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This paper aims to look at the practices of those who are in charge of knowledge management in corporations: the knowledge managers.

Using the activity system model, the study observes the work of four knowledge managers embedded in the same organizational context (the company Lafarge).

By exposing the contradictions inside the activity systems of knowledge managers, the paper analyzes three managerial conflicts tackled by practitioners: how to measure knowledge management practices, how to set rules and processes for managing knowledge and how to create structure to support knowledge management.

The paper presents a typology of knowledge managers and discusses the competencies needed to become a knowledge manager.

The paper provides a deep analysis of actions, discourses and artifacts of knowledge managers that allows the author to present a typology of practices of knowledge managers.

This paper seeks to take up the challenges of examining the issues of knowledge transfer in an organization operating across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. The purpose is directed to understanding whether knowledge management efforts can lead to the improvement of knowledge transfer.

The paper adopts a qualitative analysis based on a case study whose aim is to evaluate the effectiveness of a global knowledge management programme in achieving best practices transfer in sales and marketing practices throughout business units of Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America. The principal data‐gathering method is a structured interview conducted with senior staff from within 28 markets.

The study's findings reveal that there is a level of complexity and non‐linear interconnectivity within and between business units, which confirms that knowledge transfer is a complex, multifactor process relying on a number of interacting variables.

The results of a case study are somewhat limited in terms of their generalizability. Also, reflecting on the findings, it is useful to think of the challenge of achieving knowledge transfer across countries and cultures as a journey.

The value‐added of this paper is to give emphasis to the factors impacting knowledge transfer on a global scale.

Les premiers textes déclaratifs des droits de l'homme en Occident n'ont pas comporté immédiatement la reconnaissance de droits sociaux. Ainsi, à la suite de la Déclaration des Droits—“Bill of Rights”—imposée à la Monarchie anglaise le 13 février 1689, la Déclaration modèle adoptée en Virginie le 12 juin 1776, sous l'autorité de George Mason, comme la Déclaration d'Indépendance américaine du 4 juillet 1776, et enfin la Déclaration francaise des droits de l'homme et du citoyen, proclamée par l'Assemblée nationale le 26 août 1789, étaient consacrées à l'affirmation des droits civils et politi‐ques face aux pouvoirs dont l'emprise devait être restreinte et contenue, plutôt que confirmée et étendue par l'attribution de nouvelles fonctions, même justifiées par l'intention d'améliorer le sort des plus malheureux. Résolus à ouvrir une bràche décisive dans le système de gouvernement absolutiste, les pionniers des droits de l'homme étaient tenus d'accorder la priorité aux droits conquis de libre disposition sur les droits acquis de protection, de sorte que l'autonomie des citoyens à l'égard de l'Etat était revendiquée avec toutes ses conséquences économiques et sociales. Même l'expression neuve du droit à la vie et à la poursuite du bonheur, qui apparaît dans les déclarations américaines du XVIIIe siècle, s'entendait d'une aspiration irrépressible à la liberté et non point comme l'avers d'obligations sociales imposées à la collectivité, du moins jusqu'à ce que le Préambule de la Constitution des Etats‐Unis d'Amérique du 17 septembre 1787 inscrivît la promotion du bienêtre général—“to promote the general welfare”—au nombre de ses objectifs.

The trajectory of François Perroux across the Vichy regime poses about all possible range of methodological issues to the historian of ideas: individual versus collective biography, ideational versus ideological reading, internal versus external analysis, etc. The chapter outlines key elements about Perroux’s trajectory showing the entanglements and boundaries of science and politics in the transition from democratic to authoritarian rule and vice versa. A particular emphasis on uncertainties and adjustments shows, against the tendency to a teleological explanation induced by a linear interpretation of his career, that different paths were considered by Perroux, but that his choices were nevertheless constrained by the forces of both the scientific and political fields.

THERE appeared in the Library Association Record some months ago, an article—not very practical—on Accession Methods, and it is with this work that I intend to deal.

Silicone softeners are widely used in the textile industry to improve the performance of textile products. The thermal characteristics and flammability of polyester fabrics can be influenced by these compounds, which need to be considered, as important issues of human safety. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the changes induced on the polyester fibre by silicone softener treatment using a pad/dry/cure method.

The fibres were first treated with nano‐ and microemulsion silicone softeners. The influence of the silicone emulsion type on thermal properties and flammability of the resultant samples were investigated by various analytical techniques, namely, the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), dynamical mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) and horizontal flammability test (HFT).

Results showed that the silicone softeners increase the thermal degradation and flammability of the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate.

The paper's study of thermal and flammability of the silicone‐treated sample is novel and can be used to optimize the properties of silicone polymers during production and consumption.

This paper examines how the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated digital developments in apprenticeship and work-based learning in higher education (HE), focusing on practices that have ongoing value.

A literature review was carried out on the theme of HE work-based and work-integrated learning during the pandemic, followed by minimally-structured interviews with UK university staff responsible for apprenticeship and other work-based programmes.

The pandemic has accelerated adoption of online and digital methods to support work-based and apprenticeship learning. There has been progress from emergency measures to more pedagogically consistent ones. A blended approach is becoming common, with the learning and logistical benefits from digital methods ensuring their continuing use. Progress is uneven and there is still a need for improved digital pedagogy and better integration of theoretical and practical learning.

More attention is needed to digital pedagogy and to effective use of online methods to support work-based learning with corresponding implications for staff development. There are institutional implications in terms of ensuring that systems and structures support what is, particularly for work-based learners, likely to be a permanent move towards digital, blended and online learning.

There has been limited research on the impact of the pandemic on work-based learning, with most of the literature focusing on placements and projects. This paper presents findings at a point when universities are considering how technologically-supported methods will be employed on a more permanent basis.