International and Area Studies Commons^™

China’S Digital Landscape: Breaking Barriers To Innovation, Srinivas K. Reddy, Zack Zheng Wang, Deckie He Dong

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

When e-commerce giant Alibaba went public on the New York Stock Exchange in September 2014, its market capitalisation rocketed to roughly US$219 billion - a sum greater than any record previously set by its American contemporaries, Facebook, eBay and Amazon. It was a historic event that led many to believe that China’s digital economy was echoing the Middle Kingdom’s own meteoric rise onto the world-stage. China ranks high in digital connectivity. In 2015, almost half of the country’s population, or 649 million people, were online. It’s fast-growing Internet economy generates about US$100 billion annually and is predicted to reach US$277 …

The Nine Pillars Of Productivity, Augustine H. H. Tan

Research Collection School Of Economics

The report in The Straits Times on April 30, "S'pore cannot count on global demand to drive economy" makes for sober reading.Quoting Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, the report notes that inflows of foreign workers slowed from 80,000 in 2011 to 20,000 last year. Meanwhile, resident labour force growth is tapering off severely. Hence the conclusion of Mr Tharman that restructuring the domestic sector to achieve higher productivity would be essential. Upgrading skills and allowing more market forces to work in weeding out the less innovative and efficient firms would be the keys to achieving this objective.Prime Minister Lee Hsien …

Effect Of Sensory Cues On Hand Hygiene Habits Among A Diverse Workforce In Food Service, Robert Pellegrino

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Poor hand hygiene is a leading cause of foodborne illnesses in the foodservice industry. A series of complex motivational interventions must be employed to permanently change the behavior of workers, to increase their compliance and sustain appropriate levels of proper hand hygiene. Unlike the healthcare industry, which uses large, costly multi-modal behavior modification strategies, the foodservice industry must deploy rapid, cost-efficient strategies that are focus on accommodating these goals with the constraints of high employee turnover rates and diverse demographics. This research was twofold, 1) examining differences in emotions and hand hygiene behavior among participants of two cultures when handling …

Comparative Geomatic Analysis Of Historic Development, Trends, And Functions Of Green Space In Kuwait City From 1982-2014, Yousif Abdullah

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research assessed green space morphology in Kuwait City, explaining its evolution from 1982 to 2014, through the use of geo-informatics, including remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), and cartography. This research examined archival and contemporary satellite images that show the distribution, size, amount, and type of green spaces in Kuwait City, within the framework of its surrounding urban, exurban, and suburban expansion, and landuse change. Through this integrated analysis, it was found that green space growth passed through three main stages: Early Stage, Growth Stage, and Stable Stage.

This study also examined the effective use of public parks and …

Three Essays On Racial Wage Differentials In South Africa, Ochas Kashinge Pupwe

Dissertations

Wage gaps amongst the different racial groups in South Africa, have remained high post-apartheid. With the enactment and implementation of several empowerment programs aiming at reversing racial marginalization, it is puzzling to see the persistent wage gaps between the white minority and non-white majority. This dissertation seeks to ascertain factors that may account for the persistent wage gap.

The first essay tests for the presence of over-education and its effects on wage determination amongst South Africa’s racial demographic groups. The results indicate that whites were over-educated whilst marginalized populations exhibited significant levels of under-education in 1991 and 2011 and hence …

Twenty Years' Evolution Of North Korean Migration, 1994-2014: A Human Security Perspective, Jiyoung Song

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Over the past two decades, there have been notable changes in North Korean migration: from forced migration to trafficking in women, from heroic underground railways to people smuggling by Christian missionaries. The migration has taken mixed forms of asylum seeking, human trafficking, undocumented labour migration and people smuggling. The paper follows the footsteps of North Korean migrants from China through Southeast Asia to South Korea, and from there to the United Kingdom, to see the dynamic correlation between human (in)security and irregular migration. It analyses how individual migrant's agency interacts with other key actors in the migration system and eventually …

The Impact Of Xi Jinping’S Governance Of China – Ⅲ, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Xi Jinping’s latest book, The Governance of China, is popping up in odd places. It was prominently displayed on Facebook-founder Mark Zuckerberg’s desk when he entertained China’s Internet czar Lu Wei in December 2014. As Zuckerman explained: “I’ve bought copies of this book for my colleagues as well. I want them to understand socialism with Chinese characteristics.” Then in late March, Governance appeared at the annual Association for Asian Studies conference in Chicago—on the table of the China International Book Trading Corporation.

Hodge-Podge Hybridity: Luo And Western Identities In The Kenyan Development Context, Hannah Tuttle

CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium

Kinship ties in Africa form the basis of social organization. Far different from the Western conception of individual agency, individuals in Africa often define themselves in terms of their community or lineage. The tension between these two forms of identity-formation is visible in the field of international development. The aim of this research project is to understand the ways in which the social organization of the Luo people of Kisumu, Kenya has interacted with the various projects implemented by both governmental and non-governmental actors. Do those programs emphasize the agency of the individual in ways that complement the larger social …

The Vietnam War, The American War And The ‘Bridge Generation’, Nancy K. Napier

International Business Program

One April morning in the 1990s during my commute to work on a project teaching business concepts and practices to professors and managers at the National Economics University in Hanoi, I saw red.

A Double Dispossession: The Crimean Tatars After Russia’S Ukrainian War, Stephen Blank

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Genocide and genocidal political processes have been used by the Russian state for decades—if not centuries—as a technique of self-colonial rule intended to eliminate “dissident” ethnic identities. Within this context, the historical fate of the Crimean Tatars is surely a unique one. Despite Soviet obstructions, the Crimean Tatars eventually returned to their homeland in Crimea after suffering forced deportations and genocide at the hands of the Soviet government. Now, 70 years after their deportation and genocide by Stalin, the Crimean Tatars are still fighting for justice. Defined as an autonomous group in their own land under the Ukrainian government, the …

“If It Ain’T Broke, Don’T Fix It”?: Analyzing The Politics Of The Un Security Council And The Viability Of The Group Of Four’S Proposal For Reform, Marissa A. Mcomber

Honors College Theses

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC)’s mandate gives it the unique authority to maintain international peace and security. Made up of ten nonpermanent rotating and five permanent Member States (P5), the UNSC gives this decision making power to less than eight percent of the Member States of the UN at a time, five of whom never change. It has long been argued that the P5 represent a power distribution of the world as it existed in 1945, directly after World War II, and has not kept up with changing membership and power dynamics. This paper analyzes the history of the …

The Cold War: Over, Renewed, Or Never Ended?, Matt Phipps

Political Science Theses and Capstones

The Cold War has been studied repeatedly since the war supposedly ended in 1991. However recent events are starting to cause some concern and make many question whether or not the Cold War actually ended, if it took a different shape or perhaps has just been on pause. I argue that the Cold War has been a conflict that has been going on since 1947 and although the conflict has looked differently in recent decades the conflict was never properly put to an end. The research analyzes US decision making with respect to Russian and Asian relations over the last …

The Shaikh’S Republic: The Kurdish Regional Government’S Incorporation Of Tribalism, Brian A. Kennedy

Politics Honors Papers

Iraqi Kurdistan in 2015 is polity quite unlike any other. Iraqi Kurdistan has come to be treated in policy making circles as a model for what is sometimes believed to be impossible: a highly tribal, multi-religious and multi ethnic society in the Middle East with sentiments of unity, a burgeoning economy, the makings of a democracy, increasing literacy and quality of life, and (perhaps most impressively) an effective internal security arrangement in the middle of a chaotic region. Yet recent events have cast doubts on the future of Kurdistan. The advance of the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) …

Mary Elise Sarotte, The Collapse: The Accidental Opening Of The Berlin Wall, Basic Books, 2014. Barry Rubin And Wolfgang G. Schwanitz, Nazis, Islamists, And The Making Of The Modern Middle East, Yale University Press, 2014., Laina Farhat–Holzman

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Georgia Latino & Immigrant-Serving Nonprofit Organizations: Identifying And Mapping Human Services, Karen Costa, Gabriela Mosso

Symposium of Student Scholars

No abstract provided.

Improving U.S. State Department Cultural Exchanges With The Middle East: A Case Study Comparison Of Iraq And Jordan, Irene K. Gibson

Political Science Honors Projects

The U.S. State Department conducts cultural exchanges with the purpose of encouraging participants to instigate changes in their home countries. Despite extensive efforts by programs to measure their impact on participants, these effects are only indirect correlates or background variables for the ultimate goal of direct action. This thesis explores the impact of State Department cultural exchanges with the Middle East by drawing on eight interviews with exchange administrators of numerous programs in Iraq and Jordan. The case studies of Iraq and Jordan allow more careful scrutiny of the types of factors, both internal and external to programs, that affect …

Fealess Friday: Kelsey Chapman, Christina L. Bassler

SURGE

Kelsey Chapman ’15 fearlessly advocates for human rights, peace, and justice, focusing on the Middle East. An economics major and Middle East and Islamic Studies (MEIS) minor, Kelsey is the house leader for the MEIS House, an Arabic PLA, and the founder of Gettysburg’s chapter of J Street U. [excerpt]

Environmental Change And The Emergence Of New Livestock Production Systems In Central Gansu Province, China, Gregory Veeck

Faculty Research and Creative Activities Award (FRACAA)

Post-2000 efforts to protect China’s grassland areas are distinct from earlier efforts in that funding for the most recent round of policies and programs is commensurate with the task. Among the most controversial of the current policies is the provision of an annual subsidy ranging from 2 yuan to 20 yuan/mu (1/15 hectare) to herders to not graze livestock contracted by their families for periods from 3-10 years. Many other recent policies, such as fencing programs and hunting and burning bans to protect keystone species are also controversial. Ideally, the policies are intended to protect grassland ecological systems while assuring …

Will Beijing Reconsider Its Maritime Strategy In The South China Sea Following The Melting Of The Arctic?, Nalanda Roy

Robert Ingram Strozier Lecture Series

China is asserting its territorial and maritime claims in the East and South China Sea. But as strategic questions are being raised about the SCS dispute, another issue of growing importance for China is the Arctic. China has become increasingly serious about the consequences of the melting Arctic as this would have a major impact on China’s future economy, and also open up more available routes with a lower risk of piracy. Interestingly, this research will analyze whether Beijing will learn how to share and bear, due to her increasing quest for natural resources in the Arctic thereby undermining its …

The Girl With The Peanut Necklace: Experiences Of Infertility And In Vitro Fertilization In China, Ruoxi Yu

Student Work

A 2014-2015 William Prize for best essay in East Asian Studies was awarded to Ruoxi Yu (Berkeley College '15) for her essay submitted to the Department of Anthropology, “The Girl with the Peanut Necklace: Experiences of Infertility and in vitro Fertilization in China.” (Marcia Inhorn, William K. Lanman Jr. Professor of Anthropology, advisor; Susan Brownell, Professor of Anthropology at USML, secondary reader.)

Ruoxi Yu’s essay, “The Girl with the Peanut Necklace: Experiences of Infertility and in vitro Fertilization in China,” situates original research within the history of the one-child birth control policy and the tension between the …