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The purpose of this paper is to present what the study of the experiences of beginning teachers and their informal learning says about the process of learning to teach, and to discuss the main emerging themes in relation to a wider literature.

The design of the paper is essentially ethnographic and building of grounded theory, based on an accumulation of data derived from interviews with beginning teachers and connecting to extant theory.

The findings are that a focus on the informal learning of beginners in teaching leads to the notion of learning as becoming that is predominantly emotional and relational in nature with the emergence of teacher identity.

The research is limited in its exploration of the cognitive dimension of professional learning, a dimension which may be elicited using a more tightly focused and structured method.

The implications are that learning to teach is not determined by a professional standard and that a revised standard would need to take account of these findings.

The value of the paper lies in the pursuit of informal learning as a research area in teaching to reveal a greater complexity of learning in that specific professional context; and showing how the understanding of learning to teach can be enriched through a wider appreciation of the school as workplace, workplace learning and connections to a wider philosophical literature.

Conflict styles are typically seen as a response to particular situations. By contrast, we argue that individual conflict styles may shape an employee's social environment, affecting the level of ongoing conflict and thus his or her experience of stress. Using data from a hospital‐affiliated clinical department, we find that those who use a more integrative style experience lower levels of task conflict, reducing relationship conflict, which reduces stress. Those who use a more dominating or avoiding style experience higher levels of task conflict, increasing relationship conflict and stress. We conclude that an employee's work environment is, in part, of his or her own making.

The focus in professional learning is often on formal activities such as workshops, conferences and courses. There is also a tendency to focus on formal programmes of coaching and mentoring in teacher education. Emphasising the formal activities means that everyday informal learning in educational settings is overlooked. Informal coaching and mentoring could be utilised to support teachers' career-long professional learning.

This is a conceptual paper which draws on the author's research and seeks to expand what is considered as professional learning within teacher education – namely, informal coaching and mentoring. To understand how to support this professional learning, the lens of social practice is used with an emphasis on learning environments and learning practices.

Coaching and mentoring can be identified in informal encounters in the staffroom, school corridors and many places and situations. Findings are presented in relation to the importance of informal learning from and with colleagues and the role of headteachers.

More attention has been paid to informal learning, but there is still a need for what could be termed an “informal turn”. Understanding that informal coaching and mentoring afford professional learning opportunities to the teachers who both provide and receive coaching and mentoring can help to support their learning. Recommendations are provided on how educational settings can facilitate and support these professional learning opportunities while preserving their informality.

The purpose of this paper is to reinforce the selective laser sintering (SLS) parts of nylon‐12 using organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT).

A dissolution‐precipitation process is developed to prepare an OMMT/nylon‐12 composite powder (3 wt% OMMT). X‐ray diffraction (XRD) was used to characterize nanostructure features. The dispersion of OMMT in the nylon‐12 matrix was observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The effect of OMMT on the thermal properties of nylon‐12 was studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The mechanical properties of the SLS parts made from the composite powder and neat nylon‐12 powder were measured and compared.

The X‐ray diffraction and SEM results indicate that the OMMT is intercalated by nylon‐12 molecular chains and uniformly dispersed in the nylon‐12 matrix during the dissolution‐precipitation process, and thus the OMMT/nylon‐12 intercalated nanocomposites are formed. The DSC and TGA results show that the OMMT can increase the melting enthalpy, relative crystalline content, crystallization temperature and thermal stability of nylon‐12. The tensile strength, tensile modulus, flexural strength, flexural modulus and impact strength of the SLS specimens made from the composite powder are 23.2, 31.7, 18.7, 32.4 and 8.4 percent higher than those of neat nylon‐12 SLS specimens, respectively, while the elongation at break decreases by 17.5 percent.

The conclusion of forming intercalated nanocomposites was drawn from the XRD results in the present work. Further work should be done to observe the nanostructures of the materials by transmission electron microscope.

A dissolution‐precipitation process was used to prepare OMMT/nylon‐12 composite powders for SLS process. During the preparation process the OMMT could be intercalated by nylon‐12 molecular chains and uniformly dispersed in the nylon‐12 matrix, thus forming the OMMT/nylon‐12 intercalated nanocomposites. Therefore, the mechanical and thermal properties of nylon‐12 SLS parts were enhanced.

The mentoring of beginning teachers has not received enough critical examination. Argues that a body of knowledge does exist which forms a basis for a better theoretical understanding of mentoring as a concept, and as an activity within organizations. By drawing on literature beyond the field of initial teacher education, and on empirical work conducted by the author on the student‐in‐school experience, a case is made for the development of natural mentoring in schools.

This special “Anbar Abstracts” issue of the Industrial and Commercial Training is split into six sections covering abstracts under the following headings:Education/Graduates/Students; Training/Learning Techniques; Skills Training; Management Development; Career/Human Resources Development; Training Technology.

The debate over the standardization and/or localization of marketing strategy has proceeded without a sound theoretical underpinning. Attempts to generate such an underpinning through the development of a conceptualization of the globalization of world markets. Further, and more importantly, presents a three‐step process to assist marketing managers in assessing the appropriateness of strategy implementation. Utilizes the electronics industry as an illustration of the appropriateness of the model. Provides a much‐needed conceptualization of the globalization process and an enumeration of the necessary economic conditions for marketing strategy determination.

The purpose of this paper is to propose and develop PA2200-based composite powder containing 0-15 Wt.% magnesium oxide before directly using it in selective laser sintering (SLS) machine to produce end-use products for low-volume production in the engineering applications with keen focus to meet the functional requirements which rely on material properties.

The methodology reported emphasises PA2200-based composite powder containing 0-15 Wt.% magnesium oxide development for SLS process which starts with preparation and characterisation of composite material, thermal and rheological study of composite material to decide optimum process parameters for SLS process machine to get optimal part properties. Further, to verify composite material properties, a conventional casting methodology is used. The composition of composite materials those possessing good properties are further selected for processing in SLS process under optimal processing parameters.

The process parameters of SLS machine are material-dependent. The effect of temperature in X-ray diffraction profile is negligible in the case of magnesium oxide reinforced PA2200 composite material. The cyclic heating of material increases melting point temperature, this grounds to modify part bed temperature of material every time before processing on SLS machine to uphold build part properties, as well as material. With the rise in temperature, the Melt flow index and rheological property of materials change. The magnesium oxide reinforced PA2200 composite material has high thermal stability than pure PA2200 material. By the addition of small quantity of magnesium oxide, most of the mechanical property and flammability property improves while elongation at break (percentage) decreases significantly.

The proposed PA2200-based composite powder containing 0-15 Wt.% magnesium oxide material development system and casting metrology to verify developed material properties will be very useful to develop new composite material for SLS process with use of less material. The developed methodology has proven, especially in the case where non-experts or student need to develop composite material for SLS process according to the property requirement of applications.

Unlike earlier composite material development methodology, the projected methodology of polymer-based composite material and confirmation of material properties instead of commencing SLS process provides straight forward means for SLS process composite materials development with less use of the material and period of time.

Outlines effective corporate strategy‐marketing strategy relationships in the context of a behavioural segmentation framework for competing in the global marketplace. Evaluates standard, local and regional market strategies in conjunction with cost‐based, customer‐based and innovation‐based corporate strategies. Highlights key corporate strategy‐marketing strategy combinations in a global strategic marketing decision tree. These combinations enhance an organization’s ability to compete effectively in global consumer markets. Utilizes corporate examples to emphasize the effectiveness of these combinations. The premiss of this paper is that corporate strategy drives marketing strategy. Concludes that by recognizing the complex interrelationships between corporate and marketing strategy, organizations may achieve global strategic competitiveness.

The purpose of this paper is to examine information technology and information systems (IT/IS) technology teaching and learning (T&L) as affected by three key factors of tacit knowledge (TK). These factors are the de-contextualization, the faculty and students’ mental model gap and the intrinsic inability of faculty to teach what they know (i.e. the know-how-know what gap).

The approach is based on intensive literature review and synthesis of Nonaka’s socialization, externalization, combination and internalization model and other relevant knowledge management (KM) principles applied to understand the effects of mobilization and nurturing of TK in pedagogical activities and strategies.

This paper demonstrated a holistic view of the role of TK in teaching IT/IS through deep learning activities. It differentiates between faculty and student mental models and the ability of the faculty to convey real-world know-how to students.

This study is by no means comprehensive in exploring the TK contextual dimensions of IT/IS T&L milieus. However, some of the assumptions and factors in this paper are not pertinent to some pedagogical environments.

The activities in this paper introduced new propositions on IT/IS teaching by focusing on TK concepts in light of its challenges. The study could be used by institutes to place emphasis on accommodating TK within effective IT/IS T&L activities.

Drawing on the KM literature and experience, this paper offers new insight into how TK can be innovatively incorporated into a pedagogical landscape.