Journal Access Initiatives: Where Are They? Why the World Health Organization? and What Is HINARI?

The move from print to online journal publishing has allowed the proliferation of journal access programs aimed at poor countries. These programs offer access to online journals on very favorable terms to developing country institutions and readers and are based on the premise that developing world scientists can contribute significantly to ameliorating the conditions of life in their countries. The authors give a brief overview of the environment in which these programs emerged, discuss different orientations of the major programs, examine the case of the Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative (HINARI), consider why the World Health Organization (WHO) runs a journal access program for developing countries, and conclude with the accomplishments of HINARI.     

Problems with Needs—Where Theory Meets Practice

During the last ten years there has been an increase in the number of attempts to include the assessment of 'needs' of people with mental handicaps. There has been a shift away from previous tendencies to make statements and arrange services in terms of 'problems', 'deficits' and 'defects'; instead individual practitioners have begun to develop 'needs assessments' in order to identify services for clients by borrowing ideas from other fields. These developments have been haphazard and have not been based upon a logical or formal theory. Instead, individuals and agencies have used the term to convey different ideas with dissimilar implications for people with mental handicaps. A review of the literature on 'needs assessment' reveals a confusing and poorly-defined concept with which to plan or implement services. Suggestions are offered to clarify thinking and improve mutual understanding for a possible way forward. Some practical recommendations are identified to assist development of services for people with mental handicap.     

Constructing women's psychological health in anti-abortion rhetoric

This paper considers the ways in which anti-abortion activists construct women's psychological experience of abortion and explores the rhetorical significance of this discourse in advancing the anti-abortion project. In particular we examine how the psychological concept of 'denial' contained in the (proposed) diagnostic category of 'Post-Abortion Syndrome' allows anti-abortionists to 'psychologise' and therefore undermine alternative constructions of the experience of abortion. Further, we explore how this construction of women's experience allows particular constructions of the foetus (ie, 'unborn child') to be advanced (and naturalised) without reference to overtly political argumentation. The significance of this development of the abortion debate and its implications for the dynamics of political mobilisation are discussed.     

Accountability in action?: the case of a database purchasing decision 1

The increasing prevalence of audit in university settings has raised concerns about the potentially adverse effects of invasive measures of performance upon the conduct of research and generation of knowledge. What sustains the current commitment to audit? It is argued that in order to address this question we need to understand how and to what extent notions of accountability are played out in practice. This is illustrated through the analysis of materials from an ethnographic study of ‘good management practice’ in the deployment of technologies in university settings. The paper examines the ways in which ideas of accountability — involving considerations such as ‘value for money’— inform the practical processes of deciding about the purchase of a new database technology.     

Risk Policies in the United States: Definition and Characteristics Based on a Scoping Review of the Literature

The concept of “risk policy” is used with increasing frequency by decisionmakers, researchers, and the media. However, there is no precise, generally accepted definition of what is covered by policies in this area. Based on a scoping review of the literature published in key journals in the sector, we have identified the main characteristics of public risk policies drawn up and implemented in the United States. The sample comprised 21 articles published in six multidisciplinary journals between 2000 and 2010.     

Relations between stressors and group perceptions: Main and mediating effects

Most orgnizations these days utilize groups for the performance of at least some tasks. There is therefore a need to examine the relationthip between job stressors and group functioning. Until now it has been proposed that employees who perceive high levels of stress in their jobs will have negative perceptions of the groups in which they work, in the form of reduced altruism and collective efficacy. They may also have higher levels of psychological strain. This study examined relations between job-related stressors and group perceptions (collective efficacy 3rd the prevalence of altruistic behaviour) in a sample of 2403 mililitary personnel, comprising 31 companies in two US Anny combat brigades. We also examined whether group perceptions mediated the relationship between stressors and both job satisfaction and subjective well-being. Results indicated that stressors were negatively associated with measures of group perceptions, and both job satisfiction and well-being. Furthermore, mediated regression analyses suggested that relations between interpersonal conflict and both job satitfaction and well-being were partially mediated by both group perception measures. These finding suggest that work-related stressors may negatively impact on group functioning, which may lead to employee strains. Implications of these finding are discussed, and suggestions are made for future research.     

Industrial injuries in British manufacturing industry

This paper begitis by cotisidering the effects of the business cycle upon the incidence of industrial accidents in British manufacturing industries, arguing that a generalized discussion of such cycles obscures important aspects of the political economy within individual cycles. In particular, the strength of the labour movement is related to the incidence of accidents at work. Since the trade unions are only one part of the tripartite system of the legal regulation of safety in British manufacturing industries, the paper goes on to consider the effects of recent material and ideological initiatives on the part of both the government and employers upon the ability of the Health and Safety Executive in general and the Factory Inspectorate in particular, to fulfil their role in this tripartite system of self-regulation. As a result of weakened trade unions and emasculated regulatory agencies, it is argued that there has been a virtual demise of this system of self-regulation. While the analysis outlined does not suggest that this demise is causal of the decline in safety performance across much of British manufacturing industry in the present decade, the paper does argue that the role of the law and its (non) implementation is not an insignificant factor in explaining this decline.     

Negative affectivity and gender as moderators of the relationship between work-related stressors and depressed mood at work

The present study provided further evidence on the role of negative affectivity (NA) and gender as moderators of stressor-strain relations. Based on theoretical and empirical research, it was hypothesized that the moderating effects of NA would moderate the relationship between stressors (role ambiguity, workload, role conflict and interpersonal conflict) and work-related depression. Questionnaires were returned form 442 subjects of whom 74% were recruited from external degree courses and the rest were full-time employees. Results revealed significant three-way interactions for two of the four stressors (workload and role ambiguity) in predicting work-related depression. NA moderated the relationship between these stressors and work-related depression for females but not for males. These effects were modest, however. No significant interactions were found for role conflict and interpersonal conflict. The implications of these results are discssed.