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For those receiving funding from the UK HEFCE-funded Open Educational Resource Programme (2009-2012), the sustainability of project outputs was one of a number of essential goals. Our approach for the hosting and distribution of health and life science open educational resources (OER) was based on the utilisation of the WordPress.org blogging platform and search engine optimisation (SEO) techniques to curate content and widen discovery. This paper outlines the approaches taken and tools used at the time, and reflects upon the effectiveness of web strategies several years post-funding. The paper concludes that using WordPress.org as a platform for sharing and curating OER, and the adoption of a pragmatic approach to SEO, offers cheap and simple ways for small-scale open education projects to be effective and sustainable.

This paper looks into the key aspects of the shift in the instruction of logistics as a discipline from traditional to environmentally responsible practices. The authors examine the experience of the development of scientific-educational systems in the world's more advanced societies (the European Union and North America), as well as in the BRICS countries. The paper proposes specific ways to reform the model for professional and career-broadening education by reference to the amassed global experience. The authors draw the following major conclusions: (1) both today's scientific and business communities are oriented toward the shift to environmentally responsible development, which presupposes gradually renouncing the use of hydrocarbon energy resources, embracing the use of renewable technology and recycling, and ensuring social stability; (2) we are witnessing a change in the tenor of not only the strategic concept of the development of particular scientific and business areas but of the functional one as well. Thus, for instance, the domain of logistics services is currently being enriched with the concept of "green logistics", which implies a need for relevant human resources specializing in the field. Many leading nations have already started transforming their education models, as a whole, and their methods for the instruction of logistics as a discipline, in particular, in specific alignment with the principles of environmental responsibility; (3) the education systems of certain world powers, including the Russian model for education, have not yet been fully adapted for shifting to "green logistics", one of today's latest scientific paradigms. Among the major reasons behind this delay is the failure to properly reform the scientific-educational sector, as well as the state's excessive, and rarely effective, participation in the development of this area. To help remediate this situation, the authors propose a set of recommendations aimed at helping to put together a new model for professional and career-broadening training in keeping with the latest scientific concepts and the needs of the labor market.

The aim of this study was to determine the examination of the researches about the use of technology by fine arts teachers. The study was conducted according to the content and citation analysis model. In this context, Web of Science (WOS) Core Collection indexes were included. In the document scanning in the WOS environment, the keywords 'Fine arts', 'Teachers' and 'Technology' were searched. In total, 169 documents were examined and analysed one by one. They were analysed according to year, document type, WOS content category, country, source title, organisation and citation, authors, publication language and categories. As a result of this research, the first study was conducted in 2004, while the most studies were conducted in 2016. It was concluded that the published studies had the most Proceedings papers as the document type. The area where the studies of fine arts teachers on the use of technology are mostly carried out is Education Educational Research, according to the Web of Science content category. The most researched title in the distribution according to the Source Title field is 'International Multidisciplinary Scientific Conferences on Social Sciences and Arts.' The university with the most studies is Kazan Federal University. The 19 authors who conducted the studies have a large number of studies in this field. It was concluded that other authors had only one study in the field. Again, when we look at the distribution of the countries and documents according to the language of writing, the country with the most studies is China and the language of the documents is English. The area continues to evolve.

Preschool education is an education process that prepares children for primary education, provides the training and upbringing conditions in the home and also aims to remove the inequalities in terms of language and society in the early period. The audit is to evaluate learning and all the factors that affect learning and also prepare the environment and conditions for effective learning. The purpose of this research was to develop a comprehensive point of view for preschool education audit in the world and our country. Document analysis that is one of the qualitative research methods were utilized in this paper as the method. The documents related to the systems in France, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark, Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, Russia, China, Israel, America, Saudi Arabia, Japan, India Jordan, Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland, Kosovo and Turkey were researched out within the scope of this study.

This paper presents a compilation of personal reflections from 66 contributors on the impact of, and responses to, COVID-19 in accounting education in 45 different countries around the world. It reveals a commonality of issues, and a variability in responses, many positive outcomes, including the creation of opportunities to realign learning and teaching strategies away from the comfort of traditional formats, but many more that are negative, primarily relating to the impact on faculty and student health and well-being, and the accompanying stress. It identifies issues that need to be addressed in the recovery and redesign stages of the management of this crisis, and it sets a new research agenda for studies in accounting education.

Purpose: The study aims to explore the extent to which human resources development quantifies the economic growth of BRICS countries under the globalization era by controlling country differences. Design/methodology/approach: The study used the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) and Scheffe pairwise comparison tests to quantify the impact of the variables and the level of difference among the BRICS countries onto human Resources development. Findings: The study observes that the impact of human resources development on economic growth of BRICS counties is significant but limited to few countries. The study reveals that countries such as India and South Africa are unable to utilize their human resources efficiently to promote economic growth, as compared with Russia, China and Brazil. The study further argues that there is urgent need of amalgam of various economic development theories keeping in mind the regional needs to extract the positive impact from human resource on economic development. Research limitations/implications: The single limitation of this research is that it was not possible to compare the results with other developing countries to unleash the capabilities of human resources development with regard to economic growth at the universal level. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper is the first of its kind to analyze human resources development at a much deeper level. The paper has chosen variables which are important from the policy perspective of government rather than the working perspective, which is a great contribution. Further, for human index the variables chose covering major aspects of human development from spending perspective.

This paper aims to identify the current state of knowledge management (KM) diffusion in LIS schools. In terms of content, we have identified two principal approaches to the perception of KM in the LIS community: an active approach, seeing KM as an opportunity for the LIS community to change; and a passive approach, seeing KM merely as a topic of information management with a new label. Our research analyzed study programs at 145 LIS schools and in 188 LIS study programs in the United States, Canada, Europe (in particular, Russia), Australia, India, South Africa, China, Japan, Singapore, and Brazil and observed the inclusion or non-inclusion of KM courses in those programs. We employ a narrower approach to defining a KM course as being one having the term "knowledge management" in its name. The findings indicate that KM courses are integrated in one-third of the LIS study programs analyzed, and in schools with an information science focus this figure can rise to around 45%. Given the importance of this area and various views regarding KM diffusion in LIS schools, we recommend that those who have already implemented a KM course in their LIS programs create an informal community of practice (CoP) on KM implementation in LIS schools and build an open database of lessons learned from such integration, thereby capturing and sharing this crucial knowledge in a single place.

The primary purpose of this paper is to review and evaluate the causes of educational poverty in less developed countries. The basic intent in carrying out such a study is to define and derive the role of governing agencies in deliberately creating educational poverty in the country, so that the private interest of the rich and powerful ruling class can be fully safeguarded. This study is of crucial interest to the common man because majority of the people living in less developed countries are poor in spite of the fact, that almost all these countries own ample human and material resources. However, the common man in these countries is continuously suffering, generation after generation, and has been denied access to basic amenities of life. The rich and powerful ruling class, in majority of the less developed countries, has intentionally denied basic education facilities to its people for keeping them ignorant and unaware of their fundamental rights to share national resources and to gain competence for comfortable living in the society. The paper advocates a complete reversal in economic growth policies of the less developed countries so that top priority is given to those projects and programs that directly benefit the common man in the society. In this respect, the author calls for awareness among the people to exercise their economic and social rights so that people of all the strata can share equally the fruits of growth and prosperity.

Projections for the global economy frequently center on the BRIC countries: Brazil, Russia, India, and China. As futurists and economists alike define and re-define both formal and informal coalitions (for example, by broadening the R in BRIC to include all Eastern European economies or instead re-directing the discussion to G-8 countries or to World Trade Organization members), the education profiles of the individual nations sometimes resemble economic indicators: what is imported, what is exported, and what is the potential for expansion. Higher education, and specifically distance learning (the Clicks element of this paper), can already be charted in these terms for some nations. This paper describes the current role of distance learning in countries described as growing economies and proposes a typology for describing change as additional data become available. The paper informs readers of global developments in distance education, using the BRIC nations as examples.(Contains 3 figures, 4 tables, and 13 resources.)

Purpose: This paper aims to present a comprehensive review of the present state and trends of smart education research. It addresses the need to have a systematic review of smart education to depict its research landscape in view of the growing volume of related publications. Design/methodology/approach: A bibliometric analysis of publications on smart education published in 2011 to 2020 was conducted, covering their patterns and trends in terms of collaboration, key publications, major topics and trends. A total of 1,317 publications with 29,317 cited references were collected from the Web of Science and Scopus for the bibliometric analysis. Findings: Research on smart education has been widely published in various sources. The most frequently cited references are all theoretical or discussion articles. Researchers in the USA, China, South Korea, India and Russia have been most active in research collaborations. However, international collaborations have remained infrequent except for those involving the USA. The research on smart education broadly covered smart technologies as well as teaching and learning. The emerging topics have addressed areas such as the Internet of Things, big data, flipped learning and gamification. Originality/value: This study depicts the intellectual landscape of smart education research, and illustrated the evolution and emerging trends in the field. The results highlight its latest developments and research needs, and suggest future work related to research collaborations on a larger scale and more studies on smart pedagogies.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate and determine the effectiveness of university education on the economy of various countries. Design/methodology/approach: To determine the necessity and expedience of making provision for the effectiveness of university education on the market economy, this work uses the method of regression and correlation analysis. Evaluation of effectiveness of the system of university education is performed separately for students, state, and employers by taking as example countries with specially developed formulas. Findings: The authors substantiate the necessity for provision of effectiveness of university education on the market economy, view the effective system of university education as a basis for the development of a knowledge economy, determine approaches to evaluate the effectiveness of university education on the market economy, perform evaluation of effectiveness of the system of university education by the example of various countries, determine its connection with indicators of economic growth and development, and provide recommendations for provision of effectiveness of the system of university education on modern market economies. Practical implications: The practical value of results of the conducted research consists in the possibility to use the developed formulas for determining the level of effectiveness of the system of university education on various countries of the world. Originality/value: Theoretical value of this paper consists in the possibility for the application of authors' conclusions and recommendations in the process of development of the policy of management of effectiveness of university education system.

The demand for large-scale assessments in higher education, especially at an international scale, is growing. A major challenge of conducting these assessments, however, is that they require understanding and balancing the interests of multiple stakeholders (government officials, university administrators, and students) and also overcoming potential unwillingness of these stakeholders to participate. In this paper, we take the experience of the Study of Undergraduate Performance (SUPER) in conducting a large-scale international assessment as a case study. We discuss ways in which we mitigated perceived risks, built trust, and provided incentives to ensure the successful engagement of stakeholders during the study's implementation.

International cooperation and collaborations played an important role in the economic and educational development of several countries. In the 1950s and 1960s external aid was an important modality to establish cooperation between countries, especially between developing and developed countries. Cross-border activities in higher education used to take place mostly through cooperation projects and academic exchange programmes. The political returns to aid declined during the post-cold war period. Therefore, incentives to extend aid declined and markets and trade became more accepted modes of cooperation and collaboration in all sectors including education. International collaborations of today are very often motivated by economic incentives and are mediated through markets. The franchising and twinning arrangements, establishment of branch campuses, and promotion of cross-border student mobility are examples of market-based collaborative efforts in higher education. This paper discusses Indian cooperation and collaborations with foreign institutions focusing also on such efforts among the BRICS countries. It argues that the collaboration efforts among the BRICS countries may be more influenced by government-to-government efforts than mediated by markets. The paper shows that the BRICS countries at present are more engaged in cooperation and collaborations in higher education with developed countries. Collaborations among the BRICS countries are rather limited and are still at the nascent stages. Therefore, government initiatives and public action are needed at this stage to promote cooperation and expand collaboration in higher education among BRICS countries.

Recently, a number of studies have examined the lived experiences of the international teaching assistants (ITAs) in the U.S. classrooms. The findings show that the ITAs face many challenges such as classroom management, instructional, linguistic, cultural and social challenges. Following this line of research, this interview-based study examined the lived experiences of a group of ITAs using a qualitative methodology. The qualitative approach was intentionally selected to add an interpretive stance to the quantitative analyses prevalent in the current research on the ITAs. The paper aims to: (1) to provide insights into the ITAs' perspectives on their first semester of teaching in the U.S. including determining the challenges they face and (2) to consider possible revisions to existing ITAs' preparation programs based on the ITAs' own perspectives and a review of the available literature. This study contributes to the field by presenting information that has the potential to prompt future empirical investigations into educational cultures as they apply to novice instructors in international contexts and to inform and renew curricula for ITAs' preparation programs at the U.S. universities.

Growth is a concept of particular interest for economic discourse. This paper sets out to explore a small corpus of economic growth, which consists of articles from "The Economist". The corpus software used in this study is a web-based tool Wmatrix, an automatic tagging software able to assign semantic field (domain) tags, and to permit the extraction of key words and key semantic domains by applying the keyness calculation to tag frequency lists. The results show that at 99% confidence (or p < 0.01), the cut-off of 6.63 (log likelihood value) indicates that there are 1051 positive keywords (including multiword expressions) and 80 key semantic domains generated from the corpus. It is evident that BRICs or the emerging economies/markets, in particular China and India, are a big concern regarding economic growth over the past years. A number of examples of possible ways forward in teaching methodology are presented.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study the possibilities and potential barriers on the path of internationalization of the educational services market through development of the system of remote education. Design/methodology/approach: In order to determine the influence of development of the system of remote education on the process of internationalization of the educational services market, the authors use the method of regression analysis. A regression curve is built, containing the model of paired linear regression and the value of determination coefficient. The research object is the market of higher educational services -- as it is subject to internationalization and distribution of remote education. The research is performed based on the 2017 data by the example of countries from various regions of the world that show different rates and levels of socio-economic development but that achieved the largest success in development of the system of remote education -- the USA, the UK, Brazil, China, South Korea, Italy, Germany, India, Malaysia, Australia, South Africa and Russia. Due to the absence of the official international statistics on the issue of internationalization of the educational services market, the proprietary method is used for determining its level. Findings: It is concluded that remote education has a slight influence on the process of internationalization of the educational services market in the countries of the world, though it has large potential in the sphere of stimulation of internationalization of the educational services market, as it allows providing educational services of equal quality and equal cost for domestic and foreign students. Originality/value: The developed and presented model of managing the development of the remote education system of a modern university in the interests of stimulating internationalization of the educational services market allows overcoming these barriers and opening the existing potential of remote education in the sphere of stimulation of internationalization of the educational services market.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to systematically examine and draw attention to the potential benefits of solar power generation for access to and use of information and communication technologies (ICT) aimed at sustainable development in emerging economies. Design/methodology/approach: Electricity plays a crucial role in the development and use of ICT and in the process of striving to achieve sustainable development in emerging economies. It has been shown that electrical energy is intrinsically linked to economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainable development. An extensive analysis of the major contribution of solar electricity in various sectors such as economic, social and environmental benefits is provided. The paper concludes with a discussion on current status of solar electricity in major emerging economies, their planning policies and strategies for promoting solar power generation for increased access to ICT by people and sustainable development of society. Findings: The demand for electricity in residential, commercial and industrial sectors in developing countries (emerging economies) is likely to increase, both as a result of increase in population and expanding industrialization. It remains amongst others, a growing challenge for these nations to obtain and put in place reliable and secured electricity supplies, for accessing ICT and to work towards achieving sustainability. The important issues that must be considered and addressed for the successful implementation of solar electricity programs for sustainability and wellbeing in developing nations are pointed out. Practical implications: The paper shows that the problems of lack of qualified solar technicians and established Photovoltaic (PV) markets and business modes, renewable (solar) energy education have to be addressed. Other issues include appreciation of solar electricity as one of the major energy component, lowering initial cost of the PV technology, availability of finance mechanisms for customers, import tax exemption and regarding electricity as one of the basic needs like food, shelter and clothing. Overhaul of existing systems needs to take place in order to provide the means to deal with some of these issues. Originality/value: Availability of power remains crucial for development in emerging markets. Solar electricity is of major interest for the energy sector in developing or emerging economies because it offers the possibility of generating renewable electricity using sunlight: a resource that is widely and freely available in most, if not all, developing countries. This paper raises awareness about this in a unique way and identifies problems faced by the sectors. To address some of these challenges without compromising the goal of sustainability and development, it is important that low carbon emitting electrical energy sources such as solar electricity are given high priorities by policy makers, industries and research and development institutions in emerging countries. Some innovative suggestions are provided for achieving this. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)

The rise of Brazil, Russia, India, and China will shape global resource use, the location of market demand and international institutions and interdependencies in the decade to come. In this paper we argue that an understanding of the historical and institutional context of the BRICs, and the potential shift towards a multi-polar world is important for developing curricula and content in international business courses in the future. Implications for international business theory and teaching are discussed. (Contains 4 tables.)

The industrial revolution can be termed as the catalyst of human growth. The establishment of various industries has been detrimental to the meteoric rise of any commodity, product or service across the world. Industries fuel the economy of countries and form the main constituent of their GDP. Industries not only generate the production of the market ready material but also generate the employment for the citizens of the country, which drives multiple factors of any country progress. In order to keep the industries thriving, we need commendable industrial engineers who have not only the skills of a technician but also as a manager to run the plant successful. Indian Government initiative "Make in India" to establish the industries in India, will not be successful without the capable Industrial Engineers. This paper focuses on the engineering education structure of India with regard to Industrial Engineering from diploma level to post doctoral level and assesses how our education system is incubating future industrial engineers. We have made some suggestions why this engineering discipline should be offered as a regular engineering discipline in India and highlighted the contribution of the Indian government to this discipline. We have given a brief view on the comparative status of industrial engineering with other countries and provided the suggestions to improve the industrial engineering education in India. Thus, Industrial Engineering plays a pivotal role in the field of engineering for the proper development of industries in any nation. Indian government's initiatives in laying the framework of the industries for those commodities, which India is purchasing from the other parts of the world since independence is praiseworthy. These production plants across the country will see the advantage in the manufacturing and production engineering. Present scenario of industrial engineering education seems in its premature stages in India. With a mere number of colleges offering this stream in undergraduate studies leaves a chasm to be filled promptly in near future. Although the platform set in India regarding industries at present gives a kick start for employment and research opportunities in Industrial Engineering.

International students have continued to be the focus of simplistic stereotyping in media discourse where they are frequently identified as one of the forces behind declining academic standards in Australian universities. Their English language skills, in particular, have continued to be the focus of debate both in the mainstream media and in higher education research and policy. It is argued in this paper, however, that such debates do not sufficiently acknowledge the moral and affective complexity of the so-called "English problem" amongst international students in Australian universities. Drawing from an analysis of small group interviews with international students, domestic students and university staff, the beliefs and experiences of various parties about the English language skills of international students are examined. A key finding from this analysis is that the English language skills of international students, and their concomitant interactions with others, can be the object of both complaints and troubles talk. These complaints or troubles can be either ratified or resisted by those participants. The difficulties international students may experience in using English thus have complex moral and affective consequences. The way in which the so-called English problem in Australian universities is generally couched as one of objective, measurable deficiency on the part of international students arguably neglects the moral and affective complexity of the difficulties facing international students. This neglect leads, in turn, to an impoverished understanding of the English language capabilities of international students.

Because higher education serves both public and private interests, the way it is conceived and financed is contested politically, appearing in different forms in different societies. What is public and private in education is a political--social construct, subject to various political forces, primarily interpreted through the prism of the state. Mediated through the state, this construct can change over time as the economic and social context of higher education changes. In this paper, we analyze through the state's financing of higher education how it changes as a public/private good and the forces that impinge on states to influence such changes. To illustrate our arguments, we discuss trends in higher education financing in the BRIC countries--Brazil, Russia, India, and China. We show that in addition to increased privatization of higher education financing, BRIC states are increasingly differentiating the financing of elite and non-elite institutions.

Why do multinational corporations (MNCs) frequently encounter corporate social responsibility (CSR) crises in leading emerging markets in the new century? Existing research about institutional impacts on MNC CSR has developed a void-based account about how the flawed institutional system allows misdeeds to happen. But the fact that such misdeeds have turned into increasing CSR crises in the new century along with institutional change is rarely taken into account. This paper combines studies of institutional voids, institutional entrepreneurship, and stakeholder theory to develop a concept of institutional sophistication, which refers to both the top-down maturation of the regulatory system that standardizes firm behavior and the bottom-up diversification and intensification of grassroots initiatives that redefine stakeholder membership. Based on this concept, we developed a framework to comprehensively demonstrate how both institutional voids and sophistication drive the MNC CSR crisis in leading emerging markets. Empirically, we established an original database that includes 309 publicized CSR crises encountered by major foreign MNCs in China, India, and Russia, 2000-2011. Through a content analysis, the paper reveals six common sophistication processes that drive the MNC crisis across contexts and also specifies stakeholder strategies that make these processes happen and vary by social problems and national contexts. We also discussed the value of studying corporate social irresponsible behavior in understanding the institution-MNC relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at critiquing several existing strategic international human resource management frameworks and discusses their inadequacy to apply directly to emerging multinational companies, especially those generated from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. To complement the existing strategic international human resource management frameworks, key variables relevant to emerging economies are identified and an extended model with reference to emerging multinational companies is developed with several research propositions. It is believed that the proposed model would better capture the current development of multinationals in transition, and alert emerging international managers to address several people management challenges in the global context. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article explores the mechanisms which spurred the growth in the international reserves of Russia, China, and India during the 2000s. It examines the costs incurred by such countries in intervening into exchange markets to maintain exchange rate regimes as well as highlights the measures they have taken to address the 2008 global financial crisis. How each country deal with the outflows of foreign private capital and decreases in demand for imports in developed countries is discussed.

Focusing on the resilience of distinctive local consumption cultures, this paper challenges some of the more sweeping claims that have been advanced in the name of ‘globalization’. Thinking about a ‘globalizing’ rather than a fully ‘globalized’ world encourages us to examine the deeply contested nature of the concept and to explore the geographically uneven nature of recent economic, political and cultural transformations. This paper approaches globalization as a site of struggle rather than as an established fact, emphasizing the need for empirically grounded studies of the impact of ‘globalization’ on consumer cultures in different geographical contexts. The paper examines the way that producers have ‘customized’ their products for different markets (drawing on evidence from China and South Africa). It then reviews case study evidence from three contrasting consumption cultures: consumption and ‘public culture’ in India, ‘consumer nationalism’ in China, and ‘artful consumption’ in Russia. The paper concludes by identifying some current debates and outlining some directions for future research, including a re-emphasis on consumption and material culture; an exploration of consumption as social practice; the delineation of commodity-specific consumption cultures; and some reflections on the political, ethical and methodological issues that are being raised in contemporary consumption research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the National Defense Strategies of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) in order to verify how the four countries evaluate the strategic landscape of this century, especially regarding the balance of power between the Great Powers, their immediate geographical surroundings and their relationship with the US. This work addresses specifically the similarities and differences among them and how these differences reflect in their respective defense policies. Among the four cases, the Brazilian one will be in especial focus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the argument that the so-called four BRIC or the five BRICS economies can help rescue the global economy from its current crisis. It reviews the arguments for the positive role of these developing economies and then urges a series of reasons for caution about their capacity to act as an independent element in global economic recovery. It also draws attention to the differences between these economies and the need to consider the way that economic issues are related to geo-political considerations in the global system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our paper provides a comparative perspective on the development of public primary education in four of the largest developing economies circa 1910: Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC). These four countries encompassed more than 50% of the world's population in 1910, but remarkably few of their citizens attended any school by the early 20th century. We present new, comparable data on school inputs and outputs for BRIC drawn from contemporary surveys and government documents. Recent studies emphasize the importance of political decentralization, and relatively broad political voice for the early spread of public primary education in developed economies. We identify the former and the lack of the latter to be important in the context of BRIC, but we also outline how other factors such as factor endowments, colonialism, serfdom, and, especially, the characteristics of the political and economic elite help explain the low achievement levels of these four countries and the incredible amount of heterogeneity within each of them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper presents an overview of the current status of the main CCS initiatives in the major emerging economies: China, India, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, and South Africa. This study first covers all six countries as a group and describes their natural resources. The second part of this study embraces each country individually and includes current initiatives and current legal and technological status of CCS. At the end, this study summarizes the main findings in the emerging economies and the potential of including CCS as part of the CDM. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Russia views its military exports as a major tool for achieving its national security interests, particularly, in the East Asia and the Middle East. The arms trade is an integral part of its image as a world power, a critical part of its relationship with other states in Asia, a central element in its defense and security agreements, and an essential component of its ability to obtain and maintain access to influence and resources in regions of interest. So, while it is true that Russia does sell arms and military equipment to generate revenue and extend production runs for its defense industry, it is erroneous to claim that this in the central driver behind Russia’s arms trade. Russia seeks to maintain and expand its status as a world power, and views the focused, purposeful export of its military technologies to key countries as a fundamental tool in achieving this. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose – The goal of this article is to conduct macro-level analysis of human capital (HC) development strategies, pursued by four countries commonly referred to as BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, and China). Design/methodology/approach – This analysis is based on comparisons of macro indices of human capital and innovativeness of the economy and a review of related academic literature and government publications. Findings – The study results suggest that in terms of present human capital capacity Russia and Brazil are ahead of China and India. However, during the last decade the governments of the latter two countries have initiated impressive national programs of HC development, which include significant investment and targeted government regulation in such areas as primary and secondary education, vocational education and training, and higher education, especially in science and technology fields. Russia and Brazil have targeted programs in some of the above areas, but lack comprehensive long-term strategies, covering all the above areas and coordinating effort of various agencies and constituencies. Research limitations/implications – It is recommended to expand the scope of analysis to include other fast growing developing economies (e.g. Mexico, Indonesia, and Turkey). Originality/value – The article provides, for the first time, a comparison of human capital development indices and strategies of the four largest developing economies. The original feature of the article is a combination of the analysis of macro-level indices with an in-depth analysis of policy documents and academic literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on comparison of perceptions of ethical business cultures in large business organizations from four largest emerging economies, commonly referred to as the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, and China), and from the US. The data were collected from more than 13,000 managers and employees of business organizations in five countries. The study found significant differences among BRIC countries, with respondents from India and Brazil providing more favorable assessments of ethical cultures of their organizations than respondents from China and Russia. Overall, highest mean scores were provided by respondents from India, the US, and Brazil. There were significant similarities in ratings between the US and Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2005 U.S. interests in Central Asia have been under sustained attack from Russia and China on geopolitical and ideological grounds due to their fear of American presence and ideas about democratization, Central Asian governments who welcome U.S. presence but not U.S. ideologies, and the Taliban, which seeks to regain control over Afghanistan. Thanks to the combined pressure of these attacks and of defects in American policymaking, U.S. interests in the region have suffered as has America's ability to advance them. This article analyzes U.S. interests in Central Asia, the nature of the challenges to them, the shortcomings of American policymaking insofar as this region is concerned, and steps that need to be taken to overcome these challenges and defects in policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Oral problems, known as a neglected epidemic, have become prevalent in Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) countries in last decade. The objective of the study is to examine the prevalence and associated risk indicators of oral problems in adults in the Russian Federation, India, and China in BRICS countries. Methods: We used data from the first round of the Study of Global AGEing and Adult Health (SAGE), conducted by WHO in 2007–10 in selected BRICS countries. Oral problems are defined as if an adult had any mouth and/or teeth related problems including swallowing problems in last 1 year of the survey. We estimated the mean age of adults who had oral problems and used a t-test for comparing it by sex of adults. We determined the prevalence of oral problems in adults. We designed a hierarchical conceptual model to identify associated risk indicators with oral problems. Finally, we applied a multivariable binary logistic regression model based on a conceptual model to examine associated socioeconomic and demographic, behavioral and nutritional risk indicators and systemic diseases – diabetes, hypertension, and angina pectoris/angina with oral problems in adults. Results: The mean age of adults who had oral problems is lowest in India (57 years; SD: 15) and highest in China (65 years; SD: 11). However, it does not vary by sex of adults except India. The prevalence of oral problems is highest in the Russian Federation (35%) and lowest in China (9%). Adults with body mass index (BMI) less than 25 kg/m2, age 45 years or more, diabetes, hypertension, and angina pectoris/angina have a higher risk of oral problems. Females and adults using alcohol are also more likely to have oral problems in selected countries. Conclusions: The study concludes that females, adults using alcohol and those having any systemic disease are at higher risk of oral problems in the Russian Federation, India, and China. A one-third of adults had oral problems in particularly, in the Russian Federation; thus there is an urgent need to formulate oral policy and program, which the country currently lacks in. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]