Mainstream

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Distribution within Humanities and Social Sciences

Terms modified by Mainstream

  • mainstream approach
  • mainstream education
  • mainstream medicine
  • mainstream school
  • mainstream services

  • Selected Abstracts


    HARM REDUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES AT A MOMENT OF CHANGE: MOVING INNOVATION FROM GRASSROOTS TO MAINSTREAM?

    ADDICTION, Issue 9 2009
    JEAN-PAUL C. GRUND
    No abstract is available for this article. [source]


    Women and Work in the Information Age

    GENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 1 2000
    Celia Stanworth
    Widespread social transformation and new class structures are predicted with the coming of the ,information age', but there is disagreement about the likely outcomes for work and em-ployment patterns. Mainstream writing on the information age, both from the functionalist and Marxist traditions, tends not to consider likely consequences for women, but recent feminist research on gender and technology, treating technology as masculine culture, offers a useful framework for further research. This article argues that the information age may lead to some areas of convergence between the sexes in their experience of future work, but men may continue to defend areas of competence and to dominate the high status and powerful occupational positions of the future. [source]


    Foregrounding technology over politics?

    AREA, Issue 1 2010
    Media framings of federal elections in Malaysia
    Mainstream and alternative media play an important role in circulating powerful narratives within and often beyond a country's borders. This article specifically examines how Malaysia's media have framed the relationship between information and communication technologies (ICTs) and the country's electoral process. To this end, the authors conducted a content analysis of selected domestic mainstream and alternative media sources for two weeks before and two weeks after Malaysia's last three federal elections , 1999, 2004 and 2008 , to gauge how coverage has changed over time with shifts in the local political landscape and growing ICT access and usage. [source]


    Mainstream versus ethno-specific community aged care services: It's not an ,either or'

    AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL ON AGEING, Issue 2 2009
    Harriet Radermacher
    Approximately 16% of the Australian population speak a language other than English at home. Older people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds face many barriers to accessing services which may explain their under-utilisation of community aged care services. The aim of this review is to critique the literature related to the delivery of community aged care services to people from CALD backgrounds. The merits of a partnership model approach are highlighted, in addition to key points for future policy and planning. Understanding the complexities of delivering services to older people from CALD backgrounds is challenging, and requires a stronger empirical base. [source]


    Sustainability quotients and the social footprint

    CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2008
    Mark W. McElroy
    Abstract We argue that most of what passes for mainstream reporting in corporate sustainability management fails to do precisely the one thing it purports to do , which is make it possible for organizations to measure and report on the sustainability of their operations. It fails because of the lack of what the Global Reporting Initiative calls sustainability context, a shortcoming from which it, too, suffers. We suggest that this missing context calls for a new notion of sustainability (the binary perspective), which can be conceptualized in the form of sustainability quotients. We provide specifications for such quotients in ecological and social contexts, and suggest that sustainability is best understood in terms of the impact organizations can have on the carrying capacity of non-financial capital, or what in the social case we call anthro capital. We conclude by introducing a quantitative quotients-based method for measuring and reporting on the social sustainability of an organization, the social footprint method. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


    Revisiting the Storied Landscape of Language Policy Impact Over Time: A Case of Successful Educational Reform

    CURRICULUM INQUIRY, Issue 3 2005
    JANNA FOX
    ABSTRACT The many failures of large-scale top-down educational reforms are well documented in the reform literature. These failures are most evident when they are reviewed from the advantageous perspective of hindsight. What are less well documented are the extraordinarily interesting, centrally driven educational changes that have had important and lasting impacts over time, not only because they are rare, but also because they have often occurred outside the mainstream (North American) focus of the reform literature. This article provides a retrospective review of one such educational reform as unique as the tropical island country in which it occurred. Revisiting this storied landscape (Clandinin & Connelly, 1995) provides insight into the process and potential of a systemwide educational reform. [source]


    The evolution of health food: Erewhon bursts the plain brown wrapper

    DESIGN MANAGEMENT REVIEW, Issue 1 2001
    Nick Zarkades
    From a hand-made look appropriate to the shelves of natural food stores to a more mainstream, supermarket orientation calling out health benefits and natural ingredients, to a brand-focused strategy that emphasizes the breadth and identity of the product line, the packaging for Erewhon natural cereals has,over the past two decades,undergone dramatic transformations. Nick Zarkades, Cynthia Davis, and Charles Verde outline this design metamorphosis and the business decisions driving the changes. [source]


    Movements and habitat use of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) and Murray cod (Maccullochella peelii peelii) juveniles in a large lowland Australian river

    ECOLOGY OF FRESHWATER FISH, Issue 2 2007
    M. J. Jones
    Abstract,,, Native Murray cod (Maccullochella peelii peelii) are listed as a nationally vulnerable species, whereas non-native common carp (Cyprinus carpio) are widespread and abundant. Understanding key aspects of life history, such as movement patterns and habitat selection by juvenile Murray cod and common carp, might be useful for conserving Murray cod populations and controlling common carp numbers. We used radio-telemetry to track eight juvenile Murray cod and seven juvenile common carp in the Murray River, Australia, between March and July 2001. Common carp occupied a significantly greater total linear range (mean ± SD: 1721 ± 1118 m) than Murray cod (mean ± SD: 318 ± 345 m) and the average daily movement was significantly greater for common carp (mean ± SD: 147 ± 238 m) than for Murray cod (mean ± SD: 15 ± 55 m). All Murray cod and five of the seven common carp displayed site fidelity or residency to one, two or three locations. Murray cod were found only in the mainstream Murray River among submerged woody habitats, whereas common carp occurred equally in mainstream and offstream areas, and among submerged wood and aquatic vegetation. Murray cod were found in deeper (mean ± SD: 2.3 ± 0.78 m) and faster waters (mean ± SD: 0.56 ± 0.25 m·s,1) compared with common carp (mean ± SD: 1 ± 0.54 m; 0.08 ± 0.09 m·s,1) respectively. The presence of juvenile Murray cod only amongst submerged wood is an indication that these habitats are important and should be preserved. Conversely, juvenile common carp were equally present among all habitats sampled, suggesting that habitat selection is less specific, possibly contributing to their widespread success. [source]


    Cultivating Beyond-Capitalist Economies

    ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY, Issue 3 2010
    Sarah Wright
    abstract Conceptualizations of the economy as diverse and multiple have garnered increased attention in economic geography in recent years. Against the debilitating mantra of TINA (there is no alternative), these conceptualizations use an ontology of proliferation to insist that many viable and vital alternatives to capitalism do, in fact, exist. I aim to contribute to this project with a close reading of the diverse formal and informal economic practices associated with the village of Puno in the Philippines. In doing so, I respond to calls for work that begins in the majority world and that focuses on the broader political project associated with diverse economies. Research in this area has frequently been critiqued for not paying sufficient attention to the unstable yet persistent exclusions that may endure in, and may even be enhanced by, alternative economies. With this article, I aim to investigate the ways that power relations work through the diverse economies of Puno and the ways that residents act to transform these relations. In doing so, I draw on the experiences of three residents of Puno and their involvement in three social movement organizations. I find that the economy is usefully understood as a site of struggle in which residents work to redefine themselves and the economy. The diverse spaces of their economic lives are neither strictly alternative nor mainstream, inherently oppressive nor radical. Rather, the people of Puno are engaged in willfully cultivating spaces-beyond-capitalism through which they transform the very meaning of economic practice. [source]


    Against the mainstream: Nazi privatization in 1930s Germany1

    ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW, Issue 1 2010
    GERMÀ BEL
    Nationalization was particularly important in the early 1930s in Germany. The state took over a large industrial concern, large commercial banks, and other minor firms. In the mid-1930s, the Nazi regime transferred public ownership to the private sector. In doing so, they went against the mainstream trends in western capitalistic countries, none of which systematically reprivatized firms during the 1930s. Privatization was used as a political tool to enhance support for the government and for the Nazi Party. In addition, growing financial restrictions because of the cost of the rearmament programme provided additional motivations for privatization. [source]


    Contemporary issues and future directions for research into pathological gambling

    ADDICTION, Issue 8 2000
    Article first published online: 2 SEP 200
    The recent healthy increase in research into all aspects of gambling is noted. The dominant theme accounting for most of this research is the mental disorder model of pathological gambling and measures that have been derived from this conceptualization. It is suggested that an alternative approach focusing on the construct of choice or subjective control over gambling may be a research direction that will ensure that progress is maintained. In this paper a context for the discussion is provided by first identifying briefly fundamental conceptual and methodological issues associated with the mental disorder model. In particular it is argued that the heterogeneity of the diagnosis of pathological gambling makes the research task of assessing truly independent variables extremely difficult. Subsequently an illustrative schema is presented that demonstrates both the potential advantages and some of the complexities associated with the dependent variable of self-control over gambling behaviour. The main advantages are argued to be (a) the focus of research is narrowed to one potential cause of harmful impacts rather than the great diversity of impacts themselves, (b) prospective studies of regular gamblers in real gambling venues may be a key source of insight into the development of pathological gambling and (c) it promotes the development of theoretical links with the mainstream of the discipline of psychology. Despite the conceptual difficulties that may be associated with the variable of self-control, it is suggested that these may be overcome because contemporary research into the addictive behaviours has demonstrated considerable success in the definition and measurement of control and related themes such as craving, restraint and temptation. [source]


    Cleavages, competition and coalition-building: Agrarian parties and the European question in Western and East Central Europe

    EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL RESEARCH, Issue 4 2004
    AGNES BATORY
    Variations in the patterns of Euroscepticism found in agrarian parties across Europe is therefore explained in terms of three central variables: the agrarian parties' long-term policy goals linked to identity and interest; their position in the party systems and the mainstream left- and right-wing parties' stance on European integration; and their long- and short-term electoral strategies and office-related incentives. [source]


    Gendering the Black Death: Women in Later Medieval England

    GENDER & HISTORY, Issue 3 2000
    S. H. Rigby
    This review article of Mavis Mate's Daughters, Wives and Widows after the Black Death: Women in Sussex, 1350,1535 (1998) locates Mate's work within the broader context of the debate about changes in women's social position caused by the collapse in population following the Black Death. Was demographic decline accompanied by growing social and economic opportunities for women or should historians emphasise the continuity of female work as low-skilled, low-status and low-paid throughout the late medieval and early modern periods? How did women's role in the labour market affect the age of marriage, fertility rates and long-term population change? In general, Mate's conclusions offer support to the ,pessimists': women's work was vital to the household but economic centrality did not bring a commensurate social power or legal rights and the ideology of female subordination remained firmly in place. The main problem with Mate's case is, inevitably, a lack of evidence, for family structure, for the sexual division of labour and, above all, for affective relations. Nevertheless, this detailed, empirically based local study shows how successfully women's history has moved into the historical mainstream. [source]


    From Work as Sex to Sex as Work: Networks, ,Others' and Occupations in the Analysis of Work

    GENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 5 2002
    Jackie West
    While once upon a time the social science of work and organization neglected or marginalized gender and sexuality, we have now lost sight of what people actually do, that is to say the activity of work. Gender and sexuality have been identified as crucial to organizational dynamics and, notwithstanding different theoretical emphases, this paradigm has become increasingly influential. We argue (contrary to most of its protagonists) that , within this model , the significance of sex and gender for organization rests principally on their role in the production of identities rather than in what they can tell us about production or work in any wider sense. The article highlights parallels with the ways in which prostitution is now generally understood, whether the emphasis is on subordination or agency. This literature also emphasizes gender relations and identities, even where the focus is on re,writing ,sex as work'. We argue that this focus neglects the wider networks in which all work, whether mainstream or otherwise, is embedded and that a full analysis must take due account of both these networks and the discursive production of identities. Examples , of work in the finance and sex industries , are used to substantiate this argument and a case is made for the importance of the Chicago School's analysis of occupations. [source]


    ,Over the Pond and Across the Water': Developing the Field of ,Gendered Organizations'

    GENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 3 2002
    Patricia Yancey Martin
    This article is concerned with the development of gendered organizations as a field of study. It begins by exploring some of the factors that militate against integrating organization studies and gender studies and gendered organizations scholarship over national/continental divides. Increasingly doubtful about whether traditional (mainstream and critical) organization theories will or can adequately address gender, we contend that scholars of gendered organizations should ,strike out' on our/their own, ,boldly going' into unfamiliar territory to create new, innovative theories, concepts and ideas. We make various suggestions about possible future directions for theorizing and research. [source]


    Talkin''Bout My Generation :Memories of 1968 in Recent German Novels

    GERMAN LIFE AND LETTERS, Issue 2 2006
    Monika Shafi
    This article examines the depiction of 1968 in the novel Rot (2001) by Uwe Timm, in the narrative Mein Jahrhundert (1999) by Günter Grass, and in the autobiographical novel Die Brücke vom goldenen Horn (1998) by Emine Sevgi Özdamar, asking to what extent the concept of generation, understood sociologically and symbolically, is useful in analysing West Germany's 1968 generation and its legacy. The three authors display not only contrasting generational, literary and political profiles, they also entertain a different relationship to German mainstream culture. It becomes clear that Özdamar's novel unsettles precisely this dichotomy between the German mainstream and a multicultural niche-discourse in its intense engagement with the 1968 movement in Germany and Europe. Her text therefore invites us to reconsider the value of the generational parameter in assessing the events of 1968. [source]


    A New Modernism or ,Neue Lesbarkeit'?: Hybridity in Georg Klein's Libidissi

    GERMAN LIFE AND LETTERS, Issue 2 2002
    Stuart Taberner
    Since unification, critics Ulrich Greiner and Frank Schirrmacher, influenced by Karl Heinz Bohrer, have called for a return to a supposedly repressed modernist tradition in which aesthetic transcendence and subjectivity were valued more highly than any moralising agenda. Other editors and writers such as Uwe Wittstock, Martin Hielscher and Matthias Politycki, however, have promoted a so-called ,Neue Lesbarkeit' based on Anglo-American models stressing readability and story-telling. In both cases, the guiding motivation has been the desire to define a space for German writing within the globalised literary market place. Georg Klein's Libidissi presents a model of a possible third way between a form of modernism that would retreat into the ghetto of the German literary tradition and imitation of the Anglo-American mainstream. The present article thus reveals the manner in which Klein's novel plays with hybridity: hybridity of genre and influences insofar as the book alludes to the Anglo-American tradition of the spy novel and hybridity as a means of resisting globalisation and the eradication of local cultures. [source]


    Involving people with learning disabilities in research: issues and possibilities

    HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE IN THE COMMUNITY, Issue 4 2004
    Tony Gilbert
    Abstract Advances in the social position of people with learning disabilities have led to a situation where research and evaluation studies are increasingly required to include the views and opinions of people with learning disabilities. One key outcome of this shift is that some of the major funding bodies now insist on the inclusion of people with learning disabilities as a condition of research funding. This has produced new possibilities and new challenges for researchers, and it has real consequences for people working in health and social care. The present paper sets out to explore some of the developments and challenges in research with people with learning disabilities. The author provides a selective overview of developments with the aim of demonstrating the richness, ingenuity and potential of research involving people with learning disabilities. The paper is divided into three broad sections that focus on: (1) the ethics and philosophy of participatory research; (2) the methodologies employed at particular points in the research process that are designed to ensure the involvement of participants in research; and (3) building capacity in participatory research as a precondition to the further development of this approach. An investment in capacity would enable this approach to move into the mainstream of research activity involving people with learning disabilities. [source]


    Stable isotopes in the source waters of the Yamuna and its tributaries: seasonal and altitudinal variations and relation to major cations

    HYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES, Issue 17 2002
    Tarun K. Dalai
    Abstract Water samples from the Yamuna and its tributaries, one of the major river systems draining the Himalaya, have been analysed for their stable oxygen and hydrogen isotopes during three seasons (summer, monsoon and post-monsoon). The data show clear seasonal and altitudinal variations; waters from higher altitudes and those collected during monsoon season are characterized by relatively depleted isotopic composition. Regression analysis of ,D,,18O data of samples collected during summer and monsoon seasons shows that the slope of the best-fit lines are nearly identical to those of precipitation at New Delhi for the same period. The similarity in their slopes suggests that the isotopic composition of precipitation contributing water to these rivers are reasonably well preserved in both monsoon and non-monsoon seasons, however, during the non-monsoon period both rainfall and river waters carry signatures of evaporation. The ,deuterium excess' in river waters during the three seasons though overlap with each other, the values during October are higher. This can be understood in terms of recycled moisture contributions to precipitation. The ,altitude effect' for ,18O in these waters is determined to be 0·11, per 100 m, a factor of about two less than that reported for the Ganga source waters from similar altitudinal range. The variability in altitude effects in rivers draining the Himalaya seems to be controlled by the ,amount effect' associated with the monsoon. The significant spatial variability in altitude effect in these river basins, which are a few hundred kilometers apart, suggests that reconstruction of palaeoelevation in the Himalaya, based on ,18O-altitude gradients, would depend critically on its proper assessment in the region. This study has established a relationship between total cation abundance and ,18O in waters of the Yamuna mainstream; total cations (corrected for cyclic components) double for a 1·4 km decrease in altitude as the Yamuna flows downstream. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


    Heritage, Identity and Belonging: African Caribbean Students and Art Education

    INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ART & DESIGN EDUCATION, Issue 3 2006
    Paul Dash
    This article addresses the issue of Caribbean cultural under-representation in school art departments. It argues that diasporic subjects are not seen and their cultures not recognised precisely because their contributions to the way we live are indivisible from the mainstream. This in contradistinction to some groups whose cultures and heritages are relatively distinct and separate from Western mores. Our ways of understanding culture do not take this into account. Yet diasporic contributions to the way we live have buttressed Western lifestyles since the beginning of the slave trade. The article argues that this relationship, characterised by multiple entanglements, must be recognised if Caribbean cultural identities are to be seen and valued. In doing so it challenges the way we construct notions of cultural heritage and belonging, and promotes the adoption of more risk-taking pedagogies possibly based on contemporary practices. [source]


    Evaluating qualitative management research: Towards a contingent criteriology

    INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT REVIEWS, Issue 3 2006
    Phil Johnson
    The term qualitative management research embraces an array of non-statistical research practices. Here it is argued that this diversity is an outcome of competing philosophical assumptions which produce distinctive research perspectives and legitimate the appropriation of different sets of evaluation criteria. Some confusion can arise when evaluation criteria constituted by particular philosophical conventions are universally applied to this heterogeneous management field. In order to avoid such misappropriation, this paper presents a first step towards a contingent criteriology located in a metatheoretical analysis of three modes of qualitative management research which are compared with the positivist mainstream to elaborate different forms of evaluation. It is argued that once armed with criteria that vary accordingly, evaluation can reflexively focus upon the extent to which any management research consistently embraces the particular methodological principles that are sanctioned by its a priori philosophical commitments. [source]


    The immunological basis of B-cell therapy in systemic lupus erythematosus

    INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RHEUMATIC DISEASES, Issue 1 2010
    Mo Yin MOK
    Abstract Loss of B-cell tolerance is a hallmark feature of the pathogenesis in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), an autoimmune disease that is characterized by hypergammaglobulinemia and autoantibody production. These autoantibodies lead to formation of immune-complex deposition in internal organs causing inflammation and damage. Autoreactive B-cells are believed to be central in the pathophysiology of SLE. Other than its role in the production of antibodies that mediate humoral immune response, B-cells also function as antigen-presenting cells and are capable of activating T-cells. Activated B-cells may also produce pro-inflammatory cytokines that aggravate local inflammation. Abnormal B-cell homeostasis has been described in SLE patients. This may occur as a result of intrinsic B-cell defect or from aberrant regulation by maturation and survival signals. B-cell-based therapy is the current mainstream of research and development of novel therapies in SLE patients with severe and refractory disease. Potential cellular and molecular targets for B-cell therapies include cell surface molecules such as CD20 (rituximab) and CD22 (epratuzumab); co-stimulatory molecules involved in B-cell,T-cell interaction such as CTLA4 and B7 molecules (abatacept); maturation and growth factors such as B-cell activating factor and a proliferation-inducing ligand (belimumab, briobacept, atacicept) and B-cell tolerogen (abetimus). This article provides an overview on normal B-cell physiology and abnormal B-cell biology in SLE that form the immunological basis of B-cell-targeted therapy in the treatment of these patients with refractory diseases. [source]


    "Where Are They Going?": Immigrant Inclusion in the Czech Republic (A Case Study on Ukrainians, Vietnamese, and Armenians in Prague),

    INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, Issue 2 2007
    an Drbohlav
    ABSTRACT This paper is based on research conducted by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Office in Prague and the Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague in the fall and winter of 2003-2004. Within the questionnaire survey, 126 first-generation immigrants in Prague (51 Ukrainians, 45 Vietnamese, and 30 Armenians) were successfully contacted via a non-probability sampling method. The main goals of the research were to ascertain what mode of inclusion into Czech society the immigrant groups practiced and to determine their satisfaction level with their new lives. Special attention was paid to finding out important factors that stand behind both the common features and particular patterns of behaviour. Our approach is an attempt to analyse the issue via quantitative statistics (Chi-square Test, the AnswerTree Method). Berry's (1992) acculturation strategies model and Portes and Zhou's (e.g. 2000) segmented assimilation model serve as reference points while discussing conceptual matters. The results indicate that the immigrants' inclusion in Czech society in Prague has developed into specific modes: Ukrainians are typical of their specific transnationalization patterns, Vietnamese represent a "well-off" but separated and segregated community, and Armenians practice a clear assimilation strategy, while approaching the mainstream in terms of socio-economic status. Based on various indications, it seems that successful inclusion in Czech society is connected to the assimilation mode. In sum, the immigrants most satisfied with their quality of life are those for whom it is not important to live close to their compatriots and those whose knowledge of the spoken Czech language is above average. The lowest satisfaction score is tied to those immigrants who prefer to live close to their compatriots, those with university education, and those with a low income. Good knowledge of the Czech language seems to be a gateway to immigrants' satisfaction. Cette étude s'appuie sur un travail de recherche mené par le bureau de Prague de l'Organisation internationale pour les migrations (OIM) et la faculté des sciences de l'Université Charles à Prague, au cours de l'automne et de l'hiver 2003-2004. Dans le cadre de l'enquête-questionnaire, 126 immigrants de la première génération se trouvant à Prague (51 Ukrainiens, 45 Vietnamiens et 30 Arméniens) ont répondu grâce à une méthode procédant par sondage non aléatoire. Les buts principaux de cette recherche consistaient à vérifier à quels moyens avaient eu recours les groupes d'immigrants pour s'insérer dans la société tchèque et à déterminer dans quelle mesure ils s'estimaient satisfaits de leur nouvelle vie. Une attention particulière a été accordée à la recherche des facteurs importants ayant contribuéà fixer à la fois les caractéristiques communes et les particularités en matière de comportement. L'auteur s'est efforcé d'analy-ser la question à l'aide des statistiques quantitatives (test Chi carré, méthode AnswerTree). Le modèle des stratégies d'acculturation de Berry (1992) et le modèle d'assimilation segmentée de Portes et Zhou (par exemple 2000) servent de points de référence dans l'examen de questions conceptuelles. Les résultats montrent que l'incorporation des immigrants dans la société tchèque, a Prague, s'est traduite de différentes façons. Les Ukrainiens correspondent aux schémas spécifiques de transnationalisation qui leur sontpropres; les Vietnamiens constituent une communauté« prospère » mais se tenant à l'écart des autres; et les Arméniens pratiquent une stratégie évidente d'assimilation, tout en se rapprochant du courant central sur le plan du statut socio-économique. Sur la base de différentes indications, il semble que l'incorporation réussie dans la société tchèque soit liée au mode d'assimilation. Pour résumer, les immigrés les plus satisfaits de leur qualité de vie sont ceux pour qui il n'est pas important de vivre auprès de leurs compatriotes et ceux dont les connaissances de la langue tchèque parlée sont audessus de la moyenne. Le niveau de satisfaction le plus bas est celui des immigrés qui préfèrent rester en contact étroit avec leur compatriotes, ceux quijouissent d'une éducation de niveau universitaire et ceux dont le revenu se situe dans une tranche basse. Une bonne connaissance de la langue tchèque semble être la clé de la satisfaction des immigrés. Este artículo se basa en un estudio realizado por la Oficina de la Organización Internacional para las Migraciones (OIM) en Praga y la Facultad de Ciencias de la Universidad Charles de Praga, durante el último trimestre de 2003 y el primer trimestre de 2004. Recurriendo al cuestionario y al método de muestreo improbable se encuestó a 126 inmigrantes de primera generación en Praga (51 ucranios, 45 vietnamitas y 30 armenios). Los objetivos principales del estudio fueron determinar los modos de inserción de los grupos de inmigrantes en la sociedad checa y su nivel de satisfacción con relación a sus nuevas vidas. Se concedió particular atención a otros importantes factores subyacentes, a saber, las características comunes y los patrones particulares de comportamiento. En este artículo se analiza la cuestión mediante: estadísticas cuantitativas (la prueba de Chi-square, el método del Árbol de Respuestas); el modelo de estrategias de aculturación de Berry (1992); y el modelo de asimilación segmentada de Portes y Zhou (2000) que sirvieron de referencia a la hora de debatir cuestiones conceptuales. Los resultados apuntan a que la inserción de los inmigrantes en la sociedad checa, concretamente en Praga, se ha desarrollado según patrones específicos: los ucranios recurren a patrones típicos de transnacionalización, los vietnamitas son unacomunidad "acomodada" pero que se halla separaday segregada, mientras que los armenios utilizan un patrón claro de inserción, al tiempo que intentan incorporarse a la corriente principal en lo que atañe a su estatus socioeconómico. Sobre la base de diversas indicaciones, parece que una asimilación acertada en la sociedad checa depende del modo de inserción. En otras palabras, los inmigrantes más satisfechos con su calidad de vida son aquellos que no consideran importante vivir cerca de sus compatriotas y cuyos conocimientos del checo hablado superan la media. El índice más bajo de satisfacción se observa en los inmigrantes que prefieren vivir cerca de sus compatriotas, realizaron estudios universitarios y perciben bajos ingresos. Por lo visto, el buen conocimiento del idioma checo es la clave en la satisfacción de los inmigrantes. [source]


    Health Financing in Singapore: A Case for Systemic Reforms

    INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SECURITY REVIEW, Issue 1 2006
    Mukul G. Asher
    This paper assesses Singapore's healthcare financing arrangements in terms of their efficiency, fairness, and adequacy. Singapore represents an interesting case study because it is perhaps the only high-income, rapidly ageing country to rely on mandatory savings to finance healthcare, thus eschewing extensive risk-pooling arrangements, generally regarded as efficient and equitable. The paper argues that parametric reforms, i.e. relatively minor changes in the parameters of current schemes which preserve the existing philosophy and system design, will not be sufficient to meet healthcare financing objectives. Systemic reforms, which will bring Singapore into the mainstream of health financing arrangements found in the OECD countries, are urgently needed. Their design and timing should be based on good quality, timely and relevant data, and an environment conducive to vigorous debate. [source]


    Human Security and Constructivism

    INTERNATIONAL STUDIES PERSPECTIVES, Issue 3 2001
    Edward Newman
    This article explores the concept of "human security" as an academic and fledgling policy movement that seeks to place the individual,or people collectively,as the referent of security. It does this against a background of evolving transnational norms relating to security and governance, and the development of scientific understanding that challenges orthodox conceptions of security. It suggests that human security is not a coherent or objective school of thought. Rather, there are different, and sometimes competing, conceptions of human security that may reflect different sociological/cultural and geostrategic orientations. The article argues that the emergence of the concept of human security,as a broad, multifaceted, and evolving conception of security,rreflects the impact of values and norms on international relations. It also embraces a range of alliances, actors, and agendas that have taken us beyond the traditional scope of international politics and diplomacy. As a demonstration of change in international relations, of evolving identities and interests, this is best explained with reference to "social constructivist" thought, in contradistinction with the structural realist mainstream of international relations. In a constructivist vein, the article suggests that empirical research is already building a case in support of human security thinking that is, slowly, being acknowledged by decision-makers, against the logic of realist determinism. [source]


    Inequality and Theorizing in International Relations: The Case for Subaltern Realism

    INTERNATIONAL STUDIES REVIEW, Issue 3 2002
    Mohammed Ayoob
    I argue that the dominant paradigms in IR fail to explain adequately two of the central issues in the international system: the origins of the majority of conflicts and the behavior of the majority of states. These paradigms fail because they formulate generalizations from data drawn from a restricted universe and because they lack historical depth. Both these flaws are related to inequality in the arena of the production of knowledge in IR, which in turn is a function of the inequality in material capabilities in the international system. A supplementary, if not alternative, perspective is needed to correct this situation and fill this gap. We can fashion such a perspective by drawing upon classical realist thought, the historical sociology of state formation, and the normative perspicacity of the English School. Combining their insights and applying them to the analysis of Third World conflict patterns and the external and domestic behavior of Third World states is likely to provide more satisfactory explanations for the origins of the majority of contemporary conflicts. Such an exercise will also shed light on the crucial variables that determine the behavior of the majority of states in the Third World. Moving postcolonial states into the mainstream of theorizing in IR will also help reduce the impact of inequality on the field and open new vistas for theoretically informed scholarly research. I also call for pluralism in international relations theorizing rather than a search for universally applicable law,like generalizations divorced from historical and social contexts. [source]


    Geomorphic characteristics of the Minjiang drainage basin (eastern Tibetan Plateau) and its tectonic implications: New insights from a digital elevation model study

    ISLAND ARC, Issue 2 2006
    Hui-Ping Zhang
    Abstract The Minshan Mountain and adjacent region are the major continental escarpments along the eastern Tibetan Plateau. The Minjiang drainage basin is located within the plateau margin adjacent to the Sichuan Basin. Based on the analysis of the digital elevation model (DEM) acquired by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), we know that the Minjiang drainage basin has distinct geomorphic characteristics. The regular increasing of local topographic relief from north to south is a result of the Quaternary sediment deposition within the plateau and the holistic uplift of the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau versus the Sichuan Basin. Results from DEM-determined Minjiang drainage sub-basins and channel profiles show that the tributaries on the opposite sides are asymmetric. Lower perimeter and area of drainage sub-basins, total channel length and bifurcation ratio within eastern flank along the Minjiang mainstream are the result of the Quaternary differential uplift of the Minshan Mountain region. Shorter stream lengths and lower bifurcation ratio might be the indications of the undergrowth and newborn features of these eastern streams, which are also representative for the eastern uplift of the Minshan Mountain. [source]


    Establishing contact and gaining trust: an exploratory study of care avoidance

    JOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING, Issue 2 2010
    Gert Schout
    schout g., de jong g. & zeelen j. (2010) Establishing contact and gaining trust: an exploratory study of care avoidance. Journal of Advanced Nursing 66(2), 324,333. Abstract Title.,Establishing contact and gaining trust: an exploratory study of care avoidance. Aim., This paper is a report of a study conducted to explore the competencies , especially deep-rooted personal qualities , of care providers who succeed in making contact and gaining trust with clients who are inclined to avoid the care they need. Background., Demands, thresholds and fragmentation of services hinder the accessibility of health care, such that some severe mentally ill people do not receive the treatment they need or avoid healthcare services. Methods of establishing contact and gaining trust in mental health care include practical assistance, realistic expectations, establishing long-term goals, empathy and a client-centred and flexible approach. Method., A public mental healthcare practice in The Netherlands with outstanding performance was studied from 2002,2007 using participant observation, interviews with experienced care providers and interviews with clients with a long history of avoiding care facilities, conflicts and troubled relationships with care providers. Findings., A number of personal qualities are vital for establishing contact and gaining trust with these clients: altruism, a degree of compassion, loyalty, involvement, tenacity, a critical attitude to the mainstream, flexibility, optimism, diplomacy, patience, creativity, and a certain degree of immunity to stress. Conclusion., Care providers who establish contact and win trust employ ,non-judgemental appreciation'. They start from the acceptance of what is and try to connect with the client and their world. These professionals use their initial actions to identify and praise qualities and achievements of clients. This style of work is supported by a set of deep-rooted personal qualities we can summarize as ,empathy'. [source]


    Long-range dependence in Spanish political opinion poll series

    JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECONOMETRICS, Issue 2 2003
    Juan J. Dolado
    This paper investigates the time series properties of partisanship for five political parties in Spain. It is found that pure fractional processes with a degree of integration, d, between 0.6 and 0.8 fit the time-series behaviour of aggregate opinion polls for mainstream parties quite well, whereas values of d in the range of 0.3 to 0.6 are obtained for opinion polls related to smaller regional parties. Those results are in agreement with theories of political allegiance based on aggregation of heterogeneous voters with different degrees of commitment and pragmatism. Further, those models are found to be useful in forecasting the results of the last general elections in Spain. As a further contribution, new econometric techniques for estimation and testing of ARFIMA model are used to provide the previous evidence. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


    Person-Centred Planning in its Strategic Context: Reframing the Mansell/Beadle-Brown Critique

    JOURNAL OF APPLIED RESEARCH IN INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES, Issue 1 2004
    David Towell
    Valuing People, the English national strategy launched in 2001 is founded on the twin principles of self-determination and social inclusion. It promotes a vision of people with intellectual disabilities in the mainstream of life. To achieve this goal, it seeks to integrate a wide variety of elements, in which person-centred planning (PCP) is one. The Mansell and Beadle-Brown review makes many interesting points about PCP in this context. We reframe their critique in three main ways: by more fully recognising the extent to which PCP is an intrinsic element of the national strategy, helping to operationalise its core principles; by crediting the ways in which individual planning and action are intended to become part of one continuous process; and by showing how the strategy addresses the challenge of scale by prioritising quality rather than quantity in implementing PCP, with the aspiration of creating a virtuous spiral of positive change. [source]