Suchergebnisse

Consider the following legal quandaries: a victim of a wrongdoing without a perpetrator, a work of art without an author, or the possibility that the sum of legally compliant behaviours give rise to non-compliance. Welcome to the world of emergence in law.
The concept of emergent properties is central to systems thinking. It is commonly expressed as 'the whole is more than the sum of its parts' where the 'whole' represents the 'emergent property'. This concept helps us understand how complexity emerges and allows systems engineers to look beyond the properties of individual components of a system and understand the system as a complex whole. In practice, this way of thinking militates against two kinds of fallacies: the fallacy of composition and the fallacy of division. The former occurs when one wrongfully attributes the properties of the component parts to the system as a whole whereas the latter arises when one wrongfully attributes the properties of the system as a whole to component parts.
I argue that emergence provides an overarching framework to explain the challenges that technological developments associated with big data, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics pose for different domains of private law, including privacy, data protection, Intellectual Property (IP), and tort laws. By creating new objects, possibilities for new action and new relationships, changes associated with the above technologies encourage the formation of emergent properties, which in turn pose attribution challenges for these legal domains. Two attribution challenges are particularly noteworthy. If we fail to address them properly, they may lead to the fallacies of composition and/or division.
Further, emergence may help explain some of the regulatory responses and suggestions provoked by changes associated with the above technologies. For example, emergence and the desire to avoid the fallacy of division can explain suggestions to grant AI systems some form of legal (electronic) personhood and thereby bestow legal responsibility or entitlement on them. Thus, one way the law might usefully adapt during times of technological change would be by taking emergence seriously. This includes recognizing the possibility that the sum of fully complaint behaviours may create behaviour that is not compliant or not in the spirit of the law. Taking emergence seriously would also include being open to the prospect of a harm or legal entitlement existing without a perpetrator or a right-holder and finding new ways to address this prospect.

Perceptions of the boundaries of masculinity have often been questioned in menswear, with the masculine ideal continually reimagined to create a balance between itself and its counterpart, femininity. During the 1980s AIDS crisis, this adopted uniform of masculinity was subverted within queer society leading to a new male identity that contested tacit knowledge of menswear design. The focus of this article is to showcase this shift in male image and to explore how gay semiotics was associated with the development of the modern gay male stance through clothing and social empowerment, opposing the negativity that surrounded the AIDS virus. This research is personally motivated by the primary author, where he seeks to delve further into the under-researched area of queer masculinity utilizing a practical, experimental methodology. Representation of what is seen as queer masculinity is often shown as biased within society, characterizing the gay man. This project presents, through the practices of menswear design, how this characterization has developed within the context of the male body. It aims to contest the boundaries of traditional men's tailoring, its formality and the masculine ideal that it represents, by juxtaposing it with the homoerotic art of the time and the craft of AIDS sufferers of the 1980s period. Using object-study and practical methods of deconstruction and repair of case study (bespoke and non-bespoke) men's tailored jackets, the research manifests in physical experimentation and aesthetic visualization, which is recorded in a creative process journal. The acts of physical deconstruction and the practice of repair are then analysed through the process of design development (drawing, sourcing and sampling). The synthesized findings draw parallels with deconstructed tailoring found in vintage photographs of men at work, which are further triangulated with homoerotic photographic art of the 1980s and the act of repair found in the stitch therapy of AIDS sufferers. These are embedded in the construction of the final artefact through the practice of garment design (drawing, pattern-cutting, toiling and making) and craftsmanship (stitching by hand). The processes employed and final artefact produced document and present how ideals of masculinity in the time of AIDS can be both physically and metaphorically deconstructed, then reconstructed as a garment-based outcome (men's tailored jacket) in practice-led research. The final artefact showcases delicacy in design through the act of stitching by hand and the repair of the deconstructed robust exteriors found in tailoring and associated with the masculine ideal.

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand the citizen perception of quality of service with respect to the Government's citizen service delivery system of Karnataka and conduct an investigation to determine the major factors which affect the quality of Government service delivery system in the state of Karnataka in India.


Design/methodology/approach
Primary data related to variables affecting citizen service satisfaction are collected using a questionnaire survey. The questionnaire was designed based on literature review and consulting officers associated with public service delivery system in the state of Karnataka.


Findings
The study found that the five factors "Responsiveness," "Tangibility," "Predictability," "Reliability" and "Perceptiveness" are primary determinants of the quality of citizen/government services.


Research limitations/implications
Right to Service Act has been adapted by 24 states and 5 union territories in India. It is highly impossible to study the progress of Right to Service Act in each and every state of India. In this paper, the author has made a detailed study of state of Karnataka, which has the highest in-time service disposition rate −95.06%, highest number of institutions −99 and highest number of services −1,115 services under Right to Service Act in India and generalized the results for other states.


Practical implications
This research enables government institutions/organizations to enhance their understanding of citizen service quality and perception of government services. The citizen satisfaction gauging parameters can provide useful direction to the design, implementation and management of government services.


Social implications
Government/citizen services include services provided by each and every department of the government. The services covered here begin from birth of individual as birth certificate service till the death of individual which includes death certificate, and in between this life cycle of an individual, important events such as service related to caste certificate, marriage certificate, service verification for job, property or Khatha certificate are included under government services, covering services related to all the major events of one's life. The improved level of service quality can enhance service satisfaction among citizens resulting in good governance.


Originality/value
The paper addresses quality of Government services for the first time in the state of Karnataka, India using a carefully designed research study. This paper is of value to research scholars in the area of government service quality in India and other countries where government services are delivered either under Right to Services Act, in stipulated time frame or through citizen charters.

Institution system is an important part of modern social governance. Government, market and social relations within the system, as well as the corresponding institutional arrangements, can be said to be the top priority. Corporate social responsibility is an outstanding case that embodies the relationship and institutional arrangement of the three in practice. Government regulation of social credit system is a good example to analysis it. The research on government regulation of social credit system itself is put forward from the perspective of government, so in the field of government regulation of social credit system, should enterprises play a role? Especially in the era of big data, a large number of data are provided by private enterprises. Without these data, it is difficult to complete the construction of big data system. If enterprises should play their role, what's the contribution of the government? Academic and industrial circles have been expressing their own opinions on these issues. Therefore, this paper attempts to build a game model among government, enterprise and society to solve the following problems: how to solve the relationship problem among government, enterprise and society? How to build the corresponding system? What's the corresponding government regulation of China's social credit system go from the perspective of business ethics? Through the game model analysis, the author finds that shareholders can reduce the threat of CEO replacement and collude with the management staff members to make the cake (including the interests of stakeholders) smaller. But on the basis of the loss of stakeholders' rights and interests, shareholders' wealth is increasing, which also explains why more and more senior executives are trying to form collusion with stakeholders in the campaign against antitakeover and loose audit system. Shareholders' rights and interests and stakeholders' rights and interests present a seesaw phenomenon. The response of the stakeholders and shareholders to a better corporate governance model is consistent. That is to say, the increase of shareholders' income is not necessarily based on the loss of stakeholders. The game model also shows that the protection of formal laws and regulations is the main factor to increase the benefits of stakeholders. Through the case of the social credit system, we will conclude that the formal laws and regulations cannot fully ensure the increase of stakeholders' income, but also need to strengthen the transformation of institutional advantages into governance advantages, and strengthen the law enforcement. It will finally promote the further improvement of social credit system.

Purpose
This study aims to shed new light on the nexus between market competition and financial development (FD), using the new FD index developed by the IMF, covering financial institutions and markets access, depth and efficiency.


Design/methodology/approach
The author uses panel data from 140 countries over 2000–2014 period and a dynamic generalized method of moments (GMM) model, along with a sensitivity analysis over 2008 financial crisis.


Findings
Strong evidence of the positive impact of market competition, as measured by Boone index, on financial institutions and markets development is found, whereas banks concentration has a damaging effect on FD. Commonly used Lerner index is found to be irrelevant. Interestingly, none of the competition indexes in this study affects financial institutions returns, which hold even over 2008 financial crisis, likely at the expense of depth and access in developing countries. Institutions, as proxied by control of corruption, have broader positive impact on FD, particularly on financial markets. These findings have important implications for developing countries keen to foster the development of their financial system.


Practical implications
Policymakers should take into consideration that FI are unlikely to undertake deep improvements in terms of credit allocation depth and inclusion on a volunteer basis, unless constrained by regulations. When promoting bank competition, it is recommended to diversify methods targeting market competition, notably by promoting financial business diversification and intermediary efficiency, and tackling collusion arrangements or interest groups influence. Second, it is important to support households and small and medium enterprises' access to finance. Third, it is highly recommended to promote good institutions given their overall beneficial role in promoting the financial system as a whole, notably financial markets.


Originality/value
To the best of the author's knowledge, this study is the first to fully use the new IMF Financial Development index. It covers financial institutions and markets access, depth and efficiency, whereas most of previous findings focus on access to credit or cost of credit. Besides, the study uses a larger panel data from 140 countries over 2000–2014 period and a dynamic GMM estimator, along with a sensitivity analysis over (2007–2009) crisis. By exploring the impact of three different competition indicators, namely, Boone, Lerner and banks concentration indexes, the study responds to the concerns regarding the limitations of each of them.

Pastoral counties in northern Kenya are expected to undergo massive social-ecological change in the coming years as a result of the government's 'Vision 2030' with its large-scale investments and infrastructure projects. The Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) corridor project is an ambitious infrastructure development project that links with other continental transport corridors traversing the country. The 500m-wide corridor is to consist of a railway, a highway, a fibre-optic cable and a crude oil pipeline, linking oil fields in Turkana county in the far north-west to a 32-berth port at Lamu on the Kenyan coast. A 50-km wide "special economic zone" straddling the corridor will attract investors, and the development will be accompanied by several associated projects, including three planned resort cities, oil processing facilities and airports. Proponents of the corridor point to its potential to "open up the north" and to reverse previous marginalisation. However, a growing body of work on frontiers and economies of anticipation surrounding development projects points to the potentials for dispossession of local populations and disregard of local dynamics. Further, such projects stimulate future-oriented activities and a variety of visions of the future among the different actors, which may converge or diverge, leading to contestations. This Working Paper is part of a larger project called "Future Rural Africa: Future-making and socialecological transformation" by the Universities of Bonn and Cologne and BICC in collaboration with USIU-Africa and other Kenyan universities, which is interested in the kinds of claims being made on land and its resources and how these may change existing dynamics of organised violence. In this Working Paper, the author seeks to understand the dynamics of participation and anticipation and how these relate to conflict and contestation along the LAPSSET Corridor area (in the following referred to as 'LAPSSET'). He takes a broad and in-depth look at local dynamics sur rounding the planned LAPSSET and some associated projects in Isiolo, Samburu and Turkana counties. In doing so, he has found that a variety of actors have different visions and capacities to learn about LAPSSET and position themselves favourably, making it likely that LAPSSET will exacerbate existing political and economic inequalities. Existing inequalities historically run along ethnic lines and are likely to feed into ethnopolitical conflicts. Other findings are that the LAPSSET developments also fuel conflict as they provide new potential targets for dissatisfied citizens to get the attention of the state and new, often inequitable security governance arrangements.

Purpose
Strategic socio-political views are notably scarce among contemporary discourses on the causes of abuse of vulnerable older people in care and nursing homes. This paper aims to catalyse higher order consideration and discussion of one socio-political characteristic that has relevance to the issue of abuse, that is, the market-like environment in which care and nursing homes in England operate. In doing so, the paper argues that the now firmly established but imbalanced "quasi-market" of care that has developed over many years fosters conditions under which both poor care and abuse are more likely to occur. The evidence presented in the paper focusses primarily on the rise to dominance of for-profit care home provision and the contraction of public sector provision. The paper does not examine in detail the characteristics and market presence of the not-for-profit sector because it has not held a numerically significant market share either historically or contemporarily.


Design/methodology/approach
Outcomes of the marketisation of the care home sector that has its origins in the political landscape prevailing in 1979 and thereafter, along with the concurrent development of its regulation and oversight, are narrated and analysed. From this, a mythos of the motives behind the transition to a market-like economy that has taken place over four decades is developed and used to explain how prevailing market conditions contribute to the perpetuation of poor care and abuse.


Findings
In the opinion of the author, there are identifiable consequences arising from the evolution of the current care economy that dispel the beliefs that providing care by means of current market-like arrangements is advantageous, that the independent regulation and monitoring of such a market is unproblematic and effective, and that the "consumers" in this market are exercising personal choice, in accord with classical economic theory.


Practical implications
The paper offers the opportunity for the reader to consider how the development of a "quasi" market of care and nursing home services that has come to be dominated by for-profit private providers, and that is subject to ineffective oversight, may have contributed to conditions where abuse is more likely to occur and endure.


Originality/value
This is a conceptual paper that explores the consequences of the creation of the market-like economy of care in which care and nursing homes now operate and suggests that it is time for prevailing market conditions to be re-visited and subjected to remedial strategic intervention.

This paper analyses the first world classifications of Serbian wines based on
Andr? Jullien?s famous Topographie de tous les Vignobles connus? published
as early as 1816 (18222, 18323). It points to the far-reaching importance of
Jullien?s work, clarifies the circumstances of its creation, its
methodology, the significance and types of data presented, and, which is
particularly important, identifies most of the sources used by the author.
Jullien?s Topographie is not a perfect book free of geographical and
historical errors, nor does it cover all winegrowing regions in the world.
However, it is the first general classification of all wines, both French
and ?foreign?, based on fairly clear criteria and written by an experienced
and, as it seems, unprejudiced connoisseur. Its importance was recognized
immediately after publication, and the global nature of its classification
made it the basis for all similar undertakings. The analytical focus in the
article is restricted to the territory of the present-day Serbia. In the
Ottoman ?province? of Serbia, he singled out the environs of Belgrade as the
most important winegrowing region, adding to it the environs of Pristina in
the third edition. Wines produced in the eastern Srem (Karlovci) stand out
in terms of quality. This overview also includes the winegrowing region of
Banat with Vrsac and Bela Crkva (Weisskirchen). In the wine world of that
time wines from Srem and Banat were classified as the wines of the Austrian
Empire or, more narrowly, as Hungarian wines. Andr? Jullien obviously did
not taste any of the mentioned Serbian wines personally. He relied above all
on the information available in encyclopaedias, statistic records,
geographies and travel accounts. The search for and identification of his
sources has shown how thorough, consistent and honest he was in using such
data. Undoubtedly, the best Serbian wines were made in and around Karlovci.
A sweet red wine, Ausbruch, gained a high repute around the mid-18th
century, retaining it into the 20th century. At first, Jullien classified it
into the third and then into the exceptionally high second class of all
world?s sweet red wines. For example, of all Hungarian wines, only Tokay was
rated above it. Karlovci?s semi-sweet and dry wines received the same high
second-class rating. Jullien?s classifications of Serbian wines confirmed
the continued existence of high-quality winegrowing areas in what is now
Serbia, from Roman times to the beginning of the 19th century.

PurposeThe concept of eGovernment has received much focus and emphasis across the public administrative sector, with interest centred on its public performance in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. Accordingly, this paper aims to consider those factors affecting the continuous adoption of eGovernment websites by citizens in the context of Jordan, through the design and development of a conceptual model, five factors included, notably digital literacy, e-service marketing efficiency, e-service quality, compulsory e-service utilisation and public staff assistance in regards the transformation of e-service.Design/methodology/approachTo conduct this paper, a quantitative approach was used, after operationalising variables into indicators; data were gathered through the application and completion of a questionnaire survey, by public-sector subjects making up a sample of 237 individuals purposively sampled, wit structural equation modelling was applied to analyse data.FindingsThe results garnered emphasise digital literacy and e-service quality as important factors amongst citizens in Jordan in regards their intention to use, on a continuous basis, eGovernment websites, providing an explanation across 42 per cent of the variance in this regard. On the other hand, the other three factors of e-service marketing efficiency, compulsory e-service use and public staff assistance in regards the transformation of e-service were not identified as significant in terms of their influence on the intention to adopt the ongoing use of eGovernment websites among citizens in the Jordanian context indicating some issues that challenge the eGovernment success.Research limitations/implicationsThis work's findings are survey-based, subsequent studies could make use of qualitative methods in mind of achieving more detailed and comprehensive understanding of the links between the factors outlined in this study, further, there is the suggestion that other longitudinal and experimental works be completed to establish the links outlined in this study.Practical implicationsFor eGovernment websites continued usage to be efficacious, several facilitating and supporting conditions are vital, including technical and managerial sustenance, as well as supporting policies and regulations that put eGovernment websites into the compulsory utilisation, which requires all the other affecting factors to be in line with facilitating such compulsory orientation.Originality/valueMany studies have been done on exploring the factors that affect the initial adoption of eGovernment websites; however –and up to the author knowledge – this is the first study that explore the second stage of the adoption process, namely, continued use in the context of a developing country such as Jordan. This work will therefore provide a contribution to the eGovernment literature in specific relation to continued use. This will be done through taking into account all five of these factors.

Abstract
In April 2018, 7 Husbands for Hurmuz (7 Kocalı Hürmüz), a popular musical comedy farce from Turkey, was staged by Arcola Alaturka, a Turkish-speaking theatre group based in East London. This production was performed by migrant actors and musicians with a predominantly migrant audience in mind. A production of 7 Kocalı Hürmüz was included in the Ankara State Theatre's 2017–18 season, and another large scale production directed and produced by established comedian Müjdat Gezen has, at the time of writing, been selling out in Istanbul.
Set in a time when a man was permitted more than one wife, the plot of 7 Husbands for Hurmuz is a reversal of this situation: the central character is a woman (Hurmuz) who has married six husbands – none of whom knows about the others – as a way of solving her money problems. She sees each husband on a different day of the week, but mayhem ensues when Hurmuz falls in love with a seventh man, and then all seven turn up to see her on the same day. Farce, slapstick and absurdity combine in a satire, which is also an extension of folk theatre forms relating to specific Asian performance styles – drawing on both ortaoyunu and meddah traditions in Turkey. It can be argued that 7 Husbands for Hurmuz has caused controversy because although the play features an array of strong female characters, it has been perceived as both feminist and anti-feminist.
The following piece is a conversation between Naz Yeni, the director of the Arcola production, and Alejandro Postigo, author and performer of The Copla Musical, a tribute to the anti-Franco Spanish drag artist La Gitana. The Copla Musical explores an intercultural adaptation of the early twentieth-century Spanish folkloric song-form of copla, merged with elements found in Anglo-American musical theatre structures such as book musicals, revues and jukebox shows. Copla ceased to develop during Franco's regime (1939–1975). Forty years later, The Copla Musical aims to rejuvenate copla interculturally. The show is supported by academic research that questions how to share the Spanish experience of copla with an international audience of diverse cultural backgrounds, and how to introduce copla's background as a storytelling form, a folkloric genre and a subversive tool beyond the Spanish twentieth-century zeitgeist. The conversation explores the many challenges of translating songs and theatre works from one language to another for a multicultural and multilingual audience.

Abstract: The purpose of this article is to answer the following question: What are the qualifications required of a viable compensation scheme for drug-related injuries in the future? To answer this question the no-fault systems in four Nordic states are examined and compared to other systems fully or partially arranged on no-fault principles in Europe and outside Europe. Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland all operate similar no-fault schemes with minor differences. (The fifth Nordic Country, Iceland, is not operating a separate drug insurance scheme, but drugs are dealt under the general product liability regulations and that is why Iceland is not discussed in this context.) These schemes have helped avoid expensive and time-consuming court proceedings usually required when liability law is applied. By examining especially the viability and qualifications of the Finnish compensation scheme operated over the past 30 years some key qualifications for an optimal scheme can be identified. The conclusions drawn then are that this kind of a no-fault compensation system could well be recommended across the EU for an alternative mechanism for resolving drug-related injury compensation cases. For a future compensation model the author proposes a mix of the Nordic, the Japanese and the French models. Résumé: L'objectif de cet article est de répondre à la question suivante: Quelles sont les qualifications requises d'un régime viable d'indemnisation pour blessures liées à l'usage de médicaments dans l'avenir? Pour répondre à cette question, nous examinons les régimes basés sur l'absence de faute dans quatre pays nordiques et les comparons à d'autres systèmes entièrement ou partiellement basés sur des principes d'absence de faute en Europe et à l'extérieur de l'Europe. La Suède, la Norvège, le Danemark et la Finlande utilisent tous des principes similaires d'absence de faute, avec des différences minimes. Ces régimes ont permis d'éviter les procédures judiciaires coûteuses et longues qui sont généralement nécessaires en cas d'application du droit de la responsabilité. En examinant spécialement la viabilité et les qualifications du régime finlandais d'indemnisation appliqué pendant 30 ans, on peut identifier quelques qualifications- clé pour un régime optimal. Selon les conclusions qui ont pu alors être tirées, cette sorte de régime d'indemnisation basé sur l'absence de faute pourrait être préconisé à travers l'Europe comme mécanisme alternatif permettant de résoudre les cas d'indemnisation de blessures liées à l'usage de médicaments. Pour des modèles futurs d'indemnisation, l'auteur propose une combinaison des modèles nordique, japonais et français.

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to critically examine whether the individual values and bias of police officers could be frustrating attempts to achieve black and ethnic minority (BME) representation within the police service, especially at senior levels. It focusses on the micro-individual level, examining perceptions, values and attitudes towards equality and diversity, unconscious bias and the impact of leadership in addressing these issues.


Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews the literature on values, police culture and leadership. It draws upon data produced from a very small study undertaken within a local police service specialist unit where the author was employed, by means of semi-structured interviews with a selection of staff and senior officers, and values and attitudes surveys. Data were examined from a national survey of BME officers and Human Resources Leads, conducted by the College of Policing's BME Progression 2018 Programme. Finally, unconscious bias test data of samples of police officers, including senior leaders and HR professionals were examined.


Findings
The interview data show that equality and diversity are perceived to be largely embedded by organisational members. This is contradicted by the data from the values and attitudes survey which show that equality is not fully embedded in the culture, and the data from BME officers survey supports this. Leader role models and behaviours were found to play a crucial role in embedding these values, along with training. The findings also demonstrated a higher level of unconscious bias among senior officers and HR professionals, responsible for recruitment and selection, than police employees in general.


Research limitations/implications
This exploratory research is concerned with policing in England and Wales. The very small sample limits inferences possible in the findings but is highly relevant to current and future policing.


Practical implications
The paper highlights some potential barriers to achieving a representative police service at an individual rather than organisational level and makes a number of recommendations on the role of leaders now, and crucially in the future, to fully embed equality and diversity into police culture to address under-representation, a phenomenon which has plagued the police service throughout its entire history.


Originality/value
There appears to be a dearth of studies examining the issue of under-representation at the micro-individual level within British police organisations. The current, exploratory research study seeks to contribute to closing this gap.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to address participants' humorous provocations as a part of informal interactions between participants and researcher that can be treated just like the research data. By means of autoethnographic analysis, the author explores the expectations of the researcher and participants that humour research entails and discusses how different expectations are revealed in participants' provocations.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses an autoethnographic approach to discuss the informal interactions between participants and the researcher gathered during research into staffroom humour. The informal interactions in general and humour specifically were recorded, analysed, coded, interpreted and theorised just like the data on humour between participants. The theoretical framework used in the study combines Goffman's (1959) version of symbolic interactionism and Solomonet al.(2006) idea of hybrid spaces.FindingsThe study shows the need for reconsideration of expectations entangled in humour research and proposes to be prepared for unexpected. Expecting unexpected can help stay open minded in the field and in interactions with participants and apply healthy distance towards own research and own expectations. The study shows that whenever certain behaviour was expected and different behaviour was delivered, there was a chance for certain behaviour being interpreted as provocations. Participants' provocations can result from their own expectations about the research or what they think is expected from them by the researcher and thus they remain subject to different interpretations.Research limitations/implicationsFurther research could investigate and discuss the role of humour in participant-researcher interactions in different research contexts and across different methodologies. Combining and analysing experiences of use of humour from both participants and researchers could allow for creating the guidelines in the use of humour in different research situations. Ethical challenges posed by informal interactions between researcher and participants could be explored further and suggestions as to how to protect the researcher, research and participants in such interactions could be developed.Originality/valueThis paper aims to be a starting point for a discussion about the understudied relationship between expectations humour research is entangled with and participants' provocations. The study shows innovative approach to informal interactions between participants' and researcher which are treated as research data and are theorised using original combination of symbolic interactionism and hybrid spaces. The study contributes to the qualitative research methodology by discussing the ethics of both using humour with participants and recording and analysing informal humorous interactions between participants and the researcher.

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to draw on the author's research involving girls who leave their Torres Strait Island communities for boarding colleges in regional Queensland, Australia, and the academic, social and cultural implications that impede the transition process between community and school. While this paper discusses some of the research outcomes, its main focus is the unique indigenous research paradigm "Family+Stories=Research", devised for and utilised within this project. This paradigm centres on the Australian indigenous kinship system and was implemented in two specific phases of the research process. These were: the preliminary research process leading up to the implementation of the research project; and the data collection phase. In turn, both phases enable the cultural significance of the kinship system to be better understood through the results. Because observations and storytelling or "yarning" were primarily used through both phases, these results also endorse the experience of the participants, and the author – both professionally and personally – without requiring further analysis.


Design/methodology/approach
The indigenous research paradigm and methodology unique to this research project implements the kinship system, allowing the researcher to access the appropriate resources and people for the project. Prior to the data collection phase, contact with significant community members in both boarding colleges and the Torres Strait Region was made. The methodology implemented for the research project was ethnographic and used observations, individual interviews and focus groups. The views and experiences of 26 past and present students, and 15 staff, both indigenous and non-indigenous, across three different boarding colleges were recorded.


Findings
Through both phases of the research project, the kinship system played a significant role in the ethnographic research process and data collection phase, which focussed on two key areas encompassed within the kinship system: "business" and the "care of children". Stories from the researcher and the participants confirm the significant role that the kinship system can play within the indigenous research paradigm: Family+Stories=Research.


Originality/value
The paper introduces an indigenous research paradigm and methodology designed around two factors: family and stories. This paper brings to light the impact of the kinship system used within communities of the Torres Strait Islands and explains how this system advantaged the research process and the data collection phase by enabling the researcher to freely access stories specific to the research project.

Purpose
This paper tries to propose a pedagogical training program starting from the Romanian mandatory curriculum for higher education (HE) teachers, integrating education for sustainable development (ESD) competencies (UNECE, 2012) through infusion as a technique of curricular design dealing with cross-curricular subject integration. The purpose of this paper is to show how new ESD competencies can be implemented and integrated into the existent curricular formulations and how the current state of affairs can be improved and set toward sustainability.


Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative research design is utilized, using desk research, content analysis, case study and, as validation for the new curriculum, structured interviews with key experts. First, an assessment of the quality of the Romanian HE pedagogical training program will be presented based on teaching quality assessments from international rankings. Second, integration of ESD competencies into the existing pedagogical professional development program, through a curriculum design, will be proposed.


Findings
The present Romanian teacher training curriculum does not nurture ESD competencies, and it does not have this purpose at all. However, it can be affirmed that this curriculum is in accordance with the newest pedagogical theories. It will be shown (through curriculum design) that it is possible to infuse ESD competencies into the present curriculum without many costs. The present architecture of the teacher training system can be described as a good practice example concerning HE professional development or as an alternative that is worthy to be taken into consideration for other countries with similar educational systems or by countries/universities that believe that pedagogical training addressing ESD should be completed early in one's teaching career.


Research limitations/implications
As a general rule, many generalizations cannot be made based on qualitative research. Case studies have their limitations: they provide in-depth research on particular situations, and only some of their findings can be extrapolated. All HE curricula represent a particular vision and are all perfectible and subject to debate. The author hopes to have provided sufficient cause for the proposed curriculum.


Practical implications
The new curriculum has clear and practical implications, providing the answer to the question "how can we make pedagogical training better?". Infusing ESD into the present teacher training program constitutes a practical solution, which carries great social impact.


Originality/value
A new curricular architecture is proposed, a new perspective on the efficiency of pedagogical training, in general, is taken into account and, as a good practical example, the present research is a token of inspiration.