The Political Regime in Russia in the 2000s

The author analyzes the current political regime in Russia as a mild type of authoritarian neopatrimonial regime, based on inertia rather than tradition. He argues that changing conditions are undermining its stability and opening up an opportunity to create a democratic state based on law and capable of modernization.     

Patients' Evaluations of the Mental Health Service at a Health Sciences Campus

Abstract

Health science students, along with the health professionals they hope to become, are at increased risk for certain occupational injuries and illnesses. One of these risks is occupational exposure to blood-borne pathogens, such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis, which may result in severe illnesses or even death. Two case studies demonstrate postexposure care of exposed individuals at the University of Texas Medical Branch Student Health Services before and after policy changes and prevention strategies were strengthened in response to exposure incidents.     

Civilizational Nationalism

“Civilizational nationalism,” the view that Russia follows a special path that predisposes it to authoritarian government, affects both the country's prospects for full-fledged democracy and the way in which academic and political circles discuss those prospects.     

Practitioner Research Capacity: A Survey of Social Workers in Northern Queensland

Abstract

Strategies to build practitioner research capacity need to be developed in order to increase the research base for social work. To be effective, strategies need to be informed by an understanding of the organisational context and the social work workforce. This paper reports the results of a cross-sectional survey of social workers conducted as part of a larger study of health practitioners in a public sector health organisation in northern Queensland. The survey demonstrates a high level of interest in research. Research methods congruent with social work's person in environment focus were favoured by participants. However, consistent with the literature, lack of confidence, limited knowledge and skills, and practical constraints impeded research activity. This study contributes to research capacity building initiatives by identifying research strengths and areas of research activity where support is required. Approaches to evidence-based practice consistent with social work and strategies for research capacity building are discussed.     

企业治理的结构与平衡

董事会单纯的业绩考核机制以及对形势缺乏有效的判断, 不是导致“狗急跳墙”,就是导致内部控制在安然(ENRON)、泰科(TYCO)等公司丑闻和财务造假事件发生后,人们纷纷问责社会诚信、监督机制,却很少将目光转向与公司治理迥异的企业治理问题。企业治理的核心问题是:良好的公司治理本身并不足以使企业获得成功。     

Prisoner's dilemma from a moral point of view

In a recent issue of this journal, C. L. Sheng claims to havesolved andexplained the Prisoner's Dilemma (PD) by studying it from a moral point of view - i.e., by assuming that each player feels sympathy for the other. Sheng does not fully clarify this claim, but there is textual evidence that his point is this: PD's arise only for agents who feel little or no sympathy for each other; they cannot arise in the presence of a high degree of reciprocal sympathy. A high degree of such sympathysolves the PD in that it prevents PD's from arising, and a low degree of itexplains the PD in that it provides an essential condition for the occurrence of that game. This thesis is false, as some examples show. These examples are important; they prevent us from underestimating the problem posed by the PD.     

Emergy-based Simulation to Assess Brazil’s Long-term Carrying Capacity: Environment, Electricity and Population

A macroscopic mini-model of Brazil’s electrical generating capacity (BRAZELECTRIX, Brazilian Electricity Matrix) was developed using the Energy Systems Language and simulated with iconographic Extend® software to explore long-term (200 years) population carrying capacity. South American reserves of natural gas (NG) and Brazilian stream hydro-power potential were assumed as the main inputs to electric power production. Energy values (e.g., kWh, joules) for fuels, electricity and environment were transformed to solar emergy (i.e., solar equivalent joules) to simplify cross comparison with a single metric. BRAZELECTRIX was calibrated using a holistic method that used mean component life-times and conservation of material and energy for each individual unit. Validation of BRAZELECTRIX, based on historical data, gave a root mean square error of 8% for hydroelectricity and 28% for natural gas use. Investments in natural gas infrastructure (e.g., contracts, pipelines, processing plants and electric power plants) accelerated Brazil’s expansion of electrical generating capacity for a finite period, allowing the country to reach its renewable (hydro-power only) carrying capacity 100 years sooner than without (2040 vs. 2140). Brazil has a total of 560 zetta-solar equivalent joules per annum (1 Zseja = 1 ×10²¹ sej per year) of stream hydro-power potential; 170 Zseja is currently used for electricity generation. According to BRAZELECTRIX, eventually 390 Zseja will be tapped for hydroelectricity. The standard of living, as measured by annual per capita electrical solar emergy, had risen 680% from 166 tera-solar equivalent joules (Tseja) to 1130 Tseja during the 35 year period following 1965 and was predicted to increase another 75% to its maximum (1973 Tseja) in 2050. By comparison, an urbanizing state of the United States (North Carolina) had an annual per capita electrical solar emergy of 7815 Tseja in 1992, indicating that Brazil could reach a living standard, as measured by per capita electricity usage, equal to one-forth the level of United States. Macroscopic mini-models combined with emergy accounting evaluated long-term paths for Brazil’s electricity supply and related it to natural environment trade-offs to demonstrate how sustainable carrying capacity of a developing nation can be forecast.     

A semiotic approach to ‘ethnicity’. An example from Taiwanese ‘Chineseness’

For a few decades, socio-cultural as well as linguistic anthropologists have worked hard to construct a reliable semiotic paradigm to study linguistic, cultural and social interactions. These subfields – linguistic, cultural and social – are often analytically tackled asunder, though they are intimately interconnected, intertwined and overlapping. The semiotic theory of culture is not a novel discovery in itself, but it can also be applied to the study of society and ethnicity. Culture, society and ethnicity are systems of communication, that is systems of signs; society is a system of signs whose meaning emerges from social interactions and ethnicity a system of signs whose meaning is strategically imposed by a specific society through a specific culture. Moreover, those three systems of communication, of signs, are interconnected in various ways. This essay will analyze ‘Taiwanese Ethnicity’ in its semiotic dimension, and explore how society, culture and ethnicity interact in constructing an ethnic identification.