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New sustainability certification schemes (SCS) with different scope, governance structure and operating practice are fast emerging. This rapid growth and divergence in metrics has resulted in questions about the effectiveness of such schemes. Although this practice has been growing fast, to date, there are no reviews comprehensively synthesising the literature regarding SCS’ main flaws, challenges and improvement opportunities. This paper aims to identify what are the key components affecting effectiveness of SCS, highlighting their benefits, flaws and improvement opportunities.

An integrated literature review was conducted to identify and assess recent studies related to the benefits, flaws, effectiveness and improvement opportunities of SCS worldwide.

Key components affecting the effectiveness of SCS were identified (sustainability awareness; market access; management systems and productivity; social, environmental and economic impacts; monitoring outcomes; competition, overlapping and interoperability; stakeholder participation; and accountability and transparency). The authors argue that SCS to succeed have to be effective; provide accountability about their goals and achievements; and manage stakeholders’ expectations. Civil Society’s awareness of the scientific underpinnings of sustainability issues also contributes to the existence and improvement of such schemes.

The limitations of this study are associated with the secondary material that was publicly available for our literature review.

This paper fulfils an identified need to explore the key components affecting effectiveness of SCS, their benefits, flaws and improvement opportunities. Such a synthesis also identifies the key areas where interoperability between SCS should be pursued by corporations and governments.

This paper aims to provide an approach of modeling haptic impressions of surfaces over a wide range of applications by using multiple sensor sources.

A multisensory measurement experiment was conducted using various leather and artificial leather surfaces. After processing of measurement data and feature extraction, different learning algorithms were applied to the measurement data and a corresponding set of data from a sensory study. The study contained evaluations of the same surfaces regarding descriptors of haptic quality (e.g. roughness) by human subjects and was conducted in a former research project.

The research revealed that it is possible to model and project haptic impressions by using multiple sensor sources in combination with data fusion. The presented method possesses the potential for an industrial application.

This paper provides a new approach to predict haptic impressions of surfaces by using multiple sensor sources.

This chapter investigates children’s play and social interactions in a multilingual preschool context where the lingua franca (common language) is English. This investigation follows the experiences of one child for whom English is a second language (L2). The analytic focus explores how the child gains access and participation in play activities in relation to the peer culture of the group.

Drawing on ethnomethodology and conversation analysis approaches, this chapter offers turn-by-turn analysis to show how the children’s interactions unfold and identifies children’s interactional approaches as they enter play and make friends. Particular attention is focused on how one of the children manages his attempts at entry into the peer group’s games using the building blocks.

The close detailed analysis of one extended episode highlighted the co-produced nature of interaction. The findings identify a repertoire of four resources used by one of the L2 children within the peer group, to access play activities in the building space: (1) linguistic resources of requests, such as “Can I play?” “Are you building?”; (2) “tailing” others closely; (3) references to the moral obligations of being a best friend; and (4) using objects as resources for entry. While the analytic focus is on one child’s strategies, analysis considers this child’s individual actions in relation to his peers. What is made apparent is that children’s uptake and participation in peer interaction is dependent on the social agenda and the local aspects of peer culture, not solely on children's language proficiency.

Attention to how children employ strategies to play and understanding the local conditions of peer culture can assist educators to support children’s attempts for participation and friendship in multilingual early years settings.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the key problems encountered when Western‐trained consultants evaluate leaders in China using a toolkit and consulting process derived from Anglo‐American leadership theory and HR consulting practice.

A composite case example from the authors' recent consulting experience illustrates a model assessment process and toolkit tailored to the Chinese business, social and cultural environment.

Cultural and situational differences, require special consideration when assessing Chinese leaders. Assessments and feedback should be tailored to the “traditionalism” of the team being assessed.

The paper presents practical guidelines and insights into selecting appropriate assessment tools and structuring the process for China‐based clients.

The paper provides new insights into the tools and process required to deliver accurate and leadership assessment in China.

The Tourist Gaze has been debated, reimagined and applied to a variety of actors and settings. This paper helps investigate how contemporary architecture operates as subject and participant in gazing practices.

Using Yelp reviews of art museums in a regional US city, a thematic analysis of text reviews and image uploads was conducted.

Reviewers do refer to buildings as objects of the gaze; but they also connect their experience of the building to emotions and to actions and use the building to orient themselves spatially. This article demonstrates that contemporary buildings are important components of tourist experiences as objects of the gaze, but also as frames for gazing and as stages for tourist practices.

The research implications are both topical and methodological: the paper demonstrates that contemporary (neo-modern) architecture is a vibrant avenue of research, and that social networking sites are a promising potential source of data for studying architecture in the social field.

This research uses an underexplored data set, Yelp reviews, to capture what people pay attention to and think others will find interesting about architecture. It also adds important layers to studies on the tourist gaze. First, it emphasizes that architecture is important to tourists not only as an object of the gaze but also as a site for affective experience, action and daily life. Second, it addresses some building styles beyond the historical ones that are foundational to the idea of the tourist gaze.

Argues for a central role for information society studies in degree programmes. Information society studies is an interdisciplinary specialism devoted to examination of the macrolevel role of information flows and technologies. The views of information science educators on information society studies are appraised. Reports the current status of information society instruction in the information science schools of the UK and Ireland. Investigation shows ten schools run modules on the information society, in some cases as options. The content, methods of instruction and assessment, and other relevant indicators of the condition of information society studies are reported and analysed. Features a discussion of the rationale for inclusion of this specialism in the information science curriculum, and concludes with a “civic” argument for core status, namely that information professionals have a duty to enter the public debate on important information society issues.

Since 1960, a considerable amount of research has been done in the fields of police science and corrections. Here, Reference Librarian Bill Bailey evaluates bibliographies, encyclopedias, government documents, directories, and other sources of information on these branches of criminal justice.

AMONG new problems faced by design engineers of supersonic aircraft and missiles is the destructive effect of rain. At transonic and supersonic speeds, rain erosion of aircraft materials may prove to be a limiting factor in all‐weather flying conditions.