Two-dimensional graphene offers interesting electronic, thermal, and mechanical properties that are currently being explored for advanced electronics, membranes, and composites. Here we synthesize and explore the biological applications of nano-graphene oxide (NGO), i.e., single-layer graphene oxide sheets down to a few nanometers in lateral width. We develop functionalization chemistry in orde...

We develop an economic model of “greenwash,” in which a firm strategically discloses environmental information and a non-governmental organization (NGO) may audit and penalize the firm for engaging in greenwash. We identify conditions under which NGO punishment of greenwash backfires, inducing the firm to become less rather than more forthcoming about its environmental performance. We show that...

Minimum standards set by a ‘World Environmental Organisation’ (WEO) and NGO labelling are promoted as alternative approaches to international environmental protection. We explore the potential inter-play between these two approaches when the WEO is subject to pressure from producers. We find that if WEO and NGO schemes are mutually exclusive then the existence of an NGO ‘alternative’ increases ...

We study an NGO’s decisions when it attempts to remove a potentially hazardous substance from commercial use in a market with competing firms. Specifically, we determine under what market and regulatory conditions an NGO should target the industry versus the regulatory body in order to influence firms to replace the substance. We examine how the NGO’s strategy changes as the NGO’s pragmatism (i...

BACKGROUND Little is known about how to implement promising small-scale projects to reduce reproductive ill health and HIV vulnerability in young people on a large scale. This evaluation documents and explains how a partnership between a non-governmental organization (NGO) and local government authorities (LGAs) influenced the LGA-led scale-up of an innovative NGO programme in the wider context...

Policy measures for preventive and promotive services are increasingly reliant on contracting of NGOs. Contracting is a neo-liberal response relying on open market competition for service delivery tenders. In contracting of health services a common assumption is a monolithic NGO market. A case study of HIV control in Pakistan shows that in reality the NGO market comprises of parallel NGO networ...