Month: December 2016
What’s Love got to do with it? Motivating Intercultural Competency and Language Learning Through Discussions of Intercultural Romantic Love Relationships
While English is a required subject in Japanese junior and senior high schools, Japanese university students’ communicative language competency is generally very poor. Many blame this on the Japanese entrance exam system, which overemphasizes grammar rather than communicative competency. To counterbalance this, many Japanese universities have started creating “Language Cafés” and “Language Lounges” where students …
The Relevance and Impact of Professional Counselling on Land Use and Management for Environmental Sustainability: The Benue Experience in Nigeria
This paper would report the environmental implications of indiscriminate multiple land use in the Benue region of Nigeria. The relevance and impact of professional counseling on land use and management for environmental sustainability in Nigeria has been studied using a structured questionnaire. It was administered on more than 500 urban and rural dwellers in the …
Pushing European Boundaries Towards East and West: Gulliver in Japan and America
Worldwide, in the East as well as in the West, one character has become a part of everybodys childhood, regardless of ethnicity, national or cultural belongings, age and status. The fame of Lemuel Gulliver has survived from early eighteenth century until today, outlasting many other fictitious protagonists in world literature, making Jonathan Swifts Gullivers Travels …
Sustainability on Economic and Energy Planning of China
From the “13th five year” plan, China now is directing to transit to the green economy for not only relying on GDP performance, but also ensuring the environmental protection. Therefore, it is crucial to have the energy plan which can build up safe, efficient and sustainable energy strategy systems. This study discusses the concept of …
Urban Logistics Planning of Kho Chang Port Island, Trad Province, Thailand
With the potentiality of Thailand in being ASEAN’s logistics center, the past and present governments have given emphasis on this matter. Many strategies and projects have been continuously initiated to promote Thailand to be the logistics and transport hub of the region, be it land, sea, or air. As for sea transportation, Laem Chabang Port …
Searching for the Spice: On Chinese Diaspora’s Food Practice in Helsinki, Finland
In this research project, I examined the ever-changing interconnected relations between immigrants’ identity construction, food practice and the broader social formations in their respective adopted countries. The main research questions were guided by this vision: Are food practices of Chinese diaspora in Helsinki facilitating the construction of a new, creolized, hybrid “Chinese-abroad identity”? To what …
Teaching Cross Cultural Communication Course Through Content Based Instruction: Curriculum Design and Learner Perspectives in an EFL Context
This study intends to introduce a content based curriculum design for the course “cross cultural communication” in an EFL context. It also explores students’ perspectives regarding their perceived learning outcome with both content knowledge and language skills. Sixty non-English major EFL students from a university in Northern Taiwan participated in this study. Content knowledge from …
DEA Environmental Assessment on U.S. Industrial Sectors
A green image is recently an important component for corporate survivability in modern business. This study discusses a new use of DEA for environmental assessment by incorporating an analytical capability to handle zero and negative values. The proposed approach provides us with not only quantitative assessment on unified (operational and environmental) performance of firms but …
Performance of a Solar Heating System with Photovoltaic Thermal Hybrid Collectors and Heat Pump
The energy consumption in buildings accounts for a large part of the World’s CO2 emissions. Much energy is used for appliances, domestic hot water preparation and space heating. In solar heating systems, heat is captured by solar collectors when the sun is shining and used for heating purposes. When the solar collectors are unable to …
The Strategies of Piano Manufacturers: Crafts, Industry and Marketing
This article focuses on a study of product architecture and marketing strategies of piano manufacturers; Steinway & Sons and Yamaha. Main consumers of Steinway piano are world class artists and concert halls. 99% of concert pianists and main concerts hall use Steinway pianos. On contrast Yamaha targeted the mid-priced segment rather than the high-end one. Gaining …
Political Communication – Reach and Relevance: A Case Study of Delhi
In the nineteenth century mechanical printing replaced direct communication/dialogue/ speech. In the wake of twentieth century radio and television occupied a corresponding space along with print media as a source of information and communication. The advent of 21st century introduced internet thus multiplying the cognitive, affective and behavioral impact of communication. In the course of …
Type of Coal and Possible Occurrence of Congestion Related to Eco-Technology Innovation in U.S. Electric Power Industry
Coal-fired power plants generate approximately 32% of electricity in the United States. The electric generators fueled by coal are a major source of air pollution. There are two types of coal mainly used by the coal-fired power plants are called “bituminous” and “subbituminous”. Almost 48% of the coal produced is bituminous, while about 44% is …
Time Series Analysis of Thai Flooding Effects on Japanese Insurance Companies
In this paper, we analyzed effects of the 2011 Thai flooding on Japanese economics, especially on the Japanese insurance companies. In 2011, the Japan economy was severely damaged by the great East Japan earthquake that happen on 11th March. To pay the insurance premium, Japanese major insurance companies were also damaged. In addition, the flood …
Effects of EFL Instruction Utilizing International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) on Intelligibility of Japanese Students
This study focuses on intelligibility of Japanese students pronunciation. Japanese students are handicapped in acquiring EFL, because Japanese differs from English especially in phonetic system and the relation between letters and sound. The shortest unit of Japanese sound is a mora, while that of English is a phoneme. Therefore, Japanese students tend to insert vowels …
Sustainable Development of Catchment Land-Use for Multifunctional Agro-Ecological Landscapes Under a Changing Climate
Incorporating the likely impacts of climate change into regional and rural planning is vital to accommodate their profound effects on anthropogenic systems such as agriculture that interact with natural environments. The importance of agriculture to feed the growing world population without compromising the already scarce and depleted resource base, makes it a challenging, yet promising …
A Field Report on the Art Movement: The Case of Mullae Arts Village, Seoul
This study takes a deep look at the art movement as cultural practices based on the local community by focusing on the case of the Mullae Arts Village in Seoul, Korea. The study adopts an ethnography to explore the characteristics of an art movement grounded in a specific location by pointing out the way art …
Influencing Factors and Processes Involved in the Commercialization of the Industry-University-Government Alliance Outcomes
According to data from the Japan Science and Technology Agency (data from 2004 to 2014), the total number of Industry-University-Government Alliances during this period more than doubled. However, from the industry side, there are few analyses related to how companies have used outcomes for their business. Thus, an understanding of factors and organizational cooperation processes …
How Public Educational Policy Reform has Lost Its Way
American education has lost its sense of mission, its direction, its connection to real life, and its willingness to change its structure and administration. We do not attend to civic literacy, financial literacy, teamwork, project-based learning, and creation of global citizens. Graduates typically reject a sound grounding in history, geography, and the social sciences. The …
Research on the Structural Forms of Dance
This paper which is about dance structure is the summary of the author’s practical experience, and could be regarded as a kind of theoretical exploration on the dance structure. It is presented mainly from the perspective of dance creation practice. However, research approaches used here are certainly interdisciplinary. To be more specific, the study refers …
Stochastic Model of Demand Curve Supported in Consumption Habits of Electric Energy for Residential Sector
This paper shows the methodological aspects to design and develop a stochastic model, which determines the demand curve from variation in energy consumption habits, using a survey that was applied to a group of 114 residential users located at Bogotá-Colombia in South America, in the same socio-economic sector, which is called four stratum. It was …
Marriage Al ‘Mosaico’ in Divorzio All’Islamica a Viale Marconi: Muslim-Arab Migrants’ Code Switching at Play in Amara Lakhous’ Novel
The present article focuses on a popular novel set in Rome, Divorzio all’ islamica a Viale Marconi (2010), in which the Italian-Algerian author Amara Lakhous discusses the struggles of immigrants in an ‘arabicized Italian’ narrative style. The study offers insights on the patterns and meanings of code-switching as used by postcolonial Muslim-Arab migrants living in …
Adding Value to Thailand’s Robusta Coffee through Geographical Indication
Coffee is the most valuable and widely traded tropical agricultural product. Thailand is one of the top coffee producers in the world. The country was also ranked third among the coffee producing countries of Asia with the Robusta coffee (Coffea canephora) accounting for 99% of its production. Thus, Robusta coffee is the chief coffee crop …
The Effect of Cluster Simplification in Thai on the English Language Learners
This research is aimed at studying the effect of the change in progress of spoken standard Thai in terms of true consonant cluster simplification on the Thai students learning English language. Thai language permits CC- with /k, kh, t, p, ph/ { ก, ข, ค, ต, ป, ผ, พ } in the first position and …
Management System Prototype for an Electric Iron to Contribute to Energy Efficiency
In this paper, a management system prototype for electric iron is presented with the purpose of monitoring tension, current, energy and costs parameters, besides of controlling the real time turning On and Off using a web application. The objective is to reduce electric energy consumption to contribute with energy efficiency processes and home security. The …
Study on Eco-Environment Crisis Coping with System of Russia under Sustainable Development Strategy Background
Ecological crisis is the challenge commonly faced by mankind, and it is environment protection topic emphasized by countries across the world. Russia stresses on coping eco-crisis issue in its sustainable development strategy in recent years, and it formulated Environment Protection Law of Russia and Ecological Appraisal Law of Russia, forming a set of ecological systems, …
Teaching Whiteness in American Literature
Teaching Whiteness in American Literature discusses challenges to raising the consciousness of university students of American literature about the impact of whiteness/white supremacy on the development of American characters as they have been portrayed in American literature from J. Hector St. John De Crevecoeur’s late 17th century Letter’s from an American Farmer to David Mamet’s …
Transglobal Culture, Hybrid Food, and Cultural Identity
The term ‘East’ and ‘West’ cannot repudiate the binary concept on ‘local’ and ‘global’. And today, the discussion on the meeting point of these two notions particularly in cultural phenomenon becomes social premiums in Indonesia. The trends of the intermingled East-West in fashion, language, food, and other art expressions, definitely cling to the process of …
Microenvironment of HMGB1 “Clusters”: A Potential Drug Target for Cancer and Diabetes
The quest for potential therapeutic strategies to treat inflammatory diseases represents one of the topical progresses in the field of medical sciences. Statistical data has shown that in the eastern world developing countries such as Indonesia, diseases such as Diabetes Mellitus, Alzheimer’s, and cancer are amongst the main causes of death. High Mobility Group Box …
Numerical Simulation of Heat and Mass Transfer in Adsorbent Beds with Rectangular Fins
A transient two-dimensional numerical model of coupled heat and mass transfers in adsorbent bed of a silica gel/water adsorption chiller system is presented for a plat bed with rectangular fins through the finite element method (FEM) simulations. The bed transient transport behaviors are investigated for all four cycle phases in detail. In the model, a …
Energy and Exergy Analysis of Evacuated Tubes Solar Air Collector with Micro-Heat Pipes Arrays (MHPA)
Solar air collector (SAC) occupies an important place among solar air heating systems because of simpler structure and lower manufacturing costs compared with a solar water collector. In order to improve the performance of SAC, micro-heat pipe arrays (MHPA) technique has been introduced in the presented study. MHPA looks like a flat aluminum plate with …
Art and Politics in Iraq: Examining the Freedom Monument in Baghdad
The Iraqi Freedom Monument by Jawad Salim in Baghdad is an example of an artistic achievement that came into existence as a result of a clear political decision. This unique monument was designed after the changes that occurred in Iraq in 1958, the same year the Republic of Iraq was established. For this reason, one …
Between Land and Sea: An Approach for Resilient New Development along the San Francisco Bay
The urban edge that defines the San Francisco Bay is a contested landscape whose boundaries are continually changing, both in form and in definition. Much like the tidal flux of the Bay wetlands, the urbanized waterfront can extend and recede. Over the years, the Bay Area has seen a large portion of the historic wetlands …
A Qualitative Study of the Leadership Practices of Repatriated US-Educated Chinese Organizational Leaders
The number of students participating in international education is continuously rising. In particular, mainland China has been sending the greatest number of international students to the United States for the past six years. There is however a limited amount of research conducted on the impact of international education on the Chinese. This paper discusses the …
Teaching Japanese Across Borders: An Original Intercultural Approach
The goal of this paper is to present to the international academic public a unique and original book for teaching Japanese, the first of its kind in Serbia. However, its significance is not limited only to the students of Japanese in Serbia, because this manual can be the source of ideas for teachers of Japanese …
Challenges for the Online English Curriculum
Curriculum is a control for any study; it exemplifies the teaching and learning theory including what to teach (content), how to teach (teaching pedagogy), and how to measure the results (evaluation). Online curriculum faces additional challenges both in theoretical implementation of English content and skills and by means of Information Technology. As English is important in …
Facilitating Language Use and Communication in ESL/EFL Classrooms through Game-Based Learning
The objectives of this paper are (a) to argue for the benefits of immersive virtual environments to enhance language use and communication in ESL/EFL classrooms using theories of second language acquisition (SLA); namely, sociocultural SLA (Vygotsky, 1978) and psycholinguistic SLA (Long, 1985), and the theory of situated learning (Greeno, Collins & Resnick , 1996); (b) …
Introducing the First Large-Scale English Collocational Chunk List and Innovative Methods in Which Collocational Fluency Can Be Mastered
This presentation will discuss the findings of the speaker’s PhD thesis which identified the most common chunks of English. The resulting large-scale list is the first of its kind, and a major breakthrough in that a resource is now available that replaces the dated method of studying via word lists. Studying such chunks is not …
Implementation of Problem-Solving Instruction in a Global Education Course and Visualizing Japanese Undergraduate Students Learning
The world has been globalized at an unprecedented speed in that everything from people to information moves across nations more quickly and intensely than ever. In order to prepare the youth to effectively and responsibly live in such a global society, global education was born in the U.S. in the late 1960s and has developed …
Internationalization of Library and Information Science Programs in Thailand: Development and Implementation
Internationalization is recognized as a key strategy to cope with changes in the new 21st century environment by increasing the capacity and potential of institutions and programs, improving quality and building excellence in implementation of institutional missions, especially regarding teaching and learning, research and development and academic services. This research aimed at developing strategies for …
The Exploration of Spatial Strategies on Social Construction in Shenzhen
Shenzhen is a unique city in China where 70% of people come from outside of the city. In fewer than three decades, Shenzhen has gone from a no-name town of tens of thousands to a prototypical fast-growth city of millions of people. Rapid urbanization has brought out rapid economic development; however, social development has been …
Simulation-Based Learning: A New Educational Tool
Problem- based learning (PBL) has been well established in medical education as an efficacious learning technique. Meanwhile, developments in computer technologies and high-fidelity patient simulators have thoroughly reformed medical education including designing problem based learning and case scenarios. Combining problem-based learning with simulation has significant potential. Key to successful implementation of this pedagogy is the …
Intensive English Program for Engineering Students: An Action Research
Most international students take pre-college or pre-graduate school Intensive English Programs (IEP) to improve English skills in order to fulfill the language requirement of universities. While most IEPs offer courses that address skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing for personal and academic enrichment, to prepare students for their future majors also needs to be …
Curriculum Enhancement Through Learning Partnerships
The aim of this paper is to discuss an Aston University (Birmingham, UK) model for programme enhancement offered to international partners through programme diversification and student engagement in curriculum design (QAA,2012). One of the main reasons for enhancing a primarily English for Academic Purposes programme, such as the International Year Abroad Programme, has been to …
The Use of Application Builder & COMSOL Multiphysics as a Tool to Build and Deploy Simulation Apps for Heat Transfer
For teaching Heat transfer, we currently apply COMSOL Multiphysics software and its new application builder features. Main goals are to maximizing the efficiency of the learning process, expanding the investigation techniques while keeping students engaged. In Engineering based courses as Heat Transfer, simulation apps are helping to strike such a balance by introducing students to …
The Transport Phenomena: Course Teaching Strategies Using Comsol Simulation Apps for Engineers and Scientists
Teaching undergraduate transport phenomena fundamentals course in universities worldwide was mainly based on the well-known most useful chemical engineering textbook ever written by Bird, Stewart and Lightfoot, (BSL, 1960). Students in recent years are motivated by real-life examples, but they have limited time to investigate the physics beyond them. This research paper presents the enhanced …
Writing in a Foreign Language
For many Japanese students, writing is probably the most difficult skill in English. The Ministry of Education of Japan (MEXT) conducted research on the English proficiency of the third year (senior year) students of high school in 2014 and 2015. They reported that in writing and speaking the scores of tests were significantly lower than …
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Through Karate for Sustainable Development in Education
Karate has a long and established history as an effective means of unarmed combat, incorporating techniques for self-defence. These centuries-old techniques have in recent years been analysed scientifically and refined for maximum efficiency. Significant progress has also been made in recent years in our understanding of neurobiological basis of mental disorders and cognitive behaviour. Core …
Exploring the Impacts of Race, Culture, and Language on African Refugee Students in Ontario Secondary Schools
Identity threat, or perceived identity threat, in school settings has been linked to decreased academic engagement and performance among minority group members. In particular, among secondary school students, discrimination based on culture, race, and/or language can contribute to drop out rates and a lack of meaningful academic engagement. This paper is part of a larger …
Using DVDs to Introduce Multimodal Digital Literacy Practices into the Japanese EFL Classroom
Despite having the third largest economy in the world, Japan still lags behind countries like Malaysia and Korea in international tests of English proficiency, like TOEIC. Due to a number of factors, English language education in Japanese junior high and high schools continues to focus on the older, traditional literacy practices of reading and writing. …
The Origin of Kaibo:Ron Marine Defense Ideology in Pre-Modern Japan
(Analyzing the «Inquiry into Customs of Red Ezo» and «A Discussion of the Military Problems of a Maritime Country») The author analyses the main tendencies in the latter part of Pre-Modern Japan (1603–1867), which led to the origin of the marine defense (KAIBO:RON) ideology. Since 1639 Japan supported national seclusion policy (sakoku), limiting its trade contacts …
Bilingual Language Production: Shared or Separate Processing?
Language production processes have recently been of interest to many psycholinguistic researchers. While human beings are able to acquire multiple languages at the same time, this has pointed to the fact that different mental cognitive processes may be involved in multilingual language production. An existing debate in bilingual research is the question whether the mental …
What is Interpretation and How Can I Perform it? A Case Study of Assessing Interpreter Training in Japan
Interpretation is a communication approach for facilitating personal meaning making and developing connections with things, places, people, and concepts and typically occurs in recreational or informal learning settings, such as heritage sites, museums, zoos, and protected areas. Interpretation helps audience to better understand and appreciate the object being interpreted, which can increase appropriate resource management …
Facing the Challenge of Being a Woman Officer in the Belgian Army: Personality Profile and Coping Strategies
Forty years ago, the first women soldiers joined the Belgian army. Since then, much progress has been made in the feminization of the staffs, particularly through various laws and policies implemented on this purpose. However, female staff is still a largely under-represented group in the Belgian army. This could be mainly explained by the fact …
The Diversity of Indigenous Wisdom on Grief: Exploring Social Work Approaches to Bereavement
The aim of our study was twofold: 1) to describe the diversity of indigenous wisdom on grief and maintaining relationships with the deceased by exploring Buddhists in Japan, Muslims in Malaysia and Christians in Sweden; and 2) to discuss social work approaches for bereaved families based on their indigenous wisdom. Background: The International Federation of …
Motivations to Visit a Museum – Why Do You Visit While Others Don’t Go?
Museums are critical for resource conservation, while they can provide a recreational setting and enhance visitor’s leisure experience. Museums also play an important role in the hospitality and tourism industry, as they attract domestic and international travelers. Museums serve as social, cultural, and economic enrichment. The purpose of the research included understanding the motivations to …
Hardwood Propagation of Lantana Camara L. for Green Environment
Lantana is popular for its growth and flowering throughout the heat of summer and while it is a tender woody perennial, is most commonly used as an herbaceous annual. Flower colors vary, ranging from yellow to deep red and purple, and foliage with green or variegated leaf margins. Growth habits for different lantana cultivars vary …
Quantitative Assessment of River Environment by Focusing on Benthic Biota
It is well known that the benthic biota in the river ecosystem changes drastically between the mountain and urban streams. However, there are few studies demonstrating the changes in biota by using quantitative techniques. In this study, field research on benthic species (mainly aquatic insects) was carried out at 6 different sites (St. 1-3: mountain …
Using Asset Management to Unlock Sustainability Potential
The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) ensures the nation’s nuclear security. Comprised of eight science and manufacturing campuses covering 36 million square feet of facilities, NNSA is the heart of the US nuclear deterrence and non-proliferation missions. Its unique capabilities, from supercomputing to laser science, and workforce of upwards of …
Light, the Physical Factor Affecting the Social Security of Public Space in Historical Texture
Yazd city is the first adobe and the second historical city in the world. Placement of valuable historical texture of this city in a circle of worn out context has caused the Gradual burial of social, economic,skeletal and functional life especially in the public spaces of historical core of town. In addition, the expansion of …
Waste Management Cost Impacts on Project Finance: A Case Study of Solar Photovoltaic Rooftops in Thailand
Recently, the Royal Government of Thailand has announced promotional policies for solar photovoltaic (PV) roof mounts. The feed-in tariff policy of three project scales (residential
Teaching Generation Z at the University of Hawai’i
New generations of students are not the same as prior generations and they respond differently to instruction. The University of Hawai‘i must change its ways of teaching to align to the values and learning styles of these new learners, specifically Generation Z (Gen Zers). Teaching methods, course content, and objectives must be relevant and engaging …
Junior College EFL Students Respond Better to a Formative Assessment Project Than a Paper Midterm
Replacing paper midterms with a challenging, assessment project is in line with Robinson and Ross’ ideas on measurement: “traditional skills-focused tests of EAP ability relate only weakly to learners’ ability to act on such skills in authentic task conditions (1996).” The Be Our Guest Midterm Assessment Project aimed to confirm that classroom-based, formative assessment leads to …
Using Social Network Analysis As a Tool for Improving Teaching Effectiveness
Social network analysis (SNA) is an excellent observational tool for understanding community formation in the classroom. Students engaged in the classroom community might be more likely to persist in a major or discipline. Classroom community structure, therefore, could be an indication of effective teaching practices that help retain students. However, SNA is largely untested as …
Instructor Experience Affects Perception of Student Technology Use as a Sign of Engagement
Devices such as cell phones, tablets, and laptops have become commonplace in the classroom. Students can use these devices to disengage and distract others or to take notes and collaborate with others. Recognizing the difference is now a critical skill for university instructors. Assessing student engagement and responding to disengaged students are learned skills that …
Effecting Positive Change in English Language Learning with Universal Design for Learning
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an instructional framework developed from education and neuroscience research. Based on the knowledge that there is no such thing as an ‘average’ learner, the central claim of UDL is that the diverse learning needs of students are best addressed through curricula and lessons that provide multiple means of Representation, …
Developing Spoken Corpora of Non-Native English Teachers to Assist in English Classroom Interactions
This study reports the classroom speech traits of non-native English language instructors (NNIs) observed from the bilingual spoken corpora compiled by the authors from four elementary school and two middle school English lessons in Japan. We will analyze our corpus structure using the four modes to specify the NNIs’ L2 classroom discourse introduced by Walsh …
LePo: An Open-Source Learning Management System with Text Annotation and Content Curation Functions
Web-based Learning Management Systems (LMSs) are widely used in educational institutions mainly because no management cost for native client application and low development cost to adapt the system to multiple client platforms. And the progress in web-related technology makes it possible for web system to implement the functions which were possible only by native application. …
An Application of Team-Based Learning (TBL) with Thai as a Foreign Language Course
Team-based learning (TBL) is a structured type of cooperative learning that has growing application in many education fields. As opposed to the conventional lecture where instructor lecturing to a group of students in some didactic presentation format, the role of instructor has changed to a cognitive coach in TBL. TBL improves academic outcomes by shifting …
Teacher Will: A Framework to Transform Classroom Practices! It’s Intentional
The single unit of change in what matters for student learning is an effective teacher. What makes an effective teacher? Teacher and Administrator WILL. How do you design your classroom to ensure attention to “will power?” What are the teaching practices that align with “will power?” It’s intentional. Explore a framework that has been proven …
Curricular Changes in Teacher Education: A View of Comparative Research in Three Contexts
This work is part of a project whose objective was to study curricular changes in teacher training programs from a comparative approach. We studied the curriculum of three universities (Harvard, University of Minho and UFTM) from 3 different countries (United States, Portugal and Brazil) in the last two decades. To achieve our goals, in addition …
Indian Sandalwood Fragrance Culture from East to West
The present study explores the cultural and techno sphere of Indian Sandalwood that has been affecting the increase of the research and development of Indian sandalwood plantation. The method used is the literature survey of standard journals, reports of the government and the corporate industries. Historically, Sandalwood’s natural forest is of great importance and deeply …
Policy Networks of Central-Local Government Relations in the UK and Japan and Linkage of International Relations in the EU
Policy networks and linkage are tightly connected concepts in the politics. The policy networks defined by Rhodes are set of formal institutional and informal linkages between governmental and other actors. The policy networks are important elements in the power-dependence theory about intergovernmental relations in the UK. This paper mainly investigates comparison between policy networks in …
Oil Producers, Refiners and Renewable Energy Consumers: Correlation to the Wealth, Competitiveness, Peace and Happiness of Populations
A popular perception suggests that nations with abundant natural resources will ultimately demonstrate stronger economic performance. Studies investigating this perception, however, showed conflicting results. Fossil energy resources abundance (oil), processing capacity of energy resources (oil refining) and use of renewable energy technology from forty five countries, were correlated with four socio-economic indicators. The indicators included …
When Fraud Wears Religious Cassocks
According to the US court papers, Taipei Smartphone maker HTC Corp’s founder, Cher Wang, was defrauded out of US$7.4 million by a church elder couple. The US Attorney’s Office, Northern District of California, said Jonathan Chang, aged 60, and his wife, Grace Lee Chang, aged 57, were the defendants. Plaintiff, Wang and her husband, Chen …
A Comparative Analysis of Environmental and Economic Costs of PV Solar Imports and Manufacturing: China vs. Ontario, Canada
Solar energy is one of the most suitable renewable sustainable energy options with the opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The use of photovoltaic (PV) technology is carbon neutral; however, the manufacturing of panels produces measurable carbon emissions. Recently, Canadian solar panel companies filed a complaint with the Canadian government claiming subsidized PV modules from …
Ending Hatred and the Start of Healing: President Elpidio Quirino’s Pardoning of Japanese War Criminals in the Philippines and its Aftermath
On July 22, 1953 President Elpidio Quirino issued a proclamation granting executive clemency to 105 Japanese war criminals and allowed them to return to Japan. The proclamation came barely a decade after the end of World War II during which thousands of Filipinos lost their lives as victims of Japanese atrocities. Quirino himself lost his …
International Law & Sovereignty: A Divisive Concord of Paradigms in the South China Sea
The contemporary system of interdependent states, driven by the continuous demands of globalization has led to the ever-increasing relevance of international law in governing over the comity of nations. The adherence to international law was understood as the basis for peaceful coexistence and the viable recourse for dispute settlement among sovereign states in the international …
Sarkans Junijs’ – Military Relationship Between Japan and the Baltic States in the 1930s
In terms of the pre-war relationship between the Baltic states and Japan, Japanese historians tend to emphasize Chiune Sugihara’s contribution to the saving of Jewish refugees in 1940. However, apart from that, not many facts are yet known among either Japanese or the Baltic academia. Thus, in this article, I attempted to unveil the ‘reality’ of …
Brazil’s Foreign Policy and Asymmetrical Partnership with China and Japan, 2003-2015
Brazil is among the 7th largest economies in the world and Asia has always been a priority in the foreign policy agenda of Brazil in the 21st century. Therefore, Japan as the third largest economy and China as the second largest economy in the world, has reinforced Brazilian interest in strengthening further diplomatic ties with …
The Analysis of China’s Soft Power in Africa (1978-2015)
The main purpose of this paper is to examine China’s soft power in Africa (1978-2015). Coincided with seizing power by Chinese reformist elites headed by Deng Xiaoping in 1978, China prioritized economic development as its main goal. This trend has been continuing till now and by gaining stunning achievements, has turned China into the second …
Victory in Cyberspace: Issues, Means, and Geography
A review of state-initiated and state-sponsored incidents in cyberspace in the past decade reveals that over two thirds of these involved actors within the Asia Pacific; often times occurring in the context of politico-economic disputes. These activities range from attempts at espionage to that of coercion; in all appearance confirming the domain’s increasing strategic value. …
The Geopolitics of Dam Construction and Operation Along the Mekong River: Implications for Food Security in the Region
Rivers cater to the needs of the people, especially in terms of food, agriculture and energy. Rivers are important to human survival because they can provide food, irrigation, and energy source. However, these benefits to humans are threatened by dam constructions and operations along the rivers. While recognizing the importance of hydropower technology as an …
Ontological Security and the Limits of Realism and Neo-Realism
Ontological Security as an International Relations theory is not yet able to carry the same weight within the discipline as established theories, such as realism and neo-realism. This is due to the limited number of papers written which apply ontological security in comparison to mainstream theories. However, the theory is relevant in contemporary international relations …
Reconciliation: The Conditions of Possibility that Enable Practices in the Anlong Veng Community, Cambodia
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the conditions of possibility that enable practices of reconciliation in the Anlong Veng community, Cambodia. A qualitative method including secondary data analysis as well as field research interviews is being employed. The practices – i.e. negotiation – have been taken into consideration the discourse of power relations …
A Twenty-Point Recipe of Peace – The National Action Plan for Pakistan: Context, Analysis and Evaluation of Successes and Pitfalls
A twenty-point recipe of the National Action Plan (NAP) has become a core strategy to counter terrorism in Pakistan after the devastated terrorist attack on Peshawar Army Public School on December 16, 2014. Since the NAP establishment, counter-terrorism efforts have had highs and lows and diverse consequences. This paper attempts to critically scrutinize its achievements …
Stateless Persons and Climate Refugees in Asia
UNHCR has indicated that 65.3 million individuals were forcibly displaced in 2015: 40.8 million people around the world were displaced within their own countries. These figures, however, did not include stateless persons, those who may not belong to any state. In fact, Asia has the largest number of stateless persons. Moreover, Asia comprises about one-third …