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Governing the Asian Century Innovation, Human Capital, and Inclusive Development in 21st Century China and India
No full textThe book Governing the Asian Century: Innovation, Human Capital, and Inclusive Development in 21st Century China and India examines the parallel and increasingly interconnected paths of China and India as they transition from manufacturing to innovation-driven economies. The volume argues that true progress must be measured by human factors — such as education quality, health systems, and mental health — rather than just traditional economic indicators like GDP or patent counts, which often mask growing inequality. Covering topics from intellectual property and industrial digitalization to education and healthcare reform, the analysis highlights that while both nations' systems offer unique advantages — China's centralized engineering skills versus India's pluralistic flexibility — rapid growth has often come at the cost of human well-being, aligning with the Easterlin paradox. The book concludes by emphasizing the need for targeted co-specialization and a shift toward fair, purpose-driven growth for sustainable development in the 21st century Asia and the world.</p
Estimated effect of crop diversification on soil organic carbon under present and future climate conditions
No full textCrop diversification has been increasingly suggested as a sustainable approach to mitigate climate change impacts by enhancing soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration. In intensive agricultural regions, such as the Po Valley in Italy, reliance on monocultures has significantly depleted SOC, worsening vulnerability to future climate change. To address this issue, field experiments combined with biophysical modelling (ECOSSE) and spatial interpolation techniques were used to evaluate the effectiveness of diversified cropping systems in increasing SOC under current and projected climate scenarios. This study represents the first use of ECOSSE to assess the effect of diversified systems in the Po Valley, integrating novel crop rotations with pea, reduced tillage, and circular organic amendments. It also incorporates slurry management effects and compares three complementary approaches: process-based modelling, machine learning, and spatial interpolation, under multiple general circulation models for climate scenarios. Our results indicate that crop diversification improves soil organic carbon retention substantially compared to conventional monoculture. This, in particular, benefits soils that are initially low in carbon content. However, the extent of these benefits varied considerably depending on the soil type and climate scenario. Machine learning analysis revealed temperature, rainfall, and evapotranspiration as critical features influencing simulated SOC changes. The results provide region-specific insights that can inform climate-resilient agricultural policies, including conservation agriculture incentives and payment-for-ecosystem-services schemes. These findings underline the necessity for context-specific diversification strategies to enhance agricultural resilience and sustainability in the face of climate change.</p
Afterword: on colonial sillage and the politics of immigration in France
No full textNo description supplied</p
Geopolitical disruptions and global supply chains: laying theoretical foundations and building conceptual framework
No full textPurposeThis conceptual article develops a robust theoretical framework for Geopolitical Supply Chain Disruptions (GSCD) by integrating and synthesising extant Operations Management (OM) and Supply Chain Management (SCM) literature with a novel, interdisciplinary perspective from International Relations (IR). It aims to enhance explanatory power and overcome the limitations of conventional theories in understanding GSCD, providing a novel lens to examine the effects of escalating geopolitical tensions on supply chain design, performance and resilience.Design/methodology/approachThe study identifies theories routinely applied in OSCM and their limitations in analysing the GSCD phenomenon. Building on a Practical Theorising Model, the study integrates key IR theories: Realism, Liberalism and Constructivism to develop a conceptual framework that bridges SCM/OM and IR perspectives.FindingsThe study presents theoretical propositions addressing the causes, propagation and consequences of geopolitical disruptions in supply chains. These propositions combine theories routinely used in SCM/OM literature with IR perspectives, laying a foundation for new managerial strategy and future empirical validation. The study also offers a formal definition of GSCD, useful for future researchers.Originality/valueThis study is the first to theorise geopolitical disruptions in supply chains through an IR lens, offering an innovative interdisciplinary approach. It contributes a novel conceptual framework and research directions for advancing this still-emerging but critical field.</p
Enhanced Theory of Change - Key Stage 4 Attainment Support Intervention
No full textNo description supplied</p
Gideon Harvey’s 1683 proposal for a cluster-controlled trial of medical treatments
No full textWe present proposals for two controlled studies of medical treatments published in 1683 by the Anglo-Dutch physician Gideon Harvey (1639–1702). First is a controlled trial of Jesuit’s (cinchona) bark with and without bitter additives. Second is a comparison of two ‘parallel’ towns in Essex, England, where conditions (‘air’) and disease burden are similar. The latter is the earliest proposal of what today is called a cluster-controlled study, i.e. comparing interventions in two established populations. This methodology only re-emerges in the twentieth century and is key to interventional research in medicine, public health, education, and international development. There is no evidence that Harvey’s cluster-controlled trial ever took place. His proposals arose from bitter conflict with London’s College of Physicians. Harvey’s proposals for ‘plain and necessary instructions, rules, and remedies in one single sheet [of paper]’ echo Bacon’s call for physicians to standardize their erratic treatments. New evidence is examined to reinterpret Harvey’s historical legacy solely as a ‘prater’ and ‘quack’. This is most evident in James Lind’s 1753 high praise for Harvey’s writing on scurvy. We also present new information about Harvey’s biography including his 1639 baptism as a ‘subject … of ye King of Great Brittaine resident in the Haghe’.</p
Unveiling the public sector wage premium in Kosovo: insights from a re-weighted decomposition approach
No full textThis study examines the pay gap between the public and private sectors in Kosovo. We apply a re-weighting technique to decompose wage differentials into pure treatment and pure endowment components. At the mean, we find an unexplained public-sector premium of 31% in hourly wages. When wages are measured monthly, the treatment effect is roughly halved, reflecting substantially longer working hours in the private sector. Unconditional quantile regression shows an inverted U-shaped public-sector premium, with significant treatment effects in the middle of the distribution. Subgroup estimation shows broadly similar patterns across most groups. However, for women, we find no statistically significant treatment effect.</p
Steve Job Syndrome: Entrepreneurs’ dark triad traits and firm innovation
No full textNo description supplied</p
Lessons unlearned: sustaining preparedness and public health resilience beyond COVID-19
No full textIs the NHS ready for another winter?</p