A study of the use of business improvement initiatives: the association with company size and level of national development

This paper investigates the awareness, use and effectiveness of improvement initiatives in organisations of different sizes and in different countries. In particular, comparisons are made between large firms and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), between organisations in the developing and developed worlds and between organisations in China and India and the rest of the developing world. A questionnaire survey of 453 organisations across 44 countries was conducted with the findings indicating that there are significant differences in comparability of tools. For some tools there are no significant differences between developed and developing countries as well as between large organisations and small organisations. For other tools, there are significant differences with organisations in developing countries, in general, more aware and more likely to use business improvement initiatives when compared to organisations in developed countries. Similarly, organisations in China and India have a higher awareness of and are more likely to adopt improvement initiatives when compared to the rest of the developing world. Finally, larger firms are more aware and more likely to use improvement initiatives when compared to SMEs.     

Tighter bounds and simplified estimation for moments of some rank statistics

Improved lower bounds are obtained for two parameters λ(F) and μ(F) which occur in the variances of linear rank statistics studied by Doksum, Hollander, and Lehmann. Simplified algorithms are developed for efficient estimation of the parameters. The tighter bounds are used to investigate a slightly conservative approach which eliminates lengthy estimation procedures altoget-her, her, with great computational savings.     

A comparative study of the relationship between pension plans and individual savings in Asian countries from an institutional point of view

Hur MH. A comparative study of the relationship between pension plans and individual savings in Asian countries from an institutional point of view Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 379–389 © 2009 The Author, Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. This study identifies various saving plans used as alternative pension plans in Asian countries and examines the extent to which these saving plans contribute to their pension schemes. Data were collected from six Asian countries: China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. The comparison concentrates on an examination of differences and similarities in individual countries' privately managed pension schemes and saving plans. This study suggests that a pension system does not have to be a privately managed plan to encourage individual savings. A critical point for individual savings was avoiding a defined benefit plan. On the basis of these findings, a typology of relationships between second and third pillars and provident funds and incentive systems for individual savings was developed.     

Book reviews

In case-control studies it is important that controls selected are representative of the population from which the cases came, to give an unbiased estimate of population exposure. This is difficult to achieve, but one method to select controls has been to use the patient lists of the general practitioners with whom the cases are registered. Using data from a case-control study of heart attacks in young women; this article explores whether this method of selecting controls resulted in an unrepresentative distribution of deprivation levels in controls. The controls did not reflect the high levels of deprivation seen in the cases, although they came from the same neighbourhoods (general practice catchment areas). Such controls are often referred to as neighbourhood controls, but this is misleading. General practice controls are more likely to represent the general distribution of the population than the relative affluence or otherwise of the cases.     

Building an Asset-Based Bridge to Higher Education: The American Savings for Personal Investment,Retirement, and Education Act of 2010

Over the last two decades, social research has identified various socioeconomic and psychological effects of asset holding on educational outcomes. Based on empirical studies, a structured savings program, Child Development Accounts (CDAs), was proposed as a promising financial aid strategy. Subsequently, the American Savings for Personal Investment, Retirement, and Education (ASPIRE) Act was developed as a representative asset-building policy that proposes universal CDAs. This article presents the limitations of current financial aids and discusses how the ASPIRE Act could be a novel policy solution for raising college accessibility for low-income children.     

Tests for homogeneity of extreme value scale parameters

It is often assumed in situations in which life data from Weibull or extreme-value distributions are involved that data in different samples come from extreme-value distributions with the same scale parameter (equivalently, Weibull distributions with the same shape parameter). This paper proposes a number of tests for homogeneity for extreme-value scale parameters, based on a number of commonly used estimators for these scale parameters. Previous theoretical work and some simulation results provided here indicate that the null distributions of the test statistics proposed are well approximated by the x2 distribution under a wide range of conditions     

Learning social work law: An enquiry-based approach to developing knowledge and skills

This paper, written jointly by tutors and students, discusses an enquiry-based approach to learning and assessing law as part of social work qualifying training in England. It is argued that social work law is an area of learning particularly suited to an approach in which enquiry and analysis skills are promoted through practical problem solving. The paper considers the theoretical rationale for this approach and identifies how this conceptual frame informs the learning and assessment structure. It identifies how students present evidence for assessment of their skill and knowledge development, through both written and verbal submission, and considers the learning outcomes achieved. The paper concludes with an evaluation of the approach as an example of knowledge and skill development through problem solving and reflection.     

Hepatitis B virus seroconversion rates among health sciences students in the southeastern United States

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate the hepatitis B virus (HBV) seroconversion rate among health sciences students. Participants: The study included pharmacy, doctor of nursing, and medical students over 18 years of age enrolled at the University of South Carolina between 2007 and 2011. Methods: The primary end point was HBV seroconversion rates among students at the initial reporting period. Seroconversion was defined as hepatitis B surface antibody (anti-HBs) level greater than or equal to 10 mIU/mL. Multivariate regression analysis was used to determine predictive factors of seroconversion. Results: Of 777 records, data were available for 709 students. An 83.9% seroconversion rate was observed after a mean of 10 years between vaccine receipt and anti-HBs evaluation. Students with incomplete HBV vaccine series and longer time between initial series and evaluation were less likely to exhibit antibody response. Conclusions: These data highlight the importance of assessment and documentation of HBV vaccination series among health sciences students prior to direct patient care activities.     

Using metaphor and montage to analyse and synthesise diverse qualitative data: exploring the local worlds of ‘early school leavers’

Abstract

Growing interest in mixed method approaches to social research, alongside calls to expand methodological toolboxes to include the use of visual, mobile, sensory and observational methods, are generating diverse forms of research data that represent a range of ways of knowing. We discuss a study that used multiple methods to explore the circumstances of ‘early school leavers’ and show how we utilised the metaphor of pinboard logic and techniques of montage to guide the analysis, synthesis and interpretation of hetergeneous data. Pinboard logic enabled us to frame, assemble and contextualise data for analysis and interpretation, while montage suggests how these various ‘bits’ of data can be linked to develop insights into complex social scenarios. These analytic strategies accommodated the diverse expressive practices that young people used to describe their experiences, and allowed us to explore the varied circumstances associated with young people disengaging from educational opportunities.