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This paper provides a discussion on the implementation of formal assessment of work placement within a retail sandwich degree at the Manchester Metropolitan University. Outlines the Retail Marketing degree and placement programme. Explains the key components of placement assessment: professional practice; personal skills and the placement project. Concludes that successful assessment relies on careful briefing and preparation of students prior to placement and close liaison between placement tutor, employer and student during the sandwich period.

Provides a short report on short pre‐placement work‐based projects within a retail sandwich degree at the Manchester Metropolitan University. Outlines the objectives of the projects and concludes that they play an important role in helping to strengthen practical retail skills and the students’ understanding of retail management issues.

Develops an original 12‐step management of technology protocol and applies it to 51 applications which range from Du Pont’s failure in Nylon to the Single Online Trade Exchange for Auto Parts procurement by GM, Ford, Daimler‐Chrysler and Renault‐Nissan. Provides many case studies with regards to the adoption of technology and describes seven chief technology officer characteristics. Discusses common errors when companies invest in technology and considers the probabilities of success. Provides 175 questions and answers to reinforce the concepts introduced. States that this substantial journal is aimed primarily at the present and potential chief technology officer to assist their survival and success in national and international markets.

This paper starts by considering what it means if dyslexia has genetic or environmental causes. The author also explains phrases used by genetic researchers and the kind of things they look for in genetic material. The purpose of this paper is to discuss two recent studies on dyslexia that shed light on either genetic or environmental causes.

One study was a thorough exploration of possible genetic differences that could be present in children experiencing reading and language difficulties. The other study examined a large sample of the Canadian public to see whether there was a link between dyslexia and having experienced physical abuse as a child or teenager.

The study on genetic differences found no evidence for some previously suggested genetic causes of dyslexia. Although previous studies have suggested dyslexia runs in families, the genetic contribution may have been overestimated. The study on the Canadian public found that people who reported experiencing physical abuse in their younger years were six to seven times more likely also to have a diagnosis of dyslexia. Childhood trauma is known to affect brain development.

Although this paper only discusses two papers in detail, they are two of the most recent explorations of genetic and environmental links to dyslexia. There could be a case for greater attention to possible traumatic experiences in children identified as dyslexic. Physical abuse is one possibility but should never be assumed. Families can be under strain and may need more support. However, dyslexia and the mental health difficulties that can result from childhood trauma can reduce a child’s current and future social inclusion. Early intervention may avert this outcome.

When a firm implements certain HR practices, different employees attribute different motives and intentions to the firm with regard to those HR practices. Research on HR attributions has made progress toward understanding the relationship between HR practices and employee outcomes from a process perspective. However, this research is still fragmented and lacks a systematic typology of the different types of HR attributions and a compelling organizing research framework. Furthermore, a number of research gaps and opportunities have emerged regarding the nomological net of employee HR attributions. To address the gaps and capitalize on the opportunities, the authors propose an overarching theory-driven multi-level framework that guides the choice of the antecedents and outcomes of employee HR attributions and explains their relationships along with both mediating and moderating mechanisms. Drawing on signaling theory embedded in the proposed framework, the authors identify and categorize various antecedents of employee HR attributions to explain their relationships. The authors also use several additional theories such as social exchange and the job demands–resources model included in their review to identify and categorize various outcomes of employee HR attributions across levels of analysis (i.e., individual, collective [team/group/unit], organization) and explain their relationships. In addition, the proposed framework explains how individual-level employee HR attributions emerge at the collective level and influence collective processes and outcomes. The authors end their review by pinpointing future research needs and discussing related future research directions.

Examines the impact of genetic testing and therapy on health care in light of the development of the system in the USA since the turn of the twentieth century. Genetic testing and therapy have the potential to create a great advance in health care but also to become a business of multi‐billion dollar proportions. If present trends of investment and long‐range plans mature, health care will be adversely affected in terms of its distribution, access and economy. Developed and sold as commodities in a free‐market economy, genetic advances will economically stress health care and fail to meet the ethical and legal standards demanded by voluntary informed consent and counseling. Without abandonment of the marketplace approach to health care and thorough reform, many will find themselves excluded from the benefits and vulnerable to discrimination.

Family reunions are a tradition almost as old as the human species. They may be as small as the reunion of members of an immediate family, or as large as the gathering of an extended family. The family reunion renews old bonds, reclaims lost ties, and recognizes new branches of the family tree. Keeping track of all the branches of the family is the central purpose of a family reunion. Accordingly, attempts at genealogical research may begin or end at a family reunion. A person's interest in investigating her family's history might be aroused when she hears old family stories; a researcher might obtain at a reunion the information he has been seeking in libraries. Completed research is often discussed at the reunions of families whose members have been studying the families' histories over a period of years. Many such families join into family associations or organizations of some kind, occasionally even becoming incorporated.

While the concept of legal culture has been receiving a growing attention from scholars, this research often overemphasizes the similarity of the opinions held by different segments of population. Furthermore, the relationship of migration and the change of legal-cultural attitudes has not received particular attention. Drawing on 70 in-depth interviews with the immigrants of the early 1990s from the former Soviet Union to Israel and the secular Israeli Jews, this chapter provides a comprehensive account of the various aspects of legal culture of these groups. The second important finding is the persistence of the legal-cultural attitudes and perceptions over time.

This case presents the dilemma faced by Danville Airlines’ management when one of its best pilots is found to have the inherited gene for Huntington’s disease. Although he inevitably will develop the physically and mentally debilitating disease, the pilot, who has yet to experience symptoms, does not want to step down from his position. Danville Airlines explores the complicated issues of employee rights versus public safety, employee rights to privacy, and genetic testing and its effects on employees and management.

In their book Megatrends 2000, John Naisbitt and Patricia Aburdene (1990) stated that one of the ten “megatrends for the 1990's would be the rise of “The Age of Biology.” One of the central forces behind this societal shift which is occurring right now, they say, is research into understanding human genetics and the rise of biotechnology. The scientific knowledge regarding human genetics and the technology to examine an individual's genetic makeup have grown at a rapid pace, especially in the last decade as a result of the Human Genome Project. This venture has been labelled alternatively as “mediocre science” (Roberts, 1990b: p. 804) and as “biology's Holy Grail,” (Nelkin and Tancredi, 1989: p. 14). It is indisputably a monumental scientific undertaking, likened to the drive to put a man on the moon in the sixties (“The Geography of Genes,” 1989). This knowledge and the resultant trends will likely prove to be important factors not only in our future economy, but also in the nature of how we understand ourselves.