Foreign Investment in U. S. Agricultural Land: An Overview of the National Issue and a Case Study of Vermont

A bstract . A number of issues surround the ownership of farmland by absentee owners and foreign nationals. The response to these concerns in the United States has been the promulgation of the Agriculture Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA) which provides for a land purchase reporting system. The present investigation seeks to describe the nature of the foreign land ownership picture in the United States, the status of existing state laws which deal with the matter and. through the example of a case study on the State of Vermont , attempts to describe impacts and implications of such ownerships.     

Goals-delphis for urban planning: Concepts in their design

An algorithm for the use of the Delphi technique in developing goal hierarchies for urban systems planning is outlined. Some of the major psychological forces operating in the Delphi process, particularly the influence of group pressure, are discussed, and the implications of these in terms of alternative internal designs are described. Goals-Delphis may be considered to involve value judgments, and as such are subject to certain restrictions. They have organizational implications beyond the deliberate goal setting effort, and may be adapted for use as change agents through administrative experiments. The possibility of the use of Delphi for improving the efficiency of multidisciplinary research teams is explored.     

Software engineering standards: the 'formal methods debate' in the uk

This paper traces the evolution of two standards, Def Stan 00-55 and 00-56, regualtin the identification and productin of safety-critical software for defence applications, issued by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) as interim standards in 1991. The standards—00-55, in particular—have become an important forum for articulating the interests of those who work in the UK safety-critical software engineering field; a debate which has largely revolved around the intergral role 00-55 demands for formal methods of sofware development for safety-critical functions or components. In recounting the stor of their gestation within the MoD during the early 1980s; their controversial release in draft form in 1989; and their subsequent second release as interim standards in 1991, the aim has been to illuminate some of the current 'politics' of formal methods of software production, and to consider how the standards are reshaping the discipline of software engineering.     

PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACTS AND JOB SATISFACTION: CLUSTERING ANALYSIS USING EVIDENTIAL C‐MEANS AND COMPARISON WITH OTHER TECHNIQUES

The psychological contract refers to an individual employee's belief in mutual obligations between them and their employer. Psychological contracts are a key management concern, as they can impact employees' attitudes and behaviors in ways that influence organizational efficiency and effectiveness. In this paper, we analyse the relationship between the psychological contract and facets of job satisfaction among non‐profit sector employees, using the nascent non‐hierarchical evidential c‐means (ECM) clustering technique. To date, this technique has been theoretically discussed but not widely applied. Based on the Dempster–Shafer theory of evidence, ECM is novel in facilitating the assignment of objects, not only to single clusters, but to sets of clusters, and no clusters (outliers). The paper compares the theoretical underpinnings and findings from ECM with those of three other well‐known clustering techniques, namely (1) the hierarchical Ward's method, (2) the non‐hierarchical crisp k‐means and (3) the non‐hierarchical fuzzy c‐means approaches. We present and interpret the cluster solutions from each clustering technique. We establish three clusters differentiated by the content of the employees' psychological contracts. These clusters are validated by considering their relationship with facets of job satisfaction, to ensure the clusters are theoretically meaningful. Comparisons of the findings from each technique: (1) provide insights into the relationship between the psychological contract and job satisfaction; (2) reveal what ECM encompasses, relative to other clustering techniques; (3) inform the selection of an appropriate clustering technique for a specific research problem; and (4) demonstrate potential future directions in the development of cluster analysis. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Supporters’ Perceptions of Benefits Delivered by Different Charity Activities

Donating time and money are traditional ways individuals support charities. Other support activities include buying charity products, attending events, or sponsoring others. The proliferation of activities means that charity marketers often face difficult decisions when designing a portfolio of support-generating activities. This research draws on the social exchange theory to examine 11 charity-support activities from the supporter’s perspective. Drawing on Australian data from a survey of 248 supporters of a wide range of charities, we use correspondence analysis to map each activity against four benefit dimensions (material, social, expressive, and personal commitment). We quantify overall supporter perceptions of benefits delivered by engaging in each activity and use multinomial logistic regression to identify how past experience can shape perceptions of activities. We discuss academic and managerial implications, including whether or not specific attributes are more useful to recruit or to retain supporters.     

Correction to: Are two brands better than one? Investigating the effects of co-branding in advertising on audience memory

Marketing Letters - The article Are two brands better than one? Investigating the effects of co-branding in advertising on audience memory, written by Cathy Nguyen, Jenni Romaniuk, Margaret...     

Working and Caring for a Child with Chronic Illness: Challenges in Maintaining Employment

This paper shares some pertinent findings from an initial, qualitative stage of a larger, national study currently being undertaken in Australia, exploring the support needs of parents who are working full time and caring for a child with chronic illness. The findings presented here depict the negative impact of these parents caring responsibilities on their work life and the increased stress they experience trying to maintain full time employment. In-depth interviews revealed how these parents had to rearrange their working hours, use up their leave entitlements, work unsatisfactory hours, sacrifice their careers and even change their jobs in order to balance their dual roles. In addition, the findings also highlight the negative and unsupportive attitude that employers had towards these parents. These employment conditions were extremely stressful and frustrating for parents affecting their physical and emotional well being.