Family,activity, and stress reactions in exile

The possible protective effect of family and activity (including work and employment training) on posttraumatic reactions in traumatized refugees living in a host society was explored. A total of 966 refugees participated in the study, the majority of whom had been exposed to war and/or torture trauma prior to arrival in Norway. The study sample consisted of two groups: one had been referred to a psychiatric outpatient clinic for evaluation or treatment, the other consisted of refugees interviewed in connection with a health examination upon arrival in the municipalities to which they were allocated. The study showed that presence of family and employment/training had positive effects on posttraumatic symptoms regardless of level of traumatic exposure. But the results also showed that the higher the level of exposure to traumatic events, the stronger the effect of family (spouse and/or children) seemed to be. The study illustrates the importance of implementing psychosocial measures with special emphasis on activity and strengthening of family systems, in the integration of traumatized refugees in a host community. El artículo explora los posibles efectos protectivos que tienen las redes de apoyo familiares y el empleo/entrenamiento en las reacciones post-traumáticas de refugiados traumatizados residentes en una sociedad receptora. Participaron en el estudio un total de 966 refugiados de los cuales la mayoria fueron víctimas de varios eventos traumáticos previo a su llegada a Noruega. La muestra consiste en dos grupos: el primer grupo habia sido referido previamente a una clinica psiquiátrica para evaluación y tratamiento; el segundo grupo consiste en refugiados que habian sido sometidos a una examinación clínica llevada a cabo en las municipalidades que les fueron asignadas a su llegada a Noruega. El estudio muestra que la presencia familiar y los actividodos laborales/entrenamiento tiene efectos positivos en síntomas post-traumáticos, sin importar el nivel de exposición traumática. Los resultados también demuestran que los efectos de la presencia familiar en los síntomas son todavía más evidentes en personas que han sufrido experiencias traumáticas más fuertes. El estudio ilustra la importancia de implementar medidas psicosociales con especial énfasis en la actividad y el fortalecimento de los sistemas familiares para la integración de refugiados traumatizados en sociedades receptoras.     

A Model of Hygiene Practices and Consumption Patterns in the Consumer Phase

A mathematical model is presented, which addresses individual hygiene practices during food preparation and consumption patterns in private homes. Further, the model links food preparers and consumers based on their relationship to household types. For different age and gender groups, the model estimates (i) the probability of ingesting a meal where precautions have not been taken to avoid the transfer of microorganisms from raw food to final meal (a risk meal), exemplified by the event that the cutting board was not washed during food preparation, and (ii) the probability of ingesting a risk meal in a private home, where chicken was the prepared food item (a chicken risk meal). Chicken was included in the model, as chickens are believed to be the major source of human exposure to the foodborne pathogen Campylobacter. Monte Carlo simulations showed that the probability of ingesting a risk meal was highest for young males (aged 18-29 years) and lowest for the elderly above 60 years of age. Children aged 0-4 years had a higher probability of ingesting a risk meal than children aged 5-17 years. This difference between age and gender groups was ascribed to the variations in the hygiene levels of food preparers. By including the probability of ingesting a chicken meal at home, simulations revealed that all age groups, except the group above 60 years of age, had approximately the same probability of ingesting a chicken risk meal, the probability of females being slightly higher than that of males. The simulated results show that the probability of ingesting a chicken risk meal at home does not only depend on the hygiene practices of the persons preparing the food, but also on the consumption patterns of consumers, and the relationship between people preparing and ingesting food. This finding supports the need of including information on consumer behavior and preparation hygiene in the consumer phase of exposure assessments.     

From charity to client-oriented social service production: A social profile of religious welfare associations in Western European comparison

The social profile of Western European religious welfare associations has never been studied in empirical detail. It is the aim of a Mannheim comparative project to systematically collect data on the qualitative and quantitative dimension of church social service provision in Europe. There are huge variations in the organizational structure of religious welfare associations in the European countries, which to a great extent can be accounted for by the historical configurations of the church-state relationships. Starting from these organizational differences it can be suggested that also the range of social activities of religious welfare associations will vary all over Europe. Consequently, special light will be shed on the target groups for which social services are provided as well as on the number, form, and capacity of institutions operating in these fields. These data may provide an interesting insight into the internal structure of the third sector in general and into the national potentials of the churches in the face of a Europeanization of social policy in particular.     

Gruppen leiten und beraten

Coaching and leading of groups is on one hand a basal competence in higher education, on the other hand it makes high demands to academic developers, who as ??new professionals?? support the development of this competence. The following contribution is concerned with a continuous education for professional academic developers, which places with this objective coaching as consultation format and methodology for leading groups in the center. This program, conceptualized by the authors, is the first of its kind in Germany. It started at the center for higher education of the Technical University Dortmund in April 2011 and will be completed in June 2012.     

Subjective and Objective Parameters Determining 'Salience' in Long-term Dialect Accommodation

In this article, we will present empirical results of a longitudinal study on long-term dialect accommodation in a German dialect setting. An important model of explaining which linguistic structures undergo such convergence and which do not makes use of the notion of 'salience'. Dialect features which are perceived by the speakers as 'salient' are taken up and given up more easily and faster than those which are perceived as 'less salient'. The notion of salience has a tradition which goes back to the 1920s. We will discuss this research tradition, apply the criteria for salience that played a role in it to our results, and discuss the question of whether perceived (subjective) salience can be explained in objective (structural-phono logical or phonetic) terms.     

Wohlfahrtsstaatliche Politiken und ihre kulturellen Grundlagen

The cultural foundations of welfare state policies and their contribution to the development of welfare states are gaining increasing attention in comparative welfare state research. The article introduces reflections on how the impact of cultural factors on the development of welfare state policies can be analysed. “Culture” is conceptualised here as potentially contradictory and subject of negotiations and change. The article includes a proposal to distinguish three different levels with regard to the relationship of welfare culture and welfare state policies. These include the values and models on which welfare state policies are based, the values and models towards the welfare state that are dominant in the population, and the discourses of social actors in relation to such values and models. Using this approach, two different types of processes in ways in which cultural change can contribute to change in welfare state policies can be distinguished.     

Characterization of Revenue Equivalence

The property of an allocation rule to be implementable in dominant strategies by a unique payment scheme is called revenue equivalence. We give a characterization of revenue equivalence based on a graph theoretic interpretation of the incentive compatibility constraints. The characterization holds for any (possibly infinite) outcome space and many of the known results are immediate consequences. Moreover, revenue equivalence can be identified in cases where existing theorems are silent.