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The paper aims to describe and compare multiple methods for estimating the technical efficiency of 113 US oil refineries in operation in 2006 and 2007, considering undesirable output in a production process.

A technology that satisfies weak disposability between desirable and undesirable outputs is constructed by allowing different abatement factors across all refineries. Several measures based on data envelopment analysis approaches are implemented and compared to study the impact of disposability assumptions and to investigate the effects of using non‐uniform abatement factors. A hyperbolic efficiency measure is used to analyze the potential output loss of each refinery due to environmental regulations.

The results indicate that domestic refineries can improve efficiencies regardless of the disposability assumptions and that environmental regulations reduce the amount of potentially desirable outputs produced by some facilities. However, refineries in the western USA appear to be the most affected by regulations. In general, efficient refineries are less likely to be affected.

Undesirable outputs are limited to toxic release. Undesirable outputs generated from refining crude oil, such as greenhouse gases, can be used when data are available. The desirable outputs in this paper do not include premium products, such as lubricants, which could raise the efficiency estimates of complex refineries.

To the authors' knowledge, this paper is the first implementation of the weakly disposable technology constructed by different uniform abatement factors. Further, the paper investigates the effects of various disposability assumptions on efficiency estimation. The result clearly identifies refineries that use their resources efficiently. The paper suggests that the data may be used to augment managerial decision‐making regarding benchmarking and best practices.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the labour contract system (LCS) established by the Freedmen’s Bureau after the American Civil War to normalise relations between freed-slaves and their former masters and to uphold their rights as free citizens. In particular, it explains the lack of accountability of employers under the LCS and how this contributed to the system’s failure.

The paper adopts an archive-based approach to develop and illustrate the labour contracting relationship between freed-persons and property owners and the role accounting played in sustaining this relationship in the immediate post-bellum period.

The paper finds that the LCS was coercive compared to contemporary business practice in the USA; did not conform to the high ideals of contracting as portrayed by the abolition movement; and was adopted by default rather than design. In the event, the reluctance of the federal government to infringe individual autonomy by imposing an over-arching system of regulation to hold employers to account for upholding their contractual obligations prevailed over the desire to defend the freed-people’s property rights.

This research examines the relationship between labour contracting and property rights as well as the role of accounting in sustaining racial prejudice against freed-persons after the American Civil War. As in many archive-based studies, illustrations are selective and not randomised.

The paper examines the various accountings and accountabilities within the LCS in the context of the underlying ideological tensions and priorities in post-conflict US society.

Scholars have begun calling for broader conceptualisations of moral disengagement processes that reflect the interaction of dispositional and situational antecedents to a predilection to morally disengage. The authors argue that collective leadership may be one such contingent antecedent. While researching leaders from the Gilded Age of American business history, the authors encountered a compelling historical case that facilitates theory elaboration within these intersecting domains. Interpreting evidence from the embittered leader dyad of Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick, the authors show how leader egoism can permeate moral identity to promote symbolic moral self-regard and moral licensing, which augment a propensity to morally disengage. The authors use insights developed from our analysis to illustrate a process conceptualisation that reflects a dispositional and situational interaction as a precursor to moral disengagement and explains how collective leadership can function as a moral disengagement trigger/tool to reduce cognitive dissonance and support the cognitive, behavioural, and rhetorical processes utilised to justify unethical behaviour.

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).

The purpose of this paper is to establish the minimum thickness required to provide stab protection in accordance with the United Kingdom Home Office Scientific Development Branch (HOSDB) standards while testing a series of laser sintered (LS) planar specimens using instrumented test apparatus.

Planar test specimens were LS in single-layer thicknesses ranging from 1.00 to 15.00 mm in four material powder categories – DuraForm® virgin, DuraForm 50/50 mix, DuraForm EX® virgin and DuraForm EX 50/50 mix. All specimens were tested using instrumented drop test apparatus and were impacted with established Stanley Tools 1992 trimming blades to the UK HOSDB KR1-E1 stab impact energy level.

The research demonstrated that a minimum single planar specimen thickness of 11.00 mm, manufactured from DuraForm EX 50/50 mix powder, was required to provide protection against the HOSDB KR1-E1 level of stab impact energy. The alternative powder mixes tested within this experiment demonstrated poor levels of stab protection, with virgin powder specimens demonstrating no protection up to 15.00 mm, whereas DuraForm 50/50 mix specimens demonstrating inconsistent performances.

This paper enhances on existing literature surrounding the manufacturing and testing of additive manufacturing (AM) stab-resistant armour by adding further rigour to the testing of AM body armour specimens. In addition, this research establishes key foundation characteristics which could be utilised for the future development of bespoke AM body armour garments.

This study aims to assess the sociopsychological impact that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu’s (BJJ) can have on the subjective wellbeing of practitioners.

Data was collected through face-to-face semi-structured interviews (N = 8) and were analysed using thematic analysis by taking an inductive approach.

Improvements in the wellbeing of practitioners can be made via focusing on specific known constructs which have previously shown to increase subjective wellbeing. They included the development of mental toughness, progression towards meaningful goals and/or healthy habits and behaviours and the forming and maintaining of positive social relationships.

The present work demonstrates the psychological benefits of BJJ practice on several psychological wellbeing targets, albeit in a modest sample size.

The heightened emphasis on mental wellbeing in the general population has added increasing pressure on mental health services (Steptoe et al., 2015; Diener et al., 2018; Johnson et al., 2018; Wicking & Dean 2020). Therefore, it is of theoretical and practical advantage to explore novel ways to help individuals with both their mental health and wellbeing.

The present study seeks to add to an emerging field of research which proposes that intentional activities such as BJJ can be integrated alongside traditional approaches to therapy in their promise to help those recovering from mental health issues.

GLASGOW was later by about one hundred and thirty years than some of the Scotch towns in establishing a printing press. Three hundred years ago, though Glasgow contained a University with men of great literary activity, including amongst others Zachary Boyd, there does not appear to have been sufficient printing work to induce anyone to establish a printing press. St. Andrews and Aberdeen were both notable for the books they produced, before Glasgow even attempted any printing.