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The use of imagery in leadership speeches is becoming increasingly important in shaping the beliefs and actions of followers. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of speech imagery and linguistic features employed during the 2008 US Presidential Election campaign.

The authors analysed a total of 264 speeches (160 speeches from Obama and 104 speeches from McCain) delivered throughout the 2008 US Presidential Election and identified 15 speech images used by the two candidates. Both descriptive coding and axial coding approaches were applied to the data and speech images common to both candidates were further subjected to Pennebaker et al. (2003) linguistic inquiry methodology.

The analysis revealed a number of important differences with Obama using inclusive language and nurturing communitarian values, whereas McCain focusing on personal actions and strict, conservative individualistic values. The use of more inclusive language by Obama was found to be significant in three of the five speech images common to both candidates.

The research acknowledges the difficulty of measuring the effectiveness of speech images without taking into account wider factors such as tone of voice, facial expression and level of conviction. It also recognises the heavy use of speechwriters by presidential candidates whilst on the campaign trail, but argues that candidates still exert a strong influence through instructions to speechwriters and that speeches should reflect the candidate’s values and beliefs.

The research findings contribute to the emerging stream of leadership research that addresses language content issues surrounding and embedded in the leadership process. The research argues that leaders’ speeches provide a fertile ground for conducting research and for examining the evolving relationship between leaders and followers.

Purpose: To describe how an approach to instruction that intentionally considers elements of motivation and engagement, intensity of instruction, and cognitive challenge can accelerate the reading achievement of lower-performing readers by giving them access to and support to meet reading and knowledge building with success.

Design: The authors discuss a set of high-leverage practices squarely under the teacher’s control. Grounded in longstanding and rigorous research, the integrated set of practices have been shown time and time again to accelerate achievement beyond typical growth while also intentionally considering the experiences, cultures, and linguistic knowledge students bring to the classroom. The re-conceptualized approach forefronts student agency and engages students in meaningful interactions with text to build knowledge of the world they live in.

Findings: The authors illustrate the comprehensive approach through a composite vignette drawn from work with teachers and students in school and clinical contexts. The focus of the vignette is on the actions of the classroom teacher who is working to meet the needs of three struggling readers within the broader context of her 5th-grade classroom, while also establishing a coherent instructional approach with fellow teachers.

Practical Implications: By re-conceptualizing their approaches to working with struggling readers, teachers increase the likelihood that students will not only develop component skills related to reading but also integrate these components and develop the conceptual expertise that anchors future reading and learning.

Much like “Yeti,” the Abominable Snowman whose footprints are everywhere but itself nowhere to be seen, unfounded assertions of human capital as valuable contributors to strategic success continue to proliferate. Many of these treatments are nonbinding, nonmeasureable, idiosyncratic, tautological, and therefore nearly impossible to use for any comparative market valuation. In this chapter, we selectively review the interdisciplinary literature on exemplars of human-derived capital. We systematically examine specific epistemological strengths, weaknesses, and gaps in recognized theories, measures, and practices. In particular, a multidisciplinary, multilevel, connectionist point of view is suggested. We present the case for an evidence-based classification system of human-derived capital at the micro-, meso-, and macro-levels. Our framework goes beyond static stock models by emphasizing dynamic human-derived capital flows, as well as their within-level and cross-level linkages, all within the context of a modern society that increasingly is networked, fluent with technology, and prodigious with social media.

Presents a special issue, enlisting the help of the author’s students and colleagues, focusing on age, sex, colour and disability discrimination in America. Breaks the evidence down into manageable chunks, covering: age discrimination in the workplace; discrimination against African‐Americans; sex discrimination in the workplace; same sex sexual harassment; how to investigate and prove disability discrimination; sexual harassment in the military; when the main US job‐discrimination law applies to small companies; how to investigate and prove racial discrimination; developments concerning race discrimination in the workplace; developments concerning the Equal Pay Act; developments concerning discrimination against workers with HIV or AIDS; developments concerning discrimination based on refusal of family care leave; developments concerning discrimination against gay or lesbian employees; developments concerning discrimination based on colour; how to investigate and prove discrimination concerning based on colour; developments concerning the Equal Pay Act; using statistics in employment discrimination cases; race discrimination in the workplace; developments concerning gender discrimination in the workplace; discrimination in Japanese organizations in America; discrimination in the entertainment industry; discrimination in the utility industry; understanding and effectively managing national origin discrimination; how to investigate and prove hiring discrimination based on colour; and, finally, how to investigate sexual harassment in the workplace.

Flip‐chip assembly, developed in the early 1960s, is now being positioned as a key joining technology to achieve high‐density mounting of electronic components on to printed circuit boards for high‐volume, low‐cost products. Computer models are now being used early within the product design stage to ensure that optimal process conditions are used. These models capture the governing physics taking place during the assembly process and they can also predict relevant defects that may occur. Describes the application of computational modelling techniques that have the ability to predict a range of interacting physical phenomena associated with the manufacturing process. For example, in the flip‐chip assembly process we have solder paste deposition, solder joint shape formation, heat transfer, solidification and thermal stress. Illustrates the application of modelling technology being used as part of a larger UK study aiming to establish a process route for high‐volume, low‐cost, sub‐100‐micron pitch flip‐chip assembly.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss performance in postgraduate education in Sweden and Scotland. Drawing on two cases, the paper considers three themes: differences in students’ performance by study mode, differences in students’ performance by length of study, and finally comparing performance by study mode between modules in Scotland with an entire programme in Sweden.

The empirical setting from Scotland builds on an evaluation of online and on‐campus study groups with exactly the same module syllabus. The Swedish setting is also based on an evaluation of distance and on‐campus study groups with exactly the same module syllabus. The data compiled in both countries arise from student performance scores and grades.

The results indicate that students in both countries foremost use the virtual learning environment (VLE) as a forum for accessing information, to access asynchronous postings in the forums and access streaming‐synchronous online lectures which are also accessed asynchronously in the VLE. The results show that there are no differences between the grades or test scores between campus students with face‐to‐face education and distance students with electronically (VLE) mediated education. These differences and similarities will form the basis of these reflections in this paper.

The study is limited because the examples given are only a few cases and small samples and there is a need to more rigorously investigate different educational programs in different academic disciplines.

The paper contributes to quality issues in distance, online and campus education by taking into account, in the first case, different student performance in the same course over a longer period and in the second case, changes over time within the same educational program.

The construct of global mindset is one that has gained greater attention recently. This chapter focuses on contextual factors that impact the development of a global mindset. Specifically, the focus is on the cultural context of Canada and the factors in the Canadian context that bridge the gap between the theoretical and the practical, and provide both opportunities and challenges related to developing a global mindset in this context. Developing a global mindset on the part of leaders takes place in particular contexts. In this chapter, the distinguishing aspects of the Canadian cultural context are reviewed. Specifically, the Canadian values of (1) individualism/collectivism balance; (2) egalitarianism; (3) caution, diffidence, dependence and non-violence; (4) consensus building; (5) regionalism; (6) multiculturalism; (7) particularism and tolerance; and (8) deference to authority are shown to be important in this cultural context to the development of a global mindset on the part of leaders. While these factors provide many benefits to supporting such development, they also represent unique cultural challenges for leaders.