| 21. |
- Mejia, Max
(författare)
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Evaluating the ISM code using port state control statistics
- 2005
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The history of modern maritime safety legislation at the international level is relatively young. Its beginnings are generally associated with the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, a tragedy that resulted in the adoption by an international conference of the first of what was to become a series of versions (1914, 1929, 1948, 1960, 1974) of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS). Far from being an isolated incident, the Titanic was actually indicative of the unsatisfactory standards in vessel safety prevailing at the time. While the Titanic is best known for jump-starting the process of the global regulation of shipping, it was also symptomatic of many issues more popularly associated with later maritime accidents; issues that would not come into the forefront until the 1960s such as public outcry and the influence of the media over governments, management errors, the precedence of financial aspects over maritime safety, and absent or flawed routine procedures; issues that would eventually lead to a paradigm shift in maritime safety administration at the international level occurred starting from around the late 1980s to the early 1990s. The old or existing paradigm was characterized by heavy reliance on technological innovation and detailed rulemaking as solutions to the challenge of promoting safety at sea. However, the series of major casualties that occurred with what seemed to be increasing frequency, heavier loss of life, and greater harm to the marine environment gradually pushed world shipping closer to the edge of the old paradigm. The new paradigm is characterized by the following: a migration from the prescriptive to the discretionary variety of administrative control; an increased focus on the human element; a wider application of macroergonomic principles; the institutionalization of third-party control; and the enrolment of a broad range of actors. More than any other international maritime safety instrument adopted in the late 1980s, the International Safety Management (ISM) Code has come to symbolize the paradigm shift. The maritime community developed the ISM Code as an umbrella instrument to address maritime safety issues from a holistic perspective. The Code is a mandatory instrument that encourages the cultivation of a safety culture in the maritime industry by setting international standards for the safe management and operation of ships and for pollution prevention. It is implemented by the shipping company through a safety management system (SMS), the functional requirements for which include, inter alia, instructions and procedures to ensure safe operation of ships, defined levels of authority and lines of communication amongst shore and shipboard personnel, procedures for reporting accidents and non-conformities, procedures to respond to emergencies, and procedures for internal audits and management reviews. This thesis intends to contribute to that segment of ISM Code research that seeks to evaluate the Code’s performance as a regulatory framework. A great deal of time and financial resources has been allocated in drafting and implementing the ISM Code and the industry has high expectations on the Code’s beneficial effects on maritime safety. While it is too early for a conclusive judgment of failure or success, a study would be useful towards confirming whether the Code is indeed a workable and enforceable regulatory framework that has the potential to achieve concrete results.
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| 22. |
- Tuominen, Mikko, et al.
(författare)
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Superamphiphobic overhang structured coating on a biobased material
- 2016
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Ingår i: Applied Surface Science. - : Elsevier. - 0169-4332 .- 1873-5584. ; 389, s. 135-143
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A superamphiphobic coating on a biobased material shows extreme liquid repellency with static contact angles (CA) greater than 150 degrees and roll-off angles less than 10 degrees against water, ethylene glycol, diiodomethane and olive oil, and a CA for hexadecane greater than 130 degrees. The coating consisting of titanic nanoparticles deposited by liquid flame spray (LFS) and hydrophobized using plasma-polymerized perfluorohexane was applied to a birch hardwood. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging after sample preparation by UV laser ablation of coated areas revealed that capped structures were formed and this, together with the geometrically homogeneous wood structure, fulfilled the criteria for overhang structures to occur. The coating showed high hydrophobic durability by still being non-wetted after 500 000 water drop impacts, and this is discussed in relation to geometrical factors and wetting forces. The coating was semi-transparent with no significant coloration. A self-cleaning effect was demonstrated with both water and oil droplets. A self-cleanable, durable and highly transparent superamphiphobic coating based on a capped overhang structure has a great potential for commercial feasibility in a variety of applications, here exemplified for a biobased material.
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| 23. |
- Elinder, Mikael, et al.
(författare)
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Gender, social norms, and survival in maritime disasters
- 2012
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 109:33, s. 13220-13224
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Since the sinking of the Titanic, there has been a widespread belief that the social norm of "women and children first" (WCF) gives women a survival advantage over men in maritime disasters, and that captains and crew members give priority to passengers. We analyze a database of 18 maritime disasters spanning three centuries, covering the fate of over 15,000 individuals of more than 30 nationalities. Our results provide a unique picture of maritime disasters. Women have a distinct survival disadvantage compared with men. Captains and crew survive at a significantly higher rate than passengers. We also find that: the captain has the power to enforce normative behavior; there seems to be no association between duration of a disaster and the impact of social norms; women fare no better when they constitute a small share of the ship's complement; the length of the voyage before the disaster appears to have no impact on women's relative survival rate; the sex gap in survival rates has declined since World War I; and women have a larger disadvantage in British shipwrecks. Taken together, our findings show that human behavior in life-and-death situations is best captured by the expression "every man for himself."
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| 24. |
- Nicolau, Felix
(författare)
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Codul lui Eminescu : Titan, demon si geniu in opera poetica a lui M. Eminescu
- 2010
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Bok (refereegranskat)abstract
- Titan, Demon and Genius in the Poetical Work of Mihai Eminescu is a book that furthers on the interpretation of the most representative Eminescu’s poems and also of his lyrical theatre. Besides, a special chapter is dedicated to the cultural context of the second half of the 19th century and another one records the literary works inspired by Eminescu’s works and personality throughout the 20th century.The research is realized with comparative methods, strategy that involved tackling and solving numerous translation problems when parallels were drawn to American and English romanticist works.Structurally, the book is founded on a three-level approach. The main intention was to highlight the evolution of triad: the demon’s fury and revolt, mostly set among narcissistic coordinates, are re-valued with the titanic character in the fight for public welfare and for spiritual evolution of the human species. Contrary to those opinions that apprehended genius as a defeated, exhausted titan, I tried to demonstrate that this stage represents the climax in the intellectual ascension of Eminescu’s triadic character. The genius’s involvement is obvious in The Dramatic Dodecameron, where Eminescu shapes the matrix of a national mythology founded on Dacian and Muşatinic bases. The literary analyses are constantly supported by concepts and philosophical theories that intersected the writer’s encyclopaedic preoccupations. Of crucial importance was the relief given to Eminescu’s gnoseological connections with alchemy, theology, and with the diverse gnoses. All these influences and personal developments offer universal radiation to a creativity that moved from the exotic romanticism to the hyper-stylized baroque, and up to the ascetic and perfectly balanced classicism.
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| 25. |
- Van Toorn, Roemer, 1960-, et al.
(författare)
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0 Tempora, 0 Mores! : on the work of Leon Krier
- 1994
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Ingår i: The invisible in architecture. - London : Academy Editions, Ernst & Sohn. - 1854902857 ; , s. 36-43
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Brace yourself: what do Cicero and Cato, Albert Speer and Paul Ludwig Troost, William Morris and John Ruskin, Quinlan Terry and Rod Hackney, Adam Smith and Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Hobbes and Edmund Burke, Burberry's and Laura Ashley, Camillo Sitte and Hendrik Petrus Berlage (with apologies to any we may have missed), all have to do with Luxemburger/Briton Leon Krier? It is personal - they all crop up somewhere in the chain of associations we have with the work of Krier the architect and anti-revolutionary visionary. In some cases you might think they really do have a direct influence on Krier's words and thinking, and that he would not exist at all without their historie work. But then you realise that this view of Krier isn't fair, and !hat the associations continue where Krier himself leaves off. His project touches on themes to which the Western world has become ultra-sensitive and whose diabolical colouring makes them strictly taboo. The question is thus whether Krier can be blamed for the fact that we tremble for the implications of his approach, while he himself restricts his role as prophet of doom to the area of architectural discourse and is primarily concerned with the design. He opts for art where a less creative spirit might have chosen a risky political course. Therefore Krier can not be dismissed with the usual liberal rightmindedness that is the common reflex reaction to conservatism. On the contrary, it is Krier's artistic skill that forces us to listen to his proposals, makes his work unignorable and tricks us into letting ourselves be seduced by what places him head and shoulders above the modern politician: quality. That is to say, his penetrating eye, his critical spirit, his biting words, his graphic skill, his organisational strength and his talent for mobilising his sympathisers into a Party with a Cause.One of those sympathisers is the crown prince of what was once the world's mightiest royal house. Now both the nation and the Windsor dynasty are showing signs of decay. But Krier no doubt eagerly agrees with the uncompromising words that HRH Prince Charles addressed to the architectural profession, whom he accused of succumbing to the arbitrary aesthetics of the profit motive. And although it now appears that the sharper edges of the debate that occupied UK architects in the late eighties have been dulled, and that the fieriest of opponents have sunk back in exhaustion, Britain remains the theatre of the endless, titanic struggle between the nostalgics and the rest - the punks of progress, the Modernist marauders.British die-hards traditionally refuse to reconcile themselves to the purportedly inevitable. For example, conservatives of all colours blench at the idea of a united Europe and even the supposedly pre-European government keeps ils foot close to the brakes. Similarly, there are countless British architects who will simply refuse lo have anything to do with the modernisation of town and country. This recalcitrance even goes so far as to produce an inversion of the usual conception of what is inevitable. It may now be 1993, but the Modernists still feel they have to justify their adherence to Modernism. The traditionalists have history on their side and are all too pleased to shift the burden of proof on to the other side. It is the reciprocal sense of superiority, for the Anciens on grounds of the rule book, for the Modernes on grounds of empiricism, that gives the discussion such an emotional charge for those involved, while it leaves outsiders wondering what it is all about.
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| 26. |
- Widholm, Christian, 1968-
(författare)
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Heritage, Emotional Communities, and Imaginary Childhood Landscapes
- 2016
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Employing examples from maritime heritage attractions in Sweden this paper aims to analyze how heritage stakeholders situate their enterprises through unreflective references to childhood. A pioneer in the business of shipwreck tours started a heritage project by trying to convince investors and to create general interest in the planned tours by thoroughly referring to the thrilling documentary films about the Titanic by James Cameron. In contrast to the logistically complex and not-so-dramatic shipwreck tours that were eventually realized, the pioneer’s almost boyish appreciation of the adventurous qualities of Cameron’s documentary conveys feelings of childhood. Another stakeholder in the same project recalled a media event from his childhood when he talked about his early interest of old warships at the bottom of the sea. Thus he told me in an interview about how he absorbed the live television broadcast in the early 1960s of the rescue of the seventeenth-century warship Wasa in Stockholm. A third stakeholder, involved in another maritime heritage attraction, referred to his seemingly happy childhood as a contrast to contemporary selfishness and gentrification that, in his view, seem to threaten the surrounding landscapes of his heritage project located on a an island where he spent his childhood summers. One of several hot-tempered arguments in David Lowenthal’s classic work The Heritage Crusade and the Spoils of History (1998) highlights the importance of childhood in the discourses of heritage. Since heritage merely seems to be a conspiratorial celebration of the past for Lowenthal, the childhood dimension is treated as a tool that the advocates of a specific heritage deliberately use to legitimize their version of bygone days. My research on heritage attractions confirms Lowenthal’s claim that childhood is a crucial element in heritage. Through analyses of texts and interviews pertaining to the maritime heritage attractions in Sweden, however, I contend that the use of more or less salient references to childhood could be understood as unreflective and habitual articulations. Nonetheless, even though the forms of heritage attractions may vary and the stakeholder’s so-called personality may differ, the imaginary landscapes of childhood appear to function as central prerequisites in the enterprises of heritage. However, to offer a deeper understanding of how the uses of childhood work within the logics of heritage, I propose that we move beyond Lowenthal’s critique. I propose that the references to childhood could be related to the concept of emotional communities, introduced by the historian Barbara Rosenwein (2006). The emotional community for her is a group in which people have a common stake, interests, values, and goals. These are reached through representations of emotion within in a system of norms and convention. The analysis focuses on the fabric of a social community and how emotions are discursively expressed; not unmediated feelings or emotions, which is the case in psychology. I believe that an analytical approach that makes use of the concept of emotional community with the focus on the different uses of the feeling of childhood is a way to deconstruct naturalizations, hierarchies, temporality, and spatiality within heritage.
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| 27. |
- Beusch, Peter, 1967, et al.
(författare)
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MNE’s and Understanding the Role of Management Control to Tackle Societal Grand Challenges
- 2024
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Ingår i: Nordisk Workshop i Ekonomistyrning, NWES XXVII Stockholm Business School, Stockholms universitet, 11-12 januari 2024.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Amidst the extensive literature on corporate sustainability, the prevailing discourse highlights the urgency of an accelerated, profound transformation in the business-society relationship. Unprecedented calls from academia, business, and the public demand more impactful contributions to sustainability and when tackling societal grand challenges. This is especially true for major stock-listed multinational enterprises (MNEs) that are important for achieving sustainability (Van Der Waal et al., 2021) due to their distinctive attributes (size, power, knowledge, etc.). Nevertheless, MNEs have often instead “been criticised as being one of the primary institutions contributing towards ‘unsustainability’ in terms of impacts on society and the environment” (Burritt et al., 2020, p. 389). Management control systems (MCS) are proposed to aid such a transformation exactly due to their recognized capacity for promoting effective change through an integration of sustainability within organizational strategy (Gond et al., 2012; Beusch et al, 2022). However, recent sustainability-focused research reveals limitations in MCSs’ ability to drive significant change within organizations (Garcia-Torea et al., 2023). Challenges emerge when aligning profit-centric objectives with ethical and responsible purposes (Bebbington and Thomson, 2013; Schaltegger and Burritt, 2018; Bebbington et al., 2020; Laine et al., 2021), leaving the outcomes of such shifts uncertain, particularly in for-profit firms (Sageder and Feldbauer-Durstmüller, 2019; Schaltegger et al., 2022). Conventional management accounting and control practices, driven by traditional business-case rationales, persist (Bebbington and Thomson, 2013; Tregidga et al., 2018). While MCS remain relevant and contribute incrementally to supporting sustainability initiatives (Beusch, 2022), they lack the capacity to bring about transformative effects in facilitating profound organizational shifts towards sustainability (Narayanan and Boyce, 2019). Most of all, however, significant gaps persist in understanding the actual value outcome and multi-stakeholder impact of organizational sustainability efforts and what this means in terms of solving societal grand challenges, underlining the need for further research (George et al., 2023; Burritt et al., 2023). The purpose of this paper is to, critically, explore to what extent the business-case for sustainability is transforming the business-society relationship in a for-profit MNE, as well as if and how MCS contribute to such change, and what the sustainable outcome thereof is. Through a combination of theoretical insights from the literature on sustainability integration and the role that MCS play in this in a longitudinal case study of a large, publicly-listed MNE, we attempt to leave the middle ground position, which often is accused of downplaying rather than highlighting social conflicts and struggles and go beyond the “rearranging [of] the deckchairs on the Titanic” (Puxty, 1987, p. 107). The findings underline that although the journey has been protracted, MCS possess a considerable potential to facilitate the reframing of a firm’s purpose in line with sustainability imperatives and subsequently partly embed this ‘novel’ purpose within the organization. However, the foremost constraint of such transformative organizational change lies in the realization of the newly established purpose as a meaningful contribution to sustainability and the real tackling of societal grand challenges. For a substantial period, the MNE’s role in fostering sustainable outcomes remained minimal, only becoming viable when shifts in the firm’s institutional context occurred that enabled the emergence of a fresh form of a ‘business case’ for sustainability. The study illuminates that the progression toward realizing sustainability outcomes within this for-profit MNE occurs at a measured pace, largely contingent on the gradual pace of external changes and evolving demands, rather than being driven by (strong) internal aspirations, strategic decisions, and ethical reflections; and this despite rather well framed, formalized, and integrated MCSs for sustainability. The findings underline the criticality of dissecting the framing, formalization, and realization of the (new) purpose for sustainability as distinct phases (George et al., 2023). The velocity of change and transition towards achieving sustainable outcomes, thus solving societal grand challenges, is significantly influenced by the degree to which sustainability issues genuinely impact the firm’s viability within its sector/industry. The paper concludes that, in the context of this particular for-profit MNE, transcending conventional boundaries and delving into broader perspectives beyond the immediate business-case is an intricate feat, often necessitating robust economic policy incentives or penalties and essentially, within at least the specific industry, unified, and substantial costs associated with unsustainability. Hence, the imperative is to ‘push’ for a fast harmonization of environmental and social sustainability issues with(in) the ‘business-case’, as waiting for business opportunities to happen on a ‘voluntary’ basis seems to be going too slowly. While alternative viewpoints might sound appealing and politically correct, they can be somewhat idealistic considering the (still) strong power and logic of the current economic system.
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| 28. |
- Gray, David, 1980-
(författare)
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Ecocriticism and Sustainability Education : A Reflection on Teaching English Literature to Teacher Students in Sweden
- 2016
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Ecocriticism, “the study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment”, and sustainable pedagogy (or sustainable education) approach complex cultural and ecological issues from literary and cultural studies, and education respectively (Glotfelty. 1996, p. xviii). Current research in both areas is now relatively thriving, and primary, secondary and postsecondary educational institutions around the world are increasingly focused on the promotion of sustainability, particularly since the UN Decade of Education for Sustainability Education 2005-2014. However, despite the growing connections being made between sustainability and transformative learning, there are still new possibilities for ecologically-minded, creative, relational and place-based approaches to education.Teacher education in Sweden now provides a unique opportunity to foster synergy in the relationships between subject knowledge, pedagogical practice; higher-, secondary-, and primary- educational milieus; which can positively affect society and the environment. This idea has lead me to dwell on my own experience of teaching English literature in teacher programs from pre-school to upper secondary - specifically English for Primary School Teachers 1B, 4-6 - and the potential to connect ecocritical approaches to literature and the promotion of sustainability education.The Swedish rules and guidelines for sustainable development and sustainable pedagogy, and their bearing on the literature component in the subject of English seem clear, from the national and local framework documents such as högskoleförordningen (1993:100), Dalarna University’s utbildningsplan grundlärarprogrammet grundskolans årskurs 4-6 and the English for Primary School Teachers 1B, 4-6 syllabus; as well as the Läroplan för grundskolan, förskoleklassen och fritidshemmet 2011. The latter provides a clear mission statement on the role of education in fostering citizenship with an environmental awareness towards sustainable development: Skolan ska i samarbete med hemmen främja elevers allsidiga personliga utveckling till aktiva, kreativa, kompetenta och ansvarskännande individer och medborgare […] Genom ett miljöperspektiv får de möjligheter både att ta ansvar för den miljö de själva direkt kan påverka och att skaffa sig ett personligt förhållningssätt till övergripande och globala miljöfrågor. Undervisningen ska belysa hur samhällets funktioner och vårt sätt att leva och arbeta kan anpassas för att skapa hållbar utveckling. (Skolverket, 2011).Arguably this places responsibility on the school and school teacher, as well as the whole apparatus for teacher education in higher education.And yet, there is a lack of ecocritical approaches to the study of literature in nearly all of the English literature courses, offered to teacher students at Dalarna University. In regard to the example course (English for Primary School Teachers 1B, 4-6), the following learning outcomes are given:•visa kunskap om ett urval skönlitterära texter från den engelsktalande världen•i tal och skrift kommunicera och argumentera för sina egna tolkningar av texterna med hjälp av ett antal litteraturvetenskapliga begrepp och teorier•i tal och skrift diskutera och problematisera begreppet barndom i studiet av barn- och ungdomslitteratur•argumentera för och reflektera över hur skönlitteratur och andra typer av kulturella texter kan användas i språkundervisning för yngre elever för att utveckla såväl språkfärdigheten som förståelsen för andra kulturer och samhällen•i anslutning till litteraturstudierna redogöra för och reflektera över kultur- och samhällsyttringar inom den engelskspråkiga världen samt relatera dessa till egna kulturella erfarenheter•visa kunskaper om kursplanen i engelska för åk 4-6 med fokus på litteratur- och kulturaspekter samt hur dessa kan omsättas i klassrummet.The focus on literature and its capacity to promote understanding of a wider socio-cultural perspective is evident. However, in this perspective on human culture is rarely linked to the cultural attitudes and values that have the most significant impact on the natural environment. The result of this kind of anthropocentric or human-centred thinking, can be represented in Glen A. Love’s critical question: “Why are the activities aboard the Titanic so fascinating to us that we give no heed to the waters through which we pass, or to that iceberg on the horizon?” (p. 229).Ultimately, it is my intention to pursue further research to look at the current dearth of ecocritical approaches to literature and sustainable education (both within higher education as a consequence, within the English primary classroom in Sweden), and the potential for interconnected thinking on sustainability: literary analysis, the educational milieu, and social and ecological issues. Finally this paper will offer some opportunities for “course design that is rooted in ecological principles”, citing a current pedagogical model such as the Burns Model of Sustainability Pedagogy, and examples from teaching ecocriticism and green cultural studies, which recognizes the “the study of the relationship between literature, education and the physical environment” (Burns, 2015, p. 265).
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