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The purpose of this paper is to present the views and challenges from a range of accounting professionals, regulators and preparers with the introduction of a standardised approach to accounting for customer loyalty programmes (CLPs). It aims to highlight the ambiguities of the classification of commercial transactions, particularly the nature and timing of revenue recognition.

Comment letters in response to the exposure draft D20 CLPs are analysed together with an exposition of the effect of International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) 13 on an early adopter, Qantas airlines.

Despite limited support for the consensus view advocated in D20, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has upheld the deferred revenue approach consistent with the anticipated outcome of the IASB and Financial Accounting Standards Board revenue recognition project.

The paper analyses the characteristics and views of lobbyists using the IFRIC process. The use of other discourse methodologies may present issues of power within this process.

The paper highlights how the implementation of IFRIC interpretations has the potential to alter reported financial results.

The paper highlights the lobbying process and interpretation process at an international level. It also illustrates how companies can engage accounting interpretations to manage earnings, particularly in times of economic challenges.

The DELTA® beam composite floor system is a recently developed shallow floor type that has seen many applications in contemporary construction. It involves partially encasing DELTA® steel beams in concrete, with the lower flange remaining exposed. Besides the satisfactory behavior of the system at ambient conditions, understanding its response under elevated temperatures is critical in evaluating its overall performance. Despite certification from the manufacturing company that the system has adequate fire resistance, its behavior under fire conditions has neither been investigated to depth nor reported in detail. The purpose of this paper is the detailed numerical investigation of their behavior in fire. For this reason, the finite element method was implemented in this paper to simulate the response of such beams subjected to fire. Material properties were modeled according to the Eurocodes. The coupled thermal-structural parametric analyses involved four different variations of the “shortest” and “deepest” cross-section (eight case studies in total) specified by the manufacturing company. Other simulations of these cross-sections, in which either the thermal expansion or the structural load were not taken into account, were carried out for comparison purposes.

The methodology for simulating such systems, which has been successfully implemented and validated against fire test results elsewhere (Maraveas et al., 2012) was also followed here. To investigate the statement made by Maraveas et al. (2014) and the equations proposed by Zaharia and Franssen (2012) that the insulation is not so effective for “short” cross-sections, two beams, one with a D20-200 (Deltabeam Technical Manual, 2013) cross-section (shallowest section) and one with a D50-600 (Deltabeam Technical Manual, 2013) cross-section (deepest section), were simulated in this paper for comparison purposes. Additionally, reasonable assumptions were made for the cross-sectional dimensions not specified by the manufacturer (Deltabeam Technical Manual, 2013) and parametric analyses were carried out to investigate their effect on the structural response of the system.

Composite DELTA® beams can achieve fire resistances ranging from 120 to 180 min, depending on the depth and geometry of their cross-section, with deeper sections displaying a better fire response. The intense thermal bowing that occurs when these beams are heated from below has a more pronounced effect, in terms of thermally induced deflections for deeper sections. The satisfactory fire resistance of these beams is achieved due to the action of the concrete encased web and the reinforcement which compensate for the loss of the exposed lower flange. Increasing the thickness of the web in deeper sections improves their fire rating up to 180 min. The thickness of the lower flange affects the fire rating of the beams only in a minor way.

The paper describes a numerical methodology to estimate the fire resistance of complex flooring systems.

The purpose of this research is to show that wavelets are mathematical tools capable of separating vibration data into different frequency components, allowing the study of each component with a resolution matched to its specific time scale. Wavelets have advantages over traditional Fourier methods, particularly when a signal contains sharp spikes, discontinuities, and transients.

This paper presents a brief description of wavelets and shows their application to the analysis of typical transient signals due to vibrations in a steel‐reinforced concrete beam.

The research clearly shows that it is possible to evaluate modes and components separately by using the wavelet analysis.

The beam analysed can be used as a simple model of other more complicated structures, such as bridges and other high scale civil engineering constructions, where vibration analysis is a key issue for maintenance and failure assessments, thus representing an alternative mathematical tool for condition monitoring.

IN these days of metal construction, the aircraft designer frequently uses the so‐called Batho theory of the torsion of thin shells. This simple and well‐known theory is a ecial case, applicable to tubes and boxes of any cross‐section, of the general St. Venant torsion theory. The same theory, applied to thin “ open ” sections, of which a channel is a mplc example, gives the result that the torsional strength and rigidity are very small. While it is true that such a section tends always to be weak in torsion in comparison with a closed section of similar dimensions, subject to certain conditions as regards fixing of the ends it is capable of transmitting an appreciable torque. The method of transmission can be described as differential bending of the two langes, in the case of the channel. Calculation of differential bending stresses in a two‐spar wing under torsion is a simple procedure, but alien the two members in differential bend form part of a continuous section, the conditions are somewhat altered. The general theory applicable to such cases may be called the theory of torsion‐bending. The results of this theory will be summarised, and the proofs given in the Appendix.

The research focused on analysing a unique type of heat exchanger that uses swirling air flow over heated tubes. This heat exchanger includes a round baffle plate with holes and opposite-oriented trapezoidal air deflectors attached at different angles. The deflectors are spaced at various distances, and the tubes are arranged in a circular pattern while maintaining a constant heat flux.

This setup is housed inside a circular duct with airflow in the longitudinal direction. The study examined the impact of different inclination angles and pitch ratios on the performance of the heat exchanger within a specific range of Reynolds numbers.

The findings revealed that the angle of inclination significantly affected the flow velocity, with higher angles resulting in increased velocity. The heat transfer performance was best at lower inclination angles and pitch ratios. Flow resistance decreased with increasing angle of inclination and pitch ratio.

The average thermal enhancement factor decreased with higher inclination angles, with the maximum value observed as 0.94 at a pitch ratio of 1 at an angle of 30°.

This study aims to examine the effects of participating in physical activities on female college graduates' starting salaries. We used an instrumental variable (IV) approach to address the possible endogeneity problem. By using the Taiwan Higher Education Dataset, we discovered that participating in physical activities during college increased an individual's earnings by 3.06%. The significant positive effect of physical activity on salary demonstrated in this study is consistent with that in other relevant studies. This study also discovered that both the intensity and the persistence of participation in physical activities affected salary outcomes. Individuals earned 0.17%–2.41% more if they exercised for an additional hour per week, suggesting the importance of the intensity of participation in physical activities. In addition, persistent participation in physical activities was associated with a 3.08% higher salary.

The purpose of the study detailed here was to engage with Directors of Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs) during the first year of their new Centres to form a snapshot view of the nature and type of training that was being incorporated and how this might affect the wider institution – in this case the university. Using an organisational learning lens, this paper empirically examines the work-in-progress of the responsible innovation (RI) training in CDTs to assess how new RI understandings are being created, retained and transferred within the CDTs, questioning whether this process represents a programme of “institutionalisation”.

During the past decade, RI has become increasingly embedded within the EU and UK research context, appearing with greater frequency in funding calls and policy spaces. As part of this embedding, in its 2018 funding call for CDTs, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) required RI training to be included in the programme for all doctoral students.

The paper concludes that, at present, institutionalisation is highly variegated, with the greater organisational change required to truly embed RI mindsets.

The paper provides original, empirical research evidence of RI institutionalisation in UK CDTs, and, using a “learning organisation” lens, examines areas of value to both RI and learning organisation theory.

We outline an economic theory of choice of organizational form, concentrating on explaining the selection of contractual relations within employee-owned firms. We then test the theory on a new database of U.S. producer cooperatives and find that the theory is largely supported by the data. Our principal conclusion is that producer cooperative formations have been rather strongly responsive to variations in economic conditions. While procyclical theories are clearly rejected, countercyclical theories receive considerable support. Neither political motivations nor legal institutions, especially the existence of cooperative incorporation laws, appear to have accounted for a portion of cooperative formations on a systematic basis. Support organizations have significant positive impacts on the formation rate of new cooperatives.

Demonstrates the application of spreadsheets in simulating queuing systems with arrivals from a finite population. The problem is referred to as the machine repair problem where the members of the queue are machines that are breaking down and the servers are the technicians repairing the broken machines. The total number of machines are finite and pre‐specified. The technique for the development of the simulation is illustrated with six machines. Describes the approach for developing a generalized simulation model with any number of machines.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the genre of tabletop fantasy role‐playing games and provide guidance in building an initial collection.

The first part of the paper is designed to present the development of tabletop fantasy role‐playing games in a historiographic model, tracing the history of these games from the 1970s to 2006. The second portion is a bibliographic essay and critique of several noteworthy fantasy role‐playing games, including analysis of the settings and systems of each game.

The paper provides a history of the development of fantasy role‐playing games and provides guidance on how to start a collection. The study recognizes a lack of academic research on the topic and seeks to provide a brief introduction.

The paper provides a clear concise history of role‐playing game development and balanced advice for librarians who wish to begin collecting role‐playing games.

This paper begins to fill the need for academic study of the subject and provides practical advice for collection development librarians.