Green supply chain management: the case of the construction sector in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Restraining the negative environmental impacts of the construction sector constitutes one of the major challenges of the twenty-first century. However, efforts to address it have been largely fragmented. With environmental consequences of a construction project typically dispersed across its life cycle, i.e. from design through to end-of-life, greening this sector requires a supply chain wide focus inclusive of all key stages and stakeholders; also, all relevant aspects such as the nature of green practices implemented and associated drivers, barriers and performance implications need to be considered. This forms the focus of the present study where a comprehensive, green supply chain management oriented understanding of the construction sector is developed through the context of the UAE construction sector, and incorporating inputs from all key stakeholders, i.e. Developers, Architects/Consultants, Contractors and (material) Suppliers. The study contributes to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of greening of the construction sector.     

Acceptance of homosexuality through education? Investigating the role of education,family background and individual characteristics in the United Kingdom

Higher educated people tend to be more accepting of homosexuality than lower educated people. This has inspired claims that education leads to a higher acceptance of homosexuality. Alternatively, the association between education and acceptance of homosexuality could be confounded by (un)observed family background and stable individual characteristics. This study investigated the association between education and acceptance of homosexuality and the role of potential confounders in a unique longitudinal sample of British siblings. Multilevel and fixed effects analyses show that both perspectives apply. A large part of the association between education and acceptance of homosexuality could be attributed to family background and observed individual characteristics (one third), as well as unobserved individual characteristics (an additional third), but the positive association remains. Findings are discussed in light of existing explanations regarding the effect of education on the acceptance of homosexuality.     

Filmic public relations for a global audience: The United Nations and The Blue Vanguard

The project investigates the use of documentary film as a public relations tool by the United Nations (UN) for worldwide promotion of its first peacekeeping intervention in response to the Suez crisis of 1956. Specifically, it undertakes a historical investigation into the communicative purpose of the 1957 documentary film, The Blue Vanguard, which was made by the UN Department of Public Information (UNDPI). Beyond the interest connected with the intervention in the Suez crisis, the film is significant in the history of the UN’s global public relations since it was one of the first films made for the UN by UK film director, Thorold Dickinson, who arrived as Chief of Film at the UN in October 1956.The author argues that Thorold Dickinson used the documentary to make a radical public information proposition to a global audience on behalf of the United Nations. Specifically, the public relations discourse and cinematicity in The Blue Vanguard reminded a global audience that achieving peace required a new level of cultural tolerance and global co-operation, involving codes of judgement beyond the nationalistically-determined registers of the time.     

Can the welfare state replace parents? Children's cognition in the United States and Great Britain

We compare family and parental effects on child verbal facility, verbal achievement and mathematics achievement in the United States and Great Britain. We study 3,438 5–13 year-old children from the 1994 NLSY Child-Mother Data Set and 1429 same-aged children from the National Child Development Study, also known as the British Child. Multivariate analyses suggest that the processes through which families invest in child cognition are similar across societies, with factors including low birth weight, child health, maternal cognition, family size and children's home environments being consequential. We conclude that parental investments are equally important across the two societies. The more developed welfare state in Great Britain does not notably compensate for parental investments in that society, although it may play a greater role when parental resources are absent or stretched thin.     

Teaching Black History after Obama

This article is a reflection on the teaching of black history after the Obama presidency and at the dawn of the Trump era. It is both an analysis of the state of the academic field and a primer on how to integrate the past few decades of scholarship in black history broadly across standard K-12 curriculum. It demonstrates the importance of theorizing black history as American history rather than just including African American content in US History courses and offers specific methods that can shift the narrative in this direction even within the confines of a more traditional telling of the American past. Finally, it situates the voluminous work of historians of the black past as critical interventions in pedagogy necessary to challenge today's unrelenting attacks on public education.     

Exporting stimulus and “shared prosperity”: Reinventing foreign aid for a retroliberal era

The global aid world has changed, partly in response to the reconfigurations of geopolitical power and to the global financial crisis (GFC). Paradoxically, in the face of recession in most northern economies, collectively foreign aid contributions have not fallen. However there has been a qualitative shift in its narrative and nature. This new regime—which we term retroliberalism—projects the concept of “shared prosperity,” but constitutes a return to explicit self‐interest designed to bolster private sector trade and investment. Drawing evidence from New Zealand and the United Kingdom, we argue that aid programmes are increasingly functioning as “exported stimulus” packages.     

Towards a Society for All Ages

Summary

Any social action plan, scheme, or program for welfare or intervention can be formulated only on the basis of data generated by research findings. Empirical data forms the backbone of the formulation of policy. This paper outlines the summary of the Indian research effort in the area of aging. An examination of the research trends shows both strengths and weaknesses. The generation of large and varied pieces of data across disciplines is a strength, while the absence of methodological rigor, integration of research effort, and the building of theory are the lacunae. The needs of the elderly, elder-care issues, State vs. family care, elder abuse, interventional and action plan research are some areas that need accentuation. Documentation of data, creation of databases, and a national body for overseeing research are requirements that cannot be delayed any longer.     

从地缘政治视角看美国的海上崛起及其对当代中国的启示

本文从地缘政治视角分析美国崛起的原因,比照当代中国与19世纪末美国在地缘政治环境上的异同,提出当代中国和平发展应研究借鉴美国的经验,按照统一国家——增强国力——发展海权的步骤,把握中国自身地缘政治环境特点,顺应当代世界发展潮流,统筹好国内国际两个大局,为实现中华民族的伟大复兴奠定坚实基础、创造良好环境。     

近代中日史学者对《禹贡》“九州”名称由来的辨析——以白鸟库吉与顾颉刚为中心

作为“东洋学派”与“古史辨派”的创始人,白鸟库吉与顾颉刚都展开对《禹贡》“九州”名称由来的考证,二者在主要证据、结论、视角、考辨方式、论证层次上有明显差异。关于《禹贡》“九州”名称的产生时间,白鸟库吉认为产生于春秋时代,孔子之前,顾颉刚认为“九州说”产生于春秋中叶,而《禹贡》“九州”中九个州的具体名称产生于战国时代。白鸟库吉将《禹贡》“九州”中关于地理位置、民族疆域、人文、贡赋等记述认定为源于中国传统思想的传说,并不具有地理记述价值,顾颉刚则将其视作一个不断演化、渐趋具体化的地理学概念;白鸟库吉的考证只关注中国传统思想文化因素,完全忽视地理性因素,而顾颉刚不仅考虑到五行思想的因素,而且更多地关注地理沿革;白鸟库吉把《禹贡》“九州说”当作“尧舜禹抹杀论”的一个重要证据,而顾颉刚对《禹贡》“九州”的考证相对独立,没有较强的结论指向性。     

英国扩大留学生规模背景下的质量问题及反思

20世纪80年代以来,英国政府将扩大留学生规模作为高等教育国际化发展的重要战略政策。通过对近20年来英国留学生人数、留学生入学标准、优质学位授予比例、生师比、教育生均经费等数据变化趋势的分析,提出在这一经济利益驱动留学生规模扩张的过程中,英国留学生质量要求和标准正在放宽。如何使学生增长速度与优质资源生长速度相匹配、如何在获取短期经济效益的同时寻求高等教育长期可持续性发展的途径,是需要思考和解决的问题。