The purpose of this paper is to investigate the nature of rhetoric and rhetorical strategies that are implicit in the standalone sustainability reporting of the top 24 companies of the Fortune 500 ...Global. We adopt Bormann's (Q J Speech 58(4):396-407, 1972) SCT framework to study the rhetorical situation and how corporate sustainability reporting (CSR) messages can be communicated to the audience (public). The SCT concepts in the sustainability reporting's communication are subject to different types of legitimacy strategies that are used by corporations as a validity and legitimacy claim in the reports. A content analysis has been conducted and structural coding schemes have been developed based on the literature. The schemes are applied to the SCT model which recognizes the symbolic convergent processes of fantasy among communicators in a Society. The study reveals that most of the sample companies communicate fantasy type and rhetorical vision in their corporate sustainability reporting. However, the disclosure or messages are different across locations and other taxonomies of the SCT framework. This study contributes to the current CSR literature about how symbolic or fantasy understandings can be interpreted by the users. It also discusses the persuasion styles that are adopted by the companies for communication purposes. This study is the theoretical extension of the SCT. Researchers may be interested in further investigating other online communication paths, such as human rights reports and director's reports.
In this paper, a new iteration method is proposed for solving the complex symmetric linear systems. In theory, we show that the convergence factor or the upper bound of the spectral radius of the ...iteration matrix of the new method are smaller than that of the PMHSS method proposed by Bai et al. (2011). Moreover, we analyze and compare the parameter-free versions and the spectrum distributions of the preconditioned matrix of the new method and the PMHSS method. Finally, we present some numerical experiments on a few model problems to illustrate the theoretical results and show the effectiveness of our new method.
The power method and beyond Bai, Zhong-Zhi; Wu, Wen-Ting; Muratova, Galina V.
Applied numerical mathematics,
June 2021, 2021-06-00, Volume:
164
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
For computing the dominant eigenvalue and the corresponding eigenvector of a real and symmetric matrix, inspired by the classic and powerful power method, we construct a general paradigm of ...nonstationary Richardson methods and gradient descent methods, called also as the parameterized power methods, and establish their convergence theory. This paradigm also includes the power method as a special case. Both theoretical analysis and numerical experiments show that the parameterized power methods can result in iteration methods that may be much more effective than the power method, provided the involved iteration parameters are chosen appropriately.
University governance is becoming increasingly autocratic as marketization intensifies. Far from the classical ideal of a professional collegium run according to academic norms, today’s universities ...feature corporate cultures and senior leadership teams disconnected from both staff and students, and intolerant of dissenting views. This is not a completely new phenomenon. In 1960s America, senior leaders developed a technocratic and managerialist model of the university, in keeping with theories around the ‘convergence’ of socio-economic systems towards a pluralist ‘industrial society’. This administrative-managerial vision was opposed by radical students, triggering punitive responses that reflected how universities’ control measures were at the time mostly aimed at students. Today, their primary target is academics. Informed by Critical Theory and based on an autoethnographic account of a university restructuring programme, we argue that the direction of convergence in universities has not been towards liberal, pluralist, democracy but towards neo-Stalinist organizing principles. Performance measurements – ‘targets and terror’ – are powerful mechanisms for the expansion of managerial power or, in Marcuse’s words, ‘total administration’. Total administration in the contemporary university damages teaching, learning, workplace democracy and freedom of speech on campus, suggesting that the critique of university autocracy by 1960s students and scholars remains highly relevant.
Purpose The processes of convergence are particularly challenging in the Sub-Saharan African frameworks, considering the diversity of contexts and endogenous particularities. Creating conditions to ...support these nations to improve their socioeconomic dynamics and performance requires additional contributions from international organisations, governments and the scientific community. In this scenario, this paper aims to analyse the convergence process in Sub-Saharan African countries over the past three decades. Design/methodology/approach To achieve these objectives, data from the World Bank were considered for the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita over the period 1990–2021. This statistical information was assessed through panel data approaches based on the models from the convergence theory. Specifically, the concepts of sigma and beta convergence were addressed, as well as the concept of catch-up rates. Findings The findings obtained highlight evidence of the existence of clubs of convergence among the Sub-Saharan African countries and the processes of catching up. These results may be relevant support for the policymakers and international funds and programmes. Originality/value This research provides a new perspective on the convergence of GDP per capita in Sub-Saharan African countries, based on an analysis focused on groups of countries identified on the basis of catch-up rates. This approach presents a way of dealing with the different specificities of these nations.
The extent of urban ecological homogenization depends on how humans build, inhabit, and manage cities. Morphological and socio-economic facets of neighborhoods can drive the homogenization of urban ...forest cover, thus affecting ecological and hydrological processes, and ecosystem services. Recent evidence, however, suggests that the same biophysical drivers differentiating composition and structure of natural forests can further counteract the homogenization of urban forests. We hypothesize that climate can differentiate forest structure across residential macrosystems at regional-to-continental spatial scales. To test this hypothesis, forest structure (tree and shrub cover and volume) was measured using LiDAR data and multispectral imagery across a residential macrosystem composed 1.4 million residential parcels contained in 9 cities and 1503 neighborhoods. Cities were selected along an evapotranspiration (ET) gradient in the conterminous United States, ranging from the colder continental climate of Fargo, North Dakota (ET = 464.43 mm) to the hotter subtropical climate of Tallahassee, Florida (ET = 1000.47 mm). The relative effects of climate, urban morphology, and socio-economic variables on residential forest structure were assessed by using generalized linear models. Climate differentiated forest structure of the residential macrosystem as hypothesized. Average forest cover doubled along the ET gradient (0.39–0.78 m2 m−2), whereas average forest volume had a threefold increase (2.50–8.12 m3 m−2). Forest volume across neighborhoods increased exponentially with forest cover. Urban morphology had a greater effect in homogenizing forest structure on residential parcels compared to socio-economics. Climate and urban morphology variables best predicted residential forest structure, whereas socio-economic variables had the lowest predictive power. Results indicate that climate can differentiate forest structure across residential macrosystems and may counteract the homogenizing effects of urban morphology and socio-economic drivers at city-wide scales. This resonates with recent empirical work suggesting the existence of complex multi-scalar mechanisms that regulate ecological homogenization and ecosystem convergence among cities. The study initiates high-resolution assessments of forest structure across entire urban macrosystems and breaks new ground for research on the ecological and hydrological significance of urban vegetation at subcontinental scale.
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•Forest structure was measured across a residential macrosystem composed of 9 cities.•Climate differentiated forest structure of the residential macrosystem.•Urban morphology had greater homogenizing effect than socio-economics.•Climate can contrast homogenization caused by urban form and socio-economic factors.
In this paper, applying special properties of doubling transformation, a structure-preserving doubling algorithm is developed for computing the positive definite solutions for a nonlinear matrix ...equation. Further, by mathematical induction, we establish the convergence theory of the structure-preserving doubling algorithm. Finally, we offer corresponding numerical examples to illustrate the effectiveness of the derived algorithm.
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