Environmental Hazards and Veterans'Framing of Gulf War Illness

Military personnel and other civilians were exposed to numerous environmental hazards during their service in the Persian Gulf Crisis. Nearly a decade later well over 100,000 veterans, spouses, and other civilians are claiming illnesses related to these exposures. The U.S. government denies a connection and refuses to sanction these claims of environmental illness. Analyzing data from in-depth interviews and various documents, the author examines the veterans'framing of Gulf War Illness and the government's response to this environmental illness frame.     

THE IMPACT OF FINANCIAL RESTRUCTURING AND CHANGES IN CORPORATE CONTROL ON INVESTMENT AND EMPLOYMENT IN THE U.S. PETROLEUM INDUSTRY

This article investigates the effects of changes in market conditions and the financial structure of domestic petroleum firms on employment and investment in offshore oil leases. Important theoretical issues include the extent to which managerial power in firms has been challenged by intervention from financial markets and institutional investors and the effects of changes in financial control on employment and inventory investment. A pooled cross-section time series data set was assembled for forty large oil companies for 1978–1989. A dynamic analysis of company employment levels and investment in offshore oil leases in the Central Gulf of Mexico reveals that falling oil prices and lower domestic oil consumption reduced spending on offshore leases. Some support was found for the agency theory's claim that lower free cash flow reduced spending on offshore leases in the late eighties. Support was also found for an executive defense strategy (Useem 1993), where petroleum company managers reduced lease spending and employment as an adaptation to changes in market fundamentals and external threats from capital markets and institutional investors.     

Offshore Oil,Environmental Movements,and the Oil‐Tourism Interface: The Old Harry Conflict on Canada's East Coast

Offshore oil development and nature‐based tourism offer alternative ways of living with and making use of coastal environments. We analyze a recent controversy over offshore oil extraction in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in eastern Canada, and identify key points of alignment between environmentalism and the tourism industry that structure resistance to oil development. Our results are based on interviews with tourism operators, government, environmental groups, and recreational organizations, as well as an analysis of key Web sites and Web 2.0 content. Four discourses are used to challenge the normal separation of offshore oil and tourism development in Atlantic Canada: wilderness and wildlife; ecological risks of oil disaster; protecting existing social–ecological networks; and contesting political jurisdiction. Our findings show that the ecological and social value of the Gulf of St. Lawrence is used to justify opposition to oil development in the region. However, the project‐specific nature of this opposition neglects larger questions of social–environmental sustainability in an oil‐dependent political ecology.     

Atencingo Revisited: Political Class Formation and Economic Restructuring in Mexico's Sugar Industry1

Abstract Sugarcane growers have had a close relationship to the state since the 1940s when a series of decrees established a heavy state intervention in the sugar industry, which then became highly regulated. Growers became loyal to the state in exchange for low but secure incomes and other social guarantees. After the introduction of economic liberalism in Mexico during the mid-1980s (called "neoliberalism" in Mexico), the sugar industry became largely de-regulated, and sugar mills were reprivatized. This article explores the process of political class formation in the sugarcane region of Atencingo, in the state of Puebla. Whether cane growers posit peasant, proletarian, or peasant-entrepreneurial demands is examined, as is the character of organizations and alliances that direct producers have established since the 1930s (oppositional, popular-democratic, or bourgeois-hegemonic). This paper documents the emergence of a peasant-entrepreneurial class and presents initial results from a survey questionnaire administered in 1995. Rather than offering an economic argument based on a narrowly defined class position, this explanation emphasizes the prevailing regional cultures, the forms of state intervention, and the types of leadership-the crucial mediating determinations that explain political outcomes in Atencingo and other regions of rural Mexico.     

OFFSHORE OUTSOURCING DECISION AND CAPITAL INTENSITY: FIRM‐LEVEL RELATIONSHIPS

In offshore sourcing, a firm chooses outsourcing to independent suppliers or in‐sourcing from own foreign direct investment (FDI) subsidiaries. Based on the firm‐level data on offshore make‐or‐buy decision covering all manufacturing industries, this paper compares averages, documents inter‐firm distributions, and estimates multinomial logit models of the firm's sourcing mode choice. As predicted by previous theoretical models, this paper directly confirms at the firm level that outsourcing firms tend to be substantially labor‐intensive compared with firms in‐sourcing from the same region, even after the firm's R&D intensity, firm size, or industry is controlled for. (JEL F23, L23, L24, L14)     

Emerging role of human factors and ergonomics in healthcare delivery - a new field of application and influence for the IEA

Recent developments of research and application of Human Factors and Ergonomics (HFE) are described, in particular the domain of healthcare delivery. HFE activities in this domain are highlighted and challenges for the discipline and the International Ergonomics Association are presented.     

Expanding uses of building information modeling in life-cycle construction projects

BIM is targeted at providing information about the entire building and a complete set of design documents and data stored in an integrated database. In this paper, we study the use of BIM in two life-cycle construction projects in Kuopio, Finland during 2011. The analysis of uses of BIM and their main problems will constitute a foundation for an intervention. We will focus on the following questions: (1) How different partners use the composite BIM model? (2) What are the major contradictions or problems in the BIM use? The preliminary findings reported in this study show that BIM has been adopted quite generally to design use but the old ways of collaboration seem to prevail, especially between designers and between designers and building sites. BIM has provided new means and demands for collaboration but expansive uses of BIM for providing new interactive processes across professional fields have not much come true.     

Drug discovery in neurodegenerative diseases

This meeting report documents the exciting ongoing research aimed at developing new therapeutic agents for neurodegenerative diseases at the interface between academia and industry, and illustrates the direction the NIH "roadmap" for medical research is taking. Some of the projects have resulted in very promising drugs, identified and developed by academic centers, entering clinical trials.     

A study of automotive workers anthropometric physical characteristics from Mexico Northwest

Due to the lack of anthropometric information in northwest Mexico, we did an anthropometric study that represents the population physical characteristics and that is reliable for the design or redesign of workstations. The study was divided in two phases. The first one was the anthropometric study of 2900 automotive industry workers in northwest of Mexico. The study includes 40 body dimensions of 2345 males and 555 females personalized to be used in future researches. Second phase includes compared anthropometric characteristics of population reported in four Mexican studies and a Colombian study against the current study. Benefits of this project are: a reliable database of anthropometric characteristic of automotive industry population for workstations design or redesign that match with the users, increase product quality and reduce economic, medical and union complains.     

Affordable housing in Pakistan

This paper demonstrates how the design of standards, pricing and finance must be integrated if affordable housing is to be achieved in a sustainable and replicable way. The paper does this by identifying basic principles in achieving affordability and applying these principles through a simple, computer-based integrated-design model to a ‘model’ housing project in Pakistan. In most instances, where there is not a development grant or forgivable loan, affordability must be combined with cost-recovery if projects are to be sustainable and replicable. Keys to such projects are the use of market prices, incremental construction using sweat equity, efficient and affordable standards, differential pricing, and financing using market interest rates but with affordable down payments and repayment rates. The paper demonstrates that the ‘model’ project in Pakistan, as designed, is not affordable. Through examining several alternative designs using different land-use standards, pricing and financing systems, the paper shows what needs to be done to make such projects affordable. In doing so, it illustrates how affordability, standards, pricing, finance, and cost-recovery can be integrated in the design process. While applied to Pakistan, the relevance to Canada of this integrated-interactive design process is explored.     

My Room,My Home,My Self

Abstract

The material culture of home cannot be supplanted in its entirety when moving into an aged care facility. When the time comes, the decision of what to take and what to leave behind is not simple. This article presents the balance between practical and emotional considerations in the choice and presence of personal objects in the rooms of residents. Intersubjective relationships between material objects in the room and the people who enter that space is viewed through a narrative lens. In this way, it is the materiality of the room-as-home for the self, which is key. Three major themes relating to the objects in the room of the older person were found to be: 1. Safety, 2. Family, and 3. Home. These themes emerged from ethnographic research in an aged care setting. Participants included residents, their families, care staff, and management of the facility. The article contributes to understandings of material objects as carriers of identity and meaning in an aged care facility.     

The Costly Business of Trust

This article provides a framework for analysing trust‐based projects which can be used as a diagnostic tool to design more effective policy interventions, particularly addressing the problem of meeting users' needs for which many microfinance schemes have come under criticism. Two microfinance projects in Mexico are used to illustrate how a system of trust is built, the role of trust‐brokers, and the policy of subsidising trust‐building projects. The aim is to provide a tool capable of identifying crucial actors in trust systems and the nature of the linkages between them, so that trust can be effectively operationalised to improve projects' effectiveness and suitability to local conditions.     

Routine deaths: fatal accidents in the oil industry

This paper is a study in the relatively neglected field of the Sociology of Accidents and is concerned with fatalities in the UK Offshore Oil Industry. The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate the social and organizational causes of these accidents. Common sense and expert opinion both present industrial accidents as products of extra organizational abnormality but evidence from this research locates the causes of accidents in work organization and dependence on bureaucratic rationality. In particular it is shown that the hazardous situations in which the accidents occurred were themselves largely the products of two aspects of the formal organization of work, the 'speed-up’and the practice of ‘sub-contracting’. It is demonstrated that the common sense equation of the‘normal’and the‘routine’inhibited recognition of the organization causes of these accidents. Finally it is argued that, since there is little support for the view that the accident were produced by unique working conditions in the offshore industry, it is therefore likely that the causes of accidents in this industry will be found to exist in other industries.     

优势互补、共同发展——试论中国与海湾六国的经贸合作

海湾地区是世界最大能源基地之一,从战略和经济安全等方面与海湾六国进行长期合作,将对中国的发展至关重要。海湾各国虽有充裕的资金、大量的待合作项目和广阔的发展空间,但技术、装备、材料和人才奇缺。因此,中国企业进入海湾六国市场从宏观和微观上都有着重要现实意义。随着中国与海湾经贸合作新局面的逐步形成,中国企业将面临着如何更好地与海湾六国进行有效合作的严峻考验,为此,本文将提出几条建议。     

Editorial Note: Referees

As the volume of UK social research addressing ethnicity grows, so too do concerns regarding the ethical and scientific rigour of this research domain and its potential to do more harm than good. The establishment of standards and principles and the introduction of guidance documents at critical points within the research cycle might be one way to enhance the quality of such research. This article reports the findings from the piloting of a guidance document within the research commissioning process of a major funder of UK social research. The guidance document was positively received by researchers, the majority of whom reported it to be comprehensible, relevant and potentially useful in improving the quality of research proposals. However, a review of the submitted proposals suggested the guidance had had little impact on practice. While guidance may have a role to play, it will need to be strongly promoted by commissioners and other gatekeepers. Findings also suggest the possibility that guidance may discourage some researchers from engaging with ethnicity if it raises problems without solutions; highlighting the need for complementary investments in research capacity development in this area.     

How to evaluate the risks of work equipment and installations for health and safety? Research and activities of the German Committee for Plant Safety and consequences for regulation

Work equipment and installations with a high risk for health and safety of employees should be paid a special attention. The German Product Safety Act, which is aimed to manufacturers or distributors in order to protect consumers, maintains a conclusive catalogue of these so-called "installations in need of monitoring" fixing the work equipment and installations for which such special inspections can be demanded. This catalogue has remained unchanged for decades and has been transformed nearly unmodified into the Plant Safety Ordinance. Currently, there is a discussion about this catalogue in Germany. A major point of concern is the definition and the significance of "especially" dangerous work equipment and installations. Two recent research projects are dealing with the problem how to define "especially".     

Negotiating With the Growth Machine: Community Benefits Agreements and Value‐Conscious Growth

Scholars have extended, challenged, and molded growth machine theory to examine growth—in terms of population, basic industry, labor force participation, commerce, financial activity, and land development—in a variety of contexts. The theory's core, however, has remained the same: cities are conceptualized as growth machines, which consist of unified and powerful growth coalitions. These coalitions pursue a pro‐growth agenda, seeking to enhance the exchange value of local land and property. They often face opposition from local residents, who are more oriented toward use values of land. Resident opposition, however, tends to be unsuccessful in the face of large‐scale commercial development. Aware of this, communities across the country are pursuing new strategies to address development projects in their backyards. In particular, some have formed coalitions to negotiate for benefits from developers through legally binding community benefits agreements (CBAs). Drawing from a case study of Pittsburgh's first CBA, this article analyzes the implications of CBAs for pro‐growth agendas. Pittsburgh's CBA surrounded the construction of a professional sports facility, a development project that presents an ideal example of growth processes in today's cities. Ultimately, CBAs can achieve “value‐conscious” growth, but they do not fundamentally alter dominant standards of growth or growth machine processes.     

三网融合背景下推进上海数字内容产业发展的对策研究

数字内容产业已成为上海经济、社会与文化发展的新增长点,三网融合又为上海数字内容产业的发展提供了更为广阔的空间。在三网融合发展背景下,推进上海数字内容产业发展的基本思路可以概括为"一二三四工程"和"五项落地政策"。"一二三四工程"分别指"一个指导思想"——科学发展观、经济发展方式转变;"两种发展机制"——市场机制、政府管理机制;"三个发展方向"——内容创意、整合运营与终端工程建设;"四个政策着力点"——产业发展、园区建设、平台服务和企业扶持。"五个落地政策"分别是财税政策、融资政策、人才培养引进政策、创新政策、知识产权保护政策。     

Ukraine Economy and Finance in the Reform Process and the European Partnership: A Focus on Aerospace Industry

In spite of economic stabilization and the growth rate uprise since 2003, Ukraine has received less than EUR 5 billion in foreign direct investment over the last five years (from 2000 to 2004). This is less than other less FDI-attractive countries got, notwithstanding the fact that Ukraine has a steel industry of international significance, great agriculture potential, and an automotive industry which accounts for almost 6% of the value added generated by the industrial sector. The new government of Ukraine has declared the foreign investment flows into Ukraine among its top priorities. Unfair competition as a result of past bad government policies was the reason for the low FDI inflow. The former Ukrainian government promoted private interests of a limited group of businessmen. Unfair privatization sales with a limited access of other investors, as well as violent ownership takeovers, took place. The new government has committed to stop this practice. The role of independent courts will grow in dealing with conflicts, including the revision of unfair privatization sales. The determination to be integrated with the EU represents an ultimate goal. Such a step is expected to facilitate Ukraine's movement towards European standards in all spheres. I also present a brief inside evaluation on the aerospace industry, for both the civil and military sectors, starting from a sketch of the defense industry in 2000. The situation of civil and military aviation in Russia and Ukraine has many points in common and it could not be different after such a prolonged common history in the same military-industrial complex. Ukrainian industrial capacity is more or less completely secluded from international partners and markets. EU and NATO should not miss the opportunity to take into account the human capital and the technology achievement already accumulated by Ukrainian industries, research centres, academies, laboratories. The Ukraine aviation industry has suffered a serious decline over the last 15 years. Only recently new programs and major developments in the sector, which is undergoing a major restructuring, have reopened the perspectives of new projects in both civil and military aviation, as well as in space projects. The components sectors will be affected positively if the developments will be confirmed by concrete international partnerships and investments, first of all with the EU and the United States. Mergers and restructuring of the existent production plants are a real need. As experience shows in Europe and in the global market, no national way or revival of past alliances could help Ukraine to maintain a role in the aerospace sector.     

Community development projects and the status of ethnic minority women in the Moksuk-Tafa area, Bokeo province, Laos

Since the late 1990s, gender issues have been a critical partof community development in Laos. However, there has often confusion,based on misinformation, in the application of gender and women'sperspectives. This article analyzes three projects in the Bokeoprovince of Laos aimed at improving the living standards inrural communities by raising the status of women. The studyfound that the traditional village patriarchal system remainedintact and that the projects failed to improve both the statusof women and the community's livelihood. It found that successfulcommunity development projects must undertake a careful analysisof local conditions and consider whether a gender or women'sperspective should be applied.