The increase in marital status differences in mortality up to the oldest age in seven European countries, 1990–99

We investigate mortality differentials by marital status among older age groups using a database of mortality rates by marital status at ages 40 and over for seven European countries with 1 billion person-years of exposure. The mortality advantage of married people, both men and women, continues to increase up to at least the age group 85–89, the oldest group we are able to consider. We find the largest absolute differences in mortality levels between marital status groups are at high ages, and that absolute differentials are: (i) greater for men than for women; (ii) similar in magnitude across countries; (iii) increase steadily with age; and (iv) are greatest at older age. We also find that the advantage enjoyed by married people increased over the 1990s in almost all cases. We note that results for groups such as older divorced women need to be interpreted with caution.     

Rules of the Game for Emerging Market Multinational Companies from China and India

The prominence of Emerging Market Multinational Companies (EMNCs) in the global marketplace has challenged our assumptions about the nature of global competition and corresponding strategy. We use an inductive approach to conduct historical analysis of eight companies that originated from key emerging markets viz China and India. We examine the various strategies that EMNCs devise to circumvent the resource challenges faced in their home markets and develop routines and key capabilities that lead to their competitive advantage in developed nations. Our results suggest that EMNCs' foreign expansion is, on the one hand, based on their capability to acquire resources and absorb them to build their own advantage (supply-side-argument). On the other hand, it is also based on EMNCs' capability to find some market niches, i.e., entering into markets untapped by traditional MNCs (demand-side-argument). Finally, based on our analysis we propose a dynamic stages model suggesting that EMNCs' foreign expansion can be explained in three stages — licking the dirt to carve out the way; taking off with speed and strength; and around the world with excellence.     

Intergenerational Mobility in Relative Educational Attainment and Health-Related Behaviours

Social Indicators Research - Research on intergenerational social mobility and health-related behaviours yields mixed findings. Depending on the direction of mobility and the type of mechanisms...     

A Scale of Risk

This article proposes a conceptual framework for ranking the relative gravity of diverse risks. This framework identifies the moral considerations that should inform the evaluation and comparison of diverse risks. A common definition of risk includes two dimensions: the probability of occurrence and the associated consequences of a set of hazardous scenarios. This article first expands this definition to include a third dimension: the source of a risk. The source of a risk refers to the agents involved in the creation or maintenance of a risk and captures a central moral concern about risks. Then, a scale of risk is proposed to categorize risks along a multidimensional ranking, based on a comparative evaluation of the consequences, probability, and source of a given risk. A risk is ranked higher on the scale the larger the consequences, the greater the probability, and the more morally culpable the source. The information from the proposed comparative evaluation of risks can inform the selection of priorities for risk mitigation.     

Adaptive Approaches to Biosecurity Governance

This article discusses institutional changes that may facilitate an adaptive approach to biosecurity risk management where governance is viewed as a multidisciplinary, interactive experiment acknowledging uncertainty. Using the principles of adaptive governance, evolved from institutional theory, we explore how the concepts of lateral information flows, incentive alignment, and policy experimentation might shape Australia's invasive species defense mechanisms. We suggest design principles for biosecurity policies emphasizing overlapping complementary response capabilities and the sharing of invasive species risks via a polycentric system of governance.     

Views of a Structured Assessment Tool for Observing Practice

Assessment of learning in practice through observation is a key part of social work training in the UK. There is no evidence of systematic dissemination or evaluation of observation tools in social work training. The Assessment of Learning in Practice Settings (ALPS-CETL) programme developed observation tools intended to provide comprehensive assessment through the collection of analytic student reflection, alongside commentary from practice assessor, professional colleague and service user. These ALPS tools were further developed to include specific social work assessment criteria. The purpose of this study was to establish student and practice assessor views about how the tools had been used and to understand their effectiveness, or otherwise, in practice. Through analysis of student focus groups, practice assessor interviews and completed ALPS tools, this paper evaluates the use of the social work adapted ALPS tools on an undergraduate social work programme in an English university. The findings of this study support the view that the ALPS tools can be used to promote reflective writing and support students in obtaining formative and summative evidence of their progress. In addition the tools appear to promote a student-led process of observational assessment thereby potentially helping to address the issue of power in the student/assessor relationship.     

Nursing Research Journals

Abstract

Recent discussions concerning the mission and direction of graduate programs in library and information science (LIS) have become heated. In a response to a call for greater communication between practitioners and LIS educators, eight librarians who are relatively recent graduates of LIS graduate programs offer their views on what they wish their programs had taught them about serials. All are either working in serials or have serials experience. Serials Review 2003; 29:26–35.     

Critical Theorist,Postmodernist and Social Constructionist Paradigms in Organizational Analysis: A Paradigmatic Review of Organizational Learning Literature

In an effort to clarify alternative approaches to organizational analysis, this paper is concerned to stimulate the debate on how an inquiry into organizational phenomena, in general, and organizational learning, in particular, can be accomplished. Encouraging attention to different aspects of various paradigmatic approaches, the paper focuses on critical theory, postmodernism and social constructionism and how these paradigms have contributed and can contribute to the research in the subject domain of organizational learning. To this end, a paradigmatic review of the literature on organizational learning is offered in this paper. Organizational learning, as the study of learning processes of, and within, organizations, has attracted significant attention in academe since the early 1980s. There is a plethora of studies on organizational learning, which offer rich material for a paradigmatic review. This study highlights the need for further development of the field from alternative paradigmatic perspectives, with a view to generating more insights into the multifaceted, complex and changing nature of learning in contemporary organizations.