bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Maintaining Quality in Human Services
Authors: Wilding Paul 
Published: February 2007

ABSTRACTIn the 1980s there was a new emphasis on the achievement of clear standards of Quality in public services in Britain. This has been accompanied by a wide ranging discussion of how Quality is most effectively promoted and maintained.This paper begins by setting out the key elements of a Quality service — accessibility, acceptability, effectiveness and openness. It then analyses and evaluates four elements in the maintenance of Quality. First it examines the role of management in setting standards and monitoring performance and in promoting a culture of Quality. Then it analyses the importance of organizational structures in generating staff commitment to the goal of Quality. Third, it assesses the role and potential or user involvement. Finally it looks at legalistic approaches — the promulgation of guidelines and procedures, the setting of explicit standards with clear complaints systems and guaranteed redress if standards are not maintained.The discussion draws primarily on British material but the argument clearly has a wider relevance. Many of the issues are universal rather than peculiar to one particular society.The conclusion is that Quality is only achieved by a balance between these various mechanisms.
Measuring Third World Poverty by the International Poverty Line: The Case of Reform China*
Authors: Wong Chack Kie 
Published: February 2007

ABSTRACTThis article selects a fast growing economy, China, under Deng Xiao‐ping's economic reforms, as a case example for exploring the use of the median income‐linked international poverty line in measuring third world poverty. Those third world countries which have a fast growing economy have the prospect of increased income inequality. Henceforth, the widening income inequality justifies a comparable poverty measurement which takes into account the relation between economic affluence and income distribution.
Social Security in South Korea and Singapore: Explaining the Differences
Authors: Ramesh M. 
Published: February 2007

ABSTRACTThe paper sets out statutory social security arrangements in Korea and Singapore and then explains the differences between them. It finds that while Korea has a relatively advanced social security system based primarily on social insurance, Singapore has a patchwork of programmes based on forced saving, tax allowance, public assistance, and public insurance schemes run along commercial lines. Moreover, the increasing share of government expenditure devoted to social security in Korea stands in sharp contrast to the declining share in Singapore. The paper accounts for the variations in terms of the different economic objectives of the two states and the different international and societal constraints they face.In contrast to South Korea* which has rapidly established an elaborate set of income maintenance and health care programmes, Singapore continues to resist expansion of such programmes. The objective of this paper is to describe the social security programmes in the two countries and then explain why the supposedly similar political economies have pursued entirely different social security strategies. The paper will argue that to understand the variations, we need to examine the varying economic objectives of the two states and the different international and societal constraints they face.
The Development of Social Assistance and Unemployment Insurance in Germany and Japan
Authors: Seeleib‐Kaiser Martin 
Published: February 2007

ABSTRACTBoth Japan and (West) Germany were subjected to foreign “Allied”Occupation from 1945. In this fiftieth anniversary year of the ending of World War Two and the commencement of these periods of Occupation, this paper assesses and compares the impact of the latter experience on social policy development in Germany and Japan. In particular, it focusses on social assistance and unemployment insurance, on the grounds that provision for “the able‐bodied poor”constitutes a clear guide as to how far each society has progressed or is progressing along the road to “social citizenship”as defined by T. H. Marshall. The import of Allied Occupation was in practice quite different in the two cases, not least because of their very different paths of social policy development beforehand. Developments in the wake of Occupation and upto the present are nonetheless indicative of there being some elements of policy “convergence”, which welfare state regime theory has hitherto failed to allow for in its concentration upon “whole systems”at the expense of more detailed policy “subsystem”review.
The Development of State Welfare in the Asian NICs with Special Reference to Taiwan
Authors: Ku Yeun‐wen 
Published: February 2007

ABSTRACTThis paper explores Taiwan's welfare development from its specific politico‐economic situation. Although education and public health are well developed in Taiwan and social insurance is expanding to cover more and more Taiwanese people, the govenmental welfare effort is still too low to meet the welfare needs of the public. This is especially so given our discovery that military servicemen and related groups receive over 70% of the welfare expenditure of the central government while the disadvantaged receive only around 3%. Furthermore, political crises are often accompanied by a significant growth in social expenditure, implying that the purpose of state welfare is to maintain the stability of the Taiwanese state rather than to protect the well‐being of Taiwanese people. Political isolation forces the Kuomintang (KMT) to secure Taiwan's role in the international community via economic growth. The development of state welfare cannot be allowed to have a negative effect on this highest priority. The limited resources, therefore, are allocated to economic goals as well as to the KMT–state apparatus in order to keep the KMT in power. However, the democratization of Taiwanese politics since the 1980s has forced the KMT to consolidate its legitimacy from the people and the improvement of social welfare is one measure for this purpose. Whether or not Taiwan becomes a Western‐style welfare state through the expansion of state welfare in the near future, it furnishes a useful example with which to examine existing welfare theories.
Exploring the Role of Localities in Health Commissioning: A Review of the Literature
Authors: Balogh Ruth 
Published: February 2007

AbstractThe emerging pattern of NHS purchasing has prompted many health authorites in Britain to experiment with a variety of different approaches to locality‐based commissioning. But published accounts of these experiments are few and little attempt has been made to analyse the resulting experiences in policy terms. This paper reviews the specific literature on locality commissioning in health services and some of the reasons for its emergence.It is also argued that since initiatives of this kind typically seek to address a wide agenda, involving a wide range of stakeholders, there is also a case for examining the wider policy background, including the literature on community development, decentralization and joint collaboration. An account is thus presented of the policy context within which locality commissioning experiments are taking place, and hence the principal issues which are likely to prove contentious or otherwise problematic.
Evaluation: Stakeholder‐focused Criteria
Authors: Thomas Paul , Palfrey Colin 
Published: February 2007

AbstractIdentifying and selecting suitable criteria is an important consideration in evaluating the performance of public sector organizations. Which criteria are chosen, and how they are weighted, will depend largely on the perspective being taken; different stakeholders (for example, clients, providers or commissioners) are likely to emphasize different criteria. In this paper a number of criteria are identified and an argument is developed to indicate which criteria are likely to be valued by various stakeholders. Furthermore, a number of approaches and mechanisms for evaluation are identified and the links between these, the criteria appropriate to them and the various stakeholders are made explicit. Finally, the issue of politics and the distribution of power between the stakeholders is addressed with a call for greater explicitness in using and balancing criteria (for example, as between professionals and the intended beneficiaries of services). In this way, while recognizing the inherent political nature of performance evaluation, the planning and implementation of services may be improved by a more mutually informed approach to evaluation.
Charging and Quasi‐Markets in Community Care: Implications for Elderly People with Dementia
Authors: Means Robin , Langan Joan 
Published: February 2007

AbstractSocial services authorities in the UK are increasingly involved in charging and fee collection activities with clients in receipt of community care services. This article explores the implications of these developments for elderly people with dementia. The starting point of the article is a critique of existing legal and administrative options for handling other people's money, including the difficulties and dilemmas raised for both paid and unpaid carers by the existing arrangements. This is then related to the failure of charging and fee collection systems which have developed as a result of the community care reforms to address the particular needs of elderly people with dementia. A case study of policies in one local authority is outlined and this is followed by the presentation of the view of 37 fieldlevel professionals who were interviewed in focus groups. The concerns of these respondents included the complexity of the assessment task, conflicts between care managers and finance/revenue staff, the difficulty of defining and responding to financial abuse, and dilemmas over the extent to which relatives and carers should be trusted. The final section of the article considers the implications of a move to quasi‐markets in social care for elderly people with dementia, particularly in terms of their vulnerability to financial exploitation.
The “Europeanization” of Spanish Social Policy
Authors: Mangen Steen 
Published: February 2007

AbstractThe principal features of Spanish social policy are examined since the transition to democracy in the mid‐1970s. The period has been dominated by the four governments of the Socialists under Felipe Gonzalez. It will be argued that in terms of the reform of welfare goals and institutional arrangements, as well as welfare inputs and outputs, a significant degree of “Europeanization” has been achieved. This is especially true of the later period of Gonzalez's premiership in which this process, initiated during the Transition, was accelerated.
Indications of Social Policy Convergence in Europe
Authors: Greve Bent 
Published: February 2007

AbstractThis paper explores the extent to which, and the ways in which, it might be justified in talking of a movement towards convergence of social policy within Europe. It reviews definitions and typologies of the welfare state as a prelude to discussion of the different theoretical types and possibilities of social policy integration, which itself leads into consideration of supranational EU developments. The empirical data presented in respect of “social protection” expenditures (and taxation regimes) in general and of “active” and “passive” labour market expenditures in particular, lend support to the notion not merely that the welfare state is not yet over in Europe, but that forms of social policy convergence are in evidence already.
UN/RE‐CONSTRUCTING THE AGRARIAN DREAM: GOING BACK‐TO‐THE‐LAND WITH AN ORGANIC MARKETING CO‐OPERATIVE IN SOUTH‐CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA, USA
Authors: TRAUGER AMY 
Published: February 2007

ABSTRACTThis paper employs a cultural‐economic approach to understanding the labour model strategies employed by an organic marketing co‐operative in a rural community of south‐central Pennsylvania. The co‐operative is composed of self‐described ‘back‐to‐the‐landers’, who are motivated by an agrarian dream of a better quality of life, making a living off the land and contributing to the environmental sustainability of farming. Organic agriculture as a technical practice with a lucrative market holds the promise of realising these dreams, and the co‐operative functions as an alternative food network that delivers organic produce to a regional market. The members of the co‐operative employ a diversity of labour strategies, some of which reproduce the labour processes and outcomes of the conventional food systems, and others which (sometimes simultaneously) configure new social and economic relations with farm workers.
INTENTIONAL COMMUNITIES IN RURAL SPACES
Authors: MEIJERING LOUISE , HUIGEN PAULUS , VAN HOVEN BETTINA 
Published: February 2007

ABSTRACTIn this paper, we focus on intentional communities in the Western world. These communities consist of a variety of groups, with different characteristics, ideologies and motivations. Examples are eco‐villages, religious communities and communities of lesbians. These groups intend, at least to some extent, to withdraw from mainstream urban society, challenging norms of urban life, e.g. wasteful behaviour, stressful lives or heterosexual stereotypes, and create their own places in rural areas. Key questions that we seek to address in the paper are: What types of intentional communities can be identified? To what extent are intentional communities withdrawn from the rural areas in which they are established? We attempt to answer these through discussing the results of a survey among 496 communities. Furthermore, we describe an example of the ecological type of community, since these communities are most explicitly challenging urban norms and values.
Psoriasis vulgaris and human leukocyte antigens
Authors: Cassia FF , Carneiro SC , Marques MTQ , Pontes LF , Filgueira AL , Porto LCS 
Published: February 2007

AbstractBackground  Psoriasis vulgaris is a skin disease with a complex immunological and genetic background, triggered by environmental factors. The association of human leukocyte antigens (HLA) and psoriasis has long been reported on population and familial studies.Objectives  To review and discuss studies on psoriasis vulgaris and HLA, in Caucasian and non‐Caucasian populations.Methods  The major population studies on psoriasis vulgaris and the associated HLA antigens and alleles are described and discussed based on a review of the current literature.Results  Population studies demonstrate the presence of different HLA specificities as well as extended haplotypes in patients with psoriasis, when compared to controls. Some alleles occur in a lower frequency in patients with psoriasis, indicating they could be protection alleles. In all studies which HLA class I was typed, Cw6 or Cw*0602 was present in a significant frequency in patients with psoriasis, mainly when early onset and positive family history were considered. HLA‐DRB1*0701 was also present in a higher frequency in patients in different populations.Conclusions  Different antigens and alleles from both HLA classes I and II were seen in a significantly higher frequency in patients with psoriasis vulgaris. HLA Cw*0602 and DRB1*0701 were represented in different reports, and the former was related mainly to psoriasis type I.
PROBLEMS IN MEASUREMENT OF ELECTRODERMAL PHENOMENA—CHOICE OF METHOD AND PHENOMENA—POTENTIAL, IMPEDANCE, RESISTANCE1
Authors: Forbes T. W. 
Published: February 2007

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study is to summarize earlier work on the galvanic skin response (GSR).Sensitive direct current and alternating current bridge measurement techniques were used.Differences were shown between potential, resistance, and impedance responses. Potential records showed two component waves with apparent sympathetic and non‐sympathetic characteristics. Methods of measurement make a great deal of difference in the type of response obtained and measurement circuits are of great importance. Complex responses from each skin area may summate or may oppose and mask each other. Three different methods are suggested as suitable for different research purposes.Electrodermal Response, GSR, Skin Potential, Skin Resistance, Skin impedance responses. (T. W. Forbes)
THE RATIONALE FOR TREATING THE CHANGE IN GALVANIC SKIN RESPONSE AS A CHANGE IN CONDUCTANCE
Authors: Darrow Chester W. 
Published: February 2007

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this report is to account for differences in measures of sweating, resistance, skin potential, and conductivity at high and low levels of bodily excitation by simultaneous measurement of the variables and to explain why conductance provides a satisfactory over‐all measure.Relations between simultaneously recorded sweat, resistance, skin potential and conductance changes are shown graphically.Two distinctly different response processes occurring respectively at high and low levels of resistance are seen to overlap in the middle range. Together the resistance measurement of these two widely different levels span the gamut of reactivity from the low to the higher levels of bodily excitation. The differing magnitudes of the measures of these two reactive phenomena can be meaningfully combined in, and quantitatively represented on a single scale of measurement when using units of conductance.Electrodermal, GSR, Sweat, Resistance, Potential, Conductance, Skin, Emotion, Response, Anxiety, Tension, Excitation, Reactivity. (C. W. Darrow)
TWO GALVANIC SKIN RESPONSE EFFECTOR ORGANS AND THEIR STIMULUS SPECIFICITY
Authors: Edelberg Robert , Wright David J. 
Published: February 2007

ABSTRACTThis study tested the hypothesis that the palmar galvanic skin response (GSR) involves the sweat gland and an epidermal component each responding preferentially according to the demands of the behavioral situation. Their relative contributions were determined by comparison of simultaneous GSR's from areas with high vs low concentrations of sweat glands and with direct measurement of vapor production as well. Stimuli were tones and lights which were either alerting signals or execution signals for a perceptual or a motor (reaction time) task. The population unexpectedly showed greater relative sweat response to the alerting signal for the reaction time task than to the associated execution signal (71 out of 94 S's). Individual subjects, but not the population as a whole, differentiated significantly between alerting and execution signals for the perceptual task. Results supported the hypothesis that two components present in the palmar GSR manifest stimulus response specificity, but were inconclusive regarding the nature of the class of stimuli to which each responds. The difference can not depend on preparation for motor as opposed to non‐motor activity. GSR, Sweat vapor. Sweat gland, Epidermal, Tones, Lights, Alerting, Response specificity, Adaptive behavior. (R. Edelberg)
DIFFERENTIAL EFFECT OF THE LAW OF INITIAL VALUE (LIV) ON AUTONOMIC VARIABLES
Authors: Hord David J. , Johnson Lavkrne C. , Lubin Ardie 
Published: February 2007

ABSTRACTIn three independent studies using 105 subjects, regression analysis was used to determine which autonomic variables are most affected by the “law of initial value” and whether the “law” always acts in the same way, i.e. are large responses always associated with low prestimulus levels of activity and conversely. For GSR, heart rate, respiration rate, and skin temperature it was found that the slope of the regression of stimulus level on prestimulus level (Byx) distinguishes these four ANS variables. The conclusion is that the LIV operates as one would predict for heart rate and respiration rate responses, with values of Byx less than one; but that the law does not operate for skin (finger) temperature responses, since Byx is consistently very close to one. For GSR responses expressed in terms of conductance, the converse of the LIV seems to hold, with Byx consistently greater than one. Law of initial value (LIV), Autonomic nervous system. (ANS)
CONROLLED PHYSICAL AND SUBJECTIVE INTENSITIES OF ELECTRIC SHOCK
Authors: Tursky Bernard , Watson Peter D. 
Published: February 2007

ABSTRACTA series of investigations was conducted to determine which physical parameters must be controlled to deliver constant electrical stimulation and the effect of controlling these parameters on subjective estimates of shock intensity. Constant voltage and constant current stimulation were tested with eight waveforms and five electrode configurations, including a concentric disc electrode. Dry skin and treated skin techniques were tested in a comparative power experiment and with a method of magnitude estimation.Passing an electrical stimulus through an electrode‐skin circuit produces a marked reduction in the impedance of that circuit. This drop in impedance is a local effect, rather than a centrally mediated response, causes differences in perceived magnitude, and occurs no matter whether voltage, current, or power is held constant and no matter what waveform, frequency or electrode configuration is used. The use of the concentric disc electrode and treatment of the skin with an electrolyte makes it possible to reduce impedance to a predetermined level, which when combined with constant voltage or constant current results in a constant physical stimulus and constant subjective estimates of the stimulus intensity.
HABITUATION OF THK ORIENTING RESPONSE IN ALERT AND DROWSY SUBJECTS
Authors: McDonald David G. , Johnson Laverni C. , Hord David J. 
Published: February 2007

ABSTRACTAlert and drowsy subjects (by EEG criterion) were compared in two experiments for psychophysiological habituation of the orienting response. Subjects in Experiment I (N = 30) received 10 presentations of a doorbell‐type buzzer, and in Experiment II (N = 69) they received 10 presentations of a 500‐cps tone. Comparisons were made of: (I) galvanic skin response (GSR); (2) spontaneous GSRs between trials; (3) heart rate (HR) responses; (4) finger vasoconstriction responses; (5) finger temperature responses; and (0) respiration. Results showed that there were no differences between groups in GSR; however, the drowsy group showed consistently fewer spontaneous GSRs. Cardiovascular response measures of the drowsy groups showed consistently and significantly greater responses on the later trials and, therefore, no habituation of these responses. This finding was more consistent for HR than vasomotor response. In the discussion of these results, the authors were able to rule out several possible explanations, hence the reasons for this differential autonomic response are as yet unknown.
THE EFFECTS OF VERBAL RESPONSES ON THE LABORATORY DETECTION OF DECEPTION
Authors: Gustafson Lawrence A. , Orane Martin T. 
Published: February 2007

ABSTRACT Ss were given one of three different response tasks to perform in a detection of deception experiment using the galvanic skin response (GSR). The first group was told to say nothing as they heard each question, the second group to say “no” to each question, and the third group to make a word association to each question. Questions were presented in both a random order and a known sequential order. There were over‐all differences among the three groups for both conditions of question presentation. The second group was most frequently detected, the first group next, and the third group was detected least frequently. Differences between experimental procedures used in this study and other studies using word association do not permit comparison of the results of this study with other studies.