On the viral safety of plasma pools and plasma derivatives

Summary.  In the industrialized world, a range of medicinal products are manufactured on a large scale from pools made of thousands of human blood and plasma donations. Policy makers as well as the general public are aware of the hazards of contamination following accumulated risks of individual donations. Today, the manufacturing process must therefore consider a complex sequence of risk reducing interventions, including screening tests and quarantine periods on pools and individual donations. We estimate the residual risk of hepatitis C infection following such sequences of events. This is the most common blood-borne infection in the western world, which affects an estimated 170 million people worldwide. We investigate the benefits and drawbacks of each intervention and study at several stages the dependence of the screening process on operational parameters that can be optimized, such as the number of donations from different donors in the pool and the length of the quarantine period. This leads to alternative risk reducing strategies that may be more (cost) effective or optimal under specific criteria.     

Transportation between Globalization and Localization

This paper positions transport at the edge of localization and globalization forces. Drastic changes in industrial organization, transportation systems, trade patterns and environmental quality conditions make the transport and communication sector an internally contrasting and disputed activity with many pros and cons, which are reflected in serious dilemmas and policy uncertainties, at different levels of governance. In order to cope with long-range uncertainties the use of scenarios analysis is advocated. The paper then develops three scenarios and analyses them by using the recently developed spider model. The paper is concluded with some policy lessons.     

Risk and Benefit Perceptions of Mobile Phone and Base Station Technology in Bangladesh

Research in developed countries showed that many citizens perceive that radio signals transmitted by mobile phones and base stations represent potential health risks. Less research has been conducted in developing countries focused on citizen perceptions of risks and benefits, despite the recent and rapid introduction of mobile communication technologies. This study aims to identify factors that are influential in determining the tradeoffs that Bangladeshi citizens make between risks and benefits in terms of mobile phone technology acceptance and health concerns associated with the technology. Bangladesh was selected as representative of many developing countries inasmuch as terrestrial telephone infrastructure is insubstantial, and mobile phone use has expanded rapidly over the last decade, even among the poor. Issues of importance were identified in a small‐scale qualitative study among Bangladeshi citizens (n = 13), followed by a survey within a sample of Bangladeshi citizens (n = 500). The results demonstrate that, in general, the perceived benefits of mobile phone technology outweigh the risks. The perceived benefits are primarily related to the social and personal advantages of mobile phone use, including the ability to receive emergency news about floods, cyclones, and other natural disasters. Base stations were seen as a symbol of societal advance. The results furthermore suggest that overall risk perceptions are relatively low, in particular health risks, and are primarily driven by perceptions that related to crime and social inconvenience. Perceived health risks are relatively small. These findings show that risk communication and management may be particularly effective when contextual factors of the society where the system is implemented are taken into consideration.     

They're Cool: Social Status and Peer Group Supports for Aggressive Boys and Girls

This study examined who among the 526 fourth to sixth graders are nominated as among the coolest kids in their class. There were two questions: (1) Are popular‐aggressive (tough) children nominated as cool by a broad spectrum of their peers, or only by a select few? (2) Does variability in children’s cool nominations more closely follow their individual characteristics or group affiliations? Three‐level hierarchical linear modeling (nominators in groups in classrooms) tested the study hypotheses. The main finding was that children in aggressive groups nominated tough peers as cool and children in nonaggressive groups nominated popular‐nonaggressive (model) peers, regardless of nominators’ individual characteristics or the prominence of their groups across diverse classroom contexts. Girls were proportionately more likely to nominate tough than model boys, but only a minority (less than 25 percent) of relatively aggressive girls nominated any boys as cool. Findings indicate that normative boy and girl peer cultures give broad reputational support to some aggressive children.     

论高校中层干部应具备的素质和能力

高校中层干部是高校管理队伍中的一支重要力量,工作中起着承上启下、上传下达的重要作用.其素质的高低、能力的强弱决定着学校教学质量的高低、科研完成的好坏、人才培养的优劣.本文结合目前高校实际,探讨高校中层干部应具备的素质和能力.     

Modern times: an ethnographic study on the quality of life of people with a high support need in a Flemish residential facility

This ethnographic study shows the impact of the care system on clients' and staff's life experiences, with the clear distance between these two groups as one of the core issues. Together with a dominant care approach and a well established but subtile system of control, it makes them function in systems that are characterized by an oppressing care culture. Learned helplessness prevents both groups of acting upon quality of life outcomes. The idea of supporting a life of good quality through merely improving these traditional care systems should therefore be considered with caution, and real alternatives should be considered to open this barrier of the oppressing care culture.     

Identifying and assessing cases of child neglect: learning from the Irish experience

Although child neglect is arguably the most prevalent form of maltreatment in the western world, studies of social work practice in cases of child neglect are limited. This paper seeks to add to the body of knowledge by describing a small‐scale study completed in the Republic of Ireland of social work assessments in cases of child neglect. The findings are based primarily on an analysis of case files, but reference is also made to practitioners’ and managers’ responses to a postal questionnaire and focus groups. The study findings highlight that social workers interpret the assessment task and process in different ways. Variations in the interpretation of the task appear to be influenced by workload pressures, resources and local systems, with teams focusing either on immediate safeguarding issues or on both safeguarding and the longer‐term welfare of the child. Individual variations amongst workers irrespective of team were more apparent in the way practitioners approached the assessment task. For example, practice varied regarding which professionals and family members were contacted as part of the assessment, the type of communication workers had with children and carers, and the use the social workers made of information on case files. The paper concludes with a discussion of the role of the team in determining the focus of assessments and the subjective factors which impact on the way the individual social worker works with children, families and other professionals.     

Water supply—the case for joint planning

The waterwheel furnished the first mechanical power. It was en vogue, many centuries ago, in England, Holland and Italy—for flourmilling, textiles, iron, beer, paper and other ‘industries’. In the 18th century, potteries, spinning and weaving operations used watermills and water turbines.Although in that original function water went by and large out of fashion, it still plays a vital role in industry— in cooling, steam generation, steeping, processing, cleaning, etc. Industry stands indeed in the limelight of the water crisis, because in addition to being the second most important consumer of water (after agriculture), industry is the world's foremost water polluter. The present and future supply of and demand for water are therefore of immediate interest to industry.