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Despite a global consensus that rule of law is desirable, there are important debates about what this entails and how it can be achieved or supported in developing and transitional countries of the Global South. Accordingly, this chapter considers the importance and contextual suitability of rule of law as a building block for ‘peaceful and inclusive societies’ in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). We begin by examining key definitional debates and consider the challenges inherent to monitoring progress towards SDG target 16.3 which seeks to ‘promote the rule of law at the national and international levels, and ensure equal access to justice for all’. We proceed to illustrate some of these definitional and methodological limitations by considering how favourable rankings of model Western democracies mask rule of law deficits that relate to access to justice and the protection of human rights for marginalised populations. This critique highlights an important point that is repeatedly emphasised throughout the rule of law literature: rule of law is not an end state but rather an ideal that all countries must continuously work to realise and sustain. The remainder of the chapter considers the challenges of promoting a Western rule of law agenda in a failed and titular democracy (the Solomon Islands) and a peaceful and prosperous country (Singapore) which adheres to a ‘thin’ definition of the rule of law that does not conform with liberal ideals.

This chapter introduces the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and considers how criminological research, policy and practice can advance this global agenda. It critically accounts for the complex geopolitical, institutional and ideological landscapes that gave rise to this agenda and the challenges this poses for implementing the SDGs today. The chapter also raises important questions about the viability and consequentiality of global efforts to govern the nexus between crime, justice and sustainable development on account of the gravest threat to humanity, climate change. We conclude that all of these issues highlight the need for scholars and practitioners with expertise on crime and justice to approach this agenda from a critical standpoint. At the same time, we acknowledge that the SDGs remain the best global framework that we have for promoting safer and more equitable societies.

This paper aims to evaluate the relationship between the customer’s relative usage levels of online banking services and bank loyalty, and to examine the effect of customer satisfaction with the quality of online banking services and services’ convenience in this relationship. This study proposes a conceptual framework, integrating these factors.

Data were collected from among traditional banks’ customers. The study uses a factor analysis method following path analysis, using AMOS 19 and structural equation modeling.

The findings show a significant, direct and negative relationship between the relative usage level of online banking services and bank loyalty. However, a positive relationship was found to exist between bank loyalty and customer satisfaction with online service quality. An indirect positive relationship was also found to exist between services’ convenience through satisfaction with online banking service quality.

The findings advance the idea that computer technology mediation reduces human interaction, and so may detract from customer loyalty. Service policy makers should invest in relation-based attachments with their online customers, enhance satisfaction with online quality service and sustain customer loyalty.

Examination of the effect of variables related to online bank services usage and bank loyalty. This study contributes more value by understanding the effect of customers’ usage level of online services.

The gas assisted Iaser heating of engineering surfaces finds wide application in industry. Numerical simulation of the heating process may considerably reduce the cost spent on experimentation. In the present study, 2‐dimensional axisymmetric flow and energy equations are solved numerically using a control volume approach for the case of a gas assisted laser heating of steel surfaces. Various turbulence models including standard k‐ε, k‐ε YAP, low Reynolds number k‐ε and RSTM models are tested. The low Reynolds number k‐ε model is selected to account for the turbulence. Variable properties of both solid and gas are taken into account during the simulation. Air is considered as an assisting gas impinging the workpiece surface coaxially with the laser beam. In order to validate the presently considered methodology, the study is extended to include comparison of present predictions with analytical solution for the case available in the literature. It is found that the assisting gas jet has some influence on the temperature profiles. This effect is minimum at the irradiated spot center and it amplifies considerably in the gas side. In addition, account for the variable properties results in lower surface temperatures as compared to the constant properties case.

Individual libraries in the islands of the Pacific are notoriously viewed as resource poor, although if the resources of each library are viewed collectively, there is a wealth of materials ready to be shared. This paper will discuss the growing use of technology, such as document scanners, telecommunications capabilities and electronic document delivery using the Internet, to drastically reduce the time to deliver documents and the costs for this service. It will also discuss low‐technology projects fostering resource sharing throughout the region and directions for future growth.

The purpose of this paper is to present descriptive characteristics of the historical development of concept networks. The linguistic principles, mechanisms and motivations behind the evolution of concept networks are discussed. Implications emanating from the idea of the historical development of concept networks are discussed in relation to knowledge representation and organization schemes.

Natural language data including both speech and text are analyzed by examining discourse contexts in which a linguistic element such as a polysemy or homonym occurs. Linguistic literature on the historical development of concept networks is reviewed and analyzed.

Semantic sense relations in concept networks can be captured in a systematic and regular manner. The mechanism and impetus behind the process of concept network development suggest that semantic senses in concept networks are closely intertwined with pragmatic contexts and discourse structure. The interrelation and permeability of the semantic senses of concept networks are captured on a continuum scale based on three linguistic parameters: concrete shared semantic sense; discourse and text structure; and contextualized pragmatic information.

Research findings signify the critical need for linking discourse structure and contextualized pragmatic information to knowledge representation and organization schemes.

The idea of linguistic characteristics, principles, motivation and mechanisms underlying the evolution of concept networks provides theoretical ground for developing a model for integrating knowledge representation and organization schemes with discourse structure and contextualized pragmatic information.

This paper examines the relationship between human resource practices in 173 hospitals in the United Kingdom and four organizational outcome categories – clinical, financial, employee attitudes and perceptions, and patient attitudes and perceptions. The overarching proposition set forth and examined in this paper is that human resource management (HRM) practices and delivery of care practices have varied effects on each of these outcomes. More specifically, the authors set forth the proposition that specific practices will have positive effects on one outcome category while simultaneously having a negative effect on other performance outcomes, broadly defined.

The paper introduces a broader stakeholder framework for assessing the HR–performance relationship in the healthcare setting. This multi-dimensional framework incorporates the effects of human resource practices on customers (patients), management, and frontline staff and can also be applied to other sectors such as manufacturing. This approach acknowledges the potential for incompatibilities between stakeholder performance objectives. In the healthcare industry specifically, our framework broadens the notion of performance.

Overall, our results provide support for the proposition that different stakeholders will be affected differently by the use of managerial practices. We believe that the findings reported in this paper highlight the importance of examining multiple stakeholder outcomes associated with managerial practices and the need to identify the inherent trade-offs associated with their adoption.

Today′s high‐technology, global marketing environment has made consumer product information available across national boundaries. Explores how six multinational consumer product firms (Colgate‐Palmolive, Kraft GF, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, Quaker Oats and Unilever) maintain, change or adapt different brand names for identical or similar products. Field research was conducted in supermarkets, medium‐sized grocery stores, department stores and drug stores from 1993‐1995 in 67 countries on five continents. Brand and country data were utilized to identify global, regional, spillover and single country brands. Additional information was collected on country of origin as well as point of sale. Product and brand distribution were analyzed by firm and product type. Less than 1% of brands were global brands (those found in 90% or more of the countries surveyed). Procter & Gamble has the most global brands, with 8% of the brands studied distributed in 50% or more of the countries. The majority of brands (50‐72%) are available in three or fewer countries.

This study aims to focus on customer-initiated contact (CIC) discourse on Facebook brand pages. It concentrates on how brands manage CIC on Facebook when customers are more concerned with brand communications than product-related issues, price or distribution. A research framework from the perspective of consumer-initiated touch-point communication model is proposed.

Two case studies of Israeli TV ads are examined. Discourse between customers and brands on the Facebook pages of the latter are analyzed. Research was conducted in three phases: data collection, quantitative content analysis and thematic analysis.

It was demonstrated that customers use Facebook as a discourse platform for TV commercial brand advertising. However, brands are not always prepared to engage in online CIC involving advertising issues. The reply rate is moderate and the reply manner is not consistent, tending to be characterized as “official and dismissive.”

Data collection used a sample of two case studies. However, they generated rich findings, enough to support the purpose of the study.

This paper expands the contemporary CIC point of view and adds an integrated marketing communications (IMC) perspective. It extends the perception of CIC from product-level customer service to brand-level discourse. Finally, it fills the research gap by using a research tool based on consumer-initiated touch-point communication model. Theoretical and practical implications are presented.