Ticking Boxes and Changing the Social World: Data Collection and the New UK General Practice Contract

The new General Medical Services contract was introduced into general practice in the UK in 2004, and it links pay to performance far more than in the past. As a result, accurate data collection about patients and the care that they receive is now not only important for good patient care but also to prove that targets are being met. The use of electronic records and information technology has thus become much more sophisticated. This article reports the results from an ethnographic study of the early stages of the new contract in two general practices. As expected, electronic data collection had increased in importance in both practices, with consequences both for clinician–patient interactions and for the structures and processes in the practices, as uniform data collection instruments are put in place that privilege ‘hard’ biomedical data that can be easily coded above ‘softer’, more patient-centred information. Roles and responsibilities had been changed to reflect the needs of the new systems, and new software applications allowed increased surveillance of both doctors’ and nurses’ performance; both of these had an impact on patterns of authority in our study practices. Furthermore, the structural changes that were found acted to embed the new ways of working, ensuring their reproduction in the future. In spite of these effects, we found little opposition to or critical reflection on the changes, and the doctors in our study continued to view their improved computer systems as neutral recording devices. The implication of these findings is discussed.     

喇叭话声母记略

喇叭话是贵州省境内喇叭苗族人民所使用的语言。本文从历史角度考查喇叭苗话声母演变情况,通过与今娄邵片湘语的比较,发现其声母较为完整地保留了老湘语的基本特征,同时也带有部分西南官话色彩。     

从元素周期律的发现看美学思想在科学研究中的诱发作用

本文具体探讨了科学美学思想在元素周期律发现、建立过程中所起的诱发作用,认为属于人文学科的美学思想与科学研究具有深层结构的同源性。     

The role of military culture in military organizations' responses to woman abuse in military families1

This paper reports on a study of the Canadian Forces' (CF's) response to woman abuse in military families which was conducted using institutional ethnography feminist methodology. A 20‐person multidisciplinary team conducted 126 semi‐structured interviews in four Canadian provinces with: (1) present and former civilian female partners of CF members, who were survivors of abuse [64]; (2) regional civilian and CF social service providers, and CF supervisory personnel [52]; and (3) National Defence Headquarters program administrators and generals in Ottawa [10]. Analyzing these interviews enabled us to identify and elaborate on some of the military social relations in which the experiences of military spouses who are woman abuse survivors are embedded. This paper discusses the difficulties created for military spouses by geographical transfers and military housing neighbourhoods, and establishes the crucial role played by the chain of command in military organizations' responses to spouses who have been abused. The paper then shows how military leaders, especially those who supervise combat units, respond to woman abuse in ways that reflect their participation in the hypervigilance and unit cohesion features of military culture. The paper concludes by reflecting on Western militaries' responses to woman abuse in military families in light of their responses to the events of September 11, 2001.     

如何实现课堂教学的经营绩效——再论课堂教学的经营理念

经营课堂的主要目的在于讲求绩效,在这一过程中必须注意经营教师、经营教学活动、经 营学生,只有这样才能最终实现经营课堂的目的。     

Everyday Life in Stochastic Networks1

Models of Stochastic networks may prove important tools for integrating ideas about structure with ideas about process in social theory.     

Weighted local linear composite quantile estimation for the case of general error distributions

It is known that for nonparametric regression, local linear composite quantile regression (local linear CQR) is a more competitive technique than classical local linear regression since it can significantly improve estimation efficiency under a class of non-normal and symmetric error distributions. However, this method only applies to symmetric errors because, without symmetric condition, the estimation bias is non-negligible and therefore the resulting estimator is inconsistent. In this paper, we propose a weighted local linear CQR method for general error conditions. This method applies to both symmetric and asymmetric random errors. Because of the use of weights, the estimation bias is eliminated asymptotically and the asymptotic normality is established. Furthermore, by minimizing asymptotic variance, the optimal weights are computed and consequently the optimal estimate (the most efficient estimate) is obtained. By comparing relative efficiency theoretically or numerically, we can ensure that the new estimation outperforms the local linear CQR estimation. Finite sample behaviors conducted by simulation studies further illustrate the theoretical findings.     

基于HErD分布的信号交叉口车辆到达规律动态预测

为掌握信号交叉口实时优化信号控制和交通诱导所需的车流到达信号交叉口的随机时变规律，利用HErD分布具有无限逼近任意非负随机变量的特性，提出基于HErD分布的信号交叉口车辆到达时间间隔变化规律动态预测的方法，并以一个交叉口的2个进口道进行实例验证分析。实验结果为：其中方向一的拟合度范围为86.17%~ 93.51%，平均拟合度高达9032%，方向二的拟合度范围为93.24%~98.52%，平均拟合度高达9693%，其高精度的拟合结果表明基于HErD分布的信号交叉口车辆到达规律动态预测具有科学性和实用性。     

Power and Pay: The Politics of CEO Compensation

This paper examines CEO compensation, with an emphasis on the power of CEOs to influence their own compensation by managing the compensation process. It analyzes the CEO's power over the board of directors and the political tactics used by the CEO to manage the board and its compensation decisions. An empirical examination of CEO compensation in 203 large American manufacturing firms in 1985 illustrates the effect of CEO power on compensation and the flexibility available to the CEO in establishing the legitimacy of compensation. The implications of this perspective for management control of corporations and for CEO compensation research are considered.     

Developing social work education in Lithuania

From 1991 through 1998, during the turmoil of independence and transition to a democracy and free-market economy, the authors established the first social work education programme in Lithuania and assisted Lithuanian professionals to assume responsibility for the programme. This article supplies an initial general and conceptual narrative and analyses some of the factors that influenced the development of the programme and a practice model to address conditions in Lithuania.