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The effect of exchange rate movements on firm value is important to firms engaged in international transactions. These accounting exposures can be managed using financial instruments. However, the competitive or strategic effects that create economic exposure require firms to adopt a strategic approach. This paper reports on the extent to which large, publicly‐listed UK firms adopt a strategic approach to the management of exchange rate risk. Unlike earlier studies, the results indicate the widespread use of a range of operational hedging techniques. A significant proportion of firms are also found to incorporate currency risk management as a factor in decisions made by their operating departments. However, the study also indicated considerable variation in the application of operational techniques between firms and industry sectors.

This study examines the sensitivity of sales, profit margins and input costs to exchange rate movements for non‐financial, UK firms. The sample is a representative cross‐section of larger, publicly‐listed firms and is not limited to those directly involved in international trade. Surveyed firms provided data on both the direct and indirect components of economic exposure. As with other studies, we find a statistically significant relationship between a firm’s exchange rate sensitivity and the degree to which it sells, sources, or funds itself internationally. Contrary to the theory on economic exposure, only one indirect determinant, that for foreign‐based competition, is unambiguously significant. The other indirect effects, the degree of product differentiation, the demand elasticity for a firm’s output, and common input currencies for competitors, are not significant in our models. Our examination of the interactive effects suggested by the theory of economic exposure shows no statistical relationship to a firm’s exchange rate sensitivity. We attribute the weak evidence for competitive effects to the complexities of the indirect determinants of economic exposure at the firm‐specific level.

Despite widespread recognition of the importance of place in entrepreneurship research, much less attention has been paid to the methodological challenges that inquiries into place presents. Understanding the relationship between place and entrepreneurship is becoming increasingly important as focus turns to sustainable entrepreneurship and as policy makers turn to ‘place-based’ approaches to regional sustainability challenges. This chapter provides insight one researcher’s experiences engaging stakeholders in discussions about the relationship between a place-based university programme for sustainability and local sustainability agendas. The chapter reveals the struggles experienced by both researcher and participants in articulating what places and the local region means to both individuals and to the programme. The findings provide an important insight into how researchers studying place need to be cognisant of the limitations and flexibility of language when engaging research participants in discussing the relationship between place, sustainability, and entrepreneurship.

The aim of this paper is to find the optimal values of the reaction rates coefficients for the combustion of a methane/air mixture for a given reduced reaction mechanism which has a high appropriateness with full reaction mechanism.

A multi‐objective genetic algorithm (GA) was used to determine new reaction rate parameters (A's, β's, and E_a's in the non‐Arrhenius expressions). The employed multi‐objective structure of the GA allows for the incorporation of perfectly stirred reactor (PSR), laminar premixed flames, opposed flow diffusion flames, and homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engine data in the inversion process, thus enabling a greater confidence in the predictive capabilities of the reaction mechanisms obtained.

The results of this study demonstrate that the GA inversion process promises the ability to assess combustion behaviour for methane, where the reaction rate coefficients are not known. Moreover it is shown that GA can consider a confident method to be applied, straightforwardly, to the combustion chambers, in which complex reactions are occurred.

In this paper, GA is used in more complicated combustion models with fewer assumptions. Another consequence of this study is less CPU time in converging to final solutions.

The purpose of this paper is to study methods of reacting the surface of the particles of silica sols with silanes, primarily gamma‐glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GPTMS) and study some basic properties of the modified sols and the nature and structure of the silane groups attached to the particle surface.

The surface of the silica particles was modified by reacting the silica sols with aqueous solutions of silanes, chiefly GPTMS. The presence and structure of silane groups on the particle surface were established by Si‐NMR and C‐NMR, respectively.

Several silanes were studied but silica sols could be readily modified only with GPTMS and glycidoxypropylmethoxydiethoxysilane (GPMDES), most readily if the silanes were pre‐hydrolysed in water. Higher degrees of silylation were preferably done by continuous addition of silane. Lower degrees of modification can be achieved at room temperature by the stepwise addition of the silane solution. The silylation of the silica surface with GPTMS significantly reduces the number of charged surface groups and silanol groups. GPTMS binds covalently to the silica surface and the epoxy ring opens and transforms into a diol. Silica sols modified with GPTMS and GPMDES are stable toward aggregation.

Only organo‐reactive silanes were studied.

This is the first work to study the modification by silanes of silica aquasols with high concentrations of silica. The silane modification can extend the use of silica to areas of applications previously inaccessible to silica sols.

June 9, 1972 Occupiers' liability — “Common duty of care” — Contractor — Duty to sub‐contractor — Sub‐contractor contracted to fix ceilings in house being erected by contractor — Sub‐contractor injured whilst fixing — Whether sub‐contractor entitled to claim both for breach of implied term in contract conferring the right to enter the house and for breach of common duty of care owed to sub‐contractor as a visitor — Occupiers' Liability Act, 1957 (5 & 6 Eliz. II, c. 31), ss. 2(1), 5(1).

The topic of whistleblowing is achieving prominence as a question of social policy. Some influential voices are suggesting that far from whistleblowing — informing on organisations —, being socially undesirable, it may in certain circumstances be an activity deserving high praise. Inevitably it entails huge risks to the activist, and these risks need to be personally and carefully considered. John Banham, Director General of the Confederation of British Industry, wrote in support of the Social Audit report on the subject (Winfield 1990), and a committee established by the Speaker of the House of Commons has suggested the possibility of honouring whistleblowers in the British Honours system for their good corporate citizenship. There have also been landmark reports in America, Australia and Canada (Leahy 1978, Electoral and Administrative Review Commission 1990, Ontario Law Reform Commission 1986).

Sustainable development of tourism depends on the fragile balance between its fast growth and the tendency to “consume” its own life support systems: nature, culture, and communities. Finding equilibrium between the two conflicting aspects requires a shared rule making, which is seldom encountered, especially in tourism-centric approaches. The emergent new technologies, and particularly the evolution of social media, seem to offer a neutral ground that favors open participation and stakeholder dialogue. This chapter explores the employment of social media by individual users of TripAdvisor and by institutional actors (destination organizations) as platforms for initiating stakeholder dialogues that focus on sustainable tourism. The findings show that individual and institutional actors are slow in adopting social media as a means to discuss the sustainability of tourism.

This article focuses on humanities scholars’ information searching. David Ellis’ model of scholars’ information seeking is taking as a starting point for this study. For understanding the information needs and information seeking habits of humanities scholars, it is crucial to know about the nature of research processes within diverse humanities fields. The study at hand, therefore, starts from the premise that the information searching of humanistic researchers needs to be understood within the framework of the research process, and not as a phenomenon outside of it.

Based on 24 in-depth interviews in archaeology, art history, philosophy, and languages and linguistics, the article examines humanities scholars’ research processes. The purpose of this study is to analyse the research processes, their course and different stages, and to classify these into types. The purpose is also to examine the relationships between the types of research processes and the disciplines studied. Seven types of research processes were identified among scholars working in the fields studied. The types were named the Fly, the Sphinx Moth, the Mole, the Mockingbird, and the Spider.

The findings show that the representatives of a specific humanities discipline did not always proceed in their research in similar ways. There were distinct differences according to discipline, but important differences between scholars belonging to the same discipline could also be observed. The findings indicate that information seeking behaviour cannot be explained by factors that lie outside the researcher and the researcher's subject matter. Another important finding is that humanistic research often does not proceed in linear stages. There is more variability within the research and searching processes within humanities and among representatives of specific disciplines than is often presumed.