Contracting-Out in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Contracting-out was introduced in the United Kingdom in 1978 as part of the arrangements for the State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme (SERPS) in order to avoid duplication with the existing well-developed defined benefit occupational pension plan sector. Members and sponsors of contracted-out schemes were able to save on their social security contributions in recognition of the fact that they were accruing equivalent benefits through an occupational pension plan. Later on this concept was extended to those with individual money purchase pension plans. This article considers a brief history of contracting-out, the principles of contracting-out, some problems associated with contracting-out, the implications of the introduction of stakeholder pensions and State Second Pension, and the latest rebate review and rebate orders. It examines how U.K. pensions policy since 1978 has been based on a partnership between social security and private pension plans.     

Morality and Nuclear Energy: Perceptions of Risks and Benefits,Personal Norms,and Willingness to Take Action Related to Nuclear Energy

We examined factors underlying people's willingness to take action in favor of or against nuclear energy from a moral perspective. We conducted a questionnaire study among a sample of the Dutch population (N = 123). As expected, perceptions of risks and benefits were related to personal norms (PN), that is, feelings of moral obligation toward taking action in favor of or against nuclear energy. In turn, PN predicted willingness to take action. Furthermore, PN mediated the relationships between perceptions of risk and benefits and willingness to take action. In line with our hypothesis, beliefs about the risks and benefits of nuclear energy were less powerful in explaining PN for supporters compared to PN of opponents. Also, beliefs on risks and benefits and PN explained significantly more variance in willingness to take action of opponents than of supporters. Our results suggest that a moral framework is useful to explain willingness to take action in favor of and against nuclear energy, and that people are more likely to protest in favor of or against nuclear energy when PN are strong.     

Social mobility and personal satisfaction: evidence from ten countries

This paper examines survey data relating class mobility to satisfaction and dissatisfaction with seven different domains of everyday life among nationally representative samples of men and women living in ten industrialized nations. The evidence is set against competing pessimistic and optimistic accounts of the mobility experience found in earlier literature. Results show that individuals who move from working-class origins to middle-class destinations are no more likely to be systematically satisfied or dissatisfied with life than are the socially immobile or even those downwardly mobile from advantaged backgrounds into the working class. Indeed, in all nations, the overall association between class experience and satisfaction with life is both weak and uneven across the different life-domains. The study also serves to illustrate an important principle of research methodology more generally.     

人称代词：英文说明书中的互动关系

文章旨在通过研究(家用电器)英文说明书中人称代词的使用频率和共现词语,探讨在其中如何确立顾客至上的身份以及构建产品制造商的权威.总体来讲,英文说明书使用较多的通指人称代词you/your体现顾客(读者)地位的确立;与you共现的情态用语中can,my,should的运用比例以及I的特殊用法使礼貌原则得以凸显.     

浅谈玛格丽特·杜拉斯小说的情爱意义

世纪之交,在中国获出全集的殊荣的外国作家是玛格丽特·杜拉斯。对杜拉斯的认识,有很多人或说一般的读者停留在对她小说所谓的"情色"的描写上,为此,有必要对杜拉斯的小说从时代、政治和女人在社会中所处的角色来分析,透过"情"色"看到深刻和严肃的内涵。     

简洁风格的辨析

通过对手工业时代的审美特征的反思,指出了简洁风格是技术进步创造的,是符合潮流的一种本质上的新的追求.论述了简洁风格的利弊,指出新的工业化成衣是"服装服务于人"这一理念的实现.     

人格特质、组织承诺与离职意图关系的实证研究

通过对中国联通安徽分公司131名雇员进行实证分析,考察了个人属性、内外控型人格特质、组织承诺与雇员离职意图的关系。结果发现组织承诺、内外控人格特质对离职意图有显著影响,个人属性中除婚否外,其他属性对离职意图也有显著影响。推测组织承诺将极有可能是个人属性与离职意图间的中介变量,并且对内外控人格特质与离职意图之间的关系具有调节作用。     

Inter‐professional working in child protection with families with long‐term and complex needs

Within the United Kingdom there is growing awareness of the need to identify and support the small number of children who are living in families experiencing multiple problems. Research indicates that adverse experiences in childhood can result in poor outcomes in adulthood in terms of lack of employment, poorer physical and mental health and increases in social problems experienced. It is acknowledged that most of these children are known to child welfare professionals and that some are referred to social services, subsequently entering the child protection system. This paper reports research conducted with 28 experienced child welfare professionals. It explores their views about families known to the child protection system with long‐term and complex needs in relation to the characteristics of children and their families; the process of intervention with families; and the effects of organisational arrangements on practice. The research indicates that these families are characterised by the range and depth of the problems experienced by the adults, such as domestic violence, mental health difficulties and substance misuse problems, and the need for professionals to have good inter‐personal skills and access to specialist therapeutic services if families are to be supported to address their problems. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

中国个人所得税制度的思考

针对中国个人所得税在税制模式的选择、税率的设计以及征收管理等方面都存在的缺陷,分析了现行个人所得税制存在的主要问题,提出了改变税制模式、重新设计税率、调整减免税项目以及完善个人所得税的征管制度等改革设想,为中国个人所得税改革提供思路。     

GA改进的统计组合模型在个人信用评估中的应用

将分类精度作为遗传算法的适应度函数,利用遗传算法改进了基于线性回归和Logistic回归的统计组合预测模型,并将其应用于个人信用评估。结果表明,遗传算法改进后的组合预测模型在总分类精度和两类误判率方面都低于单一模型以及基于误差平方和最小的组合预测模型。利用遗传算法改进组合预测模型并用于个人信用评估是具有优势的。