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1 – 10 of over 2000Purpose – This chapter will explore how Jean Quan was elected as Oakland’s first Asian American and woman mayor and the numerous challenges to lead the city’s governing coalition…
Abstract
Purpose – This chapter will explore how Jean Quan was elected as Oakland’s first Asian American and woman mayor and the numerous challenges to lead the city’s governing coalition. Quan sought to build a diverse coalition to run the city. She has devoted her efforts to those in greatest need as she navigates the multiracial and multidynamic politics, and build her administration as progressive, inclusive, and universal.Design – This research uses voting records, U.S. Census data, media accounts, and interviews with local participants to study the research questions for this chapter; how and why did Jean Quan get elected as Mayor, and what has been her approach to leading the city’s governing coalition?Findings – This chapter’s preliminary findings after 18 months in office are that Mayor Quan has stabilized her governing coalition and has gotten back on track to begin to achieve her campaign goals.Research limitations and future research – The major limitation of this chapter’s research is Mayor Quan has been in office only 18 months, which is a short time to study Quan’s governing coalition and whether she will sustain this coalition in the coming years. Future research is needed to study how Quan compares to recent Oakland mayors and to other Asian American local elected leaders of large cities.Impact of research – This research builds upon previous research on Asian Pacific Islander elected officials at the local level and adds to the growing body of research on minority mayors and local elected officials.Value of research – As the United States grows increasingly diverse those who govern its cities have also become more diverse in the 21st century. This research makes an important contribution to the study of a fast growing population APIs and their elected leaders.
LU Xiaohui, HE Quan and LI Qi
Significant differences exist in terms of use and demand of urban public space in different districts and communities. In this study, PSPL survey was made in about one year to…
Abstract
Significant differences exist in terms of use and demand of urban public space in different districts and communities. In this study, PSPL survey was made in about one year to investigate the type and occurring time of outdoor activities and the visitors' demand difference of Round-City-Park in Xi'an, China. The survey method for collecting data included spatial classification, photographic recording, field observation, questionnaires and interviews. Then a new method of Virtual Typical Day (VTD) was put forward to analyze usage pattern of public space in the daily life. According to our results, laying out more public spaces close to residential area can make a more vigorous city. And the results also reveal that there exist some problems of uneven usage periods in different spaces, various space requirement from different age groups, insufficient support of space and facilities and so on. Based on the survey, an optimizing strategy of adaptive design is proposed such as setting mobile “stage” and providing flexible “props” according to the changing demands. The proposed design approach can encourage people to participate in outdoor activities, improve usage frequency of public spaces, and stimulate vitality of the city. This may also apply to other Chinese cities.
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Toyin Ajibade Adisa, Mashood Baderin, Gbolahan Gbadamosi and Chima Mordi
The UK is a popular educational hub for international students from different parts of the world. These students often face different transitional challenges, which have a…
Abstract
Purpose
The UK is a popular educational hub for international students from different parts of the world. These students often face different transitional challenges, which have a significant impact on the success or failure of their studies. The purpose of this paper is to systematically investigate the issues and challenges confronting international students in the UK in their efforts to acquire academic knowledge and achieve personal development.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 104 UK-based international students in five higher education institutes in London from 25 countries participated in this study. The study was undertaken qualitatively through 21 semi-structured and 13 focus group interviews.
Findings
The findings reveal that the process of transitional adjustment is affected by various issues, all of which determine the duration of the students’ involvement in each stage of the transitional process. International students in the UK experience language/accent-related difficulties; impaired communication; and a difficult adjustment to the British education system and culture.
Research limitations/implications
The extent to which the findings of this research can be generalised is constrained by the limited scope of the research.
Practical implications
In choosing to study in the UK, international students primarily seek to obtain a qualification, other life experiences, and cultural assimilation. The students’ parents, institutions and the UK authorities (such as the Department of Education) have an important role in ensuring that the students achieve success. While the roles of parents and the UK authorities are not the focus of this paper, their supportive roles certainly allow students to complete the different stages of the process of transitional adjustment quickly and smoothly.
Originality/value
The study offers valuable insight into understanding the challenges facing international students in acquiring knowledge in a foreign land. The paper contributes to the pedagogic literature on this topic by proposing a three-stage scaffolding model.
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Absent Chief Entrepreneur/Intrapreneur (‘Ntrepreneur) Officer (CNO)Churchill’s un wavering commitment of significant resources to the unproven radar (Decision to Dare) as early as…
Abstract
Absent Chief Entrepreneur/Intrapreneur (‘Ntrepreneur) Officer (CNO) Churchill’s un wavering commitment of significant resources to the unproven radar (Decision to Dare) as early as the autumn of 1937, Great Britain would have not survived as a nation: No country survival. Absent Watson, Jr.’s unwavering determination to push IBM into computers, launching in 1951 the Defense Calculator, which at $3 million “was by far the most expensive project in IBM history,” IBM would not have survived: No corporate survival. From the [rather flimsy] briefing by Dr. R.V. Jones weaving fact and fancy, how did Churchill draw the firm conclusion that radar would be invented; and risk rewriting the entire plans for the air defense of Great Britain around radar? How did Watson, Jr. dismiss the unanimous recommendation of IBM’s 18 best systems experts that magnetic tape had no place at IBM; and launch the most expensive project at IBM to break into the unknown field of computers? Based on first‐person narratives, how could the single input of relatively flimsy data produce as the output, the certain realization of a futuristic technology? The most‐cited work on the psychology of decision‐making (Kahneman‐Tversky) is seen to be in applicable. Sigmund Freud’s Self‐Analysis offers a method of systematic introspection/ret rospection. We develop an established sequence of ordered procedures (Protocol) of memory management (Memory Management Disequilibria Dimensions (MD2) Protocol) which applies equally well to both the country and corporate survival decisions, and offers some suggestions to improve Memory Management for Decisions to Dare.
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Rose Quan, Alison Pearce and Yevhen Baranchenko
The purpose of this paper is to explore the differences in international student mobility (SM) in two contrasting countries: UK and China, at national, institutional and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the differences in international student mobility (SM) in two contrasting countries: UK and China, at national, institutional and individual levels. Both are countries in transition in a greater global context. The objective is to identify what these countries can learn from each other about the issues and policies surrounding the management of educational mobility.
Design/methodology/approach
An inductive approach was employed to understand real-life experience via multiple case studies. Participant observation and semi-structured interview methods with a variety of stakeholders were used to collect data which were then subjected to a thematic analysis to identify in which areas countries had developed good practice.
Findings
Over-arching themes were developed through comparing national findings. These reveal that national policy and family support are most influential in China, while British universities largely drive SM at an institutional level.
Social implications
The significance of this knowledge lies in the potential for social impact and reform of successful mobility schemes. International mobility equates to social mobility through global employability of those who engage. Global citizenship is regarded as one of the paths to world peace and understanding. Mobilising a younger generation can contribute to better regional integration and international stability as part of an idealistic approach to geopolitics.
Originality/value
Concluding that neither country has a comprehensive and complete approach, this study proposes the areas in which all both could develop and details good practice. The value therefore emerges from the comparison and contrast and the practical focus of the research.
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The “greening” of preserved vegetables by addition of sulphate of copper can only be regarded as an abominable form of adulteration, and it is passing strange that in this year of…
Abstract
The “greening” of preserved vegetables by addition of sulphate of copper can only be regarded as an abominable form of adulteration, and it is passing strange that in this year of grace 1904 it should still be necessary to endeavour to impress the fact, not only upon the public generally, but upon the Government authorities and upon those who are concerned in the administration of the Food Acts and in adjudicating under their provisions. It ought surely not to be necessary to insist upon the tolerably obvious fact that the admixture of poisons with food is a most reprehensible and dangerous practice, and that the deliberate preparation and sale of food thus treated should be visited with condign punishment. The salts of copper are highly poisonous, and articles of food to which sulphate of copper has been added are not only thereby rendered injurious to health, but may be extremely dangerous when swallowed by persons who happen to be specially susceptible to the effects of this poison. After a lengthy investigation, the Departmental Committee appointed by the Local Government Board to report on the treatment of food with preservatives and colouring matters condemned the practice of adding salts of copper to food and recommended that the use of these poisons for such purposes should be absolutely prohibited. Without any such investigation as that which was conducted by the Departmental Committee—and a most thorough and painstaking investigation it was—it should have been sufficiently plain that to allow or to excuse the practice in question are proceedings utterly at variance with common sense.
Radwan Alkebsee, Ahsan Habib and Junyan Li
This paper aims to examine the association between green innovation and the cost of equity in China. This study relies on the investors’ base perspective and shareholders’…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the association between green innovation and the cost of equity in China. This study relies on the investors’ base perspective and shareholders’ perceived risk perspective to investigate the relation between green innovation and the cost of equity in China.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses firm-fixed effect regression for a sample of Chinese public companies for the period 2008–2018.
Findings
The authors find a negative relationship between green innovation and the cost of equity capital. This negative association is found to be more pronounced for less financially constrained firms, during periods of high economic policy uncertainty, and for firms with a strong internal control environment. Finally, the paper shows that the negative association became more pronounced after the passage of the Environmental Protection Law of China in 2012. The results remain robust to possible endogeneity concerns.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the green innovation literature by documenting that shareholders favorably view firms implementing green innovation policies. The study also has policy implications for Chinese regulators in improving the green credit policy.
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Allan K.K. Chan and Yue‐Yuan Huang
Reports a study of 1,304 Chinese brand names of ten types of products in China. These brand names are content analyzed following a linguistic approach which the authors developed…
Abstract
Reports a study of 1,304 Chinese brand names of ten types of products in China. These brand names are content analyzed following a linguistic approach which the authors developed from their earlier studies. The ten types of brand names are presented in three broad categories representing the three different developing stages of the consumer product industry in China: brands of traditional products (illustrated by matches and spirits), brands of traditional products with current development (illustrated by bicycles, shoes, and toothpastes), and brands of new and modern products (illustrated by cosmetics, soft drinks, washing machines, refrigerators and TV sets). The conclusion drawn from the analysis is that one of the variables in determining how linguistic principles are being applied to Chinese brand naming is the respective stages of development of such products in the context of the Chinese market economy.
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It is not long since, in Scotland at least, the greater part of the food eaten was simple and unsophisticated. Oatmeal porridge and milk, bread, a very few varieties of…
Abstract
It is not long since, in Scotland at least, the greater part of the food eaten was simple and unsophisticated. Oatmeal porridge and milk, bread, a very few varieties of breadstuffs (such as oatcake and scones), fish, home‐killed meat, with rough dainties in the shape of black and white puddings, were the common food of most people. Thousands of forms in which food is presented to‐day, from homogenised milk to meat extract, did not exist. Along with a multitude of developments in the form in which food was presented to the public came a great number of manipulations. Some of these, like the cooling of milk after production, were laudable; some, like the freezing of meat for importation, were inevitable; and many others, such as preservation with chemicals, were of doubtful necessity, and in any case required careful watching. In the first half of the nineteenth century, and before it, adulterations of food were gross and dangerous. It is doubtful, however, whether the danger to health involved in specific infections of food was realised till much later. It is on the lines of minimising or preventing these two dangers that the administration has developed. One series of miscellaneous enactments deals with the prevention of infection or contamination, and another, the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts, 1875 to 1907, is concerned with “the nature, substance and quality” of articles of food and drink sold. Meat and milk, because of their nature and because of the inevitable risks involved in preparation and handling, are specially liable to infection and contamination. The uniform system and standard of meat inspection established in 1923 by the Public Health (Meat) Regulations (Scotland) have functioned well throughout the country. It was comparatively easy to secure the examination of every carcase, and to take all other necessary precautions, in the public slaughterhouses, but the five hundred private slaughterhouses throughout the country presented difficulties. The Regulations, however, by providing for the restriction of hours of slaughter, brought the majority of private slaughterhouses in populous places into line, and the remainder, principally in outlying districts, are visited by officers of the local authorities from time to time. Food inspectors are in constant attendance at the ports, and the import of certain classes of meat and fat is controlled by the Public Health (Oversea Meat) Regulations, 1925. In regard to milk, the Milk and Dairies (Scotland) Act, 1914, a consolidating statute which came into operation on 1st September, 1925, is the principal enactment. The Milk and Dairies (Amendment) Act, 1922, authorised the system of higher‐grade milk referred to below. In regard to other foods, the Public Health (Regulations as to Food) Act, 1907, authorises the framing of Regulations for preventing danger to public health from the importation, preparation, storage or distribution of articles of food or drink. The Unsound Food Regulations, 1925, provide for the inspection of all imported foods, and Section 43 of the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, authorises inspection of animals, alive or dead, and articles of food exposed for sale, and the condemnation of any of these if found unfit for the food of man.
With the present issue the British Food Journal enters upon the fortieth year of its existence. The policy of the Journal has always been to expose and to assist in the…
Abstract
With the present issue the British Food Journal enters upon the fortieth year of its existence. The policy of the Journal has always been to expose and to assist in the suppression of adulteration and sophistication, to support the interests of Public Analysts, Medical Officers of Health, and Inspectors in the carrying out of their official duties, to be of service to all who are interested in or in any way associated with the administration of the various Acts relating to food, and to protect honest manufacturers and producers against competition from inferior or adulterated products.