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This book should serve as an admirable introductory text: it is very well written and organized and the approach adopted is sound. Nowadays, when a book on servomechanism theory appears almost monthly, one has misgivings at the publication of yet another one, particularly as many of the American texts are practically indistinguishable from each other. However, the book under review has a character of its own, which would make it form a suitable basis for a university course.

A classification scheme by its notation does not do more than locate the subject; therefore, after the books are classified according to the scheme adopted, a secondary arrangement must be provided for the shelves, whereby books in a given class may be arranged in some order to accelerate finding and to differentiate one book from another. There are several methods in vogue of so arranging books in a given class, but one's choice will be, to some extent, determined by the System of issue in use. The usual methods are by:—

Regulators such as Turner have identified excessive securitization, high leverage, extensive market trading and a bonus culture, as being major factors in bringing about the bank centred financial crisis of 2007‐2009. Whilst it is inevitable that banks adopt procyclical business strategies, not all banks took excessive risks and subsequently had to be rescued by taxpayers. The paper examines the extent to which individual bank outcomes can be attributed to systematic differences in banking knowledge concerning the primary risks and value drivers of their organisations by bank board directors and top management.

The paper reviews a wide range of theoretical, historical and empirical literatures on banking models and detailed case analyses of failing and non‐failing banks. A framework for understanding the role and application of knowledge in banking is developed which suggests how banks, despite their pro‐cyclical business strategies, are able to institutionalise learning and actively create new knowledge through time to improve bank organisation, intermediation and risk management.

The paper finds that a lack of basic knowledge of banking risks and value drivers by the boards and senior managers of the failing banks were implicated in the banking crisis. These knowledge problems concerned banks' understanding of their organisation, intermediation and risk management in an active market setting characterised by rapid economic and organisational change. Thus, the failing banks ignored or were unaware of this knowledge and hence experienced acute difficulties with learning the new knowledge needed to address the new problems thrown‐up by the financial crisis.

The analysis suggests that addressing this knowledge gap via the institutionalisation of banking knowledge ought to constitute an important element of any sustainable solution to the problems currently being experienced by the banking sector. By ensuring greater bank learning, knowledge creation, and knowledge use, governments and regulators could help reduce individual bank risk and the likelihood of future crisis.

In contrast to the claims made by some politicians and banking insiders, the analysis indicates that the banking crisis and its severity were neither unpredictable nor unavoidable since some banks, by institutionalising banking knowledge and history of past crises, successfully avoided the pitfalls experienced by the failing banks.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the evolution of China's securities market regulation from 1980 to 2007 and the dual role of the government in this process.

When the government is simultaneously the owner and regulator of the securities market, the evolution of securities market regulation follows a path of compulsory institutional change. China's Government authorities have played a dual role in this process by acting both as the securities market regulator and the controlling owner of the stock exchanges. The paper uses the evolution of China's securities market regulation from 1980 to 2007 to illustrate this theoretical framework.

Using the case of China, this paper provides unique evidence of how securities regulation evolves in response to government direction and supervision if the government is both the owner and the regulator of the securities market.

The paper offers insight into issues of securities market regulation in China and other emerging markets.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the way in which the insurance industry is facing the renewal of its regulatory framework with respect to the levels of solvency that insurance entities should maintain. This paper also addresses how technological initiatives in general, and the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL), in particular, are making a key contribution to the process of adaptation to the new regulation.

The paper analyses the particular advantages that the application of the XBRL standard can offer in this process, and highlight new lines for further research.

After analysing the current situation of the insurance industry, the paper concludes that technological systems, such as XBRL, are necessary to support the consolidation of financial information, and to ensure the digital transparency of the insurer organisations that are engaged in this new regulatory challenge.

XBRL is a key resource in the European Common Reporting Project whose objective is the implementation of Basel II in the European Union. The implementation of Solvency II can benefit from this previous experience. Therefore, it suggest a proposal for action.

The affiliation of the authors to the insurance sector, the academia and the XBRL community contributes to create a complete view of the possibilities of this breaking project.

The purpose of this paper is to review the issues, difficulties, importance for public policy and current initiatives associated with developing a more comprehensive national accounting framework in relation to public and private sector investments in intangible assets.

The paper analyses and evaluates the most salient statistics on intangible asset investments and the implications for public and private sector policy makers.

The UK economy has a high representation of firms and activities that invest in intangible assets that are not traditionally included in national accounts and that their exclusion has a significant impact on the UK's apparent growth and productivity performance.

The paper discusses a range of measurement and other difficulties in significantly developing a comprehensive national accounting framework that fully incorporates the impact of intangible asset investments upon national growth and productivity metrics.

What has emerged in large organizations is the use of hybrid language of abstractions, jargon, euphemisms, and complex syntax known as bureacratease. Often this misuse of language is done with the purpose of deceiving and misinforming. Whether or not this was the intent, however, the result of bureaucratees is often just that along with the breakdown of communication between the organization and the clientele it serves. Moreover, there is insufficient research devoted to this phenomenon. Borrowing from Wittgenstein, this article offers a model for understanding bureaucratese and attempts to move the field of public administration toward a theory of this misuse of language in organization.

Given the complex nature of integrated care systems (ICSs), the geographical spread and the large number of organisations involved in partnership delivery, the importance of leadership cannot be overstated. This paper aims to present novel findings from a rapid realist review of ICS leadership in England. The overall review question was: how does leadership in ICSs work, for whom and in what circumstances?

Development of initial programme theories and associated context–mechanism–outcome configurations (CMOCs) were supported by the theory-gleaning activities of a review of ICS strategies and guidance documents, a scoping review of the literature and interviews with key informants. A refined programme theory was then developed by testing these CMOCs against empirical data published in academic literature. Following screening and testing, six CMOCs were extracted from 18 documents. The study design, conduct and reporting were informed by the Realist And Metanarrative Evidence Syntheses: Evolving Standards (RAMESES) training materials (Wong et al., 2013).

The review informed four programme theories explaining that leadership in ICSs works when ICS leaders hold themselves and others to account for improving population health, a sense of purpose is fostered through a clear vision, partners across the system are engaged in problem ownership and relationships are built at all levels of the system.

Despite being a rigorous and comprehensive investigation, stakeholder input was limited to one ICS, potentially restricting insights from varied geographical contexts. In addition, the recent establishment of ICSs meant limited literature availability, with few empirical studies conducted. Although this emphasises the importance and originality of the research, this scarcity posed challenges in extracting and applying certain programme theory elements, particularly context.

This review will be of relevance to academics and health-care leaders within ICSs in England, offering critical insights into ICS leadership, integrating diverse evidence to develop new evidence-based recommendations, filling a gap in the current literature and informing leadership practice and health-care systems.

A briefing on the phenomenon of economically targeted investments. Where they are used and why they exist. If you are at all involved with public pension funds, this is must reading.

Revertex services to Northern customers have been strengthened with the completion of extensions to the Ossett factory, laboratory and offices. The extensions include a new technical service laboratory and larger sales offices, and the staffing at Ossett is being increased appropriately to provide a full, on the spot service to the Northern Area.