Social security in a globalizing world

The main burden of the paper is to argue for enlarging both the concept and the coverage of social security, especially in developing countries, to address the twin problems of "deficiency" and "adversity". The two parts of this enlarged concept of social security are Basic Social Security (BSS) and Contingent Social Security (CSS). To strengthen the argument, lessons have been highlighted from the historical experience of Western countries, where the State played a leading role. Having argued for the extension of BSS, the paper also deals with the extension of CSS. This is best done through the informal economy, which employs a large majority of workers in developing countries. While the primacy of the State has been highlighted, the paper develops a typology of various social security models that could be used to study and understand the existing arrangements as well as the potentialities for extension.     

Psychosocial Interventions for Maltreated and Violence-Exposed Children

Child sexual, physical, and emotional abuse as well as child neglect and domestic violence, community violence, and Childhood Traumatic Grief may result in significant and long-lasting emotional and behavioral difficulties. This article reviews randomized controlled studies that have assessed child mental health outcomes for maltreated and violence-exposed children. Key points of this review include the following: (1) maltreated and violence-exposed children typically experience more than one of these types of traumas; (2) effective psychosocial treatments are available to address Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, and behavioral problems in these children; (3) it is likely that treatments which effectively reduce mental health symptoms in children exposed to one type of child maltreatment or violence exposure will also be effective for other or multiple types; and (4) mental health outcomes are not the only important outcomes to address in future treatment or intervention efforts. These future directions for treatment intervention research are addressed.     

Female genital mutilation: implications for social work

This article examines the different aspects of female genital mutilation (FGM) which is more commonly known as "female circumcision." It also discusses the Women-at-Risk Program in Canada, mental health issues, and Canadian laws and bans on this practice. Implications of FGM for the social work are also addressed. FGM is a global issue, occurring across different cultures and ethnic groups. It is estimated that between 85 and 14 million women have been mutilated worldwide. There are three forms of FGM: circumcision, excision, and infibulation. Despite the many serious risks arising from these procedures, the practice still continues for reasons that are often based on myths, tradition, and beliefs that religion requires it. Females can suffer from severe consequences of FGM. Various fields, which address health needs, however, failed to recognize the physical and psychological impact of the practice, and have not effectively trained health workers to confront this issue. Putting an end to FGM requires a global action from professionals in mental health, social work, medicine and nursing to challenge laws and lobby for new policies; advocate for the human rights of women and children; negotiate for changes in the health care system to address the needs of women have been mutilated; and create educational literature, thus, increasing awareness on FGM.     

Neonatal euthanasia: attributions of students and nurses

An attributional analysis of neonatal euthanasia was undertaken in two studies to compare the responsibility attributions of nursing and non-nursing students (Study 1) and nurses (Study 2) toward a physician for a critically ill neonate's death. In both studies, vignettes about a newborn's death differed with respect to the physician's treatment of the critically ill newborn. In the student study, the physician was attributed the least responsibility for the newborn's death when cardiopulmonary resuscitation was attempted but failed, followed by the physician's issuance of either a "Do Not Resuscitate" order or an order to turn off the infant's respirator. Greatest responsibility was attributed to the physician when he ordered the infant's nutritional and hydration support to be terminated. In addition, the student's major (nursing vs. non-nursing) and the nursing student's educational cohort impacted the level of physician responsibility attributed. In contrast, the nurses' study found that the termination of nutritional and hydrational support was viewed as different from the physician's other three actions.     

The regulation of family involvement in deinstitutionalization

Conflicting legal, administrative, and professional policies surround family involvement in the deinstitutionalization process. This article addresses these discrepancies and makes recommendations for developing effective and consistent channels of policy among social workers and other helping professionals.     

Outcomes assessment of role-play scenarios for teaching responsible conduct of research

We describe the summative assessment of role-play scenarios that we previously developed to teach central topics in the responsible conduct of research (RCR) to graduate students in science and engineering. Interviews with role-play participants, with participants in a case discussion training session, and with untrained students suggested that role-playing might promote a deeper appreciation of RCR by shifting the focus away from wanting to simply "know the rules." We also present the results of a think-aloud case analysis study and describe the development of a behaviorally-anchored rating scale (BARS) to assess participants' case analysis performance.     

NEGATIVE PUBLICITY AND CATHOLIC SCHOOLS

Between 1990 and 2007, the number of Catholic schools in the United States decreased by 14% and enrollment diminished by 7%. We generate two measures of publicity of sexual abuse at the diocesan level—public disclosure and news coverage. Dioceses with higher rates of negative publicity had a larger decline in both the number of Catholic schools and overall Catholic school enrollment. We estimate that publicity arising from sexual offenders within the Church explains 5% of the decline in the availability of Catholic schooling. (JEL I21, H52, H44)     

THE SLIPPERY SLOPE OF CONCESSION

We show that with common knowledge and a common rate of time preference, the potential loser can always avoid wasteful conflict through a time-consistent series of small concessions. We examine how the failure of each of these assumptions may explain why conflicts arise. We also debate which actions may be helpful in such unfortunate circumstances.     

Design and implementation of an integrated production planning system for a pharmaceutical manufacturing concern in India

SmithKline Beecham (SBPI) is a major player in the Indian pharmaceutical industry. Though relatively small in terms of turnover, it has performed Pharmaceuticals (India) exceptionally well in terms ofprofitability and growth rate. The firm has substantial cash reserves. However, the firm operates in 'mass production' mode at present, with the established finished goods inventory norms being in the range of 1 to 1.5 months. Competitive pressure on the firm is now forcing it to move towards world class manufacturing and the application of concepts from MRP II, JIT and OPT is under consideration. This paper describes the considerations that went into the justification, design and implementation of an integrated production planning and control system in this situaion.