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Money laundering, casinos and the Internet may become unavoidably intertwined in the next decade. Money laundering is the process by which criminals transform the money that they receive from criminal activities into funds that appear to have been generated by lawful means and cannot be traced by law enforcement to their illicit sources. While the magnitude of money laundering is unknown, law enforcement authorities estimate that it consists of an annual $100bn‐$300bn in US currency, and a rough estimate of an ‘annual worldwide … range of $300 to $500 billion’.

Change agents are individuals who can successfully transform aspects of how organisations operate. In education, teachers as change agents are increasingly seen as vital to the successful operation of schools and self-improving school systems. To date, however, there has been no systematic investigation of the nature and role of teacher change agents. To address this knowledge gap, we undertook a systematic review into five key areas regarding teachers as change agents. After reviewing 70 outputs we found that current literature predominantly positions teacher change agents as the deliverers of top-down change, with the possibility of bottom-up educational reform currently neglected.

The success of Six Sigma implementation is known to depend on a number of critical factors. The purpose of this paper is to explore and analyse Six Sigma critical success factors (CSFs) in the context of Indian manufacturing organizations.

Although Six Sigma success factors have been amply researched in the global context, in this paper, a maiden attempt is made to identify, through an extensive literature review, the CSFs for Six Sigma implementation followed by their validation and prioritization using primary data collection from Indian companies. A total of 22 CSFs have thus been compiled through an extensive literature review. These CSFs are then validated through an empirical research of select Indian manufacturing companies at various stages of implementation of the Six Sigma process improvement methodology.

A factor analysis was used to finally reduce the 22 factors to seven groups of underlying CSFs, the top factors being use of right tools, measurement assurance, innovation and supplier collaboration. Based on the factors extracted, a Six Sigma adoption model has been proposed in the Asian context.

The factor analysis of CSFs of the Indian manufacturing organizations selected in this study demonstrates that the top factor is a composite factor showing combination of the ability of the project teams to use the right tools, measurement assurance, innovation and creativity skills in problem solving, and also the long‐term supplier collaboration of the firm. Perhaps there has been an overemphasis on the role and commitment of the management in the success of a Six Sigma program. Though it is undisputed, certain other factors also play an equally important role in ensuring that the Six Sigma programs are successful.

The CSFs extracted through the factor analysis could provide a basis for manufacturing organizations embarking on the Six Sigma journey to look beyond just management involvement and develop an integrated framework of other factors as outlined and give them appropriate priority and focus. The study could well be extended to service industries.

The purpose of this paper is to outline the development of a new conceptual model and the associated diagnostic tool which can measure the status of maintenance and manufacturing strategies and how well they are linked together.

The new model was developed in two stages. First, a conceptual framework was produced and then a holistic diagram. From this theoretical model a diagnostic tool was generated. This tool was then verified and tested during an empirical research phase which produced four extensive and detailed case studies. A brief overview of one of the case studies is provided in this paper.

It was found that the conceptual model provided an accurate representation of the strategic processes and links which should exist in a manufacturing plant. Moreover the diagnostic tool proved a valid and reliable instrument to measure and display this information.

The diagnostic tool provides a snapshot of the status of manufacturing and maintenance strategies which then can be used to benchmark improvements over time. When required the individual questions from the questionnaire can be reverse engineered to provide detailed information for senior managers to carry out corrective action.

The diagnostic tool provides a snapshot of the status of manufacturing and maintenance strategies and furthermore by reverse engineering the individual questions from the questionnaire can provide detailed information for senior managers guiding them towards the key areas where corrective action is needed.

This theoretical and empirical research closes a gap in the literature relating to the linkage between maintenance and manufacturing strategies. It does so by providing a unique and holistic representation of the strategic processes and links which should exist within a manufacturing plant. Moreover the diagnostic tool produced from the model is a convenient audit facility which enables companies to move towards functional coherence.

The results of five experiments on design of work stations are discussed. The first two experiments investigated the effects of work surface height on performance, the third investigated eye‐hand coordination at two heights and directions of movement, the fourth investigated both height and direction of movement, and the fifth studied the effect of angle and direction (in versus out) of movement. It was found that the optimum height is about one inch below the elbow. The effect of angle at a height is important: the best moves for a right‐hand movement are at 45 degrees.

The argumentativeness measure has been used in more than a 100 studies since 1982. The measure was developed and validated within a US university/college student sample. Despite its intended use, the measure is regularly used outside of the US and outside of the university/college setting without tests of validity. There is also intense debate as to the dimensionality of the measure, with one camp defending the bi-dimensionality of the measure and another proposing uni-dimensionality. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the utility of the measure outside of its intended population.

A total of seven samples were collected (n = 1860) from the UK, Germany, France, Turkey, the Philippines, Nicaragua and the US. In this study, Infante and Rancer’s (1982) original 20-item argumentativeness measure was used to assess argumentativeness. Confirmatory factor analyses was used to test content validity.

Fit statistics were consistently poor for the unidimensional factor structure. As there is debate as to whether the measure is uni or bi-dimensional, a bi-dimensional fit was also analysed. The measure performed slightly better in each sample using a bi-dimensional factor structure. However, fit statistics were still poor for each sample.

Specifically, the seven samples are convenience samples. While such a sampling technique does limit the generalizability of a study’s findings, convenience samples are common when using the argumentativeness measure. These results present avenues for exploring the dimensionality of the argumentativeness measure and for revisiting cross-cultural examinations of argumentativeness.

Factor structure is a critical issue in validity. Whether authors specify their prediction or not, factor structure is always hypothesized as part of a study when measurements are used, and therefore, should be examined in every study as part of the scientific process. Making claims about human behaviour based upon measures with mis-specified factor structures or other validity issues can lead to the perpetuation of misinformation within the literature.

This is one of the few studies to empirically explore the psychometric properties of one of the most used measures in argument/conflict research. In doing so, this study enhances the understanding of decades of argumentativeness research.

Individuals with an intellectual disability (ID) form a significant minority in the Irish prison population and worldwide prison populations. There is growing recognition that specialist services for such individuals are in need of development. The purpose of this paper is to propose a care pathway for the management of individuals with an ID who present in prison, based on expert elicitation and consensus.

A convenience sample of professionals with a special interest in forensic intellectual disabilities was invited to participate in a Delphi exercise. In total, 12 agreed to participation and 10 subsequently completed the study (83.3 per cent). Expert views were elicited using a semi-structured questionnaire. Content analysis was completed using NVivo 11 software. A care pathway was subsequently proposed, based on the outcomes of the analysis, and circulated to participants for debate and consensus. A consensus was reached on management considerations.

Ten experts across a range of disciplines with a combined experience of 187 years participated in the study. Current provision of care was seen as limited and geographically variable. The vulnerability of prisoners with ID was highlighted. The need for equivalence of care with the community through multidisciplinary input and development of specialist secure and residential placements to facilitate diversion was identified. Consensus was achieved on a proposed care pathway.

This study proposes a care pathway for the assessment and management of prisoners with an ID and is, therefore, potentially relevant to those interested in this topic internationally who may similarly struggle with the current lack of decision-making tools for this setting. Although written from an Irish perspective, it outlines key considerations for psychiatrists in keeping with international guidance and, therefore, may be generalisable to other jurisdictions.