Education for sustainable development within textile technology: a case study of two schools

Design and technology (D&T) requires teachers to continually update their knowledge and skills, with regard to new technologies, appropriate to the needs of the time (Design and Technology Association, 2011). In 2011, Ofsted identified the need for “England to keep pace with global technological change” (Ofsted 2011, p.5), in the report ‘Meeting technological challenges, a survey of schools from 2007-2010’. Following the report, the UK government funded a national programme called Digital Design and Technology (DD&T). The programme set up a network of regional support centres to provide up-to-date Professional Development (PD) courses on modern D&T subject knowledge

Mandatory Disclosure Quality, Inside Ownership, and Cost of Capital

This paper examines whether and how inside ownership mediates the relation between disclosure quality and the cost of capital. Both ownership and more transparent reporting have the potential to align incentives between managers and investors thereby reducing systematic risk. Employing a large global sample across 35 countries over the 1990–2004 period, we show that country-level disclosure regulation is negatively related to (i) inside ownership, and (ii) firms' implied cost of capital and realised returns. We then introduce ownership into the cost of capital model, and also find a negative relation. These relations extend to the systematic component of the cost of capital, estimated from Fama–French portfolio sorts on ownership and disclosure regulation. Thus, while the direct effect of disclosure on cost of capital is negative, the indirect effect via ownership is positive, consistent with disclosure quality and ownership acting as substitutes. Using path analysis to assess the relative magnitude, our estimates suggest that the direct effect of disclosure quality outweighs the indirect effect by a ratio of about five to one.Wharton SchoolSloan School of Managemen

A test of the DSM-5 severity specifier for bulimia nervosa in adolescents: Can we anticipate clinical treatment outcomes?

OBJECTIVE:This study tested clinical utility of the DSM-5 severity specifier for bulimia nervosa (BN) in predicting treatment response among adolescents (N = 110) within a randomized clinical trial of two psychosocial treatments. METHOD:Analyses grouped individuals meeting criteria for BN diagnosis by baseline severity, per DSM-5. Associations among baseline severity classification and BN behavior (i.e., binge eating and compensatory behavior) and eating disorder examination (EDE) Global scores at end-of-treatment (EOT), 6- and 12-month follow-up were examined. RESULTS:Associations between severity categories with BN symptoms were not significant at EOT, or follow-up. Test for linear trend in BN behavior was significant at EOT, F = 5.23, p = 0.02, without demonstrating a linear pattern. Relation between severity categories with EDE Global scores was significant at 6-month follow-up, F = 3.76, p = 0.01. Tests for linear trend in EDE Global scores were significant at EOT, F = 5.40, p = 0.02, and at 6 months, F = 10.73, p = 0.002, with the expected linear pattern. DISCUSSION:Findings suggest the DSM-5 BN severity specifier holds questionable utility in anticipating outpatient treatment response in adolescents with BN. The specifier may have improved ability to predict attitudinal rather than behavioral treatment outcomes

Discussion of Investor Protection and Analysts’ Cash Flow Forecasts Around the World

DeFond and Hung [DeFond, M., & Hung, M. (2007). Review of Accounting Studies, 12 (this issue)] test the conjecture whether financial analysts, due to demand-side pressure, compensate for the limited usefulness of reported earnings by issuing cash flow forecasts. They find that analysts supplement their earnings forecasts more frequently with cash flow forecasts in countries where antidirector rights and legal enforcement quality are poor. In my discussion, I examine their hypothesis development and empirical research design and try to extend their arguments to a time-series setting. As it turns out, the paper’s main contention critically hinges on two assumptions: (1) investors’ unsatisfied demand for accounting information and (2) their willingness to rely on cash flow forecasts as valuable information signals. The descriptive validity of these assumptions in an international context is a priori not obvious. I then test whether substantial changes in investor protection and/or earnings quality relate to changes in the frequency of cash flow forecasts. My analyses show that analysts’ propensity to issue cash flow forecasts increases after the first prosecution under insider trading laws, after non-U.S. firms have cross-listed their shares on a U.S. exchange, or after firms have voluntarily replaced their domestic accounting standards with IFRS or U.S. GAAP. Thus, I conclude that the reasoning behind the levels results does not simply extend to a changes setting

Financial Reporting and Firm Valuation: Relevance Lost or Relevance Regained?

In this study, I examine whether balance sheet and income statement numbers have lost or regained their relevance over the last 30 years. Institutional and macroeconomic factors like the global trend towards strengthening regulation and harmonising financial reporting, the extended use of fair values over historical cost, and the recurring occurrence of accounting scandals, market bubbles, and financial crises make it likely that the role of financial reporting for firm valuation has changed. Following prior research, I estimate four models for the concurrent relation between market value and accounting numbers, and then examine the pattern in explanatory power over time. I find that the loss in relevance of the income statement continues in recent years and is present in a large international sample, in particular in countries with strong institutions. While the overall relevance of the balance sheet remains stable, I find a downward trend during the first sample half, which reverses in the second half, especially in common law countries with strong investor protection, strict disclosure requirements, and integrated markets. Even though several caveats apply, the results suggest that changes in the economy, the institutional environment, and in how firms operate affect the relative importance of accounting information for the use in firm valuation by outside stakeholders

An Introduction to the KPSA Commonwealth Review of Political Science

It is an honor to serve as the Senior Editor for this inaugural issue of the Commonwealth Review of Political Science. In my capacity as Executive Secretary-Treasurer of KPSA, I was given the responsibility to develop the initial plans for the journal and then to implement its establishment and operations. While this task has been greater than imagined, the support from numerous colleagues has been equally great in bringing the journal to realization. I am writing this article to explain the development and purpose of this journal, but also to acknowledge the many leaders of KPSA that helped to make this possible

Police reform in Scotland: What can we learn from the experiences of front-line officers?

Little is known about how front-line police officers navigate major structural reforms within their organization. The findings presented in this paper were collected as part of the first ever empirical study of the newly created Police Service of Scotland between October 2013 and June 2014. The findings discussed here are pertinent to the wider academic literature in that they fill the current gap in knowledge on how front-line police officers experience major structural reforms at a police operational level; by exploring the ways, if any, reform impacted on the routine delivery of local policing. This paper focuses on three main themes which emerged from the analysis of 68 interviews conducted with a stratified sample of serving police officers; front-line police officers, their supervisors and managers across two geographically distinct case study areas in Scotland. The paper highlights police officers' concerns around a lack of front-line involvement in either the planning or implementation of reform, the pace at which the changes associated with reform were rolled out and the internal communication processes adopted throughout the reform journey, all of which they claim impacted negatively on their daily routines. This unique data was collected using a variety of qualitative and ethnographic research approaches including non-participant observations, walking interviews, documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews at the precise time major structural reform was being implemented across Scotland