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The purpose of this paper is to identify the barriers that higher education (HE) work-based learners face when constructing experiential learning claims through reflective narratives.

A survey of 38 part-time, HE undergraduate work-based learners was conducted. A questionnaire was designed comprising Likert scale and open ended questions to capture students’ experiences of constructing experiential learning claims.

The study found that students experience several learning barriers including the diversity and complexity of reflective learning models, the solitary nature of reflective learning, problems articulating tacit knowledge in writing, emotional barriers to reflective learning, accurately recalling “historic” learning experiences and difficulties in developing the meta-competence of learning to learn.

Consideration should be given to assisting learners to develop the skills necessary to select and use reflective learning models that best fit particular experiential learning contexts. Learners should be encouraged to undertake group reflection in the classroom and in the workplace to enable them to write critical reflective narratives that have integrity. There should be less reliance on written reflective narratives to evidence tacit knowledge with consideration given to other methods such as practical demonstrations, videos presentations and interviews.

The study contributes to knowledge of the barriers that students face when constructing experiential learning claims through reflective narratives. It proposes an outline pedagogical scaffolding framework to assist learners to develop recognition of prior learning (RPL) claims to enable them to maximise opportunities for claiming credits through universities RPL processes.

Utilising data from 18 in‐depth case studies, this study seeks to explore training, development and human resource development (HRD) practices in European call centres. It aims to argue that the complexity and diversity of training, development and HRD practices is best understood by studying the multilayered contexts within which call centres operate. Call centres operate as open systems and training, development and HRD practices are influenced by environmental, strategic, organisational and temporal conditions.

The study utilised a range of research methods, including in‐depth interviews with multiple stakeholders, documentary analysis and observation. The study was conducted over a two‐year period.

The results indicate that normative models of HRD are not particularly valuable and that training, development and HRD in call centres is emergent and highly complex.

This study represents one of the first studies to investigate training and development and HRD practices and systems in European call centres.

Knight's Industrial Law Reports goes into a new style and format as Managerial Law This issue of KILR is restyled Managerial Law and it now appears on a continuous updating basis rather than as a monthly routine affair.

The focus of this study was to analyze crisis management in a context of high-reliability organizations (HRO) evidenced in two cases of Brazilian air disasters. Aspects of human and technological natures were examined, addressing the complex sociotechnical system.

This in-depth case study addressed the two most serious air disasters on Brazilian territory. The first case involved a midair collision between Gol Flight 1907 and the Legacy jet. In the second case, TAM flight 3054 had difficulty braking when landing at the airport and crashed into a building. Data were collected from official disaster documents.

The results revealed that the management and operational activities aimed to maintain the necessary conditions that prioritize a high level of reliability. High reliability mainly involves concern over failure, reluctance to accept simplified interpretations, sensitivity to operations, commitment to resilience and detailed structure specifications.

The implications are based on alerting highly reliable organizations, emphasizing the focus on managing more reliably, resiliently and conscientiously. Changes will be required in the operations of organizations seeking to learn to manage unexpected events and respond quickly to continually improve the responsiveness of their services.

In the perspective of an intrinsic case study for crisis management in a context of HRO and disaster risk management, the originality of this study lies in its examination of the paradoxical nature of control within the systems of dangerous operations in complex organizations, as well as their contradictions in a high-reliability system.

There has been a growing concern about air quality because in recent years, industrial and vehicle emissions have resulted in unsatisfactory human health conditions. There is an urgent need for the measurements and estimations of particulate pollutants levels, especially in urban areas. As a contribution to this issue, the purpose of this paper is to use data from measured concentrations of particulate matter and meteorological conditions for the predictions of PM₁₀.

The procedure included daily data collection of current PM₁₀ concentrations for the city of São Carlos-SP, Brazil. These data series enabled to use an estimator based on artificial neural networks. Data sets were collected using the high-volume sampler equipment (VFA-MP10) in the period ranging from 1997 to 2006 and from 2014 to 2015. The predictive models were created using statistics from meteorological data. The models were developed using two neural network architectures, namely, perceptron multilayer (MLP) and non-linear autoregressive exogenous (NARX) inputs network.

It was observed that, over time, there was a decrease in the PM₁₀ concentration rates. This is due to the implementation of more strict environmental laws and the development of less polluting technologies. The model NARX that used as input layer the climatic variables and the PM₁₀ of the previous day presented the highest average absolute error. However, the NARX model presented the fastest convergence compared with the MLP network.

The presentation of a given PM₁₀ concentration of the previous day improved the performance of the predictive models. This paper brings contributions with the NARX model applications.

This paper, which is part of a wider research process, identifies the categories of quality management, from the answers provided by those responsible for quality in 106 certified firms, in order to determine the importance of these categories, identify areas for improvement to progress beyond ISO 9000 quality management system series and compare our results with other studies in Spain. We conclude by indicating a set of recommendations for managers of certified firms which wish to progress beyond ISO 9000 series registration advancing towards total quality.