Search

We study the optimal timing of adoption of a cleaner technology and its effects on the rate of growth of an economy in the context of an AK endogenous growth model. We show that the results depend upon the behavior of the marginal utility of environmental quality with respect to consumption. When it is increasing, we derive the capital level at the optimal timing of adoption. We show that this capital threshold is independent of the initial conditions on the stock of capital, implying that capital-poor countries tend to take longer to adopt. Also, country-specific characteristics, as the existence of high barriers to adoption, may lead to different capital thresholds for different countries. If the marginal utility of environmental quality decreases with consumption, a country should never delay adoption; the optimal policy is either to adopt immediately or, if adoption costs are “too high”, to never adopt. The policy implications of these results are discussed in the context of the international debate surrounding the environmental political agenda.

Health or not – is that the question? In relation to an internationaldebate as well as an upcoming revision of the syllabi of Physical Education in Sweden, this article discusses the question, whether physical education should consider a limited or an increased commitment towards the goals of public health and a health agenda. With a point of departure in a salutogenic approach the article hopefully adds richness to the perspective of health in physical education. In this way the article contributes to the discussion about health issues in physical education, and whether physical education can be a part of a sustainable health development.

The interest in digital libraries began in the early nineties of the last century, particularly in the United States. At first the argument involved a few computer scientists and some librarian. However, after the first terminological uncertainties ("electronic" library, "virtual" library, etc.), digital libraries have become an object of interdisciplinary study and today constitute a research field of LIS. Over the years there has been an evolution of topics and approaches. The earlier prevailing interest was in the management and technological aspects of digital libraries and then emerged the need to rediscover the role of digital libraries in society. This paper focuses in particular on the most recent international debate on the social value of the digital library. L'interesse per le biblioteche digitali ha avuto inizio negli Stati Uniti nei primi anni Novanta. Al principio la discussione ha coinvolto solo qualche ingegnere informatico e pochi bibliotecari. Superate le prime incertezze terminologiche (biblioteca "elettronica", "virtuale" etc.), le biblioteche digitali sono diventate a tutti gli effetti oggetto di studi interdisciplinari e costituiscono un ambito di ricerca consolidato della biblioteconomia e delle scienze dell'informazione, ambito che ha visto nel corso degli anni una continua evoluzione di argomenti correlati e approcci.L'interesse iniziale prevalente, incentrato sulla gestione e sugli aspetti tecnologici delle biblioteche digitali, si è evoluto nella necessità di riscoprire il ruolo delle biblioteche digitali nella società. Questo saggio esamina con attenzione sul recente dibattito internazionale sul valore sociale delle biblioteche digitali.

It is widely acknowledged that there is considerable international pressure for international ‘best practices’ to be adopted via national legislation. This would occur either by means of model laws or through the passing of country specific legislation that closely replicates foreign legal formats, administrative rules, and or regulation. These attempts to spread the implementation of ‘best practices’ have gained importance in the international debate due to the liberalization of international capital flows. The oversight, country reports, and technical assistance carried out by international organizations along with the growing internationalization of investors have also contributed to this growing pressure. In this respect, due to the constant evolution of transactions and the end objective of making sure that capital markets are developed with just rules, structures, and methods, this article looks to analyze the adoption of standardized models of capital market regulation. Furthermore it looks to examine the motivation and interest of states and other ‘stakeholders’ at the international level.

This article critically reflects on current mainstream debate on abortion in international human rights discourse and the conception of life underpinning it. The public health focus on access to safe abortion which has dominated this discourse can be detected as committed to a fundamentally liberal idea of bounded and individual subjecthood which mirrors the commitments of the liberal right to life more generally. However, feminist challenges to this frame seeking to advance wider access to reproductive freedoms appear equally underpinned by a liberal conception of life. It is asserted that feminists may offer a more radical challenge to the current impasse in international debate on abortion by engaging with the concept of livability which foregrounds life as an interdependent and conditioned process. The trope of the ‘right to livability’ developed in this article presents a means to reposition the relation between rights and life and facilitate such radical engagement which better attends to the socio-political conditions shaping our interdependent living and being.

In Western countries, the discipline of interior design has struggled to define itself from the beginning. One reason is that designing interiors is a multifaceted, layered, even interdisciplinary process. One has to deal with architectural environments as well as objects, with spaces as well as more ephemeral backdrops. Moreover, because designing interiors is not very different from certain everyday activities, interior professionals want to dissociate their activities from everyday decorating. Nomenclature has played an important role in trying to professionalize. By employing the term of “interior architect,” professional practitioners have sought to insist on the distance that separates their work from everyday design practices. However, interior architecture has also wanted to avoid being seen as a subcategory of architecture. As a result, alternative terms have circulated, which have been equally question–begging. By means of a case study of one country's attempt to professionalize the practice of designing interiors, this essay will uncover how professional identities emerged and were labeled in postwar Belgian Flanders. We will show how different profiles, ranging from schooled interior architects to self–made domestic advisors and interior decorators, enabled practitioners to approach interiors differently and sometimes design in different ways. At the same time, we will investigate why the term “Interior architect” was employed by all the profiles of practitioners. The historically and culturally specific case study will be framed against the internationally ongoing process of professionalization. The road toward professionalization in Flanders runs parallel to that in a lot of Western countries. The Flemish case is remarkable, though, in that issues of nomenclature and identity formation were already heavily debated, even taken to court, from the mid–1950s until the mid–1960s. While in North American and Australian educational programs and professional contexts, the gradual adoption of descriptions such as “interior design” and “interior architecture” is of more recent vintage, this process took place in Flanders already in the 1960s. With our historically early case study—the first Flemish interior design program dates back to 1946—we want to contribute to the ongoing international debate about the professionalization of the interior discipline as well as discussions on nomenclature and the complex relationship between professionals and amateurs. Through a historically and culturally specific case study, this article will show how different profiles, ranging from schooled interior architects to self–made interior advisors and interior decorators, enabled practitioners to approach interiors differently and sometimes to design in different ways.

Berlin’s memorial landscape has been the focus of much international debate and controversy since the German reunification. How to remember the past in a city where nearly every address has its own story to tell — not only of the Holocaust, but also of the brutality of the National Socialist dictatorship and subsequent war, in addition to the scars of the city’s division and the communist regime in the GDR — is a difficult question. Memorial design has become a source of contentious debate in the media and government. By looking at some of those memorials that have been built, installed and dedicated over the last two decades, we can see the emergence of some patterns. One such trend is the increase of memorials that test the boundaries between the sacred and profane and challenge traditional ideas of what makes a memorial a sacred place.

The period 1998–2003 had great impact on the development of the Iranian nuclear program. During these years, Tehran built the majority of the nuclear plants that are now in function or still under construction. This is when the so-called Iranian nuclear question took center stage in the international debate. This chapter focuses on some factors between 1997 and 2000 that likely led Iran to invest heavily in its nuclear program.

"This report summarises the presentations held at a symposium that took place on 8 June 2015 in Hamburg to commemorate the life and scholarly achievements of Gero Erdmann. Erdmann has left deep footprints in the literature on neopatrimonialism, parties, and party systems in Africa, as well as on democratisation, including democracy promotion. Colleagues and former collaborators revisited some of his work and put it in the perspective of recent findings in the literature." (author's abstract), "Die Autoren des Berichts fassen die Vorträge eines Symposiums zusammen, das am 8. Juni 2015 im Gedenken an Persönlichkeit und wissenschaftliche Leistungen Gero Erdmanns in Hamburg abgehalten wurde. In der wissenschaftlichen Literatur zu Neopatrimonialismus, Parteien und Parteiensystemen in Afrika, aber auch zu Demokratisierung und Demokratieförderung hat Gero Erdmann tiefe Spuren hinterlassen. Kollegen und frühere Mitarbeiter Erdmanns griffen wesentliche Schwerpunkte und Ergebnisse seiner Forschungen auf und analysierten sie im Lichte aktueller wissenschaftlicher Veröffentlichungen." (Autorenreferat)

The aim of this article is to introduce critically the international debate about the feminization of religion during the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century. The main contributions of the scholars who have dealt with this matter are explained in this article, ranging from the beginnings of the feminization thesis in the middle of the seventies to the most recent research influenced by the discursive turn and the emphasis in masculinity and the religious activities of men. Furthermore, the most outstanding contributions of the Spanish historiography and some reflections about future research lines are taken into account. The relevant links among the feminization thesis and the secularization thesis as well as the troubled relation between religion and modernity are present along the article.; Este artículo pretende ofrecer una aproximación crítica al debate internacional en torno a la feminización de la religión durante el siglo xix y principios del xx. Se recogen las principales aportaciones de los autores que han trabajado sobre esta cuestión, desde los inicios de la tesis de la feminización religiosa a mediados de los setenta hasta los desarrollos más recientes marcados por el giro discursivo y el énfasis sobre la masculinidad y las actividades religiosas de los hombres. También se hace referencia a las contribuciones más destacadas de la historiografía española y se reflexiona sobre futuras vías de investigación. Las relevantes conexiones entre la tesis de la feminización religiosa y la tesis de la secularización además de la relación conflictiva entre la religión y la modernidad están presentes a lo largo del trabajo.

Although much is known about the wider political and economic developments occurring in the Austrian Netherlands during eighteenth-century, and despite the broad consensus that has emerged regarding the many merits of the nation's new trade policy, one still left with only scarce and usually indefinite statements on the nature and the impact of its international trade. This chapter underlines the fact that while opinions are less overtly contradictory and distinct than in the international debate on the importance of external (often colonial) commerce, they are also much more confused and hypothetical. Even the efforts of the Austrian government to encourage trade between the nation's hereditary lands and the Southern Netherlands met with little success. A major reason for this was abolishment of the Ostend Company in 1732, which rendered the Southern Netherlands a relatively passive player in international trade.Keywords: Austrian Netherlands; economic development; international trade; passive participant; political development; trade policy

From 2007 to 2009, I and a number of colleagues at the University of York conducted a research project entitled ‘1807 Commemorated’.1The aim of this project was to analyse the museum activity that was developed in Britain in 2007 to mark the bicentenary of the 1807 Act of Abolition — the Act which formally ended British participation in the transatlantic slave trade. Our assumption at the beginning of this research was that we were studying a national commemorative event, and one which might also, since the slave trade was obviously a transnational rather than a purely national phenomenon, have an international significance. Our plan was therefore initially to focus our attention fairly intensively on a small number of museums — places like the British Museum or the new International Slavery Museum in Liverpool — whose contributions to the bicentenary we felt would constitute significant interventions in a national and international debate on slavery and abolition, and on their long-term legacies. What we did not fully anticipate — and we were not the only ones who did not2 — was the amount of activity that the bicentenary would generate at a much more local level, and the significant part that a much wider range of museums — including many local and regional ones — would play, along with other local institutions and community groups, in defining its meanings and implications for British society.3

OBJECTIVE: To explore the experiences of people with a "terminal illness", focusing on the patients' perspective of euthanasia and assisted suicide. METHOD: A qualitative study using narrative interviews was conducted throughout the UK. The views of the 18 people who discussed euthanasia and assisted suicide were explored. These were drawn from a maximum variation sample, who said that they had a "terminal" illness, malignant or non-malignant. RESULTS: That UK law should be changed to allow assisted suicide or voluntary euthanasia was felt strongly by most people. Those who had seen others die were particularly convinced that this should be a right. Some had multiple reasons, including pain and anticipated pain, fear of indignity, loss of control and cognitive impairment. Those who did not want to be a burden also had other reasons for wanting euthanasia. Suicide was contemplated by a few, who would have preferred a change in the law to allow them to end their lives with medical help and in the company of family or friends. The few who opposed a change in UK law, or who felt ambivalent, focused on involuntary euthanasia, cited religious reasons or worried that new legislation might be open to abuse. CONCLUSION: Qualitative research conducted on people who know they are nearing death is an important addition to the international debate on euthanasia and assisted suicide. Those who had seen others die were particularly convinced that the law should be changed to allow assisted death.

The notion of oil security on a global scale is problematic because of the diverging perspectives with which oil-importing countries and oil-exporting countries view energy security. Oil-importing countries are interested in “oil supply” while oil-exporting countries focus on “oil demand.” This leaves ample space for major powers to maneuver within the complex political-economic dynamics associated with oil trade. China has been no exception. This commentary addresses the international debate that has emerged concerning the geo-strategic and geo-economic motivations behind China's pursuit of offshore oil supply. By examining China's oil-related overseas investments in Sudan we shed light on some of the business and political complexities associated with the China-Sudan relationship. In the view of many Chinese observers, Sudan has in terms of oil exploration been a Chinese success story while in the view of many foreign observers, China's dealings in Sudan are the very reason why China has faced harsh int...

International studies on comparative systems of education are succumb to certain risks as they on the one hand overemphasize the commonalities and differences in the structure of the school systems while on the other hand neglecting the cultural heritage and background of the countries in questions and its impact on the organisation. A systematic evaluation of such aspects is expected by policitians. Yet they rarely ask which purpose such a comparative analysis should serve: Should it point out current development trends? Should there not be an inherent desire to learn from others' pedagogical experiences in education? Is it in fact very one-sided in its approach without being effective in its analysis? These and other factors would then contribute to an in-depth analysis of one's own country along the same lines. In this article, our focus will be the school system in Japan. For which by virtue of example these issues will be addressed. Typical for Japan is the existence of a dual system, in which two types of schools are frequented at the same time, but for different purposes. They are the official school and the so-called cram school necessary to meet the high scholastic achievement expectations placed on the students. This and other aspects are greatly neglected in the international debate on scholastic achievement.

Economists commonly believe that failure to equalize the marginal cost of carbon abatement across countries implies a loss of global efficiency. Chichilnisky and Heal [(1994), Economic Letters 44, 444] first challenged this consensus a decade ago, demonstrating that, in general, efficiency does not require equalizing marginal abatement costs. This note revisits that important debate. It provides the missing intuition behind Chichilnisky and Heal’s surprising result, explains what critical assumption gives rise to their result, and clarifies the role a social welfare function plays in their model. The implications of Chichilnisky and Heal’s result are increasingly important, given international debate over the preferential role given to developing countries in the Kyoto Protocol and the role those countries will play in future climate negotiations.

Umbilical cord blood banking raises several issues in legal and ethical terms, from the determination of ownership of biological material to the respect of the right of self determination–namely, the right to give an informed consent–of the individuals involved (newborn, parents), to the commercialization of cord blood banks and to the related autologous use of donated placental blood. Recently these issues have been considered by the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies to the European Commission (EGE) in the Opinion on “Ethical aspects of umbilical cord blood banking” (Opinion No. 19 of 16 March 2004). They have also been part of a wide and intense international debate. This paper aims at examining these themes–ownership, informed consent, and commercialization of cord blood banking–with particular regard to the EGE Opinion on the ethical aspects of umbilical cord blood banking. Such opinion focuses on private cord blood banks for autologous use and underlines the legitimacy conditio...

The development of a system of regulation in early childhood care and education (ECCE) in Ireland was a slow process. Some decades passed between initial calls for regulation and the actual implementation of standards in 1997, reflecting the delay and inaction that has characterised ECCE policy implementation in general in Ireland. The present system has been criticised by some as not being far-reaching enough and a review, originally promised in 2001, is still overdue at time of writing. The question arises as to whether a regulatory system can fulfil the dual functions of, first, ensuring that services are meeting acceptable minimal standards and, second, supporting services to improve quality of provision beyond minimum standards and which promote children's development and learning. This question is explored in the light of discussions with the various stakeholders, recent policy developments in ECCE in Ireland, and the international debate on the relationship between regulations and quality.

This paper analyzes Vietnam's health policies. It adopts an interpretative framework stressing that policy approaches to strategic and commercial services, on one hand, and social services, on the other hand, should be fundamentally different, given the structurally different nature of such diverse services activities. The paper analyzes the evolution of health policies during the doi moi period and reviews the national and international debate on health systems reforms, arguing that an approach prone to blur the intrinsic difference between social and non-social services has led to market-oriented health reforms that are severely flawed in Vietnam, with negative impacts on universality of access, equity, poverty, and efficiency. In sum, social services policies, and policies in the domain of health in particular, appear to constitute the weakest and most contentious component of Vietnam's otherwise extremely successful development strategy. Therefore, they are a prime candidate for critical re-e...

This text is an attempt to set up a dialogue between the theories on borders prevalent in the United States and the anthropology of borders prevailing in the Southern Cone. My purpose is to suggest that a series of ethnographical studies carried out on the borders between Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay have a contribution to make to the international debate on borders. Simply stated, this article is an affirmation that cultures are more hybrid than identification.

SUMMARY Identifying gifted and talented children and providing appropriate educational experiences for them has been firmly placed on the educational agenda in England by the Labour government since 1999. In the U.S.A., gifted education has received a high profile for several decades. In both countries, however, the needs of the younger gifted child have received scant attention. In this paper the authors argue that it is important to make provision for this group of children. They review available research findings on both identification of younger gifted children and what we known about intervention programmes. The paper also provides a background of what is currently happening in England and in the U.S.A., with reference to younger gifted children. It is hoped that this paper will provide a framework for international debate and provide some impetus for policy making and for practitioners.

In response to perceived difficulties with extant lease-accounting standards in operation worldwide, the G4+1 issued a discussion paper which proposes that all leases should be recognized on the balance sheet [ASB (1999). Leases: Implementation of a new approach, discussion paper. London: Accounting Standards Board]. Leasing is now on the active agenda of the IASB. A major difficulty faced by standard setters lies in overcoming the preparer/user lobbying imbalance and obtaining ex ante evidence on the likely impact of regulatory reform. This paper contributes to the ongoing international debate by conducting a questionnaire survey of U.K. users and preparers to assess their views on proposals for lease-accounting reform and on the potential economic consequences of their adoption. The results, based on 132 responses, indicate that both groups accept that there are deficiencies in the current rules, but they do not agree on the way forward and believe that the proposals would lead to significant economic consequences for key parties. The impact on respondents' views of familiarity with the proposals, level of lease usage, and company size, is also examined.

When World War I ended in 1918 the issue of the punishment of war crimes was central, not only to many members of the governments of the victorious allies, but also to many jurists who had already ...

Neste texto apresento perspectivas e abordagens importantes no debate internacional sobre o tráfico de pessoas, e sublinho alguns dos principais pontos de crítica sobre o referencial contemporâneo hegemônico, pontos esses articulados através de projetos de pesquisa-ação e de intervenções contra o tráfico nas bases da sociedade. Argumento que, a despeito de mudanças substanciais no entendimento global sobre o tráfico, fortemente influenciadas por dois discursos feministas claramente diferentes (feminismo radical e feminismo transnacional), muito do que se busca hoje em nome de uma guerra ao tráfico tem conseqüências problemáticas para comunidades pobres ao redor do mundo, e tem implicações em termos de raça e gênero. As políticas norteamericanas são aqui trazidas ao debate para ilustrar algumas dessas tendências.Abstract In this text I present central perspectives and approaches in the international debate about the trafficking of persons, and highlight some of the main points of critique about the contemporary hegemonic framework that are articulated through action-research projects and grassroots anti-trafficking interventions. I argue that despite substantial shifts in global understandings about trafficking, which are heavily influenced by two distinctly different feminist discourses (radical feminism and transnational feminism), today much of what is pursued in the name of a war on trafficking has troubling consequences for poor communities around the world, and has gendered and racialized implications. US anti-trafficking policies are drawn upon here to illustrate some of these tendencies.Key Words: Trafficking of Persons, Feminist Discourses, Migration

A concept of sustainable development has become a major concern in international debate on water resources development and environmental conservation. Although sustainable water resources development and management takes a significant amount of concern in the development research, its applicability has not been insufficient in practices. The purpose of this study is to address a definition of sustainable water resources development and management and to illustrate relevant indicators. The study has also attempted to develop localized indicators hence to assess an availability of water resources development and management and to evaluate the water resources in Korea with the indicators which have been developed in other countries.

Increasingly, Islamic medicine and medical ethics are a focus of international debate. As a prescriptive discipline, based on Shari{a}a, Islamic medical ethics is challenged on two fronts. First, the science on which legal judgements are made can change. Second, the schools of jurisprudence may issue different, contradictory judgements. Western non-Muslim health professionals need to understand Shari{a}a-regulated medical ethics because Muslims living in Western Europe are a significant and growing presence. Influenced by aspiration and expectation, however, there is no one Islamic sense of personal identity. In consequence, the straight path, or law of God, is far from straightforward. The application of Shari{a}a to medicine can cause tension between traditionalists and modernists, pragmatism and theology. Three medical issues are explored: abortion, embryology research and organ transplantation. Although remaining faithful to what has guided ethical decision-making in the past, ...

Whatever its value, the international debate over the war in Iraq has failed to question its underpinnings in modern strategic reason; specifically, the 20th-century development of Clausewitz's view that limited war is a rational, controllable means to a political end. This essay traces the development of this technological ‘enframing’ system of strategic reason from the scientific philosophy of Newton, Bacon and Descartes to the modernist thinking of Kissinger and US Persian Gulf policy from 1980 to the present. It argues that the containment and eventual invasion of Iraq thwarted a linear translation of means into ends, and questions the ethical implications of a perspective that makes territory, technology and human beings into mere tools for disposal and use.

This paper reports an investigation of serotype-specific differences in heat resistance kinetics of clinical and food isolates of Escherichia coli . Heat resistance kinetics for 5 serotypes of E. coli at 60 °C were estimated in beef gravy using a submerged coil heating apparatus. The observed survival curves were sigmoidal and there were significant differences ( p =0.05) of the survival curves among the serotypes. Consequently, a model was developed that accounted for the sigmoidal shape of the survival curves and the serotype effects. Specifically, variance components for serotypes and replicates within serotypes were estimated using mixed effect nonlinear modeling. If it is assumed that the studied serotypes represent a random sample from a population of E. coli strains or serotypes, then, from the derived estimates, probability intervals of the expected lethality for random selected serotypes can be computed. For example, expected serotype-specific lethalities at 60 °C for 10 min are estimated to range between 5 and 9 log 10 with 95% probability. On the other hand, to obtain a 6-log 10 lethality, the expected minutes range, with 95% probability, from 6 to 12 min. The results from this study show that serotypes of E. coli display a wide range of heat resistance with nonlinear survival curves. Industrial relevance This paper is of high current interest since it deals with the ongoing international debate on log linear vs. non-log linear microbial inactivation curves observed during thermal and non-thermal processing. The data on 5 serotypes of E. coli indicate a clear need for further studies with more strains to fully characterize the heat resistance kinetics for E. coli .

Policymakers across OECD countries have become increasingly concerned with the national and international debate about brain drain and have launched appraisal processes of the situations in their respective countries. The debates took different turns in different countries, but nevertheless, some common issues cut across a number of countries. The issues of academic structures and traditions, legislation and management, and reputation and image have surfaced as critical factors for brain drain and brain gain. In this paper I provide a systematic analysis of the international policy debates surrounding the issue of brain drain and brain gain and make an attempt to distinguish between them by classifying them into different categories.

While much of the international debate on the future of work focuses on the links between new forms of employment and social protection, and especially on transitions between jobs, this paper addresses a still under-researched issue: the interconnections between employment regulations and business strategies in the production of precarious employment. It seeks to make a contribution to a new strand of research which has emerged in France, Britain and the United States and has cast light on the link between new modes of business organization and new forms of employment. The paper particularly highlights labour recommodification processes as the key instrument in this link and illustrates the dynamics at play in three service sectors known for a high incidence of precarious employment - call centres, performing arts, and domiciliary care for the elderly, in five European countries.

The MacBride Report initiated a wide international debate not only within the professional circles but also amongst the broader public. This debate provoked a major political and ideological confrontation in which the opponents of the Report’s orientation endeavoured to disqualify the entire Report and particularly so its recommendations. Consequently, the entire work of UNESCO in the field of information and communication was heavily criticised and obstructed. The Introduction presents an insight into the work of the Commission by one of its active members, and key recommendations proposed by the MacBride Commission for future activities in the field of information and communication.

International debate about the problems of defining terrorism historically centred on the General Assembly. Yet, between 1985 and 2001, the Security Council adopted a range of measures addressing terrorist threats to peace and security, and analysis of the incidents involved reveals much about the Council's understanding of ''terrorism''. After September 2001, problems of definition became acute, since the Council adopted general legislative measures against terrorism—with serious legal conse- quences—without defining it. The Council has encouraged States to unilaterally define terrorism in national law, permitting wide and divergent definitions. A non-binding Council definition of late 2004 fails to remedy the serious difficulties caused by the lack of an operative definition in Council practice.

There has been a major international debate about the importance of work time change. One key aspect of this debate has been the extent and impact of extended work hours. In this paper we examine the effects of a flexitime system on excessive hours in a Queensland public service department. This study finds that, for some groups of workers, the introduction of the flexitime system directly contributed to the development of a long-hours culture. The long-hours culture developed as part of managerial prerogative and in the absence of adequate regulation. Our research also finds that employees reluctantly working long hours consistently reported negative effects on their working and non-working life.

This paper reports an investigation into the accuracy and effectiveness of two (2) senior Australian radiographers in the reporting of appendicular musculoskeletal radiographs in the adult trauma situation and discusses the international debate on radiographer role extension into plain film reporting. The study of 540 patients referred to a large metropolitan emergency imaging department demonstrated high rates of diagnostic accuracy (sensitivity = 98.00% specificity = 99.11%) in the assessment of appendicular musculoskeletal radiographs. 294 out of 300 positive examinations were identified correctly (FPR=0.88%) as were 225 out of 227 negative or normal examinations (FNR=2.00%). A discussion on relevant statistical measures and their definitions is outlined. In the study radiologist reports are used as the comparative gold standard. The findings demonstrate an ability of clinically experienced radiographers to accurately and effectively provide diagnostic opinions on musculoskeletal radiographs. A formalised approach to radiographer reporting can be justified and a formal program to train appropriately experienced radiographers is recommended. (author abstract)

Strachan P. A. and Lal D. (2004) Wind energy policy, planning and management practice in the UK: hot air or a gathering storm?, Reg. Studies 38, 551–571. This paper is set within the context of the growing international wind energy industrial sector. The central focus is concerned with evaluating the UK Government and Scottish Executive’s renewable energy strategies, which to date have culminated in a distinct lean towards onshore wind energy expansion. Our interest in this area stems from the international debate on wind power which is now gaining momentum as a result of global and European climate management initiatives, and in particular from the fact that there has been much public opposition to new wind farm developments in the UK. The British experience differs to that in Denmark, and appears more akin to that of the Swedish experience, with the UK presenting an interesting case of the difficulties associated with implementing a ‘renewables’ strategy based on wind energy. The research focus in this ...

This paper aims at positioning the issue of health promotion effectiveness in the context of the international debate around the utilisation of evidence-based practices. In a sociological and historical perspective, it analyses how the evidence-based practices approach has confronted the field of health promotion, especially since the second half of the 1990's. It argues that this has occurred in the context of the evaluative concerns put forward by governments all over the world, in order to downsize their publicly funded health systems. After providing definitions and some historical context, five methodological and political issues raised by the idea of utilizing evidence-based practices in health promotion are presented. The paper concludes that this approach is far from a panacea but has potential limited utilization for certain kinds of health promotion practices. Alternative suggestions on how to establish «best practices» in this field are also offered.

At the end of the UN Decade for Indigenous Peoples (1994-2004) it is still highly unlikely that the Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples will pass through the General Assembly. Granting special rights to a particular part of the population is still a very controversial issue in many countries. In a few, it is true, indigenous peoples have been given a special status: the Philippines, for instance, has been amongst those countries since its Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act came into force. In most countries, how ever, national policies do not favour a special status for indigenous peoples, and in fact the very notion of being indigenous is denied. Malaysia is among those countries that do not want to get involved in this international debate, claiming that all Malay people are indigenous, while at the same time recog nizing the Orang Asli as a special category within the population. Over the years the number of publications about the various groups of Orang Asli has been very substantial. Officially the Orang Asli comprise 18 ethno-linguistic groups of which the Temiar, Semai, Senoi, Jakun, Temuan, and Negritos (such as the Batek) are the best known. Both foreign and Malaysian researchers have written extensively about them in specialized monographs. In spite of their relatively small numbers (about 130,000), they feature prominently in the discussion about indigenous peoples and the

On the basis of an overview of the developments in Antarctic tourism since 1956, this current development note examines the issue of international regulation of Antarctic tourism. After discussing one of the main management issues in respect of Antarctic tourism ¿ the assessment and prevention of cumulative impacts ¿ the authors introduce the Antarctic Treaty System and discuss the existing instruments to address cumulative impacts. Next, the question of the status and possible practical relevance of the precautionary principle in the management of Antarctic tourism receives attention. Finally, the international debate on Antarctic tourism since 1991 and the measures that have been adopted by governments and industry to prevent adverse impacts by tourist activities in the Antarctic are discussed, particularly to evaluate the extent to which the precautionary principle is applied.

An Erratum has been published for this article in Pharmaceutical Statistics 2004; 3(3): 232 Since the early 1990s, average bioequivalence (ABE) has served as the international standard for demonstrating that two formulations of drug product will provide the same therapeutic benefit and safety profile. Population (PBE) and individual (IBE) bioequivalence have been the subject of intense international debate since methods for their assessment were proposed in the late 1980s. Guidance has been proposed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the implementation of these techniques in the pioneer and generic pharmaceutical industries. Hitherto no consensus among regulators, academia and industry has been established on the use of the IBE and PBE metrics. The need for more stringent bioequivalence criteria has not been demonstrated, and it is known that the PBE and IBE criteria proposed by the FDA are actually less stringent under certain conditions. The statistical properties of method of moments and restricted maximum likelihood modelling in replicate designs will be summarized, and the application of these techniques in the assessment of ABE, IBE and PBE will be considered based on a database of 51 replicate design studies and using simulation. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In the South American context, it is rewarding to re-examine the work of the Modern Movement masters in the region, as well as that of their disciples. It is an important and inspiring task for today’s architects, and will help to reassess the values of that pioneer architecture, which, because it introduced local approaches to the international debate, deserves consideration as a part of our universal heritage. Antonio Bonet, the Catalonian architect, worked in Europe with Josep L. Sert, Torres Clave and Le Corbusier. When he established his practice in Argentina, he was dazzled by the almost limitless land, and he applied and developed innovative ideas such as the ‘continuum nature’, the linking of exterior and interior space, and the presence of landscape. Perhaps one of his most representative projects is a building on the riverside of the de la Plata, on the Uruguayan sea coast, part of an urban complex that was never finished. Bonet left a clear mark on latter-day Argentine Modern Architecture by ex...

Background The cost-effectiveness of screening for amblyopia is a controversial issue of international debate. The purpose of this study was to estimate the cost of amblyopia treatment to be used as a component for modelling the cost-effectiveness of prevention programmes. Cost was calculated from the perspective of the German social health insurance in the year 2002. Materials and methods A standardised detailed survey was conducted in writing among 13 experienced experts in amblyopia treatment from various offices and strabismological units in Germany. Average volumes of treatment items were estimated for a maximum treatment period of nine years. Cost was calculated using administrative prices (based on the social health insurance's uniform fee schedule for physician services and reference prices for therapeutic aids) and market prices. Results The questionnaires were fully completed by 12 of the 13 experts. The mean total cost of treatment was estimated at 2.472 Euro (95 %-CI: 1.171 - 3.774) for strabismic amblyopia and 2.051 Euro (95 %-CI: 426 - 3.675) for amblyopia of refractive origin. About 70 % of the total cost was caused by the therapeutic aids (e. g. glasses, patches). The price of the patches had a marked impact on the total treatment cost. Conclusions The results may be used for modelling the cost-effectiveness of screening programmes for the prevention of amblyopia.

Pension reform in Denmark in the 1990s is of general interest owing to the development of a system of funded, defined contribution pension schemes based on collective agreement between the parties in the labour market. The resulting pension system seems to hold some answers to the critique of funded pension schemes. This paper analyses the process which led to the 1991 pension reform and relates the discussions and solutions found in Denmark to the international debate on pension reform.

Data based on questionnaire measures from parents in New Zealand, the UK, and Sweden on attitudes toward advertising to children is presented. There is cross-national evidence that attitudes in this area are affectively strong and consistent and data is presented on responses to particular attitude statements that support this claim. An exploratory factor analysis on the Swedish and UK data suggests a factor structure in respondents with both positive and negative attitudinal clusters toward advertising to children. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research in order that the international debate’ on advertising and marketing to children is informed by cross” cultural research.