Instructional factories and training courses: the inception and implementation of training courses for un-skilled and semi-skilled munitions workers during the great war

The Great War shell scandal of 1915 was as much to do with a lack of skilled workers as it was to do with the early inability of the Munitions Industry to manufacture the war materials required by the war. The number of skilled workers had never been large and volunteering for the Army on a large scale had drastically reduced that pool. Attempts to avoid ‘dilution’, or the use of un-skilled and semi-skilled workers, particularly women, in the munitions industry in the early months of the Great War failed. The Volunteer Scheme was an initial disaster for the newly created Ministry of Munitions. Recalling skilled men from the Army failed in equal measure. The only way for the Ministry to plug the skills gap, was to bring in semi and un-skilled workers. In 1916/17 Technical Institutes like Loughborough and Aston began to run short training courses for workers

"The Advance to Car Production and Globalization of the Chinese Munitions Enterprises"

This paper undertakes a practical analysis on the Chinese munitions enterprises' advance to the car production, their formation of the development strategies and the globalization process with foreign-ventured enterprises in order to formulate their mass production system. Along with the end of the cold war, the Chinese munitions enterprises began to transfer to the production of civilian goods. Automobile industry became the primary participation circle to each munitions enterprise. The most successful cases are Chang'an Automobile (Group) Liability Co., Ltd.(Chang'an Auto) to which Armament Industry Corporation(Armament Co.) affiliates, Changhe Aircraft Industry Co. and Harbin Aviation & Automobile Manufacture Corporation Ltd. to which Aviation Industry General Corporation affiliate. Their auto production were ranked the top forth, seventh and ninth in 1999. The background conditions and organization structure of munitions enterprises are quite different with civilian enterprises in their advance to car production. Different with civilian enterprises, the car production of successful munitions enterprises almost started from zero and rapidly increased within short duration. Their development are close related with the development strategy to China of the global enterprises in the Chinese automobile market. This paper will analyze on the development history of the munitions enterprises and their globalization development based on the actual conditions. From the historical view, the development of the Chinese munitions enterprises were affected by the relationship changes with Japan, the former Soviet and America, especially by the China-Japan War. Therefore the production bases of the Chinese munitions industry in the inner areas were set up during China-Japan War and were more enforced during the cold war between America and Soviet. The factories groups which were established in these production bases and produced military goods or machinery goods became the primary enterprises which shifted to the automobile production. The successful munitions enterprises possess rather better management resources and location conditions. Especially, many years' technological know-how of its machinery production, trial production of jeep, experience of small quantity production and the industrial foundation of Chongqing as the location of Chang'an Auto are important conditions which led to its success later. The strategies of "giving up big road, undertaking two-side roads" especially "Mainly Targeting Minis" formulated by Armament Corporation and Aviation Corporation in their initial development period of vehicle production played an important role in rapid increasing of Mini vehicle makers such as Chang'an Auto and the advance to compact car production. After the technological introduction of compact car production, Armament Corporation adopted serial strategies, such as the enforcement of its coordination with foreign makers speedily, structure reorganization and listed stock and mainly increased the car production capacity of Chang'an Auto. From now on, along with WTO participation and motorization, munitions enterprises' coordination with global enterprises such as Suzuki, Mitsubishi, Fuji Heavy Industry, GM and Daimler-Chrysler. will be more enforced and will plan more important role in compact car(around 1L) market.

The Military Munitions Rule and Environmental Regulation of Munitions

In the current post-Cold War era, when the need for combat readiness no longer seems necessary, the training activities of the United States military have come under fire. Military training sites across the nation are littered with spent munitions and unexploded ordnance, the result of decades of weapons development and training exercises. The problem is that these military munitions contain materials and chemicals which are potentially hazardous to the environment, and their destruction and cleanup pose special environmental and safety concerns. Congress has tried to strike a balance between the United States military\u27s need for continued training and the Environmental Protection Agency\u27s (EPA) desire to have the military clean up its hazardous waste sites. To do this, Congress enacted the Military Munitions Rule (Munitions Rule), which, if administered properly, is designed to effectively accomplish the goals of both the military and the EPA. However, the Munitions Rule is already the subject of litigation and controversy, leading some to question its actual effectiveness

Profit Limitation Controls Prior to the Present War

In March 2014, four organisations, the Global School (Den Globala Skolan), the Swedish International Centre of Education for Sustainable Development (SWEDESD) at Uppsala University, the Swedish National Commission for UNESCO (Svenska Unescorådet) and WWF-Sweden commissioned Anders Jidesjö, senior lecturer and researcher at Linköping University, to undertake a study of the Swedish experience in the domain of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) over the last 10 years by analysing relevant background documentation and reports as well as information gathered through interviews with key informants. This report presents the result of this study. An earlier version served as background document for the "ESD – Call for Action" event on 3 June 2014 (see also below). The current version has benefited from incorporating factual information and insights presented during that event. The report was commissioned in view of the UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development, scheduled for 11-12 November in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. This conference will mark the end of the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development, 2005-2014. The four organisations considered that the official Swedish position at the Nagoya Conference would be strengthened if informed by the experiences and insights of Swedish pre-schools, schools, universities, municipalities and public, private and non-governmental organizations that over the last ten years and longer have engaged in education and learning for sustainable development. The official Swedish position would also be bolstered by having politicians, policy makers and experts reflect on these experiences and formulate recommendations for reinforced policy and accelerated and effective practice and research in the ESD domain. To this effect, the four organizations organized the event "ESD – Call for Action", on 3 June at Blåsenhus, Uppsala University. It brought together 120 representatives of Swedish ESD-related practitioners, researchers and policy makers who together formulated an extensive set of recommendations that are meant to support the Swedish delegation attending the Nagoya Conference. The report and the 3 June recommendations will be made available to the participants of a second event "Making ESD Action Possible", scheduled for 27 August, 2014 at Rosenbad Conference Centre, Stockholm. This event is expected to assemble 140 Swedish ESD-related politicians, policy makers, researchers and practitioners. The combined recommendations formulated by the participants during the two events will be submitted to the official Swedish delegation to the Nagoya Conference. August 2014 Den Globala Skolan (the Global School), Svenska Unescorådet (Swedish National Commission for UNESCO), Swedish International Centre of Education for Sustainable Development (SWEDESD) at Uppsala University, WWF-Swede

Depleted Uranium and Human Health

Persistent public anxiety about the use of depleted uranium munitions since the early 1990s has been underpinned by claims of serious health consequences for both veterans and exposed civilians, alike. Whatever grounds there may have seemed to be in the aftermath of the Gulf War have been thoroughly discredited by a series of reports from various independent and expert organisations, such as the World Health Organisation and the British Royal Society

Stewardship of Test-Free Nuclear Arsenals

Maintaining nuclear arms in the current policy environment that frowns upon weapons testing coexists with a set of unresolved and disquieting issues regarding the disposition of test-free arsenals. Ivan Sanfrachuk, director of the World Security Institute's Moscow office explores the Russian perspective on international policies regarding the safety and reliability of the world's nuclear arsenals

How Do We Get Rid of These Things? Dismantling Excess Weapons While Protecting the Environment

The startling successes of contemporary international arms control negotiations call to mind the old aphorism that one should be careful about what one wishes for, because the wish just might come true. Today, disarmament diplomacy has wrought unprecedented triumphs across a wide range of global bargaining issues, producing a series of watershed treaties that offer spectacular new advantages for the security of the United States and for the prospect of enduring world peace. At the same time, however, these unanticipated negotiation breakthroughs have themselves generated unforeseen implementation problems, spawning a host of novel difficulties for which the traditional tools and methods of arms control are ill-prepared or inappropriate. This Article examines one such difficulty: the potential legal and political conflict posed when a dramatic and crucial new arms control agreement, the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), confronts the equally fundamental and pressing dictates of national environmental protection policy. In short, the CWC will mandate the peaceful dismantling of massive national arsenals of now obsolete, but still exceptionally lethal chemical weapons (CW) agents, armaments, and facilities-and the destruction must be accomplished relatively promptly, reliably, and under the supervision of international inspectors. In the United States, however, long-standing environmental legislation, starting with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) and continuing through a sequence of resource-specific antipollution enactments, mandates punctilious adherence to procedural safeguards (such as the preparation of disclosive Environmental Impact Statements) and compliance with stringent national and local substantive standards on emissions, hazardous wastes, community participation, and safety