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The monitoring of respirable particulate matter (PM₁₀) and of total carbon percentage (mass basis) in the atmosphere of São Carlos (SP) was performed in the period between September 1997 and January 2000. São Carlos, located in the central region of the state of São Paulo, has a population of close to 180,000 inhabitants and about 500 industrial establishments of medium to small size, mainly dealing with metallurgy, textiles, food and ceramics. The equipment used for air monitoring was a high volume sampler (GVS‐GRASEBY/GMW) equipped with a one‐stage inertial separator for a 10μm particle cut diameter. The PM₁₀ concentration was determined by gravimetry and the total carbon concentration by the Ströheim method. The results show a well defined seasonal dependence of both the PM₁₀ and of the total carbon concentration. Higher concentrations of PM₁₀ and carbon were observed in autumn and winter, which also coincided with low relative humidity and precipitation. The measured trends were compared with the PM₁₀ data from the city of São Paulo in the same period and showed similar seasonal dependence. However, in relative terms, the PM₁₀ concentration in São Carlos showed stronger seasonal dependence than in São Paulo.

Information Security Management consists of various facets, for example Information Security Policy, Risk Analysis, Risk Management, Contingency Planning and Disaster Recovery which are all interrelated in some way. These interrelationships often cause uncertainty and confusion among top management. Proposes a model for Information Security Management, called an Information Security Management Model (ISM⊃2) and puts all the various facts in context. The model consists of five different levels defined on a security axis. ISM⊃2 introduces the idea of international security criteria or international security standards (baselines). The rationale behind these baselines is to enable information security evaluation according to internationally‐accepted criteria.

The concept of public private partnerships (PPPs) has attracted worldwide attention and acquired a new resonance in the context of developing countries. PPPs are increasingly heralded as an innovative policy tool for remedying the lack of dynamism in traditional public service delivery. However PPPs have also become mired in a muddle of conceptual ambiguities. This paper sheds light on the PPP concept and the rationale for invoking private participation in developing countries. It also identifies critical success factors and policy requirements for successful PPP implementation. Finally, the paper presents a case study assessment of a post‐war PPP initiative in the Lebanese telecommunications sector and draws out lessons for improving the effectiveness and viability of PPP projects in the context of developing countries.

Here are summaries of more papers given at the International Conference on Hot Dip Galvanising which met at Oxford in July under the auspices of the Zinc Development Association and which was attended by about 200 experts from Britain, the Continent, and America. The first report on the Conference appeared in our August issue.

Suppliers suffer losses when customers repudiate B2B order transactions in open account systems. Appropriate internal control measures should be implemented to address repudiation. According to the King Report on Corporate Governance for South Africa (2002), the responsibility for internal control lies with the management of a company. This article aims to assist management in reducing the risk of repudiation to an acceptable level, by providing a framework of recommended internal control measures. The framework was compiled after considering: Requirements in the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act that make digital contracts valid. Existing control frameworks, control objectives and internal control measures addressed by COBIT® and AICPA/CICA’s Trust Services Principles and Criteria.

Libancell is one of several experiments in post‐war privatization in Lebanon. It was established in 1994 through a contract to build and operate a mobile communication network. In the three year period described in this case study, Libancell grew from 0 to 255 employees. This rapid growth, the uniqueness of the privatization experiment, and the company's high national profile provide an excellent opportunity to examine the interface between the HR system and work experience of organization members. Using archival research, interviews, and survey data, this study describes the rich and complex interaction between the HR system and other essential components of the organization.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how nonprofit service providers can better engage their customers through online communication. It identifies two communication styles and three communication functions, and examines their impact on customer commenting, customer liking and customer sharing.

Similar to Python for Facebook, a software package for the automatic retrieval of web page content was developed specifically for this study to extract data from the microblog Sina Weibo. Following the successful retrieval of 1,500 randomly selected messages from 34 universities in China, a two-level regression was performed using Mplus 7 to examine the association between the proposed relationships.

The findings reveal that messages with a friendly communication style increase both the number of comments and their positive tone; an authoritative style has no effect on customer engagement. The functions associated with message content (spreading information, building community or promoting action) influence customer liking and sharing. Building community tends to engage more customers than spreading information; promoting action often generates the least customer engagement in social media settings.

The study fills an important research gap in the service marketing literature as it pertains to nonprofit service organizations (i.e. universities) by identifying two types of online identities based on the communication style and the messages posted on social media. This study is the first to investigate the relationship between identity type and audience engagement, and to analyze the moderating factors of this relationship.

Top management is responsible for the wellbeing of the organization. Most organizations nowadays are dependent totally on the availability and effectiveness of their information service resources. For this reason it is imperative that top management gets involved and stays involved in the protection of the information service assets of the organization. This can only be accomplished through a process of continuous information security evaluation and reporting. An information security evaluation and reporting tool, representing the information security status in a concise, clear manner, will help a great deal in ensuring top management involvement. Suggests implementation of an information security management model by means of an evaluation tool. This tool will provide top management with information security status reporting in a clear, non‐technical format.

Traditionally, telecommunications was one of the economic sectors with the highest level of state ownership and activity. However, overwhelming pressures for change in this field have rendered old institutional arrangements and practices increasingly obsolete. As such, various countries have opted for a mix of policies including institutional restructuring, liberalization, and privatization. In Lebanon, since the end of the civil war in 1990, the government has been trying to restructure and modernize its telecommunications sector. The goal of the government was not simply to fix what was damaged by the war but rather to restructure and reform the telecommunications landscape, allowing the country to leapfrog into the twenty‐first century and the information age. This paper assesses the Lebanese post‐war experience with telecom reform. An overview of global trends in telecom reform is first presented. The performance of the Lebanese telecom sector is then examined and the main reform constraints identified. A comparative assessment against international benchmarks is also conducted. Finally, conclusions and recommendations for improving this sector’s performance are outlined.