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Veincheck is a biometric system which uses back‐of‐hand vein patterns to verify an individual's identity. A biometric system can be loosely defined as a means of verifying an individual's identity by analysis of a physiological feature or a characteristic action. There are a wide variety of biometric systems under development ranging from signature to fingerprint to voice. Biometric systems are often compared on the basis of their False Accept Rates (FAR) and False Reject Rates (FRR). These rates are also referred to as Type 1 and Type 2 errors respectively. The acceptable values and the relative importance for these error rates varies from application to application. It is generally agreed that error rates of much less than 1 per cent are needed before deploying a biometric system for use by the general public.

The implementation of various management systems and standards has become an important activity for organisations irrespective of their size, sector or nature of the business. Even with a history of implementing change across the organisation, managers continue to experience resistance and challenges when implementing and maintaining the systems/standards, whether they be in quality, occupational health and safety, environmental or any other area. Based on a major research project recently completed, this paper presents the critical success factors for successful implementation of an environmental management system. The project involved three phases of fieldwork: preliminary interviews, a questionnaire survey and in‐depth interviews. A brief summary of the findings from each of these phases of research is presented. Based on the findings, the paper discusses the critical success factors for the successful implementation and maintenance of EMS.

CIRCULAR 452. MINISTRY OF HEALTH, Whitehall, S.W.1. 8th November, 1923. SIR, I am directed by the Minister of Health to forward for the information of the Local Authority the enclosed copy of the Public Health (Dried Milk) Regulations, 1923, prescribing the labelling and composition of dried milk. The Regulations will come into operation on the 1st May, 1924.

This study develops an integrated theory about how Total Quality Management (TQM) based capabilities can be leveraged for Environmentally Responsible Manufacturing (ERM). It suggests that efforts should be coordinated to take advantage of the potential synergies between TQM and ERM. The means for capturing these synergies might be accomplished by using the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) framework. The MBNQA framework was adapted to address environmental issues and it was shown that the framework can be used as a basis for an integrative definition of ERM. This adaptation of the MBNQA framework suggests that there is an environmental version of the MBNQA framework and that quality principles can be seamlessly integrated into the practice of managing environmental issues. However, an empirical examination of the linkage between TQM and ERM remains untested. The findings of this study provide an important foundation for accomplishing this goal.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate why developing country suppliers are adopting socially sustainable practices and how the implementation process is both impeded and enabled.

A multi-case study approach is adopted based on four ready made garment (RMG) industry suppliers in Bangladesh and the Bangladeshi buying houses of two large UK retailers. The primary mode of data collection is exploratory face-to-face interviews with 14 senior representatives. Findings are later interpreted using the transaction cost economics (TCE) theory lens.

One factor motivating implementation is labour retention – a skilled labour shortage means employees will migrate to other factories if suppliers do not improve certain social standards. Barriers to implementation include a misalignment between the requirements of western codes of conduct and the cultural and socio-economic context in Bangladesh. Enablers include a shift from auditing and monitoring to more open dialogue and trust between buyers and suppliers. The paper also reveals evidence of mock compliance, e.g. suppliers keeping two sets of timesheets, and of the complexities of social sustainability. For example, while some initiatives are unanimously positive, removing child labour from RMG industry suppliers has simply diverted it to other, less regulated and more hazardous industries such as construction.

An early, exploratory contribution is provided. The work could be extended, e.g. to other stakeholders such as third-party auditors and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).

Being aware of the motivations, barriers and enablers will help multi-national corporations (MNCs) promote good practice and anticipate the challenges they are likely to face in improving the social sustainability of their supply chains. Use of TCE leads to suggesting MNCs need to move beyond immediate suppliers and incorporate tier-two suppliers in implementation efforts.

Social sustainability improvements should benefit vulnerable workers, help suppliers develop longer term relationships with MNCs, and contribute to economic growth.

Most prior studies have been in the context of developed countries and focused on the perspective of the buying firm only.

A sustainability audit of Holme Lacy College is described. The approach adopted a “triple bottom line” assessment, comprising a number of key steps: a scoping review utilising a revised Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors project appraisal tool; an environmental impact assessment based on ecological footprinting and a social and economic impact assessment. The college has a number of unsustainable features. Its ecological footprint is equivalent to 296 ha and some 866 tonnes of CO₂ were emitted from the site over a one‐year period. The social impact of the college and its staff is significant over a wide range of stakeholders and the region. The economic impact indicates that the college contributes up to £5.3 million to the local and regional economy.

The purpose of this paper is to explore adaptable Buddhist teachings in economic circumstances, and provide a firm theoretical foundation for a possible Buddhist management approach. It aims to show that the application of Buddhist practical wisdom is contributing to achieve more beneficial economic outcome and management practices.

The paper is overviewing the Buddhist teachings, which aims at the cessation of suffering. It emphasizes tenets influencing right livelihood and economic practice. Further it investigates the mainstream economic system and Buddhist economics. It compares the two economic approaches by making parallel constructions of them, and reveals the foundation of a new management approach stem from the Buddhist view of economic affairs.

The application of the Buddhist values of mindfulness, non-harming and compassion in management practice serves adequate solutions to the most pressing issues of economics, since it is inherently fair, just and economically efficient. It allows an individually-, socially- and environmentally friendly management praxis by employing a minimizing framework.

The evidence that doing business in the Buddhist way is economically efficient is the foundation of an alternative management practice. Thus, managers and entrepreneurs are encouraged to employ a Buddhist way for management.

Applying Buddhist teachings to economics alleviates the most pressing problems of the society. It contributes to equality, justice and the cessation of poverty by ensuring basic necessities to people.

The paper sets up a parallel investigation of Buddhism, mainstream economics, and Buddhist economics by making a parallel model of them. It contrasts neoclassical economics with Buddhist economics, and ensures a firm foundation for Buddhist management approaches.

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on how the social‐theoretical work of Pierre Bourdieu (1931‐2001) could contribute to knowledge production on accountability.

The paper draws on Bourdieu's conceptualisation of social practice in terms of a field/habitus relation, and uses this relation as a framing mechanism to explore the possibilities of accountability in corporate‐stakeholder relations.

The authors argue that Bourdieu's work holds significant implications for academics operating in the political space relating to accountability because it informs a basis for academic intervention.

Included in the paper are a critique of the dominant “liberal” position on accountability and a defence of the development of a “post‐liberal” alternative.

It is argued that this alternative requires moving away from the dominant procedural approach to practice and recognising the value of informal communication and non‐institutional action as equally valid routes towards accountability.

Reflecting on Bourdieu's position reminds us of the explicit link between political and methodological change, and highlights the necessity for these to be inextricably linked.

Fatigue, occurring in an average healthy individual, under ordinary conditions of life, and while foodstuffs of a very usual character are being ingested, is an indication of an inability on the part of the organism to meet, with sufficient rapidity, the demands of the body created by wear and tear. It is an association of defective oxidation and the undue accumulation of waste products in the tissues and blood, and is in a very large percentage of cases caused solely by a deficiency in the average dietary of to‐day of one or more of those mineral elements which are essential to life. That mineral substances are indispensable to life has been fully demonstrated, for it has been shown that animals fed upon proteins, carbohydrates, and fats, which have been rendered as ash‐free as possible, perish even more rapidly than if they are deprived of food altogether.

The Howard Shuttering Contractors case throws considerable light on the importance which the tribunals attach to warnings before dismissing an employee. In this case the tribunal took great pains to interpret the intention of the parties to the different site agreements, and it came to the conclusion that the agreed procedure was not followed. One other matter, which must be particularly noted by employers, is that where a final warning is required, this final warning must be “a warning”, and not the actual dismissal. So that where, for example, three warnings are to be given, the third must be a “warning”. It is after the employee has misconducted himself thereafter that the employer may dismiss.