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Aims to investigate reactions to online delivery, student perceptions of the rates and depth of participation, and levels of engagement with the learning process in a Western Australian University.

The sample for this study comprised 108 students who were enrolled in both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. An interpretative method was adopted using a case study approach, with groups of internal and external students within one education department. This method was more appropriate than a more quantitative approach.

The results indicated that, while the students were technically competent overall, issues associated with equity and access varied between the groups and also between students enrolled in the same units. The sample had also re‐conceptualised the notion of “personal” which moved beyond simple physical proximity to enable the students to create their own community of learners.

Addresses the challenge for universities and instructional designers on how to increase the level and depth of interactivity in the online environment to further empower students to become independent learners.

The purpose of this paper is to present new empirical data on leases, energy management, and energy meters in the UK, with a particular focus on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and other “minor” players. The paper develops a new segmentation model that identifies six different combinations of energy and organizational conditions.

The authors surveyed participants in an online energy management and data analytics service. A 30-question online survey gathered data from 31 respondents on three kinds of infrastructure – legal, organizational, and technical.

SMEs and other minor players are generally “data poor,” lack energy managers, and have legacy meters that are read only annually or quarterly; some rent via leases that inhibit permanent alterations to the premises, including the meter.

The research is exploratory and subject to self-selection bias. Further research is needed into: lease language, governance structures, social practices to facilitate cooperation between tenants and landlords; the scope for energy management positions in small organizations; low-cost “smart-er” meters that can be reversibly retrofitted onto existing energy meters; and the combination of these areas.

Organizations may need to augment a combination of legal, organizational, and technical infrastructures to enable better energy management.

SMEs and other “minor” energy users are important to society and the economy, yet they are often overlooked by government programs. This developing data set can help policymakers include these groups in their programs.

This paper presents a new conceptual framework for future research and new empirical data on understudied groups.

The post‐World War ? period has been one of intense development activity throughout the world. Lesser developed countries have showed significant economic growth throughout this time‐span. Among the many consequences which are attributed to development, changes in gender relations are often mentioned. However, prior research has been unable to establish conclusively how economic development is related to gender inequality, particularly as this is referenced by women's participation in important economic activities. For example, some researchers have found that as development increases, women's participation in and return from the economy declines, others that it increases, and several have suggested it first declines then increases. Similar uncertainties exist about how an increasing emphasis on producing goods for export, and the often‐accompanying reliance on foreign investment, affects women's work. Recent research also suggests that the consequences of development are more diverse than previously thought. Recognition of the diversity requires greater specification of the links between developmental diversity and women's labor force participation.

The purpose of this paper is to argue that gossip is a neglected aspect of organizational communication and knowledge, and an under-used management resource.

The paper challenges mainstream managerial assumptions that gossip is trivial or tainted talk which should be discouraged in the workplace. Instead, gossip is re-framed at an organizational level of analysis, which provides the opportunity for relational knowledge about systemic failure and poor practice in healthcare to surface.

Rather than simply viewing gossip as an individual behaviour and interpersonal process, it is claimed that organizational gossip is also a valuable early warning indicator of risk and failure in healthcare systems. There is potentially significant value in re-framing gossip as an aspect of organizational communication and knowledge. If attended to (rather than neglected or silenced) gossip can provide fresh insights into professional practice, decision making and relational leadership.

This paper offers a provocative challenge to mainstream health organization and management thinking about gossip in the workplace. It offers new ways of thinking to promote patient safety, and prevent the scandals that have plagued healthcare organizations in recent years.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the similarities and differences of legal responses to older adults who may be at risk of harm or abuse in the UK, Ireland, Australia and the USA.

The authors draw upon a review of elder abuse and adult protection undertaken on behalf of the commissioner for older people in Northern Ireland. This paper focusses on the desk top mapping of the different legal approaches and draws upon wider literature to frame the discussion of the relative strengths and weaknesses of the different legal responses.

Arguments exist both for and against each legal approach. Differences in defining the scope and powers of adult protection legislation in the UK and internationally are highlighted.

This review was undertaken in late 2013; while the authors have updated the mapping to take account of subsequent changes, some statutory guidance is not yet available. While the expertise of a group of experienced professionals in the field of adult safeguarding was utilized, it was not feasible to employ a formal survey or consensus model.

Some countries have already introduced APL and others are considering doing so. The potential advantages and challenges of introducing APL are highlighted.

The introduction of legislation may give professionals increased powers to prevent and reduce abuse of adults, but this would also change the dynamic of relationships within families and between families and professionals.

This paper provides an accessible discussion of APL across the UK and internationally which to date has been lacking from the literature.

This paper reports a local newspaper digitisation project carried out by the Norfolk Library and Information Service. The project is unique because it is to date the only UK public library project to digitise and index a significant proportion of a newspaper collection. The paper opens with a review of some of the issues in newspaper access and preservation. It then describes how the Norfolk Library and Information Service project was carried out, and offers an assessment of how successfully the project addresses access and preservation issues. The paper concludes that the project should be seen as a success, although the costs involved, and the general unresolved issue of digital preservation means that it is not a practical option for most libraries. Greater information sharing from completed projects is needed, as this will provide a key to future success in other projects.

On April 2, 1987, IBM unveiled a series of long‐awaited new hardware and software products. The new computer line, dubbed the Personal Systems 30, 50, 60, and 80, seems destined to replace the XT and AT models that are the mainstay of the firm's current personal computer offerings. The numerous changes in hardware and software, while representing improvements on previous IBM technology, will require users purchasing additional computers to make difficult choices as to which of the two IBM architectures to adopt.

Life studies are a rich source for further research on the role of the Afro‐American woman in society. They are especially useful to gain a better understanding of the Afro‐American experience and to show the joys, sorrows, needs, and ideals of the Afro‐American woman as she struggles from day to day.