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The development and review of Somerset Social Services' learning disability services have presented a series of management challenges. Many will be familiar to managers in other parts of Britain. Considering the current policy theme of partnership working, this article identifies and discusses some of the management issues in Somerset that have arisen from joint working between health and social services: the commissioning of singly‐managed community teams and the provision of acute health care.

This case raises the question: How does a company reasonably estimate and record entries for uncollectible trade receivables, and under what circumstances are receivables written off as uncollectible? The required accounting transactions for the case involve estimating a receivables allowance both as a percentage of sales and as a percentage of accounts receivable and making specific account judgments under the direct write?off method. The subjective issues involve analyzing and assessing a company's methods of collection and accounting for bad debts.

A narration of the fascinating history of the Du Pont Company could almost fill volumes and it would be temptingly easy to utilise the journalistic cliché that here ‘space does not permit’ an in‐depth documentation of the company's development and multi‐faceted diversification. However, for those unaware of the origins of this giant organisation's activities, a brief summary would take us back to 1799, in the wake of the French Revolution, when a French family set sail for America on the American Eagle, with aspirations to establish a colony in Virginia. This aim did not materialise, but in 1802 one of the sons, Eleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours, a former chemistry student of Lavoisier, formed his company on a piece of land along the banks of the Brandywine River near Wilmington, Delaware.

The purpose of this study is to explore how the discipline facilities management (FM) can be developed in a smart city perspective through considering the current and new FM services under the role of Urban FM, as well as governance structures that limit and enable it.

The approach is primarily theoretical by examining current literature around the ideas of Urban FM and Smart Cities linking them to observations in one city aiming to be a Smart City. This specific paper focusses on maintenance management, workspace management and energy management services in a Smart City perspective.

The results outline how Urban FM can fill the gaps that are apparent in city planning through connectivity to communities and neighbourhoods using the Smart City not only approaches of optimising data but also considers prominent governance structures of FM, Urban FM, City Planning and Smart Cities. The study addresses the limitations of what can be done when cities are not organisations, which make identifying the “core business” obscure and intangible but attempts to overcome this limitation by considering social value in communities and wider linkages to the city environment.

The paper sets out the potential of Urban FM in Smart Cities, but the findings are limited to primarily theoretical research and need further empirical examination.

The results indicate how facilities management can improve services in cities through the digitalisation of cities and the role of Urban FM. The study will be useful for municipalities in examining how to improve facilities, particularly in cities that aspire to be a Smart City and it is also important for policymakers in considering governance structures to meet sustainable development goals.

The study positions the discipline of facilities management in Smart Cities which has the potential to improve facilities in cities and the development of Urban FM.

“Music is Rhythm, Rhythm is Life.” This maxim, uttered by former Motown drummer Bill “Sticks” Nicks to my class and me a few years back, opens a portal to what being human involves. Most accounts of what it means to be human make cognitive capacities, language and reflective thinking, the be-all and end-all of human distinction. But think about it: how many animals do you know who beat rhythm for aesthetic enjoyment and social communion?

In this essay I reflect upon moments from musical experiences, primarily from blues music, to illustrate the place of the spontaneous gesture and ensemble improvisation in interaction, in and out of the music.

This paper proposes a framework for understanding the concept of a learning organization from a normative perspective. A questionnaire was developed to operationally measure the described management practice attributes of a learning organization. Using a sample of four organizations and 612 subjects, support was found for three a priori predictive hypotheses derived from a conceptual framework. Implications of the results and further empirical research are discussed, especially for linking learning organization attributes to performance using larger samples and multiple measures.

Woman's use of violence has been mainly conceptualised through woman's experiences of victimization. However, more recent perspectives emphasise the female agency, responsibility and meaning of woman's violence. Listening to the voices of victims of women's abuse is a powerful way of learning about woman's use of violence and its impact on the victims. We conducted focus groups with 41 men from four countries who experienced female-perpetrated abuse. Four major types of abuse were identified: psychological abuse and coercive control followed by physical violence and sexual violence. Psychological abuse ranged from verbal assaults and gaslighting to provoking physical altercations and reporting false accusations. Patterns of control included deliberate isolation, threatening false accusations and financial domination. Men reported that women initiated physical violence for various reasons, including jealousy and rage. Some women used different objects that could seriously hurt, including knife, while others slapped, bit, punched or kicked. Several men reported female-perpetrated sexual abuse. Woman's use of violence in the intimate relationship should be treated seriously. A more gender-inclusive approach to partner abuse is required that can focus on a better prevention of abuse for all victims.

This paper aims to investigate the drivers and barriers for green leases and tenancies in sustainable “Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method” (BREEAM) and “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design” (LEED) certified office and office buildings in Norway, the UK and the USA. This study focuses on the differing perspectives between owners and tenants. It is then considered as to how these issues are dealt with during different phases of a buildings life cycle. This research is based on existing literature and semi-structured interviews that studied qualitative and quantitative elements in the context of ownership and tenancy of single and multi-tenanted sustainable office buildings.

Using a mixed-method approach involving semi-structured interviews with both qualitative and quantitative elements along with desk research, this paper evaluates how green leases and tenancies in offices and office buildings that are BREEAM and LEED certified require a reconsideration and re-evaluation of the acquisition, operation and disposal of office buildings by building owners and their tenants. These stakeholder relationships are supported theoretically using a theoretical model that outlines the interrelation between the sustainable building and the relationships of the building owner, the user and the FM service provider.

The data gathered from the interviews justify and partly contradict some of the statements within existing literature, diminishing the importance of cost and the barrier of split incentive but instead illuminate the importance of less tangible considerations such as company policy or a sustainability strategy. The results also note the realisation of a changing market for commercial real estate driven by the sustainable business needs of tenants for the occupation of workspaces.

These findings have the potential to further develop theories and provide an insight into how the relationships between actors from a business, procurement and contractual perspective need to be developed to ensure more proactive development of green leasing of new and existing sustainable office buildings, along with where strategic attention is required during the building design, construction, operational and use phases.

This paper is based on original research through interviews and literature studies supported by an existing theoretical model. The results have been partly presented and initially discussed at the WBC World Congress 2016 in Tampere, Finland.

It's been three years since my previous survey in RSR. Superb reference books in pop music have been appearing so frequently that I've been having trouble keeping up. Let's hope “next year's” survey will only be 12 months in the making and not 36.

Blues music is in the midst of its second revival in popularity in roughly thirty years. The year 1960 can be identified, with some qualification, as a reference point for the first rise in international awareness and appreciation of the blues. This first period of wide‐spread white interest in the blues continued until the early seventies, while the current revival began in the middle 1980s. During both periods a sizeable literature on the blues has appeared. This article provides a thumbnail sketch of the popularity of the blues, followed by a description of scholarly and critical literature devoted to the music. Documentary and instructional materials in audio and video formats are also discussed. Recommendations are made for library collections and a list of selected sources is included at the end of the article.