Small tax practitioners in the UK - Provision of tax advice. A qualitative study

The aim of the study is to obtain an in-depth understanding of smaller tax practice in the UK, from the perspective of the tax practitioner. The practitioner voice, the empirical data, was collected via a focus group and semi-structured interviews. The thesis investigates how changes in the tax field impact upon smaller tax practice and adopts a qualitative, interpretive approach to generate rich descriptions of tax practice. The study examines the client/practitioner relationship and the practitioner/tax authority relationship and also investigates how the practitioner sees their role within this tripartite relationship. The findings suggest that there are a number of ‘client expectation gaps’ between what clients want and what practitioners can achieve in provision of service to them. These are the ‘expert’, ‘scope’, ‘HMRC’ and ‘fee’ gaps. Gaps between the type of relationship and service practitioners desire from HMRC and that which they experience are also identified. These are the ‘relationship’, ‘trust’, ‘systems’ and ‘knowledge’ gaps. The data also provides evidence about positive aspects of the relationship. The study finds that practitioners adopt a number of roles to enable management of these gaps and to fulfil their responsibilities to both clients and HMRC. The gaps arise as a consequence of the dynamic, complex and interdisciplinary tax field in which smaller tax practice plays out. The tax field consists of various actors and is overlaid by a number of fields, such as the legal, political, judicial and bureaucratic field, of which Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is part. Thus by viewing smaller tax practice against the tax field, a deeper understanding of tax practice is attained. A theoretical framework, a Bourdieusian lens, with a focus upon ‘fields’ is employed to enable this analysis. Few studies have examined smaller tax practice, yet it is an important market. Smaller tax practice plays an integral role in the tax system, representing thousands of taxpayers, including small and medium sized businesses. Without the help of the tax practitioner taxpayers may find it difficult to meet their tax obligations, given the complexities in the UK tax system. The findings will be of interest to policymakers, the tax authorities, scholars, professional bodies and practitioners alike

Comparative Study of Aerodynamic Interference During AFT Dispense of Munitions

Based on forthcoming USAF needs, an investigation was launched to further the understanding of aft dispense of munitions in a high-speed environment. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study was performed followed by a wind tunnel experiment. The study consisted of a strut-mounted cone simulating a parent vehicle and a sting mounted cone-cylinder store situated directly behind the cone. The CFD modeled the test objects inside a supersonic wind tunnel in which the experiments took place. The CFD study consisted of evaluating a new strut designed to reduce asymmetry in the airflow aft of the cone. The CFD study also included predictions of axial loads acting on the store in various locations behind the cone. The experimental study consisted of implementing the new strut and introducing a miniature load cell for comparison to CFD load predictions. The CFD study indicated the newly designed strut lengthened the cone\u27s base region by 27% and reduced transverse forces acting on the store by as much as 50% in two of the three locations evaluated. The experimental studies were successful in obtaining axial force coefficients that matched the CFD trend and were typically within 30% of the magnitudes. It was concluded that the load cell was generally adequate in measuring the axial loading on the store though its accuracy is less than that of a typical wind tunnel balance. The error trends indicate that the polymer store introduces the least amount of statistical error making it the most accurate representation of the results. Significant sources of error include transverse vibrations and axial buffeting observed in the wind tunnel tests

The wash-off of dyeings using interstitial water Part 5: Residual dyebath and wash-off liquor generated during the application of disperse dyes and reactive dyes to polyester/cotton fabric

Both 2% and 5% omf dyeings of polycotton fabric which had been produced using commercial grade disperse dyes and reactive dyes can be washed-off using two, novel processes that utilise polyamide beads. The bead wash-off processes provided dyeings that were of similar colour, depth of shade and fastness compared to those which had been subjected to a conventional reduction clearing process in the case of the disperse dyes and a conventional wash-off in the case of the reactive dyes. The wastewater obtained from the bead wash-off of disperse dyes contained considerably lower concentrations of chloride ion as well as lower TDS compared to that secured using a conventional reduction clearing process, which was attributed to the beads having adsorbed vagrant chloride ions. In contrast, bead wash-off of reactive dyes did not reduce either the chloride ion concentration nor TDS content of the wastewater produced, because of the swamping effect of the very high chloride ion concentration. Bead wash-off also enabled significant reductions in both heat energy and water consumption to be achieved

An Exploration of the Change of Teacher Assessment Practice, in Physical Education at Key Stage 3, between 2000 and 2005/2006

Teacher assessment has been the ‘modus operandi’ in Physical Education (PE) since its inclusion as a foundation subject in the National Curriculum in 1992, yet the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) has consistently reported that assessment in this subject is problematic (1995, 1998, 2003, 2009). This research focuses on schools involved in initial teacher education and training, in partnership with Riverside University. Using an overarching case study strategy and a mixed methods approach to data collection and analysis (Yin, 2003), this longitudinal study explores the changes in teachers’ assessment practice in PE at Key Stage 3, over a seven-year period, at a time of unprecedented reform of teacher assessment and its relationship with learning at national level (Black and Wiliam, 1998a; DfES 2004; ARG, 1999 -2010). Using the work of Harlen (2004a) as a tool for analysis, it demonstrates that within the framework of NCPE (2000), at the three data collection points (2000, 2005 and 2006) PE teachers, in the Riverside Partnership, are using an ever-wider range of methods and tools, in order to make dependable assessment judgements at Key Stage 3. There is evidence that teacher assessment practice in PE has developed in line with current thinking at national level, particularly in terms of involving the pupils in their own assessment to inform their learning. However, teacher observation remains the dominant assessment mode. The study concludes that driven by the prevailing culture of performativity and accountability (Broadfoot, 2000b; Ball, 2003) in the schools in which the teachers were working, the PE teachers’ assessment practice increasingly moved towards the notion of ‘good practice’ in assessment in PE, as defined by Ofsted (2003b). However, given that teacher assessment practice continues to vary across the schools in the partnership, issues of consistency remain for the initial teacher training of the PE student teachers

A Characterization of Compact-friendly Multiplication Operators

Answering in the affirmative a question posed in [Y.A.Abramovich, C.D.Aliprantis and O.Burkinshaw, Multiplication and compact-friendly operators, Positivity 1 (1997), 171--180], we prove that a positive multiplication operator on any $L_p$-space (resp. on a $C(\Omega)$-space) is compact-friendly if and only if the multiplier is constant on a set of positive measure (resp. on a non-empty open set). In the process of establishing this result, we also prove that any multiplication operator has a family of hyperinvariant bands -- a fact that does not seem to have appeared in the literature before. This provides useful information about the commutant of a multiplication operator.Comment: To appear in Indag. Math., 12 page

Generation, gender, and leadership : Metaphors and images

This article explores the metaphors and images used by different generations of women to describe women's leadership in higher education (HE) and the impact these perceptions have on their careers and career ambitions. It also explores how such metaphors and images can position them as “other,” silence their voices in the dominant masculinist discourse, and marginalize them. The emphasis in the gender and higher education literature has been on identifying the barriers that impede women's progress in academic organizations, including images of continuing hegemonic masculine leadership, and their promotion to leadership positions. These models position women leaders who are assertive as troublemakers, and women as “the problem” either because of their attitudes or perceived domestic and family responsibilities. And while women leaders are often not gender conscious, they are frequently doing gender in their senior roles. The metaphors and images that portray women's leadership are often of hidden work, supporting more senior males, or “ivory basement” leadership. Combined, they suggest a deficit model that positions women as lacking for top jobs, and institutions therefore needing to “fix the women” generally through leadership development programmes, sponsorship and mentoring. The article examines the metaphors and images used to describe women's leadership across two generations. Older women often saw their leadership as conforming to male leadership models, as fitting in, and not challenging or unsettling their male colleagues. However, a younger generation of leaders or prospective leaders had a very different set of metaphors for their leadership. They saw themselves as unsupported by what they described as the current mediocre, institutional leaders, weighed down by inexorable organizational restructure, and merely in survival mode. Hence, they refused to accept the masculinist leadership model which they perceived as ineffectual, outdated and not meeting their needs. The article suggests that the prevailing culture in higher education leadership and the metaphors and images used to describe successful leadership narrows the options for women leaders. While older women were prepared to accept current masculinist leadership, younger women had contempt for the way it marginalized them while at the same time encouraging them to lift their game and had a different set of metaphors and images to portray what successful leadership should look like. © Copyright © 2020 Burkinshaw and White

When is the Core Equivalence Theorem Valid?

In 1983 L. E. Jones exhibited a surprising example of a weakly Pareto optimal allocation in a two consumer pure exchange economy that failed to be supported by prices. In this example the price space is not a vector lattice (Riesz space). Inspired by Jones' example, A. Mas-Colell and S. F. Richard proved that this pathological phenomenon cannot happen when the price space is a vector lattice. In particular, they established that (under certain conditions) in a pure exchange economy the lattice structure of the price space is sufficient to guarantee the supportability of weakly Pareto optimal allocations by prices-i.e., they showed that the second welfare theorem holds true in an exchange economy whose price space is a vector lattice. In addition, C. D. Aliprantis, D. J. Brown and O. Burkinshaw have shown that when the price space of an exchange economy is a certain vector lattice, the Debreu-Scarf core equivalence theorem holds true, i.e., the sets of Walrasian equilibria and Edgeworth equilibria coincide. (An Edgeworth equilibrium is an allocation that belongs to the core of every replica economy of the original economy.) In other words, the lattice structure of the price space is a sufficient condition for avoiding the pathological situation occurring in Jones' example. This work shows that the lattice structure of the price space is also a necessary condition. That is, "optimum" allocations in an exchange economy are supported by prices (if and) only if the price space is a vector lattice. Specifically, the following converse-type result of the Debreu-Scarf core equivalence theorem is established: If in a pure exchange economy every Edgeworth equilibrium is supported by prices, then the price space is necessarily a vector lattice