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This paper aims to make an assessment of the contribution made by accounting histories of women produced since 1992 and the current state of knowledge production in this subject area.

The study is based on a review of published sources on accounting history and women's, gender and feminist history.

Whereas feminist historians and historians of gender boast substantial advances in research and transformative impacts on the wider discipline of history, similar momentum is less evident in accounting history. It is argued that over the past 15 years scholarship has remained substantially in the “recovery” phase, has not “defamiliarized” the sub‐field and is yet to engage with developments in feminist and gender historiography which offer regenerative potential.

The paper argues that sex and gender differentiation persist in both the past and the present and their study should feature large on the accounting history research agenda.

Core themes in feminist and gender history are explored with a view to identifying research questions for accounting historians. These themes include the oppression and subordination of women, the public‐private divide, restoring women to history, devising new periodisations, investigating socio‐cultural relations, and the construction of identities.

The traditional perspective in the occupational and organizational psychology literature aimed at understanding well‐being, has focused almost exclusively on the “disease” pole. Recently, however, new concepts focusing on health are emerging in the so‐called “positive psychology” literature. The purpose of this paper is to test multiple possible linkages (or profiles) between certain personal, organizational, and cultural variables that affect both burnout and vigor. Burnout (disease) and vigor (health) are assumed to represent two extreme poles of the well‐being phenomenon.

An innovative statistical treatment borrowed from data mining methodology was used to explore the conceptual model that was utilized. A self‐administered questionnaire from a sample of 1,022 physicians working in Swedish public hospitals was used. Standardized job/work demands with multiple items were employed in conjunction with the Uppsala Burnout scale, which was dichotomized into high (burnout) and low (vigor) score. A combination of ANOVAs and “classification and regression tree analyses” was utilized to test the relationships and identify profiles.

Results show an architecture that predicts 59 percent of the explained variance and also reveals four “tree branches” with distinct profiles. Two configurations indicate the determinants of high‐burnout risk, while two others indicate the configurations for enhanced health or vigor.

In addition to their innovative‐added value, the results can also be most instrumental for individual doctors and hospitals in gaining a better understanding of the aetiology of burnout/vigor and in designing effective preventative measures for reducing risk factors for burnout, and enhancing well‐being (vigor).

Relatively little research has examined whether pay dispersion influences men's and women's earnings differently. The purpose of this paper is to fill this research gap.

The authors used survey design and multiple regressions to analyze a sample of 650 Swedish medical doctors.

Pay dispersion was found to be negatively associated with both men's and women's earnings. These effects were contingent on compensation informality and the individual's position in the pay structure. Specifically, when pay dispersion was high, high compensation informality resulted in women being paid less. The interaction of pay dispersion and compensation informality was unrelated to men's earnings. Also, women who were paid less suffered larger penalties when pay dispersion was higher, but their female counterparts who were paid more gained from the existence of greater pay dispersion.

Examining the structure of labor markets on individual outcomes is increasing in importance due to the boundaryless nature of contemporary careers. As people cross functional, organizational, industrial, and even occupational boundaries more frequently in their career lifetimes, they are increasingly exposed to the structural effects of external labor markets. As such, the effects of factors such as pay dispersion and compensation informality in the market are becoming increasingly significant to the fortunes of women and men facing those conditions.

This is the title of an article by Sheila Rothwell in Vol. 91 No. 1 of the European Business Review. The developments in working trends, problems, legislation, and research in the context of equal opportunities in employment in the 1980s are examined. Attempted policy changes are detailed in the following areas: education, training, employment, trade unions, and social policy. There is discussion of three themes which have been the subject of debate: conforming to the male career model; obtaining greater recognition for “female” qualities, skills and attributes; and emphasis on a common humanity and maximising choices for both women and men. The likelihood of the success of each is discussed, and the third approach is supported. The implications for management development specialists are examined.

We issue a double Souvenir number of The Library World in connection with the Library Association Conference at Birmingham, in which we have pleasure in including a special article, “Libraries in Birmingham,” by Mr. Walter Powell, Chief Librarian of Birmingham Public Libraries. He has endeavoured to combine in it the subject of Special Library collections, and libraries other than the Municipal Libraries in the City. Another article entitled “Some Memories of Birmingham” is by Mr. Richard W. Mould, Chief Librarian and Curator of Southwark Public Libraries and Cuming Museum. We understand that a very full programme has been arranged for the Conference, and we have already published such details as are now available in our July number.

Describes the life history of the British Food Journal, its changing editorial team, ownership and editorial focus. The authors have used much wider source material than the archives of the journal, now in its 100th year. The journal was always closely identified with the safety of food, its adulteration and the government’s duty to safeguard the public. The second section reviews the profession and role of the public analyst, in particular the history and development of the Society of Public Analysts. The next and longest section of the monograph is devoted to an interesting examination of food safety, nutrition and food manufacturing issues over the last 100 years. Many of the points raised are illustrated by excerpts from papers written in BFJ and included as Appendices to the monograph. Food irradiation was first raised as a subject in the journal in 1928! Bread and milk as staples in the British diet are looked at in some detail in terms of their ingredients and health properties. Some appendices have been included just for interest and provide brief snapshots of some of the main food concerns of the time, e.g. The Pure Food Society, the food we eat, food poisoning, a world food policy, the packaging of foods, food hygiene. Plus ça change ...

Texas instruments has a cheap starter kit for newcomers to AI computing. For a mere £135, five video tapes of the highlights of the company's satellite symposia on AI are provided. Also included are “hands‐on” PC‐compatible demonstration software, a 35 mm colour slide presentation on the theory and benefits of AI, a set of literature which contains two copies of “Understanding Artificial Intelligence” — Texas Instrument's book on AI — and a copy of an issue of Intelligence, its AI newsletter. The company will provide full details; write to: TI/AI Starter Kit, PO Box 50, Market Harborough, Leicestershire, UK.

Results of experiments by research experts in the food value of canned foods will shortly be published by the Ministry of Agriculture. According to the Ministry the point has now been reached when canned foods may be said to sell on their own merits, and not as a mere substitute for fresh foods. The most obvious attribute of canned foods was that they made available a permanent supply of foodstuffs which were otherwise limited to a season, as well as making available to consumers fruits which could not otherwise be obtained in their natural state. In view of the wide range of varieties of canned foods and vegetables now available any generalised statement as to their value was impracticable, but it might be broadly stated that their energy‐producing value, as expressed in calories, was never inferior to that of the same kinds for consumption fresh, or in some other prepared form. Recent research had shown that vitamins were not necessarily destroyed by canning, and indeed some canned foods—for instance, canned tomatoes—might be very nearly as rich in vitamins as the raw product. An outstanding example of the importance of the canned food industry was the market which had been created for British fresh picked peas. Here the farmers had profited by an expanding but controlled increase of acreage under crop, with prices remaining very stable for the last few years. It was probable that the same general tendency would be observable with plums, and with most other canning crops, as the industry developed. In this country an increased consumption of home‐canned goods, if secured at the expense of imported canned goods, or some other imported agricultural commodity, would mean that a new market had been created for British growers, while a similar benefit would be obtained if export markets were developed. This would not be true if home‐canned goods replaced other home‐grown crops, but in this case it might mean a change‐over from an unprofitable to a profitable crop.

The dismissal of the ordinary and the embrace of chaos are characteristics of the thriller which has, over the last decade, accounted for nearly 25 percent of the best‐seller market. In spite of its existential overtones, the thriller, with rare exceptions, is seldom viewed as quality fiction, yet is not generally classified as genre fiction with attendant categorization by libraries and bookstores. Readers of thrillers in pursuit of authors must either search through the general fiction or “mystery” shelves where thrillers are sometimes placed. However, the latter solution offends both mystery and thriller readers.