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Discusses aspects of the decay of buildings due to neglect through the restraints of financial stringencies. Examines factors in the spiral of decay and neglect, including problems caused by maintenance, occupancy, malicious damage, roof drainage, pigeons and plants, plumbing, moisture reservoirs and poor ventilation. Outlines processes of timber preservation, highlighting attention to moisture sources and ventilation, and discusses management techniques in maintenance projects. Concludes that the existing stock of buildings in the UK should be conserved not for cultural or historic reasons, but because they represent a major national asset.

Discusses the problems caused by pigeons in buildings and some common control techniques, and outlines a remedial programme. Briefly examines the natural history of the feral pigeon. Details the common control techniques of food reduction, poisons and narcotic baits, trapping, fertility control and removal of nest sites, shooting, predators, bird scarers, bird nets,sprung wires, spikes and repellent gels. Advocates the implementation of a specialized site investigation and suggests that control is unlikely to be achieved by the application of a single product or technique.

Points to the decline of “craftsmanship” as a factor leading to the demise of the ability to control timber decay in an environmentally‐friendly fashion. Considers pesticides and other chemical‐based treatments as a lower‐cost, relatively recent, but often unsuccessful remedy to timber decay. Outlines major timber‐decay problems: dry rot, wet rot and woodboring insects, and their detection techniques. Includes diagrams and detailed discussion on remedial treatments. Concludes that timber decay cannot be effectively treated without an understanding of the interaction of the external environment, building materials, design and content, and the activities within and occupants of a building, and that manipulation of a single variable (timber decay organisms) is bound to be unsuccessful without such understanding.

Salt (sodium chloride) is used in a variety of processed foods. It not only confers its own specific flavour on products, it is also used to enhance and modify the flavour of other ingredients. The reasons for using salt can be divided into three broad categories: processing reasons, sensory (taste) reasons, and preservative reasons. In some cases it performs all three of these functions, and in many situations the distinction between them is not clear‐cut.

Examines the problem of dry rot appearing during a refurbishment contract. Discusses investigation techniques for dry rot, and the role and management of specialist treatment firms. Concludes that professional surveyors are potentially at risk from negligence suits if their advice does not set out a clear picture of risks faced by their clients, stating that the acceptance of a risk “on behalf of” a client, without seeking their opinion, is inappropriate.

This paper aims to stimulate the nascent research agenda on the environmental sustainability of the ongoing mushrooming of international student mobility (ISM). The higher education (HE) system in the UK and elsewhere is increasingly predicated upon the hosting of international students. Whilst this drive towards internationalisation undoubtably has multiple benefits, little attention thus far has been paid to its potentially very considerable environmental impact. The drive for internationalisation within HE thus potentially sits at odds with ambitions and strategies to promote sustainability within the sector and beyond.

In-depth interviews with 21 students and representatives of 14 university international offices offer insights into how the environment features in the decisions that young people and HE institutions make with regards to partaking in and promoting education-related mobility.

The results find that students take environmental considerations into account when undertaking education-related mobility, but these aspirations are often secondary to logistical issues concerning the financial cost and longer travel times associated with greener travel options. At the institutional scale, vociferously championed university sustainability agendas have yet to be reconciled with the financial imperative to recruit evermore international students.

This paper identifies a thus far neglected contradiction within HE whereby the sustainability agenda that it so rightly espouses is potentially undermined by the drive towards internationalisation. The paper uses the anthropause concept to consider the future environmental sustainability of ISM.

Wonders whether companies actually have employees best interests at heart across physical, mental and spiritual spheres. Posits that most organizations ignore their workforce – not even, in many cases, describing workers as assets! Describes many studies to back up this claim in theis work based on the 2002 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference, in Cardiff, Wales.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze antecedents of listed corporations’ propensity to adopt online shareholder platforms. It differentiates two strategic investor relations (IR) frames, shielding and engaging, and explores their effect on ICT adoption.

Findings are based on a survey of 82 corporations listed on the Swiss, German and Austrian stock exchanges. The authors apply multiple linear regression analysis to test a multi-faceted adoption model.

The authors find that resource constraints, familiarity with online media and efficiency considerations drive listed corporations’ willingness to adopt online shareholder platforms. Beyond these operational antecedents, strategic considerations significantly affect adoption: IR functions geared toward shareholder engagement are more likely to apply interactive platforms, while IR departments geared toward shielding the corporation from shareholder interventions will be less attracted to the participatory affordances of online media.

This study is limited in scope to corporations listed on the Swiss, German and Austrian stock exchanges and cannot account for antecedents distinct to other regulatory environments.

IR functions need to carefully develop and apply communication strategies, which in turn will inform ICT adoption. The authors find that IR departments geared toward a two-way symmetrical communication model are more attracted to the participatory affordances of online platforms. Thereby, they are more likely to innovate by employing current digital applications.

This study contributes to research on the benefits of digital media to two-way symmetrical and dialogic corporate communications. It is the first study to explore these relationships in the context of IR. It further contributes to research on the strategic role of IR by developing and applying two distinct strategic frames to the subject of ICT adoption in IR.