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Computer programming as a job or profession was unheard of a few years ago. Now thousands of people work at programming. Newspapers are full of advertisements offering high‐paying jobs. Self‐styled institutes display posts practically promising to double your salary if you take their short course in programming.

AK During the past academic year the Computer Board, which is the controlling body for the financing of university computers, has issued its first report, covering the period up to October 1968, which was published as a Command paper in June 1969. Perhaps more significant, in its immediate effects, was that the Board introduced a procedure, in February 1969, whereby each university will be asked to submit, each year, forward estimates of its computing equipment requirements for each of the following three years. The first of such three‐year forward estimates were called for, by the end of the academic year 1968/69, to cover the financial years 1970/71 to 1972/73. Such a rationalization of the Board's procedures must be applauded warmly for it will certainly simplify the Board's own task of producing its five‐year programme. Inevitably though, it has been noticeable that specific applications already in the hands of the Board before the introduction of this new procedure have been held in limbo awaiting an overall assessment of university needs generally. The timing too, and the interplay of academic and financial years, has accentuated this delay.

Across the United States (US), COVID-19 vaccination coverage was lower in rural counties compared to urban counties, exacerbating rural health inequities. While rural communities fall short of the public health goal to vaccinate all who are eligible, most rural residents have chosen to vaccinate for COVID-19. The aim of this study was to better understand rural New Mexicans' attitudes and beliefs about COVID-19 vaccines.

We conducted and analyzed 51 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with adults living in rural New Mexican counties, covering a range of topics related to the pandemic, including vaccines. These interviews were conducted in the Summer of 2021 after the vaccines were widely available to all adults over the age of 18 and youth between the ages of 12–17, but not yet available for children under 12 years.

Two major perspectives were identified: (1) the idea that COVID-19 vaccinations are a tool that individuals can use to achieve freedom and protection and (2) the view which regarded vaccines as an infringement of personal rights and one's autonomy of health. For people who viewed the vaccine as a tool for freedom, several themes emerged, including (1) a preference for vaccine manufacturers, specifically a preference for Pfizer, and (2) frustrations related to vaccine access, specifically, older adults expressed frustrations with the difficulty of scheduling vaccination appointments. However, most participants felt as though they had enough vaccination resources. For people who viewed vaccines (and vaccine mandates) as limiting their freedom, additional themes emerged: (1) overarching distrust of government and the perception that vaccines were an extension of government and (2) distrust in the vaccines themselves, including a perceived lack of research on the vaccines and a perception that the vaccine was developed in too short of a period. Some of the people who hold these beliefs are also vaccinated. We draw from social psychology theories to better understand how people who hold a rural identity come to establish different beliefs and practices compared to larger metropolitan regions. While political identity is a contributor, of our participants, the group who were most likely to report not being vaccinated were the “independent” or “unaffiliated voters.” Our findings can help craft culturally responsive vaccine initiatives for rural communities.

During the last 40 years, the growth and impact of UK business schools have been significant. Relatively few studies have reviewed how business school deans emerge and grow. This paper aims to explore the experiences and psychometric profiles of UK business school leaders to understand their tenures, problems, dilemmas and succession issues.

The study comprised 16 semi‐structured interviews with business school deans and Myers‐Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) questionnaires completed by deans and aspiring deans (associate deans and heads of department). The study uses the executive life cycle and concepts of social capital as theoretical frameworks to understand the dean's role.

The study revealed a pattern of individuals working in their first deanship at their third business school. Their career trajectories highlighted the usefulness of consultancy skills similar to those of a partner in a professional service firm. The importance of the dean's role in terms of business school fit, creating a differentiation strategy and team building were emphasised. The psychometric preferences of the deans in the sample indicated Jungian extroversion, tough mindedness, seeing patterns and making connections, strategic thinking and a tendency to bring issues to closure. Recommendations are made for the development of a more heterogeneous, transnational cadre of business school deans and improved dialogue with heads of universities to understand the positive contribution of business school leaders as changing business models are needed in turbulent times.

There are few explanations of the roles and functioning of business school deans in practice. The insights gained are valuable for business school deans and are, more broadly, of interest to heads of universities and executive search firms. The paper is theoretically and practically relevant to building leadership capabilities in knowledge intensive organisations and professional service firms.

The disparities of COVID-19 vaccination rates between the rural and urban areas have become apparent during this pandemic. There is a need to understand the root causes of vaccine hesitancy demonstrated by the rural population to increase coverage and to contain the disease spread throughout the United States. This study aimed to explore other factors influencing vaccine hesitancy among rural dwellers besides the geography-related barriers such as poor health care access and individuals having no or suboptimal insurance coverage.

By reviewing existing data and literature about vaccination, health literacy, and behaviors, and prevailing ideologies, we discuss the potential causes of vaccine hesitancy in rural areas that could create barriers for successful public health efforts related to vaccine coverage and provide suggestions to ameliorate the situation.

Geography-related barriers, health literacy, and preconceived notions are key determinants of adopting healthy behaviors and complying with public health authorities' recommendations among rural individuals during a public-health crisis. We argue that ideology, which is much deeper than preconception or misconception on vaccination, should be incorporated as a key factor to redefine the term “vulnerable populations” in public health research.

The limitation of our study is that we have not found an effective way to encourage the populations who hold conservative religious and political ideologies to join the efforts for public health. Even though geography-related barriers may strongly impact the rural dwellers in achieving optimal health, the various forms of ideologies they have toward certain health behaviors cannot be discounted to understand and address vaccine-related disparities in rural areas. There is a need to redefine the term “vulnerable population” particularly as it relates to rural areas in the United States. During large-scale public health disasters, scholars and public health authorities should consider the ideologies of individuals, in addition to other factors such as race/ethnicity, area of residence (rural vs. urban), and socioeconomic factors influencing the existing vulnerabilities and health disparities.

The chapters in this book focus on using different types of mediated discourse technologies such as classroom response systems and class replay systems to create technology-rich social learning environments within the classroom. Improvements in low-cost, ubiquitous digital technologies and development of modern learning theories are rapidly changing the manner in which we teach and learn in the postindustrial age. These transformative advancements are also refining our views of what it means to teach and learn in a globalized world. At both the individual and group levels, mediated discourse technologies are becoming more prevalent in higher education as teaching and learning tools across a wide range of disciplines to better engage students and create more participatory and engaging learning environments. Using these technologies in a purposeful manner also has the potential of creating more interesting and enjoyable social learning environments for both instructors and students.

Transactions between a firm and its own managers, directors, principal owners or affiliates are known as related party transactions. Such transactions, which are diverse and often complex, represent a corporate governance challenge. This paper initiates research in finance on related party transactions, which have implications for agency literature. We first explore two alternative perspectives of related party transactions: the view that such transactions are conflicts of interest which compromise management’s agency responsibility to shareholders as well as directors’ monitoring functions; and the view that such transactions are efficient transactions that fulfill rational economic demands of a firm such as the need for service providers with in-depth firm-specific knowledge. We describe related party transactions for a sample of 112 publicly-traded companies, including the types of transactions and parties involved. This paper provides a starting point in related party transactions research.

Anthony ‘Skip’ Basiel has been involved in e-learning in the United Kingdom for almost two decades. His work with the British Council in 2004 won him eTutor of the Year Award with the Higher Education Academy. As an Adobe International Education Leader he has expertise in new media and web video conferencing consulting organizations such as Oxford University. He is an Adobe Certified Associate in Web Communication (2010).

It is of great importance for organizations to identify what can influence employees’ well-being. The theoretical model that the authors propose combines psychological and social determinants of stress at work. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the contribution of work organization conditions, personality traits and their interaction to well-being in a sample of Canadian workers and companies.

Multilevel regression analyses were performed on a sample of 1,957 workers employed in 63 Quebec firms. Work organization conditions included (skill utilization, decision authority, psychological demands, physical demands, job insecurity, irregular schedule, number of working hours, social support from colleagues and supervisors, job promotion, and recognition) and personality traits included (self-esteem, locus of control and Big Five).

Work organization conditions (psychological demands, number of hours worked and job insecurity) and personality (self-esteem, locus of control, extraversion, neuroticism and conscientiousness) were significantly associated with well-being. The results of the analysis show that none of the personality traits included in this study interacts with work organization conditions to explain workers’ level of well-being.

This study provides support for the implementation of human resource management (HRM) practices in order to diminish the presence of stressful working conditions as well as for the eventual development of training programs designed to raise personality traits.