Care and protection in Scottish child welfare: evidence of double jeopardy?

Since the inception of the Scottish children's hearings system, an increasing concentration of child care and protection referrals has emerged. Data on 225 children referred on care and protection grounds are examined. Children faced a double jeopardy of personal adversity against a background of social and economic disadvantage. A smaller group of children were also victims of an offence by an adult. A significant proportion of children had multiple referrals suggesting a recycling of some children. Social adversity in the backgrounds of children has been found in other child welfare studies. The significance accorded to this by social work agencies and the links between neglect and poverty may be overlooked. The importance of policy that provides comprehensive public assistance and services, as found in other European countries, is an inescapable conclusion.     

Home‐start and the delivery of family support

The publication of Child Protection: Messages from Research (Department of Health, 1995) and of the ‘Supporting Families’ Green Paper (Home Office, 1998) have both highlighted the importance of developing family support services, in keeping with the word and the spirit of the Children Act, 1989. This article presents some of the findings of a three year study of a voluntary organisation, Home‐Start, which offers support to mothers with children under five through volunteer home visiting. The article makes connections between the activities of Home‐Start and the wider debate about family support in the United Kingdom. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Nano Risk Analysis: Advancing the Science for Nanomaterials Risk Management

Scientists, activists, industry, and governments have raised concerns about health and environmental risks of nanoscale materials. The Society for Risk Analysis convened experts in September 2008 in Washington, DC to deliberate on issues relating to the unique attributes of nanoscale materials that raise novel concerns about health risks. This article reports on the overall themes and findings of the workshop, uncovering the underlying issues for each of these topics that become recurring themes. The attributes of nanoscale particles and other nanomaterials that present novel issues for risk analysis are evaluated in a risk analysis framework, identifying challenges and opportunities for risk analysts and others seeking to assess and manage the risks from emerging nanoscale materials and nanotechnologies. Workshop deliberations and recommendations for advancing the risk analysis and management of nanotechnologies are presented.     

Achieving proficiency in various specialized literacies

The primary purpose of this article is to share conceptualizations of selected specialized literacies, such as scientific, health and technological literacy, that are moving from boundaried work environments to the world at large, Secondly, We relate those conceptualiztions to the attributes of the adult literate reader that are necessary for world in general. The final goal is to develop preliminary guidelines for the specialist to use with the general public when communicating ideas from the specialized environment.     

Experiential versus rational training: a comparison of student attitudes toward homosexuality

Based on Epstein's (1994a) cognitive-experiential self-theory, two new training interventions were designed to teach students about gay, lesbian and bisexual issues. The efficacy of these theoretically based interventions was assessed in a short-term (7-week, three occasion) longitudinal study. Fifty undergraduate psychology students were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups: Rational Training, Experiential Training, or Control Group. A residualized change score procedure was used to analyze change in levels of sexual prejudice and affect across the three types of measurement (pre-test, post-test, and follow-up). A 3 (Rational Training, Experiential Training, Control Group) x 2 (Low Sexual Prejudice, High Sexual Prejudice) MANOVA revealed that after the training, participants in the Experiential Group (affective training) had more accepting attitudes toward homosexuality compared to the Control Group. In addition, participants in the Experiential Group experienced more positive affect compared to the Rational and Control Groups and experienced more negative affect compared to the Rational Group. Findings are discussed and suggestions for future research are provided.     

Interactive Multiple Objective Decision Support for Sales Force Sizing and Deployment*

An interactive decision aid is introduced for the deployment of two sales resources: salespeople and sales support staff. The aid consists of a normative sales resource allocation model with five objectives and an interactive multiple objective programming solution procedure. The specific decision problem addressed involves the assignment of salespeople and sales support people to customer accounts and the allocation of the time they spend on these accounts. The authors contribute to the existing sales resource modeling literature by dealing with the deployment of two sales resources and interactively solving this problem with respect to five short-run and long-run objectives of the firm. This approach differs from existing sales force modeling efforts in which the solution is found noninteractively by optimizing a single sales resource model with respect to a single objective, often short-run sales. An application of the decision aid to the deployment problem of an industrial sales force manager is presented. Furthermore, useful extensions of the basic sales resource allocation model are discussed.     

Epidemiology of premenstrual symptoms and disorders

The aim of this paper is to review published literature on the types and prevalences of premenstrual disorders and symptoms, and effects of these on activities of daily life and other parameters of burden of illness. The method involved review of the pertinent published literature. Premenstrual disorders vary in prevalence according to the definition or categorization. The most severe disorder being premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) affects 3-8% of women of reproductive age. This disorder focuses on psychological symptoms whereas global studies show that the most prevalent premenstrual symptoms are physical. Both psychological and physical symptoms affect women's activities of daily life. A considerable burden of illness has been shown to be associated with moderate to severe premenstrual disorders. In conclusion, premenstrual symptoms are a frequent source of concern to women during their reproductive lives and moderate to severe symptoms impact on their quality of lives.