Home About us Contact
|
Home About us Contact | ||
|
|
||
Whole Story (whole + story)
Selected AbstractsForms of Governance in European Union Social Policy: Continuity and/or Change?INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SECURITY REVIEW, Issue 2 2006Gerda Falkner This article addresses the question of the evolution of regulatory and distributive social policy at European Union (EU) level, with special emphasis on its quantitative aspects. Data collected in meticulous detail on the EU's powers in the area of social policy and their practical implementation from the early days of European integration through to the end of 2002 are presented in a range of figures and tables. It becomes apparent that, quantitatively speaking, the body of EU social law in existence to date is impressive. Contrary to expectation, non-binding forms of action have not replaced those which are binding, or at least not yet. Soft law and the "open method of coordination", the subject of so much recent debate, are rather a complement to classic legislation, entailing a minimum of harmonization. In terms of political science and legal theory this means that while the neo-voluntarism and legalization hypotheses highlight important aspects of EU social policy, neither of them represents the whole story. [source] DISAPPEARING DIVIDENDS: CHANGING FIRM CHARACTERISTICS OR LOWER PROPENSITY TO PAY?JOURNAL OF APPLIED CORPORATE FINANCE, Issue 1 2001Eugene F. Fama The proportion of U.S. firms paying dividends drops sharply during the 1980s and 1990s. Among NYSE, AMEX, and Nasdaq firms, the proportion of dividend payers falls from 66.5% in 1978 to only 20.8% in 1999. The decline is due in part to an avalanche of new listings that tilts the population of publicly traded firms toward small firms with low profitability and strong growth opportunities,the timeworn characteristics of firms that typically do not pay dividends. But this is not the whole story. The authors' more striking finding is that, no matter what their characteristics, firms in general have become less likely to pay dividends. The authors use two different methods to disentangle the effects of changing firm characteristics and changing propensity to pay on the percent of dividend payers. They find that, of the total decline in the proportion of dividend payers since 1978, roughly one-third is due to the changing characteristics of publicly traded firms and two-thirds is due to a reduced propensity to pay dividends. This lower propensity to pay is quite general,dividends have become less common among even large, profitable firms. Share repurchases jump in the 1980s, and the authors investigate whether repurchases contribute to the declining incidence of dividend payments. It turns out that repurchases are mainly the province of dividend payers, thus leaving the decline in the percent of payers largely unexplained. Instead, the primary effect of repurchases is to increase the already high payouts of cash dividend payers. [source] From competence to capability: a study of nurse practitioners in clinical practiceJOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 2 2008Anne Gardner BA, MRCNA Aims and objectives., This research aimed to understand the level and scope of practice of the nurse practitioner in Australia and New Zealand further using a capability framework. Background., The original study, from which the present paper was developed, sought to identify competency standards for the extended role of the nurse practitioner in Australia and New Zealand. In doing so the researchers became aware that while competencies described many of the characteristics of the nurse practitioner they did not manage to tell the whole story. In a search of the literature, the concept of capability appeared to provide a potentially useful construct to describe the attributes of the nurse practitioner that went beyond competence. Design., A secondary analysis of data obtained from interviews with nurse practitioners working in Australia and New Zealand was undertaken. These data had previously been obtained in a study to identify nurse practitioner competencies. The analysis described in this paper investigated whether or not the components of capability would adequately explain the characteristics of the nurse practitioner. Methods., Fifteen nurse practitioners were interviewed from Australia and New Zealand. A secondary (deductive) analysis of interview data using capability as a theoretical framework was conducted. Results., The analysis showed that capability and its dimensions is a useful model for describing the advanced level attributes of nurse practitioners. Thus, nurse practitioners described elements of their practice that involved: using their competences in novel and complex situations as well as the familiar; being creative and innovative; knowing how to learn; having a high level of self-efficacy; and working well in teams. Conclusions., This study suggests that both competence and capability need to be considered in understanding the complex role of the nurse practitioner. Relevance to clinical practice., The dimensions of capability need to be considered in the education and evaluation of nurse practitioners. [source] Learning about cultural diversity: the whole storyMEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 11 2006Sarah Smithson No abstract is available for this article. [source] Morphine-6-glucuronide: Actions and mechanismsMEDICINAL RESEARCH REVIEWS, Issue 5 2005Gavin J. Kilpatrick Abstract Morphine-6-glucuronide (M6G) appears to show equivalent analgesia to morphine but to have a superior side-effect profile in terms of reduced liability to induce nausea and vomiting and respiratory depression. The purpose of this review is to examine the evidence behind this statement and to identify the possible reasons that may contribute to the profile of M6G. The vast majority of available data supports the notion that both M6G and morphine mediate their effects by activating the µ-opioid receptor. The differences for which there is a reasonable consensus in the literature can be summarized as: (1) Morphine has a slightly higher affinity for the µ-opioid receptor than M6G, (2) M6G shows a slightly higher efficacy at the µ-opioid receptor, (3) M6G has a lower affinity for the ,-opioid receptor than morphine, and (4) M6G has a very different absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) profile from morphine. However, none of these are adequate alone to explain the clinical differences between M6G and morphine. The ADME differences are perhaps most likely to explain some of the differences but seem unlikely to be the whole story. Further work is required to examine further the profile of M6G, notably whether M6G penetrates differentially to areas of the brain involved in pain and those involved in nausea, vomiting, and respiratory control or whether µ-opioid receptors in these brain areas differ in either their regulation or pharmacology. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Med Res Rev [source] | ||||||||||