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This chapter adopts a transport systems approach to explore why the adoption of paratransit modes is low and sporadic. Regulatory and institutional barriers are identified as a major reason for this. The chapter then reviews key trends and issues relating to the uptake of, and barriers to, paratransit modes. Based on this analysis a new regulatory structure is proposed.

Case studies and research/practice literature.

Following an exploration of the nature of paratransit system design and traditional definitions of ‘paratransit’, it is concluded that institutional barriers are critical. However, current societal trends and service developments, and in particular initiatives from the technology service industry, are developing significant new paratransit models. The chapter concludes with a proposed redefinition of paratransit to facilitate a regulatory change to help overcome its institutional challenges.

A paratransit transformation of public transport services would produce travel behaviours different from models and perspectives built around corridor/timetabled public transport services.

Technology firm invaders (e.g. Uber) are viewed as disrupters from normal transport planning to be controlled or excluded. However they may be the key to a transport system transformation.

Existing public transport modes are ill-suited to modern patterns of travel demand. A system involving paratransit could produce enhanced social mobility and system-level improvements in CO₂ emissions.

This chapter identifies the key issues raised by the emergence of new paratransit modes and the new actors involved. A new regulatory structure is proposed which reflects this understanding.

This paper investigates the combined effect of internal environmental management (IEM) and green human resource management (GHRM) on corporate reputation (CR), environmental performance (EP) and financial performance (FP). The paper further explores the indirect effects of CR and EP between the direct paths.

Data are garnered from 164 firms from three industries in Ghana. Partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is the methodological technique used to test the hypothesized relationships.

The result demonstrates that unlike IEM which has a significant effect on FP when implemented in isolation, GHRM does not have a significant effect on FP. However, the joint implementation of IEM and GHRM can provide better results in terms of improved CR, enhanced EP and significant FP improvement. CR and EP were further found to mediate the relationship between the direct paths.

The results suggest that the joint implementation of IEM and GHRM is critical for firms that seek to enjoy superior reputation, enhance their environmental sustainability and achieve financial gains. Consequently, managers are strongly encouraged to create a sustainable and vibrant company via significant and rational investment in green initiatives like IEM and GHRM.

This study happens to be one of the first to develop a research model that investigates the joint effect of IEM and GHRM within the context of CR, environmental sustainability and FP.

Mr. Cutter commences his classic “Rules” with a statement of the objects some or all of which a catalogue is intended to compass. I have put these objects in the form of “wants,” confining them, it will be observed, to the catalogue considered merely as a finding list I may go to the catalogue, then, with any of the following half‐dozen wants:—

This chapter presents a personal reflection on the attention to community needs and inclusiveness in libraries.

Personal experiences and insights of the author serve as the framework for this discussion.

Tracing the course of the author’s four-decade career, the author identifies the growth in the focus on service to communities and their specific needs by libraries.

The following list of titles was compiled by the Library Journal List Committee of the Reference and Adult Services Division, American Library Association. Committee members include Larry Earl Bone, Memphis Public Library and Information Center, Chairman; Lynn Cochran, Free Library of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Carl T. Cox, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Laurel Grotzinger, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo; John Larsen, Columbia University, New York, New York; Wilbur McGill, Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore, Maryland; Mary Jean Nottviet, Iowa City, Iowa; Lelia B. Saunders, Arlington County Department of Libraries, Virginia; Paul Spence, University of Alabama in Birmingham. The 63 titles on this list represent in the opinion of the Committee, a selection of outstanding reference books published in 1973 and late 1972 for small and medium‐sized public and college libraries.

The purpose of this study is to assess the level and variability of Ghanaian property and liability insurer’s reserve estimates to examine its sources and ascertain if reserve errors are random or not (i.e. manipulated or not).

It uses information on insurer claim reserve provisions, claims outstanding, claims incurred and claims paid for the period of 2000-2010. Categorizing the sources of variation as endogenous and exogenous, the authors use the panel correlated standard error regression model to determine sources and magnitude of industry reserve error.

The study finds that size, age, lag of loss reserve error, inflation rate and real gross domestic product are significant in determining the degree of reserve error variation. Type of ownership (domestic or foreign) is, however, not a significant source of variation. Further, the authors found that industry reserve errors are random (not manipulated) across firms, suggesting that sampled insurers act independently on reserve error decision making and are not influenced by industry trends and competition.

The main research study limitation is the difficulty involved in obtaining annual statements from insurance companies in Ghana. Reluctance of companies to make statements available impeded on the smooth flow of the study during data collection.

Policy-wise, this suggest that regulatory bodies can uniquely set reserve error levels for existing firms with little influence on competition. Further, the Ghanaian insurance regulator does not to focus on the type of ownership (foreign or local) when setting regulatory standards. However, size of the company and age (length of operation) should be considered.

This paper is the first empirical study to examine the loss reserve error and loss reserve variability of Ghanaian property and liability insurance companies.

A research project in progress at Middlesex Polytechnic is examining the problems of subject access in an online public access catalogue. A series of user studies have been carried out which examined students' use of existing catalogue facilities, which in turn led to the experimental evaluation of various interface designs for an online catalogue. The experiments were primarily concerned with the effect of the following variables on the speed and accuracy of retrieval of specific items, the use of colour, the speed of presentation of information, the amount of information on a screen, the paging and scrolling of information, the position of a sought item within a list.

DONCASTER'S new Central Library was formally opened on 29th December 1969 on precisely the 100th anniversary of the opening of the first public library in Doncaster. Conforming to tradition, the Library was opened by the Mayor of Doncaster, Councillor Marcus Outwin. The President of the Library Association, Mr. Wilfred Ashworth, addressed the assembled guests, his last official appointment before relinquishing the office.