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This article explores the little understood practice of school interior design and the manner in which school interiors give form to ideas about what the work of children and teachers could and should look like. Its focus is a perceived link between the concepts of school work made material in the design of new twenty‐first century learning environments and those expressed in the design of Modernist progressive schools such as Richard Neutra’s Corona Ave, Elementary School, California. The article’s impetus comes from current interest in the inter‐relationship between the design of physical learning environments and pedagogy reform as governments in Australia and internationally, work to transform teaching and learning practices through innovative school building and refurbishment projects. Government campaigns, for example the UK’s Schools for the Future Program and Australia’s Victorian Schools Plan, use a promotional rhetoric that calls for the final dismantling of the cellular classroom with its industrial model of work so that ‘different pedagogical approaches and the different ways that children learn [can] be represented in the design of new learning environments’, in buildings and interiors designed to support contemporary constructivist‐inspired pedagogies.

Probably the most interesting public library discussion of last month occurred in the Holborn Borough Council on April 12th. At this meeting the Library Committee reported that they had considered what further economies could be effected during the war in connexion with the Local Government Board circular. They found that no substantial saving could be made by suspending the issue of fiction. On the other hand, the four remaining assistants were either attested, or single men who would be required for military service. In these circumstances they recommended, “That, for the period of the war, or until further order, the Holborn Public Library be closed to the public.” This subject was referred to the Law and Parliamentary Committee, which submitted a report. This report seems to us to be so logical and important in its arguments and decisions that we are giving it a place in these editorial columns, as we believe it will be of value not only to London librarians but to others throughout the country, who are faced with similar issues :—

UK fashion retailing is characterised by high levels of market concentration, centralisation and outlet standardisation. In the pursuit of market share, the multiple fashion retailers are implementing branding strategies that aim to differentiate their product offer and reinforce their market positioning. Empirical research, via key informant interviews, examined the branding decisions of two multiple fashion retailers and established four main methods of brand differentiation.

This paper describes the development of a novel integrative self-directed treatment tool which uses cognitive behavioural therapy techniques to reduce anxiety symptoms in patients presenting to treatment for alcohol-related problems. More specifically, the purpose of this paper is to explore patient and health practitioner perceptions of the booklet, in order to determine its suitability and utility in the context of existing alcohol treatment services. The extent of cross-informant agreement between patient and health practitioner responses is also examined.

This research utilises a cross-sectional qualitative research design using semi-structured interview methods with patients presenting to hospital for alcohol-related diseases/illnesses/accidents/injuries (n=15) and practitioners (n=10) working at inpatient, outpatient and residential substance treatment facilities.

The present study found that the majority of patients (80 per cent) and practitioners (90 per cent) expressed a motivation to utilise the proposed booklet, agreeing that the booklet was a practical, achievable and educational resource for patients suffering from co-occurring anxiety symptoms in substance abuse facilities. Participants outlined limitations of the resource, suggesting that the booklet would be most suitable for patients with moderate to high cognitive ability, who also exhibit a motivation to change alcohol consumption and have access to additional support.

Findings from the present study suggest that the booklet may be most effective in improving treatment accessibility and patient treatment seeking behaviours; rather than reducing practitioner-patient contact.

This paper focuses on the development and utility of a novel resource suitable for substance abuse treatment facilities. The findings and feedback produced from the present study can assist with modifications of the intervention and in improving the effectiveness of future trials.

The purpose of this article is to examine the existence of underwriting cycles in property‐liability insurance for Switzerland, the USA, Japan, and West Germany over a period of 40 years (1957‐1997), i.e. it looks at the question of whether the unit price of insurance coverage (given by the inverse of the loss ratio) fluctuates cyclically over time. The article serves as basis and starting point for Part II, where some of the limitations of the model presented here are dealt with.

Loss ratio data for the four countries are used for the recent period 1957‐1997. To test for the existence of cycles and calculate their length, the article applies autoregressive processes of second order, which were brought to a broader audience by a paper by Cummins and Outreville in 1987. The article also conducts a spectral analysis of the series.

For West Germany, much longer cycles than in earlier studies were found for the basic model. In general, the cycles get longer for the longer period, 1957‐1997. The article concludes that the hypothesis of cycles of six years in length no longer holds globally. It also finds cross‐country differences for the primary markets of the four countries.

Most empirical work on underwriting cycles has so far been carried out on US data. This study replicates a previous study for four countries on three continents and discusses the results and some limitations. It serves as the basis for Part II of this work.

The purpose of this paper is to survey existing inter-organisational information security research to scrutinise the kind of knowledge that is currently available and the way in which this knowledge has been brought about.

The results are based on a literature review of inter-organisational information security research published between 1990 and 2014.

The authors conclude that existing research has focused on a limited set of research topics. A majority of the research has focused management issues, while employees’/non-staffs’ actual information security work in inter-organisational settings is an understudied area. In addition, the majority of the studies have used a subjective/argumentative method, and few studies combine theoretical work and empirical data.

The findings suggest that future research should address a broader set of research topics, focusing especially on employees/non-staff and their use of processes and technology in inter-organisational settings, as well as on cultural aspects, which are lacking currently; focus more on theory generation or theory testing to increase the maturity of this sub-field; and use a broader set of research methods.

The authors conclude that existing research is to a large extent descriptive, philosophical or theoretical. Thus, it is difficult for practitioners to adopt existing research results, such as governance frameworks, which have not been empirically validated.

Few systematic reviews have assessed the maturity of existing inter-organisational information security research. Findings of authors on research topics, maturity and research methods extend beyond the existing knowledge base, which allow for a critical discussion about existing research in this sub-field of information security.