Diaspora as aesthetic formation: community sports events and the making of a Somali diaspora

This paper uses the concept of aesthetic formation to examine the practices through which diasporic imaginations become tangible and experienced as ‘real’. The authors interpret sport as an embodied aesthetic practice through which diasporas materialise, with important implications for identification and belonging. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork on a transnational community-based sports event, the Amsterdam Futsal Tournament, the paper discusses how articulations of Somali diasporism become tangible and embodied in subjects who participate in this event. The authors conclude that these materialisation practices can simultaneously elicit multiple forms and levels of belonging that also foster a sense of integration and belonging to the nation.     

Environmental practices and firm performance in emerging markets: the mediating role of product quality

Environmental practices have not received as much research attention in emerging market contexts as traditional topics like quality. However, the importance of environmental practices for a firm’s production strategy has been increasing at an unprecedented level across the globe. Our research objective is, therefore, to investigate the interplay between environmental practices and quality in the pursuit of firm performance. Relying on 492 responses from Turkish manufacturers to test our hypotheses, we show that environmental practices directly improve the quality of products over and above the effect of quality management practices in emerging markets. Product quality, in turn, is important for increasing firm performance, acting as a mediator for the positive effects of environmental practices on performance. Thus, we reveal that product quality functions as an instrumental conduit between environmental practices and firm performance in emerging markets like Turkey where stakeholder pressures are weak, and regulations are often not properly enforced.     

A TIME-SERIES APPROACH FOR CONSTRUCTING EXPECTATIONS MODELS*

This article presents an efficient way of dealing with adaptive expectations models—a way that makes use of all the information available in the data. The procedure is based on multiple-input transfer functions (MITFs): by calculating lead and lag cross correlations between innovations associated with the variables in the model, it is possible to determine which periods have the greatest effects on the dependent variable. If information about k periods ahead is required, fitted values for the expectation variables are used to generate k-period-ahead forecasts. These in turn can be used in the estimation of the transfer function equation, which not only contains the usual lagged variables but also allows for incorporation of lead-fitted values for the expectation variables. The MITF identification and estimation procedures used are based on the corner method. The method is contrasted with the Almon distributed-lag approach using a model relating stock market prices to interest rates and expected corporate profits.     

AN ANALYSIS OF CAPACITY PLANNING PROCEDURES FOR A MATERIAL REQUIREMENTS PLANNING SYSTEM*

This paper is concerned with planning work-center capacity levels in manufacturing firms that employ a material requirements planning (MRP) system. It presents four procedures for developing work-center capacity plans designed to insure the production of components and assemblies as specified by the MRP plan and the master production schedule (MPS). These procedures (capacity planning using overall factors, capacity bills, resource profiles, and capacity requirements planning) are compared using simulation analysis. The results indicate that the performance of a procedure when measured against the MPS depends on the operating conditions of the manufacturing system. The results also indicate that the choice of a particular procedure often represents a compromise among the benefits of improved MPS performance, the costs of preparing and processing data, and the premium expenses required for more frequent adjustments in work-center capacity levels.     

Driven by politics: agenda setting and policy-making in Hungary 2010–2014

Studies on media and politics generally find an effect of the media on the symbolic policy agenda. Analysing data from the Hungarian Comparative Agendas Project, we demonstrate that this effect is extremely weak in the Hungarian policy-making process. We identified those issues that received greater than average coverage in the media. However, we found that in the majority of cases governmental initiatives or decisions preceded the media coverage – that is, instead of the media agenda pulling the policy agenda, the general logic is the opposite: the media are talking about the policy initiatives of the government. The ambition of the paper is twofold. First, our findings reinforce those claims in the literature that point to the many institutional and political factors affecting the media-politics nexus. This suggests that policy-making might be very different in new(er) democracies. Second, our research analyses the policy-making side of Viktor Orbán’s governance. Changes in the polity, democratic backlash and illiberal tendencies are usually the focus concerning the political changes in Hungary since 2010, but no attention has been devoted to how this type of governance is reflected in policy-making. Our paper seeks to make a contribution also in this respect.     

历史学家面对战争

第一次世界大战前,对现代社会和文化发展的忧虑便普遍存在———这一点在德国表现得尤为明显。德国、法国、英国及美国的历史学家都在期望战后的世界不要完全不同于战前的秩序。战前的迹象表明,人们同时也在作一些缓和紧张局势的尝试,在历史学家中,这种情况就更为显著。德国学界的国际交往在继续,并且呈扩大的趋势。然而,随着战争的爆发,友谊变成了仇恨,不仅针对敌对国家,也针对它们的历史学家。战争双方都认为,这是一场两种文化间的战争。一战期间,两大阵营的历史学家立场和行为有着很大的相似性,即不论战前他们在政治问题上分歧多么大,一旦战争爆发,他们都几乎无条件地支持战争,尽管这些分歧只是被暂时搁置在一边,这种情形在德国尤为突出。然而,毫无疑问也有一些不同之处。在支持与反对战争的双方之间,分歧与一致同时存在。值得注意的是,在德国,战争对历史编纂学的影响很小,历史学家都不愿接受战争带来的新的现实。一战后,德国的历史学家很少再与其他国家,特别是法国和美国历史研究的新潮流发生联系;由于抵制变迁,德国历史学变得越来越和国际学术界无关。     

Integrationspotenziale des Internets für türkische Jugendliche in Wien am Beispiel von Online-Spielen und digitalen Freundschaftsnetzwerken

Based on a cohort of young Austrians of Turkish descent, this paper links the debate on the integration of the second generation (or the lack thereof) with the controversial discourse about the potential usefulness and risks of new media and technologies, specifically the Internet. Various studies have concluded either that the new media and technologies are positive integrative aspects of the society or have devastating impacts on different groups. On the one hand, the Internet allows young people to discover new experiences and gain additional often unorthodox knowledge; on the other hand, observers have warned about the segregating effects of new technologies. A ?digital divide“ has been opened between privileged users and the underprivileged masses, according to these more cautious voices. This divide has caused social deprivation and disintegration amongst the most vulnerable groups, in particular, older people, economically insecure groups and immigrants. Thus, various media life-styles establish a continuum between a media and information elite on the one end and the entertainment under-class on the other. Semi structured interviews with young Turks in Vienna show the positive and negative effects of playing Online Role Playing Games on the Internet in opposition to so-called Social Network Sites such as Netlog.     

Cultural Connection Predicts Perceptions of Financial Security for Māori

This paper examines the impact of relative income on income satisfaction with given absolute income. We conducted an experiment in China where participants earned three different levels of income according to their relative performance in a task. While the treatment group was informed about their relative income, the control group only knew their own absolute income. We found that while controlling for absolute income and other factors, information about relative income increases the satisfaction of the high-income group and reduces the satisfaction of the low-income group. Relative income may interact with individual characteristics, such as gender, to affect income satisfaction. We also found that relative income treatment significantly increases income satisfaction inequality, primarily by causing social comparisons among different income groups, which has some welfare implications.     

谈中药知识产权保护的现状与对策

中国加入WTO之后,中国民族医药产业将面临着机遇和挑战,加强中药知识产权的保护工作意义尤其重大。作者在详尽分析了我国中药知识产权方面的现状之后,进一步提出了我国在中药知识产权保护方面的对策。