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A research paper on the design and implementation of an e-learning resource responding to the globalisation of education. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the challenges presented in learning and teaching on how to support international postgraduate (PG) students undertaking the specific task of a dissertation.

Using findings from 250 PG students, 40 supervisors and two module tutors the research identified the content and language issues faced by students and recognised the need to design an enabler supporting the latter as independent learners and the academic staff delivering support.

The e-learning tool provides an independent learning tool which addresses student concerns relating to the process and content of structuring a dissertation and the function of language. Initial responses have been positive from both staff and students in respect to providing a source of student support and feedback.

The research shows how the Dissertation Game Model (DGM), evolved into an e-learning resource supporting student understanding of the content, structure, planning and writing of a dissertation. The e-learning tool focuses on helping international students understand what the generic contents of each chapter of a dissertation should contain and supports them in engaging in research as a transferable skill.

This research provides accounting-ethics authors and administrators with a benchmark for accounting-ethics research. While Bernardi and Bean (2010) considered publications in business-ethics and accounting’s top-40 journals this study considers research in eight accounting-ethics and public-interest journals, as well as, 34 business-ethics journals. We analyzed the contents of our 42 journals for the 25-year period between 1991 through 2015. This research documents the continued growth (Bernardi & Bean, 2007) of accounting-ethics research in both accounting-ethics and business-ethics journals. We provide data on the top-10 ethics authors in each doctoral year group, the top-50 ethics authors over the most recent 10, 20, and 25 years, and a distribution among ethics scholars for these periods. For the 25-year timeframe, our data indicate that only 665 (274) of the 5,125 accounting PhDs/DBAs (13.0% and 5.4% respectively) in Canada and the United States had authored or co-authored one (more than one) ethics article.

Direct payments in mental health services have come a long way in the last few years, but are personal budgets and the increasing prominence of social care in policy terms having detrimental effects on their success? While most people agree that direct payments are a good idea, in reality less than five per cent of those eligible to use community care services actually use them. Realising the government's intention of ‘prevention, early intervention, enablement, and high quality personally tailored services’ still has a way to go.

This paper aims to identify the ethical foundations and principles underpinning the learning organization (LO) concept.

By interviewing one thought leader in the field, Professor Robin Snell, this paper traces how his early days in academia shaped the development of an ethics-driven research agenda on LO.

An ethical perspective advocates the importance of establishing a covenant or constitutional foundation of rights that would enable and empower organizational members at all levels to enact the processes of LOs, thus signifying the importance of employee development and a more sustainable approach for developing LO.

A personal reflection of Robin Snell on his own academic career development and research trajectory offers some insights into how an ethical perspective of LO evolved and flourished as a field of study.

Search trees presented in this article control system responses and determine appropriate subject searching approaches to user queries. Users do not explicitly choose a particular approach. Rather, systems respond with an approach based on the extent to which queries match the catalog's controlled vocabulary and produce retrievals. The benefit of incorporating search trees into online bibliographic systems is the ability to place the responsibility of determining which approach produces the best results on the system.

Teachers are central to the learning of their students, and teacher learning is integral to teaching quality. In this study, six teachers who had recently completed the National Board assessment in the Middle Childhood/Generalist certificate area were interviewed over a six-month period about the effects of the certification process on their views and practices. Overall, the six teachers described changes in their practices for each of the eleven standards, with nearly all of the teachers describing changes in three areas in particular – reflection, assessment, and family involvement. In addition, most of them reported that the certification experience increased their confidence as teachers in part because it validated their current practice and in part because others treated them with more respect. Overall, four of the six teachers described their experience as having had a significant positive effect on their practice, with one teacher characterizing the effect as modest, while another reported little change. The teacher who reported few changes did so because she believed that her practices were already consistent with the National Board vision. A number of features of the National Board certification process appeared to contribute to the professional development of these teachers, including the standards themselves, the portfolio process (but not the assessment center exercises), writing structured commentaries, and collaborating with colleagues.

This paper has been produced as part of a research project that seeks to generate knowledge about the process of implementation of Activity Based Management (ABM). Implementation is identified as important by Robin Cooper, (Cooper, 1996) thus “the focus of research must broaden to include studies of the problems associated with implementing new cost management techniques”. The project is informed by the research literature addressing cooperation between practitioners and academics, (for example Kaplan, 1994; Scapens 1980, 1994; Spicer, 1992). Our aim in this paper is to meet the objective attributed to Ken Merchant (Drysdale, 1996) “it is the role of the researcher to go to managers and determine what their problems are, and to help managers articulate these”. It also takes account of the preceding research into activity based techniques, including recent work funded by CIMA (Friedman & Lyne, 1995; Innes and Mitchell, 1995). Friedman & Lyne found that the consequences of implementing these techniques were significant for management accountants, and had far reaching organisational consequences.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.

The purpose of this paper is to show how data analytics can be used to identify areas of potential cost savings for category managers of installation-level services. Using integrated solid waste management (ISWM) as a test case, the authors also examine the impact of small business set-asides on price and contractor performance.

The authors use data analytics, specifically sequential regression, the Wilcoxon rank-sum test and ordered logistic regression to investigate the influence of service- and contracting-related variables on price and contractor performance.

The authors find that service- and contracting-related variables influence price. Specifically, they identify that a service-related variable, number of containers, significantly affects price, and that two contracting-related variables, one type of small business set-aside and the number of offers received, also significantly affect price. The authors quantify the price premiums paid for using various types of small business set-asides.

Although the findings were significant, the authors believe that the robustness of the conclusions could be enhanced if the Air Force captured more data. Additional observations would increase the generalizability of the results.

This empirical experiment demonstrates that detailed analyses are required to gain insights into services’ price drivers to craft more appropriate category management strategies for installation-level services.

This empirical study shows how historical data can be used to assess price drivers of installation-level services. It is also one of the first to quantify the impact that small business set-asides have on price.