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Selection systems have been viewed as relatively static screens which eliminate less desirable job candidates. In an environment of scarcity this ceases to be an appropriate model. Instead, employers will use person‐focused approaches, which identify individual abilities, capitalise on those abilities, and circumvent the individual′s limitations through training, job assignment or reallocation of tasks within the work group. As a consequence, a shift is required from an emphasis on selection to a broader span of diagnostic procedures which yield information which others in the organisation will use to govern how (not if) they will work with the individual. In addition, characteristics of the diagnostic procedures must be adapted to new job and workforce conditions. Evaluation of skill development and employee qualification throughout one′s career will become the norm.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the importance of cognitive‐ versus chronological‐age factors in activewear apparel advertisements targeting female baby boomers in the USA.

A total of 50 female participants aged 41‐65 were asked to view two print advertisements: one showing activewear apparel worn by a cognitive‐age model and the other by a chronological‐age model. Participants then responded to a four‐part questionnaire that included a measurement of cognitive age, physical activity, response to the advertisements, and purchase intent.

The responses indicated that the participants view themselves as younger than their chronological age and were more inclined to respond favorably toward the advertisement using the cognitive age model.

Although this study focuses on only one consumer group – US baby boomers – it reveals their current attitudes toward advertisements of activewear apparel as well as their motivations for purchasing activewear apparel. More research on this age demographic and the impact of cognitive age vs. chronological age on their perceptions of advertising is needed.

Currently one of the largest age demographics in the USA, baby boomers are known for having higher amounts of disposable income as compared to other age cohorts and for their interest in physical fitness and leading active lifestyles. The results of this study point to the need to understand the age‐related perceptions of this consumer group in order to successfully market activewear apparel products directly to them.

This paper provides a foundation for a practical way of improving the effectiveness of an automatic retrieval system. Its main concern is with the weighting of index terms as a device for increasing retrieval effectiveness. Previously index terms have been assumed to be independent for the good reason that then a very simple weighting scheme can be used. In reality index terms are most unlikely to be independent. This paper explores one way of removing the independence assumption. Instead the extent of the dependence between index terms is measured and used to construct a non‐linear weighting function. In a practical situation the values of some of the parameters of such a function must be estimated from small samples of documents. So a number of estimation rules are discussed and one in particular is recommended. Finally the feasibility of the computations required for a non‐linear weighting scheme is examined.

The study aims to provide insight on the potential effectiveness of demand-side financing for catalyzing improved educational outcomes in Malawi; and, given the extent of cost-related constraints to school contexts in other low-income countries, the results have relevance for education policy decisions more broadly.

This study utilizes a non-equivalent groups research design to compare the educational experiences and outcomes of two student groups – those who did and those who did not receive a needs-based scholarship to attend secondary school and college in the Dowa, Kasungu, and Lilongwe Districts of Malawi. The authors assess impacts across a range of short and medium-term outcomes, including: school attendance, withdrawal, attainment, graduation, employment status, employment quality, and post-schooling income.

The scholarship substantially reduces the household cost of participation in school, and reduces the distance travelled to school. As a result, scholarship recipients attain between 1 and 1.5 years of additional schooling and graduate at higher rates. In terms of post-schooling outcomes, recipients are in higher wage-earning occupations after leaving school. Overall, results suggest that scholarships are an effective demand-side strategy for improving educational attainment, progression, and potentially longer-term labor market outcomes.

The study adds new evidence on policy approaches for expanding access to educational opportunities and increasing labor market outcomes in a context (Malawi specifically and sub-Saharan Africa more broadly) where evidence on such demand-side interventions is still growing.