Search results

The growth of China’s economy during the 1990s has both shaped and reflected changes in the span and function of the country’s shipping connections both within Asia and with the rest of the world. Although sea-land developments within China have been studied, less attention has been paid to the wider global implications stemming from the transformation of the country’s maritime geography during a decade of further market reforms and greater integration into the world economy. Consequently, there is a need to comprehend how China’s state-owned shipping industry has been reorganized during the 1990s to meet the new requirements, with special reference to the country’s liner shipping connections between and within Asia respectively. More purposely, these topics are addressed by examining changes in the organization, approach and set of connections of the state-owned China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (Cosco) and its post-1993 offshoot COSCO Container Lines Company Ltd (Coscon). This review provides a springboard for a detailed analysis of shifts in both extra- and intra-Asian shipping patterns between 1990 and 2000 and consideration of their strategic implications. Finally, short-sea shipping is defined and the phenomenon’s operational strengths and weaknesses discussed.

This paper aims to review the research on accounting professionalisation in China to develop insights into how the research is developing, offer a critique of the research to date and outline future research directions and opportunities.

This paper adopts a methodological approach of systematic literature review, as suggested by Tranfield et al. (2003) and Denyer and Tranfield (2009), to identify, select and analyse the extant literature on the Chinese public accounting profession. In total, 68 academic works were included in the review process.

This paper finds that the extant literature has produced fruitful insights into the processes and underlying motivation of accounting professionalisation in China, demonstrating that the Chinese experience has differed, to a large extent, from the hitherto mainly Anglo-American-dominated understandings of accounting professionalisation. However, due to the lack of common theoretical vernacular and an agreed upon focus, the extant literature illustrates a fragmented and contradictory picture, making attempts to accumulate prior knowledge in the field increasingly difficult.

This paper focusses only on research published in English. Consequently, the scope of review has been limited as some works published in languages other than English may be excluded.

This paper provides one of the pioneering exercises to systematically review the research on accounting professionalisation in China. It explores significant issues arising from the analysis and provides several suggestions for furthering the research effort in this field.

The purpose of this study is to identify various Russian manifestations on expanding its role in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as shed light on the major obstacles it may face.

The research paper uses the “national role theory” to analyze the factors that helped in the growing Russian role in sub-Saharan African countries. It assumes that every state seeks to play a particular role, and that role is reflected in its foreign policy, which is known as “role performance,” and this role originates from several sources. On the other hand, this role faces various obstacles, mostly from the external environment, especially the international system’s structure, global values and international obligations, known as “role prescriptions.”

Despite Russia’s ability to use all its capacities in expanding its role in the African continent, the degree of its influence varied from one field to another. While it was very influential in the military, security, political, diplomatic and technical fields, it is relatively less in the economic and counter-terrorism areas.

This study paves the way for further researches related to international competition over sub-Saharan Africa, whether economically, militarily or politically, in addition to other studies related to potential cooperation opportunities, especially in security and combating terrorism.

This research’s significance stems from using the existing theoretical structure represented in national role theory in analyzing the Russian orientation toward sub-Saharan Africa, giving more attention to the latest developments in Russian strategy, as well as clarifying the major obstacles that may hinder its activities.

Historically, academia, typically universities have had two major groups of professionals. One is those who are responsible for teaching and research, including university professors, associate professors, researchers, research assistants, etc. The other is the administrative staff who are responsible for administrative tasks. Both groups have existed since the inception of a university.

As societal expectations of universities have evolved, so has the need for professionals with advanced skills, who are often referred to as Research Managers and Administrators (RMAs) or University Research Administrators (URAs). In Japan, the profession is called URA because it was modelled after the American system in the beginning of its formation. In India, on the other hand, it is often referred to as RMA because of its reference to the United Kingdom. In this chapter, we will use the term RMA as a consistent term. In Asia, the trend of increasing need for this profession has been increasing over the past decade, starting around the 2010s.

This section provides an overview of the history and background that resulted in the current situation surrounding RMAs, as well as a future prospect in the six Asian countries featured in this book: China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam.

This paper analyses the role of Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s first prime minister from June 1959 to November 1990, in minimising corruption by implementing a zero-tolerance policy toward corruption in Singapore.

This paper is based on the analysis of Lee’s beliefs and the policies he introduced to curb corruption in Singapore.

Lee’s disdain for corruption and his beliefs in meritocracy and the importance of good leadership shaped his commitment to a zero-tolerance policy against corruption, which was enforced impartially and sustained in Singapore for the past 62 years.

This analysis of how Lee transformed Singapore into one of the least corrupt countries in the world would be of interest to policy-makers, practitioners and scholars concerned with minimising corruption in their own countries.

As part of the 5G rollout, small cell base stations will be deployed across cities. This paper aims to identify an international effort to remove regulatory barriers around deployment and outline emerging strategies Australian local governments are developing to ensure urban amenity in a deregulatory context.

This paper analyses existing legislation, policy frameworks and grey literature and has conducted eight interviews with participants from the local government sector.

This paper identifies a global deregulatory trend around small cell deployment and that councils are trying to renegotiate their relationship with telecommunications carriers as 5G is rolled out. Three strategies are identified: the design and installation of smart poles, network sharing and partnerships.

This research contributes to scholarship focused on the 5G rollout and offers one of the first accounts of the emerging tensions between regulatory frameworks, commercial imperatives and municipal authorities, identifying urban amenity as a key area of concern.

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly increased demand for medical and protective equipment by frontline health workers, as well as the general community, causing the supply chain to stretch beyond capacity, an issue further heightened by geographical and political lockdowns. Various 3D printing technologies were quickly utilised by businesses, institutions and individuals to manufacture a range of products on-demand, close to where they were needed. This study gathered data about 91 3D printed projects initiated prior to April 1, 2020, as the virus spread globally. It found that 60% of products were for personal protective equipment, of which 62% were 3D printed face shields. Fused filament fabrication was the most common 3D print technology used, and websites were the most popular means of centralising project information. The project data provides objective, quantitative insight balanced with qualitative critical review of the broad trends, opportunities and challenges that could be used by governments, health and medical bodies, manufacturing organisations and the 3D printing community to streamline the current response, as well as plan for future crises using a distributed, flexible manufacturing approach.

This was a cross-sectional study to assess the psychological response to quarantine during COVID-19 pandemic and knowledge level about the disease among inmates of a Custodial Center in Enugu, Nigeria. A total of 66 new prison inmates were assessed for psychological distress using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10); and inmates’ knowledge about COVID-19 using a COVID-19 Knowledge Questionnaire developed by the researchers.

Participants had a mean age of 28.39±8.71 years; 63 (95.5%) were male inmates and 3 (4.5%) were female inmates. Sixty-one (92.4%) were awaiting-trial inmates, 43 (65.1%) had psychological distress, and 35 (53%) had completed at least secondary school. COVID-19 questionnaire mean score was 3.82±3.33. Thirty-one (21.8%) had adequate knowledge of COVID-19 (7-10 score), while 35 (53%) and 10 (15.2%) had poor (0-3) and average (4-6) knowledge, respectively. Adequate COVID-19 knowledge level was significantly higher among those that completed at least secondary school (48.6%) than those who did not (12.9%). Though not statistically significant, adequate COVID-19 knowledge level was commoner among those without psychological distress (43.5%) than those with psychological distress (25.6%).

Considering responses to specific questions contained in the questionnaire, knowledge about some questions was relatively high. For example, a majority of the participants 45 (68.2%) correctly responded that death can be a complication of COVID-19; whereas half of them 33 (50%) correctly responded that regular hand washing with soap and water can help prevent the spread of the disease. Nevertheless, responses to some questions showed poor knowledge about the disease as 18 (27.3%) correctly answered that COVID-19 can affect the lungs, while 20 (30.3%) correctly responded that COVID-19 is caused by a virus.

Our study highlighted the need to have all quarantined persons educated about the disease for which they are being quarantined. It also provided the opportunity to raise awareness of COVD-19 among the inmates.