National Networks of Corporate Power: An Irish Perspective

This paper maps the network of interlocking directorships formed by the boards of the top 50 financial and 200 non-financial companies in Ireland. The Irish network is compared with those in ten countries, based on the same sample size and selection criteria as used in this paper, using the methods and theory of Social Network Analysis (SNA). Fundamental to the paper is the idea that the network of interlocking directorates is in some way structured, and not the result of random processes.Irish boards were found to have a relatively loosely connected network structure which is sparser and less dense than those of other countries. This is reflected in the relatively low percentage of multiple directors and the relatively fewer number of directorships per multiple director.In general, indigenous Irish public companies tended to be central in the network, while a disproportionately large number of foreign and private companies were isolated on the periphery. However, a number of foreign-owned companies were central to the network -- in particular, those which started as indigenous Irish companies which were subsequently taken over.When account is taken of the nature of the Irish economy and business, in comparison with that of the ten other countries, it is seen that the opportunities for company interlinking at board level in Ireland are relatively fewer. However, within these constraints, there is a thriving network of corporate power in Ireland.     

Disassembly of complex product structures with parts and materials commonality

This paper addresses the issue of parts and materials commonality when scheduling disassembly. In a disassembly environment, inventory management is complex due to the presence of multiple demand sources at the component level of the product structure. Commonality introduces a new layer of complexity by creating alternative procurement sources for the common component items. A novel scheduling algorithm is presented, followed by an example.     

Community development in the west of Ireland: twenty years on in the Killala area

This research returns to a 1986 Community Development Journalarticle, which highlighted the unique and successful locallydriven community development efforts in Killala, western Ireland.Since then, a variety of social, economic, and political changeshave taken place, which have reshaped Ireland and the capacityfor local community action. Twenty years on, this communitywas revisited with the goal of assessing the changes, as wellas to determine community characteristics that have persisted.This article seeks to provide an update on local conditions,presents an in-depth exploration of local grassroots efforts,and builds on the previous case study by providing an empiricalexploration of the factors shaping local community agency –a mixed-method framework consisting of extensive key informantinterviews, focus groups, and household survey data.     

Reconsidering work time: a multivariate longitudinal within-couple analysis

Dual-earner couples now work significantly more hours than in the past, but few couple-level studies examine whether work hours are linked to mental health and quality-of-life outcomes. In 2001, Jacobs and Gerson proposed that combined spouse work hours would better predict outcomes than would spouses’ individual work hours. Longitudinal data from a random sample of 211 dual-earner couples with children partially support this hypothesis. Our findings suggest that future research on dual-earner couples’ work hours should be couple-level and longitudinal, estimate both linear and non-linear relationships, and include multiple positive and negative outcomes as well as subjective indicators of the meaning of work hours.     

Are Religious People Nice People? Religiosity,Race, Interview Dynamics,and Perceived Cooperativeness

Prior research has shown consistently that religiosity, as indexed by self-reported frequency of prayer, is associated positively with "niceness," measured by interviewers'ratings of respondents'cooperativeness. We used data pooled from the 1983, 1988, and 1993 General Social Surveys to further examine the association between religiosity and niceness, and to raise questions about the adequacy of this currently preferred operationalization of niceness. We used three different measures of religiosity and directly examined racial differences in perceived cooperativeness. Our results indicate that each self-reported indicator of religiosity was associated positively with perceived cooperativeness (in separate models), while race was associated negatively. We found no evidence of mediating or moderating relationships. Overall, our results provide additional evidence that persons who are more religious are perceived by others to be more cooperative and that this effect operates net of more readily observable characteristics that might influence interview dynamics and interviewers'evaluations of respondents'cooperativeness. However, our results also suggest that new, more specific measures of niceness are needed to improve our ability to fully measure this sociologically important concept and to refine our understanding of the relationship between religiosity and niceness.     

School and school activity schedules affect the quality of family relations: a within-couple analysis

In this study, we focus on community resources – specifically, children's school and school activity schedules, or school resource fit (SRF) – as a contextual variable influencing family-role quality (FRQ) among employed parents of school-aged (grades K-12) children in a sample of 58 Boston-area couples (N=116). We found that SRF is a significant predictor of parent-role quality (PRQ) and marital-role quality (MRQ) for mothers, but not fathers. Further, for mothers, the relationship between SRF and each FRQ indicator was mediated by the other FRQ indicator. There was no evidence of crossover effects of one partner's SRF on the other partner's FRQ.     

Rural mountain natives,in-migrants,and the cultural divide

Conventional wisdom suggests that different views held by native and in-migrant rural residents lead to a division that ultimately damages community. Using a sample of rural residents in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, we seek to (1) determine whether these groups differ and, if they do, (2) explain the predictors of the difference. Our results suggest that there are demographic and attitudinal differences between natives and in-migrants, although a significant number of in-migrants share native attitudes. Proportion of lifetime spent in the region and perception of threat to cultural heritage play important roles in determining shared attitudes among the groups, implying that natives and in-migrants may not be as different as previously assumed and that in-migrant status by itself may not be sufficient to explain changes in rural community.     

A new nursing medium: computer networks for group intervention.

The PLWAs and the caregivers of persons with AD were similar in their adaptation to this new technology as a communication medium with nurses. Both groups availed themselves of the resources, both technological and personal, on the computer network. Although different in demographics, they also were similar in their ability to form and work in a traditional group structure. Nurses have historically intervened with groups, and this article demonstrates that nurses can intervene on a computer network with groups. Yalom's therapeutic factors exist in both non-face-to-face groups and traditional groups. The benefits of this technology to nurses are numerous: they can access clients in an efficient yet supportive manner; they can respond to multiple levels of need in multiple clients; and they can attend to emotional as well as more concrete needs of clients. The benefits to clients are also numerous: they can use the system at a time, frequency, and duration of their choice; they have the opportunity to be supported in self-care efforts versus being in a more dependent role; and they can engage in a normalization of their experiences. Computer networks can enhance nursing's ability to intervene with clients experiencing clinical problems.