Search

The article presents information on European Control Conferences that took place during 1991-2001. First European Control Conference was held in Grenoble, France in July 1991. Noteworthy is a high percentage of screened papers, which seems to be due to the fact that this was the first conference and a substantial part of papers were preplanned to some extent because they were presented at the 28 so-called invited sessions. The Seventh European Control Conference took place in Cambridge, Great Britain on September 14, 2003. The European Union recently pays much attention to increasing the standing of the European researchers in the international science and engineering. This was the main goal of organizing in 1990 the European Union Control Association.

Women's groups in unions are collective, spaces within which women seek to advance their concerns and access empowering positions. This paper examines their pursuit of gender equality in unions. The need to explore unions and women's groups is heightened by women's significance as a source of union membership, and the connection between union revitalization and responsiveness to women. The paper uses case studies of two unions, MSF and USDAW, and seven women's groups. The analysis is structured by a typology of two frameworks: (i) a typology of gendered equality ideas derived from various literatures, and (ii) the dynamic and linked dimensions of Hyman's (1994) union organization model. Implications for research and theory, and for union policy and practice, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The period when the British Educational Research Association (BERA) was founded was one in which there was an increasing recognition amongst the research community that a wind of change had stirred up the settled traditions of educational research. It was a time which celebrated the promise of alternative paradigms for research. Ten or so years on we are entering another era where the emphasis is not on the reconceptualisation of what research is but on how it is organised. I think one can discern at least two factors, not wholly separate from each other, that will increasingly influence how a substantial part of research will be organised. These two factors are the changes which have taken place in the composition of the research community and the direction of current Government policy concerning the school system. I aim to show how these are leading to a fruitful form of collaborative research at local level which should be encouraged and supported—not least by BERA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the press and public opinion in Great Britain, discussed at the Conference of the British Sociological Association in 1955. The first influence on the policy of a paper will be its tradition, which is a vital part of its goodwill as a business. Next important factor is the readership's character and the circulation. A paper that is read standing in the train, giving special attention to the interests of women, punters and filmgoers, will not have space to inform its readers adequately about foreign affairs. Third in the list of influences in a newspaper office comes the experience, educational background, sense of responsibility of the editor and his editorial staff. Whatever the policy of the paper, their special interests and bias will be reflected in it. The next factor to consider is contact with readers. The newspaper can influence the reader by a multitude of stories, ideas, recommendations and services. The reader can only refuse his pennies. Circulation is, of course, very important. Without it advertising dies, and the paper dies with it. But generally speaking, the paper's attitude in foreign affairs will be a secondary factor in the reader's choice of reading.

This paper describes the Research Methods programme of the Economic and Social Research Council and discusses some of the methodological developments in the academic sector that can have relevance to the non-academic market research community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on a meeting on freshwater ecology held at the Exeter, England-based University of Exeter from 3-7 July, 1964 and a meeting of the Tropical Group on patterns in dry tropical vegetation held in London, England-based Linnean Society on November 4, 1964. Series of papers presented at the meetings; Discussions on each paper; Participants of the meetings.

Since its foundation in 1959, the Linguistics Association of Great Britain has established itself as one of the three associations for UK linguistics, alongside the much older Philological Society and its own child, the British Association for Applied Linguistics, though the relations among the associations are not always clear and can be somewhat problematic. The LAGB's main characteristic has always been its annual or twice-yearly conferences with a focus on language structure, but it also has its own journal and has taken a lead in promoting linguistics to funding and educational authorities. The paper outlines these events and how the LAGB's internal organisation has evolved to deal with them, and ends with three choices that face the association in its second half-century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an understanding is sought of how and why Foucault was to become such a major figure within UK organization studies. Setting the argument within a fashion frame, the text addresses the possible reasons behind Foucault's journey into organization studies. The key currents in Foucauldian thought within British business schools are summarized, and an understanding is sought of what it was about the context of the time that made Foucault so attractive to organization studies. Demonstrating the spread of Foucault into this field, the text highlights various means through which Foucault became institutionalized into organization studies. The translation of Foucault that happened when the French philosopher became fashionable in organization studies is discussed, and speculations are made about the retranslation to French organization studies. The paper concludes by speculating about the future of Foucault's thought within organization studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has benefited greatly from the time that I have recently spent working on the Committee of Section H of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. I am particularly grateful to David Shankland and Malcolm Smith, both of whom have served as Recorders for Section H, for generously sharing their knowledge and reminiscences of the Section with me. The paper further benefited from comments received at the recent 2004 Festival of Science in Exeter at which I presented it in a session entitled‘Anthropology after Darwin: The role of the BA’. I also acknowledge the helpful comments of three anonymous reviewers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses upon ways in which National Lottery funding impacts upon aspects of identity for small- to medium-sized organizations in the United Kingdom, and highlights some of the less-anticipated difficulties that groups may experience after receipt of a grant. A large Lottery grant can facilitate rapid expansion and may necessitate a degree of organizational learning for which groups are often unprepared. The paper suggests that a Lottery grant may lead to changes in the ways in which an organization identifies itself, or is identified by stakeholders. However, these changes may not be accompanied by a corresponding change in the organization's capacity or underlying cultural ethos. On the basis of the primary research carried out in 2003, the paper examines the implications of these changes for individual organizations and for the sector more widely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

British trade union renewal has focused on the twin strategies of organising and partnership. Drawing on experience from North America, and fledgling developments in Britain, this paper argues that reciprocal community unionism could provide another weapon in the union movement's armoury for reversing decline. The paper provides a brief historical overview of the intersection between unions and community in Britain before addressing reciprocal community unionism in more detail. The final part of the paper then looks at the work of Battersea and Wandsworth Trade Union Council's Organising Centre in South West London during 2000 and 2001. The case study highlights the ways in which trade unionism can develop when focused on a particular locality, and the advantages of having extra-workplace organisation in any place. The case also illustrates some of the barriers preventing this model of trade unionism being translated to other boroughs, towns and cities in the UK. In the conclusion, the paper then calls for further experimentation in the development of reciprocal community unionism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to build on the insights of mobilisation theory to examine the interplay of structure and agency dynamics in strike activity. It proposes to do so by investigating the 2007 36-hour strike undertaken by 2,300 engineering and infrastructure workers employed by the private consortium Metronet on the London Underground, focusing attention on the relationship between workers' militancy, trade union leadership and left-wing politics within a highly distinctive and union favourable "opportunity structure" context. Design/methodology/approach – Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 24 RMT union informants within Metronet and the London Underground (including union members, reps, branch and regional officers); analysis was made of documentary industrial relations and trade union material; and personal fieldwork observation. Findings – Although favourable specific contextual and contingent factors served as both provocations and resources for strike action, notably in enhancing workers' bargaining position and lending feasibility to a strike mobilisation approach, the role of trade union leadership and left-wing politics at every level of the union in collectivising workers' experiences and aspirations in forms which directly encouraged combativity was also crucial. Research limitations/implications – The specificity of the case study limits the degree of generalisation that can be made to other industries. Researchers are encouraged to test the proposed analytical approach further. Originality/value – The paper provides case-study empirical evidence into an important arena of employment in the UK, contributes to our understanding of the multi-dimensional causes of strike activity; and adds an important political dimension to the analysis of collective mobilisation often neglected in both industrial relations and social movement literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The main purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between mission statements and firm performance in the small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector. Design/methodology/approach - This research is based on an empirical survey of small and medium-sized enterprises located in science parks in the UK. A postal questionnaire was the main data collection instrument for this research. A combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches is employed for data analysis. Findings - The important conclusions reached are that the existence of mission statements in the studied firms was associated with firm performance. It is also found that organisational performance is significantly associated with the degree of non-managerial employees' involvement in the process of mission statement development. Finally, the presence of financial goals in the studied firms' mission statements were negatively associated with firm performance. Research limitations/implications - The present study is concerned with the relationship between mission statement and organisational performance in SMEs. A further study is recommended to investigate the impact of involvement and engagement with both mission statement formulation and evolution and the strategic decision-making process, specifically decision-making processes in SMEs. Practical implications - In order to increase firm performance, it is recommended that practitioners develop a meaningful mission statement and increase the involvement of their non-managerial employees in the development of the mission statement. Originality/value - The principal contribution of this first study is the attempt to explore the nature and role of the mission statement in enhancing organisational performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article challenges the view, voiced especially by S. Ogilvie, that the ‘revisionist’ interpretation of the history of craft guilds is wide of the mark. The paper suggests that Ogilvie oversimplifies the revisionist position; ignores significant new work on European crafts; as a result underestimates the role of the guilds in England and the Low Countries; and incorrectly presents her own case study of the Württemberg worsted industry as typical of European industry in general. Rather than a return to what amounts to a generalized eighteenth-century debunking of the guilds, the paper pleads for more quantitative and regionally specified investigations of the economic contributions of craft guilds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the findings of a survey of Social Services Departments, Probation Services and the major voluntary agencies in the UK. The survey aimed to shed light on the factors which promote successful groups in social work and probation agencies. The survey did not attempt to map the extent of current groupwork. A questionnaire was piloted in a Social Services Department in northern England with social work and social care practitioners participating in ‘The Groupwork Project’, a training and development programme which continues to have as its aim the establishment of a groupwork service in a mainstream social services agency. The survey was designed to be illuminative and exploratory rather than conclusive. In this paper, the authors reflect on the research process and on the findings of the survey. These findings point to the complexity of factors considered significant to the success of a group, and to the importance of contextual factors in establishing and sustaining a groupwork service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the membership of the professional association of chemical engineering in Britain – the Institution of Chemical Engineers – during its first three decades. Using collective methods of biography, it explores how long it took for clear boundaries to develop between this membership and the wider chemical community. Delineation was linked to the development of an academic discipline. This paper argues that the indeterminate constituency of the IChemE delayed growth, but allowed it to play a key role in shaping the development of the new profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability of manufacturing companies to adapt to their changing environment is frequently a key to long-term success. As a consequence the strategic flexibility of manufacturing operations has become an increasingly important issue for organisations. There have been much theoretical work and some case studies in this domain. This paper reports part of a major study in the area. A key stage in this work has been an empirical study of UK manufacturing to investigate a broad range of issues surrounding manufacturing operations and strategic flexibility. In part this has been carried out through a questionnaire survey. This paper summarises some of the principal findings. These include respondents' descriptions of their business strategies, the part played by manufacturing, the interfaces with customers, and the role of the information system and its contribution to manufacturing. This is complemented by a summary of 32 interviews/case histories which allow these issues to be explored further and which provide the input to the subsequent stages of the overall project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlights the outing of the Section of the History of Medicine of the Royal Society of Medicine held June 18, 1994. The author discusses the key factors contributing to the success of the outing. Mr. Douglas Johnson discussed Sir John Floyer's "Book of Country Receipts." Professor Isoble Grundy presented a paper entitled "Medical Advance? Medical History: Small innoculation and its after-effects."

Postwar concern about our industrial relations system has been dominated by three issues: pay; performance at workplace, company and national level; and industrial action. In each case the focus of interest is the link between the institutions, procedures and processes of the system and the outcomes that it generates. This paper evaluates evidence on these three issues for the last quarter-century, since the publication of the Donovan Report in 1968. Special attention is given to information from successive WIRSs. The evidence suggests that (i) industrial action is of minor importance; (ii) the industrial relations system can no longer be held to stymie company performance; (iii) the pay-jobs trade-off is as intractable as ever. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some common management themes of the 1980s can be traced to Donovan and are revealed in practice by the 1990 Workplace Industrial Relations Survey. The paper considers the relevance of factors not endorsed by Donovan and concludes that, while in terms of industrial action in manufacturing -- the focus of concern in the mid-1960s -- there is evidence that more order and responsibility has been injected into industrial relations at plant level, we cannot yet maintain that inflationary dangers have been overcome. Collective bargaining is, however, now revealed as affecting only a minority in the private sector, and public services behavior looks increasingly out of step. The paper suggests that future surveys may therefore need to be recast to capture changing patterns of employer - employee relationships and their links to economic success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earlier research into the impact of public and private ownership on economic and financial performance concluded that performance may be affected but that the relationship is more complicated than policy makers have often assumed. This paper is concerned with explaining these earlier results in terms of changes in the internal environment of organizations. Six key internal characteristics are identified from the management literature and the history of ten UK organizations is summarized in terms of these characteristics. The model appears to be robust. Performance changes and lack of change are explained by the internal environment. The results are congruent with organizational theory which suggests that the internal environment has to adapt to changes in the external environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section presents the highlights of a discussion on race relations during the conference of the British Sociological Association in 1957. Three main papers were read by A. H. Richmond on Theoretical Orientations in Studies of Ethnic Group Relations in Britain, by H. S. Deighton on History and the Study of Race Relations and by H. S. Morris on The Plural Society. The convenor made an opening statement on his views of the nature and possible scope of race relations studies, while professor Pear wound up the second session with a brief outline of the study of speech as a social device for classifying, identifying, and characterizing national and ethnic groups. The programme had been designed to bring a wide range of academic interests to bear up on the field, and in the event there was an interesting interplay of views from sociologists, social anthropologists, historians, and social psychologists. Among the points raised in discussion the following seem to have been of major importance. The definition of prejudice and its measurement are more difficult questions than is often realized, and any simple-minded treatment of racial attitudes can be very misleading. There was emphasis on the need for structural analysis of race relations with special reference to changes in access to political power afforded to minorities.

This paper responds to the dearth of research into women's negative intra-gender relations and lack of understanding as to why and how these relations manifest. Through a qualitative study of women elite leaders' experiences in UK organizations, the research considers how gendered contexts, women doing gender well and differently simultaneously, intra-gender competition and female misogyny may explain negative intra-gender social relations between women. We consider micro-aggression research and women's abjection and offer a unique conceptualization of intra-gender micro-violence with themes of disassociating, suppression of opportunity and abject appearance. The themes illustrate how the masculine symbolic order shapes and constrains women elite leaders' social relations with other women. We conclude that raising consciousness to intra-gender micro-violence between women is important as a means of disruption; to facilitate women and men's acceptance of intra-gender differences between women; and to open up opportunities and possibilities for women in organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the highlights of a discussion on criminology during the conference of the British Sociological Association in 1957. Attendance at the three meetings of the section ranged between fifty and thirty members. The opening paper by W. Cordon Rose, reviewed the development of criminology in Britain over the last half-century in terms of its relationship to the Penal Reform movement and the growth of social studies in British Universities. In the second paper, J. C. Spencer, director of the Bristol Social Project, dealt more specifically with sociological studies in the field of criminology. Apart from a more effective articulation of studies of delinquent sub-cultures and the socialization process in the delinquent family, he underlined the need for research into the field of white-collar crime. A final paper by L. T. Wilkins, social statistician at the Home Office, dealt with the philosophy of prediction methods, a most important development in the penological field, especially in relation to the use of indeterminate sentences. Although the group contained only a minority of members actively concerned in the criminological field, the presence, of persons from other disciplines may be regarded as an encouraging sign of interest by other sociologists in the association.

Background: Despite evidence that physical inactivity is a risk factor for a number of diseases, only a third of men and a quarter of women are meeting government targets for physical activity. This paper provides an estimate of the economic and health burden of disease related to physical inactivity in the UK. These estimates are examined in relation to current UK government policy on physical activity. Methods: Information from the World Health Organisation global burden of disease project was used to calculate the mortality and morbidity costs of physical inactivity in the UK. Diseases attributable to physical inactivity included ischaemic heart disease, ischaemic stroke, breast cancer, colon/rectum cancer and diabetes mellitus. Population attributable fractions for physical inactivity for each disease were applied to the UK Health Service cost data to estimate the financial cost. Results: Physical inactivity was directly responsible for 3% of disability adjusted life years lost in the UK in 2002. The estimated direct cost to the National Health Service is £1.06 billion. Conclusion: There is a considerable public health burden due to physical inactivity in the UK. Accurately establishing the financial cost of physical inactivity and other risk factors should be the First step in a developing national public health strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the history, methods, effects and future of youth participation in the UK from the perspective of a youth participant. The paper begins with an outline of the history of the development of youth participation in the UK over the last 15 years. It explores the government's use of youth participation, as well as the methods various charities and other organizations use to involve children and young people in their work, on both local and national levels. The impact of youth participation on decision-making is assessed and the problems facing youth participation are also considered, with a particular emphasis on the issue of tokenism. Examining the future of youth participation in the UK, the paper concludes that organizations outside the children's services sector need to embrace youth participation and the quality of youth participation should be improved. The paper asserts that youth participation needs to become more popular among young people and would benefit from a wider range of young people being involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Research Information Network (RIN) is a new organization that aims to serve the research community in the UK by leading and coordinating the provision of enhanced research information services. This paper sets out how the RIN came into being, how it is organized and funded, and the mission and role that have been given to it by its sponsors: the UK higher education funding councils, the research councils, the British Library, and the national libraries of Scotland and Wales. The essential task for the RIN is to work with the key stakeholders in the research and information communities to meet the challenges of building a more effective, sustainable, and continuingly developing information infrastructure that meets the needs of researchers. The paper outlines the RIN's key strategic aims, and how it intends to meet the challenges that have been set for it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper identifies the key institutional factors that influence loan loss rates in Community Development Finance Institutions in the UK. Traditional bank credit assessment puts the blame of poor loan performance largely on the borrower. This is the first study of its kind to examine institutional characteristics of 16 CDFIs in the UK and assess their influence on the loan loss rates. The results show that 8 out of the 13 institutional characteristics examined significantly influence loan repayment performance. Although a vast body of literature supports the view that borrower characteristics are highly influential, our results provide strong evidence to show that institutional characteristics are equally important and both factors need to be taken into account if loan repayment performance is to be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK Children's Cancer Study Group (UKCCSG), established in 1977, provides a highly organised structure for both service provision and research, and represents the model to which the adult cancer community is currently aspiring. Since childhood cancer is so rare, it is both essential and feasible for the vast majority of children to be referred into the network of specialist centres, and also for the maximum number of children to be recruited into national and international clinical trials. Over the last 30-40 years there have been major advances in treatment, such that now approximately 70% of children diagnosed with cancer will be cured of their disease. The conduct of clinical trials in this patient population does, however, raise a number of specific issues and these are discussed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the state of the field of the sub-disciplines within UK management research, based upon the submissions of 94 UK higher education institutions to the Business and Management Studies Panel in the UK's 2001 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). It offers observations on the UK model of the assessment of quality in, and funding of, research conducted in publicly funded higher education institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United Kingdom, the “New Labour” administration that came to power in 1997 has promoted two models of partnership between the state and the voluntary sector. The civic engagement model is based on the renewed interest among governments in the potential of voluntary organizations to contribute to the civic engagement of citizens. In the service delivery model, voluntary organizations are recruited to the task of delivering core social services. Drawing on data from disability-related voluntary organizations in Northern Ireland, this paper illustrates the impact of the service delivery partnership model on the development of voluntary action in the welfare field, and the relative paucity of resources allocated to participatory voluntary action and civic engagement. The consequent impact on the development of partnerships between the state and the voluntary sector is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article suggests a way in which the psychological contract can be reconceptualized as a construct with multiple foci. It presents an argument for examining psychological contracts with importance placed on work groups. Previous conceptualizations of the psychological contract have almost exclusively focused on the single relationship between the employee and the organization. It is argued here, however, that the psychological contract is multifarious in nature and employees hold psychological contracts with all organizational constituents, the strength of which is determined by the proximity of the employee to the constituent. The most proximal relationships are generally those that exist in workgroups or teams and tend to be of a collective nature, rather than a single agreement between two individuals. This research paper draws a parallel between psychological contract theory and organizational commitment research. A number of researchers have found a significant and direct relationship between organizational commitment and psychological contracts however, the taken-for-granted assumptions provided by commitment theorists in terms of multiple constituencies has failed, until now, to be adopted in terms of psychological contract research.

This paper assesses the logic of membership of sectoral business associations in Britain using evidence from a proportionate stratified random sample of associations. The British system gives no statuatory status to business associations. As a result the size and fragmentation of associations is similar to the US, membership of associations is interpreted in terms of the logic of specific business service demand and the logic of collective activities. Expectations from models of collective action, associability and involvement are used to interpret association membership. The paper argues that the normal distinction between associations as trade, professional or "peak" bodies is too simplistic in not properly differentiating the types of member. The paper employs instead a set of six categories dependent on the type of members: companies, owner-managers, the self-employed, and individuals, as well as bodies with mixed membership, and federations (which are associations of associations). Survey evidence demonstrates that member motives for joining, lapsing and constraining service development differ significantly between association types and tend most strongly to emphasise the logic of individual services as complements to the logic collective activity. Analysis of the rates of joining and lapsing membership show evidence of reluctance to join and high rates of lapsing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the advent of multicentre research committees in the UK, local research ethics committees (LRECs) are required to advise only on issues relating to the local acceptability of a project. We looked at the handling of two commercially sponsored studies, one initiated before the change and one after, confining the analysis to 21 LRECs approached in both. As judged by the amount of paper per application, the new system for LRECs is simpler and should be less costly. However, there was an increasing tendency for LRECs to charge for their services (30% study 1,47% study 2) and these charges varied by more than 400%. If such fees must be levied, a common scale is desirable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beginning with a reminder of the main features and effects of the profound changes to the NHS made by the Conservative government in 1990, this account then reviews the incoming Labour government's proposals as set out in the White Paper "The New NHS." An analysis, based on the formal response of the NHS Consultants' Association to the White Paper, welcomes many of the new initiatives but shows how the Conservative "Internal Market" is being modified, not removed, and the proposals fall short of restoring the public service ethos. In conclusion, the arguments and strategy being employed by the Association are described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports developments on the Royal Economic Society (RES) in Great Britain. The Society's 1999 conference will be held on March 29 to April 1, 1999 in Nottingham, England. The Programme Committee invites submissions from postgraduate students and young professional economists in universities and other institutions in any field of economics and econometrics. The RES Society funds annually up to five short visiting lectureships which allow a distinguished academic to visit a university in the country.

This paper provides a step in this direction by estimating the determinants of each of the bargaining levels that characterise British industrial relations. The paper broadly follows the approach of Deaton and Beaumont (1980) but adopts a more sophisticated econometric technique, the multinomial logit. This also has the advantage of allowing straightforward interpretation of the determinants of the probability of bargaining at the organisation level or at the establishment level, with the industry or national level as the base. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses management accounting, with a concern to generate understandings of the effects of accounting in general on organizations as a whole. In doing so, it adopts methods, which fall under the case study umbrella, and it engages with the debate as to the nature of case study research. The programme of research is one, which is based in Great Britain's public sector and particularly schools, an area which has been subject to numerous reforms in the last 20 years. Some issues emerged in the context of this research, which might be seen as fundamental and might well be seen as reflecting on the process more generally rather than simply being contextual. First, is the level of prior theorization brought to an empirical investigation. This is seen to exist on a continuum from high to low levels of prior theorizing. Second, is the theoretical nature of the methods adopted. This is seen as a continuum with, at one extreme, the investigation taking a nomothetic approach and, thus, seeing the researcher having no impact on the research process and the insights forthcoming. There are differences in the detail of the changes, but, broadly, a delegation of finances has been accompanied by a tighter definition of the services to be provided.

Discusses efforts of the British Association for the Advancement of Science aimed at promoting scientific education in British schools. Date the association was founded; Number of members appointed to study the scientific qualifications of inspectors in elementary schools; Reason why the committee's term of reference was altered in 1981.

This article reports that electronic government is a burgeoning phenomenon, with huge investments being made to modernize public sector institutions at all levels. Such dramatic change is problematic in any organization, and the political, managerial and cultural environments set within government present an additional challenge. This complexity is historically founded and consistently embedded through a structure of co-operation between executive officers, elected legislative members and citizens, who form the foundations of the democratic processes. In Great Britain, the public domain is set to achieve ambitious central e-government targets for providing online information and services to its citizens by 2005. However, the emerging normative literature suggests that the deployment of e-government applications has been 'crisis driven', with public organizations needing to fully understand the benefits, costs and risks associated with delivering these services to citizens and the changes in their structure.

The article presents calendar of events for medical associations in Great Britain. The EuroSpine 2006 8th Annual Meeting of the Spine Society of Europe will be held on October 25 to 28. The International Symposium on The Adult Scoliosis, Conservative and Interventional Treatment Modalities will be on Novermber 2 to 3. The International 25th Jubilee Course for Percutaneous Endoscopic Spinal Surgery and Complementary Minimal Invasive Techniques will be on January 25 to 26, 2007.

The article reports on the Association of Social Anthropologists Diamond Jubilee Conference at the University of Keele in Great Britain. The keynote address of Alan Mcfarlane highlighted the influence of anthropology in the past 60 years. The exhibit displayed photographs of the founding members and documents from past meetings.

Background: Policymakers such as English healthcare commissioners are encouraged to adopt 'evidence-based policy-making', with 'evidence' defined by researchers as academic research. To learn how academic research can influence policy, researchers need to know more about commissioning, commissioners' information seeking behaviour and the role of research in their decisions.Methods: In case studies of four commissioning organisations, we interviewed 52 people including clinical and managerial commissioners, observed 14 commissioning meetings and collected documentation e.g. meeting minutes and reports. Using constant comparison, data were coded, summarised and analysed to facilitate cross case comparison.Results: The 'art of commissioning' entails juggling competing agendas, priorities, power relationships, demands and personal inclinations to build a persuasive, compelling case. Policymakers sought information to identify options, navigate ways through, justify decisions and convince others to approve and/or follow the suggested course. 'Evidence-based policy-making' usually meant pragmatic selection of 'evidence' such as best practice guidance, clinicians' and users' views of services and innovations from elsewhere. Inconclusive or negative research was unhelpful in developing policymaking plans and did not inform disinvestment decisions. Information was exchanged through conversations and stories, which were fast, flexible and suited the rapidly changing world of policymaking. Local data often trumped national or research-based evidence. Local evaluations were more useful than academic research.Discussion: Commissioners are highly pragmatic and will only use information that helps them create a compelling case for action.Therefore, researchers need to start producing more useful information.Conclusions: To influence policymakers' decisions, researchers need to 1) learn more about local policymakers' priorities 2) develop relationships of mutual benefit 3) use verbal instead of writtencommunication 4) work with intermediaries such as public health consultants and 5) co-produce local evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides information on activities and grants sponsored by the Royal Economic Society in Great Britain. List of elected Council officers for 2001 to 2006; Details of visiting lectureships funded by the Society annually; Financial support offered to memebrs for small academic expenses; Availability of Conference Grant Fund for members who are presenting a paper or acting as principal discussant to a conference.

The article presents news briefs from Europe relative to management science. British members of The Institute of Management Science (TIMS) will be granted full exemption for their membership dues, as confirmed by the Principal Inspector of Taxes, Inland Revenue. Antonio Valero has been named president of the Administrative Council of the European Association of Management Training Centers. The Operational Research Society will hold its annual conference in England from September 20-22, 1966.