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The purpose of this paper is to review the design and fabrication of a micro‐accelerometer to be used to measure the heart wall motion of patients who have just undergone coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. The sensor will provide a means of early warning for the medical staff of associated complications with this surgery occurring.

A feasibility paper is carried out with the use of commercially available MEMS three‐axis accelerometers. The sensors are used in animal studies during which the sensor is stitched directly to the surface of a pig's heart. A need for smaller sensors is required and these are designed in‐house and fabricated using a MEMS process. The final dimensions of the sensors are 2.5×3.5×1.4 mm in width, length and height, respectively.

The results of the feasibility studies demonstrate the viability of this type of sensor for heart wall motion measurement. It is possible to detect abnormalities, which can indicate complications associated with CABG. The sensors presented here are fabricated within the tight overall size specifications deemed necessary for this application.

This paper demonstrates an application of MEMS for implantable medical sensors.

In the UK, approximately 300,000 people have a heart attack each year. One of the most common surgeries that is used to treat this is CABG. This sensor is to be used by the medical staff in post‐surgery to provide “real‐time” monitoring of the heart and give early warning of regional cardiac ischemia which can save lives and reduce hospital waiting times and costs.

This paper demonstrates an original way of measuring heart wall motion. Results from the feasibility studies have proven that this can provide an invaluable way of providing early warning of complications after heart surgery.

Outlines previous research on the relationship between stock returns and earnings and investigates the effects of divergence between security analysts’ earnings forecasts on this relationship. Uses cross‐sectional analysis, time series and variable parameter models on 1981‐88 US data to see whether the stock returns‐earnings coefficient decreases with increased disagreement between analysts and shows that it does. Considers the implications for policy makers and accounting research design; and consistency with other research.

States that advertisers on the World Wide Webb (WWW) rely on a traditional mass communication model, which may be inappropriate for electronic commerce. Sets out to explore how marketing could happen on the WWW. Explains the WWW, its origins, its phenomenal growth, and the opportunities it opens up for commercial transactions, particularly in the USA. Refers to literature which indicates that conventional marketing activities need to be revisited and turned into virtual marketing if there is to be any success in electronic commerce. Cites five phases in this evolutionary process. Focuses on interactivity between the consumer and the marketing organization, predicting that good marketing will be based on good conversation, customer satisfaction and consumer access to the company.

Sexual harassment law addresses hostile environments by evaluating whether the workplace environment would be considered hostile by a “reasonable woman”. But who is a reasonable woman? Defendant‐employers may present one group of women employees as representative “reasonable” women and assert that any of these women’s co‐workers who have had different experiences with regard to sexual harassment are not “reasonable”. However, when male employees categorize various groups of female coworkers differently and, subsequently, treat them differently, the experiences of women from one of these groups would not be indicative of the experiences of women from an other group. This “selective sexual harassment” was present in the workplace I studied: while both groups of women were “reasonable”, they had very different experiences, only one of which might be confirmed by a court as the perspective of “reasonable” women. This article advocates for a version of the “reason ble victim” standard to facilitate a closer analysis of hostile environment sexual harassment suits.

Summarizes previous research on financial analysts’ forecasts and the segmentation of international finance markets. Hypothesizes that the accuracy of earnings forecasts in a country is negatively related to the country return, and positively to the country risk. Uses 1992‐94 data from 12 countries to test this, supports the hypothesis and calls for further research.

Explores the way that men and women through autobiography have charted the private self. Shows the depiction of life as a voyage or journey to self‐perception. Looks at the value and purpose of using autobiographical accounts and life reviewing in adult educational work especially with older women. Suggests this can be used extremely effectively within this area and provides a number of examples of its usage.

This article addresses many essential ongoing school district human resource issues; however the central focus is on the extraordinary actions that make human resource management in school districts truly effective. This is achieved through research of human resource management books, articles and case studies and by drawing on nine years of personal experience in auditing school districts. This article focuses on effective human resource management of instructors in public school districts. The major topics explored within human resource management are recruiting, employment and labour relations.

Procurement is an increasingly important activity within most firms, and severe financial and operational consequences can result from the failure to optimize the procurement function. The multiple criteria, including the financial significance, involved in the selection of a sole‐source vendor are addressed here. Two multicriteria approaches to decision support for vendor selection are presented and are demonstrated through an example. One approach, the simple multiattribute rating technique, is relatively widely used in selection problems. The other approach, data envelopment analysis, is rarely used in such problems but serves as a very acceptable alternative for supporting the vendor selection decision. The results from these two approaches are compared to those based upon a pure aggregation and averaging procedure. For the example being considered, both multicriteria approaches provide similar results, which differ considerably from those for pure aggregation. In addition, the short‐term financial implications are examined so as to underscore the commitment needed by management if non‐cost criteria are to be incorporated into vendor selection.

Proposes that decisions on reward distribution are affected by preferences for various distributive principles and by the social context within which distribution takes place. Using a Chinese sample this relationship is tested. Identifies that the strength of preference for a particular distributive principle was a major predictor for a corresponding decision, however such influences were neutralised by secondary preferences for competing principles. Provides some insight into the Chinese psychology.

Recognizes the inherent conflict between multinationals’ (MNEs’) need to respond to local markets while using global integration to achieve economies of scale; and outlines relevant research from the fields of both economic and organizational theory. Criticizes the process approach based on normative theory and suggests that loose coupling theory is a more practical way of looking at MNEs. Discusses the application of these ideas to their management and identifies seven behavioural characteristics of loosely coupled systems (Weick). Links these to Doz and Prahalad’s (1991) criteria for assessing the applicability of organizational theory to MNEs. Considers the research implications and believes that MNE organization will eventually be seen, not as a special case, but as a general model.