Reason,grace and charity: Augustine and the impact of church doctrine on the construction of intellectual disability

This paper examines how early church doctrine influenced the construction of and response to intellectual disability. Though the main focus of the paper is on intellectual disability, much of the discussion is more broadly relevant to other types of impairments and human differences. The vehicle for this examination is the work of the key figure in the development and codification of church doctrine, Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (354–430 CE). The paper concludes that while church doctrine mitigated the stark association of reason and human value found in classical Greek thought, it did not engender an attitude of equality in this world. The ideas of grace and the ‘divine plan’, while opening up a limited space for acceptance and broad equality in the eyes of God, also reinforced and legitimated an inferior position in this world, leaving those considered to have an intellectual disability on the margins of social life and subject to a charity ultimately undertaken for the salvation of the giver, rather than for the welfare of the recipient. Subsidiary themes related to the construction of intellectual disability, such as ‘object lessons to the wise’ or as ‘monsters’, use as sources of amusement, innocence and their association with children and the charity ethic, are also examined.     

When is it time to revise your SKU classification: setting and resetting the decoupling point in a dairy company

Classification of stock-keeping units (SKUs) is a much used approach to determine inventory strategy, production strategy or location of the decoupling point for different SKU categories. However, the literature mainly provides approaches for determining categories at a certain moment in time without addressing the need and factors that urge revision of a determined classification. This paper addresses that gap. The empirical part relies on an extensive case study of a dairy company and uses a large longitudinal data-set from the case company. Our study demonstrates that periodic reclassification is needed to either increase the competitive strength of the company or to reduce risks. Still, classification and reclassification are much more a subtle process that balances customer wishes, operational decisions and commercial motives than a straightforward calculation.     

Returns to education in the Irish youth labour market

Using data from two large-scale household surveys in 1987 and 1994, we estimate wage equations which show substantial increases in returns to university education for young Irish workers over the period, despite the exceptional increase in numbers with these qualifications. Returns to non-degree third level certificates and diplomas fell in relative terms, but returns to qualifications obtained by those leaving school at about 16 years of age rose. We argue that the increased return to university education primarily reflects the generalised shift in demand towards skilled labour internationally and the open nature of the Irish labour market. However, a floor may have been placed under earnings for low-skilled youth by the increased generosity of income support available to them. Received: 29 December 1997/Accepted: 7 August 1998     

Rumination for innovation? Analysing the longitudinal effects of work-related rumination on creativity at work and off-job recovery

Work-related rumination is not a single construct, but consists of a dimension associated with negative emotions or affect (affective rumination), and a dimension associated with reflective thinking and applying strategies to solve problems (problem-solving pondering). In this three-wave longitudinal study across two years (N?=?630) we investigated whether the relationships between work-related rumination, off-job recovery, and creativity at work varied along the two dimensions of work-related rumination. In addition, we tested whether the relationships followed normal, reversed, or reciprocal causation. The results showed, first, that in a one-year perspective affective rumination, but not problem-solving pondering, was negatively related to off-job recovery and that problem-solving pondering, but not affective rumination, was positively related to creativity at work. Second, in a two-year perspective, reversed effects were detected as creativity at work was negatively related to affective rumination and positively to off-job recovery. Our results suggest that the quality of work-related thoughts determines whether the outcome is beneficial or detrimental. Occupational health interventions that only advise employees to stop thinking about work during off-job time, may therefore be too simplistic.     

Immigrants' health in Europe: a cross-classified multilevel approach to examine origin country, destination country, and community effects

In this study, we examined origin, destination, and community effects on first- and second-generation immigrants' health in Europe. We used information from the European Social Surveys (2002–2008) on 19,210 immigrants from 123 countries of origin, living in 31 European countries. Cross-classified multilevel regression analyses reveal that political suppression in the origin country and living in countries with large numbers of immigrant peers have a detrimental influence on immigrants' health. Originating from predominantly Islamic countries and good average health among natives in the destination country appear to be beneficial. Additionally, the results point toward health selection mechanisms into migration.     

Movement strategy and performance in a high-volume order picking workstation

The design of a work station generally prescribes a global movement pattern of the operator, but also leaving some degrees of freedom regarding movement strategy. For a specific order picking work station, we studied the movement strategies, the underlying factors and its impact on performance. Eight subjects performed a task comprising, the picking and placing of an object and pressing a button in eight conditions varying in product weight, movement direction (left vs. right), and placing distance. Movements were analyzed and cycle times were obtained from video-recordings. We observed various types of strategy regarding hand use and global placing mode (reaching vs. placing). The different strategies did not show clear relationships with performance (in contrast to the various work place factors). Ergonomically spoken, the fact that the workstation allows movement variation without loss of performance, is favorable.     

Wage Bargaining and Profitability: A Disaggregative Analysis

Abstract. Previous analyses of the wage/profit relationship at a disaggregative level in Britain have given positive results for pre-war years but negative results for early post-war years. However, this is probably due to the increasingly unreliable nature of the enterprise- based profits series published in the National Accounts until 1982. We have constructed, instead, what are essentially establishment-based Census data on profits for fourteen manufacturing industries, up to 1986. We have also been able to extend the disaggregative unemployment data, the publication of which also ceased in 1982. The wage equations that we have estimated include profits and unemployment (and other variables) in an explicit Nash bargaining model, in line with widely held views as to the way that wage negotiations are actually conducted. The results obtained show a highly significant role for profits, as well as having other implications, notably the positive (hysteresis) effect of industry unemployment, by contrast with the normal negative effect of aggregate unemployment, and the important effects of relative wages - which play a large role in various disaggregative studies of the propagation of inflation.     

Changing things for the better: the use of children and young people’s reference groups in social research

The use of reference groups made up of members of the population being researched has been encouraged within the qualitative research literature. This paper describes the use of reference groups made up of children and young people and promotes them as a space within which co-reflexive activities can help researchers reconsider their research approaches and assumptions, their methodologies and methods and the new knowledge created. The paper uses three case studies to highlight the benefits the authors have encountered as well as those identified by children and young people themselves.     

It's Not Whether You Win or Lose,It's How You Place the Blame: Shifting Perceptions of Recreancy in the Context of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

A key theoretical concept in the study of technological disasters is “recreancy,” which refers to perception that institutional actors have failed to carry out their responsibilities in a manner that engenders societal trust. Using household survey data from the Community Oil Spill Survey (COSS) to assess recreancy in the context of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, we analyze four waves of the COSS collected between 2010 and 2013 to explore respondents’ perceptions of blame and distrust in relation to key institutional actors associated with the disaster, paying special attention to the influence of time and employment in natural resource occupations. We show that BP is clearly viewed as the principal responsible party at fault for the disaster and that the odds of blaming BP and the federal government have held relatively steady over time, while the odds of blaming state government increased over time. We find high levels of distrust of BP and the federal government, but show that odds of being distrustful of both institutional actors was significantly lower three years after the spill. Fishing households were significantly more likely to blame and be distrustful of institutional actors, a finding that is strongly consistent with theoretical expectations.