Improving cooperation and coordination between international organisations in the fight against child labour

The purpose of this research study is to investigate how globalisation has changed the role of international institutions regarding governance at a global level. The focal point has been to study the demand for cooperation among the international institutions on a human issue that needs global action and cooperation. For a long time focus has been on single-purpose organisations, and there has been a lack of cooperation across the organisations. This study aims to study a cooperation model of governance, where there is both horizontal and vertical management. A combination of these two ways of management is required to improve cooperation. I address the fight against child labour as the issue that I want to attack. Further, I investigate the main organisations that address this issue and cooperate, namely ILO, UNICEF and the World Bank. They use various methods to tackle the issue of child labour, based upon their mandates and institutional missions. The methodological tool I use is a literature review and a qualitative method through a case study of an interagency cooperation between ILO, UNICEF and the World Bank. The programme I study is the Understanding Children’s Work (UCW) programme. This programme was established after recognition of the need for cooperation among the agencies that work with combating child labour. UNICEF, WB and ILO were all attending these conferences (UCW accessed 2011-05-31). I have conducted research on how they cooperate and I address the advantages and hindrances in their cooperation. This thesis asks: How does the Understanding Children’s Work (UCW) programme help promote cooperation and coordination between the ILO, UNICEF and the World Bank in the fight against child labour at the global level? The core findings in this thesis are that the cooperation model clearly has advantages in promoting cooperation and coordination, and that the UCW has been successful in many areas. It has brought international organisations closer to a common approach to fight child labour, and this is crucial to a reduction of child labour. It has also revealed that trust, personal relationships and flexibility are key words to establish good cooperation among agencies. It suggests that in future work on a shared culture between the actors needs to be carried out to reach their common goal. This must be built into the process of joined action (Considine and Lewis 2003, 132). The thesis suggests that because of the different mission statements of the actors that are involved, different organisational views need to be taken into account. Personal relationships and institutional mandates have an impact that demands that more attention be paid to these issues to ensure that the cooperation becomes even more successful.Master in International Social Welfare and Health Polic

"Das öffentliche Denkmal. Denkmalpflege zwischen Fachdisziplin und gesellschaftlichen Erwartungen"

Jahrestagung des Arbeitskreises Theorie und Lehre der Denkmalpflege e.V., in Zusammenarbeit mit der Hochschule Anhalt (FH) und der Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau, 3. bis 6. Oktober 200

Fabrikbau und Moderne in Deutschland und den Niederlanden

Ingrid Ostermann: Fabrikbau und Moderne in Deutschland und den Niederlanden der 1920er und 1930er Jahre, Berlin: Gebr. Mann 2010. Rezensiert von Sigrid Brand

BIOLOGICAL METABOLITES RECOVERY FROM BEVERAGE PRODUCTION SOLID RESIDUES THROUGH ACIDOGENIC FERMENTATION

Acidogenic fermentation was applied to evaluate the potential recovery of biological monomers as precursors in bio-plastic production. Three residual organic substrates from high-volume beverage sectors (coffee, orange juice, beer) were assessed: spent coffee grounds (SCG), orange peels (OP), and brewers\u2019 spent grains (BSG). Batch fermentation tests were set up. SCG and OP were studied as single substrates and combined to evaluate yields of target monomers (volatile fatty acids, ethanol, lactate) and to reveal interactions between the matrixes. NaOH pre-treatment was applied to SCG to enhance disruption of the lignocellulosic cell wall. BSG was studied without pre-treatment and following acid or alkaline pre-treatment, with acidogenic fermentation being initiated with two different initial pH values (7; 9). Acetogenic fermentation was achieved with all substrates, although with different yields of target monomers. In terms of total biological metabolite production, following alkaline pre-treatment, OP and BSG, both fermented at an initial pH 9, showed the best performance, yielding 62.6 g and 62.0 g target monomers per litre substrate. For all substrates, acetic and butyric acids were the most abundant products. In the case of OP fermentation, butyrate accounted for 57% (35.8 g/L) of the total. The BSG test with the highest total yield also achieved the highest acetate yield (36.7 g/L). The results confirm that OP and BSG should be considered a priority sustainable feedstock for the supply of biological monomers, particularly if polyhydroxyalkanoates are to be produced. SCG are better suited to aceto-oriented approaches, such as the production of polyvinyl acetat

Dissecting the Shared Genetic Architecture of Suicide Attempt, Psychiatric Disorders, and Known Risk Factors

Background Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide, and nonfatal suicide attempts, which occur far more frequently, are a major source of disability and social and economic burden. Both have substantial genetic etiology, which is partially shared and partially distinct from that of related psychiatric disorders. Methods We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 29,782 suicide attempt (SA) cases and 519,961 controls in the International Suicide Genetics Consortium (ISGC). The GWAS of SA was conditioned on psychiatric disorders using GWAS summary statistics via multitrait-based conditional and joint analysis, to remove genetic effects on SA mediated by psychiatric disorders. We investigated the shared and divergent genetic architectures of SA, psychiatric disorders, and other known risk factors. Results Two loci reached genome-wide significance for SA: the major histocompatibility complex and an intergenic locus on chromosome 7, the latter of which remained associated with SA after conditioning on psychiatric disorders and replicated in an independent cohort from the Million Veteran Program. This locus has been implicated in risk-taking behavior, smoking, and insomnia. SA showed strong genetic correlation with psychiatric disorders, particularly major depression, and also with smoking, pain, risk-taking behavior, sleep disturbances, lower educational attainment, reproductive traits, lower socioeconomic status, and poorer general health. After conditioning on psychiatric disorders, the genetic correlations between SA and psychiatric disorders decreased, whereas those with nonpsychiatric traits remained largely unchanged. Conclusions Our results identify a risk locus that contributes more strongly to SA than other phenotypes and suggest a shared underlying biology between SA and known risk factors that is not mediated by psychiatric disorders.Peer reviewe

Denkmalpflegedebatten als Architekturdebatten. Cornelius Gurlitt

Die Denkmaldebatte der vorletzten Jahrhundertwende war nicht nur ein Ringen um das unverfälschte Original und das Echte, um Dokumente und Quellen, sondern vor allem auch eine Debatte um Stil, Schönheit und Wahrheit von Architektur. Cornelius Gurlitt hat mit selbstbewusster Subjektivität und dem Wissen um das Zeitgemäße seines Urteils, und darin war er wie in vielen seiner Positionen in besonderem Maße von Julius Langbehn beeinflusst, für eine Denkmalpflege gestritten, die die Auseinandersetzung um Kunst und ästhetische Fragen zu einer ihrer wichtigsten macht. Dass Gurlitt dem Gang der Architektur in den Jahren nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg nicht mehr folgen wollte, lag nicht zuletzt daran, dass er deren hohen Grad an Abstraktion ebenso ablehnte wie die grundsätzlich veränderten gesellschaftlichen Umstände: die Weimarer Republik