Waste Management in Commercial Activity: State-of-the-Art and the Potential Innovation in the Urban Areas of Hanoi, Vietnam

As the rapid development of the society as well as the lifestyle, the generation of commercial waste is getting more complicated to control. The situation of packaging waste and food waste – the main fractions of commercial waste in different countries in Europe and Asia is analyzed in order to evaluate and suggest necessary improvements for the existing waste management system in the city of Hanoi, Vietnam. From all waste generation sources of the city, a total amount of approximately 4000 tons of mixed waste is transported to the composting facility and the disposal site, which emits a huge amount of 1,6Mt of GHG emission to the environment. Recycling activity is taking place spontaneously by the informal pickers, leads to the difficulty in managing the whole system and uncertainty of the overall data. With a relative calculation, resulting in only approximately 0,17Mt CO2 equivalent emission, incinerator is suggested to be the solution of the problem with overloaded landfill and raising energy demand within the inhabitants.

Imperiaalinen Liiga: Ammattilaispelaajien asema League of Legends-pelissä

Pro-gradu tutkielmani koskee ammatikseen videopeleissä kilpailevien pelaajien työskentelyolosuhteita. Elektroninen urheilu on viimevuosina kasvanut pienen joukon harrastuksesta varsin tunnetuksi kilpailuiksi ja viihteeksi. Kuten tavanomaisessakin urheilussa, myös e-urheilussa kilpailijat ovat alansa tähtiä ja juuri he vetävät katsojia ruutujen ääreen ja paikanpäälle seuraamaan kilpailua. Kuitenkin e-urheilussa he ovat usein heikoimmassa asemassa, joukkueiden ja kilpailuiden järjestäjien pitäessä lähes kaiken vallan itsellään. Keskityin tutkielmassani avaamaan yhden e-urheilupelin, League of Legendsin, ammattilaissarjojen sääntöjä ja erilaisia sopimuksia joita ammattilaispelaajien on allekirjoitettava ja hyväksyttävä, kaikkia pelaajia koskevista pelin sisäisistä käytössäännöistä, pelin loppukäyttäjän lisenssisopimuksesta ja käyttöehdoista, aina ammattilaiskilpailuiden virallisiin sääntöihin ja pelaajasopimukseen jonka ammattilaispelaajat solmivat Riot Gamesin kanssa. Metodina käytin Michael Hardtin ja Antonio Negrin kehittämää imperiumin käsitettä, jonka avulla avasin sääntöjen ja sopimusten vaikutuksia pelaajiin ja heidän asemaansa. League of Legendsin kehittäjä ja tärkein ammattilaiskilpailuiden järjestäjä, Riot Games, toimii hyvin samalla tavalla kuin Hardtin ja Negrin imperiumi. Sillä on mahdollisuus pelinsä yhteydessä käyttää samanlaisia voimakeinoja (ammattilais)pelaajien hallintaan kuin imperiuminkin; se hallitsee kaikkia peliinsä liittyviä markkinoita; toimii samanaikaisesti sekä ’lakeja’ säätävänä, tutkivana, että tuomitsevana tahona; kykenee vaikuttamaan voimakkaasti siihen, miten ja mitä ammattilaispelaajat voivat peliin liittyen julkisesti kommunikoida; ja voi päättää kuka ylipäätänsä osallistuu ammattilaisjoukkueiden toimintaan millään tavalla. Toisin kuin Hardtin ja Negrin imperiumin väellä, ammattilaispelaajilla ei ole samanlaisia mahdollisuuksia vapautumiseen imperiumin vallan alta, ilman vaikeaa ja kallista taistelua oikeudessa Riot Gamesia vastaan. Jotta ammattilaispelaajien asema paranisi, olisi Riot Gamesin muutettava toimintatapojaan ja luovuttava varsin suuresta osaa vallastaan. Esimerkiksi ottamalla ammattilaispelaajat mukaan sääntöjen kehitykseen ja mahdollistamalla Riot Gamesin päätösten haastamisen, vaikka tavanomaiselle urheilulle tyypillisen vetoomustuomioistuimen kautta.

The effectiveness of short-term literacy skills intervention on children at risk of reading and writing difficulties in Tanzania : a study of grade one children with dynamic assessment approach

The aim of the study was to create and evaluate an intervention programme for Tanzanian children from a low-income area who are at risk of reading and writing difficulties. The learning difficulties, including reading and writing difficulties, are likely to be behind many of the common school problems in Tanzania, but they are not well understood, and research is needed. The design of the study included an identification and intervention phase with follow-up. A group based dynamic assessment approach was used in identifying children at risk of difficulties in reading and writing. The same approach was used in the intervention. The study was a randomized experiment with one experimental and two control groups. For the experimental and the control groups, a total of 96 (46 girls and 50 boys) children from grade one were screened out of 301 children from two schools in a low income urban area of Dar-es-Salaam. One third of the children, the experimental group, participated in an intensive training programme in literacy skills for five weeks, six hours per week, aimed at promoting reading and writing ability, while the children in the control groups had a mathematics and art programme. Follow-up was performed five months after the intervention. The intervention programme and the tests were based on the Zambian BASAT (Basic Skill Assessment Tool, Ketonen & Mulenga, 2003), but the content was drawn from the Kiswahili school curriculum in Tanzania. The main components of the training and testing programme were the same, only differing in content. The training process was different from traditional training in Tanzanian schools in that principles of teaching and training in dynamic assessment were followed. Feedback was the cornerstone of the training and the focus was on supporting the children in exploring knowledge and strategies in performing the tasks. The experimental group improved significantly more (p = .000) than the control groups during the intervention from pre-test to follow-up (repeated measures ANOVA). No differences between the control groups were noticed. The effect was significant on all the measures: phonological awareness, reading skills, writing skills and overall literacy skills. A transfer effect on school marks in Kiswahili and English was found. Following a discussion of the results, suggestions for further research and adaptation of the programme are presented.

Integrated reporting – a new form of a firm’s interaction with stakeholders

This study examines a new kind of public reporting, called integrated reporting as a form of a firm’s interaction with stakeholders. The study concerned issues such as how the studied organization defined its stakeholders and how this definition evolved during the transition period from 2009 to 2013, how has the integrated reporting of the organization evolved as an instrument of interaction with stakeholders over the transition period, and how the organization reported its value creation according to the international integrated reporting framework in the final, full-featured report. In examining the theory, the study used a qualitative analysis method that allowed deriving conceptual tools necessary to carry out the study. This study is based on the material of the five integrated reports written in Russian from a subsidiary of a Russian public company. The subsidiary carried out the transition to an integrated reporting for the five years from 2009 to 2013. A comparative qualitative method was used in reviewing the empirical material. During the research, an active cooperation of the organization with key stakeholders was revealed, which occurred during the whole period of development of integrated reporting. As a result, integrated reports were produced in cooperation with various key stakeholders, allowing balancing the financial and non-financial information in the reports. The study found that during the transition period, integrated reports gradually changed in the direction of greater clarity and ease of access to perception, consistency of presentation and materiality. The integrated reporting of the organization began reflect the basic requirements of the international integrated reporting framework regarding the content elements and guiding principles. Thus, the organization’s reports began including features of financial and non-financial reporting and connecting the three aspects of the organization's activities: economic, environmental and social. This study reveals the importance of identifying key stakeholders and their influence on the creation of organizational value. The new form of reporting suits better the requirements of modern organizations to interact with their stakeholder groups. The integrated reporting, which reflects the principles of the international integrated reporting framework, is an active resource for companies to communicate with stakeholders and a platform of transmission the necessary information on the creation of value in the long term.