射等问题，模糊了隐喻认知与修辞隐喻的差异。在综述隐喻的话语功能基础上，对党和国家领导人的发言和政府工作报告中所使用的隐喻及其对应译文进行较为深入的分析，认为政治话语中的隐喻具有阐释与劝说功能。为了发挥政治话语中隐喻的对外阐释与说服功能，翻译应技巧性地选择相应的翻译策略，根据隐喻的功能采用直译、直译加注、转换喻体、换以明喻以及释译喻义等方法进行隐喻翻译，以便更好地提高对外话语的传播效果。     

Peer support and food security in deaf college students

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of the study was to investigate whether peer support and demographic characteristics predicted food security among deaf college students. Participants: The sample included 166 deaf college students at Gallaudet University. Methods: Participants completed a bilingual online survey in American Sign Language (ASL) and English. This survey included USDA’s 6-item food security survey, questions about peer support and socio-demographic characteristics. Results: Out of 166 students (mean age =23; SD?=?6), 60.7% were food secure. About 26.4% were at-risk for low food security and another 12.9% had very low food security. The sample included respondents who identified as people of color (54%) and women (52%). Binary logistic regression revealed that compared to people who reported always receiving peer support, people who never received peer support were 16.3 times more likely to experience food insecurity (adj OR: 16.325, 95% CI 1.824–146.107). Conclusions: This study demonstrates a strong relationship between peer support and deaf college students' food security experiences.     

Disaster Relief as Social Action: A Weberian Look at Postdisaster Donation Behavior

Disaster relief involves a broad range of participants, which often results in a disjunction between actual disaster needs and the perception of appropriate strategies in relief provision. This research examines data collected through interviews with donation drive operators responding to Superstorm Sandy in 2012 and the May 2013 Oklahoma tornadoes. Using Weber's ideal types of social action to understand motivations for engaging in disaster relief, this article argues that motivations for participating in and organizing such drives influence donation strategies, and these motivations can be used to explain persistent donation of nonuseful materiel items. Findings indicate several different motivations for involvement and that donation type appeared linked to motivation. We suggest that motivation for engaging in social action is a valuable approach to better understanding donation behavior and, consequently, addressing the social problem of materiel convergence in the postdisaster environment.     

An empirical assessment of the operational performance through internal benchmarking: a case of a global logistics firm

This article solves an operational performance measurement problem of a global logistics firm through an internal benchmarking tool. The intended impact is to enable logistics firms to form a deeper understanding of their own internal processes and metrics. The methodology of this in-depth action research involves a sequential approach with a series of interviews, questionnaire-based surveys, operations data collated through observations and process mapping yielding real-world data. A series of statistical tests are conducted to analyse the collated data. Strategic priorities of the firm are integrated with the firm’s operational performance to ascertain the effective performance by considering both the tangible and intangible measures. The outcomes inform both practitioners and academics how the firm could improve its freight forwarding business’s profitability by ensuring that its operations meet the prioritised criteria. The ‘best practice’ derived from internal benchmarking forms an intermediate step towards external benchmarking. The outcomes facilitate investigating the current business strategy, the standard operating procedures and the scope of improving those.     

属性集容量确定的夹挤式测度模式及其推算模型

迄今，为解决多属性偏好关联决策属性集容量判断指数复杂性难题所提出的λ模糊测度模式与k-可加模糊测度模式，以及建构在它们之上的属性集容量确定的推算模型，尚存在着适用性差的技术不足。为此，以平衡容量判断的可操作性和容量推算的准确性为视角，提出了一种新容量测度模式，即关于容量判断与推算的夹挤式测度模式，并在此基础上通过引入决策者较易判断给出的容量序信息构建了相应的容量推算模型。基于数值模拟的对比分析表明：新模式不仅在应用可行性上高于k-可加模糊测度模式，而且从容量推算的准确性上看也明显优于λ模糊测度模式和k-可加模糊测度模式，因而对实际决策具有更强的适用性。     

Attachment network structure as a predictor of romantic attachment formation and insecurity

We present a new framework to conceptualize normative variation in attachment network structure and use the framework to predict romantic attachment formation and attachment insecurity. Young adults (N = 2,055) completed the Attachment Network Questionnaire and were classified into one of four network types based on two comparisons: (a) between their primary and secondary figure, and (b) between their secondary and tertiary figure. Each comparison was coded as Similar (S) or Different (D), resulting in the following distribution across four network types: (a) 40% D:D—diversified; (b) 32% D:S—monotropic; (c) 19% S:D—joint principal; and (d) 9% S:S—distributed. Romantic duration predicted a developmental sequence of network structure consistent with infant attachment formation. Findings also indicated that the nonhierarchical network, distributed type, was associated with insecure attachment representations. Results suggest that attachment networks exhibit greater structural diversity than is commonly assumed and that the new framework is useful for understanding developmental and social outcomes.     

Use of Redundant Industrial Buildings as Injections into the Cultural Sector in Norway

Prime aim is to examine the way the culture sector reuses industrial buildings to instigate cultural activities in the municipalities. The discussion of various actors’ motivation for engagement is based on results from a case study, supplemented with findings from a coarse-meshed telephone survey. At national level overarching political guidelines can be traced back to white papers concerning cultural policy, urban transformation and cultural heritage, and the municipalities’ cultural policies mirror these guidelines. What tends to decide if such initiatives are considered successful are local abilities to cross sectorial divisions and instigate cooperation between municipal planners, private entrepreneurs and NGOs.