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The purpose of this paper is to offer a concise survey and comparison of Italian accounting research and academic publications during the second half of the 20th century.

The paper discusses the special relation between economia aziendale (business and public economics) and ragioneria (accounting) in Italy. The subsequent discussion on “financial accounting” includes a sub‐section on income‐orientation (vs capital‐orientation), especially important in Italy during this period, and the present crisis of economia aziendale as affecting ragioneria, contributions by major Italian accountants of the period (above all, Onida and Amaduzzi) are discussed. After a section on “cost and managerial accounting” (of less significance in Italy than financial accounting), and a look at “novel accounting trends”, the paper closes with a discussion of some representative historical studies of the period.

The paper reveals the changing international position of Italian accounting research.

The paper is limited by selecting the most prominent and relevant contributions among a host of pertinent publications.

In contrast to previous research, the paper offers an integrated survey of major Italian accounting publications of the entire second half of the 20th century.

The purpose of this paper is to perform a comparative assessment on working of the existed subassembly identification (SI) methods, which are widely practiced during the product development stage and to propose an improved method for solving the SI problem in assembly sequence planning (ASP).

The cut-set method is found as a suitable method among various knowledge-based methods such as the theory of loops, theory of connectors and theory of clusters for the workability enhancement to meet the current requirements. Necessary product information is represented in the matrix format by replacing the traditional AND/OR graphs and the advanced predicates are included in the evaluation criteria.

The prominent methods in SI are followed a few of the predicates to avoid complexity in solution generation. The predicate consideration is found as the most influencing factor in eliminating the infeasible part combinations at SI. However, the quality of identified subassemblies without advanced predicates is not influencing the solution generation phase but practical applicability is affecting adversely.

The capability of performing SI by the cut-set method is improved to deal with the complex assembly configurations. The improved method is tested by applying on different assembly configurations and the effectiveness is compared with other existent methods of ASP along with the conventional method.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the evolution and use of the school desk in unified Italy as a multifunctional and highly efficient tool, which was required not only to efficiently support in-class activities, to facilitate the classroom management and finally to maintain a correct body posture in order to preserve pupils’ health, but also to accomplish the additional task of working as real “gymnastic equipment”, i.e. suitable for performing various gymnastic exercises inside the classroom.

The assumption upon which this paper rests is that school desks have always been signifiers charged with multiple meanings related to the evolution of curriculum, pedagogic ideas and daily school practices, which have often been forgotten, abandoned or, for some reasons, underrepresented in the official history of education as well as in the collective memory of school. In order to rebuild this forgotten history, and retrace the possible theoretical-pedagogical basis underlying such practice, the authors have systematically reviewed the Italian manuals on gymnastics between desks from the 1870s to the 1970s, retraced sources documenting this practice in the daily school life (government rules, school programmes, school hygiene prescriptions, iconographic sources, teachers and school managers’ testimonies) and finally, compared with other foreign practices (such as “calisthenics”).

The convergence between many differentiated sources has demonstrated the longevity of this school practice, which was not only the fruit of educational theories of gymnastic teachers but was also determined by the backwardness and logistic inadequacies of many Italian schools. The paper reveals how this gymnastic practice, after establishing itself in the post-Unification Italian schools, continued almost uninterrupted until the Second World War and even until the 1970s, evidencing how gymnastic teachers, hygienists, educationalists and lawmakers continued, over almost a century, to scientifically legitimise (from the top downwards) an educational practice that was actually driven from the bottom upwards, i.e. determined by an endemic lack of adequate spaces and tools for physical education in Italian schools.

For the very first time, the special source of Italian manuals and booklets on gymnastics between desks has been located, analysed and systematically reviewed for the period 1870s-1970s, and then cross-checked against differentiated sources. This study actually represents the first step of a research which must be still further developed. Undoubtedly, the “new” source represented by the manuals of “gymnastics between school desks” offered a first original perspective from which to explore the use of this furniture in the school of the past, thereby enabling historians of education to shed the first light on a school practice that has been overlooked or forgotten, and still hidden within the “black box of schooling”.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the existing body of work in the area of Islamic microfinance by examining the co‐operative nature of Islamic financial services providers (IFSPs) in Australia.

The method employed in this study is a mixture of one of the authors' post‐graduate research and their personal experience, curiosity and association with this industry.

Islamic financial cooperatives, relevant government authorities and Islamic micro‐lenders in Australia should cautiously examine the following opportunities for the development of Islamic microfinance in Australia: merging of Islamic cooperatives with each other for their future growth and development through attracting more capital; integration of microfinancing Islamic investment and retail banking facilities to provide the twin engines of fulfilling communities' religious needs and Australia's economic development; and introducing more creative Islamic microfinance techniques to suit the financial needs of individuals and groups to facilitate their contribution in the country's economic development.

The paper offers: an introduction to the emergence and development of Islamic microfinance in Australia; studies the current realities of the Islamic financial system of Australia from the perspective of Islamic microfinance contracting perspectives; explains the key role of IFSPs in Australia in fulfilling the microfinance needs of Muslim community; and examines the Islamic microfinance techniques they use.

Examination of the issues of the study is undertaken aiming at introducing Islamic microfinance with relevant parties including government authorities and Islamic micro‐lenders in Australia to find it as a viable alternative system of financing for Muslims in Australia.