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We examine the welfare effects of entry in the presence of network externalities. We show that if network goods are fully incompatible, entry is socially insufficient as long as the entry cost is high, the goods are sufficiently differentiated, and the degree of network externality is low. Further, we show that as the degree of compatibility between the network goods increases, insufficient entry becomes more likely. Our findings provide policy guidelines for anticompetitive and procompetitive entry regulations.

This article addresses certain issues concerning mining investments in the context of the industry's development in the Peruvian national economy. It presents two cases and identifies the effects of the investments of these mining companies on several economic and social variables, the companies’ community-relationship policies, and related socio-environmental conflicts. A preliminary effort is made to compare and systematize the viewpoints of the companies and other more-critical approaches. Finally, we present some conclusions and implications that may be of use in preparing policy guidelines.

The need to refer students to off-campus mental health providers is common in college counseling. Such referrals can be challenging for college counselors who strive to meet students' counseling needs while adhering to ethical and center policy guidelines. In this article, the authors explore the nature and challenges of referral in college counseling settings and introduce a collaborative process model to enhance the likelihood of successful referrals. A case study is provided to illustrate the model.

Background Characteristics of preschool and child care centres have previously been shown to be associated with children's health behaviours such as physical activity and screen-based sedentary behaviour. This paper investigates differences in physical environments, policies and practices between child care centres in Melbourne, Australia and Kingston, Canada which may be associated with such behaviours. Methods Audits of child care centres were undertaken by trained research assistants for the Healthy Active Preschool and Primary Years (Melbourne, Australia; n = 136) study and the Healthy Living Habits in Pre-School Children (Kingston, Canada; n = 46) study. Twenty-one of the audit items (nine physical environment; 12 policies and practices) were assessed in both samples. Example items included outdoor play and shaded areas, availability of equipment, physical activity instruction for children and staff, opportunities to use electronic media and staff/child interaction during physical activity time. Analyses were completed using SAS version 9.2. Results Compared with Australian centres, a higher per cent of Canadian centres had a formal physical activity policy, reported children sat more frequently for 30 min or more and allowed children to watch television. A higher per cent of Australian centres provided an indoor area for physical activity, shade outdoors and physical activity education to staff. Children in Australian centres had access to more fixed play equipment and spent more time outdoors than in Canadian centres. Conclusions These findings may help inform the development of best practice and policy guidelines to enhance opportunities for healthy levels of physical activity and screen-based sedentary behaviour within child care centres in both countries.

BACKGROUND The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has called for tobacco-free school (TFS) policies. In South Dakota (SD), a rural state with a large American Indian population, collaboration between state agencies focused on development and dissemination of a model TFS policy in 2008. This study explored the current status of TFS policies in statewide SD school districts. METHODS Tobacco policies were requested from all SD school district administrators. A 26-point checklist based on CDC TFS policy guidelines was used to evaluate policies. Follow-up interviews were conducted with selected superintendents. RESULTS Policies were received from 144 of 217 districts (66% response). Participation was higher for public districts than tribal/Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) districts and nonpublic districts. The overall mean policy score was 11.6 (SD 5.1). Public school districts had the highest mean (12.3) followed by nonpublic (8.9) and tribal/BIE (7.5). In a subset of districts with a large American Indian population (>30%), policy scores were lower for those located on reservation or tribal lands compared with other locations. Barriers to policy development were identified as time and staff expertise. CONCLUSIONS There is a need to improve statewide TFS policies. A district report card with recommendations for improvement and a resource guide were developed and disseminated.

Recent developments in the use of cow egg cells to clone human somatic cells, and the grafting by researchers at several universities of human neurons into mice, bring the notion of the chimera, a mixture of several living organisms, from myth into reality. In his article “Cross-Species Chimeras: Exploring a Possible Christian Perspective,” Neville Cobbe considers the religious arguments overlying the creation of human-nonhuman chimeras. In my commentary I focus on the distinction between germline- and tissue transplant-related chimeric techniques implicit in Cobbe's essay and argue that the former poses more serious moral difficulties than the latter if the chimeric product is brought to term. The substantive view of the imago Dei, or image of God, serves as a scaffold by which to judge the permissibility of chimera creation using stem cell and other tissue implants. While useful for judging the rights of such artificially generated beings, I argue that specific criteria such as proportion of tissue uptake, mental capacity, and adherence with the organism's telos are more appropriately considered within a composite image of the living being reflecting its unique integrality. Human co-creativity with the Divine will inevitably prompt attempts to generate medically useful chimeras. Religious dialogue, combined with the categories of religious moral argument appearing in Cobbe's essay, will help to establish the outline of feasible policy guidelines addressing the complexities inherent in the creation of chimeras.

Background As patterns of morbidity and mortality are changing, more people with intellectual disabilities develop cancer or other life-limiting illness. This paper reviews the literature around the need of people with intellectual disabilities for palliative care. Methods A range of databases and the World Wide Web were searched for relevant papers, book chapters, training and information materials, unpublished materials and policy guidelines. Publications from 1995 to 2005 are included. Findings Although there has been a steady increase in published materials in recent years, research data around the palliative care needs of people with intellectual disabilities remain scarce. Case reports are the most prevalent method of exploring pertinent issues. The paper presents an overview of issues identified in the literature, with a particular focus on pain and symptom assessment, ethical issues, service planning and training needs. Conclusion There are significant gaps in current knowledge. The authors make recommendations for future areas of research and development.

Never before has so much evidence pointed to the importance of diet and lifestyle behavior as influencing risk for cardiovascular disease. The National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) recently released its Third Expert Panel Report on the Detection and Treatment of Cardiovascular Disease in Adults (ATP III). This report, along with policy guidelines related to obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and other chronic diseases, provides strong recommendations for lifestyle interventions—modified diet, physical activity, and weight control—as key factors in the prevention of disease. The current evidence surrounding these recommendations is summarized, and translational examples are presented. The strength of the evidence and the practical significance of the resulting recommendations are discussed.

In India, the Self-Help Group (SHG) has emerged as a suitable innovative institution in bringing formal financial sector credit to poor. This article constructs an economic typology of SHGs based on four important economic variables, namely, interest on members' savings paid by the SHG, sharing of SHG surpluses by members, members' claim on exit from the SHG and lending rates charged by the SHG to members. An economic analysis of each type of SHG shows these variables to be important in terms of the members' costs of borrowing and demand for credit. Based on the analysis, some leads for a set of policy guidelines for each type of SHG are presented. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the cardiorespiratory fitness, levels of obesity, daily levels of physical activity and barriers to a physically active lifestyle in a group of 24 adults with mild and moderate learning disabilities (aged 23–47 years, mean age 34). The efficacy of two community-based exercise intervention programmes for the group was also evaluated. The results showed that overall 50% of the men and 70% of the women were overweight, of whom 57% of the men and 100% of the women were obese. Mean cardiorespiratory fitness levels were 20% to 28% lower for the men and 42% lower for the women compared with average values for the general population. Physical activity profiles indicated that 22 of the participants were below recognised minimum levels of physical activity. Barriers to physical activity specific to the learning disability population included transport needs, staffing ratios, financial resources and unclear policy guidelines for day and residential service provision.

As efforts to advance fundraising's professionalism gain momentum and attention from practitioners and theorists, equity issues in compensation and position are key aspects of developing practice and policy guidelines in the future.

In the last few years increasing attention has been paid to outcome assessment within effectiveness studies, policy analysis and quality management. Dimensions of patients outcome that can be discerned are mortality, clinical parameters, health status and patient satisfaction. Some critical remarks have been placed on outcome assessment by clinicians. They have doubts on the relevance of outcome assessment, mainly because of the ambiguous relationship between process and outcome, especially regarding the dimension of health status. Furthermore, they are concerned about submitting individual patients to policy and clinical guidelines that are derived from outcome assessment of a group of patients. Arguably, what is good for society or for groups need not to be so beneficial to individual patients. To better involve clinicians in outcome assessment, knowledge is required on the extent to which an individual patient belongs to the population for which clinical and policy guidelines are used. Furthermore, more research is needed regarding the relationship between process and outcome, and regarding the connection between the outcome dimensions of clinical parameters, health status and satisfaction.

Thirty departments of paediatric anaesthesia in the United Kingdom were sent a questionnaire about their policies and practices regarding parental presence in the anaesthetic room. Of 22 respondents, 100% left the decision about whether a parent should be present for induction of anaesthesia to the individual anaesthetist and only 14% had written policy guidelines. All departments permitted parental presence at induction for elective surgery, compared with 77% for emergency surgery and 55% for a rapid sequence induction. The minimum age of child below which parents were not allowed at induction varied between no age limit and one year.

This study developed a framework for evaluating beginning teacher induction policies and programs. This framework consists of three main categories: 1) Legislation and Funding, 2) State, District, and Union Roles, and 3) Program Components. Comparison of these three categories reveals 1) the differences in priority states currently place on beginning teacher induction, 2) the extent of shared responsibilities between state and school districts on overseeing and evaluating the beginning teacher induction program, and 3) the extent of alignment between the beginning teacher induction program and state standards, between eligibility criteria and compensation for beginning teachers, and between the incentives used to attract qualified mentor teachers and the specified qualifications of these mentor teachers. Application of this framework to the current policy guidelines of sixteen heterogeneous states in terms of state activities in educational initiatives found that funded mandatory policies on beginning teacher induction: a) are less fragmented, b) have a stronger state role, c) are heterogeneous in their program features, d) have a narrower definition of what constitutes a beginning teacher, and e) generally provide stronger incentives for mentor teachers to participate.

There is a void in policy guidelines for the responsible treatment of lower and middle management employees. While a ‘constitution’ to protect the rights of these people may seem problematical in terms of what it should cover, and who would administer it, it may be the least troublesome of all the possible alternatives now facing us.

The Supreme Court decision in the case of Jane Lib vs. the State of Connecticut (1999) held that the institution of matrimony is unconstitutional because it violates the Eighth Amendment prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment. This decision, while freeing some people from bondage, has generated a new type of sexual underclass. The social work profession needs to develop policy guidelines to serve this new underclass.

International liqidity may, for purposes of analysis, be classified as (a) Primary, (b) Subsidiary, and (c) Ad hoc. In estimating the total quantum of international liquidity particularly from the viewpoint of dveloping countries, we exclude ad hoc liquidity. The major supply of international liquidity is concentrated in the hands of industrial countries; while the major demand for international liquidity arises from developing countries which fall under Article XIV of the I.M.F. The problem of international liquidity, therefore, exists essentially for the developing countries only. This paper suggests policy guidelines to get over the problem.