State and society in the English countryside: the rural community movement 1918-1939

This paper assesses the relationship between state and society in interwar rural England, focusing on the hitherto neglected role of the Rural Community Councils (RCCs). The rise of statutory social provision in the early twentieth century created new challenges and opportunities for voluntaryism, and the rural community movement was in part a response. The paper examines the early development of the movement, arguing that a crucial role was played by a close-knit group of academics and local government officials. While largely eschewing party politics, they shared a commitment to citizenship, democracy and the promotion of rural culture; many of them had been close associates of Sir Horace Plunkett. The RCCs engaged in a wide range of activities, including advisory work, adult education, local history, village hall provision, support for rural industries and an ambivalent engagement with parish councils. The paper concludes with an assessment of the achievements of the rural community movement, arguing that it was constrained by its financial dependence on voluntary contributions.

Discerning policy and drivers for sustainable facilities management practice

Due to the changing nature of the facilities management (FM) profession, facilities managers are increasingly engaged with the evolving sustainability agenda in the UK and the development or uptake of sustainability policies within their organisations. This study investigates how facilities managers are engaging with the sustainability agenda and the drivers, policy issues and information they use to improve their sustainability performance management. A web based self-administered questionnaire survey of facilities managers in the UK was conducted to identify drivers and issues that influence and support good sustainable practices. A total of 268 facilities managers responded. The results indicate that legislation is the most important driver for the implementation of sustainable practices. Corporate image and Organisational ethos are also recognised. However demand for efficient monitoring, management and reporting on environmental impact is not highly rated even though the top three issues of sustainability managed by facilities managers are energy management, waste and recycling management and carbon footprint. In addition, facilities managers are expected to take ownership of activities assigned to the reduction of carbon emission. Government industries and organisation with high turnover are more likely to have a sustainability policy. Financial constraints are the main barriers while legislations are the main driver for implementing sustainability. For non-profit organisations and the charitable sector, financial constraints are no hindrance to implementing a sustainability policy. The conclusion drawn is that sustainability agendas continue to be influenced by regulated environmental issues rather than a balanced approach which takes into consideration the wider social and economic aspects of sustainability. While this scenario is far from ideal, the expectation is that the organisation will trust FM to take a vital role in delivering a comprehensive sustainability policy due to the rising tide of legislation, public scrutiny, as well as the needed business case for genuinely embracing sustainability. However, as the integration of sustainability with core business strategies is continuously evolving the emphasis on different drivers will vary from organisation to organisation as well as the responsibilities of facilities managers.

Clusters, connectivity and catch-up: Bollywood and Bangalore in the Global Economy

In this article, we make two important contributions to the literature on clusters. First, we provide a broader theory of cluster connectivity that has hitherto focused on organization-based pipelines and MNE subsidiaries, by including linkages in the form of personal relationships. Second, we use the lens of social network theory to derive a number of testable propositions. We propose that global linkages with decentralized network structures have the highest potential for local spillovers. In the emerging economy context, our theory implies that clusters linked to the global economy by decentralized pipelines have potential for in-depth catch-up, focused in industry and technology scope. In contrast, clusters linked through decentralized personal relationships have potential for in-breadth catch-up over a range of related industries and technologies. We illustrate our theoretical propositions by contrasting two emerging economy case studies: Bollywood, the Indian filmed entertainment cluster in Mumbai and the Indian software cluster in Bangalore.

Trees for development? Articulating the ambiguities of power, authority and legitimacy in governing Ghana’s mineral rich forests

The growth of mining activities in Africa in the last decade has coincided with increased attention on the fate of the continent’s forests, specifically in the contexts of livelihoods and climate change. Although mining has serious environmental impacts, scant attention has been paid to the processes which shape decision-making in contexts where minerals and forests overlap. Focussing on the illustrative case of Ghana, this paper articulates the dynamics of power, authority and legitimacy of private companies, traditional authorities and key state institutions in governing mining activities in forests. The analysis highlights how mining companies and donors promote a neoliberal model of resource management which entrenches their ability to benefit from mineral exploitation and marginalises the role of state institutions and traditional authorities in decision-making. This subsequently erodes state authority and legitimacy and compounds the contested nature of traditional authorities’ legitimacy. A more nuanced examination of foundational governance questions concerning the relative role of the state, traditional authorities and private interests is needed.

Optimized Water Demand Management Through Intelligent Sensing And Analytics: The WISDOM Approach

New business and technology platforms are required to sustainably manage urban water resources [1,2]. However, any proposed solutions must be cognisant of security, privacy and other factors that may inhibit adoption and hence impact. The FP7 WISDOM project (funded by the European Commission - GA 619795) aims to achieve a step change in water and energy savings via the integration of innovative Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) frameworks to optimize water distribution networks and to enable change in consumer behavior through innovative demand management and adaptive pricing schemes [1,2,3]. The WISDOM concept centres on the integration of water distribution, sensor monitoring and communication systems coupled with semantic modelling (using ontologies, potentially connected to BIM, to serve as intelligent linkages throughout the entire framework) and control capabilities to provide for near real-time management of urban water resources. Fundamental to this framework are the needs and operational requirements of users and stakeholders at domestic, corporate and city levels and this requires the interoperability of a number of demand and operational models, fed with data from diverse sources such as sensor networks and crowsourced information. This has implications regarding the provenance and trustworthiness of such data and how it can be used in not only the understanding of system and user behaviours, but more importantly in the real-time control of such systems. Adaptive and intelligent analytics will be used to produce decision support systems that will drive the ability to increase the variability of both supply and consumption [3]. This in turn paves the way for adaptive pricing incentives and a greater understanding of the water-energy nexus. This integration is complex and uncertain yet being typical of a cyber-physical system, and its relevance transcends the water resource management domain. The WISDOM framework will be modeled and simulated with initial testing at an experimental facility in France (AQUASIM – a full-scale test-bed facility to study sustainable water management), then deployed and evaluated in in two pilots in Cardiff (UK) and La Spezia (Italy). These demonstrators will evaluate the integrated concept providing insight for wider adoption.

Labor supply, risk aversion and economic refrom in China

Economic reform in China has created a small, but fast-growing private sector that has spurred rapid productivity growth. Growth of the private sector is predicated upon continued labor movements away from state-run industries and into private firms. This paper presents a theory of labor market sectoral choice demonstrating that three factors determine private sector labor supply-the difference in wages between the state and private sectors, private sector wage risk and risk aversion. Estimation of the model using survey data provides strong support for the theory. We find that the riskiness of private sector earnings has a greater effect in discouraging workers from taking jobs in private firms than the wage premi um has in attracting workers.

The BRICS: some historical experiences, growth challenges and opportunities

The acronym BRICS was a fad among the media and global investors. Now, the acronym sounds passé. However, the group of countries remains important, from both political and economic reasons. They have a large aggregate size, 28% of the global GDP and 42% of the world’s population, high growth potential due to the current significant misallocation of resources and relatively low stock of human capital, structural transformation is in progress and one of them, China, is taking steps to become a global power and a challenger to the US dominance. This paper provides a brief overview of the five economies, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. We focus on some aspects of their history, the Chinese initiatives in international finance and geopolitical strategic moves, their growth experience and structural transformation over the last 35 years, trade and investment integration into the global economy and among themselves, the growth challenges faced by their economies and the potential gains to the Brazilian economy from a stronger integration with the other BRICS. In association with its efforts to be a global power, China aims to become a major player in global finance and to achieve the status of global currency for the renminbi, which would be the first currency of an emerging economy to attain such position. Despite the similarities, the BRICS encompass very diverse economies. In the recent decades, China and India showed stellar growth rates. On the other hand, Brazil, Russia and South Africa have expanded just in line with global output growth with the Russian economy exhibiting high volatility. China is by far the largest economy, and South Africa the smallest, the only BRICS economy with a GDP lower than US$ 1 trillion. Russia abandoned communism almost 25 years ago, but reversed many of the privatizations of 90’s. China is still ruled by communism, but has a vibrant private sector and recently has officially declared market forces to play a dominant role in its economy. Brazil, Russia and South Africa are global natural resources powerhouses and commodity exporters while China and India are large commodity importers. Brazil is relatively closed to international trade of goods and services, in marked contrast to the other four economies. Brazil, India and South Africa are dependent on external capital flows whereas China and Russia are capital exporters. India and South Africa have younger populations and a large portion living below the poverty line. Despite its extraordinary growth experience that lifted many millions from poverty, China still has 28% of its population classified as poor. Russia and China have much older populations and one of their challenges is to deal with the effects of a declining labor force in the near future. India, China and South Africa face a long way to urbanization, while Brazil and Russia are already urbanized countries. China is an industrial economy but its primary sector still absorbs a large pool of workers. India is not, but the primary sector employs also a large share of the labor force. China’s aggregate demand structure is biased towards investment that has been driving its expansion. Brazil and South Africa have an aggregate demand structure similar to the developed economies, with private consumption accounting for approximately 70%. The same similarity applies to the supply side, as in both economies the share of services nears 70%. The development problem is a productivity problem, so microeconomic reforms are badly needed to foster long-term growth of the BRICS economies since they have lost steam due a variety of factors, but fundamentally due to slower total factor productivity growth. China and India are implementing ambitious reform programs, while Brazil is dealing with macroeconomic disequilibria. Russia and South Africa remain mute about structural reforms. There are some potential benefits to Brazil to be extracted from a greater economic integration with the BRICS, particularly in natural resources intensive industries and services. Necessary conditions to the materialization of those gains are the removal of the several sources of resource misallocation and strong investment in human capital.

Comparison and analysis of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports of the top five companies ranked on the 2013 CSR RepTrak

In the 1970s, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) was discussed by Nobel laureate Milton Friedman in his article “The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits.” (Friedman, 1970). His view on CSR was contemptuous as he referred to it as “hypocritical window-dressing” a reflection of the view of Corporate America on CSR back then. For a long time short-term maximization of shareholder value was the only maxim for top management across industries and companies. Over the last decade, CSR has become a more important and relevant factor of a company’s reputation, shifting the discussion from whether CSR is necessary to how best CSR commitments should be done (Smith, 2003). Inevitably, companies do have an environmental, social and economic impact, thereby imposing social costs on current and future generations. In 2013, 50 of the world biggest companies have been responsible for 73 percent of the total carbon dioxide (CO2) emission (Global 500 Climate Change Report 2013). Post et al. (2002) refer to these social costs as a company’s need to retain its “license to operate”. In the late 1990s, CSR reporting was nearly unknown, which drastically changed during the last decade. Allen White, co-founder of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), said that CSR reporting”… has evolved from the extraordinary to the exceptional to the expected” (Confino, 2013). In confirmation of this, virtually all of the world’s largest 250 companies report on CSR (93%) and reporting by now appears to be business standard (KPMG, 2013). CSR reports are a medium for transparency which may lead to an improved company reputation (Noked, 2013; Thorne et al, 2008; Wilburn and Wilburn, 2013). In addition, it may be used as part of an ongoing shareholder relations campaign, which may prevent shareholders from submitting Environmental and Social (E&S)1 proposals (Noked, 2013), based on an Ernst & Young report 1 The top five E&S proposal topic areas in 2013 were: 1. Political spending/ lobbying; 2. Environmental sustainability; 3. Corporate diversity/ EEO; 4.Labor/ human rights and 5. Animal testing/ animal welfare. Three groups of environmental sustainability proposal topics of sub-category number two (environmental sustainability) 6 2013, representing the largest category of shareholder proposals submitted. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) even goes as far as to claim that CSR reports are “…becoming critical to a company’s credibility, transparency and endurance.” (PwC, 2013).

ACUTE TOXICITY of SODIUM SELENITE and SODIUM SELENATE TO TILAPIA, Oreochromis niloticus, FINGERLINGS

Selenium is an essential nutrient for many organisms, including fish. It can be released in the water by natural processes of dissolving rocks and minerals, and by the wastewater from industries and agricultural activities, which can increase its concentration in the environment, leading to toxic effects to the aquatic biota. Median Lethal Concentrations (LC(50-96h)) of two forms of selenium were estimated to fingerlings of Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus, focusing on estimating indicators for future environmental risk assessments in aquatic ecosystems contaminated with those elements, particularly for evaluate sources of water quality suitable for rearing tilapia. The results were: LC(50-96h) of sodium selenite (Na(2)SeO(3)) = 4.42 mg Se(4+) L(-1), and LC(50-96h) of sodium selenate (Na(2)SeO(4)) = 14,67 mg Se(6+) L(-1). According to those data, it was possible to classify sodium selenite as highly toxic and sodium selenate as moderately toxic to fingerlings of tilapia.

Organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls in soil and water samples in the northeastern part of São Paulo State, Brazil

Detailed analyses of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) isomers (HCHs), dichlorodiphenyltrichloro ethane (DDT) and its metabolites (DDTs) and congeners of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in soil and surface water from the northeastern São Paulo, Brazil allowed the evaluation of the contamination status, distribution and possible pollution sources. The pesticides and PCBs demonstrated markedly different distributions, reflecting different agricultural, domestic and industrial usage in each region studied. The ranges of HCH, DDT, and PCBs concentrations in the soil samples were 0.05-0.92, 0.12-11.01, 0.02-0.25 ng g(-1) dry wt, respectively, and in the surface water samples were 0.02-0.6, 0.02-0.58 and 0.02-0.5 ng l(-1), respectively. Overall elevated levels of DDT and PCB were recorded in region 2, a site very close to melting, automotive batteries industries, and agricultural practice regions. High ratios of metabolites of DDT to DDT isomers revealed the recent use of DDT in this environment. The sources of contamination are closely related to human activities, such as domestic and industrial discharge, street runoff, agricultural pesticides and soil erosion, due to deforestation as well as atmospheric transport. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Alternatives Panels from Waste Plastics Reinforced With Fibers of Pupunha Palm for Use in Civil Construction and Furniture Industry

In order to cooperate in minimizing the problems of the current and growing volume of waste, this work aims at the production of panels made from industrial waste -thermoplastic (Polypropylene - PP; Polyethylene - PE and Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene - ABS) reinforced with agro-industrial waste - pupunha palm waste (shells and sheaths). The properties of the panels were evaluated: density, thickness swelling, water absorption and moisture content. It was used the ASTM D1037; EN 317; and ANSI A208.1 standards regarding particle boards. The best results in physical tests were treatments 1 (100% waste plastic), 6 (60% plastic waste and 40% waste of pupunha) and 7 (70% waste plastic and 30% waste of pupunha). The best results in the mechanical tests were treatments 3 (30% de residuos plasticos e 70% de residuos da pupunha), 4 (40% de residuos plasticos c 60% de residuos da pupunha) and 5 (50% de residuos plasticos e 50% de residuos da pupunha). For mechanical tests it was concluded that the results of modulus of rupture and of modulus of elasticity the best treatments were those with more fibers. In the tensile tests perpendicular to the surface, it is clear that using more waste plastics leads to the best results. It was concluded that the waste can be used as raw material for the production of alternative materials mainly in civil construction and furniture industries, and it can be employed in urban or rural environment, given the concept of eco-efficient products.

Structural change and productivity growth, 20 years later: old problems, new opportunities

Includes bibliography

Building long term strategies and public-private alliances for export development: the Finnish case

Includes Bibliography