Labour Policy and Determinants of Employment and Wages in a Developing Economy with Labour Shortage

Using data from a sample of 1,099 workers, this paper investigates the determinants of employment and wages for workers in the United Arab Emirates. The paper further examines the wage distribution and the decomposition of the wage gap between the public and the private sectors. Results of the study are consistent with the dual labour market theory and indicate that the labour market in the United Arab Emirates is segmented based on sectors (public versus private) and types of workers (nationals versus non‐nationals). The study concludes with a discussion of the implication of these findings for the effectiveness of labour and economic policy.     

When data justice and environmental justice meet: formulating a response to extractive logic through environmental data justice

ABSTRACT

Environmental data justice (EDJ) emerges from conversations between data justice and environmental justice while identifying the limits and tensions of these lenses. Through a reflexive process of querying our entanglement in non-innocent relations, this paper develops and engages EDJ by examining how it informs the work of the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI), a distributed, consensus-based organization that formed in response to the 2016 US presidential election. Through grassroots archiving of data sets, monitoring federal environmental and energy agency websites, and writing rapid-response reports about how federal agencies are being undermined, EDGI mobilizes EDJ to challenge the ‘extractive logic’ of current federal environmental policy and data infrastructures. ‘Extractive logic’ disconnects data from provenance, privileges the matrix of domination, and whitewashes data to generate uncertainty. We use the dynamic EDJ framework to reflect on EDGI’s public comment advising against the US Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed rule for Transparent Science. Through EDJ, EDGI aspires to create new environmental data infrastructures and practices that are participatory and embody equitable, transparent data care.     

Evidence-Based Evaluation of Staircase Architectural Design to Reduce the Risk of Falling for Older Adults

The impact of an increasingly aging population warrants accommodations in home architectural design. Focusing on the staircase design criteria as part of the home environment, this article presents an integrated evidence-based staircase evaluation for home staircase design to reduce the risk of falling for older adults (those 65 years and older). The staircase evaluation has been developed by dividing the staircase into four design elements: handrail design, step design, staircase geometric design, and lighting. Each element is divided into several features that define its architectural design. For example, the step design element is further divided into four features: going depth, riser height, nosing, and step finishing material. A hierarchical list is provided based on an evidence-based comparison of various scenarios for each feature. The hierarchical list presents the comparative effect of each scenario on reducing the risk of falling for older adults.     

A response to criticism of our estimates of under-5 mortality in Iraq, 1980–98

According to estimates published in this journal, the number of deaths of children under 5 in Iraq in the period 1991–98 resulting from the Gulf War of 1991 and the subsequent imposition of sanctions by the United Nations was between 400,000 and 500,000. These estimates have since been held to be implausibly high by a working group set up by an Independent Inquiry Committee appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General. We believe the working group's own estimates are seriously flawed and cannot be regarded as a credible challenge to our own. To obtain their estimates, they reject as unreliable the evidence of the 1999 Iraq Child and Maternal Mortality Survey—despite clear evidence of its internal coherence and supporting evidence from another, independent survey. They prefer to rely on the 1987 and 1997 censuses and on data obtained in a format that had elsewhere been rejected as unreliable 30 years earlier.     

Distribution of Household Income in America: Effects of Source of Income,Inflation, and Cost of Living Differentials

This study focuses on four aspects of theinequality of average household income amongthe American states. First, we document changein the inequality of nominal average householdincome between 1979 and 1990. Second, weidentify states contributing to the observedinequality. Third, we examine the pattern instate income convergence-divergence whenspatial and temporal state price differentialsare accounted for. Fourth, we provide estimatesof impacts of alternative income components onincome inequality. We find that inequality inreal income is smaller than that in nominalincome. Also, we conclude that traditionalincome measures that exclude transfer paymentsand other types of income overstateinequality.     

Semantic network representation of computer-mediated discussions: Conceptual facilitation form and knowledge acquisition

Prior research on computer-mediated discussions examined their effects on knowledge acquisition without considering the role of the discussion representation. In this study, we investigate and compare the effect of semantic network discussion representations on knowledge acquisition to that of the threaded representations featured in most traditional discussion forums. Furthermore, we identify, define and operationalize a new, i.e., conceptual facilitation (validation of the conceptual organization of the discussion), assessing its role in knowledge acquisition at different levels of restrictiveness. The empirical results of a field experiment indicate that semantic network discussion representations enable the acquisition of more complex and better-integrated knowledge structures than threaded discussion representations. Conceptual facilitation forms entailing different levels of restrictiveness are also found to play a significant role. As the level of conceptual facilitation restrictiveness decreases, knowledge acquisition improves. Our findings empirically demonstrate the importance of accounting for discussion representation as a contingency factor in explaining group discussion processes and outcomes. To practitioners, our study provides empirical evidence on the advantages of semantic networks over threaded representations as an alternative mode for computer-mediated discussion representations. We also suggest guidelines for the selection of appropriate conceptual facilitation for discussion forums intended for knowledge acquisition.     

Differences in consumption patterns of single-parent and two-parent families in the United States

Different patterns of single-parent and two-parent families in six major expenditure categories are examined using the 1989 Consumer Expenditure Survey. Comparisons are made of the influence of permanent income, family size, region, race, gender, age, and education of the head of the family on the expenditure categories. The results show that with the exception of expenditures on shelter, the two groups differ significantly in their consumption patterns.1991 Visiting Professor at the Family Economics Research Group, Agricutural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Current research interests include consumption economics and time-use allocation.Current research interests include the economic status of American households.     

Promoting online media relations: Public relations departments’ use of Internet in the UAE

This paper discusses the use of Internet by public relations departments in the United Arab Emirates, to reach their key publics online and to gather information and monitor data to perform their tasks and to promote and develop their relations with the news media. Findings of the study show that all 24 organizations have a homepage, but only two thirds of them are posting their publications on the net, and only one third are using electronic newspapers to monitor their coverage in the media and to gather news, data and information of importance for the various tasks they perform. Only three organizations out of 24 have an online newsroom, and only two have a virtual tour about the organization. None of the surveyed organizations’ Web site has a film or videos. Organizations in the United Arab Emirates still have a lot to do to take advantage fully and rationally of what interactive communication, Internet and online publications are offering for a better performance and more effective public relations.