title: Accountants as institutional entrepreneurs: Changing routines in a telecommunications company

authors: Sharma, Umesh Prasad

subjects: institutional theory

abstract: Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explicate the role of institutional entrepreneurs who use accounting technology to accomplish change within a privatised telecommunication company.
Design/Methodology: The case study method is adopted. We draw on recent extension to institutional theory which gives greater emphasis to agency including concepts such as embeddedness, institutional entrepreneurs and institutional contradiction.
Findings: As part of the consequences of New Public Management reforms, we illustrate how institutional entrepreneurs de-established an older state-run bureaucratic and engineering based routine and replaced this with a business and accounting based routine. Eventually, the new accounting routines were reproduced and taken for granted by Fijian telecommunications management and employees.
Research Limitations/ Implications: As this study is limited to a single case study, no generalisation except to theory can be made. There are implications for privatisation of state sector organisations in Fiji and elsewhere.
Originality/ Value: The paper makes a contribution to elaborating the role of institutional entrepreneurs as agents of change towards privatisation and how accounting was used as a technology of change.

text: Accountants as institutional entrepreneurs: Changing routines in a telecommunications company Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explicate the role of institutional entrepreneurs who use accounting technology to accomplish change within a privatised telecommunication company.
Design/Methodology: The case study method is adopted. We draw on recent extension to institutional theory which gives greater emphasis to agency including concepts such as embeddedness, institutional entrepreneurs and institutional contradiction.
Findings: As part of the consequences of New Public Management reforms, we illustrate how institutional entrepreneurs de-established an older state-run bureaucratic and engineering based routine and replaced this with a business and accounting based routine. Eventually, the new accounting routines were reproduced and taken for granted by Fijian telecommunications management and employees.
Research Limitations/ Implications: As this study is limited to a single case study, no generalisation except to theory can be made. There are implications for privatisation of state sector organisations in Fiji and elsewhere.
Originality/ Value: The paper makes a contribution to elaborating the role of institutional entrepreneurs as agents of change towards privatisation and how accounting was used as a technology of change.

year: 2014-09-23

title: Investigation of exhaust chamber resonance for single-cylinder Formula SAE based engines

authors: van Harselaar, Jonathan

abstract: Noise pollution is a factor that affects many people in their day to day lives. One of the more prevalent forms of noise is generated from passenger vehicles. With this in mind, vehicle manufacturers design and stringently test their mufflers that are bound for vehicles to ensure they provide the optimum characteristics needed to lower noise to suitable levels. In addition, these manufacturers continue to be proactive in researching improved methods of the design and build aspects of their vehicles, so it is common to see large production companies sponsoring development and racing events. One such event is the Formula SAE competition.
This competition series is aimed at university students who design, build, and race their vehicle against other universities globally. Formula SAE is designed to provide students with valuable experience in a range of topics as both static and dynamic events occur and are judged. Consequently, the competition has evolved into more than just a racing series, it also includes business presentations, costing reports, and design judging.
With more Formula SAE teams moving to single-cylinder engines, noise suppression is becoming an important issue from the exhaust noise characteristics of the large engines available today. As part of the competition, performance is judged based on set criteria for engine noise emissions at different engine speeds. Many teams struggle with this aspect of the competition, where a fail in this test commonly leads to crude forms of noise suppression being quickly added to the vehicle, which in turn usually results in lowering performance. If a team cannot pass the noise tests, then subsequently they are not allowed to enter any of the dynamic events.
This thesis aims to compare theoretical results with measured values for different configurations of exhaust chambers. Inline exhaust chambers have been selected as the topic of interest due to the low-frequency exhaust characteristics of single-cylinder engines suiting the attenuation characteristics of this style of silencing device. The outcome of this research should provide figures and values for future Formula SAE teams to work with in their initial muffler and chamber design. By having this data available, selection of correct parameters will be a more straight-forward process and should assist in building a muffler that will be more assured of passing noise tests at competition.

text: Investigation of exhaust chamber resonance for single-cylinder Formula SAE based engines Noise pollution is a factor that affects many people in their day to day lives. One of the more prevalent forms of noise is generated from passenger vehicles. With this in mind, vehicle manufacturers design and stringently test their mufflers that are bound for vehicles to ensure they provide the optimum characteristics needed to lower noise to suitable levels. In addition, these manufacturers continue to be proactive in researching improved methods of the design and build aspects of their vehicles, so it is common to see large production companies sponsoring development and racing events. One such event is the Formula SAE competition.
This competition series is aimed at university students who design, build, and race their vehicle against other universities globally. Formula SAE is designed to provide students with valuable experience in a range of topics as both static and dynamic events occur and are judged. Consequently, the competition has evolved into more than just a racing series, it also includes business presentations, costing reports, and design judging.
With more Formula SAE teams moving to single-cylinder engines, noise suppression is becoming an important issue from the exhaust noise characteristics of the large engines available today. As part of the competition, performance is judged based on set criteria for engine noise emissions at different engine speeds. Many teams struggle with this aspect of the competition, where a fail in this test commonly leads to crude forms of noise suppression being quickly added to the vehicle, which in turn usually results in lowering performance. If a team cannot pass the noise tests, then subsequently they are not allowed to enter any of the dynamic events.
This thesis aims to compare theoretical results with measured values for different configurations of exhaust chambers. Inline exhaust chambers have been selected as the topic of interest due to the low-frequency exhaust characteristics of single-cylinder engines suiting the attenuation characteristics of this style of silencing device. The outcome of this research should provide figures and values for future Formula SAE teams to work with in their initial muffler and chamber design. By having this data available, selection of correct parameters will be a more straight-forward process and should assist in building a muffler that will be more assured of passing noise tests at competition.

year: 2019

title: Teaching Māori in English-medium schools in New Zealand: Teacher responses to aspects of the curriculum guidelines for te reo Māori in English-medium school settings

authors: Takurua, Nātana

subjects: New Zealand

abstract: Opinions are divided about how the content of language courses should be specified and whether educational authorities should include specifications/ suggestions about language content in national curriculum documents. Issues associated with language content are, however, not ones that can be avoided, particularly as teachers are expected to prepare students for national examinations at the upper levels of schooling and these examinations are necessarily predicated on general expectations about proficiency achievements and more specific expectations about the types of language with which students will be familiar. In this article, we explore the complex nature of some of the issues involved and the ways in which the New Zealand Ministry of Education has sought/ is seeking to resolve them in the case of the curriculum for Māori in English-medium schools. We also report on the responses of a sample of teachers of Māori in secondary schools in New Zealand to the omission of language examples from the final version of the curriculum guidelines document.

text: Teaching Māori in English-medium schools in New Zealand: Teacher responses to aspects of the curriculum guidelines for te reo Māori in English-medium school settings Opinions are divided about how the content of language courses should be specified and whether educational authorities should include specifications/ suggestions about language content in national curriculum documents. Issues associated with language content are, however, not ones that can be avoided, particularly as teachers are expected to prepare students for national examinations at the upper levels of schooling and these examinations are necessarily predicated on general expectations about proficiency achievements and more specific expectations about the types of language with which students will be familiar. In this article, we explore the complex nature of some of the issues involved and the ways in which the New Zealand Ministry of Education has sought/ is seeking to resolve them in the case of the curriculum for Māori in English-medium schools. We also report on the responses of a sample of teachers of Māori in secondary schools in New Zealand to the omission of language examples from the final version of the curriculum guidelines document.

year: 2009-09