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Economic “development” involves processes that often jointly produce both goods and “bads” – economic, environmental and social. The bads, however, are often technologically invisible; not least in terms of the way decisions are informed and accounted for. This paper takes as its case study a major development proposal that had the potential to produce economic, environmental, and social goods and bads. The paper involves an exploration of official independent reports leading to the proposal, considering the various factors taken into the decision, how the processes were reported on and accounted for. In particular, the treatment of financial/economic factors is examined and compared and contrasted with the treatment of social/environmental factors. From this, the paper considers possibilities for financial, social and environmental accounting in public discourse and decision making. In particular, the use of accounting to create environmental and social visibilities, and to facilitate discourse and debate, is examined.

In August 1991 I had the opportunity of attending the annual general meeting of CIRP in Aix‐en‐Provence, France. CIRP is not all that well known generally. It is however a forum for the leading experts in manufacturing technology, and since its inception in 1951 it has evolved as the College of International Research in Production (CIRP). The annual general meeting of CIRP moves around the globe. The purpose of its existence is mainly to exchange and develop ideas in manufacturing technology with a view to providing a more scientific base for product and process design for manufacturing. Each year there are about 150 papers presented at the annual meeting and they form the Annals of CIRP which can be purchased or consulted by the public at large[l]. The papers selected by CIRP are generally of the highest quality, and reflect most advanced concepts in various areas of manufacturing engineering. The areas addressed by the scientific technical committees (STCs) of CIRP are: assembly, cutting, design, physical and chemical machine tools, optimization, dimensional metrology in quality assurance, and surfaces. I was invited by the STC on assembly to give an overview of the assembly research in Australia. This provided the opportunity for me to hear about the latest research on assembly. Of the 12 papers presented on assembly, including a keynote paper by Boothroyd and Alting on Design for Assembly and Disassembly, there were two which specifically dealt with the issue of quality control in electronic assembly, particularly via neural network data processing. With reference to the previous article by Pandya in Assembly Automation, Vol. 12 No. 4, the material which follows provides further insights into the neural network approach.

This study seeks to explore the presence and the relative strength of market efficiency in the onshore and offshore Renminbi (RMB) forward markets.

In the onshore and offshore foreign exchange markets, the RMB forward contracts are designed in similar ways. However, the underlying economic forces and regulatory frameworks are very different in these two markets. We first analyze the functioning of each market, by examining the covered interest rate parity (CIRP) conditions. Second, we explore the CIRP deviations in the two markets and quantify the role of market frictions and government interventions.

We find that the CIRP condition does not hold in either the onshore or the offshore RMB forward markets. We also find that the offshore market is more efficient than the onshore market in conveying private information about investors’ expectation.

Our results reveal that the onshore RMB forward market provides an imperfect platform for investors to manage their currency exposures. We suggest that by opening the offshore market to domestic participants and the onshore market to more foreigners, the forward rates may become more informative with a greater investor mix. These liberalization efforts are important steps in the right directions to improve market efficiency in the Chinese FOREX market.

This paper gives a review of the finite element techniques (FE) applied in the area of material processing. The latest trends in metal forming, non‐metal forming, powder metallurgy and composite material processing are briefly discussed. The range of applications of finite elements on these subjects is extremely wide and cannot be presented in a single paper; therefore the aim of the paper is to give FE researchers/users only an encyclopaedic view of the different possibilities that exist today in the various fields mentioned above. An appendix included at the end of the paper presents a bibliography on finite element applications in material processing for 1994‐1996, where 1,370 references are listed. This bibliography is an updating of the paper written by Brannberg and Mackerle which has been published in Engineering Computations, Vol. 11 No. 5, 1994, pp. 413‐55.

The purpose of this paper is to review the CIRP Conference on Technologies and Systems for Assembly Quality, Productivity and Customization, held at the University of Michigan.

The paper provides an in‐depth review of a number of the technical presentations at the conference by research institutes around the world.

Efforts to understand, model and improve automated production are advancing rapidly at research institutes in all regions of the world.

Implementers and users of automated production systems need to look carefully at the research going on around the world to maximize the quality, efficiency and throughput of automated production technologies.

The paper gives an expert insight into how automation innovation continues to address the production needs of manufacturers worldwide.

Using a panel of over 433,000 college students from over 600 institutions of higher education in the USA, we investigate students’ opinions of leadership skill development during their undergraduate tenure.

The data used in this analysis come from the Higher Education Research Institute, which runs the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) housed at the University of California, Los Angeles. Among others, the CIRP administers two surveys known as The Freshman Survey (TFS) and the College Senior Survey (CSS).

The present research supports the extant literature and conventional wisdom of academic and student affairs professionals with regards to engagement in leadership classes or training where students have an opportunity to increase their knowledge bases through course content, and when there are opportunities for them to apply leadership principles, the students are more likely to report an increase in leadership capacity upon completion of their collegiate degree.

If colleges and universities are serious about fulfilling their espoused visions, then it is essential that awareness of leadership courses and applied opportunities be heightened and made a strategic priority to ensure resources are allocated in appropriate places to support these key efforts. It also suggests greater collaboration between academic and student affairs, as well as other departments (e.g. athletics and centers), is needed, as well as prioritizing experiential learning.

Most retention literature compares students who remain at an institution with those who leave. This paper seeks to extend the analysis by focusing on freshmen who leave in order to transfer to another institution. Using person‐centered and variable centered approaches, it aims to examine subgroups to determine variables contributing to different transfer rates.

Data were collected through surveys, and a quantitative approach was used to analyze the data.

By the unique nature of the sample (i.e. students contemplating transfer to another institution even before their freshman year at Adelphi begins) and utilization of person‐centered and variable‐centered analytic approaches, the current results provide both practical and methodological implications for student retention.

This is an original work which was previously presented at the 2006 Northeast Association of Institutional Association annual conference.

To augment the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, the Indian Government introduced the pre-packaged insolvency process exclusively for small and medium firms. This paper aims to critically review some of the key features of the process and also identifies potential glitches imminent in the initial years of implementation.

This study is descriptive and based on secondary data. The provisions of the pre-pack scheme, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and reports on the progress of insolvency resolution in India are used to substantiate the observations.

This study shows that pre-packs would certainly help enhance the small and medium enterprise insolvency resolution process in India. However, the ambitious time frame can be adhered to only if the institutional framework for bankruptcy is strengthened.

This paper is based on the initial regulatory provisions of the pre-pack process. Subsequent changes in regulations may affect the findings.

Some of the concerns in the process and the changes required to facilitate a smooth, speedy and efficient resolution process have been highlighted in this study.

Pre-packs are a very recent introduction to the insolvency regime in India. This paper makes a fervent attempt to explain the pre-pack process and the outcomes that can be expected in the early years after its rollout.

National borders are a hurdle to the expansion of the open economy. Integration today remains imperfect because national borders translate into trading costs, including differences in monetary regimes. Political borders shelter many goods and services from external competition and, consequently, represent a critical exogenous force in the integration process. Small economies face thicker borders than large economies. Regional trade arrangements have softened or, in some cases, pushed outward national borders, but in the process new borders have emerged. Borders affect also finance and monies. While the speed of financial integration suggests currency consolidation and a decline in the ratio of independent monies to sovereign nations, the formation of multilateral monetary unions (MUs) pushes the ratio toward unity.