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This article discusses the costs and benefits of implementing affirmative action programs in higher education. Based on a national survey of institutions of higher education, the author addresses the following questions: What factors impede the ability of the affirmative action officer to achieve program results? What is the effect of staff size, budget, and race on perceived implementation barriers? This study finds that increased impediments to affirmative action program efficacy are greatly affected by program resources and race.

The overall goal of science is to build a valid and reliable body of knowledge about the functioning of the world and how applying that knowledge can change it. As personnel and human resources management researchers, we aim to contribute to the respective bodies of knowledge to provide both employers and employees with a workable foundation to help with those problems they are confronted with. However, what research on research has consistently demonstrated is that the scientific endeavor possesses existential issues including a substantial lack of (a) solid theory, (b) replicability, (c) reproducibility, (d) proper and generalizable samples, (e) sufficient quality control (i.e., peer review), (f) robust and trustworthy statistical results, (g) availability of research, and (h) sufficient practical implications. In this chapter, we first sing a song of sorrow regarding the current state of the social sciences in general and personnel and human resources management specifically. Then, we investigate potential grievances that might have led to it (i.e., questionable research practices, misplaced incentives), only to end with a verse of hope by outlining an avenue for betterment (i.e., open science and policy changes at multiple levels).

Due to the impact of the pandemic that enforced mass closures and lock downs, galleries, libraries, archives, and museums [GLAM] institutions around the world were required to re-think how they interacted with the public. As a result of the measures that enforced isolation, distancing, and increased hygiene requirements, the usefulness of virtual technologies as a storytelling medium has come into sharper focus. This chapter will explore the emergence of augmented reality as a viable post-COVID-19 solution to meaningful digital narrative creation and user interaction in the museum environment. This chapter will concentrate on the development of a project between the University of South Australia [UniSA] and the South Australian Museum [SAM] to explore how it might be possible to create sustainable immersive stories within this environment.

This article reflects on the significance of family centres in the UK as a mirror of new possibilities for child welfare in the years following the Children Act 1989. The Act empowered local authorities in England and Wales to provide family centres as part of ‘family support practice’. The article reveals a rich vein of family‐centred, centre‐based activity internationally and shows practice combining intervention from the sophisticated to the very informal. The authors focus on so‐called ‘integrated centres’ as complex systems of care with wide implications for practice and outcome evaluation in an ‘evidence‐based’ context.

This study develops an integrated theory about how Total Quality Management (TQM) based capabilities can be leveraged for Environmentally Responsible Manufacturing (ERM). It suggests that efforts should be coordinated to take advantage of the potential synergies between TQM and ERM. The means for capturing these synergies might be accomplished by using the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) framework. The MBNQA framework was adapted to address environmental issues and it was shown that the framework can be used as a basis for an integrative definition of ERM. This adaptation of the MBNQA framework suggests that there is an environmental version of the MBNQA framework and that quality principles can be seamlessly integrated into the practice of managing environmental issues. However, an empirical examination of the linkage between TQM and ERM remains untested. The findings of this study provide an important foundation for accomplishing this goal.

This paper examines some of the ethical problems involved in undertaking Internet research and draws on historical accounts as well as contemporary studies to offer an analysis of the issues raised. It argues that privacy is a misleading and confusing concept to apply to the Internet, and that the concept of non‐alienation is more resourceful in addressing the many ethical issues surrounding Internet research. Using this as a basis, the paper then investigates the Free/Libre and Open Source research model and argues for the principles of “open source ethics” in researching the online world, which includes a participatory and democratic research method.

This article is a review of research on the theme of Soviet product quality and Soviet state standards. The first section surveys previous research by Western scholars on the topic of Soviet product quality, paying particular attention to their sources of information. This is followed by a discussion of the availability of Soviet state standards as data sources on Soviet product quality. The third section of the article consists of a case study of the use of Soviet state standards to assess product quality, paying particular attention to machine tools. The article concludes with a discussion of the results and suggests avenues for further research.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have long been suffering from a food crisis. Due to the acute fiscal crisis since 2021, both countries are in search of a way out of this economic hardship. Issues such as lack of industrialization, ethnic conflicts, political violence, terrorism, corruption, misgovernance, arms trafficking, drug trafficking and human trafficking, poverty, illiteracy, and overdependency on foreign aid are common in both countries. Pakistan has an additional feature of military involvement in politics and the decision-making process. Due to wrong governmental policy, corruption, lack of agriculture, or food security policy, food security is a fundamental issue for both the countries. Foreign currency reserves in Pakistan are currently depleted, and international funding agencies are not interested in sanctioning additional loans. The economic profile of the country has declined due to terror financing. Millions of people in Pakistan are experiencing food crisis, with starvation becoming more common. The government has no adequate money to import food grains from overseas. Since August 2021, the foreign-aid-dependent Afghan economy has been facing severe crisis . After the Taliban took over the administration of Afghanistan for the second time, foreign donors stopped all types of assistance, thereby intensifying the food crisis. Due to the shortage of water, modern irrigation systems, droughts, and modern agriculture equipment, Afghanistan is unable to produce adequate food. This chapter intends to investigate the causes and consequences of food security in Pakistan and Afghanistan through the content analysis method.