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Each member of the Journal’s Editorial Advisory Board reviews the state of empowerment in today’s organizations.

The theory, process, and tools that are known collectively as “total quality management” offer ways in which empowerment of employees can support an organization′s efforts not only in quality improvement, but in empowerment as well. Its approach places the responsibility for an organization′s processes in the hands of those who know those processes best, and helps them to participate directly in the organization′s mission or purpose. In particular, the plan‐do‐study‐act cycle lies at the heart of the improvement process and represents the key to employee empowerment in that process. Using the case study of a telephone callback system and concrete examples representing applications in health care, education, and manufacturing, demonstrates how the PDSA cycle builds teams′ confidence in their ability to solve problems and bring about improvement, concomitantly enhancing pride in work and empowerment in the organization.

Building on the “Stress-as-Offense-to-Self” theory, this study investigates appreciation as a predictor of job satisfaction over time, mediated by subjective success and feelings of resentment towards one's organization.

Analyses are based on a three-wave study with two-month time intervals, with a sample of 193 employees from six Swiss organizations.

Double mediation by subjective success and feelings of resentment was confirmed; no mediation was found in a reversed mediation model. Results highlight the importance of appreciation for employees' feelings of success and job satisfaction, but also for affect related to the organization as a whole.

Organizations should recognize the role of appreciation in satisfaction, affective reactions toward the organization, and information about one's standing. Appreciation can be expressed in multiple ways; it not only increases job satisfaction but also helps employees to validate their judgments about their own performance.

Appreciation is a promising resource for employee well-being. The present study is one of few focusing on appreciation as a resource in its own right, rather than as part of broader constructs, such as social support. Our results not only confirm the importance of appreciation but also shed light on mechanisms through which it may exert its influence. They complement a multilevel analysis based on the same data showing an association of appreciation with different indicators of well-being on the interpersonal as well as the intrapersonal level.

Rap music subordinates music to language. It is this emphasis on language that can make rap a vehicle for many ideas, if that is the rapper's intention. Playthell Benjamin, former academic and freelance writer for such magazines as the Village Voice and Emerge, believes that rappers can be divided into distinct groups, based on the message or non‐message conveyed. He groups rappers as “Narcissists, didactics, party‐time rappers, or gangsters” based on the content of their rapping. Any rapper who falls into one of these groups can have political significance for blacks, whites, women, liberals, conservatives, Jews, Muslims, and Christians. Narcissists frequently refer to women as mere sex objects, the worst example being the group 2 Live Crew, and less offensive examples being L.L. Cool J. and Big Daddy Kane. Didactics are the chief proponents of Afrocentric thinking and revisionist history. Representatives of this style would be Public Enemy, KRS‐One, and X‐Clan. Party‐time rappers, such as Heavy D and the Boyz or Biz Markie, are rarely serious, but sexism and homophobia can be elements in their raps. Gangster rappers N.W.A., Ice‐T, and Ice Cube are currently receiving a lot of attention from the press, and violent behavior characterizes their lyrics.

Partnerships and collaborative projects between universities and colleges in higher education have the potential to increase diversity in education and can prepare students for international experiences in the workplace. With this in mind and through the Erasmus plus program, this chapter sets out to discuss the collaborative project between Institute of Technology Carlow, Ireland and Satakunta University of Applied Sciences, Finland, with international business students. The academic objective of the project was for the students to research and compare the marketing of a similar product in both countries. Underpinning this was the objective of providing the students with experience on working online in international teams, and thus preparing them for their career in international business while further engaging them with the module content.

Many challenges were identified during and after the project was complete. There were communication issues and cultural differences identified throughout. From the lecturers viewpoint, there was a need for clear, concise, hands on instruction from start to finish.

These challenges, however, were outweighed by the many benefits to the project. This project offered the students and lecturers with the opportunity to network, learn, gain experience, liaise and collaborate with new cultures. It presented them with a chance to develop their knowledge on international business, culture and communication.

In April 1988, the National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature (NRC) (see sidebar) published “AIDS: Law, Ethics and Public Policy.” As part of the NRC's Scope Note Series, the paper offered a current overview of issues and viewpoints related to AIDS and ethics. Not meant to be a comprehensive review of all AIDS literature, it contained selected citations referring to facts, opinion, and legal precedents, as well as a discussion of different ethical aspects surrounding AIDS. Updating the earlier work, this bibliography provides ethical citations from literature published from 1988 to the present.

This paper aims to present recently published resources on library instruction and information literacy providing an introductory overview and a selected annotated bibliography of publications covering all library types.

This paper introduces and annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations, reports and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2018.

The paper provides a brief description of all 422 sources, and highlights sources that contain unique or significant scholarly contributions.

The information may be used by librarians and anyone interested as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.

Flour from oat grain is characterised by a high content of protein and β-glucans, with a favourable amino acid composition and a substantial content of fat, including unsaturated fatty acids. Additives to bread that enrich its nutritional value can worsen physical properties. It is important to know how to develop recipes for healthy bread based on wheat flour, with the appropriate addition of oat flour. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence on the physical properties of bread made of wheat flour, following the addition of oat flour. The purpose was also to find a recipe for a new product with higher nutritional value, which would then be acceptable for consumers.

In addition to wheat flour, flour made of oat grains, obtained from the naked Nagus variety (hulless oat), was added. The flour was analysed for moisture, dry matter, proteins and β-glucans, as well as total dietary fibre − soluble and insoluble. The dough was made with wheat flour according to a recipe, which included yeast, salt and water as well as extra oat flour in various proportions − 15, 25 and 30%, respectively. The bread was baked using a direct single-phase method developed by the Baking Institute in Berlin. Both the physicochemical and sensory evaluation were carried out on the bread.

The recipe for wheat bread that included 15% proportion of oat flour supplement was found to be the most acceptable in both the sensory (n = 30) and qualitative evaluation and would be suitable to produce nutritious bread. The use of 25% and 30% additions of oat flour resulted in a reduction in bread weight, volume and yield, which ultimately lead to an increase in overall baking losses.

This study proved that 15% oat flour could be used as an optimum addition for the production of wheat-oat bread. This bread may lead to a new assortment of bakery products with pro-health properties.