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To introduce blockchain in simple terms for business lawyers to be able to spot the right issues and ask the right questions.

This article provides an overview of blockchain, identifies two example use cases, and highlights some of the most pressing legal issues, including issues to address in on-chain programming, off-chain agreements and other issues when determining whether to implement a blockchain solution.

This article concludes that there has been a significant growth in investment and interest in blockchain. Numerous companies across different sectors have developed blockchain proof-of-concepts, with some heading towards production deployments. At this point, commercial blockchain is largely in the pilot or proof-of-concept stage across a wide range of use cases, with payments and supply chain being two of the most promising use cases. This article also identifies possible legal issues associated with blockchain.

Despite the growing interest in blockchain, it is still a novel topic to many business lawyers. It is very important that lawyers are able to identify the right issues and ask the right questions.

Practical guidance from experienced lawyers in the Technology Transactions and Financial Services Regulatory & Enforcement practices.

Purpose – This chapter provides one aspect of the organizational side of the biology and politics enterprise.

Design/methodology/approach – This chapter provides a historical description of two organizations that help to structure the “business” of biology and politics: The International Political Science Association’s (IPSA) Research Committee #12 and the Association for Politics and the Life Sciences (APLS).

Findings – Research Committee #12 had its origins in the early 1970s, whereas APLS came about in the later 1970s. The discussion of these two organizations gives the reader a better sense of the twin enterprises. In the process of discussing APLS, the chapter also outlines the contributions of its professional journal, Politics and the Life Sciences.

Originality/value – Seldom has there been a detailed discussion of these two organizations in one place.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

Jane Barrow, CEO of Caprica Energy, must recommend to the board which of three potential “unconventional ” natural-gas development sites in different parts of the United States the company should pursue. The case takes place in January 2011, when the “low-hanging fruit ” of natural-gas production in the United States had essentially been picked. All three of the potential sites (shale, coalbed methane, and tight sands) would require hydraulic fracturing, a process of removing gas that was formerly considered inaccessible by injecting water and chemicals into the ground. Because of emerging concerns about the potential harm “fracking ” can do to drinking water, Barrow must not only analyze which site might be most profitable but also what the potential risks to the environment and area residents might be.

Natural selection—survival of the fittest—is as old as life itself. Applied genetics which is purposeful in contrast to natural selection also has a long history, particularly in agriculture; it has received impetus from the more exacting demands of the food industry for animal breeds with higher lean : fat and meat : bone ratios, for crops resistant to the teeming world of parasites. Capturing the exquisite scent, the colours and form beautiful of a rose is in effect applied genetics and it has even been applied to man. For example, Frederick the Great, Emperor of Prussia, to maintain a supply of very tall men for his guards—his Prussian Guards averaged seven feet in height—ordered them to marry very tall women to produce offspring carrying the genes of great height. In recent times, however, research and experiment in genetic control, more in the nature of active interference with genetic composition, has developed sufficiently to begin yielding results. It is self‐evident that in the field of micro‐organisms, active interference or manipulations will produce greater knowledge and understanding of the gene actions than in any other field or by any other techniques. The phenomenon of “transferred drug resistance”, the multi‐factorial resistance, of a chemical nature, transferred from one species of micro‐organisms to another, from animal to human pathogens, its role in mainly intestinal pathology and the serious hazards which have arisen from it; all this has led to an intensive study of plasmids and their mode of transmission. The work of the Agricultural Research Council's biologists (reported elsewhere in this issue) in relation to nitrogen‐fixing genes and transfer from one organism able to fix nitrogen to another not previously having this ability, illustrates the extreme importance of this new field. Disease susceptibility, the inhibition of invasiveness which can be acquired by relatively “silent” micro‐organisms, a better understanding of virulence and the possible “disarming” of organisms, particularly those of particular virulence to vulnerable groups. Perhaps this is looking for too much too soon, but Escherichia coli would seem to offer more scope for genetic experiments than most; it has serotypes of much variability and viability; and its life and labours in the human intestine have assumed considerable importance in recent years. The virulence of a few of its serotypes constitute an important field in food epidemiology. Their capacity to transfer plasmids—anent transfer of drug resistance— to strains of other organisms resident in the intestines, emphasizes the need for close study, with safeguards.

Businesses use both classroom and facilitation forms of leadership development. In this article I describe over 20 leadership-development methods, placing them in either of two categories, classroom or facilitation. I then provide the results of a quick survey of leadership development companies on the Internet, over 200 in all, about which group of methods they used most commonly. Results suggest that facilitation, of both groups and individuals (in the form of coaching), is more common than might be expected and as suggested in research by others.

The paper's aim is to highlight the value of non‐cognitive strengths such as creativity and grit. In a knowledge age, those aspects will be the distinguishing characteristics in a global work force and must be a goal of educational pursuits.

The paper examines research supporting the inclusion of character strengths in education for a borderless global future.

Presently, most education and work deals with information and data. Technology has made data/facts/information more accessible but less unique for any given learner, worker, or place. At the same time, education has focused on simple distribution of content, knowledge assessment, and testing instead of the development of rich knowledge and non‐cognitive skills. This can be seen in the reliance on testing and achievement, and, by and large, in a generation of students knowing “what” but not “how”, a generation less creative and more prone to set answers, a generation often lacking character strengths and less able to persevere in the face of challenge or failure.

Research must focus more intensely on the character strengths or non‐cognitive skills to better understand their relationship to learning and achievement. Methods of developing character strengths should be researched for efficacy. Correlation between various character strengths (such as creativity and persistence) and academic achievement should be broadly researched. This correlative research could support new methods and foci in education offering a broader, more inclusive direction in learning.

Research has shown character strengths can be better developed in explicit class settings than through tacit methods. Previous research into strengths such as grit and perseverance could also lead to different participant selection for employment, enrollment, or to intervention programs. In a world where information travels around the world in the blink of an eye, in a borderless global future, education must metaphorically cross the cognitive border and begin to directly address that broader set of skills that are cherished but often do not seem to be taught. It is on the border between learning information – explicit knowledge – and affective, social, and behavioral skills where change must occur.

This paper addresses a need in education to examine and explicitly address non‐cognitive skills.

Drawing on moral foundations theory, this paper aims to investigate the moral component of loyalty, a critical determinant of long-term organisational success.

This paper contains two studies using archival data gathered from the Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association in the USA.

This paper finds empirical support for the “ideology-loyalty hypothesis” – namely, fans in more politically conservative communities are more loyal to their professional sports teams than those in more liberal ones.

These findings contribute to a growing literature on the moral roots of organisational phenomena by providing evidence of community-level effects of political ideology on loyalty. Based on these findings, this paper suggests that when making strategic decisions (e.g. expansion into a new market), organisations need to pay attention to the political climate of the communities in which they operate (or intend to operate) to achieve and sustain organisational success.

Authenticity is an interactionist distinction that is symbolically created and negotiated in everyday life. This paper (1) investigates “underground” country musicians and their definitions of self, including the process of creating accounts and (2) demonstrates the importance of authenticity-based identity work as a symbolically constituted and socially negotiated process. The purpose here is not to celebrate “authentic” country music, but rather to examine how these artists construct and manage the perception of authentic identities and to also demonstrate how authenticity-based identity work serves as a meaningful addition to these artists’ identities.