Applying imagined contact to improve physiological responses in anticipation of intergroup interactions and the perceived quality of these interactions

This experiment (N 5 49) is the first to show that imagined contact can bufferanticipatory physiological responses to future interactions, and improve the qualityof these interactions. Participants imagined a positive interaction with a person withschizophrenia, or in a control condition, a person who did not have schizophrenia. They then interacted with a confederate whom they believed had schizophrenia. Participants in the imagined contact condition reported more positive attitudes andless avoidance of people with schizophrenia, displayed smaller anticipatory physio-logical responses, specifically smaller changes in interbeat interval and skin conduct-ance responses, and had a more positive interaction according to the confederate.These findings support applying imagined contact to improve interactions with people with severe mental illnesses.

Global Production, CSR and Human Rights: The Courts of Public Opinion and the Social License to Operate

This paper takes at its starting point the responsibility placed upon corporations by the United Nations’ Protect, Respect and Remedy Framework as elaborated upon by the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights to respect human rights. The overt pragmatism and knowledge of the complex business relationships that are embedded in global production led John Ruggie, the author of the Framework, to adopt a structure for the relationship between human rights and business that built on the existing practices of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). His intention was that these practices should be developed to embrace respect for human rights by exhorting corporations to move from “the era of declaratory CSR” to showing a demonstrable policy commitment to respect for human rights. The prime motivation for corporations to do this was, according to Ruggie, because the responsibility to respect was one that would be guarded and judged by the “courts of public opinion” as part of the social expectations imposed upon corporations or to put it another way as a condition of a corporation’s social license to operate.
This article sets out the background context to the Framework and examines the structures that it puts forward. In its third and final section the article looks at how the Framework requires a corporation’s social license to be assembled and how and by whom that social license will be judged. The success or failure of the Framework in persuading corporations to respect human rights is tied to whether “the courts of public opinion” can use their “naming and shaming power” effectively.

Review of Protestant Churches and the Formation of Political Consciousness in Southern Mozambique (1930–1974).

Book review of Protestant Churches and the Formation of Political Consciousness in Southern Mozambique (1930–1974). By TERESA CRUZ E SILVA. Introduction by DAVID HEDGES. Basel: P. Schlettwein Publishing, 2001. Pp. xvii+210. CHF 48; €32 (ISBN 3-908193-09-5).

An investigation of vision problems and the vision care system in Rural China

This paper examines the prevalence of vision problems and the accessibility to and quality of vision care in rural China. We obtained data from 4 sources: 1) the National Rural Vision Care Survey; 2) the Private Optometrists Survey; 3) the County Hospital Eye Care Survey; and 4) the Rural School Vision Care Survey. The data from each of the surveys were collected by the authors during 2012. Thirty-three percent of the rural population surveyed self-reported vision problems. Twenty-two percent of subjects surveyed had ever had a vision exam. Among those who self-reported having vision problems, 34% did not wear eyeglasses. Fifty-four percent of those with vision problems who had eyeglasses did not have a vision exam prior to receiving glasses. However, having a vision exam did not always guarantee access to quality vision care. Four channels of vision care service were assessed. The school vision examination program did not increase the usage rate of eyeglasses. Each county-hospital was staffed with three eye-doctors having one year of education beyond high school, serving more than 400,000 residents. Private optometrists often had low levels of education and professional certification. In conclusion, our findings shows that the vision care system in rural China is inadequate and ineffective in meeting the needs of the rural population sampled.

Influence of service loading and the resulting micro-cracks on chloride resistance of concrete

Chloride-induced corrosion of steel in reinforced concrete structures is one of the main problems affecting their durability, but most previous research projects and case studies have focused on concretes without cracks or not subjected to any structural load. Although it has been recognised that structural cracks do influence the chloride transport and chloride induced corrosion in reinforced concrete structures, there is little published work on the influence of micro-cracks due to service loads on these properties. Therefore the effect of micro-cracks caused by loading on chloride transport into concrete was studied. Four different stress levels (0%, 25%, 50% and 75% of the stress at ultimate load – fu) were applied to 100 mm diameter concrete discs and chloride migration was measured using a bespoke test setup based on the NT BUILD 492 test. The effects of replacing Portland cement CEMI by ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS), pulverised fuel ash (PFA) and silica fume (SF) on chloride transport in concrete under sustained loading were studied. The results have indicated that chloride migration coefficients changed little when the stress level was below 50% of the fu; however, it is desirable to keep concrete stress less than 25% fu if this is practical. The effect of removing the load on the change of chloride migration coefficient was also studied. A recovery of around 50% of the increased chloride migration coefficient was found in the case of concretes subjected to 75% of the fu when the load was removed.