Search results

THE POPULARITY of Hamewith and its author was quite phenomenal in the north‐east of Scotland. It is a significant mark of the affection in which the author was held by the community at large that he was soon popularly known as ‘Hamewith’ himself, in the same way as a farmer in that airt comes to be known by the name of his place. Hamewith was first published by Wyllie & Son, Aberdeen, in 1900. By 1909 a new and more elaborate edition was called for, with an introductiion by Andrew Lang, then Scotland's leading littérateur, and published by Constable in London. By 1912, when he was entertained to an official public dinner in Aberdeen, Charles Murray, who had emigrated to South Africa in 1888 at the age of 24, was then Secretary for Public Works in the Union of South Africa. It is important to note that Murray spent practically the whole of his working life (1888–1924) in South Africa, and wrote practically all his verse in exile. He is by no means the only Scottish writer to have seen his native land more clearly from a distance. One thinks, for example, of Stevenson in Samoa, Grassic Gibbon in Welwyn Garden City, and George Douglas Brown in London.

The Oxford English Dictionary (hereafter referred to as the OED) is one of the most well‐known and respected reference works in the world. Its imposing bulk has even led some people to believe incorrectly that it actually lists every word in the English language. Of course, a good number of words were omitted from the distinguished dictionary because they were considered vulgar or because they were American words, categories that were actually somewhat synonymous to certain less tolerant Englishmen of the late nineteenth century.

I HAVE been asked by the Editor, whose powers of persuasion are great, not merely to write an article for the LIBRARY REVIEW but to write one on “The Murray Tradition.” Thus is my labour set and my duty defined—a pleasant labour and an honourable duty. I am grateful to Mr. Macleod, not for extracting a promise to write but for easing that extraction by naming the subject on which I am most willing, and at the same time without a specific invitation should have been most diffident, to write.

Five years ago the Filofax personal organizer was in danger of becoming an anachronism of the '80s, taking its place alongside Other “Whatever happened to…?” subjects like Boy George and Pac‐Man.

This paper seeks to review current research on assistive consumer technologies (ACT 1.0) and to discuss a series of research challenges that need to be addressed before the field can move towards tools that are more effective and more readily adopted by consumers (ACT 2.0).

This is a conceptual paper. The perspective, commensurate with the current research and areas of expertise, is that of consumer researchers.

The paper argues that, while substantial advances have been made in the technical design of ACTs – and the algorithms that power recommendation systems, there are substantial barriers to wide‐scale consumer adoption of such tools that need to be addressed. In particular, future ACT designs will need to better integrate current research in human judgment and decision making to improve the ease with which such tools can be used.

From the perspective of consumer researchers, the paper highlights a set of key areas of enquiry that have the potential to substantially advance assistive consumer technology research.

This paper aims to provide a case study of how engineering skills gaps are being addressed by Murray & Roberts in South Africa.

The paper focuses on skills challenges in South Africa from a reflective practitioner perspective, exploring a case example from an industry leader.

The paper explores how Murray & Roberts, within the context of the broader construction industry in South Africa, has addressed skills shortages with an integrated, multi‐faceted approach with more general application.

The integrated approach to labour mobilization and development proposed has been successful in addressing major infrastructure construction projects. Further research will be needed to establish its broader application.

The paper pragmatically addresses live skills challenges, exploring creative solutions to the scarcity of skilled construction labour experience.

“We are really a family concern,” said Mr. John Carter, referring to Routledge & Kegan Paul of which he is chairman; and the same, in different degrees, could be said of the three other London publishing houses which I have been visiting. Longmans and Murrays are eminent examples.

Green purchasing has seen an increase of attention from researchers but as yet few case studies are available. The responsibility being placed on local councils to consider not only the economic but also social and environmental impacts sets a new agenda. Both these changes suggest a new role for local government purchasing, one which embraces “greening”. This paper outlines the green purchasing strategy adopted by Belfast City Council set against a local government background. The case demonstrates an integrated approach to achieving objectives relating to local economic development, environment and purchasing.

This paper aims to respond to recent calls by Jones (2014) and Jones and Solomon (Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 2013) for more studies on biodiversity accounting and reporting. In particular, this paper explores biodiversity reporting of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA), an Australian public sector enterprise.

The paper uses content analysis of MDBA’s published annual reports over the period of 15 years (1998-2012). Archival data (from different government departments) are also used to prepare natural inventory model.

The paper finds that although specific species, such as flora and fauna, and habitats-related disclosures have increased over the time, such information still allows only a partial construction of an inventory of natural assets, using Jones’ (1996, 2003) model. However, unlike prior studies that find lack of data availability to be the main impediment for operationalising biodiversity accounting, the abundance of biodiversity data in Australia makes it comparatively easier to produce such a statement.

Informed by the environmental stewardship framework, the results of this paper suggest that the disclosures made by MDBA are constrained potentially due to its use of traditional accounting mechanisms of reporting that only allow tradable items to be reported to stakeholders. An alternative reporting format would be more relevant to stakeholder groups who are more interested in information regarding quality and availability of water, and loss of biodiversity in the basin area rather than the financial performance of the MDBA.

Although there are a growing number of studies exploring biodiversity reporting in Australia, this paper is one of the earlier attempts to operationalise biodiversity (particularly habitats, flora and fauna) within the context of an Australian public sector enterprise.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the national and international political-economic environment in which Australian university research grew. It considers the implications of the growing significance of knowledge to the government and capital, looking past institutional developments to also historicise the systems that fed and were fed by the universities.

The paper is based on the extensive archival research in the National Archives of Australia and the Australian War Memorial on the formation and funding of a wide range of research programmes in the immediate post-war period after the Second World War. These include the Australian Atomic Energy Commission, the NHMRC, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, the Australian Pacific Territories Research Council, the Commonwealth Office of Education, the Universities Commission and the Murray review. This research was conducted under the Margaret George Award for emerging scholars for a project entitled “Knowledge, Nation and Democracy in Post-War Australia”.

After the Second World War, the Australian Government invested heavily in research: funding that continued to expand in subsequent decades. In the USA, similar government expenditure affected the trajectory of capitalist democracy for the remainder of the twentieth century, leading to a “military-industrial complex”. The outcome in Australia looked quite different, though still connected to the structure and character of Australian political economics.

The discussion of the spectacular growth of universities after the Second World War ordinarily rests on the growth in enrolments. This paper draws on a very large literature review as well as primary research to offer new insights into the connections between research and post-war political and economic development, which also explain university growth.