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This article outlines the development of the Refugee Job Search Process Framework (RJSPF), which was created to help identify barriers that refugees face when trying to find employment. The framework incorporates an interdisciplinary, multi-level approach to the job search, delving into research from migration studies and Industrial/Organizational psychology to outline factors that exist on both the side of the refugee applicant and the organization at each stage of the RJSPF. The authors also tested the RJSPF with Syrian refugees and service providers in Canada to examine the validity of each component of the model.

The authors used a semi-structured format to interview refugees and service providers on their experiences in either trying to find employment or helping their refugee clients with the job search process. After transcribing the interviews, the data were independently coded, quantified, and analysed using Nvivo software to validate the RJSPF.

The majority of the RJSPF either had high or moderate support from the interviews. The authors also identified 6 broader themes using thematic analysis, which include language fluency, credential recognition, Canadian experience “catch 22”, cultural incongruencies, employer exploitation, and mental health for successful employment.

The RJSPF is a new integration of disparate theories of job search experiences in a literature that lacks an organizing framework and perspective on the unique challenges refugees face in this area compared to other newcomers. In doing so, the authors use an interdisciplinary, multi-level approach that extends the nomological network of barriers facing refugees, therefore informing future research and practice.

This chapter explores the role of postmodern intertextuality in Neil Jordan’s 2012 vampire film Byzantium. This intertextuality serves to place the film in dialogue with earlier vampire fiction, in particular the 1970s cycle of British and European erotic vampire films such as Daughters of Darkness and The Vampire Lovers from Hammer Films. Byzantium recalls these earlier texts structurally and thematically, both through direct reference and more oblique allusions.

While Fredric Jameson characterizes postmodern intertextuality as mere nostalgia and the imitation of ‘dead styles’, feminist postmodern theorists such as Linda Hutcheon contend argue for the political potential of postmodernism. This chapter proposes that the postmodern intertextuality of Byzantium is a critical intertextuality, and that the foregrounding of storytelling, writing, and rewriting in the film draws attention to the ways in which the intertextuality of Byzantium is not merely a return to past forms but also a reworking of them.

Taking up the work of Linda Hutcheon and Catherine Constable, this chapter demonstrates the ways in which Byzantium critically reworks aspects of earlier vampire fiction in order to critique and expand the representation of the female vampire and through this explore issues relating to female subjectivity and community.

The purpose of this paper was to describe the research literature on the science of children's resilience and show its application to parenting interventions for high-risk families. Information about the design and conduct of pilot work to develop a parent program with homeless mothers was included to illustrated this application.

The design of this report was descriptive. The scientific rationale for promoting children's resilience. The scientific rationale for strengthening children's resilience by focusing on parent's promotion of attachment, executive function skills, and stress/reduction mindfulness was detailed, and the design and format of a pilot parent program was outlined.

Substantial research evidence affirmed the importance of strengthening children's resilience in high-risk families. Details from pilot work with homeless mothers illustrated the process by which activities were included in workshops to promote children's resilience. Future work will test the efficacy of this program in a controlled study with a range of pre- and post-assessments.

The current paper expanded the traditional focus of parent education to include strengthening children's resilience as a way to better address the myriad of critical needs faced by children and families experiencing homelessness.

The design and format of a community-based parenting program to strengthen children's resilience by focusing on attachment, executive function skills, and stress reduction/mindfulness were novel. Future research will test the efficacy of this new program with high-risk families.

This chapter analyzes the link between the digital divide, infrastructure regulation, and disaster planning and relief through a case study of the flood in San Jose, California triggered by the Anderson dam’s overtopping in February 2017 and an examination of communication failures during the 2018 wildfire in Paradise, California. This chapter theorizes that regulatory decisions construct social and disaster vulnerability. Rooted in the Whole Community approach to disaster planning and relief espoused by the United Nations and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, this chapter calls for leadership to end the digital divide. It highlights the imperative of understanding community information needs and argues for linking strategies to close the digital divide with infrastructure and emergency planning. As the Internet’s integration into society increases, the digital divide diminishes access to societal resources including disaster aid, and exacerbates wildfire, flood, pandemic, and other risks. To mitigate climate change, climate-induced disaster, protect access to social services and the economy, and safeguard democracy, it argues for digital inclusion strategies as a centerpiece of community-centered infrastructure regulation and disaster relief.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the controversial issue of whether stock returns and idiosyncratic risks are related positively or negatively in case of Singaporean ethically poor screened stocks.

To achieve the major objectives of this paper, it uses a multiple regression to explore the relationship between expected stock returns and idiosyncratic risk. The paper replicates the Lee and Faff’s (2009) three-factor capital asset-pricing model (CAPM) model in creating the six size/book-to-market portfolios from which it constructs the small minus big (SMB) and high minus low (HML) portfolios that capture the size and book-to-market equity factors, respectively.

The basic finding of the paper is that there is a strong relation between idiosyncratic risk and the expected stock returns. In more details, we observe that the portfolio of stocks with the highest idiosyncratic volatility generates higher average returns (4.36 per cent) than the portfolio of stocks with the lowest idiosyncratic volatility (0.79 per cent) over the sample period. The paper observes that the stock’s idiosyncratic volatility is inversely correlated with the size of the underlying firm. Moreover, there is a pattern of relationships nearer the periods of financial crises: Asian and global financial crises.

This paper uses only a three-factor model on a single country. So it cannot be generalized to a multi-country level in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region, as the structure of each member country is different.

This paper provides guidelines for policymakers and foreign investors in Singapore about the relationship. This research can also be extended to other ASEAN countries to understand this puzzle.

Ethically sensitive and faithful investors with small investment can benefit from the findings of this paper.

The work reported in this paper is original, unpublished and is also not under consideration for publication elsewhere.

Life studies are a rich source for further research on the role of the Afro‐American woman in society. They are especially useful to gain a better understanding of the Afro‐American experience and to show the joys, sorrows, needs, and ideals of the Afro‐American woman as she struggles from day to day.

Demographic and health surveys in the Philippines have shown a rise in cohabitation among young people. This chapter aims to provide an in-depth sociological understanding of a more specific phenomenon called serial cohabitation – referring to the dissolution of current cohabitation and entering a new one, and the continuation of the cycle if the new one ends again. By developing the framework of undisplaying and re-displaying family from Janet Finch’s displaying family, this study posits that serial cohabiters experience a cycle of wanting to display an ideal family and having to undisplay every time the dissolution of the cohabiting relationship happens. This study demonstrates how serial cohabiters with children, in response to social stigma, exhibit resiliency toward stepfamily formation and committed sexual relationships. This chapter, therefore, conceptualizes “family acceptance” which refers to embracing the fluidity, reconfigurations, and “imperfections” of their newly formed family and “community acceptance” which covers the same affirmation from friends, neighbors, and extended relatives who are considered as relevant others by serial cohabiters. Family acceptance comes in three forms: first is the acceptance of/by children, second is the acceptance by the parents to the repeated stepfamily formation within their own homes, and third is the acceptance of the woman herself to the possibility that cohabitation is the “happy ever after.” This study argues that once these forms are achieved, serial cohabiters become more capable of undisplaying their previous family and displaying their new family.

NEJE Editors interview Cindi Bigelow: director of activities at Bigelow Tea

Previous research has demonstrated that Digital Twins (DT) are extensively employed to improve sustainable construction methods. Nonetheless, their uptake in numerous nations is still constrained. This study seeks to identify and examine the digital twin’s implementation barriers in construction building projects to augment operational performance and sustainability.

An iterative two-stage approach was adopted to explore the phenomena under investigation. General DT Implementation Barriers were first identified from extant literature and subsequently explored using primary questionnaire survey data from Hong Kong building industry professionals.

Survey results illustrated that Lack of methodologies and tools, Difficulty in ensuring a high level of performance in real-time communication, Impossibility of directly measuring all data relevant to the DT, need to share the DT among multiple application systems involving multiple stakeholders and Uncertainties in the quality and reliability of data are the main barriers for adopting digital twins' technology. Moreover, Ginni’s mean difference measure of dispersion showed that the stationary digital twin’s barriers adoption is needed to share the DT among multiple application systems involving multiple stakeholders.

The study’s findings offer valuable guidance to the construction industry. They help stakeholders adopt digital twins' technology, which, in turn, improves cost efficiency and sustainability. This adoption reduces project expenses and enhances environmental responsibility, providing companies a competitive edge in the industry.

This research rigorously explores barriers to Digital Twin (DT) implementation in the Hong Kong construction industry, employing a systematic approach that includes a comprehensive literature review, Ranking Analysis (RII) and Ginni’s coefficient of mean difference (GM). With a tailored focus on Hong Kong, the study aims to identify, analyze and provide novel insights into DT implementation challenges. Emphasizing practical relevance, the research bridges the gap between academic understanding and real-world application, offering actionable solutions for industry professionals, policymakers and researchers. This multifaceted contribution enhances the feasibility and success of DT implementation in construction projects within the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) sector.