Boardroom Operational and Financial Control: an Insider View*

This study examines the control processes and their dynamics at the board level of two non‐profit organizations with a view to penetrating and exploring directors' control orientations, discourse and decisions in their holistic context. In comparison with the predominantly survey‐ and interview‐based prior research on board‐level control, this study offers a distinctly processual view through its employment of a longitudinal complete member researcher participant observer methodology. Three primary themes of boardroom control focus are identified and analysed. These are control reporting, director's control orientation and the board's budgetary control approach. Directors' strategic orientation is found to be the primary driver of their exercise of control, with reporting systems and routine monitoring emerging as adjuncts to their primary strategic control focus. Strategy‐triggered control activity exhibits itself largely via directors' cost–benefit and risk management analyses communally developed in the course of board meeting exchanges.     

A case-based distance method for screening in multiple-criteria decision aid

Screening is a process of multiple-criteria decision aid (MCDA) in which a large set of alternatives is reduced to a smaller set that most likely contains the best choice. We propose screening using a distance model calibrated on the basis of the decision-maker's own judgement. Viewing MCDA as preference aggregation based on consequence data, we define consequence and preference expressions (values and weights) and describe how they are aggregated. Then we define screening and explain some of its properties. Using an appropriate definition of distance, our case-based distance method screens a set of alternatives using criterion weights and a distance threshold obtained by quadratic optimization using the decision-maker's selection of alternatives from a test set. This case-based method can elicit the decision maker's preferences more expeditiously and accurately than direct inquiry. An application in water supply planning is used to demonstrate the procedure.     

The muse as mother

This paper suggests that the concept of the muse in relation to the creative process is more than a myth or cultural artifact. It is argued that the muse is a psychic recollection of our memories of the female who presided over our first experiences of consciousness as we traversed the borders of inner and outer reality—that is, the mother. The shift of consciousness required in creative activity triggers recall of this figure. Object relations theory, recent findings from infant research, and the intuitive observations of several authors are used to support this thesis. Clinical examples illustrate the application of this concept in treatment.     

Psychological implications of childhood meatotomies

This paper informs clinicians about the nature of childhood meatotomies, and presents two cases which suggest that the presence of a meatotomy in the developmental history of male clients should alert clinicians to the potential significance of particular body damage fears and body integrity issues in the client.     

THE JAPANESE TANSHIN FUNIN

This paper examines the tanshin funin, the Japanese commuter family. As a topic that has received little coverage in academia, this paper defines and explains the unique tanshin funin family structure that is found in Japan. Data were gathered from numerous sources, including interviews that were conducted in the Kansai region in 2000 and 2002, as well as secondary interviews and research that has been published by Japanese scholars and the media during the last two decades. First the absence of the tanshin funin from past family research is discussed, followed by the historical development of this family structure and the factors that enable and maintain its existence. The purpose of this paper is to recognize and explore the tanshin funin in Japan, as it is yet to be identified in Western academia.     

Prelinguistic Vocal Development in Infants with Typical Hearing and Infants with Severe-to-Profound Hearing Loss

Delays in the onset of canonical babbling with hearing loss are extensively documented. Relatively little is known about other aspects of prelinguistic vocal development and hearing loss. Eight infants with typical hearing and eight with severe-to-profound hearing loss were matched with regard to a significant vocal development milestone, the onset of canonical babbling, and were examined at three points in time: before, at, and after the onset of canonical babbling. No differences in volubility were noted between the two infant groups. Growth in canonical babbling appeared to be slower for infants with hearing loss than infants with typical hearing. Glottal and glide production was similar in both groups. The results add to a body of information delineating aspects of prelinguistic vocal development that seem to differ or to be similar in infants with hearing loss compared to infants with typical hearing.     

How Resource Dependency Can Influence Social Resilience within a Primary Resource Industry*

Abstract Maintaining a healthy balance between human prosperity and environmental integrity is at the core of the principles of Ecological Sustainable Development. Resource‐protection policies are frequently implemented so as to regulate the balance between resource access and use, however, they can inadvertently compromise the ability of resource users to adapt and be resilient. Resource users who are especially dependent on a resource are more seriously compromised. But how do we define and measure resource dependency? And how do we assess its ability to influence social resilience? In this study, a conceptual model of resource dependency is developed in terms of: (i) occupational attachment, (ii) attachment to place, (iii) employability, (iv) family attitude to change, (v) business size, (vi) business approach, (vii) financial situation, (viii) level of specialisation, (ix) time spent harvesting, and (x) interest in and knowledge of the environment. The model of resource dependency and its effect on social resilience are (quantitatively and qualitatively) tested and explored using the commercial fishing industry in North Queensland, Australia. Results show that occupational attachment and employability were important influences as were business size and approach. Results can be used to identify vulnerability to institutional change and guide policy development processes.