Public relations in the United Arab Emirates: The emergence of a profession

This paper discusses the development of public relations in a fast growing emerging country, United Arab Emirates. The making of the public relations profession in UAE has been affected tremendously by the socio-economic, educational and cultural development of the country. Ministries and government administrations established their in-house public relations departments and sections to respond to the growing demands of their various publics. Journalism and Mass Communication departments launched PR programs to meet the growing needs of the job market with qualified practitioners. International public relations agencies chose Dubai as a base for their activities in the UAE and the region. The future of public relations in the UAE is very promising. Although it is facing some problems, public relations is the job of the future.     

Problematic Progress in Asia: Growing Older and Apart

The purpose of this article is to describe the demographic dynamics in 14 Asian countries. The foreseen impacts on economic growth, income disparity, social stability, pension programs, retirement, health care insurance, and labor market are presented. Public policy recommendations are delineated.     

Health Divide: Economic and Demographic Factors Associated with Self-Reported Health Among Older Malaysians

Data from the 2004 Survey of Economic and Financial Aspects of Aging in Malaysia were analyzed to determine factors associated with self-reported health status among older Malaysians. Odds of self-reporting health as bad versus moderate or good were higher for respondents who were in lower income quintiles, who perceived their financial situation as bad, who were older and who were not married. Malay, Chinese, Indian, and Bumiputra ethnic groups had lower odds of perceiving their health to be bad as compared with those in other ethnic groups.     

Moments of Order Statistics from Weibull Distribution in the Presence of Multiple Outliers

In this article, we derive exact expressions for the single and product moments of order statistics from Weibull distribution under the contamination model. We assume that X₁, X₂, …, X_{n ? p} are independent with density function f(x) while the remaining, p observations (outliers) X_{n ? p + 1}, …, X_n are independent with density function arises from some modified version of f(x), which is called g(x), in which the location and/or scale parameters have been shifted in value. Next, we investigate the effect of the outliers on the BLUE of the scale parameter. Finally, we deduce some special cases.     

The photo‐survey research method: capturing life in the city

Recent promotion of city centre living within UK policy has led to a commensurate interest in city centre conditions and the opinions and experiences of the people who live there. An apposite, straightforward method to capture city centre residents' experiences and views is described in this article. We successfully combined a novel, under‐utilized visual technique (self‐directed photography) with qualitative methods (log‐sheets and interviews) in the form of a ‘photo‐survey’. A background to visual methodologies is presented in this article, alongside a critique of using the photo‐survey with 84 city centre residents to investigate environmental conditions and perceptions within three of the UK's major cities. The method provided a rich, detailed set of data, but also brought a number of noticeable benefits to the data collection process. The photo‐survey not only effectively captured and documented life in the city but also acted as an ‘agent for change’, evoking thoughts and feelings which ultimately encouraged participants to reflect on their existing perceptions and urban experiences. The study also raises some important considerations for future work undertaken with this method and with using photographs as a set of data, and proposes techniques for minimising potential problems.