Modern-day perception of historic footwear and its links to preference

The importance of emotion in consumer preference is explored in the subject of Kansei Engineering. The Kansei methodology has been successfully adopted by many large companies in recent years. Currently, a European Union Fifth framework project called 'Kensys' (Kansei Engineering System) is being implemented to look at the application of Kansei engineering in the field of footwear. The Kensys project is being conducted in collaboration with several SMEs and this paper reports a study that has been carried out with one of the SMEs who designs and makes reproduction historic and specialist footwear. In addition, respondent views on 'real' products from history and reproduction footwear are compared. We report on the views of respondents in general and look at gender differences, the comparison of non-experts' views versus experts' views and we also look at differences due to age. The study was carried out in the UK and in Spain. The views in both counties are compared.     

Regression analysis for the comparison of school and home effects

This paper addresses two related problems: what are the appropriate measures for comparing effects of blocks or compounds of variables (each block conceived as having a single effect) when the causal ordering is assumed to be known, and how can single measures be created for each such block or compound, so that the comparisons can be made? Several different kinds of measures are shown to be possibly appropriate, through the use of hypothetical experiments.     

Domestic violence intervention program: Unconditional shelter?

This case examines the difficult choices facing a domestic violence shelter in crisis. Beth George had been on the run from her estranged husband with her two sons for three years. When the shelter hired Beth rather than another former resident (her roommate at the shelter) for a staff position, the roommate called Beth's ex‐husband and told him where they were. Police arrested Beth, sent the children back to their father, and began an investigation of whether shelter staff had knowingly harbored a fugitive. The shelter had just begun a fundraising campaign for a new building, but all financial contributions immediately stopped, throwing the organization into financial crisis. The executive director and staff were under enormous pressure and faced possible criminal sentences. The board had to try to minimize the damage to its reputation in the media, figure out how to keep the organization from failing financially, decide whether to continue to employ Beth George and the executive director, who were under criminal investigation, and fend off attacks from fathers' rights activists. The case explores the difficult management issues facing an organization and individuals in crisis. It examines how class, sexual orientation, race, and feminist ideology structure services to battered women. It also provides a window into the difficult job of front‐line workers skating on the edge of the law as the law begins to recognize and protect victims of intimate violence. It invites readers to consider how one should decide what and whom to believe. Finally, it considers the significance of grass‐roots feminist mobilizing to support feminist organizations.     

Career Coaching: Practice,Training, Professional,and Ethical Issues

The authors address the practice, training, professional, and ethical issues of career coaching and propose recommendations regarding the professional organization, training, certification, code of ethics, research, and multicultural issues related to the field.     

Connecting Parliament to the Public via the Internet

A number of scholars have argued that the Internet could strengthen representative democracy. This article presents two case studies of online consultations run on behalf of the UK Parliament and tests a series of hypotheses about online public deliberation. One consultation involved women survivors of domestic violence; the other was linked to the examination by a Parliamentary Committee of the draft Communications Bill. The article concludes by suggesting that the success of online parliamentary consultations is dependent upon two groups of actors, parliamentarians and citizens, each of which must acquire new types of communication skills and develop new practices of operating.