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Purpose – We examine electoral politics in the City of Atlanta, GA, and shed light on the prospect that in 2009 Atlanta elected its “last Black mayor.”  We consider how African American tensions around class and social identity may demobilize key constituents of the Black electoral coalition while an increasing Black out-migration and White in-migration had changed the city’s racial balance of electoral power. Recognizing the margin of victory in the 2009 mayoral election between Kasim Reed (an African American) and Mary Norwood (a White challenger) was small (714 votes), we examine how electoral and demographic characteristics explain this result.Methodology – We utilize (1) the 2009 State of Georgia Board of Elections voter demographic file; (2) 2010 Census data (ACS 5 year estimates), and 2009 Mayoral Election count data. We presented descriptive statistics, comparing community level factors and voter characteristics.Research implications – The limitations of this work is that it is exploratory and thus we do not statistically isolate the effects of class and social identity.Findings – Our findings indicate that Reed and other Black elected officials will have to make concerted efforts if they hope to “retain” the Black poor as well as gay and lesbian citizens within a progressive electoral coalition.

Educating students with disabilities in the same classrooms and instructional environments as their natural neighbors and peers (i.e., inclusion) is a promise of significant substance and value for many special educators. When federal legislation mandated that students with disabilities receive a free and appropriate education in least restrictive environments, at least in principle, the schoolhouse doors were opened for all students. In this chapter, we provide a brief historical review of efforts to educate students with disabilities in inclusive environments and provide direction for what we believe are important practices for creating high-quality inclusive learning environments.

This study uses the ‘Dragon Age’ series by BioWare as a case study to examine the impact of video game player diversity on the inclusion of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) content in mainstream games. It explores the degree to which the perception of video games as ‘hegemonically masculine and heteronormative’ accurately reflects gamers’ own experiences.

The study is based on an online survey in the Dragon Age community forum, including open-ended qualitative questions.

The main findings show that male and female respondents widely believed in the presence of heterosexual (male) privilege within gaming culture at large. However, respondents’ own personal views and experiences demonstrated that they largely accept the inclusion of LGBT content in games. Finally, respondents showed considerable ‘disinhibition’ when it came to experimenting with sexuality and sexual identity in video games as compared to in real life.

This was a small exploratory study and was limited by its size and a possible self-selection bias.

The findings indicate that gender diversity, diversity of sexualities and acceptance of LGBT content are all greater than previously thought. Moreover, role-playing games are fertile ground for experimentation with sexual identities among gamers. These results call for more research in this area.

There is strong consensus that the Internet has the potential to positively impact firms, and SMEs in particular; however, not all firms have realized benefits from adoption. The present study extends research in the area by addressing the need to examine the “chain” of variables explaining Internet adoption. We do this by exploring SME owner/manager Internet-related usefulness and ease-of-use cognitions and intention to use the Internet for supplier information management. We also explore the influence of behavioral norms and two broader strategic perspectives, market and learning orientation, on the Internet-related cognitions. Findings have implications for researchers and practitioners by identifying factors that contribute to effectively leveraging the Internet in an important area for SMEs.

Current issues of Publishers' Weekly are reporting serious shortages of paper, binders board, cloth, and other essential book manufacturing materials. Let us assure you these shortages are very real and quite severe.

Using the backdrop of an (apparently) extended visit to the West Indies, analogies with key concerns of internal audit are drawn. An unusual and refreshing way of exploring the main themes ‐ a discussion between Bill and Jack on tour in the islands ‐ forms the debate. Explores the concepts of control, necessary procedures, fraud and corruption, supporting systems, creativity and chaos, and building a corporate control facility.

Using the backdrop of an (apparently) extended visit to the West Indies, analogies with key concerns of internal audit are drawn. An unusual and refreshing way of exploring the main themes ‐ a discussion between Bill and Jack on tour in the islands ‐ forms the debate. Explores the concepts of control, necessary procedures, fraud and corruption, supporting systems, creativity and chaos, and building a corporate control facility.

The primary purpose of this paper is to investigate the healthcare organization’s intention to use radio frequency identification (RFID) technology for improving efficiency. This paper also intends to identify various factors that influence the adoption of RFID in the healthcare organization. This paper develops and tests seven different hypotheses. These hypotheses are tested using structural equation modeling. Our results provide support for a number of relationships in the hypothesized model. These include direct relationships among the factors risk, resistance to change, supplier support and the factor perceived usefulness. However, the study did not find support for the relationship between the factors perceived ease of use and intention to use. The results provide support for several indirect relationships as well. These include indirect relationships between the factors perceived resistance to change, risk, suppliers’ support and perceived ease of use with the factor intention to adopt RFID technology in the healthcare organization. This research is grounded in the theory of reasoned action and applies the technology acceptance model (TAM) to the healthcare organization’s intention to use RFID technology.