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This paper identifies the challenges during a recent disaster relief operation in a developing country where the humanitarian response is dominated by national actors, with international actors having a minor role.

A case study design is used; the main data sources are semi-structured interviews with 43 informants involved in the 2017 Kermanshah earthquake relief operation.

The findings suggest that humanitarian practitioners deal with multiple challenges during disaster relief operations. One group of challenges relates to humanitarian logistics (HL) like needs assessment, procurement, warehousing, transportation and distribution, all widely discussed in the literature. Another involves the growing use of social media, legitimacy regulations and the engagement of new humanitarian actors (HAs) like social media activists and celebrities. These factors have not been extensively studied in the literature; given their growing influence, they require more scholarly attention.

The findings will help humanitarian practitioners and policymakers better understand the challenges involved in disaster relief operations conducted by multiple actors and thus help them improve their practices, including the creation of proper regulations, policies and logistics strategies.

The study uses primary data on a recent disaster to assess and extend the findings of previous studies regarding HL challenges. It also elaborates on the critical non-logistical challenges that influence aid delivery in emergency responses, including the growth of social media, regulations and the engagement of new HAs. The results may motivate future empirical and modelling studies to investigate the identified challenges and identify practices to mitigate them.

In recent years, police leadership integrity and standards have been positioned as central to the professionalisation agenda of the police service England and Wales (College of Policing, 2015). The purpose of this paper is to explore the challenges for developing innovative, more people-oriented approaches to leadership in a command environment like the police.

A case study approach in one UK police constabulary was adopted. In all, 38 semi-structured interviews were conducted with senior police officers from chief constable to inspector rank. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed.

Police officers drew on managerial and command discourses in their understandings of leadership. Perceptions of the situation, particularly in terms of perceived risk and visibility, influenced leadership practices in the constabulary.

Current research and policy places emphasis on “what works” in police leadership; the meanings of leadership to police officers is overshadowed by a focus on effectiveness. Through the use of semi-structured interviews, this research captures police leaders’ understandings of themselves and their leadership. The findings reveal that, at a time when police leadership needs to become more innovative and people focussed, the pressures and complexities of contemporary policing mean that police officers retreat to leadership that is command-based and driven by the primacy of business needs.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the need for an entity to manage airborne relief when a nation’s civil aviation authorities are overwhelmed or incapacitated due to a major rapid-onset disaster.

The paper examines why relief airflow management was so vital during the 2010 Haiti earthquake and how this management was accomplished. The author uses a case study methodology that includes interviews with logistics and aviation experts within the humanitarian and military communities involved in the Haiti relief effort.

The research highlighted an airflow management capability gap within the humanitarian community. The author sets forth several possible alternatives for resolving this gap.

The research is a single case study of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. While performing a multiple case study may have provided more widely applicable conclusions, this case study provides in-depth information applicable to the worst of disasters, where an airflow management capability is most likely to be needed.

While host nation civil aviation authorities retain responsibility for airspace/airflow management after a disaster, these can oft be overwhelmed by the volume of airborne relief flooding the area. Without an entity to assist the affected nation with airflow management, smooth logistical flow of relief goods to those in need can be catastrophically impeded.

Little research exists on disaster relief airflow management or the legitimate need for this capability to be developed within the humanitarian community.

The paper focuses on current debates about police professionalism. It explores the nature and meaning of what has been termed “old” professionalism, which focuses on the role of the police as “professional crime fighters”, and then assesses the extent to which there has been a transition to a “new” professionalism centred on enhanced accountability, legitimacy and evidence‐based practice. The paper aims to show how the recent attempt to embed this “new” professionalism within policing in England and Wales is likely to be compromised by the broader political and economic context of police reform.

The paper is based on a review of key contributions to the debates about police professionalism in the USA and the UK.

The paper provides important insights into the way in which there are competing and conflicting meanings attached to police professionalism and argues that claims that there have been significant transitions from one form of professionalism to another need to be treated with caution. The paper also emphasises the uncertain trajectory of the development of police professionalism in England and Wales in the future as a result of the complex interplay between the different elements of the coalition government's police reform programme.

The paper demonstrates the multiple meanings of the term “police professionalism” and the challenges that surround developing professional policing.

This chapter examines the significance of the fact that the fundamental outlook of modern religion according to Bellah, is compatible with the description of reality and the system of analytic concepts crystallized by Giddens and Habermas in their analysis of modern society. The conceptual common denominator between these three researchers indicates that Bellah's as well as Giddens’ and Habermas’ thought include an anti-nomological reflexive scientific-educative narrative that reflects a vision of the desired face of human society. A vision calling for the encouragement of continual reflexivity and the personal involvement of the individual in constructing his social reality. This common denominator brings to light a transition in the sociological-theoretical arena – flexing past borders created between theoretical streams in light of the fact that the roots of Bellah's thought lie in the Functionalistic tradition, Giddens’ in the Positivistic tradition and Habermas’ in the neo-Kantian tradition.

The design of retail backroom storage areas has great impact on in-store operations, customer service level and on store life-cycle costs. Moreover, backroom storage in modern retail grocery stores is critical to several functions, such as acting as a buffer against strong demand lifts yielded by an ever-increasing promotional activity, stocking seasonal peak demand and accommodating e-commerce activities. The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework to design retail backroom storage area. Furthermore, the authors aim to draw attention to the lack of literature on this topic, while clarifying the relationship between this promising research stream and the considerable body of research regarding the design and operations of conventional warehouses, as well as retail in-store operations.

The key literature on backrooms, grocery retail, in-store operations, warehouse design and operations was reviewed. This allowed an understanding of the gap in the literature regarding the design of backrooms. Moreover, a case study methodological approach was conducted in a Portuguese retailer to extend the literature review.

Despite having functions similar to conventional warehouses, backroom storage facilities have particularities that deserve a distinct analysis. Thus, the authors stress these differences and demonstrate how they influence the development of a novel backroom design framework.

This paper fills a gap by proposing a framework to design backroom areas. Furthermore, this research may help practitioners to better design backroom areas, since this process currently lacks a formal and standardized procedure.

Developing a collection of compact disc sound recordings is beginning to emerge as a goal for many libraries, yet the commitment of resources and energy involved in this effort is not to be taken lightly. In addition to the inevitable practical problems to be solved, there is the rare responsibility of constructing a collection from the ground up, an enterprise particularly challenging with a new medium. Satisfying both patron needs and staff requirements is seldom easy; the task of choosing CD's therefore requires careful thought, planning, and monitoring.

The purpose of this paper is to measure police cynicism in China.

Using survey data collected from 382 Chinese police officers training in a Chinese police university, this research empirically described police cynicism and examined the effects of some police subcultural themes (crime fighting role orientation, traditionalism, solidarity, and isolation) and some demographic and work-related variables (gender, education experience, type of police force, and tenure) on police cynicism.

Results suggest that most participants are not cynical. However, they seem to have less confidence in the trust and respect that citizens have for the police. Slightly more officers stated that they do not think that citizens will trust police to cooperate. Crime-fighting role orientation and isolation had significant positive associations with police cynicism. Officers with five to ten years of service were more cynical than were new officers and more tenured officers.

This study is one of the first empirical attempts in Chinese policing. It extends the understanding on police perceptions in China. The findings may provide useful implications for Chinese police administrators and instructors to promote the successful implementation of community policing in China.