‘Meeting Face to Face Creates New Insights’: Recruiting Persons with User Experiences as Students in an Educational Programme in Social Work

Even though empowerment and involvement of users have, for a long time, been important goals for educational programmes in social work, these programmes have only to a very little extent availed themselves of the resources that people with user experiences have to offer. This article will present a course that is part of the bachelor programmes in social work and social education at Lillehammer University College in Norway. Persons with user experiences were recruited and took part in a course on equal terms with the bachelor students. Four lecturers from the college, including the author as the project leader, carried out the planning and implementation of the course. The article gives an account of the experiences gained from the course as expressed by the students.     

The proposed European Association: a symbol in need of friends?

The 1991 proposal on a European Association (EA) was revised in 1993. It has not yet been adopted. The UK and Germany appear to be negative, while France and Spain, who are holding the presidencies of the European Union in 1995, supposedly are more positive. Nobody knows if and when the European Association regulation will be adopted. On many points the proposal is flawed, too bureaucratic and detailed. Too much attention is paid to the internal procedures of the Association, and too little to the possibilities for tax evasion and the exploitation of lax regulatory environments for non-profit organisations (NPOs) in some member countries. The EA regulation matters most to small and medium NPOs. For these organisations the costs of establishing themselves in other jurisdictions and complying with foreign laws might be disproportionately high. For the truly big NPOs the costs may be more marginal. Despite all its faults, not adopting the proposed European Association statute will be another lost opportunity in the modern saga of NPOs. I have received valuable comments from Perri 6, Andrew Crook and Karel van Hulle, and participants at paper presentations at the Inaugural Conference of the International Society for Third Sector Research in Pecs, Hungary, July 1994; and at the International Charity Law Conference in Surrey, England, September 1994.     

Rules of behavior and expected utility theory. Compatibility versus dependence

Conclusions We have seen that many decision rules which are intuitively and/or empirically supported and compatible with MEU, are compatible with it but not dependent on it.There are of course rules of behavior which are implied in MEU and also depend on it like this:If the hope of winning any of the prizes in a lottery motivates you to buy a ticket, and if you win half the amount of the highest prize, you should play double or nothing with your prize.Suppose you would prefer a one in a million chance of winning $2 million to a two in a million chance of winning $1 million, but your first choice is not available so you buy a ticket for $1 million. If you win, you should play 50–50 double or nothing with your prize. Generalize: put x in the place of $1 million and p in the place of 1/1 000000, and test yourself against this principle (Pf = preferred to): (p, 2x)Pf(2p, x) (0.5, 2x)Pf(1, x).See Friedmann and Savage (1968).In the real world lotteries are multiprize, i.e., composite games of elements like these. The same applies: If you would not have preferred the highest prize exchanged for a higher probability of some lower prize, then winning a lower prize would put you in the market for some simple bet like above. If you stand up to this test, you are a unique person because, as we know, such bets are not made.While in the process of finishing the final draft, I got hold of (Samuelson, 1983). He expresses grave doubts as to what he calls the dogma of Expected Utility maximizing. In a somewhat apologetic way, he preserves some formulations deriving behavior from EUM because, as he states in a general way, they do not depend on that particular dogma. More specifically: many models incompatible with EUM imply risk aversion, which would result also from maximizing the expectation of a concave utility function,In view of the authoritarian disposition of some of the strongest defenders of EUM and of Samuelson's (well deserved) authority and his leading role in the school of EUM theory, his open expression of doubt may well mark the beginning of the last chapter in the history of the rise and fall of the most powerful school that has so far been active in 20th century decision theory.     

Acute Stress Disorder in physical assault victims visiting a Danish emergency ward

The purpose of this article is to assess the prevalence of Acute Stress Disorder (ASD) following violent assault in victims who come to the emergency ward, and compare the effects with degrees of injury. Two hundred and fourteen victims of violence completed a questionnaire 1 to 2 weeks after the assault. Measures included the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire, the Trauma Symptom Checklist and the Crisis Support Scale. RESULTS: Twenty-four percent met the full ASD diagnosis and 21% a subclinical ASD diagnosis. Childhood sexual and physical abuse and shock due to a traumatic event that happened to someone close increased the likelihood of ASD four to ten times. Feeling of security and ability to express feelings reduced the likelihood of ASD by one-quarter, while feeling let down by others and hopelessness increased the likelihood of ASD respectively 1.4 and 2.6 times.     

On quantum statistical inference

Summary. Interest in problems of statistical inference connected to measurements of quantum systems has recently increased substantially, in step with dramatic new developments in experimental techniques for studying small quantum systems. Furthermore, developments in the theory of quantum measurements have brought the basic mathematical framework for the probability calculations much closer to that of classical probability theory. The present paper reviews this field and proposes and interrelates some new concepts for an extension of classical statistical inference to the quantum context.     

The interaction of pillars in multi‐pillar pension systems: A comparison of Canada,Denmark, Netherlands and Sweden

Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden have advanced multi‐pillar pension systems. Using micro‐simulations, this article presents a close examination of the interaction of pillars in these countries. The relative importance and the role of the different pension pillars vary from country to country, and according to age, income, gender and socio‐economic dimensions as well as between generations. A further area of investigation is the mitigation capacity of the four pension systems. On the one hand, adverse labour careers lead to lower life‐time earnings and lower private pension accruals. On the other hand, these effects are mitigated through the design of pillars and their interaction. Mitigation is important to income security and stability in retirement and to post‐retirement income distribution. However, mitigation mechanisms come at the cost of incentives. Moreover, in many countries, the generosity of public benefits is set to decrease – increasing the importance of private pensions. This will shift risk and uncertainty from employers and pension institutions to individuals. Thus, risks and uncertainties related to private pensions will become more important, raising questions about the division of responsibilities between public and private pensions, and about the potential of mitigating such risk through pillar interaction. These concerns are further reinforced by labour market changes. Although a pension system free of distortions is inconceivable, this article seeks to contribute to addressing how mitigation should be designed, and how mitigation and risk sharing should be balanced against incentives, challenges which are as much political as technical.     

User-driven innovation of an outpatient department

This paper presents experiences from a user-driven innovation process of an outpatient department in a hospital. The mixing of methods from user-driven innovation and participatory design contributed to develop an innovative concept of the spatial and organizational design of an outpatient department in a hospital. Design games and tabletop simulation seem to be powerful tools in facilitating such a participatory process.     

Econometric analysis of realized volatility and its use in estimating stochastic volatility models

Summary. The availability of intraday data on the prices of speculative assets means that we can use quadratic variation-like measures of activity in financial markets, called realized volatility, to study the stochastic properties of returns. Here, under the assumption of a rather general stochastic volatility model, we derive the moments and the asymptotic distribution of the realized volatility error—the difference between realized volatility and the discretized integrated volatility (which we call actual volatility). These properties can be used to allow us to estimate the parameters of stochastic volatility models without recourse to the use of simulation-intensive methods.     

Value added taxation and the third sector

During the last decades, value added taxation (VAT) has become widely used. Introducing or widening VAT may have important consequences for third sector organisations. There is no consistent, widely-accepted theory regarding the treatment of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) under VAT. International comparisons are difficult to make. The general scope of VAT, what goods and especially what services are included in the tax base, may be more important to NGOs than the direct concessions granted them. To comprehend how VAT may affect NGOs, it is necessary to understand the general mechanism and some of the technical details of VAT, such as registration thresholds and accounting requirements. There is a tendency for the legislature to widen the tax base and make VAT as general as possible. Tax administrative considerations may acquire the character of absolute principles. When VAT is introduced or widened, it may be important for NGOs to demonstrate how their tax bill has been changed as a possible unintended side-effect due to the administrative need to make VAT as comprehensive as possible.I have received valuable comments from Myles McGregor-Lowndes and two anonymous reviewers ofVoluntas.