Management & Languages

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://dspace-upgrade.is.ed.ac.uk/handle/10399/19

Browse

Now showing 1 - 20 of 180

Industrial retraining and labour skills
(Heriot-Watt University, 1971) Hall, Kenneth
The rating of industry in the United Kingdom
(Heriot-Watt University, 1974) Mair, Douglas
A study of the circadian rhythms of body temperature, alertness, activity and sleep in different groups of industrial shift workers
(Heriot-Watt University, 1977) Smith, Peter A.
An economic history of the British coal industry from 1700
(Heriot-Watt University, 1979) Buxton, Neil K.
Managers' unionism: a study of the Steel Industry Management Association
(Heriot-Watt University, 1979) Bamber, Gregory John
Resource allocation in house heating
(Heriot-Watt University, 1979) Scott, Alexander
From school to adult life: the need for a new approach Vol 1-3
(Heriot-Watt University, 1980) Irune, Stephen Omokojie
Financial reports and human information processing: a study of investment analysis in the UK
(Heriot-Watt University, 1982) Osman, Ali Chishti
Innovation uncertainty and government policy: the case of North Sea oil
(Heriot-Watt University, 1982) Bruce, Alistair Cameron
Historical and contemporary issues in the catching sector of the British fishing industry
(Heriot-Watt University, 1982) Godman, Norman Anthony
This thesis presents an historical examination of industrial relations. in the catching sector of the British fishing industry during a period of structural change and decline. The review and analysis cover the emergence and development of both the trawler companies and the trade unions representing employees in the major fishing ports of Aberdeen, Grimsby and Hull. Throughout the twentieth century, this sector of the industry has encountered growth, change and decline but the major characteristic of the employment relationship between employers and trawler-crews, namely casualism, has persisted, a condition of affairs which has been subjected to concerted criticism and challenge only in recent years. The thesis offers some tentative explanations of the events and issues discussed. The theoretical perspective adopted by the author shaped the research methods of the study which incorporate documentary analysis, participant observation and interviews, Hypotheses are formulated concerning the conservatism of the employment relationship in the trawler companies, the ability of the trade unions to modify maritime labour practices and terms and conditions of employment of trawler crews, and the role of the state in these processes. Whilst the hypotheses appear to be confirmed, the conclusions are tentative and stress the need for further research.
The design of an accounting information system for planning, controlling, and decision-making in local governmental units
(Heriot-Watt University, 1985) Noufal, Zakaria Mohammed Mahmoud
Accounting in eighteenth century Scotland. Vol. 1-3
(Heriot-Watt University, 1986) Mepham, Michael James
Coping with occupational stress: an investigation among graduate engineers
(Heriot-Watt University, 1987) Newton, Tim
Abstract unavailable please refer to PDF
The determinants of audit fees: an analytical study
(Heriot-Watt University, 1988) Ramzy, Wafaa Abdel; Small, Professor John R.
This study investigates the factors affecting the level of audit fees paid by companies to their auditors. Firstly, all the likely factors thought to be affecting the level of audit fees were identified through a literature survey. These factors were classified into three groups i.e., size, complexity, and others. The relative importance of these factors was determined empirically and statistically. The empirical study was undertaken by mailing two questionnaires to samples of 100 companies, and 100 audit firms. Preliminary interviews were carried out in order to identify if the most important factors collected through the literature should be considered suitable for further inclusion in the final questionnaire. The questionnaires were not used to collect data or to quantify the subjective factors. They were used to assess the degree to which the factors previously identified were important determinants of the audit fee, and whether other determinants should also be considered. The data for the statistical analysis was obtained from published data i.e., Data Stream, Companies' Annual Reports, and Who Owns Whom. In carrying out the statistical analysis, Multiple Regression arid Principal Component Techniques were used to assess the magnitude of the association between the size and complexity factors and audit fees. An audit fee regression model was developed which explains 90Y. of the variation in audit fees of the largest 65 manufacturing companies in the U.K. on the basis of their size and complexity. The results of both the empirical study, and the statistical analysis revealed that the company size (in terms of debtors, stocks work in progress, turnover, creditors, and total employment costs), and its complexity (in terms of number of subsidiaries, and number of countries in which the company operates) are the major objective determinants of audit fees. The empirical study also revealed that the quality of the company's internal control system, competition in the audit market, and the risk involved in the audit work are the major subjective determinants of audit fees. In addition, the statistical analysis revealed that the factors debtors, number of subsidiaries, and total employment costs are the most significant predictors of audit fees, and the audit fee model which involves these three factors explains 92Y. of the variation in audit fees.
Extended axiomatic functionalism: a contrastive assessment with application to aspects of Arabic. Vol. 1-2
(Heriot-Watt University, 1989) Dickins, James
The role of the support structure in the growth and future development of worker co-operatives in Scotland: an empirical study
(Heriot-Watt University, 1989) Newton, Lindsey Jane
Insider dealing and the Chinese wall: a legal, economic, and policy analysis
(Heriot-Watt University, 1990-10) McVea, Harold; Dale, Professor Richard
Insider dealing has been in the public eye for many years now. The impact of Big Bang and the growth of financial conglomerates has, however, propelled the practice to the very forefront of regulatory concern. Regulators are faced with a dilemma: financial conglomerates bring with them many economic benefits, but they also accentuate the problem of insider dealing, in that the greater availability of inside information within these open ended financial houses, increases the scope for its misuse. Regulators must ensure that the regulation imposed does not overly impede the benefits to be gained from conglomeration; yet they must ensure that regulation is sufficiently stringent to provide a fair market place. The Chinese Wall - a self-styled mechanism consisting of policies procedures designed to stop the flow of inside information within financial conglomerates - is singled out for special treatment. The legal and policy problems associated with the use of the mechansim are reviewed. These revolve around two main issues: (i) Is the Wall an effective policy device to rebut allegations of insider dealing in a financial conglomerate where Arm A is dealing in shares in Company X while arm B has information pertaining to Company X. (ii) If the Chinese Wall actually works, does the operation of the mechanism give rise to breach of fiduciary obligations ie. to what extent does the operation of the Chinese Wall in conglomerates modify traditional fiduciary law. The conclusion reached is that the Chinese Wall offers regulators the best solution to the problem of conflicts of interest and obligation in fully fledged financial conglomerates. The Wall must, however, be 'strengthened' to prevent, for example, a coroprate fiduciary dealing for its own account where another department within the conglomerate has a material interest in the transaction. At common law, the courts ought to, and probably would, accept this approach. However in an action brought under the SIB rulebook, and the rulebooks made thereunder, it would seem that the courts are bound to accept a Wall per se (ie. without being strengthened) as valid. To the extent that this differs from what ought to be the position at common law, the SIB rulebook should be modified. A tentative import of economic analysis is used to complement the largely legal analysis. In this way it is hoped to gain a better grasp of the policy issues under study.
The structure of argumentation in Arabic: editorials as a case study
(Heriot-Watt University, 1990-12) El-Shiyab, Said; Dickins, Dr James; Williams, Dr Malcolm
This thesis attempts to investigate the structure of Arabic argumentative discourse in general and 'editorials' as an argumentative text-form in particular and the problems this discourse raises for translators. This investigation includes the identification of editorials' main constituents, the types of clause relations typical of this form of argumentation and their contribution to meaning continuity of such discourse, and certain textual phenomena, i.e repetition, parallelism, thematization, paragraphing, etc., and their unequivocal significance in translation. To this effect, random samples were taken from three different Arabic newspapers, i.e Al-Ahräm, Al-Ra'y, Al-Iqatan, to show how the structure of these texts gives rise to ambiguity when translated (literally) into English. To achieve these objectives, this study uses a semantic, structural, and pragma-semio-textual approach to analyze and then translate the texts chosen, as language in this study is considered to be a form of behaviour (Halliday 1973) that cannot be studied in isolation from its social, cultural, and contextual contexts in which it is used. Our textual analyses have shown some interesting results. First, editorials have their own generic structure, and such structure is presented in specific stages. Second, editorials as well as other argumentative texts are dominated by semantic causal relations; these relations tend to have a psychological impact on text-readers and should be accounted for in translation. Third, editorials favour the cohesive type of lexical repetition not only for cohesion purposes but also for persuasive functions as well. Fourth, editorials use many parallel constructions for conviction and persuasive functions. Fifth, editorials have semantic structures and stylistic features that cause problems for the English reader. These features require attention during the process of translation. All these issues tend to reflect the nature of editorials within argumentation and their unequivocal significance within the study of discourse.
Studies of attitudes to continuous shiftwork
(Heriot-Watt University, 1991) Wedderburn, Alexander Allan Innes
Formal analysis of intonation: the case of the Kuwaiti dialect of Arabic
(Heriot-Watt University, 1991-02) Alharbi, Lafi M.; Dickins, Dr James
A formal analysis of intonation is carried out in this study, which involves an investigation of the intonation system of Kuwaiti Dialect of Arabic (KDA). Following the prosodic framework established in Britain in general and Crystal's theory in particular, intonation is viewed here as a unitary system: tonality, tonicity, and tone. Each system is individually considered (chapters four, five, and six). This study consists of six chapters. The introductory chapter (one) is made up of four distinct parts. After a brief discussion of the importance of intonation in speech, part one gradually presents the progress of knowledge in the field of intonation starting from the very early and hence impressionistic treatments until the most recent and hence adopted phonological/phonetic approach. The language under investigation is phonologically and morphologically explored in part two. Part three explicitly states research objectives, the scope of the investigation and the data, and the methodology upon which the study is based. The final part of chapter one is devoted to an independent account of Arabic intonation. Chapter two discusses different prosodic features, such as; loudness, duration, tempo, and pause, and assesses their contribution to intonational contrasts. It also explores the physical nature of pitch as the prime component of intonation. The major functions of intonation are discussed in chapter three, where it is concluded that intonation is multifunctional. Chapter four is exclusively devoted to a consideration of the grammaticality of tonality. It is concluded here, as supported by statistical investigation, that a KDA speaker paragraphs his flow of speech by means of intonation in such a way as to correspond with the structure of elements of clause rather than it being the case that "one clause is one tone group" as suggested by Halliday (1970). Chapter five discusses the communicative importance of tonicity in speech. The position of tonicity is thoroughly examined and related to the informational and grammatical constructions of the utterance in which it occurs. It is concluded that tonicity in KDA is unpredictable, and that the nucleus is position-free. Tonicity is mainly determined by the speaker's assessment of which segment (segments) to focus as guided by the nature of his message. Chapter six answers questions which are fundamentally related to the physical movement of pitch which constitutes the tone system of KDA. Functionally, pitch contour types are related to their concomitant sentence types. A bidirectional method is applied in analysing the KDA tone system; on the one hand, the 'kinetic' and 'static' movements of pitch are phonetically investigated, and on the other hand, pitch contours are phonologically grouped and functionally related through their syntactic relevance to sentence types. It is then concluded that: (a) KDA has five basic tones; rise, fall, level, rise-fall, and fall-rise, and (b) the distribution of pitch contours as related to sentence types is hardly systematic; while the unmarked/marked distinction is clear with an overwhelming frequency in declaratives (fall) and interrogatives (rise), it is certainly less obvious in the case of exclamations and totally absent in the case of commands.