Suchergebnisse

Despite the myriad of possibilities and applications of additive manufacturing (AM) technology, knowledge about the social impacts of this technology is very scarce and very limited in some areas. This paper explores how factors generated by the development of AM technology may create social impacts, affecting the health and social well-being of people, quality of life, working conditions, and the creation of wealth. This paper presents the results of an exploratory multiple case study conducted among four Portuguese organizations that use AM technology, aiming to determine their perceptions regarding the social impacts of AM, its effects, and causes. The results confirm that AM technology is mainly seen to create positive impacts on health and safety (regarding physical hazards), on expectations for the future, on leisure and recreation, on low disruption with the local economy, on economic prosperity, on the professional status, and on innovative employment types. Nevertheless, a negative impact was also found on health and safety (concerning hazardous substances), as well as several mixed and null impacts. The main limitations of the research arise from the use of a case study methodology, since the results can be influenced by contextual factors, such as the size of the organizations in the sample, and/or social, cultural, technological, political, economic, and ecological factors. This study gives an up-to-date contribution to the topic of AM social impacts and social changes, an area which is still little-explored in the literature.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an important element in creating competitive advantages for enterprises in different sectors. The authors guide readers through the different cases studies in order to present the benchmarking of international standards and CSR initiatives, as well as CSR performance evaluation practices. This book aims to identify current problems that can arise during CSR implementation in manufacturing and services companies. Moreover some best practice examples suitable for the introduction of CSR in the small and medium size companies will be described. The authors show how different stakeholders can benefit from sustainable resource management and pro-social behaviors. This book will be a valuable resource for both academics and practitioners who want to deepen their knowledge of CSR. This scientific monograph has been doubled blind reviewed.

Despite the myriad of possibilities and applications of additive manufacturing (AM) technology, knowledge about the social impacts of this technology is very scarce and very limited in some areas. This paper explores how factors generated by the development of AM technology may create social impacts, affecting the health and social well-being of people, quality of life, working conditions, and the creation of wealth. This paper presents the results of an exploratory multiple case study conducted among four Portuguese organizations that use AM technology, aiming to determine their perceptions regarding the social impacts of AM, its effects, and causes. The results confirm that AM technology is mainly seen to create positive impacts on health and safety (regarding physical hazards), on expectations for the future, on leisure and recreation, on low disruption with the local economy, on economic prosperity, on the professional status, and on innovative employment types. Nevertheless, a negative impact was also found on health and safety (concerning hazardous substances), as well as several mixed and null impacts. The main limitations of the research arise from the use of a case study methodology, since the results can be influenced by contextual factors, such as the size of the organizations in the sample, and/or social, cultural, technological, political, economic, and ecological factors. This study gives an up-to-date contribution to the topic of AM social impacts and social changes, an area which is still little-explored in the literature. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Chomsky's critique of US foreign policy – and the media coverage it generates – has significant theoretical merit, and deserves to be of considerable interest within the social sciences. His analysis rests upon two distinctive positions. First, he claims that capitalism only survives because of the role played by the state, legislatively and administratively, controversially adding that it operates as an economic agent providing welfare for the rich. While the political and corporate elite can have varied and at times conflicting interests, the so-called common interest, operationalized via the state, excludes the mass of ordinary people from existing power and economic relations. Second, Chomsky's analysis of the state is supported by an admittedly unverifiable view of an essentialist human nature. For Chomsky, humans are creative and capable of 'abduction'. This leads him to argue for conditions of freedom, not so that humans are free to be atomistic individuals, but to allow an interdependent and creative mutuality to flourish. Ironically, the marginalization of Chomsky by social scientists and intellectual elites, especially in the US, has resulted in their own assumptions remaining unchallenged and unexamined.

Untersucht wird, wie sich flexible Fertigungssysteme auf die Beschäftigung auswirken. Der Effekt ist nach Meinung des Verfassers zu vernachlässigen, da nur ein relativ kleiner Teil der Erwerbsbevölkerung mit solchen Systemen arbeitet. Diskutiert wird außerdem die Frage, wie sich flexible Fertigungssysteme auf die Berufsstruktur, auf die berufliche Weiterbildung, die Arbeitsbedingungen und die industriellen Beziehungen auswirken. Die Ausführungen beziehen sich auf die Bundesrepublik Deutschland. (IAB)

This paper analyses the structure and growth of manufacturing industry in Region D of the Southern African economy. The subregions of Region D are: Port Elizabeth/Uitenhage; East London/King William's Town; Queenstown; the Hinterland of the Eastern Cape; Transkei; and Ciskei. The paper analyses and compares the structural characteristics of the manufacturing sector in the Port Elizabeth and East London regions, and then examines the pattern of manufacturing employment growth in Region D in relation to changes observed in the international and inter-regional distribution of manufacturing employment

The article examines the distinction between the state of emergency and the normal state and an inherent undecidability at the base of the distinction. We argue that states of emergency arise from strategic sovereign decisions to divide visible from invisible, enemy from ally, underground economy from above-ground, illegitimate war from legitimate war. The capacity to so divide is manifested, for instance, in the technology of air raid sirens in a way that indicates the momentum of the technicity that covertly underlies sovereign power. The article, furthermore, shows how the distinction between the visible and the invisible can serve as a mystification, perpetuating the state of emergency by disguising the intrinsic connection between the two domains.