University of Westminster

About: University of Westminster is a education organization based out in London, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 2944 authors who have published 8426 publications receiving 200236 citations. The organization is also known as: Westminster University & Royal Polytechnic Institution.

The Astrobiology Primer v2.0

Abstract: 1.1. What is astrobiology? Astrobiology is the science that seeks to understand the story of life in our universe. Astrobiology includes investigation of the conditions that are necessary for life to emerge and flourish, the origin of life, the ways that life has evolved and adapted to the wide range of environmental conditions here on Earth, the search for life beyond Earth, the habitability of extraterrestrial environments, and consideration of the future of life here on Earth and elsewhere. It therefore requires knowledge of physics, chemistry, biology, and many more specialized scientific areas including astronomy, geology, planetary science, microbiology, atmospheric science, and oceanography. However, astrobiology is more than just a collection of different disciplines. In seeking to understand the full story of life in the Universe in a holistic way, astrobiology asks questions that transcend all these individual scientific subjects. Astrobiological research potentially has much broader consequences than simply scientific discovery, as it includes questions that have been of great interest to human beings for millennia (e.g., are we alone?) and raises issues that could affect the way the human race views and conducts itself as a species (e.g., what are our ethical responsibilities to any life discovered beyond Earth?).

Theorising the Relationship between Major Sport Events and Social Sustainability

Abstract: The triple-bottom line of economic efficiency, environmental integrity and social equity is meant to be used to measure progress towards sustainable development. As major sport events are now used as part of public policy, these events and their legacies have been subjected to related analysis. However, as with more general evaluations, the scrutiny of major events has tended to neglect the social dimension. Major events projects are often justified with reference to their role in addressing urban inequity and promoting collective identities, whilst also criticised for their questionable ethics. This suggests more attention to social sustainability is urgently required. In this paper, the aim is to assess whether major sport events meet the social needs of present and future generations. The intention is not merely to the reveal the social outcomes resulting from previous events, but to review theoretical perspectives through which those effects can be understood. This facilitates understanding of why certain effects occur, rather than merely if they occur.

Why do Managers Do What They Do? Reconciling Evidence and Theory in Accounts of Managerial Work

Abstract: This article seeks to show that there has been surprisingly little interest in developing a causal explanation of the consistently documented common characteristics of managerial work and attempts to sketch out such an explanation. It is argued that researchers in the field have either contented themselves with description and correlation or have given priority to explaining variations, whilst theories of management have tended to suggest that managerial behaviour can be inferred, unproblematically, from the character of the broader management process rather than engaging with the evidence on these behaviours. Even recent and explicit attempts to conceptualize managerial work have not satisfactorily woven theory with evidence. The outline of an explanatory account which is offered attempts to link the common characteristics of managerial work to the ambiguous and problematic nature of managerial ‘responsibility’ and the way in which all managers both draw upon and, by their actions, reproduce resources, cognitive rules and moral rules, from within the social systems in which they are located, which define and facilitate that responsibility. Well-documented generic managerial activities, substantive areas of work and characteristic features of managerial work are all shown to be accountable in these terms.