Accounting for accounting: Towards the development of a dialectical view

This paper questions the adequacy of current approaches to accounting research. Following a re-examination of the progress made by the interpretive perspective in correcting for many of the shortcomings in the traditional framework, a catalogue of unresolved problems and silences is constructed. It is argued that central to this is the persistent failure adequately to contextualize accounting whilst at the same time treating it as a fully social practice. The second part of the paper is accordingly devoted to the development and illustration of an alternative, fuller, perspective. This, it is claimed, contains the potential to allow a deeper understanding of the linkages between routinized practices and conflicts and the socio-economic contexts in which they are located.     

Risk management strategies using seasonal climate forecasting in irrigated cotton production: a tale of stochastic dominance

Decision-making in agriculture is carried out in an uncertain environment with farmers often seeking information to reduce risk. As a result of the extreme variability of rainfall and stream-flows in north-eastern Australia, water supplies for irrigated agriculture are a limiting factor and a source of risk. The present study examined the use of seasonal climate forecasting (SCF) when calculating planting areas for irrigated cotton in the northern Murray Darling Basin. Results show that minimising risk by adjusting plant areas in response to SCF can lead to significant gains in gross margin returns. However, how farmers respond to SCF is dependent on several other factors including irrigators' attitude towards risk.     

Using ‘Electronic Portfolios’ to Challenge Current Orthodoxies in the Presentation of an Initial Teacher Training Design and Technology Activity

The paper examines the extent to which a University undergraduate curriculum initiative provided initial teacher trainees with opportunities to challenge orthodox design methodologies through the production of an electronic portfolio within and extended design and technology activity. It was found that the ‘electronic portfolio’ served primarily as a developmental tool for promoting creative continuity and sound, reflective, design practice within a structured educational design challenge. The portfolio also provided a focus for the development of ‘e’ learning skills as it facilitated the use of new technologies in the compilation of the portfolio. Additionally, the portfolio provided trainees with a means by which they were able to demonstrate their capability to prospective employers. The use of the ‘electronic portfolio’ challenges current orthodoxy and methods routinely employed to present and assess trainees’ creative work, which have been shown to constrain innovative practice. The paper concludes that the use of the ‘electronic’ portfolio was successful in facilitating trainees’ engagement with a creative Design and Technology process.     

Technical choice and reswitching in space economies

This paper seeks to apply some of the arguments of the ‘capital controversy’ in economics (originally sparked by Piero Sraffa's work) to a spatial context. In particular, technical choice, switching of techniques and reswitching are given spatial counterparts. The main conclusion of the paper is that parts of orthodox theory in regional economics are open to question when they are scrutinized by a perspective based on Sraffa's ideas.     

Integrating job search behavior into the study of job seekers’ employer knowledge and organizational attraction

This paper reports on a study about the impact of job search behaviors and employer knowledge on organizational attraction during recruitment. A time-lagged study was conducted among job seekers from a Singaporean business school. Results indicated that preparatory job search (PJS) behaviors influenced organizational attraction through employer familiarity. PJS also moderated the effects of two-types of images – employer creativity and people focus – on organizational attraction. These findings imply that a recruitment strategy needs to consider PJS and the specific type of employer image when communicating employer-based information.     

Nonparametric discrimination of time series data

A normality assumption is usually made for the discrimination between two stationary time series processes. A nonparametric approach is desirable whenever there is doubt concerning the validity of this normality assumption. In this paper a nonparametric approach is suggested based on kernel density estimation firstly on (p+1) sample autocorrelations and secondly on (p+1) consecutive observations. A numerical comparison is made between Fishers linear discrimination based on sample autocorrelations and kernel density discrimination for AR and MA processes with and without Gaussian noise. The methods are applied to some seismological data.     

A microcomputer-based decision-support system for manpower planning

The paper reviews the field of manpower-planning modelling in South Africa and the UK. Thereafter the design of a microcomputer-based simulation manpower model is discussed. The output generated is designed to assist the manpower planner in making more effective and efficient manpower decisions. The emphasis of the modelling approach is on decision support where the intention is to enhance the quality of the information base upon which the final decisions are taken by the manpower planner.     

Fires and explosions of hydrocarbon oxidation plants

A review of fires and explosions in hydrocarbon oxidation plants, including these caused by decomposition.     

Human problems with computer control: An update

The applications of computer control continue to grow. Incidents can be avoided by the study of previous occurrences. This paper updates “Human Problems with Computer Control” [1] and describes more incidents on computer-controlled plants. As before, the computers provided new and easier opportunities for making familiar errors.