The role of I. V. Stalin in the history of architecture

We have long regarded beating babies of avant-garde to be the most serious cultural crime, which threw the USSR back from the front line of architecture by 20-30 years and made them start from the beginning in 1960. If Stalin had seen a mainstream for architecture in that advanced idea and supported it, we would have had quite a different Soviet architecture today. His choice put an end to the constructivism utopia, according to which architecture would become a technical means of life organization. Ginzburg’s constructivism of the 1920s was a clear program of the common style and environmental standard, which could make an oppressive impression in the hands of third-rate doers. Unrealized opportunities of constructivism now don’t look so desirable. The paradoxicality of choosing academism and Stalin’s Empire style has probably another logic, a logic of reflexive frauds and false pretenses. However, if constructivism had remained as a general line for about 30 years, we would have had a kind of culture resembling Orwell more than anything else.

Holding Operators in the Nigerian Petroleum Industry to a Higher Environmental Standard

The oil industry drives the Nigerian economy as oil can be credited for most of Nigeria's foreign earnings. The exploration and production activities by operators in the Nigerian oil industry have for numerous decades resulted massive pollution of land, water and air within the jurisdiction of Nigeria and consequently there have been bitter complaints about the degradation of the environment. Though there are scores of legislations, regulations and policies governing the oil industry, it is clear that the multinational oil companies operating in Nigeria do not conduct their operations on the high levels they do in developed countries. However, the problem does not basically lie with the issue of ‘sub-standard’ legislations, but with the fact that the legislations in place are not routinely and uniformly enforced by the regulatory authorities and are often not complied with by the oil companies. This paper examines the twin problems of enforcement and compliance and tries to find a path out of the regulatory quagmire in Nigeria.

Application of Timber Legality Verification System (SVLK) Policy as Ecolabel Implementation in the Indonesian Timber Industry

Ecolabel is an international environmental standard that has been set by the World Trade Organization (WTO). The application of ecolabel is expected to be a solution for environmental problems. Ecolabeling is carried out with an approach of internationally agreed standards. In the timber industry in Indonesia, ecolabeling is implemented with the Timber Legality Verification System (SVLK) policy. This policy is proven to overcome illegal logging and illegal trade and improve forest governance.Keywords: Ecolabel; SVLK; and Environment.

Alteration among the patch test allergens in the environmental standard baseline series of the Allergology Laboratory of the National Dermatological and Venereological Institute and the Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Dermatooncology of Semmelweis University

The patch test has been the standard diagnostic tool of verifying contact hypersensitivity for decades. The test’s methodological elements and the tested allergen groups are the achievements of a dynamically changing process of the 20th century. Most commonly, the environmental standard baseline series is used in everyday clinical practice. Te frst environmental series in Hungary, which was recommended for national use, was created in the Allergology Laboratory of the National Dermatological and Venereological Institute in the 1970 years. It consisted of 21 allergens. Afer the Institute’s closure, the Semmelweis University, Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Dermatooncology continued to perform the patch testing. Te number of the baseline series members became more than doubled by now. This review aims to summarise the alterations in the environmental standard baseline series of the Allergology Laboratory of the National Dermatological and Venereological Institute and the Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Dermatooncology of the Semmelweis University and the sensitisation frequencies registered from 1976 to 2016 per 10 year periods.

Porter Hypothesis vs Pollution Haven Hypothesis: Can There Be Environmental Policies Getting Two Eggs in One Basket?

The Porter hypothesis and the pollution haven hypothesis seem to predict opposite reactions by firms facing environmental regulation, as the first invokes the arising of a win–win solution while the second envisages the possibility for firms to flee abroad. We illustrate the possibility of designing policies (taking the form of either emission taxation or environmental standards) able to eliminate firms’ incentives to relocate their plants abroad and create a parallel incentive for them to deliver a win–win solution by investing either in replacement technologies under emission taxation, or in abatement technologies under an environmental standard. This is worked out in a Cournot supergame in which firms may activate the highest level of collusion compatible with their intertemporal preferences.

Environmental Performance of Food and Beverage Firms in Merger and Acquisition Deals

We build upon existing theories of merger and acquisition (M&A) to examine the differences in environmental performance between targets and acquirers in the Food and Beverage processing (F&B) industry. In a cream-skimming strategy, acquiring a firm with better environmental performance may add to the acquirer’s existing green efforts and improve their environmental capabilities. In a turnaround strategy, an acquirer may buy businesses from a dirtier firm and later bring them up to the buyer’s environmental standard. Among a set of 13 M&A deals in the F&B industry, we identify deals where targets have poorer or better environmental performance (toxic chemical management) than their acquirers. Our finding suggests that, among the given set of firms, there is some evidence of improvements in the toxic chemical management rate of targets and acquirers.